Here's another chapter, can't say this one was too fun to write but eh. There's actually not too much of this story left before we move onto the next one. I'll give you guys more information on that when we get to it. Let's just say though that the muse is being a little funky in what it wants me to write.

Shout outs: Vanessa Rowes, Twilight PhoenixFyre, and TwilightSky 15

Disclaimer: Don't own but I do have a nice growing wall scroll collection.

Chapter 6: Sort of Knightly Bodyguards

I was waiting for Sora to send a ping back through the shadows so I could join him wherever it was he ended up when I twitched violently. The muted sensation of …not-Axel-but-is-confusion was on the move. I couldn't tell where he was going or what was going on, sure I could attempt to connect more with that shadow but that way lay madness and massive amounts of privacy violations. I shook my head to clear up the fuzziness that I was starting to associate with Axel's shadow with a growing sense of dread, there was definitely something wrong on the other end. And it was scaring the hell out of me. I grunted, shoving it all back as Sora pinged me with his location and slid into the shadows and stepped out to see Sora saving a musketeer named Mickey. "Are you alright?" asked Sora of the friend that was not yet a friend, the boy shooting me a grin in welcome as I stooped down to help Mickey up to his feet. Sora wasn't an idiot after all; he remembered that Mickey wouldn't remember him here in the sleeping worlds. Not completely anyways. Still, he scanned the area trying to get a feel for the place they had landed.

"Thank you." Said Mickey once he got his feet back under him, sweeping a charming bow my way to which I offered up a wry smile.

"You're welcome." I turned over to Sora asking, "So where'd we end up this time?" Sora shrugged at me and Mickey stepped forward asking,

"Where'd you get that key?" Sora held up the weapon.

"This? It's a Keyb-"

"Shh!" One of my eyebrows swept up as Mickey cut Sora off stepping forward to talk quietly as if they would be overheard in the giant empty courtyard, "I know, you two are from another world, right?" Sora glanced over at me perplexed by the subterfuge that seemed to be going on and I just pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Yeah." Mickey nodded at Sora's answer and introduced himself,

"Thought so. My name's Mickey. I'm working on a problem. That's why I'm in this world bein' a Musketeer." I let out a sigh, chocked it up to Mickey being undercover again, though he was incredibly unsubtle about it, and shrugged.

"What sort of problem?" He never got a chance to answer my question as enemies popped out of the ground. Bunnies, frogs, giant chickens…these were not the most terrifying enemies I had ever faced before. They also didn't last long between Sora and myself even with more popping up every once in a while.

"Thanks. I sure owe ya one." said Mickey once the last enemy was defeated. "Some Musketeer I turned out to be." All three of us turned to watch, my expression dead panning, as Goofy ran by yelling,

"Where's the bad guys?" Sora grinned at the sight of an old friend calling out,

"Goofy!" Mickey just rolled his eyes in amusement.

"Everything's under control now Goof!" Goofy finally stopped running around and asked,

"Really? You mean we clobbered 'em?" I huffed a laugh and drawled,

"Sure. We'll go with that."

"Are they…gone?" asked Donald, looking around as he rejoined the group. Sora grinned, placing his hands behind his head. He was happy to see his old friends, even if they didn't know him yet. They were a comfort in their own odd way. People he knew he could trust through anything.

"Yup." The anthropomorphic duck peered up at the two of us, eyes narrowed in scrutiny before seeming to deem us trustworthy.

"Hi, I'm Donald."

"And I'm Goofy."

"I'm Sora and this is Ghost." I nodded to the two of them a silent hello as Mickey took stock of his two companions and searched us for injuries quickly before announcing,

"And now we've got to go protect the princess! Donald, Goofy, follow me!" Sora blinked at the three, frowning faintly as they started to walk away and leave the two of us behind.

"Hey, wait! You're not gonna let us come along?"

"But you're not Musketeers." explained Mickey as he turned around to face us. "And this mission is fraught with danger."

"Sounds like a normal day at the office for us." I rolled my eyes as Sora smirked in sheepish amusement at my words even as he protested,

"All the more reason we should help! When the going gets tough, the tough call their friends."

"Or get going, depending on who's saying the saying." Sora snickered at my comment, laced with sarcasm as it was. Mickey glanced at the ground as he pondered the argument before agreeing,

"Well alright! Thank you!"

