The town's warm lights welcomed anyone with nowhere else to go. Standing in the realm between light and darkness, Traverse Town offered sanctuary to all who had lost their homes to creatures of the dark. Or at least, all who escaped.
Donald and Goofy — now sporting more suitable traveling clothes — stepped through the front gates with Pluto by their side. Goofy looked around the square they were in. Everything was very different from Disney Castle. But looking up at the night sky, he smiled. The position of the stars was a bit different, but it was undoubtedly the same sky as back home. Maybe Maxie was also looking at the stars?
One particular star caught his attention. It sparked slightly brighter than the others, until its light suddenly flickered and dimmed.
"Donald, look!" Goofy called and pointed. "A star's going out!"
Just like that, the little light vanished. An entire world, someplace like Disney Castle, gone just like that.
"We have to find this Keybearer fast. Let's go, Goofy. C'mon Pluto. Pluto?"
They looked around but there was no sign of the king's dog.
"Ugh, the mutt follows us here and the first thing he does is wander off on his own," said Donald.
"I'm sure he's somewhere in town. Where else could he have gone?"
"Sure. Let's go look for this Squall Leonhart."
Out of the duo's sight, Pluto followed his nose to an alley, where he found something peculiar: an unconscious girl with a huge key in her hand. Curious, Pluto sniffed her face.
Kairi woke up to a large dog she'd never seen breathing on her. Her head hurt and her entire body felt numb.
"Just a dream…" she told herself and began drifting back to sleep. But then Pluto licked her face and jolted her awake. "AH! This isn't a dream!"
She felt twinges of pain in various spots as she struggled back up. The place she was in was unfamiliar and she couldn't remember how she got there. She realized she still held something…
The Keyblade.
The storm. The shadows. Riku disappearing. Sora disappearing. The Island torn apart.
Could it be that…
"No… No! I have to go back! I told Grandma I'd come back!"
It wasn't over. It couldn't be!
Pluto tilted his head and barked. Kairi looked at him and was reminded she was totally lost.
"Err… I don't suppose you know a way back to the Islands, do you?"
Pluto's ears perked up at a familiar sound and he scampered away.
"Wait!"
Kairi followed the dog out of the alley and into a wide open space surrounded by walls and unlike anything she ever saw on Destiny Islands. Most buildings had beige walls, wooden beams and red rooftops. A staircase led down to a square with zany-looking lanterns scattered around the cobblestone pavement and some people wandering about, not all of whom were human. Next to the stairs, a moogle chatted with a… rooster(?) wearing clothes. A group of dalmatian puppies gathered around two adults, except for one trying to climb a table and steal a plate of biscuits from a scrawny man lost in a pile of books. Unfortunately, Pluto was nowhere to be seen.
Is this… another world?
"Hey. You with the flowery thing."
Kairi turned toward the voice. Sitting on a short wall, a teenage girl with curly red hair and a long black dress was tending a quiver full of arrows.
The girl spoke with an accent Kairi didn't recognize. "Is that really a sword?"
Kairi hadn't had time to properly look at the Keyblade before. Only now she realized just how unlike a weapon it looked. The hilt was shaped like a heart, one side shiny blue in the form of a breaking wave, the other the start a beige vine, which wrapped around the sunset-colored shaft and connected with the key's teeth to form yet another heart with colorful Yua flowers around. Not very threatening. Still, Kairi thought it beautiful.
"I think it is," she answered the girl.
"Well, as long as it works, I guess it's fine. Looks like something my mum would–" The girl stopped and focused again on the quiver. "Anyway. What are you doing here?"
"I… don't know. I have no idea where I am or how I even got here."
The girl looked at her sympathetically. "Oh. So you're new here. I'm sorry…"
"Sorry for what?"
She glanced away. "I'm really not the best person to explain it. Ask Mister Highwind in the accessory shop." She pointed to a shop just behind them. "He can take care of you."
"Okay. Thanks…"
"Merida," the girl said.
"Thanks, Merida."
The inside of the accessory shop was small and cozy, with a fireplace, couch and coffee table on one side, a counter on the other and some cabinets displaying jewelry. Behind the counter was a blond middle-aged man with goggles on his head smoking a cigarette. Not who Kairi would expect to run an accessory shop.
"Hey there kiddo, how can I help ya?" the man greeted her with another accent. "Need something for a date?"
"Are you Mister Highwind?" Kairi asked.
"That I am. But just call me Cid."
