Author's note: Before we start, I'd like to take a minute to issue two shout outs. First I want to say thank you to DeadRoses on Archive of our own, who has been a consistent commenter since I uploaded chapter 3 on that site. It was so nice to know someone was excited and coming back to what I've written and would let me know they were enjoying what I was writing. This story probably would have taken much longer to write without you. You definitely kept me motivated to keep writing when it got tough to find the right words. And secondly, I want to thank TheLoneStar for reading through this last chapter, without their help I might have accidentally posted this chapter with a joke line I forgot to delete. So if you're disapointed that Riku will never say "Eat shit and die" in this story, You know who to blame. And if you're looking for some well written Majora's Mask angst, check out some of their works on Archive of our own.
And of course I want to thank everybody who has commented and kudo'd and bookmarked this. I'm so glad you've enjoyed this story and I hope you find this ending to be satisfactory.

Oh, and honestly this chapter probably could have been split into two chapters. So I apologize if it's a little long. But I was determined to finish this story off. This chapter is about three times longer than most of my other chapters so I understand if you decide to read this in parts.

"Hold still already!"

"Donald, ya gotta try to keep quiet."

"I know, but Sora keeps moving around."

"Hey, I am not! Besides you're the one who keeps missing the joint." Sora gripped onto the thin carpeting under the bed as Donald tried to reinsert Sora's leg. Sora was ready to shout at Donald again when Goofy clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Sora, I know you're worried about Woody and Buzz. But you gotta be quiet too, otherwise Sid'll wake up."

"I know, I know…" Sora threw his hands up in defeat. He reminded himself that he wouldn't have even be able to move, much less talk and argue with his friends, a couple nights ago. But every moment stuck hiding under this bed left Sora fretting over what Sid had done to Buzz.

"There, it's in." Donald said satisfactorily.

Sora sat up and lifted his leg. It worked perfectly. As if it had never been removed. "You remember what I said back when you re-rotated my head? I don't I'll ever get use to popping limbs back in, either."

"Gawrsh Sora, you're gonna have to try and get used to it. You've still got one leg to go."

Sora considered what he'd have to do in the meantime to avoid becoming dead weight. Sora rubbed the back of his head before turning to Donald. "Say, where'd we leave our weapons?" Sora asked.

Donald studied Sora a moment, trying to figure out what he had in mind. "You're not planning on attacking Sid while he's asleep, are you?"

"What!? No!" Sora said. "All I'd do is wake Sid up if tried to do that." Sora stood up as best he could. Leaning on Goofy to keep himself from toppling over on his left side. "If I'm going to be moving around, then I'm also going to need a something to keep me standing up, right? My KeyBlade should do the trick."

Donald found the spot under the bed where he left his staff, Goofy's shield, and Sora's KeyBlade. It was only a matter of time before Sid would eventually look under his bed, so it was a gamble leaving it all down here. But so far, it had paid off.

"Here," Donald handed Goofy his shield and Sora his KeyBlade. "Woody said tomorrow morning is the day Andy's leaving. So, like it or not, we gotta get out of here by then. Better to have all our stuff when we do get out of here."

"Then we can't just sit around." Sora said. "If we have to make a break for it, then we need to find my other leg." Sora stood up on his own. Using the KeyBlade Donald handed him as a makeshift crutch.

"Sora, you sure you can move around like that?" Goofy asked.

"I don't really have much of a choice." Sora did some practice steps. He moved in a circle around Goofy until he'd gotten the hang of walking with only one leg. "Say, guys. Do you still want to live in Andy's Room with Woody and Buzz?"

"You're thinking about the names we've discovered, huh?" Donald said. "I'm not sure. I think what I want to do is find where Sid found us, at least before we make any final decisions."

"Yeah, there might be a clue about what happened to us there. But if we wait around much longer, we won't have time to check it out before Andy leaves." Goofy added.

"Then we'll have to look around real quick outside Sid's room and come back. Woody and Buzz won't even know we've left."

"I don't know…" Goofy looked over at Sid's desk. Woody and Buzz were still up there, but neither of them had come down since Sid strapped Buzz to that rocket. What if they came down while they were gone? "Just for a little while, right?"

"Of course. After all there's no way my other leg is in here, one of you guys would have found it by now. So, we'll just take a quick peek into the hallway outside. Maybe a look into the TV Room if we have time."

"Gawrsh, what do you think, Donald?"

"I guess it can't hurt if we're careful." Donald let out a shaky sigh.

"Exactly! Now come on! We can't waste any more time." Sora walked out from under the bed. Although his body stiffened as he walked further into the open Sora was surprised at how well he was able to move despite it. It gave him new hope that they'd all get out of this house as he squeezed through the small gap in Sid's door.

The sound of rain filled the hallway outside of Sid's room. The clouds the rain came from prevented much moonlight from entering the room, casting the room in darkness. Sora took a moment peering into the shadows, trying to see if there was anything hiding within them. "It's all clear, guys." Sora whispered back to Donald and Goofy.

"Gawrsh it sure is dark…"

"Neither of you happen to glow in the dark, do you?" Doanld asked, struggling to look around.

"We'll just have to make do with the light we have." Sora said, hobbling ahead of them.

It took the trio longer than normal to walk across the hall. Neither Donald nor Goofy wanted to walk ahead of Sora, fearing that if they turned around they would lose him in the darkness. So, they accepted the agonizingly slow pace they moved at with peace.

Sora on the other hand was getting discouraged by how long it took him to move across the room. Fear gripped his heart. "What if we don't get out in time…" Sora didn't even realize he had spoken aloud until Goofy acknowledged he'd said something.

"What's that Sora?"

"Huh? Oh, I guess I was just wondering aloud what we'd do if we don't make it out in time."

"Are you worried that Andy will leave before we've made it out of here?" Goofy asked.

Sora shuffled for a bit trying to decide on what to say. "What scares me is having to choose."

Donald looked up at him. "What do you mean by 'having to choose'?" Donald asked.

Sora stopped moving and watched the rain streak down the window, refracting the little light that entered the room. "What if we don't have enough time to find where Sid found us and go with Andy." He looked at his two friends. "What would you guys do?

Donald tapped his foot on the ground as he thought. "I don't know… I guess if there's a chance that I could be with Daisy, I'd have to take that chance." Donald's voice unsure as he spoke his answer. "But, I'm scared. There's no real proof we ever really were real besides the names on our feet."

Goofy agreed. "Yeah, but if there's any chance I could see Maxie again then it's a chance I've got to take." Goofy was much more confident in his answer. Although he kept it to himself for the entirety of his time as a toy, he never truly stopped believing he was real.

Sora began moving again. "C'mon we have to keep moving, if we waste too much time talking about what if's it might actually happen." Sora continued taking heavy steps towards the TV Room. By the time they made it to the TV Room the rain weakened into a light sprinkle and the clouds began to part.

Sora looked around the room, but had trouble seeing anything. The room was dark enough during the daytime when Sora had last entered. And now at night, even with the weather getting better, it was nearly impossible to see anything.

"Sora, I think we should just head back to Woody and Buzz." Goofy suggested.

Sora swallowed, the darkness in front of him was thick enough that Sora was almost certain if he reached out, he'd be able to grip it. "Maybe you're right." Sora turned back to Goofy, the little bit of light shining from the window Buzz tried to fly through lighting his friend's figure.

