• Chapter Four
    Disney Castle
    Meeting A King


    After Axel finally deciding he’d be the one to drive the Gummi Ship through Heartless Ship infested routes, they landed in the Hangar of Disney Castle a day later. (No one ever said Gummi Ships were fast.)

    “Let’s go find Mickey!” Aya cheered, running into the castle, and straight to the giant door that led to the Throne Room. Knocking twice, she entered with Axel and Roxas and gasped, looking around. It was the most beautiful place she’d ever seen. The games hadn’t even come close to getting the Real beauty of the Throne Room.

    “Ah! You’re here!” Mickey said, jumping up, before staring warily at Axel.

    “Oh, come on, Your Majesty. JUST because I’m wearing my Organization coat?” Axel asked scathingly as he crossed his arms.

    “I thought Sora got rid of you all.” Mickey said, looking up at Axel.

    “We don’t die.” Axel admitted, “We fake that just as much as we fake our emotions.” He told Mickey.

    “Damn…” Mickey muttered.

    “Albeit, it does take about a year before we’re completely back to normal. In about 6 months, I’ll be twice as powerful as right now.” Axel told him, grinning.

    Mickey shook his head, “There are, however, more troubling things that need to be dealt with first, however. Aya, do you know anything about Kingdom Hearts?” he asked.

    “Kingdom Hearts is located in the Door to Darkness. To access it, you need the Seven Princesses of Heart. It is, however, also able to manifest itself where there is an abundance of hearts. Maleficent wanted to use it to rules all worlds; Organization XIII wanted to use it to get their hearts back. It’s also a series of Video Games on my world, chronicling Sora’s adventure.” Aya told him, spewing what he already knew.

    “Good. You know everything up until your arrival, then.” Mickey said, nodding, “But now… there is another who seeks Kingdom Hearts, but in a way more terrible that Maleficent or Xehanort ever imagined. You see, there are 3 parts to a person: Their heart, body and soul. If their heart is stolen, then they become a Heartless. If it’s a strong heart, a Nobody is also created. But you already know this. If someone loses their body, they become ghosts. A heart and a soul left over. But… if someone loses their soul…” he paused.
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    At this point, I must note that in my head anyone who died in the games is not dead. That’s what I made Phoenix Down Fairies for. A Phoenix Down Fairy is the loophole around death! =D
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    “To lose one’s soul is a terrible thing.” A familiarly deep voice said, “Please, excuse my intrusion, King Mickey.”

    “Not at all, Ansem. In fact, I believe you should be able to explain it better.” Mickey admitted.

    “Indeed.” Ansem said, nodding, “When someone loses their soul, they become vulnerable. They lose their sense of self. Then have no memories, no emotions, no… anything. They will exist as an empty shell forever, or at least until they lose their heart. That’s his plan. To steal away the souls of people, leaving them vulnerable to the Heartless, and then letting the Heartless steal the Shell’s heart.”

    “Er… who’s plan?” Aya asked, quietly.

    “His… Real name is Tom Riddle.” Mickey mumbled.

    Aya blinked, thinking for a moment, “Holy s**t! You’re talking about VOLDEMORT!” she shouted

    “She’s done it now.” Ansem growled, as portals opened all around them, Heartless dropping out.

    “That name is Taboo! Say it, and this happens, no matter where you are!” Mickey said, summoning his Keyblade and running at the nearest one.

    “Aw hell.” Aya mumbled, summoning her keyblade, as Roxas and Axel were already at work. She whacked away until they were all gone, “So… Tom Riddle… is trying to take Kingdom Hearts for himself, for reasons unknown. Who else is in on it with him? It has to be more than just him.” Aya assumed.

    “So far, I’ve found four others. Deep Blue in Tokyo, Yubaba in the Spirit World, and Marik Ishtar and Yami Bakura in Fairly Vague.” Ansem told her.

    “… Tokyo Mew Mew, Spirited Away, and Yu-Gi-Oh… wait. Fairly Vague?” Aya asked, skeptically.

    “We don’t name the worlds. We just go to them.” Ansem told her with a shrug.

    “Point taken.” Aya nodded, “So where’s me first stop?” she asked.

    “Wherever the NaviGummi takes you.” Mickey said, “I can’t control what paths open up to you.” He admitted.

