"Kurow? What are you doing here?"
The boy jumped, surprised that someone had actually found him there, nestled on an island crag. Kurow relaxed, though, realizing who it was.
"I think I can ask you the same thing." They settled down beside him, resting their head on his shoulder.
"It's quiet here. Not like on the beach with the others." They smiled, closing their eyes. "And I like being with you. What were you doing out here by yourself?"
Kurow shrugged, "Just didn't want to be around anyone for a little bit, I guess."
"...Do you want me to leave?" They asked, lowering their gaze away.
"No… I like being with you, too. I - I think it was just too much today." Kurow said, looking back over the water. "...Riku got into another fight at school, a-and it looked like he was still angry on the way here."
They hummed, "He did seem a bit more aggressive than usual sparring with Sora and Kairi, didn't he? I'm surprised Kairi didn't pick up on it, honestly."
Kurow sighed, leaning his head against theirs, making them laugh. He liked their laugh. They both stayed like that for a while, just watching and listening to the waves. Waves crashed onto the rock face, sending up a spray of sea salt.
"...Hey, Kurow?"
"Yeah?"
They hesitated before continuing, "We'll always be friends, won't we?"
"Of course we will!" Kurow replied. What had brought that up?
They smiled again, focusing on the waves. "Can you tell me something, Kurow?"
Kurow raised an eyebrow, prompting them to continue.
"If something happens… something that separates us… would you come find me?"
Kurow laughed, albeit slightly nervous, "Of course I would! We promised each other, didn't we? That we'd keep each other safe?"
They gave a small laugh, "We did... Thank you, Kurow."
A moment passed, and they stood, holding a hand out and helping Kurow up. As they walked back through the darkened tunnel Kurow had come through, they lagged behind. Kurow glanced back, alarmed when he saw they were nowhere to be seen.
"I miss you... I - I miss everyone."
"Hey! Where'd you go? N-!"
Kurow snapped forward, recoiling as his forehead collided with Kairi's. He blinked, waiting for the world to clear, blur of sleep still in his eyes.
"Ow, ow, ow." Kairi withdrew, rubbing the now red spot on her head. She raised an eyebrow at him, "What was that about?"
"What was what about?"
"... Nevermind," Kairi said, waving her hand, "Feeling any better?"
"Yeah, I feel fine." Kurow stretched in his chair, hearing a sound pop! as he did. "Wonders what sleep can do when you're exhausted. How long have you been awake?"
Kairi paused, "Not that long. I wasn't all that tired anyways, though."
"Still too pumped from the tournament?"
"Probably!" Kairi said, laughing, "I've been talking with Donald and Goofy, too. They said we're near another world."
She gave a loud huff, "Which means we need to wake up the brick over there," she jabbed a finger over in Sora's direction.
The brunet was sound asleep, snoring slightly. He shifted, curling into himself more.
Kairi sighed, shaking her head, a light smile on her face. She stood, taking the few steps over to him. "Hey. Hey, Sora." She poked at his face, hoping to stir him. Sora simply nestled into the crook of his arms in response.
Kairi looked over at Kurow, a plea of 'Help.' on her face.
Kurow gave a muffled laugh, picking himself up and walking over.
As soon as they had managed to wake Sora up, Kairi dug through a small pack Jasmine had apparently given her. She handed them both rations she'd found, and went to give some to Donald and Goofy.
There was a comfortable silence, and Kurow's thoughts wandered back to the dream he'd had. It wasn't the first and Kurow was sure it wouldn't be the last. Still, it was the first he remembered almost fully.
He was so close, he was sure. Kurow would remember her if it was the last thing he did.
Starts with a 'N'...
"Guys, check this out!"
Kurow blinked as the redhead hovered a few inches off of the ground, looking absolutely ecstatic. Not only that, she seemed to be semi-transparent and a worn piece of brown cloth draped over her shoulders.
Sora seemed just excited as her, his own clothes having changed as well, "It's like you're a ghost, Kairi!"
"Yeah, I'm gonna haunt you and Kurow!" Kairi said, giggling.
"I guess there's something special about this world…" Kurow muttered, looking over the long coat he now had. "I'm a bit concerned as to where my potions went though…"
His attention was drawn away, catching the brief glimpse of something up the road ahead. Kurow's eyes widened as he recognized it, keyblade appearing in his hand.
"Guys, Heartless!"
"Wait what?" Kairi dropped back on the ground, the goofiness gone from her voice.
"Up ahead."
Sora and Kairi shared a look, nodding in agreement. The two of them summoned their keyblades and were off. Kurow followed behind, finding himself tripping over the longer coat and missing his hoodie.