The thought of leaving was put on pause when Sora heard a deep breath. A cloud passed by, allowing more light to filter into the room where Sora saw the dog sleeping in a bed in the corner of the room. Sora turned back to his friends; a finger placed against his lips in case they hadn't seen the dog.

"Sora," Donald whispered. "Your leg…" He pointed by the dog's bed. Sora squinted to see what he was pointing towards. It was his leg!

"What has he done to it?" Sora asked as he noticed the many chewed dents and bite marks covering it.

Sora began walking towards it when Goofy grabbed his shoulder. Sora could tell what he wanted to say before he even spoke, his eyes were round with concern as he spoke. "It's not safe. You might wake it up."

"But it's right there, Goofy." Sora implored him to let him take the risk.

Goofy sighed and patted him on the shoulder. "You're not fast enough, so I'll go." Goofy walked past Sora towards the sleeping dog.

"Goofy, what are you-" Goofy looked back at Sora with his finger to his lips this time. A reminder to Sora not to wake the dog; his good natured, understanding smile still there behind his finger.

Carefully, almost self-consciously, Goofy gauged his steps. Scared he might make enough noise to wake the dog as his plastic feet landed on the hardwood floor. He gripped the chewed leg that sat beside the dog's bed and quietly began the trek back to Sora and Donald.

Almost immediately a loud ringing started came from Sid's room. All three of them leapt up in surprise, it took them a moment to remember that Sid had set an alarm for the morning. Sora breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Sid hadn't somehow set an alarm system on the leg. Sora turned around to check on Goofy's progress.

His breath stilled as he saw two glowing balls of light open above his friend. Goofy, noticing the look of fear on Sora and Donald's faces, turned around to see the beast's open eyes, the morning sun's light reflecting from them.

A low growl rose from the dog as it moved towards the three toys. The three of them were frozen in fear, "G-Goofy, Run!" Sora managed to choke out. Sora wanted to wait for Goofy to catch up, but Donald grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the room.

Forgetting his physical condition, Sora tried to step forward with his missing foot. Barely catching himself with his KeyBlade, Donald yanked Sora forward as he hobbled behind. Turning his head to check on Goofy, Sora saw as his friend trailed a distance behind them.

Suddenly the dog skidded to a halt. Sora continued to look back in confusion, his attention gripped that he didn't notice until it was too late that Donald had frozen in front of him and he had collided into the back of him.

Sid walked out of his room, holding on to the Buzz Lightyear toy he had waited all night to blow up. He saw Scud sitting in the middle of the hall.

Woody ran towards the door, hoping he'd be able to follow Sid down the stairs without him noticing. But before he crossed the door frame, Scud was already at the door. Woody tried to close the door before Scud could enter the room, but Scud managed to get its head between the door and the wall. Woody and Scud both pressed against the door trying to get it to move the way they wanted it to. Eventually Scud gave up and slinked back into the hallway. Just as Woody closed the door, he peeked and saw Sora, Donald, and Goofy stuck on the other side.

Woody's thoughts were a mile a minute. How hadn't he realized those three weren't in Sid's room until just now? Woody wracked his brain to think of something. A sound coming from behind him caught his attention, turning around he saw the many Franken-Toys from earlier who put Buzz back together.

"Guys please, I need your help!" Woody knew needed to come up with a plan and fast. It wouldn't be much longer before Scud tore them apart, Sid blew up Buzz, and Andy left them all behind.

Scud spent a few minutes sniffing at the Sid's door. Sora wished Sid had taken them away too. Slowly he felt control return to his body. Sora tried to move to Goofy without making a sound. But as he took a step towards his friend, the plastic knee joint squeaked as it rotated against itself. Scud turned towards the sound, eyeing Sora intensely.

A low growl came from the dog. Sora knew there was no chance he could escape this. Donald and Goofy seemed to finally snap out of the paralysis, but other than sitting up and pleading to an uncaring dog, there wasn't much they could do either.

The sound of a doorbell rang, confusing the dog but it quickly ignored it. Scud took one step towards the three lying on the floor before the door to Sid's room flew open. A small green blur drove around him before taking off down the stairs, a small whine coming from it as it moved. Scud's attention had been taken up and it quickly forgot about Sora and the other's on the floor as it chased after the toy that had just escaped.

Woody came out next, sitting atop a skateboard with a man fused to the front of it, a caravan of toys following behind him. "Are you three alright?" Woody's voice was rushed. Sora figured that he was following a rushed schedule and was trying to get to Buzz as soon as possible.

Sora had trouble finding his voice, so much having happened at once left him feeling confused. It was Goofy who spoke first. "That was close, Woody. But we managed to find this!" He raised Sora's leg for Woody to see.

Woody nodded his head at the sight of the limb, "Alright, can one of you reattach that quickly?" The metal spider-bodied toy with the child's head moved towards Sora.

Sora recognized it. It was the first Franken-Toy he'd met when he entered Sid's room. "Thank you…" Sora said as the toy began to reinsert the plastic leg.

"Mission Control, do we have permission to use the launch pad at this time?"

"Roger that, Ground control"

Sid played both sides of an imaginary conversation as he set the Buzz Lightyear down in the center of his backyard as he prepared for takeoff. He looked at the fuse of the rocket and realized he was missing something. "Hey Mom, where's the matches?" Sid called. He looked around the yard before seeing them siting in the shed. "Oh wait! Nevermind!"

The man-skateboard, that Woody and the others rode in on, was launched into the bushes from the highspeed exit it made from the house. Woody had already filled the three toys in on the plan during the ride through the house. While in the bushes Woody checked for the Franken-Toys that worked as the distraction, earlier. The toys in question slid out from the storm drain and into hiding spots of their own. Woody shot them a thumbs-up before turning to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.

"Okay, good news, guys. We've taken care of Scud."

"Wait, who's Scud?" Sora asked.

"The big dog, he was about to chew you apart before we showed up." Woody said. His voice low but he spoke in a rushed manner.

"Oh, that's right. Sid called it that, didn't he? I've just been referring to it as 'that big dog'"

"Listen, we don't have much time left. Scud is stuck on the front porch. So we don't have to worry about him anymore." A grin appeared on Sora's face, but Woody interrupted him before he could say anything else. "I'm glad you're happy, Sora. But just stay here for now. Don't worry, you'll know when to pop up." Without another word, Woody leapt out from the bushes.

Buzz heard the leaves rustling as a familiar Cowboy doll rushed out from within the shrubbery. "Woody?" Buzz asked. "Woody, what are you do-"

"Shh" Woody hushed, "Don't worry Buzz, everything's under control" Woody promptly fell to the ground. Buzz was about to ask him what in the world he was doing when Sid exited the shed.

"Huh? How did this get here?" Sid stopped to pick up Woody as he walked along. "Oh well, maybe later we can have a cookout." Sid tossed Woody on to a portable outdoor grill before moving towards Buzz.

Sora watched from within the bushes as Sid began his countdown for Buzz.

"Ten, nine, eight."

Sora looked to Woody; the cowboy doll laid silently as Sid started his countdown.

"Seven, six, five." Sid pulled out a single match and struck it against the matchbox.

Sora looked back and forth between Goofy and Donald. "How long, exactly, does Woody plan to wait?"

"Four, three, two."

Sora was thankful that his plastic skin couldn't sweat as his nerves strained to control himself.

"One."

Sora was ready to jump out of the bushes and stop Sid himself as the lit match moved towards the rocket's fuse. But just as Sid finished the countdown, Woody's voice rang out. "Reach for the sky." Woody drawled, enunciating the last word.

