Author's notes: Just wanted to correct myself here. In chapter one, I meant to for Jaffar to say only Mickey was locked up in Maleficent's dungeon. My bad! I hope you're all enjoying, I'll try and keep them coming.
The nightmare was always the same. Prince Hans didn't even try to change the events that transpired anymore. He had just kissed Anna by the fireplace. True love's kiss dispelled the curse of freezing from her, restoring her hair and body in mere seconds. The joy and in her eyes made him tear up. He kissed her again holding her tight, determined never to let her go. No matter what happened to her kingdom, no matter if it ever meant a crown of his own. His life-long ambitions had vanished the moment he learned she was in danger. Even if Arendale was lost to winter forever he would return home to his parents, and yes even his brothers, with her. He fought his passionate urges to consummate their love right then and there. Everything in it's time.
Shouts and screams were heard and he rushed from the chamber, shouting pleadingly for her to stay there. Knowing all along she wouldn't. He sprinted down the corridor and burst out the nearest door into the castle courtyard to see that Elsa had indeed escaped her cell. Her powers were beyond her control, even if she could control her fear it was unlikely she could ever calm the whirlwind of deathly ice spiraling. Turning her kingdom into a hurricane of frozen death! There was only one thing to do. With a heavy heart he drew his sword and ventured into the freezing vortex after her.
A sheet of white blinded him. Icy particles stabbed at his eyes, ripped at his nose and ears, numbed his lips. He had to push onward. It was kill or be killed! He would not let this maddened, hysterical queen rob him of his true love, her own sister. He'd die first! The force of the wind battered him, the numbing of the frigid air bit at him. Soon the force was too much for him and he fell to his knees.
"ELSA!" Anna's voice burst through the howling wind with royal authority. Hans turned to squint through the snowy vortex and saw his love limping towards the eye of the storm. "ELSA! STOP! IT'S ME!" Hans reached out to grab at her ankles as she passed, no use. Her sheer sibling determination cut right through the storm and she staggered on in desperation. Hans summoned all his strength, willed himself to his feet.
"Onward, Prince!" he growled at himself in his mind. "Save your maiden-fair!" Sword firmly in hand, the prince stomped forth into the deathly hurricane, resolved to save Anna. Even if it meant breaking her heart by running her sister's through. This had to stop! It had to! But a part of his mind knew it wouldn't, and probably never would.
After what seemed to be hours, but could only have been seconds, the storm rested. The whirlwind evaporated but the sky remained gray and the air still biting cold. He froze in horror at the two figures just a few yards ahead of him. The sword slipped from his grasp and fell with a thud to the snow. Elsa stood with her face a mask of shocked horror. Her eyes locked on the ice-statue before her. A statue that was once a living body. There was Anna, a lifeless frozen husk of her former-self. He thought for certain he heard a last gasp of breath as a puff of white exhaust burst from her icy lips.
Again Hans fell to his knees, though the force that downed him this time was far more powerful than any storm Elsa could summon. Soon his vision was completely obscured by tears. She was gone! The love of his life, and he couldn't even protect her!
"My queen!" gasped one of the various visiting monarchs, all of them crowding behind Hans.
"Princess Anna!" gasped the Duke of Wesselton. An ear-splitting wail shocked the tears from Hans' eyes. He felt them turn to icicles on his cheeks. Elsa was roaring to the sky like a lioness. Overhead the hurricane was reforming in the sky. Lightning and thunder mixed with snow and hale. Behind him he heard the monarchs turn to scamper away. His eyes fixed up on Elsa, whose body was slowly crystallizing, just like Anna's. Stomping footsteps approached from behind and a pair of strong arms grappled his shoulders. The man he would later know as Kristoff. The mountain-dweller dragged him through the snow. All along Hans' eyes never left the Queen of Arrendale Even as ice consumed the last of her body. But she was not a statue, like Anna, a living ice-sculpture. Her eyes glowed with a pale blue haze that knew only one thing. Hatred. These eyes met with his, stabbing liquid-ice into his heart. Stopping his breath.
...
The thirteenth, and last, prince of the Southern Isles burst upright from his bed with a horrified scream. His body drenched with sweat. His lungs heaved for air. It was just the nightmare! He should have been used to it by now. But he wasn't, and never would be. Not that he was likely to have much time left in misery.
