Chapter 1

Sora plopped down on the chair, tired and out of breath. He, Donald, and Goofy had been running around Traverse Town doing odd jobs until their gummi ship was complete. When Cid was finally done adding the new gummi they found in the Deep Jungle, it was already well into the night and all three adventurers wanted to rest. Aerith offered what little space she had in the house and Sora gladly accepted.

Trying to get comfortable in a chair is not easy if you wanted to sleep. Sora kept struggling to snuggle himself in the small, cushioned armchair, but there was that prick at his side that just would not go away. It was as if something was constantly stabbing him. Grumbling, he patted the offending spot on his side… and felt a lump of something.

There was something in his jacket pocket. Curious, he reached in and brought it out to examine it. "Oh," Sora thought when he saw what he was holding, "it's the weird crystal-thing Leon gave me."

Forgetting about sleep, Sora sat normally in the chair looking at the foreign object. Leon would not tell him what it did (or it could be the fact that the man did not know what it did and he was just too proud to admit it) so the young teen was just itching to find out. He knew it was not just a "good-luck charm" as Leon called it, he could just feel that it did something more.

"Uh, what's up, Sora? Can't sleep?" Goofy's voice broke Sora out of his musings and made him look at the man-dog on the floor.

"Oh, no, Goofy. I was just wondering what this thing does." Sora held up the crystal in his hand.

"Oh, that thing?" Donald said from the couch. "Hmmm." He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he cupped the bottom of his beak with his feathered thumb and index finger.

"He's still awake?" Sora grumbled in his mind. "I thought he would be fast asleep with the spot he stole from me."

"Well, I got nothing," Donald said as he flung his hand dismissively.

Sora sighed, dejected. "There has to be something. I know there is something more to this. I… It just radiates something… magical. I don't know. Don't you guys fee it?"

"Well, why don't 'ya ask Merlin about it?"

Sora and Donald just stared at Goofy when he said that. They both knew that their friend was not the brightest bulb in the cupboard, but there were times where he could come up with the smartest, most logical ideas.

Goofy rubbed the back of his head and blushed, thinking that they were staring because he said something stupid. "You said that you felt something magical, right, Sora? Well I jus' thought that since Merlin is a great an' powerful wizard that he would know about that crystal thing there."

Donald smiled. "Goofy, you're a genius!"

"I am?"

Sora laughed at Goofy's confused expression. "Yeah, you are. We will go to the hut tomorrow. For now, we need to rest."

"Damn right we do," Donald huffed before he crossed his arms and dropped his head back down on the semi-comfy couch.

Sora chuckled at his friends again as Goofy wrapped himself in his blanket on the floor. It was not long before all three of them were blissfully fast asleep.

The next day found Sora, Donald, and Goofy at the old hut in the cavern at the end of the Third District. Sora broke from his two friends and showed Merlin the crystal that Leon had given him.

"Hey, do you know what this is?" Sora asked.

"Hm?" The old man in blue leaned forward, one hand stoking his long beard, the other on his hips, and examined the object in Sora's hand. "Oh brother," he pouted as he stood up straight again. "I'm afraid I don't know anything about that. Why don't you go ask the Fairy Godmother? She might more about it than me."

The wizard waved his hand towards a place behind Sora. When the boy turned around, he was met with a chubby old woman with a light purple-blue cloak. He smiled at the woman as he made his way to her.

"Excuse me," Sora said.

The Fairy Godmother turned to the brown-haired teen and smiled kindly. "Yes, dear?"

"Do you know what this is?" He held out the crystal once again.

Suddenly the woman's expression turned to one of pity as her hand flew to her chest. "Oh the poor thing! He has turned into a summon gem."

"A summon gem?"

The Fairy Godmother nodded. "This little guy lived in a world that was consumed by darkness. When a world vanishes, so do its inhabitants. But this one had such a strong heart, he became a gem instead of vanishing with his world."

Sore felt his heart drop. This guy, whoever he was, was just like Sora. His world was destroyed. But unlike Sora, this guy had barely survived. "Can he regain himself?"

"Yes. All he needs is a little help. Now watch. Bibbity Bobbity boo!" She waved her wand around the crystal and then there was a bright flash.

