"Are you all ready for us to go?" Mickey asked the island teens. Since Riku and Sora returned from the Realm of Darkness, the King and his Royal entourage have been staying at Destiny Islands, making sure that everyone adjusted accordingly. Just because their journey was done doesn't mean that they stopped caring about the teen's well-being, or even could at this point.

"Willing, yes," Riku said, dragging supplies to the beach where the Gummi Ship awaited them.

"Ready, not exactly," Sora admitted. It felt great to be home, but felt even better to bring these two adventures to one conclusion and he wasn't quite sure he was ready to say goodbye.

"Aw, don't worry, Sora," Goofy said. "After all, if you think about us and keep our memory in your heart-"

"Yeah, yeah, 'If you're in my heart then we're never apart' don't Pooh me, Goofy," Sora half teased.

"Gawsh, Sora, I was just trying to make you feel better," Goofy said, dejected.

Sora sighed. "I know, it's just not the same as having you here, you know?"

"Yeah, Goofy, you hafta remember, Sora is going to have a way harder time when we're gone," Donald said, trying to get a reaction out of the teen. As he suspected, it worked.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!?" Sora asked.

"With all the times we saved your butt, it's a surprise you lasted this long without us," Donald hand-waved him as he walked past him.

Sora clenched his fist and shook his head, which caused Donald to laugh and Riku to let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Welcome to my world," he muttered under his breath.

Sora spun around to look at Riku. "Hey, don't encourage him!" Riku laughed and shook his head.

"It was great having you on the island!" Kairi said, trotting in with some coconuts for the road and Pluto bouncing happily alongside her.

"Thanks for letting us stay!" Goofy said, taking the coconuts from her and putting it with their supply.

Kairi put her hands behind her back and giggled. "Anytime! I know the boys really enjoyed having you guys here!"

"I'm sorry Queen Minnie or Daisy couldn't come up, Kairi," Mickey said.

"No worries!" Kairi beamed, "I know running a Kingdom you can't exactly drop everything to sunbathe all day. Plus, Pluto did a great job keeping me company!"

Pluto barked happily beside her. Kairi reached down to pet him and Mickey and Riku went over to praise the dog.

Sora turned to Donald and Goofy and scratched the back of his head. "So, I… I guess this is goodbye," Sora said quietly.

"Aww, we don't have to leave right now, Sora," Donald said.

"Yeah, you know how the Gummi ship works," Goofy said, "it runs on laughter and happy faces, so we can't leave until you feel entirely fine with us leaving."

"Heh," Sora said under his breath, "you may be here a while then."

Donald and Goofy looked concerned at each other then at Sora. The rest of the group looked over at the trio, but didn't say anything in fear of ruining the process.

When Sora noticed all eyes on him, his face grew hot and he looked down at his feet. Nope, I'm not going to do it, Sora thought as he felt behind his eyes begin to sting. That's when he felt himself being pulled into an embrace by the Royal Guard. That's when he felt the tears escape. Dammit he thought to himself. He hugged Goofy and clutched his shirt. He felt Donald join in on the group hug and buried his face into Goofy's shoulder.

"We're gonna miss you, too, Sora," Goofy whispered into Sora's ear, "but you're home now."

"The King still has rule over Destiny Islands," Donald pointed out.

Sora nodded in understanding, but wasn't quite ready to let go. "It's alright, just let it all out," Goofy said. "Just like the Darkness, don't let it consume you."

Sora silently sobbed into Goofy's shoulder. He was holding this all in since the return. When the King said that they didn't have to take off right away, Sora was ecstatic. This really was the end of the journey.

"Don't cry because it's over," Donald said soothingly, "cry because it happened." Sora and Goofy nodded without thinking and then realized what Donald had said. Donald stiffened up when Mickey let out a nervous cough.

"Er, Donald, wrong quote," Mickey said while Riku and Kairi snickered among themselves. "It's 'Don't cry because it's over, smile because'-"

"I know I butchered that quote, but with all due respect, Your Majesty, you're ruining the moment!" Donald blurted out, which caused a small snicker from Sora.

Goofy chucked. "Well, mission accomplished either way." They let Sora go and he wiped his eyes with a small smile on his face.

"Sora, Donalds right, though," Goofy said, grasping Sora's shoulders. "grief is the price you pay for love, and the only way to not grief is to never feel love, and how horrible would that be?"

Sora sniffled, "You put that a little more eloquently than Donald." Donald crossed his arms and impatiently tapped his foot.

"Hey, I do have my moments!" Goofy winked. Sora gave a shy smile. Goofy smiled back. "Actually, I know what you need!" Goofy started clapping and gave a knowing smile to Donald. Donald smiled and nodded in agreement and started clapping along.

