NOTE: Since this is basically the second side of the Eras Through Time arc, most of the first stories prologue will be here, but if you don't want to read it, the repeated part is underlined for you to skip.
Also another note, regarding me relegating Sephiroth to one of Organization XIII's allies rather than a member: In Light of Chapter 64 of AoL about the identity about the seventh Princess of Heart. If it's who I think it is then I will make him one of their members after all as opposed to the recruit I originally had in mind for this story.
Once the last Princess' identity is revealed in J. Tom's story, then I will make the final decision with mine.
Also note that the member taking the place of the Terra-Xehanort replica will still be recruited in this story.
Mysterious Tower
(Music: Magical Mystery)
The Guardians of Light were Gathered at Master Yen Sid's main office facing his grim expression.
The group consisted of Sora, Riku, Kairi, Ventus, Terra, Aqua, Roxas, Xion, Naminé, Lea, Isa, Myde, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy Goof, Max Goof, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Ortensia the Cat.
The wise wizard quickly spoke up. "So I'm guessing you are wondering why I have summoned you all from your respective worlds."
Sora nodded. "Does it have to do with that earthquake we all heard last night?"
Yen Sid nodded. "The stars have informed me that the rules of Time with the world order have been violated. And as such, disaster has been wrought in its wake."
Using his magic he created a window that gave the Guardians a view of the Ocean Between and the words inhabiting the endless void. However, located on either end of the space were two worlds, each encircled with a purple ring.
"What the deal with those worlds?" Myde asked pointing to the purple worlds with both hands.
"They are new worlds that have appeared within the Ocean last night as a result of that energy surge." Yen Sid explained. "They appear to come from Eras of the past."
Riku narrowed his eyes. "There's only one person who could have done something like this..."
"Xehanort." All the guardians spoke in unison.
"Yes, it was Xehanort indeed." Yen Sid replied. "But I believe these worlds being summoned were unintentional on his part. I do believe he may take advantage of these past words and try to plunge them into Darkness."
This both horrified and enraged the Guardians at the same time.
"That son of a-" Terra started.
"If he conquers those worlds of the past." Gasped Aqua.
"Then that darkness might affect the present as well." Ventus finished.
"That's so awful!" Kairi cried. "Master, what do we do?"
Yen Sid spoke calmly. "You must look into these new worlds. Figure out what caused them to appear in the present and try to defend them from Xehanort and his allies until we can find a way to close the rifts they appear from."
"You can count on us, Master!" Sora smiled.
"However," interjected Yen Sid, "There are TWO worlds that have appeared. Meaning that Xehanort would likely send his Organization in two groups to conquer them. As such by exploring one alone, you would leave the other one vulnerable to attack. Therefore, it is advisable that you split into two teams."
The Guardians nodded at this.
"You can count on us, Master Yen Sid." Mickey replied. He turned back to the Guardians. "Come on fellas, let's head to Radiant Garden for more preparations. There we can decide our teams."
The others nodded and walked out to return to the Gummiship.
Once they were out of the room, Yen Sid stood up from his desk and walked to the window.
"Godspeed, my Champions." Yen Sid replied as he saw the Ship vanish into the stars. "All of time depends on it"
Radiant Garden
(Radiant Garden main theme)
20 Beams shot down into the Central Square as the Guardians appeared.
"Remind me why we're here to make preparations?" Roxas asked Mickey.
The mouse king replied. "We will need a second source of Transportation for us to go to both worlds. I believe that if we speak to Cid about this, he may be able to provide us with another source of transportation."
"While we're on the topic of another source of transportation," Isa spoke up. "We still need to choose our two teams."
"Oh yeah." Minnie realized. "So who's with whom?"
Oswald thought to himself. "Well, since there are 20 of us, it's probably recommended that we each have 10 on these teams."
Riku walked to Sora. "I'm going with Sora, someone's gotta keep him out of trouble."
Sora replied by playfully socking Riku.
Kairi giggled. "Sora, Riku, and I are a team, so obviously I'm going with them."
