Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

I hope I still have fans reading this fic. I've been so busy working on my second story that getting to this one was almost impossible. But I will continue, no matter how long it takes, but hopefully, it won't take so long.

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Chapter 28: A Sticky Situation

Cid laid back peacefully in his chair as he monitored the computer. He yawned and leaned his chair back on the two back legs. Yuffie walked up to him. She kicked his chair so that it would fall back onto all four legs. "How do you expect to catch that heartless if you're sleeping on the job!"

"I ain't sleepin," he growled as he scratched his head. "Nothin major's happened. Sora and the gang just left Paris, and so did that heartless, Aros, but as usual, he's disappeared from sight." Merlin suddenly appeared in a cloud of purple smoke. Yuffie and Cid coughed and waved their arms to free themselves of the fumes.

"A little too much I think," said Merlin as he placed the large book he was carrying on the table near his bed.

"Merlin," Yuffie scolded. "We have enough smoke with Cid without you bringing more."
"Hey, my cigar's not that bad."

Just then, Aerith came in, just as sad as ever at not being reunited with Cloud. The others fell into an akward silence. Aerith seemed to know why they had reacted this way and immediately tried to put on a happy face. "How are Sora and the others doing?"

Cid paused before answering, "Fine, just fine now. They're on their way out of Paris."

"Oh." She could feel her saddness returning and looked away from them. As the days continued, it had become harder and harder for Aerith to stay strong while Cloud was missing. It seemed all hope in his returning was gone. She was feeling guilty for dragging everyone into her depressive mood and she wasn't sure what to do about it. She looked back at them. She hated to ask, but she needed to know. "What about Cloud? Is there any news about him?" The others looked at one another, then they looked away. Yuffie came forward and tried her best to be confident. "No, we haven't heard anything, but you can't give up." She took Aerith's hands in hers. "He'll come back, I know he will."

"She's right my dear," said Merlin.

Aerith looked at them, smiled and nodded.

Suddenly, the front door of Merlin's house was thrown open and Leon ran inside in a panic.

"CID! YUFFIE!"

They all ran forward. Aerith became hopeful, thinking Leon had somehow answered her prayers about finding Cloud.

"What is it!" Yuffie cried.

"Is it Cloud?", Aerith jumped in. Leon was taken aback by the question, then he shook his head.

"No, it's not Cloud," Aerith's face fell, "There's trouble at the Restoration site--it's being destroyed by heartless. There's hundreds of them. We're going to need everybody!"

"You got it!" Yuffie cried as she pulled out her ninja stars and ran out the door.

Cid reached for an electronic earpiece and fitted it in his ear. "If Sora should come here, I'll be able to tell him where to go."

"But what about Aros!" Leon growled. Cid looked back at the computer.

"We won't be able to track him down now, he's left Paris already. Besides, that's one heartless--we've got a hundred."

"One heartless that's been causing as much trouble as a hundred," Leon argued back.

"We'll just have to take that chance!" Cid proceeded to run out the door, but Leon stopped him.

"We've been tracking that heartless all over space. If you think I'm just going to let you let him slip by, you've got another thing coming!" Cid pulled his arm out of Leon's grip and glowered, then he turned to Merlin. "Fine. We'll let Merlin keep an eye on him."

"M-m-me?"

"Sure, it's easy." Cid walked him to the chair in front of the computer. "All you have to do is watch and if you see something, call me on this communicator." Cid handed him a small circular speaker that was connected to his earpiece.

"Splendid! I've always been most curious about this contraption." He started to press a button on the keyboard, but Cid pulled his hand away. "And don't touch anything."

He turned and headed out the door with Aerith and Leon following behind. Merlin turned back to the computer and saw the dot representing Sora on the screen floating out in space. Nothing else was happening and Merlin was quickly becoming bored. He yawned. "If I'm going to be on guard duty, I'd best fix myself a drink to stay awake." He raised a finger and muttered an incantation all while watching the computer screen. A mug flew out of a cabinet and a pitcher of milk flew out of the refrigerator. With the spell in effect, the mug floated to the table and the pitcher poured the milk into it. Merlin wiggled his fingers in the direction of shelves where he believed the cocoa powder was positioned, but instead of cocoa powder, his spell hit a box of sleeping powder that mixed itself in with the milk in the mug. Merlin shook his fingers, still watching the screen, and the mug floated over to him. Merlin took a great whiff and took a long drink from the mug. He set it down and went back to his work, but froze. "Wait a moment," he said alarmed. "That wasn't...cocoa, that...was...(yawns) sleeping...pow..." He fell forward on the keyboard, fast asleep.

Aros rode his Night-Flyer at a normal speed as he made his way to Radiant Garden. He still couldn't understand why Gemini would ask him to come here. He wondered if his father had wanted him to come, but he was sure if he did, he would have told him so himself. Or maybe he found out what he failed to do in Paris and was too upset to speak with him personally. If that was the case, Aros was glad that he was meeting up with Gemini instead of his father. But why Radiant Garden of all places? Surely this had nothing to do with the assignment he had performed in this world? He hated the reminder of the incident with the computer and had hoped not to return to Radiant Garden because of it. He had barely escaped from the computer and when he did, he had barely escaped with his life after he was spotted by a few unfriendly inhabitants.

Aros slowed his worries on the possiblities of returning as Radiant Garden came into view. He saw the cottages and some of its people walking about. Then another thought struck him. Where am I suppose to go? Gemini hadn't been clear on his exact location. He just told him to meet him in this world, but Aros had no idea where they were suppose to meet. Then he scowled and wondered if this was just a joke to get him exposed or caught; afterall, he was almost captured when he last visited this place. No, that can't be right. Gemini wasn't the type to play jokes. He would consider it demeaning--a waste of one's time. No, there was a reason for his being here, but what? He would hopefully find out once he found the proper place to land.

