Look at this! It is the 30th chapter of this story! Woo *throws confetti* Thank you all for the support thus far, we couldn't have done it without all of you!

"What do you mean we already went to a world and sealed the keyhole?" Sora asked once Vanitas and Ventus gave him the basic rundown of what happened. Though to him it still seemed weird and bizarre for what went on for him. One moment they are crashing, the next everything is fine and they are heading back to Traverse Town.

'We mean exactly that. You were unconscious for a while and so we decided to make sure you were safe. Ventus and I ended up sealing the keyhole, unfortunately we didn't find the brat. But I think you made a new friend… so… that's good?' Ventus ended his statement in an unsure tone, only adding it due to Ventus's mental prodding. Why wasn't Ventus the one telling Sora these things anyways?

"But… it just feels weird… cause I don't even know what went on or who you met. I have a new friend that I don't even know now…"

'I know it's a lot to take in, but we had to do it to make sure you weren't in any danger. Which you could have been if we hadn't acted on doing it,' Ventus added.

'Sabor seemed pretty intent on mauling us, that's for sure,' Vanitas muttered.

"Still… why are we back here in the gummi ship? Do you really expect me to believe that Vanitas forgave… you know who…?" Sora questioned, not really wanting to actually say the name that was on his mind. The events before were still fresh in his mind, since to him that was what happened last.

'Oh I haven't forgiven him, I'll leave that up to you. I'm still fully pissed at him, but they have the means for us to travel through space, so unless we get another means of visiting planets we have to stick with them.'

'But Donald did apologize!' Ventus added in quickly.

'We could make him sweat it out a bit, maybe make him grovel and beg forgiveness…'

"But…" Sora whispered. "That's not really a nice thing to do to someone… even if he did argue with me I wouldn't want to do that to him."

'It's no big deal, your just letting the message sink in that he messed up, that's all.'

"If he is sorry though… I um… I guess I should try and talk to him about it. That's the right thing to do. It feels like it anyways… I don't want to make anyone feel worse than they already are," Sore replied slowly as he sat up. "I would feel really bad if I kept making him do that when he already wants to apologize."

'Still, he should show more consideration to you wanting to look for Riku,' Vanitas grumbled half-heartedly.

'I think he does understand now with what we went through in that world. Sora, you're right though. You should talk it out with Donald rather than making him wait. You got the right idea.'

Vanitas scoffed but said nothing in response.

Sora got off the bed and may his way to the front of the ship. Donald was still at the pilots seat and steering them back in the direction of Traverse Town. Slowly Sora shuffled up to the front and glanced over to Donald.

"Hey… um Donald?" Sora asked, his voice softer than normally.

Donald looked up. "Yeah, Sora? You feeling better?"

"Y-Yeah I guess…" Sora mumbled as he placed a hand on his other arm. "But I uh… I wanted to say something. Or I mean… talk about before."

Donald set the controls to auto pilot before turning his chair to face Sora. "Okay Sora, I'm listening."

"I… I wanted to say…" Sora began to rub his arm slowly. He could feel his heart racing as he stared at Donald. "Hmm before… before we crashed and what happened back in Deep Jungle… I'm…"

Sora closed his mouth and lowered his head. He could feel his whole body shaking as the words from the argument came back to him. "I still can't… not right now… I'm sorry…"

Sora turned around quickly and made his way back to the sleeping quarters. When he got there, he flopped face first into the pillow and let out a frustrated sigh that slowly morphed into a small sob.

Vanitas gave a mental prod to Ventus for him to do something.

'You okay Sora?' Ventus asked gently.

"I couldn't do it… I got too nervous and I remembered only the argument we had. And it made me really upset. I know you said he apologized and he did look like he was sorry when I went to talk to him. But I couldn't actually say it back…"

'Are you sure you're ready to apologize? It may be the right thing to do, but you shouldn't apologize if you don't mean it.'

"I want to though… I really do cause I know it is the right thing. But I'm… I'm scared of what will happen next…" Sora muttered. "What if I say the wrong thing and he gets mad at me again. What if he still is, but was trying to be nice? What if neither of them like me anymore…"

'They like you Sora, their your friends, it's normal for there to be a few bumps along the road, but everything will turn out fine!' Ventus said trying to reassure Sora.

"You sure?"

'Of course!'

