Chapter 203: Somewhere Safe

"Hi Cloud!"

Cloud looked up, pushing himself off from the wall. It was Kairi who'd called him. Well, he figured it was Kairi. He'd never met the girl before, but Sora'd talked about her, and since he could see Tifa in the distance, he had a good feeling this was Kairi. Which was good. He'd been waiting out here—outside Aerith's house—for them to arrive.

Cloud opened his mouth to speak, and properly introduce himself, but Kairi never gave him a chance.

"Where's Sora?" she asked.

Cloud grimaced. "I—"

"He's inside, huh?" Kairi said, and before he could stop her, she ran inside.

"Kairi!" Cloud called, but it was definitely too late. He let out a long breath.

"He's not here, is he?" Tifa asked, coming up behind him.

Cloud shook his head.

"Where is he?"

"Lost him."

Tifa put her hands on her hips. "And how'd you manage that?"

Cloud frowned. "Are you saying it's my fault?"

"No. Just curious."

Cloud sighed, looked away from Tifa. "There was this… wolf following us," he explained.

"A wolf?"

He nodded. "It was pretty intent on taking Sora with it."

"Are you telling me you couldn't stop a little wolf?" Tifa asked, raising her eyebrows.

"It wasn't an ordinary wolf!" Cloud replied. "Trust me, if it had been, we wouldn't have had a problem."

"So, what, it was a magical wolf?"

"Something," Cloud said. "My attacks couldn't faze it. The most I could've done is distract it long enough for Sora to get away, and even then, it was tracking him. It would've gotten him whether I was there or not."

"You didn't think of coming here right away?" Tifa asked. "I mean, I know keeping Sora inside and hiding isn't the best idea, but—"

Cloud just unwrapped the bandages from his arm in response. Tifa stopped, eyes widening at the sight of his wound. It'd been a week since the wolf had bitten him, but his arm was still a little green from the bruises, and the infected bite didn't look much better.

"You should have Aerith look at that," Tifa said.

"I will." Cloud wrapped the bandage around his arm again. "But when it could do this kind of damage, neither me nor Sora were too keen on leading it here. Didn't want it hurting anyone."

"…right."

"That sounds like Sora," Kairi said, poking her head out the door. "Aerith told me he wasn't here," she added. "Sorry I got excited—I should've let you explain."

"No, don't apologize for being excited," Tifa told her.

Kairi just shrugged, coming to stand by them. "And don't worry, Cloud. I'm not mad at you. I get why Sora didn't come." She sighed. "He never has liked letting people get hurt because of him…" She chuckled, dryly, with a shrug of her shoulders. "To be honest, I think that's one of the reasons why he hasn't come home yet…"

"I wouldn't be surprised," Tifa said. "Cloud's the same way."

"There's never a reason for people to get caught up in your battles," Cloud countered.

"There's always a reason," Tifa muttered.

Cloud ignored her.

"Do you think Sora's okay?" Kairi asked, a little suddenly. Her voice trembled a little with worry. "I mean, if that wolf dragged him off—did it drag him off?"

"It did," Cloud answered, with a sigh. "And I have no idea if he's okay."

"Why didn't you follow him?" Tifa demanded. She took a step forward, hands on her hips again, eyes narrowed.

"Not sure where they went," Cloud replied, his voice low. "How am I supposed to track a wolf off world? And I figured I'd meet you here—"

"You could've called! We'd have understood!"

"Tifa, it's alright," Kairi interjected.

"But now none of us know where Sora is!" Tifa snapped, rounding on her. "He's been missing for how long now? A month? If he's gone missing again—"

"Tifa," Kairi tried again.

"Where'd you find him, anyway?" Tifa asked, looking at Cloud.

Cloud shrugged. "Just… a world. Found him unconscious. He said he'd just escaped Maleficent—"

"Oh great," Tifa groaned, raking a hand through her hair. "How do we know that wolf wasn't working for her? It probably took him back to her! And if he's with Maleficent—"

"I don't think it's working for Maleficent."

"How do you know?"

Cloud paused. "I just- I don't think it is!"

"But are you sure?" Tifa countered.

"I-" Cloud stopped. Sighed. "…no."

"Exactly!" Tifa said. "And even if it's not working for her, it could be working for someone else. Someone worse."

"What'd it look like?" Kairi interrupted.

"Magical," Cloud said. But that probably wasn't a good enough description… "Black. But with red—"

"—fire," Kairi finished. "I know that wolf."

Tifa turned to her, clearly confused. "You do?"

"Yeah," Kairi nodded. "Met it in Agrabah. Briefly. Right after we lost Sora." She swallowed, her face a little tight. Was she hiding something? Leaving something out, perhaps. "I think… I think it's master is…" She broke off, frowning. "I… I don't think he'd hurt Sora. Not that I… know why he'd want Sora…"

"Are you sure he wouldn't hurt Sora?" Tifa asked, slowly.

Kairi shook her head. "Not 100 percent, no. But… He seemed pretty nice."

"You met the wolf's master?"

"Yeah."

"When?"

