"Wooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww!" Sori drew out the word into one long sound as she entered the cockpit. There were so many different shiny looking buttons levers and the like. Sori rushed around the cockpit, keyblade still in hand and poked at various things in an attempt to find out what they were.

"Hey!"

"Ow!" Sori swiftly withdrew her left hand from a button and examined the small red mark on her finger. At first she thought she must have caught it on something, but then she remembered the voice that had called out and looked around. There was no one there.

"Down here!" Sori looked down and saw two rather annoyed looking chipmunks standing on the console in front of her.

"Do you know what any of these things could do?" one of them asked.

"Yeah," added the other one. "Anything could happen,"

"I'm ... sorry," said Sori, looking very surprised by the chipmunks. "Who are you?"

"Chip 'n' Dale."

"Nice to meet you. Sorry, about the buttons. I'm just overexcited."

"Yeah?" asked Dale, looking eager.

"I just can't wait to explore other worlds," she said. She thought about sitting down in one of the chairs, but then thought against it. "Where was it the King said we were going? Enchanted... Something."

"Enchanted Dominion?" asked Chip, and Dale bounced off to the navigation computers. Sori nodded.

"Yeah. That was it I think. Do you know what's there?"

"That's where the Princess Aurora lives."

"She's one of the Princesses of Heart, right? Like Mom?"

"Kairi too, yeah," nodded Dale, and bounded back across the console, having set the navigation computer.

"She's queen now. Princess Aurora that is," said Chip.

"Really?" The chipmunks nodded.

"Yep," they said together.

"Sori!" Mizu catapulted into the room, still holding his keyblade too. "Quit running so fast!" Then he noticed the chipmunks. "Uh... hi."

"Hi!" Dale waved at him.

"Yeah..." Mizu looked back at his sister. "Kazé's behind me and the others are behind her. They shouldn't be too long."

"OK," said Sori, and sat down in one of the chairs, swinging it all the way around. I can't wait!"

Sori and Mizu both took an instant liking to the cockpit and zooming through the cosmos. Kazé was less drawn in. All that was going through her mind now was the fact that her siblings were wearing her out. They were both far too childish. Kazé left the cockpit, leaving her parents to deal with the out-of-control children, and went to find a place to herself. It was surprisingly quiet out of the cockpit. Kazé sat down and held out her arm, summoning her keyblade again and looking at it. It felt heavier than it had before somehow. She sighed.

"Was this a mistake," she asked herself out loud. "I don't know if I'm cut out for this. But I promised to look after them."

"Isn't that good enough?" came the unexpected reply. Kazé started and looked up to see Axel watching her. He sat down by her side and looked at her. She shrugged and continued without looking at him.

"Dunno. I'm not sure I'm brave enough."

"You have that thing, right?" Axel waved at the keyblade in her hands. Kazé looked at the shining white again.

"Does that make me brave?" she asked.

"We'll find out," he said, raising his injured left arm. "You value your siblings, and you have heart. That's something I'm not going to be getting back in a hurry." He clicked his fingers and a tiny flame lit on the edge of his fingers. Kazé turned and watched the tiny flame writhe on the tips of his fingers and then spoke.

"How's your arm?" she asked. Axel shrugged.

"Better than what you would have taken it," he replied. "That's the advantage of being a Nobody. We don't bleed. Still hurt though."

"Will it get better then?" asked Kazé. Axel nodded.

"Should do. Plus I really want her to know how it feels." He looked sideways. "Go on. Smile." Kazé smiled slightly.

"I'm still afraid," she said. "I don't like the idea of fighting the Heartless, Nobodies and especially not the Organisation themselves. I'm not Sori, or Mizu for that matter." Axel smiled.

"You'll be fine," he said, standing up and patting her on the shoulder as he got up and walked back to the cockpit. Kazé didn't move though. She didn't move until they had landed.

Kazé was the first one out of the Gummi ship after the landing. The grass brushed against her feet as she stepped out into the green tinted sunlight of a wood. The air smelt sweet, like spring flowers. It seemed peaceful: not at all like she had imagined it. Kairi walked down from the ship and joined her daughter on the grass. Kazé smiled at her.

"It's beautiful." Kairi nodded in agreement.

"It's quiet," she said. "Where are they?"

"They?"