Last time, he landed near the marketplace, but since many of the villagers were about, he didn't believe Gemini would be anywhere near that area. He would have to find a place more secluded. "There," he said to himself as he directed the Night-Flyer over the Bailey. Once he landed, he looked around. He recalled running through the gate to the Restoration site on his way to Ansem's computer. He hoped Gemini was no where near that area. He turned his attention to the stairs in front of him. There was that smell again, the smell of tortured heartless--their blood. He raised his arm up to his nose in disghust. That could be me this time, if I get caught. He quickly made his way up the stairs to the rest of the Bailey. He looked around. He was sure that Gemini would be waiting for him here. There wasn't a more secluded place than the cover of the Bailey, but he wasn't. He would have to look elswhere. Before he continued his search, he paused and turned to his right to see the large windows of the Bailey. He didn't have time to take a good look last time he was here, so he approached the ledge and looked out to see the vastness of a gorge, along with a castle in the distance. Aries once mentioned a great battle took place out in that land and Aros could only guess who had taken part in that fight. He wondered if Sora was in this world now. He glowered at the world he was seeing--not only was it responsible for getting him trapped within a computer, it was responsible for his first encounter with his enemy. He had met Sora here, which made him wonder if this was his world. Sora had never beaten him to a world before, so that must be the explaination. He turned away. He had to find Gemini and get out quick.

He ran out of the Bailey and into the Borough. He stopped for a moment and looked around. If Gemini wasn't waiting, maybe he would pop in from where ever he was watching, but the longer he stood there waiting, the more exposed he felt. He jumped onto the highest ledge and looked around. He could see nothing but the tops of cottages and a large, junky structure shooting up from the middle of the crowd of houses. Aros gritted his teeth and jumped all the way down to the bottom. He landed on the cobble-stoned street in a setting of the cottages he had seen when he was here last time. He moved more slowly now, all while keeping an eye out for Gemini and enemies. He walked around the corner and spotted that same cozy looking cottage he had seen on his last trip. He looked at the crooked rook which had two umbrellas at the top. He hadn't realized how different this house was from the others until now. Just seeing the oddity made him curious about what was inside. He checked the area. There was no one in sight. Slowly, he made his way up the stairs. Slowly he approached the door and opened it. He knew it was foolish. He could get himself caught this way, but he scensed no danger here. He peeked inside.

It was small and cramped in the interior of the cottage. He started scanning from his left and saw a small kitchen, shelves with books, a table in the middle, a bed, a desk, then coming to his right, a computer system and a..a..

Aros froze. A MAN! How could he be so stupid! Of course someone would be living in the house. He started to back out--this was just the kind of situation he was afraid of, getting caught--but he stopped and came in a little further. He was lying across the keyboard. Aros moved into the room and closed the door, all while watching the man. His eyes remained focused on the still figure as he approached quietly. He leaned over to take a closer look. He was dressed in blue robes and he had a long pointed hat, and glasses that seemed to bring out his long silver beard. Aros remembered falling into a similar situation when he was getting the key from Davy Jones. Just then he snored and Aros jumped, but the man did nothing more than that. He was in a deep sleep. Sure that he wouldn't wake, Aros turned his attention to the computer in front of him. It was a map of some sort and there were gold dots that Aros saw represented worlds. There was a red dot hovering over the gold dot labeled Radiant Garden. Is that...me? Aros turned his attention to a blue dot that was slowly moving across the space in the direction of Radiant Garden. Aros frowned and looked at the man. It can't be,...but I bet it is.. It was a tracking device that had been set up to follow his every move. Aros gritted his teeth and balled his fists. He was sure of it. It was the only explaination of how Sora had always known where he was and in this case where he was going. He had never fully concerned himself with the reasons for Sora's ability to know exactly where he was at any given time. But now he knew, and now he cared. He glared at the computer and prepared to unleash his keyblade to destroy their spying machine, but stopped. He couldn't take the chance of waking the man up. He snored loudly again. He sighed and turned to look at the rest of the house.

He knew he should be leaving. The man could wake up at anytime or Sora could come, afterall this was his world, wasn't it? He decided he should probably leave and just as he was heading to the door, something caught his eyes. There was a large book on a desk near the bed. Aros didn't know why, but he was drawn to it. He moved over and looked. There was a bear on the cover, sitting under an oak tree with his paw in a honey pot. Aros felt along the edge and opened it. He wasn't much of a reader, but he was curious. He opened it slowly and frowned to see that the pages were blank; there was nothing but pictures to tell the story. He stopped on one page that had a picture of the oak tree. He peered closer and soon writting began to fill in on the page. What the..."What kind of book is thi..aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!..", but he was interrupted as the scenary changed. He felt himself being pulled toward the book. Then he yelled, he couldn't help it and before he knew it, he was falling into the book, into pages of white where letters and words floated all around him in bold black ink. He continued to scream as he was falling,..falling toward the picture of the oak which was changing from black and white, to color. In fact, the white pages he had fallen through were quickly becoming the color of the bright blue sky.

Below him, he could see a wood, a peacful forest of green trees, pink flowers, and buzzing bees. He waved his arms frantically, but soon realised he didn't have to as he was slowing down. He turned gently with the wind and landed softly on the ground. He looked up expecting to see the house in which he had come from, but he saw nothing but sky. He started to panic. "First the computer, now this. A book of all places and no one had even told me to come here."

In an attempt to free himself from the pages, he jumped and jumped again, hoping he could jump his way up toward the sky and back into the real world. But it didn't work.

He looked straight ahead. There was a path leading through the trees so Aros decided to follow it, hoping it would some how lead him out of the book. As he walked, he couldn't shake the fear that plagued him. He was in a book! He was walking around in what appeared to be a real wood, a real world, but it was a book nonetheless. He stopped and settled his worries on a more stressing thought. What if the only way out is with the help of...someone else? He looked up at the sky and imagined the bearded-man or Sora looking in the book and finding him. He felt even more exposed than he did outside. If they spotted him, they could keep him trapped in this book forever, perphaps just by closing the book and turning it into his prison. "Bet my father will appreciate that--as much trouble as I've caused," he said miserably.

"Help, oh heeellllppp!"

