bilbosama

And here we start on the scenes I've been wanting to write.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

10.

"Oof!" Sora landed hard on the ground. The portal above him closed as he sat up. Instead of whatever Goldpaw is supposed to look like, he was now in a swampy area full of creatures that eyed him with suspicion. In front of him was a path that lead to an entrance beyond a gorge in the mountains. To his left was a large forest. Behind him was a bridge that went over the water to the next set of land.

"Which way do you think we should go?" asked Goofy.

"Hmm," Sora pondered over his choices. They have no idea where they are in this world. Xadlorn is acting as though they should know everything about this place and thus hasn't been very helpful at all.

"Well, we're already lost," decided Sora, "how much worse can it be?"

"Now you jinxed us!" complained Donald.

"My bad," laughed Sora nervously before he pointed to the path leading to the mountains, "that way I guess."

They walked in silence. Occasionally, what appeared to be fairy-like monsters and oversized hamsters wielding large weapons would attack them. Sora wondered how anyone got anywhere without being accosted by monsters along the way. They were only beset by Heartless a couple of times, which was suspiciously fortunate but Sora didn't feel like complaining.

Eventually, they reached the path that cut through the mountains. Night had fallen and everyone was exhausted.

In the distance, they can see lights shining, signaling a city.

"C-c'mon, guys," gasped Sora, "we're almost there!"

"Can't we stop for the night?" whined Donald.

"We should," pointed out Goofy, "there may more monsters and Heartless and if we're too tired to fight..."

"Okay," sighed Sora before pointing at a tree, "I call dibs on the best branch."

"That was the most uncomfortable place to sleep ever," groaned Donald the next morning.

"At least we didn't get eaten," Goofy pointed out. His companions tiredly nodded in agreement before they continued towards the city that turned out to be much larger and surrounded by walls. It stretched into the ocean where ships and boats pulled into the harbor.

A few hours later, they reached the opened gates where a dog person and a man with blue skin and fish fins in place of ears stood in place.

"Welcome travelers," smiled the dog guard, "to the Kingdom of Evermore."

"That guy sent us to the wrong place again," complained Sora.

"Where were you supposed to go?" asked the blue man.

"Goldpaw," answered Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Ah, that's to the west," said the dog apologetically as he pointed to the direction behind the trio. "Was someone casting the Travel spell for you? They don't work unless everyone agrees on the destination."

"We...were kinda flung in a random direction," revealed Sora sheepishly.

"Now that's just rude," huffed the blue guard, "I -" he was caught off by screams past the gates.

"Oh no, not again," the dog guard looked back at the travelers, "Do you know how to fight?"

"Yes," nodded Sora.

"Good, we may need your help."

The guards and the newcomers rushed inside the kingdom. To Sora's dismay, there were Heartless causing chaos. Summoning the Keyblade drew their attention to him, which didn't go unnoticed by local defenders.

After the final Shadow was slain, a man wearing red beret-like hat grinned, "Thanks lad, that went a lot easier than last time."

"Aye," agreed the bearded man who looked like a ruffian next to him, "though the white monsters have the brains to know how to avoid gettin' smacked."

"You guys have been getting Heartless and Nobodies here too?" said Sora.

"Is that what they are?" said the hat guy, "Aye, the swabs been showin' up everywhere fer the past month. Some places got it worse. Luckily fer us, Lofty's been makin' sure we're safe."

"Lofty?" blinked Sora.

"Our Kingmaker. The lil' blighter hasn't let us down yet."

"Ah, good," nodded Sora, pretending he knew what that was. "By the way, do you guys know anyone who can teleport people to Goldpaw?"

"Well, the King and Consul Leander might help ye," said the bearded guy, "Ye can find them in the castle."

"Or I can find you," said a blond man in purple as he walked up to them, "and escort you to the castle as requested by His Majesty and the Kingmaker."

Donald quacked a noise that Sora recognized that the duck was suspicious of this turn of events.

11.

The blond man turned out to be Consul Leander. He was a no nonsense sort of man whose accent sounded similar to the blue skinned residents in the town.

