FicWad

Disclaimer: My co-writer, tammy-is-a-turtle from fanfiction.net, and I do not own any of the Kingdom Hearts characters that appear in this story appart from our OC's and their world




Sora yawned as the smooth, pearly white walls of the rosebud shaped pod slid open around him, revealing a room of blinding white walls, and an immaculately clean floor lined with swirling jade green geometric patterns. He yawned loudly and stretched, and then jumped suddenly out of the pod as he saw Donald and Goofy standing below him, happily trapping them both in a big hug.
“Donald, Goofy!” He shouted happily, grabbing their hands as they jumped around in a circle.
“That was some nap.” Jiminy yawned sleepily from on top of Sora’s shoulder.
“We’ve been asleep?” Sora said in surprise.
“Well, we must have been,’ Jiminy muttered as he rubbed his eyes,’ or I don’t think we’d be so drowsy.”
“How long do you think we’ve been asleep for?” Sora muttered hazily, almost fully awake.
“Uhhhhhh,’ thought Goofy,’ I’m not sure. Maybe we should check Jiminy’s journal.”
“Good idea Goofy,’ quacked Donald sleepily,’ what does it say?”
Sora looked on as Jiminy pulled his tiny leather-bound journal from his waistcoat and flicked through a few pages. “I don’t get it,’ muttered Jiminy as he scratched his head,’ it’s all blank! There’s only one sentence: Thank Namine’.”

****

Elsewhere........

“Hey, Liz, wait for me!” puffed Tamara, her hair streaming out behind her like a golden butterfly in the pink tinge of the late afternoon light as she chased after her friend across the deserted beach, her shoes squelching in the damp white sand, occasionally hearing the crunch of various colorful shells of all shapes and sizes that decorated shore.
“C’mon, hurry up slowpoke!” shouted Liz, sprinting lazily a few meters ahead of her. She came to a halt under the shade of a small, oddly positioned peach tree that had been bent over by the forces of nature, balancing on her toes to reach up and pick one of the ripe, golden pink fruits that hung down off the broad jade green canopy on dainty little vines. Tamara collapsed wearily down on the sand next to her and leaned back, her chest heaving in and out tiredly as Liz leaned on the smooth grey bark of tree trunk.
“Do you always have to run?” she panted, reaching out appreciatively as Liz grinned and handed her a ripe, fuzzy-skinned peach.
“I always run,’ she said merrily as she bit into her peach,’ it’s my own little tradition! Besides, you don’t have to run if you don’t want to.”
“If I don’t at least try and keep up with you, then you’ll get here and eat all of the peaches before I even get one!” Tamara said sulkily as she stared out onto the water.
Neither of them spoke as they ate, letting the gentle sound of the waves crashing melodically against the sandy white shore fill their ears, the humid, pink, afternoon light seeping slowly into through their bodies.
“You know,’ pondered Liz as she broke the silence,’ I still don’t get why this thing grows here. I mean, there are heaps of other places it could have grown, but it chose the beach. Peach trees aren’t even supposed to be able to grow near the beach anyway!”
Tamara looked her friend straight in her emerald green eyes and spoke with the most serious voice, and the straightest face, she could possibly manage.
“Liz, you think too much.”
The laughter rose to Liz’s throat like bubbles, and in no time at all she had a steady stream of it flowing uncontrollably out of her mouth. Tamara rolled her eyes as Liz sunk to her knees and kept eating as she waited for her friend who was, once again, hyper on peach to clam down. It took a few minutes, but Liz finally began to settle down, looking out at the sparkling clear water on the horizon and admiring the way that the dimming crimson sunlight shone off it at just the right angle to create a shimmering effect as she wiped a few stray tears of laughter from her cheeks and let a few of the last giggles escape from her throat.
Unfortunately, like always, after the laughter had faded, the gloomy thoughts began to slink unwelcomingly into Liz’s mind, just like they did every time she came here.
