Chapter Text
“They’re planning something, I just know it,” Maleficent snarled. “Pete, Elysia, go find out and report back to me, you understand?”
Elysia beamed, nodding. Finally, some action! Pete opened a Corridor of Darkness and the two stepped out into the hall of the palace. Pete waved Elysia over, the two ducking behind a wall as two brooms walked past. They crept towards the doorway of the study, carefully opening the door a crack and leaning in. Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and two chipmunks sat at the desk where a huge ass computer sat. “What’s that bright light?” Mickey asked.
The light shone from the computer, filling the room and extending to Elysia and Pete, who suddenly found themselves in a room with no perceivable beginning or end, surrounded by pictures. Elysia’s jaw hung open, staring at the space around them as Pete grunted and got to his feet. His ears shot up as he looked around. “Maleficent!” he yelled. “You seein’ this? Better get here right away!”
“You’ll take no such tone with me,” Maleficent reprimanded, appearing in a cloud of darkness and green magic behind him. “What is this place?”
“I ain’t no expert,” Pete said, “but I think it’s hookin’ a bunch of places together. Could come in handy for takin’ over them worlds, huh?”
A grin slowly spread across Maleficent’s face. “It does seem… for once you may have done something right. Very well. You are to track down anyone who may be in these worlds and send them to darkness, do you understand me?”
Elysia and Pete nodded, and Pete opened a Dark Corridor to… Elysia wasn’t sure, but whatever. Ah, Olympus, if those pillars and Greek writing were to be believed. And there stood Sora, but a younger version of him? And in an outfit that made Elysia screw up her face. Was that a jumpsuit? How did he pee comfortably? “Who are you?!” Sora demanded.
Pete chuckled, and it grew into a laugh. “Playin’ dumb, eh?” He opened his mouth to say something else when a voice came from the sky above them.
“Pete’s here?!” Mickey asked. “How’d you get in?”
“Same way youse did! Thought I’d take a little vacay from the outside world. Well, this here world belongs to me, see, so mitt’s off!” Pete ran for a data portal that had appeared a little ways off, and Elyisa shot Baby Sora a two-finger salute. “See ya!”
The villains stepped out into the abandoned streets of Agrabah, and Elysia inhaled sharply. Sure, another data Agrabah, why not? “Come on, pipsqueak, let’s get that lamp for Jafar.”
Elysia nodded, following Pete at a jog towards the edge of town. He summoned a Dark Corridor and stomped into it, Elysia close behind. They appeared in front of the Cave of Wonders, at least, where the Cave of Wonders had last been. Now all that stood before them was a pile of sand.
“Drat!” Pete exclaimed, kicking a pile of sand. He paused, tilting his head to the side. “Maybe there’s another way…”
“This is absolutely infuriating!” Jafar snarled to no one in particular. “As if one street rat weren’t enough!”
“Rodent troubles?” Pete asked, sauntering up to the villain. “I’ve got your fix right here, pally.”
“What?! How dare you address me so—” Jafar gasped. “That lamp! It’s the one I seek! The magic, wish-granting lamp!”
“Not exactly. I used the glitches in this world to create a fax… facsimuh…”
“Facsimile,” Elysia whispered.
“Right! A copy!”
“‘Galichuss?’ Of what powerful sorcery do you speak?” Jafar asked, his pencil thin brows raised in indignation. “Give it to me at once!”
He snatched it from Pete’s hands, inspecting it closely. “Pushy, pushy,” Pete grumbled. “Just do ol’ Pete a favor and plunge this world into darkn— Hmm?”
Pete was interrupted by Jafar bursting into manic cackling, clearly not having heard a word that Jafar said. “At last! All of my plans will be realized! Heed me, spirit of the lamp! For my first wish, I desire the power to stop anyone that gets in my way! Yes… Yes!”
With that, the sorcerer turned, swooshing his cape with a flourish, and marching off in an arbitrary direction. Hopefully he knew where he was going, but who was to say, really? They made their way through the marketplace, coming up on Jasmine, Aladdin, and Baby Sora, who conveniently had their backs to them.
“See, I was inside this weird cave in the desert…” Aladdin was explaining. “And wait till you see what I found! Jafar’s days are numbered.”
“We shall see about that, street rat!” Jafar snarled.
The trio of heroes turned, aghast, as Jafar lunged forward and dragged Jasmine towards him. “Let me go!”
“Jasmine!” Aladdin yelled, not moving forward towards them in the slightest. Elysia crinkled her nose. What was he going to do from over there?
“Heh, heh, heh! Now all of Agrabah belongs to me! With the princess for my wife, I shall rule this land as sultan!”