"Did everyone lose to their homes before they came here?" asked Sora as he noted the many species of people going through their lives.

"No," replied Leander, "we came to Evermore for a fresh start and perhaps help King Evan rise Evermore to greatness."

King Evan again...Was he the same one the mouse King and his aide regarded with suspicion?

"What's your king like?" said Sora.

"The King of Evermore is kind-hearted and tries to help everyone in every way he can," Leander's voice seemed to turn fond, "he knows full well what it's like to lose everything and doesn't want anyone to experience it again."

Donald and Goofy looked at each other and smiled. Well, that sounded like somebody they know.

"Oh, what's this?" Sora stopped and crouched to face a small green creature who had a leaf stuck to its head. It made a delighted 'Higgle!' noise once it realized the strange newcomers had spotted it.

"That is a Higgledy," explained Leander as more of the creatures emerged and surrounded the visitors, "They are personifications of the elements around us. Only the pure of heart can truly see them."

"Neat," said Sora while Donald grinned as he realized he fit that criteria.

The throne room was just as spacious as the one in Ding Dong Dell but with a cat theme instead of rodents and a lot more images of fish. Along the path to the throne was a young pink haired woman in yellow and green, a large man with his brown hair tamed by bandana and had a bushy mustache, and a young and tiny red haired girl. The girl and the man dressed similarly as the rough looking people Sora had seen around the town and castle.

King Evan turned out to be a boy a few years younger than Sora, much to Donald and Goofy's alarm. Despite his age, the cat-eared King was every much the king he meant to be.

"Greetings travelers," he said with an accent that Donald and Goofy noted to be suspiciously sounded similar to the people of Ding Dong Dell, "I, King Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, welcome you to Evermore."

Donald and Goofy bowed but Sora still stood up straight and said before pointing to himself and to his companions, "Hi there! I'm Sora and that is Donald and Goofy."

"Sora!" quacked Donald exasperatedly while Goofy 'a-hyucked' in surprise.

"O-oh, right..." Sora belatedly bowed in greeting.

"Haven't got much flippin' experience around royalty, eh mun?" said an amused red and yellow creature by the left of the King. Sora noted that the watchful feeling had eased up.

"Lofty!" hissed King Evan. That's...that's Lofty the Kingmaker? It's tiny.

"Er...yeah," laughed Sora nervously, "I have but...I keep forgetting."

"We received reports of how well you fought off those monsters with ease," the young King's tail flicked behind him with interest, "As though you have much experience with them. Do you know what they are?"

"Well, the ones that are darker and have yellow eyes are known as the Heartless," explained Sora, "they are made of Darkness and their goal is to steal hearts. When you lose your heart, you become one too."

The locals in the room looked at him with horror.

"Is that...?" started the red haired girl but couldn't bring herself to continue. King Evan's ears drooped in response.

"Oh flip," said Lofty quietly.

Sora had a feeling they experienced something terrible.

"And the creepy white ones?" inquired the woman as she adjusted a pair of goggles on her head.

"They're called Nobodies," added Goofy, "a Nobody is what's left when someone with a strong will falls to the darkness. The stronger ones are the ones that look the most human and they went and formed Organization XIII. They say they want their hearts back but all they do is cause trouble and hurt people."

"They also aren't supposed to exist," growled Sora, "They're an abomination."

"The stronger swabs," said the mustached man, "do they wear black coats?"

"You've met them?" squawked Donald.

"Aye, a little over a month ago," confirmed the man.

"That was..." started King Evan sadly, his ears pressed against his head, "the last time we saw Roland."

A gloom settled into the large room.

"We apologize for your loss, Your Majesty," said Goofy sympathetically as Sora let out a little "Oh..."

As it turned out, the King did know the spell that could transport the travelers to Goldpaw but he instead offered to escort them via a Zippelin, which turned out to be an air ship.

"You're looking to solve the Heartless problem, yeah?" said the woman who had introduced herself as Bracken, "We've been getting reports that there's a whole lot of them south of Goldpaw. It makes traveling to Capstan-Upon-Hull a lot more dangerous than usual."

"The Heartless are vanquished more easily when attacked with light spells and weapons imbued in that element," explained Leander, "however, they tend to return after some time."

