"Kairi, how did you do that?" Kurow inquired, ducking through the entrance after her. It was weird enough having to walk into a statue's mouth to get inside an ancient place, but the magic Kairi had summoned was another thing entirely.

"What? Oh, you mean, like, light thing?" Kairi shrugged, not looking back. "I don't really know, honestly. I can just, kinda, do it."

Kurow saw Donald open his mouth, like he was going to add something, then seemed to decide against it and shake his head.

"Gawrsh, this place sure is spooky.." Goofy said, looking around nervously.

"Yeah. With the torches like they are, it's like a haunted house!" Sora said.

Kurow was inclined to agree, though his voice died in his throat as they reached the end of the hallway, where there was a twisting walkway and on either side of it were what seemed like bottomless pits.

"Uh, watch your step, you guys…" Kurow muttered.

Continuing down the path, Kurow noted that there was significantly less Heartless than there had been before meeting up with Kairi. Her and Sora were talking avidly a little further ahead, with Aladdin in front of them.

And while it was a relief to have finally found Kairi, it had just raised a bigger question for Kurow.

Where is he? Why did he disappear like that?

His pace slowed down, until Donald and Goofy had passed him. Pausing, Kurow looked around. Looking at the crumbling architecture, Kurow sighed.

That was just too unlike him. If he had something else to do, he would've told us… wouldn't he?

Kurow shook his head, dismissing that thought. He shouldn't doubt his brother. There had to be some reason Riku had left so abruptly. There must've been.

"Kurow! Come on, we don't need to be separated anymore!" Sora called, his voice carrying from down the hall.

Kurow flinched, train of thought derailing. "Don't worry, I'll be right there!" He started jogging towards them, one last whisper to himself.

Whatever your reasons were, I'm going to find you again. Promise, Riku.

"Those children again?"

"It seems they quite persistent. Of course, you could easily convince that boy to help us… He may actually prove to be use -" Jafar paused, turning as he heard footsteps.

"Jafar! Let Jasmine go, now!" Aladdin demanded, drawing his scimitar, a look of pure rage on his face.

"W-wait a second..." Sora began. "Are you - Maleficent?" He directed the question towards the woman behind Jafar, who simply looked at the group of them.

"Hmph. I shall leave this to you, I suppose." She didn't give an answer, disappearing into thin air.

"Of course you will…" Jafar muttered, sending a cross look behind him. "And I'm afraid, Aladdin, the princess stays with me. She appears invaluable to our plans. Though, I'm believe you fools won't live long enough to see it come to fruition."

Producing the lamp from the folds of his clothes, Jafar held it up, "Genie, my second wish: destroy them!" There was a puff of smoke behind Jafar, and Genie floated there, looking dejected.

"Genie…"

"I'm really sorry, Al, I've got no say in this. He's callin' the shots as long as he has my lamp…"

"Be ready for anything, you guys…" Kurow muttered, his eyes trained on Jafar.

A nod of affirmation from Sora, and and a curt "Right." from Kairi was all the preparation they had, as Jafar gave a wave of his staff. A beam of red and white shot from it, scattering the group. Kurow grimaced, the beam having caught him on the arm. Sora made a beeline towards Jafar, who simply floated away, towards another platform.

"Oh come on!" Kairi yelled. She hefted her keyblade, then took a moment to judge something, and tossed it. It hit the mark, slamming into Jafar dead on his chest. He gave a very audible 'oof!' and dropped down to the ground. When he tried to get himself back up, Goofy followed Kairi's example, throwing his shield, this time hitting Jafar's head. The man stumbled, off balance and wide open.

"Now! Fire!" Sora held his keyblade outwards, two balls of fire streaking towards Jafar. Kairi, who's keyblade had reappeared in her hands, dashed forward. While she assailed him up close, Kurow ducked around him, hoping to take back Genie's lamp.

Unfortunately, Jafar had apparently anticipated something like that. He flourished his staff again, this time sending out a wave of dark energy, which knocked Kurow and Kairi away.

"Enough!" Jafar narrowed his eyes, glaring at the small group. "Do not think this is anywhere near finished! Genie!" Jafar held the lamp up, a wicked grin on his face. "My final wish: Make me an all powerful genie!"

"If you say so…" Genie poofed back, not looking at Jafar as he snapped his fingers.

A sort of golden energy enveloped Jafar, and the room shook, causing Kurow to lose his recently found footing. His eyes widened as he noticed the spider webs of cracks spreading over the floor.

"G-guys..?" Kurow's voice died in his throat, as the flooring gave way, sending him, along with Sora, Kairi, and Aladdin, tumbling down.

"Kurow! Hey, come on, open your eyes! We really need you right now!" Kairi yelled, voice tight. She shook the silver haired boy, who eventually sat up, groaning and shaking off rubble.

"What…?"

"I don't know, but we somehow survived that fall. Sora and Aladdin have been keeping Jafar busy while I tried to wake you." Kairi interrupted, quickly glancing off to the side and looking alarmed. "Duck!"

Kurow gave a strangled noise as Kairi pushed him, eyes widening when he saw a giant boulder sail overhead.

"The hell was that?!"

"Jafar. Come on, keep up, Kurow. We need to go help Sora and Al. They've got to be wearing down by now…" Kairi crouched, looking over the rubble pile. Her keyblade appeared with a flash, and she heard Kurow do the same. She waited a second, then jumped over the blockade. The area shuddered, and more rocks fell from the ceiling into the lava below.

