Long chapter requires split so we'll witness the conclusion of the Corona storyline very soon. As in, probably a day after this chapter's uploaded soon. With that said, I hope you enjoy this penultimate chapter.


Chapter 67

The Lost Princess

Peering through the branches, Gothel's eyes glared daggers at the strange group of people who had stolen away her precious Rapunzel. Four of them she did not know, but watching them had proved to be enjoyable. Shadow after shadow had bounced off them just as easily as they had been thrown. They were no normal children—that much was obvious, but unless they were able to restore her with the youth and vitality provided to her by the sunlight flower then Rapunzel's safety by her side remained the key goal.

Then there was Flynn Rider. From the moment she saw him in the Snuggly Duckling with Rapunzel and realized that he and the person on the wanted poster she had seen were on and the same, she knew that he would be the key to this. If not even the shadows could discourage Rapunzel from going any farther then Gothel would have to do the next best thing—she would break her heart.

Gothel's eyes landed on the brown sack that was resting near the fireplace, a cunning planning growing ever surer in the back of her mind. She need not do anything at the moment. Rider was leading Rapunzel into the very heart of the place he was running from, and the perfect opportunity would present itself there.

Her lips parted thoughtfully and she brought a handful of her own hair from the side in front of her. The ageing process was already beginning to show. She could see strands of her hair graying here and there. In between that process came the wrinkles and she would rather kill than let that happen.

Gothel backed farther into the shadows and hastily made her way around the edge of the clearing. The truth was that she would rather not become a murderer, and she wouldn't need to if Rapunzel decided to come back peacefully. She soon emerged on the other side of the clearing near the river. In front of her was the girl she was looking for, seemingly content and unaware that her mother had been watching her and her 'friends' all this time. Gothel reached out for her and slowly started walking forward. She was so close and yet so far that it was almost unbearable. For some reason, her long hair seemed more alluring in the moonlight. If only she could just touch it…

"Mother!"

Gothel's head snapped upwards from Rapunzel's hair to her face. With the outstanding ease of an actress, her expression changed from one of desire to one of a mother's worry.

"Oh, Rapunzel, I've been looking everywhere for you, child. You've worried your poor mother to death."

"I'd hope not, you're still alive," Rapunzel wittily responded. "Um, how did you know where I was?"

"Oh, it was nothing, really. I just listened to the sound of complete and utter betrayal and followed that. The ears of mine are surprisingly accurate, you know. Now chop chop, Rapunzel. Let's go."

"Mother, I can't go-"

"What do you mean? Now that's not very reasonable, is it?" Gothel reached for Rapunzel's wrist and seized it. Gothel tried to drag her but Rapunzel threw off her mother with such strength that it surprised the both of them.

Rapunzel breathed heavily and looked away for a second before forcing eye contact with her mother. Gothel was rendered completely perplexed by Rapunzel's stare. She could see something in them that was not there before. A fire burning brightly. Whoever this girl was that Gothel wanted to bring back home, it was not the same as the one she had raised for eighteen years.

"You don't understand!" Rapunzel said after a while. "I've been on such an incredible journey and I've met these wonderful friends. If you met them, you would know how kind and selfless they are. They've even… they've even asked me if they wanted me to travel with them. Imagine that! Me going to different places and meeting new people with different ways of seeing the world."

"Now I've heard it all. I don't know what silly romanticisms you've conjured up in your head, but they are all demented. In this universe, no one really cares about anyone not inside their group. The only reason people interact and promise things to other people is if they stand to also gain from it. Nothing in this world is free. Everything and everyone exists merely to be consumed and dragged through the mud by something or someone else. If you can't see that, then you really have learned nothing in this little journey of yours."

"You're wrong, mother," Rapunzel said boldly. "I believe in others. I believe in my judgement. Most importantly, I believe in my friends."

"Wrong?" Gothel's reply consisted of half a wheeze and the other half a chuckle. "Yes, I'm wrong. Rapunzel is right. She's always right, after all, she's grown up now—the big eighteen. Now that she's an adult, Rapunzel knows best. Fine, then. I'll leave for now, but don't say I didn't warn you. Rapunzel, dear, you may have stabbed me in the back whether you realize it or not, but at least that can heal. For your sake, I just hope they don't stab you in the heart."

Rapunzel put out her hands to stop her but it was too late. Gothel sank back into the trees as if she were exiting a stage. Her warning left Rapunzel terrified, so much so that she jumped when she heard Kairi's voice.

