"I've been having these weird thoughts lately…"
All of them jumped at the abrupt beginning, both Riku and Kairi turning to the boy in-between them.
"Sora, is that you?" Kairi asked, drawing the attention of the others who were watching in similar confusion. The boy nodded slowly.
"I think so," he admitted. "But I don't remember this. When are we starting from anyway?"
"When the adventure started?" Xion volunteered with a shrug, leaning against Axel's side and Riku frowned.
"That could technically mean a lot of places," he murmured out.
"Like is any of this for real or not?"
Roxas snorted. "You, of all people, are having an existential crisis at fourteen?" Sora huffed, trying to ignore the blush that was starting to creep up his cheeks.
"Look, I just said I don't remember this part," he grumbled out, moving his face to lean his forehead on Riku's shoulder, steadfastly ignoring the looks he was getting.
"Why is it starting with you anyway?" Vanitas asked, a sarcastic drawl to his voice. When Aqua turned to glare at him, Vanitas raised an eyebrow. "According to what I've gleaned, our little… 'spat' happened ten years before kid Keyblade came into the picture. Why are we starting here?"
Aqua hated that she didn't have an answer.
The darkness fades away to reveal fourteen-year-old Sora, who blinks in confusion upon finding himself on a glass picture of Snow White.
"Well, that was abrupt," Kairi whispered, and Sora smiled slightly at her remark, finally stopping leaning on Riku and looking forward again.
"So much to do, so little time…"
"Mickey?" Aqua asked, looking to the mouse king, who shrugged.
"I needed to find the Keyblade Wielder. The magic led me to Sora." He paused for a second before continuing on. "I don't know exactly why I said what I said, it was almost like something… compelled me to."
"Well, that's not creepy at all," Axel muttered, getting an elbow in the stomach by Roxas.
"Take your time, don't be afraid."
Sora turns to the side and sees the glass plate in full.
"The door is still shut."
"Wait Mickey, you knew that the door to the island's heart was going to open?" Riku asked, sitting up a little, and the mouse king shook his head.
"As I said, I was compelled to say the words," he responded. "I didn't exactly know what they meant."
"Couldn't that also refer to the Door to Kingdom Hearts?" Sora wondered. "I mean, we had to close that too."
"You found the door to Kingdom Hearts?" Ven asked in shock, sitting forward. "Wait, there's a door to it?"
"Now, step forward." Sora moves forward and three pedestals erupt from the ground.
"Sora, you really remember none of this?" Kairi asked and Sora screwed up his face as he thought.
"Well… maybe?" As he thought back, he could see, at the very edges of his mind, a green platform. "I don't quite remember it, but I might?"
"Perfectly not confusing," Axel hummed, getting another elbow. "Ow."
Naminé worried that she might have accidentally done something more to Sora's memory. Was the fact that he couldn't remember her fault?
"Power sleeps in you. If you give it form, it will give you strength. Choose well."
Even Riku was raising an eyebrow now. "What does this have to do with wielding a Keyblade?" Roxas asked. "None of those things are Keyblades."
"I don't know," Mickey muttered, closing his eyes and trying to think back. Aqua furrowed her brow, also trying to come up with a solution.
"Keyblades are used for attack, defense, and magic," Vanitas huffed, crossing his arms. "Sword, shield, scepter." All of them blinked.
"Oh, that makes sense," Sora said, looking at the things on the screen now with more clarity. "Good insight, Vanitas." Vanitas blinked in surprise and hunched his shoulders a little as he looked away with a scoff.
"Anyone could have seen that, it's obvious." But he didn't say anything more. Aqua rolled her eyes.
Sora walks over to the shield. "The Power of the Guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A Shield to repel all. Is this the power you seek?"
"I mean, it certainly sounds like Sora," Xion murmured, eyes watching the screen carefully. Neither she nor Roxas had even been created at this point, so this was all entirely new to them.
Sora doesn't do anything, but the shield disappears in a flash of light. "Your path is set."
"Rude," Roxas huffed out. "Didn't even wait for you to answer."
"Maybe he answered in his head?" Kairi wondered and Riku paused.
"Are we even in Sora's head?" He questioned. "That looks like a Station of Awakening, but not Sora's."
"It would make the most sense if we were in Sora's head," Terra responded. "He didn't disappear from your island, you would have noticed and remembered, and it makes sense that Sora doesn't remember it as well if it was in his head."
"Now, what will you give up in exchange?"
"What, can't have all three?" Axel asked and Riku paused.
"Doesn't that seem to be a law of the world?" He mumbled to himself. "You get one thing, and you lose the other." Sora gave him a concerned look.
Sora runs over to the pedestal with the sword. "The Power of the Warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction."
