CHAPTER LI

JOYRIDE

Sora set the ship's autopilot to alert them when they approached any new worlds before he headed to the kitchen for something to eat. When he arrived, he found Riku sitting at the table, eating a bowl of cereal and staring into the Wind Butterfly's eyes. The statue took up most of the table, making it hard for anyone else to sit with him.

'What's so special about this thing, anyway…' Riku thought to himself. 'It doesn't look all that powerful to me…'

Sora interrupted his thought by dropping a dish into the sink, smashing it to bits.

"Oops…" he said, as he settled on a food that didn't require a plate. Taking an inhuman bite out of a piece of bread, he turned to Riku, who was now staring deeply into his cereal. "What's up, sunshine?" he joked, looking for something to dip the bread into.

"Nothing. Hey, how do those keychains that Atta gave you look?" he changed the subject quickly, desperate for idle chatter.

"Oh, man…I totally forgot! Hey, Kairi! Come in here a sec!"

Kairi entered the kitchen rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She definitely looked cute in her pink and black robe as she entered the kitchen yawning. "What's up, guys?"

Sora took the small keychains from his pocket and showed them to Kairi. One was shaped like a rose petal with white veins, while the other looked like the bottom half of a bee – the yellow and black striped section with the black, pointed stinger. Kairi excitedly unclipped the Thieves' Honor keychain from her keyblade and placed the bumblebee on, causing her keyblade to change drastically. It became the Showstopper, a long keyblade that was actually wider on the top than it was near the handle. The handle was a tangle of smooth thorns, while the shaft of the sword was black and yellow striped, leading into three black stingers where the key usually was.

Sora looked over at Riku. "You want this one?"

"Nah…" Riku shook his head. "I'm still enjoying the one King Mickey gave me."

Sora nodded and replaced the Darklighter with his new Bloom of Unity, a shorter keyblade than he was used to. The shaft and key looked like a thick twig with red thorns jutting out of it, while the handle looked sandy with a single blade of grass where the grip was.

"Pretty neat…" Riku said as Kairi and Sora unsummoned their keyblades and leaned against the counter. "We should probably tell King Mickey and the others that we've gotten the first artifact…"

"Good idea…" Sora said, tapping the micro-com on his shirt. "King Mickey…Cloud…you guys near your micro-coms?"

The line was silent for only a second before King Mickey's voice came through. "What's up, fellas?"

"We've just come from the place you sent us, Ant Island…" Sora started to explain. Kairi took a more direct approach, by shoving her mouth in front of Sora's micro-com and shouting, "We got the Wind Butterfly!"

Sora pushed her away and laughed as Mickey responded.

"Great job, guys…now only five more. Heh…" he chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. "Unfortunately, that's the only place we had a lead to so far…Cid and I are searching as best as we can. We'll let you know as soon as we know anything."

Back at Disney Castle, Mickey and Cid were indeed diving into assorted textbooks as Aerith entered the room. From the micro-com, they heard Sora say, "thanks, your majesty," as the unit shut off.

"Aerith, what's wrong?" Mickey said, noticing the look of panic in her face.

"King Mickey, Cloud's been having these dreams lately…they started ever since we saw Tifa in the asteroid base, and they've been getting worse all the time…"

"Calm down, Aerith…let's go see him."

A few minutes later, King Mickey, Cid and Aerith were in Yuffie's small apartment in Disney Courtyard. On her one-person bed lay Cloud, a cold compress sitting on his head. Suddenly, as everyone entered and Aerith stood over Cloud, he shot up like an arrow, screaming as if he was having the fight of his life.

Aerith grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him to his senses, waking him from the nightmare…as Cloud looked around the room, he got out of bed and slung his cape over his shirtless torso. "Sephiroth," he said, sitting back on the bed, hanging his head in his hands.

"Cloud…you defeated Sephiroth…" Mickey said, placing a hand on Cloud's shoulder.

Like an animal, Cloud snapped and punched Mickey's hand away. "How would you know? Sephiroth is a part of me, King…I can't just destroy him…it's not that easy…he just keeps coming back…" He broke down into a dry sob. Gathering his belongings and strapping his sword onto his back, he walked straight to the door and stopped, facing away from his friends. "I have to go find him. I can feel him, your majesty."

He didn't wait for an answer as he walked out of Yuffie's apartment and headed straight for the Fenretto.

Mickey and Aerith chased after him, followed by an angry Yuffie. "I swear, Cloud, if you try to leave us behind again, I'll kick your ass!"

Cid was the last one out of the house, yelling, "you better bring her back in one piece!"

As Cloud waited to board the Fenretto, Mickey and Aerith stood behind him. "Room for two more?" Aerith said coyly, brushing her brown hair off of her shoulder.

Cloud looked in her eyes and smiled beneath his cloak. "I dunno. You gonna slow me down?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Cloud," she smiled seductively as she brushed past him, climbing into the Fenretto first.

"Whadya think, Mickey?" Cloud said, cocking his head toward Aerith. "She's something, huh?"

"Cloud…if I wasn't a married mouse…" he said, slapping Cloud on the back as they entered the Fenretto. Yuffie and Cid showed up in the hangar as the gummi ship blasted through the doors. Yuffie started cursing up a storm as Cid lit a cigarette, looking out at his masterpiece…being flown by a complete madman.

"You numbskull! Why'd you design it so it only had three seats, anyway?" Yuffie screeched at Cid.

"Why, if you'd gone with 'em, we wouldn't get to bond," Cid teased.

"Bite me," she said, turning and storming out of the hangar.

"You always this pleasant? Or just when you get stranded in a world with an exceptionally handsome mechanic?"