Chapter 28: Minuet of Forest

When Donald had volunteered to look through the forest for one of the Sound Ideas, this wasn't what he had been expecting. According to Edward, the woods would be a walk in the park; nothing there but fairies, he said. Well, Donald sure hadn't run into any threats, but there were other things slowing him down.

He shoved the petals of a giant flower out of his way and stepped over a fallen log…or maybe a massive twig that had fallen off one of the positively enormous trees, he couldn't be sure. Or at least, he tried to step over it. A branch caught Donald's ankle as he moved over the wood and he came toppling down, landing beak-first on the thick grass.

"I hate forests," Donald grumbled as he pushed himself back up to his feet. He glanced up at the night sky far, far above him, hidden through the canopy of the skyscraper-tall trees. Well okay, they weren't that big, but they were still pretty huge. Donald half expected the flowers to start talking to him, his mind kept wandering back to Wonderland. He wasn't much a fan of Wonderland either.

Light chuckling and the sound of footprints squishing into the soft earth made Donald turn around. Goofy came marching over with a grin on his face, pushing aside blades of grass as tall as he was and laughing as it the tips tickled his nose. Contrary to Donald, Goofy did enjoy Wonderland.

"Hey there, Donald! I found you!"

"Found me?" Donald hadn't even realized they had gotten separated. When did that happen?

Goofy didn't seem upset about it, though; he just laughed again. "Yup! I lost ya back at the ledge we had to climb flowers to pass. Gawrsh, I guess I didn't notice you takin' the long way 'round."

Donald scratched his head. Yeah, he remembered that now. The flowers had bloomed right as they walked up to them, but Donald hadn't been sure they could be trusted not to snap under his and Goofy's weight. Goofy must have gone ahead and climbed them anyway after Donald moved on, then. He almost snapped at Goofy for not paying attention but bit his tongue. After all, he hadn't noticed that Goofy wasn't following him.

"So where to now?" Goofy asked, walking up closer to Donald.

"How should I know, you big palooka?"

"Well, don't ya have Edward's map?"

"The map…? The map!" Donald patted his pockets and then unzipped them, searching for the old parchment that Edward had given them. "Let's see, I know I must have it somewhere…" he mumbled. But despite his best efforts, it was nowhere to be found. Scratching the side of his head in confusion, Donald glanced up at Goofy. "Do you have it?"

"Have what?"

Donald felt his face grow ever so slightly hotter. "The map, Goofy! Did I give it to you?"

"Oh! Well, let's see." Goofy said as he slid off his black vest. He had many more pockets than Donald did, so the duck was hopeful; if they lost the map, then that was the very definition of 'a bad thing.'

"Hmm…" Goofy dug through the pockets of his vest, tossing out all manner of junk: a baseball, a fishing hook, and for some bizarre reason a rubber ducky, just to name a few. "Nothin' here…" Goofy put his vest back on and moved to the pockets on his yellow pants. Donald groaned and sat down on a nearby rock, rubbing his face in exasperation as Goofy dug through his belongings. Was that a can of alphabet soup?

"Hey, I think this is it, Donald!" Goofy suddenly exclaimed, holding up a folded square of paper with two fingers.

Donald jumped up to his feet, relief washing over him. "Well don't just stand there, Goofy! Open it up and figure out where to go next!"

"Way ahead of ya, Don!" Goofy laughed once again and began unfolding the paper, revealing a map—though Donald only saw the back of it as Goofy continued to look over it. The dog brought a hand to his chin, rubbing it as he thought over the world's layout.

"Well?" Donald asked, pushing for some kind of direction.

"Hmm…" Goofy narrowed his eyes and rubbed his chin some more, turning the paper in his other hand to look at it from another angle. "Says here we need to go to the west coast for Powerline's concert!"

"What?!" Donald jumped up and tore the map out of Goofy's hands. His eyes darted all over it, absorbing the locations circled or crossed out on the increasingly familiar geography. "Lake Destiny, Lester's Possum Park—Goofy, what is this?!"

"Oh, that's the map from my road trip with Maxie!"