She walked forward, gave Sora a peck on the cheek and Riku a pat on the shoulder which everyone smiled at.
Donald and Goofy walked forward. "Sora's hopeless without us, so we're going with him."
"A-hyuk!" Goofy agreed.
This earned them a few glares from everyone for their derision towards Sora.
"Well, if you're going to be like that, Donald, I'm going with you," Daisy lightly scolded. "Someone's gotta keep you in line after all."
Donald cringed as a few of the Guardians laughed at him.
Oswald and Ortensia walked to Mickey and Minnie.
"We'll go with our relatives." Oswald said, "I'd like some time with my little bro."
"And me with my sister in Law," Ortensia added.
Lea took Isa's hand. "And I'd also like some quality time with my...uhhh...close friend."
Isa looked at Lea who was faintly blushing and he felt his own cheeks warm up a little.
"Ven, Terra, and I will go together." Said Aqua.
Roxas walked to Sora. "I'm going with Sora."
"So will I," Naminé replied.
"So that leaves us with 7 people going with Sora, and three groups who want to go with each other." Terra spoke. "Those of us who want to be in groups should form the other team, which will bring said second group up to 9.
"Which means that Myde, Max, and Xion need to make their choices for the two teams."
Everyone looked at the former Melodious Nocturne, The Vessel of Memories, and The Goofy Dog's Son.
They immediately made their choices.
"I'm going with my Dad." Max spoke as he walked up to Goofy who put an arm around his son.
"I'll go with Sora." said Xion "And Kairi & Naminé."
"Woo! Girl party!" cheered Kairi as she, Naminé, and Xion shared a fist bump.
"And I guess that leaves me with Mickey's group." shrugged Myde.
The two groups separated from each other so they could each see their respective groups.
Group 1: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Naminé, Xion, Donald, Daisy, Goofy, Max
Group 2: Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Lea, Isa, Myde, Mickey, Minnie, Oswald, Ortensia
"Alright." spoke Mickey. "With that out of the way, let's head over to the Castle and inform Cid and his crew about our transportation."
The Guardians made their way to the castle.
Radiant Castle
Cid was at one of the computers with Ansem the Wise, Ienzo and Even standing behind him.
"I appreciate you coming to us on such short notice, Cid." Ansem explained.
"No prob," Cid replied. "Anything to help us figure out what now to deal with these anomalies from last night." He typed several commands into the. Computer. "I just need to pull up enough data on these strange new places to know exactly what we're facing."
"Do you think Xehanort is behind this?" Even asked.
"I am not sure." Ansem replied. "I'd wish to believe otherwise, but we can't rule anything out."
At that moment the voice over the speaker came on.
"Master Ansem." Came Dilan's voice. "The Guardians of Light have arrived to discuss with you and Cid about the occurrence everyone is on edge about."
"Alright, send them in." Said Ansem.
A few moments later. All 20 Guardians of Light entered the Lab.
"Ah. Well met, Guardians of Light." Ansem replied.
"Heya, Ansem!" Mickey greeted his old friend. "It's good to see you again."
"Likewise," Ansem greeted the Mouse King. "I appreciate you coming here to assist us with this worldly problem."
"It's no problem at all," Mickey smiled. "Judging by how all the worlds are in disarray over those earthquakes last night. This not only affects you guys. But the other worlds as well."
"That's right." Ienzo spoke up. "While we're still not sure what happened. The world order has been messed with regarding the rules of time. And as a result, two different eras from the past have appeared in the present."
Cid typed in some commands into the computer and an image of the world map appeared on the biggest monitor.
"We were able to run a few data search's on these two worlds and have determined them to be two worlds that existed in the past."
He pressed a button and two images enlarged over the purple-ringed worlds.
The first image showed a wide town with a daybreak sky.
The other image was a giant city most of the buildings grouped together in huge mountains of themselves, all connected by cables."
"So both of these worlds were summoned from the past." Aqua surmised.
