Heather Mouse-Cricket

> “*this is a whole new pet*”
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> ―tumblr user esquest
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**Heather Mouse-Cricket** is the daughter of Timothy Q. Mouse and Jiminy Cricket.

## Backstory

Long ago, there existed one singular world full of the Light of Kingdom Hearts. People from all walks of life could interact freely without much problem. However, soon people started to desire the power of Kingdom Hearts, introducing darkness to the world. This led to the Keyblade War, the creation of Keyblades, the χ-blade splitting up into twenty different pieces (seven of light and thirteen of darkness), the "true" Kingdom Hearts disappearing, and the world being plunged into darkness (and eventually being restored by the light in the hearts of children).

Enter Jiminy Cricket and Timothy Q. Mouse, two of the world's inhabitants who crossed paths completely by chance. Both had been traveling around from place to place, Jiminy wandering from hearth to hearth and Timothy trying to join the circus. After meeting each other, however, the two formed a fast friendship and started going places together.

This went on for a while, their relationship growing stronger... and... deeper than either wanted to admit. Neither could really say it, but it was almost like they were each other's light. The two seemed to balance each other well, and for a while, things were going great. ... among the ever-looming threat of the darkness, that is.

And then, the opportunity of a lifetime for one of them came: A circus train was stopped in a nearby station and would leave the next morning. Timothy almost couldn't believe it. Jiminy, a bit reluctant, told his companion that if this was the life for him, he should pursue it. Timothy briefly tried to convince the cricket to join him, but when that didn't work, the two reached an agreement to write letters to each other instead.

And they did.

And then the light in the hearts of children drove away the darkness, which also meant that barriers were being put up between the worlds to prevent something like that from ever happening again.

Later on in their lives, Jiminy and Timothy became involved with the lives of Pinocchio and Dumbo, respectively, staying in their respective worlds but still writing letters to each other. Divine intervention was possibly the main reason why the letters were going through between barriers to their respective worlds.

One day, Jiminy, by now an officially certified conscience, received a rather large envelope. Inside it were newspaper clippings, a poster, and a number of pictures, most of them containing an elephant with rather large ears. However, one picture in particular caught his eye, this one showing a very handsome-looking mouse in dapper red attire, holding a pen and signing something. The face instantly brought up so many memories for Jiminy. The cricket almost didn't notice the accompanying letter until seeing it out of the corner of his eye. In it, Timothy was singing all sorts of praises to Dumbo, this new flying(!) elephant who was now apparently famous. Briefly towards the letter's end was an invitation to come see the circus in action, sort of a VIP pass for the friend of the star attraction's best friend and manager. Jiminy had no idea where it was or who this Dumbo was (even with the help of the pictures), but he wanted to come.

That evening, as Jiminy was about to sit down and write a reply, the Blue Fairy paid a surprise visit to him. She asked how Pinocchio was, first and foremost. When the picture of the mouse (as well as the rest of the envelope’s contents) caught her eye, she questioned the cricket on his identity. After stuttering out a response, Jiminy explained that the writer of the letter (and the mouse in the picture) was an old friend of his, and he had been invited to see the show.

The Blue Fairy paused, realizing that the mouse was not from this world. She stayed silent, listening as Jiminy further explained that he had no idea who the elephant was or where Timothy was, but he'd like to journey to be with him for old time's sake. Carefully, the fairy informed him that there was a way for them to meet. However, should it be allowed, it would have to be brief for reasons that, as she explained “will be revealed in time”. Jiminy, cautious, agreed to it, and then the two parted ways.

Some nights later, the Blue Fairy was back with news: Jiminy’s request to visit his friend had been approved. But, as she explained, there were certain limitations. They could not visit for too long, they weren’t allowed to have any more visits after this one, and they might never see each other again. “There are limitations that even I have, Sir Jiminy,” she stated to the cricket. “Were it different, you and your friend would be able to meet freely, but this is just the way things are. Being separated is for the greater good.”

Meanwhile, Timothy had been busy scheduling performances, going to meetings, and generally making sure that Dumbo and his mother were well. In his spare time with Dumbo (after sending off the envelope), Timothy often told the little elephant about his old friend Jiminy and what he was like and that Dumbo might like him. And the possibility that he might show up, but that was already established.