"Huh?" Sid moved the match away from Buzz, the flame reaching the tips of his fingers caused him to drop it on the ground as he walked towards Woody. "This thing's busted." Sid presumed. At least, he couldn't come up with any other explanation.

"Who you callin' busted, Buster?" Sid flipped the doll over trying to see what was wrong with it. "That's right, I'm talking to you, Sid."

Sid felt a chill run up his spine as he tightened his grip on the toy. Flipping it back around to look at the toy's face, Sid checked to see if it moved or some other explanation would be made apparent.

"We don't like being ripped apart or blown up!"

Toys from around the yard rose from the ground in various areas. It took a few moments for Sid to notice it happening. But by the time he did, he was surrounded!

Sora assumed this must have been the moment Woody was talking about. He leapt out of the bushes with Donald and Goofy right behind him. Sid looked away to see two toys he'd personally torn the legs out of. "But I didn't put you back together…" Sid whispered.

Sora could feel the strain on every inch of his body as Sid looked at him. But to his surprise he was resisting the effects amazingly. He was able to power through his body's desire to surrender to its default toy position. "Sid! You tore me and my friend apart! Don't think for one moment, for the rest of your life, that we will ever forgive you!"

"If you treat anything else, anything, so poorly, we'll be back to get you for what you've done to us!" Donald yelled.

A small round shield struck Sid in the center of the forehead with surprising force. He fell over as Goofy began speaking. "When you see your sister, Sid. Tell her, 'Mrs. Mildred says thank you for the tea.'" Sora was surprised at how sinister Goofy made the otherwise nonsensical threat. But as Sid tried to compose himself, Sora threw his KeyBlade towards the same spot Goofy had aimed for.

"From now on you'd better take good care of your toys, Sid. Because if you don't, we'll find out. We toys, see everything…" Woody's head rotated 360 degrees before Woody finally allowed his facial features to move. "So play nice."

Sid ran, tripping over himself just to get himself as far away from the sentient toys as he could. But upon entering the house he realized just how surrounded he and his family were by these toys. How many had he left to face the elements outside? How many had he torn apart and put back together, and then left in his room? "The toys… The toys are alive." Sid mumbled. He looked up to see his sister Hannah coming down the stairs. He froze when he saw the doll in her hand.

Sora lifted himself up. His body ached and he could feel the stiffness in his limbs ebb away the further Sid got. Still even as Sid vanished inside his house a feeling of exhaustion remained in Sora's body. Satisfied laughter drew Sora's attention towards Woody as the cowboy doll began to dance

"We did it! Sora, Donald, Goofy, we actually did it!" Woody's laughter was contagious as Sora began to laugh as well, mostly out of relief that Woody's plan had actually succeeded, and they were able to save Buzz. But a dark part of Sora's heart enjoyed seeing that look of panic and terror on Sid's face. He wished the moment could have lasted longer. Just to see the boy, who tortured and treated him like trash, feel the same horror Sora had felt for the past four days.

Sora snapped himself out of his dark thoughts after he realized that Woody and the rest of the toys had stopped dancing. Paying attention to the real world again, Woody was now complimenting the toys on their performances. "Sora, you did great! I didn't think you'd be able to move so well for being such a new toy."

"This whole time being in Sid's house has been a real sink or swim situation." Sora said.

"Yeah, well we're going to have to make sure you stay out of everyone's sight. Moving like that is like working out a muscle, you're probably not going to be able to move that much around people, even if they don't see you, for a while."

"Hey, who's Mrs. Mildred?" Donald asked.

"Sid's sister, Hannah, gave me and Buzz nicknames when she found us. Mine was Mrs. Mildred and we had a tea party! It was a heck of a coincidence, too. Since I have an aunt named Mildred too." Goofy gave a characteristic laugh as he thought back to the moment. "I just wanted to let her know I appreciated it, since we probably won't see her again."

"That's why you chose to say that to Sid?" Sora nearly laughed.

"Well, you and Donald seemed to have scared him well enough."

Buzz, still standing on the launchpad that Sid had made for him, seemed to be the only one who heard the moving truck parked outside Andy's house start to rev its engine. He called out to the others, all distracted in the congratulations and conversations, to let them know. "Woody, Sora! We've got to go now!"

"Right! C'mon guys we gotta go!" Woody said leading the way out through a small opening in Sid's fence. Woody called back one more time to the Franken-Toys, thanking them and wishing them goodbye.

Sora skidded to a stop as the group exited Sid's backyard. "There's not enough time to do both." He whispered, his voice breaking as he said it. Sora swallowed and looked to Donald and Goofy. They had both stopped with him. They knew what he was about to say. "Woody, where did Sid find the three of us?" Sora asked.

Woody turned around, "Why does it matter? We gotta go now or the truck and Andy are going to leave us behind."

"Woody, I'm sorry" Sora hesitated. He could guess Woody and Buzz's reactions, but the conversation he'd had with Donald and Goofy on the way to the TV Room cemented his resolve. If there was a possibility that Kairi and the others were real, they had to take it. "The three of us are going our own way. We have to see where we were found. I'm so sorry, we can't come with you."

"Sora…" Woody couldn't hide the sound of betrayal in his voice and Sora winced when he heard it. "But I thought you were going to come back with us." Woody turned to Donald and Goofy when Sora didn't budge. "Do the both of you really want to do this as well?"

Donald and Goofy nodded sadly. "We're sorry." Donald said. "We should have said something sooner. But we have to find out for ourselves if there really isn't anything we can learn by seeing it for ourselves."

"Yeah and our ship might be someplace nearby if we really aren't toys, too." Goofy added.

Woody tried to think of some way to convince them not to go looking for a life he knew they wouldn't find. Before he could think of a way to bring them back to reality another voice called out.

"Everybody say 'Bye House!'" A woman's voice yelled. Andy's mom, Sora presumed.

"Bye House!" Another, younger, voice repeated. Sora noticed how Woody was distracted by the sound of the boy's voice. Sora figured it must have been Andy's voice.

"You should get going before it's too late." Sora said. Woody looked at him one last time before he walked forward and wrapped Sora in a hug.

"Take care of each other, partner." The car Andy was in began to move, leaving the group of toys behind. Woody turned around and gave Buzz a nudge. "C'mon, Buzz. We can still catch up to the moving truck before it's too late." The two toys began walking away before Woody called out one more time. "Oh, and by the way, Sora. Sid found the three of you about three blocks down, after the next right that way." Woody pointed without looking back.

Having the information that he needed, Sora couldn't bear to watch the two toys leave. He felt a mix of guilt and emptiness as he ran away from Woody and Buzz. Woody had been expecting them to join him in Andy's room. Remembering the sound of betrayal in Woody's voice made Sora run faster in the direction Woody pointed towards. Sora knew Woody still didn't believe they would find anything, and Sora feared again, that Woody was right.

The last time Riku checked on Kairi, he'd asked her to take a break. She didn't even look up from the controls as she responded. "If I do that, I might lose my connection to Sora again." That convinced Riku well enough to leave her alone. But even as he stayed quiet, he worried how much longer she could stay focused on flying the ship.

It wasn't until a far-off star gradually grew larger and revealed itself to be a world that Riku spoke up again. "Is- is this it?" Riku hesitated, fearing that even after all those hours this wasn't the world they were looking for

Large suburban neighbors dotted the landscape. It wasn't as beautiful as Corona, but it appeared to be a perfectly peaceful place in its own right. Definitely not the kind of place Kairi imagined Sora getting stranded on. She wondered if maybe she'd gone to the wrong place. Maybe she was confused and followed the wrong trail. "This should be the place, but…"

"It doesn't seem like a particularly dangerous world, does it?" Riku finished for her.

