Chapter 8: A Little Magic
The Prince Charming Carousel in the heart of Fantasy Land shined like the morning sun as Kairi approached it, her heart brimming with anticipation of Mickey's trust in her completing a mission to rescue a Princess of Heart on her own. She eyed each of the horses and carriages, which were handcrafted by the finest artists and craftsmen Mr. Disney had at his disposal. Kairi chose one of the white stallions with a golden saddle before finally climbing aboard. But the ride did not start when she attempted to work it. She looked around for Mickey or someone to fit the bill and fix the ride, but realized no one was within radius to help her.
"How can I get to Cinderella if the gate to her world isn't open yet?" Kairi shouted in frustration. It was only then that she noticed the small keyhole wedged into the heart of the carousel. Near the keyhole, it looked like a little mouse statue was hauling a key towards it. Dumbfounded by her own ignorance, Kairi flicked her hand and summoned her Keyblade and with another flick, used the power of light to trigger the ride.
The ride started slowly, ringing out the classical chime of "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes", until Kairi began to notice the scenery changing. The village and subsequent rides of Fantasy Land were being replaced with curled archways and a magnificent palace that loomed over the carousel. Kairi enjoyed the ride, but knew that time was still not on her side at the moment. She needed to find Cinderella before Maleficent or Xehanort could intervene.
Her horse bucked one last time, allowing Kairi to slide off and walk into the courtyard of Prince Charming's castle. Within seconds of her descent from the ride, the carousel vanished into the light.
The moonlight brought a peaceful yet gentle mood about the palace courtyard and showed no signs that anything was amiss. "So far, so good. Let's just hope it stays that way." Not wanting her words to come back and sting her, she walked her way towards the Palace.
No sooner did Kairi place her foot on the last step leading towards the palace, then a squad of familiar dark beings surrounded her and danced in the darkness. Kairi nodded. "I didn't expect this to be easy!" Without waiting a second, she summoned her Keyblade and leapt forward.
Defeat All of the Heartless!
Kairi lowered her Keyblade as the last Heartless fell into the shadows, sighing with relief. But her sigh was not loud enough to drone out the clapping that sounded off behind her. Kairi looked down the staircase to see a man in a black robe looking up at her and clapping. He spoke to Kairi in a deep and threatening voice, one Kairi was all too familiar with.
"I had thought Mickey and Sora would be more protective of their little pet project" he sneered at Kairi. "No matter. It will make my job far easier."
"Xemnas?" Kairi asked, shocked by the sudden resurgence of the former leader of Organization XIII. "But, Riku and Sora destroyed you!"
The man threw back his hood and revealed the evil silver haired face Kairi remembered from The World That Never Was, grinning at his new target. "I did not expect a wielder of the Keyblade to be as naive as Sora, but once again, the Realm of Light proves me wrong. How could you think I wouldn't have returned? I am a part of Xehanort, after all."
"You guys do have a knack for showing up unannounced and unwelcomed!" Kairi snidely replied.
"Such bravado" Xemnas chortled. "Lest you forget we have spread your little army thin across many worlds already. Sora and Riku are in no position to rescue you should you fall prey to my power. And I do have a score to settle with them. If neither of them could have been bothered to come and ruin our plans here, I will have to settle for the next best thing!" Xemnas reached out for Kairi. Kairi lurched away and drew her Keyblade up to her face.
"I've grown stronger!" Kairi warned.
"Do you honestly think we've been sitting around at the same time?" the dark figure chuckled. "How amusing. Perhaps it's time I put an end to this little game of words and showed you exactly why Sora and Riku fear the dark as much as they do!" The cloaked man raised his hands towards the sky. Balls of dark energy appeared in the sky and loomed over Kairi. Xemnas scoffed and pointed towards his target. The dark energy rushed at Kairi wit incredible force.
Kairi closed her eyes, and angled her defense. But before the blows could rain upon her Keyblade, a soft voice echoed in the Courtyard. "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!" Kairi felt herself being absorbed by the light and within seconds, could no longer feel the dark presence of Xemnas looming near her. When she opened her eyes, she found herself sitting on a chair. It took her a brief moment to understand just how large the chair she sat in was. She looked behind her. The chair was enormous, towering over her. But it wasn't just the chair. The entire antechamber was incredibly huge.
"What happened to me?" Kairi asked.
"The power of light, my dear" a voice spoke to her. Kairi looked across the room and saw a woman in a periwinkle robe sitting in the chair opposite her. She looked at Kairi with fondness. "Though I think my magic can be a bit too strong sometimes. But it should keep both you and the rest of the Castle safe from that wicked man."
