"Gawrsh," Goofy said as he and Donald ascended the alabaster steps to the twelfth floor. "Sora sure was acting weird just then. I'm worried about him."
Donald waved a dismissive hand and scowled, in as much as a duck could scowl. "Aw, phooie. For all you know maybe that's always how he is."
Goofy pondered that, racking his static-filled memories for evidence to the contrary. Castle Oblivion had taken a lot from him, and he wasn't necessarily the greatest at remembering details to start with. It made it hard to argue with Donald's pessimism. "I dunno, Donald. I don't think we'd have stayed friends this long if Sora was always this mean." He smiled broadly and nodded. "Yup, I bet he's just worried about poor Namine! It's only natural to be a little snappy when your friends are in trouble."
"Well, what about poor Donald and Goofy?" Donald muttered under his breath, crossing his arms. He could tell Goofy wasn't going to budge though, so he let it drop, and the two of them finished their climb in silence. The landing of the twelfth floor was empty, with no sign of Sora. "Now what do we do?" Donald asked. "Sora had all the cards to unlock the doors!"
Goofy tapped his foot and scratched his chin. "I dunno!" he replied with a big grin,
Donald sighed. "Figures."
Goofy walked over to the door, where something caught his eye. "Hey, Donald, I think I found something!"
"Goofy, we don't have time to be getting distracted. We need to be looking for a way to get out of this stupid castle." He kicked the floating warp crystal and scowled at it. "Maybe we should just turn around."
"But Donald, I think this might help us." Goofy bent down and picked up the crown-shaped piece of paper on the ground.
"No buts!" Donald said. "We're leaving. Unless you managed to find a ke-"
Goofy strode over and presented his find to Donald. Donald blinked at the world card for a moment before absolutely losing his shit, as he was often wont to do. Goofy waited patiently for Donald to get through string of unintelligible, quack filled curses, and when his dear friend was panting with exhaustion and frustration, he gently put the card in his hand.
"Friends don't leave friends alone, even if they're upset with each other. We gotta help Sora out."
Donald scowled down at the card. On it was a white castle, with blue spires and a verdant garden at its base. It was maddeningly frustrating in its familiarity and alienness. "Oh, you're right. Come on, you big palooka. We can't go wimping out on saving Sora now."
"Hyuk!" Goofy laughed. "That's the spirit!"
Donald held the world card aloft, and the door responded. Both shone for a moment before the door disappeared, and a shimmering portal of light lay beyond its threshold. He and Goofy traded a look, and then they stepped through the door.
Court Magician Donald and Captain of the Guard Goofy stood at attention in the empty throne room of Disney Palace. Donald glanced sidelong at Goofy. Goofy, unfortunately, was distracted by the ceiling. Donald coughed. Goofy remained distracted. Donald coughed again, and Goofy looked out the window at the gardens. Donald could feel his blood beginning to boil, and he kicked Goofy in his armored shin.
Immediately he regretted that, bouncing backwards and hopping up and down in pain.
"Gawrsh!" Goofy said, finally looking at Donald. "Why'd ya do that?"
"To get your attention!" Donald snapped. "What are we doing just standing around here?"
"You should be nicer, Donald. Otherwise the King might get upset."
"The King?" Donald peered curiously at Goofy. His mind turned to static as he said those words- a long, blank expanse where a memory should have been. "Do you know where we are then?"
"Not a clue!" Goofy said with a big grin, finally putting his kicked leg back down. "But it feels important. Like we made a lotta good memories here. Even if I don't know what this place is, that feeling's still there."
Donald looked around the long empty throne room and then nodded. "Well, we should probably keep moving then. Whoever this "King" is, he should be in his throne room. Even if this is just a memory and not real."
They strode from their posts beside the throne and down to the comically outsized doors, where Donald gave a polite little knock and another card-operated door popped open in the middle.
Castle Oblivion's version of Donald and Goofy's home wound in half-remembered, nonsensical patterns that would have been impossible to navigate if they had had their senses. As it was, it didn't seem troublesome or confusing to wander spiraling hallways to nowhere or up stairs that lead straight into sections of garden and then back to libraries and more halls, all devoid of servants and life besides the two of them.