Aros raised his head up at the sound of the soft, small voice. He walked further down the path.

"Hang on Piglet, I'm sure there's something we can do to get you down," said another voice. "Now let me think." Aros stopped as he encountered someone else who was apparently trapped in the book, but upon closer inspection, he saw it was a bear, a small yellow bear in a red shirt. Aros quickly realised it was the bear he had seen on the cover. "Hurry Pooh!" Aros looked up and there, on a very tall tree, was a very small pig like creature hanging from a branch. Aros could only stare, but he was quickly brought out of his gaze by the small bear.

"Sora, how good it is to see you again and it couldn't have been at a better time."

"Huh?"

"Heeeeellllllppppp!"

"It seems Piglet got a bit carried away by the wind, but he hoped to use it to his advantage to help me with a very small, or I should say, a very large problem."
"What are you talking about?"

"Help!"

Aros glanced up again and was sure the little pig would fall at any minute. Pooh looked up as well. "Oh bother. Piglet was trying to help me, now I must help him. But now that you're here, we can save him together."

"Save...him?" Aros remembered swearing not to help anyone a number of times. He had definately meant it when he crossed over into Tron's world. Well, this book was another example of a strange world that he should not be in and he should not be helping its people. That wasn't his job. "Oh Sora, what can we do?" the bear asked desperately. "If we don't do something quick, things might turn out unpleasant". Aros looked at the bear, then looked back up. Upon his experiences in worlds, especially Tron's, helping others was his best chance of getting by. Sure it slowed him down, but sometimes it was the best way to get something done.

"Help!"

Aros nodded and without saying a word, he moved toward the very tall tree and started to climb. Though his nails weren't heartless claws, he was still able to dig them into the tree and move quickly up to the branch where the creature "Piglet" was hanging on for dear life. Aros saw the branch was starting to break. "Heeelllp! Oh Sora, thank goodness."

"Easy there..Piglet." With one arm around the tree, he reached with his other arm for Piglet. "Give me your..uh hand." He started shaking his head frantically. He was too scared, but Aros had no time for this. "I-I-I-I-I can't."

"Give me your hand! Do you want to fall!" Piglet stared with frightened eyes. "Then give me your hand so we can get down from here." Piglet slowly moved his hand toward Aros, who grabbed it and pulled him in just as the branch broke off. "Now we just have to get down. Climb on my back." "W-what?" "Just do it." Piglet did so and instead of climbing down, Aros let go and was falling to the ground. Piglet cried out, but no sooner had he started than Aros landed safely on his feet. Piglet jumped off and staggered around in dizziness. "Oh m-m-m-my."

"Piglet, you're safe," Pooh said as he greeted his friend. "Thank you Sora."

"Sora," Aros whispered to himself. Here was yet another strange world in which Sora had gone. He wondered if Sora had come here by accident just like he had. "Now that you've helped Piglet, perphaps you can help me." Aros raised his eyebrow suspiciously. He had believed performing one task could help him get out of here, but there was still more to do according to the bear. "With what?"

The Gummi ship sailed through space in the direction of Radiant Garden. Donald and Goofy were at the pilot contols as usual while Sora sat behind them, looking out the window, deep in thought. He could feel Riku's eyes on him. "Do you really think we should be going back here now?"

"You got a better idea?" He turned to meet Riku's anger at Sora not finishing off the heartless. "We don't know where he's going now, so we'll just have to drop in and see." Riku was about to reply, but a voice on the intercom stopped him.

"Sora, is that you."

"Cid," Sora cried as he moved closer to the front.

"My transmitter informed me that you were in close range. If it's no trouble to you, why don't you drop in and give us a hand. We got a big problem. The Restoration site is over-run with heartless. We can use all the help we can get."

"We're on our way." He cast a glance at Riku who turned away.

"I'm sure I haven't misplaced it, and I always have spares in case I have, but they're missing too."

Aros, Piglet and Pooh were inside Pooh's house, looking on shelves and in cabinets for Pooh's missing jar of honey. Of course he had many of them, but his favorite jar, the one Aros had seen him eating out of on the cover, was empty. The "it" he was refering to was the honey inside. So far, all the jars were empty, which greatly upsetted Pooh. The others were working hard to find some morsal of sweetness, but Aros barely tried. He couldn't understand what the big deal was. "Uh, Pooh, haven't you ever thought about getting more. Like from the bees. I thought that's where you said you got all your honey."

Pooh, who was in the middle of pulling his head out of a jar, turned to him. "I could, except it seems the bees have misplaced their honey as well."

"Oh." Aros wasn't so sure he believed him. He thought the bees just might be hiding the honey so Pooh bear wouldn't come after it, but then again, he didn't know this story. He hadn't read this book, he had fallen into it.

"Maybe someone else can help," Piglet suggested.

Pooh bowed his head in thought. "I think you're right Piglet, and I think I know just the one who can."

Aros followed reluctantly behind Pooh and Piglet as they made their way to a character they called Owl. Aros could not believe how fast he had gotten himself into trouble. As he walked he looked up at the sky, wondering if anyone was reading his adventure, enjoying seeing him frustrated with the situation.

"Why Pooh, what brings you and Sora too, to this neck of the woods?"

Aros looked up the tree to see an owl looking down at them. That wasn't the only thing he noticed. Along the ground, there was honey. It was a trail of honey that began here and continued on down the path they were taking. There were also a couple of objects like books and paper trapped in the sticky sweetness.

"Why Owl, what is this honey doing here?" Pooh questioned. Aros was about to say Owl stole it, but Owl answered for himself.

"Good heavens, I don't know. I woke up this morning, found many of my most precious books gone including a few jars of my own honey, and when I came out here, I found them trapped in what was left of my honey. What do you suppose happened?"

But Pooh was too busy getting a taste of the trail. "I'm afraid...hmm, yum, I don't...hmmmmm, know. But it looks like a trail."

"A trail?" said Owl thoughtfully. "A trail to what I wonder."

