Notes: I own nothing recognizable.
This chapter deals with the very first time Sora went Anti-Form in KH2. My headcanon is that Donald and Goofy do not get sucked into his magic clothes when Sora changes Form, so instead they're there to deal with the fallout of Sora turning into feral demon boi.
Peering into Shadows
The first time it happened was in the Beast's castle.
After speaking with Belle, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had headed into the West Wing of the castle to search for a way into the Undercroft, where Beast had locked up his servants. But even with their new jail break mission, the Heartless continued to pop out of the woodwork, and sometimes statues, to get in the way. Sora really hoped Beast would forgive him, eventually, for all the dents in the suits of armor lining the hallways.
But even if Beast was angry with him, Sora was sure it would still feel better than the empty disregard his friend had given him as he'd thrown Sora aside, as if he meant nothing to him, and was just in the way. Like Sora hadn't mattered at all. As if he'd been less important than even the scenery and furniture in the room. The way Sora's heart had twisted at that moment had hurt far more than being thrown across the room.
Even before talking with Belle, Sora had known there was something wrong with Beast. The Heartless in the castle only further confirmed it. And Sora was determined to help his friends.
Sora still wasn't sure why there were so many Heartless in the castle. But he was sure it had to be connected to what was wrong with Beast. Knowing Beast as he did, even if it had been a while, Sora knew Beast wouldn't normally tolerate the intruding darkness in his own home. But with Beast acting strangely, and the slick chill of darkness lurking at the edge of his awareness in the castle halls, Sora was just glad the Heartless seemed to be staying away from Belle and focusing on him and the Keyblade instead.
Taking the lead as he rounded the corner of the hall, Goofy and Donald on his heels, Sora took the brunt of a Heartless-possessed statue's attack as it leaped at him out of an alcove in the wall. He barely had time to swing his Keyblade up to deflect the stone claws aimed for his chest.
Seconds, and the hallway was full of Shadows and Soldiers, bursting from the flickering shadows cast by the candle-lit wall sconces. Donald and Goofy rushed past him, driving the horde of lesser Heartless back from Sora and the possessed statue.
The statue screeched like rocks scraping together as it bounced forward again, swinging its attached pedestal toward Sora's legs. Sora leaped straight up, easily clearing the heavy pedestal, and used his full weight and momentum to swing the Kingdom Key down with both hands. The statue's shoulder cracked and split as it reeled back from the heavy, two-handed blow.
Spinning in mid-air, Sora continued the motion to bring his Keyblade around again for another strike. But before the Keyblade connected, a Soldier Heartless crashed with bruising force into Sora's hip with a clatter of hard armor plates. Claws scrabbled at his clothes, but found no purchase in the enchanted garments, unable to rip through them. But the body-check was enough to knock Sora off kilter, sending him arcing across the hall through the air. He hit the ground hard and rolled, before scrambling back to his feet. A quick sweep of the Keyblade sent four Shadows falling back as Sora took in the lay of the fight.
A bolt of Thunder arced across the hall from Donald's staff. Goofy charged past the mage, shield first, to slam a Soldier Heartless up against the far wall, crushing its armor plates as it dispersed into wispy shadows. The damaged statue was bouncing around to come at Sora again. But further down the hall, he could see two more statues animating and lurching out of alcoves to hop heavily toward them. With a warping sound, the slick chill Sora associated with darkness ran up his spine, and a massive Large Body dropped out of a warped cloud of shadow to land heavily, blocking off the way they came.
Sora grit his teeth and twisted, smashing down a Shadow into wisps that thought it could sneak up behind him from inside the floor. Spinning back around in a low sweep, he drove the pack of Shadows back again, buying space for a moment. He'd been separated from Donald and Goofy, and the two new statues would be on top of his friends in a moment.
"Goofy!" he shouted out. His friend threw back a Shadow and turned his head to meet Sora's gaze with a determined nod.
Sora grinned fiercely and reached with his heart.
Connection.
His heart surged as he tapped into the deep well of the guard-captain's strength. Power flooded through his body, spreading from his heart outward to his limbs.
Except… something was wrong.
The connection with Goofy wavered and shuddered. It felt strained. Raw. Weakened and unstable, like an over-worked muscle. He had used the Drive Form plenty of times since learning how, and it had never felt like this before. The flow of energy from Goofy stuttered like a fluctuating, weak heartbeat. Sora was already caught in the magic of the change, feet leaving the ground as his body arched with the power flowing through him. But with the way it felt like his connection to Goofy was stuttering on the verge of collapsing, fear clawed at Sora's heart.
