Sora took one look at Kairi...and a sinking feeling filled her. Something felt...off...about the way Kairi was just staring at everything listlessly.

She vividly remembered that odd sight of Kairi going through her and vanishing.

So seeing the slightly older girl on the pirate ship, with Riku controlling the heartless was a nasty shock.

(Though not as bad as the shock Riku got when Sora lost her temper and slapped him upside the head for falling in with the worst crowd possible considering the circumstances. There was a time to reason and a time to be violent...Sora was just smart enough to recognize which was which.)

Meeting Peter Pan and Tinkerbell would change a lot of things. Just not right away.

The pixie dust was interesting, but Sora thought it was strange how quickly she picked up how to fly. Almost like she was born for the air.

Sora was somewhat worried about Kairi, but there wasn't anything she could do for the older girl right now so she focused on getting Riku to stop whatever it was he was doing.

A short while later...

Sora didn't know what made her do it, but she took out a meat sandwich she had in her bag and tossed it to the crocodile.

The animal gobbled it up, and gave her an odd look.

"Hey big guy, I'll give you some more if you agree not to eat me, deal?"

To Sora's amusement, the crocodile nodded it's head. She wondered if anyone had tried talking to it before.

Probably not.

She tossed him a few more of the sandwiches, since she was planning to make some more later anyway when this was over. Goofy certainly liked them.

"You're not so scary are you?"

"Sora, are you actually befriending that croc?" said Peter incredulous.

"Why not?" said Sora confused. He seemed perfectly friendly to her and from what she could tell the poor guy was just hungry. He must follow Hook because he smelled the food or thought he was food.

The crocodile was even wagging it's tail like a puppy.

Peter couldn't help the staring, really. The idea of befriending the crocodile was something he never would have thought of in a million years. Or maybe Sora was just special.

With Riku...

He felt terrible. The more he learned how to control the darkness, the worse that feeling got.

Except around Sora. For some reason being around him made the darkness abate and a strange warmth fill his chest. Like he had found a place where he could truly belong and be himself with no strings attached. It had been on a low burn before, but perhaps the keyblade had drawn that warmth out because it felt like an inferno blazing around his best friend.

It was only because Sora liked Kairi that Riku even cared about getting her heart back. No matter how much it irritated him, he knew Sora would never forgive him if he allowed Kairi to remain like this forever.

Even if he secretly wished Kairi would disappear, so he could have Sora all to himself. That particular wish had only grown since he found Sora again, and he would have liked nothing better than to kidnap him just so no one else would take Sora from him again.

Riku locked eyes with Sora. It had finally come to this. He would have Kairi's heart back and Sora would be happy. It didn't matter that he had to kidnap so many others from their homes. He would finally have the power to go where he wanted, and have real adventures.

Sora stared in shock when she realized Riku had stolen her keyblade. She didn't even know that was possible!

She looked at the wooden sword in her hand...it was useless against Riku.

"Riku, what on earth were you doing? Who gave you that power?" said Sora. She was furious with him.

"I am the true keyblade wielder...you were nothing more than a convenient replacement Sora," said Riku smugly.

"This isn't like you! Snap out of it!" said Sora.

"Don't act as if you really know me. Thanks to the powers of darkness, I'm finally free," said Riku.

Sora didn't know what made her do it. Perhaps her heart finally had enough of Riku's idiocy regarding the powers of darkness or how flippant he was about using them. He was too sure of himself and she refused to see her best friend (and secret crush) fall into Maleficent's plans. Why couldn't he see that he was being used by her?

Either way the punch to the jaw she gave him was incredibly satisfying, and caused the keyblade to fall from his hands.

"Sora, what..."

"You freaking idiot! You think the powers of darkness are a toy you can use on a whim without any consequence? I could care less about you taking the keyblade, but I refuse to let you be used by Maleficent! If you keep this up, then there's no telling what dark path you'll end up taking!"

"Since when do you care? You've been running around with your new friends and haven't done anything to help Kairi!"

"Riku, do you have a crush on Kairi? Is that what this is about?" asked Sora suddenly.