He heard the heavy footsteps shortly before his chamber door burst open. "Are you alright, Hans?" The familiar face of his most trusted sergeant was soon visible in the shadows.
"Yes, sergeant. Thank you. Just a bad dream. Not that it's too different from the real world!"
The sergeant sighed. "Just make it Kristoff! At least in private."
"What can I say, sergeant? Us Westergaards are slaves to appearances," Hans huffed as he swung his feet to the floor and slipped them into his boots.
"You should try to get more sleep, while you can," Kristoff protested.
"Not on your life!" Hans snapped. "The last thing I need now is another showing! Any word from Wesselton?"
"Not since last week. Last anyone saw of their duke, he was galloping to the southwest. His entourage about a mile behind him trying to keep up! We haven't even received any more refugees."
"What of your rangers?" Hans slipped his shirt on and grabbed for his jacket. "Any luck finding those troll friends of yours?" Kristoff's face twisted in sorrow and Hans wished he hadn't asked.
"Nothing. Either they fled to the east or…" Kristoff's voice trailed off. Didn't even want to consider the possibility. Hans put a firm hand on his shoulder.
"They have the benefit of magic. If you worry about anyone it should be us, Kristoff," he finished with a friendly smile.
"As you command, Hans," he smirked. Hans laughed. He supposed he could break protocol once in a while. The prince strode out of his room with Kristoff in tow. They made their usual rounds about the keep and the walls. Checking on the soldiers, making sure they were armed and ready. Offering to come back with coffee or tea. If there was any left, the frozen sea having made it impossible for trade ships to make port. The islands' crops were already done for. All remaining food strictly rationed. There was much complaining about it, but thankfully no revolt. Despite their grumblings, the people knew necessity was the mother of inconvenience.
Castle Wester stood as both the royal palace and the isle's impenetrable fortress. The white stones of the masonry had stood strong against pirates and invaders for centuries. The towering white obelisk that was the main palace served as a watch-tower on an ocean that was usually crystal clear with skies as blue as they were unclouded. For weeks the skies had been drenched in gloomy clouds, the frozen sea gray and dingy. A week earlier the snow flurries began. Now the grounds of the island were indistinguishable from the white stones of the fortress. The army had recalled all outposts, the citizenry had been conscripted and the civilians were sheltered within the walls. Even as the people enjoyed some delusion of safety. But Hans knew that soon, very soon, the Snow Queens ice-horde would come on in force.
Not an army in the entire continent had stood more than a few days against the Snow Queen's army! They fought bravely, but bought their surviving refugees little more than time to flee to another kingdom. That kingdom fell in turn to the unstoppable army of ice-wraiths and snow warriors. All twelve of Hans' brothers had ridden out with armies of their own to defend their kingdom's neighbors and allies. None had returned.
A few months earlier Hans had led an expedition to Wesselton to help in the resistance. They suffered heavy casualties and barely made it out with their lives. He largely had Kristoff to thank for what little success they'd had. So many soldiers and officers were caught up in their conventional war tactics. Pelting the oncoming snowmen-monsters with crossbow-bolts and musket-balls, causing little to no damage. Cavalry charges were little more than suicide. Kristoff and his fellow mountaineers had come up with the idea to throw jars of burning pitch and other flammable liquids. It not only melted the frozen monsters but burned longer than wood or coal. Melted water only diluted the burning fluid and helped it to spread. Such was how Kristoff earned the rank Sergeant of the Royal Grenadiers.
As Hans and Kristoff made their rounds about the circular outer-wall. The men stood to acknowledge and bow to him. Some gave Kristoff a short nod, others ignored him. Hans sighed, at least the insults and utterly contemptuous elitism against militiamen had ended back at Wesselton. Scattered along the palisades were Kristoff's militiamen, armed with pitch-filled grenades and crossbows. Regular troops carried either muskets or the newly-invented rifles. Their white uniforms made them appear ghostly in the falling snow. Against any other enemy this might have been advantageous, not so much against the current one.