"But that was definitely Sora I felt." Kairi said turning to Riku

Riku believed her. He didn't think she was piloting in the wrong direction on purpose. But still, he wondered if Sora was really in so much trouble that Kairi would feel it worlds away on a world like this. He looked at the world again. It looked so uneventful. Even the Islands they called home would have violent storms. This world's only danger, if Riku had to guess, was getting lost amongst identical houses and neighborhoods.

That was, until he saw a bright orange piece of Gummi material attached to a wing float by their ship. Riku swallowed. "Well, appearances can be deceiving." Looking around he could spot the burnt out remains of an engine floating in space further away. "We'd better be careful. You're certain you can feel him on this world?"

"Yeah, I haven't stopped following that feeling since it returned to me."

Unease crept into Riku as he noticed more junked Gummi Ship parts float around. "I'll try to take us in for a landing." Riku wanted to get on this world and leave as fast as possible. It was becoming more and more likely that Sora was attacked in flight and Riku could tell that Kairi was thinking the same.

Riku had just sat in his chair when Kairi spoke up again. "Riku!" Riku looked up from where he was adjusting the chair to see her pointing towards something hiding in the darkness. "What is that? Is it another ship?"

He barely saw it. A large unmoving black Gummi Ship was situated near a piece of space junk. Riku assumed that it was waiting to ambush anyone unfortunate enough to fly by without noticing it. Riku swallowed, realizing that if Kairi hadn't pointed it out first he wouldn't have noticed it. Did Sora encounter this thing? Riku considered. He wondered if this thing was the reason Sora was missing now. Riku breathed a thank you towards Kairi as he flew towards it. "It looks like another Gummi Ship. But it's just a space-faring Heartless!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, Sora's told me plenty of times of how he's had to fight them off." Riku flew around the back of the enemy ship. Flicking at some switches on the dash, Riku powered the cannons and fired.

The blast grazed the hull of the ship, alerting it to Riku and Kairi's presence. It flew in an arc, avoiding the continued fire from Riku. It began charging a weapon of its own, a laser. Riku rolled the ship out of the way when he saw the enemy's weapon had charged large enough. But the blast never arrived. Riku looked back at the enemy, a large ball of electrical energy was held in front of it, still growing bigger.

Riku was unused to dogfighting and the artificial gravity that kept him and Kairi rooted to the floor left them both feeling queasy after that sudden roll. Riku's stomach was still doing a couple of rolls itself, Riku could only imagine how Kairi felt. He turned to look at her, her face green from the sudden acrobatics looked like Christmas with her red hair draping it.

"Riku, look out!" Kairi called, pointing out the window. Riku looked back to see the extraordinarily large laser being fired. Riku pulled at the controls again, this time avoiding an actual attack. The laser engulfed multiple asteroids and left little more than dust where they once floated.

Narrowly avoiding the projectile, Riku turned his attention back to the Gummi determined to finish it off this time. Riku flicked at more dials and switches, beginning a sequence to fire his own laser.

The large Gummi in front of him had seen better days, Riku almost felt sorry for it as it limped through space. Almost.

Riku couldn't risk letting it charge another shot. But most of all, Riku was certain this thing was responsible for his friend's disappearance.

A tone dinged, letting Riku know that his own laser was fully charged. Riku flicked another swith and fired. The Gummi Ship shook as the power that was unleashed rocketed towards their enemy.

Kairi and Riku breathed a sigh of relief as the Gummi that had nearly destroyed them fell apart. Riku sat back in his seat, trying to relax. "I think space combat might be more Sora's thing than mine." Riku let out a breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. He had no idea how Sora could fly to so many different worlds with heartless piloting Gummis like that.

Kairi still had a shade of Christmas to face. She too had been taking deep breaths once the Gummi went down. "That- that was really close…" She said between breaths. "Sora has to be on that world, right? I mean that looked like a Gummi's wing out there and if we hadn't spotted it first we easily would have been shot down easily. You saw the size of that laser blast."

"Yeah, you're probably right. I was thinking the same thing." Riku turned to Kairi. "Prepare yourself, okay? I'll make preparations to land. We'll begin the search for Sora as soon as we touch down.

Kairi and Riku walked down identical looking streets. Hoping they'd come across something that would lead them to Sora.

They kept their eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary. Something other worldly or alien. But Kairi wondered what exactly did 'unusual' look like when she knew they were the aliens. For all she knew, large amounts of concrete and paved roads were some secret plan Xehanort had cooked up on this world. She doubted it, but without a working knowledge of this world's history she couldn't actually refute that idea.

The only thing they saw that struck them as odd was a large section of cracked concrete outside of one house. A small part of Kairi hoped that it was some sort of clue to Sora, but it wasn't even close to the size of the Gummi Ship that she and Riku rode in. If she had to guess, the round crater was probably left by a bowling ball. Kairi looked at the cracks in the ground once more before shaking her head.

She reminded herself that she had to be strong. If Sora really was stuck on this world then he would probably need a friendly face right about now. She closed her eyes and imagined herself building up all her negative feelings as she took a deep breath and sent them flying away as she breathed out. She opened her eyes, smiling as she set them on a man filling mailboxes with letters further away. "Come on, Riku! We're not going to find him if we keep walking around so slowly!"

"Huh?" Kairi's sudden energy catching him off-guard. "Do you have any ideas or see anything that could help us find him?"

"We should start by asking if anyone's seen something fall from the sky recently. The simplest solution is usually the correct one." Kairi said as she started walking towards a man further down the street. Turning her head to look back at Riku she shouted to him. "We'll just tell people we're amateur astrologers!"

"You mean Astronomers!" Riku shouted back.

"Whatever!"

Riku chuckled to himself as he ran to catch up with Kairi. He didn't know how she managed to stay so positive all the time. Maybe it was a symptom of being a Princess of Heart. Or maybe he was overly-pessimistic after letting the Darkness into his heart. Regardless of the answer, Kairi's enthusiasm brought some light back into his own heart. He made a mental note to thank her for that later.

"Excuse me, sir." Kairi said as she approached the man.

"Hello dear, hope you're having a good morning." The sun glistened off his teeth as he smiled at her.

"It's not too bad so far." She returned a small smile as she continued. "I hope it's not too odd to ask if you've seen anything fall from the sky lately."

Riku rolled his eyes. "Very smooth, Kairi." He said under his breath.

"The sky?" The man raised an eyebrow at the strange girl. "No… Should I be worried about something falling on my head? I've run into many a prankster who's thought the mail deliverer was most deserving of a practical joke."

"Oh, no! Not at all! At least I don't think so…" Kairi said, waving her hands trying to shake off any implications she might have created. "It's just, my friend and I are trying to become astrologers, you see."

"Astrologers, eh?" He pulled out a newspaper from one of the mailboxes he'd just delivered to. "What's your sign? I'll read what's predicted for you."

"Oh, that's nice of you to do." Shoot, what are the names of astrological signs again? Kairi wracked her brain trying to think of what to say next. "Umm, I think I'm a Sagi- uhh, Sagittaratops? No that's not right. Wasn't that a dinosaur or something? Maybe I'm a, uh, vir- a vertigo?"