"Your what?!" Donald's eye twitched and his face grew red hot. Letting out an loud, angry scream he jumped up and down while screaming incoherently, his hands a blur as he shred the map apart. Tiny pieces of paper rained down around the two of them, settling onto the grass as Donald panted heavily and his face shifted back to white.

"Gawrsh…" Goofy whispered with concern.

Donald pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. Okay, we can handle this. Think, Goofy, think. We gotta remember what the map looked like."

Goofy rubbed his head. "Well, let's see. We had decided to split up, that way we could gather them Sound Ideas quicker for the folks back at the village."

Donald nodded. "Right." It was a plan that just made sense. While of course the group would be stronger with all five of them together, there was nothing in the area that couldn't be handled in smaller bites. Of course Xion and Sora had to stick together because of their shared life force, and Kairi had chosen to go with them, which left Donald and Goofy to march through the forest.

Goofy continued picking his brain. "Then, hmm…"

x-x-x

"Please, come this way." Edward opened the door behind him, its aged wood creaking from years of lack of use. The room on the other side was pitch black, and just as Donald's eyes began to adjust to the darkness a flash of light came from the right-hand wall. Flames illuminated Edward's face as he held an oil lamp in front of him. Setting the lamp down on a nearby stool, Edward moved to a shelf on the opposite wall and pulled out a rolled up parchment almost as long as he was tall.

"Here we are." Edward dusted off the parchment as he moved over to an old oak table sitting in the center of the room. Unfurling it carefully, he laid it out over the table. Next to Donald, the others' faces wore expressions of confusion. Donald stretched as tall as he could to get a closer look, only for Edward to walk in front of him and move back over to the stool. He picked up the lantern and brought it to the table as well, setting it on the corner of the parchment.

Now it was clear what they were looking at—a map, and a very stylized one at that. And much to everyone's surprise, the map began to sparkle and a soft melody rose up from out of nowhere to accompany it. Donald felt his jaw drop as three dimensional images rose up from the map, turning it from a flat picture into a magical diorama not unlike the one Yen Sid had shown them. Donald recognized several landmarks and locations that he had seen while riding the rainbow down from Yen Sid's tower: the fields, the tall black mountain, the snowy woods… There was even a miniature Mysterious Tower hovering above them all.

"This is your world?" Sora asked, poking a finger at one of the tall trees in the forest. He passed right through it as if it wasn't there.

Edward nodded. "Yes, the Symphony of Sorcery. We're here, right under Bald Mountain's shadow." He pointed at a perfect recreation of the village, church and all, nestled at the mountain's base.

Xion frowned. "Did you say 'Bald Mountain'?"

Edward glanced up at her, his long blond bangs falling over his eyes. He brushed them aside. "Yes, that is the peak's name. Why?"

"…Nothing. Go on, sorry I interrupted you."

Donald raised an eyebrow at Xion, and he wasn't the only one. But as Xion ignored the concerned looks they were giving her, Donald turned his attention to the foreboding black peak. Now that he got a better look at it, it was certainly familiar looking. He just couldn't place where he had seen it. The name Bald Mountain, however, was totally unfamiliar to him. Where had Xion heard it?

"If you insist," Edward said. "Moving on, then—there are two Sound Ideas, as I told you before. One of them can be found in the Snowgleam Wood." Edward's hand swept through the woods outside of the village and his fingers pointed at the lake surrounded by snow yet miraculously not frozen. "The forests are calm this time of year. Nothing to worry about except fairies—well, and those invading monsters, but you've proven you can handle yourselves."

"The other," he continued, "is located in the flower fields inhabited by centaur." This was clear in the opposite direction of the Snowgleam Wood.

"Centaur?" Kairi asked, tilting her head.

"Strange creatures, but friendly enough. They have the bodies of horses up until a certain point; after that, they are human from the waist up."

"Oh, like mermaids!" said Goofy.

"Mermaids?" Edward chuckled. "Certainly, if you can believe in such things."

Donald snickered. What made horse people so much more believable than mermaids? Surely Edward had to be pulling their leg. Still, centaur or not, they had to go get those Sound Ideas. Which brought Donald back to the point he had noticed a moment ago:

"They're really far apart."

"I noticed that, too," Xion said. She tapped at the lake in the Snowgleam Wood, which rippled ever so slightly as her finger passed through it. "To travel so far would take a while."

