ToL: Chapter 7
[Language of Flowers]
Two days had passed since Iris arrived in Twilight Town. The Twilight Town gang (Roxas, Xion, Lea, Isa, and Iris) left for Radiant Garden yesterday in their gummi ship and finally arrived at their destination. Once they arrived at Radiant Garden, Iris was in awe at her surroundings, "This place is beautiful… So many flowerbeds!"
The group was standing in the main square of Radiant Garden. Iris went over to one of the many flower beds and bent to her knees to look at it more closely, "I wonder what kind of flowers these are? I've never seen them before!"
"Oh yeah, I've been meaning to ask you something, Iris," Roxas stated, "I noticed that the flower you have in your hair hasn't wilted away yet. Do you know why it hasn't?"
Iris shook her head, "I have no idea, but I'm happy it hasn't wilted yet. My father gave it to me to comfort me when I was sick…" She rose back up to stand next to the others, "He knew that I liked flowers, even if I never knew the names of them."
"Sounds like he's been a good dad to you," Xion stated with a smile, "I hope we can meet him once we find a way back to your home world."
The group started to walk towards a section of the town with a lot of houses, coming up to a house with a smokestack that had a fire lit inside it in the fireplace. They knocked on the door of the house before they entered, "Hello? Merlin?" called out Isa when they noticed no one inside.
Soon a magical puff of smoke appeared in front of them, catching Iris off guard at how sudden it was, "Who's calling for me now? I was having a nice siesta with my dear friend Arthur!" stated a male voice from the smoke.
The man was the fitting description of a wizard in every sense of the word, pointy blue hat, blue robes, a long white beard, and a wand in his right hand.
"Sorry for the sudden visit, Mr. Merlin," Roxas stated to the wizard, "We came by to ask you some questions before the meetup at the castle."
"… Oh, right! The others did mention that to me yesterday, didn't they?" Merlin replied with a hearty laugh, "So, what can I do for you today?"
"Well, you see…"
The group began explaining to Merlin about what happened two days ago when Iris appeared in Twilight Town, along with some of the things she said about herself and where she lived.
"Do you think you can help her get back home?" Lea asked.
"Hmm…" Merlin mused as he looked at Iris before asking, "How old are you, young lady?"
"Umm, I'm pretty sure I'm eleven," Iris replied.
"I see," Merlin stated back before concluding, "It seems that you've traveled very far from the past to get here to the present."
"… HUH?!" Everyone exclaimed in shock.
"What do you mean by that?!" Lea asked, "How far back are we dealing with here?"
"About 3000 years, give or take."
Everyone stood there in shock before they heard Iris fall to the floor, her knees gave out when she heard what he said.
"But how is that possible?!" Xion asked, "I thought Master Xehanort was the only person who mastered time travel!"
"How rude! I'll have you know that I can also time travel as well!" Merlin retorted before coughing a little to clear his throat, "What most people don't know is that there are several different ways to time travel. Some people can do it naturally, like me, but I can only do it for the world I'm from and not in other worlds, with a few exceptions like Disney Castle. Meanwhile, people like Master Xehanort can find other ways to do it, like what he did for his plan to make the Keyblade War finally happen." [1]
"I see," Roxas stated before asking, "So, what was the method of time travel that Iris used to get here?"
"Well, judging by Iris's story, it seems like her father must have cast a powerful spell that both healed her of her sickness and sent her here to the present," Merlin explained, thinking about it a little more before saying to Iris, "That type of magic comes with a price, he used his own life to both save you and send you to this era to safety."
Iris could feel a chill go down her spine after hearing what Merlin said, "S-So… My father is dead?"
"I'm afraid so, Ms. Iris," Merlin replied with a sad tone, "I'm very sorry for your loss."
A moment of silence passed by before Iris got up from where she collapsed, "I'm sorry, I-I need to step out for a moment."
"Of course, please take your time."
Iris then walked outside, closing the door behind her as she did. She saw that there was a bench to sit on nearby across the cobblestone street in front of her. She walked over to it to sit down, curling up into a ball in sadness. She could feel herself starting to tear up from the revelation.
"Father… He saved me so I could live, by sacrificing himself in the process," Iris stated aloud to herself before starting to sob more, "But now I'm alone."
Iris continued to sit there for a few minutes before feeling a gentle hand touch her left shoulder. She looked up to see a young woman with long brown hair that was in a braid, pulled back by a pink ribbon, and bright green eyes. Her outfit was a slightly frilly dress that was very white and light pink and brown boots. She had a big basket full of different kinds of flowers tucked over her left arm.
"Hello there," greeted the young woman with a warm smile, "Is there something the matter?"
Iris was silent for a moment before replying to her, "I just learned my father is gone, a-and now I'm alone."
The young woman made a small frown to her, "I'm sorry to hear that."
The woman sat down next to Iris to set aside her basket of flowers, looking inside it for something. She then pulled out a flower that had red petals before handing it to Iris, "Here, for your lost loved one."
Iris looked at the flower before taking it from the woman, "It's beautiful…" Iris stated as she started to sit up properly to face the woman.