"I know Vani probably doesn't believe that…"

'You know Vani, he's just a big ol grumpy boy,' Ventus said cheerfully ignoring Vanitas's scoff. 'It takes him awhile to like people, give him time and he'll like Donald and Goofy just as he has come to like Riku and Kairi.'

'Yeah right,' Vanitas muttered.

"Ven's right though," Sora said as he sat up. "You use to hate Kairi and Riku. But I know you do care for them now! So… yeah you're right Ven, I think things can get better. Just gotta give it some time."

'I detest those two buffoons,' Vanitas snarled in a low voice.

Sora hummed thoughtfully, eventually shrugging. "Maybe we will just have to wait and see what happens. But thanks guys for talking to him. It helped."

'Hmpf, at least we discovered something new that could be useful in an emergency.'

"Yeah I guess it is kind of helpful in battle. Now that I know you guys can do it, it makes me feel a bit safer," Sora replied before smiling.

'I wonder though, do you think we can do it when your awake, if you gave us permission? It seemed that as soon as you woke up, you took Ventus out of control, without even realizing you were doing it. What do you guys think?'

"I don't know… it's all new to me so I wouldn't have a clue about it," Sora replied.

'Perhaps something we can experiment with…'

Sora was about to reply when speaks on the ceiling turned on. "Sora, we are approaching Traverse Town." It was Goofy's voice. "So uh, ya know if you are ready and all, just let us know and we can head out to land."

"We'll have to test it out later," Sora said aloud as he stood up from the bed. "When we go to the next world and stuff maybe."

It didn't take long for them to arrive down in the first district of Traverse Town where they found Yuffie. They exchanged greetings before Sora decided to ask one question. "You know anything about this gummi block?"

"Ah, no I'm afraid not, you should go see Cid, he might know more," Yuffie answered. "Though if you want to find Leon, he is probably in the underground cavern. He likes to train there. Just take the channel by the alleyway and that will lead you there."

"Okay," Sora replied before heading off. "Should we go down there first?"

'I think we should. Just in case Leon has anything important to tell us,' Ventus said.

He told Donald and Goofy where he wanted to head and the three of them walked to where Yuffie instructed. When they made it down there they saw that Leon was in fact practicing with his gunblade, and Aerith was standing off to the side watching him.

Once there, Leon stopped his training and looked to Sora and began to ask about what had happened so far. Sora breathed in slowly before talking to Leon. He still wasn't too sure what to feel on the guy. But he knew he could not ignore him after all. But there was still a bit of hesitation around him.

Leon had asked about the keyholes and Sora explained that he sealed two so far. Leon then went on to explain a bit about the keyhole, but Sora had already picked up enough information on it from the help of Ventus and Vanitas. But eventually something was said that really drew his attention.

"The Heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world's core," Leon said as he crossed his arms.

"They do something? Like what?" Sora asked.

"It disappears in the end," Aerith answered.

"What!" Sora exclaimed. "Is… is that true guys? What happened to home… it's gone?"

Ventus hesitated to answer at first. The subject was a bit sensitive to Sora and he didn't want to upset him any further than he already was feeling. But he knew the truth couldn't be avoided. 'That's what it sounds like… if the Heartless hurt the heart of the world then it probably would have been destroyed…'

Sora's shoulders slumped. His home… the islands… were gone. All because of the Heartless invading. If only he had known sooner, maybe he could have done something about it. If only he had known… maybe he could have prevented the disaster all together and everything would still be fine.

"That's why your key is so important," Leon said disrupting Sora's thoughts.

"Yeah I know that…" Sora retorted slightly with a bit of a sneer. He didn't mean to sound annoyed, but he already knew this fact and was still left upset that he couldn't use the keyblade before to save his own world.

"Sora, please lock the keyholes. You're the only one who can. Help other worlds so they don't also fall into darkness because of the Heartless," Aerith said in a kind voice.

"Of course I will! You think I want to have other worlds be destroyed!?" Sora questioned, surprised they would even think he would hesitate to help prevent other worlds from suffering the same fate.

"No, it isn't that Sora," Aerith replied, keeping her calm and kind demeanor. "We just know that it is a lot to put on your shoulders. You're still young and this is a big task. We wish there was more we could do to help, but there isn't much we can do currently."

"I'll be visiting other worlds anyways to look for my friends, it doesn't make that much difference if I seal them while I'm there."

