The Keyblade War had ended. Xehanort was defeated. His seekers of darkness destroyed. All their hearts returned to their proper time and place. Or at least; that's what everyone thought. The heroes of light celebrated their triumph over darkness on the shores of Destiny Islands. But one among them could not bring herself to be joyful.

The sacrifice was too much for her to bear. Tears rolled down her face as she sat alone on the crooked palm tree and stared longingly to where she hoped Sora would be. She continued her lamenting until she realized she had drawn onlookers from the shores and wiped her tears.

"I'm not gonna dampen everyone else's spirits. I'm never bringing anyone down...again."

She sniffled as she pulled herself together and left the lone tree to rejoin the others on the shoreline.

Goofy was helping Donald clear off the last bit of sand from him that stubbornly held onto him in between his feathers as Kairi approached the two with her eyes still red from crying. But Donald and Goofy chose not to bring attention to it out of respect.

"Donald. Goofy. Could you take me to see Master Yen Sid again? There are some more things I want to ask him."

Riku overheard Kairi pestering the two of them and put a hand to her shoulder to get her to settle down.

"Kairi. Yen Sid already told us everything he could about Sora. If he were to ever find his way back to us; the thing that would help him the most is you being right here so he can find you."

Not pleased with his attempt at detouring her; she was ready to give him a long lecture about telling her to WAIT. But Goofy waved off Riku's suggestion before she could tell him off.

"Ah. Actually...Donald and I were just getting ready to leave anyways."

Donald looked at Goofy in confusion as he gave his pal a wink which gave Donald the hint he needed.

"Oh, right! Of course! You're welcome to join us. We can make a quick stop at Master Yen Sid's Tower."

Kairi let out a sly smile at Riku as he tried to come up with an excuse.

"But...what about your King?"

As if on cue; Mickey cut Riku short.

"Actually, Riku...Me and Aqua kind of wanted to talk to you...alone."

Riku had no objections left at this point and let her go as she gave Lea a quick hug before she departed. Lea offered his own opinion to the party.

"Hey! A Masters-only meeting? So not cool."

Riku snarked back at him as he raised his hand to be level with the top of his head.

"You must be THIS mature to join the club!"

They all had a good chuckle as Kairi thought to herself.

"Is that why Sora never passed?"

Kairi, Donald and Goofy soon took off into the Oceans Between as they made their way to the Mysterious Tower. Upon arrival they made their way inside as Goofy stopped in the entrance and shushed Donald and Kairi. He listened carefully as he gestured to the floor about them without making a sound himself. Kairi and Donald focused their ears and sure enough - they heard it too. The sound of footsteps. MANY footsteps. All moving frantically across up the spiral stairs.

Goofy nodded as Kairi and Donald got the message. They all drew their weapons and climbed the stairs after the intruders as quickly and quietly as possible. Goofy led the charge with his shield serving as a battering ram to anything that tried to meet them head on as Kairi whispered to Donald.

"Heartless?"

"Maybe."

They marched up the stairs to find a large group of Neoshadows.

"Definitely!"

She pronounced in order to get the Heartless attention as Goofy charged through the middle of the group like a pair of scissors to paper until they were blocked by a large body who took up the whole stairway as Goofy bounced off its belly.

"Oof. Wide load."

When Goofy stopped suddenly, Kairi - rather than bumping into him - jumped onto his shoulders on reflex and stiked the large body on the head. But while she was up there; she caught a glimpse over the large body and a saw a man in an Organization coat walking up the stairs and leaving his Heartless lackeys to do the work.

"Organization?! How?! Did we miss one?!"

The large body shoved them back further as Goofy lost balance and fell down the stairs a good ways, shouting his signature yelp the whole way.

"YA-HOO-HOO-HOWEY!"

Donald caught him before he fell all the way down and beckoned Kairi to fall back to them before they get seperated.

"Let's stick together. Then we'll go bonk that Organization wanna-be!"

At the top of the stairs; the mysterious figure made it to Yen Sid's loft and entered the room to find Yen Sid sitting in his chair as always, but looking particularly perplexed by his new visitor.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

The figure remained silent as he slowly closed the door behind him. He then summoned a Keyblade and locked the door. As the door faded from existence Yen Sid could recognize the blade. The Kingdom Key.

"It...cannot be! How!? ...Sora?"

The figure turned to face him and approached with slouch and limp in his step as he spoke his first words with a familiar voice that all but confirmed the Master's suspicions. His words having an air of disgust and fury attached to them.

"...We need to talk."

*The End is Never The End is Never The End is Never...*