The Advent

The sky is falling, Mama. The sky is falling…

            Hush now; this is for your own protection.

I’m sinking, mama. I’m sinking…

            You’ll find your way back to me, my child.

                        Even if you have to tear the worlds apart.

                                    Even if you have to thrust Kingdom Hearts into chaos.

                                                You’ll find your way.

                                                            I promise.

I promise, too, Mama. I promise, too…

“Did you feel that, Master Yen Sid?” A plump blue fairy tentatively fluttered into a large round study. Her hands were clasped at her front and her eyes were anxious and alert.

The old man was sitting at a solid wooden desk at the center of the room, his old, frail hands flipping through the pages of a large book slowly and deliberately. He looked up at his fairy assistant, Merryweather, with his usual placid stare. She was alone, so her sisters must have been elsewhere in the tower. He nodded in recognition. “Indeed; I did. The darkness is stirring again.”

“Do you think it’s Master Xehanort? Do you think he’s back?” she asked, flitting from side to side in her worry, leaving behind small deposits of fairy dust as she did, coming out of her body like sweat.

He shook his head surely, eyes shut, and then replied, “No, I believe that when Sora and his friends defeated him last year, he was defeated for good. This disturbance -it is not the same darkness I felt before.” He opened his eyes to see that the other two good fairies, Flora in red and Fauna in green, were now flying into the room. “Xehanort was a familiar darkness, albeit a complicated one. This darkness stems from a very young place -inexperienced and lost.”

The good fairies nodded dutifully as the Master spoke. “Should we tell the King?” Flora asked uncertainly.

“There is no need. It is likely he is already on his way here,” Yen Sid assured them. “However, not knowing the source of this darkness is quite troubling. We are treading into uncharted waters…” He trailed off, standing up and stepping towards the crescent shaped window overlooking his bureau, hands interlocked against his back.

“Do you need us to do anything, sir?” Merryweather asked, floating slightly ahead of her sisters.

With a shake of his head, he replied in a quiet but firm voice. “Thank you. I would like to be alone now. I must meditate on this news.”

The fairies each gave a nod of their own, in spite of the fact that they would go unseen, and then disappeared into puffs of dust, one by one. When Flora was the only one left, she cast a lingering stare at the perpetual night sky through the window. She knew they would be seeing Sora, Donald, and Goofy quite soon -too soon. She felt sorry for the boy; he had barely a year’s worth of rest after his two and a half year long journey to defeat Xehanort. Would they really have to call him back into battle? What about his friends? Kairi and Riku were also experienced keyblade warriors now, although Kairi had not nearly enough training for the Mastery exam yet. Would they have to thrust those three young ones back into the fray -the eternal struggle between light and dark? Haven’t they suffered enough?

With a long sigh, she ruffled her crimson skirts slightly before disappearing herself, leaving Yen Sid to contemplate alone.

Traverse Town was as dark as ever, with volunteers dashing from refugee to refugee, offering food and drinks. There hadn’t had such a great influx of displaced individuals in a few years -and none at all since Master Xehanort was defeated by the Hero of the Light. Every building, every shop, every house was filled with people who had no place to go. Not only that, but the Heartless were back, terrorizing the second and third districts -not to mention the fact that the back streets were simply impassable.

A young woman with long platinum blonde hair stepped tentatively out of an alleyway, her skirts ruffled and her heart pounding. As she looked on into the vast courtyard, she realized she was a long way from home. She looked around frantically, trying to spot a small head of auburn hair among the masses of people standing around.

“Violet? Violet, darling? Are you here?” she called out anxiously, attracting some attention from the loitering crowd.

Then it dawned on her what had happened prior to waking up. The sky had suddenly turned dark above her palace and black creatures, the likes of which she hadn’t seen in over a decade, began to seep out of the ground like liquid made solid. They were everywhere… She recalled being unable to escape the swarm, sinking into them instead, nearly suffocating. Still, she remembered that she was holding on to something, something important.

“My Violet… My precious darling, Violet…” She looked into her hand, examining the small ribbon that she had found herself clutching upon regaining consciousness. It was the one her girl used to wear everyday. “You were safe in my arms, and now you’re gone.” She sighed sadly, biting her lip to keep herself composed.

“Excuse me, miss?”

She felt a hand rest upon her shoulder and looked up abruptly at the person before her. He was a boy, no older than fifteen perhaps, with ashy blonde hair. He looked at her with worried azure eyes, waiting calmly for her answer. “I’m sorry?” she uttered uncertainly.

“Do you need help?” he asked her calmly, taking his hand off of the woman’s shoulder and stepping away slightly to give her space. “Are you looking for someone?”

The woman stared at the boy for a moment before giving him a curt nod. “I -Yes. Yes, I am. My daughter… I was just -The sky turned black. And then those monsters were everywhere and then -”

He gave her a nod of understanding. “The Heartless,” he explained. “They must have taken your world as well. This world is called Traverse Town. I woke up here when my world was swallowed by the darkness…” The boy’s face twitched slightly when he spoke, the memory still vivid in his mind, but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. “Your daughter must be here somewhere if the Heartless haven’t taken her.”

The thought of Violet, that small, beautiful girl, being taken by the Heartless… She wanted to object at the idea of it, but that boy told her there was a possibility of Violet being in this… Traverse Town. She had to hold on to that hope and try her best to find her little girl.

“What’s your name?” she asked him quickly.

“Hope,” he replied with a sheepish grin. “What about you?”

“My name is Aurora,” she told him with a grateful smile.

He wiped the bashful grin off of his face when he said, “Well, Aurora. It’s nice to meet you. How about we try and find your daughter, alright?”

She nodded graciously and replied, “Thank you, Hope.”

Awaken.

Sora winced and lifted an arm to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He didn’t exactly hear the voice calling out to him; it was more like a subconscious thought, just distinct enough from his own inner voice that he was able to make it out. Drowsily, he ran a hand through his spiked brown hair, reaching for an itch that had developed somewhere on his scalp.

He wasn’t in his bed anymore. It had been so long since he had slept on such a hard surface that he had to mentally verify whether the past year had just been a long, peaceful dream or simply a fleeting reality.

Sitting upright, he took a good look at his surroundings through eyes brimming with sleepy tears. He saw enough, however. Something about this place… It was very similar to a place he had seen many times on his journey to defeat Xehanort. Startled to awareness now, he began to wipe his eyes to get a clearer look at the station he was standing on. Of course it was familiar; he was inside his own heart. The station he was standing on was one he’d never actually seen with his eyes, but one that he recognized nonetheless.

The round stained glass pillar was as blue as the ocean, glimmering mosaic pieces in different shades of emerald and cerulean spread across like soft waves, reminding him of home. The pillar’s surface was adorned with three heart-shaped sections, each bearing someone’s silhouette in white reflective glass that seemed to shimmer with an unearthly glow. Just north of where he had awoken, he saw a delicate shape, a girl in a gown with a tiara on her head -Kai…

Moving to the right, there seemed to be another familiar white shadow -a form laying on its side; it was Sora’s own likeness. He observed it with a wary eye and moved on to the heart on the left, where he saw his likeness again, only laying on its other side, facing its reflection.

The time has come for your next trial…

Are you ready?

He knew it was pointless to answer, but he gave a quick nod before stepping towards Kairi’s shape. It glistened brightly now, almost like it was waiting for him, and then, when he was close enough, the light’s intensity burst abruptly, temporarily blinding Sora. A moment later, when his sight had returned, there was a door.

He grabbed the handle and pushed on the door with purpose, revealing yet another station. He stepped out onto the crimson and black glass and examined his new surroundings. This was definitely new. This station in particular had a more chaotic design than the last, with the outer rim of the pillar being a pattern of lines, numbers, letters and foreign symbols, almost like an encrypted code. The inside of the circle was simply a maze of red lines twisting and turning to form paths -some that led to nowhere, but one that led to the circle at the very top of the station. It was just like every other station he had been to, but this one was blank.

9 113 141520818137 26144 251221 1185 222259271991320...

18 2614 20822 191126 261423 25156 1185 7822 231912155...

21521 26922 2085 1661811121922, 1134 9 2613 7195 14221148.

Each space meant to represent a loved one was completely empty, and in the center of the station, where there was meant to be an image of the person this station was representing, there was nothing -no one. It was like it belonged to nobody, or rather someone who had been forgotten. The entire view filled Sora with a sense of anxiety. He’d never seen anything like it. And just as he was lost in his thoughts, he felt himself being thrown against the door he had just emerged from by something small, yet powerful.

“Wh-What the-!” he gasped sharply, getting to his feet and summoning his trusty Kingdom Key. Where the station had once been empty, there were inky shadows shifting and moving around on the ground. “Heartless?” he exclaimed in both dejection and disbelief.

There were at least five of the small creatures above-ground circling him and many more below ground. Taking in a deep breath, he lunged at one, taking it and the two beside it out in a single blow. The remaining two were hardly a challenge, but for every Heartless he destroyed, two more took its place. There were now too many to count, crowding the surface of the station in their numbers, with the only space left being the one Sora occupied, and even that was growing tighter and tighter.

“Take this!” he grunted, slashing through the pests and trying to take out as many as possible before they multiplied again. He leaped backwards, flipping midair and performing a powerful spinning attack as he landed in the center of a thick cluster of Heartless, decimating them.

There was a moment's rest as the Heartless took their time to regroup and come after him once more. He panted heavily, crouching and holding his Keyblade steady. He'd have to strike first if he was going to have the upper hand, so with a stern glare, he pounced.

‘Do these things ever give up?’ he thought to himself, groaning internally. Just as the thought crossed his mind, he met the snide stare of one pair of those beady red eyes. ‘Wait. Red?’

78e 5n23 4142219 n1220 c14m5 21nl22819 I 23i1919 i7.

His blade sliced through another cluster of Shadows and another, until he could nearly see the maroon shapes and patterns that adorned the platform beneath. “Huh?” he gasped breathlessly, unable to comprehend the words being spoken to him.

I 4i88 f12r…

… r5l22a195.

With those words, the Heartless ceased their endless duplication, allowing Sora to finish them off with a few last sweeps of his Keyblade. This left him standing at the very center of the maze, in the blank white canvas, dropping his blade to the ground with a clang and kneeling over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. He attempted to make sense of what had just happened to him, but found himself at a loss for words. Where were all these Heartless coming from? What was this station? What did those strange messages mean?

“Who are you?” he attempted to ask, standing up straight and scanning the area around him with an inquisitive eye. It was quiet now with no Heartless in sight -nobody else in sight either, and still, he could feel it, like a second heartbeat racing alongside his own…

Just then, something small and bright caught his attention. There, at the round edges of the platform, the dull red glass was beginning to emit bright crimson light. The light began branching in towards the center of the station, travelling along the maze-like lines and approaching Sora slowly. He watched it for a moment, mesmerized and curious, and before long, it was nearing the edges of the white circle.

He didn't even have the time to prepare for the white hot pain and the paralysis that accompanied it as soon as the light entered the circle, causing a great white pillar of light to enclose his entire body. He couldn't even make himself scream in pain or react in any way. Fortunately, as suddenly as the pain came, it was gone, the instant relief causing his body to relax abruptly, dropping to the ground like a puppet with cut strings, darkness beckoning softly…

“Sora! Wake up!”

Sora rose up from his slumber like a drowning man gasping for air, nearly bumping noses with someone as he did. He breathed in cool ocean air, fixating his gaze at the gentle ebb and flow of the waves against the sandy, white beach of the world he called home: Destiny Islands.

“Sora? Helloooooo?” a high pitched voice called out to him, breaking him out of his trance.

He dug his hands into the sand and closed his fingers around the soft and slightly damp substance, letting the familiar texture ground him. “O-Oh. Sorry, Kairi,” he said turning to face her. He didn't bother trying to hide the troubled look on his face; nothing got past Kairi, and he was past the point where he could convincingly lie about his dream.

She was kneeling beside him on the sand, watching him with a stern expression. “Is everything okay?” she asked, tucking a strand of her burgundy hair behind her ear. It was a fruitless effort as the ocean breeze was persistent in untucking it every time.

“Yeah, I think so. I just had the weirdest dream though,” he admitted, burying his hands deeper into the sand. “I think I was… in my heart. There was someone else there, too.” He looked into her eyes, searching for a reaction.

“Someone we know?” she asked.

He shook his head and looked back at the horizon. “I couldn’t see ‘em, but it was like… They didn’t want me to be there?” he tried explaining as well as he could.

Kairi’s nose wrinkled. “But it’s your heart. Who else would be there?”

He huffed and closed his eyes, trying to see the unfamiliar station he had visited in his mind. “I don’t know… Maybe it’s nothing, though.” He turned to Kairi with the large grin she was so used to seeing on his face. He willed himself to relax a bit, pulling his hands out from beneath the sand and clapping them together to clean them up. “Besides, Xehanort’s gone… and so are the Heartless. Nothing to worry about, right?”

Kairi felt her heart lift when she saw the Sora’s expression. She nodded and sent him a smile of her own. “Yeah. You were fighting for a long time, so maybe your instincts are still set to expect danger at every turn. Xehanort hurt a lot of people and he even tried to break the bonds between us, but you never gave up -not even once. You fought until the very end. And now it’s all over. It’s normal to still be tired after all that, even if it’s been months.”

Sora nodded. “You’re right. Maybe I need to get my mind off of this Xehanort stuff.”

With an affirmative “Mhmm!”, she braced herself against the ground before rising to her feet. Kneeling over with a hand on her hip, she offered Sora her other hand. “Let’s go find Riku and do something fun, okay?”

He reached up and grabbed her hand, hoisting himself up off the ground and standing beside her. The two of them dusted their pants off and Sora noted how small Kairi looked in comparison to him. He had to admit he’d grown pretty tall from the fateful day he woke up in Traverse Town to this point -of course, over two years had passed, so it was only natural. Kairi’s girlish charm was starting morph into more womanly grace, her full cheeks into defined lines and angles, almost nothing like the girl whose heart he freed years ago. Naturally, Riku was still the tallest of the bunch, a fact that he still relentlessly teased Sora about, though their height difference was getting more slight as they matured.

It was interesting watching his friends grow up, but he still appreciated that some things didn’t change. “I’ll race you over there!” he challenged, taking advantage of the time it was taking for Kairi to comprehend his words and bounding ahead of her towards their small island.

“H-Hey!” she exclaimed, dashing after him, kicking up the sand behind her. “No fair! That’s cheating!”

Sora let out a hearty laugh as he bounded along the shore, looking over his shoulder at Kairi, whose face was lit with a wide grin. He watched her giggle as she was managing to close the distance between them. Then like a lamp burning out, her face twisted in concern and alarm.

“Sora! Watch out!” she cried.

“Huh?” he gaped at her, not even processing her words quickly enough to turn his gaze forward before slamming into something big and solid. He and the solid thing toppled over together and let out simultaneous groans in different pitches.

The deeper voice grunted and then grumbled distastefully, “Jeez, Sora. Can't you watch where you're going?”

Sora picked himself up, taking a look at his poor victim as he did. “Sorry, Riku,” he said with a nervous set of laughs. Riku was quite a sight to behold, with his silver-colored hair stretched across his face in various places and buried in sand in other places. Sora stood, helping his friend up before patting himself down.

“Where are you two going in a hurry?” Riku asked, raising an eyebrow in mock suspicion and alternating his gaze between his two friends.

Sora stretched his arms upwards and interfaced his fingers behind his head with a sly smirk. “Racing to find you, actually,” he remarked. Then with a quick glance at Kairi, who was hiding a giggle behind a gloved hand, he added, “And it looks like I won.”

Kairi crossed her arms with a pointed expression. “Actually, I saw Riku first. You just slammed into him.”

Sora widened his smirk and performed a dramatic shrug. “Don't be a sore loser, Kai. I won fair and square.”

Just then, Riku piped up. “I'd hate to break this up, but there's a few people here you might want to see.”

“Sora!” a familiar voice called out.

“It's so good to see you!” a second voice exclaimed.

Riku had taken Sora and Kairi to the Seaside Shack. The old thing was no worse for wear considering it survived the destruction of Destiny Islands years ago. It didn't get much use either and with the tropical weather, it was a wonder how it kept from falling apart due to wear and rot.

