Kingdom Hearts: Heart of Heaven

Chapter Fourteen: Machinations

Day 5 Late Morning

I stood there, a little dumbfounded as Kim cried into my chest, the slight trembling of her limbs as she held onto me as tightly as she could.

… When was the last time someone hugged me?

I can't remember.

Pushing aside that morbid thought. I slowly wrapped my arms around her, careful not to place my hand on the burnt part of her back, where I presume Shego struck her with the Thunder spell she displayed earlier.

I let the girl weep in my arms as I slowly rubbed circles against her back in an attempt to calm her down. As I did so, the close proximity between us allowed me to feel that small connection between us, the spark of divinity that connected our souls together when I bestowed my Falna to her.

The process of bestowment normally takes longer than that but in the heat of the moment, there didn't seem to be any better options. So, I shoved as much divinity as possible to bootstrap the process as much as possible with the precious few seconds I had.

And for a moment I didn't think I had the energy to pull it off… right before my Domain of Hearth and Home began to sing as the situation I was in fell into my divine providence. If I had to guess, it might've been the fact that Shego was an invader, attacking someone within their own home that gave me that metaphysical boost needed to empower the defender.

And Kim took to the blessing very well as she started to tear through the heartless with ease. Which did answer one my earlier concerns, the Falna did empower the body, making the holder slightly magical enough to bypass the Heartless immunity.

But another problem was added to my list of concerns. As I was bestowing it, I felt, well, a slot fill as I gave her the Falna. As far as I knew, DanMachi gods could give out as many blessings as they wanted in their settings, making their guild (or 'Familia' as they call it) theoretically infinite in members.

I could only have Five within my own.

That… limited things. Badly. I could probably grow the number of slots as I trained the template but I still had to be careful who I gave these to. I couldn't just hand them to anyone.

The grip against me loosened, snapping me out of my thoughts as Kim pulled away from the hug. Despite the tear streaks down her face, a bright smile still graced her lips.

"Sorry," she says as she wipes at the corners of her eyes "I must look like a mess."

I shake my head, "You're fine Kim" I say as I look her over, and despite her looking a bit ragged and a little sweaty- "You look great as always."

She blushes a bit at this but the corner of her lips twitch up a bit as she looks to the side. "Thank you." And then she turns back and the two of us lock eyes and for a moment, whatever I wanted to say next dies in my throat as I just… took her in.

Despite the both of us being tired and ragged from this past few minutes. I couldn't help but admire this beautiful girl in front of me. The first member of my Familia, the selfless girl her threw herself into danger time and again to help people…

Then we both jumped a bit as we heard a few more bricks fall in the background. Kim's eyes widen as she spins around to look at the collapsed building. "JUMBA!" she yells, dashing over to the wreckage only stumbling for a moment before jumping over the destroyed front and starting to dig through the rubble.

But what caught my attention for a moment, was the destroyed back of her shirt. There was my Falna, a simple lined image of a sunset over a vast ocean…

But that wasn't what caught my attention, no it was her skin that caught my eye. More specifically, the new scar that spread across her back.

My anger flared as I turned towards the downed villainess. Shego lying there unconscious just down the street. The woman who tortured Kim. Who was about to rip out her Heart, about to spiritually rip Kim apart for more Power, had I not intervened.

Before I knew it I was standing over her downed form, looking at the egotistical woman with contempt in my heart. I knew she was a lot of fan-favorites back home, that she might've had a good side to her in the show. Something that gained her a lot of fans.

But right now, I couldn't see it. All I could see was a cruel woman, about to kill someone amazing so that she could get another poisoned gift of power in the form of a heartless.

I kneeled down and held up a hand towards her. The Everlight responded as it flew to Shego and quickly changed shape. The light stretched out, elongating and thinning out as it wrapped around the villain, before is settles into the form of chains, binding her tightly…

Some part of me wanted to kill her, to ensure that she didn't hurt anyone else… But I quieted that part of me. This wasn't the Blood War, where every dead body was just met with a shrug.

This was Traverse Town, filled with good people who would probably balk at such merciless actions, no matter how needed it was. Besides, there was a better option here.

Pushing aside her hair, for the first time I summoned the stamp of my own volition. Pressing the end to the side of her neck, I counted three seconds before pulling away, revealing the same symbol that was on the back of Kim.

A flash of panic crossed my mind as I dismissed the stamp and summoned my phone. I quickly opened the company app to check… and let out a sigh of relief. Only Shego's image appeared in the Retinue section, with the text 'In Progress' next to it. I didn't accidentally stamp Kim when I gave her the Falna, thank god.

I stood up, giving the villain one last look over to make sure that she couldn't sneak out of the hard-light chains then I left, focusing on more important matters.