Even though they had always tried to forget it with all the jokes and fruit, coming here, to the beach, always reminded of the two girls that they didn’t belong on their quiet, and often painfully dull, home of Misty Islands; that they had been born in another place altogether, far away from the calm blue waters and delicious pink fruit. Not that either of them could remember their birthplace. It had been such a long time ago that they had once lived there, eight years for Liz and seven for Tamara, that both girls had been too young to allow anything sink into their permanent memories. For as long as they could remember, both girls had been fostered by a kind, childless couple on Misty Islands and had lived a very normal life, if not slightly distanced from the other permanent residents of the sleepy little island town. Elisabeth had been found lying on the beach when she was a little girl of about six and had been taken in by her foster parents, and had then met Tamara a year later when she was found lying fast asleep on beach at the exact same spot that Elisabeth had been found the year before. It had been concluded that the girls were the same age and had come from the same place, judging from the pale skin and similar clothing, and were allowed to live in town together with their new foster parents.
Although the townspeople had been welcoming enough at first when Tamara and Liz had been young children, as the two girls grew older it had become more and more obvious that the townspeople didn’t take kindly to strangers, and Liz and Tamara were definitely strangers. They didn’t belong on this perfect little island world, and they didn’t even slightly resemble the bronze-skinned, bleached-haired, sun-tanned locals.
A cool summer breeze swept across the infinite coastline as a feathery cloud shifted in front of the setting sun, dimming the fading light and throwing dark shadows swirling across the beach. Tamara shivered and drew her thin t-shirt close to her chest as she took another bite out of the yellow flesh of her half eaten peach.
“Tama?”
Tamara looked around at Liz, who was staring at the shadows intently, as if they were complex patterns woven intricately into the sand.
“What?” she replied sleepily.
“The shadow of my peach just...moved. On its own, I swear, I didn’t even move!”
“What? Liz,’ sighed Tamara,’ I think you’re still hyper on the massive amount of peaches you’ve been eating, ‘cause shadows don’t move.”
Liz shook her head stubbornly.
“Well, this one did.” She jerked a finger at the shadow of the half eaten fruit. It was a normal shadow, just staying put like any good little shadow did. And then it moved. The shadow swayed to one side, then the other, even though Liz hadn’t moved her hand in the slightest. Liz shrieked in surprise as the shadow rose from the ground, becoming a solid and very, very lifelike little creature. Its round yellow eyes stared at the two girls, its black head cocked to one side, thin antennas drooping over its midnight black head. Two more appeared swiftly behind it, rising up from the shadow of the peach tree and standing behind their companion patiently.
“Do you think it’s friendly?” asked Tamara hopefully as she stood up and brushed the white sand off her deep blue jeans. As if in answer to her question, the creature advanced slowly, and then lunged forwards, both spindly arms outstretched towards the two. In that same instant a spark of white light burst into existence in front of the girls, dissolving the creature into little wisps of black smoke. The spark grew rapidly in size then split in half, the separate halves flashing into the hands of the girls and then bursting into white sparkles. The peaches had disappeared, and in their place were odd looking swords, long and thin, made in a strange design that made the blade look like a key.
“What is it?!” muttered Liz, cautiously turning the weapon in her grip over carefully and slowly examining the elegant crimson handle.
“I don’t think we have time to figure that out right now,’ said Tamara,’ look out!” She stepped in front of Liz as another shadow-thing scuttled forwards and then lunged at them, swinging her metallic pink blade like a baseball bat and sending the creature splashing into the water.
“Uh, Tama?’ said Liz as she stabbed another creature in the stomach and flung it away, ’I think they’re multiplying!”
“Then what should we do?” shouted Tamara in reply.
Both girls locked eyes and nodded in panicked agreement.
“RUN!”
They sprinted down the beach, their simple joggers pounding in the sand as thousands of midnight black shadow creatures trailed slowly behind them. By the time they reached the base of the steep mountain range that split the island in half, the creatures had fallen far behind, and were no-where to be seen. As the fading sunlight cast dark shadows along the dry grass, Tamara leaned wearily on a sturdy grey boulder and panted as she gained her breath, then shrieked loudly and fell backwards as the boulder rolled slowly to the side, revealing a dark little tunnel in the steep mountain side.