Everyone who had interacted with Sora before now made a face. That couldn't have been farther from what Sora stood for.
"Seems more like something you would wield, Riku," Sora hummed out, nudging his friend, who gave him a small smile.
"You give up this power?" The sword disappears. "You have chosen the power of the guardian."
"Yep, that's Sora," Kairi said with a smile. "Always looking out for everyone."
"Kairi…" Sora whined out as a blush overtook his face. She giggled.
"You have given up the power of the warrior." The ground suddenly starts shaking and the pedestals crumble to pieces. Sora looks around in worry.
"What's going on?"
The glass pane dissolves beneath him and Sora falls.
Several people gasped in worry.
"Guys, I'm right here," Sora said after a second. "I'm fine."
It didn't seem like anyone believed him.
Sora falls through the darkness before a glass pane of Cinderella appears.
"Ella?" Aqua asked with a gasp, sitting upright, and she got several looks.
"You know her?" Kairi asked, having talked to Cinderella briefly in Hollow Bastion. The woman had been nice, sweet, but hadn't mentioned ever knowing other Keyblade Wielders, like it seemed the other three were.
"Yeah, I helped her find her prince," Aqua said, looking at the screen with scrutiny. "It seemed like she made it."
"I helped her get to the ball," Terra admitted, with a small smile. "Her fairy Godmother is… something."
"I just got stuck as a mouse," Ven huffed out, crossing his arms, and Vanitas snickered. Ven stuck his tongue out at his other half. "It's better than what you did." Vanitas glared at him.
Sora lands on the glass pane. "You have gained the power to fight." The shield appears in his hand and several Heartless appear on the glass.
"Heartless!" Mickey gasped as he sat up. "In Sora's heart?" Sora grimaced in worry, that couldn't have been a good thing, but Riku waved the king off.
"I don't think so," he murmured, watching the screen closely. "They aren't really acting like Heartless do. I think they're just there for Sora to learn how to fight."
"Why do they look like Heartless then?" Xion asked and none of them had an answer.
"What are Heartless?" Terra asked after a second and several heads whipped to the three sitting on the couch.
"What?" Sora asked in shock. "How can you not know what Heartless are? They're everywhere! And they're the main reason I have the Keyblade. To fight off Heartless."
Ven frowned, looking at the screen. "Unfortunately, Terra's right, we've never seen things like that before."
"Then, what did you do as Keybearers?" Riku asked and Aqua grimaced.
"Mostly, we were just chosen because of our ability to wield a Keyblade. Not the other way around. And while most of the years were peaceful, in the end, we had to fight Unversed a lot in order to protect the worlds."
"I remember them," Mickey grumbled out and Vanitas hid a smirk behind his hand. Ven gave him a side look, the only one knowing that the Unversed came from Vanitas, but didn't say anything.
"Well, you are from ten years ago," Axel said. "There's a good chance there wasn't as many Heartless that long ago, thus you never learned of them."
"Huh," Terra muttered as he looked at the creatures on the frozen screen. "Strange."
Sora fights several of the Heartless with his shield, picking up green balls from them as they disappear.
Roxas couldn't help but be reminded of Struggle and a sense of sadness washed over him. He missed playing with his friends. Not that they had ever really been his friends.
Darkness starts spreading across the pane, dragging Sora down with it.
"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed, her hands coming up and grabbing one of Sora's arms in worry and Sora made a face.
"Remember, I'm fine," he reminded them, as Kairi wasn't the only one getting worried. It didn't seem to reassure anyone.
Sora falls through the darkness and wakes up on a pink glass pane. There's a door on it.
"I wonder why this one doesn't have a person," Naminé questioned softly. "It seems like the other two did."
Sora walks over to the door, and it opens slowly, light spilling out of it. Sora cringes away from it, before walking through it, lighting washing over him.
"Reminds me of the Door to Light, right Riku?" Sora said, nudging his friend. Riku smiled tightly at him, but he was still concerned about Sora onscreen. When had all of this happened? Why had all this happened?
"The day you will open the door is both far off and very near."
"Cryptic," Axel muttered, with a glance at Mickey. The king gave him a shrug. He had already explained.
Sora runs up a stained-glass pathway, ending on a glass pane of Belle.
"This person, I don't know," Aqua murmured quietly.
"That's okay, I do," Sora replied. "It's Belle. Her and Beast live in their Castle together. I've met them twice." Riku swallowed, looking to the side. Even when he was traveling the worlds, trying to get Sora back, he still hadn't been able to force himself to go to the worlds of the princesses he had hurt. Every time he did, he felt sick and everything bad he had done came rushing back to him.
"The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes."