Edward rubbed his chin thoughtfully as his eyes ran along the map. "It does take several hours just to get to one of them. You'd have to practically quadruple that time—double it to get to one and come back, then again to go to the second and come back."

"We could split up?" Goofy offered. "Not that I like bein' away from you guys."

Edward smiled and nodded. "That would cut down the time significantly."

Sora glanced at Xion. "Well, Xion and I have to stay together, especially if there are Heartless and Nobodies around."

"And you could use some magic there." Kairi said with a chuckle. "You're better at swinging that Keyblade than casting spells, Sora."

Sora grinned widely and moved his hands behind his head, as he so often did. "Guilty as charged. I'd love for you to come with us, Kairi."

Donald felt a hand fall on his shoulder and he glanced up to see Goofy grinning down at him. "Guess it's you and me then, Donald! It'll be just like the good ol' days!"

"Sure thing, Goofy," Donald said, shrugging Goofy's hand off his shoulder with considerably less enthusiasm than the others. He had nothing against Goofy at all—he was one of his absolute best friends—but he required a lot of patience to put up with, patience that Donald didn't have and had to rely on others to have. Donald turned to the spiky-haired teen who had gone back to poking at the 3D images above the map. "Sora, which one do you think you'll go to?"

Sora glanced up from the map. "Uh… The fields, I guess? I'd like to see a centaur!"

Xion and Kairi giggled behind him, and Donald shook his head. Typical Sora.

"Okay, Goofy. I guess that leaves the one in the forest for you and me."

"Oh boy, I can't wait to see one of those fairies Edward was talkin' about!"

Speaking of Edward, the man picked up the oil lamp and once again carried it over to the stool. He kneeled down to access a small cabinet that Donald hadn't noticed before and pulled out two rolled up parchments. They were considerably smaller than the large map. Taking the lantern one last time, he returned to the old oak table with the parchments held under his arm.

"They aren't magic, I'm afraid, but take these maps." He handed one to Sora and one to Donald. As Donald unfurled the paper, Goofy leaned down and watched from over his shoulder. A smaller copy of the map on the table, minus any magical 3D effects, was printed on it.

"Please, gather the Sound Ideas and return safely. This town is counting on you for its defense."

x-x-x

"I guess I don't remember what it looked like..." Hints of worry were creeping into Goofy's voice.

"I don't either." Donald groaned loudly and fell back onto the rock, his hat tumbling off of his head as he spread his hands out and stared up at the sky through the canopy. "And we came all this way… Now what are we gonna do?"

"Hey, uh, Donald…"

"I mean, we've been out here for hours, Goofy! I don't even know how to get back!" Donald rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Do you? What am I talking about, of course you don't."

"Donald—"

"We should have gone to the fields instead. At least that wouldn't be confusing like this forest is." Donald rolled over onto his side and stared at a faintly glowing mushroom. "I bet they never found a centaur," he muttered.

"Donald!"

"What, Goofy?" Donald snapped, sitting up suddenly. The wind was beginning to pick up and ruffled the feathers on the top of his exposed head. "What? If you have something to say, then just say it! I'm in a bad enough mood as it is!"

Goofy pointed down at the rock. "I found the map!"

Raising an eyebrow, Donald turned his head to follow Goofy's finger—he was pointing right at Donald's hand. And under than hand… Donald jumped up in surprise, revealing a crumbled old map sandwiched between his discarded hat and feathered hand. But how had it—oh, right. He remembered now. He had kept it under his hat… Donald chuckled awkwardly, brushing aside their previous issues.

"Well, at least we didn't lose it!" Donald exclaimed happily. But as he reached down to pick up the map and continue their journey to the Sound Idea, the wind grew stronger. The paper slipped away just centimeters from Donald's fingers, fluttering off in the wind.

"Oh no!" Goofy cried. Already he broke into a run, moving as fast as he could through the forest.

"H-Hey, Goofy! Wait for me!" Donald shouted, shoving his hat on haphazardly and following his taller companion in a hurry. But with obstacles such as twigs the size of logs and mushrooms as big around as a dinner table, it was slow going; soon enough, Donald even lost sight of Goofy in the dense foliage.