As they turned the corner, they found themselves in a square, the ghost-like Heartless floating around listlessly. If they noticed the trio, they made no indication as to it.
"Hey, wait a sec, you guys," Kairi held up hand, floating over to the Heartless.
"Kai, what're you -"
Kairi put a finger to her lips, signal clear to Sora. She milled around the enemies, and none made any approach towards the redhead. A few tilted their heads, more curious than anything it seemed.
"Huh."
"That's - Why aren't they… attacking? They've never been peaceful like this." Kurow was absolutely stunned, letting himself be pulled along by Sora. He weaved them through the Heartless, following the path Kairi took, worry evident in his visible his blue eye.
The brunet breathed a heavy sigh as they turned another corner, away from the plaza, and into a forested area, the trees looking as dead as the Heartless had.
"Maybe the Heartless here are just docile?" Kairi suggested, the soft glow around her helping to illuminate the darkness around.
"Leon said that the Heartless would attack whenever they sense a keyblade, though," Sora said, eyebrow furrowing. "Unless there's some special rule here…"
"Donald and Goofy might know…" Kurow muttered, looking around. Normally, he liked the woods. They were calm and quiet. But when it was dark like this, the only light being the stars, moon, and a spectral friend, it terrified him. Like something could pop out of nowhere at any time.
Kairi groaned. "Why is it we're always losing each other? Do worlds just not like groups bigger than three?"
"I don't know, but we need to find them." Sora said, looking resolute. "They should be somewhere close by… I think."
They started off into the forest, leaves occasionally crunching underneath them. Kurow kept glancing around, grip tight on his keyblade. Kairi kept floating away, chatting amiably to the both of them, though it was mainly Sora who responded.
Soon, they came into a more open part of the woods, gravestones - or what appeared to be graves - and small broken buildings lining the cobblestone wall that surrounded the area.
"I don't know if we should exactly be here…" Kairi muttered, glancing at the graves and obviously unsettled.
Kurow let out a tense breath, looking around. The moon hung low overhead, clouds rolling in around it. He paused, a faint a noise reaching him.
"Do you guys hear that?"
Sora tilted his head, as if he was trying to find the source. "It sounds like someone talking… Maybe they've seen Donald and Goofy?"
"It's worth a shot." Kairi said, shrugging. She floated over the dark ground, heading over to the hill in the middle of the graveyard. Sora and Kurow followed after, more slowly to try and avoid disturbing anything, and as they made their way around, the sound disappeared.
"Is... someone there?" A quiet voice asked, the speaker peeking their head out from the crook on the curling hill. A woman cautiously stepped out, dull red hair falling over her shoulders as her relaxed. "Oh, thank goodness… I thought it was those three again…"
"We're sorry to bother you, miss," Sora began, "We just wanted to ask you something. Have you seen a really tall dog and a kinda short duck around here? They're our friends."
"I - I'm sorry. I haven't seen anyone like that," she replied. It was then that Kurow noticed the stitches all over her body, as if she were falling apart.
"It's possible that they could be somewhere in town, though," she added, tone optimistic, "I could show you around - if you'd like."
"That would be appreciated, thank you!" Kairi exclaimed.
The woman smiled lightly. "It's no trouble. You three aren't from here, are you? I've never seen you around here before…"
"Well, uh, you see-" Sora stuttered, scratching the back of his neck.
"Sally! There you are!" An abnormally tall skeleton, wearing a pinstripe suit called, rushing from the woods the three of them had come from. Kurow quickly moved out of the way as the skeleton made a beeline for the woman.
"Hello Jack. What brings you here at this hour?" the woman, Sally, asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Doctor Finklestein told me to find you! He said you would have the memory we need to create a heart." Jack replied, grinning widely.
"Memory? Oh… do you mean these?" Sally raised her left hand, a small bundle of flowers in it.
Jack looked ecstatic, graciously taking the flowers. "Wonderful! You know, I dare say this will be the best Halloween yet!"
Sally bit her lip, "Jack, I have a bad feeling about this. What if we found something else to do? There's plenty of time to plan something different."
"Nonsense, Sally! Once the Heartless receive a heart, they'll surely dance as we planned." Jack turned the the trio, who had been watching the conversation go back and forth. "...Who might you three be?"
Sora was the first to react, quickly replying, "I'm Sora! These are my friends, Kairi and Kurow."
"Splendid to meet you all! You must be new around here." Jack said cheerfully, giving a small wave. "You're just in time to see the newest part to our Halloween!"