Mickey nodded. "Which means, we have to be extra careful about what we do in them, not only due to the world order, but also the timeline, if we change anything in the past, the future might change drastically in response."
Everyone else nodded to him.
"Though, technically speaking." Myde piped up "Two things, One: It's going to be the Organization messing things up, not us. And Two: Unless the denizens of these past worlds aren't aware of the merge, we won't be affecting anything further that hasn't already been affected."
Everyone stared at the Nocturne in shock and amazement.
"Actually, that is a highly perceptive answer." said Ienzo
Myde grinned at this.
"And I am stunned quite frankly that it came out of your mouth." Ienzo bluntly followed up.
Everyone smirked at him as he blushed. (1)
"In any case." Said Mickey. "While Myde is right in the fact that everything is already going to be a mess, that doesn't mean we shouldn't just be foolish about going about them. We'll still need to be careful."
Everyone agreed.
"So who's going where?" Asked Lea.
The Guardians thought for a moment before deciding.
"My team and I will go to the town." Said Sora.
"I guess that leaves our team with the Giant City." Said Mickey as he turned to Cid. "Which brings us to why we're here. We need another mode of transportation to reach our separate destinations."
"Do you perhaps have another Gummiship we could use?" Minnie asked.
"Well sure," Cid replied "I can get you guys there in mine."
"Really? Thanks!" Ortensia cheered.
"So I guess the rest of us will take our Gummiship." Sora spoke.
"Those of you who're going in my ship, stay here." Cid ordered as he sat up from his chair. "I'll have to prep the ship for ya. In the meantime, you can make whatever preparations you need."
And with that, he walked off.
The Guardians turned to each other to go their separate ways.
"Alright, fellas." Mickey explained. "While we may be in two different groups. Remember, our goal is still the same. Defeat the Darkness and protect the worlds."
"Don't worry, Mick." Riku smiled. "We know what to do."
"Just be careful out there." Mickey asked his close friend. "After everything we've been through, you've become like a son to me, Riku."
"Awww." Everyone cooed.
"And you've become like a second father to me." Riku bent down and playfully squeezed Mickey's cheeks.
"Woah!" Mickey chuckled. "That tickles!"
Everyone giggled at this as Riku and Mickey parted.
Roxas and Xion approached Lea.
"Good luck, you two." Lea smiled. "Don't you dare come back dead."
Xion chucked. "We'll be fine, Lea."
"Yeah." Roxas added. "Even if this will be our first mission as Guardians without you. We know we'll be ok."
"I know." Lea smiled. His voice was cracking. His eyes were watering and his lips were quivering.
"Oh come on," Roxas scolded. "Don't cry like this."
"If you cry..." Xion was starting to slowly lose her composure. "T-then we cry."
She burst out crying, and Roxas and Lea followed suit.
They ran together for a hug and cried their eyes out.
Isa groaned. "I'm calling it."
He walked over and began to pull Lea away from the group hug.
Sora and Riku did the same with Roxas and Xion respectively.
"So how do you feel about, handling a mission with only half the team?" Isa asked.
"It feels like it's gonna be challenging but it's not like we're doing it entirely alone." Sora explained.
"We're working together with people we can easily work with." Explained Riku. "Though we're not sure how long it's gonna take."
"It's probably going to last as long as it does, and then everything goes back to normal," Isa assured them.
The three males increased their strength as they pulled the trio apart. Sora and Riku dragged Roxas and Xion to the doorway following the rest of their team out, all with annoyed looks on their faces."
However, the nobody/replica duo each grabbed a side of the doorframe trying to stay with their friend.
"LEA!" They both sobbed.
"ROXAS! XION!" He blubbered as Isa dragged him back.
"We'll think of you every minute!" Roxas cried.
"Every second!" Lea smiled as Sora and Riku finally pulled the two away from the door and Kairi closed it.
After what sounded like receding sobs. Kairi re-opened the door and said "Bye guys, good luck on your mission!"
"As with yours!" Aqua called out.
