As Sora ran ahead of the world gates of Traverse Town and for Cid's Accessory Shop, the doors from behind swung open. Aleisa, Donald, and Goofy had followed behind Cid to see his plans and blueprint for the Gummi Ship to be built, but Sora lingered behind to see the newcomer.
"Good to see you again," a high voice called. "It's me, Kairi."
"No, you're not," Sora laughed, joining Yuffie at the door. "How have you been?"
"Same old, same old," she said with a smile, then looked to the ground. "Sorry I yelled at you earlier. I didn't mean to sound so harsh"
"It was understandable," Sora explained. "Aeris was a close friend, and she"
Yuffie shook her head and smiled. "Don't bring up the past. What's in the past is in the past. You gotta look forward to tomorrow, you know?"
Sora smiled. "Say, why are you here, Yuffie?"
"Cid was off in a hurry when he noticed that there were more fiends that usual prowling around Midgar. I decided to sneak onboard."
"He has a ship?"
"Yes, but it couldn't take you to Destiny's Island. Where you're going may be either very near or far, so we're not going to risk an overload to take that thing into space. It could go about one Galaxy over, and that's it. Of course, the Squaresoft Galaxy isn't far from"
"Are you still nagging, Yuffie?" a voice called from behind her.
"Leon! How ya been?" Yuffie squealed.
Leon flipped a strand of hair from his eyes and smiled. "I've been okay. How did you get here? Why did you come?"
"The same reason you did, right?"
"Huh?" Sora said, scratching his head.
"She's right, Sora. We came to see you."
"But why?" Sora asked.
"Why do you think he was so depressed when you first met him?" Yuffie said. "He was away from Rinoa for so long and feared he may never see her again."
"Yeah, I have a lot to owe to you," Leon said with a smile.
"Don't worry about it," Sora added. He frowned. "Squall, I meant to ask you something."
"Am I suddenly a database of intelligence?" he said with a smirk.
"Well, you seemed very knowledgeable about the situation. How did Kingdom Hearts open in the first place? Has this been the first time?"
"As far as I can remember, it has," Yuffie said.
"Same here," Leon added.
"You think Cid may know about it? He has more years than we have, afterall," Yuffie snickered.
"Cid's here, too?" Leon asked.
"Let's join with him and everyone inside," Sora confirmed.
"Nope, can't say I remember anything like this happening before," Cid answered.
"So what does this mean?" Aleisa asked.
"I'm figuring it's getting near the end of all time," Leon said.
"What are you babbling about now, Squall?" Yuffie asked.
"My sister lives on Spira. Their punishment for sin was.. Sin."
"Eh?" Aleisa said.
"You never saw such the thing," Leon told Aleisa. "Sin was destroyed by Yuna when you arrived, and that's how Paine came to learn of her. To learn of the summoners. Paine.. no longer lives in our world, but on Spira now."
"So you're saying that Kingdom Hearts is our punishment?" Cid asked.
"But why hasn't it been active until now?" Donald quacked.
"Like I said," Leon continued, "it may well be coming near the end of ages. Of course, everything inevitably dies in the end, including planets, Galaxies, Universes. However, we can slow down our fate."
"How is Kingdom Hearts so bad?" Goofy asked. "It just kinda floated around in nowheres forever."
"There has always been darkness behind Kingdom Hearts, but something erupted it," Leon concluded. "There is no such thing as pure light. Darkness, a shadow, cannot be created without light."
"Which explains the existence of the Shadow Heartless," Yuffie said.
Leon nodded. "All Heartless are the same. They live within the shadows of Kingdom Hearts."
"So, if there's no Kingdom Hearts" Donald started.
"Then there's no shadows, no Heartless!" Aleisa screeched.
"Exactly," Leon nodded.
"But how do you get rid of a place like that?" Goofy asked.
"You cannot use darkness to consume light. Light cannot be completely dispersed. Darkness will only dim the light."
"Uhm, so you're saying that one should fight with.. light?" Aleisa asked, scratching her head.
"Someone understands Leon?" Yuffie asked.
"She's right," Leon stated. "Only purity can stop a sin."
"What about Kairi? Wasn't her heart pure?" Yuffie quipped.
"Yes, but her heart could not do it alone. Why do you think she is called the Queen of Hearts?" Leon replied.
"Wait, Riku!" Sora blurted.
"You saw Riku!" Yuffie shouted.
"Yeah, but then he disappeared. Anyways, he said 'If there is a Queen of Hearts, then surely you know that a King exists elsewhere?'"
"What if King Mickey is the King of Hearts?" Goofy asked.
"It has to be someone who has lived humbly," Cid said.
"He is humble, he just lives in a big castle!" Donald yelled.
"Whoever it is, it seems we're now looking for three objectives: Kairi, King Mickey, and the King of Hearts." Aleisa said.
"What about the keyblade?" Yuffie asked.
"what about it?" Sora said.
"Only he of either a pure or dark heart can aquire a keyblade."
"Yuffie, don't tell me you think I'm the King of Hearts?" Sora said frowning.
Yuffie grinned and nodded.
"You're insane! I'm just as human as anyone else, just as normal!"
"But Kairi was just normal too, was she not?" Leon said.
Sora rolled his eyes. "Puh-lease. You guys are being ridiculous."
"Why do you think your island exists? It existed before Kairi came along. Survival of the fittest. Your planet exists because of you."
"Now, quit assuming things!" Sora shouted.
"Alright, shaddup!" Cid yelled. "Let's not jump to conclusions. You're all rushing ahead too quickly." He looked to Leon. "Did you come here with the Ragnorak?"
"Yeah," Leon said quietly.
"Then I don't need to be making no ship. That one will work just fine," Cid concluded.
"Shall we be leaving, then?" Yuffie said, heading for the door.
"Sure," Sora replied, but he felt rather tense that he may have more pressure on himself than he may have realized.