"Great! Should we do the thing?" asked Goofy and I twitched, trying not to laugh as my brain took a dive into the gutter and I yanked it back out before it could get any more disturbing. Sora was just confused before Goofy explained what he was talking about. That he turned immediate puppy eyes on me was a testament on how even he thought it was silly but was willing to go along with it. Those puppy eyes should be illegal, weapons of mass destruction they are. I was almost tempted to ask him to try on one of the enemies we faced to see if they would work but there was a bit too much of a chance of the boy getting clawed in the face for it to work. Or we would be followed by enemies normally trying to kill us because of Sora like an acid trip parade. Either outcome was bad. So when everyone tapped their blades together, there was a noticeable amount of amused reluctance on my part but Sora was happy that I was still willing to join in.

"All for one…"

"And one for all!"

If anyone didn't think the Dream Eaters were going after Minnie their notion was corrected by the T-Rex running down the street and body checking the carriage that was carrying her on her normal survey of the lands. I caught Minnie before she could bounce off the wall having been stationed inside the thing just in case something happened to the others. The trip before the attack had been mostly in silence. Minnie was nice don't get me wrong but this was a bodyguard detail and once we had established the fact that I was an ally of the Musketeers I tried as hard as I could to become one with the furniture. I pushed her back into her seat and stuck my head out the window to see what was going on and barely kept myself from cursing. It was Jurassic Park on Acid. I jerked back into the carriage muttering, "And it can breathe fire. Lovely."

"Are the other Musketeers alright?" asked Minnie. I glanced over her way before turning my attention on throwing a water spell on the wheel that had caught on fire.

"Define, alright." She pursed her lips worriedly and yelped as I once again had to catch her from falling over from a particularly hard knock. My head jolted up sharply at the sound of three thumps landing on the top of the carriage and I barely caught the horrified look on Sora's face as he fell off as we left him behind. I 'tch'ed and pushed Minnie towards the floor.

"What are we going to do?!" I caught myself on the wall of the carriage as it violently rounded a bend saying,

"Well, we have options. Play the damsels in distress and wait for the boys to come rescue us or we can get ourselves out of this." Minnie frowned and nodded resolutely.

"Then I trust you to get us out of this situation safely." I grinned sharply at the small princess before turning a sharp eyed glare to the roof.

"Well I'd stay down for a moment it's about to get cold." I slapped a hand to the ceiling and flash froze it and everything on top of it in a burst of power. I reached down and pulled Minnie up to her feet, ignoring the bits of ice floating in the air and the frost that covered most of the interior of the carriage. "Let's get moving."

"Right." I got out first keeping an eye out for enemies before helping the princess out of the carriage. "I suspect I know where they were planning to take us." I glanced up briefly at the frozen Beagle Boys even as I asked,

"Oh?" Minnie nodded, a frown pulling her lips downward.

"Yes. I think I might also need to speak to Captain Pete about his actions." I huffed a laugh and slanted an amused smile down at her.

"Was it the evil mustache that tipped you off?" She covered her mouth as she giggled.

"Something like that." I nodded, checking our position.

"Well I hope you don't mind walking. It's closer to go on and this carriage is no good." Minnie eyed the wheels that were frozen to the ground and smiled in amusement.

"Yes you might have put a bit too much power into that spell." I shrugged unrepentantly and the two of us got to walking. "Normally I would say that we should wait for the others as I worry about them but I also worry about what the Captain is trying to do to my country." We actually didn't have too many problems with enemies attacking us surprisingly. Between Minnie's light spells and my fighting capabilities we made good time for being on foot. We made it back to the palace just before nightfall and Minnie huffed in annoyance.

"He's not here." Minnie propped her hands up on her hips.

"Then he's most likely at the Opera house." One of my eyebrows swept upwards,

"Opera? Pete? Really?" I paused for a moment mulling that thought as Minnie wrote a note for the boys when they got back. "I can't see it." Minnie laughed quietly and led the way.

The Opera House was large, elaborate, and well light. In other words it was a typical old fashioned Opera House with statuary in front. I blocked Minnie's way from heading inside, eyes tracking movement at the front of the building. "We'll go in from the back." Minnie nodded and followed as I took the lead. The back alley was dingy and plain but it was what I was expecting as I pushed through the backstage door slowly. Minnie peeked around my legs looking around the dim backstage as we stepped through and let the door swing shut behind us. I almost had to laugh at Minnie's over exaggerated attempt at stealth while she was wearing a bright pink ball gown as I strode near silently behind her keeping an eye out for anyone that might attack us. The backstage was primed for an opera of some sort as well as a trap for the others. I pulled Minnie back behind me and further into the shadows as I heard people moving around. "So what do you think Pete's plan actually is?" I blinked and a grin spread across my face at the familiar voice.

