Me again, with the next chapter. Please note: I know Donald doesn't really sound like Donald in the first part, but the point is to mention a little something that happened in the game, and just why Donald feels the way he does. Considering the event I'm talking of, I could only use Donald or Goofy, and not only is Goofy completely inappropriate for this, but I find it hard to write as Goofy. In short: Donald is capable of angst, and Goofy's isn't, not really, so I'm using Donald. There!

Well, hope you like!

Disclaimer: Well, if I owned all of Kingdom Hearts, I'd rule the whole world, wouldn't I?

Phase 3: Searing Scars

Donald stomped off into an alley. He couldn't believe that Leon! Not only did he accept that Sora seemed to be The Master of Darkness, but he actually wanted to KILL him. But he knew better. You just don't go off killing Keyblade Masters just because they just might be The Master of Darkness...though that was pretty convincing back in Hollow Bastion...but he knew it couldn't be him. That had to be some kind of trick by the real Master of Darkness to try to bait them into striking down Sora so one of the major obstacles to world eradication would be removed. That had to be it!

Donald plopped down against the wall, clutching his magic wand tight. There was no way he'd betray Sora...no way, not like last time...

The look he gave him still haunted him, of when he and Goofy went to join Riku. They believed they should go with Riku because he was in fact the true Keyblade Master. Who cared if Riku was acting all evil and had been beating on Beast? He was able to take the Keyblade away from Sora. That was proof enough that he was the one to protect, not Sora, right?

Of course they soon realized that Riku wasn't the one to guard, and they returned to Sora a bit later, along with the Keyblade. But the damage had already been done...

There seemed to be no resentment at first. Right then he was just glad to have him and Goofy be his allies again. And the chaos that followed soon after didn't leave time to worry about grudges. It was only after that the effects began to show...

Once Sora had enough time to sort out what had happened, the extent of the wound they had inflicted on him became obvious. He drifted away from him and Goofy, barely even talking to him. Which he couldn't be blamed for, really. After all, they were the true backstabbers back there. Riku had done treason as well, but Sora never held a grudge against him since it wasn't of his true will, while they had abandoned him with hardly any encouragement at all.

His so-called loyal royals had left him when he no longer possessed the Keyblade, so if he couldn't trust them, the ones who had been with him the most during the journey, then who could he trust? Certainly not Aerith and her group, who only associated with him back there because he just happened to hold the Keyblade, it seemed. And what of the people he had met while traveling? Could he really trust them, or would they leave him like he and Goofy had? Unable to answer that, he shut himself off from the others.

The only ones that he felt he could truly confide in was his old friends: Kairi, Riku, Tidus, Selphie and Wakka. The only other one he felt especially comfortable being around was Beast. When they had left him to Hollow Bastion's cruelties without another thought, Beast had stayed and guarded him from the numerous Heartless, despite the fact that he wasn't really the true Keyblade Master, and he was still hurt from Riku's thrashing. Beast hadn't seen him as the Keyblade Master but as a friend, that had been proven to Sora.

But to those outside of that group, Sora turned his back on. His nature became accompanied by a cold edge whenever he was approached by either a stranger or an uncertain friend. Sora began to resent the Keyblade that he'd been blessed with, saying it only netted him false friends and trouble.

The worst thing about this was that it took all of them forever to find out just why he was acting this way. Even when they realized the cause it still took a long time for them to clean up this huge mess they'd made...and even then, the scar still haunted Sora from time to time...

But hold on. That could mean that if even one person turned on Sora and tried to kill him, he would most likely go down this dark spiral of untrustfulness even further, and quite possibly never recover...

That's why he, Donald Duck, would never let that happen, even if he did happen to be the true Master of Darkness...

Phase 4: Of Gummi Blocks and Broken Keys

Cid strolled into town, having just arrived on his superior Gummi Ship after gathering some Gummi Block ingredients while traveling. Ah, it felt nice to be back at good ol' Traverse Town after some of the utter chaos he had to deal with on other worlds. Not that this world was all peaceful and perfect but...

The first thing he noticed when he stepped into town was the odd air to it. Usually he'd see some of his friends chatting, or complaining, depending on what the topic was, for the entire world to know. They weren't stupid enough to talk about real secret stuff in detail here, but it was a good place to chill, this 1st District.

And yet he saw almost no one out, making the place unsettling quiet. He did see Aerith holding on to Cloud's arm as they ambled by. Ah, so Cloud has come back from training at last. It seemed his wings had grown a bit too, as they could no longer quite fit underneath that tattered cape of his. Well, it was really Vincent's, and now that it came to mind Vincent would want his cape back soon. After all, it had been a while since his usual clothes had been ripped and bloodied by a brutal fight with Sephiroth, so he should have at least one new outfit by now...

He decided to go have a quick chat with them, to see if anything interesting happened while he was gone. 'Hey there, lovebirds, how're ya doing?"

Aerith stopped clutching Cloud's arm and turned to face Cid. 'Oh hello, Cid. You're back already?'

"Already!" Cid exclaimed. "What you ya mean already! Didn't you miss me!"

"Meh," Cloud replied. "Not too much."

"Ha ha, very funny," Cid growled. "Anyway, so what'd I miss?"

"Oh, nothing much," Aerith replied. "'Cept..."

"Eh?"

"Well, right before you got here Leon and Donald were fighting each other, and I had to break it up before it went too far," Aerith explained. "Right in the middle of some pedestrians too."