When they reached the top of the main gate a young officer was peering out into the ice beyond the harbor with a spyglass. Shipwrecks laid in pieces upon the frozen port, their bowels crushed beneath them by enclosing ice. The officer seemed to have heard the troops stiffening and turned to jolt to attention himself. Greeted his regent with a stiff and violent bow. Hans waved off the young man's rigidness and asked what had so grasped his attention out there.
"Sire! I thought I saw something out there!" he barked stiffly, insisting upon his habitual military bearing. "I thought for a moment I was seeing things, but there must be SOMETHING there!" With another stiff bow he handed the telescope over to Hans and stepped aside pointing towards the wrecked ships. Hans stepped up to the palisade and peered through the scope, for a moment all he saw was the wrecks and the steady fall of flurries. Then he stiffened at the sight of a snow-current snaking between two wrecks. He watched longer, miraculously the clouds cleared enough for a momentary ray of sunshine to stab down upon the prowling foe. It's crystal skeleton shone like diamonds. What could best be described as an over-grown living snake-skeleton. The abomination hovered a few feet off the ground and coiled through the air as it's living counter-parts would through dirt. Snow Serpents, the soldiers had called them back at Wesselton. Hans swallowed hard, easy as they were to destroy (compared with other such monsters) his childhood fear of snakes only added to the horror of their existence.
"Rifleman!" Hans called I a harsh whisper. The nearest of man rushed to his side with a puzzled look on his face. "Snow serpent," he paused to point at the enemy. The soldier followed his gaze, looked on in question for a moment. Then his eyes flashed with recognition and turned to Hans with a knowing nod. The prince recognized the man as a survivor of his last expedition. This was not the first he'd seen of such horrors. Without a word the rifleman sighted his weapon, took aim, and fired. The bullet struck home in the serpent's skull, which exploded into glassy shatters. It's spine and needless rib-cage fell limp to the ice.
A loud "Hurrah!" went up with elation across the palisade. Hans caught himself in a gasp, hadn't noticed the dozen soldiers who had closed in around the rifleman and him. Soldiers and militiamen slapped the rifleman's back and heaped hearty congratulations upon him. Hans managed a weak smile, knowing full-well the man had only struck the tip of the iceberg.
"Could it have been alone?" Krisoff whispered at Hans side. "I've heard rumors that the monsters sometimes veer off from the main force. Hunting and chasing people as they please." Hans smirked at the wishful optimism. There were other kingdoms yet on the mainland for the Snow Queen to conquer. But he looked out at the frozen waves. Although the snow hid the greater distance from view, he knew exactly what he would see if the weather cleared.
"No, sergeant," he sighed. "They're here."
…
Riku took a deep breath, having just told his whole life story to the mouse queen before him. To his left stood the very Prince he was there to find. The young monarch as perhaps a few years older than him. Despite an athletic appearance he certainly looked like he'd been locked in a dungeon for weeks! Unkempt, bruised, gaunt, and desperately trying not to stagger. The two guards, Leon and Cloud, stood close-by as if to catch him when he fell. But Philip had told his whole story first.
Riku took a second look at his surroundings. The town's indoor, two-level, botanical garden had been made into a make-shift throne room. Queen Minnie was of short stature, about as big as a child, in a shimmering pink dress with a golden tiara between two circular ears. Perched atop her throne on the lower level of the garden, a female duck with a tiara beside her, she looked as regal as she did ridiculous. But Riku resolved to keep such comments to himself.
"OH! I'm so glad Mickey is alright!" Minnie finally said after a long silence. "But this Joshua person, I've certainly never heard of him." She paused with a questioning glance towards her court wizards. Donald shifted awkwardly. Merlin clearer his throat.
"Master Yen Sid and I have sensed unusual patterns in the flow of magic recently," the wizard explained. "Whoever or whatever this Joshua is, he clearly possesses unspeakable power! Frankly, we should just be grateful he is on our side."
Minnie nodded. "You have a point, Merlin. As for this mission he gave you, Riku, we certainly could use an army. Our only real guards are Goofy, Cloud, and Leon!" Off to the side a young ninja girl named Yuffie and a taller girl with long black hair named Tifa both crossed their arms and huffed with disapproval. Riku could tell those girls would be formidable in a fight. Clearly the queen was a traditionalist. The mouse queen took notice and gasped at her own thoughtlessness. "Of course the girls and local volunteers have been doing their best the help, but most of them are still only children. And I'm worried someone will get hurt." Her high-pitched voice conveyed deep sadness and anxiety. Riku found himself feeling sorry for her.
