Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Kingdom Hearts Route B ❯ The Vanished ( Chapter 11 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy or any of the Disney/Square Enix characters that appear in this work. Please support the original releases.

 

 

 

Chapter 11: The Vanished

 

 

 

Skin crawling silence filled the space where there was once lively chatter, barking dogs, and the clangs of swords and arrows hitting their targets. Angus hooves echoed as they rode through the camp, staring at the steaming plates of food, the forgotten armor, and all the fallen weapons on the floor.

There was no rips in the tents. The grass was unmarked by the glittery residue left by magic. Sora searched for weapon or claw marks, but there was nothing, no clue. It was as though the people, the horses and the dogs just decided to leave everything behind and go.

Merida called for her father and brothers while Sora searched for Donald and Goofy. Only the rustling and chirps of the forest responded. Dread rattled like rocks in Sora's stomach.

His keyblade appeared in his hand.

He got into a fighting stance, waiting for the inevitable sizzle that tingled in the air seconds before heartless would appear.

Merida saw his weapon, and set an arrow on her bow. Angus pulled back his ears. A breeze went over the grass, caressing Sora's face, sending a chill down his neck.

Nothing happened.

Merida put down her bow, and gave Sora an impatient look.

"What are we waiting for?"

"That's strange. Usually, I'd get attacked by heartless the second something weird happens."

"Heartless? What are ya talkin' about?"

"They're dark creatures that go after people's hearts."

"I don't like the sound of that, lad. You think these monsters got rid of everyone here?"

"Maybe."

Merida narrowed her eyes. "Maybe? That's all ya got?"

"Well, usually they attack me everywhere I go and every chance they get, but here, it's just quiet."

Merida whistled and Angus lurched forward.

"We won't get any answers just standing round here. Let's search the area."

After an hour of galloping through the surrounding forest there was no sign of Merida's family, her father's men, or Donald and Goofy. Merida back to the circle of stones where she had met Sora for the first time.

There, she inspected the stones. While she was distracted, Sora snuck off to the Castle Oblivion door. Maybe Donald and Goofy had gone back. He couldn't think of any reason why the two of them would willingly leave him behind, but he felt the need to check regardless.

The door was gone.

Sora looked around the clearing, and even tried summoning the door with his keyblade, but there was no response from his weapon. He felt his worries twisting in his throat. He tried to swallow them down, but his heart wouldn't be quiet.

A will-o-the-wisp appeared in the space where the door had been. It whispered and then zipped away.

Sora followed the blue spec. It led him back to the stone circle, back to Merida, but it didn't vanish.

The wisp flickered.

It stretched, growing taller and wider.

Angus slammed his hoof on the ground, disturbed.

The wisp morphed from a blob into the shape of a boy. A boy with shoulder length, spiky hair. Sora's heart beat even faster.

"Riku."

The blue light of the wisp blinked out.

"Wait!"

Sora ran around the rocks, searching, but it was no use. The wisp was gone and all that was left in his head were questions. Merida grabbed his shoulder and turned him around.

"What was that?"

"That wisp. He looked like my friend. What does that mean? What was it trying to tell me?"

"I don't know, Sora. Wisps are a mysterious thing."

"Do you think they're responsible for everyone's disappearance too?"

Merida's brows came together in a frown. "I don't think wisps are dangerous. Maybe everyone in the camp went back to the castle in a rush."

"They went back to the castle and just left all their things behind?"

"Maybe it was an emergency? It makes more sense then people just disappearing. Ach! More questions. I'm just as confused as you."

"So what do we do?"

"We're going back to the castle." Merida grimaced. "We're going to talk to my mum."

 

 

 

They were sitting, side by side, watching the sun set. Riku was leaning against the paopu tree with his arms crossed, talking about seeing other worlds. Sora was lying back lazily on the tree's curved trunk, relaxing his head on his hands, looking forward to tomorrow. Kairi watched the sunset, feeling the breeze and the warmth of being with her two best friends.

Yet, she was afraid.

"Say Kairi, what was your home like. You know, where you grew up?"

What if she had told Sora the truth?

"I told you before. I don't remember."

But what could she have even said to him? The dark memories of her past would have ruined their search for other worlds.

"Nothing at all?"

"Nothing."

That was a lie. She did remember something. Before she came to Destiny Islands, there was one memory. How could she have told her friends about the night her home decayed from a black disease that tore hearts out of people, the warnings in her grandmother's fairytales and the fear that she might have been the only person that had survived.

