Title: VIP
Summary: In commemoration for their tenth anniversary, Sora and the cast are invited to the House of Mouse.
A/N: Watching those scenes to write them made me cry. Couldn't do it after the last one. Thanks, Roxas!
Sora shied behind Riku. "I dunno, Riku, look at all these people..."
Riku gently shoved him out from behind him. "Sora, don't worry. In this world, the relationships between everyone are stable. No one wants to hurt anyone, no one's going to cause a fight. Besides, the King absolutely insisted."
"But..."
Riku shook his head. "No buts. Come on, we're going to start running late."
"Right here on beautiful Down Main Street, an extraordinary event. For the first time ever, we would like to welcome Sora to the House of Mouse!"
Sora blinked at all the flashing lights before he was tugged towards the front entrance, Riku nowhere to be found. At the door, he finally found a friendly, approachable face.
"Goofy, is that you?"
The valet blinked. "Sora? I'm afraid you have me mistaken, I'm Goofy's son, Max."
"Oh, sorry about that - " Sora was flabbergasted. "Wait, Goofy has a SON?"
Max looked away. "Yeah…?" He coughed awkwardly. "Come on in, Sora. Welcome to the House of Mouse," he greeted as he opened the door for him.
Sora laughed awkwardly as he walked inside, still blinking from all the cameras as he found another welcoming face.
"Donald!"
"Sora?" The duck narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Eh?" He pointed to himself. "Me? I was told to come here!" He took out an invitation. "See?"
"Mickey..." Sora heard Donald mutter before smiling for him. He held out his hand. "Welcome, Sora, to the House of Mouse."
Sora took his hand and shook it, looking around. "You wouldn't have happened to have seen Riku, have you, Donald?"
Donald nodded. "They're inside, waiting for you. Now get going, there's a line of people behind you."
Sora turned to see the massive line before yelping and quickly moving towards the receptionist.
"Ah, finally! I get to finally meet you! I'm Daisy," the duck at the counter introduced herself.
"Sora, likewise!" he smiled at her.
"Let's see..." Daisy looked at a computer screen. "Follow the red carpet and you will be directed to your table. Enjoy your evening, Sora!"
"Thanks!" Sora waved her goodbye as he did as he was told, walking along the red carpet into the main room.
"Wow..." Sora was amazed at all the people, friends and enemies alike.
"Sora! Over here!" Sora turned to see Riku and Kairi waving at him. Sora quickly made his way towards his island friends.
"Where were you?" asked Kairi, slightly annoyed.
"Where was I, where were you guys?" Sora looked out and waved to the audience. "Look at all the people!"
"Kairi, I told you, Sora is specifically the VIP. He had to have a special introduction, remember?" Riku reminded her.
"Oh yeah," she said, sticking out her tongue. "My bad, Sora!" She scooted over to her left and pat the seat next to her, placing herself in the middle. "Sit next to me!"
Sora was about to do so when Riku got out, suddenly grabbed him, and placed him in between himself and Kairi. "Sit in the middle, Sora."
He smiled at his rival/best friend. "Sure, Riku!"
Kairi opened her mouth to argue, but was forced to keep her mouth shut as the lights started to dim.
"And now, put your hands together for the mouse who brought back the color red, Mickey Mouse!"
All of the tables started to clap, much to Sora's surprise, as the King dressed in a tux walked on stage.
He waved for them to stop. "Thanks, Mic. Thank you all for coming! We have a wonderful show planned for you tonight, thanks to our special guests!"
The light shown towards Sora's table, and he blushed as the audience applauded for them.
"My very special friends, Sora, Riku, and Kairi would be celebrating their tenth anniversary!"
"What is he talking about? We're not married," Sora whispered, widening his eyes. "At least not that I'm aware of."
Riku rolled his eyes. "Too complicated to explain, Sora. Just listen."
"In honor for their special day, we want to thank them for all that they've done for us."
The audience continued to clap, including the villains.
Sora just groaned at what was happening. "Nothing makes sense anymore."
"And we have a special performance for you all tonight and until the end of the show it would be a surprise for you all!"
