Chapter 19: The Timeless River
Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Penelope finished up their preparations before heading into the door that Merlin had conjured. It was hard to say what kind of special world they were to expect behind it, especially considering that Merlin didn't say anything.
Penelope, however, had a concern on her mind. Sora struggled to pull at the door handles, especially as they were quite heavy. But with some effort, Sora pried the door open. Once he did so, he peeked in curiously, but it didn't reveal much. So, the group decided to head in. As he began to walk in, and the rest began to follow (minus the Queen and Merlin), Penelope began to communicate it.
"How do you think Maleficent revived anyway? I'm certain we destroyed her. There must be a reason-."
The door shook and threw the four out. Sora and Goofy tumbled out first, with Donald and Penelope coming out last. Penelope couldn't finish her sentence.
Sora and Goofy got up first, noticing something. "Hey look! There's the Cornerstone of Light!" Goofy exclaimed, pointing at it and drawing closer. His voice… had a certain effect to it. It kind of sounded muffled, like an old cartoon.
Actually, all of them looked like they were more simplified and rubber-hose like. And the world around them was black, white and gray. Also, like an old cartoon. The Cornerstone of Light was on cinderblocks, not on a pedestal. And they were currently out on a hill in a fenced off area.
"What's going on? Everything's black and white." Sora observed.
"Hey, this is kinda like… um… uh…" Donald couldn't put the words on it as he examined his body. Besides Sora and Penelope, Donald and Goofy looked quite different. It almost looked like older iterations from… somewhere.
"Déjà vu?" Goofy asked.
Penelope knew she was cut off unnaturally. Until she ate grass, her mouth had been open, but her voice was cut off. She frantically patted her throat with her gloved hands, trying to figure out what was wrong. The others hadn't noticed yet.
"Yeah, that's it!" Donald exclaimed in reply to Goofy.
"Really? Have you been here before?" Sora asked. Behind him, a black and white figure in overalls and a tall hat stormed by. Considering they were unusual, they may have seen something.
"Hey you! Seen any bad guys around here?" He asked. It… looked and sounded like Pete. Sora, Donald, and Goofy proceeded to point at him, with a drumroll of shock playing. Penelope was still distracted, patting her throat. She opened her mouth and kept trying to say something, anything. But for some reason, nothing came out even though she wanted to talk.
The overalled cat did not take being accused as a bad guy well, putting up his fists. "Why I oughta…" He wanted to pummel them so badly, but reason came first. "Bah! I don't have time to waste on punks like you. So, I guess I'll go easy on ya!"
He stomped off towards the Pier. Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked to each other, assuming they found the problem. "Well, there's our villain! What do you say about going after 'em, Penelope?" Sora spoke, finally calling over to her.
It was then the three noticed something was wrong. Sora raised a brow. "Penelope?"
They came over, noticing Penelope was freaking out. She was patting and motioning at her throat at an even more frantic rate. "Didja hurt your voice on our way in?" Goofy asked. She shook her head 'no'.
"You're getting sick." Donald guessed. She shook her head even faster.
"Someone took your voice while we were going through the door. Was it Maleficent?" Sora asked, tilting his head to the side.
Penelope threw her hands up in the air, walking to the door and gently bonking her head against the door frame. She took a breath and tried again. Nothing was coming out still. Sora, Donald, and Goofy still didn't get it.
She tried to look at them and explained. But nothing came out. All that popped up was " #$%" over her head. Complete and utter gibberish. She made an understandably exasperated expression, knitting her brow in irritation. The only sound that came out of Penelope was a "BEEP", as if she were censored.
They had just discussed her contributing more to the group with strategy and tactics! The one time they could start using it, her voice was cut off by worldly circumstances. Sometimes, it really felt like the worlds were set against her and this wasn't helping.
Donald paused, realizing this could be a problem. "Can you still use your magic?"
A question mark appeared above Penelope's head before an exclamation point popped up. She motioned the three to shoo and step back so she could try something.
Her voice didn't come out when she tried to cast. But the word aligned with the spell popped over her head. Such as "FIRE!", "FREEZE!", etc. So, she did cast, but her voice was muted when she was doing it.
Sora looked at the other two with concern. "How are we going to fight alongside her if we can't hear her? Will it be safe if something happens or if she goes down?"
That… was a good point. Penelope pondered on it, crossing her arms and puffing up her chest. But considering they needed to get the forces inside here OUT, they needed all the help they could get. So, Penelope didn't want to leave them behind either.