Riku was tempted to just keep watching Kairi. He was curious what else she'd come up with. But he knew she'd get mad at him if he left her floundering alone.

"She got the word wrong." Riku said putting a hand on her shoulder. "We want to be astronomers, not astrologers. She's just too embarrassed to admit it."

"What?! No! I'm just mixing up my signs. I know I'm actually a vergil, or wait, that's not it. Vermillion?"

"Oh, I see. Space debris would probably be on a completely different page." The man said, apparently unfazed by the odd people he was talking to as he flipped through the paper. "Well, I don't see any stories about something falling from the sky last night."

"Oh, it would have fallen about week ago. Five days to be precise." Kairi had found her voice again now that the subject had been changed. "Does that ring any bells?"

"Hmm, I don't recall seeing or reading anything about that…" The man straightened his graying mustache as he considered what they had said. "Did you see a shooting star or something? Often times, that's just bits of space junk burning up in the atmosphere, so I doubt it leave anything behind."

Kairi went white at the man's suggestion. "Oh, well let's hope it didn't happen like that." Kairi tried to act casual, but her voice stuttered as she spoke. She tried to think of something more to say when the distant sound of metal scraping against metal carried over the. "What was that?!" She scanned the area for where it came from. It must have happened a couple blocks down, because she couldn't see any damage from where she was standing.

"Hmm? What was what?" The man asked, his hearing apparently not being good enough to pick up the noise Kairi heard.

"I heard it too." Riku said. "We should go investigate."

Kairi nodded in agreement. "Goodbye and thank you for your help, sir." She said to the man before taking off running with Riku.

Kairi and Riku ran towards the noise. The closer they got to where they believed the noise had originated from, the more traffic the crowd of cars on the road seemed to grow.

"What happened over here?" Kairi asked as the two of them ran ahead of the stopped cars.

"If I had to guess, it looks like there was some sort of accident." Riku replied.

"Do you think Sora might have something to do with it?" Kairi imagined that if something was going wrong on this world, Sora would likely be in the thick of it.

"Maybe," Riku panted as continued to run. "But even if he isn't, someone might have gotten hurt."

As they continued ahead, they found the source of the blocked traffic. A four-way intersection had been completely blocked by multiple cars. As the two of them got closer to the scene they saw a creature was trapped. Surrounded by the cars, a dog was barking at the machines boxing it in.

Seeing the fear on the creature's face, Kairi leaped over one of the cars and scooped up the dog before leaping back out.

"Well, no Sora." Riku said looking at the scene. "But it looks like you found a pet."

"We should probably try to get it home." Kairi said.

"Do we have time? We still need to find Sora, after all."

"I know that, but we're just going in circles right now. You know Sora, he's always telling us about how he got involved with the worlds he visits. Maybe we should do the same. At least if we take this poor dog home we can ask its owners if they've seen Sora or anything."

Riku gave up on arguing. She had a point, and if they could get this done quickly then even if the dog's owners didn't know anything, they could be back to looking for Sora again. "Does it have a tag?" Riku asked.

Kairi put the dog back on the ground. "Yeah, hold on I'll see if its owners live nearby…" Kairi crouched down to look at the tag adoring the Dog's neck. "Hmm, it says its name is Scud. Owner's name is Sid Phillips, oh! Here's the address." Kairi read it off to Riku, before realizing she didn't actually know the names of any of the streets or how far the house this dog came from was.

"I don't think we need to worry about how far away the dog's house is." Riku chuckled as he pointed towards one of the street signs by the intersection. "It looks like we're already on the right street"

"Oh, that's good." Kairi said before crouching down to Scud's eye level. "Don't worry boy, we'll get you home soon."

Scud was still shaken by the accident it had caused. Its looked around for the two toys that had escaped its home. Scud kept turning around until it was facing the girl who had rescued it. The girl smiled at it. Scud bared its teeth at her trying to get the strangers to keep their distance. But there was something familiar about the way they smelled. It stopped baring its teeth and wagged its tail.

"Aww, see he's friendly." Kairi said getting closer to pet it.

Scud allowed the stranger to rub her hand on its head as he got closer to her and breathed in her scent.

"Come on, Riku. I bet he'd like you too." Kairi said, her worries melting away as she rubbed the dog.

Scud turned as it heard the other stranger move towards it. It laid down and breathed in this boy's scent as well. Scud opened its eyes wide. It knew why they smelled familiar. They smelled like that one toy. Scud sniffed the air. It could feel the toy's presence. Scud could find it. It hadn't gotten very far.

"Come on now, Scud. Let's get you back home." Kairi hopped to her feet. The dog didn't seem to be listening to her. "Here boy, come on!" Kairi's smile faltered as the dog continued to ignore her. She took a step towards. "Scud, let's go to your home, okay?"

Scud turned around and ran pass the two strangers that had found it.

"Scud! Come back!" The female stranger called. Scud ignored them as it followed the scent.

Being a toy had many disadvantages, but one advantage Sora found was that he never seemed to run out of breath as he ran. Of course, another disadvantage was that his size was so small that he barely made any progress as he ran. It took him far longer than he hoped to make it to the part of the neighborhood that Woody said Sid found the three of them at.

A large house stood on the corner of the street, in front of it were signs that something had crashed near it. The cement was cracked and skid marks littered a trail towards some bushes.

"Hey Barbara, what happened outside your house? You drop a bowling ball out here?" A man dressed in a Mailman's Uniform asked a woman watering a potted plant on her doorstep. Sora could feel the man's presence far before he heard or saw him. His body screamed in protest as he tried to hide. Sora had to force his limbs to slowly trudge himself into the bushes of a neighboring house, bushes seemed to not be. Donald and Goofy's movements were nearly as paralyzed as Sora's, but they too managed to pull themselves into hiding before anyone else noticed the three walking toys.

"I have no idea." The woman looked up. Her face soured as she looked at the destruction in front of her house. "One night Dave was putting out the trash, didn't say a word. The next day he comes in shouting that one of the neighbor's boys must have somehow smashed the sidewalk in the middle of the night."

"So you don't know what caused this, huh?" The mailman said, riffling through the bag slung on his shoulder."

"No, but we do know that we'll have to pay to fix it."

"Sorry to hear that, Bar. I've got a letter for you; hopefully it's got some happier news for you."

The woman went inside with her letter. Sora, waiting for the mailman to walk out of view, jumped out of the bushes and ran to the crater of cracked concrete. Sora could see why the man thought a bowling ball had caused the damage. The area of damaged concrete wasn't much, about the size of bowling ball, if Sora estimated the size correctly, an ability that had become much harder to do since awakening as a toy. It certainly wasn't large enough to have been the crater where the Gummi Ship landed.

"Unless, of course, the Gummi Ship shrunk when we crashed here." Goofy said.

"To be honest, I was kinda hoping that the ship would be the same size as always." Sora said, as he turned to look at Goofy. "The ship itself has never been affected by Donald's magic before. So if it's the same size as usual, then we'd know for sure that we aren't really toys."

"Well, if you're hoping it's unchanged from the way we remember it, you might be disappointed." Donald lifted a broken piece of orange material off the ground. Despite Donald's warning Sora hoped that it might be Gummi material before Donald handed him the piece.

"It's just plastic…" Sora failed to hide the disappointment from his voice. He looked at the skid marks on the ground and followed them towards the bushes. Somehow, whatever caused this destruction left the bushes mostly unharmed. Following into the bushes deeper, Sora found the object he'd been looking for. The Gummi Ship lay in a patch of mud, its hull scared from smacking into the cement and many pieces of it were missing. Noticeably one of its wings was missing.