"Is everything okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just lost in thought, I guess," Rapunzel replied somewhat absently.

"Don't think too much, alright? It's your big day tomorrow. Anyway, Flynn's hilarious. We were just sitting around the fire listening to his adventures. Guess what? I managed to force a confession out of him. His real name isn't Flynn Rider, just like we thought. It's Eugene Fitzherbert!"

"Oh, that's nice," Rapunzel said. She had started chewing on her lip, she found, and ceased the act. "Um, Kairi, you really will take me with you, right? You won't abandon me?"

"Rapunzel…" Kairi looked painfully at the girl. Try as she might, it was too hard to say, so instead she said, "Of course we won't abandon you."

"Thanks. I know I must have sounded silly there for a moment, right?" Rapunzel said, with a small smile. There was no way what her mother was saying would ever come to pass. "Eugene, huh? That's a rather cute name."


Surrounded by sea, the Kingdom of Corona would have made an excellent spot for fishing, Luna had decided as they cross the bridge into the marketplace. As she soon found out, the town generally did its best to promote the industry. It would have made her father proud. The position of the town also made for easy porting and trade from other places. There was no doubt that the kingdom was incredibly well-off and that was reflected in the snug little homes on the sides of the island that they could see.

The architectural style of the buildings the deeper in they walked became more renaissance in style, with round onion domes for some buildings and semi-detached low-rise buildings for others, mainly those in the marketplace. At the very top of this spiral of resident houses, the chapel and the shops was a beautiful castle. It wouldn't have been hard to have been drawn completely to the castle first considering its lofty towers with green domes and their spires standing out above all else.

"That right there is where the king and queen live. It would be best if we avoid there. You know, I'm not exactly welcomed here after all," Flynn explained as they entered the marketplace. The streets, as Flynn continued to explain, were a labyrinth filled with kids playing on the streets and men and women going about their daily business.

Luna must have counted at least two street performers or musicians on every street they turned. It was Rapunzel however, who eventually acted upon it. Seeing a group of children jumping around to the music, Rapunzel left the group's side and began dancing in front of the street musicians. The children, captivated by her performance, soon joined her.

"Her hair really looks good from the back when she's dancing like that. We did a good job with a ton of hair, don't you think?" Luna said proudly. She and Kairi had spent the morning braiding up Rapunzel's hair before they left so it would be more easily transportable. Given how much hair they started with, they really had no idea how they would complete their task until they had actually completed it. Even now, Luna was still completely bemused as to how they had done it.

"Darn right we did. I think we owe ourselves a little fun. Let's join in!" Kairi exclaimed. She and Luna wasted no time in rushing, not stopping to see whether Sora, Riku, Flynn and Kupopo had followed. Luna linked hands with one of the children and began jumping up and down with him in a circle. Her mind wandered to her birthday where she had danced with Sora in front of everyone. She looked to her left to see him dancing with a woman who had also jumped in. Their eyes met briefly and they flashed each other a smile before returning to their respective partners.

The number of people dancing on the street increased from a few to many over the next minute or so, as passers by were roped into the heat of the moment with their loved ones, or even complete strangers. Luna couldn't help but think to herself—such was the power of Rapunzel's heart that it brought an entire town together. Couples who had partnered had becomes pairs of three then four and all the way up until a large circle had gathered around a chalk drawing of a sun on the ground.

When she had heard from Kairi the night before about how Rapunzel was a suitable candidate, Luna didn't know what to say. She, probably like everyone else there, had thought it obvious so she wasn't surprised but neither was she happy. As with Pocahontas, Rapunzel deserved to live her own life but was instead at risk of losing hers if they couldn't find Alice in time. All she could promise to herself was that she would protect Rapunzel with every fiber of her being so she could continue to live her dreams.

The music soon came to a stop with Rapunzel in the center of the human-made circle. Hands parted and everyone clapped and cheered at her stunning tap dancing skills. Luna had only remembered as well that Rapunzel had come here completely on bare foot. She would have to change that.

"It was nice dancing with you. Goodbye," Luna said to the little girl she had been dancing with. She made to see her off before looking around to locate Sora and the others. Her eyes found something else. In between the hustle and bustle of departing townsfolk, her eyes did not leave those of Abraxas for a single second. He stared back at her, a smirk playing on his lips.

"Hey, Luna, did you see that? Everyone was dancing all because of what we did! Luna?"

