Fanfiction ► Kingdom Hearts D

[Evello]

Here's my story, Kingdom Hearts D. As many of you have probably guessed, this story is about the currently undocumented adventures of Mickey during KH1, though Mickey himself isn't exactly the main character... anyway, I will try my hardest to make it mesh with canon, so feel free to call me out if I contradict something. Enjoy!

Kingdom Hearts D

Prologue: The King's Flight

King Mickey leaped up from the chair behind his desk with a gasp as the messenger finished speaking.

“They’re gone?!” he cried in disbelief, “How can that be, Chip?!”

“I don’t know, but that’s what our gummi probe reported,” the small chipmunk replied helplessly.

“Gee, I was just at Beast’s Castle the other day. It was fine then. And there have never been any problems in the Land of Dragons or the Pride Lands. How could they disappear?”

“The gummi probe reported large amounts of dark energy where Beast’s Castle used to be. I think the worlds may have been swallowed by darkness.”

“…by darkness?" Mickey mumbled, rubbing his chin, "But that means… the heartless must have…”

“What is it, sir?” the chipmunk asked, growing worried.

“The heartless must have reached those worlds and devoured their hearts," Mickey concluded, his eyes widening. "And if that’s true, all the worlds are in danger!” Mickey pulled out a piece of paper and quickly scribbled a message on it. He jammed the paper in an envelope, sealed it, and walked across the room towards the exit.

“What are you going to do?” Chip asked, still standing on the desk.

Mickey stopped and stared at the floor for a moment, and then held out his white, gloved hand. There was a bright flash and a keyblade appeared in his palm: the Star Seeker. Chip stared in awe at the sleek blue weapon and its golden star-shaped head.

“I haven’t used this in years, but this needs to be done,” Mickey said determinedly.

Mickey proceeded through the door into the white corridor of Disney Castle, with Chip hot on his heels. He glanced off a balcony for a moment towards the gummi hangar in the courtyard, stopping in his tracks. As much as he'd like to take a gummi ship on his trip, he knew that no gummi ship could take him where he needed to go.

Chip looked up to him and asked quietly, “Are you going out to fight the heartless alone?”

“No,” Mickey answered. “The heartless are after Kingdom Hearts, and I need help to stop them from reaching it. I need… another Keyblade Master. Where are Donald and Goofy?” he asked, starting down the corridor.

“They should be returning from their posts any minute now," Chip answered, running to keep up with the mouse.

“Put this on my desk for them,” Mickey ordered, stopping for a moment to hand the envelope to Chip.

“But-” Chip said nervously.

“I need you to do this for me!” Mickey interrupted. As Chip returned to the library, Mickey turned and ran down the remainder of the corridor. He pushed on the base of a massive door near the end of the hall, which revealed a smaller door for him to use. After he had made sure no one was in the throne room, Mickey dashed along the red carpet to the front of the room and snapped his fingers in front of the golden throne. With a flash, the platform that the throne was standing on began to move to the side. Underneath it, a long staircase lead down a shadowy, stone tunnel. Mickey ran down the stairs into the dark room below while the platform closed above him again.

Inside the room was a bright ball of light resting on a marble platform. Behind it stood a mirror that reached all the way to the ceiling, a hundred feet above Mickey's head. Mickey approached the mirror and stared deep into the reflective glass. In it was a slightly altered image of himself; a mouse wearing a black jacket and a dark pair of shorts. Behind the mouse was a room so dark that all Mickey could see was a faint image of the floor.

Mickey paused for a moment and whispered, “Golly, I hope this works,” and then reached out to touch the mirror. But where his hand should have met glass, it continued on through the mirror and into the dark world.

*******

​

Chip placed the letter on the desk, and turned away from it, trying not to think about what it said. He jumped off the desk and stared at Mickey’s dog, Pluto, who was sleeping in his bed. Chip tried to distract himself by imagining what the dog was dreaming. It didn’t work.

The letter probably explained everything. He wondered why the King wanted Donald and Goofy. What was going on? Why were the heartless suddenly appearing? Chip stopped and slowly turned around to face the desk again. He climbed up and reached out for the envelope, but just as he was about to grab it, Pluto leaped onto the desk. The dog grabbed the letter in his slobbery mouth and jumped off the desk, running out of the room. Chip yelled out, and chased the dog out the door and down the corridor.

Donald,
Sorry to rush off without sayin’ goodbye, but there’s big trouble brewin’. Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin’ out, one by one. And that means disaster can’t be far behind. I hate to leave you all but I gotta go check into it.

There’s someone with a “key”- the key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it? We need that key or we’re doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He’ll point you in the right direction.

P.S. Would ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks, pal.
​

 

[Evello]

Chapter 1: Awakening
​

Aros shook his short brown hair to the side as he stared off at the ocean. Everything was calm as the short waves lapped up against the shore by his feet. He laid back onto the soft sand and slowly closed his eyes. After several seconds, he felt the ground melt away from his back. He plummeted backwards and couldn’t open his eyes to see where he was falling to. He felt water rushing by him, but it was not the salty water of the ocean. It was fresh and warm, and it didn't dampen his clothes.

Suddenly, his descent seemed to slow, and Aros was able to peel his eyes open. The only thing he could see was a dark mist surrounding him on all sides. Aros’ feet met ground and he stared at the darkness below him, which was somehow supporting him. He looked himself over and patted his baggy green pants and his blue jacket, and found himself completely normal. Confused, he took a step forward.

A flash of light blinded Aros, and all around him doves shot into the sky. He now seemed to be standing on a tall glass tower, with a complex stained-glass picture on the top. It was a picture of a boy, but Aros didn't recognize the figure. The boy’s pants were bright red, and his hair was spiky and brown. In the boy’s right hand was a large key.

A strange feeling swept over Aros; the tower and the picture on it seemed very familiar, like he had seen them both before. But they also seemed very strange and confusing. His thoughts felt muddled, and he couldn't seem to think properly.

Suddenly, a calm, high voice spoke.

“So much to do, so little time. Take your time, don’t be afraid. The door is still shut. Now, step forward. Can you do it?”

Aros glanced around for the source of the voice, but he couldn’t see anything beyond the glass tower he was standing on. Where was the voice coming from? He walked slowly to the middle of the tower. As he reached the center, the whole place seemed to shake. Around him, three marble platforms rose from the glass, and three weapons appeared in a flash above them. To his left was a shield, his right a staff, and directly in front of him was a yellow-hilted sword.

"Power sleeps within you. It will give you strength. Choose well."

The voice didn't seem to come from anywhere nearby. It was almost as if the voice was speaking into Aros mind. What was this all about? Aros looked around at the three weapons, and yelled out, “Choose for what?” But there was no reply. He stepped forward and grasped the sword, wondering what would happen next. Would he have to fight something? The tower began to shake again, and the three platforms sank back into the glass floor. For a second nothing else happened, but just as Aros was about to step backwards, the glass below him began to shatter. As the last of the glass disappeared, Aros dropped into the darkness below him.

He fell for several minutes, until he spotted another glass tower below. Light as a feather, Aros landed with the sword still in hand. On the glass under his feet was an image of a different boy. This one had white hair, and orange pants. His sleeveless shirt was a light blue. As Aros stared at the picture, the voice in his head spoke again.

"You’ve gained the power to fight. There will be times you have to fight. Keep your darkness burning strong. Behind you!"

As the voice spoke, Aros whirled around to see several creatures crawling towards him. They were entirely black, aside from their pupil-less, yellow eyes. The first of the four-legged creatures dove at him, so Aros frantically swung his sword and cut through the monster. It disappeared in a puff of black smoke. He dove at the second and tried to slash it, but the creature suddenly sank into the glass, becoming a shadow on the floor. It moved behind him and attacked Aros’ exposed back. He parried the blow with his sword and slashed the beast. The final one pounced at him from behind suddenly, so he was forced to leap out of the way. It landed, and Aros sprang at it, destroying it with a single swing of the sword.

As the last creature disappeared in smoke, the entire tower shook and a dark mist began to creep across the floor. Despite his struggles, Aros began to slowly sink into the now blackened floor. He tried to wipe it away, but found that he kept sinking. As it covered him completely, he began thrashing about, doing anything to break the hold of the darkness. But just as he was about to give in to the darkness, it cleared, leaving him on yet another platform. He looked at the floor of this platform, and saw only a large symbol. It was a heart, and in front of it, three connected circles. It almost looked like a head with round ears.

But before he could examine it more, he noticed that there was a tall, ornate door on this tower. He recognized its pink front from somewhere. Without a second thought, he climbed to his feet and approached it. As he neared the door, it opened, and a bright light streamed through it.

Aros stepped through the door and found himself on another platform. How many towers were there in this place? This one had the image of a young girl on it. She had red hair, a white shirt, and a short green skirt. As he looked away from the picture, he saw a series of stairs leading from the platform into the blackness. Where was this place, and why was here?

Not knowing what else to do, Aros ran up the steps. He found that they led to yet another tower. This one had no picture on it and was completely white, other than the golden lines that surrounded the outside of the tower. He stepped forward and the voice spoke again.

"The closer you get to darkness, the brighter your light becomes."

The tower began to shake again and Aros’ shadow glided in front of him. It pried itself out of the ground and rose up before him, growing larger and more grotesque. Soon, it was nearly thirty feet tall, and floated a foot off the ground. The voice spoke again.

"But don’t be afraid. And don’t forget…"

Horrified, Aros ran to the edge of the tower, and looked off into the darkness. There was no escape. He turned back to face the beast just in time to see it swing its massive fist downwards. Aros leaped out of the way as the creature punched the ground. Darkness began to spread from its hand, and within seconds consumed the whole tower. With a cry of fear, Aros began to sink into the darkness again. He yelped out as he fell backwards and his entire body became submerged in the darkness. And, yet again, the voice spoke.

"… you hold the mightiest weapon of all. So don’t forget: You are the one who will open the door."

 

[Evello]

Chapter 2: Dreams
​

Aros bolted awake screaming, his face drenched in sweat. He looked to both sides for the beast, but found only his bedroom. He was lying on top of the covers of his bed, in his pajamas. Outside the window beside his bed, the sun was just beginning to rise above the horizon.

He wiped the sweat from his face and pinched himself, to make sure he was awake. It had all been a dream. But it felt so real. Aros shook his head and climbed out of bed. He quickly pulled off his black pajamas and yanked on his usual baggy green pants and black shirt. Then he grabbed his blue and black jacket off a coat rack by the door and pulled it on as well. Finally, he pulled on his large silver and black shoes and ran out the door.

Just as he reached the front door of his house, he heard his mother yell to him, “Aros, don’t forget to comb your hair! I don’t want you running around the island with that mess!”

Aros looked in a mirror to his left and combed his brown hair back with his hand. Satisfied, he sprinted out the door. He quickly ran down the road between the many houses on the island to the docks. Standing on the docks was his friend, Ukir, already ready to go. Ukir was several inches taller than Aros, and was also much more muscular, with tan skin and bright blue eyes. He had short, white hair that was spiked up in all but one spot, where a single clump fell over the middle of his right eye.

“Sleeping in today?” Ukir teased.

“Yeah, because getting up at sunrise is definitely sleeping in,” Aros replied with a laugh. The two of them walked over to a small grouping of trees by the water and dragged out their wooden canoe. Aros tossed a paddle to Ukir and they both climbed into the boat. Aros pushed off, and they began paddling towards their daily hang-out: a large tropical island off the coast of the mainland. The island was surrounded by white sandy beaches, and covered in palm trees and ferns.

After rowing a minute or two away from shore, Aros turned to Ukir and said, “Hey, I had this really weird dream last night. I had a sword, and I was fighting all these… monsters.”

“Really?” Ukir replied with no real interest. “Monsters?”

“Yeah, they were these black shadow creatures. I don’t know why, but it felt really real.”

“Real? Sounds like something straight out of a fantasy book. Maybe you do need some more sleep at night.”

They both laughed, Aros slightly less enthusiastically, and rowed in silence the rest of the way. It wasn't surprising that Ukir didn't care, Aros thought. He always acted very down to earth and sensible. Dreams about monsters weren't exactly what he'd consider interesting news.