But she should have told them. Maybe then they would have been more careful. Or would it have mattered? Would the three of them still be apart? Was that how things were always going to be? Separated from the people she cared about most?

Kairi swam in a bright void until her feet touched something cool. Silver doves appeared out of the whiteness, fluttering for a moment before once again vanishing out into the bright nothing beyond. Light glittered below her feet. Looking down, she saw the image of Destiny Islands on a stained glass platform. In the picture, she sat with her friends on the paopu tree, watching the sun set. On the other side, opposite the picture of the sunset, there was an image of a girl, a dog, and a rabbit facing the darkness together.

Which was the right path to take? Was it to chase after old friendships or new ones? She leaned down to get a closer look at the two images.

The glass below her swayed back and forth.

The platform slanted diagonally, the ground curving upward below her feet. She ran, her shoes sliding on the glass, and her body tumbling forward. Her hands pressed against the smooth surface, her fingertips burning as she slid downward. Kairi pushed with her legs, and managed to get her fingers around the edge of the platform. Her feet hung over the white nothing below, and yet the platform kept tipping forward like a sinking ship. A few more seconds and there would be nothing left to hold on to.

The white world around her began to shift, getting darker and darker until it was completely black. Words without a voice echoed around her. Her ears didn't tingle with sound, her eyes didn't see the letters, but she knew them in her heart as though they had always been there.

The closer you get to the darkness, the stronger your light must be in order to pierce through it.

The platform tipped too far and Kairi's fingers slipped from the smooth edge. She fell into the abyss, down and down in endless darkness until the blackness shifted again into grey and then into a white so blinding that her eyes stung.

Kairi sat up.

The white world around her slowly faded as more colors appeared. Blurry shapes came into focus and slowly, the dream faded from her mind. She was in a pink bed. Her legs were tangled in silk bedsheets, and she wasn't alone.

Something stood next to her.

Kairi kicked the blankets, skittered toward the edge of bed, and crashed onto the floor with her feet still on the mattress. There was a sweeping noise. Her surprise overruled the pounding in her head and she jumped to her feet, moving backward, away from the thing that was creeping closer and closer.

"Brooms don't move," she whispered, "this is a dream. Right. A dream. Brooms don't move and they definitely don't have arms to hold a tray full of...pancakes?"

The broom didn't seem offended by her surprise. It simply bowed and extended the tray in its hands, as if to say, "please eat."

Slowly, as though making a false move could send the broom into a sweeping frenzy, she took the tray. Before she could think to say thanks, the broom turned around and walked out the door.

Kairi sat on the bed, staring at the white door the broom had walked through for a full minute before the temptation, and her stomach, made her finally look at her breakfast.

A plate with three pancakes. They were arranged in the same mouse-shaped symbol that had been on the letter Pluto had given her on the Destiny Islands. There was also a silver cloche. Kairi lifted the cloche, and saw a plate of steaming eggs and bacon underneath. The three sunny side up eggs were also arranged in a mouse shape.

Her stomach rumbled and in the next five minutes she had devoured her food so fast that her throat was dry from thirst. As if summoned by her thoughts, the door opened and the broom came back in with another tray. This one had a cute, pink teapot, teacup, a bowl of sugar and a glass of milk.

A duck came into the room behind the broom. She walked with a noble's grace, her hands folded daintily in front of her lavender gown. Delight danced in her blue eyes and a moment later, her beak curved into a smile.

"Oh, you're awake. Thank goodness." She waved at the broom. "Would you please go get me a teacup as well?"

The broom put down the tea tray, picked up Kairi's used breakfast tray, saluted the duck with one arm, and then swept out of the room. Moving around to the side of Kairi's bed, the duck picked up the teapot and poured green liquid into the cup. She handed the cup and saucer to Kairi.

The herbal steam of the tea warmed her hands and face.

"Sugar dear?"

"Yes, thank you."

While Kairi spooned three heaping teaspoons of sugar into her tea, the broom returned and handed the duck the teacup she had requested. Its chore done, the broom promptly left. Once they were alone again, Kairi cleared her throat.

"Don't know how I got here, but thank you for the breakfast and the tea. My name's Kairi, by the way."

"I am Duchess Daisy Duck. A pleasure."

"You remind me of Donald. Do you know him?"

"Oh?" Daisy's eyes narrowed as she took a sip of her tea. "You've met that good for nothing, have you?"