As they passed through another mouse head shaped topiary, Donald sighed heavily. "I hope we find the King soon."
"Is that who we're looking for?" Goofy asked.
"Of course! Because he wasn't in the throne room, and there was that letter, we have to find King-" Donald trailed off, blinking slowly. Goofy peered back at him, but Donald didn't respond at first, his bill working slightly before he gave up and sighed. "What was I saying?"
"Something about us looking for somebody and a letter?"
"I already said we're not tracking down Sora!" Donald repeated emphatically. "If he wants to apologize, then we can talk." And with that Donald stomped off towards the door.
Goofy scratched his head. "I thought he was talking about somebody else though. Somebody else with a keyblade..."
"I wonder when we'll start runnin' into heartless..." Goofy said, pushing open the door to the next room.
"Who knows?" Donald grumbled.
The absolute silence of the castle took over again. Neither had thought much about it at first, because who wants to be besieged by monsters, but the absence of heartless was worrying. Until now Sora had been fighting through swathes of heartless, but now? Room after room of silence.
"Maybe they're busy with Sora," Donald finally concluded. "No need to go looking for trouble if we can get away without it."
"I hope he's okay," Goofy said, looking out a window that lead to nowhere.
"Me too," Donald conceded. "He shouldn't have run off like that! And now we can't find him! What if by the time we get to him, we don't remember who he is?"
Goofy put a hand on Donald's head to stave off another tantrum. "Now, now- we haven't forgotten him yet. And so we gotta keep the promise we made to him."
"Promise?"
Goofy pointed at his face and smiled the biggest, dumbest grin he could. "No frowning!"
Donald blinked at him and then scoffed, shaking his head before smiling himself. "Well, if you're gonna tell me that, you better give him an earful for breaking that promise too!"
Goofy laughed. "How about I let you do it? You're better at scoldin' him than I am."
"Aww, phooie. You know how to scold him and sound nice about it." Donald was already walking off towards the door and away from their emotional discussion.
"Well bein' too soft ain't good either. We'll tell him together how much we worried."
The next room was different. For the first time since entering floor 12, Goofy and Donald were not alone.
The two dove behind a large topiary to hide from the mouse across the garden room. It was about as inconspicuous as a duck in a wizard costume and an anthropomorphic dog wearing half plate could be, which is to say, loud and incredibly conspicuous. The mouse turned around, looking every which way.
"Hello?" he said. "Is somebody there?"
Donald and Goofy looked at each other, each holding a finger to their lips. The mouse across the room looked familiar in a way they couldn't place, but without an identity they couldn't be sure if he was friend or foe. They both leaned around the bush to try and steal another peek, only to come face to face with the stranger. The three stared at each other before Donald exploded into a flurry of quacks and swears, brandishing his wand at the mouse. The mouse jumped back, holding up his hands defensively.
"Woah, there fellas, it's just me! What are you doing hiding like that!" The mouse chuckled, tilting his head to the side and putting his hands on his hips. "There's no need to go crouching in the bushes like burglars."
"Uhhh, well you see, Your-" and Donald stopped short, looking over to Goofy. "Who is that?" he hissed under his breath.
"Why, that's-" and Goofy stopped too, scratching his head. "Why gosh dangit, I plum forgot again."
The mouse tilted his head to the side as Donald and Goofy whispered to each other.. "Aw, fellas, don't tell me you've forgotten me for real!" He looked a little sad, but then he smiled again, the way good friends smile when they want to cheer you up despite a sad situation. "Well, even if you don't remember me, I remember you! You're my good friends Donald and Goofy, and I'm Mickey!"
The name jostled something loose, and Goofy and Donald spoke in unison: "Your Majesty!"
Mickey looked bashful. "Aww, shucks. You don't have to be so formal! Like I said, we're friends! Although I'm happy you remembered me."