I made my way into the collapsed building, trying not to walk on top of the bigger piles or any sharp bits. "Finished securing Shego." I said as I looked over the piles. "What do you need me to do Kim?"

"Look through the piles and don't disturb anything as much as you can," Kim said with an edge of worry as she dug through the wreckage. "There were two people in the building and they could still be alive."

I nodded as turned to another pile and started to dig myself, careful not to cause it to collapse in on itself and possibly fall inward on potentially harm anyone inside.

And for a couple of minutes, we both dug, pushing aside broken boards and masonry as I looked for any signs of skin, clothes or any sign of a living person and as I pushed aside one particularly large piece of metal, the pile began to shift. At first I was worried that I might've messed up, only to see something with my fingers try to push aside some of the debris from inside the pile.

"Kim! Over here!" I shouted, as I doubled my efforts, trying to lessen the load on whoever was inside. Kim ran up next to me, helping me pick up a particularly heavy block of a destroyed machine as we both picked through the pile.

Slowly but surely, we made our way through, trying to push everything without compromising its integrity then finally, the hand I spotted for just a moment, pushed the side of the pile outward. Kim and I stepped out of the way as the hand swept out again, pushing more off his large form.

Slowly whoever was inside stood up, uncurling and standing to his full tall height, as the large form of freaking Jumba Jookiba shook off the rest of the debris and places a hand against his forehead.

"Kryzta. Anyone get the number from that ship that hit me?" the alien asks as he groans in pain. Two groans of pain, as both of us looked down and saw an older man with a five-o-clock shadow stumbly stand up from where Jumba was covering him and adjust his glasses.

"Unless that spaceship was a woman with green energy blasts and anger issues, I don't think your nonexistent insurance will cover this Jumba" the other man states as he brushes himself off and turns towards the larger alien. "Though I must say, you can take one hell of a hit partner."

Jumba just smiles. "Ha, my own experiment has hit me far harder than her. One time, the little blue furball threw a car at me. That was a crazy day" He says with a laugh before curling in pain, as the older man and Kim rush to his side, helping him stand as stumbles for a bit. "Though. A building falling atop of me is new."

Then Jumba looks down at Kim by his side. "So, I am assuming you got her?" he asks as Kim smiles and nods. "Ah, the possible girl strikes again. Told you, you still had it."

"…Thanks Jumba" She states, a little embarrassed. "But I didn't do it all by myself. Without Ethan here, I couldn't have pulled it off."

The two scientists then turned their gazes from her to me. "Ah, the lad you were telling us about correct?" I stiffen up a bit as Jumba spoke, she… told them about me? What did she say?

And as he stepped closer, with Kim still holding him up, I realized just how big he was compared to the version of him on screen. His four big eyes staring down at me with an accessing gaze that, well, made me feel like I was a kid again underneath the gaze of my disappointed father.

Then he holds out a hand. "Thank you lad. For helping Kim. She's one of the last few friends I have from home." He says with a soft smile as I relax a bit and place my hand into his huge palm.

"It's no problem Jumba" I said we shook hands, the entirety of his palm encompassing my own. Then the alien turns and nudges Ford, snapping the older man out of his thoughts.

"Oh, yes, I am Stanford Pines. Ford for short." He says as he grabs my hand as well. "Thank you for stopping that mad woman, Ethan. Who knows the kind of crazy schemes she had planned for our devices

"Speaking of which," Kim says as she turns towards Jumba. "What's the sitch Jumba?" Kim asks the tall alien "Shego didn't attack us for no reason. She wanted something called an Experiment Pod. What is that? Another machine of yours?"

"Ah." Jumba says, starting to look very nervous, as he tugs at the collar of his lab coat. "Might we… pretend we never heard that?"

"No, I don't think I will" The four of us froze before we all turned toward the voice. Standing there at the front of the destroyed building was Mary Poppins, looking very cross with Jumba. "I would very much like to know what you have in your possession, that would bring so much trouble to the district and cause such-" Mary looks pointedly around at the destroyed masonry "-vast damages."

Jumba begins to sweat as he looks towards Mary, then turns towards Kim and upon seeing her crossed arms and one eyebrow raised, he sighs and places a hand on his forehead.

"Haa… not making this easy on me." He sighs as he turns and begins to walk towards the only standing wall left at the back of the shop. "Kim, as you know, I was arrested for illegal genetic experimentation. Specifically, the Experiment six-two-six" he says as he pushes a few pieces of the debris away from the wall and steps up to a specific section

"Yeah, the one that crashed on earth and was adopted by Lilo. What about him?" Kim asks as my eyes widen. That… the show was canon? Then I remembered a single boss fight from the Kingdom Hearts prequel. It was honestly it was a bit of a disappointing fight which was why I forgot about it but…

But that fight was in Deep Space, when Jumba encountered one of the three main characters of the game. When Jumba unleashed Experiment 221 on him.