"I believe seeing those other worlds would also be a good experience for you," Leon added in. "I only wish there was more I could do…" the last part he muttered quietly as a solemn look washed over his face.

'Hmpf.'

'Seems like he may need some time to himself,' Ventus said taking note of Leon's expression. 'We can probably move on for now.'

Sora turned to leave when he heard Leon's voice again. "Wait, Sora. Take this with you." He held out an earthy orange colored gem. "This stone holds some mysterious power. I've been carrying it around for luck since I found it. But I want you to hold onto it now."

Sora started at the gem, looking at its glossing color. But he didn't reach out and take it right away. He gave a glance up to Leon. "Why don't you want it anymore?"

"I only think that it would be more useful to you than me," Leon replied. "Perhaps you can even figure out how to use it."

'You should take it Sora, to be polite. And who knows, maybe it will be helpful in someway' Ventus added.

'He's probably giving it to us because it's cursed,' Vanitas said just after Sora took the stone from Leon.

'No it isn't! It doesn't look or feel that way,' Ventus commented. 'Don't be so superstitious.'

"Thanks," Sora muttered quietly before he forgot. He then turned to leave the area with Donald and Goofy in toe.

Once they were back in the First District they went to see Cid, who told them about the gummi blocks that they had found. It was all rather confused to Sora, Ventus, and Vanitas, but Cid seemed to know his stuff.

He even said he would help install the new gummi blocks, though he asked if they could deliver something for him in the meantime. It was an old book that he apparently helped restore. Once Cid told them where to go, they headed off.

When they got to the location that they were supposed to go, it was a bit surprising. First off it was hidden behind a door that had required a fire spell. But even more surprising was the fact that the building in the cavern was old and abandoned looking.

"Wow it's pretty musty and old in here. But…" Sora trailed off. A faint sense of familiarity filled him. "Kind of reminds me of the secret spot back home. Don't you guys agree?"

Vanitas gave a scoff in response, and Sora had the distinct impression he would be crossing his arms and scowling.

'It is interesting, but I wonder where the guy is who is supposed to live here. Seems weird though that he would live in a musty run down place like this.'

Before anyone knew it a man did appear nearly out of the blue. He was an old looking back in blue robes and a long white beard. From the sound of it, he seemed to be expecting them to show up.

It turned out his name was Merlin and that he was a sorcerer. From that Ventus had another moment of remembering something. He explained that he had briefly run into this wizard man before, but he never got much of a change to talk to him.

And as if to prove it he opened up his bag he had with him and used magic to pull out pieces of furniture and make the room look more lived in and homely.

Merlin then explained that he would be there if Sora ever wanted any help to train with magic. Sora was tempted to turn him down, seeing as Ventus and Vanitas were there to help him. But he opted to not voice that opinion aloud.

After a bit of discussion though and handing Merlin the book, they were ready to leave, though Merlin told them to check with the Fairy Godmother first if Sora wanted to know more about the stone he had. He walked over there and soon magic surrounded it and an old lady also dressed in robes appeared.

"You know what this stone does?" Sora asked as he held out the stone.

"Oh, the poor thing! He has turned into a summon gem," Fairy Godmother replied, before explaining that the summoning gem held a soul from a lost world. She proceeded to grant him the power of summoning the creature, which turned out to be a lion named Simba.

As Sora, Donald, and Goofy left Merlin's home, Sora held the stone in his pocket. "I feel bad for him… to have lost his world but was strong enough to not be lost to the darkness… but the result was this."

'Don't worry. I am sure we can find a way to help him back to normal. There has to be a way,' Ventus said as reassuring as possible.

"I hope so," Sora thought back as they exited the cavern area and walked back into the 3rd District.

When Sora rounded the corner he saw several Soldier Heartless. Sora was ready to summon his keyblade, but in the blink of an eye the Heartless was destroyed. He blinked in surprise before he gasped as he spotted familiar silver hair, and a bright yellow shirt that was classic for his friend to wear.

In his hand was a sharp looking sword that's blade was fashioned like a bat or dragon wing, the 'membrane' being red and the 'bone' a dark black that had a slight hint of purple. On it's hilt was an eye, and the handle was covered with black leather braided grip.

"There you are. What's going on?"

And now Riku is in the picture. But how will Sora react seeing his best friend after so long? Heh. Find out next time!