Riku's disgusted expression said volumes of what he thought about that idea.

"Uh, what's going on, hyuk?" asked Goofy.

"Looks like a lover's quarrel to me," said Donald. Beast was too busy trying to recover from chasing after Belle to say anything.

"Lover's quarrel?" said Goofy.

"Seems Riku likes Sora, but is too proud to admit it...and believes Sora likes Kairi," said Donald.

From what the duck could tell, Riku had zero idea about Sora being a girl and probably thought Sora liked Kairi as a potential girlfriend. This entire mess was caused by the fact Sora was a tomboy and was too shy to admit her feelings for Riku.

Sora looked openly baffled when Riku threw out the comment about sharing a paopu fruit with Kairi. Then it hit her what was going on.

"You have got to be kidding me. You think I like Kairi? She's an older sister figure to me at best, you idiot," said Sora face-palming.

"What?" said Riku, thoroughly surprised.

"Any feelings I have for Kairi are more in line with that of a sister or close female friend. I though you liked her because of how popular she is," said Sora exasperated.

She had gotten her hopes up with Riku had thrown her the paopu fruit, only to become very confused when he said that it was for her to share with Kairi.

Riku was very confused at this point...and a spark of hope that maybe he could get Sora's affections turned towards him instead grew.

"Besides, according to Genie I had some sort of ancient magical seal on me for the past ten years. Any sort of romantic inclinations I might have developed were stunted by it, along with a few growth spurts," said Sora.

Riku blinked.

"Ancient seal?"

"Remember how our parents used to comment about how much I changed since I came to the island? And how glad they were that you had brought me out of my shell? According to Genie someone deliberately put a seal on my full potential, which caused my development to become stunted. He said it would have had some major side effects if he hadn't removed it when he had. I'm pretty sure that's why mom was going to take me to the doctor on Monday, because they were starting to get worried why I hadn't hit puberty yet."

Riku was stunned.

"So then why are you here?"

"Because I knew you needed someone to snap you out of whatever lies Maleficent has filled your head with, idiot. And if you keep using the darkness like you have, I will start delivering regular head slaps until I knock some sense back into you," said Sora flatly, crossing her arms. "Besides, I know Kairi is safe since Maleficent clearly has a plan for her. You're the one who needs saving."

"You think you can save me?" said Riku incredulous.

Sora's grin was anything but nice.

"I've learned a few tricks besides how to use a keyblade while we've been apart."

"Then let's see who's resolve is stronger...yours or mine," said Riku, taking a stance with the keyblade.

Sora wondered which part shocked Riku more...the fact Sora took to using her fists to knock some sense into him or the fact that once she decided to save him from his own arrogance her head and fists blazed with orange flames and her eyes glowed a bright amber not unlike the sunsets on the island. She certainly found his wide eyes and slack jaw very amusing.

Following instincts she never knew she even had, Sora actually found herself fighting Riku on an even playing field for once. Mostly.

It seemed almost second nature for her to take to the skies in order to compensate for the lack of ground, and Riku's initial look of shock when she first did it really made her want to giggle. She was as agile as a bird while flying, and she didn't think it was Tink's special pixie dust that was at work.

Then it happened. Something between them finally clicked into place and she felt a comforting warmth that she knew belonged solely to Riku flow into her. From the look in his eyes, he felt that warmth too because he was holding his heart in shock.

That warmth chased the darkness he had been using rather freely to this point away.

"You...what is that?" asked Riku.

"I have no idea, but if it snaps you out of whatever hold Maleficent has on you then I'm not going to complain," said Sora flatly.

Deeper into the castle...

"Kairi!"

"So you've decided to turn against me? Foolish boy!" sneered Maleficent.

Sora went to Kairi, only to find her unresponsive.

"She's been like that since I found her," said Riku.

Something had settled in him and he was far less antagonistic than before.

"The door will not open so long as the final princess sleeps. Her heart was lost...or perhaps I should say it was misplaced," said Maleficent darkly.

"What are you talking about?"

"I can sense the girl's heart in you, foolish boy! So long as you hold her heart, she will never awaken!"

