Stay tuned for info after this chapter about a competition! Prizes to be won ;)

But don’t skip ahead because if you do, you’ll be spoiled for what happens in this chapter.

A Darker Road: Chapter Eleven
Treading Old Roads

“Dunno ‘bout you but I’m ready to be out of these pirate clothes. These outfits belong on a stage, not in every day life,” Zidane said as he and Sora headed to one of the ship’s numerous locker rooms where spare clothes were kept. “Shame we couldn’t stay for longer though. It’s been a long time since I drank some high-quality rum.”

“Kairi needs me,” Sora replied. “We have to get back to Disney Castle.” He absently rubbed a hand over his chest. “I guess I should just be grateful that I know where she is.”

”Yeah, it’s a good thing she wound up at the castle and not some other world.”

Sora nodded and opened the door to the locker room. “Yeah, I could’ve lost her all over again.”

He didn't mention out loud about how terrified he was, thinking that he could lose her again if he didn't drag her and the others back to the present.

Zidane gratefully slid back into his own clothes. Sora only had the option of a t-shirt and a pair of denim overalls that the crew used when doing maintenance. They didn’t fit him very well – he was tall enough but nowhere near wide enough to fill them out properly – but there was nothing else for him to wear, not now that the clothes from Elizabeth were torn and slightly stained with blood. The shoes weren’t much either – white deck shoes that reminded him of the footwear fishermen wore on Destiny Islands – but the boots he’d been given by Elizabeth really didn’t suit his new clothes.

Zidane leaned up against a wall as Sora finished changing. “So did you speak to Aerith?”

“Yeah. She said that Kairi was turned into a little girl by the power of a magic doorway in the basement of the castle. Then the doorway pulled her, Yuna and Marlene back in. The reason its bad news is because the door wasn’t designed to take three entirely different pasts at once. Everything will get jumbled and messed up and…” Sora had just pulled a light blue t-shirt over his head when his heart was shot through with an agonising chill. He gasped, his knees cracking the deck hard as shock drove him down.

“Sora?” Zidane hurried to his young friend’s side. “What’s wrong?”

He couldn’t answer. He was barely even aware of Zidane’s hands holding him up. In front of his eyes he watched as Port Royal was swallowed by darkness, Heartless’ claws delving into people’s chests and ripping out their hearts.

What was happening? Why was he seeing this?

Then, as he watched through confused eyes, the world of Port Royal, hanging in space, exploded into nothingness.

“No!”

“Sora!”

Zidane shook him hard and Sora’s wide eyes finally began to see what was in front of him. He felt breathless and sick, confused and horrified.

“Sora, talk to me!”

“I… I…” Sora held his hands to his eyes, willing himself to disbelieve what he had seen.

Voices screaming, people losing their hearts, a world ripped apart.

Sora cried out as if in physical pain. Zidane held him tighter, still not understanding what was happening.

“The world…” Sora’s hands shook as he grabbed Zidane’s arms. “It’s gone. The world is gone!”

“What? What world? Disney?”

“Port Royal. It’s gone. Everyone… gone.”

“Gone? How?”

“Darkness.” Sora couldn’t meet his friend’s eyes. “Heartless.”

Zidane didn’t understand. “But you just sealed it.”

Before Sora could muster any kind of response, the locker room’s door opened and Cloud stepped in. “Tifa was wondering where…” He stopped as soon as he saw the two boys on their knees. “What happened?”

“Something’s terribly wrong,” Zidane said when Sora failed to answer. He quickly told Cloud how Sora had had some kind of vision of Port Royal’s destruction.

“But didn’t you just seal the world?” Cloud asked.

Zidane shook his head. “I don’t have a clue how it happened, but if Sora says it did, then it’s gotta be true.”

“I’ll see if we can swing back to the world,” Cloud said, turning to leave.

Sora suddenly reacted. Pushing away from Zidane, one hand reaching up to brush at his down-turned face, Sora squared his shoulders and spoke. “No. No. We have to get back to Kairi.”

“You sure?” Cloud asked.

Sora nodded. His expression was trained into blankness, but Zidane and Cloud didn’t have to look too deeply into the boy’s blue eyes to uncover his real emotions. Sora was clearly torn between duty and personal desire but this time personal desire won, because what could he do for a world that had already been destroyed?