She shook her head, waving her hands. She decided that she could just try and communicate by signing with her hands. She didn't know sign language, but she had to try something. Pointing at Sora, Donald, Goofy, and then herself, she pointed at the ground and straightened up.
"Okay…? I think she's staying here, with us." Sora tried to translate, narrowing his eyes as he was processing. Penelope waggled her finger, smiling and nodding. She waved her hands as if she were fighting with her Keyblade, straightening up her back again and putting her hands on her hips. "And… I think she's saying she's capable of defending herself."
"At least she can't nag us like this." Donald spoke smugly. Penelope paused, narrowing her eyes.
Donald sidestepped a thunder spell from her. He continued to have a smug look on his face, and she appeared to sigh.
"But how is she going to call out if she picks up on something we don't?" Goofy pointed it out, still sharing some concerns.
Penelope realized she could use her cursing to her advantage. Since the only noise that came out of her was a "BEEP", she decided to use it productively. So, she pointed at herself and made a censored "BEEP" noise. It wasn't ideal, but it was something.
"I guess her mouth can be helpful sometimes." Donald shrugged.
The only thing was that Penelope couldn't cover the flank now and stay in the back. Considering the situation, she'd need to be in closer view and earshot to take more initiative to aid the group. It wasn't something she was used to doing unless she was in close quarters, but she had to at least try.
"I'm sorry this happened now, Penelope. Let's just make the most of it until we know what's going on."
Penelope shrugged and nodded along with Sora. If the world was going to mute her, she couldn't do much about it.
It didn't mean that it would stop her.
-o-o-o-o-
After taking some time to take in the surroundings on the hill and snag some items (like a helpful map of the area), the quartet headed down towards the pier. There, the cat was waiting by a small dock off the river. The group assumed that by the voice and demeanor that this was Pete. Though… considering he didn't seem to know them, it was hard to tell.
Sora was the one who initiated the next conversation. He came up from behind the overalled Pete and patted him on the shoulder, which made him turn around. His brow furrowed when he looked at the four and addressed them. "What's with you squirts? You got some kinda bone to pick with me?" He questioned, raising his arms and shifting his gaze to Sora.
"More than one!" Sora replied. Then, there was a brief silence.
Pete puffed up his chest. "Them's fighting words!" he spoke with a growl, swinging his left arm and getting ready to throw hands. Or, at least he would have. There was a sound of a horn that distracted him and took his attention away from the matter at hand.
It didn't take Sora, Donald and Goofy's attention. IF this was the Pete they were thinking of, he would have been ready to go. He DID loyally serve Maleficent, and the group was pretty sure that Pete and Maleficent had something to do with what was happening outside. With that hunch, the trio had blocked off Pete's route, weapons summoned and ready to fight. Pete curled his arms into a fighting stance.
Penelope, who was beginning to have second thoughts about all this, took a step back to process. It wasn't like she could voice her thoughts right now. Pete would try to charge and punch and bellyflop cartoonishly onto the boys. Though considering the combat experience… yeah. This Pete wasn't much of a match for them. He was trying to deal with 'em and send 'em packing with his own strength. Which was… peculiar.
Pete usually summoned Heartless to go after them. Most of their run-ins with Pete thus far involved Heartless. Hell, they were just in a situation like that in the Underworld. This didn't seem right.
Penelope watched as Sora sent Pete flying onto his bottom with one last swing of his Keyblade. The cat raised his hands in protest, trying to figure out what the problem was.
"What's you punks' beef with me anyway?" He asked, trying to look at them closely. Penelope edged behind Sora and Donald at this time. Pete's eyes carefully scanned over the four, gears turning in his head. And then, he said something else peculiar. "Who are ya? You new around here?"
Uh yeah. That didn't seem right. Right?
Sora wasn't buying it. Narrowing his eyes, he sternly told Pete, "Cut the act". But then, Pete was distracted by the sound of a boat horn again. He tried to get up to go after the direction, only to fall back down. He was winded from the fight, and his body was still catching up to recover.
Goofy was beginning to notice the peculiarity that Penelope was picking up on. And he proceeded to point it out (which was ideal, as he could talk). "Y'know, somethin' doesn't seem quite right here. Are you sure you're Pete?" Goofy questioned.
Pete glanced back at Goofy. "Well, of COURSE. I'm Pete. I'm the captain of the steamboat. So, stop botherin' me, see?" He demanded, raising his arms. However, he proceeded to move his head wrong with a "crack" from his neck. Pete winced in pain, putting his hand on his forehead.