When the canoe reached the wooden dock stretching off the small island, Ukir climbed out and tossed his paddle at Aros in the canoe. Aros caught it and set the two paddles under the seats of the canoe as Ukir tied it to the dock. The two of them then set off for their favorite place on the island: a small alcove filled with trees just past the beach.

As they reached it, Ukir turned to Aros and asked, “You ready?”

Aros grinned and said, “Sure, how ‘bout you?” Ukir just smiled and leaped behind a tall tree to Aros’ left. From behind it, he drew a short wooden sword. Aros dashed across the clearing and grabbed his own wooden sword from behind another tree. He turned just in time for Ukir’s first attack. They clashed swords and jumped back, both preparing their own attacks.

******
​

Two hours later, they both had tired of sword-fighting and had gone off to work on their own projects. Ukir was working on a bridge to the small island that sat just feet away from their own larger island, while Aros was busy working on he and Ukir’s personal hideout: a wooden treehouse that stretched nearly half the length of the island.

Three years ago, they had found the decaying remains of the treehouse on the island, almost completely broken down, except for a fancy door on the second level that wouldn’t open. Aros and Ukir had been working on repairing it, and finding a way to open the door, ever since. They originally had help from several other kids on the island, but all of them had since abandoned the project. Aros sighed as he watched three of the other boys, who were playing a ballgame nearby while a single girl stood watching.
For no real reason, he yelled out, “Hey, Luneth, Arc, Ingus, Refia! You wanna help out here? I could use some help nailing these boards in.”

Luneth, the leader of the group, was tall and slim, with a red vest over his dark tunic. His hair was mostly pulled back behind his head, but several silver locks fell in front of his eyes. Arc was shorter and had striking maroon hair, which fell to his eyes. He wore a heavy green coat over his white shirt. Ingus was the tallest and most fit of the group, with a mess of long golden hair and a red tunic. Refia was the only girl of the four, though Aros thought she was probably more masculine than Arc, and she had bright orange hair which hung down to her blue jacket and white shirt.

Luneth pushed back his long, silver bangs and said. “No, I'd rather not. Why, is it too hard for you?”

Aros spat and turned back to his work. That was just like Luneth. If Luneth hadn’t been there, he was willing to bet the other three would have agreed to help. But like good little friends, they turned back and continued to play ball. He should never have asked.

After Aros finished nailing in all the boards that made up the floor of the top section of the treehouse, Ukir climbed up the tall ladder to the top floor. “Hey,” he said gleefully, “You wanna go play ball with them?”

“Nah,”

“You still mad about them not helping with the treehouse?”

“Well yeah!” Aros said, growing louder. “They use it all the time and they never help build it! It’s not fair.”

Ukir laughed, “Yeah, I guess not. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore them all the time.”

“But… I guess.”

“C’mon,” Ukir said. Aros climbed to his feet and followed Ukir down the ladder and to the beach where Luneth and his friends were playing.

******
​

Aros and the others played for several hours before finally growing too exhausted to continue. Aros and Ukir said goodbye to Luneth and his friends, who untied their canoes and set off for the mainland. But Aros and Ukir sat on the end of dock and watched the others paddle home. Afterwards, they sat in silence, just watching the sun set. It was only after several minutes that one of them spoke.

"So..." Ukir began, "I found some cool things today on the beach."

"Really?" Aros said, still staring at the sunset.

"Yeah," he said. "Take a look." Ukir reached into his pocket and held out two silver necklaces, one of which was shaped like a crown, the other of which was not any specific shape, but fit into the crown's prongs."

"Those are... weird," Aros said with a laugh.

"Yeah, I guess. Here, you can have one."

"Really?" Aros asked. Ukir gave a nod, so Aros grabbed the crown-shaped one and pulled it around his neck. "Neat."

Ukir turned back and looked at the sunset again. "I wonder who left them there."

Aros thought for a minute, looking at the sun's reflection in the water, and responded, "...I dunno. Maybe the same person who put the door on our fort. These things look a bit worn, so they've probably been there for ages."

"Yeah, maybe."

"So Ukir... what do you suppose they are?"

"Probably good luck charms. Like friendship bracelets."

"You mean the ones that you're supposed to wear so you always remember each other?"

Ukir laughed, "Yeah, something like that."

"Well we don't need these. It's not like we'll ever forget each other! Unless you keep hitting me over the head with that sword of yours, that is!" Aros joked, punching Ukir in the shoulder.

Ukir just laughed, and the two returned to watching the sunset in silence.

******
​

As the sun was finally disappearing below the horizon, Aros and Ukir climbed in their canoe and headed home. Aros said goodbye to Ukir at the docks and jogged back to his home as the sun finally ducked behind the horizon. Just as he reached his house, he noticed a man in a black robe standing completely still in the middle of the dark street. Aros approached him, but the man didn’t budge.

“Hey, who are you?” Aros asked, slightly nervously. There were no other people outside, and the sky was growing darker with each passing second. “Hello? Do you need something?”

The man looked down at him and said in a gruff, quiet voice, “You understand nothing. This world… it will be… taken.”

“Taken? By who?”

“One who knows nothing, can understand nothing.”

But before Aros had a chance to ask any more questions, the cloaked man turned and walked off around the nearest house. Aros stood still for a moment and then chased after him. But as he rounded the corner, the man was gone.

Growing more and more nervous, Aros ran back to his house and slammed the door.

From upstairs, he heard his mom shout, “What’s got you in such a hurry?”

“Um… there was this… never mind.”

Aros ran up the steps and entered his room, slamming the door behind him. He looked out the window, but there was no sign of the cloaked man. He yanked shut all his blinds and turned off the light, going to bed in his clothes.

Aros sat for what must have been several hours, unable to even close his eyes. All activity outside had ended hours ago, so the town was left in eerie silence. The only noise Aros could hear was the ticking of a clock on his wall.

Every time he heard the wind creak his window, Aros practically jumped out of his bed in fright. Every shadow on the wall was the cloaked man, breaking into his room. And to add to his nervousness, he couldn’t help but remember the shadowy creatures from his dream the night before. He rolled over and pulled his pillow over his head.

Suddenly, there was a loud smack on his window. Followed by another. It sounded like something small and hard was hitting on the window. Aros crept quietly out of bed and carefully pulled the shades up, preparing at any moment for a shadow creature to burst through his window. But there was nothing outside the window.

Then, as Aros was turning to go back to bed, something struck at the window from below. Aros looked down and saw Luneth, Arc, Ingus, and Refia standing directly below his window holding stones. Luneth made eye contact with Aros and signaled for him to come down. Aros crept quietly out of his room and made his way downstairs and out the front door without waking his parents.

As he stepped outside, Luneth and his friends ran around to the front of the house.

“What do you want?” Aros asked. “It’s like ten at night.”

“Look,” Luneth said simply, pointing at the small island they had played on several hours ago. Dark clouds were swirling around it, and it seemed a funnel of blackness was slowly descending on it.

“Whoa!” Aros gasped.

“Yeah. But that’s not exactly why we're here. When I was in my room earlier, I actually saw Ukir grab your canoe and head into that storm.”

“He went into it?” Aros cried. He pushed past Luneth and sprinted down the street towards the docks.

“Where’re you going?” Arc yelled. “You’re nuts going into that kind of storm!”

“Yeah, but Ukir’s in there. I’m not going to let him get hurt!”

Aros grabbed Luneth’s canoe and dragged it to the water. He jumped in and began paddling furiously towards the island.

He could hear Luneth yelling behind him, “Idiot, get back here with our canoe! I hope you know water conducts electricity! You’re gonna get hit by lightning!”

Aros ignored him and continued paddling until he reached the island. Surprisingly, he didn’t see a single bolt of lightning during the entire trip. He jumped onto the docks and quickly sprinted across the island towards the only place he could think Ukir could be: their tree house.

As Aros climbed up the ladder to the treehouse, he couldn’t see anything unusual, but as he stepped onto the middle platform, he noticed the strange door was hanging open, but didn’t seem to lead anywhere. Aros yelled out for Ukir and then climbed back down to the beach

Back on the sand, Aros spun around frantically, trying to think where Ukir could be. Probably not the forest, and he couldn’t see him in their treehouse. He stared at his crown necklace for a moment. There was only one place left to look. Aros ran across the island to the small island Ukir was building a bridge to. At first he didn’t see anyone there, but as he looked closer, he could see a small black figure standing alone in the middle of the island.

Aros jumped across the half finished bridge and ran up to his friend yelling, “Ukir, what are you doing here?! Are you mad?!”

Ukir turned and faced him and said, “I’m here to guard the door. I… have to. Get out of here, Aros.”

“No! What are you talking about, let’s go! Quick, before something bad happens!”

As he spoke, the island began to shake, and Ukir took a step forward. Surrounded by plumes of black smoke, a shadowy figure slowly rose from the water on the other side of the island; it was the monster from Aros' dream. Ukir smiled at it and held out his hand. There was flash of light and a weapon appeared in his grip. It was a large key; similar to the one Aros had dreamed the boy on the stain-glass tower was holding. It had a silver handle, a long golden shaft, and a short gold keychain.

Ukir drew the weapon into a combat stance and ran at the beast. The creature swung its massive fist at him, but he dodged it effortlessly. He slashed out at the beast, and made contact with its arm. The creature drew its arm back and held up its chest, which had a heart-shaped hole in it. A glowing ball of light burst from the hole and shot at Ukir. He blocked it with his weapon, but failed to see the creature wind up for another punch. As he lowered his weapon, the beast’s fist connected with his exposed chest. Ukir was sent flying backward and crashed to the ground near Aros’ feet. His quick breathing was ragged, and a small drop of blood was trickling down his chin.

Aros knelt by his friend and yelled, “Ukir, c’mon run! We’ve got to get out of here!”

Ukir simply smiled weakly and held out his weapon to Aros, wiping the blood off his face with his other hand. “I… can’t go on now. But you… you have to protect the door. I-I didn’t know that opening it would cause all this. But it’s too late now. Don’t let the heartless reach it!”

“No, Ukir, c’mon! Get up, we can fight this thing!”

“Ha… sorry, but I don’t think I’m up for this one. Take my keyblade, and protect the door…”
Aros reached out and took the strange weapon from Ukir’s grasp. As he let go of the keyblade, Ukir’s eyes flickered close, and his arm fell limply to his side.

“NO!” Aros screamed, turning to face the shadow beast- a heartless, as Ukir had called it. “I will save you!”

The heartless pulled its fist back and punched at Aros. He dodged it and jumped onto the creature’s arm. Without thinking, he sprinted up its arm to its head. The beast tried to sweep Aros away with its other hand, but he leaped over the swipe and slashed with all his might at its gruesome head.

The blow connected, and the heartless fell back into the water, as Aros jumped off its shoulder back to the island. With a splash, it sank into the ocean, disappearing just like the creatures in his dream. Aros ignored this, however, and ran to his friend’s side. Ukir was lying motionless, with his usually vivid blue eyes staring blankly towards the sky.

Aros let out a low moan and mumbled, “No, no, not Ukir. It can’t be. We've both got... the charms... he needs...” And then Aros fell over his friend’s body, sobbing uncontrollably. He wept and wept and yelled as loud as he could.

It couldn't be real. It wasn't real! It was all a dream: another stupid dream about monsters and keys. He'd wake up any second now, back in his room, and he'd go to the island with Ukir again. They'd both laugh about the dream together. Aros grabbed his left arm and pinched it as hard as he could. A second passed, so he slugged himself hard in the ribcage, trying to wake up. He had to wake up. Tears were now streaming down his face. He punched himself again. It still wasn't working. But it couldn't be real, there was no way. Aros screamed and punched again. Then again. His chest was aching from the blows, and tears were now blurring his eyes.

He wasn't going to wake up.

Aros lowered his shaking arms and finally admitted to himself that it was all real. He briefly tried to compose himself, but he pitched over and began sobbing.

Minutes later, as he finally stood up to carry Ukir back to the canoe, the earth began to shake again. Aros wiped away his tears and saw the black clouds above descending on the island, right above the treehouse.

“The door!” Aros cried.

But it was too late.

The wind picked up, and darkness seemed to spread in the very air. A wave of blackness shot out from the beach, and Aros fell backwards onto Ukir’s body, sinking for a third time into darkness.