"There is more than one isn't there?" I ask as Kim and Mary turn their gazes towards me, the former with eyes widening in realization before turning back to Jumba who sighed.

"Yes." He says as he taps a specific brick, which folds back and reveals a keypad. "Stitch was my finale. The capstone of my research." His big fingers tapped the buttons in rapid succession, the keyboard pulling back into the wall as he finished. Then a section of the brick wall pulled back, revealing a steel panel that slowly opened.

"But there were many, many, experiments before him" and as the steel panel fully opened, revealing a machine that sparked a memory from your childhood. The thing that started the plot of the second Lilo and Stitch movie. The thing that could cause mass mayhem if not contained properly.

The Container of all Six hundred and Twenty-Five of Jumba's experiments meant to spread mass chaos across the universe.

Jumba slowly pulled the machine out of the vault and he carefully set it on the floor. "This is where I put the rest of my experiments when I was banished to Earth. For ease of transport of course" he says as he tapped the top of the container.

"Jumba, you said Stitch was made to destroy everything he touches. How many other experiments are in there?" Kim asks as all of us turn towards him, tension mounting as we stare at the potentially disastrous device.

"Only four." He says and I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. "The rest were scattered before our world fell." Aaaand the stress was back.

"Jumba!" I yelled, causing him to jump as everyone turned their attention towards me. "Are you saying that there are Six hundred and twenty-five experiments out there that could be turned into Heartless if any of them get their hearts taken?"

Jumba slowly blinks his four eyes, then they slowly widen as if he just realized the implications. "Oh. Well, not all of them. There are the four here." He says and I felt my eye twitch a little.

"The chances of that are low Ethan" I heard Ford say as we all turned towards him. "Jumba could you show us the experiments in the pod?" With a nod, Jumba press the monitor, which flashes for a moment before the two half of the orb part, showing four small orbs of different colors, each labeled with a different number.

Ford walks up and takes a close look at each of them. "And you say that they were in such a state when your world fell?" he asks as Jumba nods. "Then most would be undetectable by the heartless and should remain a non issue. Especially if you consider the fact that most would not survive the fall to begin with." Ford points out, which… helps a bit.

"Still, that does explain why Shego wanted them." Kim says as she walks closer to the pod and looks at the four dehydrated experiments. "She could easily rehydrate them and then turn them into powerful heartless that she could control. But what I don't understand is how she even knew about them to begin with?"

The two scientists shrug at that, and I let out a sigh. "Magic probably, it'd be easy for someone skilled enough to use a bit of divination to find out." Then I turned to look at the downed form of the villainess…

She cast Thunder the entire fight, the lowest form of lightning magic in the Final Fantasy system. She was probably just a novice spellcaster, which meant she either had help or was working for someone.

And looking towards Kim, we lock eyes as we both come to the same silent realization. Oh god, I hope it wasn't Maleficent. I don't think I could stop her if she sent some of her heavier hitters.

"Regardless." Mary stated, her stern tone capturing all our attention, "I will be posting search requests in the RAS center for these dehydrated experiments, just in case any happen to have made it to our world." Then she turns her gaze towards the two scientists. "You two will help me take Shego to custody, where you will tell me the full story on what happened, and any other possible worldwide threats you may have involvement in."

The two nervously nod as Mary huffs. "Good," then she turns to me and Kim and her expression relaxed a bit as she gives the two of us a soft smile. "Once again I seem to be indebted to the two of you. This whole mess could've been much worse without your intervention."

"It's not a problem Mary… I am just glad I was able to help this time." Kim says with a beaming smile as Mary gives her a short nod before turning towards me.

"Ethan, I am terribly sorry but I am going to have to ask you to keep your chains on her for a while longer. At least until we find another solution to keep her from escaping." Mary asks and I… hesitated.

I knew it was the smart thing to do. I watched Kim's show, I knew how easily Shego could get away as long as you gave her even an inch. But… it was my weapon. The thing that let me carve through the heartless like butter. And I learned that without a weapon in war, you were dead.

"Hey," I turned to look at Kim, who placed a hand on my arm placatingly. "It'll be alright" she tries to reassure me with a warm smile.

"… Okay." I relented, knowing that at least with Kim here, I wouldn't be completely screwed anymore. "But only if you get it back to me as soon as you can."

Mary politely nods, "Thank you ever so much Ethan. I'll be sure to do so." She says as she turns around and begins towards Shego before stopping. "Oh, and Ethan? You can take the rest of the day off. I'll find someone to watch Burt for the rest of the day. So, rest up. You earned it."

She then continues on with Jumba in tow, stopping right in front of Shego as the bigger alien picks her up and starts to carry her away.