"Of all the lousy…" Donald glanced around. He couldn't see anything more than about a yard ahead of him, but maybe if he got a better viewpoint… Locating a large flower, he wrapped his feathered fingers around the stem and followed up by looping his legs as well. When he had a good, tight hold, Donald began shimmying up the flower.

Unfortunately, no matter how large the flower was, flower petals just weren't strong enough to support him. Rather than climb atop them, Donald found himself clinging just under the top of the flower, his hat brushing against the underside of one of the white petals. His head turned this way and that as he scanned the area—not just for Goofy, but for the map as well.

"Goofy! Can you hear me? Goofy!"

No response except for the soft buzzing of night-time insects. Even from this new viewpoint, Donald still couldn't see very far. Not only was the forest thick with tall blades of grass and gargantuan tree trunks, but it was very dark; the only illumination came from the faintly glowing mushrooms or leaves.

Wait… No, there was another source of light. What was that?

Donald, still clinging onto the stem, stretched his neck out and squinted his eyes in order to better make out…whatever it was that he was seeing. Seriously, what was he looking at? Little multicolored orbs—pink, green, blue, all sorts of colors—danced through the trees, twirling around branches as thick as logs and sliding down leaves as large as Donald. The very first thought to come to Donald's mind was that he was looking at the eyes of Heartless. But no, that couldn't be it; they didn't come in pairs, for one thing, and there were a lot more colors than just yellow ones.

As Donald leaned forward to watch the dancing lights, he didn't even notice that the flower leaned forward with him; not until his beak ended up hitting the ground, that is.

"Huh?" Donald glanced down at the soft earth beneath him and then over to the flower. Well, he had to give these giant flowers credit—their stems could handle a lot. But Donald had been around a long time, and he knew well enough the kind of thing that would happen next. Chuckling nervously, Donald slowly released his legs from their hold on the stem and moved into a vertical position as he hung from the arching stem. This shift in weight pulled the flower down more, but if he moved fast enough he could avoid—

Too slow.

The flower had had enough. After building up pressure from being pulled down by Donald's weight, it finally gave out. Snapping back upwards, Donald let out a terrified shout as he was catapulted high into the air and began sailing between the skyscraper trunks of the forest in a long arc. After his mind caught up to his body and he registered just what had happened, the first thing Donald did was glance down—big mistake. Seeing the grass below moving by in a blur, Donald let out a pitiful squeak and flung his hands over his eyes. But as he felt his arc begin to descend, something clicked in Donald's mind. If he wanted to survive this, he'd need more resistance.

"A-Aerora!"

Donald cast the spell without removing his hands from his face; if he was too late to save himself, he didn't want to see it. He felt the wind wrap around his body, moving in from the opposite direction of the wind sailing past him as he continued to fly through the woods. He was slowing down, but was it enough? He couldn't be sure.

Squich.

Donald came to a sudden halt, before wavering back and forth slightly from the sudden force of his stop. That was… What? Why did he stop? Whatever had caught him was sticky, which must have made the noise a moment ago. But what could be sticky and big enough to catch a falling duck? A thousand thoughts ran through Donald's mind, none of them pleasant.

Moving his shaking hands from his eyes, Donald slowly slid one eye open. His other one followed shortly after, snapping wide in surprise. Out of everything in these woods that he had expected to run into, a giant, glowing spider web was not one of them.

And that's exactly what it was. A spider web bigger than Donald was had caught him after the Aero had slowed him down. The threads that made up the web glowed, and it wasn't just because of the moonlight—they were glowing in a rainbow of colors. A closer inspection revealed tiny dew drops of all sorts of colors coated the web. This wasn't just left over rain.

Wait—Donald froze. This was a spider web. Immediately he moved to break himself free of the webbing, while at the same time swinging his head this way and that in frantic search of the no doubt gigantic spider that had spun the web. But no matter how much he looked, how sweaty his forehead grew, or how frantic his breathing became, there was no spider in sight and the threads refused to snap.

Could he burn it with a Fire spell? Probably, if it weren't for the dew drops. And even if it did work, he very well may end up burning his clothes off as well. Donald grimaced and stared down at the damp grass below his dangling feet. What possible way out of this mess was there…?