Rapunzel's face suddenly obstructed Luna's view of Abraxas. Luna blinked and looked at her confused.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"Is there something wrong, Luna?" Rapunzel asked as Luna stood on her tiptoes to look over Rapunzel's shoulder.

Very wrong. Where is he? Luna thought as she searched for him. The man who had been there had definitely been Abraxas and he had also definitely disappeared. She must have been imagining it then. There was no way Abraxas could have come back from the dead. He was gone. Sora had beaten him. Hadn't he?

"It… must have just been my imagination," Luna finally said. "Maybe I need to sit down. I was spinning around like crazy back there, after all."

"It was definitely crazy," Rapunzel said. Before Luna could propose getting new shoes for Rapunzel, an elderly man walked up to them and greeted them warmly.

"It's just… I can't help but admire your hair, dear. It's very pretty. It reminds me somewhat of the king and queen's daughter actually."

"Daughter?" Luna enquired.

"The one on that mosaic, over there." The man pointed at the castle wall farther down the street. This portion of the walls looked different from the others that Luna had seen.

"What happened to her, if I may ask?" Luna asked.

"You can, but the truth is nobody knows. Most people believe she's long since passed on. It even has the king starting to believe it. The mother on the other hand? Well you can bet her maternal instincts come into play. She believes her daughter is still out there somewhere, or maybe she just wants to believe. A lot of people come forward saying they've found the princess. Of course, they're just fakes looking to claim the bounty. Trust me, I've seen some pretty convincing doubles these past few years. A mother can always tell though, so they say."

Luna nodded. She had read articles in the Alexandrian newspaper about mothers having lifted up heavy objects in separate incidents, just to save their child. Luna was not a betting girl, but she had seen some extraordinary things on her journey and she wouldn't put it out of possibility that a mother did have the perceived senses to know about her child's fate. Luna ultimately looked the positive side of things however so this could have just been her hoping for the best outcome.

"Hmm, what do you think, Rapunzel? Rapunzel?" Luna looked to her side but Rapunzel had left her… quite a while ago, it seemed since the missing girl was already standing at the mural. She thanked the elderly man quickly and ran to Rapunzel's side. Rapunzel appeared transfixed at the mosaic, as if bewitched. When Luna looked from Rapunzel to the picture, she understood why.

Small ceramic tiles that Luna realized must have taken ages to make made up a larger picture of the royal visage. King, Queen, and daughter. Their smiling faces were oblivious to what would soon happen. Behind them, rays from a golden sun broke off into slivers of light that surrounded the family. The daughter—she was like the sun to them. Luna focused her attention on the bundle of joy in front of her. Her face was much like her mother's with the same rosy cheeks and emerald green eyes, but her hair was unlike mother or father. It was a beautiful golden blonde and had, Luna felt, been the main focus of the artist when they had created the tiles. The man was right. There was definitely an uncanny resemblance.

"Rapunzel, are you okay? You don't look so good," Luna said, seeing the girl's uncomfortable glance.

"I don't know. There's something about this image… something… something… it's very powerful, isn't it? I feel for them," Rapunzel eventually said with her eyes still glued to the tiles.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. They're very beautiful. Say, I know you've talked about your mother before but what happened to your father?" Luna asked.

Rapunzel finally looked away and at Luna. "I can't really remember him actually. Mother told me that he died when I was really young."

"Luna! Rapunzel!"

Hearing Sora yell from down the street, the two turned to see him running up to them. He stopped short of them and pointed behind his shoulder.

"We're just going to get some crepes. Care to join us?" he asked.

"Ooh, what's that?" Rapunzel asked eagerly.

"They're like thin pancakes. You have to try them. They're really popular back on Alexander, that's my home by the way. You have to try them!" Luna encouraged. Rapunzel linked arms with her and asked her to lead the way. As they passed Sora, his eyes found themselves attached to the mosaic they had been looking at for the first time.

His head tilted to the right slightly. "Huh? But isn't that-"

"Sora, are you coming?"

It had been enough to snap Sora out of his reverie.


Rapunzel's birthday came to its abnormal conclusion just outside of the town at the dead of night, near a giant lake west of the town. On the lake was a single boat that floated on the still water. From the fringe of land that bordered the woods and lake, Luna could see two figures in the dark sitting on the boat. They were Flynn and Rapunzel. As there was only room for two in the boat and because she knew Flynn the least of the group, that had been Rapunzel's official reason as for requesting it. Undoubtedly though, she had become quite accustomed to calling him Eugene throughout the day and had probably wanted to tease him more. Not one to ruin a romantic moment, Luna and Kairi had opted for the rest of them to find a different spot to watch from. This was Rapunzel's moment, the one she had been waiting eighteen years for, and they wanted her to take it all in without any distractions.