There was an awkward silence from Sora, Donald, and Goofy as the steamboat captain continued to rant and rave. "So hit the road! I gotta go find the little runt what stole my boat!"
Processing the fact that Pete was not only a steamboat captain, but that he seemed to own and operate one, Goofy leaned in to whisper to the other three. His brow curled in concern at what was going on. Softly, he said, "Gawrsh, maybe we made a mistake."
Sora crossed his arms, frowning with concern. "I'm starting to think the same thing. He hasn't even called any Heartless." He noted. Penelope shrugged and nodded, as did Donald and Goofy.
Goofy walked back over to Pete to mediate, as there was clearly a huge misunderstanding. Sora went over with him, while Goofy was the one to apologize. "Sorry we attacked ya like that, Cap'n Pete."
Pete, or Captain Pete, gave the pair some side eye. He slowly got up and turned to face them, crossing his arms in a huff. "Oh yeah! Well, if you're really sorry, then go find my steamboat." He demanded. To the Captain, it was the least they could do considering that the group had disrupted him from his urgent task. So, with a meek "y-yes sir" from Sora, they were about to.
Though then the captain fell back over from his back aching. Jeez, they walloped him hard. Sora, Donald, and Goofy did what they could to help Pete back up. Penelope treated him with some cure spells. Once he was in a better state, they were able to head off.
So, the group backtracked to Cornerstone Hill. This was where they had come from.
"I thought for sure Pete was the bad guy." Sora mused to the others as they started their search for the steamboat.
Donald shrugged. "Aw, that would be too easy." He grumbled. Granted, Pete did seem to be the most obvious option—though there could have been something they were missing.
"C'mon, fellas. Let's try to find that steamboat." Goofy instructed.
Sora sighed, with some reluctance. "I guess we DID say we would…"
Only for Donald to interrupt with, "Hey! We've got a door to find!".
Though… there was another problem. Donald was right, and Sora knew that. However, they didn't see any doors around that would help their cause. The group took a second look, with Sora finding something they hadn't seen before.
A… floating yet cartoonish matinee curtain? That was not there before, and that was definitely strange. Sora tried to peer at the curtains as the group walked over, but they were closed. Donald pulled on the tasseled cord to open them up, and a reel began to play on the screen.
On the screen, the four watched from another figure's perspective. By the cornerstone, there were four doors in a similar shape to the curtain, and Heartless were hovering nearby them. They went in through them when the doors opened, and the areas vanished. Afterward, it showed the group falling in through their own door.
There were a few things they could gather. The Heartless had seemed to arrive in this world shortly before they had gotten there. And they had gone into separate areas, which was why they hadn't seen any before this. Donald tried to pull the cord again to see if they could insight more answers, but…the curtains didn't budge this time.
While Donald and Goofy were moping, and Sora had pondered on what to do, Penelope turned around. With a blink, and nudging Sora with her elbow, she pointed out the things that had appeared. Sora turned around to see that the floating doors they saw on that screen had returned.
Considering that those doors were the direction the Heartless took, the only thing the team could do was go after them. Sora went ahead and picked the first of the four doors to go into.
-o-o-o-o-
The group was transported to a completely new spot in a flash. There were cartoonish buildings all around them, and it seemed that they were in a construction zone. Sora couldn't help but muse to himself about what they were building, as there was a frame of something. They were on a large construction platform now, which was hoisted by ropes, pulleys, and hooks.
Though they quickly found they weren't alone. Some medium-sized, hammer-shaped looking heartless came down from above to say hello. Sora was about to confront one in front of him, only for Mickey Mouse to come swinging by on a rope to knock it aside. Donald and Goofy acknowledged the King as he swung onto a higher platform and waved, though…
Penelope furrowed her brow. Not that she could say why anyway, but she knew the King wasn't supposed to be here right now. Maybe… it was a similar situation to Captain Pete? She sidestepped as more Heartless came down from the iron rafters suspended above the platform on a crane. The team summoned their weapons to deal with the Heartless. Having heavy-looking hammer heartless seemed to be problematic for the scaffolding, didn't it?
There were a few things they had to keep in mind about. Preventing the situation from becoming a full-on crisis with the scaffolding breaking was one. There was also the fact the platform was quite bouncy. Sora seemed to manage it fine with jumping up and reaching to smack the hammers in the air. Goofy bashed the Heartless with his shield, and Donald smited them with thunder spells.