"Nice to meet you, Cid. I'm Kairi and Merida said you could help me. You see, I was on my island when a storm started, and these black shadowy monsters appeared and there was this… thing that sucked everything up and then… I woke up here. Is this really another world?"
Cid looked at her with slight surprise that quickly turned glum. "Not a whole lot of people come here knowing about other worlds. This might make things a little bit easier.
"This here place is called Traverse Town. It's a world for those who have nowhere else to go. Those shadows that attacked you, they've been going around attacking all kinds of worlds for a while now. Some of the few that manage to escape show up here."
"But— But what about everyone else? And the rest of the world? They can't be—"
Cid's face was the same one would wear at a funeral. "Gone. Fallen to darkness."
For a moment, Kairi did not move. In her mind, the world around her ceased to be. Then finally, water escaped from her eyes and she clutched the skin above her aching chest.
Gone. It was hard to rationalize what that meant — that she'd never run along the beach again, never taste the ocean, never go home to her grandma, never welcome her parents back. Her mind couldn't wrap itself around it, but her heart could. It ate itself at every moment, not wanting to exist in a World without Destiny Islands. Kairi feared it would soon swallow her whole and leave behind only an empty shell, or a shadow like the ones that took away her home.
Cid watched her cry and took a whiff off his cigarette. Another star extinguished. Another world lost. Another child crying.
"Look, Kairi. We'll figure something out. You can stay at the hotel tonight and tomorrow we'll get you settled."
She was able to force a small smile. How lucky she was to find someone kind, even in the middle of all this.
"Thank you, Cid." She wiped some of her tears away. "Is… Is it possible that someone else escaped my world? My friends were with me on the Island. They disappeared before it did. Could they have escaped too?"
"Couldn't tell you, kid," he said. "You're the only one to show up here, but it's not like this is the only world in the Ocean Between. Your friends could have ended up in some world out there."
So it wasn't hopeless. Riku and Sora could still be out there! Kairi felt some of the tightness around her chest loosen up just from the possibility that she wasn't completely alone.
"How can I find—"
Outside the shop, terrified screams rang. Cid frowned, put out his cigar and reached for something behind the counter. Just then, the front door cracked open and a moogle rushed inside.
"Mister Highwind, kupo! They're here! They're in the First District, kupo!"
"What?!"
Cid hurried to the door with a spear in hand. Kairi followed after him.
"What's going on? Who's here?"
"The Heartless," Cid said gravely.
Outside, Merida fired arrows toward the square below. Kairi looked down in horror. The once peaceful square was swarming with the same shadowy creatures from the Islands. The dalmatian family was cornered, the parents growling and barking in hopes of scaring the creatures away from the terrified puppies. The rooster was holding onto the top of a light pole like a cat on a tree. Others had taken shelter inside the restaurant and barricaded the entrance with chairs and tables.
The scrawny man ran up the stairs with his pile of books, chased by two Shadows. He tripped on the last step and the Shadows jumped at him. With a thrust of his spear, Cid reduced them to smoke.
"Are you alright?" Kairi helped the man back up.
"Y-Yeah, thanks."
"Thatch," Cid called. "Can you explain this?"
"I-I'm afraid no, sir," the man stuttered. "The Heartless never come to the First District. Something must have caught their attention, like an unusually strong heart or—"
A scream of pain suddenly rang through the First District. Down on the square, an armored Heartless had its claws stuck to a man's chest. It ripped out a glowing heart from his body and the man fell to the ground.
"STOP!"
Cid and the others exclaimed in surprise when Kairi ran toward the Heartless.
"Kid, come back here!" Cid called, but she didn't stop.
All the Shadows gave up on what they were doing and ran to her.
"Get out of my way!"
She swung the Keyblade and slashed two Shadows in half. The remaining few charged anyway, so Kairi swung again and again until they were reduced to clouds of smoke and transparent shards on the ground.
She struck the armored Heartless before it could know what hit it, once, twice, three times. The creature was destroyed, leaving behind two hearts — the one it had taken and another that floated in the air and disappeared.
Kairi turned to help the man, only to see his body fading from existence. Behind her, his stolen heart was absorbed into a dark orb. She heard clanking and turned to look. An identical Heartless to the one she'd just defeated appeared in the place of the darkened heart.
