Me: Okay, I tried really, really hard to type Flickering Light but nothing came to me. But I feel really inspired for this fic so I hope you enjoy it! I got a lot of reviews saying that it made them cry, which makes me sad and happy at the same time. I like it when my story touches people's emotions like that.

Riku: Yeah, yeah, just keep on writing.

Me: Stupid muse. But very sexy at the same time (glomps).

Riku: ...can't...breath.

Fire: (wakes up) Don't kill him Wish. Fan girls are sending characters like him to pre-extinction.

Me: (happy dance) Enjoy!

Disney Castle

"Oh come on, Oram, lighten up! It was just a bit of water!"

"No, I will not lighten up! It was an entire bucket of water!"

A black clad figure was storming down the hallway, light brown locks dripping wet as they swung wildly around his flustered face. A brunette was following him closely, an amused look on his face as he tried to calm the older man down.

"You can't be mad at me forever!" the brunette claimed.

"Oh yes I can!" Oram argued. "You're a worthless little brat who fell from the sky and I wish we never took you in!"

"How many times are you going to use that same line?" the other one asked, rolling his eyes; the words didn't effect him much since they had been said to him too many times. "And I did not fall from the sky!"

"Oh yes you did!" the man said, rounding the corner with the young teen still following him closely. "You fell from the sky and we gratefully took you in. And how do you repay me, by setting up a trap that dumped a bucket of water on me the moment I opened the door!"

"It wasn't just water," the boy said. "It was very, very cold water. There's a difference."

Oram flailed his arms up in the air in defeat. "You're impossible!"

"Nah, it's just that no one can stay mad at me for too long." They came to a halt in what was the Throne Room, the teen beaming up at his guardian. "C'mon, you know you love me."

Oram eventually broke down and ruffled the younger boys hair. "Yeah, yeah, don't remind me."

The boy grinned wider, happy to have Oram on speaking terms with him again. He had spiky brown hair that seemed to defy the laws of physics. Crystal blue eyes were set in tanned skin that made him look as if he just came off of an island. That's the way his tan always turned out, as if it were from an island. He wore black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red and black jacket over the top of it. An over-large belt looped around his waist and trailed down his hips along with several heavy chains. He also had a few scars here and there. Some he remembered, like when he had broken his leg just last year, and others that were much more faded. But he had no idea where he got them from and everyone just kept telling him he fell down when he was only a baby.

As far as he knew, he, Sora, had lived here his entire life. King Mickey said they lost all of the albums with his baby pictures in it but they had plenty of them starting when he was four. It was kind of nice not to have any embarrassing baby pictures to show around, but still he wondered. They say when you get older, memories of your early childhood faded away. But still, most people had a few scattered memories of when they were four or three. But Sora had none, all he could ever remember was living in Disney Castle and nothing gave him reason to believe otherwise.

"So what are you up to today?" Oram asked as he gladly excepted a towel from a maid standing nearby.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me!" Sora remembered. "Have you seen Donald and Goofy around anywhere?"

"No, why?" Oram asked, raising an eyebrow as he towel dried his hair.

"They were supposed to be giving me my driving lessons on the gummi ship!" Sora said brightly, grinning that cheesy grin of his.

Oram's lips twitched slightly; the reason Goofy and Donald had suddenly disappeared dawning on him. "Tell you what, I'll send them your way if I catch 'em."

"Thanks, Oram," Sora said. And with that, he trotted down the hallway and out of sight.

Chuckling, he said in the direction of a giant banner, "You can come out now."

"How'd you know we were here?" a duck squawked as he stepped out from behind the bright blue banner. A blue uniform adorned his white feathers with a wizards hat perched on top of his head.

"At least we don't hafta crash another of them gummi ships!" a tall dog added, stepping right behind his companion in the direction of Oram. "We were runnin' outta test ships!"

"Yeah, but if you don't give him the lessons that I have to," Oram reminded them. "And as good of friends you two are, I am not giving the kid his driving lesson."