"Not sure how I'm going to help with that," Riku sighed. "But I'll try."
"So will I," Philip took a painful step forward. Riku couldn't help but admire his spirit. Half-lunged to catch the prince as he staggered. Holding up a stubborn hand, Philip righted himself before he fell.
"Oh! No, no!" Minnie gasped. "You're in no condition to go anywhere! I'll have the doctor examine you. You can join Riku once you're back on your feet. Firmly!" Philip flinched but quickly deflated at the reality of it. He wasn't going anywhere or fighting anyone in his state. The girls approached and led the prince away gently by his arms.
Minnie turned to Riku. "As for you, Leon and Cloud will show you to the hanger. Our mechanical genius, Cid, has something special for you."
…
"She's a real beauty, ain't she?" grunted Cid with a toothpick clenched in the corner of his mouth. Riku gazed up at his Gummi-ship. Identical to the one the real Riku had see Sora flying in with Donald and Goofy. The red space-ship-like vessel would carry him through the void between worlds. With it he would explore, battle the heartless, and obtain reinforcements for Traverse Town. With a little help from the ships little furry engineers/pilots, Chip and Dale.
"Doesn't seem to be much room," Riku said. "How will I bring back reinforcements?"
"This is just the prototype. Got more and bigger under construction. But with this you can at least clear the way for us. We installed the latest offensive and defensive modifications. The queen was preparing this for Donald and Goofy, so they could go out and make themselves useful. But then you showed up."
"And thank goodness for that!" The queen and her entourage approach from behind. Merlin and Donald closest behind. Cid took a short bow, Riku turned to make an awkward attempt at the same. "I have consulted with my court wizards. They agree for this first time out you should keep to the worlds on the outer-rim. As the most distant the darkness will likely have the weakest presence."
"That is to say," Merlin cleared his throat. "The heartless will be unlikely to manifest in those worlds. The forces of darkness are present in all worlds to some degree. Sometimes this darkness stays where it's safest from resistance; in the hearts of others! Such worlds are often steeped in conflict themselves. You may be able to obtain allies in these worlds. Though, of course, as Cid told you we won't be able to collect them for some time."
Riku crossed his arms. "It'll be dangerous then. And even if I can convince them of all this, can I be sure they won't decide I'm the enemy?"
"Donald has a gift for you that might help with that," Minnie said with a gesture towards the duck-magician.
Donald raised his staff high. "Cure!" he quacked. A mystic ball of light emanated from his staff and smoothly floated into Riku's heart. Riku hadn't had time to dodge it but quivered nervously as it entered. "Now it's yours, Riku!" Donald said.
"Your first magic spell, my boy!" Merlin congratulated. "Simply call out the word 'cure' wishing it upon one specific person, and it shall be done. It is of course the weakest level of healing spells so it won't fully restore a severe injury. But it will help!"
Minnie applauded. "That should help you make friends!"
"And there's plenty more where that came from!" said Donald. "The more you use magic, the better you'll get. Soon you'll be ready for other spells!"
Riku smirked. Not yet used to Donald's unique voice. "Thanks. All of you," he nodded. "Still not entirely sure what I'm going to do, but I suspect it'll be obvious soon."
"Good luck, Riku!" Minnie cheered, prompting applause from her entourage. Riku caught himself blushing, but managed a short laugh before he turned to board his ship.
…
The void between worlds was a brilliant sight. What looked like stars lined the distance in all directions. Massive planet-sized rocks floated motionless in the vacuum. If not for the deep tinges of purple and blue, Riku might have thought himself in space. An astronaut trekking the stars, the kind of fantasy the real Riku enjoyed when he was small. Until he discovered a much vaster frontier to explore.
The journey from Traverse Town had been largely uneventful. But the sheer awe and wonder of the trip drowned out the tedium. Chip and Dale had helped him adjust to the controls. Taking over when needed. They were careful to reroute the ship when on course for worlds shrouded in inky blackness. Riku made no objections. He knew he wasn't ready yet.