"What—"
The Heartless jumped too quickly to react and pinned her to the ground. The shaft of the Keyblade narrowly blocked the creature's claws from piercing her chest. Kairi pushed back against it, but she was in a terrible position. At this rate, those claws would reach her skin…
A loud whistle resonated through the square and something hit the back of the Heartless' head. Kairi spotted a baseball falling to the ground and the rooster on top of the light pole with his arm stretched out. Just as the Heartless turned its head toward the new attacker, an arrow struck it between the eyes. The Heartless let go of the Keyblade to reach for the arrow, so Kairi kicked it off her and into the ground. Before it could recover, she jumped back up and stabbed its chest. The creature writhed one last time before its body disappeared and its captive heart floated off and faded.
Kairi fell to one knee and braced herself with the Keyblade, the shock of everything that happened hitting all at once.
Why did I run? I wasn't even thinking.
What happened to that man? Why did he disappear? Why did that thing appear in his place?
Did he turn into that? If so does that mean I… I…
Something moist but gentle suddenly touched her hand. Kairi looked down and found a dalmatian puppy licking her fingers.
"Aw, thanks little guy," she said. The puppy barked in return.
A crowd quickly gathered around her. Merida helped her up and a large man offered her spinach puffs, which she politely declined. Everyone else bombarded her with questions and praise.
"That was amazing!"
"What's that weapon? I've never seen something defeat the Heartless so easily before!"
"You really taught those creeps a lesson!"
"Where did you learn those moves?"
"Why does your sword look like that?"
"I, uh…"
Kairi's head pounded from all the noise, and the faces surrounding her started to feel suffocating.
Why are you praising me? I didn't do anything worthy of admiration. I let someone die…
"Okay everyone, give it a rest." Cid stepped forward, making the crowd grow silent and take a step back. Kairi muttered an inaudible "thank you". "You've got some nerve, Kairi, but that was really dangerous. You're lucky that blade's so good. And that Merida and Chicken Little here managed to get that last one distracted."
"Kupo!" the moogle from before exclaimed. "Is that really a Keyblade, kupo? Where did you get it?"
"I'm not sure," Kairi said. "It just kinda appeared out of nowhere when my world was being destroyed. I don't know where it came from or what it even is."
"An ancient weapon of the heart. And the greatest fear of the Heartless," a voice said, coming down the staircase. "That's why they'll keep coming after you."
The newcomer was a man clad in black with brown hair and a long scar on his face. He carried a strange sword behind his back that looked like a gun with a long blade at the end. Cid crossed his arms at the sight of him.
"Hey, Leon. Nice of you to show up after the fighting's over. Poor Travis got his heart eaten for a snack."
"I'm sorry…" Kairi's head hung low.
"It's not your fault," said a boy around her age. "You kept us all safe."
"Jim's right," Cid said. "It wasn't your responsibility to protect this place. If anything, it's my fault for not acting quickly enough."
Kairi was about to protest when the dalmatians started barking. From the ground, a new swarm of Shadows rose. Kairi raised the Keyblade, but before she could even blink, Leon obliterated them with one swipe of his Gunblade.
"We're not safe here. Like I said, the Heartless will keep coming as long as you have the Keyblade."
"But why? What are these Heartless? And what is this Keyblade?"
"Come with me and I'll explain everything."
Kairi hesitated. Her common sense told her that following a stranger with a huge sword was a bad idea, but… She glanced at all the people in the First District. If the Heartless were coming after her, she would be putting them in danger for as long as she stayed there.
Kairi swallowed her nervousness and nodded. Leon nodded back and strapped his Gunblade to his belt on the back. Kairi did the same thing with a bit of struggle, just in time to trail after Leon as he ran off.
With fewer lanterns to light the way, the alleyways of Traverse Town were darker, emptier, and almost completely silent, except for the sound of water flowing down to the underground waterways.
"Mister Leonhart, where are you?" Goofy called one more time, and one more time, no one answered. "Gawrsh, there's nobody here. Sure is spooky…"
"Don't be such a scaredy cat!" Donald said. "And you call yourself captain of the royal knights— WAK!"
Suddenly Donald felt something poke him in the back. The court magician jumped in fright and clung to Goofy, shaking like a leaf.
"Excuse me," a soft voice spoke from behind them. "Are you friends of the King?"
The voice belonged to a young lady with braided brown hair, a pink dress and a warm smile.
"Gawrsh, you know the king?" Goofy asked.
"Yes. He contacted us not too long ago. My name is Aerith, I'm a friend of Leon's. Or Leonhart, as you called him. You must be Donald and Goofy, right?"
"Yes…" Donald said, still a bit suspicious.
Somewhere, there was a scream. Donald, Goofy and Aerith gazed around uneasily.