Don't I know that well, Riku thought, looking out of the corner of his eye at Sora. Sora's light had eclipsed him, once upon a time, and he had fallen to the dark, doomed to the end.
Sora looks back and his shadow stretches out, pulling itself out of the glass pane. Sora staggers backwards in shock and fear.
"But don't be afraid."
"How is he not supposed to be afraid?" Ven asked, watching the beast rise on the screen. "That thing just appeared."
"Oh, I hate those things," Aqua hissed and it wasn't just her two friends who looked at her in surprise.
"I thought the three of you hadn't seen Heartless before?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow and Aqua looked down at her hands.
"That's not… entirely true," she admitted, rubbing them together. "I've been seeing them a lot in the Realm of Darkness. Been fighting them off. I had to fight like… five of those things once, one after another." She gestured to the Heartless on screen. "It was… not fun."
"And don't forget…" Sora runs away from the beast but skids to a stop before he falls off the edge. He turns back to the beast, summoning the shield to his hand. He attempts to fight the beast, and gets a couple of hits in, but is thrown backwards, the shield disappearing.
Sora could feel both his friends tensing to his side of him when the darkness started to circle around him, and the beast leaned over him. Reaching out, he took one of each of their hands in his.
"Guys, I'm here, I'm alive. I'll be fine."
"You hold the mightiest weapon of all."
The darkness wraps around Sora, dragging him downward and smothering him.
"So don't forget… You are the one who will open the door."
Sora could tell that there were a lot of things people wanted to ask, but they were all silenced as they waited for the darkness to fade away and reveal that Sora was, in fact, okay. He just waited until Riku and Kairi would stop holding his hands in a death grip.
A blue sky appears overhead, and Sora blinks his eyes open, sitting up, before looking down and seeing the beach.
Several people relaxed.
"See, I'm fine," Sora said, gesturing to the screen with the hand that Kairi released. Riku hadn't let go yet.
"I always wanted to go to the beach," Xion murmured, leaning closer to Axel's side, and Axel wrapped one arm around her, holding her close.
"Well, when we get out of here, why don't we?" He asked, feeling Roxas's eyes on him as well. "We had plans for it."
"Aren't we dead though?" Roxas muttered, letting his head lean on Axel's shoulder. Axel grimaced but didn't say anything. Whatever the king had been trying to tell him earlier, he hadn't understood it, and he didn't know if he wanted to understand it.
Naminé looked up at the screen in wonder. She had seen the beach through Sora's and Riku's memories but never for herself. And while this wasn't technically real either, it was close enough.
Both Ven and Vanitas blinked as well. Neither of them had ever gotten that close to water.
Aqua smiled. It was good to know that it didn't seem like Destiny Islands had changed that much while she was gone.
Sora sighs in relief and lays back down with a yawn, getting jump scared by Kairi a second later.
Watching Sora wasn't the only one to jump either. Kairi giggled.
"So, it was probably a dream then, everything that happened," Riku wondered out. "Or it looked and acted like a dream."
"Explains why I can't remember it," Sora shrugged with a grin. "I don't remember any of my dreams."
Sora exclaims in surprise and sits back up, looking at Kairi in shock. Kairi giggles. "Gimmie a break Kairi," Sora grumbles and Kairi tells him to get up and says that she knew she would find him snoozing.
"This was a… common occurrence?" Axel asked, looking at the two teenagers on the couch. Kairi giggled again and Sora looked away with a blush, finally managing to extract his hand from Riku's.
"I liked to sleep on the beach, okay?" Sora huffed out. "Nothing wrong with it."
Sora describes his dream to Kairi, and she bonks him on the head, asking if he was still dreaming. Sora said it wasn't a dream.
"Well, it was, and it wasn't," Mickey sighed. "Very complicated."
Sora thinks more about his dream and calls it bizarre.
Several people agreed with on-screen him.
Kairi walks past him, and Sora asks her about her homeworld, and she reminds him that she doesn't remember.
"You… aren't from Destiny Islands?" Aqua asked Kairi, something pounding at her head. Something she should remember. When Kairi shook her head, Aqua frowned ever so slightly. She felt like she should remember something about the girl.
"Why did you ask that anyways?" Kairi asked, turning to look at Sora. "You knew I didn't remember anything." Sora frowned, trying to think back to the day.
"I think it was mostly because we were building the raft," he admitted. "We were going to go see other worlds, so I was thinking about yours." Kairi blinked but nodded, accepting the explanation. "It could have also been from the dream."
Sora asks if she ever wants to go back, and Kairi says that she's happy on Destiny Islands though she wouldn't mind going to see it.