"I think you chose a really nice spot," Sora said next to her.

"Well I am a great spot picker," Luna said with a chuckle. She looked back at the boat. "There was this… really great place inside my middle school. It was this beautiful garden pergola and it was full of these exotic flowers called Pitaya. Astra and I would sit down there and just chill out. We would either do homework together or I was reading and she would show me some of the comic book panels she would draw."

"Astra draws comics?" Sora asked enthusiastically.

"Drew, yes," Luna corrected. "She stopped when her grandmother died. You would have loved to see her. She was so passionate about it before that it was her dream to become a comic book artist when she grew up. And then she just… stopped. In the drawings, she drew this girl who was bullied at school. One day, the girl brought home a stray cat that gifted her with magical powers. She became a superhero. Normal school girl by day and vigilante by night, she protected the people of Penumbra City from those that would try to demolish the law and order of the city."

"And it wasn't finished? That's a shame. I'd have paid for that," Sora said.

"One guess who she based the girl on," Luna said.

"You must have really inspired her," Sora replied.

"We inspired each other. Until recently, I only really thought that she had given up so much for me and that I could give her very little in return. Now I know that I was wrong. I've helped her so much and I didn't even realize it. Now that we're farther apart than we've ever been though… I'm scared."

Luna turned her head to look at Sora to see him looking back. He had actually been looking at her for a while and Luna had felt herself blushing because of it. Now as his compassionate blue eyes stared back into hers, she felt herself sinking into an ocean. Without even realizing it, she was leaning forward. Her breathing was short and it felt as if her heart was trying to beat its way out of her chest.

"It's starting," Riku said out loud. He, Kairi and Kupopo had been standing aside from them to their left. Both Luna and Sora froze in her advances and looked out to the lake.

"I'll tell you one thing, Luna," Sora said as they saw the first two orange lanterns rise into the sky. They would have been the King and Queen's. "You're my hero."

"Sora, that sounded incredibly corny," Luna commented. "I like it."

Soon enough, hundreds of other orange lanterns followed the two, rising higher and higher into the sky until suspended in motion as if they were in a beautiful still frame. Luna didn't see just lanterns though. Those lanterns represented hundreds of hearts beating as one. They were her dream. It was true that the worlds were all divided. They were as far apart as a parent and their missing child could possibly be. But it was in moments of darkness like this that the light really shined. She had been successful in leaving her own world and she wanted others to have that same chance too. Mulan and now Rapunzel… they were start of something bigger that she could not entirely see yet but like a mosaic, she was slowly starting to see the tiles come together to form the bigger picture.

Her fingers found themselves intertwined in between Sora's. He looked at her in surprise but she smiled at him and looked back up at the orange sky. That's right, she thought with a dreamy expression on her face, we'll be the ones to lay down the pieces. That's my dream.

"And yet one should never start another puzzle without first finishing the one they are on."

Luna's body tensed. Her eyes fell to what was in front of her and then shifted uncomfortably. He was touching her shoulder. She looked to Sora but he seemed rather content and unworried, still holding onto her hand firmly. Had Sora not heard him?

Abraxas continued, whispering into her ear. "Your love for him is undeniable, and yet, even if he were to return it, he would never be able to penetrate your heart like I quite have. Just as you live inside his heart, I live inside yours and you haven't quite figured out why... or perhaps you don't want to."

Stop doing this to me. Just leave me alone, Luna thought, closing her eyes. When no response came, she re-opened them and looked behind her.

"Is something wrong?" Sora asked, noticing her fidgeting.

"No, it's just a bit cold out tonight, is all," Luna made up on the spot. It was actually pretty cold now that she thought about it.

"That's because you're not wearing a jacket, silly. Want to use mine?" Sora asked. He had a valid point. Luna had stupidly come to this world with only her polka dot dress after finding out about the world's warm climate from Jiminy.

"It's alright. Oh, they're landing on the water!" Luna pointed out. One of the lanterns in particular crossed the water and came close to them. Luna bent down and picked it up to show to Sora and the others.

"May there be many more happy memories waiting in store for us. All of us," she declared. With a returning nod of approval from everyone, they watched as Luna lifted the lantern back into the air.