"You know." Kim starts to say, her eyes locked on Shego as she was being carried away. "I've stopped her more times than I can count and watched her arrested just as much. But this time… I just feel regretful." she says as she runs a hand through her long red hair as she sighs. "Maybe If I had found her first, she wouldn't have turned out this way…"

I raised an eyebrow as I looked at Kim's sad expression. She watches as Mary and the two scientists carry the green-clad villain and the experiment pod away until they round the corner and out of sight. "She was never this bad before."

"… Maybe she always was. You just never saw it before." I propose. I didn't watch much of Kim's show when I was younger, but I remember a time or two when Shego did go for the kill, only to be stopped at the last second. In the great multiverse where anything can happen, I wonder how many times out there did Shego manage to kill Kim without fate to protect her?

"Maybe," Kim says as she sighs before turning towards me. "But let's forget about her. You heard Mary, you have the rest of the day off." She states with a smile "I have to bounce and change out of these destroyed clothes. Would you like to come over to my place? We can have an early lunch there if you want?"

I blinked in surprise, but I smiled back. "I would love to Kim but only if I cook, I have a few old recipes that I haven't been able to make in a while. I think you will like them."

Kim giggles as she jumps over the piles of rubble and back onto the street. "You have a deal Ethan." She says as I walk over the destroyed masonry and step onto the street next to her.

And as the two of us walk down the street towards her apartment. My smile slowly falls from my face as I can still feel that bit of guilt twisting in my gut.

"Hey Kim." I say, not breaking stride but not able to bring myself to look at her. "I'm sorry." I could feel her gaze on me but I don't look, some part of me thinking I might mess this up if I do so. "I'm sorry for tricking you. For trying to make that weapon." I sigh and rub the back of my head. "I should've known better."

The seconds were chokingly silent… Would she forgive me? With how I acted, with how I took advantage of her, I wouldn't blame her if she didn't.

Then I felt her nudge my arm with her shoulder, prompting me to look at her as she gave me a soft smile in return. "Yeah, I'm sorry too." She says as I look at her in confusion. "For pushing my problems on you. For barging into your life and demanding you fix everything." She says before giving me a smirk. "I should've known better. Asked a few more questions rather than taking it for granted."

I nudged her back, feeling a bit lighter as we talked. "Well, I could've explained better, maybe this whole thing would've turned out better if I did."

She nods. "Maybe…" she states, going silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. She stops and turns towards me with a look of determination. "We both messed up, . From now on, we need to talk to each other more. No more deceit, no more tricks, just complete honesty with each other. Deal?" she says as she enthustiatically holds out her hand,

I froze, feeling my gut wrenched at her peace offering. I… I had many, more secrets than she did. Terrible secrets. The Company I worked for, The Blood War I fought for years in. The absolute pools of blood I had to wade through in order to survive.

Bootcamp told me that complete honesty was a terrible idea to anyone unstamped. That the sheer scale of which the Company operated on could break anyone's mind. Not to mention the fact of the Company's number one biggest seller. She… she wouldn't accept me if she knew.

But looking at her and her outstretched hand. I could see her confidence dim, as I hesistated. She was going out on a limb, trying to understand me, giving me a second chance, despite what she knew I was going to make.

And I took her hand. "Deal" I said happy to see her relieved smile, despite some part of my mind telling me that this was a horrible idea.

It… It was a big risk. One of the biggest risks, I was ever going to make.

But I wanted to trust her. I wanted to see where this relationship would go. And…

And I was so tired of being alone.

A moment passes as we both just stood there in the middle of the street, holding each others hands for maybe a moment too long before her eyes widen and she pulls back her hand, a bit of red growing on her cheeks. "Great. Umm. Thank you Ethan." She says rubbing her fingers through her long hair. "So. What were you thinking about making for lunch?" she asks in a blatant attempt to change the subject.

I chuckle, my own face feeling a bit warm. "Well, there is this old stew recipe that my mom used to make. It's simple but surprisingly good, for what little it uses, if you want to try it." I say as we both continue the walk towards her home.

And as the two of us talked about possible dishes I could make for lunch. I couldn't help the niggling sensation in the back of my mind. The tiny voice that was telling me how this could go oh so wrong once I told her everything. How she could cut herself out of my life once again when she knew the truth.

But. I wanted to take that chance. I wanted to trust her. She accepted me even after the soul weapon debacle. Maybe I could trust her just a bit more. Maybe… maybe it would be nice to have a partner in all of this. Someone I could fight side by side once more against the coming storm.

And who better to have with me against the tide of darkness than Kim Possible? I just… needed to trust her, just that bit further. And pray, that it all works out.

And as the two of us continued down the road towards Kim's home. Neither of us noticed the human-like shadow lurking on the walls, silently cursing as it bit its two-dimensional hand in worry before it slinked back into the dark and back toward its master to make its report.