All in all, returning to the Sleeping Worlds was a much more depressing ordeal than Sora had initially expected.

But despite himself, no matter how many times Master Yen Sid - or indeed, anyone else - had asked him if he was sure, he ended up back here.

Without a counterpart though, there were no dreams to exist within. And without dreams, there weren't much of anything. No worlds, no Dream Eaters… nobody.

Sora groaned into the nothingness. Maybe this was why everyone was trying to persuade him not to. It was more depressing than the failure that led him here in the first place.

Maybe the endless darkness and nothing was right for him. Plenty of time to reflect and make up for his mistakes. It was just a shame there was no one to train with, or even against.

The place was crawling with Dream Eaters when there was someone else here to dream with, but now it was just him and the eerie bluish glow of infinity in the distance.

And no surefire way of getting back…

Sora pinched his brow and sighed. This wasn't his best idea. He wasn't going to somehow become a better Keyblade user by moping in the shadows. He needed a location; a training partner; an enemy!

But then a noise jingled into life. A gentle metallic scratching, like someone winding up one of those old clocks, peppered with the silky, delicate notes of a music box.

They were friendly, even inviting, but in the endless darkness, they brought him out in goosebumps.

"Is… is someone there?" He spoke out to the nothing. It was a dumb question really. There had to be someone there. Music didn't just start playing on its own. Good or bad, there was another presence in this empty wasteland.

And what else was he supposed to do? Ignore the creepy music until it went away? Resign himself to solitary confinement? Anyone else was someone else. Might as well meet them.

Travelling through a near black, featureless world felt more like treading water than actually moving forward, but with the music gently jingling closer, the tick-tock-tick-tocking of the watch or whatever resetting every fifteen seconds or so, it wasn't going away any time soon. Hopefully.

Wading through the inky depths, his attention was finally grabbed by a fluttering flash of light. The light came with a pair of wings, and what seemed like a tiny girl in a white dress. A fairy?

Sora furrowed his eyebrows. Another person wouldn't been nice, but anybody was better than nobody.

Twirling and flitting about as it the laws of physics meant nothing to her, it didn't take long for this fairy to notice Sora.

"Oh! Hello there!"

Effortlessly, the fairy closed the gap between them. "I didn't expect to see anyone else here! Who are you!"

"I, um… Sora." He stammered. Up close, he could see her vibrant purple eyes, shining against the dark, and what looked like a scar on her left cheek.

"Sora? How cute." This fairy giggled. "You can call me… Yriax. Now, if I were to guess… I'd guess that you were lost down here too?"

"You could say that," Sora shrugged. It wasn't a lie, at least.

"Hm! My hunch was right!" Yriax beamed. "So what would you say if I told you I know how to get out?"

"I'd be suspicious." Sora's eyebrow arched.

"And you've every right to!" Yriax cried. "You're a smart one! I can see it in your eyes!"

The eyebrow was appeased.

"But here's the thing. I know how to get out, and I can show you, but I can't do it alone. So I need the help of someone; a brave soul willing to help little old me."

"I'm someone." Sora shrugged.

"You are someone! And I like that you're someone! Yriax pumped two tiny fists. "But I need to know something first, Sora. You're good at keeping promises, right?"

"Err…" Sora faltered. Keeping a promise was never a guarantee when you fought monsters for a living. What if he had to promise to keep her safe?

"It's not a big promise, but it is an important promise." Yriax said. "I want you to promise that you'll stay with me, Sora. Until the very end."

Sora gulped. That definitely was a big promise. Especially to someone he'd just met. Something told him she wasn't about to accept an 'I'll try' or 'I'll do my best' either.

Between the strange fairy and the endless nothing though, what choice did he have?

"I… yes."

Yriax clasped two tiny hands around Sora's.

"Thank you."