Worst was the surge of terror for Goofy. Panic crawled up his throat as he tried to see past the burst of light around him to see Goofy. But he could barely make out his friend's form slumped against the wall, guarded by Donald. The fear that he was hurting Goofy had Sora desperately trying to stop the flow of power draining from Goofy into him. But the change couldn't be stopped once it began, and it needed more energy than it could get from the unstable connection. Sora cried out in shock as he felt the magic twist and latch onto Donald as well. Sora heard Donald quack in alarm, and he could barely make out the mage collapsing as well, as the horde of Heartless closed in.
Seconds. Mere heartbeats. Everything happened so fast.
Sora could barely process anything beyond the wave of cold horror and desperation that flooded through him as the Drive form change fully washed over him. What should have been warm and fierce like adrenaline, was cold and desperate. The bright light of the change gave way to shadows that reached out and swamped him from within, dragging him down into darkness.
Everything fading. Falling…
Donald's legs gave out as he collapsed back onto his feathered tail with a squawk. He could feel his magic and energy draining rapidly out of him, spiraling down a connection that hadn't been used since the last time Sora had summoned one of their friends, nearly a year ago. It was a shock to the system that Donald hadn't been expecting.
It felt wrong. The pull of power felt uncontrolled, aggressive and desperate. His strength was draining away far too fast, too suddenly. It made his stomach twist unpleasantly.
Sora shouldn't even be drawing on him for Valor Form, as the boy had taken to calling it. Goofy's strength had always been enough before. So why-
Donald could see Sora caught up in the lightshow of the Drive change. He chanced a glance at Goofy, seeing his friend slumped heavily against the wall and looking ill. That wasn't right either. It shouldn't hurt, and it shouldn't make them feel like they were going to lose their lunch. If anything, Goofy had compared the feeling to summoning, and linking power so closely with Sora tended to feel exhilarating, if exhausting.
A clatter of armor snapped Donald's attention back to the Heartless closing in. With a furious, if exhausted, quack, he wrenched enough power from the greedy link to lift his staff and raise a barrier. It was a small barrier, but it was enough to enclose him and Goofy in a quarter-sphere, backed up against the wall. Just in time for a Soldier Heartless to smack into the transparent panels and fall backwards.
"Serves ya right!" Donald snapped, even as he scooted back to lean on the wall next to Goofy. The lightshow down the hall had faded, and the drain on his energy had slowed, easing up enough that it didn't feel like he was about to throw up anymore. Donald couldn't see well over the Heartless from his position on the floor, but he could hear Sora rampaging through the Heartless, and occasionally see one of the little monsters go flying over the crowd.
Looking up at Goofy, Donald put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a little shake. "Hey, you gonna be okay?"
Goofy lifted his head from where he had hunched forward, and gave Donald a ghost of his usual easy-going smile. At least he didn't look like he was going to hurl anymore either. "I think so. But gee, Donald, is Sora alright? This don't feel right." He lifted his head, trying to use his greater height, even when sitting, to catch a glimpse of Sora.
"Whaddaya mean? Of course he's alright! We'll figure out what that was as soon as he's done giving em what for."
The broken pedestal of one of the possessed statues suddenly crashed through the swarm of Shadows that were scratching feebly at the barrier, scattering them and crushing a few. The flying masonry made a gap through the crowd of Heartless, letting them both catch a glimpse of Sora fighting.
"Oh…" Goofy swallowed thickly, eyes going wide. His hand shook slightly before he clenched the handle of his shield tight enough that his knuckles would have gone white beneath his glove. "That- doesn't look good, Donald."
"Oh no, Sora…" Donald moaned low through his bill.
It wasn't Sora rampaging through the Heartless. Not anymore. It didn't move like Sora. It didn't fight like Sora.
It moved like a Heartless. It looked like a Heartless – an incredibly aggressive and powerful Heartless. There was no sign of the Keyblade. It fought with its claws, ripping, tearing, and kicking in a whirl of twisted shadows and wispy darkness. He caught a flash now and then of vivid, glowing, lantern yellow eyes, staring unblinking as it tore into another Heartless.
It was moving too fast, too erratically, to make out many details. But what he could make out made his stomach twist, and his heart drop, as he felt the urge to lose his lunch again. It was like the animated Shadow Sora that they had fought on Captain Hook's pirate ship. Only it was worse, because at least that shadow had moved like a person most of the time. But this, this moved like a feral beast. A twitching monster wearing his friend's skin.