After several hours Riku caught sight of a flickering light in the distance and steered the ship towards it. As they closed in it seemed almost like a stationary bolt of lightning. The flow of vapors into it betrayed some kind of vortex. The chipmunks brought the ship to a halt with a squeaking gasp in unison.
"What is that?" Riku said, realizing his engineers' alarm.
"It's a world! But not one we can land the ship in!" Chip chirped.
"The opening is only big enough for one person. But if you go in, we won't be able to get you out!" gasped Dale. Riku swallowed hard as he gazed into the sliver-vortex. He knew that usually the entry point to a world takes the form a globe. Significant landmarks or structures exaggerated on it. But for some reason this world was only appeared as rip in the void.
"Of course you can get out," a familiar voice snickered behind him. Riku turned to tumble out of his chair in surprise. Joshua smirked down on him. Chip and Dale gasped in the squeaky voices.
"Who is he?" squeaked Chip.
"How did he get in here?" chirped Dale.
Riku quickly recovered and stood up with a painful sigh. Somehow he knew Joshua would show up soon. "Chip and Dale, Joshua. Joshua, Chip and Dale," he said. As always Joshua took mischievous glee in the frustration he caused Riku.
"Nice to meet you, little guys," he said with a bow.
"The guy you told the queen about?" the chipmunks chirped in unison.
"As ever was. But enough about me, you actually do have a way out of there." Riku blinked in silence. "Remember that gun I gave you?" Riku drew it silently pointing the barrel high and off to the side, not that he suspected the firearm was any danger to it's maker. "Rotate the cylinder to the right," he ordered. Riku obeyed, turning the tin-can-like barrel until it clicked. "There you go! All you need to do is now is aim the gun straight up and fire. Then you and everyone within a fifty yard radius will be transported back to Traverse Town. Which will come in handy. Most worlds that only appear as a rift, like this one, are amid some very serious troubles. Be a lot of people in distress and brave soldiers who may or may not stand a chance. The queen even said she needed reinforcements."
"How do you know about that?" Riku snapped.
"I have my sources. Best to just leave it at that. Loose lips sink ships, and whatnot."
"And when exactly WERE you going to tell me about this transportation-setting?"
"The moment it was relevant. It is now," Joshua chuckled with a shrug. Riku seethed with rage but quickly suppressed it. This guy clearly just had his own way of doing things.
"Is there anything else I should know about this gun?"
"No, not really."
"How about this world?"
"Just what I've already said. Lots of troubles there. But you're clearly a problem-solver, nothing you can't handle." Again Riku sighed. He just knew he was going to regret this.
"Chip, Dale, I'm going in. You two get the gummi-ship back to Traverse Town as quickly as you can."
The chipmunks chirped a gasp in unison. "But Riku, it might be dangerous!"
"It is," Joshua assured calmly. "But if you save your breath, I think a guy like you could make it. On the other hand, others might not make it if you don't…"
"I'm going!" Riku snapped, silencing all. Joshua gave his habitual sly smirk, and for the umpteenth time Riku suppressed an urge to take a swing at him. "Position the ship," Riku grunted the order with an air of finality. The chipmunks obliged him, positioned the belly of the ship so the the lower ejection hatch was mere feet above it. Riku climbed down from the cockpit and into the ejection chamber.
"Good luck, Riku!" the chipmunks chimed in unison. Riku grunted softly in gratitude as he pulled the lever. The hatch gave way and Riku tumbled into the harsh, blinding glare of the vortex.
…
Riku winced as the blinding light of the vortex faded to a starry sky. He found he was lying on his back in the dirt. His brain banged against his skull like a chick pecking at its egg. Bell-towers rang in both his ears. Then he felt the aches and pains. He must have landed hard! No fountain to break his fall this time.
He blinked up in confusion, hadn't expected to be able to see the void from this mysterious world. With a shake of his head, the throbbing eased and he realized it was only a normal night's sky above him. But why all the big gray mountains suspended in it? And all the light-blue comets, which seemed to be going up into the sky rather than coming down. One of the comets struck a mountain, erupting it's hull in flames on impact. Riku realized they weren't mountains but spaceships! And the comets were ground-fire! The struck ship swerved to it's right and collided with another ship, which cracked and exploded. More blue projectiles were striking the ships, all in tight formation, more collisions, more death and destruction.
