Sorry this chapter is late, I didn't get the chance to work on it at all until last week. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy regardless. I'm also gonna be posting much earlier from now on since I keep doing it super late, so I'm hoping to stop doing that.

Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance

Chapter 6: Disney Castle part III

As Maleficent walked away, having admitted her loss, Sora and Riku turned to one another. The pair sharing a grin as the former lifted a fist over to her friend, whom then pressed his own fist against hers. "Looks like we did it." the brown-haired girl claimed with a wink, both then retracting their hands.

"Yeah...we actually won." the boy said back in near disbelief, a soft chuckle escaping his lips.

Sharing a sense of pride for this accomplishment, they couldn't help but smile softly as a result. But this moment swiftly ended when they felt an intense presence nearby. With a slow turn, the two saw a smiling Kairi a few meters behind them. However, her smile was one that they knew all too well to fear, as it was the one she used when angry at one or both of them. Gulping down nervously, Riku and Sora turned to each other once more. "Well..." the silver-haired teen started while clearing his throat.

He then patted his friend on the shoulder as a small, yet nervous smile formed on his features. "...good luck." he finished before instantly rushing off into the crowd.

Sora blinked many times in surprise, almost too shocked to react at first before swiftly calling out; "H-Hey! No fair!"

But the brown-haired girl immediately felt a shiver run up her spine as Kairi stepped up behind her. "So..." the other teen began, causing Sora to gulp down again whilst turning to face her friend.

"...I see you had fun dancing." she continued, the terrifying smile never leaving her features.

"W-Well...I...we...there was...you were..." Sora stuttered, yet was unable to finish any of her utterances.

"Yes?" Kairi questioned, raising a brow almost menacingly as she crossed both arms.

Sora nervously looked at her for a moment, before bringing one hand behind her own back. As she did, the girl then snapped her fingers with a spark of magic flaring between them. This caused the instruments still within the musicians hands, to suddenly begin playing on their own. Seeing this, the musicians themselves blinked in confusion before swiftly starting to play once more. Adjusting the song to sound more smooth, as the limitations of the spell made it seem rather generic.

With the slow music echoing through the hall once more, Sora offered her free hand to Kairi. "I-I just wanted to ask you for a dance." she said a bit shakily, hoping that her friend would accept.

Though Kairi's eyes narrowed in clear suspicion, she eventually took Sora's hand and nodded. "Very well." she said softly as the two began their dance.

Despite the sudden change in the dance schedule, some of the other guests also moved back onto the dance floor to join in. Sora let out an inward sigh of relief as she moved gracefully together with Kairi, whose anger no longer appeared to be as apparent as before. "So, what actually happened?" the auburn-haired girl questioned, arching a brow.

Sora offered a sheepish smile before gradually turning toward a certain witch. Whom had just finished releasing her spell over Cloud, and leading for the man to glare daggers at her. However, she ignored this while walking away, not appearing to feel threatened by him in the slightest. "I challenged Maleficent to a dance-off." the girl started, which made her friend have to hold back the urge to laugh as a response.

"But since you weren't around, Riku volunteered to help me win." Sora continued in a soft manner, trying to convey that she had indeed wanted to ask Kairi first.

Something of which said girl appeared to understand, as her smile became a bit more gentle. "I suppose I can forgive you for it then...this time." she claimed, making another shiver rush up Sora's spine at the end.

"Though...only you would think to ask someone like her to have such a competition." Kairi continued with a somewhat amused tone, a soft laugh breaking free from her.

The brown-haired teen merely smiled and shrugged innocently; "Well, I wanted to make sure she enjoyed herself, and not think she wasn't welcome here." she stated while giving Maleficent another quick glance.

As she heard this, Kairi couldn't help but smile and look at her friend with half-lidded eyes. "You really haven't changed one bit." she whispered almost to herself, these words being full of pride.

"Hmm? Did you say something?" Sora asked, turning back toward the auburn-haired girl as she didn't manage to catch what she spoke.

"Nope." was all said teen answered with a smile, the pair continuing to dance together.

They stepped, twirled, spun, and dipped with such graceful movements, that it almost looked comparable to Maleficent's own dance. Had these two been the ones to compete against the witch, they might have stood a better chance, even without the change in music type.

"Although, we do seem to be receiving a lot of stares...don't you think?" Kairi muttered after a moment, shifting her gaze around the room.

Following this line of sight, Sora noticed that the main individuals whom where looking at them were; Ariel, Mulan, and Alice. Each of whom were standing to the side with their arms crossed, making the brown-haired girl gulp down once more. "Oh crap..." she uttered out while looking down in nervousness and a bit of shame.

"Let me guess...you promised to dance with them next?" Kairi questioned in a knowing tone and smile.

"Y-Yeah." Sora responded sheepishly, now trying to avoid looking in the trio's direction.

The auburn-haired girl merely let out a soft sigh, shaking her head while looking to her friend. "You really should keep track of your promises you know." she began, swiftly taking the dancing lead from a blinking Sora as she almost made a misstep.

"And before you say anything...'keeping track' and 'remembering' aren't the same thing. At least not in this case." Kairi added as her friend just looked at her in brief confusion.

"I-I wasn't gonna say that they were." Sora said quickly, a soft flush rising on her features from this very obvious lie.