“I guess the only question is, who could’ve done it?” Zidane said. “Sealed worlds are supposed to be safe.”

“A Keyblade is the only thing that could open the world to the Heartless again,” Cloud pointed out.

It was like taking a punch to the stomach. “Oblivion,” Sora whispered. “Someone’s got Oblivion.” He could still remember the feeling of it leaving his hand after the battle with Fallen. Since then, he hadn’t been able to wield two Keyblades.

“That can’t be possible. You’re the only one who can use the Keyblade!” Zidane said.

“No, I’m not,” Sora said. “King Mickey has one. Riku took it from me once… There are probably others too…”

“And you think someone’s using another Keyblade to destroy worlds?” Zidane said.

“What else could it be?” Sora said. He clenched his hands into fists and before he could stop himself, he punched the nearest locker. He dented the metal, knuckles throbbing. “I should’ve taken better care of it. I should’ve…”

Cloud stepped between Sora and the dented locker. “Stop.”

Sora looked up into the older man’s eyes. “Cloud…”

Cloud continued. “Worlds were disappearing long before the Keyblade chose you. You can’t blame yourself for any worlds lost to the Heartless…”

“But it was sealed! I thought it was safe. Why didn’t I think to…”

“You don’t have time for regrets. If you sit there and go over all the mistakes you’ve made, you’ll never move again,” Cloud said. He placed one gloved hand on Sora’s shoulder. “What’s done is done. For now, focus on the next problem. We’ll work out what happened to Port Royal later.”

Sora took a deep breath before he gave a nod. “Let’s get back to Disney Castle.”

---

It was raining when they landed at Disney Castle. Sora thought it suited his mood, even though he was trying to bury his fears and sadness beneath determination. Port Royal was gone but now he had to find Kairi.

As soon as they had landed, one of the castle’s soldiers accompanied Sora and the others to the chamber below the throne room. Aerith, Leon and Yuffie were waiting, as were Donald, Goofy, Daisy and Queen Minnie.

“Tell me what’s happened,” Sora said before anyone could offer any other kind of greeting. “Where did Kairi, Yuna and Marlene go?”

Aerith, Yuffie and Leon filled the others in, quickly explaining the trouble the three girls had gotten themselves into. Sora marched to the door, hands grabbing the golden handles.

“Oh, oh, one moment Sora!”

Everyone turned to see Merlin hurrying down the stairs, Red close behind. “My, my but aren’t you all energetic and eager to go!” The wizard chuckled.

Sora turned back to the doors. “It could be dangerous in there. I have to help them now.”

“Yes, yes, I understand my dear boy. But please, listen to this one thing.”

“You must take someone with you,” Red smoothly interjected. “Someone from our world. Marlene's a baby and it stands to reason that she will have gone back to our world, a place you haven't seen enough of Sora.” Red turned to Cloud. “It has to be you.”

Cloud frowned. “But I…”

“Cloud.” Tifa stepped closer to him, her hand coming up to his cheek. “I know your memories are confused because they’ve been changed but believe me, you are from our world.”

Cloud reached up and placed his hand over Tifa's. He didn't say anything. He didn't need to. She smiled and nodded. "Go, discover the truth."

“It’s the same for me,” Aerith said softly. “My heart’s memories have been changed but what Tifa tells me about our real past… it feels true.”

“And we’re hoping that this door to the past may help you with your true memories, bringing them out and making them real,” Merlin added. “I hate to make you our guinea pig but we can only send people through the door who share memories with those already in there.”

“Actually, I could go too and so could Cid, but I nominated you and Cid wasn’t here to argue with me,” Yuffie added with a smirk.

Cloud raised a blond eyebrow but held his silence.

"Marlene is my daughter. I should be the one to go," Barret stated.

"True, but if we send Cloud and the door brings back his real memories, we'll be killing to birds with one stone," Merlin explained.

“I should warn you in advance that strange things will undoubtedly happen behind this door,” Red said. “Your physical age will change and with three different people’s memories all jumbled into one magical past, there’s a chance not a lot will make sense. However, do your best to find the girls. And Sora, whatever you do, you must seal the magic contained within this door with the Keyblade.”

Sora looked down to Red. “What am I looking for?”

“Something related to time,” Red answered. “We can't be sure of the exacts.”