Penelope couldn't tell Sora "Hey, don't bounce the scaffolding so much", or "Hey, these hammers are ganging up on me", or "if I faceplant onto these wooden planks one more time, someone will get smacked". She had to deal with the fact she was silenced and couldn't make noises. There were cartoonish sound effects from the antics she was dealing with, but she didn't seem to appreciate them.
She rubbed her forehead as they got out of the scuffle. Mickey graciously shook Sora's hand, surprising him. In the next instance, he waved goodbye and left. There was no time for words at all.
Another curtain like the one they saw earlier manifested near where they were. Sora, Donald, and Goofy got into position, with Donald pulling the curtain's string like he did earlier. Penelope stumbled over, trying not to hurl from the motion sickness she was just submitted to.
The reel began to play, but the scene was completely different from the one before. The screen showed someone else's POV. It seemed to be in Radiant Garden, judging by the scenery, though it was hard to discern in black and white. Maleficent was turned away.
"You absolute idiot! You managed to fail at everything!" The evil fairy scolded the unknown person. She turned to face them, her sharp face scowling. "And what's more…you foolishly thought you could take my place while I was away."
The perspective shifted down and away over the shoulder to their left. Maleficent continued to scold them, even though the unknown person was averting her gaze. "Well, as of now, you're finished," she said, which caused them to look back at her. Maleficent's face was fierce with anger while she kept berating them. "Mark my words, there'll be no place for you when our time comes!"
She waved her staff, and her cape furled around her as she twirled to face her back to the figure once again. With side eye and a stern look, she finished with, "Useless imbecile…"
Sora, Donald, and Goofy didn't understand what they just saw as they were transported back to Cornerstone Hill. All they proceeded from the weird screening was that Maleficent was pissed, and whoever she was talking to was likely to be fired.
Penelope, who was overcome with motion sickness, had retreated away from them into the bushes to hurl.
If this world was going to throw perilous cartoonish antics at them, this day was not going to be hers. But regardless, they needed to stop the source of the Heartless from overtaking the Castle. This was their only way to do so.
Hopefully it didn't come with more motion sickness.
XxXxX
Hello! Sorry it's been a while. To be frank, 2024 was a really rough year for me, and I've been pretty unmotivated and super busy with the start of 2025.
Arika 2025: Nope, this fanfic isn't cancelled or cancelled because of you. Usually, it just takes me a long time to post more due to life and motivation. I have responsibilities outside writing that impact whether I can work on it. I have also been working on reapplying and making decisions for my master's degree. It takes a lot for me to ultimately end up cancelling something. Roxas doesn't hate Axel at the end of 358/2 Days, nor is he evil. Both were caught in a difficult situation and had to make their own decisions for their own lives. Roxas wanted answers, and he knew the Organization wouldn't give it to him. Axel had his own relationships and experiences to consider and weigh on. It's not really a good or evil, black or white case in this instance.
Next, to address a more general thing that's just. Been flooding my DMs here. I think it has affected other writers too from some stuff I've seen online with the "concept artist proposal" thing.
If you want to draw fanart of stuff from my fanfics, or even just fanart from the property in general, that is totally fine! I won't stop you. But I am highly unlikely to go and pay people to draw scenes from my fanfics. Especially as I am an artist myself, and I am open to commissions. I don't think you can insert images into fics on to my knowledge (unless they updated it), but I also do not appreciate the spam. I get it, times are hard right now, but I also do not have the time or energy to be caught up in a scam or spam. I think there are other ways to expand your portfolio through your own passion without needing to be paid for it. Art is but another expression of human experience.
I'm guessing that it may be a scam. But still, I wanted to say my piece on it. I'll probably put a similar message up on my profile.
In other news. Yes, I've been planning for Penelope to not be able to talk in Timeless River for a while. Like, at least for a few year with the mental planning process. Don't worry, I'm not planning to pull a Re:KH1 on you guys where she's ignored, angry, and spiteful. We don't need to go back to that. It's meant to be more of a learning experience for her and the group.
Granted, I don't think Sora will full learn from the "hurling people into the air thing". I am pretty sure you can do that in KH3 with the pirate ship? However, I haven't played KH3 since launch and since the initial launch of Re: Mind, so I'm rusty.
I'm going to try my best to work on writing more this year and posting more often when I can. I don't fully know how that will look, but I've missed writing. In other news, I got into one of the masters programs I applied for in the fall! This will impact my posting later in the year (probably for a while), but I'm hoping that me being at my computer will be a motivator for self care.
I will see you all in the next chapter.
Ciao!