******
​

Ael grinned as the messenger disappeared into a pillar of darkness. He ran a hand through his short red hair and stood up straight, trying to think of a plan. He hadn't had an assassination order like this in a long time.

And, of course, he had never been ordered to kill one of his friends before. Well, more like an acquaintance, really. He didn't have any real friends, in the sense that little kids thought of them. He had no one that he would go to to explain his feelings, or to visit for holidays. He was an assassin, and you didn't do that sort of thing. But in Ael's mind, he was a friend, or at least the closest thing he had to one.

But even that didn't change anything. Orders were orders, and he had an order to kill, so that's what he'd do. Ael began to walk forward, but paused, thrusting his arms outward. In a flash of fire, a chakram appeared in each hand. He smiled cunningly and continued out of the alley.

 

[Evello]

For those of you who read the first two chapters of this story before Nov. 10, I'm sorry to say I changed a few things. After rereading those chapters for the millionth time, I decided that they weren't quite as powerful as they could have been. Most changes were just a few words, but one big change I made was the addition of the dock scene between Aros and Ukir. I suggest reading that portion, as it will play an important role in the rest of the story. And now, enjoy chapter three!
​

Chapter 3: Chance Meeting

​

Mickey always knew that the realm of darkness would be pretty dark, but he failed to anticipate exactly how dark it would be. As he slipped through the mirror, the negative image of the mouse disappeared, and he entered the darkest place he ever remembered being in.

Since he didn’t know exactly where he was, Mickey tried to wait for his eyes to adjust, but it was no use; the place was just too dark. He carefully took a step forward, and heard the soft clunk of shoe against tile. He jumped and took a step back; the realm of darkness wasn’t supposed to have a tile floor!

Mickey crouched down and ran his hand over the ground. It was indeed tile. He stood back up and took several steps forward. He was about to continue when he remembered his keyblade. He summoned it with a flash of light, which briefly allowed him a look at the room.

The room was fairly large; about the same size as the room he just left, and had tile floor and blank walls. There was a single door on the far side of the room. Mickey walked carefully over to the door, with his keyblade held in front of him for guidance. As he felt the wall, he found the handle of the door and pushed it as hard as he could. But it wouldn’t budge.

Mickey jumped back and held the Star Seeker in front of him. A jet of light shot out of the end of the star-shaped head and struck the door, which unlocked with a loud clunk. Mickey walked back to the door and pushed it open easily.

What he saw outside stunned him. He was on a high walkway outside of a tall battered castle. The walls were a worn tan color, and all around him on the walls and floor was rusted machinery, moving and clanking.

From his spot on the balcony, Mickey could see the sky overhead was a dull copper color, and a massive town sat below the castle. The homes were small and falling apart, and the only roads seemed to be tight alleys between the scattered houses. The entire city seemed deserted.

This wasn’t the realm of darkness, that was for sure. The realm of darkness was supposed to be covered in… well, darkness, and filled with nothing but monstrous heartless. But he couldn’t see any of those either. The whole place was completely devoid of life. Mickey decided that the only way he could figure out where he was was to explore a bit, so he began walking towards the nearest doorway on the balcony.

But before he could take ten steps, a pillar of darkness shot out of the ground in front of the door, and a hooded figure in a black coat stepped out of it. Mickey jumped back, and crouched in a fighting stance.

“Who are you?” Mickey asked.

The man in black smiled and laughed, “I should ask you the same. No one is allowed in the castle. And yet here you are.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Mickey said, standing up straight, “I’m not from around here. I didn’t know about-”

“But what I’m more interested in than your name,” the man interrupted, “is how you managed to get all the way up here without being spotted. That’s quite a feat, getting past that many guards unnoticed.”

“Well, actually, I didn’t-” Mickey began.

“Still, you lie? You can drop the act,” the man sneered, “I know you’re with the Organization. So if you don’t want to be tortured, just tell me how you got up here without being noticed. I might even let you go if you talk right now.”

“Honestly,” Mickey said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

The man sighed and looked Mickey directly in the eye. “Such a shame… you’re going to wish you’d talked.” With that, he reached behind his back and, with a puff of black smoke, pulled out two large arrowguns. He pointed them directly at Mickey and began firing the small pink arrows.

Mickey jumped back and summoned the Star Seeker. The hooded man gasped in awe and shouted, “A keyblade?!”

With a flurry of slashes, Mickey blocked the arrows and dove at the hooded man. The man dodged to right and unleashed another clip of arrows at Mickey. The king blocked them all, and knocked the last arrow back at the man. The hooded man ducked, but the arrow caught the top of his hood and yanked it off.

Mickey lowered his weapon as he took in the man’s features. He was pale with short hair, greased back. The sides of his hair were black, with a silver streak covering the top of his head. He wore an eyepatch over his right eye, and two scars formed a cross underneath the patch.

“Who are you?” Mickey asked again.

The man laughed, “My name is Giarb. But you can call me Death.”

Mickey and Giarb both raised their weapons to fight, but before they could another plume of darkness shot up behind Mickey. A second hooded man stepped out from the shadows. He was carrying two long blue lances.

“So glad you could make it, Nalid,” Giarb said sarcastically.

“I heard we had a rodent infestation,” Nalid said snidely. He turned to Mickey and examined him briefly. Then, without saying another word, he hurled the spear in his right hand at the king. Mickey jumped out of the way and slashed the spear in half with his keyblade. He was about to strike at Nalid, when a flurry of arrows shot at him from behind. He blocked them all, only to see another lance flying at him.

Mickey turned and ran for the edge of the balcony, knowing he was outmatched. He pulled himself up the side and jumped down, plummeting quickly towards the ground hundreds of feet below. He turned and stabbed his keyblade into the side of the castle, which was whizzing past him. His descent slowed, but he continued to fall much too quickly to survive.

As he neared a short wall near the foot of the castle, Mickey began to panic. There was no chance he’d survive the fall. But just then he noticed a rusty pipe below him, and an idea sprang into his head. Mickey pulled his keyblade out of the side of the castle and pushed off the castle as hard as he could with his feet. He caught the pipe with the teeth of his keyblade and swung up and around the pipe. After a spin and a half around the pipe, he pulled back his keyblade and launched himself onto the short wall just outside the castle.

With a thud, Mickey landed on his feet, jarred but otherwise unharmed. He jumped off the side of the wall to an abandoned vendor’s stand below, and then to the ground.

On the other side of the wall, he could hear Giarb screaming, “After him, heartless! I want that mouse’s head on a stake! And bring me his keyblade!”

Mickey gasped. How did Giarb reach the bottom of the castle so fast? Mickey must have jumped from a hundred stories up! Then he remembered the path of darkness that Giarb used when first stopped Mickey. He must have used one of them.

Mickey turned and fled into the maze of houses behind him, hoping to lose the swarm of heartless he knew was probably chasing him at that very moment.

******
​

After dashing through the tight alleyways for several minutes with no signs of heartless pursuit, Mickey stopped to rest. He leaned against the brick wall of a large ruined building with a cracked dome roof, and sent away his Star Seeker, slowly slumping against the wall.

When he had left the mirror room, he had hoped to learn where he was, but Giarb’s comments had left him with more questions than answers. What was the Organization? Why were heartless patrolling the castle? And just where was everyone in the town?

As if to answer his first question, a door around the corner of the building he was leaning against slammed open, and he could hear quick footsteps rounding the corner.

Mickey jumped to his feet and summoned his keyblade back, preparing for yet another fight, even though he had just caught his breath from his last encounter. But the man who walked around the corner was not Giarb, or Nalid. However, he was wearing a black coat, so Mickey didn’t let up his guard.

The man spotted Mickey, and quickly crouched into a defensive position, reaching behind his back. With a cloud of black smoke, the man pulled a out massive blue and white claymore. He flipped the blade between his hands, and finished gripping the blade backwards in his right hand. Mickey noticed that the hilt, cross-guard, and center of the blade of the claymore each had a blue spike on them, forming a four-pointed star.

“Who are you? State your name at once!” the man ordered.

“My name’s Mickey. Mickey Mouse.”

“Are you with the Organization, or Mesna?”

“Neither,” replied Mickey, wondering who those two were. “I just arrived here in town and got caught exploring the castle.”

The cloaked man slowly lowered his claymore and pulled back his hood. He had long blue hair that hung down to his shoulders, and had a scar that stretched from above his right eyebrow to his left cheek. His eyes were startlingly yellow.

“What are you doing here?” the man asked.

“I’m trying to find out what’s going on ‘round these parts,” Mickey said, glad to finally have a conversation without someone trying to kill him.

“You really aren’t from around here are you?”

Mickey nodded, eager to continue on with the conversation. “So who are you?” he asked.

The man laughed, “I’m not really sure I can tell you. But I can say that I’m no foe of yours. Any enemy of Mesna is a friend of mine.”

“Mesna? Who’s he?”

“He lives in the castle back there, and rules over this world. Or should I say, he oppresses this world.”

“So,” Mickey pondered, trying to piece together what he had seen and heard, “this Mensa is using the heartless to rule over this world. And that’s why no one is outside.”

“Exactly, the tyrant uses those monstrosities to silence all his opposition. He’s the one who’s really heartless.”

“So no one’s fightin’ him, then?” Mickey asked.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” the man corrected with a grin. “There is one group who still opposes him: The Organization.”

“Hey, a man who chased me accused me of being in the Organization when he found me in the castle.”

“Did he now? Did you happen to see the man’s face? I know Mesna’s servants tend to keep their hoods up.”

“Yep,” Mickey said happily. “He had silver and black hair. He said his name was Giarb. I also fought a man named Nalid.”

The man swore and mumbled, “He wasn’t supposed to be back yet,” but shook his head and continued on with the conversation. “I’m impressed you survived a fight with two of Mesna’s servants. That’s quite an accomplishment. But I’m curious, what exactly were you doing in that castle?”

“Well, I was… I can’t exactly say… sorry…” Mickey said, trying to come up with something to tell the man without talking about the mirror.

“I understand,” the man said, assuring Mickey. “Everyone has a few secrets. But I’m afraid this does complicate things a bit.”

“Complicate what?” Mickey asked, growing confused again.

Suddenly, the blue-haired man whirled around and looked back and forth down the alley. “Follow me!” he ordered urgently.

Mickey followed the man as he briskly jogged down the stone street and around the corner. He walked down another alley, made a right, and slowed a bit in the next alley. He turned to face Mickey, but seemed to take a second to organize his thoughts.

“The Organization could use someone like you,” he said. “Anyone who can fight off Mesna’s shadow servants is welcome in the Organization. But I’m afraid we can’t just let you in. I don’t think you’re hiding anything, but I have to be absolutely sure. We can’t afford any screw-ups now, when things are so dire.”

“Wait a second! You’re in the Organization?”

“Yes,” the man continued. “And you are now, like it or not, a part of this conflict too. I saw a man back there in a black cloak on a rooftop. He was following us, spying. He saw you with me, so now he has proof that you’re one of us. If you would like to survive until tomorrow, then run right now, and don’t stop running. Keep following these alleys until you reach a red wall on the far east side of the city. I need to meet with the rest of the Organization quickly, but I promise I’ll meet you there. Good luck, and don’t stop for anyone but me!”

With that, the man pulled up his hood and ran off down the alley in the direction opposite the one he that had shown Mickey. Mickey ran off to his right, spurred on by fear. The man that the Organization member had seen, was it one of the ones he had already fought? Or was it a new servant? Hopefully he didn’t have to find out.

Mickey rounded three corners without interruption, but as he rounded the fourth, he saw something in his path. It was a young boy lying on the ground. He ran up to the figure and examined it closely. He knew he was not supposed to stop running, but the boy was not wearing a cloak, so he probably didn’t work for Mesna.

The boy had spiky brown hair that hung down to his eyes, and was wearing baggy green pants and a blue jacket. He was also wearing a charm around his neck, which looked like a crown.

As Mickey leaned closer to the boy, his eyes began to slowly flicker open. Mickey took a step back and allowed the boy to regain consciousness. The boy looked around, dazed, for a moment before he truly seemed to recognize what was happening. His eyes then focused on Mickey, and he scuttled away towards the wall.