Upon stepping into the shack, the three were greeted by a pair of familiar faces, each beaming brightly at them.

“Donald!’ Sora greeted, shocked to see his old friend. And immediately after he turned to the other and exclaimed “Goofy!” He was smiling from ear to ear, his heart beating quickly enough to burst. “It's been so long, you guys!” he cried, stepping forward to pull the two into a tight embrace.

“Wak!” Donald yelped, his feet dangling beneath him as his two taller friends lifted him into the hug. “Put me down!”

Brought down from their high by Donald’s stern voice, the two released him, causing him to slam, feathery bottom first, into the ground. “Gawrsh,” Goofy said, looking down at the magician and sheepishly scratching his chin. “Sorry, Donald.”

Donald grumbled something incoherent and waved his hand dismissively at his friend before greeting Kairi. “How's it going, Kairi? You keeping these boneheads out of trouble?”

“Hey!””Hey!”

She laughed at the boys’ reactions. Sora had keeled over in defeat and Riku had a look of utter indignation on his face; she wasn't even sure which one she was enjoying the most. With a flick of her hair, she replied. “Of course. I don't know what they'd do without me.”

“‘Boneheads?”” Sora repeated in disbelief.

Before anyone could reply, a sharp voice cut in. “Sorry to break up this touching reunion and all, but maybe we should be getting to business.”

The voice came from a hooded figure standing at the back of the room, back against the wall.  He was tall, wearing a dark orange overcoat that left his arms completely exposed and a pair of dark grey baggy pants with a checkered yellow scarf wrapped loosely around it like a belt. He lifted a gloved hand to pull down the hood, revealing a head full of crimson hair and piercing emerald eyes.

“Lea!” Sora exclaimed, taken aback that it had taken him so long to notice the man. “You're here, too?”

Lea put his hands on his hips and smiled. “What? No hug?" He scoffed jokingly and added, “Donald and Goofy picked me up on their way here. Wouldn't explain why until we got here. And now that we're here….” He trailed off, eyeing the two meaningfully.

Sora frowned. Did this have something to do with his dream? He didn't even want to think of the possibility that the Heartless might have been back. “Guess it's too much to hope that this is just a social visit, huh?”

Donald and Goofy didn't reply; Goofy gave him a remorseful glance before averting his eyes and Donald simply stared ahead solemnly. It was Riku who broke the silence. “So what's going on?”

Donald and Goofy exchanged glances before deciding that Donald should handle the explaining. “Something is happening to Kingdom Hearts. Worlds are being consumed by the darkness like before and it's happening much faster than it did three years ago. People have been showing up in Traverse Town by the dozens. Master Yen Sid and the King have been trying to figure out who’s behind it all, but they don't think Xehanort has anything to do with it…” Donald sighed and shook his head. “So we're starting at square one, just like before. We need to find and stop whoever is doing this because, if this is just the first phase of their plan, then I sure don't wanna see the rest of it.”

Sora furrowed his brow; this was troubling news to be sure. “So all that work we did…” he whined.

Then Kairi perked up. “Wait. You're wrong. We're not at square one -not really. Last time, you guys still had to find a Keyblade wielder, but now, you have four standing right here. Plus, there's still Master Aqua and Ventus.” She smiled, her own words settling the unease in her heart. “If we all work together then I'm sure we can restore all the worlds in no time.”

“Oh! Right!” Goofy chimed in. “And didn’t the King say Master Aqua and Ventus were… uhh… constructing their own investigation?”

Donald groaned and corrected him, “That’s conducting -not constructing!”

“Oh! Ahyuck!” Goofy laughed, scratching below one of his ears. “Right!”

Sora straightened up, putting a smile on his face. “Kairi’s right. We fixed things once, and we can do it again. What do you think, Riku?”

“We’ve all done all this before, and that was before any of us had formal training. This time, we’ll be ready for whatever they throw at us.” Riku, who had been silently taking it all in, finally spoke with a gentle smile that concealed a multitude of conflicted feelings. He, perhaps more than anyone, remembered the pain, the fear, and helplessness that the darkness brought with it, and he couldn’t bring himself to believe the idea that Xehanort had nothing to do with this, regardless of what the King and Master Yen Sid believed. For a year, Xehanort was out of their lives -they were finally allowed to breathe, and now, that blanket of peace was shattering all over them. The idea that anything else held as much darkness and malice as Xehanort was not a comforting thought.

“Well, then,” Donald began, “Let’s go meet the Queen.”

The Gummi Ship was a tight fit with the six of them present -not including their chronicler, Jiminy Cricket, of course -and they were glad the flight to Disney Castle was such a short one, because by the time they had arrived, everyone could feel the contents of their stomachs churn uncomfortably. At least the landing was smooth, as they were led into the hangar by the two royal technicians, Chip and Dale. Each of them held a pair of glowing wands and waved them to guide the ship through the landing.

Sora grinned, catching the two chipmunks in his arms, as they bounced all over the place, chirping about how happy they were to see everyone again. “If you need anything -” Chip started -”You know where to find us!” Dale continued.

“Will do!” Sora assured them before the group headed for the Royal Audience Chamber.

The ensuing meeting, however, was not as straightforward and simple as any of them had expected. It was already given that Sora would be taking a party of himself, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy -just like before -but in the case of Riku, Kairi, and Lea, negotiations were not as friendly as they would have liked. Sora had already left by the time the argument truly heated up.

“Like hell we’re staying behind” Lea snapped at Riku, who had his arms crossed and was rolling his eyes. “You think that just because we’re not masters like you and Sora that we’re ‘not ready’?”

Riku groaned and spoke as calmly as he could. “I’m just saying that you two should take some time to train a bit before heading out. I can handle things on my own.”

“Riku, are you certain?” the Queen squeaked. She knew her husband cared very deeply for the boy, seeing him as his very own apprentice in many ways.

Riku nodded briskly. “It’s not worth putting those two in danger. We don’t know what’s out there. I’d be much more effective on my own.”

Kairi narrowed her eyes at her friend. “We’re not helpless, Riku. You’re always like this! Trying to handle things on your own. Why can’t you ever admit that you need help?”

With an exasperated sigh, he replied, “This isn’t like what happened three years ago. Three years ago I went out blindly searching for adventure. I didn’t know what I was going to find -”

“And are you even certain you know what to expect? What if you get blindsided?” she shot back, her hands balled up in fists at her sides and trembling.

“I won’t,” he told her simply.

“Fat chance -” Lea began, waving his hand derisively and giving the Queen a pleading look. With Sora, Donald, and Goofy gone, she was the sole authority in the room -the only person who could take his and Kairi’s side.

Kairi pondered Riku’s confidence and firmness for a short moment before speaking again. “You think it’s Xehanort, don’t you?” she asked, biting her lip. “You think he’s back.”

Riku didn’t say anything, and he didn’t have to as Lea spoke up in his place. “That’s impossible; the King and Master Yen Sid both said that it was someone else. Are you saying you don’t believe them?”

“If you’re afraid of him, Riku,” she said, “then you need your friends with you more than anything.”

Riku averted his gaze thoughtfully. “If you’re so determined to come with me -”

“We are,” Kairi confirmed with a determined nod.

“-then let’s compromise,” he told them, giving the two Keyblade apprentices a meaningful look. “I propose all three of us stay behind on Disney Castle to train before leaving.”

“I dunno, man,” Lea told him, his voice much calmer than it was before. “Wouldn’t that mean we’d lose time?”

Riku shook his head. “We need to be prepared. I don’t wanna have to babysit the two of you once we’re out.”

“Well, how long are we staying?” Kairi asked uncertainly.

He cocked his head to the side and thought for a few seconds. “Not too long. Lea’s right. We don’t wanna waste any time. We can’t let Sora do this alone.”

“We have spare rooms you three could stay in,” Daisy interjected. She hadn’t gotten many chances to speak -even less now that Donald had set off. “Stay for as long as you need to.”

Riku cast a grateful glance at her. “Thank you.”

Lea had to admit: his bed at Disney Castle was the best bed he had ever slept in. The mattresses were not too firm and not too soft -the pillows as well, and the blankets were incredibly fluffy -the kind that you could just bunch up and hold against your body without feeling like you were draped in a heavy curtain. He almost didn’t want to get up, but he had never done anything this important in his entire life, so his feelings could wait for a little while.

It didn’t take him long to freshen up and get dressed; He was out in the courtyard with Kairi just a few moments later. She was dressed in her battle gear and had her hair up in a high ponytail with a few loose strands framing her face. She smiled and waved as he approached.

“Good morning!” she chirped. “Did you sleep well?”

Lea smirked. “Like a baby. This place sure knows their beds. So where’s Riku?”

She shrugged and clasped her hands together behind her back. “Must still be sleeping. I heard his snoring from behind the door and I didn’t have the heart to wake him up,” she replied with a giggle.

“Well, then,” He summoned his Keyblade and pointed it in Kairi’s direction. “You wanna spar until sleeping beauty decides to grace us with his presence?”

She nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea!” Her own Destiny’s Embrace materialized in her hand. “You’re on!” She immediately lunged towards him, nearly catching him off guard, but meeting his own blade with a loud clang instead.

“Did you think that would work?” he teased, pushing against her and forcing her to relieve the pressure she was applying. Using his opening, he slashed, trying to catch her while she was recovering from his last move, but she was back on her feet almost immediately and sidestepped to avoid his attack. “Heh,” he grunted. “You’ve been practicing.”

“Can’t let the boys have all the fun, can I?” she replied, staying on her toes and anticipating his next move.

With a chuckle, he said, “Of course not.” He circled Kairi for a moment before taking a step forward. She braced for his next attack, holding her Keyblade in front of her defensively, but the attack never came. Lea raised his Keyblade into the air and let it dematerialize.

Kairi almost let out a taunt at that action before noting the suspicious expression on his face. “Are you okay?”

“What’s taking Riku so long?” he asked.

She bit her lip and looked up at the stairs leading back into the castle. “Should we check on him?”

Lea nodded and turned to face the castle. “Either he’s messing with us, or something is not right.”

“Well, he can’t leave without us seeing him,” Kairi reassured him. “He has to pass through the courtyard if he wants to go to the hangar.”

“Does he really?” Lea challenged and the two made their way towards the guest quarters.

Once they were outside Riku’s room, Lea knocked loudly on the door. “Riku?” he called out. “You coming out, buddy?”

Kairi pressed her ear against the door. “I hear snoring,” she informed him.

He frowned. “Sleeping or not, he needs to stop wasting our time.” With that, Lea twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open with enough force to startle anyone sleeping in the room. He stepped inside and looked around. The room was very tidy with the exception of the bed, which was inhabited by a large lump completely covered in blankets and snoring very loudly. “C’mon. Rise and shine!” he spoke loudly, trying to get a reaction out of the motionless lump. “We don’t have all day.”

“Riku?” Kairi called out, raising her voice as well.

They approached the bed cautiously, watching the lump rise and fall. Lea reached out quickly, grabbing a bunch of the fabric and tugging it away, only to reveal a slightly disgruntled and sluggish... dog. He raised his head slowly to look at the two, letting out a curious whine.

“W-What?” Lea hissed, his face twisting in rage. “Pluto?”

“Oh, no,” Kairi whispered, taking a step back. “We need to hurry, Lea. To the hangar!”

“You don’t have to tell me twice! C’mon!”

Time felt like it was going incredibly slowly as they made their way through the castle, down the stairs, and across the courtyard to reach the hangar. Kairi felt like her legs couldn’t move fast enough as she hoped and prayed that she wouldn’t be too late. She hated the feeling of being left behind, especially by the two people she cared about the most. She could nearly feel her heart becoming heavier and heavier with every step she took.

They burst through the hangar door, letting it slam against the wall as they ran towards the launchpad. The sound of their steps echoed in the tight walkway as they maneuvered their way through the various machines and and conduits spread across the walls.

Chip and Dale leapt when the duo arrived. They were standing at the controls waiting for them, clearly having heard the ruckus they caused on their way. They waved enthusiastically before Chip greeted the two in a light tone. “Hey, guys! What can we do for ya?”

Kairi was bent over, panting out of both exertion and worry. “Did you… Did… Did Riku pass by here? Did you see him? Did he -” She could barely form proper sentences, but she did manage to convey to the chipmunks what she wanted to say.

Dale nodded eagerly and informed her, “Yep! Ya just missed him! He took a Gummi Ship and left just a few minutes ago.”

“He left?” Kairi repeated, straightening up and wrapping her arms around her torso. “He just… left?”

Chip gave her a sympathetic smile. “He told us to tell you guys that this is something he needs to do on his own… Whatever that means!”

‘On his own?’ she thought miserably. Of course, that sounded just like him. ‘Why do you think you have to do everything on your own, Riku…’

“Whaddya mean ‘he just left’?” Lea objected, scarcely managing to keep his voice at an acceptable decibel. He turned away from the technicians and raised a hand to scratch his head. “Man…” he mumbled, “When I get my hands on that kid…” He faced Kairi, who was looking at the ground dejectedly, not saying a word. “Hey, Kai. You wanna go after him?”

She shook her head and glanced up at him. “No. We’re not going after him. We’re making our own way. Just you and me,” she told him. “Sora and Riku can’t push the darkness back all on their own.” Her eyes, which had been dim and nearly brimming with tears just a moment ago, were now bright and fierce, and Lea noted that he liked her better that way.

“Well, you’re the boss,” he told her with a sly smile, excited to finally be out there, kicking butt and taking names. He had to admit, he got restless when he wasn’t doing anything.

“Right.” She nodded with purpose. “Chip and Dale, do you have another Gummi Ship we could take?”

The chipmunks chattered gleefully, leaping up and down as they spoke in unison. “One Gummi Ship -coming right up!”

“So, guys.” Sora flopped back in his seat, staring at the ship’s ceiling, tracing shapes with his eyes. “Where to first?”

Jiminy was the first to speak, hopping onto Sora’s arm rest and pulling out a map that was nearly twice his size. He looked it over with a pensive expression before announcing, “According to my reports and this map that the King left us, the best place to go would have to be this world here.” He turned the small map towards Sora and pointed at a world in the corner.

It was one Sora didn’t recognize from his previous journey. “Huh?” he said thoughtfully. “Why haven’t we been there before?”

“Well, there are lotsa worlds out there. I guess we never had to,” Goofy chimed in, putting a finger to his chin.

“The Heartless usually target specific places,” Donald explained. “You know how they don’t attack unless they’ve got someone or something guiding them?”

Sora nodded slowly in understanding. “So... someone on that world must be causing a lot of trouble this time around.”

“Looks like it!” Goofy replied, ahyucking in agreement.

Sora, however, looked down, thoughtfully, with one arm crossed over his chest and one hand stroking his chin. “It’s more than just that world, though. Someone’s been sending heartless to a whole bunch of worlds.” He looked up at his friends and brought his fist down into the palm of his free hand. “Let’s try to wrap this up quickly, then, yeah? So we can catch this guy and save the day!”

Donald and Goofy both made uncertain noises, not whines but not coherent enough to be complaints. Goofy was the one who spoke first. “I… dunno, Sora. It wouldn’t feel right if we tried to hurry when people are getting hurt.”

“That’s not how we do things, Sora. Remember?” Donald explained, his voice lacking its usual edge and sounding more muted.

“They’re right!” the chronicler nodded, leaping a bit into the air to make himself seen. “If we’re there in body, but our minds are elsewhere, it wouldn’t be fair to those people; now would it?”

Sora frowned; he hadn’t thought about it that way. All he could think about was the final battle, which he was absolutely certain was coming. It wasn’t like this in his last journey, but that was just the thing -his last journey. He had expected it to be his last -or at least his last for quite a while. “Sorry, guys,” he murmured sheepishly, trying to brush his thoughts off with a wide grin. “I guess I got carried away. So… uhh… what exactly is this world called?” he asked, trying to get the conversation back on track before he started to feel too ashamed of himself.