Sora rolled his eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh. "Really, here and now!?" While the others watched the trio in confusion.

"We always did this to cheer you up and get you pumped up," Donald reminded him. "You better give it your all this will be the last time in a while."

Sora sighed and half-heartedly clapped along, fighting the grin that was forming on his face.

Mickey started to recognize the rhythm and Pluto barked excitedly. "What's happening?" Riku asked nervously.

"Nothing," Mickey said, "at least nothing to be-"

"WHO'S THE LEADER OF THE CLUB THAT'S MADE FOR YOU AND ME!?" Goofy interrupted at the top of his lungs, which made Sora immediately break composure.

"M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!" Donald shouted back.

Riku and Kairi burst out laughing watching Sora trying to act like the silly chant was having no effect on him. "C'mon, Sora!" Goofy said. "HEY, THERE! HI, THERE! HO, THERE! YOU'RE AS WELCOME AS CAN BE!"

"M-i-c-k-e-y M-o-u-s-e," Sora embarrassingly sang looking back at Riku and Kairi.

"Oh no," Goofy playfully chastised, "not letting you off that easy, MICKEY MOUSE."

"DONALD DUCK!" Donald shouted, reaching up under Sora's jacket, causing Sora to jump away and shoot a nervous glance over to Riku and Kairi, who were enjoying every minute of his embarrassment.

"MICKEY MOUSE!" Goofy shouted, grabbing shoulders and shaking him.

"Don't make us do the hot dog dance too, Sora," Donald threatened.

"I want to see the hot dog dance," Kairi whispered to Riku, who nodded in agreement.

Sora chuckled and sighed. They're not letting up, better placate them. He thought.

"FOREVER LET US HOLD OUR BANNERS HIGH!" Goofy shouted.

"HIGH! HIGH! HIGH!" Sora shouted along with Donald as they panemimed flying a banner above their heads.

"There ya, go!" Goofy praised. Riku and Kairi clapped and Sora rolled his eyes and smiled.

"COME ALONG AND SING THIS SONG AND JOIN THE JAMBOREE!" the trio sang-shout together "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!"

Goofy and Donald chuckled and Sora crossed his arms and shook his head.

"You two don't quit, do you?" Sora asked.

"You know as well as we do that that's nowhere near all our tricks," Donald said.

Sora looked confused for a moment then looked between Donald and Goofy. The look in their eyes; he knew what their next stop was. It was always the same, let him get out his negative emotions, get him neutral, and then get him laughing. "You realize I was just playing along back on the Gummi ship," Sora stalled. "I was just taking one for the team, I'm not ticklish."

"BULL-" Riku and Kairi both started and then looked around at the attention they caused. Riku looked away and Kairi relaxed her shoulders, waiting to see what would happen.

"It's not nice to fib, Sora," Goofy chastised.

"I'm not fibbing, I'm-" Sora started then jumped back as he caught Donald fake lunging at him from the corner of his eye. Donald looked amused as Sora shielded himself with his hands with a huge grin on his face. Sora took note of his posture and nervously giggled as he relaxed and put his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, Donald, call his bluff!" Riku said. Sora shot him a look and didn't notice Goofy lunge at him from behind.

Goofy stuck his fingers into Sora's armpits causing the teen to jump and throw his arms to his side, trying hard to hold in the laughter. The others snickered at his expense as Sora tried to curl into a ball to get away from Goofy.

The odds weren't in his favor as his face still felt puffy from crying and he was trying to hold in the laughter. Dammit, I can't give Goofy the satisfaction. He realized he failed when he let out a loud snort and threw his face into his hands.

"Oh no, not letting that happen," Goofy teased and dropped his hands to Sora's side. Sora squeaked and arched his back trying to get away. Goofy grabbed one of Sora's wrists before he could slip away and held up for free range on Sora's ribs. Sora shied away from Goofy as Goofy's other hand went for the bottom of Sora's ribs. Sora managed to swat Goofy's hand away every time he tried. Goofy looked Sora in the eyes and the teen let out a giggle as they were at a stand still.

Goofy furrowed his brow and caught Sora's other hand and held them both about his head. Sora erupted into a fresh fit of laughter and threw his entire weight back to get Goofy to let go.

"Donald!" Goofy called out just as they would do to each other in combat.

"Goofy!?" Sora gasped, seeming to forget they weren't alone for a moment.

Goofy pulled the teen closer to see the look of betrayal in his eyes. "Sora!" he mocked. Sora scanned the guard's eyes. He dropped his head and chucked right as he felt two fingers dig into the bottom of his rib cage.