“Who- who are you?” he yelled “Where am I?!”

“Shhhh! They’ll hear you!”

“Who? Where am I?” the boy continued loudly. “What happened to my islands?!”

“I don’t know what happened to your islands, and I barely know where we are m’self, but I do know that we’ve got to be really quiet or some bad guys are gonna find us. And that wouldn’t be good for you or me.”

“Who are you?” the boy asked for a second time.

“I’m Mickey. How ‘bout you?”

“I- I’m Aros.”

“Alright Aros,” Mickey said, “you need to follow me real closely, and make sure you’re as quiet as possible or we’ll both be in trouble. People aren’t supposed to be out and about in this city.”

Aros climbed to his feet and agreed to follow Mickey. Mickey continued on his path towards the east side of the town with Aros right behind, and slipped through four more alleys before he ran into yet another problem. The fifth alley was swarming with heartless.

“Just stay back,” Mickey warned, summoning his Star Seeker. “I’ll handle these.”

“No,” Aros responded quickly. “I can fight too!”

Mickey looked at him quizzically, but Aros straightened up and held his hand just like Ukir had done, and the gold and silver keyblade appeared in his hand with a flash. Mickey nodded in surprise and turned to fight the heartless.

The two of them defeated the heartless quickly, and continued on through the maze of alleys, weapons still in hand.

“What are those things, those heartless?” Aros asked.

“They’re evil creatures,” Mickey explained as they ran, “that are formed from the darkness in people’s hearts. I don’t know much more than that, but I know they’re made when a person’s heart is corrupted by darkness.”

“Oh…” Aros said sadly. “They… they destroyed my home. And… my friend… he…he couldn’t fight them…”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Mickey said, wishing he could help the boy. But he knew that the only chance they had right now was to run. The Organization would probably help the boy. All they had to do was meet up with the blue-haired man.

Mickey rounded a corner and spotted a large wall down the road, covered in chipping red paint. He sprinted the rest of the alley, with Aros following closely. As they reached the end of the alley, they both scanned the length of the wall for any sign of the blue-haired man.

They found him, several feet away, lying on the ground with blood dripping from two small holes his chest.

“Hey!” Mickey shouted. “Are you alright?!”

The man slowly turned to look at Mickey and shouted, “Get away, it’s a trap!”

But before Mickey had time to turn away, he heard footsteps approaching him from behind. He turned to find a tall man with short red hair, wearing a black coat.

The man smiled at Mickey and said, “Nice of you to join us. I just heard about you a few minutes ago. How you jumped off the castle. Not bad for a mouse. And you have a keyblade too! However, I’m afraid every mouse has his cheese.” With that, the man held out his arms and cried at the top of his lungs. A large ring of flames encircled the four warriors, blocking off any escape.

“Leave him alone, Ael,” the blue-haired man growled. “He’s got nothing to do with the Organization. And neither does that boy!” he added, just noticing Aros.

“Oh they don’t?” Ael repeated with a laugh. “Then that mouse just wandered up to the one of the highest levels of the most heavily guarded castle in the world? Ha! Give me a break! Now, I’m feeling generous, so if one of you three tells me right now what you were doing in that castle, and where the Organization is, I might spare the boy. Or the mouse. Maybe both, I’m not telling. Got it memorized?”

“They don’t know!” the blue-haired man yelled.

“Even if they don’t,” Ael said with a smirk, “you do.” Ael held out his arms and two flaming chakrams appeared. “Now I’ll give you one last chance. Tell me right now what I need to know… or you all die.”

The blue-haired man pulled himself into a sitting position and looked at Mickey. “He’s too strong for you. But you must save this world from the heartless.” He held out a hand and a pillar of darkness appeared, just like the ones the hooded men used earlier. “Escape now through this Corridor of Darkness. And save the heart of the world it takes you to. Then help the Organization with this world!”

“That’s enough out of you and your stupid conspiracy theories!” Ael shouted throwing a chakram at the blue-haired man. Mickey grabbed Aros and dragged him through the portal as the spinning chakram struck the blue-haired man’s chest, finally ending his life.

“No one gets away with opposing Tronahex,” Ael spat. “Not even you, my friend.”

 

[Azrael]

It's a good ass fic. I want to see more update!

 

[Evello]

I'm glad you like it. I hope to be able to update twice a week, but that might be a tad unrealistic. I"m currently about 3/4 of the way through the next chapter. And get ready, here comes the Disney!!!

I've had to go back and watch a ton of movie clips to refresh my memory on the different stories I plan to include. I'm planning on probably 3 different Disney worlds appearing.

And if you haven't noticed yet, names are VERY important in this story, so keep your eyes peeled.

 

[Evello]

Chapter 4: You’ve Got a Friend in Me
​

Ael stepped out of the corridor of darkness and onto the stone castle floor with a slight hop. He walked directly down the hall and turned the wide corner to find several other men in black coats waiting for him.

“How kind of you all to come to congratulate me,” he said sarcastically to them as he walked by.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” the shortest one said. “We’re here to get orders from the king, but he refuses to talk to us until you tell him what happened down there.”

Ael approached a golden statue of a heart symbol on the wall and kneeled before it.

“I have completed my task, my king.”

A loud voice boomed from the statue, “Very good, Ael. I assume the target was eliminated?”

“Yes,” Ael replied. “And the body was disposed of, as you ordered.”

“And what of the mouse with the keyblade? Did you capture him?”

“No,” Ael said quietly. “He… escaped through a corridor of darkness that my target conjured.”

“So the mouse really was with the Organization,” the voice reasoned. “Very well, Ael, you have earned your stay in the castle. You may go to your chambers”

“Ahem,” Ael said, not moving from before the statue.

“What is it? Is there something else you need to report?”

“Um… no. It’s just that I was recently made aware that there is a bounty for the capture or killing of any members of the Organization. I’ve just dispatched a very high-ranking member of their order, so I feel I should receive the promised reward.”

“You shall receive what I offered you specifically, and no more,” the voice roared. “Now go now to your chambers! I will summon you when I have another task for you.”

“Yes, my king,” Ael mumbled, trying to hide the disappointment and fear in his voice. He scuttled back away from the statue, but did not leave the hall completely; he was still intrigued about what the king wanted to tell the others.

“Now, my friends, I have a mission for you,” the voice said. “I need you to find that blasted mouse and bring me his accursed keyblade. As long as he is with the Organization, there is no limit to the havoc they can wreak in my kingdom. You must find him as quickly as possible. Neve, Suelea, and Oznei, you shall each pick a world and take a troop of heartless with you. Do whatever is necessary to eliminate him. Now go!”

The three men he addressed stepped forward and bowed, “Yes, King Tronahex!”

******
​

For several seconds, Aros was lost in the swirling, disorienting grasp of darkness. He didn’t know whom he was, where he was, or what he was doing. Just that he was in darkness, deep and all-consuming darkness.

But then he felt a jolt and fell flat on his face, again aware of his surroundings. He was lying on hard black gravel, under a bright mid-day sun. Mickey was standing to his left. He pushed himself into a crouched position so he could survey their surroundings more.

Aros was in the middle of a small two-way suburban street, in a large subdivision. All around him were small homes surrounded by grassy lawns and concrete sidewalks. There were small cars in each driveway, and he could see several people walking through the neighborhood in the distance.

“Where are we?” Aros asked. “This doesn’t look like… a world in danger.”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think that man would have sent us to the wrong place.”

“So where exactly is the danger? All there is here is… houses. Normal houses. Like the ones on… my island…”

Mickey shuffled his feet awkwardly and took a step back, knowing that Aros was remembering some painful memories. Aros grabbed his crown necklace and stared deeply at it. He wondered where the other half was, where his islands were, and most of all where all his friends and family were. Did the heartless devour his world? Why had they come to the islands in the first place? Mickey said heartless were created from the darkness in people’s hearts… A tear rolled down Aros’ face, hanging on his chin. He couldn’t help but remember Ukir again. He would never forget their last night on the docks together.

“Is there something you’d like to talk about?” Mickey asked softly.

“No,” Aros said, wiping the tear away and trying to hide his choked voice. “I-I’m fine. Um.. h-how did you end up in that… that world back there? Before you found me.”

Mickey gave him a look of concern, but agreed to the change of subject, “I … found myself in the castle by accident and got chased out by some of Mesna’s servants. I met that blue-haired man and he explained what was going on to me and told me to meet him at the wall. Then I met you, and you know the rest.”

“What is the Organization? That man said he thought we were in the Organization.”

“They’re resisting Mesna, who’s a real bad leader. That red-haired man musta been another of Mesna’s servants.”

“So we need to defeat Mensa to save the world?” Aros pieced together

“Yup! We gotta help the Organization!”

“What about saving this world here? He said we need to do that too.”

“I don’t know what he wants us to do here. I bet he figured we’d look around and figure things out.”

“Where do you think we should start?” Aros asked, pulling himself to his feet.

“Well, I think we should ask some of the locals here. They’d know if there was any darkness around. I think we should start with that house right there. That man must have put us in front of it for a reason.”

Aros agreed, so they proceeded across the street to the front porch of the house. Mickey walked in front of Aros and was about to knock on the door, when Aros thought of something.

“Hey, Mickey. I, uh, think I should talk to the people.”

“Why’s that?” Mickey asked, holding his hand inches from the door.

“Because everyone we’ve seen so far is human. I don’t know if they’d be used to seeing a… well, a talking mouse.”

Mickey laughed and said, “Sure thing, good thinkin’. I’ll hide in those bushes around the side of the house. Give me a holler if you need me. Good luck.”

After Mickey had reached the bushes, Aros stepped forward and knocked lightly on the door. He sat for several seconds, his heart beginning to beat faster and faster. Maybe this place wasn’t as friendly as it seemed. And maybe there had been a mistake. He didn’t know why Mickey trusted the blue-haired man so much, but he wasn’t so convinced that he sent them to the right place.

Just as Aros was thinking of leaving, the door opened, and a tall, slim blonde woman stepped out. “Hello?”

“Oh, hi, I’m… uh, well I’m-” Aros stuttered.

“Oh,” she said. “Are you Andy’s tutor?”

“Y-Yeah,” he replied shakily. “I’m… uh, looking for Andy.”

“I’m sorry, but he’s gone to summer camp right now. He was supposed to tell you. He’ll be back tomorrow, if you can come back later.”

The lady’s ease when talking with strangers convinced Aros that there was no immediate danger in this suburb. But he wasn’t quite ready to quit investigating just yet.

“Actually, Andy was supposed to give something to me. Is there a chance I could pick it up right now?”

“Oh,” the lady said in surprise. “Then come on in. His room is right upstairs. Go ahead and grab whatever it is you need.”

Aros followed the lady inside and ran up the stairs along the right wall just inside the door. He stepped into the first room on the second floor, a rather large room with blue wallpaper covered in clouds, a large bed and desk, a wooden dresser, and many toys scattered about. He kneeled on the ground and tried to find any clues of heartless or the black-coated men, but found nothing you wouldn’t expect to find in a young boy’s bedroom. He stood up and pulled open the boy’s desk, taking out a blank sheet of paper that he could pretend he was looking for.

Aros turned around and was about to head back outside to meet Mickey when he noticed a small toy cowboy on the bed. The toy had long blue jeans and white cow-print vest over its yellow shirt. It seemed to be looking straight at him. As Aros met the toy’s eyes, its head fell back onto the bed. A tad frightened, Aros backed out of the room and ran down the stairs.

“I’ve got the paper I needed,” he shouted. “I’ll just let myself out.”

From the next room he heard Andy’s mother reply, “Thanks for stopping by, sorry Andy wasn’t around.” Then he heard her mutter to herself, “Oh, dear, I need to go pick up the meat for dinner tomorrow!”

Aros stepped out the front door and walked across the lawn to the side of the house where Mickey was hiding. He crouched in the bushes next to Mickey and held a finger to his lips, signaling Mickey to remain silent. They watched as the door opened again and Andy’s mother rushed out of the house and to the car, which she quickly drove down the street.

When the car was out of sight, Aros whispered, “I didn’t see anything unusual at first. It just looked like the inside of a normal house, and she was just a normal mom. But then I was in her son’s room, and a toy looked at me. I know it sounds crazy, but it looked right at me! And when I looked back, it turned away. I think the toy might have something to do with the world being in danger.”