Was their friend even in there? Was there anything left there of their reckless, bright boy?
Donald leaned forward, clutching his staff to his stomach, breathing heavily as he lost sight of it again as the Heartless surged away from the barrier and toward the fighting. He was going to be sick.
Goofy's hand clapped down on his shoulder. "Breathe now, Donald. Ya ain't gonna do him any good if'n you pass out, now." Goofy's voice wavered, betraying his own distress. But he squeezed Donald's shoulder, trying to reassure him.
There was another unholy crash of masonry, and a Large Body went tumbling past the barrier, bowling over most of the remaining Shadows and Soldiers. Chunks of stone gargoyle accompanied the massive round Heartless, clattering in its wake. Then, a statue's severed arm came, flying at high speed, to slam into the Large Body's heavily clawed back, tearing through it as its body dispersed into dark mist.
Following in its wake, came the creature that used to be Sora. It moved like gravity barely had a hold on it, trailing dark mist as it skimmed just above the ground. Then it pounced into the pile-up of Shadows, clawed hands first. Shadows, and dissolving pieces of Shadows, went flying as it mauled the other Heartless.
Donald wheezed and swallowed back bile as a Soldier's helmeted head went flying in an arc for an instant, before it dissolved into dark mist. Goofy's hand shook on his shoulder. Donald's hands tightened into a death-grip on his staff, but he couldn't bring himself to look away from the nightmare in front of him.
Only a moment more of rampant destruction, and the hallway was clear of Heartless… except for one. It crouched low on all fours as the remnants of the last of the Shadows faded into wisps under its claws. Darkness continued to steam off of its body in wisps and streamers that trailed it as it moved.
Donald couldn't help a choked moan from escaping his bill.
Now that it wasn't leaping and pouncing around in the middle of a battle, they were able to get a clearer look at it. It looked like Sora. It was Sora. But it wasn't.
His skin was a dark, inky, shade of gray - nearly black. Familiar spiky hair was inky black as well, only a few shades darker than his skin, and constantly wafting with misty darkness that made it seem like his hair was made of intangible shadows. There was no color to him, everything washed out into blacks and dark grays. Except for his eyes... They glowed from his darkened face like distant lanterns, bright yellow, empty and unblinking.
He continued to twitch and shift erratically on his claws and feet. His motions were spastic. He lifted his head, twitching unsettlingly on his neck, and then he shifted to look directly at them, crouching lower. Donald felt his heart clench. He was moving like a Shadow – like the Heartless he had briefly become on that horrible day. Except this time, he was acting dangerously feral, instead of weirdly passive.
And there was no Kairi here to fix this, somehow.
Goofy reached out a shaking hand, fingers fluttering in uncertain distress. His other hand clutched his shield to himself as if it was a security blanket. "S-Sora…?"
It's- his head cocked and twitched spastically again. Then it-he crouched low on all fours and skittered side to side for a moment, swaying and twitching.
Those yellow eyes stared, unblinking, sending a shiver down Donald's spine. There was no sign of recognition in those eyes – there was no sign of anything in those glowing, empty eyes. His body language was alien, but it felt disturbingly like staring down a predator. Donald swallowed heavily, gripping his staff and wringing his hands around it. "C-can you hear us, Sora?"
His head twitched spastically again, cocking to the side at an awkward looking angle. Those wide, glowing yellow eyes still stared blankly at them. They hadn't heard him make any sounds before, during the fighting. But now he uttered a disturbing chattering-chirping sound, distressingly similar to noises Shadows sometimes made when stalking closer. Then it- he bounced up out of the low crouch and launched himself forward at them in a sudden, swift pounce.
Donald squawked and flailed backwards in alarm at the sudden leap. Even Goofy startled, bringing up his shield reflexively. But it was unnecessary, as the darkened Sora slammed into the barrier and bounced off with a startled, unsettlingly echoing yowl. He hit the ground and rolled, coming back up to all fours. Letting out a chattering hiss, he skittered around in a circle, head twitching in every direction as if searching for an attacker. But there was nothing else in the hallway, other than the three of them separated by the barrier.
Donald steadied himself against the wall, breathing heavily as he eyed the- Sora – as he eyed Sora looking ready to maul something again. He glanced worriedly at the barrier. How much longer would it hold? Was that panel cracked? He didn't think he had the mana left to cast it again – not with the Drive Form still sucking away his power. He glanced worriedly at Goofy.
