The Mouse Who Would Be King

By Lynx (of Organization VI)

Rating: K

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or its characters; they belong to Disney and Squeenix, respectively. Please don't sue.

Summary: The story of how Mickey Mouse became king of Disney Castle is not the fairy tale it may first seem.

Notes: Sorry, but we're taking a break from 'Lost Worlds' for awhile! My inspiration's been hard to come by, and the next world is my duty, too. XP However, there is this fun new experiment instead. Disney-centric fic is near-nonexistent in this fandom, sadly. This is my attempt to rectify that.

A few mild KH2 spoilers.

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A long time ago...or perhaps it wasn't that long ago. Really, things like days and nights are pretty inconsequential in these matters.

Either way, it was a time ago, back when the worlds were still pretty new and getting used to the idea of existing separated from each other in space. Back then when things were new, people really didn't know about each other, because everyone thought their world was the only one out there.

Well, most everyone did.

Now, one of these new worlds out in nowhere was a bit particular. It was quite small, and a little scratchy around the edges, but none the worse for it. In fact, this world had a lot of light in it, although it wasn't always obvious. Its denizens enjoyed long and happy lives in friendly busyness.

Punctuated, of course, by the occasional bout of senseless and wanton chaos. But no place is perfect.

Perhaps it was because these 'bouts' of chaos began to occur more frequently –often as much as twice a week- that its denizens decided to build a castle. After all, if there was a real ruler for the world, they would do something about all this chaos disrupting their pleasant lives.

Or rather, they just wanted someone in some authority to put a certain troublemaker in his place.

At the moment, this certain troublemaker was, as usual, gazing up at the bright gray sky (for there was no blue) and doing something only slightly less approved of. That would be imagining other people on other worlds beyond the stars.

It wasn't that imaging other people was a bad thing. It just so often led to trouble. And why would anyone bother? It wasn't like there was anything special up there, anyway. And there were better ways to spend one's time.

Such as having a job, which this individual had conveniently forgotten to go to. He was a mouse of few words and many thoughts, perhaps a little absent-minded, perhaps even a bit cocky. But at least he knew how to laugh at serious things, and how serious funny things could be.

Maybe it was because his job had become so mundane, but he had taken more and more to thinking about what might lay beyond their small and slightly scratchy world. What sort of people would live on those different worlds? There must be hundreds of different possibilities! And all of them so different! Unfortunately, there was no way for him to travel up there and find out. Why, the fastest way to get around this place was just the little—

"MIIIIIICKEEEEEY!"

Mickey Mouse scrambled to his feet after tripping once over his own shoes. He stumbled through the long grass to the edge of the river, where a very familiar steamboat chugged to a crawl. The steamboat's captain marched on deck with his hands in fists and his face in a scowl.

"Mickey! You were supposed to be on this deck two hours ago, ya lazy sod!"

"Aw, shucks," he grumbled, more upset with getting caught then actually being late.

Pete tapped his boot against the deck with annoyance. "Don't you 'aw-shucks' me! How'm I supposed to run this here boat if you keep gallavantin' off ter who-knows-where?"

It was in Mickey's humble opinion that Pete could run his steamboat just fine without him. After all, whenever he was "helping," Pete was busy lounging on a deck with a comfy folding chair and a lemonade. But considering he was in enough trouble at the moment, he just hopped on board. "Whelp, I'm here now, aren't I?"

Pete leered down at him, his furry face looking like it was squished into a permanent frown. "Maybe so. But it still smells like you're up to no good to me!"

"Only 'cause your nose is too big!" Mickey taunted, then ran off towards the opposite end of the boat. He had a few seconds' head start before Pete caught on to the insult. And that would be in three...two...

"Why you LITTLE—"

And the chase began again, around the teeny excuse for a deck and through the teenier captain's cabin. Mickey almost ran through a pair of gray sparrows poking around the deck, who twittered at the noise and took to the sky—

That was it! That was what he needed!

"Gotcha, ya little runt!"

The chase came to a screeching halt as Pete stomped down on his thin tail. Mickey yelped in surprise, but hardly cared with Captain Pete gave him a smack upside the head for his trouble.

After all, now he had an idea.

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I hope at least a few are interested! Timeless River is my all-time favorite world, and needs more love. Have a little bit of chapter two written so far, but I don't know when I'll update next...