"One!" Donald teased. Sora erupted in laughter and arched his back hard. He didn't realize how hard until he could feel his footing start to slip on the sandy shore and slide toward Goofy. Donald moved his fingers up his rib cage slightly, "Two!" he teased again. Sora started to curl into the fetal position, not realizing he was slipping in-between Goody's legs. Goofy jumped backwards while still hanging onto Sora. Sora could see there was no use trying to catch himself so he dead-weighted himself in an effort to get free from Goofy.

Donald took a step back as Sora fell to the ground and Goofy slightly stumbled forward still holding onto Sora. It was now not so much trying to keep him pinned, but to keep the boy from falling too hard. "Sora," Goofy chuckled.

Donald stepped in to see Sora with his famous huge grin, eyes darting back and forth between Donald and Goofy. He giggled as he saw the looks on their faces of both amusement and shear confusion. "I couldn't let him get to three!" Sora sputtered.

Donald laughed. "What would happen if I got to three!?" he asked.

Sora started laughing again at the ridiculousness that he was putting himself in. He had wound up pinning himself even more under Goofy with Donald hovering over him. He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know," he wheezed.

"Gawsh, try four, Sora," Goofy said bluntly. Sora threw his head back in a whole new round of laughter and Goofy let go of his wrists now that he was safely on the ground. Sora put his face in his hands; he could feel his face turning red.

"I understand Sora, counting can be hard," Donald teased and Sora shook his head.

"Shuttup," Sora murmured through his hands. He could already feel he was never going to live this one down.

"Alright crash course time, then!" Goofy said as he grabbed one of Sora's hands and Donald grabbed the other. Sora tried to kick out from underneath Goofy, who kept him in place by simply sitting on his stomach.

"Ready?" Donald cooed.

"No!" Sora laughed.

"Too bad!" Donald clapped back as he and Goofy started counting his ribs in unison.

"One, two, three, four-" Sora erupted into a fresh fit of laughter kicking his feet and trying with all his strength to pull his arms down to his side. With both Goofy and Donald working together, he knew there was no way to get out of it. He could barely do it when it was Riku and Kairi. "Five, six-" Kairi put her hands over her ears, knowing what was about to come and braced for impact. Riku nudged the King and they both followed suit. Pluto put his head down and covered his ears with his paws. "Seven, eight-" that was it.

Sora screamed in laughter and panic set in. He dug his feet in sand and tried to buck in an effort to throw Goofy off of him. Goofy barely moved as all of Sora's strength felt just about gone. He squirmed and tried to roll to his side in the fetal position in an effort to show surrender as his lungs began to burn. "Gu- I- St-" Sora started to sputter when Donald and Goofy finally stopped, and Goofy sat up to sit on his knees still ready to grab Sora in a split second. The others in the party also relaxed. Sora took some deep breaths through residual laughter and wiped his eyes, just now noticing they were wet.

"Geez, guys," Sora finally sputtered and let his hands fall over his chest, looking up at Donald and Goofy.

"Gawsh Sora, what were you trying to say?" Goofy asked innocently.

"I couldn't breathe!" Sora clapped back, making Donald and Goofy laugh. Sora chuckled at their reaction and wiped his eyes again "My word!"

"You're kind of looking like a hot mess right now," Donald noted. Between the puffy eyes from crying and his face red and hair covered in sand, Sora looked as though he had been through war.

Sora snorted, looking at his hands and brushing the sand off before he wiped off his face. "Gee, thanks, love you, too," Sora retorted. He could only imagine what he looked like now. If he was being honest with himself, though, he was enjoying the tickle spar all the way up until he thought he would pass out.

"He's ticklish on his feet too," Kairi said. Sora jumped and arched his head back to see them being thoroughly entertained at his torture.

"Oh, you're here, too," Sora said sheepishly.

"Yeah, Sora, they never left," Donald reminded him. "We're not alone on the Gummi ship."

Sora snickered. "Anyway you stay out of this!" He said, pointing at Kairi, who giggled in response.

"To be honest Kairi, we know but…" Goofy started, trying to say it nicely. Donald didn't seem to mind and didn't want to pass up an opportunity to take a jab at Sora.

"Do you know the last time he showered? Neither do we," Donald clapped back. Kairi laughed and Sora turned red, this time from embarrassment.

"I'm clean!" Sora protested.

"Plus he nearly kicked me in some very unfortunate places already, I don't want the face, either," Goofy added.

"Alright, I'll give you that one," Sora responded.