Sora turned slightly in their direction as the two reached him and Aladdin. While he looked spent, the brunet grinned. "You guys ready?"

"Always." Kairi replied, smiling right back.

"Insolent little -!" Jafar drew himself up, clutching his head, Sora or Aladdin likely having gotten a lucky hit. He faced the four, glare intense.

Kairi and Kurow had taken the other two's places, distracting him from them. Kairi had rolled out of the way of another thrown boulder when she noticed Kurow off on the other side, glancing around. His eyes focused on a spot behind Kairi. He frantically waved, pointing, and yelling, "The lamp!"

Kairi glanced over her shoulder, seeing what had caught Kurow's attention.

The bird from earlier, 'Iago' Kairi recalled, flew around high in the air, the pure black lamp dangling in his talons. Kairi looked back at Kurow, sidestepping an attack from Jafar, raising an eyebrow and calling, "How?"

"I've got it! Just be ready, okay?"

Kairi gave a firm nod, sending a look up at the red genie in front of them. She dashed away, over to where Iago was hovering above.

Kurow squared his feet, holding his keyblade in both hands. With a cry of, "Gravity!" a dark orb enveloped the avian, sending him, squawking, towards the ground. The lamp dropped from his talons, straight into Kairi's open hands, and Iago flew away frantically.

"Alright, Jafar, time for you to go!" Kairi held the lamp in front of her, pointing it towards Jafar. A sort of whirlwind of red and yellow light swirled around him, pulling him closer and closer towards the lamp until he completely disappeared with a sound pop!

"Nice one, Kairi!" Kurow yelled, grinning.

"Is everyone alright?" Aladdin asked, walking over with Sora in tow.

"For the most part. Now we just need to figure out two things," Kairi began. She looked over the lamp in her hands. "What exactly should we do with this? And how do we get out of here?"

"Oh, you can leave that to me, my dear compadres!" A large puff of blue smoke filled the air, and Genie appeared, a large smile on his face. Genie gave a snap of his fingers, and there was another smoke cloud, this one enveloping the four of them. Kairi coughed, waving on hand in front of her and the other covering her mouth and nose. As the smoke dispersed, Kairi's throat tightened.

"Donald! Goofy!" Sora rushed over to the two, crouching down, his keyblade clattering to the ground beside him

"I… I think t-they're just unconscious…" Kurow stuttered, eyebrows drawn together as he looked them over.

Kairi could see his shoulders shaking, and she knelt beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Kurow…?"

He took a deep breath, and Kurow looked over at Sora. "Donald was teaching you how to use Cure, right?"

"Yeah, but -"

"Cure's that green healing magic, right?" Kairi asked, leaning slightly forward. A nod from both Sora and Kurow. "Then we'll do it together. Two lesser versions of a spell is better than one, yeah?"

Sora gave another nod, taking his keyblade in hand and standing. Kairi did the same, and Kurow took a step away. She took a deep breath, glancing at Sora and giving a thumbs up. They both cried, "Cure!" and a faint green light glowed around Donald and Goofy.

"Do you… think it worked?" Sora said, not to anyone in particular.

"I think so. They at least look better than before." Kairi said.

Aladdin walked over, Genie's lamp in hand. "Hey… Where is… Jasmine? She was right here before…"

Kairi's eyes widened. Now that the initial panic was gone, she saw that Aladdin was right. Jasmine was nowhere in sight. "You don't think…"

"Whoever hurt Donald and Goofy took her?" Kurow finished, a worried look on his face again.

The sound of a lock made the three of them jump and Kairi looked over and saw Sora walking back from the strange hole on the far wall. "What was that?"

"He locked the keyhole. That was one reason we came to this world." Kurow explained.

"Oh. But why are you-" Kairi's questioned was cut off, as the room began to shake once again. It persisted, getting more and more violent.

"They can explain later! We should get out here, now!" Aladdin said, raising his voice to be heard over the crashing of rocks. He raised Genie's lamp. "Genie, this is my second wish: Please, get all of us out of here!"

"Can do, Chief!"

The faint light of the sun dipped over the horizon, dying the sky shades of red. Kairi leaned against the wall with the window, nodding as Sora and Kurow explained the situation.

"So, we have to keep these worlds safe by locking those keyholes… Okay! Then count me in!"Kairi said, a look of resolve on her face. "I might not be able to lock them like Sora, but we're going to stick together, alright?"

"Of course we are!" Sora assured.

Kurow nodded, uncrossing his arms. "Maybe we'll have an easier time with the Heartless, now that there are three of us."

"Definitely! The Heartless'll be no problem for the three of us!" Sora said, smiling.

After a while, Donald and Goofy returned from getting supplies, finding the three of them laughing and talking.

Okay first off, I'm super sorry about the delay on this. I've not had the most free time in the world, seeing as I've had not one, not two, but three major tests I needed to study like hell for, and recently just got over food poisoning, so I haven't had a lot of time to write. Second, I apologize if this chapter seems rushed, I've just been sitting on it for the past two day, and wanted to get it done and move on.

Hopefully, Chapter 8 will not take as long to get out. Thank you for your patience, and feel free to leave a review or pm me if you have any questions!