"We're not safe out here. Let's take shelter. Then we can discuss the matters at hand."
Donald and Goofy nodded and followed the girl out of the alleyway.
Kairi followed Leon through the large doors that led to the Second District. It was bigger than the First District and had way more buildings, shops, houses, and a white building with a tall tower, all encircling a spacious low square.
They entered a building labeled "Hotel". Inside was a hallway with several doors. Leon held open a green one and Kairi rushed inside.
The room had a single bed and simple furniture. Sitting on the bed and a chair were two girls with black hair. The girl on the bed had short hair and wore a metal headband, green tank top and beige shorts. The other girl looked older and had a strong physique, long hair, a black top under a white shirt, black miniskirt and combat gloves.
The long-haired woman jumped up as Leon slammed the door shut.
"Leon! What's going on?" The woman's eyes widened once she saw Kairi and the weapon on her back. "Is that…"
"Yes. The new Keybearer."
The short-haired girl sat up and took a look at Kairi. "Are you saying this supposed first new Keybearer in years is a child?"
"How old are you again, Yuffie?" Leon asked. Yuffie showed him her tongue.
"This is great!" The woman ignored their banter. "That means there's still hope! With the Key, you can save the worlds!"
"I… can?" Kairi asked, not understanding anything.
The girl named Yuffie got up and circled Kairi while cupping her chin, as if she were a newly discovered specimen ripe for studying.
"I dunno, she doesn't look like much of a hero. Can she even fight?"
"By the looks of it, she took out a swarm of Heartless practically on her own," Leon explained.
"It wasn't really like that…" Kairi tried explaining before Yuffie cut her off.
"What, the small fry? Anyone can take care of those pushovers."
"You know it's not like that, Yuffie," said the long-haired woman. "No matter how small, the Heartless are still dangerous."
"My point is, what is this Keybearer gonna do against the heavy hitters? Are you gonna send her to fight Heartless and risk getting her heart taken?"
"What are you talking abou—"
"Of course not!" the woman said. "But we have to do something. She's our only hope of fixing everything."
"Which is exactly why we can't risk losing her," Leon chimed in. "We all want to recover what we lost, Tifa, but we can't be rash."
Tifa clenched her fists and then punched the wall in frustration, which caused the whole room to shake.
"But we can't just sit around and do nothing!"
"And we won't," said Leon. "But we need to proceed carefully. The first thing we should do is make sure the Keybearer is trained and well-prepared. I'm not an expert on Keyblades, but I could teach her some techniques on—"
"YOU GUYS JUST, STOP!" Kairi snapped and all eyes turned to her. "I came here to try and make sense of all this, but I'm not understanding a word you're saying! I never asked to be a 'keybearer', never asked to fight those things and I certainly never asked for my world to be destroyed and my friends to vanish to who knows where!"
Once Kairi stopped yelling, she began panting. She was so tired of being in the dark while tragedies kept happening around her.
The three warriors glanced at each other in shame. Finally, Tifa put a hand on Kairi's shoulder and bent down to meet her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I think we did this all wrong. Do you want to sit down?"
"That would be great."
"You should let go of that Keyblade first," Leon advised. "The Heartless tend to attack outdoors, but breaking in isn't past them."
Kairi nodded and left the Keyblade resting against the wall next to a large shuriken — probably Yuffie's.
"Let's do this properly. I'm Tifa. This is Yuffie. And you've already met Leon. What's your name?"
"Kairi. It's nice to meet you."
Tifa smiled warmly. "It's nice to meet you too, Kairi. Do you know what the Keyblade you have is?"
"No. It showed up when the Islands were being…"
Blown away. Ripped apart. Everything she knew, torn to shreds.
"If it's too painful, you don't have to talk about it."
"No, it's okay."
Slowly, Kairi explained everything that had happened, from noticing the storm, to trying to save Riku and Sora, to the Keyblade appearing to her. Tifa's gaze became more sympathetic as she went on, Yuffie sighed at the mention of the dark creatures, and Leon listened with a pensive look while leaning on a doorway. And for as painful as remembering everything was, just getting to talk about it and being listened to felt like some of the weight was lifted off her shoulders.
...
"Wak?!" Donald looked around when the hotel shook. "What was that?"
"Don't worry." Aerith sat on a bed, her staff resting by her side. "My friend Tifa is in the room next door. She has a habit of punching stuff when she gets nervous."
Donald was reminded of Daisy.