More clapping.
"And now, let's go back to where it all began."
Mickey gestured to the screen where scenes of a four year old Sora and a five year old Riku were watching the stars at the beach.
They were lying down, looking up towards the sky, watching night sky.
Riku was the first to get up. "Wanna go back soon?"
Sora got up after him. "Yeah, let's go back."
The two picked themselves up from the sand and started to head back, when Riku turned towards Sora.
He looked concerned. "Sora? What's wrong?"
Sora gave him a confused look. "Eh?"
They stopped walking, Riku turning towards him. "That's..."
Sora blinked, and was surprised to find a tear running down his cheek. He raised a hand to catch it.
"I don't really know," he said, looking down. "Suddenly, my chest feels really tight…"
"Someone must be sad," Riku told him.
Sora looked up to his friend. "Someone?"
Riku looked towards the sky again. "Sora," he explained, "You're connected to everyone, in every world. Someone, somewhere, must be sad and is wanting your help."
Sora looked down again, turning towards Riku. "But I can't do anything for them..."
Riku crossed his arms, deep in thought. "Maybe you can't hear them in your heart."
"Hmm," Sora crossed his arms behind his head before dropping them and kicking his feet in the sand. "Riku, it's a difficult thing. I don't really understand… But I'll try!" He changed, sad look now gone in exchange for determination.
"Okay," Riku replied, and Sora looked towards the sky and closed his eyes, Riku doing the same.
"I… I remember that," Sora whispered, eyes wide at the memory. "How… how do they have that?" He placed his head on the table, whispers of a voice in his mind.
"Sora?" Riku and Kairi gave him concerning looks.
"And that would be the starting point for Sora to become a keyblade wielder," Mickey continued, having ending the clip. "And we'll come back to that after some music thanks to one of our special guests, Demyx on his Sitar!"
Demyx appeared on the stage, and began to play. It reminded the three teens of Muriel from Courage the Cowardly Dog.
"Aw garsh, Sora, aren't you having fun?"
Sora looked up from the table. "G-Goofy?"
Goofy smiled. "Eeyep, that's me!" He took out a notepad. "I'll be your server tonight, is there anything you'd like?"
"Why didn't you tell me you had a son?" Sora demanded, standing up.
Goofy sweatdropped. "Errr..."
"A son, Goofy?"
"What are your specials?" interrupted Kairi, looking over the menu.
"Well, for tonight we have a sea-salt ice cream sundae and a papou fruit smoothie, today only, just for you!" Goofy answered her, happy to change the topic.
"Let's get a papou smoothie!" Kairi said, handing back the menus.
"Entrée…?" Riku and Goofy asked, with Kairi waving it away. Goofy gave a look, but took the menus and walked away with the orders.
"Wait, I want a sea-salt ice cream sundae," Sora called, Goofy turning and writing down the order before tipping his green hat. "Got it!"
Sora put his head back down, making Riku and Kairi frown and concerned for their friend.
"Sora, you okay?"
Sora shook his head as Demyx wrapped up his song to a positive response and Mickey took the floor once more.
"Wow, Demyx, you sure to have talent!" Mickey complemented, clapping with the rest of the crowd. "And now we continue with our special presentation." He looked over to the screen, frowning when nothing flashed on.
He looked up to the Clip Room. "… It would seem that we have a gap for the ten years. Sorry about that folks. So let's fast forward a bit!"
He motioned to the screen again, where a blue chunk of the sky could be seen.
A brunet blinked awake, getting up and looking towards the ocean. He yawned, lowering himself back on soft sand.
To find himself face to face with large deep sea blue eyes belonging to a girl with short red hair.
"Woah!" He jolted. He turned towards her, getting up. The red head laughed. "Give me a break, Kairi."
She smiled. "Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing down here."
"No! This huge, black thing swallowed me up!" Sora explained, "I couldn't breath, I couldn't -" Kairi bonked him on the head. "Ow!"
She kneeled to him. "Are you still dreaming?"
"It wasn't a dream!" he said, frowning. "Or was it? I don't know."