Rustle, rustle…

"Huh?" Donald glanced up. There was a rustling sound coming from the bushes, the person or animal making the noise just barely out of his sight and hidden in the darkness. Who, or what, was it? The rustling grew louder and Donald began to hear footsteps accompanying it. The bushes parted as he held his breath, worry evolving into fear—

"Donald!"

"Goofy?!"

Goofy laughed and walked up to Donald, grabbing him by the arms and helping to tug him off of the web. "Gawrsh, it sure looks like you got into trouble since we split up!"

"Since we—?!" Donald felt his eye twitch, but he took a deep breath as the threads finally snapped and he jumped down to the forest floor. "Okay, Goofy. Did you find the map?" He kicked a loose thread off his foot.

Goofy shook his head and looked down with a frown. "Sorry, Donald. I lost it."

Great. Just perfect. "Well now what are we gonna do?"

Instantly, his friend's frown turned into a big, goofy grin—no pun intended. "Aw, don't worry, Donald! I found some friends that can help us get to he Sound Idea real quick!"

Donald raised an eyebrow. "Friends? But Edward said the woods are empty except for…" Donald trailed off as multicolored balls of light appeared from the shadows behind goofy—the same balls of light he had seen earlier. They were growing larger…no, they were coming closer!

Donald backed up and pulled out his staff, but Goofy just chuckled as the orbs of light swirled around him. He even greeted them with a little wave! What were they—oh! Of course, Edward said this forest was empty…except for fairies!

Donald walked up to a yellow orb of light and leaned in closely, squinting to see through the glow. The orb stopped flying around Goofy and dropped down to Donald's eye level before moving in close. Behind the light, he could see a little female figure, dainty and thin, with dragonfly-like wings sprouting from her back. She waved hello to Donald before dancing on his beak for a moment and then flying back up to join her companions.

"You found fairies?" Donald asked, rubbing the spot where the fairy's feet had landed; there were some specks of glowing dust left over from her contact.

"Yup! And they can lead us to the Sound Idea?" Goofy laughed again as one of the fairies tugged on his sleeve and pointed further into the forest.

"Really?" Donald asked, unsure. Just like their old friend Tinker Bell, these fairies seemed to be incapable of speech. How could Goofy be so certain that's what they meant? Then again, he did seem to have a certain sense for these things, a deeper intuition than Donald did. "Well, if you say so. Lead the way."

"Lead the way," Goofy repeated, bowing to the fairies and chuckling again as they tugged on his clothes. The tall dog made his way down the path and Donald followed behind him; slowly at first, but when a fairy ran into him from behind he started walking quicker. Yeesh, they had Tinker bell's temper as well.

As they moved forward, Donald felt the air slowly began to grow chill. They were climbing a steady incline now, working their way uphill as the thick trees began to thin out somewhat. And all the time it grew ever colder, until patches of fluffy white snow started appearing on the ground and flakes flittered down from the night sky. Donald took to walking in Goofy's footprints to avoid sinking into the snow; a hard feat, since Goofy's longer legs meant his footprints were spread further apart than Donald could comfortably stretch his own legs.

Eventually they reached the top of the hill, though. Goofy came to a halt and the fairies stopped to rest on his shoulders and hat. Most of them, anyway—a trio of blue balls of light continued forward, their bright shade barely visible against the untouched white snow. They had finally arrived in the Snowgleam Wood, and it was beautiful.

The wood was nestled in a valley blanketed in snow so thick and pure that no earth was visible beneath it. White-capped trees dotted the land, starting out sparse at first but growing thicker as they moved up the hillsides and off into the distance. But the real eye-catcher of the valley was the lake in the center, a deep blue like the midnight sky. The stars reflecting on the water's calm surface made the resemblance even greater. On an island in the center of the lake, something was glowing…

The three blue fairies moved out over the lake and descended toward the water in a spinning, dancing pattern. Donald was too far away to make out their petite bodies, but where the lights made contact with the water no ripples formed—instead, little strands of light blue magic, nearly white, crisscrossed their way over the lake in a pattern like a spider web—no, more like a snowflake. It took Donald far too long to realize just what the magic was, especially given his familiarity with the spell.

