A/N: This takes place RIGHT after Kingdom Hearts II ends.
Disclaimer: All Kingdom Hearts characters belong to Square Enix and Disney…meaning, not me.
Chapter One: Home Again.
Sora smiled up at Kairi as she helped him up. They turned to look upon the island…the island where the adventure had first begun. Staring at it, Sora wondered…how different would things be? How much had everyone changed?
"Come on, Sora, you lazy bum," Kairi joked, nudging him playfully…Just like she had used to do. "You've got a lot of catching up to do. Riku, let's go!"
Riku smiled, nodding at Mickey.
"I'm not so sure these guys should come with us into town…I have no idea how everyone will react to a talking duck, dog, and mouse…" Riku whispered, chuckling a bit. Sora looked at him oddly…Of all the places that he had been, he realized, not one person had found his travelling companions as odd…Not even himself! Just how many fully clothed talking animals could there be out there?
"You wanna leave us out here in the ocean?" Came Donald's voice.
"Of course not. You can stay on the small island over there…" Kairi indicated the small bit of land rising out of the ocean. Sora smiled, but the smile fell…
The last time he had been on that island, he had been battling with Xehanort's heartless…
"Gawrsh, fellas…we've got to get goin' anyways," Goofy commented.
"So soon?" Sora asked. He'd just gotten home…wouldn't he have time to visit his parents before the next adventure? He sighed. "Can't we stay here at least one night?"
"We?" Mickey asked, joining the conversation. Donald, Goofy, and the king exchanged awkward glances.
"Well, sure…Unless you plan on sending me on the next adventure by myself," Sora shook his head with laughter at the insanity of such an idea.
"Sora…we're not going on another adventure right now…Donald, Goofy, and I…we're going home," Mickey said. Sora's face fell.
"Oh…" He said awkwardly. "You're…leaving?"
Mickey nodded, but seeing the look of hopelessness in Sora's clear blue eyes, he added, "Oh, don't worry! You'll see us again! This goodbye isn't forever," he laughed. "We'll be in need of your help again soon enough." Sora perked up again.
"Okay, well…bye!" he said, smiling weakly.
They said their sad farewells, and for quite some time after the three had left, Sora, Riku, and Kairi stood there on the beach, looking out over the ocean. Twilight came and went, silence unbroken, until Kairi finally felt the need to speak up.
"You know…our parents…they have got to be worried sick about all of us by now…And you two have quite a story to tell. We should go," Kairi said. Riku and Sora nodded with agreement, the mood changing from quiet sadness to anxiousness. Sora couldn't wait to see his parents again…but what could he possibly say to make up for leaving them to worry for so long?
They first stopped at Kairi's house, dropping her off quick enough, then Riku's, and Sora made the rest of the way home alone. The cool night sky was so familiar…the same sky he'd been looking up at his entire life…but somehow, walking back along this pathway, staring up at the darkness he had been travelling through not too long ago in a gummi ship, it looked so different…
Where was Atlantica? Agrabah? The Radiant Garden?
It struck him as ironic…in all those worlds, when night had rolled around, he had stared up at the sky and wondered which star was his star…his island. But he had gone to so many worlds, become a part of so many lives…and now he couldn't help but wonder, as he tried to find out where Simba's, and Beast's, and Hercules' stars were, had he been away from his home so long, that it wasn't his home anymore?
He reached the door, jiggling the knob a little. It was locked. He smiled. No problem.
The keyblade appeared in his hand, and he pointed it at the lock, but stopped. He should knock…after all, he didn't want to give his parents a heart attack before he had the chance to see them again.
Sora rapped gently on the door. Footsteps sounded just behind it, and it swung open, revealing a familiar man…Sora's dad.
A big grin spread across his face, just as the man's shocked expression melted as tears of joy slid down his cheeks.
"Honey…it's Sora! It's Sora, he's home!" The man cried back into the house. A woman came rushing forward, concerned that perhaps her husband had become delusional, until she saw him for herself, then she too pulled the teenager into a tight embrace.
"Sora, Sora, where have you been?" His mom asked, ushering him inside the house. She motioned for him to sit down on a stool in the kitchen…as if he were a guest in need of an invitation to do so. She began bustling about, asking him what he wanted.
"Um…a hot dog?" He thought of Goofy, then shook his head. "I mean a piece of chicken…" Donald's image popped into his mind, and he shook his head again. "How about…um…oh…uh….can I just make myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?" He finally asked.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Sora, I'll make it for you. Now tell us where in the world have you been?"
Sora chuckled.
"I've actually been in many different worlds…You see, when the island disappeared, I ended up in a place called Traverse Town, where I made quite a few friends…Like Leon, and Yuffie, and of course, Donald and Goofy. Anyway, so I went on this huge adventure…" He proceeded to tell his parents of his first adventure, then his (as far as he can remember) second.
Sora's mother and father looked at him in amazement, then glanced at each other.
"You're not…pulling our legs, are you?" The woman asked. Sora shook his head.
"You must be exhausted…after all of that…" The man asked. Sora nodded.
"Oh, Sora…I can't believe you would go up against those nasty people knowing full well they could have killed you…"
"They wouldn't have killed me," Sora objected. "Donald, and Goofy wouldn't let them. And when they weren't around, I had Riku. There's no way Riku would have let Xemnas kill me,"
"Riku? So he was with you the whole time?" His mother inquired. Sora shifted awkwardly, something he hoped escaped their notice. "Of course…" he said. "The entire time…"
"And he's back home now?" Sora's father asked. The teenager nodded. "Oh, good. Everyone missed Riku so much…"
Sora waited expectantly for him to add that they missed the younger boy as well, but he never did.