A sudden tremor woke Sora from his deep sleep. Sitting up, he noticed Kairi already dressed and looking out the window, her fingers gripping the curtains tightly. That was when Sora noticed the screaming and yelling of people on the streets below. "What's going on?" he asked as he jumped out of bed. Kairi signaled him to come over with the nod of her head. Upon closer inspection, Sora can see Kairi slightly trembling against the moonlight. Sora looked outside and what he saw made him jump back.
"Heartless," Kairi finally answered, "a lot of them."
"How?" Sora asked as he got himself dressed.
"I don't know but, Sora, this time I'll fight alongside you." Kairi turned around. She gave Sora a determined face but she was still trembling.
"Mama!" a cry came from the adjacent room. Kairi ran out of the room and toward the cry.
Sora outstretched one of his arms and his keyblade appeared. Nearly fifteen years without use, the keyblade felt natural in his grip. He pulled off the charm from the end of the hilt. Kairi returned with their eight-year-old daughter, Yuki, in her arms. "We'll take her to Disney Castle. She'll be safe there." he said holding the charm up. Throwing it up into the air, Sora pointed the end of his blade to it. A light emerged from his blade and hit the charm. A portal to Disney Castle appeared before them.
"Go through there with Yuki."
"But-" Kairi began to protest.
"I know. You will fight with me but later, okay?" Kairi nodded and turned to go into the portal but momentarily stopped when Yuki began fighting as she held out her arms. Sora placed a hand on her head. "I'll be fine. Promise." There was a loud bang. Kairi ran into the corridor with Yuki in tow. "Papa!" Sora closed it and latched the charm back onto the blade. He opened the window and leapt out.
Sora immediately set out to work. He noticed the direction people were running from was from the beach. He cut down several heartless as he made his way to the beach as his reflexes returned to him. Memories from battles from years ago revived his fighting style. Adrenaline rushed through him as he saved people from the heartless. As soon as he arrived at the beach, Sora saw where the heartless were coming from. "The docks."
He stopped mid-stride. Before him, stood Darkside. He immediately shot fire at it, blinding it, and then charged. Not holding back, Sora swung his keyblade repeatedly, sending magic towards it. He threw everything at it. Teetering back, the giant heartless struck the ground with his fist, causing a horde of heartless to emerge. Sora stood his ground and let the small heartless come to him. Immediately realizing the weight of the situation, Sora quickly swung his keyblade around, shooting random charges of magic around. Momentarily forgetting about Darkside, he turned his head around to see a black mass swooping down at him. Sora had the wind knocked out of him as he landed on his back a few feet where he once stood.
A league of heartless launched at him. Sora let out a yell, thrashing his keyblade around. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes to see Riku a few feet away from him. "Come on. You take on Darkside. Or... do you prefer I do it?"
"Heh, no way!" Sora jumped to his feet with renewed energy to not show any weakness in front of his friend and sent several fire attacks towards Darkside. The stream of shadows halted. Sora landed attack after attack on the monster.
"Sora!" Sora dodged the heartless' arm by a fraction of an inch. Jumping on the monster's arm, he plunged the keyblade down causing the monster to roar in pain.
"Riku!" Sora yelled, signaling to join him. Riku jumped up the heartless' s other arm and went straight up. Darkside got distracted by Riku, never seeing Sora dive toward it's chest with fire emitting from the end of the keyblade. In a screen of fire, Darkside disintegrated with a mighty roar. Sora and Riku landed beside each other in a crouching position. Riku, being the first to get up, helped Sora to his.
"Thanks."
"It's not over yet. C'mon." Sora and Riku headed into town as they defeated remaining heartless.
"Why did you close the Corridor?" Riku asked as he took care of the last heartless.
"I didn't want any of them to get to the other side." Sora explained. They both looked up to see a giant keyhole. Riku nudged Sora.
"Well, lock it." Sora raised his keyblade. A stream of light connected the two. When the keyhole vanished, he let his blade disappear. "Let's get out of here before someone spots us and asks a lot of questions." Sora nodded.
At the sight of Disney Castle, nostalgia overwhelmed him. Sora could not help but grin at the white castle. "Let's get going," Riku told Sora. They walked up the castle steps and stepped inside. As they strode down the long hall, Sora decided to strike up a conversation.
"Anyways, how's it been here?" Riku shrugged. He shoved his hands in his pocket before replying.
"It's pretty boring. Actually, nothing has been happening for years."
"What do you do here?"
"I took up science. What, I'm smart, you know?" he added when Sora threw a shocked expression.
"Yeah, but you like action more than sitting around, right?"
"Like I said, it's boring. I had to do something." said, Riku as he opened the door to the audience chamber. Yuki ran towards Sora, who immediately picked her up.
"Papa, you're okay!" Yuki gleefully pointed out.
"Of course I am."
"Yeah, your dad is pretty strong," Riku said, rolling his eyes. "He definitely did not need any help."
"Shut up, Riku." The pair laughed.
"How is Destiny Island?" Kairi asked as she took Yuki and gently set her down.