"M-maybe it leads to the one who stole your honey," said Piglet. "Someone's stolen Pooh's honey as well."

"Someone stole your honey too Pooh?"

"Yeah," Aros answered for the bear. "And it would be great if you could tell us who did it, so I can get out of here."

"I'm sorry, I don't know, but it seems this honey napper, the Great Honey Caper has the upper hand. I'm sure I'll be able to help if you can find my Detective book. It must be somewhere in the honey. If you could locate it for me, it will be of great help."

Aros sighed. Here we go again. With Piglet, Pooh and Owl, who was guiding them from above, Aros searched through the sticky solution. He turned over book after book and found nothing but his hands covered in the icky yellow matter. Aros stuck out his tongue in dishust. To anyone else, the honey might look delightful, but to Aros, a heartless, it was disghusting. Aros turned to look at the others and found Piglet often getting himself stuck and Pooh eating away. Aros growled. "Those two, they're a lot more trouble than..." he stopped. His fingers had landed on a large brown book with the title 'The way of the Detective'. He raised it up to owl. "Is this it?" Owl flew down to him.

"Why it most certainly is. Let me see here." Owl took the book and began to finger through it. Aros tapped his foot impatiently. Piglet noticed and found that his tapping made him nervous. "Aw, here we go. It says, 'When a great detective is on a case, one of his best chances of finding the criminal is by finding the trail'".

"Trail," said Aros annoyed. "That's it? I could have told you that."

"So all we have to do is follow the trail of honey," said Pooh as he licked his paws. "Then we'd better get started."

"Oh, d-d-d-d-dear."

"Let's go," said Aros, who wanted to finish this as fast as he could. Owl flew along besides them.

"I'd better come along too. I'd like to see what's become of my honey as well."

Sora and his companions arrived just in time to witness Leon, Cid, Yuffie, Tifa, and Aerith battling against a countless number of heartless in the narrow bend of the Restoration site. "Come on!" Sora cried as he ran forward. Kairi pulled out her keyblade and was pleased to finally be involved as she had wanted to be, right in the battle. She knocked back several heartless that tried to overpower her and felt a rush of excitment at her own power. Donald used his magic to shock a large number of their enemies while Goofy threw his shield like a boomerang to take them down. They were all getting stronger Sora noted as he kept an eye on them while fighting. He had just given a sniper heartless an uppercut that sent him into oblivion when he noticed Riku. He fought the hardest of them all. Sora could hear him yelling and growling in fury and Sora knew it was his anger at Aros and Sora himself. Sora felt his heart fall at the unpleasant change in Riku. How long would it be before his anger took a permanent hold on him. Their friendship was already starting to slip and Sora didn't know what would happen if it broke completely. He feared he might eventually lose Riku to the darkness.

"Sora look out!" Kairi screamed. He turned as a morning star prepared to knock Sora, but Leon came down with his blade just in time and destroyed it. "Snap out of it!" he yelled. "We're in the middle of a war in case you didn't know."

"Right, sorry." He looked at Riku once more who seemed to be fighting harder, before he returned his focus on the battle.

Up above the battle, out of the sight of the fighters, Gemini watched from his point on a ledge. He didn't appear pleased nor dissatisfied. He cast his eyes up to the sky, wondering if Aros had come.

"Aries, you are becoming something of a fool, to trust that abomination," he said to himself quietly. "You'll learn soon enough, when I've found him." And he disappeared.

Aros lead his group of storybook companions alongside the trail of honey and was quickly becoming tired. He didn't know how much more he could take. He needed to find a way out.

"Hmm," said Pooh bear in thought. "Where do you suppose the Great Honey Caper came from?"

"That's a very good question Pooh," said Owl. "Perphaps this trail will lead us to him."

"Perphaps he came from a place that has no bees to make honey," Piglet told them.

"Hmm, you may be right Piglet," said Pooh. "A place without honeybees is very sad. What do you think Sora?"

Aros shot him a glare, and shook his head. "I don't know and I don't care. What matters is that we find him." He quickened his pace. Piglet moved closer to Pooh and whispered in his ear. "Sora's acting awfully strange. What do you suppose is the matter with him?"

"Hmm, I suppose he's just as worried about the honey as we are Piglet," Pooh guessed.

They continued to follow the trail until it reached a large vegetable garden. Aros could see the trail was broken up as it was scattered all over the vegetables that were growing. Aros saw the veggies were mostly carrots, but now, they were honey-covered carrots. Then he heard the sound of buzzing.

"Oh d-d-d-d-dear, look what's become of Rabbit's garden," said Piglet.

"Rabbit?" Aros asked. He turned as the buzzing came nearer and he saw a couple of bees flying toward the honey-covered carrots and as a swarm they attempted to pull up a carrot from the ground.

"Oh bother," said Pooh. "It seems the bees are so desperate to get their honey back that they've decided to take Rabbit's honey carrots."

"Shoo! Shoo! Get out of my garden you you you buzzing pest!"

Aros looked around and saw a long-eared rabbit attempting to scare the bees away with a broom. It seemed to work as they left the carrot alone, but then they turned on the broom and tore it to shreds. Rabbit looked dismayed as the swarm was able to make off with a honey-covered carrot. Aros and the others walked up to him.

"Rabbit," said Pooh, "I didn't know you grew honey carrots."

"I don't grow honey carrots, there's no such thing. This morning I found all my honey gone and when I came out here to look for the culprit," he eyed Pooh suspiciously, "I found my carrots covered in what was left of it."

"Oh dear," said Pooh," You too. Someone's stolen my honey."

"And mine," said Piglet. "I went to Pooh's this morning to see if anything had happened to his and it had."

"Someone's made off with mine as well," said Owl.

Aros folded his arms. "I don't have any honey, but it looks like someone has a load of it now. We're following the trail of the person who did it. You wouldn't happen to know who would you?"

Rabbit stepped up to Pooh and looked him up and down. "I thought I might. You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with this would you Pooh bear?"

"Me. No. Why I have all the honey I need. Or rather, I had. Even the bees don't have any honey."