“Golly, that sure is strange. But how are we going to find out? The people here don’t know they are in danger.”

Aros thought for a moment and then said, “She probably locked the house, but when I was inside, I saw an open window on the second floor. I’ll toss you up to it, and then you can let me in.”

“I don’t know if I feel right sneakin’ into someone’s house like this,” Mickey said, looking around anxiously.

“Remember what the man said, the fate of this world depends on us,” Aros reminded.

“I guess so,” Mickey agreed, though still slightly half-heartedly. “Where’s the window?”

Aros led Mickey around to the back of the house. He glanced to the adjacent houses briefly and lifted Mickey into his arms. With all his strength, he threw the mouse upwards. Mickey pushed off of his hands, and soared into the air, gripping the windowsill and pulling himself inside.

As Mickey ran through the house to let Aros in, Aros turned and looked into the next door neighbor’s yard. There was a teenage boy in the back holding several deranged toys over a barbecue. The boy had buzzed brown hair and a skull on his black t-shirt. Aros watched as the boy lit the barbecue and set a toy covered in oil on it, burning the toy in a pillar of flames.

Just then, the back door to the house swung open, and Mickey yelled, “C’mon Aros, we gotta hurry. Show me where the bedroom is.”

Aros looked away from the boy in disgust and headed inside. The door opened to a small kitchen directly behind the door he had entered before. He lead Mickey down the hallway and up the staircase to the second story. Aros gestured into the bedroom, and Mickey stepped inside first.

Mickey crossed the room and looked around the mess of toys. “Which toy was it?” he asked.

“That one,” Aros said, pointing at the cowboy next to the window. But… wait, it was there on the bed the last time I saw it. It moved!”

Mickey climbed up on the bed and examined the toy on the window. “Hey, are you alive?”

The toy did not respond.

Aros climbed up on the bed as well and said to the toy, “It’s okay, don’t be scared. We won’t hurt you.”

“Yeah,” Mickey said. “We’re here to help you. So if you can move, can you show us?”

Still no response.

“Come on!” Aros yelled. “We’re here to save your world from being devoured by heartless!”

Suddenly, the toy’s head moved to look at Aros. Mickey gasped and staggered backwards on the bed a bit.

The toy looked between them and said, “Are heartless… the shadows in the closet?”

“What was that?” Mickey asked, unable to hear its quiet voice. “You’ll have to speak up.”

“How’s this?” the toy asked inaudibly.

“Wait, I’ve got an idea!” Mickey cried, quickly searching through his pockets. “Here it is!” he said, drawing out a small vial of a pink fluid.

“Will that make him louder?” Aros asked.

“No, but it will make us smaller! Then we’ll be able to hear him.”

“What? Where’d you get that?”

“I found it another world,” Mickey said proudly. “There’s a whole bottle of this stuff in Wonderland.”

“Wait… you mean there are other worlds than this one, the castle, and my islands?”

“Yup, where I’m from there are tons of different worlds.”

“Where you’re from?” Aros asked. “Where exactly is that?”

“Well, I can’t really say. But I’m from a castle in a different world than any one you’ve been to.”

“Oh,” Aros said, slightly disappointed. “Well let’s take that potion before Andy’s mom gets back.”

Mickey gulped down half the vial and handed it to Aros. Aros watched in amazement as the mouse slowly grew smaller and smaller until he was less than a foot tall: the same size as the toy. Aros looked at the bottle uncertainly and chugged the remaining liquid. He felt a cold tingling in his stomach, and then the room around him began to spin and grow. Thinking ahead, he jumped onto the bed (no easy feat when you’re about two feet tall).

As the transformation finished, Mickey scrambled up the bed next to him. The cowboy toy jumped off the windowsill and walked over to the two of them, examining them.

“Well hello, there,” Mickey said happily. “Now we can talk to you.”

The toy remained slightly reserved for a moment more, but then asked, “Are the shadow creatures in the closet called Heartless?”

“I don’t know, but something tells me they may be,” Mickey answered, happy to finally hear the toy’s voice. “So what’s your name?”

“I’m Woody,” it answered. “I’m one of Andy’s toys.”

“Well hello Woody, I’m Mickey Mouse. And this is Aros.”

Woody looked at them both, and analyzed them for a second. Then he held his hands up to his mouth and whistled loudly. “Come on out, guys!”

All across the room, toys began climbing out of drawers and from chests. They swarmed across the floor and climbed up the bed, circling Aros and Mickey. All the toys were whispering, wondering about the strange newcomers. There were army men, a dinosaur, a piggy bank, a slinky dog, a pair of binoculars, and a Mr. Potatoe head, among other things.

“Hey, guys, we’ve got two new friends here. This is Mickey and Aros,” Woody said, pointing to them in turn. “They’re going to help us with the shadows in the closet.”

A loud cheer echoed through the small crowd, and the toys swarmed Aros and Mickey, pressing in and yelling questions from all sides.

“What are the shadows?”

“Where are you from?”

“What kind of toys are you?”

Over the roar, Aros tried his best to answer the questions, “Those things are called heartlesss and are made from the darkness in a heart. We’re from… well from the, uh, human world. We aren’t toys.”

The barrage of questions continued for several more minutes, until a loud whistle rang above the roar of the crowd. All the toys stopped and stared at Woody, who was looking down the hallway with several plastic army men.

Woody yelled, “Andy’s mom is coming up the stairs right now! Everyone hide!” The toys scattered, quickly leaping off the bed and returning to their spots in drawers. Aros and Mickey sat confused on the bed, not knowing exactly what to do.

“Get under the bed!” Woody shouted.

Aros and Mickey slid off the bed and ran into the back of the dark underside of the bed, against the wall. They watched the ankles of the woman as she entered the room carrying a small box, which she set on the bed, and then left the room. Aros heard her mumble as she left, “I hope Andy is excited when he sees that when he gets home later.”

Aros looked at Mickey and they carefully crept out from under the bed and climbed up the sheets to the top of the bed. Woody was already there, holding on to the edge of the bed, and staring at a lone figure in the middle of the bed beside a white box.

It seemed to be a man in a white and green plastic suit. The suit covered him from shoulder to toe, and his head was covered in a glass dome. On his back were two wings folded into a pack on the back of his suit.

The man turned around to survey the room. He had several buttons across his green chest plate and a small control pad on his right arm. In the center of his chest was a Space Ranger badge, and to the side was the word Lightyear.

The man touched one of the buttons and his chest and spoke, “Buzz Lightyear to Star Command, come in Star Command. Star Command come in, do you read me? Why don’t they answer?” At that moment, the man, supposedly named Buzz, spotted the broken box on the bed and let out a cry, running over to it. He grabbed the box, turning it around so the three people hanging on the bed could see it. The cardboard box was shaped like a blue space ship, but one of its wings was ripped.

“Blast, this’ll take weeks to repair.” He pulled up a plastic flap on his wrist and spoke into it, “Buzz Lightyear Mission Log, Star Date 4072. My ship has run off course on route to Sector 12. I’ve crash-landed on a strange planet. The impact must have awoken me from hyper-sleep.” The man hopped up and down on the bed. “The terrain seems a bit… unstable. No readout yet if the air is breathable. And there seems to be no sign of intelligent life anywhere.”

Aros turned to Mickey, “Is he crazy?”

Woody climbed up and stepped in front of the man and shouted, “Hello!”

The man leaped back in surprise and pressed a button on his right wrist, aiming a laser pointer at Woody’s forehead.

“I’m sorry,” Woody explained. “Did I scare you? ‘Cause really, I didn’t try to. It’s just that, there’s been a bit of a mix-up. You see, this bed here, this is my spot. And you’re kind of…”

The man spotted the sheriff badge on Woody’s chest and straightened up to say, “Oh good, local law enforcement. It’s about time you showed up. I’m Buzz Lightyear, space ranger. Universe Protection Unit. My ship has crash landed here by mistake.”

******
​

Oznei spat on the ground as he stepped out of the corridor of darkness. He pulled off his black hood and shook up his long black hair, pulling it back behind his ears. Several bangs fell forward anyway, but he continued to walk forward without noticing.

He walked across the street and crossed the yard nearest to him. He could sense a powerful darkness behind the house. As he entered the back yard, he saw a teenage boy wearing a black skull shirt and playing with several twisted toys made from pieces of several different dolls. Oznei could smell darkness on him from across the lawn. He approached the boy, but waited for the boy to notice him to say anything.

The boy eventually turned to look at Oznei, who whispered, “Hello there. I am looking for someone, do you think you could help me?”

The boy gave him an odd look but replied, “Sure, what can I do to help?”

Oznei laughed, “There’s a couple things you could do. For starters, you could submit to the darkness in your heart. That would make things much easier.”

“The… darkness… in my…”

“Yes,” Oznei said, grinning wickedly. “Look around at what you have done here. Darkness is corrupting your heart as we speak. Soon, destroying toys won’t be enough for you. Soon it will be people. And then…entire worlds! You’ll become the very darkness you submit to; you’ll become a heartless.”

“What are you talking about?” the boy said, backing away.

“Do as I say and you can control the darkness, channel it! Unlimited power will be yours. You can rule this world, and any other you like.”

“I’m just, having fun,” he said nervously. “Just… fun…”

Oznei nodded, “But imagine the ‘fun’ you could have with the powers of darkness. These toys, no one believes you when you say that they’re alive. But you and I both know it’s true. They’re watching us, even now. If you accept my help, you can be rid of them forever. And no one will ever question your sanity again.”

The boy stepped forward, a hungry look appearing in his eyes. “Prove it,” he said skeptically.

Oznei smiled and held his arms out to the sides. Immediately, dark images of toys swirled around the boy, disappearing into clouds of darkness just as soon as they had appeared.

The boy smiled and said, “Show me how to do that!”

Oznei held out his hand and answered, “I already have.”

Dark flames leapt up from the ground and engulfed the boy. He tried to cry out, but his cry was muffled by the darkness. When the darkness faded, the boy was standing straight up, an aura of black flames surrounding him. His eyes were a dark shade of amber, and his mouth was curled into a cruel smile.

“I feel… powerful!” the boy cried.

“That’s more like it!” Oznei laughed.

 

[Coldman9]

Wow, this is good man, I'm looking foward to the rest.

 

[Evello]

Hey, I just noticed that I misspelled a characters name a bunch of times. The ruler of the castle two chapters ago is Mesna, not Mensa. I'm pretty sure you can figure out why. Also, I have final exams next week, so my next chapter might not be up until next Wednesday-ish. Then again, I have no homework except studying, so I might actually make more progress. Anyway, enjoy.


​

Chapter 5: Beyond Infinity

​

Aros turned away from watching Buzz and Woody and muttered to Mickey, “Yup, he’s definitely crazy.”

Mickey laughed and replied, “I don’t think he’s crazy, but he is sorta funny. I wonder if he’s from another world like us?” As he spoke, a large group of toys crawled up the bed sheets beside Aros to take a look at the newcomer.

Back on the bed Woody said agitatedly, “Yeah, there has been a mistake. ‘Cause, like I said, this bed here, it’s my spot. I’m Woody, Andy’s favorite toy. And you’re…”

Not paying any attention to Woody, Buzz walked across the bed and looked under his cardboard ship. “Sheriff, I believe I may have run out of fuel. Does this planet still use fossil fuels?” Suddenly, spotting something behind Woody, Buzz cried out and leaped forward, tackling Woody to the ground and aiming his laser pointer towards Aros, Mickey, and the rest of the toys. “Show yourself!”

Aros slowly climbed up onto the bed with his hands held up, and the rest of the crowd quickly followed suit.

“Do you know them?” Buzz asked Woody, whom he was lying on.

“Yes, they’re my friends,” Woody said angrily.

“Well, then,” Buzz cried happily, leaping to his feet. “It’s good to meet you all. I’m Buzz Lightyear, space ranger.”

Mickey happily strode forward and shook his hand, “I’m Mickey. Mickey Mouse. This is my friend, Aros. We’re new here too.”

After a few more individual introductions, the whole group of toys surrounded Buzz and marveled at his strange suit.