While Oram and Donald continued to squabble over who would give Sora his lesson, Goofy looked happily out the window. He could see Sora talking to the hedge trimmers, probably asking where Donald and Goofy was.

"It's weird, ain't it?"

Oram and Donald stopped arguing to look over at Goofy. "What's weird?" Donald asked.

"How much Sora's grown!" Goofy pointed out. "I still remember the first day we met the little guy." And they all did.

Flashback

King Mickey tapped his foot impatiently on the hard floor of the Entrance Hall inside of Disney Castle, waiting for the blue portal to open and return his two most trusted spies.

"Mickey, calm down," his wife, Queen Minnie, advised. "They'll come back soon." She, Donald, Goofy and Daisy were also waiting along side of him, staring straight ahead.

"I know, I know, I'm just worr"

His words stopped as they were blinded by a bright blue light coming from a glowing orb that hovered in mid-air.

"About time," Donald snapped, hands on his hips as he eyed the portal. Sure enough, two figures stepped out of it and the light died down, dimmer and dimmer it got until they could clearly see Oram and Ninna.

"Are you two okay?" Daisy asked worriedly.

"Of course!" Ninna chirped, bouncing on the balls of her face and eyeing a small, what appeared to be lump, hiding behind Oram.

"Ummm, I think ya got something stuck to yer leg, there, Oram!" Goofy pointed out, pointing to the small trembling bundle that hid behind the man.

King Mickey tilted his head to the side lightly to see it better but it moved clear out of sight, going farther into his protector's shadow.

"Sora, it's okay," Oram coaxed gently. "These people are my friends, they won't hurt you."

"Sora?" King Mickey repeated, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

Oram grinned sheepishly. "Well, you see your majesty, we, err... we umm... the thing is..."

"Please tell me that isn't a person," King Mickey said. "Wait, hold on, let's start over. Please tell me that isn't a person from another world."

"We can explain!" Ninna said worriedly. "You see, we had no choice!'

"But that's meddling!" Donald claimed. "What were you thinking bringing someone from another world here!"

"But he's only four years old!" Oram said; he was now peering behind himself at the figure who was trembling even more at all the shouting they were making. "Now if you don't mind, keep your voices down. You're scaring him!"

"Four years old?" Queen Minnie said worriedly. "But what about his parents?"

"We can explain that later," Ninna said. "But Sora couldn't stay there."

Oram kneeled down and hunched over the small figure whom no one could see yet. They heard whisperings which was undoubtedly Oram trying to the coax the boy out of hiding. They all stared as Oram stood up again and slowly, very slowly, Sora peeked his head out from behind Oram's leg.

"Come on, they won't hurt you," Ninna told him, eyes sparkling as she saw the adorable, yet saddening, look of fear on his face.

"Your majesty, can you please come here for a moment?" Oram said to Queen Minnie, who hesitantly walked over and knelt before the small boy.

"Sora, can you let her see your eye?" Oram asked nicely. A few moments later, Sora fully revealed himself, stepping out from his wall of protection and everyone gasped.

The whole left side of his face was swelled in a large bruise that almost seemed to get worse and worse with the way it looked.

"Oh my," Queen Minnie gasped. "Just hold still for a moment, okay?" she asked. Raising her hand, she laid in gently on his injury and watched as he winced from the pain, but didn't let out so much as a whimper. Her hand glowed green and you could see Sora visibly relax as the hurt drifted slowly away into a cool comfort, the shadowed skin lightening until returning to it's original color.

"There's more on his arms," Oram said softly as she pulled her hand away. Rolling up his sleeve, Minnie inspected the other ugly mark that everyone in the room had a clear view of it and their faces turned to sorrow.

Ninna and Oram smiled grimly, knowing they finally got what had happened. Minnie finished with the one arm and moved onto the other, healing an equally painful bruise.

"Done." she stood up and smiled sadly. "All better, young man," she said sweetly.

Sora peered at both his arms, grinning broadly. He looked as if he was hit by a sudden reminder, and he turned to the mouse who had healed him. He bowed slightly saying, "Thank you very much, Miss."