“Oh, Cloud, make sure you hold on to Sora. The two of you mustn’t become split up when you enter the past,” Merlin said. "It'll be no good at all if you two become seperated before you can get to work."

“Right.”

“And one last thing,” Red said, his voice deadly serious. “Whatever you do, you must not give in to childish impulses. The magic of this door to the past has the power to de-age your mind as well as your body. If you’re not careful, your mind will match your body. There are chances it will work on some more powerfully than others, but do your best to not forget how old you really are.”

“We’ll he careful,” Sora promised as he turned to Cloud. “Are you ready?”

Checking that his sword was firmly strapped into its harness, Cloud nodded once and placed a gloved hand on Sora’s shoulder. “Let’s move.”

Sora opened the door. Bright light burst out and then he and Cloud were gone, walking into the unknown.

“Hey, Tifa,” Zidane called as the door closed with an echoing thud.

“What?”

“You forgot to give Sora a bell.”

---

When the white light eventually began to fade out, Sora found himself in a small town he didn’t recognise. Wherever they were, it was not a place from his memory. The town screamed poverty, the rundown wooden buildings worn with time and weather. The blue sky above was bright with a merciless sun. Wincing at the hot wind that hurt his skin, Sora realised a hand was still resting on his shoulder.

“Hey Cloud, do you… ah!” Sora clapped his hands over his mouth. His voice was so high-pitched! He looked down at himself and noted the red shorts and white t-shirt he'd grown out of when he'd been eight.

Eight?!

“I’m here Sora.”

Sora’s eyes went huge. Cloud sounded so young! He didn’t sound as high-pitched as Sora, but Cloud’s voice definitely lacked its usual depth. Sora turned and could barely believe his eyes.

Cloud looked like he was around fourteen, body on the verge of a growth spurt.

However, it seemed Cloud’s hair was ahead of his body, the excess blond strands pulled into a ponytail at the back of his head. Dressed simply in a dark green t-shirt and cropped black pants, Cloud looked every bit the depressed teenager that Sora had never been. The strangest thing about his transformation was the dimness in Cloud’s eyes. The blue looked, well, normal.

And his sword had gone. It was quite a strange sight, to see Cloud without his weapon.

Cloud wasn’t looking at Sora. His eyes swept across the old town. “I know this place,” he said, a frown weighing his brow. “But… it’s different somehow. It looks like people might still live here.” Cloud scratched the back of his head. “I keep seeing flashes in my mind – the buildings barely standing and… death. But this place is different somehow.”

Sora raised an eyebrow. “You think people still live here?” He repeated in his voice that was just shy of squeaky. “But the whole place looks like it’s gonna fall down!”

Cloud’s lips tilted in a wry grin. “In my memory, it looks worse.”

“D’you know what it’s called?”

Cloud shook his head. “No. I can’t remember.” He massaged his temples briefly before stepping away from Sora and moving into the old town’s square.

Sora walked alongside Cloud, feet clad in sandals he had worn to their death as a child kicking up dust. “I guess if you kinda remember it then Marlene’s gotta be around here somewhere, right? She’s from your world and…”

“This is the town she lived in with Barret before they moved…” Cloud rubbed a hand against his forehead, eyes pinched at the corners with pain. “I don’t remember why…”

It was then that the sounds of a baby’s cries began to echo from somewhere within the dead town. The noise seemed to be coming from everywhere, it’s location impossible to pinpoint.

“It must be Marlene,” Sora said. He ran forward a little way, calling out to Marlene. “We’re coming! Just hold on!”

Cloud hurried after Sora, grabbing the boy and silencing him quickly. “Don’t. We don’t know what else is out here and we can’t fight the way we are now.”

“It’s okay Cloud. I still have the Keyblade!” And Sora stepped back to summon it.

Nothing.

With a frown and a grumble, Sora tried again.

Still nothing.

“Um,” Sora gave a sheepish laugh and a shrug. “Uh oh.”

“Uh oh?” Cloud repeated, the phrase sounding bizarre coming from him.

“The Keyblade won’t come out.”

The baby’s crying became louder, a new trace of desperation seeping into the dragging wails. Cloud stopped for a moment, eyes closed so he could focus his hearing. Sora resisted the urge to fidget. He wanted to move, run, yell for Kairi, Marlene and Yuna at the top of his lungs, but that wouldn’t help them.

Patience was not Sora's strength.