“What is that?” a dog with a slinky for an abdomen asked, pointing his black nose at Buzz’s laser pointer.

“This is a high-powered laser beam. It can blast a hole through a ten foot-thick cement wall. It’s very dangerous.”

The crowd gasped and a Bo-Peep doll asked, “What is that thing on your back?”

Buzz turned around and showed the crowd his backpack. “This peripheral pack contains several crystallic thrusters and…” Buzz reached to his chest and pressed a blue button, causing two wings to spring from the pack, “…wings, so I can fly!”

Woody pushed through the crowd and cried, “You can’t fly, you’re just a toy!”

“I can too fly,” Buzz replied, challenging Woody.

“Can’t.”

“Can.”

Can’t.”

“Can.”

“Fine, then prove it!”

Buzz looked Woody in the eyes for a moment before accepting, “I’ll demonstrate.”

Buzz moved through the crowd to the corner of the bed, where he climbed onto the wooden frame of the bed. He looked one last time at the toys and then surveyed the room before him.

He held out his arms and yelled, “To infinity, and beyond!”

Woody laughed and pointed as Buzz leaped off the bed, and plunged towards the ground below. But the ranger landed on a small car on a plastic ramp, which he rode down, through a loop, and which launched him several feet in the air. He plummeted down and landed on a large ball, which bounced him back into the air again. Buzz landed softly on the round handle of the closet across the room, and turned to wave at the crowd on the bed. The toys erupted in applause.

“What a show-off,” Woody murmured.

Buzz was about to jump down, when his foot slipped on the handle. The handle spun sideways, and Buzz began running in place to stay atop the handle. To make things worse, the closet door began to slowly swing forward. Buzz looked determinedly around and sprung off the closet handle and landed on another large rubber ball below. He pushed off the ball and launched up to the ceiling, where he grabbed a small string dangling from a circular fan. As his weight pulled the string down, the fan began to spin, and the centrifugal force of the rotation hurled him down to the bed.

Buzz landed solidly on the covers, with arms outstretched, to tumultuous applause. He pointed at Woody and said proudly, “Can fly.”

“That wasn’t flying,” Woody muttered as the crowd circled Buzz. “That was falling… with style.” As he noticed that the crowd was ignoring him, Woody turned and walked to the edge of the bed. He was about to jump off when he noticed a black mist seeping from the closet.

“Oh no!” he screamed. “You opened the closet! Here come the shadows, I mean, the heartless!”
Mickey and Aros ran out of the crowd and leaped off the bed. As they landed, they both summoned their keyblades. Buzz jumped off the bed with them, raising his laser beam toward the approaching heartless.

“Don’t worry, Woody!” Aros said preparing for combat. “We’ll handle the heartless. You just find a way to get that door shut.”

Woody nodded and ran over to the other toys on the bed to make a plan. Aros and Mickey met the heartless halfway across the floor, and began cutting quickly through the wave of black creatures. Aros was almost through the first group of heartless when he heard a cry from behind him. Buzz was backed up against the bed, pointing his laser at the forehead of a single heartless. Aros sprinted over and slashed the heartless, which dissolved in black smoke.

“Thank you,” Buzz gasped. “They seem to have protective shields; my lasers can’t harm them.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Aros said, eager to rejoin Mickey in the fight. “Just… uh… help Woody get the closet shut.”

Buzz turned and climbed back up the bed as Aros returned to the center of room. As he neared Mickey, he spotted another wave of heartless approaching. But these were different than any heartless Aros had seen before. They were slightly humanoid, with silver helmets and a heart symbol on their blue chests.

“What are those things?” Aros asked.

“Must be a new type of heartless. They look stronger.”

Aros turned and yelled up to the bed, “Hey, any time now would be nice. I don’t know how many more of these things we can fight off.”

From the bed, Woody shouted, “Alright, we’re ready to go.” He was holding onto the end of the brown slinky dog, which was stretched all the way across the bed. He gave one last tug and jumped in the air, causing the dog’s rear to fling him forward and across the room. Woody hung in the air for several seconds, and then tried to twist and hit the door shut with a kick. But he missed slightly and hit the side of the door hinged to the wall, barely causing the door to move. With a thud, he dropped to the floor below the door.

“Woody!” Aros yelled, cutting through the line of heartless to reach his friend. Woody sprung to his feet and dashed out of the way of two heartless emerging from the closet, which tried to tackle him. He and Aros met in the middle of the swarm of heartless and were soon joined by Mickey.

Mickey yelled up to the bed, “C’mon, we need somebody else to get the door shut!”

Buzz yelled back heroically, “I’ll do it!” As Aros and Mickey fended off several more heartless, Buzz drew back the dog’s rear again (with no small amount of complaining from the dog), and jumped in the air, spreading his wings. “To infinity, and beyond!” he cried as he flew through the air towards the closet. With a well-placed kick, he pushed the door to the brink of closing. As he landed on the ground, he gave it one last smack, and the door closed completely.

“Yes, we did it!” Aros yelled as he slashed through the head of the final heartless.

“Yeah, we all did great,” Mickey said with a smile. But Woody gave one angry glare at Buzz and briskly strode off towards the bed.

Buzz's eyes followed Woody for a moment, but he quickly forgot him and joined the crowd of excited toys running across the floor.

“Hey, where did you get those keys?” a large green dinosaur asked excitedly. “I bet Buzz here could do some damage with one of those.”

“Yeah,” a pink piggy bank said, “I mean, he can fly!”

“I don't think there are any on this world,” Mickey said. “They're kinda special.”

“Bah...I'll find one eventually,” Buzz said. “After all, I've visited two hundred and twenty-six different planets.”

“Really?” Mickey gasped in surprise. “Did you use a gummi ship?”

“A... gummi... ship?” He said slowly. “What's that? I used my spaceshuttle to protect the worlds.”

Aros stifled a laugh. He whispered to Mickey, “I think he's just a space hero toy; he hasn't actually been to other worlds.”

Mickey laughed as well, as Buzz launched into a story about how he saved the planet Htrae from alien monsters.

******
​

Oznei stormed up the steps into the boy's room. Inside, the black-shirted boy was tinkering with a small rocket on his desk. “What do you think you're doing?” Oznei demanded.

“I'm preparing to get revenge on those toys,” he replied without looking up.

“You don't have time for that now! Follow me, we have real work to do.”

The boy turned around and glared at Oznei, “You promised me I'd be able to destroy the toys. Now stop interrupting my work.”

“See here, boy-” Oznei began.

“My name is Sid, not boy.”

“I'm sorry, Sid, but if you keep acting like a rebellious child, then all our plans might fall apart. The Keyblade Masters are here!”

“Wait,” Sid said with a wicked grin, “our plans? I'm pretty sure that they're just your plans. Now that you've given me these awesome new powers, I've got real work to do.”

“You bratty little-”

“Why are you still here?” Sid asked angrily. “Get out of my house.”

“...You will rue the day you spurned my help,” Oznei growled.

“I'll call the cops,” Sid said defensively.

“Cops?” Oznei laughed. “You'll have to do better than that. When I get back, you had better be working on getting rid of those Keyblade Masters, or it's heartless time for you.” Oznei stepped back, and a corridor of darkness appeared around him, whisking him back to his master's castle.

******
​

A giant black heartless leaned over Ukir's limp body and was about to grasp it, when Aros cried out. Aros sprinted forward, but no matter how quickly he ran, he seemed to be getting farther and farther away.

Aros bolted awake, looking around the small, dark room. He sat up and rubbed his back, which ached from lying the hard, carpeted floor. Even after his long and painful day he had taken ages to get to sleep. And after that nightmare, he wasn't sure he wanted to sleep any more.

Aros groaned and stood up, looking around the room at all the sleeping toys. He climbed up the side of the bed, glancing briefly at Woody sleeping on the bed, and then jumped to the desk beside the bed. He crossed the desk and looked out the open window to the sky. The full moon was out, and the lights of the neighborhood only slightly masked the bright stars.

He sat down slowly on the windowsill, still staring up. One of those stars was probably his world, if it was still there anymore. He wondered what happened to his family when the heartless came to the islands. He wondered what happened to Ukir's family. And he wondered, strangely, what happened to Luneth and his friends. Aros pulled his knees up to his chest as he felt a tear rolling down his cheek.

What was he even doing here? His friends and family were gone, and he would never see his home again. What was the point in fighting? In trying? There was nothing he could do to save any of the people he loved.

The soft sound of footsteps crossing the wooden desk pulled Aros from his thoughts. Mickey walked up beside Aros and looked at the stars, whispering, “Couldn't sleep?”

“Yeah,” Aros choked out.

Mickey sat in silence for a minute and then commented, “The stars sure are bright here.”

“Mhm,” Aros mumbled. The two didn't say anything for a while, but eventually, Aros asked, “Mickey, what happens when the heartless take over a world?”

Mickey looked Aros straight in the eye and said simply, “They devour the world's heart. The heartless are made from hearts corrupted by darkness, so theylook for other hearts to join them. Every world has a heart, and the heartless are lookin' for those hearts because they're so powerful.”

Aros put his head on his knees and mumbled, “Then that's why Ukir wanted me to protect the door. It must have been the door to the worlds heart... He only asked me that one thing, and I failed. I guess that's what I am: a failure.”

“Now, now,” Mickey said, trying to get Aros to lighten up. “You're not a failure. What your friend asked of you was very hard. You shouldn't bring yourself down like that.”

“Does it even matter?” Aros moaned, finally expressing his restrained emotions. “Because of me, Ukir's gone, and so is my world.” Hoping for Mickey to agree with him, he continued, “You can't get a world back from darkness, can you?”

“I don't know,” Mickey replied softly. “But I bet if we defeat the heartless, we'll find a way for your world to return from the darkness.”

“What about people? Can we bring them back too?” he asked glumly, already predicting Mickey's response.

“I... I don't know,” the mouse said. “Did your friend become a heartless?”

“No. A heartless attacked him and... now he's gone.”

“Then I don't know...”

“It's ok, I get it,” Aros murmured. “Ukir's gone. But now what? Why are we here? How are we supposed to save this world? And why does it even matter?”

“Why does it matter?” Mickey asked in surprise. “It matters because there are people here who are in real danger. No one should ever have to go through what you're going through! I'm going to make sure it never happens again. And you should to.”

“Yeah,” Aros agreed, lowering his legs out the window. “It's just... how do we stop the heartless? No matter how many we kill, more keep coming.”

“That's why we have these,” Mickey said, summoning his keyblade. “The heartless are trying to enter the door to the world's heart, so we've gotta lock it.”

Aros summoned his gold and silver keyblade and examined it, remembering when Ukir first gave it to him. He silently thought to himself, “Ukir tasked me with protecting our world, and I won't rest until it is safe.”

 

[Shadow-Love]

Cool, Toy Story. You used it well and Aros and Mickey are getting along well.

 

[Evello]

Cool, Toy Story. You used it well and Aros and Mickey are getting along well.

Thanks, this Toy Story section just keeps getting bigger. It may take another chapter or two to get to the next world. I'm not planning for the other Disney worlds to be this expansive.

By the way, I just noticed that there is an D Aros in the KHInferno. I honestly have no clue what the RPG is, how it works, or what the storyline is, but I just thought I'd mention that the Aros in my story is in no way related to him. But it is odd that that character's name is D Aros and my character is Aros in Kingdom Hearts D. What a coincidence! (I wonder how we both got the name Aros... /sarcasm)

Also, for the record, I came up with the concept for this story before I saw any information on Mickey's part in KH:coded. And BbS, obviously, hasn't been released yet, so my story will not necessarily agree with the plots of those, or any future games. But it should fit with KH1, CoM, KH2, and Days.

Oh, and I thought I'd mention that I just finished writing the ten Mesna Reports. One of them should be appearing fairly soon, but the rest aren't going to show up for a while. Also, I'm about 1/3 through the next chapter.

 

[Azrael]

Woo! Buzz Lightyear! It's about fucking time some had Buzz in a KH fan fic.

 

[Aria]

I like this so far, I'm only on chapter 3 though, I kinda got tired of reading the computer screen. I'll read the chapters probably tomorrow, keep posting this is really good!