"This is a poppy flower," the woman stated, "In the language of flowers, it represents the memory of loved ones that have passed on during times of conflict."
"Language of flowers…?" Iris questioned with a bit of fascination in her voice, "They can speak and talk in other worlds?"
The woman chuckled a little, "Not exactly."
She took out a few more flowers from her basket to show to Iris, explaining to her what they represent for people who give them as gifts to others.
"That's neat!" Iris stated with a smile, "I've always loved flowers, but I didn't know they had names and meanings to them," she widened her eyes at something, "I'm sorry, I didn't even ask you your name, Miss, uh…"
The woman made a smile, "My name is Aerith, what's your name?"
Iris made a wide smile back to her, "My name is Iris."
"Iris?" Aerith questioned a little before making another smile to her, "It suits you quite well, considering the flower you have in your hair."
"Huh?" Iris questioned in confusion as she reached to grab the flower her dad gave her, "What do you mean?"
"That flower you have is also called an iris," Aerith explained, "The blue iris in particular represents faith, as well as hope."
Iris widened her eyes in shock, "I… I'm named after this flower?" she asked, glancing back to it in her hand, "There were so many of these back on the island, and I never knew…"
"Being named after a flower is a pretty common thing," Aerith stated with a warm smile, "Your parents must have loved those flowers as well."
Iris could feel herself starting to tear back up after hearing that statement, 'Alexander… Irene… I miss them so much.'
Suddenly, they were interrupted by some Shadow Heartless forming in front of them, scaring Iris while Aerith glared at the creatures.
"What are those? Are they bugs?!" Iris gasped in fright.
Aerith then gestured for Iris to get up, "Quick, follow me to Merlin's house!"
The two got off the bench they were sitting on, dashing over to Merlin's house across the street. Before they could get there, Iris could feel herself tripping over one of the rocks in the cobblestone road, yelping as she fell to the ground.
Aerith turned back around to see Iris getting back up behind her; she now being surrounded by many Shadow Heartless, "Iris!" yelled Aerith in horror.
"L-Leave me alone, nasty bugs!" Iris shouted to the group of Heartless, desperately trying to swat them away from her.
As she was doing that, her right hand started to shine a very bright light as something started to form in her palm; it looked like solidified white light in the form of a crystal. The strange crystal of light was thrown at one of the Shadow Heartless, piercing it through the chest and dissipating it along with the crystal which shattered after hitting its target. Aerith could see the captured heart of the Heartless being released from it, but it did not go back into the darkness like most hearts do when being released by weapons or magic that was not from a Keyblade. She could tell that the heart went back to Kingdom Hearts. The other Heartless around her started to back away from Iris before melting into the ground, scurrying off elsewhere.
"What… happened?" Iris questioned as she looked at her right hand, "How did I do that?"
"Iris!" called out several voices as Aerith came up to her, along with the others who were inside Merlin's house, "We heard Aerith's yell and saw that you were surrounded. Are you alright?" asked Lea.
"I-I think so?" Iris stated, scratching the back of her head in confusion, "What were those bugs? They were huge; bigger than the ones back home!"
"We can explain that once we go back inside, okay?" Xion stated to her as they all walked back towards Merlin's house.
Aerith stayed quiet from what she saw; it seems Iris has the power to release hearts without the use of a Keyblade, 'I'll have to tell Ansem the Wise about this, along with everyone else,' she thought.
A day has passed by since the Twilight Town gang arrived at Radiant Garden, but that is not who we are focused on right now! We are focusing on Peach Creek instead, with it currently being noon. We could see a group of people gathered around the center parking lot of the Cul-De-Sac. After working on it all day yesterday with Chip and Dale's help, the three Eds and the girls were ready to get on the gummi ship with King Mickey, Riku, and Kairi and head to Radiant Garden. Ed, Eddy, and Ebony's parents were there to say farewell to them before they left, as well as Adam and Olivia.
"I'm so proud of you, Edwin!" Ed's mom said to her son as Ed's dad started to pat him on his back, "Bring Sarah back home safely, but also be careful out there, alright?" Ed's dad stated.
"I'll do my best!" Ed replied with a big smile.
Ebony's mom was hugging her daughter with a few tears in her eyes, "Please find Liam and Ryan! We're counting on you!" Ebony's dad said to her.
Ebony smiled at them, "I will, I promise!"
Adam and Olivia were talking with Double D, Shayla, and Katrina, reassuring them that things would be fine while they were away. Katrina glanced over to where Eddy and his parents were standing before deciding to walk over to them.
"Listen, Eddy dear," his mom started to say, "We know you and your brother are not on good terms, but you should put that aside for now and help him alongside his family. It's the right thing to do."
"We wish you and your friends the best of luck," Eddy's dad said with a smile, "Please, bring them all back home."
Eddy stayed silent to them, looking down a little before making a sigh, "Yeah, yeah… I know."
He felt his right hand being gently grabbed by Katrina's left hand, "Everything will be alright," she stated to him.
Eddy said nothing back to Katrina but smiled at her, nodding his head.