Sora had to shield his eyes from the blinding light. When he removed his arm, there was a boy about his age laying unconscious on the floor. He had wild blond hair with green roots, as if the sun had bleached his hair. It was almost as wild as Sora's own hair, but the other boy's was definitely longer, seeing how it stood up higher. He wore a blue tunic with brown belts around his waist and torso and khaki pants with brown boot-sandals. On his left wrist, he had an arm guard and on the same side, a shoulder guard. The weirdest thing about this boy was his ears. They were long and pointed, going out at least a foot on each side.

The boy on the floor shifted, silently groaning as he got up on his hands and knees. He put his hand on his head and shook it, as if trying to make the small headache he probably had disappear. Suddenly his eyes shot open as he tried to stand up, but he only succeeded in making himself dizzy and fell back on his butt. He turned his head around in a panic, his eyes moving in all directions. "Where am I? What is this place? What happened to my home?" were the boy's overwhelming thoughts.

Although Sora could not read minds, he did not need the ability to know what the other boy was thinking. "It's alright! Calm down," Sora said as he held out his hands. When the blond boy's wide, ocean blue eyes trained on the other boy, Sora waited a few second for the elven boy to calm down a bit before he continued. "You're in a place called Travers Town. It's a place where people go when… when…" He bit his lip as he thought, "How can I tell him that his world was destroyed?"

The reaction that Sora got was not what he expected. The elven boy slowly stood up and then tiled his head to the side in innocent confusion.

Sora stared right back, also confused. "What?"

The boy tapped his ear with his index fingers and paused. Then he pointed the same finger in Sora's direction.

"My ear?"

The boy nodded.

Sora scrunched his brows trying to think of what the boy was trying to say as he messed with the appendage. That was when it dawned on him. "Oh! All the people in your world have long, pointed ears like you do, don't they?"

The boy still looked a bit confused but he nodded again. Then he mouthed the word "world".

By the look of the boy's face, Sora knew that he was asking a question. "Yeah. There are other 'worlds' like this one and the one you are from. Hate to say it, but we are not alone in the universe." Sora laughed at his own dumb joke but then sobered up when no one joined him. "Anyway, out of all the worlds we have visited, we have never seen someone with long pointed ears like you do. Everyone else has small, rounded ears like me."

The boy slowly nodded, taking in all that he heard. Suddenly his eyes widened once again as he swiftly turned on his heel and stormed toward the door.

"Ah! Wait!" Sora caught up the blond boy before he could reach the exit and grabbed the boy's wrist.

The boy whirled around, giving Sora a small, determined glare. "I have to go. My 'world' is in danger. My friends are in danger! I have to get back before they all die!" He sighed when Sora did not move or give any clue that the brown haired boy knew what the blond was trying to say. It was times like this that he wished his friend, Daxter, was with him. The rodent could practically read his mind. Of course, Daxter would put his own spin to the teen's thoughts, but how else was a mute supposed to communicate?!

"You want to go back to save your world, don't you?"

The silent boy looked at Sora with shock. "That's exactly right! So let me go!"

If Sora knew what the other boy was thinking, he just outright ignored him and continued on talking. "Before you got here, these small black creatures were attacking your world. You tried to fight them off, but for some reason, you just couldn't touch them. No matter how hard you tried, all you could do was watch as those things slowly destroy your world, shredding it piece by piece… until there was nothing left but darkness."

As Sora progressed, the elf's eyes got wider and wider. His heart accelerated, practically jumping out of his chest at the end, as his hand shook in Sora's grip. The brunet that held his wrist had described down to the last detail what happened before he ended up here.

Sora looked down, his hair covering his bright blue eyes. "I'm sorry, but… your world is gone. It's been destroyed… consumed by darkness."

They both stood there like that for a few minutes, so silent that you could hear the quiet wind blowing from the outside. Suddenly the blond boy yanked his wrist from Sora's hand and stormed towards a corner of the room, shaking. Tears he tried to push back leaked from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks as his fists tightened at his sides. He thought of all the people he grew up with. The Mayor, his uncle, Samos,… Daxter, Keira. He fell to his knees, his shaking hands latching onto his face, covering his eyes with his palms. "Oh God… Keira!" He never got to tell her how he felt! Now it was too late. She was dead and gone… all of them… dead and gone.