Kairi grimaced, unseen by the others. In truth, she really just wanted to stay on Destiny Islands. But Sora was going to go with Riku on the raft, so she had supposed she had to as well.
Sora says that he wants to see it too. As well as every other world out there.
Mickey giggled slightly. "I don't know Sora," he said, slightly teasingly. "There's a lot of worlds out there."
Sora huffed. "I know," he grumbled out. "And I've seen a lot of them. Fourteen-year-old me just didn't know how many there were."
From behind them, Riku asks if they're forgetting about him and says that he's the only one working on the raft.
Sora couldn't help the smile that bloomed on his face when he looked at younger Riku. Riku… looked so happy with them. Like he didn't have a care in the world. Sora hadn't seen that look on Riku since.
Riku grimaced, turning away from his younger self. Stars, you made so many mistakes, didn't you?
"Raft?" Aqua asked, turning to them and all three of the teenagers flushed to different degrees.
"We wanted to see the worlds," Kairi eventually explained. "So we were going to get on a raft and go find them."
Vanitas snickered. "You do realize that the worlds are in space, right?" Kairi glared at him, scrunching up her nose.
"Well, we know that now," she retorted. "And at least we were doing something to get out of there." Listen, she might not have wanted to leave, but she wasn't going to let someone criticize Riku and Sora's plan.
Riku walks past Sora and tosses the log at him, causing Sora to fall back to the ground. Riku says that Kairi's just as lazy as Sora is. Kairi giggles.
"You were really interested in the raft plan?" Terra mentioned, the end of it coming up in a question and Riku nodded stiffly.
Riku sits down and Kairi says that they'll finish it together and she'll race them.
Both Sora and Riku couldn't help the smiles that stretched across their faces at that, one bigger than the other. Races had been fun, even though Riku always won.
Kairi shouts go and the two boys take off down the beach, laughing, as Kairi follows them.
Isn't that accurate, Kairi thought, slightly cynically. I'm always racing to catch up to Sora and Riku, who keep getting further and further away.
I wish we could do this again, Sora thought to himself, watching their younger self streak down the beach, laughing. But we haven't been together and Riku hasn't been that happy.
Stars, you had it all, didn't you? Riku thought, a hairsbreadth away from glaring at his past self. Why'd you have to go and give it up for something as shallow as leaving? You lost Sora that way.
Aqua, Terra, Mickey, and Axel smiled slightly as they watched the kids interact with each other. All of them really had nothing to fear at that moment. No rules, no responsibilities, no danger.
Ven wished he'd had someone to do that with. While Aqua and Terra were great friends, and he loved them to death, he hadn't ever really interacted with someone his age.
Vanitas and Naminé both flinched. They both wanted that so badly.
Roxas, watching the screen, reached out and grasped Xion's hand, holding it gently. Once the girl looked at him, Roxas could see the slight mistiness in her eyes. "We'll go there one day," he promised quietly, holding her hand tight and feeling Axel's hand settle on his shoulder and seeing his other arm hold Xion close. "And we'll run down the beach just like they're doing." Xion smiled at him gratefully.
Later, at sunset, Sora and Kairi are sitting on a tree while Riku leans on the trunk next to them. Sora says that Kairi's home is out there. Riku says it could be and they'd never know by staying there.
Terra couldn't help the small smile that crossed his lips. Ten years later and nothing had changed with the boy. He still wanted to leave, still wanted to gain the strength to protect his friends.
Sora asks how far a raft could take them.
"Not far enough," Vanitas snarked and got three glares from said teenagers. He shrugged, unbothered.
Riku says that they'd find another solution if they had to.
Vanitas was very tempted to say something else but decided against it. Aqua was already gunning for his blood, he didn't need these three teenagers to try and kill him either.
Kairi asks what they would do if they got to another world. Riku mentions he hadn't really thought about it.
Terra hid his growing smile. He wondered if Riku had a plan, just simply wasn't telling them about it. It would have made sense if he had been thinking about it, though. The young boy he had met had seemed very determined.
Riku says he's always wondered why they were there on the islands. That if there are other worlds out there, why did they end up on this one. And he says that if there are other worlds out there, they're just a tiny piece of something bigger. So, they could have ended up anywhere else as well.
Several people blinked, taken aback by the abrupt change in tone. Roxas raised an eyebrow. There was no way Riku of all people was this thoughtful and contemplating.
Mickey smiled at the boy on screen. This was the child he knew, who he had helped guide. Even though it had been hidden by the darkness, he was still there.
Riku says that's why they had to go and find out and that just sitting there wouldn't change anything.
Kairi says that he's been thinking a lot.
Riku says it was thanks to her and if she hadn't landed there, he wouldn't have thoughts of any of it. Sora gives him a look and rolls his eyes.