Jiminy was quick to answer his question, bringing the map back towards Sora’s face and pointing. “It’s called ‘Kingdom of the Sun’”

A bright sun shined down on a canopy of trees, casting shadowy patterns upon the dirt below. A solitary squirrel was startled out of its hiding spot by the sound of wind rushing and a loud sound like the flapping of massive wings. Through the branches, a colorful, colossal mass emerged, swooping into the clearing as though it were being lowered slowly by a rope. The squirrel watched on, clutching an acorn and twitching its nose in curiosity.

The thing touched the ground and something resembling a small footstool burst out of it with creak. A door opened and three large figures exited, chattering excitedly and hopping to the ground with soft thuds. The tallest one dropped down to the squirrel’s level and grinned.

“Well, hey there, critter!” the tall one greeted jovially.

The shortest one smacked his own forehead before dragging his hand down his face with a grumble. “We don’t have time for this, ya big palooka! We’ve got Heartless to find!”

The curious squirrel’s ears perked up upon hearing the feathered one speak. “Squeak squeakity. Squeakin squeak!” it chirped, hopping up and down, barely keeping its grip on the acorn.

“Donald! I think this little feller is tryin’ to tell us somethin’!” he remarked, still crouching beside the creature. He reached out with an extended palm, letting the squirrel climb up into his hand, where it clung hesitantly to his fingers before scurrying up his arm and perching on his shoulder.

Donald gave his partner a skeptical look as the squirrel lifted one of Goofy’s large ears and chirped purposefully. “This is pointless,” he grumbled, but nonetheless allowed the scene before him to unfold.

Goofy nodded intermittently to assure the squirrel he was still listening, and once the squeaking had calmed down, the squirrel, still hiding behind Goofy’s ear, shot Donald a scathing glare, which, of course, Donald paid back in kind. Seemingly oblivious to this hostile exchange, Goofy beamed gently and said, “According to our friend here, some really spooky mobsters have been lurkin’ ‘round the forest.”

Sora cocked his head and stroked his chin before remarking, “‘Mobsters’? That… doesn’t sound right.”

The squirrel turned around immediately and let out a sharp chirp into Goofy’s ear, startling the poor guy and eliciting a quiet moan. “Gawrsh! Sorry! I meant to say ‘spooky monsters’! My squirrel talk’s a bit rusty.” Unfazed by the start he had just had, he let out a goodnatured chuckle, rubbing his nose bashfully. “I’ll bet he must be talkin’ ‘bout the Heartless!” he noted.

With a nod, Sora agreed and then leaned into Goofy’s shoulder to address the squirrel, causing Donald to groan loudly and turn away from them, cursing under his breath all the while. “Hey there. You don’t need to worry about those monsters, okay?” He continued when the squirrel gave him a tiny nod. “In fact, they’re the reason we’re here. We’re gonna send them right back where they came from! So d’ya think you could tell us where you saw them?”

The squirrel put down Goofy’s ear and crossed its arms, staring up at the sky in contemplation. It scampered closer to Sora and let out a single desolate squeak followed shortly by a series of even meeker squeaks. “The lil’ feller sounds scared,” Goofy remarked, offering it his hand in order to lower it back to the ground and its abandoned acorn.

Sora softened his gaze and backed away with his hands on his hips. He showed the small creature a grin and assured it. “Don’t worry, buddy. You did a good job.” He arched his back and looked up into the sky idly. “But now we need to see if we can find someone who can actually show us around this forest. Don’t wanna get lost.”

Back on the ground, the squirrel snatched its acorn, waved at its two new friends, and dashed off, but not before spitting out a raspberry at Donald, who frowned so deeply that his friends thought his beak would snap into four symmetrical pieces. “That was a waste of our time!” he snapped, marching off, leaving Sora and Goofy with sheepish expressions on their faces.

“D’ya think we ought to tell him he’s going the wrong way?” Goofy asked, scratching his forehead in confusion.

Crossing his arms, Sora cocked his head to the side. After some deliberation, he sighed. “Yeah, probably.”

The Second District of Traverse Town was one of the oldest districts of the town, housing some of its oldest buildings and most beloved locations. To see it in ruins was heartbreaking, and to be absolutely powerless in the face of the cause of this destruction was an ownerless shame that clung to anyone who stepped into the deserted district.

The district was lit by a handful of street lights, scattered along the paths and sitting on the fences; most of the lights, however, had been shattered by the Heartless, who thrived in the darkness, taking advantage of the large and frightening shadows cast by the buildings. The bell tower loomed menacingly overhead, casting the largest shadow over the district.

Muted footsteps betrayed the presence of someone other than Heartless patrolling the streets. A young boy with ashy blonde hair, Hope, held his boomerang tightly and turned his head robotically, trying to get a full scope of everything going on around him. His heart was pounding erratically, echoing in his ears and making it hard to concentrate on the task at hand.

He was sent in to investigate several distress flares that had shot up out of this district in quick succession nearly half an hour ago, and due to the shortage in combat ready volunteers, he was alone. It wasn’t like he was totally incompetent, but the Heartless were in a league of their own; before his world was destroyed, he had never seen anything like them. Traditional attacks were almost useless against them, so he was forced to use his magic most of the time against them. One of the locals had told him that the only weapon they would respond to was something called the “Keyblade”, but until someone with a “Keyblade” showed up, he and the other volunteers were going to have to fend for themselves.

Hope stopped in his tracks when he felt a breeze travelling just along his ankles. Heartless.

He took a few cautious steps forward, turning around as he did to inspect his surroundings. The shadows were making it hard to count the enemies, which was probably what those things were counting on when they destroyed the lamps. He spotted a pair of yellow eyes in the ground and cast Protect over himself before preparing an Aeroga. Although he was uncertain about the number of enemies around him, he knew they liked to coagulate and then strike in alarming numbers.

Realizing that Hope could now see them, the Heartless began to rise up out of the ground. Dozens upon dozens of them were spread out around Hope in all directions, the farthest of them obscured by the darkness, making it impossible for him to get an exact number.

Counting calmly under his breath, Hope cast his spell right where he was standing, unleashing a powerful cyclone upon the unsuspecting Heartless, throwing the closest ones several feet into the air. He was levitated as well, carried by the winds as easily as if he were a leaf. He wasn’t a fan of being so high up in the air, but it did give him an advantage over the Heartless; after all, they wouldn’t be able to retreat into the shadows if they weren’t near anything solid.

Using the Heartless as floating platforms, he hopped from Heartless to Heartless, evading their pathetic attempts to hit him. He infused his boomerang with fire magic and threw it down at the Heartless that hadn’t been caught by the wind storm yet, managing to destroy some and draw others close enough to get caught up in the tornado.

This should keep them busy enough… he thought to himself, glancing down at the Heartless below him, still scrambling around frantically, the flaming boomerang ricocheting off of each of them in turn. He was running out of Heartless to jump on as some were being blasted out of the storm in all directions. He then eyed an alleyway that he had intended to check earlier. It was quite a fall from where he was floating, but he wasn’t going to let himself tire out fighting every Heartless he saw before finding the source of the distress flare.

Checking to make sure the Heartless were still preoccupied, he bounded off of the shadow Heartless and plummeted to the ground, losing his posture halfway through the fall and colliding with the ground in a heap. At least he managed to get ahold of his boomerang before the Heartless noticed he was gone. He groaned, his knees aching and his hands stinging; he had expected to land with a bit more grace, but as long as he didn’t break anything, he would be fine. He pushed against the paved floor and got to his feet, trying to ignore the pain from his joints; he’d just have to walk it off.

The alleyway was much darker than the street he had just been patrolling. At least the street was somewhat lit, whereas here, he could scarcely tell where his hand ended and his boomerang began. He lit up a small flame in the palm of his free hand and used it to examine his new surroundings as well as make certain that there were no Heartless stalking him through the shadows. For a desolate and pitch black alley, it was surprisingly clear. The only things he could see were a clean brick wall and a dumpster.

He shook his head dismissively, letting out the breath he had been unconsciously holding in. The distress signal hadn’t come from in there, but to his advantage he didn’t have to deal with any Heartless. It was a small but greatly needed mercy. He sheathed his boomerang and reached into his pocket and pulled out a small paper, rolled up into a perfect slender tube. He unraveled it with difficulty using only one hand, keeping the flame in his other hand alight. He had marked the approximate location of the flare on a small map crudely drawn out on the paper. He had checked nearly every nook and cranny in the district, but there was still no sign of anything that didn’t have beady yellow eyes.

Crumpling up the paper carelessly and stuffing it back into his pocket, he let out a frustrated groan and turned around slowly, dragging his feet along the floor behind him.

A low growl startled him to alertness and Hope found himself staring into two large yellow eyes sitting in the middle of the head of a hulking black, violet and red behemoth. It was nearly twice as large as Hope, with a body similar in shape to a shadow Heartless only much, much larger. Its head was dark violet and its two antenna were striped red and violet with two bells dangling off the ends like a jester’s hat. Its body seemed to be adorned with violet and red patches like a shabby one-piece that had been torn and stitched back up time and time again.

“That definitely doesn’t look good,” Hope whispered to himself, inching back and reaching back for his boomerang clumsily.

The Heartless’s mouth flew open like a jack in the box, its jaw remaining static and its head tilting back at a right angle. Out of its mouth, a high pitched cackle emerged, echoing in the narrow alley, but more importantly, a bright pink flame shot out into the sky. At least he found the source of that distress flare.

It began to close the distance between them, eliciting a nervous chuckle from hope. He apologized bitterly. “You know, I was just kidding about you not looking good. You’re the… uhh… best looking… Heartless… here…” he trailed off. The Heartless, however, didn’t seem to be in the mood to negotiate. “Yeah… I thought so, too,” he grumbled in defeat.

Knuckles straining around his boomerang, he began preparing a spell. He was trying to keep his mind from blanking in anxiety, but he wasn’t entirely confident that he could get out of this in one piece. Armed with a flame blast, he dashed towards the Heartless, leaping at the last moment and releasing his spell. The beast cried out and flailed for a second -long enough for Hope to use its face as a diving board and come out on the other side.

He landed on his feet this time, reminding his knees of the blow that they had sustained earlier and causing him to stumble slightly in his escape. Something long and rough wrapped around his torso, elevating him a couple of feet off of the ground. The Heartless’ arm looked to have extended to several times its original length and coiled around Hope like a boa constrictor. He grunted, wiggling his body about to no avail. Its grip on him was iron and he was like soft, malleable plastic in its hand. Beating the arm with his fists seemed to do little more than aggravate the creature as it raised Hope even higher into the air.

He scowled and tossed his boomerang at the thing’s face, startling it and causing it to retract its arm and let him go. It attempted another swipe at him, but he learned his lesson and ducked before it managed to grab him. As he sped away, his boomerang came flying back at him and he caught it with one hand while launching another fiery blast at his pursuer.

His ears picked up another shriek of laughter, and although it meant the Heartless wasn’t prepared to give up on him yet, it also indicated that it was far enough away for him to deal with one other thing -the agitated shadow Heartless that he had left behind earlier.

Hope slid to a stop right before jogging right into the horde and alerting them to his presence. He tightened his jaw and started treading slowly, whisking around for a moment to see the giant Heartless. That thing was still coming for him; it may have been the time to throw caution to the wind and pray he got out alive.

He braced himself, inhaling slowly and then exhaling, before running as fast as he could through the Heartless, knocking them out of his way like a motorboat through water. He was about to have quite the enraged entourage tailing him by the time he was done, but there was nothing else he could do.

With a great heave, he jumped onto the railing alongside the path and propelled himself through the air and back down into the Second district’s square. Feeling beads of cool sweat run down his body, he allowed himself a moment of rest while he sucked in as much air as he could fill his lungs with. He wasn’t sure where that giant thing came from, but had he known it would be a trap, he would have tried to bring backup. It was fortunate that it was in the abandoned Second district and not someplace where it could have attacked refugees. Nevertheless, as soon as he managed to get rid of that thing, he decided he’d have to give the district a thorough once over -just in case.

A heavy thud and a vibration in the ground below interrupted Hope’s thoughts. He straightened up and faced the creature. It idly danced in place, its bells ringing faintly as it did, daring him to make the next move.

The playing field was much larger now -a great improvement over the tight alleyway from before. “Alright, big guy.” He crouched a bit and held his weapon close to himself. “Show me what you’ve got!”

Its response, if it even intended to respond, was cut short by a blow to its head, causing it to keel over, its laughter shifting down in tone. Hope’s head jerked up curiosity. That wasn’t his attack; this was someone else.

Sneakers landing on the ground with a resounding clap, Hope’s new ally revealed himself. He threw a strangely shaped blade at the Heartless, piercing its disproportionate shoulder, just as it began to get back up. He subsequently used an aero spell to boost himself into the air and firmly grasp his blade, using it to leverage himself onto the Heartless’ back.

Hope watched in awe until the stranger called out to him sternly. “You going to help me out or what?”

With a brisk nod, Hope imbued his boomerang with flame magic and tossed it at the beast’s round gut. “Who are you?” he asked, bringing himself closer to the ongoing strife.

“Riku,” came the stranger’s curt reply. He was struggling to stay on the Heartless’ back, and in turn, the Heartless was struggling to keep him off, which left the creature wide open for Hope’s assault.

Hope snatched his boomerang, strengthening the spell before throwing it right back. “Hope,” he introduced, noticing black spots bubbling and oozing on the floor, surrounding him. The black material morphed and grew into at least a dozen of shadow Heartless. “Think you can handle that thing on your own for a sec?” he called out, retrieving his boomerang and casting aero to fling the smaller enemies in all directions, giving himself leeway to create some distance between him and his new adversaries.

“Piece of cake!” Riku grunted, finally losing his footing and falling off of the Heartless. He landed on the tips of his toes and backflipped away from the creature just as it started throwing its arms in his direction like whips, making the stone beneath crack and crumble. All he could do for now was parry the Heartless’ attacks and wait for an opening. Thankfully, Hope was keeping the smallfry off of him so he could think clearly.

A loud whine came out of the Heartless as the tips of its hands got stuck in the rubble it created. It bent its head, opening its mouth wide, letting another pink flare shoot out. Riku smirked and reversed direction so that he was now speeding towards the Heartless. He jumped onto its arms and used them to deftly climb onto its body. He mercilessly swung his Keyblade at the thing’s head, which seemed to be its weakness if the shrieks it was emitting were any indication.

The small Heartless stood no chance against Hope and his magic, but it seemed like the universe was determined to test him, because as soon as the shadow Heartless were gone, a different kind of Heartless began to emerge through dark portals, hopping from foot to foot. He frowned -soldier Heartless. They weren’t as abundant as shadows, but they sure packed more of a punch. He prepared a Thundaga and aimed it in the middle of the group. The blast singed the ground where it struck and decimated the closest of the Heartless, leaving the rest even more provoked than before and ready to strike back.

Hope glared at them and they stared back from under their helmets, scrambling over to him and launching their attacks at once. He managed to avoid most of the attacks, but one of the soldiers managed to sock him in the gut, knocking him onto his back and opening the window for the other Heartless to swarm around him. A sense of dread descended upon him like a blanket, suffocating him and making him feel like a fish lying on a hot skillet.

The giant Heartless was beginning to recover from its setback and lurched violently. Riku lost his balance and slipped off to the side, landing on his behind just beside the creature’s long feet. He swung his Keyblade desperately at them, but the Heartless hopped several feet into the air, repositioning itself at the far end of the plaza with a slam that shook the entire district.

Riku sprung to his feet and raced for his fallen ally, swinging his blade in a wide arc and destroying the Heartless in his way. He roughly grabbed Hope’s arm and yanked the shorter boy to his feet.

“Is that thing gone?” Hope asked, backing away from the soldiers, shoulder-to-shoulder with Riku.

Riku’s head twisted around to check on the large Heartless, which let out a scream of laughter, answering Hope’s question without a word from Riku. “I think you can take it from here, right?” he suggested, making his way back towards the enormous Heartless.

“Piece of cake,” Hope replied.

Riku grinned. “Good.”

An alarm blared in the Gummi Ship’s deck, all lights dimming but the crimson alarm signals. The ship was descending quickly and it was all the passengers could do to keep from being flung every which way.

“I thought you knew how to drive this thing!” Kairi screeched from the starboard end of the deck, clinging helplessly to a metal railing and trying not to get slammed against the magnetically sealed blast door keeping them from the world outside.