“Oh, come on,’ muttered Liz as she helped Tamara to her feet,’ I’ve lived here eight years and I never knew this was here!”
Once Tamara was back on her feet, Liz lowered her head to avoid banging it into a large tree root hanging down from the ceiling and walked curiously into the tunnel, running her hands along the damp, compacted dirt walls.
“What? You’re not going in there are you?!” cried Tamara in disbelief.
“Tama, you know me too well.” echoed Liz’s voice.
“But what if the tunnel just leads to a dead end!”
“Tama?”
“What if the creatures come back and follow you into there!”
“Tama?”
“What if--”
“TAMA!” echoed Liz’s voice loudly from deep in the tunnel.
“What?!”
“There’s a ship made of Lego blocks in here!!”
Throwing caution to the winds, Tamara raced into the cold tunnel and nearly bumped into Liz, whose mouth was hanging wide open in goldfish-like surprise.
The tunnel had widened into a cavern that was lit with an invisible source of dim light, with just enough room inside to fit the big ship that was made out multicolored blocks of an assortment of shapes, colors and sizes.
“Um, Liz?” muttered Tama, breaking Liz out of her shock.
“What?”
Tama pointed to the tunnel.
“The things are back!!”
Even as they spoke, the little things were crawling along the ground, taking their time because they knew that there was nowhere to run.
“Tama,’ Liz shouted urgently,’ the ship! It has a door!!”
One of the blocks, a bright green rectangular one, had been pushed out of the front of the ship to reveal a yellow door to the cabin inside. Without hesitating, both girls ran through the door and it slammed behind them, sealing themselves in the brightly lit cockpit.
“What now?” Tamara asked uncertainly.
Liz ran swiftly towards a control panel that’s surface was covered in dozens of brightly colored buttons of different shapes and sizes.
“The start button has to be here somewhere!” she muttered, hitting random buttons. Her finger landed on a big red one and she was forcefully thrown back into the spongy, padded pilots chair as the ship loudly roared to life.
“The big red one,’ groaned Tamara from the hard yellow floor,’ of course. How cliché”
Liz grinned and heaved herself out of the chair, then walked cautiously to the front of the ship. From the cockpit window, she could see the earthy walls of the cavern parting, letting the dimming sunlight spill in. The shadow creatures were no-where in sight. There was a fierce jerk as the ship’s engines roared to life, propelling the ship off the ground, and throwing the girls against the hard, green back wall once again as the ship surged forwards out of the cave and up into the heavens. They soared up through clouds, watching through the cockpit window as the dusk sky became dark enough to see stars. And then, they were in space.
“Well, this is certainly a new experience...” muttered Tamara as the gravity disappeared and she and Liz floated off the ground and high up into the arched ceiling. Both of them hung in mid air, until a big green light on the control panel flashed and they crashed to the yellow metal floor.
“Oww....” Liz moaned as she heaved herself agonizingly off the ground and slowly rubbed her tender back. A small TV screen above the cockpit window flashed to life, presenting a bright, pixilated image of a green, blue and yellow planet, and a jagged white line down the center that divided it in half.
“Is that... our planet?!” gasped Tamara, her eyes glued onto the image.
“I, I think it is-- NO!” Liz cried as the planet burst into raging black flames, an ugly sight that was out of place in the serene magnificence of space. Both girls were wordless as their planet imploded in a dull red light, the flames streaking out like a massive flare.
“Oh my god.......” moaned Liz in sheer disbelief as she slumped slowly into the chair, watching the image on the screen with horror and despair. Oblivious to the tragedy behind them, the ship flew off into the depths of space, headed persistently towards an unknown destination.