"Well, I sort of met him, it's more like-"

Daisy slammer her tea cup against its saucer. "That big, dumb buffoon! He hasn't sent me a single letter since he left on his mission! If the king can send Her Majesty letters then so can he. Here I am, worried sick and he-"

She looked sharply at Kairi.

"Wait, how do you know about Donald? You're from another world. That must mean that you met him during his mission."

"Technically I know him and Goofy through my friend Sora. He has the keyblade and-"

Daisy almost spilled her tea.

"Do you mean the key that the king mentioned? What happened to Donald? And Goofy? Are they all right? Did they accomplish their mission?"

"I think so. I haven't seen them since my world was brought back and-"

Daisy grabbed Kairi's wrist. "You must meet with Queen Minnie. There is no time to waste. Come with me."

Kairi stumbled out of the bed after Daisy, spilling her tea onto the floor. For such a small duck, Daisy was shockingly fast. She pulled Kairi through a pearly white castle so quickly that Kairi head spun. They exited out into a topiary garden. The hedges were perfectly trimmed and the entire garden looked like an orchestra of dogs, pigs and cows playing trumpets, horns, drums and cymbals.

At the center of the garden was a yellow, purple, and blue flowerbed. A topiary castle, the size of a small cottage, sat in the center of the flowerbed. Sitting next to the castle, sipping tea from atop a crystal table, was a regal mouse in a pink gown. Across from the mouse was a young woman, wearing a flowered hat.

Completely ignoring the other woman, Daisy dragged Kairi to the mouse in pink.

"Majesty Minnie, I have very important news."

The mouse's long lashes rose up into her forehead. "Daisy dear, now is not the best time to, oh! She's awake."

Kairi tried to bow politely to the queen, but before she even got the chance, the other woman stood quickly.

"Ah yes! Majesty Minnie, I know exactly when I felt the need to visit here today."

"Oh? And what could that be, Mary?"

"It's because of this girl."

 

 

 

Sora leaned over the side of Angus' saddle to look at the stream under the stone bridge. Down below, people were lugging barrels full of water from the stream up the toward a door that was hidden into the side of the hill.

Across the bridge, Merida's castle stood tall on a cliff that overlooked a scenic, perfectly still lake. The hearty stone of the castle felt strong and ancient, blending perfectly with the rich, green mountains in the distance.

When they entered through the gates, Sora didn't know what to look at first. Stablehands were busy brushing, cleaning and feeding the horses, maids rushed to and fro with basketfuls of laundry and food for the kitchen, chickens clucked all over the courtyard, servants laughed with guards at their posts and Merida just rode through it all without a second glance.

She took Angus to his stall at the stable, grabbed Sora's hand and led him through the castle's doors into a stone audience hall. Sora was still too busy looking around to notice Merida run up to a woman sitting in one of the three thrones.

"Mum! We have a problem."

The woman gave Merida a surprised look, but quickly smoothed her features into a professional mask.

"Ahem, we have a guest," she pointed at Sora.

Merida waved her arms. "He's with me, mum. Listen, Dad, Hubert, Hamish and Harris-"

"Merida, it's rude to speak without including others."

"Mum! This is important."

"So are manners."

Merida groaned. "Fine. Sora, this is my mother, Queen Elinor."

Sora bowed.

Elinor nodded reverently at Sora and he couldn't help staring at the emerald green gem in the center of her crown.

"Your Majesty," Sora began, "we might need your help."

Merida launched into a desperate explanation of what had happened. Elinor quirked an eyebrow at her daughter's sudden return to impolite behavior, but listened patiently to the story. By the time Merida was finished, Elinor put a hand over her mouth and chin, making her look both worried and deep in thought at the same time.

"The boys, well, have a knack for getting into trouble, but it's unlike Fergus and the men to just leave you behind. You say you've been seeing more wisps lately?"

Merida nodded.

With her hands folded in front of her emerald gown, Elinor glided out of the throne room. Sora and Merida followed her up the steps to the second floor of the castle and entered a small library. Elinor stopped in front of a bookcase full of letters and scrolls. She reached into the many rolls of paper and pulled out a book that looked as though it could crumble into dust if someone so much as breathed on it.

Elinor turned the yellowed pages until she came upon a picture of a wisp. She slide her finger over the writing on the next page and began to read.

"Will-o-the-wisps are nothing more then children stories. They are small, quiet and shy creatures that guide the lost and lead people to their destinies. Sometimes they grant wishes, and other times they teach harsh lessons. The wisps can be just as mischievous as they are playful. They're said to be attracted to light and laughter."