"They flippin' haven't after gettin' walloped by that key of youers," observed Lofty.

"Y-yeah," agreed Sora nervously.

Before Lofty could interrogate the boy, Donald squawked in alarm as he looked out a window.

"There!" he pointed and everyone gasped at the scene below.

On the beach past Goldpaw (a nation whose main city shone brightly against the perpetual night), was a person surrounded by Dusks.

"We have to help them!" cried Sora and Evan simultaneously.

"Oh flip there's two of them," muttered Lofty.

"Alright, settin' 'er down," called Batu at the controls. The Zippelin descended close by and everyone rushed out. This brought the Nobodies attention and they swarmed the rescuers instead.

With the additional help from Sora, Donald, and Goofy, the resulting battle was a lot easier. Eventually, there was one Dusk left.

It suddenly dissipated into nothingness. A young man with his dark hair in a low ponytail and wearing a long blue coat stood behind where it once stood, holding a sword that he immediately dismissed.

"Thanks, I thought they'd get me again," he said, relieved. Something seemed...off but Sora wasn't sure.

"Roland!" squealed the children before they tackled him. Their older colleagues followed, smiling.

"Where have ye been, lad?" asked Batu, "We thought that swine got ye!"

"I don't know," Roland carefully got up, minding Evan's tail, "I was dueling Xigbar and then the next thing I know, I'm in a cell. It wasn't hard to break out of it considering how far apart the bars were. I had to sneak around for a while before I came across this...weird thing. Kept saying 'kupo' a lot." He shrugged.

"That's a Moogle!" clarified Donald, "They're kind of like merchants."

"Huh," blinked Roland, "Well, thanks to that Moogle's help, I got out of Organization XIII's hideout and found myself...somewhere else. Best way to describe it was a city that I heard about once but it never had people mingling with monsters whose names ended with 'mon.' Managed to find another Moogle who was willing to direct me to a world where a few of its older fellows had enough strength to transport me across several worlds over to here."

"What's it like seeing other worlds?" asked Bracken.

"A fascinating experience that I don't desire to try again," said Roland.

"You said you were in the Organization's hideout," realized Sora, "did you see a red haired girl named Kairi in there?"

Roland shook his head, "I'm sorry, I didn't. They must've gotten her some time after I escaped."

Sora sighed tiredly in response.

"Don't ye give up, lad," consoled Batu, "ye'll save her before ye know it!"

"Yeah..."

"By the way," interrupted Roland, "why are you traveling by air ship?"

"To reach the shrine!" explained Tani, "Y'know, the one high up in the mountains that's hard to climb up on?"

Roland's thick eyebrows lightly furrowed in worry, "Well...this sounds familiar."

"Yeah," agreed Tani, "but this time we wont lose you."

Lofty hung back, unseen. He frowned as he sensed something incredibly wrong. He decided to keep quiet and observe.

The Higgledies on the air ship will know what to do.

The Higgledies cheered once they saw Roland enter the Zippelin. He had been gone for a while! Where did he go?

"Oh wow," laughed Sora as the creatures excitedly jumped around Roland's feet, "they must've really missed you."

Roland smiled. One of the Higgledies squeaked in fright because there was too much teeth in that smile but Roland didn't seem to notice.

He watched as the unsuspecting Keyblade wielder turned his attention to the window as the air ship got closer to its destination.

"Roland," said Leander quietly to draw only his attention. Evan and Goofy's ears twitched as they picked up the sound, "this may sound like paranoia but can you tell me who this is?" He picked up a purple Higgledy with little horns on its head, unaware that Roland can't see anything in Leander's hands.

"If you require a hint," he added as he noted how the other man hesitated, "this one has a scarf."

"Ah," nodded Roland, "Runcible."

Leander blinked before gently lowering the Higgledy back onto the air ship's floor, "Correct."

"Hig?" Tove said in confusion.

12.

Sora noted how tense his hosts have gotten the deeper they entered the shrine. No one could hold conversation for long because the shrine was teeming with Heartless. Did Xadlorn set this up for the Organization's goal to collect captive hearts? Or did a few Heartless appear on their own and managed to multiply unchecked?

