Sora lay on his back on his bed in one of the guest rooms at Disney Castle. He couldn't shake off what he saw in Goofy's quarters. 'What is Goofy hiding?'
'Why do you wanna know so bad?' Asked Roxas.
'Because Goofy's my friend. And I want him to be happy. If he's unhappy, I wanna do what I can to reverse that.' Sora explained.
Roxas sighed. 'All right, well...Donald won't tell you anything, obviously.'
'But he's not the only inhabitant in this castle.' Sora pointed out. He sat up. 'There's a Horace Horsecollar here...maybe he knows something!'
'Well, then, what are we waiting for?' Roxas asked. 'Let's go!'
'Why are you being so supportive?' Sora wondered. 'Everyone else has told me to back off and leave it alone.'
'Because I know you.' Roxas replied. 'You mean well and your heart's in the right place...and you do have a motive behind wanting to know. And because I'd do the same thing,'
'Thanks.' Sora smiled.
XX
Sora approached Horace's quarters and knocked.
"Coming!" He heard someone put something away and walk to the door. Horace opened it and smiled. "Why, Sora! This is a pleasant surprise!" He stepped aside. "Come in!"
"Hey, Horace." He walked inside. "So...what's up?"
"Oh, nothing much. Just doin' some reading." Horace answered. "To what do I owe this honor?"
"Oh, just...um..." Sora rubbed the back of his head. 'How should I put this...?'
'Say you're preparing a birthday gift for Goofy, and you need ideas.' Roxas suggested.
"I'm...Goofy's birthday is coming up, and I need ideas." Sora lied.
Horace raised an eyebrow. "But Goofy's birthday isn't for another two months."
"Yeah, well...these things take time!" Sora shrugged,.
Horace smiled. "Well, I know Goofy pretty well. I always say the best way to find a great gift for a friend, is to know them really well. That makes it easier."
Sora sighed and shook his head. "I'm not so sure I know Goofy that well..."
"Well, you know he's Captain of the Royal Knights." Horace said helpfully.
"Yeah, and he's hiding something from me." Sora admitted.
"Hiding something?" Horace repeated.
"Yeah. While I was in his quarters, I saw a room with the door open a little. Inside was a skateboard leaning against the wall." Sora explained. "Goofy freaked out..."
Horace's expression changed from intrigue to sadness. He sighed and bowed his head. "Look, Sorra...what happened to Goofy was a long time ago. It's no good to dwell on this."
"I just wanna know why he's so sad." Sora shrugged. "Will you tell me what happened?"
Horace shook his head. "It ain't my place. It's not something Goofy wants to talk about because it's too painful for him. So...none of us want to bring it up."
"Oh..." Sora's face fell.
Horace smiled and put a hand on Sora's shoulder. "Now, I know you're just trying to be a good friend and all. But..."
"'Leave it alone and drop it.'" Sora said before Horace could speak. "I know."
Horace nodded. "I'm sure Goofy will tell you everything. When he's ready."
Sora smiled. "Okay. Thanks, Horace."
"You're welcome."
"Well, see ya." Sora waved and left the room. As soon as the door closed...
"Well, it looks like you were right." Horace turned to a closet. There was a clattering sound, and Donald Duck quacking. He burst out of the closet, yelling in fright, and landed on the floor on his stomach covered in jackets and belts.
Donald picked himself up and shook everything off whilst muttering under his breath. He sighed. "Sora never gives the hell up, does he? I have half a mind to put a memory charm on him!"
"May I ask why you feel it necessary to keep that from him?" Horace asked. ":Maybe telling him everything will help him understand why Goofy doesn't want to talk about it."
"And take the chance of him talking to Goofy about it?" Donald snapped. "Hell no!"
"Okay, I'm just saying..." Horace shrugged.
"The less he knows, the better. Trust me." Donald said.
XXX
'Okay, so...no one will tell me.' Sora thought. 'That's fine. I'll find out for myself.'
'How?'
'Recon.' Sora decided. 'I'm gonna look through that room for clues.'
'Isn't that going a little too far?' Roxas asked. 'That's an invasion of privacy! Plus, you promised Goofy you wouldn't go into that room.'
'He'll never know.' Sora thought. 'I'll sneak in while he's training with his knights.'
'Okay...if you thought this through...'
XXX
The next day, Sora waited until Goofy was gone to training. Donald was on a date with Daisy, and Riku and Kairi were with the king and queen. It was the perfect opportunity for Sora to sneak into Goofy's quarters.
"Hey, Sora, you sure you don't want to come with us?"
Sora told Riku and Kairi he wasn't feeling well, and wanted to sleep in his room. Riku and Kairi were going with the king and queen to a play.
"I'm sure." Sora said. "Relax, you guys. I'll be fine!"
Kairi looked unconvinced. "Okay, if you're sure..."
"I am." Sora said firmly. "Have fun!"
"We will." Riku replied. They left. Riku whispered to Kairi. "Did you buy that?"
"No." Kairi whispered back.
XXX
Sora quietly and quickly made his way to Goofy's quarters. He sighed with relief when he found the door unlocked. He made his way to the room, made sure no one was coming and walked inside.