The boat landed back on shore just to the west of where Sora and his friends were. Flynn had requested it personally for some reason. After presenting Flynn with the crown she had been using as a bargaining chip, Flynn's behavior suddenly changed. He looked distracted when Rapunzel questioned him as to why this was but instead of replying, he played evasive and told her that he needed to go somewhere for a while.

"I'll be back real soon. I promise," Flynn had said to her. But as Rapunzel watched him head farther into the woods, a pang of doubt began to settle on the surface. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but her mother's words came back to haunt her.

"No, I have to believe. He'll be back. Don't look at me like that, Pascal. He'll definitely come back. You'll see," Rapunzel said to the chameleon on her shoulder. But as time passed, her worries became increasingly intensified. It took seeing a lone boat setting out for sail with a figure in the shape of Flynn Rider to confirm her worst fears. "No… no, it can't be. Flynn! Flynn! Eugene?"

"Rider's gone, I'm afraid."

Rapunzel turned to see two thuggish looking brutes standing there, devilish grins etched upon their faces. The one on the right had an eye patch on his left eye but otherwise the both of them appeared completely identical, leading her to conclude that they had to be brothers. Her eyes dropped from their faces to the one on the right's hand in shock. He was holding the same diadem Rapunzel had given to Flynn. But how had they gotten it? Rapunzel posed this question to them.

"Looks like Rider sold you out. Don't worry. That's just the kind of person he is," said the thug on the left.

"Sold me out? What do you mean?"

"I guess he didn't tell you, huh? We were business partners before you two met, and like you, he sold us out and took that crown all for himself. But we're understand gentleman, so we negotiated a… settlement in exchange for his release. He agreed without hesitation."

"And guess what the terms were," the eye patch-less brother croaked with joy. "Hair that can reverse time, huh? Now who would we be to say no to that prize."

Rapunzel backed away in fear. She swiftly considered all her options. She could fight, that was always an option, but her frying pan was currently in Kairi's possession and while her hair had been enough to stop the Heartless in their tracks, the ones she had fought were so slow that they could basically be considered immobile. The men in front of her were no doubt fast and when Rapunzel spotted their weapons placed in easily reachable spots on their bodies, that was enough to deter her from trying anything crazy. That left her other option, the one that had been screaming in her head since the very moment she saw them—Run.

Before she could figure out a way to move around them though, the problem took a turn for the surprising. The sound of wood breaking against the back of their heads forced Rapunzel to look up at them once again. The frozen look of stupefaction on their faces made way for the prideful expression of her mother as the two brothers fell to the ground unconscious.

"Mother?"

"Oh, sweetheart, I just had this feeling that you were in danger and I'm glad I listened to it. Call it a mother's intuition," Gothel said. Rapunzel wiped away the tears that had built up into her eyes and wasted no time in running and hugging her mother.

"You were right, mother. You were right about everything," Rapunzel struggled to say through her loud sobs.

"I know, dear. I know," Gothel said, patting her on the back. "That's all humans do. Use for their own gain and then throw away. Let me be the shroud that protect you against the darkness of the human heart. Come back with me, Rapunzel."

Rapunzel nodded absently and allowed her mother to guide her into the woods. Had either of them looked to their left at least once, they would have no doubt spotted a Moogle staring at them in confusion.

"Kupo?"


"What do you mean, he's gone?" Sora asked, dumbfounded at Kairi's comment. After the glowing lanterns had gone out, Kairi had made the shock announcement to them that Kupopo was missing from their side. Racked with worry, Kairi paced about the shore, looking up and down for any sign of him.

"He's gone! He's gone, I- I don't know how. He was with us when we came here, I'm sure of it and now he's not here," Kairi cried out in a panicked tone.

"But how could have left without us noticing? Why would he without even telling us, for that matter?" Luna asked.

"We can talk about that later. Is that a boat?" Riku pointed in the direction of the lake. As he had said, sailing away from them in the direction of the town was a boat, or more appropriately a small sailing yacht. Luna squinted her eyes. There was only one person on that boat, and while the dark figure could have easily passed for Flynn's height and build from the back, she saw no sign of Rapunzel with him. She called out his name, hoping to catch his attention, but either her voice hadn't reached far enough for him to hear or perhaps something else had happened?

"Something's wrong," Sora said, thinking along the same lines as Luna. What she hadn't thought about however, was also jumping into the lake and swimming all the way out to the boat.