"So, what did'ja wanna talk about?" Goofy asked.
"You know there are many worlds out there besides your castle and this town. However, their existence has been a secret to all but a select few. Until now. The Heartless have changed everything. As we speak, they are seeking to destroy more and more worlds."
"That must be why the stars are blinking out!" Goofy said, and Aerith nodded sadly.
...
"You've gone through something horrible, Kairi," Tifa said when she finished her story. "We know what it's like. We lost our world too."
"Really? I'm so sorry."
"That was nine years ago," said Yuffie. "Before we learned how to fight the Heartless."
"Heartless… What are they?"
"Ghosts that live in the darkness and hunger for people's hearts," Leon spoke for the first time in a while. "There's darkness within every heart, and the Heartless feed on it."
"I saw one of them taking someone's heart. He disappeared and another Heartless appeared in his place."
"That's how they multiply. By turning stolen hearts into more Heartless."
"That's awful…"
"For years, they've invaded this and other worlds." Tifa continued. "We've never been able to stop them. Until now."
Kairi eyed the weapon on the other side of the room, then spoke to Leon: "You said before that the Keyblade is the Heartless' greatest fear. But why? Your weapons seemed to work fine against them."
"Normal weapons can wound and even fell the Heartless," he explained. "But the Keyblade can do much more than that. Its light can reach even the strongest darkness and restore hearts that have been lost."
"Restore hearts…" Kairi perked up. "Does that mean it can turn the Heartless back to normal? How? How can I help them?"
"For what we know, you already have," Yuffie said. "According to our round-eared source, whenever a Keyblade destroys a Heartless, the heart that was inside is released. So they're probably looking for a way back right now."
For the first time since arriving in Traverse Town, Kairi let out a truly bright smile. And then another thought came to her mind, one that had felt impossible mere minutes prior.
"What about the worlds that were destroyed? Can the Keyblade restore them too?"
A dimple appeared in the corner of Leon's cheek. "Worlds are a lot like people. If their hearts are restored, there's a good chance the world and its inhabitants will be too."
Kairi felt dizzy from how fast she jumped up from the bed, but it did nothing to stifle her cheer.
"Then that means we can still go back! And Grandma and Mom and Dad… They'll be back too! Everyone will!"
"Then you see why it's so important that you take out the Heartless," Tifa said.
Kairi's smile fell. "Me? Oh no, trust me, you don't want me. I'm not some noble hero or savior, just…" She pointed to herself. "This. If the Keyblade is really so important, you should just give it to someone stronger. I'm sure any of you would do a better job saving people than I ever could."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple."
Leon bent down and picked up the Keyblade. As soon as his fingers closed around the hilt, the weapon vanished from Leon's hand and reappeared in Kairi's in a flash of golden sparks and feathers.
"That Keyblade came from your heart. It's bound to you. Which means you're the only one who can wield it."
"Me?"
Kairi held the Keyblade and looked at it. On the reflective surface of the hilt, she saw a lost and scared girl who didn't share Riku and Sora's fantasies for greatness, who never wanted anything more than to be with the people she loved.
A girl who could never be with the people she loved unless she stopped the Heartless.
What can I do?
Popping noises. Metal clanging. Leon, Tifa and Yuffie were on high alert before Kairi could even make sense of it. Not even a second later, a Heartless appeared in the room.
"Tifa, Yuffie, go!" Leon shouted and drew his Gunblade.
Yuffie grabbed her shuriken and followed Tifa as she kicked the door to the next room open, not noticing when the door pancaked Donald, who was going to check what all the commotion was about.
"Tifa?" Aerith stood up.
"The Heartless found us! It's not safe here anymore!" A Heartless tried to slash at Tifa, but she dodged and destroyed it with a single punch. "Let's go!"
Aerith picked up her staff and followed the two out of the room.
"Gawrsh, are you okay, Donald?" Goofy asked as the door slowly closed.
"Waak…"
In the other room, Kairi watched Leon slash any Heartless that came near. He was amazing. Stronger than even Riku or Sora, and certainly stronger than her.
Why had the Keyblade come for her? So many people could make better use of it, wouldn't freeze and shake pathetically at the sight of the Heartless, would be able to save her friends when they were right in front of her…
Why me?
"Kairi!" Leon's voice snapped her back to reality. "I know you're scared and confused right now, but we need you. The Heartless I defeat fade back into darkness, but they'll come back sooner or later. The Keyblade is our only chance to get rid of them for good. You have to fight."