"What were they all mad about?' Cid asked.

"I don't know," Aerith replied. "Both of them just fell silent when I asked and walked away."

"Huh," Cid responded, leaning against a brick wall. "Meh, it don't surprise me much. Put a foul-tempered duck that never shuts up with a moody guy who gets easily irritated and this is what you get."

Cloud chuckled a little. "Sounds about right."

Aerith still look concerned. "What were they fighting about though?"

Cloud shrugged. "Who knows. Probably something stupid."

She smiled. 'Yes, you're right. I shouldn't worry about it."

The happy couple strolled away. Not long after Yuffie came into view as she slowly made her way around the corner, seeming to have none of her usual peppy spirit.

"What's your problem?" Cid questioned.

"Huh?" Yuffie looked up at him for a second. "Oh, nothing, nothing at all, heheheheheh..."

Cid screwed up his eyes. "You sure ain't acting like it's nothing." Then something popped into his head. "Did you steal the Gummi blocks I had stored in the shop again?"

"What?' she asked, acting truly surprised. "No, no. It's...stupid." Then she leapt out of sight, not seeming to be in the mood to talk right then.

"Dammit, I bet she did," Cid muttered, hurrying to his Gummi Shop.

He rushed up to the secret stock room he had created upstairs recently. They spilled all the Gummi blocks out and checked out every single one, making sure all of them were there by using a list of Gummi blocks that were supposed to be present.

And sure enough...

"Dammit! She took all my damn Protega and Firega Cannon blocks!" he growled. He thought that Yuffie knew nothing of this stash of his, but then again, this is Yuffie he was talking about.

He busted out the door and charged down the District, his enraged eyes searching all directions for his prey. "When I get my hands on that bitch..."

He galloped down 2nd District, which he expanded quite a bit since the days of Ansem. Heartless still ran amuck the universe, so people still wound up here and settling here as their new home. As a result, all the districts, particularly 2nd District, had been transformed into a mess of alleys, making it mazelike in nature. Ah, how he missed the days when he could actually find his way around town...

He thought he glimpsed her shadow bouncing from roof to roof to his west, so he rushed in that direction, meeting with an ended alley. But here he found not a mischievous ninja, but a Keyblade Master.

Sora!" Cid exclaimed.

He didn't just say his name because he was surprised to see him sitting in this alley. It was also because of the fact that his clothes were torn and bloodstained, and Sora himself possessed many injuries. The other detail about him seeming to be out like a light encouraged it too.

Sora opened his eyes and lifted his head up a little.

"What happened, kid!" Cid questioned.

Sora seemed to recognize him, but instead of being glad, or at least okay, about seeing him, he backed up against the wall. A fearful look encompassed his eye.

"What happened?" Cid repeated, walking over towards him.

This didn't help in calming Sora. If anything, it frightened him even more. He shut his eyes tight and vanished into the air before Cid could question him further.

"Eh?" Cid murmured, confused. Why did he run away? And where'd he learn to teleport, for that matter?

Forgetting all about the Gummi Block incident with Yuffie, he rushed out to see if he could locate Sora and get some answers.

He darted around from alley to alley, sometimes nearly running over other people who just happened to be in his path. In fact, he looked quite strange in general, dashing all over to the place for no reason obvious to the usual spectator.

But this process did reap results, as he did finally manage to find the Keyblade Master once more.

Sora noticed him soon after his footsteps could be heard in the alley. He cowered against the wall, bringing his knees to his chest.

"Look, I ain't gonna hurt ya," Cid tried to explain. "I just want to know what the hell happened to ya."

"Go away...' Sora growled.

"Eh?" Cid mumbled. "Look, I just pour this over your wounds..." He pulled out a Hi-Potion. "And then..."

And then Sora teleported away again before he could say another word.

"Dammit," he hissed. "Why's he scared of me? I thought I made it clear that we were friends a while ago...like, say, about half a year ago?" He sighed, then went back to hunting for the Keyblade Master.

As he searched, something about Sora's wounds bothered him. They were mostly deep cuts, with some bruises here and there. Was it from a Soldier? No, that wasn't it. These weren't claw marks, they were something different. Something caused by a weapon of some sort. But these wounds were very distinct, so it couldn't have been just some random sword or knife...

Then from the corner of his eye he saw Sora, once again sitting down at the end of an alley. He started to turn towards him, but as soon as he set foot in the alley he disappeared once again.

Now this was starting to get really annoying. He was still very concerned for Sora, but this game of hide and seek was driving him nuts, on top of trying to identify the wounds. He had seen them so many times before, but where? Damn it...where was it where was it where was it?

He soon spotted Sora yet again.

"Hey wai-"

But Sora was already gone.

He stomped out his cigarette in frustration. Damn it, why wouldn't he trust him? It wasn't like he was going to hurt him.

This wasn't working. Maybe he should go fetch Ri-

Then he remembered.

Those were Keyblade wounds.

Which meant that he and Riku...

So that's why he couldn't get anywhere near him. If The Master of Light tried to slaughter him, he wouldn't be very trusting either. But why?

"Leon and Donald were fighting each other."

Did they know? Were they fighting over something related to this?

He stomped off to try to find some answers.

I hope that first part with Donald made sense. That one event has always been the one that's really bothered me, unlike most people, who obsess over the part where Sora stabs himself and turns himself into a Heartless. And I hope you find Cid's part to be good as well

Cya!