The mouse was surprised that Jiminy just showed up, completely out of the blue (since he hadn't gotten a reply from him). More surprising, however, was... that the cricket had cleaned up nicely. Jiminy chuckled and returned the compliment that had slipped out of a faintly-blushing Timothy's mouth. Timothy, trying his best to shake it off, grabbed Jiminy's hand and took him to be introduced to Dumbo. The little elephant, having been told about the cricket before, took a general liking to him. Then Timothy offered for a private flight on the elephant. And why not? Jiminy was curious how the elephant could fly. (Turns out it was his rather large ears.) So the two hopped into Dumbo's hat and took a flight around the circus grounds and its outskirts, starting to rekindle what relationship they did have before.

After the flight ended and Dumbo went off to play with his mother, the two smaller creatures were left to talk to each other. Talk about how the other had been doing, "the good ol' days", what the other had been doing, how exactly they each got involved with a different child. All the while, they silently noticed that it all felt strangely intimate.

It wasn't until the two were sitting down, watching the sun set, when Jiminy felt like he needed to tell Timothy the truth. Before he got a word out of his mouth, another hand brushed against his. Jiminy couldn't bring himself to look. He knew what was going on, old emotions starting to resurface again. And he found himself hating that.

So he took a deep breath and explained to Timothy that this would probably be the last time they would see each other for a while. The cricket used his new "very busy life” as an excuse, but quickly said that it didn't matter after he tried to explain to the mouse what it entailed. Once again, Timothy, oddly meek all of a sudden, suggested that they tackle it together. "For old time's sake."

That was the tipping point. Suddenly, Jiminy snapped at the mouse, telling him that "this is how it's gotta be from now on! We can't see each other, Timothy! Heck, we shouldn't even be seeing each other now! It's how things are supposed to be!"

Timothy, visibly hurt, turned away. Jiminy was surprised, since it wasn't like the mouse to do this. As he tried apologizing, it was Timothy's turn to lash out at him. "Ya think I like only contactin' you through letters!? They only do so much! We're both busy, I know, but the least you could do was ta tell me about this all sooner! And hey, maybe reach out ta me fer once, Jiminy! I just got you back! I--" He fell silent, looking at the speechless cricket. “... I missed you.”

The two were eerily quiet for a while after that, not being able to look each other in the eye to say anything else.

"... I... I... don't want us to do... this... again," Timothy finally spoke up.

Silence hung over them again until Jiminy reassured him that they were still friends and promised to try writing him every day, or at least whenever he got the chance. He knew it wasn't much, but he'd at least try to include a picture or two from now on (if he could). After calming down a bit, Timothy agreed.

So Jiminy left, going back to his life of watching over and guiding Pinocchio, and the two kept in contact with each other.

And then the Heartless attacked.

And worlds were destroyed.

When Jiminy woke up, he was at a place he’d never seen before. It looked like a large, towering… castle? The cricket struggled to get up, using his umbrella as a crutch to try to at least walk to see where he was. But soon he was back to the ground, slipping out of consciousness again.

The next time he woke up, unfamiliar voices were wondering who he was. Sitting up, Jiminy introduced himself (and ended up catching the owners of the voices off-guard). One of them, a mouse, stepped forward and introduced himself as King Mickey and motioned to the people (erm, animals) surrounding him and introduced them. He soon told Jiminy about how there were different worlds, about the Keyblade Wars, and about the Heartless and how they were destroying worlds. Immediately, Jiminy was worried about Pinocchio and Geppetto. However, no one else had seen them. So, for the time being, the cricket had to stay put at Disney Castle.

Some time later, Jiminy received a position on the castle staff: chronicler. It occupied a majority of his time, and between his new job and wondering where the inhabitants of his world were, he had enough to occupy his time until a certain other mouse became hardly more than a passing thought.

And then… the king had vanished.

Jiminy soon found himself venturing off with the court magician and the head guard (Donald and Goofy) to find the wielder of the Keyblade, search for their missing king, and stop the Heartless from breaking any more barriers and destroying any more worlds. Their journey took them to Traverse Town, where they met up with Sora, the new Keyblade wielder who had arrived after his world had been destroyed. The four of them soon teamed up to take down the Heartless and bring balance to the worlds.

While in Traverse Town, the four stumbled across a familiar face: Pinocchio! Jiminy was so relieved that the little wooden boy was all right, albeit he had been misbehaving without his conscience to guide him (which Jiminy saw to it himself to sort out). Pinocchio then explained his troubles in trying to find Geppetto, to which Jiminy replied by offering to have Sora and company search whilst Pinocchio stayed in Traverse Town where it's safe.