Kairi closed the door again allowing the others to focus their attention on Lea who was still letting out a few sniffles.
"There, There." Mickey knelt down and wiped away a few of Lea's tears. "It's just gonna be for a little while. Then you'll be back together again."
"Thanks, Mick." Lea smiled. "I guess I'm just worried about the two of them, that's all."
"Relax, Lea." Ventus smiled. "Those two can handle anything thrown their way."
"And it's like Mickey said," Aqua assured him. "It won't be forever. It's just until we've completed our missions."
"And it's not like they're going off alone, they have Sora, Riku, Kairi, Naminé, Goofy, Donald, Daisy and Max." Oswald patted his shoulder.
"I guess I've been with them for so long that I'm just worried about something bad happening to them." Lea replied.
"Lea." Terra replied. "Ven, Aqua and I have been put through hell for 10 years and yes, we all missed each other and thought of each other every day and look at us now. We're back together again. This isn't 10 years for you."
Lea stood up. "I guess you're right."
"Besides." Isa took his hand. "It'll be nice for the two of us to catch up without being torn apart by being wiped from existence or turned into a Jombie, won't it?"
Lea turned to Isa's smiling face and he smiled back.
Then his blood began to warm up as his heart began to apart beating rapidly.
"Umm, excuse me. I gotta use the Boy's style room."(3) He exclaimed nervously. Before sprinting out of the lab.
"Okay, but hurry up!" Myde called after him. "Cid will be back with his Gummiship anytime soon."
Lea hurried through the halls as fast as he could to find the person he was looking for to talk to. If his calculations were correct, he was likely still on guard duty with his partner (or hopefully more as this was the main reason why he wanted to have this talk).
He threw open the doors to Aeleus and Dilan's surprised faces.
"Lea?" Dilan asked concerned. "What are you?"
"I need to borrow Aeleus for a moment. Okay, thanks!" He grabbed Aeleus by the wrist and pulled him back in leaving a stunned Dilan by the castle doors.
Once they were far away from Earshot the two men stared at each other. Unsure of what to say.
Aeleus broke the silence.
"So what's the reason you had to drag me away from my post?" He asked, his voice hard as a stone.
"Because I need your help." Lea replied.
"With what?" The auburn raised an eyebrow.
"You like Dilan, right?" Lea asked.
This completely came out of nowhere for Aeleus.
"What?" he asked.
"You like him, don't you?" Lea asked.
"Well." Aeleus began. "Of course I do, he's the best partner anyone can ask for. I'm glad to work with him as the Castle Guards for this castle."
"Ok," Lea began. "But do you see him as more than that?"
Aeleus looked flustered. "I'm sorry."
"I've seen the way you look at him from time to time, not just as Dilan but as Xaldin when you were Lexaeus back in the Original Organization XIII."
Aeleus thought back to the strongest interactions he shared with Dilan during the events they had together.
Flashback
Terra-Xehanort (now adopting the name Ansem) suddenly raised his Keyblade and tried to strike the group when Dilan blocked it with his lance.
"Everyone run!" Dilan shouted when Ansem suddenly swept his legs, making Dilan fall over and drop his weapon. Before he knew it, Ansem stabbed him in the chest with his Keyblade. Dilan gasped as his heart floated out of his chest.
"DILAN!" Aeleus screamed.
"Holy shit!" shouted Lea.
Aeleus glared in rage over what happened to Dilan as he clutched his Axe Sword. "Boys run for your life!" he shouted as he charged at Ansem.
The recently returned Ansem the Wise smiled as he walked over to Ienzo and placed his arms on his shoulders. "I think what matters is that you all recognized your mistakes. Peace my apprentices." he said calmly. "It was I who was consumed by hatred - who failed in my obligations as your mentor. Forgive me."
Aeleus clenched his fists in pain and Dilan did the same. But when the former Taciturn Stalwart saw the state his friend was in, he dropped his own pain and placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder with a soft smile which the former Whirlwind Lancer reciprocated.