Elinor stopped reading and looked up toward the ceiling.

"That's all?" Merida huffed.

"Fairy tales exist because the story is so old that a lot of information is lost. And sometimes, it's better not to know the whole story." Elinor gave Merida a stern look. "Now is a good chance for you to practice being a proper princess."

"Ugh, mum."

"You're going to call in the soldiers and command a large scale search for the will-o-the-wisps."

"Why bother when I could just go to the forest and investigate myself? I'm much faster then a battalion of brutes."

Elinor drew a sharp breathe, annoyance tightening on her face. Then she relaxed and exhaled slowly. "I don't want you to vanish like your father and brothers. I'm only worried."

Merida's frown vanished. "Right, I'll be careful, mum, I promise."

"Don't worry," Sora interjected, "I can make sure she's safe. I'm sort of, um, experienced in handling monsters. If there's something out there to worry about, I can handle it."

Merida lightly punched Sora's shoulder.

"I can take care of myself, ya know."

"Then let's just say I got your back."

Merida grinned. "Please mum? This is something I can do, something I can learn from experience. We promised to try things my way sometimes."

Elinor looked from Merida to Sora. Her face was stony, authoritative. Then she closed her eyes.

"Promise that you will report to me at the first sign of trouble. And, young man, please watch out for my rowdy girl."

Merida jumped around in a circle. Then she attack-hugged her mother singing, "thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Elinor stiffened like a pole when Merida pinned her arms to her sides, but then she melted and carefully patted her girl's messy hair. A moment later, she cleared her throat and Merida let go.

"I think I may have something to produce the light the book speaks about. Follow me."

Elinor led Sora and Merida to a storage room. The small space was bustling with craftsman organizing, sending out materials, and carefully balancing wooden boxes one on top of the other. The second the servants spotted Elinor, they stopped what they were doing, stood up straight and cleared their throats.

"Hello, gentlemen," Elinor greeted, "has the delivery for Merida's room come yet?"

"Yes, Majesty," one of the craftsman said.

He gave Elinor a parcel wrapped in brown paper.

"A delivery for my room? Mum, what is it?"

Elinor thanked the craftsman and then cautiously unwrapped the paper. Inside was a rainbow disk of stained glass. The disk which was as thick as a textbook.

"You broke your window glass when you were trying to save me from staying a bear forever," Elinor said.

Sora blinked at Merida. "Did she say bear?"

Merida's cheeks turned the same color as her hair, making her look like an overgrown tomato on a dry vine.

"It's a long story." She waved her hand. "Anyway, my window has already been fixed so why the glass?"

"I thought it would be nice to change it a bit, so I ordered some stained glass. It was supposed to be a surprise, but there are more important things to worry about now."

Elinor moved out of the storage room. Merida and Sora followed her to the courtyard, where she lifted the glass up to the sun. Colorful raindrops of green, blue, red, orange, purple, and yellow light glittered over Elinor's dress and onto the ground.

"Wow," Sora whistled.

Elinor produced a drawstring bag and put the stained glass inside.

"Use this to try and lure out the wisps. Please be careful."

Merida carefully tied the bag around her belt. "I will mum. I'll be back with Dad and the boys before your know it."

 

 

 

Merida raised the rainbow disk to a streak of sunlight that poked through the treetops. The stained glass casted glittering shadows over the forest floor.

Angus trotted easily over fallen logs and boulders, his ears up and relaxed. Sora watched the specs of light dance over the grass and leaves. He kept an eye out for any blue wisps, but the longer they trotted in silence, the more he felt his mind wandering.

He worried about Donald and Goofy, and questioned why the wisp had taken Riku's shape. Maybe Donald and Goofy had seen the wisp too and had gone after it. But again, Sora didn't believe they would leave him behind.

They stuck together. All for one and one for all, like they promised. Donald and Goofy wouldn't just pull a disappearing act, not without telling Sora first. They would have at least left Jiminy behind to convey a message.

"Sora," Merida whispered, "do you see that?"

Straight ahead, a wisp was floating above the green shadow cast by the glass. Merida pulled Angus to a stop. Carefully, she and Sora slid off the horse's saddle. Merida took the reigns and led Angus to a nearby tree.

"Stay here."

Angus didn't seem too eager to follow. He bent his head down and began to graze while Merida and Sora tiptoed closer to the wisp. Singing, the wisp drifted over the ground, guiding them deeper into the forest until the trees began to lose their leaves, and the air became white with fog.

