Riku found himself out in the middle of some woods. He could see a castle not too far in the distance. "Guess we'd better start heading there."
But just as he was about to move, he heard a battle cry being yelled out ahead of him. "All for one,"
"And one for all!" Three voices chorused.
The boy hurried forward to see an odd trio of a mouse, a dog, and a duck. They wore blue uniforms with big hats adorned with feathers and were up against a hoard of Nightmares. He quickly summoned his keyblade, jumping in to help.
"You're a keyblade wielder?!" The mouse asked in shock, nearly losing focus.
"You too?" Riku realized, seeing his sword was sheathed so he could fight with the familiar blade. "You must be-"
"No time to start gabbing, we gotta defeat the bad guys!" The duck reminded them.
The two nodded in agreement before turning back to the dream eaters.
Soon, they were all gone, leaving the new allies to catch their breaths.
"My name's Mickey, thanks for helping out!" The mouse smiled, offering his hand to shake.
"I'm Riku, Your Majesty…" Riku grunted in slight surprise before giving a quick bow. He'd only heard his name before. It was his first time meeting the king of Disney Castle, surely a Prince of Heart like him was below a king.
"What are you bowing to Mickey for?" The duck suddenly asked, making him raise his head.
The dog scratched his head in confusion. "You think he knows you're close with the princess now?"
"Goofy!" Mickey blushed, covering his mouth. He gave a nervous chuckle to Riku. "I think Riku here knows we outsiders aren't supposed to meddle in other worlds' affairs, especially not fall in love with thier people!"
"He didn't say anything about love." The duck snickered.
"My lips are sealed." Riku promised him with a smile. "But why are you and your friends here in the first place, Mickey? Are you on some mission from your master like I am?"
"That's right!" Mickey nodded, looking quite proud. "Master Yen Sid sent us to this world because he sensed approaching darkness coming to this world! He couldn't figure out what exactly, just that it needed to be stopped!"
"Darkness?" Riku asked. That could be anything!
"Well, there was this bad guy named Captain Pete." Goofy explained, tapping his head in thought. "We defeated him, becoming true musketeers just a few days ago."
"So the darkness was all taken care of?"
"We thought so too, but then these things popped up out of nowhere!" Donald exclaimed. "I think they're the threat!"
"They could be.." Mickey nodded in thought. "Or it could be something else, we'll have to keep our eyes open!"
Riku thought about it as they began marching through the woods to find their next target. Could this be Queen Minnie's original homeworld? If it was, darkness was coming to this world to devour it entirely, just like it had with his two homes. He wondered if he'd sensed it as a little boy, like he had on Destiny Islands. Even though by then, it was already too late. Ansem had already gotten to Sora and the Heartless destroyed their home. If he'd just sensed them sooner…
He heard a sudden snap behind him and quickly summoned his keyblade.
A small shadow with glowing golden eyes pounced out of the darkness, causing Riku to nearly miss in his surprise. "Heartless?! But how? They're not supposed to exist in the Realm of Sleep, the only form of darkness should be Nightmares!"
He had no time to wonder how it had happened, Heartless were already advancing towards the castle.
"Oh no!" Mickey gasped. "They're heading to the castle and the princess!"
"Come on!" Donald yelled, leading them to the waiting carriage.
Mickey and Donald got in while Riku held onto the back. Goofy whipped the reins, sending them down the dirt path.
Riku grimaced seeing Heartless beginning to follow them, attacking the sides whenever they got the chance. "I don't think so!"
The shadows slid away when Riku iced the road, leaving only the ones at the sides of the carriage. He quickly took those out with a few swings of the keyblade, securing the safety of his new friends.
"We're here!" Goofy announced.
The others pilled off the carriage while Riku ran to the front gate. He gripped his hands around the bars, pulling.
But instead of seeing the castle in beyond it, he saw a sickeningly familiar place. Even though he'd never gone, he knew it was Radiant Gardens.
As a little boy, he'd yanked on the gates with all his strength, tears falling down his cheeks as he saw the Heartless attacking the city past it.
He suddenly heard someone approaching and turned to see a boy with golden eyes and white hair reaching out to grab him-
"Riku!"
Riku snapped out of the memory. That was the boy I saw earlier, the one I was so afraid of and tricked me into leaving my home…
"Riku, are you alright?" Mickey repeated worriedly.
He watched as Heartless took down the people of the world, devouring their hearts, just like they had back then. They didn't have much time.
Riku gave a brief nod before walking into the castle. "I'm fine. Just remembered Heartless can only truly be defeated by a keyblade."
"Understood." Mickey said, discarding his sword and summoning his own keyblade, a dark blue key covered
The castle was unsurprisingly swarmed with Heartless that the group would have to deal with before they could ever reach the princess.
"Let me at 'em!" Donald called, him, Goofy, and Mickey charging them.
Riku gave a quick whistle, signaling Koumori. "Think you can find Que- Er, Princess Minnie for us?"
Kou gave an affirmative squeak before flying off.
After a long battle of clearing out the Heartless, they finally saw Koumori flutter back to them excitedly.
"You found her?" Riku asked, receiving a nod. "Nice work."
The two merged and Riku received the location is his head along with wings on his back.
The highest tower, she was being guarded by Daisy and Clarabelle, her loyal friends.
The musketeers followed Riku up, slaying Heartless on the way so they wouldn't be chased to the princess.