The room was spacious and bright with a wooden floor. On the far side of the room was a twin-sized bed with a green quilt. Next to it was a nightstand, and along the wall was a closet. Opposite the closet was a dresser with a big, oval-shaped mirror. In the far corner was a large, brown rectangular trunk. On each side of the dresser were floor-to-ceiling windows. There were only a few posters of skateboarders and and rock stars on the wall. The room looked very clean, despite the fact no one's using it.
'Goofy probably tidies this up as a coping mechanism.' Roxas pointed out.
'Yeah...' Sora walked tom the trunk and knelt down. 'I wonder what's inside.'
Sora lifted the lid of the trunk. On the inside of the lid, there were several pictures of Goofy and a smaller version of Goofy with hair.
'This must be his son.' Sora thought. 'Damn...all this time I knew him, and I didn't know he had a kid!'
'Maybe it's part of his painful past?'
'Probably.' Sora looked inside the trunk. On the left side were three photo albums stacked neatly. In the middle was a stack of smaller books that looked like journals. On the right were a stack of papers. Sora lifted up a photo album, turned around, leaned against the trunk and rested the album on his knee. There were pictures of Goofy with a smiling, red haired woman with short hair and a tall frame. Goofy was standing next to her with his arm around her looking happier than Sora had seen him.
Sora turned a few pages to Goofy's wedding. The caption read Goofy and Penelope Goof- Married April 7, 1978" After a few more pages of the happy couple, Sora came upon a large picture of a baby with Goofy's eyes, nose, and ears and Penelope's smile. The caption read "Maximillian Goof- Born September 7, 1980.". The next few pages contained the little family on vacations, holidays, birthdays, Max taking his first steps, Max's first birthday...
A few pages later, a whole page was dedicated to a funeral program and obituary of Penelope. Sora felt a twinge of sadness for Goofy. He read the obituary, but nothing said how she died. The next page was of Goofy holding Max with Penelope's coffin behind them.
As Sora continued to flip through the albums, he noticed that Max grew a little more distant each year starting from when he was about fifteen. The last photo in the last album was of Max graduating from high school.
'Wow...' Sora thought as he put the albums back.
'I know.' Roxas replied, shocked. 'So...from what we've seen, it looks like Goofy had a family. But his wife died when his son was a baby. And his son...'
'Well, the albums end with him graduating from high school.' Sora pointed out. 'Maybe these journals will tell us what happened to him.'
Sora pulled out as slightly dusty, red journal and opened it to the first page. It was dated eleven years previous to the current date.
'My dad says I should keep a jo8urnal to help me cope with what happened. I don't know, though...I guess it could help, but...I just don't like to talk about it or think about it, much less write about it. …'
'Eleven years ago?' Roxas questioned. 'That would make him about twenty-two or twenty-three by now.'
'Yeah...I wonder what happened.' Sora skimmed through the journal hoping that Max wrote about what happened to him. Suddenly, he heard a door open, and turned around. Sora froze, and his heart dropped into his stomach. Goofy was standing in the doorway looking shocked, bewildered, hurt, and angry. Sora dropped the journal back into the chest, closed it, and stood up. "Goofy! I...I just..."
Goofy turned around and stormed out into the hallway. Sora groaned and ran after him. "Goofy...I'm sorry. I just wanted to know-"
"You promised." Goofy said, his voice shaking and his back turned to Sora. "I thought we were friends. Now you invaded my privacy."
Sora sighed heavily and bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry. I...you were sad. I wanted to help you."
Goofy was about to say something when Donald walked in. "Hey, Goofy! Some of us are going to Fruitball. Wanna come?" He stopped in his tracks when he saw Goofy and Sora. "Wak?" Donald looked between Goofy, who looked angry and hurt; to Sora, who looked guilty and ashamed. He put the puzzle pieces together. "Oh, goddammit, you went through that room, didn't you?" Donald glared at Sora.
"It won't happen again." Sora said earnestly.
"You're right. It won't." Goofy turned to Sora. "I never want to see you again."
Sora's heart skipped many beats and a lump formed in his throat. "You don't mean that."
Goofy didn't say anything. Instead he turned around. "Get out of my quarters."
Sora stood rooted to the floor. "Goofy..." Hen sighed, closed his eyes and slowly walked out of the quarters.
Donald sighed and shook his head. "Goofy, I'm sorry. I tried to fend Sora off, but..."
"It's not your fault." Goofy said sullenly. "I'd like to be alone, please, Donald."
"I understand." Donald walked out of Goofy's quarters. He frowned in frustration at Sora. 'How could he? I thought keeping promise4s were important to him!'
XXX
Sora lay on his back on his bed. Riku was standing beside him with his arms folded.
"I just made the biggest mistake of my life, Riku." Sora admitted. "I invaded someone's privacy after I promised not to. And not just anyone: one of my best friends. He's like a second father to me, and I let him down."
Riku sighed and bowed his head. 'Why am I not surprised?' "Did you apologize to him?"
"I tried." Sora shrugged. "He's so mad at me. I've never seen him like this." He frowned. "I just wish I knew how to fix this."
"Maybe you can't." Riku replied. Sora looked at him. "Some things you just can't fix. They have to fix it themselves. I think it'd be better if you just be patient and wait for Goofy to come around."
Sora bowed his head in thought. As much as he hated it, he knew he'd have to back off and let Goofy cool off for a while. Maybe someday they'll be friends again.
I should probably tell you now- this story has no connection with any of my KH fanfics.
