Chapter Text
Galaxy Toys
Dado
Dado ran after the boy he'd been tasked with saving, followed closely by pink and purple plastic unicorn dolls. Nothing would make today weirder. Santa Claus himself could jump out of a pickup truck with flame decals, wish him a Happy Hanukkah, trip on his bag of toys, clip through the floor, and the day still wouldn't be weirder.
"Alright, lore dump!" He called to the toys behind him as the kid somehow managed to keep a three block lead on him. "What are you, what'd you mean by this world, and what the hell is happening?"
"Just focus on saving the-" one of the dolls started, but was cut off by her friend.
"I'm Rosy, this is Estelle, we're from Union Unicornis, a Keyblade Union. Normally we look human, but the briefing said this world is mostly full of living toys, so the world order magic is making us fit in. There are other worlds, worlds have been falling to darkness lately, and your world is falling to darkness."
"Thank you!" He cried. "Finally, some answers. The fuck do you mean full of living toys, and how can I stop my world from dying?"
"I dunno," Rosy called back. "Maybe the briefing was wrong?"
"That doesn't explain why the magic transformed us," Estelle pointed out. "It automatically changes our forms as necessary so we can fit in. It wouldn't do that if the briefing was wrong."
"Okay, world full of living toys." Dado's mind drifted to the roll of toilet paper in his bedside drawer. "I'll just… file that under things I hope aren't true. What about saving my world?"
"The heartless are trying to consume the world's heart," Estelle explained. "If we can find and seal the keyhole, we might be able to stop them before it's too late."
"Heartless are the monsters we're fighting," Rosy clarified. "And the keyhole is a literal big keyhole hidden somewhere important." Rosy's clarification helped a bit, but…
"Okay, so parasites are trying to eat the world's heart, it can be locked by a magic keyhole, and I assume that's what the Keyblade's for?"
"Yup!" Rosy's tone was encouraging. "The Keyblade can lock or unlock anything!"
"It can even seal or unseal Hearts," Estelle chimed in. "Making it one of the only weapons that can permanently destroy Heartless."
"Noted. And-" Dado was about to ask another question, but saw the boy run into a familiar building. "There!"
The trio dashed through the Galaxy Toys parking lot. As they entered the mall-sized toy store, the kid was cowering in the middle of the lobby. A group of shadow-ants encircled him menacingly.
"Hold tight!" Dado ran towards the kid, slashing through shadows with his Keyblade. Where the Sun Keyblade simply glowed on contact with a monster, this Crown Keyblade felt like it was guiding his movements. He could feel its intent: it needed to defeat the encroaching darkness as much as he did.
"Aerora!" Estelle called out. A green tornado raced forward, clearing a path through the shadows and stopping just short of the civilian.
The child recoiled as Dado charged towards him, then spun in increasingly wide circles, Keyblade outstretched. Sparkles trailed off both his shoes and Keyblade as he made three full revolutions around the boy, rending the surrounding monsters into smoke and pink, crystalline hearts.
"Cover me," he instructed his allies, kneeling down to the kid's level before speaking gently. "Hey, kid. What's your name?"
The child sniffled, looking up at Dado.
"A-Andy… please, don't hurt me."
"Hey, hey. It's okay." He kept his voice steady and calm. The sounds of combat behind him faded into a meaningless blur. In his periphery, Rosy stood a few feet back, watching the interaction.
"It's nice to meet you, Andy. I'm Dado." He slung his backpack off his shoulders and onto the ground before the child. "Somewhere in there, there should be a chocolate protein bar. I want you to find it for me, okay?"
"Okay…" Andy shakily unzipped the front pocket, focusing on rummaging through Dado's supplies.
"Dado," Rosy got his attention, keeping her voice low. "Estelle needs your help."
"My help?!" He looked back at Estelle incredulously as she slung purple bolts of magic between Heartless, vaporizing creatures five times larger than her with ease. "Look at her!"
"I know," she tried to elaborate, but Dado interrupted her.