"Sora, what the hell?" Riku yelled after him, but the brunette was already gone and he wasn't stopping to reply. Luna, Riku and Kairi were rendered completely speechless for the minute and a half that Sora was out in the lake and back, an unconscious Flynn just barely being kept above the water's surface. Riku ran out as Sora reached shallow waters and helped him bring the body back over onto dry land. "You're crazy, you know that?"

"Takes one to know one," Sora replied. "Brrrr, that water sure is cold."

"What did you expect, a hot spring?" Kairi asked.

"Hey, hey, he's waking up," Riku alerted them. Luna looked down to see Flynn's eyes fluttering open. His pupils darted from left to right for a moment in confusion before landing on Luna.

"What a way to wake up. With a beautiful girl hovering over you," he said. He leaned forward and sat upright, looking around. "What happened?"

"We could ask you the same thing. I found you on that boat over there. Your hands were tied to the wheel," Sora explained. "I doubt you did that by yourself. Also, where's Rapunzel?"

"Rapunzel!" Flynn yelled and jumped up from the ground with such deftness that it startled Luna and the others. "She's in danger. You remember when I told you how I used to go around with two other people? They're brothers, the Stabbingtons. I wanted them to forgive and forget and I was prepared to give them crown in exchange for letting me go. They said they knew about Rapunzel's hair and they wanted it. Well, I refused and you can see the result of that. I don't care about riches or a free life anymore. I need to save Rapunzel, and then if I have to pay for my crimes then so be it. Huh, this very well may be Flynn Rider's last ride."

"Well that's nice and all, but you can worry about that after we save Rapunzel. Together," Riku said with a small smile. "Take us there. Take us to where you last saw Rapunzel."

Flynn nodded and led the party of joggers into and through a dense and considerable portion of trees that took them to a clear patch of land. They soon reached the boat that Flynn had left Rapunzel by only to find two unconscious men lying on the ground.

"These are the Stabbington brothers? And here I thought they just wanted to sound edgy," Kairi said. After discussing what to do with them, Flynn and Riku placed the two bodies up against a tree. Riku summoned his Keyblade and used magic to bind them to the tree. Luna held up her own Keyblade and used water magic, spraying them both to wake them up.

"What the- AGH! Stop that!" the eye-patched brother spluttered as water went into his mouth. Flynn held his hand up and Luna cancelled the spell.

"I'm only going to ask you this once so don't even think about playing games with us. Where's Rapunzel and how did you know about her hair?"

"Some old lady told us. She told us about the magic hair and that you had her!" he replied.

"She was the very same one that attacked us just now. I picked up on her voice just before I passed out," the other brother added.

"Old lady?" Flynn asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Riku asked. When Flynn, Sora, Kairi and Luna shook their heads, he sighed. "It's her mother. Rapunzel said that no one else but us knew about her hair. She had never even left her tower in the eighteen years that she's been there. The only other person who's been in and out of her tower, as she's told us, is her mother."

"Gothel, was her name, wasn't it?" Kairi recalled. "Wait. So her mother engineered this whole fake kidnapping plot with the Stabbingtons in order to bring Rapunzel back home? I guess that makes sense. If her mother didn't want her to leave that tower, then I suppose she would be angry about this, but to the point of putting her own daughter in danger just to prove a point?"

"You really think it's that simple?" Riku asked.

"Isn't it?" Sora asked slowly. Knowing Riku, the answer was obvious.

"You'd like that. So would I, but no. There's more to this than just teaching a lesson. The question we need to answer is why did Gothel feel it was necessary to keep her in a tower for practically the rest of her life. That's not healthy, for anyone. Gothel spent her time building lie upon carefully constructed lie, feeding misinformation about the outside world to her own daughter. Why would she do that?"

"Riku, I'm sure you know the answer already. We get it, you're smart. No need to shove it in our faces," Sora said.

"But Sora, you were the one who gave me the answer. Don't you remember?" Riku asked.

"Remember?"

"The mural on the wall. You were the one who showed it to me."

Sora stared at him for a while, seemingly lost. Luna was too, and having seen the mural, she tried to think back on it and use it as a clue to help figure things out. She and Sora realized at the same time.

"No way… no way… I can't believe it! Well I can, but..."

"Yeah, that's definitely it. I didn't think much of it at first but I'm sure of it now," Luna agreed with the laughing Sora.

A perplexed Kairi looked back and forth from Sora to Luna. "Okay, now explain without being really vague to someone who hasn't seen this mural."