Merida placed an arrow on her bow. She slowed down her movements, stepping over rubble and fallen logs. A lonely monolith appeared out of the grey void. Sora and Merida walked up broken, stone steps toward it.

A pair of axes were carved onto the monolith.

Merida traced the axes with her finger. "Mor'du's castle."

"Mor'du?"

"The demon bear," Merida explained. "He was once a prince, but his hunger for power made him into a monster. He's the reason my dad has a peg leg."

"Whoa. What happened to the bear?"

"My mum took him down."

"You mom did that to a demon bear?"

Merida winked.

"So you don't just get your strength just from your dad then."

"Nope. Don't tell her I said this, but mum is very brave. The wisps brought my mum and me here last time. If it weren't for her, I would've been Mor'du's lunch."

They walked deeper into the ruins. The stones were scarred by deep claw marks. Parts of the ancient castle had crumbed into heaps of rubble. An eerie wind whispered from the ruins. Merida rubbed her arms.

"Why do the wisps keep bringing us here?"

Sora walked around a crooked pillar. There was a hole in the floor. He tapped his feet. The ground was hollow. He looked down at the base of the pillar and saw that there was an opening big enough for him to squeeze through.

"Over here."

Looking inside the hole, Sora saw the remains of a throne room. Rotting chairs, piles of rocks, stone walls that looked as though they were as unstable as dominoes, told him that the room below had been abandoned for a long time.

Sora and Merida jumped in.

When Sora landed, the room rumbled. Dust and dirt rained from the ceiling.

Sora felt eyes on his back.

He turned.

A blue ghost stood behind him.

The ghost of Riku.

The ghost smiled and outstretched his hand again.

It walked backward into the darkness on the other side of the throne room.

"No, wait!"

Sora ran into the darkness, ignoring Merida's calls. He leapt into the shadows of the throne room, raced through a long, stone tunnel and then found himself back outside.

The Riku lookalike stopped in front of the monolith, and by the time Sora caught up to it, the spectre had vanished.

The cobblestones under Sora's feet shivered, blue fireflies shined in the crevices between the stones. The fireflies rose up from the ground, gathering into a ball right in front of Sora's eyes. The ball got bigger and darker, morphing from shiny blue to a shimmering purple and then black.

A thick arm appeared out of the blob of darkness. It reached out, ready to claw Sora across the face. An arrow sunk into the arm, making it pause. Then the arrow sank into the black creature's body.

A hand clamped around Sora's wrist. Merida tugged him away from the smoking, black creature.

"Don't just stand there! Run!"

The black ball melted, spilling into the ground. It roared after them like a toxic tidal wave.

Sora threw his keyblade at it, but the dark tide kept advancing. Summoning his keyblade back, he tried attacking with fire magic, then ice, then lightning. The magic simply faded into the black water .

Merida and Sora jumped over the debris of the old castle. Behind them, the dry, dead trees crackled and snapped as the darkness ripped through the ruins in pursuit.

The mist cleared, revealing a cliff just a few feet ahead. Sora and Merida skidded to a stop, their toes just barely over the edge. Down below, harsh waves crashed into the sharp rocks of a river and right behind them, the black ooze was slowly creeping up.

Merida pointed.

"The disk!"

The stained glass had fallen out of her pocket when she had rushed to stop. She reached out and grabbed it seconds before the dark sludge covered the ground where it had been.

Stuck between a cliff and the ooze, Sora and Merida shot magic and arrows at the sludge, but it was no use. The ooze was almost to their feet.

Desperate, Merida waved her arm. The stained glass in her hand caught the sunlight. The ooze shivered. It stopped in front of the little yellow spec of light that was reflecting from the glass.

Noticing this, Merida held the glass up. The light reflected on the trees just beyond the ooze. The black sludge shifted, as though turning.

Sora watched the sludge chase after the light like a cat trying to catch a firefly. His keyblade hummed in his hand. Lifting it, he aimed the tip of his keyblade at the glass.

A razor sharp beam of light exploded out of the disk. The muscles in Sora's arm tightened and Merida could barely keep the glass steady. The beam flew all around, completely out of control. Is seared the black liquid, the trees, and even dug into the stone floor beneath them.

The ooze recoiled.

It moved back, deeper and deeper into the trees.

Slowly, Sora and Merida moved away from the cliff, directing the beam further into the mist.