****

Sora felt exceedingly uncomfortable standing in front of the powerful wizard that had tutored the King himself, Master Yen Sid, watching as the muted azure light swirled gently around the tower room and reflected eerily from the thick fabric of his star-studded blue hat and robes. The train that Sora had finally caught out of Twilight Town with Donald, Goofy and Jiminy had led them over a train track suspended in mid air and through a strange dimension of swirling colors, straight to the base of Master Yen Sid’s towering stone castle where they had briefly been troubled before even getting past the doors by Pete, a portly, cowering traitor who wasn’t particularly bright, and had once been one of King Mickey’s friends before he was banished from the kingdom after causing all sorts of trouble and had soon sided with the evil witch Maleficent. If that hadn’t been enough to give Sora a pounding headache, he had had to climb a seemingly never-ending staircase whose walls had been dotted with enough incandescent stars and littered with enough heartless to give anyone a thumping headache. It was these stairs that had led to Master Yen Sid’s chamber at the very top of the towering castle. It made him tired even just thinking about it.
“Your previous endeavors were superb indeed,’ said Master Yen Sid, his deep voice rumbling around the stone room like the roar of the train that the three of them had just caught and drawing Sora’s attention back to the task at hand,’ but still the numbers of heartless continue to multiply. Your quest must continue.”
“No way,’ whined Sora gloomily as Master Yen Sid sat grimly behind his large, highly polished wooden desk,’ we’ve done everything we can!”
“You may well have, but the heartless continue to exist and evolve, becoming even stronger. But do not fear, for I have arranged for you to have help on your journey.”
Sora stared vacantly at Master Yen Sid as Donald and Goofy gazed at each other and shrugged.
“You can’t expect me to let you go on your own now,’ echoed a deep voice from behind the three,’ can you Sora?” Sora spun around and looked at the tall, slim, silver haired boy who had appeared silently from the doorway behind him.
“Riku!” He cried happily, running forwards and hugging his long lost friend.
“The one and only!” replied the Riku cheerfully, his sea blue eyes twinkling in the dim light as he pried himself slowly out of the embrace.
“Hey, don’t forget about me!!” An exhausted voice echoed from the open door to the stairwell, quickly followed by a blonde haired boy of about Sora’s age. The newcomer leaned against the doorway, hurriedly gulping down a few mouthfuls of air and straightening his loose blue vest.
“Sorry,’ he panted,’ the stairs are a total nightmare!”
He took a final deep breath and stood up straight as he held out a white-gloved hand.
“Nice to meet you, Sora, wasn’t it? I’m Aqua.” Sora winced as hand felt like it was being slowly pulverized under the boy’s unusually strong grip.
“Nice to... oww... meet you too.”
Aqua smiled warmly and flicked a limp strand of loose blue-tinged blonde hair out of his dark, hazel brown eyes.
“Master Yen Sid?” asked Goofy, looking on as the wizard stared out of the glass-less star shaped window that was placed in the wall to the right of his desk.
“Ah, this may be a problem...” he muttered oblivious to everyone else in the room, stroking his long silvery grey beard thoughtfully.
“Master Yen Sid, what’s wrong?” asked Donald. The room was silent as Donald waited for a reply to come. Instead of a reply, a beam of white light shone in through the window, bathing the room in a blinding glow. And then, as suddenly as the light had come, it disappeared, leaving two worn out looking girls lying sprawled out on the stone floor in its place.
“Oooh, I never wanna fly that thing again...” muttered the girl with long chocolate-brown hair tied into a tight plait as she sat up unenthusiastically and rubbed the small of her back, squinting around the room but not noticing that there were other people in the room.
Donald was the first one to recover from the shock of the girls strange entrance, and his azure blue cap slipped down his feathered face changed rapidly from shock to suspicion.
“Who are you?” he quacked angrily. Both girls’ jaws dropped as they looked up and stared over at him in shock.
“I said; who are you?!” he repeated.
“Great, I’m hallucinating!” groaned the brown haired girl again tiredly as she rubbed her emerald eyes vigorously with both hands.
“WHAAAAAA?!!!” Yelled Donald as his face went red with anger.
“Liz, if you’re hallucinating, then why am I seeing the same thing as you?” whispered the golden haired girl as she leaned over to her friend.
