The Universe Beyond

Sora, Riku, and Kairi were in their Gummi, headed for Disney Castle. It felt like it was taking forever due to their excitement, the lack of action due to a very small amount of heartless, and the claustrophobic quarters of the gummi. The only thing that made the ride seem worth wile, was the fact that they were going to see their friends again. Sora couldn't wait to see the expression on Donald's face. He knew the duck wizard was going practically kill him in a hug.

"Are we there yet?" Sora asked, he yawned and leaned back in his seat.

"Almost," said Riku. He was piloting, "We probably have ten more minutes, as I just went past Radiant Garden." He zoomed around, blasted a single heartless that got in his way, and turned on the boosters. They were going amazingly fast, for such a small ship. Kairi, turned and looked at her friends. "What do you think it is, that the King would call us out of vacation?" she asked.

Sora had been asking himself the same thing, but couldn't think of an answer. He knew it wasn't because of the heartless, because there were not that much around anymore. Plus, the worlds now had strong warriors like Hercules, Aladdin, and even Captain Jack Sparrow (although Sora knew he would do it only for personal gain) to combat them. And the nobodies had been destroyed with the defeat of Xenmas, although that didn't mean they couldn't come back. But Sora doubted that the nobodies had come back in great enough numbers so soon. So why? Why where they headed for the castle?

And speaking of the castle…

"There it is!" Riku said excitedly. Sora knew why he was so happy. The King had helped Riku pull himself out of the darkness. The King was one of Riku's best friends. The Court Wizard, Donald Duck, and Captain of the Guards Goofy, had accompanied Sora in his part of the journey, and had also become to of the greatest friends Sora would ever have. They pulled into the gummi hanger, where Sora half expected to see the entire gang waiting for them. But no one was there except two excited chipmunks, one with a black nose, and the other with a red one. When the three teenagers stepped out of the gummi, the chipmunks immediately ran up and started bouncing.

"Chip!" Sora said, laughing, "Dale! How are you guys?"

"There's no time for that!" Dale cried. Sora could now see that they looked worried.

"What's wrong?" Riku asked, pulling out his Keyblade, the Way to the Dawn, "The Cornerstone isn't malfunctioning again, is it?"

"No," Chip replied, "We don't know what's going on, it could be really good, or really bad!" he cried. "The King is checking it out even as we speak! C'mon!" Sora, Riku, and Kairi ran through the garden and to the throne room. In there they saw the rest of the gang, and more. Goofy was guarding the door, while Donald, Merlin the Wizard, and The Great Yen Sid were staring at a strange portal. Queen Minnie and Lady in Waiting Daisy Duck looked on. When they came through the door, Goofy charged them, but when he saw who they were, he came even faster, dropping his shield, and grabbing Sora and squeezing him into a great bear hug.

"SORA!" he cried happily. Sora wrapped his own arms around his old friend and squeezed back. Goofy put Sora down, and hugged Riku and Kairi in the same way (though not as hard when he hugged Kairi).

"Goofy, what's going on?" Sora said, catching his breath. "The King summoned us, but why? Where is he?"

Goofy pointed over his shoulder at the portal that Donald, Merlin, and Yen Sid had not bothered to look away from even at the arrival of the three guests. "He's in that there portal, but gawrsh, we don't know exactly where it leads. Yen Sid reckons it leads to a new world…but he couldn't go check it out himself, cause the three wizards are going to need to pull the king back out when he is ready. I gotta stand and watch this door, though, cause whatever lies beyond that door is powerful, and its probably already caught the attention of Maleficent and Pete."

"But shouldn't the Cornerstone prevent their entrance into the castle?" Kairi asked.

"Well, the King said he didn't wanna take no chances," Goofy replied, shrugging his shoulders. At this point, Queen Minnie and Lady in Waiting Daisy Duck came to them. Sora, Riku, and Kairi all bowed (although Kairi curtsied).

"I assume Goofy has filled you in?" the Queen asked.

"A-hyuck," Goofy chuckled, "I sure have!"

"Good! Well, it's wonderful to see you again, and even better to meet you two finally," she added to Kairi and Riku. Riku smiled, and Kairi blushed.

"How long has the king been in the portal?" asked Riku.

"Three hours!" Daisy replied. There was an awkward silence after these words. Sora looked at the others, who (even Goofy) looked worried.

"Hey don't worry," Sora said, "It's the King we're talking about here!" he replied, confidence in his voice. "If anyone can handle it, its him!" The others all nodded and smiled at the words. But then something happened that made them all jump. Yen Sid had spoken.

"Donald, Merlin, ready yourselves…the time has come!" he said. Donald and Merlin nodded. Donald pointed his staff, Promptly named Save the Queen, at the door. Merlin pointed his wand. And Yen Sid drew out his arms. As one, they cried, "MAGNAGA!" A powerful force started to draw everything in the room that was not bolted down, namely the other people in the room, towards the wizards. Sora grabbed Kairi and started gliding through the air, barely keeping up with the magic. Riku grabbed the Queen and Daisy and did the same. Goofy was using his Tornado attack (which gave him great speed) to not only relfect the spell away from him, but to the others, making it easier to glide. All of a sudden, four white gloved hands reached out of the portal. Then two heads, then two bodies. Two people came flying out of the portal and landed on a heap in the floor.

