My World

Chap 7 - Visits

"H-how did this happen?" Roxas was standing at the entrance to the Castle That Never Was and struggling to hold onto a barely conscience Xaldin.

When he had been summoned to see who was at the gates, he had expected to only see Xaldin, but was shocked to find an incredibly tall clown man with a pretty little clown girl holding Xaldin over her shoulder. Roxas was at loss for words when he saw them and was immediately handed Xaldin. He had no idea how one of the Organization's strongest member could have fallen prey to these two petty criminals – and he was now seeking an explanation.

"Well, you see, it's kinda like this," the Joker started, "We were all just sitting around my little coffee table – just talking about the weather, when suddenly he just – SNAPPED! He came at us with those SCARY looking lances and," the Ace of Knaves pulled an incredibly over the top look of despair, "SOB, we barely got away with our lives! Right pooh?"

"Look at what he did ta me!" Harley pointed at her patched arm – some blood had leaked through and stained her clothes. "It ain't no joke! He really went off his rocker!"

"So you'll understand when we say that we needed to defend ourselves! So I just gave him a little tap on the head and out he went like a light!" He chuckled.

Roxas watched stunned. He had no idea what to say – they didn't really expect him to believe that, did they? He knew he probably should've pushed them to tell him the REAL story, but nothing came out of his mouth. The Joker leaned over him and patted him on the head; like a little toy pet.

"Oh I KNEW you'd understand! Now run along inside – and when he wakes up," his smile grew wider and increasingly creepier, "tell him I said no hard feelings."

Sora had finally left the comfort of his hut and rejoined his friend's outside on the warm sand. He couldn't help but recognize the late hour and the bewitching look of the sun that resembled a stout ball of glowing blood in the haze of clouds.

He had apologized to the two for being so strange when he came back to Destiny Islands, and said he would explain everything soon – just not at the moment.

Kairi had completely sympathized with him and told him that he could tell them whatever he needed to tell them when he was ready. Riku, on the other hand, was a little bitter after the whole encounter, he wasn't one to display all his feelings of concern on a silver platter, and when he did with Sora, he was yelled at. Sora wasn't able to gain his forgiveness as easily as Kairi's, and he had to apologize repeatedly before he came around.

"Guys, I really just want to relax for now," Sora said to his friends as he leaned back into the sand, he desperately tried not to look into the setting pool of blood "I promise I'll tell you everything when my head gets straightened out."

"I guess whatever you saw must've been pretty bad." Riku said as she sat himself next to Sora.

"That's doesn't even come close to describing it."

"Oh let's not talk about that!" Kairi jumped in, "That's definitely not a relaxing topic to discuss, so why not we try to play a little game to ease our minds?"

"And what kind of game do you suggest we play?" Riku inquired.

Kairi smiled broadly as she pulled out a volleyball that had been hiding behind her back.

"Why, a little game of volleyball of course!"

Sora immediately jumped off the sand and onto his feet and had seemed to have forgotten all of the day's worries. Or perhaps he was simply trying to reassure his companions that he was all right – maybe trying to reassure himself as well.

"Ha! I'm the best at volleyball!"

"Don't you mean second best?" Riku followed suit, getting up off the sand, smirking coyly at Sora.

All of a sudden, there was a load crash somewhere behind the island; the three looked at each other before rapidly running across the shore to see what it was that had made such a ruckus. It appeared their game of some volleyball would have to be delayed for a much later time.

When they had reached the other side of the island they found a sloppily landed Gummi ship, its wing was slightly scratched up but nothing that would hinder it from flying again. It was a shame to see it all displaced for its design was top-notch and it looked to be expensive. It was definitely one that was way more complex than the Gummi ship Sora flew around with. Kairi gasped a little at the crooked Gummi ship and began running towards it.

"KAIRI!" Sora shouted before running after her and grabbing her arm to keep her from running any closer to the ship.

"We have to go see if the person inside is hurt!" Kairi looked over at Sora, trying to pull him towards the Gummi ship – but he wouldn't budge.

"Look, we don't know who might be on that ship. Why don't we wait a little while a see who comes out, if no one does then we'll go in after them."

So they all impatiently waited to see if the person inside would come out. A deep unsettling silence blanketed over the trio as they waited for some form of life to burst out of the small wreckage. After about a minute or two, Kairi began pulling at her arm again.

"Alright, I think that's enough waiting! They could be seriously hurt!" Then, the door of the Gummi ship opened.

Goofy made a pout-y looking face at his slightly dented Gummi ship and shook his head. "Gawrsh, flyin' these things just ain't what it used to be."

"GOOFY!" Kairi and Sora shouted as they both started running towards their old and amiable friend and wrapped their arms around his lanky body and he gave his own hugs back in return.

Riku quickly followed suit and smiled at seeing the floppy eared canine.

"Hello again Goofy." Riku said as he watched Sora and Kairi nearly snuggle Goofy to death.