Mickey chuckled and shook his head. "Aww, poor Sora," he said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Sora screamed as various protests erupted among Donald, Goofy, Kairi, and Riku.

"He's fine!" Riku retorted.

"He's been asking for it for a while, Your Majesty!" Donald added.

"Every day if I wasn't sunshine and lollipops they did this to me to get the Gummi ship going!" Sora said, trying to gain sympathy despite knowing for a fact that he was giving himself away.

"Gawsh, what did I JUST tell you about fibbing to the King!?" Goofy questioned, meaning to jab Sora in the ribs, but missing the mark a little bit and jabbing a bit too hard and Sora hugged around his sides right underneath his ribs.

"Ouch, geez, Goofy," Sora half snickered, half whimpered.

"Sorry, Sora," Goofy said leaning down to hug Sora, "that was a bit rough."

Sora threw a hand to his forehead, mocking swooning. "There I was, being tortured and abused."

"Oh please, we never hurt you," Donald said.

Kairi was just about to say something when Sora beat her to the punch, "WHERE WERE YOU ON THE NIGHT OF HOLLOW BASTION, MR. DUCK!?" Sora playfully howled "WHEN I MADE THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE!"

"Aw, phooey! Your Majesty, see what we mean!?" Donald asked and Sora chuckled.

"Couldn't you have used Valor a long time ago and gotten out of that if you really wanted to?" Riku asked.

Sora's smile dropped. "You see, Sora couldn't even count while being tickled, what makes you think he would remember Valor or Wisdom?" Donald asked.

Sora shot a look over at Donald and Riku chuckled. "True enough."

"I really hate to break this up, but," Goofy said, slowly pointing to the horizon. The sun was starting to set and if they had any hope of making it back home at a reasonable time, they probably should be going.

"You think you'll be fine now, Sora?" Donald asked.

"After that, leave," Sora said bluntly, fighting a smirk and pointing to the Gummi ship.

"Geeze, alright, bye," Goofy said, standing up. Sora scurried to his feet.

Donald and Goofy stood in front of him and faced him. Sora smiled. "Thank you," he silently mouthed.

Goofy and Donald nodded and Sora jumped into their arms for one last group hug. "Don't take this as a goodbye," Goofy said.

"More of a 'see you later'," Donald added.

Sora nodded. "I'll miss you."

"We'll miss you too, Sora," Goofy said, pulling away from the hug. Donald followed suit and Goofy made Sora look in his eyes. "But this time, you're home."

Sora smiled and watched as Mickey and Pluto walked past him, waving goodbye. He waved back and Kairi and Riku took their place on either side of Sora.

Sora watched as they all loaded into the Gummi ship. Through the window, Sora could see Donald and Goofy do the salute he saw Chip and Dale do countless times. Sora reciprocated as the Gummi ship took off and vanished into the sky.

Riku glanced at Sora, who was still looking at the sky. "Are you going to be alright?" he asked.

Sora nodded. "Just like us, there was never a goodbye," he said, looking between Kairi and Riku. "It was, and always will be, just a 'see you later'."

Riku nodded and looked back at the sky. "And just like us, they're always joined to us in our hearts," he reassured.

Sora nodded and looked back at the sunset. No one wanted to break the silence, for fear of outpouring emotions, but they all knew they couldn't just stay there.

Kairi turned back to the boys, she knew they would both take it pretty hard when this happened. "Hey, before they left, the King helped me make cupcakes! He figured you'd guys need a pick-me-up," Kairi said.

"Oh," Sora said, feeling self-conscious that he was that predictable, "That was nice of him."

Kairi backed up a couple of steps. "So what I'm saying is," she said, turning on her heels and taking off into a full sprint, "last one there picks last!"

Sora and Riku looked at each other and back at the sky. Then, took off in full sprint after Kairi. They were fine with her being the first, but they'd each never hear the end of it if they were the last to choose.

Back on the Gummi ship, Goofy peered out the window as Destiny Islands became a spec in the distance. King Mickey went up to comfort his loyal guard. "How are you doing, Goofy?"

Goofy sighed and nodded. "I'm fine. It's just now that we've left, I'm anxious to get home."

Mickey nodded. "I know Sora kind of helped deal with being away for so long, but I assure you he's fine."

Goofy nodded, "Aww, Your Majesty, I never once doubted that. If it's anyone I trust more than anything, it's all of you," Goofy reassured, smiling at the King. "It's just," Goofy looked back out the window, "I need to have one or the other, and since now I'm away from Sora, I need to get back to Max."

A/N: First KH fanfic and haven't hit the keyboard in a while. Please be gentle, I need to publish it before I got back and nit-pick every line.