"N-now, Sora. It ain't nice to go jumping at people like that…" Goofy spoke up with a waiver to his voice. He needed something - a sign, a reaction. Something to show that their Sora was still in there somewhere.
Sora twitched and skittered back around to face them again at the sound of Goofy's voice. It was still impossible to tell if there was any recognition in his eyes or face. The uncanny glow of his eyes lit up the planes of his face in unsettling ways, casting his darkened features in alien angles.
Sora skittered and sprang forward again, but slower this time. He hit the barrier again, but didn't rebound off of it this time. He backed off slightly and chattered, head twitching back and forth. Then he reached out and dragged a clawed hand across the barrier. The barrier flickered with a blue glow, but held firm. With a low, screeching hiss, Sora pawed and clawed at the barrier again.
"S-Stop that!" Donald squawked, shaking his staff nervously at the shadowy Sora. The last thing they needed was for the barrier to break when Sora was like this.
Sora twitched, head turning to focus on Donald's voice. He uttered a low, whining hiss and pawed at the barrier again. Then he turned and paced along the edge of the barrier on all fours, clawing and testing it as he went, trying to find a way around it.
Donald shifted nervously to follow the animalistic Sora's progress as he paced back and forth outside the barrier.
"What do you think we should do?" Goofy asked quietly, worry and distress permeating his usually laid-back tone.
"How should I know?" Donald muttered back, equally worried. "I don't think he understands us, and I don't speak Heartless."
"Gawrsh, I don't think Sora understands Heartless either."
"Ah phooey! What we should really be worried about is the barrier! It probably won't take much more to break, and I don't wanna haveta fight Sora!"
"Well gee, Donald, do you really think we're gonna have to fight him? He doesn't look like he's trying to attack us, right?"
"I don't know. But I don't wanna take any chances!" Donald huffed and folded his arms across his chest. "And I don't wanna see him cry if he hurts us…" he added under his breath.
"A course not," Goofy nodded determinedly. "I'm sure he's gotta be in there somewhere still. We just gotta snap him out of it, somehow."
Outside the barrier, the shadowy Sora was visibly growing more agitated, twitching and pacing more spastically. He kept uttering whining yowls and screeches as well, as he clawed and scratched at the edges of the barrier dome. He even tried leaning in and biting at the glowing dome, showing off fangs that were reminiscent of the ones he had in Halloween Town.
Donald quacked nervously and shook his staff at Sora, "Stop biting that! You should know better than to chew on magic constructs!"
Sora lifted his head to focus on Donald again, with an unsettlingly echoing chirp. Then he uttered another yowling whine and clawed at the dome again, pressing close against the solid magic barrier.
"Gawrsh! Do you think he understood that?"
Another unsettling chirp and chattering sound as Sora focused on Goofy's voice. He moved closer to Goofy to hiss and claw at the barrier there as well.
"I doubt it… He just wants through the barrier to get at us." Donald gripped his staff nervously, warily watching shadowy Sora.
"Well, we gotta do somethin, Donald. Can't just sit here and leave him like this." Goofy hesitated, then shuffled carefully up onto his knees. He was clearly still exhausted, the Drive change still draining his strength as well. But he shuffled a little closer to the barrier where Sora scrabbled at it with his claws.
"Wak! Wait!" Donald sputtered, reaching out to Goofy. "We can't just-"
"Well, didn't ya say it was going to fall anyway?" Goofy glanced back at him with a wan smile. "Now, don'cha worry. I'm pretty good with this here shield, after all. I'm sure I can block him if he takes a swing." He turns back to look at Sora through the barrier, "Ain't that right, Sora, a'hyuck?"
Sora let out a long, drawn-out yowl that tapered off into a whine as he dug his clawed fingers into the glowing barrier panels just on the other side from Goofy.
"But ya ain't gonna do that, are ya, Sora?" Goofy continued in a soothing tone of voice, even though his hand shook a little as he held his shield between them, covering his chest.
Donald flailed, waving his staff around, "I'm not gonna just take it down, ya big palooka! That's too dangerous! We should just try an wait it out!"
Sora yowled louder, the sound echoing eerily, as Donald raised his voice. He started scrabbling and clawing more frantically at the barrier, his head and body twitching, and legs kicking erratically.