And then, later in the journey, the Gummi Ship was eaten by Monstro the Whale. And guess who else was inside Monstro? That's right, Pinocchio and Geppetto. And also Sora's friend Riku, who stole Pinocchio's heart.

While journeying to get Pinocchio's heart back, Sora and his friends found the Watergleam Gem deep inside Monstro. After the group stopped Riku and save Pinocchio and Geppetto from the whale, the gem was taken to the Fairy Godmother, who restored the spirit of the being inhabiting it: Dumbo.

A flood of memories came pouring back into Jiminy's mind. He was silent as Sora, Donald, and Goofy interacted with the baby elephant, too lost in thought. He almost missed the part about Dumbo possibly being the only survivor of his world. The cricket had to put on a face to show that he was okay, and the group continued onwards.

But Jiminy felt sick to his stomach. Dumbo, the only survivor of his world being destroyed? What had happened to Timothy? Was he gone? Had he been swept away by the Heartless? What had happened in their world's final moments?

The questions he dared not to ask aloud were answered soon enough. While in Traverse Town to get a few repairs done to the Gummi Ship, the group decided to see how things were going around town. When stopping by the hotel, Aerith informed them that there was a new addition to the town, although he hasn't woken up since he was originally found. Upon investigation, they found Timothy's unconscious form lying in a small makeshift bed on a nightstand. Sora, Donald, and Goofy decided that they would help the mouse wake up. Jiminy, however, volunteered to stay behind and watch over the mouse while the others searched for something that could wake him up. "Might help to have someone his size around when he does come to," he gave as an excuse.

With the trio cleared out, Aerith told Jiminy that she'd still be checking in every now and then before she too left. After everyone else was gone, the cricket turned all his attention to Timothy. He knelt beside the bed, grasping the mouse's hand, whispering that he was sorry. If he had known that things would turn out like this, of course he would have let Timothy and Dumbo come along with him. He wished that things were different. He wished that the mouse would wake up and be all right.

When the trio came back, they found Jiminy asleep, sitting on the nightstand and leaning against the side of the bed, next to the mouse's dangling arm. After being prodded awake, the cricket said that the mouse still wasn't waking up, but he was breathing. Sora then handed Jiminy a small vial of a healing potion which, after propping the mouse up against the cotton ball pillows, he tilted into Timothy's mouth.

The immediate reaction from the mouse was a coughing fit, causing Jiminy to pull the half-empty vial from his mouth. Timothy sat up and tried to calm down the cough and swallow the liquid in his mouth before opening his eyes to... so many unknown people. And Jiminy.

Still groggy, Timothy asked where he was, to which he was given the response of Traverse Town, as well as the short spiel of his world being destroyed. That made Timothy practically bolt from the bed and almost fall to the wooden surface below him, more alert and worried about Dumbo. As he was being held up by Jiminy, he asked where the little elephant was. Had he survived?

On cue, the Watergleam Gem began to glow, and Dumbo soon appeared, peeking up at the mouse on the nightstand. Timothy, overjoyed, tried to rush over to the elephant but almost fell again. Dumbo picked the mouse up by his tail, trying to let him stand up. Jiminy offered his umbrella, which Timothy took and used as a temporary walking stick.

Introductions were soon exchanged. Jiminy made it a point to introduce himself too, trying his best to make it seem like he was just now meeting the mouse. This confused Timothy at first, but after the cricket shot him a look, he decided to play along.

As soon as Timothy felt like moving again, the group set out to show the mouse the rest of the town, with Timothy and Jiminy riding in Dumbo's hat for the time being. At one point, they introduced him to Pinocchio and Geppetto. [more to be added]

## Personality

Heather is the most kind-hearted and friendly small child you will ever meet. She's bright, full of energy (like most children are), and always tries to keep a positive outlook on life. As long as others are happy, she's happy. And even if not, she tries her best to make sure others are happy. Knowing right from wrong can be a bit hard for her, but she's still learning.

## Abilities

~~EIGHT-FOOT~~ ONE-FOOT VERTICAL LEAP

[wip]

## Trivia

* Heather loves cinnamon and likes eating cinnamon sticks.

## Gallery

The first ever drawing of Heatheralongside Grey, Ryker Smith, and Hitomi Kino