"Hey kids!" He nearly tripped over himself with the weight the two youngsters were putting on him. "Eep! Mind easin' up a bit fellers?" Kairi and Sora quickly pulled back and giggled.

"Sorry Goofy, it's just that we haven't seen you for awhile!" Sora said bashfully.

"And what can we say? We've missed you!" Kairi happily added.

"So where's Donald?" Riku inquired.

There was a long awkward pause, and Goofy slowly turned his eyes over to look at Sora.

"You haven't told them yet?"

"I was planning to," Sora looked down at his feet, "I just –"Goofy placed a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"No it's okay, I understand. But I think it's important for them to know." Sora said nothing, but nodded.

"Do ya want me to tell 'em?" Again he nodded his head.

Goofy sighed; he wasn't quite sure how to really go about telling them what had happened. There wasn't any light and delicate way of putting it. He tried running what he would say to them in his mind, but everything came out to be so…wrong. He looked at Kairi and Riku as they eagerly waited for him to tell them what had happened. He bit his lip; he hated being the bearer of bad news. Especially since the kids had seem so happy just moments ago and now he was going to have ruin it. But he reasoned with himself that they were much older now and had every right to know what was going on, no matter how ugly the situation was. And the faster he told them what was going on, the faster they can get to finding out who was behind all this.

"I wish this weren't true, and I wish I didn't have to be the one to tell ya." Goofy paused; he decided it was best just to go out and say it. No sugar coating, just the plain and simple, truth.

"Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey, and Louie," he took a breath, "were murdered earlier today in Traverse Town. Sora, Yuffie, and Leon personally had seen the crime scene. It was such an awful sight."

There was another awkward silence to fill the tension in the air. It had seemed time had stopped – for everyone. The three were dear friends and were treated almost like family. Not to mention their short life span of only about a few years now cut short because of a random act of violence that none of them could ever comprehend. It was gruesome, it was cruel, and evil, it was maddening.

Kairi had burst into tears; Sora gently held her in his arms as she leaned into his shoulder and sobbed uncontrollably. He gently patted her back soothingly, and his face was somber. Riku, on the other hand, became furious and looked as though he wanted to grab a hold of something and break it in two. He was definitely the more vengeful character than the remorseful ones.

"Why would someone do that?" Riku shouted into the air, and no one knew how to respond, "They never did anything, why them? WHY?" Riku angrily kicked a clump of sand into the water. This wasn't good, not at all, an unfiltered force of anger and sadness would only consume the heart and cause for more anxiety. As seen when Kairi began to cry louder as she heard Riku's angry shouts.

"I want to know who did this!" Riku looked away from the group, turning his back towards them, "Who did THIS?"

"We don't know." Goofy answered shamefully but calmly enough to not hit a chord with the young man. "But we're trying to find out; I came here to tell Sora that King Mickey was in need of his help."

"Ya see," Goofy sighed, "This isn't the only place that something terrible has happened, across the worlds other murders, similar to this one, have taken place. King Mickey has a hunch as to who might be behind it, but he needs more proof, and he's asked Sora to help him check out the murder scenes to look for any sort of clues."

Riku stepped up towards Goofy and looked at him straight in the eye. Probably out of all the three he had grown up the most. He was more severe in his countenance and definitely had out grown his gullible years. However, ever since the first crisis, he had lost some of that important innocence people at his age should still have, there was a chip on his shoulder that could never be filled, never be forgotten. To be jaded at such an early age…

"If Sora's going, I'm going."

Goofy looked at him for a minute, he really hadn't intended on dragging the other children into this – after all they were the lights and heart of the world, but he believed that they were the only ones who were capable enough to stop this monster. "Alright, you can come."

"I-I," Kairi still hadn't stopped crying, but she had calm down some what and was now taking in deep breaths so she could speak coherently, "I want to-to come."

"Now I don't think -," Goofy started off before Sora and cut him off.

"I think Kairi should come with us, I don't want her to be left alone." Sora looked at Kairi and held her hand. She gave him a little smile before looking at Goofy.

Sora did kind of had a point there…

"Alright, she can come with us, but I must warn you three," he looked at them sternly, "these scenes are not for the faint of heart."

They didn't say anything; they had expected that things were going to get much worse before they got better. Goofy looked towards the setting sun in the horizon, it was giving out it's last rays of light onto the earth before it disappeared into the night. He then turned back to the kids.

"It seems to be getting late, so we'll hold the crime solving business for tomorrow. We'll be riding in the Royal Gummi ship, seeing as how it's much more efficient than the one you have Sora," he paused, "no offence. I'll be picking you guys up early tomorrow mourning." Goofy started heading back into his ship, "So try and get a good night's sleep."

Before he disappeared into the flying vessel he looked at the three once more.

"Please try." And with that he was off.

A/N:

Life - the cruel enemy of a fanfiction author lmaoo! Anyways nothing much to really explain here - all pretty much spelled out for ya!

But expect more gruesome next in the next chappy ;D lmao!