"When…" Kairi coughed. "When I ran off. Back in Agrabah. A month ago." She shuffled, nervously, rubbing her arm. "I mean, we didn't talk for very long…"

Tifa sighed and rubbed her head.

"We'll have to trust Sora's okay," Cloud said. "There's nothing else we can do. It's near impossible to track someone when there is no trail and all you're doing is hopping from world to world in hopes of running into them." Cloud looked Tifa right in the eye. "And you know that."

"I do…" Tifa admitted.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Kairi said, slowly. "He's survived this long. We can all… sleep here and catch our breaths and then maybe figure out if there's a way we can find a trail to follow. Yeah?"

"Sounds good," Tifa agreed, smiling fondly at the girl.

"Aerith made sandwiches, by the way," Kairi added. "I was supposed to come out and tell you, actually."

"Then let's go eat," Cloud said. Kairi grinned and headed back inside.

"You should have Aerith look at your arm," Tifa hissed, as they headed inside, too.

"I know. I haven't forgotten."

xxx

Sora took a deep breath, allowing himself time to process his surroundings before he moved. He was getting a little tired of waking up in a different world… At least he was in a bed this time. A really comfortable bed, too. The one Maleficent had given him hadn't been nearly this soft.

He could feel sunlight on his eyelids, and there wasn't a single trace of darkness in the air. That was a first…

So… where was he?

"Hey, Minnie, it looks like he's waking up!"

He didn't recognize that voice, but it sounded friendly.

"Oh, good."

Another voice. This one was kind, too, though a lot less peppy.

Sora reached up to rub his face. Thankfully his head didn't hurt too much. It'd hurt last time—when he'd woken up after being dragged away from Neverland. He slowly sat up, still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Are you feeling any better?" the first voice asked. He looked up to see who it belonged to, and was surprise to see a… duck. She smiled reassuringly at him, but there was worry in her eyes. The other person in the room—and presumably the owner of the second voice—was a mouse.

They must've been friends of Mickey's.

"Uhm," Sora said, slowly. "Yeah. I'm feeling okay."

Okay was relative, but he did feel like he'd gotten a good night's sleep, at least.

He wiggled his toes, realizing now that he wasn't wearing his shoes. He sat up a little straighter, leaning over the edge of the bed to look for them. He found them sitting at the end of the bed. Clearly someone had removed them for him, not that he was surprised with how nice the bed was. He wouldn't have wanted his shoes dirtying it, either.

"Um." He cleared his throat. "Where am I?"

The mouse—Minnie, was her name?—smiled. "Disney Castle," she said.

Sora let out a long breath, processing that. Being in a castle would explain the nice bed. And why Minnie and… her friend were wearing such fancy clothing.

He swallowed, preparing to ask the inevitable. "…your castle?"

"Well, duh, silly," the duck laughed. "She is the Queen, after all."

Minnie shot her a look, but didn't say anything. Sora took a sharp breath in. Queen. He was sitting before royalty. And… if she knew Mickey…

Did that make him…?

"Uh," Sora cleared his throat again. "Do you- do you know Mickey?" His voice squeaked a little as he said it.

Minnie—the Queen—chuckled at this question. "Yes. He's the king."

"Ohh…." Sora rubbed his head. He wasn't surprised, but it was still… news. He'd spent all that time with Mickey, and he hadn't even known. And on top of that, Mickey—a king who probably had better things to do with his time—had saved him twice now.

He'd been saved twice by a king.

A king.

Twice.

"He didn't tell you, did he?" Minnie—Queen Minnie—asked, chuckling.

Sora just shook his head.

"Why didn't he mention he was king?" the duck wondered, grimacing a little.

"Now Daisy, we've been over this," Queen Minnie said calmly, though tiredly. "If Mickey doesn't want to mention he's a king, he doesn't have to mention he's a king."

The duck—Daisy—opened her mouth to protest, but then her face lit up, like she'd realized something. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "That's right—how silly of us! We never introduced ourselves. This is Queen Minnie," she gestured at Minnie, "and I'm Daisy."

"Lady Daisy," Queen Minnie corrected, gently

"What's it matter?" Daisy laughed, shrugging. "It's not like there's any glamor in being a lady—I have the exact same status with or without that title. And if Mickey doesn't have to call himself a king, I don't have to call myself a lady."

Queen Minnie sighed, but was smiling.

"Well, Sora," she said. "If you think you're feeling well enough, why not come downstairs? I'm sure Mickey would be glad to know you're okay."

Sora nodded. "Alright," he said, shifting out from under the covers and grabbing his shoes. He wouldn't mind seeing Mickey—King Mickey, he corrected, though it felt weird. Besides, he couldn't think of a logical reason to refuse a request from a Queen, especially not when he was feeling just fine.

"Mm… it's nearing dinnertime," Daisy mused. "Does the cook know we have a guest?"

"I think so," Queen Minnie replied.

"I better go check," Daisy said, heading for the door.

"Alright." Queen Minnie headed for the door, too. "Sora? Are you coming?"

"Yeah!"