Kairi looked at the Keyblade. They needed her. They needed her! Not just Riku and Sora but Leon, Yuffie, Tifa, Cid and everyone else in Traverse Town who had been so kind to her. They were counting on the Keybearer to save what they had lost. If she didn't even fight, she'd be letting them all down.
She held tight to the Keyblade, pushed away her fear and assumed a fighting stance of her own.
"I'll do everything I can!"
Leon gave her a smirk. A Heartless came spinning at him. Leon blocked the attack with his Gunblade and then kicked the creature toward Kairi, who finished it with a swing of the Keyblade. The Heartless disappeared and released a captive heart.
More Heartless came. They were identical to the ones she had seen in the First District, with their pitch-black heads and yellow eyes encased in a silver helmet and grotesque, vaguely human-like bodies. In their chest was an emblem of a black heart crossed by a red X. Between the helmet and the emblem, Kairi thought they resembled some kind of soldier.
Leon kept wounding Heartless and tossing them to Kairi to deal the finishing blow, but no matter how many they defeated, more kept coming.
"These aren't ordinary attacks," Leon noted. "Their movement is coordinated. There must be a leader."
"Who leads the Heartless?"
"Especially powerful Heartless." His gaze turned somber. "Or a person with power over the darkness."
Kairi felt a hint of sorrow from his words. The power someone would hold by controlling those creatures…
"So we need to find this leader and finish them, right?"
"Exactly."
Leon threw the next Heartless through the window, shattering the glass.
"Stay with me, Kairi."
He leaped through the broken window to the alleyway below. Kairi propped her legs on a beam to get out and hesitantly clambered down until she felt safe to jump. By then, more Heartless had already appeared on the alleyway.
"Don't bother with the small fry," Leon said somewhere amidst the swarm. "Let's go!"
Easy for you to say, Kairi thought as she fended off a bunch of Shadows. When she finally bought herself a moment to breathe, Leon was nowhere to be seen.
"Leon! Where are you?"
A Soldier Heartless charged at her. Kairi dodged by a hair and pushed the creature against a wall. The Heartless wouldn't stop coming. There was no way she could fight all of them, so she ran. She spotted a door to her side and went through it before slamming it shut before the Heartless could follow her.
Kairi emerged right next to a fountain with a beautiful painted mural. Looking around, she realized she was in the square in the Second District. There didn't seem to be any Heartless around, for now at least.
In the hotel hallway, a group of Heartless ambushed Donald and Goofy.
"So these are the Heartless!" Donald summoned his Mage's Staff. "Let's go get 'em, Goofy!"
Before he could do anything, the Heartless charged. Goofy lifted his shield just as the Heartless slammed themselves onto them. The force of the crash sent Donald and Goofy flying out of the hotel.
"Gawaaaaak!"
"A-hyoohoohoohooo!"
Hearing their shrieks, Kairi looked up just in time to see the odd duo plummeting toward her before being squashed.
"Oww…"
The three groaned in pain, all jammed in a pile. Once Donald and Goofy stopped seeing stars, their eyes trailed to the Keyblade in Kairi's hand.
"The key!" they exclaimed.
A loud metallic rumble resonated through the Second District. Kairi, Donald and Goofy sprang back up and readied their weapons. Just as they did, a swarm of Soldier Heartless surrounded them.
"Think you can handle them?" Donald asked.
Kairi raised the Keyblade with a determined expression. "Yes. I can do this!"
The Heartless attacked. Goofy guarded against the claws of one and knocked it toward Donald, who shot a ball of fire from his staff before Kairi leaped in and finished off the Heartless with the Keyblade.
"Not bad!" Goofy commended, and Kairi smiled in response.
They continued to fight, Kairi swinging the Keyblade, Donald firing spells and Goofy whacking foes with his shield. As they fought, Kairi couldn't help but look curiously at her allies. They were an odd couple for sure, but Kairi wasn't as weirded out by them as she probably should have been. She chalked it up to always having had a wild imagination.
With a well-aimed spell, Donald finished off the last Heartless. But before the trio had time to celebrate, the rumble was heard again, and a bundle of metal parts fell clanking from the sky and amassed themselves into a suit of armor. Finally, a helmet landed atop the armor, forming a five-meter tall purple Heartless with disconnected limbs and the familiar black and red emblem in its chest.
"This one must be the leader," Kairi said.
"Wak…" Donald grumbled as he tried and failed not to tremble.
Goofy gulped. "Do you think we can beat it?"