But then Cloud was moving, running towards a wooden building that looked like a bar. Sora hurried as fast as he could, embarrassed that his suddenly shortened legs struggled to keep up.

Cloud threw the door open and ran into the building, Sora keeping up as best he could. The building was as rundown on the inside as it was on the outside. The light fixtures, things that looked like they were designed to burn oil, were barely clinging to the wall. The furniture was in pieces, more like firewood than chairs and tables. The bar itself was covered in dust and sand, the bottles behind it were either empty or smashed. The water-stained brown wallpaper and grim white paint were cracked and peeling off of the walls and ceilings. The whole place had a bizarre odour, something that was old and rotten.

Who would want to live here? No wonder Marlene was so upset. Sora felt something tremble within his heart, the sobbing of the baby – of Marlene – so forlorn it hurt him too.

“She’s scared,” Sora said, biting his lip as his hand clutched at his t-shirt. “Cloud, we have to…”

“Don’t let it get to you,” came Cloud’s curt response. “We’ll find her.”

They headed into the kitchen behind the bar but the desolate room was completely bare. The only other option now was upstairs and Cloud made sure to take each step carefully before allowing Sora to follow. The staircase really did seem likely to collapse, its loud groans and creaks quite unnerving.

The upstairs of the bar was in just as bad a state as the downstairs and outside. The beds, wardrobes, desks and chairs left in the rooms were rotten, breaking and beyond use.

And still the baby cried. Sora figured he’d probably be crying too if he’d been left in a place like this.

No matter how hard they searched, Marlene didn’t appear. She certainly never stopped crying though. Cloud hadn’t spoken the whole time, not even when he had to lift Sora over wooden wreckage that was now too high for his little body . Lost in thought, Cloud was clearly struggling to remember why he knew this place. Every so often a soft grunt of pain escaped him and his hands reached up to touch his head. Clearly, all was not well with Cloud.

Soon, they came to the last room. The door was closed, rattling in its old frame. Cloud wasted no time in opening it.

The crying stopped instantly. White light burst out and Sora instinctively reached out to grab the back of Cloud’s shirt, not wanting to become separated from his friend.

Cloud's voice echoed out of the light. “This place… I know this place.”

Sora didn’t understand. He could still only see white light.

“My home. This is my home.”

Cloud walked forwards. Sora followed and that was when the light faded and he found himself in a new place. It was a large room that housed two beds, a kitchen, tables and chairs, bookshelves and other things that suggested a family home. Feeling it was now safe to let Cloud go, Sora released the man’s t-shirt and stepped back, watching Cloud as he ran his hand over the old table, eyes slightly glazed by memories.

“Cloud?” Sora asked, shuffling from foot to foot and not sure if he should disturb his friend or not. Cloud was clearly lost in his own thoughts and it seemed private enough that maybe Sora shouldn’t interfere.

“N…” Cloud held a hand to his head, his eyes closed as if pain rested behind them. “Nibelheim…” Eyes still pinched with pain, Cloud turned to Sora. “This is my real hometown. Mine… and Tifa’s.”

“Nibelheim,” Sora repeated slowly, making sure his tongue didn’t trip over the unfamiliar word. “But this… it’s definitely not Hollow Bastion, right?”

“It’s an entirely different world.”

“A world with Midgar and the Lifestream and Sephiroth?”

Cloud was about to respond when he grabbed his head and cried out softly in pain. Sora didn’t hesitate to hurry to his companion’s side, his surprisingly tiny hands landing on Cloud’s stomach. “What’s wrong? Can I help?”

“M-my head. Memories… I’m…”

Sora’s childish body couldn’t support Cloud when he suddenly passed out. Yelping with shock, Sora found himself flat on his back, his senseless friend weighing heavily upon him. Cloud may have shrunk, but he was still far larger than Sora’s eight-year-old body. “Cloud? Cloud!” Sora pushed with all of his strength, arms trembling as he rolled Cloud onto his side. Cloud stayed limp on the ground, only his expression revealing the pain that had led to the collapse. Sora tried again to wake his friend, but to no avail. Cloud was out, face pinched with pain and breathing far from settled.

And Sora could hear the baby crying again…

But there was another sound too, the sound of someone singing. It was distant, barely audible in fact, but…

“Yuna?” Sora called out, quietly first but then louder, louder still, then as loud as his voice would go. “Yuna is that you?”