Goofy held up his hand, making calming gestures at the air, "Hey now, Sora, Donald, just calm down, that ain't helping-"
His words, and Donald's squawking, were cut off abruptly at the sound of a loud popping crack. Both turned to look at the barrier, and Sora, where the tips of his claws had pierced through the crystalline barrier panel, splintering further cracks and splits across the entire section of barrier.
"Oh, nuts…" Donald muttered.
Sora yowled loudly and ripped his claws down through the panel. It shattered with a crystalline sound, rapidly followed by the rest of the barrier collapsing into shards of magic, which rapidly dispersed into motes of light. He lurched forward onto all fours, no longer held up in a crouch by the barrier.
"N-now, Sora-" Goofy started, voice wavering a bit nervously as he lifted his shield cautiously between them. Donald clenched his staff in shaking hands, uncertain what to do now that there was nothing between them and the feral Sora.
Sora's head jerked up at Goofy's voice, twitching spastically to the side, as those empty yellow eyes focused on Goofy. He uttered a disturbing chirping sound again and pounced.
Goofy yelped and fell backwards as Sora slammed into him. He managed to get his shield between himself and reaching clawed hands. He wheezed as he landed flat on his back, Sora's full weight pinning him down.
"Sora! Don't!" Donald squawked, staggering to his feet and brandishing his staff, ready to knock Sora back if Goofy couldn't throw him off.
Black claws, steaming with darkness, gripped the upper edge of his shield, as Sora hunched over Goofy. Blankly glowing eyes stared down at him from inches away. Goofy tensed, bracing his shield in preparation to try to throw Sora off to the side, and then… stopped, as wispy dark spikes tickled his muzzle.
Sora had dropped his head down to press his inky, dark-toned face into Goofy's shoulder and neck. The wispy darkness rising from Sora's hair felt chill and thick against Goofy's jaw, like a heavy, cold, morning mist.
Goofy swallowed, not daring to move just yet. "Sora?" his voice was hopeful, but uncertain.
Donald was frozen, mid-wind-up to take a swing to knock Sora back.
Sora uttered that chirping sound again, slightly muffled against Goofy's shirt. Then his head shifted as he rubbed his face against Goofy's shirt and neck. With a strangely double-toned rumble, he lifted his head to rub his cheek along Goofy's jaw. The motion reminded Goofy of how Simba would greet Sora when there was time while he was summoned.
Goofy let out a breath he'd been holding, tension draining out of him. "A'hyuck. There ya are, Sora." He slowly shifted to lift the arm not fully pinned beneath his shield. He hesitated only a heartbeat, before running his hand through strangely somewhat-intangible spikes. A jittery twitch ran through Sora's body before he leaned his head into Goofy's hand.
Donald sagged all at once, letting his staff drop to the ground. "Oh brother… You two, I swear…!"
At his voice, Sora jittered again, head lifting and twitching to the side to focus those eerie glowing eyes on Donald. He uttered a chattering sound and skittered, almost tumbling off of Goofy. He lunged, bowling over Donald with a series of chirps, and crouched low over him.
Donald squawked and flailed as he was knocked back onto his tail. But his quacking was cut off suddenly by Sora pressing his face into his chest, and well, nuzzling. He huffed and tried folding his arms across his chest for a moment, then gave up with a sigh. He reached up to pat uncertainly at Sora's shoulder, "Yeah, yeah. I was worried about you too, Sora."
Sora tilted his head up to rub his cheek against Donald's bill and feathered cheek. He uttered that chattering sound again, then the same sort of dual-toned rumble he'd used with Goofy.
"A'hyuck! Gawrsh, Sora. You sure had us worried there." Goofy had pushed himself up to a sitting position beside them. He reached out and patted Sora's back, doing his best to ignore the darkness still misting off of his body.
"Now, let me up, will ya." Donald shoved a bit at Sora's shoulders as he tried to wriggle out from under the larger teen.
Sora twitched a bit, then chirped. He rolled sideways to lean his back lengthwise against Goofy's knees.
Donald pushed himself up to a sitting position, dusting off his shirt and adjusting his hat. "Hmph," he nodded to himself once satisfied. Then he turned his attention to Sora lounging lazily on his side between the two of them. "What're we gonna do with you…" he muttered as he looked the darkness-shrouded teen over more closely.
Sora chirped and curled forward a bit to bump his forehead into Donald's arm. Donald sighed and lifted his hand to scruff up Sora's hair. The teen leaned into it with another rumble. One of his legs twitched and kicked spastically.