Sora nudged Riku. "Liar," he teased Riku playfully, and kept nudging him until Riku acknowledged him, shoving Sora's arm away.
"Yeah, yeah," he drawled out.
"'Liar'?" Axel asked, watching the two of them and Sora smiled.
"Riku was already thinking about leaving, even before Kairi came along," he revealed.
"You could have just said that," Kairi pointed out and Riku shrugged. Terra was glad that he hadn't been misremembering.
The three of them were walking across a bridge later and Riku calls out Sora's name. Sora turns and Riku tosses a paopu fruit at him and says that he wanted one.
Sora felt his eyebrows twitch slightly when he watched this part. He had always found this strange. Why had Riku given him a paopu?
Sora calls it a paopu fruit and Riku says that if two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. He knows that Sora wants to try it.
Mickey felt his ears droop slightly as he watched the younger version of Riku. Even now, he was trying to get an answer from Sora.
Aqua thoughts sounded like a very beautiful idea. Something to intertwine destinies. She had tried with the Wayfinders but that… clearly hadn't worked.
Riku tried to hide the blush that was working up his cheeks. He knew that it was a stupid idea, he knew it. He just… needed to know.
Sora starts to ask something, but Riku runs away laughing. Sora tosses away the fruit and runs after him.
The screen fades to darkness before revealing a big, bright castle.
"Oh, Disneytown!" Mickey exclaimed, looking at the castle where he lived. "I didn't realize we would be seeing this part."
"You mean the part where you up and disappeared with not so much as a goodbye?" Riku asked, aiming a look at the king, who chuckled nervously.
"I… left them a note?"
Donald is walking down the hallway; several sentient brooms pass behind him.
Sora blinked, taking in Donald's outfit. It was different from the one he always wore when they were traveling the world.
Riku watched as one of Sora's companions walked across the screen. He couldn't help but remember the pure jealousy that had burned through him when he had first met them.
Donald stops in front of a pair of huge doors.
"How is that practical?" Axel asked, gazing at the doors. Not even the doors to Castle Oblivion had been that big. Mickey giggled slightly.
Donald knocked on the door in a pattern and a much smaller door opened for him.
Several people blinked and then wrote it off as "Disneytown Weirdness". There was always plenty of that.
Donald walks down the throne room, greeting Mickey as he goes. He starts to talk about the morning but pauses in shock when he realizes that the throne is empty.
A couple of people gave Mickey looks. Riku simply rolled his eyes good naturedly. That was Mickey in a nutshell.
Pluto appears from behind the throne with a letter.
Xion sat up. "Doggy!" She exclaimed, dragging the attention to her. She flushed, ducking her head. "He was around the areas where I went a lot," she told them. "I fed him for a while, and he stuck around. Though he did disappear after a while. Sorry if he's… your dog."
Mickey shook his head with a smile. "No, it's fine," he told the girl. "Pluto tends to wander around the world. If he managed to wander into other worlds, it's not your fault for finding him. In fact, I'm glad that you took care of him." Xion looked up at the king and smiled gently, joy sparking in her eyes. Mickey made a mental not to find Pluto when they got out of here. He didn't know that much about Xion, but it was clear Pluto had meant a lot to her.
Donald takes the letter and reads it, growing more and more agitated. The doors to the throne room are thrown open and Donald runs out of it, screaming.
Everyone in the room started laughing. Even Vanitas couldn't help the snicker that escaped him at the duck's panic.
Sora thought that was very Donald.
Donald runs to the garden, when Goofy is asleep on the grass.
"Much like someone I know," Kairi whispered, poking at Sora, who waved her away with a smile.
Donald attempts to wake up Goofy but when it doesn't work, he zaps him with lightning to wake him.
Sora couldn't help but laugh at their interaction.
Naminé flinched when the lightning arced across the screen. It's not Larxene, she told herself, trying to keep her breathing level. She's not here and she's not going to hurt you.
Goofy greets Donald and Donald says that they have a problem, but not to tell anyone. Goofy says Minnie and Daisy's names, with Donald thinking he's asking him, so he says not to tell anyone. Goofy greets the ladies and Donald spins around.
Mickey drooped slightly at the sight of Minnie. He didn't regret staying with Riku, helping him grow and overcome what had happened to him, but it had been a long time since he had seen his wife. He knew Minnie understood, of course she did, but he still wished he could see her.
Donald laughs awkwardly.
The scene transitions to Sora sitting in the Secret Place, looking over drawings of him and Kairi.
The scene flashes back to when Kairi and Sora were little, drawing on the wall.