A rattle of popping sounds snapped Riku out of his horrified trance. His namesake had seen enough movies for him to know what gunfire sounded like. More explosions rang out, on the ground and close. Finally Riku struggled to his feet and scanned his surroundings. A dry, desolate region. Mostly sand, dirt, and crusty hills. Suddenly glad it wasn't daytime, he followed the nearest sounds of combat. Flicked his wrists to summon the gun and keyblade. Remembered to quickly snap the gun's cylinder back to the left. Ready to kill!
Riku rounded the steep edge of a hill and stopped to blink in confusion at a uniformed news-crew. They wore gray military combat fatigues and with matching helmets. The camera was on the obvious news reporter who was addressing his audience. A rush of identically dressed soldiers surged down and around the hillside adjacent the crew. The reporter was in the middle of explaining what an ugly planet he was on when a surge of identically dressed troops ran past them from up a nearby slope. Riku's breath caught in his throat and his eyes bulged as he saw what the soldiers were shooting at earlier and what they were currently running from.
What Riku could only describe as a gigantic spider ripped straight from a nightmare rounded the corner of the hillside and made a b-line for the reporter. The unlucky man screamed in horror at the encroaching enemy. In seconds he was in the spider's mouth. A squad of soldiers rallied to pepper the giant bug with bullets until it collapsed in a heap of yellow blood, not before it ripped the report to pieces with it's last breath.
One of the soldiers took charge and barked orders to fall back. "GET OUT OF HERE, NOW!" he roared in the face of the cameraman, who had been watching all the carnage with dim-witted curiosity. The private's sharp words snapped the cameraman out of it and he retreated with the others. Riku finally shook the shocked horror from his own head and leapt into the fray. Dozens more bugs swarmed up the hill and to swarm the soldiers. It was immediately clear who need help in this world.
A three-man squad of soldiers were firing wildly into a bug, with little effect. Riku rushed to their aid, fired his pistol into what he thought was the creature's head. It took several shots, but the bug went down. The soldiers cheered it's demise then continued their fighting retreat. They hadn't even noticed him. The thunder of eight trampling legs shook the ground and Riku spun around to swing his keyblade into a bug's jaw, dislodging it. He quickly blasted it's small, arm-like claws up front, severing both before bringing the keyblade down on what passed for it's head. The bug went limp and soon Riku found himself being overwhelmed.
He turned to retreat, then saw a wounded soldier writhing on the ground with a gaping wound in his left leg. The light of the fallen cameraman shone in his face and Riku immediately recognized him as the soldier who had taken charge earlier. He summoned all his strength, deflecting multiple bugs with a mighty horizontal swipe of the keyblade then fired wildly with his pistol, soon all three attackers were down. The meaty bursts of a shotgun blared rapidly and Riku saw the young private was firing a weapon despite his severe injury. He downed two bugs with the weapon before it clicked dry. The last bug standing closed in for the kill.
The soldier's screams were drowned out by the blasts of Riku's pistol. The bullets staggered the beast just as it was upon him. It turned to face it's new foe only for the keyblade to cave it's skull. Several shots from the pistol made sure of it when it went down. Riku quickly scanned the area and found it bug-free before he turned to the wounded soldier. His leg was bleeding bad, his eyes were fading and looked like he would soon lose consciousness. Riku remembered Donald's gift and pointed the keyblade at the wounded leg. "CURE!" he barked, commanding the magic to work. It obeyed, the bleeding slowed and scabbed with a flash of green light. Not completely healed, but the young man would stand a chance now.
The soldier was still in pain and weakened from blood-loss, hardly seemed to notice Riku. Said nothing as he knelt, looped arm over his shoulder and pulled him to his feet under his armpit. Enough of the private's mind was left to stagger walk as Riku half-lifted, half-dragged him in the direction the other soldiers had trampled. Shuttle-sized spaceships were lifting off all across the mountain range. Some very close up ahead. Was he too late?
Only one shuttle was left as they rounded a hillside and staggered down a slope. "DIZ, LOOK!" one soldier shouted. "IT'S RICO!" he pointed at the soldier on Riku's shoulder.
"JOHNNY!" a female soldier cried and rushed towards the pair of them.
