La Ratatouille
“Is he here yet?” asked Linguini, frantically running around the kitchen. It was weird, but his actions seemed kind of…jerky. Like he was being suddenly pulled from place to place like a puppet.
“He’s not,” said Colette, peaking out the door again. “Just like when you asked fifteen seconds ago. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Well, the fate of our restaurant rests on whether or not Anton Ego gives his seal of approval, and we have to do this without him finding out our little…secret,” said Linguini. “So yeah, I’m just peachy.”
“What’s the secret?” asked Sora.
“Kinda defeating the purpose of a secret if they tell you,” said Axel.
“Linguini, you should tell them,” said Colette. “I mean, Sora went to a lot of trouble to get you the ingredients, it’s the least you could do.”
“Well…okay,” said Linguini. “You see, I…” Before he could finish, the group heard the front doors slam open, and a pair of heavy footsteps began walking to a table. “Is…is that him?”
Colette poked her head out through the door. “It’s him,” she confirmed. “Are you ready?”
“I don’t know,” said Linguini, just as he seemed to be tugged sharply towards the stove. “No, wait, apparently I have to taste test the…” Linguini shot upright all of a sudden, and arranging the food on the plate. “No I don’t, I have to…” Linguini continued to move around in strange ways, until he had everything prepared.
“Okay…that was weird,” said Axel, picking up a tray with a glass and a bottle of wine.
“I still don’t understand why I can’t bring him his wine,” said Sora.
“Because you’re fourteen years old,” said Colette, picking up the tray with the critic’s food. “Don’t worry Linguini, you’ll be fine.” She pecked him on the cheek before following Axel onto the restaurant floor. “Monsieur Anton Ego, may I present to you, your dinner,” said Colette, removing the cover from the tray to reveal his meal: ratatouille.
Anton Ego eyed the meal suspiciously, then slowly looked up at Colette. “Ratatouille,” he said, somehow sounding condescending with just one word. “A simple peasant dish. You believe this will be enough to appease me?”
“Well hey, if you don’t like it, you can just…” started Axel, before getting an elbow in the ribs from Colette.
Ego kept his very uninterested gaze, and slowly picked up his fork. He cut a small piece away from the food, and slowly placed it in his mouth. All of a sudden, his face lit up, and a smile began to spread across his face. “This…is perfection,” he said, sliding down in his chair a little. He proceeded to finish the dish, and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “May I have a word with the chef?”
“Certainly,” said Colette, going back to the kitchen. As she entered the kitchen, Linguini stood up straight, trying to pretend he hadn’t been sitting and listening at the door. “Linguini, Monsieur Ego would like a word with the chef.”
“But I’m not sure the chef will have a word with him,” said Linguini.
“Why? What’s wrong Linguini?” asked Sora.
“Come with me Sora. There’s something you need to see,” said Linguini, leading the way out into the restaurant.
Anton Ego looked up with interest when he saw Linguini approaching. “Oh, so you’re the genius chef behind this dish?” he asked.
“Not exactly,” said Linguini, reaching up to his hat. “You see, the real chef…” Linguini removed his hat, revealing a grey rat holding a couple of handfuls (pawfuls?) of hair “…is him.”
Sora, Axel, and Anton Ego stared at him in shock. “A…rat?” said Ego. “A rat cooked this meal?”
“Yes sir,” said Linguini. “I swear, it’s not as crazy as it sounds. You see, he knows cooking really well, and I’m really clumsy, but he can control me…” As if to demonstrate, the rat pulled on one of the clumps of hair he was holding, and Linguini’s hand rose in response. “…so I’ve been letting him cook for people, and if you don’t like it you can…”
“Enough, Mister Linguini,” said Ego. “I’ve made my decision about this restaurant. You can expect to hear about it in tomorrow’s paper.” Ego stood up, and left the restaurant without another word.
“Wait, so…is this good, or…?” started Linguini.
“There’s nothing else we can do,” said Colette. “We just have to hope he approves of…this.”
“You’ll be fine Linguini,” said Sora. “I mean, he liked the food right? Surely it shouldn’t matter who cooked it.”
“Unless the one who cooked it was a filthy rodent,” said Linguini. In response, the rat pulled on Linguini’s hair, causing him to slap himself. “Sorry Remy.”
“Guess there’s nothing left to do…” started Axel, just as a loud explosion sounded from the direction of the castle. “Except find out what that was.” Axel and Sora ran out of the restaurant and back down the road to the castle as a second explosion rang out…
“Hi there,” said Marluxia. “How would you like to be the last child in our quest to regain our Hearts?”
“Not gonna happen,” said Kairi, keyblade in hand.
“That wasn’t a question, it was a demand,” said Saïx, swinging his claymore at her. Kairi blocked it, before quickly ducking under Marluxia’s scythe.
“Good thing I don’t take orders from you,” said Kairi, sweeping Saïx’s legs out from under him.