“I never said that!” Lea snapped. “I said ‘I bet you I could drive this thing!’”

Kairi glared at the bridge. “Well, if we survive this, you owe me a hundred munny!”

As soon as the shaking had subsided, Lea strapped himself in the pilot’s seat and took a look through the windshield. The ship looked like it had just been submerged completely in water. What looked like an orange pufferfish wandered into his line of vision, giving him a curious glance before scurrying away.

“Lea?” Kairi called out, maneuvering her way towards the front of the ship and sitting down in the co-pilot’s seat. She preemptively had her hands on the turret controls, monitoring their radar. “What’s going on?”

He shook his head, his jaw flapping open and shut as he attempted in vain to find the proper words. The Gummi Ship had adapted to their change in surroundings thankfully, so they were able to navigate through the waters without much difficulty. “You want that munny now or -”

“Uh oh,” Kairi grumbled, a spot of red appearing on the radar in front of her. “Keep it. We’re not in the clear yet.”

This whole calamity started when Lea spotted a discrepancy on their map; their proximity sensors were detecting something, but the map wasn’t showing anything. Likewise, there was nothing to be seen through the windows. Naturally, the duo had decided that the best course of action would be to investigate for suspicious behavior -or rather Heartless behavior. They neared just enough to see what looked like water rotating rapidly, forming a whirlpool that, to their incredulity, sat in the middle of nowhere in the vast emptiness of space. However, being close enough to identify it regrettably also meant that their Gummi Ship was close enough to get sucked into the vortex.

Kairi furrowed her brows, her gaze carving crop circles into the radar’s display. Her fists closed around the turret controls and she began to shoot at the approaching Heartless vessels. The water was slowing down their projectiles, forcing Kairi to make up for her inability to adapt by resorting to a “strategy” of simply shooting left and right, and hoping for the best. The fact that Lea couldn’t keep the ship steady was only creating more problems for her.

“Could you try not to move around so much?”

“Yeah, sure. Why don't I move us straight into the Heartless ships? Better yet, I'll steer directly into their torpedoes!”

“Alright! I get it!” Kairi groaned in annoyance and tried to estimate the best angles to shoot at, but it was only making her reaction times even more sluggish than before. “I can't get a clear shot,” she complained, her voice cracking.

Lea watched her eyes widen in his peripheral vision and bit his bottom lip anxiously. “Hang in there, Kai. We're almost out of this.”

Her eyes fixed on the stolid green monitor before her, she grabbed the turret’s control stick and attempted to forget how incompetent she believed she was. She had to trust Lea and he had to trust her, too, so regardless of the obstacles before them, they had no choice but to find a way to work together. She just hoped he'd listen to her and trust her when she needed him to.

“Lea, stop the ship,” she ordered, monitoring a blinking circle much larger than the rest that was approaching them.

“Are you kidding? We're almost out of this thing!”

“Lea, you need to listen to me!” she pleaded, trying to shoot at the mysterious object, only to have her missiles consistently fail to hit their target. “The radar is picking up something ahead. Something big!”

“So? Shoot it.”

“I can't. It's moving around a lot and it's coming towards us pretty fast!”

Lea glared into the windshield. He was unable to see much aside from the distorted undersea landscape in the two foot radius the ship was illuminating, and the map projected over the window wasn't giving him much of an idea of his surroundings. “Well, keep trying.” He sped on (accelerating even!), set on reaching safer water at all costs.

She opened her mouth to spit out a sharp retort when the large circle blinked out, leaving her sitting stiffly in shocked silence.

“What's wrong? Why'd you stop shooting?” he snapped at her, his knuckles whitening over the steering yoke.

“I think I got it,” she replied in hushed awe.

“You got it?” he enthused.

“I… got it. I got it!” Her proclamation started out hesitant, but built up gusto as it went along. She turned around and jumped out of her seat, draping her arms over Lea’s shoulders from the side.

He chuckled, letting Kairi shake him gleefully for a moment before shrugging her off. “Hey, I'm driving here!” he scolded jokingly.

She released him promptly and plopped back down in the co-pilot’s seat with a dreamy grin on her face. “I can't wait to tell Sora! And rub it in Riku’s smug face!”

He chuckled and tilted his head to give her a gentle smile. “Good work, Kai.”

She blushed and let out a nervous titter, swirling around to face the dashboard. Her eyes fell upon the ignored radar and immediately all color left her face. An even larger dot was now appearing on their radar. “Lea, stop the ship!” she shrieked.

Taken aback, Lea lurched forward, hands flying towards the emergency brake and yanking the lever back forcefully. The entire ship shuddered as its front thrusters activated, bringing the vessel to a halt and nearly slamming its two passengers into the front window.

“Wha…?” he gasped softly. He had been quick to recover from the violent jolt and was leaning in to the glass curiously.

“What is that?” Kairi asked, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Lea shook his head wordlessly, gaping at the pair of headlights were now pointing straight at them. A mere couple of feet away from them was an enormous structure made of what looked like some sort of metal. It must have been the hull of a ship many times larger than their Gummi Ship. Its tip was made of orange-tinted reinforced glass that reminded him of a bug’s eye staring right through him.

The on board radio crackled to life just then, making their hearts leap into their throats. They looked at each other with dread before gluing their eyes to the radio.

“This is the Ulysses. Please identify yourselves.”

The voice belonged to a woman who drawled like she didn't even want to be there, and following her announcement was a brief pause.

“The Ulysses?” Kairi murmured, casting a curious glance at Lea, who simply shrugged back.

“I repeat. This is the Ulysses. Please identify yourselves.”

Without giving it much thought, Kairi touched the radio and spoke. “This is the Nautilus. We mean you no harm.”

The jaded woman on the other end let out a derisive snort. “That's cute.” She paused her transmission for a few seconds then spoke again. “You're cleared to board, Nautilus. Please pull into the depressurization chamber. We’re opening the pressure doors now. Do you copy?”

In a rush, Kairi pushed the radio button once more and uttered, “We copy.” but her words were drowned out by the sound of the woman over the radio.

“Sorry about that, Marge. All I’m saying is if I were you, I’d move to Topeka and never look back." Her voice was far off and it sounded like she was talking to somebody else. Kairi shot an uncertain look at Lea, who smirked back and steered the ship towards the bottom of the Ulysses’ hull. “Some things just- Wait a sec, hon’. Yes, Captain?” There was hushed mumbling on the other end. “What do you mean the radio’s still on?” There was a long pause and then - “Oh.” Following that, the transmission immediately cut off.

Lea pulled into the depressurization chamber and swiveled around to face Kairi. “The Nautilus?”

“Shuddup…” she mumbled before giggling and shrugging bashfully. “I had to think of it on the spot.”

He grinned. “Not bad. Let’s stick with it.”

“So… Any idea where to go from here?”

Sora had his hands on his hips and was beholding the busy village that fanned out across acres of land before him. There were villagers in cotton tunics scrambling around and carts with bags of who-knows-what stacked on top pulled around by old men with bulging stomachs. The buildings were tightly packed, towering over the chipped stone walkways, which looked incredibly narrow in comparison. The sun was like fire bearing down on them, making it difficult to look anywhere but down.

Raising a gloved hand to his brow, Goofy wiped off the sweat that had accumulated. “Gawrsh. It sure is hot.”

“It is called the Kingdom of the Sun,” Donald offered, casting a mild blizzaga which fizzled pitifully and died after supplying the group a few seconds of relief. “Aw phoey,” he grumbled shaking his staff around as though he were scolding his own magic.

Being the tallest of the group, Goofy had a much easier time looking over the crowd, so he raised a hand to block out the sun and gazed ahead earnestly. “Hey, fellers! I think I see a castle up ahead!” he enthused with a bright grin on his face. “Maybe we can ask someone there about the Heartless!”

“Hmm…” Sora attempted to stand on his tiptoes and see for himself, but it was futile; the boy simply didn’t have the stature that his friend did. “I guess that sounds like a good idea.” He then showed off the mischievous glint in his eye. “Last one there has to clean the leaves out of the Gummi Ship’s exhaust!”

The boy was off before either of his friends could utter a rebuttal. He darted ahead and slipped nimbly between two startled villagers. Donald gave Goofy a look that the knight knew all too well, balling his hands into fists and placing them at his hips. Goofy scratched his chin sheepishly in return. 

“Well, whatareyouwaitingfor?!” Donald spat, hopping away in an attempt to catch up to the Keyblade-wielder.

“Fired? Wh-What do you mean fired?” a raspy voice sputtered helplessly.

“Uh, how else can I say it?” came a loud and snide retort. “You're being let go. Your department's being downsized. You're part of an outplacement. We're going in a different direction. We're not picking up your option. Take your pick; I've got more.” he listed, his bored voice echoing against the walls of the oversized throne room.

Sora, Donald and Goofy exchanged curious glances as they stepped into the room, passing a pair of men with heavily built physiques and painted skin carrying a feeble man away, his feet dragging against the floor as he stared dejectedly ahead.

The two voices they had heard were coming from two individuals standing atop a grand pedestal in front of an ornate throne. One of them was a young man around Sora’s age, dressed in ceremonial robes and extravagant jewelry, whereas the other was an indescribably old woman whose skin sagged off of her bony frame almost like it was begging for freedom. The former was now addressing a third individual, a gargantuan man who didn’t exactly look like the brightest bulb in the bunch, dangling a biscuit over his head before leading the man over the edge of the pedestal where he was sent plummeting to the ground.

Sora winced when the large man hit the ground with a resonant thud and rushed over to help him up. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked, reaching out.

The man pushed against the ground with a grunt and looked up at Sora. “Oh, hey.” he greeted with a charming grin. “Oh, don’t worry about me, civilian. Just doing my job.” He got to his feet and dusted himself off. “The name’s Kronk!” He reached out and took Sora’s hand, shaking it before the boy even got a say in the matter.

“I’m Sora!” the boy replied, returning the smile before introducing his friends. “And these are my friends, Donald and Goofy.” He indicated with a gloved hand. “It’s nice to meet you!”

“Likewise,” Kronk replied, stressing the first letter and shooting a finger gun at him. “Are you the guys they sent over for that rat infestation in the crypt?”

Tilting his head to the side, Sora questioned, suddenly feeling squeamish, “Rat infestation?”

“Yep!” Kronk affirmed. “Rats. Big ones.” He held his palms at least a foot apart.

“In the crypt?” Goofy repeated.

“Oh, yeah,” Kronk affirmed. “They’re tracking mud all over the shrines and breaking all the ceremonial pottery It’s a disaster!” For a moment he almost looked like he was going to pass out at the mere thought.

“Well, we’re not really here to -” Sora began, crossing his arms over his chest, but he was cut off so abruptly by Kronk that one could almost call it an act of violence.

“Great! And you guys will love the crypt; it’s ah-maze-ing,” he chortled at his own joke before taking on a more serious demeanor. “No, seriously. I don’t even know what the architects were thinking. You might want to take this map with you,” he added giving the boys a good-natured grin and shoving an oversized map into Sora’s arms. “And if you need any help, you just holler.”

“Um… okay?” Sora obliged, unsure of what he just agreed to do.

Just then, the old woman from before passed by the group, her shoulders stiff, mumbling curses under her breath as she marched by. Kronk chuckled pleasantly and jerked his thumb in her direction. “That’s Yzma, my boss. I should probably get going, but it was great meeting you guys!” He put his hands together apologetically before rushing off after the fuming woman. Sora grimaced slightly. That woman looked like she could give Maleficent a run for her money.

Donald raised his brow as he stared off at the corridor where Kronk and Yzma had just disappeared. “I guess… any lead is better than nothing,” he offered, raising a hand to scratch his head. “Besides, there may be more than just rats in that crypt!”

As the trio walked along the halls towards the crypt, they noted that the hallways were decadently draped in expensive-looking silks and colorful animal skins. The floor beneath them was covered by an intricately sewn rug that extended along the entire length of the hallway as though someone had painstakingly made sure that the carpets in every hall were linked and that there were no visible seams 

“Ooh.” Donald couldn’t stop himself from marveling at the decoration.

“What is this place anyway?” Sora asked, strolling along and toying with the map in his hands. The halls seemed like they would never end and they weren’t even in the crypt yet.

Goofy shrugged. “I reckon it’s a palace or something. I mean, we were just in a throne room.”

“So where’s the king then?” Sora continued.

Donald snorted. “Beats me, but the guy has taste.” He was clearly the only one impressed by the fact that the palace oozed decadence out of every crack.

The group then noticed a large double door with the face of a man carved into both doors. It was the very same face they had seen repeatedly throughout their walk, carved, sewn and painted onto several things in the palace (even the toilet seat if Goofy’s testimony held any truth). It was a hard-to-forget face.

“I think this is the crypt,” Goofy remarked.

“How do you figure?” Donald questioned, prompting Goofy to direct a gloved finger at the stone tablet hanging atop the door with the word ‘Crypt’ carved and painted onto it with crimson acrylic. “Oh.”

“Well, then. Let’s check out that rat problem,” Sora announced before pulling on the heavy doors and squeezing in. “C’mon, guys!”

Behind the double doors was a complete change in atmosphere, as though whichever self-indulgent king had decorated the rest of the palace had completely forgotten this area. The doors led to a stairway that was dimly lit by stone lanterns on the walls. The boys cast long shadows as they descended cautiously into the crypt, keeping their hands close to their weapons.

At the end of the stairs, Sora pulled out the map and stood close to a lantern in order to read it. “Hmm… this place really is a maze. Maybe we should head to the landmarks and destroy any Heartless we find along the way.”

“And if there really are rats?” Goofy wondered.

Sora chuckled hesitantly. “Well, I guess… we’ll have to deal with them or… just leave… maybe?” He was grinning, but the look in his eyes was pained.

Donald sniggered. “Hey, Sora. Don’t tell me you’re scared of a few rats!”

Sora quickly straightened up and then sprung forward towards Donald. “Hey! I’m not afraid of those things! But our priority is the Heartless,” he added, trying to sound more confident. He turned his gaze away from his friends and stared off into the distance, “And speaking of the Heartless…” He pointed ahead and it only took following his extended arm to find several creatures leaping and scurrying, seemingly unaware of the trio’s presence. They were larger than Shadow Heartless and bore a disturbing resemblance to giant purple rats.

“Are those Heartless?” Goofy asked, casting a concerned glance at Sora, whose lips were now pursed in anxiety.

Donald put his hands on his hips and leaned forward, giving the dark creatures an exaggerated leer. When he was satisfied with his eyeful, he straightened up and grinned at Sora. On the outside, it may have looked benign, but Sora knew better. “Looks like it wasn’t rats after all,” he remarked, sniggering in a raspy voice.

“Yeah, yeah,” Sora replied dismissively. “Let’s just kick some Heartless butt!” He ran off, Kingdom Key out, charging directly into the group of rat Heartless. The collision sent the individual creatures soaring, darkness spraying out of them like dust out of a duster and tainting the air.

His two companions perked up upon realizing that they had just let Sora run off on his own. They sped forward, each with their weapons raised. The first to land a hit was Donald, his lightning striking one rat as it stood menacingly on its hind legs. The blast vaporized it immediately, singeing the ground beneath it and releasing a heart, which faded in a puff of smoke as it floated off into the air.

Goofy let out a battle cry as his shield rammed into a couple of Heartless and circled back towards him like a boomerang. He snatched the weapon out of the air and leaped up, sending his shield crashing into a different pair of Heartless, throwing all of his weight into the blow so as to crush them on impact.

As he swept up the Heartless with his Keyblade, Sora felt something heavy tug at his legs, limiting his movement. He glanced down to find one of the rats biting down on his pant leg. He grimaced, feeling his gut lurch. “Hey! Get offa me!” He tried to shake it off of his leg, struggling to lift it. He groaned when he failed to make it release its hold on him. Before he could make a move with his blade, he felt his other leg tugged down, a leathery sensation curling around his ankle. This rat held him down using its tail. “U-Uh… Guys! A little help here!” he called out, his tone tinged with panic.

“Huh?” Donald turned around.

“Sora!” Goofy hollered, bounding towards his friend and swiping at the rats with his shield.

