Hey guys, first off, Happy Thanksgiving!

Second so sorry for the delay, we just got a bit behind on things. But we did manage to get through this chapter at least!

After Riku left the area it was only Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Sora stood there though, still feeling a bit awkward and uncomfortable.

'Come on Sora, you need to be strong like Riku said. And that means you gotta face this and keep things going.'

"I know… I gotta try. For Riku," Sora commented before looking back at Donald and Goofy.

"Umm… you guys ready to go?"

"I'm ready if you are," Goofy said.

"We can go now," Donald said softly, still not making direct eye contact with Sora.

The three walked back to the 1st District and talked to Cid outside of the Accessory Shop. There he talked more about the gummi blocks they had found and what he did to upgrade the ship. But soon enough they were finished and they could head back on their journey to other worlds.

As the ship piloted along, Sora couldn't help but stare out the window. There was no way he could look at or try to talk to either Donald or Goofy right now. He still did not feel ready to do that yet. And he wasn't sure how long it would be until he was.

Sora let out a long sigh, not caring if he was heard by Donald or Goofy. "Maybe I should just go head back to the sleeping quarters…"

'If you would feel better, then you could do that,' Ventus replied.

Though he did wish that things could be better between Sora, Donald, and Goofy, he knew pushing Sora was not the answer. After what happened he knew how sensitive Sora's heart and mind was. And when Ventus could feel the hurt and turmoil in Sora's heart, he knew that the best thing to do was let him recovery. There was that and do whatever he could to comfort his little brother.

'Just let them know at least, okay?' Ventus said.

'He doesn't have to tell them anything,' Vanitas grumbled.

'It's just something to be polite.'

Sora sighed again and stood up. "I um… let me know when we get to the next world…"

Sora didn't even wait to hear if they responded to him. He quickly left the area and headed down to the sleeping quarters. Once he was sitting on the bed, it wasn't long before he flopped back and let out a sigh.

"I hope that Riku is going to be okay," he muttered aloud.

'You know him, he is going to be fine. Plus he is going to try and find a way to save Kairi, isn't that good to hear?'

'I wonder just how he thinks he can do that, but I do have to agree,' Vanitas added.

"Do you really think he will be able to do it? Like… how could something like that work?" Sora asked.

'I'm not sure… we only know that her heart is resting here with us. But maybe her body is out there somewhere? I'm sorry, I wish I had the right answers.'

"That's okay Ven, what matters is that Kairi is safe with us," Sora replied. "Though, she still hasn't woken up yet, has she?"

'Nothing yet, but you need to remember to give it time. These things don't just happen right away.'

"Yeah I know… I am just anxious to talk to her again…" Sora sighed.

Before Vanitas or Ventus could give their replies, the speaker in the room turned on. "Um, hey Sora," it was Goofy's voice. "It looks like there is some activity going on at the Olympus Coliseum. If you wanna check it out, let us know."

Sora hummed softly, but made no attempt to get up from his spot. Even though he did want to check out what was going on, he still felt so uncertain being around Donald and Goofy again. He ran his hands over his arms as he tried to do some deep breathing to calm himself down.

'We should go see what is going on. Maybe they need more help down there.'

'And if that goat has fixed the colosseum, that means we could compete and train more,' Vanitas suggested.

"You think so?" Sora asked quietly.

'Yeah, beats just sitting here forever. Let's go see if we can smack around some Heartless again.'

'And we still have to find the keyhole in that world. Sealing it up would help stop the flow of Heartless,' Ventus added in.

"I guess you guys have a point," Sora said as he jumped off the bed and headed up to the front of the ship.

Sora headed up front and once he was there he managed to say that he did want to check out what was going on down in the coliseum. After they landed and disembarked, they saw there were still Heartless running around the area and there seemed to be more inside from what they could tell.

When the group got into the coliseum, Phil was there to explain everything was back up and running if they wanted to enter one of the current tournaments. Sora agreed and the group was sent out into the main area to find that their opponents were in fact groups of Heartless.

Though Sora did work alongside Donald and Goofy in fighting, he didn't speak to them. The only time he did was when one of them cast a healing spell or tossed a potion his way. Other than that he was completely silent for his anxiety and fears were covering his heart.