 

[khfreak17]

this is a really good fanfic. i like the names you come up with

 

[Annoyance]

King Mickey stood up from the chair behind his desk and gasped in horror as the messenger finished speaking.

Really choppy. It's just odd. The way you word it, I imagine Mickey getting up calmly, then gasping.
No emotion, etc.

“They’re gone?!” he cried in disbelief. (1) “How can that be, Chip?!”

“I’m (2) don’t know, but that’s what our gummi probe reported,” the small chipmunk replied. (3)

“But I was just at Beast’s Castle the other day. It was fine then. And there have never been any problems in the Land of Dragons or in the Pride Lands. How could they disappear?” (4)

(1) Comma instead of a period.
(2) I.
(3) No emotion for this situation bugs me.
(4) Something about this bugs me but I can't exactly put my finger on it. Nearly out of character? Unnatural? I'm unsure.

“…by darkness? But that means… the heartless must have…” (1)

“The heartless must have reached those worlds and devoured their hearts. (2) And if that’s true, all the worlds are in danger,” Mickey said, pulling out a piece of paper and writing furiously (3) on it. He rolled up the paper and walked across the room towards the exit.

“What are you going to do?” Chip asked, still standing on the desk. (4)

(1) No emotion. Mickey is pretty much stone throughout the whole thing. No eyes, no frown, nothing. Now, this is kind of a big thing since you know, Mickey came from cartoons where the comedy and drama was built upon his expressions and reactions to things. You'd think he'd show a bit more emotion, right?
(2) Again, no emotion even though it's a perfect opportunity to show it.
(3) Not the word I'd use in this situation.
(4) ... he was standing on the desk the whole time? If you say "still" it would mean that you would have to say so before this statement. We don't know where he is. Either omit or add a sentence above.

Mickey stopped and stared at the floor for a moment, and then held out his white-gloved (1) hand. There was a bright flash and a keyblade appeared in his palm: the Star Seeker. Chip stared in awe at the sleek blue weapon and its golden [COMMA] star-shaped head.

“I haven’t used this in almost (2) ten years, but I’ll do what needs to be done (3) to protect the worlds,” Mickey said determinedly.

(1) There would be a comma. Not a hyphen.
(2) Nearly.
(3) Not only choppy but cliché and just sounds dumb. "but this needs to be done." would probably work better.

Mickey proceeded through the door before him (1) into the white corridor of Disney Castle. He looked off a balcony for a moment towards the gummi hangar in the courtyard, but decided he would try a different route. (2)

...

“Put this on my desk for them,” Mickey said, handing the paper to Chip. (3)

“But-” Chip said nervously. (4)

(1) Just say Chip and say that Chip followed him into the corridor.
(2) Kind of irrelevant and useless.
(3) Emotionless AGAIN.

“Just do it!” Mickey said. (1) As Chip returned to the library, Mickey turned and ran down the remainder of the corridor. (2) He pushed open the small door that stood at the foot of the larger door to the throne room. He (3) dashed along the red carpet to the front of the room and snapped his fingers in front of the golden throne. With a flash, the platform that the throne was standing on began to move to the side. Underneath it was (4) a staircase leading down a long tunnel. Mickey ran down the stairs into the dark room below while the platform closed above him again.

(1) Emotion can be seen in the dialogue but not in the description. Interrupted, blasted, etc. Plus this is kind of out of character.
(2) Sounds awkward.
(3) Repetition.
(4) omit.

Inside the room was a bright ball of light resting on a marble platform. And (1) behind it [comma] stood a mirror that reached (2) all the way to the [high] ceiling of the room. Mickey approached it and stared deep into the reflective glass. In the mirror was a negative image of himself; the (3) mouse in the mirror (4) had white ears and a black face.

(1) omit.
(2) reaching
(3) a
(4) instead, use "that" or "with". I say go with "with".

Mickey paused for a moment and whispered, “Golly, I hope this works,” and then reached to touch (1) the mirror. But where his hand should have met glass, it continued on through (2) the mirror and into the negative world.

(1) add 'out' in there.
(2) awkward.

Chip placed the letter on the desk, and turned away from it. He tried not to think about what it said. He (1) jumped off the desk and stared at Mickey’s dog, Pluto, sitting (2) in his bed, trying to distract himself (3). It didn’t work.

The letter probably explained everything. He wondered why the King wanted Donald and Goofy. What was going on? Why were the heartless suddenly appearing? He stopped and slowly turned around to face the desk again. He (4) climbed up and reached out for the envelope, but just as he was about to grab it, Pluto leapt onto the desk. The dog grabbed the letter in his slobbery mouth and jumped off the desk, running out of the room. Chip yelled out, and chased the dog out the door and down the corridor.

(1) Repetition.
(2) Wasn't Pluto sleeping? Put sleeping.
(3) Pluto's distracting himself or Chip is?
(4) Must fix this. Don't start two sentences the same. Just looks dumb.

That's it. D: I'm done. Yaaaay.

 

[Evello]

Thanks for the critique, Annoyance. I think I've made all the changes you've suggested.

this is a really good fanfic. i like the names you come up with

Actually, I haven't come up with a single name in this story yet. Take a look at how the name Aros relates to Sora. Then check out other names like Giarb, Nalid, and Mesna.

Oh, and unfortunately I haven't made much progress with the next chapter. I've spent so much time reading and critiquing other stories that I haven't had much time to work on my own.

 

[khfreak17]

I didn't know that you did that with the names. to tell the truth, im not very observant and it takes a while for things to process in my brain. (the result of being a video-game addicted blonde)

 

[Coldman9]

This is looking good Ragnell. I anticipate another chapter soon.

 

[Evello]

I finally got a new chapter up! By the way, if you haven't noticed yet, this story is still missing one very important element of Kingdom Hearts. But I'll remedy that next chapter.

​

Chapter 6: Next Door Nightmares
​

Woody slowly opened his eyes and glanced around the room. All the other toys were still asleep. They must have been up late last night listening to all of Buzz's bragging, Woody figured. As he stood up he saw a single figure wandering the room, trying to use the control panel on his wrist. It was Buzz.

Buzz pressed one of the buttons on his chest, and Woody could hear a loud, “Buzz Lightyear to the rescue!” Woody reached back and pulled the loop on the string attached to his back. A garbled, “Yeeehah! Giddy up partner,” rang out from inside him.

With a groan, Woody remembered that Andy was coming home today. He knew that once Andy saw Buzz, he would forget Woody, just like everyone else did. He hated that everyone thought Buzz was so much cooler than him. What was so special about a space ranger? What did he have that Woody didn't?

Woody's frown slowly curled into a cruel smile as he came up with a plan. Buzz couldn't steal Woody's spot if Andy never found him. He ran over to the edge of the bed and yelled down, “Buzz! Buzz Lightyear! Thank goodness, I've found you! There's a toy; a toy's in trouble!”

Puffing his chest out Buzz cried, “Where, sheriff?”

Woody beckoned Buzz up onto the bed, and over to the desk. “Right down there,” Woody said, pointing down a large crack between the desk and the wall. As Buzz knelt down looked down the wide crack for the toy, Woody slowly backed away. He grabbed the top of a red lamp and swiveled its head around to hit Buzz down the crack. As the lamp was swinging, Buzz stood up and turned around, causing the lamp to knock him out the window rather than down the crack. Buzz let out a yell as he fell into the bushes below, and Woody rushed over to look out the window.

Behind Woody, several toys were woken by the scream. Mr. Potato Head, Rex the dinosaur, Slinky, and Bo Peep climbed up onto the desk and looked out the window.

“Is that Buzz?” Rex asked, his scaly mouth hanging open.

“Well... you see,” Woody stammered. “It was an accident...”

“An accident?” Mr. Potato Head asked, skeptically. “He wouldn't just fall out a window. It was homicide! You couldn't stand Buzz being cooler than you, could you? So you decided to push him out a window!”

“Is it true?” Rex asked in horror.

“No, no, no... of course not. I mean, me... push Buzz out a window? I would never... Buzz and I are best friends!” Woody stuttered as the toys surrounded him and slowly backed him up to the corner of the windowsill.

“I say we throw Woody out the window!” Mr. Potato Head yelled. “See how he likes it!”

“No,” Woody pleaded, covering his face with his hands. “You don't understand!”

“What's going on?” Aros asked, climbing up onto the desk with Mickey.

“He pushed Buzz out a window!” Mr. Potato Head accused, pointing his white plastic hand at Woody.

“No really, guys, you know me,” Woody cried. “I would never do something like that. Me and Buzz were... uh, looking out the window, and... he...”

“He what?” Mr. Potato Head asked angrily. “Got knocked out by a bunch of flying monkeys?”

“Of course not!” Woody explained. “He just... uh-”

But before he could continue with his excuse, Bo Peep cried out from the window, “Look, Sid's coming into the yard! He's taking Buzz!”

Everyone rushed over to the window and watched as the black-shirted boy Aros had seen before walked over to the bushes and picked up Buzz, cackling maniacally.

“I know just what to do to you!” the boy said, running back to his house with Buzz in hand.

“We've got to rescue him,” Rex yelled.

“Who's that?” Mickey asked.

“It's Sid Philips, the worst kid in the world. He blows up toys for fun! He's deranged!” Mr. Potato Head cried.

“Alright,” Aros decided, “Mickey and I will save Buzz. You guys just stay here and wait for Andy. Buy us some time if you have to.”

“Wait a second, I don't want to be left with that psycho,” Mr. Potato Head complained, gesturing at Woody. “Who's to say he won't push us out the window too?”

“Fine,” Aros agreed, not waiting for Woody's opinion. “We'll take Woody. Now Slink, can you let us down?”

The slinky dog walked over to the edge of the window, and lowered his rump over the edge. Aros grabbed on, and then let go of the window, plummeting to the bush below. He stopped just above the bush and let go, falling the rest of the way to the ground. As he landed, he looked up and saw Mickey grab onto the dog's rear and fall to the ground. He landed with a thud right next to Aros. But before the dog's rump could reach the window again, Mr. Potatoe Head kicked Woody out the window. Woody crashed into the bush next to Aros, screaming the whole way down.

“Ready, Woody?” Aros asked as Woody picked himself out of the bush.

“Yeah, I guess. I think I've got a plan. We can go through the dog door in the back yard. But first, we need to get over the fence...”

“Wait...” Mickey said pensively. “If there's a doggy door... then that means...he has a dog, doesn't he?”

“Let's just hope we don't meet Scud,” Woody said, heading towards the edge of the yard. Woody turned back to the window of house and yelled, “Hey, can you guys toss down the monkeys?”

“What is it with you and tossing toys out of windows?” Mr. Potatoe Head snarled back.

“Just toss them down!” Woody yelled, sick of being insulted.

A second later, Bo Peep threw down a small plastic barrel. Woody signaled for Aros to carry the barrel over to the fence. When he reached the edge of the yard, Aros handed the barrel to Woody.

“This is a barrel...not monkeys,” Aros said, confused, “How's this gonna help us get over the fence?”

Woody popped off the lid to the barrel and pulled out several dozen plastic monkeys. He gave Aros a “this is how” look and then started chaining the monkeys together. Once they were in a long chain, he tossed the monkeys up to the top of the wooden fence, where they grabbed hold.

Woody quickly scrambled up the chain of monkeys and peered into Sid's yard. There was a small shed in the corner of the yard, and circle of dirt in the middle of the yard, which was blackened from repeated explosions. There was also a grill set up next to a bag of charcoal. Woody hopped off the fence, but his pull-string caught on the tip of the fence, stopping him on his way down. At that moment, Sid walked out of the shed with a box of matches and a tool box. From Woody's chest, there was a loud, “Yeehaw! Giddy up, partner!”

Sid spun around and spotted Woody hanging from the fence by his string. Aros and Mickey tugged down the chain of monkeys, and pressed themselves up against the fence. Sid carefully approached Woody and pulled him off the fence.

“What are you doing here?” he snarled. Woody remained limp, so the boy turned and took him into the house.

As Aros and Mickey heard the door slam shut, they tossed the chain of monkeys back onto the fence and quickly scrambled into Sid's yard.