"Right~. Well, when I say to 'keeping track' of your promises...it means that you should know whether or not you can fulfill one promise, whilst making other promises that might end up coinciding or conflicting." Kairi explained while spinning her friend and then pulling her back in.

"You can't make good on promises that you can't physically or morally keep, right?" she continued in a more soft tone as the song slowly came to an end.

"Try to remember that you're only human, alright?" Kairi finished, immediately as the final note echoed and the pair made their ending poses.

After they relaxed from these, the brown haired teen then offered a nod and quick wink. "I will certainly try." she responded gently, her friend smiled in response as the pair seemed to just look at one another for a few long seconds.

They eventually parted however, as the three other girls headed in their direction. While Mulan already knew Kairi, this was the first time Ariel and Alice had met her. For which, they seemed to look her up and down slowly, almost seeming to be assessing the teen. "This is my childhood friend, Kairi." Sora introduced with a soft smile, gesturing to said auburn-haired girl.

One at a time, Alice and Ariel shook hands with Kairi, giving a soft smile to her as they did. "It's a pleasure, Kairi. My name is Ariel." the latter started in a respectful tone.

"Sora has talked about you on multiple occasions, so I'm glad to finally meet you." she continued, offering a quick curtsy at the end of her words.

"Indeed, it's quite the honor to make your acquaintance at last. I am Alice Kingsleigh, but you can just call me; Alice." the blond girl claimed in as polite of a voice as possible, also making a curtsy motion afterwards.

Looking at the way Alice and Ariel gazed at Kairi, it was almost as if they were seeing a celebrity. Upon hearing how Sora spoke of her, and now seeing her princess-like appearance, she was practically a superstar in their minds. But the girl herself just offered them a soft smile and returning curtsy; "Thank you two so much, I'm grateful to meet you both as well." was Kairi's own response.

Though, only Sora could see that the auburn-haired teen was feeling a little embarrassed after receiving these introductions. A wave of intimidation washed over her, now that she might have an expectation to live up to. She did however, slowly turn to Mulan as if asking for help. Said girl simply offering a quick bow of her head; "It's good to see you again Kairi. How have you been?" she greeted in a more casual manner, letting Kairi let out a sigh in relief.

"It's good to see you too, Mulan. I've been doing quite well, how about you?" Kairi continued, a more relaxed smile curling her lips.

Sora gave a wide smile to seeing this, knowing that once the four got to talking, they would definitely get along well with one another. Though she soon to the left side, as a female voice called out her name. Looking in this direction, she saw a group of familiar faces that she hadn't seen in quite some time; Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White. Each of them were approaching, yet seemed to be doing so slowly in order to socially hint that they wanted to speak to Sora away from the others. Though it took a moment to catch onto this, Sora swiftly nodded and moved to greet them.

"I'll be right back." she said quickly before leaving her other friends, all of whom glanced to her curiously.

As the brown-haired girl moved to meet the three halfway, she couldn't help but look at them inquisitively. While she hadn't shared much of a conversation with them, Sora did help rescue them during the whole 'Ansem Incident'. Recalling this though, the teen felt a pang of regret as she never really went to check on them. Simply trusting that the others had everything handled, while she went off to be a 'hero'.

"H-Hey...long time no see, huh?" Sora uttered out with a sheepish smile, not sure how friendly she could even act with them after all this time.

"Yes, it has been quite some time." Snow White started politely, as a beautiful smile curled her lips.

"We were hoping to talk with you during this party, at least so that we might be able to thank you for saving us." Cinderella spoke in a cordial manner.

"And to also offer our congratulations, for all your accomplishments and victories since." Aurora added, to which all three women each made a curtsy motion in unison.

Sora blinked once again in response before swiftly returned this gesture. She was almost overwhelmed by how proper all of them were, as it was the first time she was faced with princesses of such a high caliber. "Thank you so much, but there is no need to thank me. I was honestly just happy to help." she claimed, waving a hand as she did.

Though the three women smiled back, there was a strange amount of recognition in their eyes. Despite the curious gaze the brown-haired girl gave in return, they just looked to one another and shook their heads. "We also want to offer our best wishes, and the best of luck during the next stage of your journey." Cinderella claimed in an honest and hopeful tone.

"We'll be rooting for you all the way." Aurora said while holding up a fist of determination, which looked almost strange for a princess to do.

"That's right...and make sure to be careful, there will be danger at every turn." Snow White stated in a worried tone, taking a quick step forward as she did.

Hearing this, Sora blinked a few times as her curiosity was now fully peaked. "You make it sound like you know about it already." she uttered out, looking from one princess to the next with a bit of leeriness.

The three blinked to her before shaking their heads at the same time, yet it only made it all the more obvious that they seemed to know something. "Not at all." Aurora spoke up quickly, clearing her throat.

"We're just excited and hopeful that you'll be successful in your Mark of Mastery." Snow White said softly while offering a very gentle smile.

"Well...thank you, I appreciate that." Sora said with a nod, a smile forming on her own features.

'Wait...who told them about my Mark of Mastery?'

And there you have it, the party has come to a close. The rest of what happened will be referenced or possibly seen in flashbacks, but that's all for now. The next chapter will be the start of Sora's Mark of Mastery. I hope all of your enjoyed and will let me know your thoughts.

Until next time.