"The King said that the Heartless held this world. If that's the case then… where are they?" Kaze thought. Yes. Where were they? Suddenly the pretty little wood seemed cold and empty and the only thing Kazé could hear (aside from Sori and Mizu clattering down the gangway to have a look at this new world) was the wind rustling the leaves on the branches of the trees. It was too quiet for a wood almost.

What happened to the birds? she wondered. Sori noticed too.

"Why's it so quiet?" she asked rather loudly, resulting in her mother shushing her. Riku was next to join them on the grass. He cast his eyes around the wood but didn't say anything. Mizu brought his keyblade to rest on his shoulder with an impressive sounding swish and looked up at him.

"Riku?"

"Yeah?"

"Where're the Heartless?"

"That's a good question. But they could still be here for all we know?"

"Huh?"

"You don't have to see them for them to be here. The King said they were here, so I'm guessing they are."

Kazé summoned her keyblade almost inadvertently. Her contentedness of only a few minutes before had vanished completely. Kairi summoned hers too and stood still, just looking around. Sori looked back up the gangway and waved as the King came down the gangway. Donald and Goofy were behind him and Sora behind them.

"Where's Axel?" asked Sori.

"Here." A dark corridor whooshed open behind Sori and Axel stood there grinning. "And yep. There's Heartless here."

"How do you know?" asked Donald.

"Trust me on this," said Axel. "I saw a few in the dark corridors. Besides, I don't like the quiet. So when do we start cleanup?"

"When we find them," said Sora as though this was obvious.

"So are we going to just step around blindly?" asked Kairi. "Nobody here has ever come here before. Shouldn't we at least find someone?"

"But there's no one around," said Sori. "Besides which way do we go? We're in the middle of a wood. How do we know which way's out and which way's further in?" There was a silence.

"I dunno, Sori," said Goofy after a while. A scream broke the air. Everyone looked in the direction it came from.

"Something is telling me that way is a good place to start," said Axel, summoning his chakrams in two wheels of fire, and everyone set off at a run.

A chestnut-haired girl stood in a glade not far away, clinging to her basket as though it was the only thing in the world that could protect her. Her blue dress seemed rather out of place to them. Blue was an odd colour for a dress like that. She was cowering away from a circle of Heartless creatures that had surrounded her. Riku summoned Way to the Dawn and looked ran forwards, hacking down a soldier. The others followed him into the fray as the Heartless now turned their attention from the girl and flew straight towards Riku. Kazé ran to the girl, who was frozen in fear.

"Come on!" she cried and pulled at the girl's arm. She barely moved. She was still shaking.

"Kazé!" It was Mom. Kairi tried to escape the tangle of shadows around her to try and reach her daughter but to little avail. Kazé looked up.

"I'm just getting her out of here. Help." Kairi brought her Keyblade around, destroying two Heartless in the process, and tried to fight her way towards Kazé. Sori and Mizu were slashing at Heartless (both looking as if their birthdays had come early).

"Thunder!" Everyone took a step back from their opponents as Donald cast his spell. Most of the Heartless disintegrated under the lightning strikes across their battle field, but just as the Heartless fell, more appeared out of dark corridors.

"Oh, COME ON!" yelled Sora, looking annoyed.

"That means there's probably more Heartless here than we thought," said the King, jumping backwards and readying his own keyblade for attack. Axel shrugged.

"We can take them," he said, throwing two fiery chakrams across the field. Kazé pulled the girl across the field and into the woods. Kairi tried to reach her, but more Heartless emerged and blocked her path. Kairi raised her keyblade again and cut at them but they were determined not to let her past. Kazé looked back with despair but then made up her mind and pulled the girl further away. Kairi, knowing what she must do, retreated and stood back with the others.

"Where's Kazé?" asked Sora.

"Escaped with that girl," said Kairi. "I'm going after her as soon as I can. Where's Sori?"

"Was she not with you?"

"No. I thought she'd gone to help you."

"And Mizu?"

"He was with Sori last time I saw him."

"So now where are they?"

"I'll go and look for them," said Riku. "They can't be far." He struggled out of the battle and headed off in the direction he had last seen the two of them. That left Sora and Kairi with Axel, Donald, Goofy and King Mickey. The Heartless were still coming. Donald sighed.