Queen Minnie smiled at him. "Of course."

King Mickey walked up to him next, smiling kindly at him. "Hiya, Sora. Where did you come from?"

The thing Sora looked like he wanted to do most right now was find the nearest, darkest hole and hide in it. But his face showed evident signs of thinking as if remembering something again. "Destiny Islands, sir." he said quietly after another few moments.

"My, you're a polite little boy." Daisy thought out loud.

"Riku told me not to be rude and to mind my manners." Sora recited quietly, shifting on his feet cutely.

Oram opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by a loud "SQUEE!" and a scream from Sora. It was... the author of this fic here to squeeze cute chibi Sora to death! I wish, nah, it was Yuffie.

"Ahhhh, it's attacking me!" Sora squealed as a yellow and green clad girl hugged him.

"Aww, he's soooo CUTE!" the girl exclaimed, hugging him tighter and causing his face to turn blue.

"Lemme go, lemme go!" Sora cried.

"Yuffie, get offa him!" Goofy said angrily.

"No, he's too cute!" Yuffie claimed, burying her face into his soft brown hair which made the brunette struggle even more.

"Yuffie, this is an order!" King Mickey declared. "Get off of him! Now!'

Extremely reluctantly, Yuffie set Sora free. The boy immediately ran to the closest thing around and hit behind it. This thing happened to be King Mickey.

"Don't let her get me!" Sora wailed, trembling behind King Mickey.

"Look, now he's scared of you!" Ninna snapped as she and King Mickey tried to calm Sora down.

"Who isn't scared of her when she does that?" a masculine voice said from the hallway.

"Shut up, Squall." Yuffie said, pouting.

"It's Leon." he corrected her coolly. He raised an eyebrow at the small boy. "What's with the kid?"

"It's more like who is the kid." a tall brunette girl said form next to him. She wore a long pink dress with her hair tied in a ponytail and a flower imbedded in her hair. She smiled kindly down at the boy. "Don't be afraid of Yuffie, she won't hurt you. She just... over reacts."

Sora, who had no clue what 'over react' meant, calmed down slightly at her pleasant tone.

"This here is Sora," Goofy said, patting the boy's shoulder. "He'll be stayin' with us!"

"Says who!" Donald squawked, who King Mickey had been expecting to speak up long before this.

"Where else is he going to go?" Oram asked quietly.

Yuffie was jumping up and down in joy. "Yay, yay Sora's staying with us!"

Sora eyed the girl wearily from the corner of his eye as he stood there awkwardly, unsure of whom to trust. Riku told him to be good, to make new friends, but these people seemed crazy; especially Yuffie. Some didn't seem to even want him there.

Aerith bent down to his eye level and brushed some bangs form his face. "Where did you come from?" she asked kindly.

"Destiny Islands," he replied quietly.

"What, did you like the place so much you decided to bring back a souvenir?" Leon asked Oram and Ninna tonelessly.

King Mickey sighed. "We'll explain it to you later, Leon." Looking down before mentioned the boy, he asked, "Sora, are you hungry? Do you wanna go with Donald and Goofy to the kitchens?"

"That's us!" Goofy told him cheerfully, pointing over to Donald in the process who was currently fuming. Seeing the fearful look Sora was giving Donald, he said, "Aw, shucks, don't mind him, Sora! He's just a grumpy puss!'

"Hey!" Donald protested, but was ignored as Goofy stretched out a hand to the young boy.

"C'mon, it's okay," Goofy coaxed gently. Sora eyed the hand for a moment or so before hesitantly taking it. "There ya go!" Goofy said. "C'mon, we'll show ya where it is." And without another word, he led Sora to the doorway. Sora looked behind him at Oram who waved at him encouragingly. With that, Sora disappeared from sight with the duck and the dog.

"Alright mouse, what's going on?" Leon asked grumpily.

"Well, you see..."

End Flashback

"He was so small back then," Goofy reminisced, smiling fondly at the memory.

"Yeah, he was," Oram mused. "He really has grown over the past ten years."