Aqua couldn't help the small "aww" that came out of her at the scene of the little kids, and she heard the sentiment echoed by Mickey. Both Kairi and Sora flushed.
Riku looked away. That was our place, he thought. Just the two of us. Until Sora brought Kairi in. But then again, why wouldn't he? Kairi is so much better than me, in everything.
As the scene goes back to present time, Sora draws himself giving a paopu to Kairi.
Sora felt his smile dim ever so slightly at that. He knew why he had done it; he knew why. Kairi had meant the world to him; she was one of his best friends. But he couldn't help but think back to what had happened in the World that Never Was. They had both changed, drastically.
Kairi smiled as she watched Sora draw the paopu. She remembered drawing the second one after she got home. Maybe when they got out of here, she and Sora could officially share one.
Riku closed his eyes and tried not to think about anything. Seeing it that night, after what he had overheard, he couldn't deal with it. So, he had destroyed the world.
Sora hears something behind him and turns around, asking who was there. A voice says that he had come to see the door.
Both Sora and Riku froze when they recognized the voice of Ansem. The person who had done everything.
"Who's that?" Aqua asked, tipping her head at the figure on the screen.
"Ansem," Sora hissed out, glaring at the person. "He hurt Riku."
More like he only exposed the darkness in my heart, Riku thought, but didn't say anything.
"You didn't tell me this happened," Kairi whispered to him, and Sora shrugged. At the time, he had simply found it weird and was half convinced he had made it up.
The voice says that the world has been connected. Sora is confused but the voice says it's been tied to the darkness.
No, the darkness was here the whole time, Riku's thoughts hissed.
Sora tells the voice to stop freaking him out before noticing the person in the corner. The person says that Sora doesn't know what is beyond the door and Sora deduces that the person is from another world.
"Seriously Sora, you should have said something," Kairi murmured, shivering as she watched Sora confront the person. Sora reached out and wrapped an arm around her, giving her a hug. At the time, it hadn't been scary, but knowing now that he had been so close to Ansem, it was enough to make him slightly scared.
The person says that Sora knows so little. Sora says he's going to go out there and learn but the person calls it a meaningless effort. He says that one who knows nothing can understand nothing. Sora turns to the door in the corner before looking back. The figure is gone.
"Sora, say something the next time you find yourself confronted by a mysterious figure spouting nonsense, okay?" Kairi asked and Sora nodded slowly, pulling his arm back to him. They both relaxed now that Ansem was gone.
In the sun, Sora talks to Kairi, who says she's making a necklace of shells to protect them on the raft and to make sure they were connected.
"Oh, I tried that," Aqua said, fishing her Wayfinder out of her pocket. "It's not made of shells, because we didn't have those, but it's close." Kairi blinked but reached out, taking Aqua's Wayfinder in careful hands and looked at it. Sora pulled out Kairi's lucky charm and the two of them compared them.
"It looks a lot like it," Sora mentioned, looking between the two. "It's really pretty."
"Thanks," Aqua replied, taking the Wayfinder back. "I had hoped that they would protect Terra, Ven, and myself, as well as link us, but… that didn't really work." Her shoulders drooped and Ven moved, leaning on her side.
"It did work, Aqua," he reassured her. "We're all three of us here now." He pulled his Wayfinder out of his pocket. "See?" She smiled gently down at him while Terra pulled out his own Wayfinder.
Vanitas rolled his eyes at them, trying to ignore the stabbing pain that went through him.
That night, Sora and Kairi sit on the dock together, looking out. Kairi says that Riku has changed.
Riku raised an eyebrow. "I did?" He asked, ignoring the small part of him that jumped in panic. This was before the storm; nothing had happened then.
"I just meant that you were really focused on the raft," Kairi explained, waving a dismissive hand.
When Sora asks her what she meant, she trails off. Sora asks if she's okay. Kairi exclaims that the two of them should just take the raft and go. When Sora questions her, she says that she was kidding.
Riku couldn't stop the flinch that went through him. It didn't hurt any less now than it had then, hearing it from around the corner as he was about to talk to them. The two of them had wanted to leave him, to go out on their own. And maybe, it would have been for the best, he thought. If they had gone and gotten out before he'd had a chance to hurt them the way he had.
"Why did you say that, Kairi?" Sora asked, giving her a look and she smiled, trying not to let the truth show.
"I was just trying to get your attention," she told him. "You were… distracted that day. But, now seeing what happened in the cave, it made sense why you were. Sorry." Sora smiled at her and waved it off.
Axel, Terra, Mickey, and Aqua, however, could see the lie in Kairi's words. While there was confusion in two of their gazes, Mickey sighed quietly. He knew from Riku that Kairi had always wanted to be close to Sora, it was how she was. He didn't blame her.