“Wak!” Donald cried out. A Heartless had managed to snag him while his guard was down. “Why you!” He raised his staff and cast aero, causing the offending Heartless to be violently repelled from his body, some of them even dissipating from the power of the blast.

Catching on to the Heartless’ strategy, Sora carried on, watching his feet. Whenever anything got too close, he would leap into the air, flip himself over, and slam the tip of his Keyblade into the ground. The force generated by the collision would repel the Heartless long enough for Sora to dive back down and wipe them out. After a while, he got the hang of it.

Goofy stooped down in the middle of the corridor once it was devoid of Heartless, hands on his knees. “There sure were a lot of those!” he remarked, turning his head to look at Donald.

“Phew!” the Duck sighed. “What a pain!”

A nervous chuckle brought their attention to Sora. “They weren’t that bad,” he replied somewhat unconvincingly. “I could fight these… rat... things all day!”

Donald gave him a knowing look. “I wonder what would happen if we called that bluff.”

Choosing to ignore Donald’s words, Sora went up ahead.

The crypt truly was a maze, and the trio was thankful Kronk had given them the map before they trekked into the palace undercroft. There were more rat Heartless to be found as they went forward, and while they had initially proven as a bit of a challenge, after wandering through the maze for what seemed like ages, they were more of a nuisance than anything else. 

What they noticed further into the crypt was the fact that there weren’t many tombs. In fact the entire time they had been there, they hadn’t seen a single casket. It was also unnaturally quiet when the Heartless weren’t around, save for the sound of Sora and Goofy’s shoes along with the clapping of Donald’s webbed feet against the stone floors.

“Hmm…” Donald rubbed his chin thoughtfully, scanning the walls with exaggerated motions of his neck. “Something fishy’s going on…”

As he spoke, the three of them approached what looked to be the end of the hall and the entrance to a large rectangular room. The long east and west walls were lined with sarcophagi, each covered in intricately drawn illustrations, likely detailing the lives of the people inside.

The boys were still taking in everything in the room when a high-pitched voice brought their gaze to the center of the room. “Oh, hey there!”

Standing at the far end of the room, masked by shadows and candlelight, was a girl. She wasn’t anyone Sora was familiar with, but the child-like frills and colorful buttons adorning her body made him think she wasn’t quite from this world. She wore her platinum blonde hair in two buns that sat at the top of her head like giant animal ears. There were gumdrops and jellybeans all over her hair like hair-clips and she held an oversized candy-cane in her hands.

“Huh?” Sora, Donald, and Goofy slowly approached her.

“That’s rude!” she replied, placing her hands on her hips and glaring. Then she relaxed and shook her head. “Ah, I guess it can’t be helped. I guess you guys didn’t expect to find someone like me here.”

Sora gave her a wary look before asking, “Are you lost?”

She smiled and shrugged. “I guess I am.” She gracefully placed her hands behind her back and took a couple of steps towards the boys. “Have any of you seen someone with spiky hair?”

Sora gave her a puzzled look and raised a gloved hand to indicate himself and spiky mop sitting atop his head. “Uh…”

The girl placed a delicate hand to her lips and giggled softly. “Ah, I’m sorry. I forgot to mention the person I’m looking for is a girl.” She sagged her shoulders and let out a long sight. “Yeah, I guess you don’t know who I’m talking about, do you?” She raised her head and gave the trio a wide grin. “Ah, no matter. I guess you must be the Keyblade wielder they told us about, huh?”

Her words made the trio perk up. “Wait. You-” Sora began, only to have her interrupt him.

She waved her hand dismissively and said, “Don’t worry about it, alright?” She walked backwards towards the door on the far end of the hall. It opened automatically as she approached.

Sora and company took it as their cue to run after her. However, she stopped walking in order to hold out her candy-cane defensively. It emitted a strong light, which in turn shot out several light bullets, one for each coffin in the room. The coffins began to vibrate, the ancient stone rumbling and groaning in protest. Then, without warning, the lids of the sarcophagi shot out towards the trio, preventing them from resuming their pursuit.

“This doesn’t look good,” Sora said, bracing himself and looking around at his companions. He shot a quick look at the door at the end of the room only to find it closing. “H-hey!” He jerked forward anxiously. He let it go quickly, though, and exhaled deeply. “Aww… I guess we’ve got worse things to worry about right now than whoever she was.”

As he spoke, several rat Heartless began to surround them. They scurried towards them rapidly, leaving no time for them to think about anything but the battle ahead. The three hurriedly dispersed, each of them taking on the Heartless directly in front of them. As their first attacks met their marks, they heard a deafening thud, accompanied by the ground rumbling, nearly knocking them off-balance.

“What was that?” Donald quacked loudly.

The culprit was standing just before the exit -a behemoth of a Heartless, which resembled the rat Heartless, but possessed gargantuan, muscular arms and legs. The deformed creature was draped in crimson and yellow ceremonial fabrics and wearing large dangling earrings. When it spotted the three pairs of eyes trained on it, it let out a shrieking roar. The roof vibrated from the sheer volume, sending dust down on the group.

“That’s one big rat,” Sora remarked weakly, swallowing the lump in his throat. He shook his head and gripped his Keyblade firmly in his hands. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Donald let out a series of sputtering quacks, parrying the tail of one of the rat Heartless and swiping it with his staff before casting Aero, Reflect, and Thunder in quick succession. He grumbled and increased the range of his Thunder attack, turning it into a thundara spell. Goofy threw himself out of the way of Donald’s spell, holding his shield in front of him and using a Heartless to break his fall.

With his companions preoccupied with the smaller Heartless, Sora turned his attention to the elephant in the room, sizing it up for a moment before charging towards it. With one heavy bound, the greater rat slammed its front paws into the ground, cracking the stone and narrowly missing Sora, who used this opportunity to try and mount the beast. This proved harder than he had anticipated, however, as it tossed him off with ease. He landed lithely, recovering swiftly and thinking of a different move.

The creature’s movements looked awkward, especially when it concerned its disproportionately sized limbs. It looked like its upper-body strength lacked the capacity to actually support all of its movements; nonetheless, it managed to pack quite a bit of punch for each blow it dealt. The ground shook slightly with every step it took, but Sora managed to stay on his feet.

He mouthed a quiet countdown before dashing forward again with his Keyblade held defensively in front of his body. The creature was on its guard, watching him closely as he moved in and around its front paws. It tried to crush him again, sluggishly dropping its front limbs to the ground. Sora parried agilely, sliding under the paws before they hit him and taking a couple of light steps around the creature until he was at its backside.

Its massive tail waved idly as it looked for its opponent in a frenzy. Sora smirked and grabbed the tail, using it to hoist himself onto the thing’s back. Fully aware of its mistake, the greater rat shrieks and wobbles, trying to shake the pest off. Sora clenched his fists around the fabric covering the Heartless, using it to stand his ground. Once it had tired of fidgeting, he took his chance to swat relentlessly at its back before losing his footing and dropping to the ground again.

Donald and Goofy were having just about the same luck with the rest of the rat Heartless. They seemed to multiply as soon as they managed to reduce their numbers -like a plague. It was becoming more of a chore than anything. The two of them moved in sync, Goofy on the defense and Donald on the offense, striking down Heartless purposefully and artlessly.

“Yeouch!” Goofy let out a sharp yelp when one rat’s tail whipped at his arm. The leathery tail wrapped around his arm and squeezed it tightly enough to bruise it before relinquishing its grip and returning to its master.

“Goofy!” Donald cried out, swiveling around to face his injured friend. He raised his staff and cast cure, making emerald lights as well as colorful sparks shoot out of it. The light enveloped Goofy, who beamed gratefully at his friend before turning his attention back to the Heartless.

Somehow, Sora had managed to wear the greater rat down by nimbly dashing around its body, bashing it with his Keyblade whenever he could. If he stayed in one place for too long, the creature eventually caught up to him, which was why Sora made a point of staying on his toes. Unfortunately, the constant movement was taking a toll on his own energy as well. At this point, it was his stamina vs the greater rat’s, and at this rate, it was hard to tell which would be depleted first.

“Alright, big guy! Show me what you’ve got!” he taunted, beckoning it with one hand and gripping his Keyblade tightly with the other. It roared in response.

The greater rat craned its neck upwards like it was preparing to sneeze and then brought it back down abruptly. It took being singed and thrown backwards for Sora to realize that it had just breathed fire at him. He cocked his head and gave the greater rat a miffed look as if to say “Really? Fire?” Just as he was recovering from the blast, he felt the cool healing magic of cura.

“Thanks, Donald!” he called out over his shoulder before turning back to the greater rat. It waved its head around almost like it was dancing in victory at finally managing to hit him. Sora growled, glaring at the beast. “Don’t get cocky yet!” He held his keyblade directly in front of him and cast blizzard, hitting the creature smack in its forehead and snapping it out of its reverie.

The revelation that the greater rat could actually cast fire spells turned Sora’s fight into a whole new dance. Dodge. Twirl. Slide. Strike. Jump. Cast. Rinse. Repeat. He was just glad the Heartless wasn’t that bright or it would have changed its strategy and made it all the more difficult.

Sora held his breath as the creature wobbled slightly on its limbs before the bulky appendages buckled completely and it collapsed, defeated. He waited for the dim light of a heart being released before letting out a sigh of relief and looking over at Donald and Goofy, who were disposing of the last of the rat Heartless. Once the room was completely empty save for Sora, Donald and Goofy, the three of them exchanged looks.

“Do you think that’s the last of them?” Donald asked, watchfully eyeing the empty sarcophagi.

Sora shrugged and looked back down at the map. “According to this thing, there’s only one room left in this place, and it’s behind that door.” He gestured with his free hand towards the door the girl had gone through earlier. “C’mon, guys! Let’s check it out!”

The trio rushed to the door and pushed it open to reveal an incredibly small room with a single large sarcophagus in the center, and sitting on top with one leg crossed over the other was none other than the girl from before. She looked like she was expecting the trio to come by and grinned like the Cheshire cat when she met eyes with Sora.

“Wow! You guys are really out of shape! I was told the Keyblade Wielder and his companions could defeat a room full of Heartless in under a minute.” She raised her hand and glanced at her wrist. “I don’t really have a watch, but I’d say it took you longer than that.”

“Stop messing around!” Sora exclaimed, with an exasperated look on his face. “Who are you and how are you controlling the Heartless?”

The girl uncrossed her legs and let them dangle off the edge of the sarcophagus. She lolled her head back dejectedly and sighed. “Shouting at a lady?” she asked in fake disbelief. She then looked directly at Sora again. “I expected better from you.” Placing a thoughtful finger on her chin she added, “Then again, I guess it is rude not to introduce myself…”

Sora, Donald and Goofy watched her expectantly as she let herself drop to the ground. She arched over slightly to smooth the wrinkles of her dress before giving the boys a big smile. “But it’s not rude if we never actually met. I think it would be better if we all pretended this meeting never happened.”

“Huh? Wait!” Sora protested. “What do you mean ‘pretend this meeting never happened’?”

She held her arm out to her side and dark swirls began to form at her fingertips, expanding until a Corridor of Darkness had opened. “Next time I see you will be the first time, and I promise I will be much more accommodating.” She stepped into it. “Until we next meet... Sora,” she said as the darkness closed around her.

Sora ran after her, but to no avail. The Corridor of Darkness had disappeared and so had the girl. He shook his head stubbornly and groaned.

“Aw, rats!” Donald said, angrily shaking his fist.

“I guess it’s not gonna be that easy, is it?” Sora placed his hands on his hips and stretched his back. “I wonder if she’s the one Master Yen Sid and the King were talking about.”

“Hmm…” Goofy rubbed his chin thoughtfully, furrowing his brow.

“Well, she’s obviously not alone,” Donald said. “Remember before? She said she was looking for a girl with spiky hair.”

“Yeah, right…” Sora mumbled, recalling their first meeting with her. “I think we need to investigate this world a bit more. 

“Agreed!” Donald nodded. 

Kronk was waiting in the throne room when the trio finally emerged. He clapped his hands together and gave them a warm smile. “Sora, Donald, Goofy! Great to see you guys in one piece!” he laughed as he sauntered over to them. “I hope you’re here to tell me you got rid of all those rats,” he said 

Sora gave him an overconfident grin and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah; those things were a piece of cake.” His grin faltered when he caught a pair of knowing looks from Donald and Goofy.

“Well, that is just fantastic! I really appreciate all the hard work,” Kronk replied, emphasizing almost every single syllable. “Why don’t I introduce you to my boss and we can work out a reward for your services.”

Donald’s eyes burst out of his head and you could practically see the munny signs in his irises. “Reward?”

“Don’t worry about that reward!” Sora said quickly. “We’re just glad to help!”

“Wha-wha-wha-wha- Sora!” Donald squawked in disbelief.

Sora turned and stuck his tongue out at his friend. “We’d actually really like to ask you some questions, if that’s okay.”

Kronk put on a pained face and hissed. “Ah… Sorry, buddy. I’ve actually gotta skedaddle. I’ve got some thyme buns in the oven and Yzma’s just about to have brunch…”

Sora frowned. “Oh, that’s fine. I guess I could always just ask around town and see if anyone can help me…”

“No, no, no,” Kronk replied.

“No?” Sora was puzzled.

“You have to stay for brunch!” Kronk said, leaning forward so that he could level with his guests. “I insist!”

Sora’s stomach growled at the sound of that. He laughed sheepishly and looked around at his friends, both of whom were rubbing their stomachs with equally bashful looks on their faces. “Hmm… I guess all that rat fighting kinda made us hungry…I dunno...”

Kronk smirked wittingly at them. “C’mon. I’m making my world famous spinach puffs. They’re a hit with all the servants.”

“World famous?” Goofy asked, nearly salivating at the thought.

“Well, not world famous yet,” Kronk admitted with a chuckle, “But that’s the plan!” He winked suggestively. “So what’ll it be, fellas? You can ask me anything you need to know at brunch. Yzma doesn’t like to talk much anyway.”

Sora gave his companions quick glances as if to ask for permission before shrugging and replying. “Sounds good to me! I’m starving!”

Kairi fidgeted in her seat while she eyed the circular bulb in the ceiling of the small room she had been sent to. As soon as their Gummi ship had made it into the depressurization chamber of the larger vessel, she and Lea had been ushered into separate rooms -for questioning, she guessed. She wasn’t quite certain, but it didn’t seem more hostile than simple precautionary measures. She certainly wouldn’t trust anyone who showed up out of nowhere in a strange, vibrant, colorful vessel.

She bit her lip when she remembered Chip and Dale. They were no doubt monitoring the Gummi ship from Disney Castle, but she felt like she may have had to reassure them that all was well before getting off of the ship. Of course, all the confusion would be cleared up soon and their Gummi ship would be waiting when they were done.

More than anything, Kairi was curious as to who these people were. She wondered if they could give them any clues about the Heartless on this world. Letting out a sigh, she pondered whether this stuff came naturally to Sora or not. He must have saved dozens of worlds at least and met hundreds of people, but Kairi couldn’t help but feel like a swarm of bees had just made the pit of her stomach their new home.

There was a soft knock at the door to the small room, which, Kairi realized, must have been some sort of broom closet (not the warmest of welcomes, but not entirely unwarranted), and a woman stepped into the room. She was much taller than Kairi with wavy blonde hair tied in a loose braid. Her tanktop revealed well-toned arms and likely hid an equally built physique. She shut the door and leaned against it with her arms crossed, staring Kairi in the eye and making her feel like an insect under a microscope.

“That Nautilus of yours is pretty small for a submarine,” the woman started, moving nothing but her mouth and looking statuesque in more than just one respect. “Where did you say you were from?”

Kairi opened her mouth for a moment, trying to think of the right words. She recalled being told that the existence of other worlds was meant to be a secret, so it wasn’t like she could tell this woman the truth. “I didn’t…” she replied flatly. The woman raised her brow. “I -I mean… My partner and I, we’re from a pretty small island?” She wanted to smack herself in the face for sounding so uncertain and shy. This was the closest she could come to the truth without outright stating that she wasn’t from this world. “It’s… in the middle of the ocean.”

“A remote island? And where do you get technology like that vessel of yours?” the woman pressed, looking just about ready to eat Kairi alive.