"And what about that vow you made?" Donald snapped, crossing his arms.

"Eh?" Oram said absent mindedly.

"The vow you made when Sora first came here." Oram's stomach dropped with a fresh wave of guilt as Donald continued. "You said that when he was older, you'd tell him where he cam from. His home. Destiny Islands. And Riku."

Oram remained silent, staring off into space as he remembered.

Another Flashback

King Mickey was wondering his study later that night, waiting for them to come. The ancient grandfather clock in the corner of the room ticked away the minutes with an annoying ticking sound that was slowly driving him insane. His ears twitched with every tick, eyes following the waving motion of the gold rod inside it's glass cage.

He was just about to summon his weapon to blow the stupid thing up when he heard a erupt knocking on the door. After jumping five feet in the air in surprise and waiting for his heartbeat to return to semi-normal, he said, "C-come in!"

The door opened and Leon, Aerith, Ninna, Oram, Donald and Goofy walked in.

"Ahh, I've been waiting for you guys," King Mickey said. "Sit down."

Most took places by the fireplace but Oram and Leon just stood by the wall, preferring this to sitting.

"So, what did you want us here for?" Aerith asked her King.

"I was hopin' to sort out the story with Sora," he told them.

"What's there to sort out?" Oram asked. "The kid was abused by his parents, I found him, his friend told me to take him with me and..."

"Wait, hold on," Aerith interrupted. "What do you mean his friend?"

"A little boy by the name of Riku," he replied. "He's a year older then Sora. He told me to take Sora with me."

"And you listened to a kid?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I had no other choice!" Oram cried in his defense. "Ya should have seen the kid! He was so serious and..."

"How can a kid be serious?" Donald asked.

"I don't know, but this one was. I could tell it in his eyes, he really wanted Sora to go with us. He said that he wanted Sora happy, and the only way for that to happen was for Sora to leave that place and get away from his family."

"Not a lot of kids would make that kinda sacrifice," King Mickey said thoughtfully.

"I think what Riku wanted most," Ninna said, "was for Sora to be happy and safe. He cared more about his best friend then he did himself, that's why he told Sora to go with."

"Aww shucks." Goofy said, blowing his nose.

"Yes, but still," Aerith said while patting Goofy on the back, "Are you sure it's safe for him to stay here?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Ninna asked.

"Well," she said thoughtfully. "What if he remembers where he came from? You know, Destiny Islands. Children aren't very good at keeping secrets, the word could get out he came from another world."

"And he won't forget Riku in a hurry, either," Oram said thoughtfully.

"He's only four years old," Mickey told him. "When you're that young, you can forget things. When Sora gets older, maybe in a year or so, Sora will forget all about that place."

"But that's not fair!" Ninna exclaimed. 'What about Riku! They're best friends, it's not fair for them to forget about each other!"

"If Riku is as mature as you're describing him," Donald said, "then he probably already knows Sora will forget about him. He's probably just happy enough with memories of Sora, rather him being happy and away then sad and close."

There was a long pause after Donald's words in which no one looked at each other, at a lost of what to say. Finally, Aerith spoke up. "So, what should we do your majesty?"

"It's obvious what we have to do," King Mickey said. "Sora will be staying here with us." A grin was cracking onto some of their faces until he said, "But I think it's best that we don't grow too attached."

"Attached?" Goofy repeated.

"Yeah. One day, some way, Sora may just end up going back to Destiny Islands. And if that happens, it will be easier to let go."

They nodded in understanding, thinking it easy enough not to grow attached (morons).

"I still don't think it's fair he forgets about where he came from, though." Ninna told them.

"Tell ya what," Oram said with a sigh. "I tell him all about it when he's old enough. Say, eighteen."

"No way!" Ninna gasped. "Ten!"

"Seventeen!"

"Eleven!"

"Sixteen!"

"Twelve!"

"Fifteen!'

"Thirteen!"

"Fourteen," King Mickey said, tired of the arguing. "Oram, when Sora reaches the age of fourteen, do ya promise ta tell him?"