Rabbit turned to where Pooh was looking and saw the swarm of bees attempting to steal more carrots. "Oh no, oh no! This is awful, just awful. I can't keep them away. What'll I do?"

"Perphaps Sora can give you a hand. He's good at helping," Pooh suggested.

Rabbit turned to Aros. "Oh would you? Please. Just keep them away while I get the hose and wash the carrots free of honey."

Aros hesitated. He wanted to say "No!" he wanted to tell him to take care of it himself, but he feared if he turned him down, he might never get out of the book. Aros sighed and unleashed his keyblade. The others looked at it wearily; they had never seen Sora use such a dark looking blade before. Once Rabbit readied himself with the hose, Aros readied himself in the garden and knocked the swarm away. "Ready?" Rabbit called. "Ready," Aros answered. No sooner had he made his post than the swarm started to hunt another carrot. Aros knocked the swarm aside which gave Rabbit room to water the carrot and cleanse it of the sticky honey. The bees hunted another and another and another, but Aros was able to keep up and knock them aside. The bees quickly saw their mistake and split into a swarm of fours. Aros didn't worry. He was able to go after them all. It was a bit difficult for Rabbit to keep up with the water, but in the end, the carrots were honey-covered no more. Realising the loss of honey, the bees retreated. Pooh, Piglet and Owl cheered.

"Good job Sora, my carrots are safe now," said Rabbit.

"But we still don't have any honey," said Pooh.

Aros sighed. "Then I guess we'd better get going and see if we can find the Great Honey Caper."

"The Great Honey Caper!" said Rabbit alarmed. "Was he the one that stole my honey?"

"It looks that way Rabbit," said Pooh. "Why don't you come along and see if some of the honey he has is yours."

Back in the real world, in the small cottage in which the story was taking place, Merlin continued to snooze away. He wasn't aware that Aros had arrived and was, in a way, inside his own house, nor had he realised that Sora had arrived as well. Suddenly, he popped his head up and said dreamily, "Just one more cookie mommy," then he fell back on the keyboard, asleep.

I'm never gonna get out of here! Aros started to believe, as he cast his eyes up to the sky. This story is never gonna end. Then another thought occured to him. What if I can't ever get out? What if I can't leave! Because I'm part of the story now! Then he shook his head. That couldn't be right. Sora was here and he got out, but how?

"Oh my," said Owl. "What's become of Kanga's home?"

Aros saw the trail had lead to another one of the character's homes. This time, the house belonged to a female kangeroo, but she didn't appear to have a very tidy home as there were garments laying out on the lawn, broken windows and over-turned garden materials. In all, it was like a small hurricane came by. In the background, Aros saw a small kangeroo hopping from one pile of clothes to the other. They walked up to them.

"My dear Kanga," said Owl," Did the Great Honey Caper do this to your lovely home?"

"The Great Honey Caper?, " she asked. "Who is he?"

"Why the one who's been stealing our honey," said Pooh bear.

"Well, someone did steal my honey, but that's not the problem right now." She looked at Roo who was still bouncing. "It appears Tigger was in the area teaching Roo a new bounce which practically destroyed my house. Everything's a mess. Do you think you could be so kind as to help me straighten this mess out?"

Of course, why not...that's what I'm for isn't it, Aros thought bitterly. "Why not," he said and he, Rabbit, Owl, Pooh and Piglet too began to pick up garments, garden tools and any other items and stacked them neatly in a pile.

"Thank you, thank you so much," said Kanga.

Aros walked toward her carrying the last of the clothing. "Who did you say was responsible?"

"Well, Roo did do most of the bouncing, but it was under Tigger's influence that made the mess."

"Tigger, who's--"

But before Aros could get further with his question, he heard a strange bouncing and humming sound. He turned and saw what he believed to be a tiger bouncing toward them. Aros could only guess who this was as he bounced closer.

"Tigger?"

"Yep that's me!" Then he started to bounce around him and sing.

"The wonderful thing about Tiggers, is Tiggers are wonderful things

their tops are made out of rubber, their bottoms are made out of spring

they're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy

fun fun fun fun Fun

But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is Iiiiiii'mmmmm

He pounced on Aros and caused the clothes he was carrying to fly everywhere.

the only one!

He laughed as he sat upon Aros, who laid on the ground staring up at him. He had never seen a tiger up close before, let alone a tiger that could bounce.

"Tigger, stop goofing around," Rabbit scolded. "We've got a serious problem."

"I'm just greeting my friend here. Sora, it's been too long." Once Aros was sure the tiger wasn't going to eat him, he stood and dusted himself off. "Hmm," Tigger began. "What seems to be the trouble?"

"Well, before you made trouble here," Aros answered," the Great Honey Caper's made off with everyone's honey, now if you know who did it please tell us, so I can get going."

"Leaving so soon?," Tigger asked curiously. "Why, you just got here."

"No, you just got here. Now tell us."

Tigger stood on his hind legs and rubbed his chin in thought. "Hmm, come to think of it, my honey's gone too. I just found out and I was on my way over to find you guys and tell you about it, but it was such a perfect day for bouncing that I almost forgot."

Aros sighed. "So you don't know anything?"

"Well, I know a lot about bouncin', but as for this Honey Caper, I know nada."

Aros scratched his head out of anger and frustration. "I'm never gonna get out of this book," he said under his breath. Piglet took notice of his strange behavior and pulled Pooh's shirt sleeve.

"Are you alright Sora," Pooh asked. "You seem a bit angry."

Aros looked down at him. He was looked so innocent and clueless. "I'm just, very busy at the moment Pooh."

"Well we've all been very busy," said Owl, "Trying to find the Honey Caper."

"No no no," Aros raised his voice. "I'm very busy in the real world. You know, out there! I don't have time for this."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Pooh walked up to Aros and spoke quietly. "I'm very sorry you have little time to help us. I know you are very busy--we all get very busy at some point, but we would be most grateful if you could help us."