The raiding party at last reached a circular room. Three of the members noted how upset and nervous the others were as they warily looked around.

"This is..." started Evan quietly.

"Yeah," agreed Roland.

There was a skittering noise. Everyone fell into an alert state and looked around. The skittering continued.

Lofty yelped as he looked up, "Flip!"

A larger version of a Shadow Heartless dropped from the ceiling. It eyed the group with interest before lunging to attack.

A standard Shadow can melt into the floor and avoid getting hit. A Neo Shadow was no different but its larger size meant it was more bolder and would partially re-emerge and swipe at someone before sinking back into safety.

Donald noted how it avoided Roland and the light-based Higgledy (what was its name again?) refused to include him when healing. The man seemed frantic to try to land a hit with his sword (that suspiciously looked familiar...). Actually, a better way to describe him would be desperate.

The Heartless at last collapsed in defeat and released a heart. Which was odd the more Sora thought about it because Neo Shadows don't-

He got distracted when Roland suddenly ran to grab the heart. There was a sound of a gun shot and he froze as a red bolt missed him.

"Well, well," said Xigbar, "Not surprised I'd find you here, greenhorn."

"Go away!" growled Sora.

"I will once I send Xaddy here on time out," Xigbar casually rested an elbow on Roland's shoulder. "Number 8 has already gone rogue, we don't need to lose another one to old attachments."

"They aren't attachments!" protested Roland.

"Yeah? Then what's with the sending Dusks to keep tabs on an entire world thing?" teased Xigbar.

"Um," started Goofy.

Roland glared in response.

"Really dude? You thought we wouldn't notice when whole squads are missing for weeks?" Xigbar shook his head.

"Is that why there's Nobodies everywhere?" realized Bracken, "That was you?"

"If you wanted to call dibs on this place, you should've said something!"

"Guys," tried Goofy again.

"Wait a flippin' minute!" screeched Lofty, "Are you saying you didn't flippin' escape? That youer..."

"You're one of them," said a disappointed Evan.

"Oh yeah," grinned Xigbar, "Number Fifteen, Xadlorn!"

"You're Xadlorn?" Sora's mind seemed to freeze in shock at this revelation, "but you don't look old."

"Sora!" scolded Donald.

"Huh," shrugged Xigbar, "yeah, that's true. You're young and sexy here but middle-aged everywhere else. Is this a mood-based curse sort of thing?"

"I could explain," said a new voice and all turned to see a man wearing a yellow snake head dress. Floating over his staff was a heart. "But outsiders don't have the privilege."

"Doloran!" gasped Evan while Goofy sighed deeply with exasperation.

"Greetings, young King Evan," Doloran mock bowed, "Unfortunately, I cannot stay long. Let us reconvene when we don't have to play host to outsiders who bring their conflict to your doorstep."

"Give me my heart back," demanded Xadlorn/Roland.

"It's best if it stays with me," Doloran snapped his fingers and the Heart was absorbed into his staff, "I doubt anyone else here knows how to keep a Heart from being reclaimed by darkness." He then teleported away.

"Oooh, tough luck," mocked Xigbar as he grabbed Xadlorn by the arm, "So close to becoming whole again." He opened a new dark portal, "Now come on. If I explain it, Xemnas and Saix will maybe go easier on you."

The younger Nobody flinched at that as he reluctantly allowed himself to be lead into the portal that closed up after both went in.

Evan then burst into tears.

Donald and Goofy, having raised kids on their own, would definitely be protective of Evan (who I see being 10-12 years old). Having some experience with politics due to their positions (court mage and captain of the king's guard respectively), they would've figured out the situation between Ding Dong Dell and Evermore long before Sora did.

The 'if you're Roland then pass this Higgledy test' and 'oh no he's a zombie all along' scenes were a couple of ideas I've been sitting on for ages. They just...turned out differently. orz

Higgledies are indeed seen by those who are pure of heart. Otherwise, you just vaguely hear them. Xadlorn, meanwhile, can't detect them at all because of the whole 'no heart' thing.