"Yeah right!" Niko said summoning his Keyblade. "Xehanort should've been dead! If he wants to send his chore boy to face us, fine! If you want fight Vanitas, bring it!"

Niko ran towards Vanitas and a clash between the two began and Niko was flung back. Before hitting the ground Vanitas rushed above him and attempted to hit him. Before he could a burst of light blinded Vanitas and a spiky haired young man counted Vanitas's attack sending him backwards. Vanitas looked towards the man with a face of shock.

"No! You're not supposed to be here!" Vanitas said in panic.

"SORA!" Jiminy shouted in elation.

"Riku explained everything to me." Sora said. "I'm just glad I got here when I did. Vanitas is formidable. But we can take him if we work together!"

"Right." Niko said nodding. He looked to Sapphire and Sarabi. Sarabi looked to Sora and tilted her head in a sort of way that said she was thinking about whether or not to him. Sora looked to the spot Sarabi is standing and walke up to her.

"I can tell a lot of people can't see you." Sora said. "But I can. Xehanort can't see you, I guess it takes a heart of light to see you."

Sarabi looked away inwardly blushing. Ever since the start of this journey no one but Sapphire and Niko could see or hear her. It was awkward to know someone else could see her. Sarabi nodded and looked away.

"Niko and Sapphire were almsot goners until you came!" Jiminy said. "We need to take out Vanitas!"

"HA! In your dreams!" Vanitas shouted. "You got lucky! Now it's my turn to do what I should've done a long time ago!"

Jumping into the air, Vanitas let loose a barrage of lightning made of darkness at Sora. Niko rushed to the lightning and a shield appears on him sending the bolts back at Vanitas. Sora looked to Niko and nodded. Vanitas at this poit had enough of the b*** that was happening so he summoned a giant Heartless.

"I will deal with you later!" Vanitas said before leaving. The Heartless roared and the area went dark. When visibility was returned, the trio found themselves in a dark mansion with a giant. beast-like Heartless with red and black and purple markings and horns. Niko backed up a bit, scared of what he was looking at.

"It's the Dark Thorn Heartless!" Jiminy and Sora said in unison.

"That's not good!" Saph said.

"Who cares?!" Sarabi said. "We gotta take that thing out! Niko stop being a pansy a** and help us!"

Niko quickly gained his composure and walked back to the others and sighed summoning his Keyblade."

The arrival of the one called Sora was only confusing to Sapphire. Jiminy had mentioned him once, but outside of that, she knew nothing of him or why he seemed to be so special. She narrowed her eyes at the exchange he had had with Sarabi, rolling her eyes. It was no time for pleasantries.

The large Heartless was daunting, but not enough to intimidate Sapphire. She had fought larger things in her lifetime, things that gave her an actual challenge. With the three of them, she felt as if it would be an easy fight.

Gritting her teeth, she rushed at the Heartless, Keyblade gripped tightly in her hands. She leaped up once close enough, swinging her Keyblade at the head of the Heartless, moving so quickly that the Keyblade was a white after imagine. She landed a put a hand on the floor, sliding backwards from her momentum. Not wanting look afraid, Niko rushed at the Heartless and jumped up at it laughing fireballs at it.

"Let me get a few hits in!" Sora said laughing and runs towards the heartless and slashed at it knocking it onto its knees. "Niko! Sapphire! Finish it!"

"Okay!" Niko said. "Let's go Sapphire!"

Niko stood still for a sec as his Keyblade is enveloped in flames. Without warning, Niko was gone in a flash and then reappeared behind the Heartless. It looked as if Niko didn't hit it, until a giant spot in its chest opened it.

"Hit the spot!" Niko called to Sapphire. "That's its weaknesses!"

Sapphire didn't need to be told twice. She shut her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were pitch black. She gritted her teeth and charged at the Heartless before leaping once more and swinging her Keyblade at its weak spot, gritting her teeth as she fell to the ground after the attack was delivered.