Goofy snickered into his hand. His other hand was slowly rubbing calming circles on Sora's back. As he did so, he too was looking over the changes to Sora's appearance. "Gawrsh, Donald. Don't you think his clothes look an awful lot like another Drive Form?" He nodded toward the way the magic clothing had changed with this form, becoming inky black with barely visible deep blue patterns.
Donald folded his arms, tapping his fingers against his elbow for a moment as he considered. "It's definitely something to do with the Drive Form changes. He's still drawing on us both."
"Do ya think he'll change back once it ends?"
"I hope so…"
"Aw, I'm sure he will." Goofy reached out to ruffle Sora's hair. Sora tilted his head back and leaned into his hand with a chirp. "He's still our Sora, after all."
"Valor Form's never lasted this long before, you know that." Donald grumped, trying to cover up his worry.
"Well maybe he just needs to calm down and relax?" Goofy tilted his head thoughtfully, rubbing his chin with his free hand. "He's been tryin ta get through the barrier this whole time, ya know. Betcha he was real worried, being stuck out there."
Donald sighed, "Alright. We'll try it. I don't have any other ideas right now, anyway." Still a little leery of Sora's twitching clawed hands, Donald shifted around to sit closer to Sora and Goofy. Sora curled to almost immediately press his forehead into Donald's side. Donald sighed and lifted his arm to drape over Sora's shoulder and upper arm. "Yeah, we're both fine, Sora. Now, relax."
Goofy chuckled and rubbed Sora's upper back a little more firmly. "That's right. All of us are safe and together again. Ya don't have to worry." Sora uttered another quiet chattering sound, followed by a low rumble as he leaned into them both.
It was only a minute or two later that their patience paid off. Sora's blankly staring, glowing eyes began flickering, as if he was starting to blink again.
"Oh?" Goofy leaned forward to get a better look. But he was interrupted as the inky black darkness began to steam rapidly out of Sora's body and clothes. Goofy leaned back away from the cloyingly thick dark mist as a few wisps became a cloud of dark steam. Donald quacked and leaned back as well, batting his hands at the misty shadows to try to clear them away faster.
Goofy grinned as he felt the constant drain on his strength tapering off and finally ending. Excitedly, he waved the dark steam away as well, trying to get a look at Sora. "Sora? You okay?" After a few seconds, he felt Sora's back shift against his knees. Then his heart leaped in joy as he heard a very human-sounding, familiar groan.
"Sora?" Donald immediately chimed in, even as he batted away the last of the wisps of shadow.
Slumped, half-curled up, on his side, was Sora. Their Sora. The brown-haired teen shifted with a groan, just starting to blink open blue eyes.
"Sora!" Goofy cheered with abandon and swept down to try to scoop the larger teen into a sudden, awkward hug.
Sora flailed a bit in groggy confusion as he was lifted half off the ground, "Huh? Wha?"
Then Donald dove in to join them, throwing his arms around Sora's head and shoulders, "Sora!"
"Guys?" Sora mumbled, muffled a bit through Donald's shirt. Even with his confusion, he shifted to try to wrap his arms around them both to hug back. "Ow!" he hissed in pain as he shifted his arms.
Goofy and Donald immediately pulled back from the hug, but didn't let go of him as they started fussing, "What's wrong?" "Are you hurt?" "You're bleeding!" "I'll get a potion!"
Donald began scrambling around in his pockets. Goofy eased Sora back down, but more on his lap this time. "Just take it easy, Sora. You're all clawed up, but a potion or two'll fix you right up."
"Clawed?" Sora shifted and winced, feeling wounds pulling on his arms and legs. Aches, and sharp, hot pains, that he hadn't even realized he'd had, began to make themselves known up and down his limbs. "What-what happened?" Familiar with post-battle fussing, Sora let Goofy manhandle him into leaning back, propped up against his chest. It gave him a better angle to see the damage to his limbs without having to move his arms and legs around himself. He hissed and winced at the sight and pain. Some of the gashes were deep, blood welling up freely. How long had he been out of it? There wasn't much blood on the floor where he'd been laying, but nothing was bandaged or healed, either.
"You don't remember?" Goofy asked, even as he started patting down Sora's torso, checking for further injuries, especially broken ribs or other bones.
"I…" Sora trailed off uncertainly. What did he remember?
Donald interrupted his thoughts as he shoved an open potion bottle to his lips, "Drink now, talk later!"