"Your Majesty, we came to save you and Riku!" Donald said emphatically, grabbing Mickey's hands and shaking them up and down. "This place is terrible- it's been stealing memories, and making fake versions of everyone, and-" He deteriorated into wordless rambling (or, perhaps not wordless, but at the very least, unintelligible). "We have to find Sora and get outta here before it's too late!"
"How is it that you haven't lost your memories too, King Mickey?" Goofy asked, also kneeling down so he could put a hand on Mickey's shoulder.
Mickey smiled a little sadly. "I think you two know."
"...Oh." Donald sighed, slumping dramatically. "You're just our memories of the king. Here I thought we'd maybe..."
Goofy and the memory of Mickey exchanged a look. "Aww, come on now, Donald!" Mickey said with a comforting smile. "We can still work together to try to help each other. You two must be up to something very important if you're all the way out here!"
Goofy scratched his head. "Well, we think we are, but it's kind of hard to-"
"Shh!" Donald said, glancing around. "Did you hear that?"
Goofy and Mickey traded a look. "Hear what?"
Donald's eyes raked over the mismatched garden, seeing nothing at first, but then he did a double take, spotting a shadow scuttling out from beneath a bush. "Heartless!"
Mickey drew his keyblade. "You're right, Donald! Looks like we've got trouble."
The shadow skittered forward, and from its inky steps rose more heartless- a pair of minute bombs and yet more shadows. Donald ducked to the left, and Goofy pulled right, leaving Mickey to charge forward as the final prong of a carefully orchestrated sting. The first shadow fell under a single swing of Mickey's blade, and Donald cast blizzaga, freezing the two minute bombs in place so that Goofy could smash them both before they had a chance to detonate. Two more keyblade strikes and the rest of the shadows were gone, but they didn't have long to celebrate. From all corners of the room, more heartless were appearing.
Donald shot Goofy a withering look. "I think we found the heartless you were asking about."
Mickey, Donald, and Goofy charged through from room to room as fast as they could but wherever they went, the tide of heartless seemed never ending. Goofy flung keycards through every door they reached, doing his best to keep ahead of the onslaught while Mickey and Donald covered his rear with magic. Finally, he reached the heavy wooden door that marked the last room, and he held aloft the golden Key of Truth and a Joker to pass through its threshold. Beyond the door was the most cohesive vision of Disney Castle they had seen so far. In the distance they could see the alabaster walls that protected their home and behind them lay the shimmering vastness of the palace.
The air was terribly still, and Donald and Goofy shivered from the peace.
"Hah," Donald said loudly, pushing aside his feelings of unease. "See, Goofy? No problem at all." He gestured to the far wall and the glimmering door that he knew with the certainty of dreams would lead back to Castle Oblivion. "Let's go!"
The only movement was the soft rustling of wind through the grass.
"Let's go!" Donald repeated, still not moving. Goofy turned to look at him.
"Aren'tcha gonna lead the way?"
Donald looked disappointed and glanced back across the lawn. "I was sort of hoping you would take the initiative."
Mickey smacked both of them on the back. "Aww, come on fellas! No need to be afraid." He strode fearlessly down the walk and towards the door. "I'll lead the way if it's that much of a problem."
Goofy and Donald shared a look before following after Mickey. Once they crossed through, they'd be able to find Sora, and hopefully make up for their argument. Once they crossed through, they would once again be on the search for their missing king and Sora's missing friends. Once they crossed through-
A low, deep rumbling started up behind them, and Donald sighed heavily. "Here we go again..."
Goofy laughed, glancing at Donald. "Well, you knew it couldn't be that easy."
Mickey summoned his keyblade, and the three of them turned around to face the castle. Before, they had been facing scores of individual heartless, but this time it was different. Beyond the palace rose a tower of shadows that seemed to move less as individuals and more as a hive mind, swarming like a rising tide, first barely visible, then rising higher and higher, threatening to eclipse the sun and envelop the whole world.