AND DURING THE SNAP WHEN PEOPLE WERE BEING REDUCED TO DUST
"Dilan! You're… turning to dust!" Ienzo cried, pointing.
Dilan looked down in horror to see that Ienzo was right as the dust reached his waist. He could only look back up at the three in terror and confusion before he turned to dust completely.
"DILAN!" Aeleus cried as he ran to help, only to run through the dust. "No…" he whispered as he gazed at the remains of his fallen friend.
End of Flashback
"I don't know what you're talking about." Aeleus replied to Lea.
"I see." Lea looked down. "It's just, I'm going on this adventure and it's not going to be include Roxas and Xion but it has Isa and I was wondering if-"
"You pulled me away from my post just to ask me for advice on romance!?" Aeleus sounded more annoyed than angry. "Are you out of your goddamn mind!?"
"I know, I know!" Lea raised his hands. "It's just, ever since Isa was recompleted, I've felt like a big piece of my heart has come back to me...and not just because I was recompleted some time back from being Axel. I feel like I got something I lost a long time ago and I never realized I felt this way until he came back, and I want to explain to him these strong feelings that I have in my heart, but most of our adventures didn't really give us the time to do that and I don't really know how to put it into words. And I thought since you like-liked Dilan you could give me...advice?
He chucked sheepishly.
Aeleus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well you've come to the wrong place. I don't really have anything to tell you on the matter. All you did was waste your time, when you should have spent it preparing for your departure."
Lea sighed with disappointment and guilt. "Well, thanks anyways."
He walked off before Aeleus called out. "Hey wait!"
Lea turned around. "Yeah?"
"All I can say is 'just be yourself around him'. That's all you can pretty much do at this point." He bluntly replied.
"Y-yeah." Lea nodded, unsure of how to process this information.
"Anyways, take care." he spoke once he turned his back and made his way back to Dilan.
Lea sighed and made his way back to his friends.
"I don't know Cid," Mickey replied. "We just need to wait on-"
He turned as the doors opened and Lea walked in. His face neutral.
"Lea!" Mickey cried. "There you are. You ready to go?"
Lea nodded. "Yeah, I am."
The others exchanged looks. Lea seemed less energetic and sparky than they were used to.
"Well, OK then." Cid brought out his keys. "Lemme take you to my ship and we'll set sail."
"Goodie!" Minnie clapped her hands.
Everyone followed Cid except for Lea who lagged behind a bit nervous.
Ventus seemed to notice this.
"Lea?" he ran back to the redhead. "Is everything OK?"
Lea nodded. "Yeah, It's just..." he tried to come up with a convincing lie. "I'm just not used to us going off as half a team."
"Me neither." Roxas replied. "But we're doing it with the people we have close connections to: Me to Terra and Aqua, Mickey with Minnie, Oswald and Ortensia and you with Isa."
At the mention of 'Isa' Lea's face heated up. "Y-yeah. My Is'..." he replied.
"You sure you're good?" Ventus asked. "Because I'm sure we can do a quick trade so you go with Roxas and Xion."
"No, no." Lea waved his hands. "I'm happy to be with Isa. It's just..."
"Just what?" the young blonde asked.
"It's a secret." Lea teased as he walked off to join the others.
"A secret? Aww, come on, tell me!" Ventus complained as he raced after Lea.
Gummiship Interior
Cid entered the ship with Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Lea, Isa, Myde, Mickey, Minnie, Oswald and Ortensia behind him.
"Buttons and Bows!" Minnie exclaimed. "It looks just like original one that Organization XIII blew up."
"Yeah," Cid grimaced at that thought. "Which is why I'm piloting this thing. Nobody and not even Nobodies are going to blow this baby to shred on my watch. Anyways, buckle up will ya?"
The others did so as Cid piloted the Gummiship out of the Hangar.
Ocean Between.
Cid's Gummiship sailed through the space until it reached it destination.
"We're here!" he called out to the Guardians who were busy in the back.