"This must be it!" Sora rested his head in his hands. Emotionally and mentally exhausted, Sora couldn't decide if he finally had proof or not. Did he just want to believe that this was enough to prove his humanity? There were too many possible moments that might prove they weren't toys, but not a single concrete piece of evidence that couldn't be easily explained away by a simple explanation.

"Oh, you've always had that name on your foot." Woody would've explained.

Or Buzz might say "C'mon Sora, you know that the simple answer is just that some kid bought you, Donald, and Goofy as a set and that set included your ship. That kid must have thrown it, causing the damage to the ship and the street just like the two adults figured out. They clearly don't understand the value of money if they're going to waste like that." After spending those couple of days with Sid, Sora couldn't deny the possibility.

Goofy put a hand on Sora's shoulder. "Don't be afraid, Sora." Goofy grinned at him. "We'll be okay, no matter what happens."

"But I'm scared, Goofy. What if we made a mistake?" Sora stared past the bush's leaves towards at the empty road, his eyes were unfocused as he let his vision get fuzzy. "Woody offered us a place to live, and I threw it away to find something that doesn't exist."

"Sora you can't give up yet. We just found the Gummi Ship, and it's missing a wing just like we remembered from before we awoke in Sid's bag."

"Can you honestly tell me there's no other explanation for what happened to the wing?" Sora pointed towards a storm drain near the cracked cement. "If we actually lost the wing when it hit the ground, then our memory would be wrong. It could easily have fallen down there. And after last night's storm, it would have been flushed away to someplace we'll never find it.

"Sora, do you not believe you're real?" Goofy gently moved Sora's head, forcing him to look him in the eyes.

"I just don't want to be wrong. Not anymore." Sora jerked his head, removing it from Goofy's gentle hold. "If I'm a toy, then let me be a toy. If I'm real then please, let me be real."

"Maybe there is another explanation for the Gummi Ship, maybe we've been toys all along. But I don't believe it!" Goofy gripped Sora's shoulders. "Maybe we could explain away one or two coincidences. But there've been way too many things that suggest that we aren't toys. I'm not saying its certain that we're people, but I believe in us and our friends. Don't you?"

Sora stayed silent as he looked at Kairi's name written on his foot.

Donald walked towards the other two. He studied Sora, before deciding to say what was on his mind. "Guys, we should go. We're not getting much from just looking this Gummi Ship."

The trio moved from the bushes and followed down the street. Carefully they checked for any sign of people being outside. Confident that the street was deserted they followed down the road at a slow pace trying think of what to do next. But they figured that moving in any direction was better than sitting around forever.

If there was anything on this street, any kind of animal or creature, they weren't making a noise. Looking around, Sora couldn't see anything either. Not a squirrel in a tree, a gopher appearing from its hole, nor even a bird sitting on the telephone pole. There must have been something living on this street besides the people in their houses. But everything was quiet. As if every creature on the street had shut up and was hiding from something.

Except Sora did hear one sound.

A panting coming from far away behind them. Sora stopped as the sound got closer. He turned around. Something low to the ground was running towards them. It wasn't a person, none of them had trouble moving. Sora squinted, trying to see what it was. It was already on top of Sora before he could properly register what it was. Sora barely had time to react before Scud bit into his leg.

It took Sora a minute to react when he didn't feel the pain he was expecting. "Get off me!" Sora yelled, smacking the dog wherever he could with his KeyBlade. The dog bit harder and lifted Sora into the air as he continued trying to fight it off. The sound of plastic cracking stopped Sora's heart. Overcome with fear, Sora screamed. Horrified of what he'd see if the dog ever opened its mouth. Sora flailed his KeyBlade, trying to free himself before more damage could be done.

Goofy's round shield flew past Sora's face, nailing the dog in the eye. The dog whined and dropped Sora, who fell to the ground with a thud. Donald was by Sora's side moments later. Sora felt a pit in his stomach grow when he looked upon his right leg. A hole sat where the dog's tooth had pressed into Sora's shin. He felt dizzy as he looked into the empty cavity his leg once hid.

The image of the first toy Sora met from Sid's room flashed in his mind. The sight of peering through its missing eye into the back of its head, and all the little bits of hair poking back from the outside going in lingered in the back of his mind. Sora would have preferred to see blood or bone. At least then he'd know there was a limit to how far Donald's magic had changed him, that perhaps some part of him was still human.

"Sora, can you stand?" Donald shook him, breaking Sora out of his spiraling thoughts.

"I'm not sure." Sora put some weight on his leg, surprised to see that despite the damage he felt no pain, nor did he have any less strength in his legs. "I guess so?" Sora said as he stood up.

"Guys, I could use some help over here!" Goofy called to them, struggling to evade the dog's swiping paws.

"Goofy, hang on!" Donald called as he ran forward to help in the fight. Without his ability to use magic, Donald resorted to clubbing at the dog's paws with his staff. Sora gripped his KeyBlade and steeled himself for the fight.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy landed blow upon blow to the giant dog. But in their small forms they just didn't have the weight behind their blows to do any damage. Occasionally Sora would dodge a swipe and the wind caused by the narrowly avoided swing would whistle through the hole in Sora's shin.

This wasn't going to end well. The dog showed no sign of tiring and Sora knew eventually one of them was going to mess up and become this dog next chew toy.

"There you are Scud!" A girl's voice traveled down the street. Sora could hear someone else marching in tow with her.

Donald and Goofy fell over stiff as a board. Sora could feel the paralyzing effect take hold over his body as well before he too fell to the ground. Scud wasted no time bitting into Sora. It attempted to run off with at least one of its prizes.

"Scud, we told you to sit!" The girl's voice was angry as she grabbed hold of the dog's collar. Her breathing was heavy now that she could finally stop running. "Come on, leave those toys alone. We're taking you home." The dog tried to stay rooted to the ground, but with a mighty heave she pulled Scud back. Its front paws lifted into the air, causing it to drop Sora with a yelp. "Riku, can you hold on to him until we get Scud back home?" It wasn't until now that Sora recognized the girl's voice.

That voice… Unable to vocalize his thoughts, Sora was only able to think to himself. It couldn't be her… And wait, did she say 'Riku'? Sora had been left face down on the ground so he couldn't see if they really were the people he hoped they were. But he did notice the shadow of the girl growing larger as she leaned down to pick him up.

"Kairi don't touch that toy." Riku said disgusted. "Look at it. it looks like the dog's been chewing on it."

"But maybe it belongs to Scud. Maybe the reason why it ran off when we found him was because he was looking for his toy." Sora was convinced. They really were his friends. Had they been looking for him? He couldn't believe it, but here they were, and they'd found him. "We should take it with us and return it back to Scud's house."

No no no! Kairi, please don't do that! If Princesses of Heart can read minds, then right now would be a really great time to reveal it! Sora screamed internally.

"I don't think so." Riku said turning around. Kairi followed suit as they began to walk away. "That toy looks like it would be a choking hazard to a dog like Scud. Besides owner of that toy is probably looking for it, anyway. Better if we leave it where they left it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Kairi agreed. She stood and turned, not even looking back at the toy on the ground.

Sora tried to move. It was all he could do now. He could hear them walking further and further away, and Sora couldn't do anything to stop them or make them come back. He tried to scream, to yell, anything to let them know that he was right here. But no noise would come out. Please guys, come back.