“We… stole it,” Kairi replied with a sheepish smile. She was scared to say too much, knowing Lea was likely in another room getting interrogated as well and giving them equally false answers. Perhaps his interrogation was already through and this woman was seeing through all of Kairi’s lies, but if she could tell that Kairi was lying, it didn’t show on her completely impassive face.

“These are dangerous waters,” the woman stated. “No place for a couple of kids in a toy.”

“Hey!” Kairi snapped. “We’re not kids!”

The woman sighed and uncrossed her arms. “I’m Lieutenant Helga Sinclair and you’re aboard the Ulysses, a private vessel owned by Whitmore Industries. I don’t know what we’re going to do with you and your partner, but we’re not gonna risk letting the two of you get lost in the deep sea. You’re going to be accompanying us on our expedition until we can escort you safely back to the surface. Understood?”

Kairi nodded slowly. She wasn’t too certain about travelling with these people for long, but this submarine was huge, as well as a nice change from their Gummi ship. “Where’s my partner?” she asked.

“I think it’s common courtesy for you to introduce yourself as well,” Helga reminded her.

“Oh!” Kairi put her hands over her mouth. “I’m sorry! My name is Kairi.”

“Kairi, huh?” Helga smirked. “Welcome aboard the Ulysses. Your partner, Lea, is waiting for you in the spare room we’ve prepared. We weren’t exactly counting on guests, so I hope you don’t mind sharing a bunk-bed.”

The spare room they were sent to was truly small. Aside from the uncomfortable-looking bunk-bed, there was a circular window at the far end of the room and a few empty crates, indicating that this must have been more of a storage room than a bedroom. It didn’t take long for Kairi and Lea to get tired of it, and eventually, Kairi suggested they try to get to know the rest of the crew.

The pair were getting ready to leave their room and explore the ship, when the door swung open and a man more akin to a hurricane stepped into the room in a flurry of papers and office supplies. He didn’t seem to be looking at anything but the large book at the top of the pile in his arms. Kairi sidestepped briskly to avoid bumping into him as he strode hastily into the center of the room. Like a startled bird, he turned his gaze up and scanned the room. His glasses slid slightly down the bridge of his nose and, with no hands to adjust them, he simply gave the blur vaguely shaped like Kairi a confused look. “I- This isn’t -I mean -I’m in the wrong room, aren’t I?” he sputtered.

With a small laugh, Kairi nodded. “Yeah, I think you are.” She stepped towards him and extended her arms. “Here; let me help you with those. You’re carrying a lot.”

“Actually, I -” For a moment, it looked like the man was about to resist her help, but after giving his pile of stuff a hopeless look, he sighed and shrugged. “Ah, I would actually appreciate that. Just, uhh…” Before he could finish his sentence, Kairi was taking the large book on the top of his pile, letting it shut around the pencil inside of it; he shut his mouth and let out a resigned “Okay”

Lea stood up, happy to finally be doing something , and offered to take a few of the rolled up pieces of parchment and maps the man was holding, leaving him with only a couple of compasses of various sizes and a few rulers. Now unburdened, he straightened his back and glasses and gave the duo before him a shy grin. “Thank… uhhh… you. For that.”

“It’s nothing,” Kairi replied cheerfully.

After a brief moment of silence and a cough on the man’s part, he spoke again, his sentences awkward and directionless. “I’m Milo. Thatch. Milo Thatch. It’s nice to meet you guys.”

Lea decided to speak up this time. “The name’s Lea, and my friend here is Kairi.”

“Pleasure to meet you, too,” she said musically.

After sending Milo off, they headed for the mess hall where they found two other members of the crew in active conversation over empty plates. One of them seemed to be quite young -eighteen years old at most; she was dressed in oversized overalls and worn leather gloves. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she groaned when she caught sight of the duo coming into the room.

The second crew member turned his head to glance in their direction and smiled warmly when his eyes met theirs. “Well, if it ain’t our guests. How do you do? I’ve been waitin’ to meet you two.” He got up from his seat and stood before the duo. He was nearly a head taller than Lea and built like an ox, but his demeanor was anything but intimidating. He reached out and grabbed Lea’s hand, shaking it almost aggressively.

Kairi smiled politely at him before speaking up. “I’m Kairi and that’s Lea. We were actually wondering if we could ask you a question or two.”

The man chuckled and relinquished his hold on Lea, who rubbed his arm sourly, still winded after his close encounter. “Pleasure, Kairi, Lea. I’m Dr. Joshua Sweet, but y’all can just call me Sweet. I’m the resident physician on this fine vessel. And -”

“I’m Audrey Ramirez,” the girl interrupted and tipped her cap at them. “I’m the chief mechanic here on the Ulysses. What can we do for you?”

Lea was about to open his mouth to speak when a low groaning sound interrupted him. It almost sounded like the metal plates forming the ship were settling or shifting. “What was that ?” he asked, frowning.

Audrey’s expression looked annoyed. “Ay... It was probably nothing, but I still need to go check that out and make sure the boys aren’t slacking off.” She gave the group a half-hearted salute before running out of the mess hall.

“So about those questions,” Sweet began once Audrey was out of the room. “What did you have in mind?”

Lea scratched the back of his head before answering. “Well, we were wondering if you guys have seen anything out of the ordinary lately.”

“‘Out of the ordinary’? Like what?” Sweet asked, crossing his arms over his broad chest.

Just then, the entire ship shook, causing the three of them to topple into each other. “Woah!” Kairi cried, grabbing one of the tables affixed to the floor to steady herself. She also grabbed Lea’s arm to stop him from falling face-first onto the ground.

“Does that count as ‘out out of the ordinary’?” Sweet tried to raise his voice over the sound of the ship moaning against the harsh movement.

“Let’s get out of here!” Kairi yelped.

The entire vessel was on high alert as it seemed something had been repeatedly striking it. Kairi and Lea couldn’t find anyone they knew except for Sweet as the three of them rushed towards their Gummi Ship. Everyone was getting on escape pods and they couldn’t very well leave their only way off of this world behind.

They were now in a corridor so dark the group could scarcely see anything were it not for the flashing red lights, and even then, they could only see silhouettes. Aside for the siren and the distorted sound of a woman telling them to evacuate over the intercom, there was hardly anything to hear either.

“You’re going the wrong way, Sweet!” a commanding voice halted them, piercingly loud. They turned around and found an amazonian figure approaching. It was the lieutenant. She brushed her sweaty bangs back and off of her face. “The hangar is flooded. You won’t be able to reach your ship. You two will have to board one of the escape vessels. You too, Sweet.”

Lea gave the woman an incredulous look and then raised his eyebrows at Kairi. He then stepped back towards the sealed pressure door, placing a hand on the heavy valve in its center. “Y-You don’t understand!” he exclaimed. “That ship is -”

“It’s history. Now step away from that door or you’ll flood the rest of the ship.”

Sweet stepped in, placing a gentle but firm hand on Lea’s shoulder. “Now, then. You heard the lady. We gotta get outta here.”

Lea narrowed his eyes, his hand lingering on the door for a moment. An angry “Now!” from Helga startled him away from the door as he begrudgingly followed after her. Kairi bit her lip and grabbed him by the wrist. The place was incredibly dark and the idea of getting lost and drowning wasn’t exactly inviting. However, the idea of leaving the Gummi Ship behind was making her apprehensive to say the least.

Helga dashed through corridor after corridor with purpose, her boots slamming against the floor with such force that her footsteps managed to be audible even over the aggressive ambient noise. This, coupled with the fact that Sweet was constantly looking over his shoulder for them, made it easy to follow them.

The ship was eerily empty, almost like a ghost ship. The group rushed back through the crew’s quarters, which were incredibly shadowy now that the lights were turned off. The doors had been left open in abandon. The gaping black holes left in their place seemed to be filled to the brim with sticky, inky, black despair. For less than a second, Kairi could have sworn she saw pairs of red eyes staring back at her as she ran past.

The group stopped in front of an open hatch. The silver haired head of an intimidating man poked out from inside. “Lieutenant, we can’t hold more people. Are these all that’s left?”

“Yes, Commander,” Helga told him without hesitation, pushing her charges ahead of her and through the hatch.

They found Milo and Audrey already strapped into their seats on the escape pod. Sweet strapped himself in and motioned towards the seats on the other side. “Buckle up, kids! Looks like it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!”

Lea gave Kairi a solemn look as if to say “So much for our Gummi Ship” and Kairi nodded back with a sad look of her own. She took a seat beside Lea and reached around for the seat belt when something like a frosty breeze moved against her bare ankles.

“What was that?” she gasped, looking down at her feet and finding nothing. Had it simply been her imagination? She raised her head, making eye-contact with Milo, who looked just as shaken as she did. Dismissing the feeling, she grabbed the seat belt and buckled herself in.

Milo shouted out directions to Helga and the commander, indicating where their vessel should go. They all knew fighting the strange machine-like creature was going to be a waste of time, so they tried to make themselves scarce. Milo interrupted his speech to yelp in pain. “Hey! Audrey! You kicked me!” he cried out.

“You kicked me first!” Audrey shot back, her face twisted in annoyance.

Helga stormed in, her hair sticking to her face and her eyes stern. “Thatch! Ramirez! What are you two bickering about?”

Audrey was about to answer, but was interrupted by a loud yelp.This time, the cry came from Lea. “Ouch! Watch it, Kai!”

“I didn’t do anything!” Kairi replied. She looked down at her feet again, remembering the strange feeling from before, and saw that even in the darkness of the submarine, her vision was more obscured than it should have been. “Lea! Look!” she pointed to the ground.

Wordlessly, he did as he was told, and his jade eyes widened in recognition. “I don’t think anyone has been kicking anyone,” he said, his hands working on unfastening his seat belt. Kairi did the same. Once both of them were unbuckled, they got to their feet and summoned their Keyblades. As soon as their Keyblades were out, the shadows on the ground scurried below deck. “Looks like we’ve got some work to do,” Lea said.

Kairi gave him a small smile before hoisting herself over the railing and leaping to the floor below. It was much darker below, as well as smaller. She and Lea barely fit between all the boxes full of supplies, and breaking them during their strife certainly wouldn’t be ideal.

As soon as Lea’s boots hit the ground, several pairs of red eyes began blinking into existence on the floor. The eyes were attached to antennae, a round head, two crooked arms, and, finally, legs. Soon, the entire room was full of shadows; every square inch was occupied by a Heartless, which didn’t give the pair much room to move around.

Kairi and Lea leapt into the air, Kairi diving into one half of the Heartless and Lea into the other. They swiped at the threat with their Keyblades, but it was like scooping water out of a bucket with your bare hands. Perhaps they were making a difference, but at the rate they were going, they would barely scratch the surface before becoming overcome with fatigue.

Lea stood on top of one of the crates, the Heartless pooling around like iron shavings to a magnet. He picked Kairi out in the crowd of Heartless and called out. “We’ve gotta think of something else! We’re not gonna get rid of them like this - Woah! ” The vessel jerked -no doubt due to the commander’s frantic steering -causing him to lose his balance and fall into the Heartless swarm.

“Lea!” Kairi called out. “Are you okay?” She swiped at the Heartless, digging a path to where Lea fell.

“What in the world?” a sharp voice cut into the panic. “What are these things?”

Kairi twisted around. Helga had jumped down into the storage area and was now standing knee-deep in Heartless. The creatures wrapped their tendrils around her, but she was having none of it, roundhouse kicking the Heartless in front of her and sending anything attached to her leg flying into one of the supply crates. The crate shattered on impact, causing the Heartless to dematerialize as well.

Kairi bit her lip; Helga wouldn’t be able to release the hearts taken by the Heartless with her fists alone, but she and Lea could definitely use the help. She made eye contact with the lieutenant and saw her nod in understanding before whirling around to fight off the Heartless trying to climb up her legs.

With a grunt, Kairi pushed through the Heartless until she reached the place where she saw Lea fall. She destroyed the Heartless in her way before finding his arm, sticking out among the inky black, and tugging him back up to his feet. “You okay?”

Lea ran a hand through his hair and shook his head. “As okay as I’ll ever be,”  he replied, getting to work on decimating the Heartless around him. “Man, this is giving me an icky sense of déja vu,” he commented.

With Helga’s help, the two of them managed to significantly decrease the density of the Heartless swarm. All the while, the submarine’s shaking seemed to subside and the chatter coming from the upper deck (audible now that the skirmish with the Heartless had calmed down) seemed to indicate that the vessel had managed to escape the threat of the giant machine.

“What were those things?” Helga questioned, standing in front of the ladder with her hands on her hips. “You guys seemed to be ready for them. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Lieutenant, get back up here!” the booming voice of the commander echoed in the small vessel, but she didn’t respond immediately. Instead, her stern gaze lingered on Kairi and Lea’s meek figures.

“It’s a long story,” Lea replied, rubbing the side of his arm, still sore from his fall. Kairi shrugged and gave her a stiff grin. Helga didn’t seem satisfied, as she gave the two a look that said “This isn’t over.”, but dropped the subject nonetheless.

All the escape vessels that survived the attack emerged in a dark cavern. They bobbed above the water and several of them began to open up, releasing the crew members that were captaining them. The survivors populated the floor of the cavern. Their happiness for being on solid ground was decidedly marred by the fact that nearly a hundred of their fellow crewmates had not been so lucky.

Lea and Kairi looked around at the sullen faces in the crowd. Kairi tore her eyes away and looked up at Lea with sad eyes, wondering if they had failed these people by allowing so many of them to get killed. Would any of it have changed had they tried to do something differently? He seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. His hand rested on her shoulder, squeezing it tenderly and urging her away from the crowd so they could speak privately.

“Things aren’t looking good,” he started, gazing out at the crowd for a moment. The Commander, called Rourke by his subordinates, looked like he was addressing the crowd. “No matter what we do here, we’re just going upstream without a paddle.”

Kairi frowned, her heart feeling heavier and heavier by the second. “Maybe… Maybe Riku was right. Maybe we should have just stayed back…” She let out an unsteady sigh. “It’s hopeless, isn’t it. And we can’t even leave either; our Gummi ship is probably totalled right now -not that we could even get to it.”

He was about to nod in agreement, but abruptly stopped himself. He let out a groan and shook his head. “Nah, we’re seeing this through ‘til the end. We haven’t failed yet, Kai,” he said, placing his other hand on Kairi’s other shoulder and turning her around so that she was facing him. “We’ve still got some Heartless to bust and a world to save.”

She gave him a small smile then gasped soundlessly when she recalled something she had been meaning to ask. “Lea?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you notice anything strange… about the Heartless?”

Lea racked his brain for a moment, but then scrunched his face up in confusion. “Not really. Was there something strange?”

Kairi shook her head, remembering the beady red eyes that stared piercingly into her own earlier. “No, maybe I was just imagining it…”

“Hope! You’re back!” a cheerful voice greeted as Hope returned from the Second District with Riku in tow. A girl not much older than Hope dashed towards him. She had soft rose-colored hair and deep blue eyes. She pulled him into a protective hug and then pulled away with a grin.

He was startled by the sudden display of affection and forgot to hug her back. “Hey, Serah,” he mumbled.

“You should have asked me and Sazh to come with you!” she scolded. “You could have gotten hurt! Or worse!”

A man with a moderately sized afro atop his head walked towards them. “Ease up on him, Serah. He’s not a kid anymore. Isn’t that right, Hope?”

Riku watched the exchange curiously, unsure of whether or not to insert himself in the conversation or not. On their way back, Hope told Riku about the problems Travese Town had been facing recently. The massive influx of refugees was just the beginning. It didn’t help that the negative emotions of the refugees was like a magnet for the Heartless.

Before Riku could walk away, Hope turned around and gestured towards him. “Guys, this is Riku. If he hadn’t shown up, I think I would have been a goner,” he admitted. Serah gave him a knowing look, to which he only coughed awkwardly.

The man took a step forward and grabbed Riku’s hand, shaking it eagerly. “It’s great to meet you. I’m Sazh, and my friend here is Serah.”

Serah nodded and smiled warmly. “Has your world also disappeared?”

“Uh, no,” Riku replied. “Actually, I’ve come to help you fight off the Heartless.”

“Oh.” She bit her lip and closed her arms around herself. “It’s no use fighting them. Not without a Keyblade.”