Sora grunted and mumbled incoherently around the mouth of the bottle.
Goofy gave his shoulder a squeeze, "Nothing looks broken, and you'd know otherwise."
Sora grunted again, then tilted his head back to let Donald pour the thick, sparkling potion down his throat while he swallowed hastily. Immediately, healing magic washed through him like a warm tide, relieving the pain, and aches he didn't even realize he had. He gasped in a breath after Donald pulled the potion bottle away. Glancing down, he saw the blood flow tapering off as gashes and claw marks closed. Donald started pouring another of the thick, sparkling potions directly onto the worst of the gashes. Tingling heat spread from each point of contact as the last of the pain faded, and the gashes closed even faster.
Sora sighed in relief, and slumped back against Goofy for a moment, feeling his friend's arm tighten around his waist in a reassuring squeeze. Whatever had happened must have really worried them. He frowned, trying to remember again. "I remember, I got cut off from you guys. I was going to activate Valor Form-"
He was cut off by Donald shoving the half-full second bottle of potion into his mouth. He gave Donald an aggravated look even as he started chugging the second bottle. He just rolled his eyes as Donald started complaining under his breath about not having any mana because of some aggravating people. He wheezed a little, getting his breath back after swallowing the last of the potion. Flexing his hands and feet, feeling relieved at the lack of pain, he then reached up to take the empty bottle from Donald. Then he grinned brightly, leaned forward and wrapped an arm around Donald before the duck could pull away. "Thanks."
"Yeah, yeah," Donald muttered. But it was telling that he didn't flail away from Sora's hold. In fact, he leaned into the teen's chest, one arm coming up to wrap around his side in return. They must have been really worried.
Sora finally let Donald go after a moment, then shifted forward out of Goofy's lap to sit between them, legs folded loosely crosswise under him. Even Goofy had hesitated to let him go. So really, really worried. Looking between the two of them, and their happy, if worried, expressions, Sora couldn't help but grin warmly at them. But still, he needed to know. His grin faded into a rare more serious expression, "So, what happened?"
Donald huffed and sat down. "What do you remember?"
Sora rested one elbow on his hand and his other hand on his chin as he closed his eyes in thought. "Well, like I said, I remember going to activate Valor Form." He then paused for a long moment, his mouth slowly shifting into a frown. "I… Something was wrong with it…" His head snapped up as he turned to Goofy, rolling onto his knees, "Did it hurt you?! It felt like it was hurting you!"
"Now calm down, Sora," Goofy reached out to place his hands on Sora's shoulders, giving a reassuring squeeze. "It didn't really hurt, but you're right, it felt like something was wrong."
Sora lifted a hand over the side of his face now, eyes closed, grimacing. "I tried to stop, and… and-" He twisted around to look at Donald. "I'm so sorry! The magic grabbed you too! I wasn't- I didn't mean to…"
"Hey," Donald gave a light whack to his shoulder, then kept his hand there, "I'm fine. We're fine. It didn't hurt, it just felt wrong. Like the connection wasn't working right." He squeezed Sora's shoulder, "We'll figure it out."
Sora nodded, letting his shoulders slump under Goofy and Donald's hands.
"Now Sora, do ya remember anything else?" Goofy prompted gently, giving his shoulder another squeeze.
Sora frowned, closing his eyes again. After a moment, he bit his lower lip. "I… Did I pass out? I remember everything going dark…"
"Not exactly…" Donald huffed. "Nothing else? At all?"
Sora gave a weakly sheepish smile, reaching up to rub the side of his spiky hair. "Not really…? Did I fall asleep, you guys? I… sort of remember a weird dream? It's all kind of fuzzy, though."
"A'hyuck. Maybe it was kind of like sleep walking?"
Sora sagged and whined, "You mean I actually fell asleep in the middle of a fight?" He looked up at them both beseechingly, blue eyes wide, "You gotta promise not to tell anyone! Especially not Riku! I'll never live it down!"
"Well, I don't know…" Donald looked smug, glancing away teasingly.
Goofy chortled behind his hand. "Aw, come on Donald. You know he wasn't really asleep."
"Donald!" Sora wailed, throwing up his hands. "Don't tease me like that!"
Donald snickered in response as he turned back around to face them again. "Fine, fine. But!" He waggled a finger at Sora's nose, "You gotta tell us about that dream you had. It could be important."