"Yeah, sure," Kairi said, walking towards the water.
"Say, Kairi," Sora sat on the sand. "What was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up?"
"I've told you before," she replied, looking to the sea. "I don't remember."
"Nothing at all?"
"Nothing," she confirmed.
"You ever wanna go back?" he asked.
She thought about it. "Hmm, well, I'm happy here."
"Really..." He sounded skeptical.
"But you know," she started, "I wouldn't mind going to go see it."
"I'd like to see it too," he replied, getting up slightly. "Along with any other worlds out there. I'd like to see them all!"
She turned to him. "So, what're we waiting for?"
"Hey," a new voice appeared. "Aren't you guys forgetting about me?"
The two turned to the sound to see a boy with silver hair holding a log. "So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft." He shook his head before walking over towards them and tossing the log to Sora. He went up to Kairi. "And you're just as lazy as he is!"
She giggled. "So you noticed." She smiled. "Okay, so we'll finish it together!"
Riku took a seat next to Sora, getting comfortable. "I'll race you!" Kairi said, causing for the boys to give her skeptical looks.
"Huh?" Sora said.
"What, are you kidding?" Riku said.
She giggled. "Ready? Go!"
The boys looked at each other for only a second before getting up, dashing down the shore and leaving Kairi in the dust.
"And so they dreamed to go and started to build a raft to sail off to distant worlds, intending to visit Kairi's home world," Mickey narrated, cutting off the clip there.
"But when the world fell towards the darkness because of the Heartless, the three were separated from one another. But in reality they weren't all too far apart. Riku," a picture of the silveret appeared on screen, "Would always be with close with Kairi and Sora." Their picture appeared on the screen next to Riku for a group shot. "Kairi was actually with Sora throughout the whole journey, and Sora ventured to find his friends and unconsciously save other worlds from sharing a fate similar to his own."
Flashes of other worlds appeared on screen depicting a few seconds of Sora's timeless adventure across the various worlds.
"On this journey, he made countless friends, many of which include many of you," Mickey gestured to the many pictures of many of the audience members. "But as other journeys, it came with hardships."
A quick picture of Captain Hook's ship, and even though it wasn't there, Sora could play back the memory.
They crashed into a pirate ship, and Donald and Goofy were nowhere to be found as Sora searched the deck for them.
"I didn't think you'd come, Sora."
Sora gasped, turning towards the voice to find the one he's been searching for.
"Good to see you again," Riku greeted, above him on a higher level of the deck.
"W-Where are Donald and Goofy?" Sora asked, slight fear in his voice.
Riku narrowed his eyebrows, frowning. "Are they that important to you? More important than old friends?" He looked at Sora oddly, as if he was betrayed. "Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking..." He moved. "About her."
"Kairi!" Sora exclaimed, surprised. There was something off with her.
"That's right," Riku said, "While you were off goofing around, I finally found her."
Sora made a mad dash towards them, when a hook got in his way.
"Not so fast. No shenanigans aboard my vessel, boy," said the captain of the ship, Captain Hook.
Sora looked up, clenching his fists into the air. "Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?"
Riku answered coldly, "The Heartless obey me now, Sora. Now I have nothing to fear."
Sora didn't agree with this. "You're stupid! Sooner or later, they'll swallow your heart!"
Riku brushed aside his concerns. "Not a chance. My heart's too strong."
"Riku..."
Sora squeezed his eyes. He didn't want to remember more of the betrayal.
"But in the end they were able to conquer the darkness and bring light towards salvation. And for that we thank them."
"What about Roxas?" Sora muttered, head wrapped under his arms. "What about Axel? What about..."
"Here ya go, a papou smoothie and one sea-salt ice cream sundae," Goofy said as he placed the items on the table.
"Thanks!" Kairi thanked she took a sip from her beverage. "Sora, want some?"
Sora shook his head, playing with his ice cream. Why did he even order this? "No thanks."
Kairi frowned. "You sure?"
"Yeah..." This was more depressing than he thought it would be.
"It may seem like that now, but in the end it will be better," Riku commented, making Sora raise his head.