“That would probably mean that there is actually a talking duck standing in front of us. And I should probably stop talking to myself now...” Muttered the brown haired girl, standing up and brushing some invisible dirt from her tattered dark blue jeans as her friend rolled her honey golden eyes, and she then stared back at the three boys, the duck in the blue waistcoat and the dog with a massive pair of goggles standing in front of her.
“Don’t expect me to explain why we’re here,’ she said bluntly, raising both hands beside her head in a gesture of innocence,’ because I don’t have a clue what’s going on.”
“Well,’ said Sora,’ an introduction would be a good start.”
“Yes,’ the girl agreed,’ that would be an incredibly good start. My name is Elisabeth,’ she said as she pointed to herself, ‘but I prefer Liz. And this lovely young lady next to me,’ she pointed to the golden haired girl,’ is Tamara.”
Aqua smiled welcomingly and took a step towards the girls, holding out his hand.
“Nice to meet you,’ he said,’ I’m Aqua, and that’s Riku.” Liz’s deep green eyes locked onto his own as she took Aqua’s hand and shook it without flinching.
Riku and Tamara shot each other a quick awkward smile and a small wave at before hurriedly staring around the room in the opposite direction.
When nobody did it for him, Sora pointed to himself.
“I’m Sora. This is Donald, that’s Goofy, and this is Jiminy.”
Master Yen Sid coughed quietly as the introductions finished, his hands bony clasped loosely together in front of his extensive beard.
“Ladies,’ he said quietly,’ am I correct in assuming that you both come from Misty Islands?”
“Yes.” answered Tamara.
“And would I be correct in assuming that Misty Islands has, to put it gently...ceased to exist?”
“Yes.” muttered Tamara, the happy look on her face fading instantly.
“Ah. Would it be too much for me to ask how it happened?”
“No, that’s fine.” said Liz quietly. “We were sitting at the beach, and then these little black thingies started coming up from the shadows. They attacked us, so we ran away from them until we got to the mountains that divided our planet in half. Once we were there, Tama found the entrance to this secret cavern that had this ship made of multicolored blocks hidden in it. But then, the black creature thingies found us and we managed to get into the ship and escape. As the ship flew away from our planet it burst into black flames, glowed red and imploded...” Liz’s words faded as her face went pale.
“I have one more question,’ said Master Yen Sid quietly as he stroked his beard,’ have you ever seen anything like this?” He clicked his fingers, and Sora’s battle worn keyblade appeared in a flash of sparkling white light.
“Yeah, they kind of appeared when the creatures attacked.” answered Tamara as her own keyblade flashed into her hand to prove her story. Quite unlike Sora’s own basic keyblade, Tamara’s one was totally pink, with a cylindrical blade shone the colour of the early morning sunrise, and decorated with a thin silver keychain joined to a pink metal heart welded to the end of the chain so that it dangled freely from the end of the heart-shaped cherry hilt. Tamara grinned proudly with success as the others looked at her.
“Showoff...” muttered Liz as she summoned her own keyblade, just to prove that she had one to. The red flower hanging from the silver keychain swayed slightly from the midnight black hilt, the crimson blade shining brightly in the dim light.
“Just out of interest,’ asked Tamara,’ does anyone apart from Sora, Liz and I have one?”
“I’ll join the club.” said Aqua happily as a blade appeared in his hand. In complete contrast to Liz’s, his was a sea blue color that matched his blue tinge in his hair perfectly.
“I guess we all have them.” said Riku as his jagged keyblade appeared in a flash of silver light.
“Ah,’ sighed Master Yen Sid in relief,’ you all posses key blades. That will make your journey so much easier.”
“What journey?” Tamara asked, a mystified expression covering her face as she looked at the powerful magician blankly.
“Ah. It seems that I have quite some explaining to do.” Master Yen Sid said as he inhaled deeply before beginning the long explanation.