Sora knew that if he didn't do something, they would keep on walking away. Not even realizing the one they were looking for was so close by. Sora dug deep, gathering all his leftover strength and willpower to lift himself off the ground. He took a heavy step forward but found he couldn't force his body to move anymore. But he could see them walking away now. Sora's breathing slowed as his chest set back into unmoving plastic, but he felt the psychological need to kick in. The panic set in as his breathing was denied. Sora could only think of one thing to do as they got further away.

"Riku! Kairi!" Sora felt his body stiffen harder in response to his outburst, even the slightest movement being denied to him. But he could feel the paralysis hadn't climbed up the entirety of his body yet. "Please! don't go!" At this his mouth froze in a big goofy grin, preventing him from speaking anymore. Maybe they'll investigate why a toy they'd found lying on the ground is suddenly standing up behind them. Sora hoped. Sora's hopes were swiftly dashed as the unnatural pose left his body unbalanced and toppled over to the ground.

Kairi stopped. She could have sworn she'd heard something. It was so small and quiet that she thought she might have imagined it. "Riku, did you hear something?" She turned around to see where it might have come from, only to see the few discarded toys on the street. Although she could have sworn that one of them was lying face down earlier. Curious, Kairi considered walking towards it and examining it.

"Kairi, can we get a move on?" Riku kept both hands on the dog's collar. The height difference between him and the dog meant Riku forced to squat rather awkwardly next to Scud. "Come on, let's go. It's getting kind of uncomfortable standing around like this. And besides, the sooner we get Scud back home, the sooner we can start looking for Sora again."

Kairi turned back around to face Riku. Her attention caught by his mentioning of Sora. "Yeah, you're right. You still remember the way to Scud's house?"

The two of them began walking away again. Sora tried to move but ultimately was forced to accept that his body wouldn't budge. That his friends would leave and not even realize that he was so close. He wanted to cry, but even if he could move, it's not like he had tear ducts anyway. As he lay on the sidewalk, Sora cursed the plastic shell he was entombed in. Forcing him to watch the world outside move without his involvement.

An awful feeling welled up inside Sora with no way to let it out as he stared at the sky. He wished that he had gone with Woody and Buzz. Sure, maybe he would still think he was a toy. But at least he'd have somewhere that he belonged. Sora could almost see them now. Flying through the sky on the lit rocket Sid had strapped Buzz to earlier.

Sora tried to blink to wipe the image from his vision. But his eyelids wouldn't move. It took him a few moments to realize that he wasn't imagining them either. What were they doing in the sky? Before Sora could question what was going on, he saw the rocket explode. Somehow escaping the explosion, Buzz flew back down to the ground with Woody in his arms. Sora was captivated. He wanted to see what happened to his friends, but he couldn't get up or move his neck. And besides, they would soon be obscured by the houses in the neighborhood as they got lower to the ground.

Kairi and Riku turned around after the sudden explosion. "What was that?" Kairi asked. "Are there heartless attacking?"

Riku searched the area for where the sound had come from. Eventually looking towards the sky and seeing the remains of a colorful fireworks explosive. "I think it's alright, somebody must have lit a rocket." Riku pointed towards the colorful cloud in the sky.

"Oh, thank goodness…" Kairi sighed. She didn't want to deal with anymore problems. Sora was turning out to be harder to find than she feared. She looked down from the sky, taking a moment to glance at the toy lying in the street. It looked familiar, now that she had a second look at it.

Riku let loose a groan. "Scud's gone. He must have been freaked out by the explosion just like us and ran off when we weren't looking."

"Remind me never to hire you as a dog walker." Kairi joked absentmindedly. She got closer to the toy on the ground and poked it. She half expected it to grab hold of her finger as she brought near it.

"We should go find him before he gets away again."

Riku, wait." There was something not right about this toy. Kairi picked up the toy and shook it gently, trying to remove the dog slobber from it. "Who does this remind you of?" She held it up for him to see.

Kairi, it's just a toy. We don't have time to look at every discarded plaything." Riku was about ready to leave but took a second glance at the toy in her hand. "Hang on."

"It's Sora, right? It looks just like him." Kairi bounced on her toes as she showed him off. Riku had to admit the resemblance was uncanny.

"So, what do you think the odds are that it's just another toy that happens to look like Sora?" Riku looked at the plastic figure again. It had Sora's features and his hair. It felt like it was looking right at Riku. In fact, Riku could have sworn its eyes moved slightly.

Sora knew he had to do something. He dug deep and forced a low quiet voice. "Please… Don't forget them…"

Kairi screamed and dropped the toy. Riku took a couple steps back. The toy's arm moved to point towards the lawn they stood beside. They followed the direction it pointed to and found two more toys hidden among the blades of grass.

"Donald! Goofy!" Riku could recognize those two anywhere. In their hands were their weapons. Looking closer a small plastic KeyBlade lay next to them. Riku didn't believe in coincidences this big. "How did this happen?" He turned back to the Sora toy but it just stared at him. Did he not want to talk? Or was he unable?

"We should get them back to the Gummi Ship." Kairi said. "Maybe the King or Yen Sid will know what to do."

Riku searched the street for Scud. He wasn't going to leave Sora in this state for any longer than he had too. He felt bad just leaving the dog by itself, but he hoped that Scud would find its own way home. "Yeah you're right. Let's go."

Kairi brought the toys of her friends onboard the Gummi Ship. Riku started the engines and began take off. As they moved higher into the sky something changed with the three toys. Kairi held Sora so she noticed him changing first. He grew larger the higher they flew, the larger he got. His hair separated from one large block of plastic into multiple strands of hair and his skin grew softer.

Then a pain traveled through his leg as magic sizzled over his body. Kairi let him down on the floor as he came closer and closer to his regular height.

"Sora, what's going on?!" Kairi cried. She was happy to see him coming back to normal. But he appeared to be in pain. "Talk to me!"

Sora couldn't speak. Dark bags formed under his eyes as he sunk to the floor. Nearly a week's worth of sleep deprivation crashed into him at once.

"It's the magic." Donald said. "It's wearing off now that we're not on that world anymore." His worlds came out slow as his eyelids struggled to stay up. Goofy was already asleep.

Kairi ran to the mage, crying out for him to help her. But by the time she reached him he was unresponsive. "Please wake up!" She shouted, hoping it would awaken him. Kairi turned back to Sora.

The pain in Sora leg dulled as sleep gripped him tighter. But there he could still feel a cold spot on his shin. Sora's head drooped as he found it harder to keep his head up. But he looked at the red wet spot on his leg. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that this was bad. But his need for sleep overpowered his sense of pain and danger. Like a faraway echo Sora could hear Kairi call out for Riku.

Sora could barely lift his eyelids. He forced himself to keep them half open as he took in his surroundings. He tried to remember where he was. Exhaustion held on to Sora's mind and after a few minutes he was already ready to give up and fall over asleep again. He'd just gotten comfortable again when he realized he hadn't seen Donald and Goofy. The tiredness fled from his body as he sat up and looked around the room for his friends. Memories of the past few days' events flooded back to him. Being a toy, stuck in Sid's room, Sid's sick idea of what play with a toy was, the dog, being torn apart.

Meeting Woody and Buzz was the only bright spot he could think of. But his decision to part ways with them haunted Sora. After Woody's offer to take him to Andy's room Sora couldn't help but feel like he betrayed him by not going with him.