"Not again," he said. All of them were getting tired now, but nobody was going to give up. Sora brought up a second keyblade and dived back into the action. Donald and Goofy followed him. King Mickey somersaulted past the three of them and killed three Heartless, before they even knew what was going on. Kairi raised Destiny's Embrace in a defensive position. Axel lost patience and summoned his fire throwing balls of flame straight into the middle of the crowd of Heartless. The Heartless that weren't caught up in the flames scattered and were destroyed by magic, shield chakram or keyblade. Finally, after what seemed like ages, there was only one left. The Scarlet Tangent hung in the air facing them and then vanished, a chakram hitting the tree just behind where it had just been hovering.

"Damn," hissed Axel, marching back up to his chakram and pulling it out of the tree. "That's not gonna be good."

"What do you mean?" asked Kairi.

"That guy himself won't bother me, but it's what he'll tell the others, I'm worried about."

"So," said the King. "We'll need to leave before one of them has the chance to arrive."

"The Generals?" asked Donald. Axel nodded.

"At least one."

"So let's find the others," said Goofy. "Then we can get outta here as soon as we can."

"I'll go after Kazé," said Kairi.

"I'll come with you," said Sora.

"And so will we," said Donald, and Goofy nodded. Kairi shook her head.

"I'll go on my own. I'll be fine."
"Kairi..."

"Sora, I'll be fine. I'm capable. Besides, if we carry on like this, who else is going to help find people? If I go after Kazé, you guys can find if anyone else is around. Riku'll probably head back anyway when he's found the other two. Kazé'll be safe. I promise." Kairi kissed Sora on the cheek and ran off into the trees. Sora looked at Axel and then at the King.

"Now what?" he asked him.

"Clear the path," he answered. "We'll need to do that to stand a chance at getting to Radiant Garden." Axel nodded and then began to walk off.

"And where are you going?" asked Donald, tapping his webbed feet impatiently. Axel turned back with a small smile.

"To find someone?" he asked. Sora opened his mouth to say something but the King pulled on his sleeve to attract his attention.

"I'll watch him. It's OK," he said. Sora nodded.

"Be careful, Your Majesty," Goofy put in. The King nodded in acknowledgement and followed Axel. Sora looked to his friends, Donald and Goofy, the only ones left.

"Just like old times," he said, and they both nodded.

Kazé checked behind her. The Heartless didn't seem to be following them, so she decided to stop running. The girl still looked frightened, but slightly less-so now that she was away from the Heartless. She wrapped her arms around the basket and sat down on a log, shivering slightly. Kazé put away her keyblade away and sat down beside her.

"Are you all right," she asked. The girl looked up, he chestnut curls cascading down her shoulders. On closer inspection she didn't look much older than Kazé: sixteen at the most.

"What were those things?" she asked. "Who sent them?"

"Heartless," Kazé replied. "But they're gone now. I'm Kazé by the way."

"My name's Rose: Princess Rose. I live just over that hill." She gestured though the now-thinning trees to a hill beyond a tall castle.

"In the castle?" asked Kazé. Rose shook her head.

"No. That's my Grandfather's castle. My Grandmother lives there still, but it is nowhere near as busy as our castle. I live on the other side of the hill."

"Oh," Kazé smiled. "Should I take you back there?" The young princess shook her head.

"No. It may be better to go to the castle of my Grandmother. It's the nearest and we will be safer there." She stood up and let her basket swing down to her side. "You're not from this kingdom, are you?"

"No, Your Highness." Rose laughed slightly.

"You don't have to call me that," she said. "We're friends now, Kazé. Just call me Rose."

"Thank you, Rose." Rose smiled at her.

"I suppose we will meet up with Edward there."

"Who's Edward?" asked Kazé.

"My brother. He was in the woods too. He is strong though. I know he'll have made it out all right." She set off walking. "Come on, Kazé," she smiled. "I'll show you were a queen lives."

Sori and Mizu had broken away from the main battle to follow a group of Heartless soldiers into the wood when they had left. They had got so into their fighting that now they were lost. The two of them kept close together and tried to follow the sound of the Heartless that they knew were reselling in the trees and the grass. They were walking slowly now, and careful of where they went. Mizu knew that with every step he took he was getting more and more lost. Maybe that was what the Heartless had wanted all the long? No. He dismissed the thought. That made him feel to uncomfortable.