“…ra!”

“Yuna! Where are you?”

“…here! I’m… and…here too!”

“I can’t hear you!”

”Hurry!”

Sora didn’t know what to do. Should he try to find Yuna and Marlene, or would it be better to wait with Cloud?

“Sora the... is changing!”

Hands clenched into fists, Sora made his decision.

---

Outside the door to the past, Yuffie was the first to crack under the group’s stillness and silence. “Do we really have to wait here? Nothing’s happening! I’m bored!”

Leon gave her a stern look. “We’re here to back Cloud and Sora up in case something should happen.”

“Happen? Happen?! What could possibly happen?”

Zidane groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. “Did you have to say that?”

“Oh come on! How superstitious are you?” Yuffie turned on her heel and began marching towards the stairs that led back to the rest of the castle. “I’m going to go and do something useful, like help with the rebuilding. Besides, even if something does happen…”

“Would you stop saying stuff like that!” Zidane yelled.

Aside from the dirty look she gave him, Yuffie carried on as though Zidane had never spoken. “…You can take care of it without me, so I’ll see you guys later.”

Yuffie disappeared and Merlin wasn’t slow to follow – if for slightly more serious reasons. “I need to get back to the library and continue researching in case Red and I missed anything.”

Red nodded. “Good idea. I’ll wait here. Contact me with the PHS if you need any help.”

“I’ll use magic to communicate if necessary,” Merlin replied haughtily. His dislike of ‘modern’ technology was becoming legendary among those rebuilding Disney Castle. “I don’t know why you all rely on such silly bits of plastic!”

“It won’t bite,” Tifa said cheerily.

Merlin didn’t seem so sure and he disappeared, still muttering about the evils of technology. The last thing everyone heard was: “well, nobody needed it in my day!”

The Queen, Daisy, Donald and Goofy also left shortly too, their duties to the people of Disney Castle calling them away.

“We’ll be back as soon as we can!” Donald stated.

“We just gotta go make sure everyone’s all right first,” Goofy added.

Minnie bowed her head. “Please let me know if there’s anything you need.”

Once the Disney Castle group had left, silence returned. Aerith and Tifa stood with each other, both watching the door like hawks. Zidane, never one for stillness, began pacing back and forth, hand held to his chin and eyes distant with thought. Barret ran maintenance on his gun-arm, grunting every now and then as the readout on his weapon told him what parts needed some work. Cid had sat himself on the ground, hands flying over the keyboard of a laptop computer that allowed him to run diagnostic checks on the various Gummi ships they had available to them. Cid soon got up and wandered off, grumbling loudly about “some damned fool has been messing with MY Highwind. Stupid sons of…”

Leon stood off to one side, his eyes resting on the door to the past. His stormy thoughts showed through his brown eyes and the tautness of his crossed arms.

Red looked up at the scarred man before quietly asking, “You want to know if it will reveal your true past, don’t you?”

Leon looked down at Red, his expression carefully blank. “I’m wondering if my so-called real past could be any worse than the one I remember at the moment.”

“You’ll only know if you go in there. Well, maybe. We’ll find out if it works when Cloud returns.” Red turned to regard the door to the past. “The Keyblade needed to make sure its wielder found support from people who knew how to fight. I don’t know why it chose the ones it did, but if Sora hadn’t have found you and the others when his world was destroyed, I can’t imagine what would have become of him, Donald and Goofy. You told them what the Heartless were and why they had to visit the worlds. You and the others gave them their purpose. If your memories hadn't been changed, hadn't given you a deeper understanding of the Heartless, things may not have worked out the way they did.”

“Myself, Cloud, Aerith, Cid and Yuffie have all had our pasts changed...”

“And there may be others too. We know that Yuna’s life has been changed and Sora tells me that he has friends from his home-world who may have been put there by the Keyblade.”

“All so we could make sure he became strong enough to wield the Keyblade?”

“It would seem so. Sora said he had mock battles with his friends back home – that they’d been practising for years. It could be that without even knowing it they were training Sora for the day the Keyblade chose him.”

“What were their names, these friends of his?”

“Well, Sora believes that two boys – Tidus and Wakka – are from the same world as Yuna. There was a girl too – Selphie – but he’s not sure…”

“Selphie?”