Terra, Aqua and Ventus were huddled over Ventus' Gummiphone reading a Darkwing Duck fanfiction Launchpad had posted.
Myde was strumming his sitar.
Mickey, Minnie, Oswald and Ortensia were playing a Card Game.
Lea and Isa were sitting in chairs. The former trying to avoid eye contact with the latter whilst sweating nervously.
"HEY!" Cid banged the side of the ship with his fist.
They all looked up and saw his indignat face.
"Hm?" Mickey asked as he dropped his cards.
"I said we're here." Cid repeated. "You all better take a look at this."
The Guardians raced to the window there they saw the world.
While it was surrounded by a purple, flickering outline, the interior was what caught their attention.
"This world..." Mickey exclaimed to himself. "It's so beautiful."
"I never thought I'd see it for real with my own eyes." Oswald murmured.
"What was that, big bro?" Mickey asked him.
"N-nothing." Oswald replied before turning to Ortensia.
The apprehensive look she was giving him told him that he was going to have to tell them one way or another.
"This world looks like some sort of Heaven." Ventus commented. "Are we sure it's a world from the past?"
"Umm, do you NOT see the purple outline surrounding it?" Myde rhetorically asked the youthful blonde. "It's clearly from the past."
"Myde." Aqua chided. "Be nice."
Myde shrunk under both glares of her and Terra.
"Anyways." Mickey turned to the other Guardians. "As pretty as this world looks, we all have to be on our guard to prepare it from the Organization."
"That's right." Aqua narrowed her eyes. "We won't let them beguile a world from the past. A deed like that is low, even for Xehanort."
"We won't fail." Terra assured. "Even with half our team in another world. We're still the Guardians of Light. No matter what world we go, no matter what time it flows (4).
"That's right." Ortensia smiled. "And we're doing it with people we can collaborate well with. Like my with my Honey Bunny." She gave Oswald a peck on the cheeck.
"Me with my Mickey." Minnie embraced her husband.
"The three of us." Terra put his arms around Aqua and Ventus.
"And me with...Isa, my old buddy old pal." Lea nervously put his arm around Isa while sweating profusely which Isa noticed.
"And me with them!" Myde jumped between them before Isa could ask Lea what was wrong much to the Redhead's relief.
"Alright fellas." Mickey beckoned them to come together. "Cid you can beam us down."
"Got it, your majesty." Cid smirked as he pressed the button to transport the Guardians down to this new world.
Once they were gone he sprawled back in his chair.
"They better not take too long." He muttered. "Yet I do wonder who they'll run into on their little mission in Heaven City."
Based on J Tom's Kingdom Hearts Stories:
Kingdom Hearts: Light Road
With the Ensemble Voice Cast of
Willa Holland as Aqua
Jason Dohring as Terra
Jesse McCartney as Ventus
Quinton Flynn as Lea
Ryan O'Donohue as Myde
Kirk Thornton as Isa
Bret Iwan as King Mickey Mouse
Kaitlyn Robrock as Queen Minnie Mouse
Frank Welker as Oswald
Audrey Wasilewski as Ortensia
Sarah Blandy as Vor
Erika Harlacher as Urd
Sean Chiplock as Hermod
Anairis Quinones as Hoder
Hayden Panettiere as Sigrun
Logan Grove as Heimdall
Alex Bankier as Helgi
Stephanie Southerland as Vala
Kwesi Boakye as Vidar
Xander Mobus as Vali
Robert Belgrade as Master Odin
Haley Joel Osment as Vanitas
Robin Atkin Downes as Luxord
With
Cole Sprouse as Bragi
And
Roger Rose as Baldr
To be Continued
Up Next The Guardians see the Academy of Scala ad Caelum and make new friends.
Review and I'll see you soon.
(1) Time Trap Loud House Lisa and Lynn on Time Travel
(2) Relative Chaos. Lori and Bobby say goodbye
(3) Adventure Time Card Wars (Finn escapes Jake)
(4) Fire Emblem Heroes Book 8: Opening/Closing Incantation by Alfonse/Veronica