“You have been chosen by the keyblades to protect the worlds from heartless, creatures that are the shells of people that have given into the dark and let it consume their heart; they are also the creatures that destroyed your home. Also, every heartless can be destroyed by the keyblade, which is your quest; to stop the heartless from reaching the heart of each world by sealing it with the keyblade, and to find out how to defeat the heartless once and for all. Do you understand?”
Both girls nodded quickly.
“Good. Then I shall now inform you all about an even greater threat that you must face.’ He ignored a groan from Sora and kept on talking.’ When an exceptionally strong heart gives into the darkness, the empty shell that is left behind becomes a Nobody, a being with a will of its own. But you must understand that they have no heart, and even though they seem to have emotions of their own, this is just an illusion. Under some unique circumstances, the shell that is left behind takes on the appearance and characteristics of the person it used to be, a perfect replica. Those few replicas have banded together to create a group called Organization XIII. The members of Organization XIII have control over the lesser nobodies, and what worries me the most is that they seem to have a plan. As the keyblade bearers, it is your duty to defeat them and stop whatever they are planning. Now, on a lighter note, I have one last thing to tell you. Do you see that door?” Master Yen Sid gestured towards a large wooden door opposite one of the many full bookcases.
“Through that door is a gift. Sora, Elisabeth, Tamara, would you head through that door? As for the rest of you, please wait here until they return.”
Slightly hesitant, Tamara and Liz swiftly followed after Sora as he headed through the solid wooden door. On the other side there was a circular room, decorated with bookshelves that were partly covered by white linen sheets and three mirrors of various shapes and sizes. Floating over on the far side of the room by the open window were three fairies, all in identical long gowns and brimmed pointed hats of sky blue, floral red and forest green, who immediately stopped their whispered conversation and fluttered over cheerfully as the three entered.
“Oh, you must be here for your new clothes! Master Yen Sid told us to expect your arrival.” said the one in red, fluttering forwards on her short little gossamer wings, her timber wand clasped loosely in between her slim fingers and a few drifting strands of grey hair peeking out from underneath the brim of her pointed hat.
“My name is Flora,’ she said as she introduced herself,’ that is Fauna,’ she pointed at the green fairy who seemed to be far away from the conversation and more interested in the view of the never-ending lilac and pink sunset out the arched widow,’ and that,’ she pointed at the sour looking blue fairy with dark brown hair,’ is Merryweather. Now, about your new clothes.”
“I don’t need new clothes!” protested Sora, looking down affectionately at his own t-shirt and shorts which were a size so small that they would probably have fitted a ten year old quite easily.
“No, of course you don’t dear.” said the blue fairy sarcastically as she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Merryweather,’ scolded the Flora as she glared over at Merryweather,’ don’t be so rude! I apologize for that, Merryweather can be a bit thoughtless at times. Now, ladies first!”
“What?” Tamara gasped in surprise.
“Oh, don’t be silly dears,’ said the Fauna gently,’ you’re getting new clothes too! I expect you deserve a bit of a treat after watching your own home disappear. Now, could both of you please step into the middle of the room?”
Tamara and Liz walked hesitantly into the middle of the bare wooden floor, looking at each other and the fairies apprehensively.
“One,’ counted the red fairy,’ two, three!” The fairies waved their slender brown wooden wands in unison and the girls were surrounded by golden white light. When the light faded Tamara and Liz’s dirty old hand-me-down clothes were had disappeared, only to replaced with new clean ones. Tamara looked happily at her new pink sleeveless coat and long navy black pants, smiling at Liz as she straightened the thin spaghetti-straps on her new sleeveless black coat that trailed past her calves and ended in red trim, and was secured at the back by a long, thick scarlet ribbon. They both walked out of the middle of the room contentedly, their new shoes squeaking slightly on the wooden floor.
“You next sweetheart!” said Fauna vaguely as she pointed her wand at Sora, who stepped shyly forwards into the center of the room. Once again, the fairies waved their magic wands and Sora was bathed in golden light. As the light faded, Merryweather gasped in dissatisfaction, flying backwards slightly with her hands over her mouth.