Kairi hardened her grip on the Keyblade. If they didn't beat this thing, it would terrorize the people of Traverse Town. They had to put a stop to it! This was her duty! Her responsibility!
"We have to!" she said. "If we fight together, we can do it!"
Donald and Goofy looked at each other, their fear giving way to determination, and nodded. They stood behind Kairi.
The Heartless leaped toward them and the three jumped out of the way.
"Fire!" Flames burst from Donald's staff and hit the Heartless' torso, but the enemy didn't even flinch. "Wak?!"
The feet came stomping down on him. Goofy ran to Donald and defended him with his shield. Kairi attacked the right foot with a series of slashes, but then the hands began spinning around the torso and she had to step away.
The different parts moved with minds of their own, and the trio could only get a few seemingly ineffective hits in before they were forced to dodge another part, making it practically impossible to fight efficiently.
"It's not doing any good!" Goofy grunted as he blocked a thrust from the left foot.
"Wak!"
The right hand swung at Donald and knocked him into a wall. Before Kairi and Goofy could help him up, the magician got back on his own, practically fuming.
"Why you! What's the big idea?! Take that! And that!"
Donald fired spell after spell at the hand. At the sixth or so spell, the scorched hand fell to the ground. It shook like it was trying to get back up, but before it could, Kairi swooped in and struck the hand with the Keyblade, destroying it.
"I got it!" she exclaimed. "Let's gang up on one part at a time. I'll attack the other hand, you keep me from being hit and you continue shooting from afar."
"You can count on me!" Goofy raised his shield.
"I like that plan!" Donald picked something from his pocket and put it in his mouth. A faint blue glow shone around the magician as he readied his staff.
Kairi ran back to the Heartless with Goofy on her heels and struck the left hand repeatedly. The feet tried to kick her off but Goofy kept them at bay with his shield. With no need to worry about the other parts and the extra damage from Donald's magic, the trio managed to take out the remaining hand rather easily.
"We did it!"
"Now for the feet!"
They kept the same strategy, focusing on just one foot, with Kairi attacking with the Keyblade, Goofy defending her from the other foot and the torso, and Donald sending homing fireballs, thunderbolts and shards of ice from a distance until both feet had been destroyed.
"Yes!" Kairi pumped her fist in celebration. "Now we just need to take out the—"
"Look out!"
Kairi was pulled by Goofy just as the torso slammed itself on the spot she had been a second before. With no hands or feet to attack, the torso spun around like a tornado. Kairi and Goofy rushed out of the way before it could reach them. Meanwhile, Donald kept on firing spells.
"Fire! Blizzard! Arf… Thunder! Wak?" Until finally, nothing came from his wand. "I'm all out of magic! And ethers too."
"Now what?" Goofy asked, hiding behind his shield.
Kairi tried thinking of something. They had to take out that Heartless, but the torso wouldn't let them come near. The only other spot they could hit was…
"The head!" Kairi glanced at Goofy's shield and had an idea. She took several steps backward until her back was almost touching the wall. "Raise the shield!"
Goofy looked confused for a moment before realizing what she intended to do. He got on his knees and raised the shield just above his head. Kairi sprinted toward him. She stepped on the shield and Goofy sprang up, thrusting Kairi high in the air and toward the Heartless. She raised the Keyblade, and with a shout, nailed it right through the Heartless' head. The two remaining parts shook and finally collapsed onto the ground like a marionette with its strings cut.
"Did we do it?" Goofy asked as Kairi took the Keyblade off the head and jumped off the Heartless. Then a big heart floated out of the torso and disappeared, followed by the remains of the armor.
Leon, Yuffie, Tifa and Aerith came running from an alley, weapons at hand. They searched for the source of the trouble, only to find the worn-out trio and no Heartless in sight.
"So now you arrive," Kairi grumbled.
She stumbled from exhaustion and almost fell, but Goofy helped her stay up. Aerith came, raised her staff and green light enveloped them. Immediately, cuts and bruises began closing, and Kairi managed to stand on her own.
"What happened?" Tifa asked.
"Well, Donald and I fell on top of her," Goofy explained. "Then this big metal Heartless showed up and we fought it together."
"You took out the leader?" Leon crossed his arms and smirked. "Gotta say, I'm impressed. And I see you've already met."
"Not really," Kairi admitted. "But I guess we did fight well together."
"That's good," Aerith said with a smile. "They've been looking for you."
"We received a mission from our King," Donald said. "To find the new Keyblade wielder who could help us save the worlds."