Aros shut his eyes for a minute. Why did he always find himself in these kinds of situations and why did they always conflict with his feelings? Why? He exhaled and looked around. There didn't seem to be any other way out. He looked down at Pooh.

"Well, I'm going to have to help. There's no other way out of this place."

"You've always managed to find a way out before," said Piglet.

Aros's hope that they would provide the answer for exiting the storybook fell. "Well, I'm sure I'll find it, once we've found that Honey Caper."

"Does that mean you're going to keep helping us?" Rabbit asked tentively.

Aros shrugged. "Why not." His simply replied which caused the others to cheer. Aros massaged his temples, I must be out of my mind. "Hopefully we are nearing the culprit," said Owl.

"Yeah," said Aros. "I'm not sure how much more of this I can take." He had never hated a storybook more than he did now. Tigger bounced up in front of the group. "Then let's get to trackin'." Now with Tigger in the lead, the group continued to follow the honey trail.

Back in the Restoration site, Sora and his friends continued their battle against the heartless. Sora found himself taking on at least six of them at once, while Riku was surrounded. They jumped at him one after the other, but Riku was able to crush all of them. Kairi was doing great with her own keyblade, but every once in a while, Donald or Goofy pitched in to help her. Aerith used her magic to not only injury the heartless attempting to attack her, but to heal the wounded fighters. Leon and Cid were working hard with their blades and so was Yuffie with her ninja stars. Tifa was the only one without a weapon, but she proved she didn't need it; her fists and feet were strong enough to deliver effective punches and kicks. Sora looked over at his companions and just managed to hold his keyblade up to defend himself against an attack from a sniper heartless. Sora pushed him away.

"Where did they all come from?"

"Beats me!" Leon shouted. "They just arrived when I was here."

"Is it Aros?"

Riku violently tore through two shadows and turned around to Leon for his answer.

"Can't be," Cid replied for him. "I'd of heard it from Merlin. I left him in charge of watching out for that twin of yours," he tapped his earpiece,"But he hasn't contacted me about it."

Sora was about to ask another question, but he got the wind knocked out of him by a morning star that knocked him into the wall. "Looks like we're gonna need more help."

"Did someone say help?"said Yuna

Sora looked up and saw the three flying sprites, Y.R.P floating over him. He remembered how they asked him for treasure on his second visit to Radiant Garden.

"We can use all the help we can get," said Sora.

"You got it," said Paine. Rikku laughed and the girls used their own powers to participate. The large, rounded heartless attempted to hit him again, but Sora was too fast for him; it didn't have a chance. Up above the ledge, Gemini continued to watch the battle down below. Deciding he had had enough, he snapped his fingers and all the heartless occuppying the site disappeared.

"What the--" Sora started, but stopped when he heard the slow, monotonous clapping. He looked up and his bright blue eyes met with Gemini's dark blues. "Very good," he replied lazily. "Well done. You have managed to bore me greatly with your tedious triumphs."

"You!" Sora shouted.

"I?"

"You're behind this."

"Can you be so sure?"

"Where is Aros!" Riku shouted.

Gemini was silent for a minute as he studied Riku. "I've been wondering the same thing. If you see him, tell him to me meet near the Castle Gates." He vanished from site.

Tigger bounced merily ahead of the companions he had joined up with as they continued the search for the Great Honey Caper. Aros could not help glancing up at the sky every now and then. He couldn't shake the idea that someone could be reading him at this very minute. He imagined seeing an eye or two eyes staring down at him. What was it like when a character's story was read? There shouldn't have been anything to compare it to, because stories weren't real. Well this one is, he thought miserably.

"Oh dear, look at that," said Piglet in a worried voice. Aros saw that the trail was leading across a very wide river. The trail ended at the bank and picked up on the other side. Their only way across would be using the large rocks in the water.

"What do we do?"

"It's obvious isn't it," said Tigger. "We'll bounce our way across."

"Bounce?" Aros questioned.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten about bouncin'. It's easy, Just follow me."

Tigger positioned himself in front of Aros and bounced onto the first rock. "Now, you try and before ya know it, we'll be on the other side." So they did. Aros was next. He did as Tigger said, but almost slipped in the landing. Pooh followed, then Piglet, Rabbit, Kanga and Roo. Owl flew overhead as they bounced from one rock to the other and before they knew it, they had reached the other bank.

"That was fun Tigger!" Roo cried. "Let's do that again."

Tigger cheered and was just about to bounce back across with Roo when Aros grabbed his tail. "Maybe after we finish looking for the honey trail or have you forgotten?"

"Say,..are you looking..for a..honey..trail?" Aros looked down at the strange whistling gopher in the ground.

"Yes we are," said Rabbit. "The Great Honey Caper stole all our honey."

"And it seems we have lost the trail," said Pooh. Aros looked down and saw that the trail that picked up on this side of the bank cut off right where the gopher had popped up from the ground. "That's..because..the trail..leads..down here. Why don't you come down..and we'll..follow it..together."

Gopher popped back down the hole. Aros walked over it and bent down to have a closer look. "I don't think it's big enough for all of us!" "Non..sense. Come on down!" Aros shrugged at the others and jumped down and was surprised to find that he could fit. He had landed in a large tunnel and there on his right was the honey trail. Once the others had made it down, gopher came up to them. "Just..follow me and we'll..catch that honey..stealing..caper." Aros no longer looked up for spying eyes. He felt hidden and safe underground.

Meanwhile, Sora along with all the brave fighters of the Restoration site, ran along the trail leading to the Castle Gates. "Does that mean Aros is here?" Goofy asked.

"He has to be," said Donald.

"He can't be," Cid grumbled. "Otherwise, Merlin would have contacted me."

"Well, right now, we need to find out what that guy is planning," Kairi insisted.

"She's right. This guy is serious," said Sora.

"But if Aros does show up," said Riku. "We may have to split up. The two of them can cause even more damage to Radiant Garden than one." They reached the familiar blue toned gates where Sora, Donald and Goofy once fought Demyx. But it wasn't Demyx standing in the center, it was Gemini. He stood, back facing them and did not turn until Sora shouted out. "Hey you!"

