Estimated time frame is early to mid KH1. As always, thanks for reading! Requests are always welcome!

Crossing The Line

Donald and Goofy were from another world. That fact in itself amazed Sora. In hopes of expanding his horizons, he asked them endless questions about themselves and the worlds they'd seen. They were so unlike the islanders from his homeworld - both in the obvious physical sense and in the not so physical sense too. They fascinated him to almost to end until the day he finally had enough of them.

It began with the typical argument with the duck about what radio station to listen to. Things somehow escalated from there. Then Goofy tried to step in and resolve things, and he only made things worse.

"You two just ought to forgive each other already," he said, literally holding Donald back from lunging at Sora.

Sora cowered behind the gummi ship seat. He popped his head up from the seat to momentarily say, "Donald has to apologize first for being such a hothead!" before hiding again.

"Let me go!" Donald squawked at Goofy as he kicked and swatted at him. He shot a glare at Sora. "Why you little-"

"Come on Donald! Little what? You never finish!" Sora said, further provoking the mage.

Goofy cut in swiftly. "That's enough, Sora. Donald, apologize so we could move onto the next world already."

When Goofy wasn't looking, Sora stuck out his tongue at Donald as a child would have.

"I'm not apologizing," Donald declared. He wouldn't even look at Sora anymore.

"Oh well fine then," Goofy said. "You apologize first, Sora."

"What did I do!?"

"Don't even bother with him," Donald told Goofy. "All he cares about it finding his stupid friends."

Goofy opened his mouth as if about to respond, but Sora interrupted.

"All you two ever care about is finding your stupid king!"

Silence.

Sora had gone too far, and he knew it, but he kept going regardless. "You guys never cared about me or Riku and Kairi. You're just...you're using me for my keyblade because your stupid king told you to!" His pubescent voice cracked when he said it.

"Now hold on just a minute," Goofy said, letting go of Donald abruptly. He lifted a gloved hand to point his index finger in a as-a-matter-of-fact kind of way. "King Mickey is not stupid and we aren't just using ya; we're all just trying to help each other!"

Donald, as if to back him up, nodded angrily. "Yeah!" he said.

Sora stared at them accusingly. "You care more about your king than you care about me. And… Well I don't think he cares about you guys!"

He didn't mean what he had said. He knew that. Donald knew that. Goofy did too. But even so, the tone of his voice when he had said it...it was too much. He had insulted the king and questioned the king's friendship with Donald and Goofy.

He had, simply put, crossed the line.

This was enough to even upset the always passive Goofy.

"Well if that's how you feel, why don't you just go then, Sora," Goofy snapped as he gestured towards the gummi ship exit.

Both Sora and Donald were startled by Goofy's outburst. Out of the three of them, Goofy was always the one to never let his anger get the best of him, no matter the situation. Sora had really done it then.

Donald tried to hide his surprise, but Sora was visibly shocked. He raised his eyebrows and his once confident and cocky tone quieted significantly.

"Huh?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Goofy said no more. He stormed over to the passenger seat and sat down. He crossed his arms and stared out the window just as Donald always did when he was angry.

"Well, fine!" Sora said, making his way towards the exit. "I'm leaving!"

"Good riddance you good for nothing palooka!" Donald called out as Sora stormed out of the ship into the sandy town of Agrabah.

When Sora had exited the gummi ship, he made sure to slam the doors behind him.

Eventually, Goofy calmed down and began to worry.

"Aw, I shouldn'ta told him to leave," Goofy admitted, looking guilty. "We ought to go look for him and apologize."

Donald huffed. "Ah, who needs him?" he asked stubbornly.

Goofy put on his serious face. "Like it or not, King Mickey told us to follow the key. And besides, Sora's our friend. Friends need to stick together."

Donald appeared to be considering his words, but he refused to admit that he was right. "You heard what he said about the king!" he said.

Goofy hesitated. "I'm sure Sora didn't mean any of that. Come on, Donald. I think we all had enough time to cool off. We hafta go look for him now!"

"Fine!" squawked the bird, though he looked very relieved, as if he was waiting for Goofy to suggest looking for Sora all along.

But just as the pair proceeded to exit the ship, Goofy clumsily tripped over his untied shoelaces. In the fairly dramatic fall, his arms went flailing against the many red buttons on the control panel. In doing so, he yelled out "YAAAAAAA-HOO-HOO-HOO-HOOOEEEYYYY!" and suddenly the gummi ship engine roared. The autopilot function had been activated.

A timer appeared on a small screen counting down takeoff.

10

9

"Goofy! What did you do!?" Donald exclaimed, rushing over to the control panel to attempt to turn everything off.

8

"Uh, I don't know!" Goofy shouted in return. "I didn't even know we had an autopilot button!"

7

6

"Turn it off!"

5

"I'm trying!"

4

3

2

"Waaaak!"

1

In a flash, the gummi ship took off. When it did, a panicked scream came from just outside.

Donald and Goofy momentarily stared at each other as if to confirm the fact that the scream was, in fact, Sora's. As it turned out, he had never left at all. He was outside on the gummi ship all along.

They rushed to the door and swung it open. There, hanging onto the gummi ship for dear life, stood Sora, eyes wide. Donald and Goofy each took one of his arms and pulled him inside.

The door shut behind them. Sora had fallen on top of Donald and Goofy. He was shivering.

"Sora!" cried Donald and Goofy, in unison.

Sora stood up with a frozen, frightened expression on his face. He hadn't expected the gummi ship to take off so suddenly.

Goofy felt Sora's forehead with the back of his hand as if to check for a fever. "Are you alright, Sora?" he asked with a deep frown.

"You're crazy!" Donald squawked. "You can't be exposed to the darkness like that! It's dangerous! When we're in the gummi ship it's safe, but not when we're outside of it!"

Sora's frightened expression suddenly softened. He looked visibly pained. "You guys were really gonna leave without me?" he asked.

Donald smacked his forehead. "Of course not!" He pointed to all of Goofy with all his might. "Goofy tripped!"

Goofy frowned a bit. "Aw, I'm sorry, Sora. I didn't mean to yell at ya and trip and all."

Donald nodded shamefully. "I'm sorry too," he said, looking down.

Sora took in the moment to study them. They looked so sad, and that made him feel sad, too. They got on his nerves often - especially Donald - but his level of irritability was to be expected. He had just lost so much. He had lost his friends. His family.

But Donald and Goofy...they were his friends. His family. They hadn't replaced his friends and family from the islands, but they were still important to him regardless.

Sora rushed up to them and wrapped his arms around them both. "I'm really sorry too, guys," he said. "I shouldn't have said what I did. Now, stop frowning! Remember what you told me? No frowning!" He grinned as he let them go.

That made Donald and Goofy give each other a look before they burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Sora asked as he laughed himself.

"Your face!" Donald said, pointing at him.

"Hey!" Sora exclaimed, almost ready to start bickering with the duck again.

The laughter of the three of them filled the air until Goofy took notice that the gummi ship was still in flight to Kingdom Hearts knew where.

"Er, fellas?" he said, glancing at the control panel.

"Don't ruin the moment, Goofy!" Donald said, hushing him up.

Their laughter resumed, and nothing else (not even the fact that they would probably crash land into a world in a solid two minutes) mattered.