The sludge fled into the fog. Gone. Sora's arm was throbbing. He released his keyblade and fell on his hands and knees, gasping for breathe. Merida collapsed against a tree and closed her eyes.

"My shootin' arm feels like it's going to fall off."

"Yeah," Sora coughed, "making that beam takes a lot out of me."

"Talk about luck. Ugh. I need some water."

Merida and Sora went back to Angus and the horse easily led them to a stream in the middle of the forest. After drinking their fill, Sora helped Merida build a fire. She used her archery skills to catch a few fish. Once Sora's belly was full, he stared into the stream.

"I'm sorry Merida."

"What for?"

"For letting my guard down. I was so desperate to try and catch that wisp, the one that looks like my friend. We almost got splattered because of me."

"Don't worry so much about it."

"But, it wasn't the right choice. Your dad and brothers are gone. Donald, Jiminy, and Goofy are gone, but all I can think about is Riku."

"Aw, wee lamb. Quit your moping."

She thumped Sora so hard on the back that he fell, face first into the stream. Spluttering out of the water, Sora spotted Merida on the ground, kicking her feet and snorting with laughter.

"Oh yeah?"

Sora summoned his keyblade and hurled a mini tidal wave at Merida.

The water slapped her in the face, flattening her puffy hair. She stared at Sora with a confused look for two seconds before she jumped into the stream next to him. And then the two of them were throwing around so much water that Sora's hands got wrinkly.

"All right, you win!"

Sora panted, shaking water off his hair.

Merida stretched. "Well I feel better, don't you?"

"Yeah. I don't have time to worrying. We've got to get our friends back."

"Right. And now we know that that dark creature is weak to light. Time to set a trap."

 

 

 

Sora leaned back to admire his work. He had to hand it to Merida: the girl sure knew how to make a trap. They had returned to the ruins. Carefully, Merida and Sora had hidden mirrors and pieces of glass in the floor, between cracks in the rubble and in the trees. The reflective surfaces sparkled, even in the mist. Now they just needed to lure the ooze into it.

Merida closed an eye and pointed. "I think we've got the angles just right. Now we have to hit the right mirror and we've got an instant light storm."

She climbed one of the trees and placed the stained glass disk between the branches. Jumping back down onto the ground, Merida waved at Sora.

"Ready to go hunting?"

Sora grinned. Raising his keyblade in the air, he chanted. "Thunder!"

Lightning rained down from the sky. The mist parted and beams of sunlight sprinkled over the ruins. Artificial fireflies glowed all over the ruins. Sora and Merida ducked behind a fallen pillar and waited for the black sludge to appear.

And they waited. And waited. And waited. Almost two hours later, Merida was yawning and Sora had sunk down so low against the rock, he was practically lying down. He turned onto his knees, and peeked over the pillar.

The Riku lookalike stood in the middle of their trap.

It turned to where Merida and Sora were hiding and shook its head.

Merida leaned in to whisper. "Is your friend trying to tell us something?"

The lookalike vanished.

There was a thunderous stomping that was getting louder. Merida readied her bow, Sora summoned his keyblade. They kept their eyes on the ruins, searching for the black sludge.

But the vibration wasn't coming from the ruins. It was coming from behind. A horse galloped out of the mist and into the sunlight. It skid to a stop, neighing angrily at its rider and tapping its hoof on the ground. The rider's face was as red as his hair. He fell off the horse, right at Merida's feet. Merida turned him over and Sora recognized the rider's guard uniform. He had seen it back at the castle.

The man on the floor could barely breathe.

Without missing a beat, Sora raised his keyblade and chanted a healing spell. The rejuvenating magic flowers gave the man back his energy. He sat back up with a gasp and grabbed Merida's shoulder.

"Princess, you have to come back to the castle immediately! We're under attack!"

 

 

 

Jiminy's Journal

Queen Elinor (First Appeared in Brave, 2012): Queen Elinor is ladylike and strict, leading her people as both a diplomat and paragon of elegance. She can be stubborn like her daughter, which leads the two of them to argue at times. Despite this, Elinor loves Merida very much and does soften a bit when she compromises with her.

Daisy Duck (First Appeared in Mr. Duck Steps Out, 1940): Duchess of Disney castle. Daisy is Queen Minnie's lady in waiting and best friend. She can be a bit single-minded and spoiled, but Daisy is also loyal to her queen and castle. She worries for Donald's safety, though she won't admit it.

The Brooms (First Appeared in Fantasia, 1940): Enchanted brooms that serve as Disney Castle's servants and guards.