Red’s one-eyed gaze was cool. “You know her?”

Leon frowned but remained silent.

Noises from above distracted everyone from what they were doing. Shouts and the sounds of rapid footsteps thundered from the throne chamber above. But the thing that was truly disturbing was the unmistakeable noise of gunfire and cries from the wounded. In an instant, the group in the basement were standing ready for a fight. They fell into an easy formation – Tifa, Zidane and Red in the front row while Barret hung back with Leon, their weapons' long-range capabilities enabling them to cover the others. Aerith stayed back too, ready with both attack and supportive magic.

The enemy appeared, strutting confidently down the stairs. “Well lookie what we have here, a welcoming party,”he drawled. His scarred and eye-patched face twisted itself into a sly grin. Black hair shot through with generous white streaks was tied into a long ponytail. His black coat revealed his Organization status and his two wicked guns told everyone around him that this man meant business.

“Who are you?” Tifa demanded.

“The name’s Xigbar.” He aimed both of his guns at her. “And you’re all in my way.”

The only thing that stopped the bullets ripping through Tifa were the magical barriers Aerith hurriedly summoned. And as soon as he had started firing, Xigbar didn’t let up. His guns fired continuously and everyone had to move to escape injury.

Xigbar’s speed was incredible, the Nobody moving in and out of view in a blink. His weapons alternated in firing bullets and laser bolts, and his targeting range was as wide and varied as his attack styles. He came from above, below and from either side, forcing the group to defend rather than attack. Aerith tried numerous times to cast Stopga so someone other than Xigbar could go on the offensive, but to no avail. Her only option was to cast Haste on everyone and hope that they could keep up.

Barret was the first to score a hit, but it was only a flesh wound. Still, it disrupted Xigbar’s rhythm long enough for Red and Zidane to close in from either side, leaving Tifa to block his escape. Xigbar was trapped between the three of them and the door to the past.

Red was the one to realise Xigbar had gotten himself right where he wanted to be. Zidane and Tifa soon saw Xigbar’s plan as well. Tifa kicked out but Xigbar was ready, shooting a bolt at her leg. Thankfully she was moving fast enough to evade serious injury but the burn she did receive was still unpleasant. Tifa fell back and Barret soon filled the gap, bullets blasting from his gun-arm. But Xigbar had already grabbed the handle and yanked the door open. He fired another volley of shots to ward off any followers.

“Stop!” Zidane yelled, somersaulting cleanly over the bolts and landing with his body thrown forward. He was falling into the door’s light and didn’t seem to plan on stopping.

“Zidane, no! You mustn’t add another past!” Red yelled.

“We’ve got to stop him!” Zidane yelled back. And then he was gone.

Red turned to the others. “Wait here and don’t let anyone follow us. Tell Merlin what’s happened.”

“But Red…!” Tifa cried.

“Don’t worry, I’ll stop Zidane from making too much trouble.” As Red ran into the past, he yelled one last thing. “Close these doors and make sure no one else comes through!”

And then he too was gone.

Barret stood in front of the wide open doors, gazing into the light. He could feel it calling him, but more than that, he had to rescue Marlene.

Well, what was one more to the party?

“Barret!” Tifa yelled.

“Marlene’s my daughter! I’m going for her.”

“Stop!” Tifa yelled. “Barret!”

But there was no stopping such a determined father. Only Leon thought to get the doors closed.

Aerith rested a hand on the white doors, concentrating for a moment. Her green-eyed gaze became increasingly troubled. “Chaos,” she whispered. “The world beyond this door is definitely in chaos.”

“You can hear the voice of the world?” Tifa asked. “Or maybe a better word would be its heart.”

Aerith nodded. “I don’t even know why but for as long as I can remember...”

Tifa gave her friend a smile. “Don’t worry, you’ll find out all the answers.”

“I hope so.”

Yuffie came running back into the basement. She didn’t pause to catch her breath. “We’re in trouble. Nobodies and Heartless are everywhere, and at least two of those Organization people. I came after the one who ran this way but…”

“Yeah,” Leon concluded. “You’re too late.”

Yuffie did a headcount and noted the absences. “He got through?”

“He sure did,” Tifa said, taking a moment to cast Cure3 on her burnt leg. “He went through the door. Red, Barret and Zidane went after him.”