Sora and the others readied themselves for a fight. "Are you talking to...," he smiled, "me?"

In another part of the world, Aros contined to trail behind Gopher as he led them forward. It wasn't too dark since Gopher's helmet came with a light. "Not..too..far now. Keep moving." Aros found himself quickly tiring, but he knew it wasn't from the walk through the tunnel. He knew it was from the journey from the beginning of the story to where he was now. And after all of this, I still have to find Gemini. I've got to get out of here fast! "Are we almost there?" "Al..most," Gopher answered him. Aros sighed. Why did I have to touch this book? Why did I have to go inside that man's house? Why did I..

"We're here!"

Aros could see a stream of light coming down from a hole uptop and the honey tail had ended right under it. "It looks..like..the Honey..Caper could be..right..up there." Aros wasted no time in jumping up to the hole above. So far, he saw no one. There was nothing except the ongoing trail of honey. "You've got to be kidding me." He looked up at the sky. "Doesn't it ever end?" He pulled himself out of the hole and looked at the sickening yellow substance that continued from the hole to the distance. "Sora, would you be so...kind too--" Aros turned and saw Pooh struggling to climb out of the hole, so he turned and proceeded to help him and the others out.

"Oh bother," said Pooh. "It looks like the Great Honey Caper is very far away."

"Actually," said Aros as he took a great whiff of the air," It think he's very close. I can smell honey, tons of it. Come on!" He ran forward with the others right behind him.

The trail led deep into the woods and Aros noticed it was getting thicker; there even seemed to be large round footprints along the side. "We must be getting closer," said Owl.

"Just around that bend," said Aros. They walked around the corner and sure enough, there was loads of honey all piled up on a large cake that had as many layers as a wedding cake. Empty honey jars lay on the ground beside it next to an alarmed gray donkey.

"Why Eeyore," said Pooh surprised. "You're the Great Honey Caper?"

Aros unleashed his keyblade, ready to punish the one who was responsible for his misery.

"Honey Caper?" said the donkey in a slow monotone. "No. It's a surprise."

"A surprise?" asked Piglet. Aros backed down. He didn't think a character as depressive as Eeyore could be responsible for the stolen honey.

"Yep. A surprise honey cake, for Pooh."

"For me?"

Rabbit wasn't so easy about the situation. "But you stole it."

The donkey shook his head slowly. "No. Just borrowed it."

"Well, if you needed honey, all you needed to do was ask," said Rabbit.

Aros scratched his head. All this...for a surprise? For some reason, his anger evaporated at the silliness of it all. Tigger bounced forward. "Well, now that that's settled, let's dig in!" But Tigger stopped when Eeyore started shaking his head. "Why, what's wrong Eeyore?" He looked up at the very top where Aros could see a single candle. "The cake is only, one part of the surprise." Aros still had trouble believing that this donkey understood the meaning of surprises. He didn't seem at all the type of character that belonged in such a happy world. He was so different from the others. "Hmm, that does seem to be a problem," said Pooh. "How will we light it when the candle is all the way up there?" Aros looked at his Dark-Heart and pointed it at the candle. With the help of one of his cards, he muttered the spell and sure enough, the candle ignited. But it was a mistake, because as soon as the candle was lit, the flame traveled downward and as soon as it reached the bottom, it started to spark. "Uh-oh," Eeyore sated. Aros didn't like the sound of that and before he could ask him what he meant, the cake exploded. Honey flew everywhere and landed on everyone. Aros was covered in the honey he had been tracking all day. He wrinkled his nose in disghust. "Hmmm," Aros turned and saw Pooh licking his paws. "Thank you very much Eeyore. This is a very sweet surprise."

"Sweet?" Aros exclaimed. He wasn't pleased about this one bit. "How can..." But he stopped. Not too far from where he was standing, there was a glowing green circle in the ground. Piglet walked up to Aros. "I guess you have to go now." Aros nodded. "It looks like it." Now Aros actually wished he had found more pleasure in this world instead of stress. Now he would have to face Gemini and his father like this, covered in honey. He sighed. This world, this story, was so much friendly than his own world. "I'd better get going, bye." he approached the circle and stood on it. The others waved at him and said goodbye. He waved and in a matter of seconds, he disappeared.

Nothing had changed in Merlin's house. Everything was quiet and Merlin was still sleeping. He remained sleeping when the storybook on the desk began to shake and light up as it forced out its occupant in a blaze of light. Aros fell to the floor after his sudden landing. He shook his head then moved as fast as he could away from the book as though frightened it would pull him back in. He moved back so quickly that he crashed into the table behind him. "Ouch," he cried as he rubbed his head, but he stopped and stared at his hand. He looked along his arms and down at his clothes and saw that he was still covered in honey. Surely it wasn't possible. Pooh's world wasn't real. It was all just a story which meant that it was fiction which also meant that the honey in that world was fake. So why was he covered in it now? It wasn't as though he had thought about the logic, but he had hoped, especially now, that he wouldn't mess things up when he met with Gemini. But he did. He couldn't possibly face him covered head to toe in the sickening yellow matter.

He looked over at the bearded man and was pleased to see that he was still sound asleep. Aros got to his feet and tried to wipe away as much of the honey as he could, but it only made him even more sticky. He sighed and quitely made his way outside. Aros felt better now that he was back in the real world, but there was still the problem of his honey-covered attire. Guess I only have one other option. He got down on all fours like he did when he was about to run to Ansem's computer, but instead of running, he shook himself off like a dog. He did manage to get some of the honey off, but what was left made him look worse than he did before. His hair appeared to be spikier since the honey greased it and his clothes looked dull and ruined. He sighed. "I'll just have to face him like this and if he asks, I'll say it was an accident." Aros looked around. "I have to find him. There's only one place I haven't tried yet." He called forth Night-Flyer and took off.

