"I gotta admit, this is pretty cool…" Kairi said, her gaze scanning over the stars outside of the ship.

"See? I told you you'd like it, Kairi!" Sora said triumphantly, turning around in his chair.

"And all of the stars are worlds? Like Agrabah was?" Kairi asked, turning, almost smiling to herself as a thought crept into her head.

Maybe… My old home could be out there…

"Yeah." Kurow gave a small laugh, leaning back, "Let's hope we don't need to go to all of them."

Kairi nodded, turning her gaze back to the stars. She could make out various faint shades of colors, shining and lighting up the sky.

A moment passed, with the only sound being Donald hitting buttons furiously, and Goofy's occasional snore, until Sora's voice piped up, "Kairi, what was it you were trying to say earlier? About what you heard Jafar and Maleficent talk about?"

"Oh! Yeah, thanks for reminding me." Kairi furrowed her brow, the memory coming back after a second. "Maleficent's looking for seven princesses, so that she can open some door."

"Seven princesses? That's, like, oddly specific." Kurow said, raising an eyebrow.

"That's what I thought, too, but the thing that really got me was how much Maleficent kept bring up light - how the princesses would be especially susceptible to darkness. Whatever that means." Kairi huffed, resting her head on her hands.

Kurow's eyes widened as the redhead finished. "Sora - you don't think that's why Alice disappeared? Alice is this girl I met before Sora found us." Kurow added when Kairi looked back at him, confusion on her face.

"The Cheshire cat said Alice was 'lost to the darkness', or something to the same effect. I can't remember it exactly…" Sora replied, scratching his cheek at the last part.

"But Alice wasn't a princess. At least, she never told us if she was one." Kurow said, resting a hand on his chin. "Maybe it's just a formal thing? Like a title?"

The conversation stopped there, as Donald made a loud noise from the controls. "What the heck is that?"

Kairi tilted her head, turning back to the window, trying to see what was causing Donald's distress. Far off, a large grey shape was slowly coming towards them, the way it moved making it look like it was swimming.

"Is that… A giant whale…?" Kurow's voice was small, and his face was scrunched up in confusion.

"Why… I think that's Monstro!" Jiminy piped up. He hopped onto Kairi's shoulder, evidently alarmed.

"Monstro?"

"He's a monster of a whale, and quite vicious to boot!" Jiminy replied, gripping his hat tightly.

"He's coming right for us, is what he is!" Donald yelled.

As the whale got closer, Why is a whale that big?!, Kairi's eyes widened as it opened it's mouth.

"Oh no."

"K-Kairi… Come on, wake up already…" Kurow muttered, his heart threatening to beat out of his chest. He held an empty potion in his hands, sitting cross legged in front of the girl. Kurow couldn't even tell how long they had been out. For all he knew, it could have been anywhere from a few minutes to hours.

So when she did finally start to stir, Kurow breathed a sigh he hadn't known he'd been holding in.

"Kurow…?" Kairi's voice was groggy, and she looked around at the surroundings. "Where the heck are we?"

"I… I think we're inside that whale."

Kairi stared at him for a moment, blinking, the fact finally registering. She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh. "Totally not the weirdest thing that's happened today… Where are the others?"

Kurow didn't immediately reply, glancing at the ship wreckage beside them. "I have no idea. When I woke up, it was just me and you."

"Oh." Her voice was small, and Kairi shook her head, standing up. "No, I'm sure they're fine. They gotta be."

Kurow hummed in agreement, standing and walking over to where the was water. "Something tells me we should avoid going in this stuff if we can help it."

"Definitely. I think some of that ship can work as a path." Kairi said, pointing over to debris a little ways away.

The two made their way across, Kurow almost falling more than once, and after a few minutes, they heard a voice.

"Oh, Pinocchio… Right when we're together again, you go running off… Let him stay safe…"

"...Who's Pinocchio?"

Kurow shrugged, as in the dark as her.

Kairi gave a huff, looking out from behind a broken part of a cabin. "We should just ask them. They might know where Sora, Donald and Goofy are."

"Right."

Kairi stepped out from the debris, looking around for the direction the voice had come from. Kurow followed, cautiously avoiding the multitude of holes in the ship. After a moment, she perked up and waved, "Hello!"

"Pinocchio! Slow down, Pinoke!" Jiminy yelled, struggling to stay upright on Sora's shoulders as the boy ran.