“His clothes are red!’ she gasped discontentedly.’ No, they would look much better in blue!” with a wave of her wand, Sora’s clothes turned blue.
“Merryweather, don’t be silly,’ complained Flora, ‘he looks much better in red!” Flora flicked her wand and Sora’s clothes turned red again.
“Oh no you don’t,’ Merryweather yelled defensively,’ blue!!”
“Red!!” cried Flora.
“Blue!”
“Red!”
“Blue!”
“Red!”
Fauna sighed and muttered tiredly to Liz and Tamara as the other two fought, the occasional blast of color springing around the room and then disappearing out the stone window.
“They do this every time you know!”
Flora and Merryweather were still arguing, and Sora’s clothes were changing colour at an amazing speed as he looked on awkwardly at the girls as he pleaded at them with his eyes, unsure of whether to say anything.
“Red!”
“Blue!”
“Red!”
“Blue!”
“Red!”
“Blue!”
“Ladies,’ exclaimed Fauna as she took control over the situation,’ stop this at once!!”
Both Flora and Merryweather gazed guiltily over at Fauna, who had now moodily crossed both thin arms over her chest.
“Now,’ she said gently, ‘shall we try this again?”
“Yes,’ agreed Flora,’ once again! One, two, three!!” There was another flash of light and a very awkward looking Sora’s clothes turned a very practical black.
“Ahh, he still would have looked better in blu-- mrph!” Flora clapped a hand over Merryweather’s mouth before she could complain about any further.
“Thank you!” chimed Tamara and Liz happily as headed quickly towards the door.
“You’re very welcome,’ said Fauna,’ oh, and good luck on your journey!”
The three turned, waved, and walked out of the room, secretly relieved that the fairies weren’t arguing anymore. Riku smiled at Tamara as she and Liz walked back into Master Yen Sid’s dimly lit tower room.
“You’re looking nice,’ he admitted, ‘which is more than I can say for Sora.”
“HEY!!” yelled Sora angrily as Tamara’ cheeks tinged cherry pink. Liz shrugged, staying oblivious as she kept on walking.
“Now,’ boomed Master Yen Sid happily,’ you are all prepared to embark on your quest! I wish you all the best of luck. One last piece of advice before you embark on your journey; take care of each other. It will be a long, tough journey, and you will need to draw all the strength and support possible from your friends.”
Master Yen Sid watched as Donald opened the door to the stairs, and Aqua groaned at the thought of having to go all the way back down. When they had almost reached the bottom of the stairs, Tamara walked forward and taped Sora on the shoulder.
“Hey, Sora? How are we going to get to the different worlds?” she asked.
“On the Gummi ship.”
“The whati ship?” said Liz, just checking that she had heard right.
“The Gummi ship; its how we get to other worlds.” quacked Donald.
At the bottom of the stairs was a solid wooden door, which Riku pushed open as they walked out into the cool twilight air.
“So,’ said Tamara,’ where’s the Gummi ship?”
“Right there.” Goofy pointed to a smaller and almost identical version of the ship that had brought Liz and Tamara to the castle.
“How are we gonna fit in that?” asked Liz skeptically. Almost as soon as she spoke, the ship expanded to a size that could fit all eight of them quite comfortably.
“I shouldn’t have bothered asking...” muttered Liz. As the boys boarded the ship, Liz and Tamara hung back.
“Are you ready for this?’ asked Liz.’ I mean, it’s not like we’re going on holidays or anything, this is serious. Actual, serious, the fate of the universe rests on our shoulders kind of stuff.
“C’mon, hurry up you two!” yelled Donald from inside the Gummi ship. Tamara sighed.
“I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be!” she said, smiling nervously
Together, after one final deep breath, they boarded the ship, and embraced their new destiny.





-----//
By now you would have figured out that the Aqua in this story is an original, not one of the knights from the new game. My co-writer told me that Aqua would be a good name for the character, but neglected to tell me that the real Aqua was actually a girl. Please don’t kill me for this mistake, I think the name suits him!