"Riku..."
"After saving the noble Princess Kairi, Sora fought against Ansem and was able to defeat the darkness," Mickey continued, "However, like two sides of a coin, one needs the darkness to balance with the light. And so Riku and I stayed in the Realm of Darkness to seal the Door to Kingdom Hearts."
A gasp rang throughout the audience at this announcement, before a flash of a white castle.
"Under request, this part shall be skipped," a brief image of a blond Kairi look-alike, whom was missed as Kairi tried to offer Riku some of her drink, as well as a raven-haired Kairi look-alike, flashed on the screen.
"Now -"
"Hey, we don't need the whole Nobody part, do we?"
Sora turned to the voice, seeing his blond Nobody alongside Axel, leaning on their booth. He jumped when he took the ice cream and started eating it. The blond pointed to his brunet counterpart.
"Besides, all these flashbacks are giving Sora a headache. Let's just perform and we can go back and play the game."
Mickey shrugged, but gave them the floor. "Give it up for Roxas."
More applause as Roxas adjusted the headset mic and began to sing a remix of Hikari, moving away from the Destiny Island booth and towards the stage.
"Will someone please explain to me what's going on?" Sora asked, antagonized.
He listened to Roxas' voice as he finished his song. "Oh, that was nice. How come I can't sing like you, Roxas?"
"Because you see dead people," he replied, finishing up another sundae.
Sora nodded in agreement before the words sunk in. "Wait, WHAT?"
Axel pat him on the back. "Lighten up, Sora. You're ten years old now!"
Sora pouted at Nobody's best friend. "I'm fifteen!"
"Axel, stop teasing him, it's his special day!" Roxas placed his arm over the red head before glaring at Riku. "Well, his and Riku." He looked over Kairi. "Oh, and Kairi too, I suppose. Didn't see much of her though so…"
"We have come to crash the party," a new voice erupted from the clip room, making everyone turn to the room.
"Horace? What's going on?" Minnie's voice cried from backstage into a walkie-talkie, somehow audible through the whole club.
"Muwahahaha," an evil voice that sounded familiar cackled, everyone turning to the owner of the said familiar voice, who blinked.
"That's not me!" Sora cried, looking up to the dark clip room to see a dim silhouette of himself playing with the clips.
"I got it!" another familiar voice called, and everyone turned to the other owner of the familiar voice, who shook his head.
"That wasn't me either," Roxas replied, pointing to the clip room.
The light turned on, and a Roxas familiar and an evil version of Sora were waving.
"Vanitas," the Roxas cloned reprehended.
"Ventus," Vanitas replied, not caring.
Ven rolled his eyes, and raised Vanitas' hand, where there was a blue star crystal twinkling.
"We have Tinkerbell!" Vanitas exclaimed, wagging the star.
Ven rolled his eyes again, removed the star from his other's hand, and tossed it to Mickey through the shattered window. "Here's your Star Shard, Mickey! Thanks for letting us use it!" He smiled. "Albeit late."
"Very late," Vanitas added.
"Not helping!" Ven yelled, before waving to the rest of the audience.
"No problem, Ven, glad you could make it!" Mickey pocketed the star, waving before checking the time and turning to the Disney audience. "Up, that's all the time we've got! Thanks for coming everybody!"
"Wait!" Xehanort raised a hand from behind the curtains. "What about my act?"
Mickey shook his head before waving his hand. "That's all the time we have, bye!"
Roxas waved away before Axel took his hand and both fell into the pool of darkness that appeared underneath them on the floor.
Riku took hold of Sora's shoulders and pushed him out of the lounge, Kairi and the rest of them tagging along.
"A-ah, wait, Riku! I want to say goodbye properly!"
"You'll see them later. Come on, let's go take that Exam."
A/N: I don't even know. I wanted to make this serious, but I figure all the ugly sobbing that was done in the beginning was a sign that I wasn't strong enough to do it.
Remember when Kingdom Hearts was just a simple game of a boy traveling with Donald and Goofy through Disney Worlds?
Happy Tenth Anniversary Kingdom Hearts!