When the rounds were over, and the Heartless were finished off, Sora with Donald and Goofy had proved to be the winners. The three of them headed out of the tournament area and found Phil waiting to talk to them.

"I gotta say kid. I never thought that you could do it. Not bad," Phil said.

Vanitas scoffed. 'Like he thinks measy attempts like that are going to mean anything.'

'He's trying to be nice at least,' Ventus replied.

'He literally said he didn't think Sora could do it. I wouldn't call that trying at all.'

"Phil," Hercules said. "You're as stubborn as ever. Don't pretend you're not happy for them."

Phil grumbled and looked away briefly. "Ahem! Now, kid, you've still got a long way to go. The next tournament will happen in a couple days. Come back and we will see how you can handle the real thing."

"Sure," Sora managed to say aloud. He then started to walk away, but a thought stopped him in his tracks.

'What's wrong Sora?'

"I was thinking about your other friend you mentioned… Zack. If he was here before and Cloud was trying to look for him, you think maybe Hercules may know where he is?" Sora asked.

'We don't need to waste our time with this. I don't see how this is important.'

"I've just been wondering about it… that's all. Losing a friend and wanting to find them, I can understand how Cloud felt now that I think about it."

'I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask, but we should focus on our own goal first,' Vanitas commented.

'We're here now, so might as well just ask to save time though,' Ventus added in.

Sora turned around and walked up to Hercules. "Hey, um Hercules?"

"Yeah Sora? And hey, it's okay, you can just call me Herc."

"Okay… but um I was wondering… for a friend I know… if you know anyone by the name of Zack."

Herc's eyes widened slightly. "Yeah, I do actually. How do you know of him?"

"A friend," Sora replied. "A friend I knew said they thought he was here, but I haven't seen him. Would you know where he is?"

Herc's eyes soften slightly, looking more distant. "I'm sorry, I actually don't know what happened to him."

"Huh?" Sora asked, not expecting an answer like that.

"He had hung out at the coliseum a lot about ten years ago, but then one day he just vanished. Not a word or anything."

'I hope nothing happened to him… it sounds odd that he would just vanished like that.'

"The more I think about it, it does feel a bit odd. I know how much he wanted to be a hero, but to just up and leave without a word doesn't feel like something he would do," Herc continued after a moment.

"You don't think he left because he felt like it?" Sora asked.

"No, that isn't who he is. But now you've gotten me curious. As soon as I get the chance, I am going to try and ask around if anyone knows anything. That sound good?"

Sora's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't expected Herc to help him out at all. "Wait, you want to look for Zack?"

"Yeah, of course. He is a friend of mine, and you said you knew someone else who knew him. So might as well get to the bottom of this mystery."

"Oh… ah thanks," Sora mumbled, still surprised at the kindness and generosity from Herc.

"No problem, see you around Sora," Herc said, waving his hand. He then walked over to somewhere else in the coliseum.

Once Sora was walking again, he headed outside of the area where Donald and Goofy had been waiting. Though his mind wasn't on them or if they were going to ask him anything. He nodded to them though before they all headed out and got back on the gummi ship. Once back there, Sora zoned out to focus more on his thoughts again to his brothers. "You really think he will look into finding Zack?"

'I hope so… if he doesn't know, it makes me a bit concerned what could have happened to him.'

'I still don't really think it matters too much. Who cares just about some guy you met once?'

'He was my friend I made while traveling around! I may not remember a lot of all those years ago, but I remember making friends and all of them being special to me!'

Vanitas let out a long sigh, surprisingly not giving a retort back. 'Hmph fine, whatever.'

"You okay Vani?" Sora asked, telling that Vanitas seemed a bit upset by his tone.

'I said fine, what more do you want? Let's just focus on the next world already,' Vanitas replied hastily.

"But Vani…"

'Sora… I don't think Vani wants to talk too much about it right now,' Ventus added softly. 'We will probably be at the next world soon, so we should be ready for that.'

It was a bit of a short chapter, but we hope you guys enjoyed it for what it was. TheDeadGirlRisen and I hope to get the next one done when we can. But we will see you all next time!