After the strange maze that was Monstro, Sora and the others had gotten lost more than Wonderland, and Sora was ready to get Pinocchio and get back to Geppetto. He saw the boy run straight past the one who had taken him in the first place, that aloof look still on his face. The brunet came to a stop in front of him, Donald and Goofy flanking him.

"Riku… What's your deal? Don't you know what you're doing?" Sora's voice was small, and his grip on his keyblade tightened.

"I could ask you the same thing, Sora." The way Riku said his name was strangely venomous, and he glared at the three of them, "Or are you too busy going around with your friends and showing off the keyblade?

"And let me guess: you have no idea where Kairi and Kurow are."

"Not right now… But, Riku, you do know-"

"Save it," Riku interrupted. "Do you even-" Riku himself was cut off as loud and panicked yell of "Help!" ripped through the air.

"Pinoke! That was Pinocchio!" Jiminy said, pointing frantically.

Sora nodded, pushing past Riku, sending a hardened look towards him, and rushed to find Pinocchio.

The area darkened for a moment, and Sora burst into the next room, seeing Pinocchio caged inside a large, colorful Heartless. It noticed the three of them and gave a shudder, swinging down it's flailing arms.

Ducking into a roll, Sora saw Donald casting a Fire spell, and Goofy kept the Heartless' attention away from the former. He raised his keyblade high, and streaks of lightning raced across the battlefield.

They whittled away the monster, Sora and Goofy bouncing the agro between themselves, and Sora saw a flash of silver out of the corner of his eye.

"Don't think this changes anything." Riku was at his side, his odd weapon in his hand. He shot a pointed glare at Sora before raising it. "I just didn't want the kid to get hurt."

"Sure, Reeks." Sora said, a smile appearing on his face. Whatever reasons Riku had to be mad at him, at least he was helping.

"Not another dead end! This is, what? The third one?" Kairi grumbled, all but ready to start whacking away at the walls around them.

"I guess we should have taken the left at that first junction…" Kurow said, producing a Potion from his pockets and handing it to the redhead.

"Thanks." She downed it as they walked back, the slashes on her arms and legs healing and fading.

The colorful ground pulsed underneath them, and it made Kairi uneasy to no end, the fact that they were walking around inside a living, breathing animal. She wanted to find Sora, Donald, and Goofy as soon as possible and get out of there.

"Kairi?" Kurow piped up after a moment of silence, "Can we rest for a minute?"

"Your leg again?" A little earlier, when they had found their first dead end, Kurow had gotten taken off guard by an aerial Heartless - Kairi swore she heard a cracking sound - and even after trying a Cure spell, it obviously still had an effect on him.

Kurow nodded, finding a spot that wasn't all that open, and settled down. Leaning against the wall, he said, "Sorry, Kairi."

"It's fine Kurow." Kairi replied, settling beside him. Her keyblade disappeared in a flash of light, and she breathed a sigh. "I could do with a rest, too, honestly. It's kind of hard with just the two of us, but it's weirdly fun, y'know?"

Kurow gave a small laugh. "Yeah. It's still better than being alone, though."

"Yeah. It is," Kairi said. "...You think they're alright?"

"Sora and them?" Kurow laid his head against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. "They have to be, right? I mean, they fight great together. They've got to be alright."

Kairi smiled, pulling her knees up and resting her arms against them. "Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Kurow."

Kurow gave an awkward shrug, and started to stand. "Come on, we should probably get moving. You think they might be back with Geppetto?"

Kairi did the same, stretching, "Maybe. Can't hurt to check, at least."

"Right… Hey, Kairi…?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"...Nevermind. It was just something dumb."

Kairi raised an eyebrow, but seeing the wary look Kurow had, she decided against pushing it any further. They made their way back, fighting the Heartless that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Whatever had caused them to stay away in Agrabah was apparently no longer in effect.

Soon, they had made it back to Geppetto's makeshift home, where the old man was looking distraught. He paced back and forth on the ship, muttering to himself.

"Mr. Geppetto?" Kairi began, climbing on board, " Is everything alright?"

Geppetto shook his head, "Just when Pinocchio comes back, he gets taken by - by that ruffian!" Geppetto turned, gaze focusing on Kurow, who stiffened.

"Come to think… You look an awfully lot like him."