When he heard that, he smirked and summoned his Soul Eater. “You mean like this?” He held the blade up, displaying it for them.

Sazh let out a low whistle. “Well, now. Would you look at that?”

Hope scrutinized the weapon. “A Keyblade? What’s that do?”

Serah turned to him and answered, “It’s a special weapon, capable of locking or unlocking the gateways between the worlds, but more importantly, it can release hearts that are captured by the Heartless. Isn’t that right, Riku?”

Riku agreed, slightly taken-aback by Serah’s apparent knowledge of the Keyblade and its powers, and added, “But it also attracts Heartless, unfortunately, and, by the looks of it, that’s the last thing this world needs.”

“But you can stop them, right?” she asked earnestly. “And save all the worlds whose hearts the Heartless consumed?”

He felt himself falter for a moment before answering her. “Yeah. You can count on it!”

“Good,” she replied, sounding almost like a parent praising an obedient child. “Now, if you’re up for it, you can speak to the refugees and see which ones need our help. We haven’t been able to get to them all; for every Heartless we get rid of, three more pop up.” She sounded tired; it was likely these volunteers had gotten very little rest since the Heartless first began consuming worlds again.

Sazh rubbed the back of his neck with a groan. “We don’t have the stamina to keep this up, either.”

Serah continued. “Riku, we’d be grateful if you could help out. You can take Hope with you. You already seem like a good team.” She beamed at Hope, who acknowledged the gesture with a nod.

Riku looked at Hope. “That sounds like a good idea.”

Their conversation was halted when a girl ran up to them, her freckled face red with exhaustion. She keeled over, panting, as she spoke. “Please, can anyone help me?”

They all faced her and Serah spoke up with a commanding voice. “What happened? Are you okay?”

The girl straightened up and shook her head, the long, dark braid dangling from the back of her head waving gently. “My friend is lost. I’m scared she’s going to be attacked by the monsters!”

Serah’s brows furrowed as she stared intently into the girl’s violet eyes. “What’s your name?”

“Nora.”

Hope gave the girl a curious glance.

“Don’t worry, Nora,” Serah said. “We’ll get your friend back. Can you tell us where you lost her?”

“The Seventh District,” Nora informed her. “I tried to find her, but there were so many monsters. I couldn’t do it alone.”

“You don’t have to do it alone. Riku and I can help you find her,” Hope volunteered, and Riku showed his assent by stepping forward.

She seemed overjoyed at this news and begged, “Please let me come with you. She doesn’t like strangers.”

The Seventh District was much different in appearance than the other districts. The pathways and railings were sleek silver, but the buildings still held the same charm that Traverse Town was known for. If it weren’t for the infestation of Heartless, it wouldn’t have been a bad place to take a walk in. Thankfully, the lanterns made it easy for Riku, Hope, and Nora to navigate the narrow walkways of the district.

Each of them held their weapon at the ready as they moved; Riku had his Soul Eater, Hope his boomerang, and Nora a dark wooden staff. The floor did nothing to mask their footsteps and they knew their presence would be known to the Heartless soon, especially since they had a Keyblade Wielder with them.

“Why aren’t they attacking us yet?” Hope asked, cautiously treading around yet another corner.

Nora sighed. “It’s strange, isn’t it.”

“Stay focused,” Riku warned them.

The group exited the walkways and walked into a small courtyard overlooked by a tall building with several giant banners dangling from the rooftop and the balconies. On the sides were smaller buildings with dark alleyways between them. In the center of the courtyard was an ample gathering of Large Body Heartless with their backs to the group.

“There she is!” Nora exclaimed, pointing towards the building.

Hope and Riku glanced in the direction she indicated, but saw nothing but a banner waving slightly. “Where?” Hope asked.

“I’m coming, Kye! I’ll save you!” she cried out, rushing forward into the courtyard. She stopped right before the Heartless and raised her staff, casting Thundaga at them and startling them to alertness. They turned around and began to slowly bound towards her, their footsteps making the ground quake.

“Nora!” Riku ran forward,holding his Keyblade out like a lance.

Nora cast Thundaga again, but it was proved to be useless when the Heartless all put their shields up. “Uh, oh…” she whimpered.

The Heartless closest to her began to glow ominously, and before Riku could react, it charged at her. “Watch out!” he cried out.

Just before impact, the Heartless bounced back, staggered. Riku’s eyes widened when he spotted a creature resembling an oversized tabby cat, as big as, if not bigger than, a lion, standing on two legs between Nora and the Heartless. It held two clubs, crossed in front of its body defensively. One grey eye and one brown eye met his own eyes, but the moment was fleeting as he had to twist around and block an attack from a Heartless beside him.

“What’s that?” Hope grunted, fighting in close quarters with Riku.

Riku rolled out of the way of a charging Heartless and replied, “I don’t know, but it looks like it’s on our side.”

The boys didn’t get a chance to watch the cat fight, overwhelmed by Heartless, but it was sufficient to know that it was fighting alongside Nora. With four in their party, it didn’t take very long to snag the upper hand in the fight, and after a few more minutes, the Heartless were gone.

Nora laughed in relief. “Kye!” she squealed, nearly leaping at the tabby cat and pulling it into a hug, burying her face in the orange fur.

Kye nuzzled her nose into Nora’s hair. “You should not have come here, Nora,” she said calmly, her voice raspier and deeper than the boys had anticipated.

“I couldn’t leave you to fend for yourself, silly,” Nora replied as she pulled away from the embrace. “You’re very important to me.” Then her eyes widened as if she had suddenly remembered something, and she turned around to acknowledge Riku and Hope. She clasped her hands behind her back and bared her teeth in joy. “And I couldn’t have found you without these two, of course!”

Kye stared intently at Riku, her eyes briefly focussing on the Keyblade in his hand. She flicked her eyes at Hope as well before bowing her head in gratitude. “You assisted Nora, and for that, you have my sincerest thanks.”

Hope rubbed the back of his head and chuckled warmly. “Don’t mention it!”

When the group was in the First District again, Nora turned to Riku and Hope to thank them again. “I’m so glad Traverse Town has good people like you helping out.”

Hope’s face turned beet red at the compliment and struggled to find a reply. Fortunately for him, Riku spoke up. “It’s nothing. If there’s anything else we can help you with, please let us know.”

“Will do!” Nora chirped, saluting them. Kye bowed her head once more before the pair turned on their heels and walked away.

Soon after they were gone, Riku and Hope made their way to the restaurant, where they found Serah and Sazh chatting with a refugee. She was the blonde woman that Hope had met earlier, Aurora. Riku’s face hardened when he spotted her; he would recognize a Princess of Heart anywhere. It was a relief that she was safe in Traverse Town, but the fact that her world had been destroyed by the Heartless concerned him.

Serah placed a polite hand on Aurora’s shoulder, excusing herself before greeting Hope and Riku. “You’re back!” she remarked, clapping her hands together happily. “Riku, I’d like to introduce you to Aurora,” she said, ushering him towards Aurora.

Aurora didn’t seem to recognize him. She curtsied delicately before him and said, “How do you do?”

Riku bowed his head respectfully. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Aurora lost her daughter when the Heartless attacked her world,” Serah explained. “You didn’t see a little girl anywhere in the Seventh District, did you?”

Hope scratched his chin. “Well, we didn’t get a chance to check everywhere, but she wasn’t around the last time I went to the Seventh District either…” Aurora gazed at the floor in melancholy. “I-I’m sorry!” he stammered.

“It’s alright,” she told him, but couldn’t quite muster a reassuring tone as she did. “I am grateful for any help.”

Riku sighed regretfully. “She may not be in Traverse Town. Not everyone makes it here when their worlds are destroyed.”

Serah’s face dropped. “Yes, that’s true. My big sister and fiancé are still lost, but I have faith that I’ll find them someday and we can all go home again.” Sazh sighed and rubbed his face, and Hope had an equally dismal expression on his face. It looked like Serah and Aurora weren’t the only ones missing the people they cared about.

Riku crossed his arms; her words reminded him of the first time he left Destiny Islands. As he wandered the Realm of Darkness, the only thing keeping him going was the thought of being with Sora and Kairi again. Even now, his happiest memories were the ones where the three of them sat staring out at the waves and how they twinkled when hit by the light of the setting sun.

“We’ve reopened the hotel in the First District because the Second District had gotten dangerous,” Serah informed him, bringing him out of his thoughts. “I’ve told them to set up a room for you while you were gone. It should be ready now. Just go to the front desk and tell them I sent you.”

Riku thanked her and headed off to the hotel. Just before entering, he stretched his arms over his head and arched his back. His joints ached after all that fighting; perhaps taking a break wasn’t such a bad idea.

Queen Minnie was sitting in the castle study, reading a book when two hyperactive chipmunks came bursting through the door. The commotion caused a nearby enchanted mop to leap in surprise and knock its bucket over.

“Your majesty! Your majesty!” the brothers called out in unison.

“Chip, Dale.” Minnie gracefully shut her book and placed it on the desk before getting to her feet. She leaned down slightly, noticing the troubled looks on their faces. “Is everything alright?”

“Oh, no, Queen Minnie!” Chip lamented. “We lost ‘em!”

“Yeah!” Dale insisted. “They’re in big trouble!”

“And it’s all our fault!” the two cried out in unison.

Minnie frowned. “Now, now, boys. I’m sure you both did your very best,” she reassured them with her gentle tone. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Chip put his hands behind his back and kicked at the ground. He could hardly look his queen in the eye as he spoke. “Kairi and Lea are missing!”

“Oh!” she gasped, her hand jumping up to cover her mouth. “Missing? Are you sure?”

The duo nodded remorsefully.

“Welp, I guess we’ve gotta find them, huh?”

The voice came from neither Minnie nor the chipmunks. Standing in the doorway was another mouse, accompanied by a woman with sapphire hair and a boy with blonde hair.

“Mickey!” Minnie exclaimed, feeling her chest swell up with joy at seeing her husband. “When did you arrive?”

The woman and the boy bowed to Minnie and the woman took it upon herself to answer. “Just now, Your Majesty.”

“Aqua, Ventus. It’s always nice to see you,” Minnie greeted. “And you have wonderful timing!”

“Kairi is one of the Princesses of Heart,” Aqua remarked. “She’s got a giant target painted on her back. The sooner we set out to find her and Lea, the better.”

Mickey nodded. “Yep. It’s a good thing those two have each other’s backs! Wherever they are, we’ll find them and get them out!”

Aqua’s jaw dropped as she stared at the King. “Your Majesty, you’re coming, too?”

He smiled at her. “Well, of course I am!” he replied as though it were the most obvious thing in the world

She averted her eyes for a moment and rubbed her elbow anxiously. “What about Terra?”

Ventus looked uncomfortable, but said nothing. Their friend, Terra, had been missing for nearly a year now, and so far, every attempt at finding him had resulted in failure. Even with the King’s help, their efforts were futile. They hadn’t gotten so much as a glimpse of him the entire time. Ventus could feel Terra’s voice slipping away -and were it not for the photo he and Aqua kept, perhaps Terra’s face would be slipping away as well.

“Maybe Terra doesn’t want to be found,” he suggested finally, dragging Aqua’s attention away from the King.

She gave him a puzzled look. “Ventus -”

He stepped into the circle of speakers and said, “Let’s worry about Terra after we find Kairi and Lea.” He then grinned warmly in Aqua’s direction to ease her worry. “Terra’s a tough guy. He can take care of himself, right?” She nodded firmly, her eyes lighting up with relief.

Mickey addressed Chip and Dale after that. “Howdy, boys. Any news on Riku and Sora?”

Chip and Dale saluted him. “Sora, Donald, and Goofy are in the Kingdom of the Sun-”  Chip reported; Dale continued- “and Riku is in Traverse Town, helping out the folks that lost their worlds to the Heartless!”

Mickey nodded, satisfied. “Thanks, fellas. Now, where was the last place you saw Kairi and Lea?”

The room seemed to breathe around a shadowy figure as they stepped out of a Corridor of Darkness, their cloak trailing across the ground, blending in with the shadows, making them appear as though they were rising out of the earth. Their face was impassive as they gazed at the one who summoned them.

“They’re here sooner than I expected,” he reported to the shadowy being. “He isn’t ready yet.”

The shadow tutted and turned away, summoning an emerald mist in front of their face. “Not ready? That won’t be a problem. I think I would like to observe first… See how our creations fare on their own, without our guidance…” The emerald mist showed began to show the faces of the known Keyblade Wielders; Sora’s face was the first to appear, followed by Kairi, the Princess of Heart, and then Riku, Lea, Aqua, Ventus, the King, Yen Sid, and finally…

“Is that the guy we’re looking for?” the man asked, watching a young man’s image in the mist, as he wandered around the Realm of Darkness.

“Indeed,” the shadow replied, smirking. They waved their hand and the image changed again to one of a young girl, barely seven years old, with long black hair in a high braid. She was asleep, her chest rising and falling slowly. “This is the one he seeks. The one he will not be able to find. The promise he will not be able to keep.”

“How do you know all this?” the man questioned, his skepticism not lost on his companion.

“Because that is the way it must be,” the shadow stated simply. “I have dispatched Aron to the Realm of Darkness to watch the girl.”

“Isn’t that dangerous? He could get lost in there. All that hard work to create him down the drain.”

The shadow let out a dark laugh. “You underestimate him. Aron is exceptional. His will, his soul, his drive… One would very nearly think he actually had a heart.”

“Is that so…” the man mumbled to himself. “Impressive. And the other?”

The shadow scoffed and waved away the green mist. “When the time comes, Aron knows exactly what to do.”

It wasn’t very long before Commander Rourke got the caravan moving, trekking across makeshift bridges and breaking down walls. With the attack on the Ulysses and the deaths of many crew members, a somber shadow draped heavily over the entire crew and suspicions were high, particularly regarding the two newcomers who happened to show up right as it happened.

Kairi and Lea were riding in Lieutenant Sinclair’s vehicle so that she could “keep an eye on them” Rourke didn’t pay them much attention when his lieutenant introduced them to him, giving them a simple once-over before getting back to work barking orders at the rest of the crew.

“I didn’t even realize it could be this bad here,” Lea hissed to Kairi, trying not to alert Helga to their conversation. Luckily, the trucks were very loud, their sounds amplified by the walls in the cavern.

“Well, we did find Heartless in the escape pod, but I think I get what you mean. I wonder if there were Heartless in the other ones, too, or if they were just attracted to our Keyblades.” she wondered.

Lea hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t know, but something tells me that we haven’t seen anything yet.”

The words had barely even left his mouth when the entire caravan came to a complete halt and they heard the sound of Rourke yelling from the car in front of them. Helga locked the handbrake and hopped out of the car, giving Lea and Kairi a stern look before turning her back to them and speaking to Rourke.

“What’s going on?” Lea wondered, getting out of his seat as well. “Wanna check it out?”

Kairi frowned. “The Lieutenant expects us to stay put… We’ve already caused enough trouble as it is.”

He grimaced and summoned his keyblade. “We’re here to help these people. We can’t do that if we’re sitting around taking orders. Something is happening right now and it might be the Heartless!”

The duo felt dizzy once they realized their car was parked right in the middle of a makeshift bridge, covering a chasm hundreds of feet deep. The queasy feeling only intensified when they realized what had halted the caravan. Hundreds upon hundreds of shadow Heartless were climbing out of the chasm and onto the bridge, blocking the way for the crew. They blended and coagulated, making it difficult to tell if there were hundreds of Heartless or hundreds of thousands of them. Lea was right; they had a job to do.

The two of them ran right into the Heartless swarm, pushing past Helga and Rourke. Kairi’s keyblade materialized in her hand and she immediately channeled a powerful light spell that managed to push a great number of Heartless off the bridge and back into the gaping hole below. That wasn’t enough to keep them away, however, as several more Heartless shuffled to take their place.

With a scowl, Lea called out, “Let’s see how you like this!” He held out his blade and cast a fire spell affecting most of the area the Heartless had claimed, destroying some of them and causing some of them to fall down again.

It was just like their fight on the escape pod. They would destroy some and several more would pop up in their place ad nauseum. The entire clash was tedious and repetitive. It took quite a bit of effort to reduce them to the point where only a couple would pop up every few minutes. By the time the path was clear, Kairi and Lea were standing back to back, breathless and firmly clutching their keyblades.