"He's hurt, but he'll make it," Riku said as she closed in. She barely regarded him at all, but looped Johnny's opposite arm over her own shoulder to help carry him to the shuttle. The other soldier ran up and cursed in horror at his friend's condition. As they entered the shuttle an officer was barking at the pilot to take off.
"There's another battalion trapped a mile west of here!" the pilot shouted back.
"Their boats have already flown! Nothing we can do!" the officer panted.
"We have room! Fewer of y'all than landed earlier!" the pilot insisted, only to be met by a barrage of threats and obscenities from the officer. Riku and Diz set Johnny down in one of the seats as the officer went on cursing the pilot and demanding they abandon their comrades. Thinking fast, Riku turned to the Johnny's other friend.
"Which way is west?" he snapped.
The soldier blinked, as if he was just noticing Riku for the first time. "Uh, that way," he pause to point. "What the hell are you all dressed up for boy?"
Riku rolled his eyes. "Could ask you the same thing!" he snapped. "DON'T WORRY ABOUT YOUR COMRADES! I'LL GET THEM OUT! JUST TAKE OFF!" he shouted. Without giving anyone time to answer he bolted from the shuttle in the direction the soldier had pointed. He ignored the questions and orders shouted after him. All he had to do was follow the sounds of combat.
He saw the surrounding swarm of bugs before he caught sight of their prey. The soldiers were pinned down in a basin between hills. They fired furiously but with concentrated aim. The bugs were needing to climb over their own dead in order to reach the desperate foes. Thankfully the bugs hadn't noticed Riku yet. He managed a menacing smirk as he bounded forward and leapt atop a bug from behind then jumped for the next in line. Hopped from bug to bug like stepping stones on a river. Finally he reached the forward of their advance, landed on a bug already being peppered with bullets and summoned all his strength for a massive leap. Hit the dirt several yards from the soldiers, who held their fire and beckoned him forward into their circular formation. If any of them noticed his drastically different uniform and weapons they had more pressing priorities. Resumed their desperate line of fire against overwhelming odds.
Riku elbowed his way to the middle of the crowd, where an officer was bellowing into a radio. Both begging and demanding rescue and evacuation from his superiors. Riku didn't hear the other side of the conversation, but could already tell no help would come. He looked up to see even more starships were either burning, in pieces, or rapidly pulling away from the planet. If these brave men stayed here, there were dead men. Riku scanned the formation and realized the formation had a radius of about a hundred yards. He brought up his pistol and turned the cylinder to the right.
"Son!" the officer put a firm hand on his shoulder. Riku turned to the older man, a veteran most likely. He eyed Riku in mystery and wonder. "What's your name and unit? What the hell kind of uniform is that?"
Riku snickered. "No unit, but the name is Riku. As for the uniform, that's a long story and we'll have plenty of time for that later." The officer grimaced in confusion before pelting Riku with questions and demands. Riku shrugged his shouts off, raised his pistol overhead and pulled the trigger. A flare of white light trailed into the sky. It's light cast a ring around the men, who ceased fire and blinked skyward. Even the bugs seemed to tumble back in surprise. With a blinding flash Riku and the soldiers all vanished.
…
Back in Traverse Town life went on as causally as it could under the constant threat of Heartless emerging. Cloud, Leon, and the teen gangs were stretched thin, barely able to patrol the town. Usually by the time the arrived to calls for help the Heartless had done their damage and vanished. The fountain plaza was quiet, no one around it but the local vendors. They had finally worked up the nerve to open up again after the debacle when Riku arrived. It all seemed peaceful.
A blinding flash, a chorus of shocked cries and violent splashes broke the peace. The remnants of a battalion of strange soldiers tumbled from several feet in the air. Some had the chilled water of the fountain to break their falls, others landed hard on the cobblestones or the ledge of the fountain. A few of their guns went off, spraying a few nearby roofs and walls with bullets. Neighbors screamed and burst to their windows and doors to find the source of the disturbance. Groans of pain and confusion blended with curses, swears, and obscenities as the soldiers righted themselves and questioned their new surroundings and the vanishing of their arachnid enemies.
"Where the hell are we?" the commanding officer demanded as he righted himself in the waist-deep water.
"You want the long version, or the short?" Riku asked beside him.