"She's slinging spells! Like, actual real-life magic! Until twenty minutes ago, this world had no magic, no darkness, no keyblades, no talking toys, none of that!"
"Correctamundo!"
"So what the fuck am I supposed to do?! I'll get in her way; get us all killed!"
"I've practiced with my Keyblade for a year now, and you've done stuff I can't within twenty minutes of getting yours." She beamed. "You've got this!"
Ah. So they were screwed, then.
"...Hell of an eighteenth birthday," he muttered angrily before springing to his feet.
"Estelle!" Dado called out, charging towards the hand-sided unicorn. "Aim AoEs at groups; I'll cover giants that get too close!"
"Blizzara!" She called back, a hailstorm buffeting him as they tore through toy-sized Heartless.
He squinted and pushed through the novel cold, stabbing at a Heartless the size of a German Shepherd. Another such "giant" leapt at him, immediately swatted out of the air as his Keyblade tugged his arms into a defensive swing.
He soon found himself in the zone, tuning out Estelle's spells with ease while seeking and destroying all Heartless outside of the toys' weight bracket. As soon as he heard Rosy's voice from across the lobby, though, he realized his mistake.
"A little help!" Her voice was as cheerful as ever; an obvious façade. As his gaze turned inwards, he saw a dozen animal-themed bean bag chairs bouncing towards Andy. Estelle's crystalline projectiles shattered harmlessly against the rotund Heartless.
Cursing himself for straying too far, Dado bolted as the bean bags dogpiled the child. Twenty meters later, he impaled one of the Heartless, promptly spilling its styrofoam guts outwards in a wide pivot.
His blade dragged his spin into another, tearing open a second chair, then a third. His vision became a spinning blur, violet and golden light rending through each other. His brain choppily interpolated the movements of the object in focus each time, allowing him to continue to perceive a target.
Within a few seconds, twelve pink hearts floated upwards, shining ethereally. He started to crouch down, then cursed as a Heartless' sharp claw tore his jeans.
"Andy!" He called, kicking the ant-like creature into the air before slamming it downwards with his Keyblade. "How we doin'?"
"I-I-" the child stammered. "I wanna go home…"
Shit. His heartstrings ached at the pain in the young boy's voice.
"Go ahead and eat that protein bar, little buddy."
Dado's senses began to blur from overload. The weight of the situation bore down on him as his motions faded back into an autopilot guided by his Keyblades. The kid was acting as a constant reminder of the danger present. With him here, every mistake felt that much more impactful.
They needed to find a place to keep him safe. But since Heartless could spawn anywhere, it wasn't like they could just lock him in a room.
Wait…
"Keyblade stuff's magic!" Dado exclaimed. "Could we seal a single room to stop Heartless from materializing in it?"
"Estelle?" Rosy called out to get her friend's attention.
"Umm…" the purple unicorn pondered the question. "Theoretically, sure. I've never tried it, but I think I've read about similar techniques."
"Estelle…" Rosy seemed dissatisfied by the answer.
"Alright!" Dado was reinvigorated. "Their ranks are thinning; we just gotta finish them off and then-"
"Estelle!" Rosy shouted over the two. They both turned their gazes towards her and…
Andy was hunched over. A trail of dark smoke coiled around him like a rope, leading upwards and away.
"The kid!" The mage shouted just as time seemed to slow to a crawl.
Estelle dashed towards him, recognizing the urgency immediately. A split moment later, the darkness solidified, then yanked a screaming Andy towards the stairwell at high speeds.
"Balloon!" Rosy's colorful cast flew towards the boy, only to be swiftly slowed to a halt by its own air resistance.
"Andy!" Dado, a solid ten miles an hour slower than the dark cord, fared only slightly better than Rosy's Balloon.
"Aeroga!" In a last ditch effort, Estelle created a green whirlwind stronger than her previous casts.
Dado came to a halt and braced himself against the howling winds, shutting his eyes until it faded. When he opened them, Andy was gone. In his place, dark smoke ominously trailed up the stairwell.