“Yeah well, there’s no time to worry about them now. “ Yuffie was already running back out. “Don’t worry about the Heartless – the guards have got them pinned down in the gardens. Just get to the ballroom! These Nobodies are a nightmare! I’m going to get Cid.” And then she was gone.

Leon, Tifa and Aerith hurried upstairs. “We’ll get guards sent down here,” Tifa said. “We can’t leave this place wide open."

“I can do better than guards,” Aerith replied when they all reached the throne room. “I’ll create a barrier around the room. One of you make sure Merlin knows and comes to reinforce it. And Queen Minnie as well. She can seal the throne room too.”

“I’ll find Merlin and the Queen,” Tifa replied. “Leon, go after Yuffie.”

Leaving Aerith to create the barrier, Leon and Tifa ran out of the throne room before going their separate ways. It seemed like all hell as breaking loose at Disney Castle yet again.

---

The world around him shook, the walls of Cloud’s home seemed to wobble and lose focus for a moment. Visions of another place superimposed themselves over the small home before Cloud’s reality reasserted its solidity. Sora stood up, feeling another burst of relief that he had decided to stay with Cloud rather than try and find Yuna alone. This place was unstable. To leave Cloud alone would’ve been wrong.

Something else grabbed Sora’s attention. He could hear voices again, but it definitely wasn’t Yuna or Marlene…

…and it wasn’t Kairi either.

“Can anyone hear us!?” Someone yelled. Sora couldn't place the voice, and it was much closer than Yuna’s had been.

“Who’s there?” Sora called out.

“It’s Barret and Red!” The unfamiliar voice called back. “Who’re you?”

“It’s me, Sora! I’m with Cloud but… I dunno, I think he’s hurt.”

A second voice called out. “Sora, it’s me, Red.”

Despite everything, Sora snorted with laughter. And he thought he’d had a high voice! Red sounded like he’d been breathing in nothing but helium.

“Sora, stop laughing at me! We need you to help us find you.”

Working hard to calm himself down (and it took a few minutes because every time Red called “Are you ready?” Sora exploded into fresh hysterics), Sora eventually managed to listen to the instructions Red was yelling to him.

“Do you know where you are?”

“Yes! It’s Cloud’s house. He told me before he passed out.”

“Cloud’s house where? At Hollow Bastion or…”

”No. It was some weird name. Oh, what was it? Er… Nee… No, that’s not it. Um… Nuuuh… Niiiii…”

“Nibelheim?” Two voices called together.

“Yes! That’s it! Nibelheim.”

“Yay, yay, yay! We found them!”

“Damnit Red, concentrate!”Barret barked in a voice that still sounded nothing like him.

“Sorry. Sorry. Act my age, act my age. I got it. Okay, don’t worry Sora. We know that place. We’ll be there shortly.”

Red wasn’t lying. Barely ten seconds went by before the main door opened and in stepped two people Sora never expected to see in such a state. Seeing a young Barret who was free of tattoos, clean-shaven and still had both arms was strange enough, but Red?

Red was little more than a ball of fluff, resting comfortably on Barret’s head with a big wide grin on his teeny-weeny furry face. Sora had seen bigger kittens back home. Red was, without a shadow of a doubt, completely adorable!

And Red knew it too.

“I know, I know,” came the comically high-pitched voice. “You just wanna pet me, don’t you?”

“Red, act your real damn age. Don’t give into the magic, got it?” Barret grumbled. “You’re not some damn kitten or puppy or whatever, and I ain’t no teenager.”

“Okay, sorry. It’s hard. The magic is powerful.”

Barret looked Sora up and down, one dark eyebrow cocked. “I’ve noticed.”

Red neatly leapt off of Barret’s head and landed on the bed. “We were lucky,” he said. “I found Barret ‘cause I knew he’d subconsciously look for a baby Marlene in their hometown of Corel.”

“Corel? The town that looked really bad? That’s where we were and we could hear Marlene crying but then…”

Sora’s comment gained him an earful from Barret. “Hey, we were poor! Minin’ ain’t exactly where the money is kid. Don’t you go puttin’ my town down!”

“S-sorry.”

“Yeah well, we figured that maybe you or one of the others might be nearby so we called out…”

“And here we are!” Red said, bouncing a little.

“I guess hopefully we’ll be able to find the girls faster now,” Sora said.