    “Oh well…” she mumbled, “So… the worlds are reconnected, then…” she said, sighing.
    Mickey nodded, “If you didn’t come soon, I would have had to leave a note and left myself. I’ll be helping you out along the way.” He told her, “Though we’ll be working separately, our paths might cross now and then.”

    “Oh!” Aya suddenly remembered about Alex and Misa, silently scorning herself for forgetting about them. “If you see one of these two…” she held up a picture of the three of them, Alex in the center, “Could you tell me? We got split up with Earth was… overrun.” She sighed.

    “What are their names?” Ansem asked.

    “The brunette is Alex, and Misa is the blonde.” Aya told them.

    “Then I can tell you where Alex is, but I’m not sure you’ll like it.” Ansem whispered.

    “Tell me!” Aya shouted.

    “… I still have bugs placed throughout Caste Oblivion. 6 Days ago, she appeared in Castle Oblivion and, unwillfully joined Marluxia and Larxene. Since then, she’s begun learning how to control the Darkness within her.” He said, “And… today, just a few hours ago, Marluxia and Larxene took her heart.”

    Aya’s eyes were wide, “That’s… that’s not right! It can’t be!” she took a step back, eyes watery, “Alex wouldn’t! She… she can’t…” she shook her head, leaving her sentences dangling into openness, as she thought of that night.

    “Don’t attack me!” Alex cried out.

    “Alex!” Aya shouted, running forward. As she swung down, her Wooden Sword transformed into what looked like a Black and Purple Kingdom Key.

    “Alex! Alex, are you hurt?!” Aya asked.

    Alex stood up, “No… not hurt. Just stuck.” she mumbled, looking down at herself as the Darkness flickered around her, as she was already ankle deep in a portal of darkness. Black cords were crawling around her.

    “She’s not… she’s not bad!” Aya finally managed to say, ‘She told them what to do, though. And they listened.’ She thought, looking at her feet.

    “If you believe so.” Ansem shrugged, “At any rate, I must depart, King Mickey. I’m anxious to leave Radiant Gardens unprotected for too long since Cloud, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, and Leon left to Midgar.” He bowed shortly before leaving.

    “And I’m sorry to leave you like this, guys, but I have to do a couple of last minute things before I leave. “ Mickey said, hurrying off.

    Aya nodded, turning around to face Axel and Roxas, tears streaking her face. She wiped them away quickly, and tried to put a smile on her face, “I guess we should get going too.” She told them.

    “It’s alright to be sad, Aya.” Roxas said, “But she’ll be just fine, and now you know where to find her. She’ll be in the World that Never Was if she’s a part of the Organization.” He reminded her.

    “I’ll go get the Gummi Ship started…” Axel said, stepping out of the room.

    Aya nodded, as she let her tears Flow freely. “Thanks, Roxas.” She said, wiping the tears away again, “Let’s go see where Axel’s getting with the Gummi Ship.” She said, walking towards the Hangar, just as Axel came back out.

    “We have a problem. There aren’t any new routes open.” Axel told them, leaning against the side of the building.

    “What?!” Roxas shouted.

    Aya sighed, “Oh, I wish we could get to another world…” she mumbled, on the verge of crying again.

    “We could go back to Midgar.” Roxas suggested.

    “But we were supposed to get at least one new route out of that gummi.” Axel complained.

    “Well we could just… why is there an owl coming this way?” Roxas asked.

    Aya looked up, “Ooh! A snowy owl!” she said, standing up and watching it until it came right above them, “Ah! Poo! Poo! Poo in my eyes!” she shouted, shielding her eyes.

    “There’s nothing in your eyes, you twit.” Axel said, rolling his eyes.

    “Where’s the owl?” Aya demanded, not wanting to risk it.

    “I’m behind you.” A familiar voice cooed.

    Aya gasped, turning and uncovering her eyes. She was now in a different world, and Axel and Roxas were gone. She stared into the beautiful eyes of a man with a blonde mullet. She almost screamed Demyx, before realizing, “Jareth.”

    “Hello, Aya.” He said, smirking.

    Aya glared, “Where’s Roxas and Axel?!” she demanded, “And why am I in the Underground?!”

    Author's Comments/

    Dun Dun DUNNNN! =O It’s Jareth! Okay, I have nothing else to put in the comments for this chapter except for to remind people to read Alex’s side of the story as well, because I want to make it perfectly clear that she is forced into a lot of decisions, and it is not her fault that she is where she is. It was either that, or stay in the Realm of Darkness for the rest of her life. [/rant]