“No way,” Sora rebutted, also not moving from his spot next to Aladdin.
“Hm, hm! Yes way. You see, the lamp has given me a most remarkable power. No one can defy me now!”
“Lamp?!” Aladdin looked at the lamp in his hands, then back at Jafar. “But how did you—”
“Sadly,” Jafar interrupted, “weddings do take time to plan. And since I’m the one speaking now, you wretches can forever hold your peace!”
Jafar threw some smoke on the ground and vanished, leaving Elysia, Aladdin, and Baby Sora behind. “No! They’re gone!” Sora cried. “Quick, Aladdin! We have to go after them!”
Sora turned to Aladdin, who was still frozen in this weird expression that made Elysia giggle from her perch on the tarp roof of an abandoned stall. “Um… Aladdin?” Baby Sora waved a hand in front of Aladdin’s face. “What gives? Why is he frozen in place? This is bad.”
“Jafar has hit the city with some kind of powerful spell.” Mickey’s voice came out of literally nowhere, making Elysia nearly jump out of her skin. “It looks like Jafar has managed to stop time for the entire city!”
“Huh? But I can still move!” Baby Sora moved his arm up and down demonstrably.
“You have the keyblade,” Mickey explained. “Jafar didn’t account for that. Still, even the keyblade won’t hold the spell at bay forever.”
Elysia zoned out, staring at a particularly interesting cloud that was frozen in the sky. She wondered how far up into the atmosphere the spell ran. Was it isolated to just the city, or this whole world? She wasn’t sure, but when she tuned back in, she saw Jafar’s pet parrot taking off with the lamp that had been in Aladdin’s hand. Mickey shouted instructions to get it back, so off Sora went. Elysia couldn’t care less, so she decided to wander the streets and see if there were any particular knick knacks to nick. From time to time, she caught a glimpse of Sora and the bird in a neck to neck chase, but beyond their clatter, the city was as silent as a tomb in Halloween Town. She even caught a glimpse of Jafar, and then a phantom Jafar chasing Sora around? Whatever, the point was that Sora eventually got the lamp back. Not that Elysia saw it—rather, she felt the whole ground shake and the familiar voice of the Genie booming through the streets. Elysia raced towards the sound, making it in time to hear Sora say, “Genie, I wish for you to take me to Jafar!”
“You got it, boss! Buckle up, ‘cause here we go!” Genie bellowed.
And they were gone. Shit. Scrambling, Elysia opened a Corridor of Darkness to the palace, checking in every room. Nothing. She opened one to the last place she saw Jafar in the marketplace. Nada. Thinking that she missed something, she portaled to the palace dungeons. Zip. Groaning, she took another Dark Corridor to where the Cave of Wonders had been, and thank the Master, there they were, with the Cave of Wonders reformed and everything.
“My future queen is resting, on the far side of the door,” Jafar was saying to Sora.
“Door? What door?” Sora threw up his hands, exasperated.
“What door indeed. You will never find it, boy!” Jafar cackled.
“You’ll tell me once I’m done with you!”
“Oh ho, I think not! Sadly, I must go steal Jasmine’s heart. And you will not interfere again! Spirit of the lamp! Heed my second wish: keep these pests from following me!” With a swish of the cape, Jafar was gone, and the Tiger’s mouth was closed.
Elysia exhaled sharply, weighing her choices. Yeah, no way was she going to let Jafar do… whatever he was planning to do to Jasmine. “Sora!” Elysia yelled.
Sora turned, keyblade bared. “You! What do you want? Here to taunt me?”
“Come on, I’m getting you to Jasmine and Jafar.” Elysia opened a Corridor of Darkness, gesturing for Sora to follow her.
“Yeah right! Who’s side are you on anyways?”
“Mine—the side that makes sure Jafar doesn’t do anything to Jasmine. He’s a creep, and I’d lose my keyblade before standing to the side and letting a guy do something like that, you got it?”
Sora gawked. “Who even are you?”
“That’s Elysia,” Mickey explained, definitely not making Elysia jump again. “She’s a keyblade wielder like you, Sora. No one’s quite sure what her morals are, but if she says she’s helping you, then she’s helping you!”
Sora’s mouth fell open. “You’re a keyblade wielder too?”
Elysia nodded. “Come on, let’s get going, Sora.”
Sora beamed. “Right on, Ellie!”
Elysia swallowed, shaking off the knot building in her throat. “Right.”
Jafar was standing with his back to them, snarling when he saw the keyblade wielders brandishing their weapons. “Girl! I thought you were to serve me!”
“Hardly,” Elysia sneered. “Last time I checked, I’m with Pete, and he said nothing about hurting Jasmine and ruling the kingdom.”