Oram nodded. "I vow to tell him, no matter what."

End Flashback

"Oh yeah,…….. That." Oram said, his face dropping a bit. He snapped out of his trance when he heard running footsteps. Looking up, he saw Sora running towards the three with a triumphant grin on his face.

"Ha, I found you!" he said with a smirk, pointing at Goofy and Donald. "I knew you were hiding from me!"

"Oh, errr, h-hi Sora," Donald laughed nervously.

"Don't try that innocent thing with me," Sora said. "You promised that today you'd give me another gummi ship lesson!"

"But you already crashed three of them this month alone!" Donald squawked.

"So? I'm getting better!" Sora insisted, pouting. "C'mon, teach me! Teach me ,teach me, teach me, teach me, te"

"Already, alright!" Donald snapped. "Keep that spike head of yours on, I'm coming!"

"YES!" Sora cried in victory, punching the air with his fist.

"Go onto the launch pad, we'll meet you there in five minutes," Donald said, but Sora didn't buy it.

"You're gonna ditch me!" Sora predicted. "As soon as I'm gone you'll take off."

"Don't worry, Sora, they'll be there," Oram said, grinning. "I promise." Seeing no change of emotion in Sora's face, he said, "Now have I ever broken one of my promises?"

Sora grinned back and shook his head. "Alright, five minutes. And if you're not there I'll sick Pluto on you!" With that, he ran off down the hallway.

"Yeah, Oram you've never broken one of your promises," Donald mimicked. "Except for the fact that, you know, you still haven't told him yet!"

Oram looked guilty. "I know, I know. I just don't want him mad at me."

"It's happening."

Twirling around on the spot, they spied King Mickey walking up to them with an 'I told you so' look on his mouseish features.

"What's happenin'?" Goofy asked, scratching his head.

"You've grown so fond of him," King Mickey pointed out. "Now you can't even tell him where he's really from!"

"Don't tell me you haven't gotten to like him too much!" Oram protested.

"King Mickey sighed. "Yeah, you're right. I couldn't tell him it myself either."

"It's just that whenever I think of telling him, I think of him leaving," Oram said. "I think about him going back to Destiny Islands forever and us never seeing him again. No matter how much we want to deny it, Sora's become a huge part of this place. Of us."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Donald said sadly. "Little squirt's gotten to me, too."

"Me three," Goofy added.

After a moment of silence, Oram said, "Goofy, Donald, weren't you supposed to meet Sora now?"

"AHH!" they both exclaimed in surprise. Without another word, they darted off towards the Launch Pad.

Launch Pad

"Hello, anybody there?" Sora shouted to the empty room. He had arrived at the Launch Pad to find it completly deserted, racks they kept test ships empty.

"Hmm, guess there on lunch break," Sora said to himself. He walked down the rows, peering around for a spare gummi ship but all the ones he found were broken. Well, he knew for a fact that he had been the one who had broken them.

He finally got to the place of last resort, the place that always had a gummi ship. It was a holder down at the far end of the vast room but when he got there, there was no ship there. "Man, I must have busted a lot of them," Sora murmured; he had never seen this section empty before. That must have also been why he had never seen the door there. That is, until now.

Sora walked up to the door and lightly brushed his fingers across it; it was freezing. Pulling his fingers back quickly, he discovered a thick pad of dust on his fingertips. He wiped more off the top and read a sign: "GUMMI PERSONEL ONLY". They must have expected him to want to go in. And as Sora, he had to do his part not to let them down!

He grinned and thrust the door open, turning the rusted doorknob.

Inside, he finally discovered what was in there. It was shocking, he never thought he would see anything like it in his life! It was...

Done

Me: ...the ultimate cliffhanger!

Readers: (groans)

Fire: O.O…..EVIL!

Me: (cackles and has desks, computers, and mutant ducks thrown at her) AHH, I'M SORRY! I was planning on making it longer, but it cut it off for later on. Reviews make me happy, but I'm working on Flickering Light next. Ah well, ja ne!