When they reached the top, they found the princess cowering behind Daisy and Clarabelle.
"Who are you?" Daisy asked suspiciously, pointing her sword to Riku.
"He's Riku! And Riku's with us!" Goofy explained.
"Oh, Mickey!" The princess gasped, gently pushing past her friends to get to her love.
The two embraced.
"I was so afraid something had happened to you, all of you!" Minnie sighed.
"Don't worry, princess! We're here to protect you!" Donald smiled.
Daisy nodded in agreement. "Just stay behind me."
She smiled weakly in appreciation. "Thank you… I just wish I could fight too. That way, I could protect the person I love and all my friends."
Riku understood the sentiment. He'd felt so useless until he'd gotten his own keyblade and was able to help his loves, Sora and Kairi.
Mickey seemed to think for a moment before he suddenly offered her his keyblade. "I know you have no idea what this is but… You have such a warm and loving heart, I know you're strong enough to wield it."
Donald and Goofy gasped in surprise.
"Can he do that?" Goofy asked.
"I dunno…" Donald mumbled.
Riku watched as the princess took the keyblade, realizing the world was dreaming of the last moments it had of its princess before she had to leave for a brighter future.
"In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, it's wielder you shall one day be." Mickey started, looking deep into her eyes. "Let all shadows hear what I have to say: your light, our love will drive the darkness far away. May it forever strike true, this blade forged by my love for you."
"So romantic." Clarabelle sniffled, Daisy tried to hide her own tears.
Minnie blushed as she held it on her own for a moment, showing she was worthy.
"As you can see, we haven't been entirely honest where we came from, ladies." Mickey announced.
"Mickey, the order!" Donald cried in horror.
"We don't have a choice anymore, Donald!" Mickey exclaimed. "This world is falling to Darkness, we can't leave them to end up like the rest of the kingdom!"
He didn't finish, seeing Minnie's eyes fill with tears at the realization. Her kingdom was falling and all she could do was run.
"There isn't much time to explain but we've got a ship that'll get us out of here to… somewhere safe." Mickey told the ladies. "I know this is a lot but please, please come with us! I can't lose you."
Minnie glanced up from her tears at him.
"A-Any of you!" Mickey added on hastily in habit despite already having declared his love for her.
"We have to go, princess." Daisy urged her, helping her walk to the door.
Minnie nodded.
The group burst out of the castle, Mickey freezing the doors shut behind them so they wouldn't be followed.
"Our ship's in the forest, this way!" Donald called, leading them down a beaten path.
Suddenly, a giant Heartless slammed down in front of them, knocking them all back with screams.
Riku looked up to see a large beast wearing a feathered hat much like the musketeers. He summoned his keyblade, running at it with a yell but he was swiftly knocked into his friends.
It's hopeless, this world is going to fall…! Riku thought, simply because it was true. There was no changing the past, at least, not for wielders like him.
Despite thinking this, he saw his new friends staring up in horror at the monster and felt his heart ache.
For Riku, going through a horrific memory like this was practically reliving his time in Radiant Gardens. He didn't believe in himself but that didn't matter. He didn't have to believe, he just had to do it.
"Go…"
The others looked to Riku with concern but he narrowed his eyes in determination. "Go! Escape this world and go on to the next!"
It was scary waking up with no memory of his home, having to start his life over like he had on Destiny Islands. But, scary as it was, he did. And he knew they would too.
The group finally accepted his wishes, leaving him to handle the Heartless or what he thought was a Heartless since he blinked and there was a Dream Eater in its place.
"What's going on?" Riku wondered aloud, rubbing his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly. It was like the Heartless had been replaced the moment he'd decided he had to defeat it, as if he'd simply imagined it.
But there wasn't any time to ponder this seeing as it was already swinging down at Riku. The boy rolled out of the way before giving a short whistle, summoning Koumori.
Already in tune with his friend's clever way of thinking, Koumori plucked a feather from its hat and used it to tickle the nightmare.
It stumbled away from Riku before beginning to swing wildly, Kou and Riku were only just able to dodge while it wasn't so lucky, receiving pokes and jabs from its own sword.
Riku tried to scramble up the sword once it touched the ground but was flung up in the struggle. Thankfully Koumori was there to grab him.
The duo flew over its head before Riku was dropped. He delivered the final swing across its back and the nightmare disappeared for good.
There was a sudden humming above him as the gumi ship landed.
"Riku!" Mickey called, offering his hand. "Let's get out of here!"
He saw the others piled around the door, waiting.
Riku gave a sad smile. "Thanks, but I've got my own way out. You all go on ahead."
"Are you sure?" Minnie asked worriedly.
"Positive. Now hurry, this world won't stick around forever."
"Well, alright then… It was sure nice to meet you, Riku!" Mickey said as they rose to take off again. "Good luck on your mission!"
"Wait, we gotta do the thing!" Donald quacked suddenly, hopping out.
Goofy followed, taking out his sword. "One last time!"
"In honor of this world." Mickey agreed with a sad smile, raising his. He whispered the phrase to Riku who frowned.
It sounded sorta cheesy but he knew Sora and Kairi had probably loved it with their friendly outlook. For them, and for the world itself: "All for one, and one for all!"
The ship took off shortly after, leaving a wink of light in its wake. Riku saw a glowing door appear and knew it was time to move on.