“No matter. Perhaps the boy would be more willing to listen…” He turned to Sora. “You are no ordinary street rat. Perhaps you would be willing to serve me. I could get you anything you desire, anything at all?”
“Anything at all?” Sora tapped his chin mockingly. “How about making Aladdin sultan?”
Jafar roared. “Perhaps you need a lesson in what a true ruler can do! That is, if you can tell the true ruler from the others!”
The sorcerer lifted his staff, replicating himself into several copies, which surrounded the keyblade wielders in a circle. Elysia rolled her eyes. “Thundaza!” she yelled, zapping and disintegrating all of the Jafar copies.
“Give it up, Jafar!” Sora demanded. “Let Jasmine go, and the city too!”
“Rah! You leave me little choice! I was saving my final wish to make Jasmine love me, but now I will simply have to take the princess and the city by force!”
“Like hell you will,” Elysia spat.
Jafar ignored her, pulling out the data lamp. “Spirit of the lamp, I wish for you to make me an all-powerful genie!”
The room glowed white, and Jafar was gone again. Elysia exhaled, tension slipping from her shoulders. “Thank the Master, he can’t hurt Jasmine in that form.”
“What are you talking about?! Yes he can!” Sora argued.
“He can hurt her physically, but he won’t. You don’t want to damage the things you own.” Elysia felt like she needed to take a shower just by saying that, and she was glad to see Sora sharing similar sentiments, shuddering at the thought of it.
“We’ll still take him out, don’t worry,” Elysia reassured.
“Give it up, children.” Jafar’s disembodied voice echoed through the chamber. “I told you, boy, you will never find the far side of the door. And now… such power! Nothing can stop me from shaping the world as I see fit! Savor your final moments, children, for soon, I shall crush you!”
“Now what do we do?” Sora bemoaned.
“Don’t panic, Sora,” Mickey’s disembodied voice instructed. “Jafar’s closer than you think. Think about it—what do we know about hidden doors? Jafar must be inside the Keyhole! You’ve got to find it, and quickly!”
“Right!” Sora smashed his way through some more of those black boxes with red markings, until a golden keyhole eventually shone in the wall.
“Aha! Now, time to face Jafar! Here goes…” Sora pointed his keyblade at the middle of it, and a beam of light shot out. The world went gray, with dark clouds suddenly on all sides of them. A doorway outlined in purple hexagons appeared, and Sora ran through it with Elysia close behind. They were standing on a platform in the outline of a square, with lava surrounding them both on the outside and the inside. From the inside square, a monstrous red genie version of Jafar rose up. “Impressive, boy. But your persistence has won you nothing. I am invincible—what could you possibly do?”
Sora opened his mouth, then closed it again. Elysia rolled her eyes. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall!” she jeered.
“Bzzt, bzzt, Genie here, do you read me, Sora?” the ethereal voice sounded from Baby Sora’s back pocket, and beaming, Sora pulled the real lamp out of his pocket. “Loud and clear, Genie!”
“He’s not kidding about the invincible part. None of your attacks can hurt him. But, Jafar is a genie now, which means…” Genie trailed off.
“The lamp!” Sora exclaimed.
“Nab that, and you’ve got a shot, kiddo!”
“Roger that, Genie! Over and out.”
Elysia smiled to herself. What a dork. “I’ll hold him off, Sora, you get that lamp!”
Sora nodded and took off in the direction of Iago, who was now flying around and loudly yelling about nothing at all. Sora darted after him while Elysia cast thunder, blizzard, fire, anything to slow him down. It wasn’t anything but a minor inconvenience to Jafar, but she’d take what she could get. Jafar pulled huge, lava covered boulders from the depths below, which crashed down on the two teenagers. Sora and Elysia dodged, with Elysia getting clipped by the last one. Elysia snarled, summoning a potion and downing it as fast as possible before summoning an ether and chomping down on the gelatinous cube. Finally, Sora got the damn lamp, sprinting over to Elysia, who was still feeling the pain of a several ton rock being dumped on her leg, even if the wound was technically healed. “No, my lamp!” Jafar cried.
“Time for you to see your new home, Jafar!” Sora lifted the lamp, holding it steady as Jafar’s form was sucked into it, the vizier’s cries trailing off into a faint whisper before dying altogether.
“No fair!” Pete cried, appearing out of nowhere. “That Jafar was supposed to cast this world into darkness!”
“Pete! You’re not getting away this time!” Sora declared.
Pete merely smirked, beckoned to Elysia, then disappeared in a swirl of code. “Or I guess you are.” Sora mumbled. He turned to Elysia. “I guess you’re going with him?”
Elysia nodded. “Make sure the princess is safe, ‘kay?”
