Chapter 3:

A boy stumbled and fell in the darkness. His strength was leaving him quicker than he'd expected. He knew his life was ending, but for a long time has not felt his purpose completed; he knew he had something to complete before his death...but what?
Still on the ground with his goggles tight over his eyes, he surveyed the area, having heard something. His goggles' magic was wearing out as well; they were supposed to illuminate his way through the darkness of the Oblivion, but their light was fading with his draining lifeforce.
After he got himself up and dusted off, he slowly made his way toward the murmers of sound in the distance. What could this mean? It didn't sound like a tear in the time stream, nor was it noise from AR (alternate reality) windows. Could there be people here? No, that's impossible, he told himself. No person, magic weilding or not, has ever reached outside of their reality. There was no way--unless...How could he have forgotten!? The Villain! But how could he have regained the power to break through the time stream again? The Oblivion border was stronger now, so could he have broken through?
"Well, we can't jump to conclusions, now can we." He told himself. Although he felt his life draining from him every step, he tried to remain optimistic. It's not like he had any friends or family to leave, like the humans on earth in every AR. But he wasn't in reality; he wasn't like the normal princes on earth...
He could see them, they were people! Suddenly, his goggles blasted with light and almost hurt his eyes. "What the--" He could feel his body becoming stronger, but how? It must be a sign. He knew what he had to do.

"...how long have we been wondering out here?" Naveen asked.
"How are we supposed to know?" Aladdin answered.
Naveen's real purpose for asking the question was to evade everyone's attension from Beast. Some of the princes seemed to understand and looked towards Naveen.
"It does seem like we've been out here for a long time." Shang said.
"I don't mean to be the only one not looking on the non existent bright side," John Smith began, "but this seems hopeless."
"It's not hopeless." Beast grunted. His monsterous form altered his voice as well as his appearance, but the princes knew who he was inside. "There has to be more signs, we can't stop sarching."
"Beast is right." Charming agreed. "We can't lose hope."
While everyone was merely agreeing with each other, John Smith was looking back to the dream he had before he was taken. He was trying to remember what Grandmother Willow had told him--then it came to him. "if you have faith in the one you love...she will find you..."
The princes all looked at Smith.
"What was that, my friend?" Prince asked.
"...before I was taken," John began, a little slow at first trying to find the words to describe what he'd remembered. "I had a dream and a friend told me that there was nothing I could do to prevent the evil from taking me, so...she said: if you have faith in the one you love, she will find you."
"Right! How could I have forgotten?" Aladdin said. "Genie told me the exact same thing! He said that our only way out of here was if our true loves could find us."
"But, how is it possible for anyone to find us?" Eric said, rather pessimistically.
Before anyone could say anything, their attension was turned towards a faint light approaching them. They were all shocked by the sight of another figure coming to them from the darkness. He walked up to the group in confidence, like he'd lived there his entire life (which he had.)
"Do not question the power of true love," began the stranger. "the heart has many ways of finding its counterpart--even in moments like this where one is trapped in the dimesion between all dimensions."
The stranger was just a boy, dressed very differently from the others. He had what seemed to be be round, black mouse ears on the top of his head and when he took his goggles off, his hair covered his black eyes.
"Now," the boy said, "you guys look lost."
They were all speechless--except for Prince, apparently.
"Please don't mind my asking," Prince started, "and I'm sure you're dying to ask the same question, may we ask your name?"
The boy smiled slightly, but hesitated to answer; he looked at the princes as if he had never seen another human being in person. "Yes, yes. My name is Kapo, prince of Oblivion and guardian of the time streams."
"Excuse me, time streams?" Phillip repeated. "I don't understand."
"I wouldn't worry about knowing who I am." Kapo replied. "All you need to know is that I am at your service for as long as I have left."
"As long as you have left?" Phillip repeated something else.
"Enough, enough about me. Our goal is to get you out of here and back where you belong."
Kapo turned to look behind him. He put his goggles back on and stared into the distance.
"Our journey will be long and unpredictable. You will have to work together and listen to my every word." He looked back at the princes. "Any questions?"


Author's note: For all you guitar players out there, I intensionally named Oblivion's prince "Kapo" because of the actual Kapo that holds strings together for bar chords. I see the prince as a guardian who can keep the time streams together, like guitar strings. Get it? Good.