"Well kidnapping Minnie is involved I can tell you that." I said as I stepped out of the shadows letting Minnie out from behind me. Twilight and Riku gaped at me and then the blonde lunged my way with a squeal. "Gah!"

"Ghost!" I laughed and wrapped her up in a hug as Riku smiled quietly at me.

"Is Sora here?" I shrugged slightly and released Twilight.

"He's somewhere, we got separated." The silver haired teen nodded in understanding with a resigned air about him.

"He does seem to get into trouble all the time." I barked out a laugh and shook my head.

"Obviously."

"Pardon me." I blinked down at Minnie and then gave myself a mental smack.

"Princess this is Riku and Twilight." Minnie curtsied prettily to the two of them.

"Pleasure to meet you." They both smiled at her before everyone turned serious again as I said,

"The stage has been rigged as a trap for the others and if they aren't here already, they'll be here soon."

"If we could find some way to control the device from here…" sighed Minnie and Twilight pointed behind the two of us.

"What about that?" We all turned and grinned at the abandoned control.

"We still need to know what Pete is planning." Stated Riku and Twilight and I shared a look before we shrugged simultaneously.

"Well more than likely he wants to rule the country." Explained Twilight and I turned to her saying,

"Probably by being declared King, 'cause he isn't really the smartest guy around and wouldn't be able to take over via coup."

"That would mean that Minnie would have to either make him King somehow, most likely by marrying him- "

"Ew."

"…or some really weird declaration that he is now King though I'm pretty sure monarchies don't work that way."

"They don't."

"Um, excuse me." Interrupted Minnie. We both turned to her and Riku, who looked fairly bemused at our conversation. "I could find out for you." I pressed my lips in a thin line, understanding what she was saying.

"Risky."

"But it would tell us what we need to know."

"So there's a double involved." I muttered from where I was hidden with Twilight, Riku had gone to clear under the stage. "Does he really think that would work?" Twilight shrugged.

"I guess." She pressed her shoulder firmly to my own; both of us glad to be with each other again even if it was for only a short time. "And she's in a trunk." Drawled Twilight and I rolled my eyes. "Can you pick the lock?" asked Twilight as we headed towards the now abandoned trunk and I rolled my eyes again.

"Despite what you think of me I have actually never learned how to pick locks." I paused thoughtfully as I eyed the trunk, "I should look into that actually." Twilight snickered and pressed a hand against the lock so she could blast it open with a small explosion.

"You alright Minnie?" asked Twilight helping the frazzled mouse out of the trunk once she had it open.

"Yes, thank you. We need to hurry and make sure Pete doesn't get his way." The two of us nodded and followed the princess over to the machine to make sure that Pete hadn't tampered with it.

"Riku's fighting a giant mole." I stated monotonously before Twilight and I shared a look, shrugging.

"Not the weirdest thing we've ever fought." Admitted the blonde.

"Not in the least." I blinked, tilting my head as I felt the shadow I had on Sora ping. "Ah, Sora's in the building." Twilight nodded.

"Do you think I'll be able to see him?" All I could do was shrug.

"Maybe? That all depends on the keyhole right and when it decides to show up." We didn't even twitch as Riku joined us to speak with Minnie. Twilight sighed and smiled slightly, hooking an arm around mine.

"Looks like that time will be now." said the blonde as she peered up at the keyhole with a small smile. I squeezed her arm lightly in reassurance.

"Eh, we'll see each other soon. These boys are like magnets for trouble. Eventually they'll intercept one another again." Twilight laughed nodding.

"This is true. So, I'll see you later." She let me go and followed after Riku, waving a goodbye to both me and Minnie before following the silver haired boy with a flash of light. I turned back to Minnie and followed her out onto stage to reassure our boys that we were alright.

Sora and I, after a cheerfully relieved reunion, allowed ourselves to be dragged back to the palace so one: we could get some rest in actual beds and two: so Minnie could induct us officially into the Royal Musketeers. I was still reluctantly amused for the whole thing but Sora didn't need to unleash his puppy dog eyes on me again. Seriously, the boy only had to bat his big blue eyes at people and most would fold like wet paper. I had seen it happen.

"All for one and one for all!"