Sora could not even look at the silent boy as he made his way to him. "This is the only reason why you survived."

The crying boy turned to look at Sora's outstretched hand and was taken aback at what he saw. It was an Eco Crystal!

"Because you have such a strong heart, you were turned into that summon gem." Sora explained when the other boy took the crystal from his hand.

The mute stared at the gem for a few seconds before standing back up, wiping the tears off his face. He gripped the crystal near his chest and stood like that until Sora spoke up.

"Don't worry. I'm traveling to different worlds to stop this from ever happening again to any other world." The brunet smiled. "And I am also looking for a way to bring back the worlds that have been consumed by darkness."

At this, the boy snapped his head towards the direction of Sora and strode up to him. The hand without the crystal rested on Sora's shoulder as his eyes stared into the brunet's. With the determined look, Sora knew what the other boy was saying. "Take me with you. I want to help."

Sora smile widely. "Aright, you can come with us!"

Unfortunately, Donald heard what Sora said and did not agree. "Absolutely not!"

The brunet turned to the duck. "What? C'mon, Donald! He just lost his world and has nowhere to go now! And plus I think he'll be a big help!"

"No! No way! Nuh-uh! Not happening! He can stay at Aerith's place."

"But that place is so small! They barely have any room for the four of them."

"Then he can stay here!"

"What, in this dump?" That statement received a "hey!" from Merlin. "Yeah, that's sooo nice of you."

"Well, he's not coming with us. He'll slow us down." Donald turned his back on Sora and crossed his arms. "We can't just pick up every stray we find. We barely have room in our ship."

"What? That's a lie! We have a ton of space! In fact, it's so big that it feels so empty most of the time."

While the two were bickering, the elven boy slipped the Eco crystal into his pouch as he watched the two friends with wide eyes. He was just about to stop the annoying fight when a man-dog walked up to him.

"Well, heya there," he said, getting the blond boy's attention. "M'name's Goofy. What's your name?"

The boy smiled at the man-dog and mouthed his name.

It seemed that Goofy did not quite understand when he brought a finger up to his mouth. "Uh, Yack?"

The boy shook his head vigorously and then tried to mouth his name again.

And the man-dog still did not process what the boy was trying to say, causing the boy to sigh in frustration.

"Here, boy, these might make it easier."

The boy looked over to the sound of the voice to see Merlin handing him a piece of paper and a pencil. He smiled in gratitude as he took the offered items and then wrote down his name. When he was done, he handed the paper to Goofy.

"Oh! Jak! Uh-Hyuk!" The man-dog grabbed the boy's hand and shook it so hard that the poor boy's body moved with his arm. "Well it's nice ta' meecha', Jak!"

When Sora heard Goofy's excited shout, he decided to ignore the fuming duck and turned just in time to see Jak stumble as he regained his balance after the dizzying handshake. "So, your name is Jak?" he said as he walked over to the two males. "Well, it's nice to finally put a name to the face! My name is Sora and the grumpy guy over there is Donald." Sora pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the duck behind him.

Jak smiled in a silent "nice to meet you".

"You know," Sora began as he crossed his arms and tilted his head, "it'd been bugging me for a while but why don't you talk?"

Jak half smiled and chuckled. He knew that Sora was not being offensive, but if Daxter were still on his shoulder, he would be scolding the brunet a good one for the way he delivered the question. All that Jak did was put his hand on his throat and shook his head.

"Uh, I think he is tryin' to say that he's mute," Goofy translated.

Jak smiled at the man-dog and nodded.

"Hmm." Sora just stood there few a few second before breaking out into a huge smile with his hands on his hips. "Well, now that we all know each other's names and we're all friends, he's coming with us!"

Donald turned back to Sora, steam practically blowing out of his ears. "NO! HE IS NOT COMING WITH US!"

"Actually," Merlin stepped in before another fight could break out between Sora and Donald, "Jak here could be very valuable in the future. You really should take him with you."

"Ha! In your face!" Sora pointed his finger at Donald as the duck grumbled and crossed his arms. He continued to mutter some curses as he stormed out the exit. Sora turned back to Jak, laughing. "Don't worry, he'll warm up to you eventually. Trust me when I say this, he does get better as you get to know him."

Jak could not help but smile and laugh along with Sora.