“KAIRI!” cried Elsa, coming into the room, followed by most of the other occupants of the castle. “Wha…what’s going on?”
“Your majesty, get everyone out of here,” said Kairi, hitting Marluxia in the chest with her keyblade.
“She is safe,” said Saïx. “We have no intention of harming her. We’re only here for you.” Saïx waved his hand, and out of the ground appeared a large horde of Heartless.
“Don’t worry Kairi, I know someone who can help,” said Penny, a ball of light appearing in her hand. “BOLT! We need you boy.” The ball of light landed on the floor in the middle of the Heartless, revealing a small white dog. The Heartless quickly fell on him.
“BOLT!” cried Kairi. “Are you okay? Speak to me.” From under the pile of Heartless, a loud bark rang out, and half the Heartless were blown out of existence. Kairi stood there shocked for a moment. “Do that again,” she said. Bolt just stood there. “Bolt? Erm…speak?” Bolt turned to face some more Heartless and barked again, knocking out more of the Heartless. Kairi smiled, and turned her attention back to the two Organization members.
“Look ,we don’t want to hurt anyone,” said Marluxia. “Though a bit of leverage couldn’t hurt.” Marluxia grabbed the queen and held his scythe to her neck. “Now child, will you come quietly?”
“Don’t you dare Kairi,” snapped Elsa, before Marluxia covered her mouth.
“Don’t you dare hurt her,” said Kairi, preparing to attack Marluxia.
“Ah ah ah,” said Marluxia, wagging his finger. “Take a step forward, your queen loses her head. Agree to come with us first, and I’ll gladly let her go unharmed.”
Kairi gritted her teeth, then put her keyblade away. “Okay, fine,” she said. “Just let her go.”
“Very good,” said Saïx. “But first, I need to make sure you’ll co-operate. SLEEPGA!” There was a flash of white light, and when it faded Kairi was out cold on the floor. “Come Marluxia, we have what we came for.” Marluxia smiled and pushed Elsa away.
“Kai-Kairi,” wheezed the ice queen, trying to get up.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!” yelled Sora, running into the room and swinging at Marluxia. Marluxia knocked him aside easily with the shaft of his scythe. Sora glared at him, but then saw Saïx opening a dark portal and picking up Kairi. A white light appeared around Sora, which began to funnel its way into his keyblade. Sora pointed it at Saïx, and a flash of light fired at him, knocking the Nobody down.
“Wha…Holy magic?” said Saïx, just as a shadow fell over him. Saïx looked up to see Axel standing over him.
“Hey Saïx,” said Axel, grinning wickedly. “You know how you said you’d kill me yourself if I turned against the Organization? Well, I don’t take too kindly to threats, so…” Axel clicked his fingers, and a column of flames sprung up around the blue haired Organization member. “It’s too bad really, we could have stayed friends.”
“You think killing Saïx will be enough to stop us?” asked Marluxia, picking up Kairi’s unconscious body. “We now have the seventh child. We win.” Marluxia walked through the dark portal and closed it, just before Sora could strike him down.
“That’s…not good,” said Axel.
“Not good? It’s a complete disaster,” said Elsa, getting up.
“Not only that,” said Axel. “I was hoping we wouldn’t have to go to The Castle That Never Was. That’s where Xemnas is at his strongest.”
“Are you saying…” started Sora.
“Yes,” said Axel. “We have to take the fight to them. And probably die in the process.”
“Great speech Axel,” muttered Elsa.
“We got her,” said Marluxia, entering Xemnas’s chamber. “Unfortunately, Saïx didn’t make it, but still…”
“It’s okay,” said Xemnas. “He went in knowing full well he might not come back.”
“Sir, you seem awfully calm about the fact we’ve lost everyone except us,” said Marluxia.
“We have,” said Xemnas. “But have you ever wondered what happens once a Nobody dies? They don’t completely cease to be like you’d expect. The Nothing where their Heart is becomes something for me to control. And do you know what I do with it?”
“You add it to your own power?” asked Marluxia.
“I used to,” said Xemnas. “But lately I’ve been funnelling it into something else.” Xemnas drew back a curtain, revealing the unconscious Riku. “The boy is full of Darkness, and I’ve been feeding him my own power. Now, he is almost as powerful as me.”
“But he’s still out cold,” said Marluxia. “He won’t be much use for when they come to stop us.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” said Xemnas, snapping his fingers. Riku woke, sitting up straight in his bed. “Do you want a demonstration of his power, Marluxia?”
“I am curious about it,” admitted Marluxia.
“Okay then,” said Xemnas, turning to face Riku. “Riku, attack.”
“Attack? But I’m the only one…” started Marluxia, before realising what was happening. Riku threw himself at Marluxia, drawing his keyblade as he did, and began viciously attacking the final Organization member. Xemnas smiled as he watched, and as Marluxia faded away, redirected the fading power into Riku.