Sora looked cross-eyed at his finger for a moment, then slumped back with a sigh. "Alright. Not sure how it could be important though. It was just some kind of weird nightmare. At least, it started that way…" He shifted to get more comfortable, crossing his legs under himself again, and leaning his elbows on his knees. Cupping his chin in his hands, he closed his eyes to think. "I don't remember much of it. It's pretty fuzzy, and some of it doesn't make sense. But, well… " He frowned, eyes still closed, "I remember fighting. You guys were in danger, but I couldn't find you. Couldn't see you. Everything looked weird and blurry in the dream. It was really confusing. But I knew you guys were somewhere, and in danger, so I had to keep fighting. And then, there weren't any more enemies to fight. But I still couldn't find you."
He frowned and rubbed his forehead. He felt Goofy's hand rubbing between his shoulder blades, and leaned back into it, dropping his hands into his lap. "I heard you, though. But when I tried to follow your voices, something kept me from reaching you. I couldn't see you, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get to you guys." He clenched his fists in his lap as he thought about it. Then he opened his eyes and blinked at the both of them. They both looked worried, but strangely relieved too. He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, blinking at them. Then he smiled and shrugged sheepishly. "Weird dream, huh? The last bit I remember was better, though, because I found you guys." He shrugged again and smiled, leaning forward toward them. "So what actually happened?"
Donald and Goofy glanced at each other for a moment, then back to Sora waiting expectantly.
And then they told him everything.
How he had taken on some sort of shadowy Drive Form that looked like the Anti-Sora from Hook's ship, but acted more like a feral Shadow Heartless. How he'd torn apart the Heartless with his bare hands - claws. How they hadn't been able to tell if he recognized them, so had stayed behind the barrier. How he'd tried to get to them until he'd managed to weaken the barrier enough to fail.
Throughout the explanation, Sora had gone slowly paler, head bowed, hunching in on himself. He kept his hands in his lap as he stared down at his fingertips, picturing claws. Even Goofy's hand on his back, and Donald's on his arm, had him cringing inward and trying not to let his hands shake at the thought of becoming a monster of darkness that could have easily hurt Donald and Goofy.
And then they told him how when he finally got to them… he'd pounced like an overgrown puppy, then snuggled up and cuddled like a lazy, content cat, before relaxing and changing back.
He lifted his head to stare at them in shock. "I, what-?" he managed to croak out past the lump in his throat and the fist squeezing his chest.
Goofy reached up and ran a hand through Sora's disheveled hair. "Sounds like your dream wasn't really a dream after all, eh, Sora? We were real worried for a while there. But you were still you inside, the whole time."
Sora swallowed thickly, "But-"
"Ah-ah! No buts!" Donald hopped up and leaned in, grabbing Sora's hands out of his lap and squeezing them in his own. "We shoulda known you're always gonna be our Sora, no matter what you look like! We're friends! And I know you're not gonna forget that, Sora." Donald nodded firmly, then added in a teasing tone, "Not even when you're some kind of creepy overgrown puppy."
Sora choked, hands tightening on Donald's, as he uttered an indignant sound. Donald snickered through his bill, and squeezed back.
Goofy chuckled and slung one arm around Donald, and the other around Sora. "You know it don't matter what you look like when you change Forms, Sora. It's like our costumes in Halloween Town. We sure were real spooky lookin, but it was still just us, the whole time. And Beast sure can look real scary when he's mad, but we know he's a real good friend too. So we don't have to be scared of you like that neither… and neither do you, Sora."
"That's right!" Donald nodded, still gripping Sora's hands. "We'll figure out this new Drive Form together."
"Right!" Goofy shifted to place his hands down over Sora and Donald's gripped hands. "All for one, and one for all!"
Donald nodded firmly, squeezing Sora's hands again.
Sora sniffled past the choking lump in his throat and nodded, smiling tremulously at Donald and Goofy, "You guys…" was all he managed to say before his throat closed up, eyes watering.
Notes:
So, I hope you enjoyed that.
And I hope that maybe I managed to make some readers like Donald and Goofy a bit more. I've noticed quite a few authors tend to barely pay any attention to Donald and Goofy, and I feel they deserve a little more love and attention as characters.
I was asked a bit ago to write a prompt for Drive Forms. While I didn't exactly do so here, I did go a bit into hinting at what Valor Form is supposed to be like - when things go right, anyway. But here's Anti-Form, at least - when things go wrong.
Anyway, I appreciate any and all reviews and comments. Tell me what you think about this. I look forward to writing more