Before long the two of them had found another clearing on the edge of a river. The river moved slowly and almost silently in the stillness and there (Sori jumped for joy) beside the river was a little cottage. Sori sprinted across the field and banged on the door, Mizu right behind her.

"Hello," she called, but there was no reply.

"Hello..." Mizu also said, but slightly more quietly than his sister. Sori gave the door a slight push and it slid open. It looked as though someone had lived here. The rooms they could see showed all furniture and everything else was still arranged as it should be if someone was living there. They first considered that the owners of the cottage may be out and then they noticed the thick layer of dust over everything in the cottage and the spider's webs that bad build up in the corners. Their footprints made little dark patches on the greyish carpet of dust. No one had been living here for at least thirty years. Slightly disappointed, Sori closed the door again and turned back to walk the way they'd come but both she and her brother stopped abruptly. Neither she nor Mizu had noticed the Heartless soldiers sneaking up on them and now they were surrounded. Both of them quickly summoned their keyblades and prepared to fight but someone else had joined them first. A young man with a sword arrived and swiftly dispatched a single soldier. The Heartless, now unsure who to attack, then when for whoever was nearest. The fight was rather boring and easy compared to the first fight when they had arrived. When the last of the soldiers were destroyed there was a long silence. Mizu eventually remembered his tongue.

"Uh... Thanks."

"Why were you here?" asked the young man. "You look like travellers. Why were you here?" Sori bit her lip.

"We were looking for someone to help us," she said.

"Help you with what?" asked the young man. Sori and Mizu looked at each other. They remembered how their Dad had taught them that no world should be brought to know the existence of others. Sori swallowed and then continued as best as she could.

"We passed through this kingdom on the way to another, but we decided to try and help fight the Heartless. We just didn't realise there would be so many." The young man looked satisfied. He sheathed his sword and looked at the two of them.

"There have been many of the dark shadows here lately," he said. "I had never seen them before. They started a few days ago, coming down from the Forbidden Mountain. My mother said that it happened once before when I was young, and the shadows swallowed the world."

"That's terrible," said Sori. "Where's the Forbidden Mountain? If we could go then..." The young man shook his head.

"No," he said. "No one goes to the Forbidden Mountains. That is Maleficent's domain." Sori's breath caught in her throat. She remembered Maleficent in stories when she was small: an evil witch who would destroy anything for power and revenge. Mizu looked at his sister then at the young man.

"Then what do we do?" he asked. "It'd be more use to go and fight them there." The young man shook his head.

"Few people who enter Maleficent's fortress ever return," he said. "My father was one of the few. He says that it is terrible in there. If you choose to go I will not stop you, but I am not coming with you. If you reach trouble in there I will not be able to help you. Are you still resolved to go?" The two looked at each other and then nodded. The young man sighed. "Then go," he said and turned back into the woods. "I must find my sister. If she escaped the Heartless..."

"Your sister?" asked Sori loudly. "Does she have brown hair, blue eyes and a blue dress?" The young man turned back to them.

"Yes," he said eagerly. "That would be her. Have you seen her?"
"Yeah," said Mizu. "Our sister took her away from the danger."

"So if Rose escaped the Heartless she would head straight for our Grandmother's castle," said the young man more to himself than to others. "I will go and look for her."

"Castle?" asked Sori, as the young man turned away. The young man looked back.

"Yes," he said. "I am Prince Edward, and now I must find my sister." He vanished into the trees. Mizu looked at Sori.

"Which way is the Forbidden Mountain anyway?" he asked. Sori looked annoyed with herself.

"We should have asked the Prince," she said. "Now how do we get there?" Mizu walked out into the middle of the glen and looked around. All he could see was trees, and beyond then, high hills with beautiful meadows rose. Mizu turned away from the hills towards the other side of the wood. Here the hills had become huge and rocky mountains of a bluish rock and covered in snow. That was save one.

One mountain rose taller and darker than those around it, yet there was no trace of snow. Upon its dark summit was a castle made of even darker stone. Huge dark clouds hung over the mountain, and thunder rolled down its side.

"Sori," Mizu said pointing. "I'm guessing it's that one."

"Come on," nodded Sori, and the pair of them headed off towards the dark mountain.