Glancing over at the silver haired boy, Kairi asked, "You don't think it was Riku, do you?"

Kurow's eyes were closed, thinking about something. When he opened them, his eyebrows were knit together. He motioned 'come on' and the two walked back down the steps, on to the squishy ground. "...I don't want to think it was him, but… He's been acting weird lately. More so than he usually does."

"What do you mean?"

"...We ran into Riku before, in Traverse Town,"

Kairi gave a small huff. "You guys told me that earlier, remember? Was something off with him then?"

Kurow nodded. "I didn't think much of it, since, y'know, first time seeing my brother after that whole thing, but - when I mentioned keyblades, Sora's specifically, his whole demeanor changed."

"Do you think something's happened to him?" Kairi asked, her voice small. The thought was the worst-case scenario to Kairi, but it did seem the most likely.

"I don't know what it was if something did happen." Kurow groaned, sitting down on the wooden steps. "I want to say he's just being dumb and a teenager, but-"

Kurow breathed a tense sigh, resting his head in his hands. "I've never seen him act like this. Riku's not the kind of person to hurt anyone seriously- let alone straight up kidnap a kid."

Kairi sat down beside him, pulling him into an awkward hug. "I don't know, either, but… We're here for each other, okay? And no matter what, that never changes."

"When we find him, we'll talk some sense into Riku. He has to listen to us - he's mine and Sora's best friend and your brother. And he'll tell us his reasons. At least - I hope so." Kairi finished, rubbing her eyes.

Kurow gave a small laugh. "Why were you two always the best comforters?"

"Call it a natural ability!" Kairi said, laughing.

Bringing himself up, Kurow sighed again. "Okay. We need to find them. Then we'll look for Riku. They have to be here some-"

"You guys! There you are!" Over by the entrance, the brunet waved, Donald, Goofy and someone unfamiliar, but by the reaction Geppetto gave, Kairi assumed it was Pinocchio.

"- where. How the hell does he manage to do that?" Kurow said, smiling slightly.

Kairi laughed again, hair starting to fall out of place. "Come on, Kurow, it's Sora. He always popped up everywhere on the islands when we were younger, remember?"

"Don't remind me." Kurow said, waving to the other boy, who was making his way down from the ledge they'd come from.

"Sora - you've got to be kidding. Please tell me you are, please."

"I'm really sorry, Kurow," Sora said. He lowered his gaze, away the other two. "I wish I was joking around. But…"

"Are you sure it was Riku? Not some kind of trick or- or…" Kairi's voice trailed, and she rubbed at her eyes.

"He just… up and left afterwards, when we got Pinocchio back from that Heartless. He - Riku kept bringing up you guys." Sora muttered.

"Wh-What do you mean?"

Sora picked at his jacket hem. "I don't think he knew you were with us. He cut me off when I started to bring it up."

Confusion appearing on her face, Kairi leaned forward in her chair, "That sounds too weird…" She gave a small gasp, eyes widening, "Wait, wait, I remember - Something Maleficent said back in Agrabah. Something about 'that boy' being her backup plan…"

"You don't think… She meant…?"

"I'm almost sure of it, Kurow. I hate to admit it, but if she's done something to him, it would explain why Riku's been acting so weird."

A tense silence drew over the three of them as the revelation settled in, until Goofy, who was over by the controls by Donald, said, "Uh, Donald? Isn't that the Coliseum? Why're we headin' back there?"

"There's that energy spike there again." Donald answered, tapping a few keys, "We never did seal a keyhole there, did we?"

Sora groaned, laying his head in his hands, "Crap."

"Huh. I honestly forgot about that until now." Kurow shrugged, fiddling with a button. "You might like this place, Kairi, there was a tournament going on last time we were here."

"Oh, hell yes."

Okay, so first of all, again, apologies on the delay. It's been quite the... stressful month for me, and I haven't had a lot of free time on my hands. Thankfully, next chapter deals with one of my favorite worlds - hope you guys are ready for some spooks.

speaking of, there's a post on my tumblr about said chapter. Check it out here - scorch201-reborn. tumblr post/153021916934/ (remove the spaces and you're good!)

And as always feel free to leave some feedback or message me about any errors you see or questions you might have. Though as you know by now, if it deals with spoilers, I likely won't reply.

Thank you guys for your patience!