Ah, unrequited love, Axel hummed in his head, watching Kairi carefully. I know it well.
Sora says that Kairi's the one who's changed, and Kairi says maybe. She admits that she was a little afraid at first but that she was ready now. And that she could always come back to Destiny Islands.
I wish I could, Riku thought. But he had changed too much to go back to Destiny Islands now. Back to their ordinary, boring life where everything was the same day after day. It wasn't something he could do.
Unknown to him, the same thoughts were floating through Sora's head.
Kairi tells Sora to never change before standing up and looking out. Kairi says that she can't wait to set sail.
Kairi winced at the lie in her younger self's voice. She hoped no one else could hear it too.
The screen shows a desk. "Donald, sorry to rush off without saying goodbye but there's big trouble brewing."
"See, I left a note," the king said, looking at Aqua. She smiled slightly at him.
"Not sure why, but the stars have been blinking out, one by one. And that means disaster can't be far behind. I hate to leave you all but I've gotta go check into it."
"By hitching a ride on a dying world?" Riku asked rhetorically, raising an eyebrow at the mouse.
Mickey shrugged. "It was the best way to figure out where the worlds were going."
"Mickey," Aqua groused out, placing her head in her hands. "That's incredibly dangerous."
"I had to know," Mickey said firmly, not backing down from his decision.
"There's someone with a key- the key to our survival. So, I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it?"
Sora smiled slightly at the mention of the key and finding him. "Thanks for sending them, King Mickey," Sora said, turning to the king. "They've been the best companions I could ask for. Mickey smiled back at him.
Riku tried not to think about Hollow Bastion and Goofy and Donald abandoning Sora. It was really the only reason why he still didn't like them. They had left Sora, alone and without a weapon, in a place where the Heartless roamed.
So did you, his thoughts hissed. Well, it's not like I'm pretending to be a good person.
"We need that key, or we're doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll point you in the right direction."
"Hah, no pressure or anything," Sora muttered, tugging at one of the lengths of his hair. He knew the Keyblade was meant to save the worlds, but there were times when he didn't know what to do. Certainly not alone, either.
"P.S. Would ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks pal!"
"Apologize to your wife yourself," Aqua murmured, rubbing her temples.
"Don't worry, once I see her again, I plan to," Mickey reassured her.
Minnie says they'll just have to go find the king. Goofy hopes he's okay and Donald says that they'll go find the 'key'.
Sora smiled again. And find him, they did.
Minnie and Daisy say to be careful, and Minnie says that Jiminy will go with them, to chronicle their journey. Jiminy introduces himself.
"Oh yeah, he's the one who travels in your hood right?" Riku asked and Sora nodded.
"Sometimes, I forget he's there."
Donald says goodbye to Minnie and Daisy and has to drag Goofy with him to come as well.
Several of them laugh at the antics.
Walking down a long staircase, Goofy asks Jiminy if his world disappeared as well. Jiminy says it did and that he was the only one to make it to the castle.
Sora, Kairi, and Riku all winced, looking away from the screen. Losing their world was still a bad memory for all of them, even if it was for different reasons.
Donald and Goofy discuss world order for a second.
"Who came up with world order anyway?" Terra asked. "It wasn't really a thing when the three of us traveled the worlds."
"Mostly me," Mickey explained. "After what happened to you three and Radiant Garden fell, travel between worlds became… taboo, in a way. Some people believed that traveling the worlds caused the Heartless to appear, while others thought that traveling the worlds hurt them. In the end, it was just easier to have no travel at all and when travel did occur, it was best to not draw attention to it."
Goofy says they'll need new outfits.
Donald and Goofy enter the launch bay and Donald tells the crew anytime they're ready. Mechanical hands pick up Donald and Goofy and place them in the ship, Pluto running after them.
"That… can't be that efficient, right?" Riku asked, watching the sequence. Mickey shrugged.
Donald and Goofy leave in the ship.
"Huh, the worlds sure do look different from the outside," Axel remarked as the sight of the Disneytown world was shown. Roxas and Xion both blinked in surprise. They had never seen the outside of any world.
They blast off through space.
Naminé, Vanitas, Roxas, and Xion, all watched in awe. None of them had ever been in space before, either using corridors or never leaving their world. It was… breathtaking. Even if one of them would deny that fact.
The screen shows Sora laying on his bed at night.
All three of the Islanders froze. This was it. The night Destiny Islands fell.
A storm is shown outside, and Sora worries about the raft.
"That's your first thought?" Roxas asked but none of the Islanders responded. He looked over to see them frozen, staring at the screen.
A woman's voice is heard calling for Sora. The window is open.