They stood up, one faced the group of people, while the other looked at the portal, back turned to the group. The one looking at the group was none other than King Mickey. When he saw Sora, Riku, and Kairi, he ran towards them, and hugged them. Donald fell on the ground, cleary spent. Merlin was catching his breath, and only Yen Sid seemed unflaunted by the magic. The mysterious man was still surveying the portal. Yen Sid gave him one look before turning towards the King.

"So my young apprentice," he replied. "What did you find, another world?"

The King withdrew from his embrace. He walked to the other man, who still did not offer the courtesy of turning around. The King looked at Yen Sid and said, "No master, not just a world, but an entire Universe! It's like a parallel dimension to our own! The worlds are different, as are the people, but they are going through the same conflict we were a few years ago! The heartless are taking over their worlds over there, and the Keyblade master has just been chosen!"

"So," Merlin said, now completely healed, "Are you saying you found a new group of worlds?"

"I think I can explain it better with the help of my new friend," the King said, placing his hand on the shoulder of the man (who was not much bigger than the King himself). The man turned around for the first time, and they saw him.

He was short, as they could tell from the back, but his face was a little eccentric. He was pudgy, blue eyed and had a red hat on with an M emblem on it. There was a big bushy black mustache under his round nose that covered most of his face. He was wearing nearly the exact same garment as the king, the only difference being his pants were blue and had suspenders. He had brown shoes that looked like they were built for jumping.

"Fellas," the king said, "Meet my friend, and counterpart, Prince Mario."

"Hello, friends of Mickey!" he said. His voice was jubilant and merry, and he smiled at them all. Both he and Mickey held out their arms, (Mickey's right, Mario's left) and Keyblades appeared. But they were both the exact same, a silver hilt, golden blade that looked like the Kingdom Key, but with inverted colors. Sora stared.

"They're the same!" he exclaimed.

"Well, of course," Mario said with a smile, "We are counterparts!"

"What do you mean by counterpart?" Riku asked. Mario looked at him, smiled and said to the King, "Ah, It's-a your own Keyblader, no doubt?" The King smiled and nodded. He then addressed Sora.

"You see Sora, the universe beyond is parallel to this, as we are parallel to it." he explained. "Everyone in this room has their own counterpart in the other universe. We exist on the same plane of existence, and our worlds are intertwined with each other. And you're going to lave this, the one thing that ties the universes together…is Kingdom Hearts."

'Kingdom Hearts?" Riku asked. The King nodded.

"You see fellas, while our universe was having trouble with all the heartless and nobodies, the other was prospering. But after we defeated Xenmas, and after Ansem the Wise wounded Kingdom Hearts, it opened this portal. There are two of them. One here, because it is the one world in both universes that are nearly identical. And the other is in Kingdom Hearts. When it was wounded by Ansem's machine, many Heartless escaped Kingdom Hearts, but many more made their way to the portal, thus starting the exact thing that we worked so hard to end!"

Sora was taking it all in. Somewhere in the other universe, a young boy was going through exactly what he had gone through. For some reason, he wanted to help that boy very much.

"Your Majesty," Donald Duck said, finally joining the group, instead of addressing King Mickey, he was talking to Prince Mario. The Prince looked at him and smiled. "Who is my counterpart in your universe?" Mario looked between Goofy and Donald.

"You two are no doubt the Court Magician and Captain of the Guards?" Mario asked. Both nodded. "Well there is one person who is a counterpart to both of you. It is my brother, Luigi, who plays both rolls. In fact, I have left him a letter telling him to find the Keyblader and assisting him on his quest. Luigi is capable, but he needs to find his own light. He has trouble recognizing his own courage. I hope that in this battle to come, he will not only help fight alongside Ward, but also to find his own courage."

"Ward?" Sora asked, "Is that my counterpart?" Mario nodded.

"I have met him once, when I pulled him from the darkness. He was confronting his own evils, and had won, but the darkness was overtaking him. I pulled him out, and he thought it was all a dream. However, shortly after his world was thrown into darkness by Ward's friend Calub, who gave in." Riku shifted uncomfortably, having finaly learned about his own counterpart. Sora thought that it was all too familiar, remembering the exact thing, only it being Kairi that pulled him out.

"Yes, yes, this is all interesting and I shouldn't wonder that eventually I am going to want to study this portal, and your universe thoroughly," said Merlin, "But what are we going to do about this?" he asked the royalty. The King and Prince looked at Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Well fellas, how are you feeling about getting into one last adventure?" he asked. Sora looked between his friends. He smiled. "Yeah! Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, and I could help out my counterpart!" He said.

"I was hoping you would say that," Mario said. He turned to the Portal, and looked back over his shoulder. "Lets-a go!" he cried and jumped through. The King followed, closely followed himself by Goofy and Donald.

Sora looked back at the queen, a question rising. "Who's going to stay here and guard you all?" He asked.

"They hired some people you can trust." came a familiar, cool and calculating voice. They turned around and saw Auron and Cloud standing in the doorway.

"Cloud! Auron!" Sora exclaimed. They looked at him, and only Auron smiled.

"We'll be taking over your position as hero in chief while you are gone," Cloud replied.

"Is that humor coming from you, Cloud?" asked Auron.

"Don't get used to it," came Cloud's reply. He looked at Sora and said, "If you see my counterpart, tell me what his Sephiroth is like.

"Can do," said Sora. He turned to his friends and said, "Shall we go together?" They held hands and walked through the portal.