Jack started walking away, pausing when he was a few feet away. "Now wait a moment… There was a peculiar pair in town asking about a 'Sora'..."
"There was?" Kairi tilted her head, floating over a little. "Did they say what their names were?"
"Why, yes! I believe they said they were Donald and Goofy. They seemed quite worried about something."
"Do you think you could show us where they are? They're our friends!" Sora asked.
"I'd be delighted to! Come along now, they were in the Square last time I was there."
"Oh, I should've know Oogie Boogie would be behind this…" Jack muttered, obviously angered.
They had found Donald and Goofy, exactly where Jack had said they were, and before they could see whether or not Jack's assumption on giving the Heartless a heart was right the created heart had been stolen. Sora, of course, offered to help get it back, and now they were following the trail the three children had left.
The bridge creaked loudly underneath them, sending a chill up Kurow's spine. He did his best to avoid from looking down, taking in the area around.
"This place is huge…" Kurow mumbled to himself, noting the spiked railings on the upper floors.
"Yes, Oogie does love to be dramatic with everything, and his home reflects that," Jack said, who had somehow heard Kurow's comment. "It shouldn't be too hard to navigate though."
"Gawrsh, we're up pretty high, aren't we?" Goofy said, taking a tentative look over the side of the bridge.
"Let's just hurry up and get going…" Donald muttered, carefully hopping over a broken part of it. Soon they were making their way up the broken building.
"That's… actually kind of pathetic." Kairi said, her keyblade appearing in her hand again.
"Oh, don't you get me started! No one disrespects Oogie Boogie! Nobody!" Oogie looked positively enraged, shaking something in his hands. "Let's see what the dice have to say, eh?"
Three large, red dice rattled against the floor, and apparently, the roll hadn't been good judging from Oogie's loud groan of displeasure.
"Well, my luck's just plumb rotten, isn't it?"
Jack simply glared at Oogie, taking a step back onto a button in the middle of the room. Spikes sprung up from the ground, blocking in both the group and Oogie as the platform raised itself.
"I'm afraid we don't have time for your games, Oogie Boogie. Now give us back the heart!" Jack demanded, taking a step forward towards Oogie.
"And I'm afraid I can't! That heart's long gone now. Too bad, Jack!" Oogie replied, and despite the bravado he displayed, Kairi could hear a trace of fear in Oogie's voice.
"Don't tell me you-"
"Oh, I did, Jack. There's no way to that heart back now!" Oogie laughed, obviously pleased with himself.
"I've got a few ideas…" Kairi hefted her keyblade back, adjusting her aim and throwing. It found it's target, hitting Oogie Boogie square in the face.
"Nice one, Kai!"
"Worked before, still works now." Kairi said, bumping her and Sora's fists together. "Let's get that heart back."
"I must thank you again. Oogie Boogie shouldn't bother us for a while, at the very least." Jack said, pacing around the square. "It seems Sally was right. We'll just have to figure something else out for Halloween…"
As Jack walked off muttering to himself, Sora turned, grinning to the other four. "That's another world locked and safe!"
"Yep. And as much fun as floating around is, we'll need to get going, don't we?" Kairi said, looking slightly dejected.
"That's right! We just need to get to the Gummi ship now," Goofy said cheerfully.
After a few minutes of searching, they found the ship and boarded, leaving the world behind. Kairi stared out the window of the ship, mentally taking note of the stars again.
"I wonder why we haven't seen any sign of your King yet.. Did he say anything about where he might be?" Kurow asked, leaning on Donald's chair.
"Nothing," Donald replied. "He left the letter telling us to find the key and that was it."
"Hey, Donald, you don't think he went 'there', do you?" Goofy inquired.
Donald gave an indignant warble. "Goofy, we both know that place has been gone for a long time! There's no way the King could go there, even if he wanted to!"
"What're you guys talkin' about? What place?" Sora questioned, coming up beside Kurow.
"Never you mind," Donald gave a wave of his hand, turning back to the controls of the ship. "It doesn't matter anyways. It's not somewhere we can -" Donald abruptly stopped staring at the radar.
"What's the matter, Donald?" Goofy asked, leaning over to look.
"There's another ship… And it looks like it's coming right at us."
Just then, the Gummi ship began shaking, nearly sending Kairi out of her chair. Outside the window, she could see a much bigger ship sail past them, a skull and crossbones painted on the back of it and on the flags it flew.
"I - I think that's a pirate ship."
"Whatever it is, it's coming back!" Sora said, eyes wide, "I think it's gonna ram us!"
For once, Kairi wished Sora hadn't been right.