a/n: Got some writer's block so I figured I'd work on this to get the creative gears turning for "The Gray Area". Don't worry, I'm not abandoning "The Gray Area", I'm just working on this to stay in practice.
Prologue: Memory Lane
Three friends ran down the sunlit path, chasing after a golden dog. They were Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy, in search of their lost friends. Sora wore a red jumpsuit and yellow shoes, Donald a blue vest and hat, and Goofy a green shirt, black vest, and yellow hat and pants. The dog they were chasing was Pluto, the loyal pet of the King, with the envelope emblazoned with the King's seal. After the canine vanished over a hill, and out of sight of the three friends, however, he vanished in a puff of smoke. The three friends didn't realize this, and continued to chase where they thought the mirage had gone.
Several nights later, Sora broke away from where the group had set up camp, walking up the path they had been following for several days.
"Along the road ahead lies something you need," a smooth voice said. Sora spun around to face the speaker, a man in a black coat. The second Sora blinked, he was gone.
"However," the man continued, standing behind Sora once more, "in order to claim it, you must lose something that is dear to you."
He turned away, and vanished into the cold night air before Sora could catch up with him.
In a blinding-white room, a blond-haired angel-doll sat in a cage, overlooking a sickly, blond-haired girl, who sketched and sketched. She brushed the dust of her crayon off the paper, revealing her now-completed drawing. It depicted a twisted castle, with spires jutting out of the sides, the roof, and even from below. The girl set the drawing down, and looked into a crystal ball that sat on a pillar in the center of the room. It depicted a castle much like the one she had just drawn, and three figures approaching it.
~Lost Memories~
Sora, Donald, and Goofy came across a massive castle, the land around it barren, the path they had been following having turned into a twisting road of lifeless stone that bridged the gap between the grassy fields and the ominous void. Storm clouds churned around the castle, lightning arcing between them. Donald and Goofy turned to each other, and began to argue, about what, Sora couldn't hear. But he looked up at the castle, up to the highest floor.
Sora, a voice called.
"Huh?" Sora walked closer to the castle, right between Donald and Goofy, drawing their attention from their debate. He walked up to the doors of the castle.
Come inside, Sora, the voice said, It's time to remember.
Sora opened the doors, and slowly stepped inside the castle.
a/n: So basically, this story is in continuity with "The Gray Area" but there won't be any massive changes to COM's plot. If "The Gray Area" is Half AU, Half Novelization, then this is a straightforward novelization with minor tweaks to keep it from being completely redundant. In this case, adding the voice that called out to Sora.