"I see…"
"So will you come with us?" Goofy asked. "We can travel to other worlds on our ship."
"Other worlds…" The thought reminded Kairi of her friends. They've always wanted to visit other worlds. But without Riku and Sora, it just didn't feel the same.
Cid said that they could be somewhere in another world, she remembered.
"If I go with you," Kairi started, "I want to look for my friends. I have this feeling that they're somewhere out there."
"If we go to other worlds, I'm sure you'll find them," Donald said. "In fact, we're also looking for a friend."
Kairi perked up. "You really think so?"
"Of course."
Kairi looked to Leon and his companions, who all smiled in return.
"Really? A-hyuck, that's good!" Goofy told Donald when no one else was looking.
"Who knows," Donald whispered to his friend. "But we need her to come with us to help us find the King. Just say whatever so she'll agree"
"That seems kinda mean…"
"Goofy, trust me," Donald said through gritted teeth. "Don't mess this up!"
Kairi turned back to them and Donald and Goofy quickly straightened themselves up.
"So if I go with you, you promise you'll help me find Riku and Sora?"
"Sure," said Donald. "But you also help us find King Mickey. He left saying the worlds were in danger and told us to stay with the Keybearer."
Kairi glanced at the ground. "Of course. I'll help you."
Right… It's all about this Keyblade. She shook her head. Don't think like that! This is something that they— that I have to do!
"But you can't come along looking like that," Donald said, serious. Kairi looked at herself, wondering if there was something wrong with how she was dressed, but Donald grinned. "This boat runs on smiles. So no frowning and no sad faces."
"Yeah, you gotta look funny, like us!" Goofy said, a dorky smile on his face as well.
"Okay… How do I look funny?"
"First of all, cheer up," said Donald. "Shake that gloom off! Try laughing a bit."
"Laugher?"
She could do this. She could do something as simple as laughing.
Kairi drew in a deep breath and expelled it all in a loud burst:
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA." Dead silence. She drew in another breath and laughed again. "AHAHAHAHAHA."
Everyone was staring at her. Goodness, she looked ridiculous. What was she thinking doing something like—
"AHYUHYUHYUHYUK!" Goofy let out a loud laugh of his own sounding even more ridiculous than Kairi's. Finally, Donald cackled too:
"GAHAHAHAHAHA!"
A smile escaped Kairi. The three breathed in together and let go at the same time:
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"AHYUHYUHYUHYUK!"
"GAHAHAHAHAHA!"
It was too much. They burst into actual laughter, as did Yuffie, Aerith and Tifa. Even Leon cracked a chuckle.
"Alright," Kairi said, wiping out a tear. "I'll go with you."
"Then let's do this right." Donald held out his hand. "Donald Duck. Royal Magician and assistant of King Mickey."
"Name's Goofy Goof." He placed his hand over Donald's. Kairi had to hold back a snicker at his name. "Captain of the Royal Knights of Disney Castle."
"I'm Kairi Hayazaki Amada." She put her hand atop theirs. "And, um… My father is a public officer and my mother is a social worker."
"You could have just said you're a Keyblade wielder," Donald said. "But I guess that's cool too."
"Thanks."
"All for one and one for all!" Goofy declared, a quote they'd all heard before.
With their hands joined, the three smiled.
In an ill and dark chamber, four equally dark beings gathered around a stone pedestal. They watched a ring of eerie green light, where a vision of Kairi, Donald and Goofy shimmered.
"That little squirt took out that Heartless. Who'd have thought it?" one voice mocked.
"Such is the power of the Keyblade," a lower voice spoke. "The girl's strength is not her own."
"She is but a child swinging a toy around," said a deep, mechanical and emotionless voice. "But the toy in question is quite powerful. Should she learn to wield it, she could pose a considerable threat."
"Why don't we turn her and the king's lackeys into Heartless?" A strident laugh echoed. "That'll settle things quick enough."
"If she ever becomes a thorn in our side, she shall be destroyed," said a female voice.
Behind the group stood a woman of green skin and huge horns clad in black. In her hand she carried a long staff, on top She had a long staff in her hand, a black crow resting on top of it.
"As it stands, she is no danger to us. And besides, we need the Keyblade if we are to unlock the Final Keyhole."
One of the figures looked over his shoulder. The others remained quiet at the sound of his loud breaths.
"Perhaps she won't be necessary. A new presence arrived at the castle grounds. I sense immense power within him. A lone fighter who turned his back on his old life. He might be more complaisant."