"I sealed it after we finished." Sora answered. Kairi let out a sigh of relief. Sora looked around and saw that they were the only ones in the chamber. Riku seeing Sora, put a hand on his shoulder.
"Max went to tell everyone about the incident." Riku informed him.
"Max?"
"Goofy's son. He's around ten or something. Goofy and Donald retired. They're not exactly old but they do other stuff such as keeping the ground and writing the account of past adventures with Jiminy." Kairi held onto Yuki's hand. Yuki stared at Riku.
"Riku?" she asked.
"Yeah?"
"Uh...Why is your hair tied in a ponytail like a girl?" Kairi gave a light giggle. Riku frowned.
"I work in a lab. I don't want my hair to catch on fire."
"So, why don't you cut it?"
"Look, I have long hair. Your mom has shoulder-length. Your dad has bed-hair."
"Hey!" Sora interrupted. "It's a controlled mess."
"Luckily for you," Riku continued as if ignoring Sora, "you got your hair style from your mom although the color is your dad's."
"Oh." At that moment, three others joined them. Sora immediately recognized King Mickey and Queen Minnie but he was left to assume that the last one was Max. The three stopped directly in front of the visitors and Riku. Sora bowed lightly and Yuki, quickly following Kairi, curtsied. King Mickey chuckled.
"There's no need for formalities. Haha." Sora scratched his head, feeling joyous meeting friends for the first time in years. Queen Minnie laughed behind her hand.
"Did Max tell you about the incident I told him to mention?"
"Oh, yes. It is very serious. The stars are disappearing again but very slowly this time. That's why I haven't realized it before."
"How?" Minnie asked with a tilt of her head.
"I don't know but for right now it would be best if I have Chip and Dale enhance the Gummi Ship."
"Awesome." Sora remarked.
"King Mickey, Queen Minnie," Kairi spoke, "I want to also join this fight against the darkness."
"Of course. Yuki will stay in the castle as an honored guest. In the meantime, while the Gummi Ship is enhance, you could all stay in the spare bedrooms." King Mickey informed.
"There's more than enough." Queen Minnie added when she saw Kairi and Sora throwing a quick worried glance at each other. Throughout the conversation between adults, Yuki was staring at the new people. She did not comment on anything but she was brimming with curiosity. "Riku, can you take them to a room on the third floor of the west wing?" Riku nodded. The King and Queen left. Max stayed with them.
Sora, turning to Max, asked, "How's Goofy?"
"He's okay," Max answered. "I can't wait to tell him that you're back. Him and Donald told me lots about you guys."
"Go ahead," Riku told him with a smile, "and Donald too. They'll be ecstatic." Max ran off. As soon as he left, Riku motioned them to follow with a wave of his hand.
Riku guided them up two flights of stairs and were now walking past large doors down a long hallway. Kairi and Riku were talking about the past adventures as Sora and Yuki had their own conversation behind them. "Papa?" Yuki asked as she tugged on his hand.
"Yes?"
"Why didn't you or Mama tell me about this place? Who were the others? Who are Donald and Goofy? What does King Mickey mean when he says that the stars are disappearing? Can stars disappear?"
"One question at a time," Sora chuckled. "Riku, your mom, and I went in a lot of adventures. We were separated for most of them. Kairi went missing when Destiny Island disappeared."
"Disappeared? Grandma and grandpa too?"
"Mm-hm."
Everyone stopped in front of a set of double doors. Riku opened the door to a vast room. Everyone but Riku gasped. "Woah." A large bed with light blue sheets and pillows was placed under a large window, which had it's white curtains parted along the middle to allow the moonlight to seep through. A large vanity mirror faced the large bed and besides the mirror stood a sofa for three. The walls were blue, ceiling light blue with a crystal chandelier but the floor was covered with a white carpet. There was a small circular table in the middle of the room with two seats. A dresser was next to the bed and another door besides it. Yuki ran to the door and saw that it led to a bathroom which had a large bathtub, toilet, sink, and medicine cabinet with a mirror on it. She ran across the room to open another door which concealed a walk-in closet.
Yuki gasped, "This place is amazing!" She ran and jumped on the bed. The three adults joined her. Sora and Kairi sat on either side of her. Riku grabbed onto one of the chairs from the small table and pulled it in front of the others. He turned it around and straddled it, leaning forward.
"Yuki, remember how you dressed as a mermaid for Halloween?" Sora asked.
"Yeah!"
"What would you say if I said they really existed and I became friends with them?"
"Really?"
"Yup. Do you wanna hear about the adventures we had when we were younger?"
"Yeah!" For hours, the trio re-lived the past and stopped every now and then to answer a question or two from Yuki. When the trio finished the story by cutting the story after Kairi returned to Destiny Island, they noticed Yuki had begun nodding off and decided to continue the story another time. Riku wished them goodnight and left. Yuki was placed between Sora and Kairi.
Not an hour passed when Kairi said, "Sora, what will happen now?"
"We'll fix it like before. We'll go visit worlds and close them off so no more heartless can get them. I'm sure that we'll figure where they are coming from and put a stop to whoever is controlling them."
"Yeah, okay. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."