“C'mon, we've got to save Woody and Buzz,” Mickey whispered, gesturing to a small doggy door at the bottom of the back door of the house. “There's the door Woody told us about.”

The two of them quietly crept across the lawn and sneaked up to the tall door. Aros moved first, pushing the plastic flap of the dog door open and peering inside. Just beyond the door was a long green hallway and a tall staircase. Aros jumped through the door and gestured for Mickey to follow.

Aros moved over to the staircase and listened for any sound from the top floor. He could hear Sid's voice from the top of the stairs yelling for his sister to get out of his room. Aros quickly hopped up the carpeted steps, with Mickey right behind him. As they reached the top, Aros peered around the corner and down the hallway. To the left were three doors: two wooden ones, and one door with a large yellow Keep Out sign.

“Fifty munny says that's Sid's room,” Aros joked to Mickey. Mickey put a finger to his lips and quickly led Aros across the hallway to the foreboding door. Just when they had reached the door, its handle slowly turned open. Mickey grabbed Aros by the sleeve and dragged him into a door on their right. They watched through a crack in the door as Sid emerged from the room and walked down the stairs.

Aros glanced at Mickey and whispered, “Buzz and Woody are probably in his room. They weren't in his hand, and he definitely brought them up here.”

Mickey nodded and listened as a door slammed downstairs. Without a word he sprinted out of the room and around the corner to Sid's door. Mickey leaped up and ran up the side of the door, landing on the handle as Aros watched in awe. Mickey grabbed one side of the handle and slid down, pulling the door open. Aros ran over and grabbed under the door, dragging it open wide enough for them to fit through.

Mickey slid down the door and entered the room with Aros. The inside of Sid's room was incredibly dark, with shades pulled down over all the windows. There was a small bed in the corner of the room, a cluttered desk, and a shelf covered in pieces of toys.

Mickey gasped as he looked up and spotted Woody in a red plastic crate under the metal toolbox Sid carried in, surrounded by deranged toys. One of the toys was a jack-in-the-box with a green hand where the clown should be. Another was a fishing pole attached to a pair of tan feminine legs. But the most frightening of all was a hairless doll head attached to six metal legs and two pincers.

As Aros and Mickey stepped forward, all three toys turned to look at them. Woody looked up from his torturers and yelled, “Guys, thank goodness you're here! You gotta help me outta here!”

“Where's Buzz?” Aros asked.

“I don't know,” Woody said frantically. “Just get me out! We can find him later. Sid's gonna blow me up with a rocket!”

The two keyblade masters slowly edged forward, followed by the eyes (and hand, and pole) of the strange toys.

“Hey,” Aros said shakily. “We... uh, need our friend there. We're just... well, we're from next door...”

Aros stuttered and stopped as the many-legged monstrosity stepped forward. Mickey summoned his keyblade and pointed it at the toys.

“Just let us get our friend,” Mickey said to the toys. “Then we'll leave. I don't want to have to use this.”

As Mickey neared the desk with his Star Seeker, the toys leaped to the side and fled off the desk and under the wooden shelves. Aros jumped onto the desk and ran over to the crate, trying unsuccessfully to lift if up.

“Wow, this thing is heavy,” he panted.

“Don't lift it!” Woody ordered. “Just push it to the side of the desk. I'll slide out.”

Mickey joined Aros, and they propped themselves between the wall behind the desk and the crate, slowly pushing it to the edge of the desk. When enough of the crate was hanging over the edge, Woody dropped down to the floor.

Aros and Mickey leaped down beside him, and Aros asked, “You don't know where Buzz is?”

“No,” Woody replied. “I just got dragged in here. Buzz isn't here.”

“Then c'mon!” Mickey said, waving his arm towards the door, “Let's go find him. He's got to be here somewhere.”

As Mickey started for the door, Aros saw the crate on the desk began to slowly wobble back and forth, threatening to crash to the floor. Aros tapped Mickey on the shoulder as he stared, white-faced at the crate. Mickey turned just in time to see the tool box slide forward, falling to the ground followed closely by the crate.

A loud crash echoed through the small house, and they could hear someone downstairs yell, “What was that?!”

“Go!” Woody shouted, grabbing Aros and Mickey by the shoulders and dragging them towards the door. “Quick, that was Sid! We've got to get out of here!”

The three sprinted to the door, pushed it open further, and dashed out into the hallway. As they neared the staircase, they could hear loud, thumping footsteps ascending the stairs.

“Quick, in here!” Woody shouted, shoving Mickey and Aros through the nearest door. They leaped in the room and shoved the door shut behind them, panting heavily. The room was bright pink, with a large bed covered in fluffy pillows taking up most of the right side of the room. There was a small tea table in the middle of the room, with three stuffed animals surrounding it in chairs. And in the last chair was Buzz Lightyear.

Buzz was wearing a pink apron and a pink hat with a tall fluffy feather sticking up over the rim. His right hand was on the table, holding a small, plastic tea cup, and his left hand was sitting in the middle of the table. Not attached to his body.

“Buzz?!” Woody cried, racing across the small room and patting Buzz on the shoulder, “Oh thank goodness, you're here! You see, everybody thinks I shoved you out the window, and they wouldn't believe me when I told them it was an accident. But now you can go back and tell them-”

“I'm not going back,” Buzz interrupted quietly.

“Not... not going back?” Woody repeated, puzzled, “But, you've got to go back! They think I attacked you! They won't believe me that you're okay!”

“I'm not going back,” Buzz replied again, “I'm just... just...a toy...”

“Well, duh, you're a toy!” Woody laughed, clapping Buzz on the shoulder, “What did you think you were, a space ranger? You're-”

“Woody!” Aros interrupted, “We just need to get out of here. C'mon Buzz, we've got to go. Sid will-”

“Why does it matter?” Buzz mumbled, “Why should I go to Andy's house? I'm just... just a toy.”

As Mickey was about to comfort Buzz, Sid's loud voice erupted from the hallway, “Sally! What did you do with my toys! Sally!” From beyond the door, they heard Sid run down the stairs.

“All right, guys, we've got to go now!” Mickey said, running to the door, “We can get over to Andy's house through the window in Sid's room.”

“But-” Aros said, gesturing at Buzz.

“I've got him,” Woody answered before Aros could finish. Woody ran over to Buzz, tossed Buzz's loose arm to Aros, and hoisted Buzz onto his back. Mickey led them out the door to the hallway, and around the corner to Sid's room.

As they entered the room, they found that more of the strange toys had crawled out from under the shelves. Aros and Mickey positioned themselves in front of Buzz and Woody, and held out their keyblades to fend off the toys. They slowly moved across the room, parting the wall of toys.

“Woody, get up on the desk with Buzz,” Aros ordered.

“I, ugh, don't think I can,” Woody groaned, “He's too heavy. Buzz you gotta get up there yourself.”

Despite Woody dropping him on the ground, Buzz's face remained emotionless, and he continued staring off into space. Sid's toys began slowly closing in on Aros, Mickey, Buzz, and Woody making all sorts of horrid clicking noises..

“Woody, you find a way for us to get over to Andy's house. We'll hold these guys off,” Mickey said, crouching into a fighting stance.

Woody nodded and crawled up the side of the desk. He looked around for several seconds without spotting anything that could be useful. The only things on the desk were a rocket, a yo-yo, a couple tools, and a string of Christmas lights. As he was about to give up, inspiration struck Woody, and he dashed over and grabbed the Christmas lights. He pushed open the window and yelled out to Andy's house, “Hey, guys, can we get some help?”

Hearing his calls, Mr. Potato Head, Rex, and Slinky popped their heads out the opposite window. Rex turned around and yelled something, and soon Bo-Peep and a pink piggy bank joined them.

“Woody, you're okay! Do you have Buzz?” Rex yelled out the window.

“Yeah, he's right here! Aros and Mickey are okay too! Here!” he yelled, tossing the Christmas lights over to the opposite window, “Get us outta here!”

Rex caught the lights, but Mr. Potato Head continued surveying Woody skeptically. “Wait one minute,” the plastic potato yelled to Woody, who was about to lower himself out the window, “I want to see Buzz. If he's there, I want to talk to him.”

“Uh...” Woody stammered, pulling himself back up again, “Sure thing. Hey, Buzz!” he yelled off the desk, “Get up here!”

Buzz glanced briefly at Woody, but then returned to staring at the floor as Mickey and Aros fended off Sid's rabid toys.

“Buzz! Come on, can you lend me a hand?”

Buzz reached out and grabbed his severed arm and tossed it up to Woody, not once moving his gaze from the wooden floorboards.

“Haha, very funny. Seriously, get up here!”

“Hey,” Rex yelled from Andy's window, “What's taking you so long?”

“He doesn't have Buzz with him,” Mr. Potato Head answered, loud enough for Woody to hear.

“Yeah, he's right here!” Woody cried back angrily, “Aros, Mickey, come up here and tell them!”

Aros yelled back without looking, “We're a little busy!”

“Alright,” Mr. Potato Head said, grabbing the Christmas lights from Rex, “he doesn't have Buzz. I'm dropping this.”

“Nooo!” Woody screamed, “He's right here!” Woody lifted up Buzz's arm from behind the window and waved it up and down. “I'm right here, guys. It's me, Buzz Lightyear, the greatest toy ever!” Woody said, trying to impersonate Buzz without moving his lips.

“That sounds like Buzz,” Slinky said happily.

“I don't know,” Mr. Potato Head said, unconvinced, “Something's still fishy here.”

“Come on!” Woody yelled, putting his hands on his hips and exposing the entirety of Buzz's arm.

All the toys on the opposite windowsill cried out, and Rex yelled, “He tore off Buzz's arm!”

“No, I didn't... Buzz is right here...” Woody stuttered.

“See if we ever let you back, murderer!” Mr. Potato Head cried, dropping the Christmas lights.

“No, no, no, no!” Woody screamed, tossing Buzz's arm off the desk. He groped below the window, unsuccessfully trying to catch the falling lights. The toys in the other window slowly turned and walked away as the Christmas lights hit the ground below.

“What's happened?” Aros yelled up to Woody, who leaped down off the desk..

“... they just left! They abandoned us!” Woody ran up to Buzz and shook him by the shoulders, screaming, “Why? Why didn't you help me?! We could have gotten out of here!”

“What does it matter?” Buzz asked quietly, “We're all just toys...”

“Aros and Mickey aren't! And why does it matter if we're toys? You're Andy's toy, and he'll love you! Even... even more than he loves me. ...That's why I pushed you out the window... I was jealous.”

******

Oznei stepped cautiously out of the corridor of darkness into the black room. Almost nothing was visible in the small, square room; the darkness of the room was so complete that he could only see the silhouette of his own hand. At first, it seemed he was alone in the room, but another figure slowly approached him from behind, hidden in the shadows.

“Well?” the figure asked.

Oznei jumped slightly as the figure spoke, but then quickly reported, “I did as you requested, but it wasn't there."

“Wasn't there?” the man repeated, “Hmm, interesting.”

“Yes, I have also attempted to find it by tempering the darkness in Sid's heart.”

“Sid? Is that the pure one?”

“No,” Oznei said, “Sid was already discovering the power of darkness by himself. I just helped him along. I hoped that he would lure the keyblade masters into revealing the door.”

“No,” the shadowy figure said, “I don't believe they can find the door.”

“Why?” Oznei asked, “Do you have an idea where it is?”

“Yes. I believe... it is in the body of the pure one.”

“What?! But how? The heart of the world should be beyond the door, not in some boy, shouldn't it?”

The figure laughed, “But it isn't beyond the door, is it? So it must have moved, migrated to another suitable host. I believe the boy's body is protecting the heart, since our heartless were coming so close to finding it, and the keyblade wielders were nowhere to be found.”

“Could a heart do that? They are not intelligent.”

“Yes, I think hearts are much more powerful than most people give them credit for. I believe it is within the realm of possibility that the heart could switch locations as a last resort. Given, of course, that they have a suitable place to move. I don't believe the heart of a world can move into just any body.”

“So what should I do?”

The figure turned and walked across the small, cramped room, “I think you know what you need to do. Get the boy. Extract the heart, one way or another.”

Oznei sighed, “Very well, Tronahex.”

​

 

[khfreak17]

awesome chapter! i havent seen toy story in ages