“Those are some fancy toys you’ve got there,” Rourke remarked, impressed. He clapped in nonchalant fashion as he took slow and deliberate steps towards the two. “Nicely done. Not even our guns could take those things out.”

“Thank you, sir!” Kairi replied, giving the man an exhausted grin.

“I don’t think that was the last of them,” he said grimly. “So how ‘bout I give you two a special job? Whatever those things are, those key-things of yours seemed to keep them down. Can we count on you to keep things under control the next time they swarm up again?”

“Uh if I may make a suggestion -” a tall man dressed all in black spoke up from behind the commander; he had a thick accent and seemed to be the only person in the group who was unimpressed with the way the keyblade wielders handled the Heartless problem.

“No bombs, Vinny,” Helga warned.

Vinny sighed and shrugged nonchalantly. “Fine; no bombs.”

With Milo’s guidance, the crew slowly but surely made their way through the ancient highway, which was supposedly going to lead them to the ancient city of Atlantis. Rourke ordered Lea and Kairi to be separated and assigned to different cars in the caravan, tasking the two of them to keep watch for anymore Heartless.

Kairi was seated with Sweet, who ate her ear off talking about his past, healing soldiers on the battlefield; it was all very fascinating until the stories got repetitive, and her mind wandered. She began to wonder where Sora and Riku had ended up and what kind of worlds they were exploring. She hoped they were safe wherever they were. Sora was with Donald and Goofy so she had faith that the three of them would look out for each other. Riku, on the other hand, was all alone, and it made her heart ache that he thought he needed to be alone instead of with his friends.

“What was that?” Sweet’s startled cry snapped Kairi out of her thoughts, causing her to rise to attention and look around.

“Did you see something?” she asked anxiously.

He frowned. “I heard something. Scuttling. Small feet. Like rats or crabs or something. All I know is it wasn’t human.”

That was all she needed to hear to hop out of the truck, Keyblade out, and scan the area. Thankfully, the area was lit up by the headlights of the truck behind them, so she was able to thoroughly look around the rubble and dirt in her surroundings. Just when she was about to get back in the truck and report a false alarm, something small skittered to her feet, hopping up and down and hissing. She took a step back and watched it, uncertain of how to proceed. She wasn’t going to attack something that wasn’t attacking her back.

“That thing’s got too many legs to be a rat,” Sweet remarked from inside the truck. He was right. The creature was about the size of her head, with its body split into segments and covered in a yellow, black, and violet exoskeleton. Several long legs protruded from its body. The only way to differentiate its head from its tail was the presence of two antennae coming out of its head and curling near the top to form something resembling a heart.

Before Kairi could reply, she heard Lea’s voice warn her. “Watch out!” And accompanying his voice was one of his chakrams which flew towards her, slamming into the creature before returning to its owner.

“It wasn’t attacking me!” Kairi protested, but just as the words came out of her mouth, the fallen insect-like creature vanished in a puff of smoke and a heart was released, flying into the air.

“They’re Heartless,” Lea informed her, coming to stand beside her. “And I have the feeling this isn’t the last of them.”

As though they had been summoned by Lea’s voice, the duo heard the sound of hundreds of thousands -perhaps even more -legs tapping against the stone and dirt. More of the insect Heartless were hastily crawling towards them. It was exactly like the swarm of shadow Heartless from before, but these ones seemed less organized, hobbling all over themselves and stumbling into each other as they approached.

“Who’s making all these Heartless?” Lea moaned, as one of the Heartless attempted to jump onto him, only to be shot down and destroyed in one hit. These were much weaker than the shadows from before, which was a relief. They were more of a nuisance than anything else.

Kairi let out a long sigh. “Well, it beats sitting around in a truck, right?”

Lea chuckled. “You really know how to make the best of any situation, huh? Even when we’re surrounded by creepy Heartless.”

She winked at him. “Of course!”

The sun was going down in Traverse Town and Riku settled in at the restaurant to have a meal and discuss the state of the world with the new people he had met. They were all so lively and he could tell that they were all very dear to each other. More than anything, he wanted to find whoever was making these new Heartless and defeat them. He made a promise to himself to give these people back their homes and loved ones.

“Thanks again, Riku, for helping Hope out,” Serah said warmly, grinning at the both of them. “You’re welcome here whenever you want.”

Hope nodded. “Yup. You ever need any help, we’ll be there for you.”

“You’re our friend now!” Sazh gave Riku a thumbs up.

Riku returned the gesture and replied, “Thanks, guys. I’m just doing my job.”

Serah mused for a moment, before speaking again. “You have a long road ahead of you, don’t you? You have so many more people to help.” Riku looked down as his face settled into a tired frown.

Hope was taken aback for a moment by the exchange, but soon caught on. “So I guess you’re leaving now.” Without uttering a word, Riku nodded. “Well, I guess this is goodbye then.”

“Goodbye?” Sazh sputtered. “I’m sure Riku will be back!”

Riku smiled. “Yeah. I will. I don’t know how soon I’ll be able to visit, but I think you guys can handle things until I come back, right?”

Hope nodded and laughed, his face finally brightening. “Of course! Who do you think you’re dealing with?” he boasted in jest.

Out of the corner of his eye, Riku spotted the same girl from before, Nora, accompanied by Kye. The two of them were chatting animatedly with Princess Aurora, who put a delicate hand to her lips and giggled. When Nora caught his gaze, she waved exaggeratedly, a massive, toothy grin on her face.

“Hey, isn’t that the girl we helped?” Hope remarked. “You should go say goodbye to her, too, before you leave.”

Riku raised his eyebrows. “Oh. You’re right.” He got out of his seat and walked over to the chatting trio.

“Riku!” Nora greeted then turned to the princess. “Aurora, this is the guy I was telling you about.”

“It’s good to see you again, Riku,” Aurora told him with a smile.

“Good to see you’re safe,” Riku told her.

“Huh? You know each other?” Nora asked. “It’s a small world after all…”

Aurora acknowledged Nora with a nod before speaking again. “Actually, Riku. I’m glad I was able to find you. I think the Heartless have taken my daughter, Violet. I miss her terribly. You and Sora, you’re the only ones who can find her.” She held out a small satin ribbon and added, “This is the only thing I have left of her. Please take it. That way, a piece of my heart will accompany you on your journey.”

Riku took the ribbon from her hand and clutched it firmly. “I’ll find her, I promise,” he vowed, his eyes staring directly into Aurora’s own. He then summoned his Keyblade and held it with the tip facing the ground so he could tie Aurora’s ribbon around the handle. With this addition, it began to glow until the Keyblade lost the jagged edges of its original form and began to take on softer and more delicate curves. What looked like vines began to grow along the length of the blade and small purple flowers began to bloom from within the green.

“Oh! It’s so pretty now,” Nora exclaimed, bending down to get a better look at the results of the weapon’s transformation.

Aurora smiled. “I hope it helps you on your journey.”

“Your love for your daughter is strong. I’m sure with that kind of power, I will find Violet and restore light to your world,” Riku proclaimed, placing a comforting hand on the princess’s shoulder.

The fact that Violet was missing was troubling however. He was unaware that Aurora had even had a daughter, so this definitely changed things. As the daughter of a Princess of Heart, it did not necessarily mean that Violet herself would inherit this light, but it certainly wasn’t impossible. If Violet’s heart contained the same light her mother’s did, then it wasn’t hard to imagine why she had been captured by the Heartless.

Riku was startled when he heard Nora speak next. “Kye and I want to help!” She had planted her feet firmly on the ground, placing herself between Riku and the door. “I lost my mom and my brother out there and I’m not gonna sit around and wait for them to come back. So I’m coming with you.”

He glanced over at Kye with a shocked expression on his face, but if the cat had any objections to this, it seemed like she wasn’t about to voice them, so Riku redirected his attention to Nora. “I might not have time to look for your family,” he told her. “You’re better off searching for them on your own.”

At this, Nora shook her head. “I don’t have a fancy Gummi Ship like yours, though! You’re my only chance to get out of here!”

“But -”

“We’ll pull our own weight,” she insisted. “You’ve seen how Kye and I fight. We can help you fight off the Heartless and as soon as we find my family, we’ll be out of your hair.” She sounded desperate; her hazel eyes were wide and her shoulders stiff.

This time, it was Kye that spoke up. “Please, Riku. It would mean a lot to us if you could help us with this,” she pleaded, and even then her voice sounded calm and commanding.

At this point, Aurora was also watching Riku with curious eyes, waiting for his answer. She then gave him a serene smile and remarked, “It must be awfully difficult to be travelling all by your lonesome. A little help never hurt anyone.”

Riku decided not to mention that his intent from the beginning was to travel “all by his lonesome” He had no need for other people to assist him; it would only make him feel obligated to protect them. Aside from Sora, there weren’t many people he trusted to fight by his side. Accepting Nora and Kye as partners, albeit for a short time, seemed like a tall order, however, he couldn’t quite find it in him to say “No” to a Princess of Heart.

“Alright.” He let himself give in. “I guess I could use the help -but only until you find your family.”

Nora ignored his stern tone and beamed at him, the corners of her lips stretching wide. “Thank you, Riku! We won’t let you down!” She leapt into the air in excitement, only to clumsily stumble into Kye when her feet touched the ground again. Riku raised his eyebrows at the display. “Oops.” She laughed nervously. “That doesn’t usually happen.”

He shrugged it off and smiled back. “Well, let’s say our goodbyes and get going.”

Kairi and Lea were recovering from the onslaught of the centipede-like Heartless when they heard a cry from the front of the caravan. They didn’t say a word to each other, letting their legs carry them towards the danger as fast at they could.

Deafening bangs could be heard, like gunshots, and it didn’t take them long to discover what was happening. A giant centipede nearly five meters long was rearing its head (or rather, what seemed to be its head) and shrieking threateningly at the digger driving at the front of the caravan. As it leaned back, the sensitive flesh beneath its exoskeleton appeared for the briefest of moments.

A member of the crew, Mole, was cowering in the driver’s seat of the digger, trying to look as small as possible. Kairi and Lea hadn’t been personally introduced to him, but from what Audrey and Sweet told them, he was quite the character.

They saw that Rourke had immediately taken out his shotgun and was firing at the creature, which unfortunately, only seemed to make it angrier instead of weakening it. “Thatch!” Rourke roared. “This had better be the right direction!”

Milo tugged nervously at his collar before rotating his map a couple of times and grimacing. He laughed out of fear and anxiety before pointing in the opposite direction. “I think we… uh… maybe took the wrong turn at the fork a while back.” His entire demeanor screamed a silent apology as he shrunk back. Whether he was trying to distance himself from the giant centipede or Rourke was anyone’s guess.

Rourke let out a long and tired sigh, but elected to let it slide for the moment, going back to sending out orders. “Lieutenant! Start turning this caravan around!” He then turned to Kairi and Lea, who had their weapons out. “And you two, what are you standing around for? This thing wants to have us for dinner!”

“You think that thing is a Heartless, too?” Kairi asked.

Just then, the creature spontaneously sprouted large leathery wings and burst into the air, shrieking loudly. Its battle cry called forth more of the smaller centipedes, causing dozens of them to materialize through small portals of darkness.

“I’d say it’s a safe bet,” Lea replied.

Rourke began to fire shots at the smaller centipedes, deterring them. “Keep those things away from the caravan!” he ordered.

“Yessir!” “Yessir!” Lea and Kairi said in unison.

Lea raised his Keyblade and cast fire at the Queen Centipede, causing it to cry out and retreat deeper into the cave. Its children scuttled in after her. He glanced at Kairi and the two nodded before dashing in after the Heartless.

They found themselves in a large round chamber with stalagmites spread unevenly across the ground and stalactites hanging dangerously from above. With the Queen Centipede patrolling the room dangerously close to the ceiling, causing the rock formations to vibrate treacherously, they absolutely couldn’t let their guard down.

Rourke was still firing consistently at the clusters of smaller Heartless, crying out profanities, as though his words could help him fight off the waves of centipedes. “Hey, Lea!” he called out. “I want to try something on these suckers. Think you could use that fire trick of yours to help?”

Lea fought off the Heartless around him as Rourke pulled out a small packet of gunpowder, barely holding perhaps a couple of bullets worth of firepower. He caught onto what Rourke was implying quickly enough. On one, Rourke tossed the packet into one of the larger Heartless clusters. On two, Lea shot a fireball out of his Keyblade at the same cluster. On three, the entire cluster had been disintegrated.

“Ha!” Rourke roared with laughter. “Take that, you pests!” he exclaimed pridefully.

The two of them repeated the process a couple of times, only to realize that, every time they did so, the Queen would just summon more centipedes. “It’s no use!” Lea remarked. “We gotta take down the big one first!”

“I’ve got an idea!” Kairi cried out over the sounds of the explosions and gunshots. “Lea, do you see those spikes hanging from the ceiling?” Once she was sure Lea was listening, she continued “Try hitting one with your Chakrams and knocking that thing out of the sky!”

Lea glanced up at the ceiling, summoning a Chakram to the hand that wasn’t holding his Keyblade. He watched the Queen circle the room, and once it was in the right position, he tossed his weapon into the stalactite, causing the base to snap and the entire spike to drop onto the Queen, knocking it into the ground.

Immediately, Kairi began a mad dash for the incapacitated Queen, using its large legs to climb onto its back. She grabbed the creature’s antennae just as it began to flap its wings again and elevate itself.

“Kairi!” Lea yelled. “What are you doing up there?”

She grimaced as she struggled to hold on to the antennae. The creature could sense her on its back and was actively trying to shake her off and get her away from its sensitive antennae. “Trust me!” she hollered back at him.

Lea had no choice but to do just that. He continued to attack the smaller Heartless with Rourke, waiting Kairi to make her move. He wasn’t about to attack the creature with any magical projectiles while Kairi was riding its back.

Kairi breathed in deeply and closed her fists tighter around the antennae, inadvertently aggravating the creature even further. With a loud grunt, she tugged the antennae back and caused the creature to strain the joint at its head. The soft flesh beneath its hard exoskeleton was now an easy target.

“Lea! That’s its weak spot!” She tried as hard as she could to get her voice to reach her companion.

“You could get hurt!” Lea exclaimed.

“Just do it! I’ll be fine!”

She had told him to trust her earlier, so Lea decided to test that trust and raised his Keyblade to cast Fire on the underside of the Queen’s head. As soon as the spell hit, the Heartless let out an earsplitting cry and began to jerk uncontrollably. He watched in horror as Kairi was tossed around with only her grip on the Queen’s antennae keeping her from falling over. His heart nearly stopped when he saw her lose her grip and plummet to the ground.

“Kairi!”

“Aero!” Her tone was anxious and pleading as she cast her spell at the last possible moment, causing her to bounce in mid air just before hitting the ground. She then let herself drop gracefully to the floor.

Lea rushed over to her. “Are you alright? You scared the crap out of me!”

Kairi gave him a goofy grin that reminded him a lot of Sora. “Did you see how cool that was!”

He couldn’t help but smile and let out a relieved sigh. “That was pretty cool.”

The moment was short lived as the Queen let out another shriek and began to flap its heavy wings menacingly, causing several of the looser stalactites to wobble, and then with a heavy boom the first one fell, and then the next, and the next… Before long, it was raining stone spikes in the large domed chamber.

Lea jumped towards Rourke, who had no way of protecting himself, and cast Reflera over the two of them. He watched Kairi cast reflect over herself as well, absorbing most of the onslaught.

Just as quickly as the deadly rain started, however, it ended. The Queen shrieked again, almost like it was announcing its paradigm shift to everyone in the room. It seemed to have noticed that the stalactites weren’t doing the trio any harm and gone back to circling the room. Kairi, Lea, and Rourke couldn’t rest, however, as the smaller centipede Heartless were back now.

Kairi jogged to Lea’s side, taking out the surrounding Heartless and then gestured towards the stalactites again. “I think we’re wearing this thing down.”

He looked over at the circling Queen and then at the spikes still wobbling precariously above it. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” he asked.

She smiled crookedly and nodded her head. “Let’s go!”