"Thank you for rescuing me" Kairi answered graciously, "but who are you?"
"I'm Cinderella's Fairy Godmother" the woman explained. "I help those who are unable to help themselves. Many years ago, I gave Cinderella a little help in making her own dreams come true."
"That sounds wonderful" Kairi answered. "But do you still look after Cinderella now, even when her dreams have all come true?"
"Not all of Cinderella's dreams have come true, my child" the Fairy Godmother answered sorrowfully. "And one of Cinderella's wishes is a thing I cannot grant by myself. It will require some courage and the powers of the Keyblade." The Fairy walked over to the miniature guardian and scooped her up in her hands. "And that is why you are here, Kairi."
"You know about me?" Kairi asked.
"Of course" she laughed. "Not only did Cinderella tell me everything about her adventures inside that castle of Hollow Bastion, but I first learned about you from Sora. Merlin the wizard and I taught him much about magic, but his entire motivation was to see you again."
Kairi beamed. "And he got his wish. If I may, what is Cinderella's wish? Because I need to find her to talk to her on behalf of King Mickey. Maybe I could grant it and talk to her."
The Fairy Godmother reached into her sleeve for her wand, but fuddled around when she couldn't find it. Kairi hopped out of her hands as the airy fairy searched her whole dress robe for her wand. "I would be able to tell you, but it seems my wand has disappeared."
"What does that mean?" Kairi asked.
"Until I can find the wand" the Godmother frowned, "I cannot find Cinderella or make you your normal size again, Kairi."
Kairi sighed. "Well, I guess this will have to do for now."
"The wand must be somewhere here in the Castle. I bet Jaq the mouse would know. He is a friend of Cinderella. If you find him, you are sure to find both my wand and Cinderella. Would you please look look around while I search in here?"
Kairi rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'll give it a shot. But I don't know how much ground I can cover when I'm only this tall."
"Bless you, child" the fairy cheered. "As soon as I find my wand, we can try to see what we can do to fix up Cinderella's last dream."
Eyeing a mouse hole near the massive doors, Kairi nodded. She slid off the chair and hurried along the path.
But before she could climb into the mouse hole, the Fairy Godmother called to her. "One thing, child. There is a cat on the loose in the castle. Be sure to look out for Lucifer."
"Alright" Kairi called back, sliding into the mouse hole.
Kairi climbed out of another mouse hole and found herself standing atop the railing of a massive staircase. She looked as far as she could, but found no sign of Jaq the mouse. As she was about to return into the mouse hole, she noticed the door to the chamber open and saw a young woman with blonde hair walk into the room and begin to climb the stairs. She hummed to herself a song as she walked past Kairi.
"Cinderella!" the miniature warrior called. "Cinderella! Over here!"
The woman turned at the sound of the name and looked to the rail. She gasped when she noticed how small Kairi had become. "Kairi? Oh my goodness." She hurried to the rail and scooped her up into her hands. "Are you alright? How did you get so small? And what are you doing all the way out here in my world?"
Kairi sighed. "To answer your questions, in order: I am not alright as you can see. The Fairy Godmother's magic shrunk me down to this size but since she's lost her wand, I can't grow back. And I'm here to bring you to King Mickey."
"King Mickey?" Cinderella asked. "But why? Does he think I'm in danger here?"
"Master Xehanort and all of his dark friends are running around the worlds" Kairi explained. "The King has Sora, Riku and I going around to worlds and stopping him while also bringing you all safe and sound to his castle. Xehanort can't get there."
"Oh dear" Cinderella answered sadly. "I'll have to alert the Prince to my departure, along with my friends. And we should get to work on your size problem as well."
"The Fairy Godmother thinks that Jaq might have a clue to where it is" Kairi continued.
"Jaq?" Cinderella asked. "But that will never do. He's been in my chambers the whole time. He sleeps there until we can make sure Lucifer doesn't go after him. They've been at odds for years."
"You know Lucifer?" Kairi asked.
"He was my stepmother's pet cat" Cinderella sighed. "I took him in here after I was married, because I believed he would change if treated better. But he still tries to eat my mice friends. Since then, we've been trying to get him out of the palace, but he keeps finding ways in."
"Can you take me to Jaq?"
Cinderella smiled. "Of course I can. But you'll have to travel in my pocket. Jaq told me the mouse holes are filled with Heartless. I wouldn't want to endanger you with travelling in there." Cinderella slid Kairi into the pocket of her apron and continued her walk up the stairs. Kairi poked her head out of the pocket and looked around for Jaq, while also muttering to herself about no one's inclination to trust her to carry out a mission.
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