Sora nodded, and Elysia opened a Corridor of Darkness to follow Pete wherever he had gone. To her surprise, he was merely waiting outside the Cave of Wonders, arms folded and shoe tapping against the sand. Elysia sighed. “I know, I know. Jafar was planning on… forcing Jasmine to love him. I couldn’t let that happen. Plus, it wasn’t like he ever intended to plunge the world into darkness at all!”
Pete smirked, shaking his head. “I know. I’m just messin’ with ya, kid. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?”
Elysia nodded, exhaling slowly. “Now what?”
“We wait…” Pete held up a finger as Sora came running out of the cave. “For that.”
“Alright, Pete! You’re through running!” Sora yelled, his eyes flicking to Elysia for only a moment.
“Heh heh heh, who said anything about running?” Pete chuckled.
“Huh?”
“All right, come on out and show him who’s boss… Maleficent!” Pete yelled.
Maleficent revealed herself with a dramatic flourish of a Dark Corridor, smirking nastily at the young keyblade wielder.
“Who are you?” Sora asked.
Elysia sighed deeply. “Pete just said her name. Come on, man.”
Sora stuck his tongue out at her and she returned it without thinking. “None of that,” Maleficent chided.
Elysia nodded immediately, her cheeks coloring at the realization of how childish she was being without thinking. Damn keyboy…
Maleficent turned back to Sora, spreading her arms. “If you require a reminder of my power, then I shall gladly provide.” She blasted Sora back, and Elysia forced herself to not cringe at Sora’s cry of pain. The keyboy bounced on the ground before sliding to a stop, and he groaned and pushed himself into a sitting position, glowering at Maleficent, Pete, and Elysia. Sora’s keyblade landed firmly in the sand at an angle, apparently with enough force that it remained upright.
“Isn’t that odd?” Maleficent mused, using her staff to raise the keyblade in the air and make it hover in front of them. With a slashing motion, Maleficent shattered the keyblade, making Elysia and Sora gawk. Elysia schooled her expression quickly, shaking herself out of it.
Maleficent cackled. “So we see, ‘twas but a lie. And now that it’s gone, this entire world shall be mine to rule.”
Sora bared his teeth as Heartless began to rise from the sand around them. “Yes, my loyal minions,” Maleficent crooned. “Drag all that you see into deepest darkness!”
They launched towards Sora, who raised his arm to protect his face, only for none of them to land. They disappeared in a flash of light as Riku and the king appeared, but, like Sora, this was a younger Riku in an Organization robe. “You okay?” Riku asked, reaching down to his counterpart.
Sora beamed and took it, letting Riku pull him to his feet. “Riku! Mickey!”
“Maleficent!” Mickey cried. “What are you doing in the datascape?”
“Datascape? Spare me your dull details.”
Pete sauntered up, putting his hands on his hips. “But since you was wondering, the whole thing was my idea, you bozo.”
Pete explained how they got there, ending with, “And there you have it. We’s been diggin’ around in here ever since. Turns out this place connects directly to that castle o’ yours.” He chuckled darkly. “At least it did, before I took control of the only way out.”
“So you’re the one who cut the link!” Sora snapped.
“Rest assured, both worlds shall be mine before long,” Maleficent promised. “Once I have immersed this one in darkness, I can send my Heartless horde back into your castle!”
“No!” Mickey gasped.
“The long slumber has ended, and a new era has begun—one where all worlds belong to me! But my worlds must be free of light, and yours shine far too brightly. This time, it is you who will sleep!”
“Wrong!” Riku declared, baring his teeth. “This is one world I won’t let you touch!”
“Hmph! Foolish boy!” Maleficent raised her staff and a beam of magic struck Riku in the middle while dragging him closer to them.
“Riku!” Mickey cried, ever concerned for his adopted son, even a digital version of him.
“Now, you, boy… you belong to the darkness, not the light. I shall take this one with me. I’m sure he will prove… useful.” Maleficent called a Corridor of Darkness, letting it consume her and Riku.
“Check, aaaaaand mate!” Pete cackled. “So long, suckers!”
Pete disappeared in a flash of code, with Elysia not far behind. She didn’t bother taunting Sora and Mickey this time, as she wasn’t exactly pleased with the situation either. She wasn’t jealous of Baby Riku or anything, that would be dumb. She stepped out in the familiar halls of the castle in Hollow Bastion, Riku struggling against his bonds. Elysia avoided looking at his dumb face, instead looking to Maleficent dutifully. “Elysia, go with Pete. I will handle Riku.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.” Sighing in quiet relief, Elysia scampered after Pete into the Corridor of Glitches he had opened.