"Oh geeze..." Donald held up his staff. "Thundaga!" Lightning danced across the surface of the hoard of heartless, killing a few without even making a dent. "Thundaga! Thundaga! Firaga!" More lightning and fire exploded across the great wave of darkness, but even Donald's mightiest spells were nothing against the sheer numbers they faced.
Goofy looked down at his shield, then up at the heartless. "I'm not gonna be much help until they're down here, and when that happens..."
"We'll fight them off!" Donald assured him. "We're more than a match for uh..." He tried to do a quick count, but gave up about ten heartless in. "For however many there are!"
Mickey, however, had been oddly quiet. He took a few steps forward, looking up at his castle and then back to his friends. "Fellas, I don't know everything about what you're going through right now, but here's what I think." Micky held his keyblade out, barring Donald and Goofy from joining his side. "If this Sora friend of yours is all alone, then that's exactly what the bad guys want. Having you here is a distraction so that they can take care of him without you interfering."
Donald and Goofy shared a look as the sound of heartless grew louder, and a great wave of darkness composed of their teeming bodies arced up over the castle's highest towers.
"But King Mickey-" Goofy started.
"No buts!" Mickey said. "You all need to take care of your friend, and fighting off this many heartless... Well. Let's say I've had some practice."
Goofy looked down at his shield once more, and Donald gripped his staff tighter. Even if it was just a fake made of their memories, the thought of their world falling to darkness and taking King Mickey with it made their hearts ache with dread and sorrow.
"Now, no need for the long faces!" Mickey grinned. "I'll be fine here. Memories can take care of memories. I, or, I guess, the real me, will catch up with you guys when the time is right. I know we'll all meet again. Now go save Sora! That's an order from your King!" He winked to them and then turned, charging on the tide before they could argue.
Donald took a deep breath and snapped to attention, saluting their king. "You got it!" He turned tail and bolted towards the glowing door. "Come on, Goofy!"
Goofy nodded, scrambling after Donald as the roar of the countless heartless grew louder and louder. Then the door to their memories slammed shut, leaving Mickey on one side and their future on the other.
From up the stairs on the 13th floor, they could hear voices. They were running before they could make out what was being said, and when the words did resolve into something they could hear, they ran even faster.
"There is no promise and there never was!" Larxene's voice bounced off the palace walls like a live spark through water. They could see the beginnings of the conflict now- Sora, kneeling on the floor from pain, and Larxene standing over him, her knives at the ready and her smirk twice as sharp as she spoke. "You're just delusional. Must you insist on playing the hero? Whatever. If that's the way you want it... You're going down alone!"
Goofy flung his shield with all his might, and it sailed clear over Sora's head, missing Larxene by inches and moments. She flinched back, looking up in shock and disgust at their interruption. Goofy's forward momentum carried him past Sora, sliding protectively between him and Larxene.
"Curaga!" Donald shouted as he cleared the last of the stairs. "You're not going to be hurting Sora, not if we can stop you!"
"Huh?" Sora looked up at Donald and Goofy, his face dumb with confusion as he scrambled to his feet. "Donald! Goofy! You found me!"
Goofy glanced back with a reassuring smile. "Of course we did. We were worried about you!"
Donald brandished his staff at Larxene, not taking his eyes off her "And we promised! We promised that we would protect you!"
Sora's look of confusion slowly turned to a warm smile, and Donald and Goofy nodded reassuringly to him.
"You won't ever be alone," Goofy reassured him. "It's always been the three of us and we stick together."
"And that is how it's going to stay!" Donald said, giving Larxene a sharp look. He was quite fucking done with Castle Oblivion's bullshit.
Larxene seemed similarly tired of their pithy friendship and quips. "Okay... " she said, raising her knives once more. "Have it your way. More pain for you means more fun for me!"
The three of them braced themselves as they clashed with Larxene. Castle Oblivion could take their memories; it could turn them around and try to tear them apart, sowing doubt and falsehood, but in the end, those efforts would all be in vain. With Sora by their sides again, Donald and Goofy knew this much for sure: even if the mind forgets, the heart will always remember the people who matter, and the will of the heart will always work to safeguard the future.