Unknown to everyone there, a scary-looking crow was watching them all from a power line not far away from them. The crow then flew off towards the woods nearby after gathering the data they needed for their master. It only took the crow a few minutes to find their master, landing on her staff as they did; the dark witch from before and the chubby cat beside her.
"Now, my darling pet, show me the weaknesses of those boys," Maleficent stated to the crow.
Both the green orb on her staff and the crow's eyes started to glow a bright green before it started to show a projection in front of them.
"Huh, I didn't knows your bird could read people's thoughts," Pete commented, "That's real handy!"
"Hush now, you fool," Maleficent hissed before they both turned back to the projection.
They could see several images and scenes pass by them of weaknesses the Eds had in the past: most of them being very silly and not terrifying whatsoever.
Pete could hear his stomach growl a little, "I shoulda grabbed some popcorn for the show," he stated with a sad sigh.
Maleficent frowned a little, "We need to find a weakness of theirs that will strike fear into their hearts, not scare them in some petty way…"
It was then a clear image that came into view in the projection; it was the image of three girls, one with blonde hair, one with blue hair, and one with red hair. They could then hear the three Eds' inner thoughts aloud about the image they were seeing.
"Ahhh! May hugged me again! Icky! Yucky! BAD!"
"Oh dear, why do Marie and her sisters always have to target us?! This is too much to handle!"
"God, I wish Lee would freaking go away already! Leave me alone, please!"
"KANKERS!"
"… Ah, I see now," Maleficent mused as the projection faded away, petting the crow under their beak, "Thank you for this information, my pet."
Pete stood there for a moment before asking, "So, uh… What exactly was their weakness?"
"It seems that their weakness is these three sisters; they are terrified of them," Maleficent stated to Pete before summoning a dark portal behind her, "I'm sure Belindra would be thrilled to learn this information; it certainly would help him get an edge that would also benefit us in the long run."
"Hmm, if youse say so!" Pete replied as the two of them walked into the dark portal, disappearing from the woods.
Back in the Cul-De-Sac, the big group of people could see a weird, swirling green circle of light appear on Eddy's front yard, "Is that how we get onto the ship?" Shayla asked.
"Yeah," Riku stated, "It's a warp point that can teleport us to the ship. It can even work inside buildings and stuff."
"Well, that's cool and all…" Eddy started to say before pointing to the cream-colored plush-like creature with a big red nose holding a red balloon next to the warp point; both Ed and Ebony were next to it, poking the red pom-pom on its head, "But what the heck is up with that weird thing next to it?"
"That's a Moogle," Kairi explained, "They're known for running shops and synthesizing items and weapons for us to use on our journey. I believe the head Moogle that runs the shop is named Stiltzkin? He works alongside another entrepreneur named Scrooge McDuck, one of King Mickey's friends and associates. I think there's also a second in command for the shop too, but their name is slipping my mind…"
"Fascinating," Double D awed a bit at this information before realizing, "Wait, if we need to purchase items from the shops, that means we'll need the proper currency for it, right?"
"You catch on quick," Mickey stated as he took out a pouch from a unique satchel on his side, the pouch was filled with coins, "Most of the time when a Heartless is defeated, they drop a strange yellow material behind that feels a lot like a coin. So, Mr. McDuck used this material as a base for a universal currency for every world; well, at least for every world there's a Moogle Shop. He calls it Munny, but I can go into more details later."
"Wow, how original," Eddy stated with a roll of his eyes before making a big grin to himself, "Guess we'll have to keep an eye out for all of the Munny then!"
The three Eds and the girls walk up to the green light before turning back around to see Adam and Olivia, along with Ed, Eddy, and Ebony's parents.
"You kids take care, okay?" Olivia stated with a smile, "You can call us on the gummi phone whenever you find someone, so we can inform their parents."
"We'll all be rooting for you!" Adam said with a thumbs up and a wink.
Katrina smiled at them, "Thank you."
"Beam us up, Scotty!" Ed cheered as they saw the light around them was starting to warp them.
Eddy turned to Ed with annoyance, "Who the heck is Sco—" He did not finish his sentence before they disappeared, warping to the gummi ship above them.
Riku, Kairi, and King Mickey then walked up to the green light next, turning around back to the group that remained behind, "We will keep them safe, as well as out of trouble," Mickey said to them.
The three Keyblade wielders then were warped up to their ship, leaving behind the group below.
Author's Notes (August 30th, 2023): Another chapter is done! Finally, the 'filler' is over and other things will begin to happen!
Also, if you noticed that I put a [1] after the paragraph where Merlin was explaining time travel, that's a little annotation/clarification I put there so people can read a side note down here; I might do this from time to time to further explain things.
Anyway, the side note I wanted to mention at [1] is the fact that this statement is only half correct. There's a lot more to it in the game than how I explained it here, but basically, I simplified it so that the explanation of Merlin's time travel methods compared to Master Xehanort would be just "He's a wizard, Disney Logic". I also wanted it to be that the reason for Iris's time traveling was due to "Different Worlds = Different Rules". Does that make sense? I hope so.