"It's ice!" he gasped, running over to the edge of the deep blue lake. The Blizzard spell released by the blue fairies continued to work its magic on the lake, freezing the water over; not all of it, but enough to create a path. Donald glanced down at the ice as it crept up to the shore. If he looked hard enough, he could see fish swimming beneath the frozen surface.

Goofy walked up beside Donald. "Well, are ya ready?"

"Ready for what?" Donald asked, still watching the fish.

Goofy laughed. "The Sound Idea, of course! It's right over there, Donald!"

"It is?" Donald looked up at Goofy and then turned back out to the lake. Oh, the island! The one with the glowing object on it! That was the Sound Idea? He couldn't make it out clearly from here, but it was so small! How could something like that protect a whole village, even with two of them?

"Yup! C'mon, Donald, let's get goin'." Goofy took the initiative, being the first to step out onto the ice. Donald watched with held breath, but the ice didn't crack under Goofy's weight—didn't so much as creak. If it was clear enough to see the water through, he didn't expect it to be stable. But it looked like the fairies' magic was holding strong. Donald followed Goofy, placing his own bare feet onto the ice. It wasn't as cold as it should have been, either.

"Whoa…whoa…" Donald held his hands out, trying to catch his balance. He had gone ice skating before a few times, but there was a pretty big difference this time: he wasn't actually wearing skates. Well, at least he wasn't strapped to a kite this time. But even if things could be worse, Donald still found himself frantically swinging his arms and legs around as he toppled this way and that along the ice.

"Oh the world owes me a livin'
"Deedle dardle doodle deedle dum"

But even as stars swirled around a dazed Donald's head, Goofy was somehow gliding perfectly along the ice even without skates and even sparing some concentration to sing an old favorite of his. Donald grumbled under his breath as he tried pushing himself back up to his feet, only for his legs to give out under him and make him fall onto his backside. The angle he fell out forced Donald to slide forward as he slipped, sending him further out in the middle of the lake.

"Oh the world owes me a livin'
"Deedle dardle doodle deedle dum"

Goofy circled around Donald, spinning on one foot and coming to a stop between him and the island. Crouching down and tilting his head, he asked, "You okay there, Don?"

"Peachy," Donald deadpanned.

"Great! I'll go get the Sound Idea then, meetcha there!" Goofy jumped to his feet, spun around once more, and again began somehow skating away on just his shoes.

"Goofy! Wait, help me up!" Donald shouted, but Goofy was too caught up in his song. Grumbling, Donald climbed up to his feet once more and tried his absolute best to keep stable. But even stable, he was still stuck, and the slightest movement would no doubt send him toppling down again. Groaning, an idea clicked within Donald's mind.

Holding his right hand over his left shoulder, Donald called on the mountain winds with an Aero spell. The gust combined with the slippery ice propelled him forward, sending him flying across the bright surface until he crashed into a snowdrift on the rapidly approaching island. Sticking his head out and shaking off the snow covering his body, Donald looked around for his friend. And he did find Goofy, but his attention was quickly diverted.

"Wow…" Donald's eyes grew wide at the glowing object as it descended into Goofy's outstretched hands. "Is that the Sound Idea?"

"I think so," Goofy said in an awed tone, rare for him. "Here, Donald. Take a look." He lowered his arms and the floating, glowing object shifted into Donald's grasp. Donald quirked an eyebrow as he looked through the glow. He didn't know what he had expected the Sound Idea to look like, but it certainly wasn't a sheet of music notes. Ethereal music symbols snaked their way around the paper. And the marks on the pages glowed in time with a soft tune that rose up around them. It was a soft, familiar tune, one that Donald felt like he had heard a long time ago. From the back of his mind a name rose with the song, two simple words: 'Dearly Beloved'.

"Come on," Donald heard Goofy say over the Sound Idea's music. "Let's go get back to the others."

This chapter…came out much later than it should have, and for that I apologize. Every time I told myself to sit down and write it, something would come up. And Nintendo having three straight days of E3 coverage certainly didn't help.

I can't promise that the next chapter will be out soon either, but the one after that definitely should. I'm very excited to write it.

Thank you for being patient.