”Better add Zidane to that list,” Barret muttered as he leaned down and easily lifted the still unconscious Cloud onto the bed. “Damn fool ran through the doors like a madman.”

“What? Why?”

“There’s an Organization man in here,” Red explained, using one tiny paw to scratch behind his ear. “Xigbar.” Red gave a giggle so high-pitched, Sora was pretty sure even Chip and Dale wouldn’t be able to match it. “He’s got a funny accent Sora!”

Sora couldn’t believe it. One of the Organization was already here? “He could be anywhere! And I can’t fight because the Keyblade won’t come out and…”

“We’ll get to it,” Barret said, looking down at Cloud. “Just gotta wait for sleepin’ beauty to get it together. Hey, Spike! Wake up!”

Cloud did nothing of the sort.

Red padded across the bed and looked down at Cloud. “Heh, nice hair.” He poked Cloud with his front paws before clambering up onto the blond and began to prance up and down his torso. “Wake up, wake up, wake up, up, up!”

After Sora explained what had happened, Barret seemed to have the answer. “Sounds like maybe his real memories are comin’ back. Years ago we were all in Corel. It wasn’t always a happy place for me, and to the others it was a prison, but sounds like it was enough to poke memories in ol’ Spike’s head. And this place, Sora? Nibelheim’s gonna bring back all the good and all the bad. Gotta be a rough ride to get back all these memories.”

Sora sat down on the bed. “I hope he wakes up soon. We gotta get moving. We can’t leave the others out there if there’s someone from the Organization here too.”

“Maybe I can stop Xigbar!!” Red piped up, still bouncing up and down on Cloud. “Just look at me, I have both my eyes back and I’m so tiny and cute! Who could fight me?”

Sora reached out and easily scooped Red up. “Act your age and leave Cloud alone!” He admonished. “Honestly Red, you’re acting so weird! The rest of us aren't like you.”

Red was suitably cowed. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll focus harder. This magic seems to hit me harder.” He looked like he was concentrating for a moment but then he began licking Sora’s hand, golden eyes wide as he met Sora’s and began making his demands. “Play with me? Play with me Sora!”

Sora looked up at Barret. “I don’t care what you have to do but wake Cloud up. We gotta get going.”

“Going, going, gone!” Red sang.

Barret nodded. “Kid, you got it.”

TBC…

---

One quick note for all of you who haven’t played Final Fantasy VII: Yes, there are A LOT of references to the game in this chapter, and future chapters will have refs to other FF games. I’ll cover stuff in author’s notes like this :)

Reference Check!

Barret calls Cloud “Spike” now and then in FFVII, obviously because of Cloud’s hair.

Corel is Barret’s hometown. It’s destroyed and, in my opinion (although I imagine this would be open to debate) is later used as the prison below Gold Saucer. That’s why it sparked some of Cloud’s memories.

Anyway, enough of that!

COMPETITION FOR ALL ARTISTS!!!!

I would absolutely LOVE to see some artwork of the Sora and Co. in their de-aged forms! But I don't expect it for free so I decided to make it into a competition, the winners of which will win stories from me.

You can either draw:

1 - The whole group (Sora, Cloud, Marlene, Kairi, Yuna - but don’t forget she’s the only one who got older, Barret, Red and Zidane)

2 - A single character from the selection

3 - A selection of your choice.

Then, post a link to the picture over at my Livejournal (it’s the Homepage link in my profile) and I’ll decide my top three. Feel free to enter as many drawings as you like! The more the merrier.

Prizes are as follows:

1st Prize a 2000 word story set in the All the Roads – A Darker Road universe. You can ask for a new addition to All the Shorts or ask for a story based on A Darker Road.

2nd Prize a 1500 word story in the ADR/ATR universe.

3rd Prize a 1000 word story in the ADR/ATR universe.

Just one tiny rule for requests: please don’t request pairings that don’t exist in the stories (except ZidanexSora because I think it’s a well known fact that I LOVE that pairing!!).

Deadline: September 10th 2007

I don’t care what your art skills are like. I’ll base my decision on originality and all those sorts of things ;)

Post your links over at gingers-fics dot livejournal dot com (again, real link is my homepage in my bio) in the specially set up post!

Happy sketching and I’ll see you next time for more craziness! Coming up next, a certain tailed thief who's looking a lot smaller than before...