"Mom," Sora whispered out, sounding like he had been punched in the gut. It had been so long since he had seen her. And even longer than he had thought. He had been asleep for a year after all. "Kairi, you've been at home. Are my moms doing okay?"
She nodded slowly, an uncomfortable look crossing her face. "Yes…" she started, trailing off. While Sora took that for an answer, Riku looked to her, knowing what Kairi was thinking. The two women had also been affected during the year break. They had also forgotten Sora. It was clear Sora didn't remember that part right now.
Naminé flinched slightly, wishing for her sketchbook.
Sora makes it to the play island, noticing Kairi and Riku's boats are both there.
"None of you should have gone out during a storm," Aqua muttered. "It's too dangerous."
Well, I started the storm, Riku thought cynically. So, I didn't travel in it.
Sora spots a growing pit of darkness and wonders what it is. Several Heartless appear and Sora fights them with his wooden sword.
After he gets rid of them, he runs down a path, finding Riku, who was standing at the edge of the cliff. Sora asks him where Kairi was.
Riku slammed his eyes closed and turned away, missing Mickey's look of concern to him. He couldn't… he couldn't see this again.
Riku tells Sora that the door has opened and now they can go to the outside world.
Riku flinched again, feeling his hands curl into fists and his nails bite into his palms. Both Terra and Aqua watch the on-screen Riku in concern. What was happening to him?
Sora says they have to find Kairi and Riku says that Kairi's coming with them.
Well, at least he was thinking about me, Kairi thought as she watched it. She hadn't known this had happened.
Riku says there's no turning back.
He hated it, stars he did. He hadn't meant to fall; he hadn't meant to allow darkness to manipulate him but…
Kairi and Sora had talked about leaving him. When he had gone to the secret place, Sora's drawing was right there. He had chosen Kairi over him. He couldn't do anything but hurt and then… and then he had opened the door.
Riku says this is their only chance and that he isn't afraid of the darkness.
None of the watchers said anything. The ones who knew about his fall to darkness were sad and the ones who didn't were concerned about what was happening.
Riku reaches his hand out to Sora and darkness starts to build at his feet. Sora attempts to reach Riku, but the darkness overwhelms him. Everything goes black.
All of them were worried. What was happening?
A spark of light is suddenly shown and Sora stumbles backwards, a Keyblade in his grip. Riku is gone.
What would have happened? Sora wondered, looking at his younger self. What would have happened if I had gone with Riku? Would it have been good? Or bad?
Riku had his eyes slammed closed, but he could still hear what was going on. He could hear the exact moment when Sora got his Keyblade. Got Riku's Keyblade. Because Riku hadn't been good enough.
Kairi blinked. She hadn't ever seen that before. Was that how Riku had gotten lost?
Aqua and Terra exchanged a glance. It was clear that Riku lost himself, at least to a degree, to the darkness. But he seemed fine now. Sora and Kairi both seemed fine around him and it was clear that this moment was taxing on him to watch. But what had happened? How had Riku saved himself from darkness?
Roxas couldn't help but remember that Riku had referenced a "dark power" when he had fought him. Is this where it came from?
Mickey sighed quietly. While he knew Riku would eventually save himself from the darkness and that it was an integral part of him now, there was still a small part of him that wished that Riku hadn't gone through with it. That Riku was still back home, living life and being fine. But that wasn't meant to be.
Sora looks around but is distracted quickly by more Heartless, which he fights off with his Keyblade.
He runs to the Secret Place, where he finds Kairi. She turns and says his name, but the door blows open behind her. He attempts to catch her, but she fades away.
"What?" Several people ask and Sora laughs quietly, the only hint of levity from him.
"Kairi's heart went into mine," he explained to the group around them. "I kept her safe."
It was clear that wasn't a good explanation for most of them, but they let it be for a second.
He gets blown out of the Secret Place, landing back on the beach. He looks out and there is darkness everywhere. The beast from his dream rises up behind him.
Aqua glared at it. She hated them, badly.
Sora fights the beast and destroys it. Wind starts pulling him up. Reaching out, he tries to hold on to a piece of wood but gets dragged up and away from the island.
In Traverse Town, Goofy and Donald look up. Goofy notes that a star is going out.
Destiny Islands, the three Islanders thought. Their home was gone.
Donald tells Goofy to hurry and the two of them walk off.
The screen fades to black.
"Room?" Kairi suddenly said, looking up at the ceiling again. "I think we need a quick break." The lights around the room come back and the screen stays black.
For a second, none of them said anything. A lot had just happened. Riku finally opened his eyes. Sora looked away. Kairi looked down at her hands.
The adults exchanged glances. They probably needed to talk about this now.