The Heartless roars and falls to the ground. It explodes in a burst of light. Niko smiled as the world around them returned to normal. Sora looked at Niko and Sapphire and smiled.

"Good job you two." Sora said. "The Gummi Ship will be here to pick you guys up. I was told to give you guys a hand. Good luck!"

Sora disappears into a flash of light. Sapphire let out a sigh, putting her Keyblade on her back. She let a moment of silence pass before looking to Jiminy.

"Who exactly is Sora?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Jiminy looked to Sapphire and smiled

"Sora is a good friend and a fierce warrior" Jiminy said. "He's also very nice and kind."

"So it seems," Sapphire replied, giving Sarabi a sideways glance. "Well, the Heartless is taken care of. What now?"

"I guess we just wait for the Gummi Ship to show up." Niko said, sitting down. He wished the Gummi Ship had came with them. He liked to be patient but not in a place like this. It seemed so calm in an eerie kind of way.

Slowly, Sapphire nodded. "Right."

She ran her fingertips along her face. She wanted this to be over. She wanted it to be the end of it. She'd only gotten a week of peace when she had expected a year. It was wistful thinking, she now realized. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, feeling a slight fatigue.

The Gummi Ship flew in above them and brought Niko and Sapphire on board. Upon getting to the cockpit they see a duck in mage regalia and a dog in Knight's armor sitting there. The duck looked to them, obviously not happy.

"I don't remember giving Riku permission to loan MY Gummi Ship out to strangers!" He shouted.

"That's because they don't have Keyblade Gliders Donald." The dog said. "Plus Riku and the king said they'd take the blame if something happened to it."

"Whatever." Donald replied. "I'm flying from here out!"

"Wait!" Niko said. "What are you guys?!"

"I'm Goofy!" The dog replied. "The grumpy one is Donald. I'm the Disney Castle Royal Captain of the Guard. Donald is the Court Wizard."

Jiminy looked to them and chuckles a little. He didn't know Riku never asked to loan the Gummi Ship out. Well they needed to get around somehow. Sapphire had opened her mouth to say something, but she just groaned, through her hands in the air in an exasperated manner, and went to sit down, hands going to her eyes again. She just wanted the madness to be over. Niko sat next to Sapphire and sighed.

"I know what you're thinking." Niko said. "You want all this to end. It's a shame it's not that simple. It could go by a bit faster if you just tried to suspend your disbelief. I know it's hard to do it, but if I can, I know you can too. You've so many things better than I did. I remember the volcano you made for history to show how Pompeii went down. All I did was write a song about the Gods of Olympus. My point is, you've done so much, anchored in reality. If we're gonna beat Xehanort, you're gonna have to temporarily let go of reality. Nothing happening right now would happen normally."

She bit her lip, harder than she had intended to. Sapphire sighed and rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. Did he realize what he was asking of her?

"I don't know if I can do that," she replied softly, looking up at Niko before shaking her head and looking down again. She ran a hand through her hair anxiously. "I... I don't know if I can do this, at all." She gestured around them weakly. "I can fight, sure, and I can kill things, but I can't just... Dismiss reality and realism. I'll hold you back because of it."

"If you say so." Niko said. "So Donald? Where are we off to next?"

"We need to take you two to Cloud." Donald replied. "He wants see you two."

"Gawrsh." Goofy said. "Why would Cloud wanna see them? Something important must be happening."

"Hmmm." Jiminy said thinking hard. "This doesn't seem like a casual meet-up. Nothing about Cloud is casual. He always seems to be brooding about something."

"Like Sapphire when I first met her." Niko said chuckling. He then recieved a hefty slap to his head. "OUCH!"

"You deserved that!" Sarabi shouted. "Baka!"

"Yeah you're right about that." Niko replied rubbing his head. "So where we're going got a name?"

"Yup!" Goofy said. "The radiant garden."