Leon was thrown back into a pile of tired fighters that was made up of Yuffie, Aerith, Cid,Tifa, Kairi, Donald and Goofy after he tried to take on Gemini. Gemini stood before what was left of their group; only Sora and Riku stood before him, ready to take him on again, but Gemini knew they had no chance as long as he weilded two swords that shined in a blue silvery glow.

Riku ran forward and lifted his blade upward, but Gemini knocked it back with the sword in his left hand and knocked him to the ground with the sword in his other hand. Sora came in and brought down his keyblade as hard as he could, but Gemini stopped it with his right hand sword and struck him with his second sword. Sora fell back and felt the cut across his cheek. There was a little blood.

"You believe you have a chance of defeating me?"

He raised both of his swords.

"There's always a chance!" Sora cried out and he swung, but Gemini caught it and held him at bay.

"I suggest you get that foolish idea out of your head. You are doomed to fail."

Sora gritted his teeth and pushed his sword away just as Riku joined his side. Sora glanced at him and could see that he was barely standing. "I've got this Riku. You just rest."

Riku laughed. "You guys aren't getting rid of me that easily." He took a great breath and prepared himself like Sora. The others started to pull themselves onto their feet as well. Gemini could see that they weren't going to back down, so he readied himself for all of them. "Very well." Leon readied himself with his gunblade. "Get ready you guys!" he called to the others. But before either side could make a move, a noise distracted them. Gemini groaned and sheated his swords while the others watched the object responsible for the strange sound. Gemini didn't have to turn around to know that Aros had just landed his Night-Flyer a few feet behind him. Aros stumbled as he jumped off his rider. He tried to wipe off the last bit of honey before he approached Gemini. As he started to walk forward, he noticed Sora and his band of furious fighters. He narrowed his eyes a bit, then looked to Gemini. He felt even more foolish with an audience that gave him funny looks. It was bad enough he had to meet Gemini in his sticky clothing.

"You are late," said Gemini without even looking at him.

"No, I was here. I looked for you, but you didn't tell me where you were."

Now Gemini turned and Aros stopped in his steps. Gemini raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down. "What...is...that filth you are wearing?" Just as Aros predicted, Gemini was repusled by his appearance. Aros shifted nervously and looked at his clothes. "I'm not..really wearing it. It's honey, you see there was this accident and I--"
"Enough. I have no use for your sorry excuses."

Gemini continued to give him a cold stare. Aros felt even worse about himself. "Those excuses will be left to your father. While you were occupying yourself in honey, I was waiting for your arrival. You have wasted my time."

Gemini turned to his enemies. "You don't know anything about it! I was here. I was--"

"ENOUGH!"

Aros jumped at his sudden yell. "We shall continue this in a more private area." He kept his back to Aros as he spoke. His eyes were lingering on Sora who was looking at Aros curiously. "If you'll excuse me."

"Huh?" Sora looked at Gemini who was walking over to Aros. His eyes swept over Aros who was trying to make himself look better. It was useless as Gemini was already disghusted by him. Aros had nothing to say. This time when Gemini disappeared with Aros, he didn't touch him. He could barely stand to look at him. "Hey!" Sora called out to him, but they were already gone.

They reappeared in an alleyway near the marketplace. Gemini stood with his arms folded and gazed at Aros as though waiting for a proper explaination. Aros wiped some of the honey from his face. "Well?," he asked. Gemini said nothing. "Well? What did you want to see me for?"

Again, Gemini remained silent. "The matter I wished to see you for is now pointless as you have proven it unimportant."

"But I told you, I was--"

Gemini raised his hand to silence him then walked forward and slapped him viciously across the face. Aros stumbled back and touched his cheek which felt like it was on fire. "Pathetic. You have managed to fail Aries yet again. You did not kill the girl like he asked." Aros struggled to keep himself strong in front of Gemini, even though he wasn't looking at him. "You deserve nothing more, than pity."

Aros struggled to breathe properly. He was breathing fast now, because he was tired--tired of the abuse. He kept taking it from the Zodiac until he decided not to take it anymore; Scorpio had been his first victim and he thought Gemini might be his next. He didn't understand, none of them did. He would show them. He unleashed Dark-Heart and without thinking, he ran toward Gemini, but before he could properly bring down his weapon, Gemini grabbed it and hit him with a powerful punch under his chin. His head snapped back violently, but before he could even recover, Gemini struck him again, this time with a hard blow to the stomach that knocked Aros into the wall. Gemini smirked. "You understand nothing. Perphaps that is why you are doomed to fail." He vanished, and left Aros curled up on the ground in pain. He slowed his breathing in an attempt to calm himself and stared at the spot where Gemini disappeared. He didn't need to hear from him that he had failed in his mission. He would hear it from father when he got home. He sat up and shook with fear. How many more chances was his father going to give him before he got rid of him for good? He banged his fists into the ground. "He's right. I am pathetic. I couldn't even kill a little girl." Suddenly his thoughts shifted to Twilight Town where he saw Virgo for the last time. There was something more she wanted to say to him.

"I should have told you about...feelings. You can feel them can't you? There's something you possess...in here," she said and touched his chest. Aros looked at her curiously.

"Is it the reason why..I.."

"It's very powerful. I didn't think much of it before, but now...it's much too late to explain it now."

"No, tell me!"

She had refused to tell him something important, which made him believe something was wrong. Something I possess, in here? He touched his chest. Whatever she was referring to, Aros knew it must have been the reason for his failure, but it scared him. He looked up at the sky and thought about his father and once again, he didn't have an excuse. He didn't understand why he kept failing. Why he kept doing the things he did. "What's wrong with me?"

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Yes, a Winnie the Pooh world and each little task was like all the different stories or pages of the book that Sora had visited. Gemini never really explained why he asked Aros to come here, but he did it mainly to get Aros's story on why he didn't kill Kairi and to punish him for it and for Aries. Well he did do the punishing part.

It took me a long time to right Pooh's world and it almost got a bit tiring, but I'm happy that it's completed. I hope my fans are still reading. I believe I'll have updates a lot quicker now, so read and review. Pleassssseee!