Stunned silence.

"I have Kairi's heart?" said Sora confused.

Come to think of it, she did have a weird vision of Kairi going through her right before the island was lost.

Riku, Donald and Goofy could only watch in alarm as Maleficent did something to remove Kairi's heart from Sora.

Maleficent laughed darkly as she freed Kairi's heart...only to start screaming in agony as something burned her.

"Sora!"

Orange fire blazed from Sora's soul...even as Kairi's heart returned to where it belonged. Unknown to the boys and Maleficent, the light she had carried did not return with her. It began to fill the void in Sora's soul left behind by the seal as Genie's magic took effect.

After all, she had specifically asked that he 'return what was taken' when the seal was applied.

Sora stumbled a bit, as she felt something slip away from her. She wasn't sure what it was, just that it was something she would likely have to get back.

(She was falling...falling into Darkness. But didn't this happen before, when she was younger?

The man known as "Papa" had the other man seal away her light. The darkness appeared then, as the world itself rejected her existence. Her Light slipped away to hide itself in a temporary host, one who would hide in plain sight until her heart could be returned to her. Six colors disappeared into the ether, leaving only the shell behind.

One found it's way onto the same world as the Heart's Light.

The violet color, aloof but protective appeared before her weakened shell. The Heart's Light, hidden but still close helped to spark the limited light left within her.

Magic...the powers of the Genie destroyed the barrier keeping the light from shining properly, but there was a disconnect between the Heart's Light and her Soul. The limited Spark that kept her from becoming a Heartless started to burn a little brighter, but it was incomplete.

The violet color returned, bringing with it the one who would act as her protector. The aloof Cloud drifted serenely in the Sky that it loved so dearly.

The Light that was taken returned, and the temporary host was freed from it's unknown duty. It had protected the child who carried it, in order to avoid suspicion from the hearts filled with only darkness.

Amber eyes slowly opened, briefly remembering the time before it was ripped apart, before burying it again. Now wasn't the time to remember.

"Sora!"

They were waiting for her...why was she still drifting when her Cloud and friends needed her? She reached for Riku's violet fire and followed it back into the real world.)

The seven Princesses woke up from their slumber, but the door was open. They needed to evacuate the immediate area for now.

Sora managed to lead Kairi out of there, as the other Princesses were release from their confinement as well. There was a somewhat tearful reunion between Beast and Belle.

Kairi looked between Sora and Riku for a moment.

"It's about freaking time," she said.

"What?" said Riku.

"I mean I've been waiting ages for you two to finally get together already. It was becoming almost painful to watch," said Kairi.

"Wait, what?" said Sora, a massive blush appearing on her face. "You mean you knew..."

Riku stared at Sora as a sudden suspicion hit him.

"It was pretty obvious you have a massive crush on Riku, Sora. Just like it was obvious Riku liked you and got super jealous whenever he saw you with someone else," said Kairi smugly. "Honestly some of us were placing bets on when one of you would get a clue and I know Mellie has been shipping you two for years."

"...Isn't Mellie a fan of boy-on-boy pairings?" said Sora after a moment.

"Trust me, she's been making a few stories with you as the bottom," said Kairi, almost wanting to cackle. Particularly since Riku had a discreetly smug look on his face.

"Boy is she going to be in for a major disappointment," said Sora.

"There is no way you'd ever top me," said Riku.

"That's not what I meant," said Sora. "And after the grief you've given me for the past two months I think I'll let you find out the hard way why she's going to be disappointed."

The disappointment coming from the fact Sora was actually a girl and her beloved guy-on-guy pairing wasn't going to happen.

"Wait...so you're not denying the fact you have a crush on me this whole time?"

"Riku, I've had a massive crush on you since I was twelve and you started having issues with your voice," deadpanned Sora. "I just didn't see any reason why I should compromise my friendship with you over a relationship that might not even happen."

Riku looked irritated.

"Are you telling me this entire misunderstanding happened because we both thought the other person liked Kairi?" said Riku annoyed.

Kairi blinked, though she inwardly was exasperated. Honestly, Riku and Sora were like her little brothers.