A snore alerted Sora of the presence of someone else in the room. He turned around, not realizing he hadn't checked the other side of the room yet. There they were.

Donald and Goofy were fast asleep in separate cots. They had clearly seen better days. their clothing was disheveled, and their features were hard. Sora got up to check on them but crumpled to the floor as soon as he put weight on his right leg.

A burning pain spread through his shin; Sora stifled a scream with his hand. Turning over, Sora checked on his leg. It was tightly wrapped in bandages but was slowly staining red. Sora tried to ignore at as he dragged himself towards his two sleeping friends. They were covered in dirt and scratches, but they were made of flesh again, just like him.

"Where am I?" Sora whispered. The pain in his leg kept him from falling back asleep. Sora tried to remember how he got here. Nothing came to him, he couldn't remember boarding this ship at all, much less when he became flesh again.

"Wait, where's Riku and Kairi?" Sora looked out the door, a hallway lead further into wherever this place was. Sora balanced his weight between the wall and his left leg. The walls hummed the same way his Gummi Ship did when traveling at high speeds.

"I didn't dream them up, did I?" Sora whispered. How much of what happened on that world was a dream? "Was all of it? Did Woody and Buzz exist? The area where my leg is bandaged matches where Scud had split my leg... So that had to be real, right?"

"Do you think they'll be alright?" Kairi asked.

Riku was flying the Gummi Ship back towards Yen Sid's tower. "I don't know" Riku admitted. "You saw him, he was pretty badly shaken."

"I almost left him behind" Kairi's voice was quiet as she remembered the tiny voice screaming her name. "He was so small, and when we brought him on board… His- his leg was…" Kairi couldn't finish the sentence. She'd wrapped his leg in bandages shortly after he fell unconscious. But Sora's leg was already split wide open before they'd even gotten him on board. Beneath all the red that had emerged from his wound, something porcelain white gleamed from underneath. She couldn't bear to recall anymore from that moment.

"Kairi, please. We can ask him about what happened after we he wakes up"

"Yeah, but we should cast cure or something on him in the meantime, right? It should be okay now, right?"

"I'm a little worried about doing that while Donald's still asleep. I'm scared the magic that turned him into that small toy might still be in his system somewhere, what if leg turns back into plastic?"

Kairi sunk in her seat, unable to say anything more after the events of the day. The silence didn't last for long when a scared voice cracked from the door behind them.

"Guys?"

Kairi and Riku turned to face the familiar voice. Sora stood in the door frame. His eyes were wide with disbelief. his appearance was disheveled, and he was barely keeping himself upright, leaning on the wall just to keep standing.

"Sora! You should be in bed!" Kairi rushed over to him, embracing him in a hug.

Sora wasn't sure if he could really believe what he saw as she rushed to him. But as she pulled him into her, as he felt her embrace, he couldn't control the tears that he'd been forced to hold back the past few days. Her touch was proof enough that she really existed.

"You're- You're real…" His voice cracked as he said it. "I thought… Or I didn't know if you…" Sora's mind was a rush of thoughts he couldn't decipher. "I thought you were a lie!" He cried harder as he rested his head against the crook between her neck and shoulder, his body shuddering with each gasp he took.

"Sora it's okay, it's okay." Kairi soothed, rubbing his back and supporting his weight off his bad leg. She worried she was doing something wrong as he started to cry harder.

"I really did believe that you weren't real. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Sora gripped her tighter. "I was just an object. He didn't care! He tore off my legs and wanted to blow me up with a rocket!" Sora didn't know how to explain the past few days to her. He just wanted someone to know what happened.

"You're safe now, Sora." Kairi tried to reassure him again. What he said worried her, but she knew he needed to let it all out, rather than forcing him to answer question that could upset him further.

Eventually after he'd cried himself out, the exhaustion of staying awake for four days straight caught up to him again. But the comfort and safety he found in Kairi's arms reassured him as he drifted back to sleep. "I'll get him back to his bed." Kairi said, turning to Riku.

"Sure, and maybe you should stay near him. In case he wakes up again." Kairi nodded in agreement as she carried Sora over her shoulder.

She looked him over, as she tucked him back into bed. She'd never seen him look this defeated before. He'd always talk about how wonderful exploring the worlds was, but was it always this dangerous?

If this one world could be so dangerous without Xehanort's involvement, how dangerous would the actual battle against him be?

She looked at Sora's tear stained face and promised him, that this time she would protect him.

The room Sora found himself in was blurry. He blinked a couple times trying to refocus the world around him. The fog in his mind kept him from thinking, he didn't know what was going on. His limbs were heavy, and his right leg was stuck in a stirrup. All he could do was look around the fuzzy room.

Someone entered the room. Sora didn't have the energy nor the lucidity to worry who it was though. He was stuck in this bed, and yet he felt detached from the world. As if he was watching the events unfold from behind a wall of glass.

The figure checked his leg, replacing old bandages with clean new ones. Sora could recognize the person but couldn't place where. Satisfied that Sora's leg was cleaned, the figure turned to leave the room.

Somewhere in Sora's mind, he realized that the person who had just dressed his wound didn't know he was awake. He tried to say something, just to let the person know, but all that came out was gurgling noises. But it seemed to get their attention. The figure turned around. More awareness was coming back to Sora. The room was getting less fuzzy, but now the room seemed to spin around him.

The figure spoke to him, he watched the lips move but didn't understand what they said. "Sora… Can… Hear me?" How long was he out for?

"Who…? Where…?" Sora struggled to speak.

"Heavens my dear. Don't you recognize me?" Their voice was distorted but the fog in his mind was beginning to fade.

"You're… I know you… Fl-Flo-Flora?"

The good fairy smiled. "That's right, Sora. Fauna and Merryweather are looking after Goofy and Donald respectively. You've given us all quite a scare looking for you."

"S-Sorry."

"It's quite alright, my dear. You've had a rough couple of days, haven't you? But you're safe now. Just try to rest up."

"Uhh… Okay…" Safe. Sora relaxed when he heard the words. Exhaustion coursing through his body, now that he knew he could afford to rest.

"I'll let the others know you're awake now."

"Mmhmm" Sora wanted to see the others as soon as possible. But the reassurance that he was safe again relaxed him and soon he began to feel drowsy once more. Soon he heard the sound of people shuffling into his room. A couple of them asked him questions. But he wasn't quite sure what they said but he did his best to answer incoherently until he eventually passed out again.

Sora had set down the crutch given him. He sat on a large rock by a cliffside nearby Merlin's enchanted forest, watching the sunset. He breathed a heavy sigh as he tried to relax and soak in the world around him. Some days he believed that the events with Wood and Buzz were just a terrible nightmare. Other days he thought he was in a dream. He'd beg his friends not to let him wake up. It would take his friends a couple tries before they'd be able to remind him that toys didn't sleep.

"This can't be a dream, Sora. You said it yourself, toys don't sleep." Was the most common response he'd get.

Sora ran a hand through his hair, enjoying the feeling of his hair no longer being a single solid piece. Strands of hair moving out of the way as he let his nails slide down his scalp. He shivered as he enjoyed the soothing sensation.

The days had been filled with questions about what happened to him and the others. And for those early days Sora and the others didn't say much of anything, still suffering through the shock of being in one form and discovering they were in another again.

"What did you eat?"

"Nothing."

"When did you sleep?"

"We didn't."

"What was it like to be a toy?"

"Sometimes, like being buried alive. Other times, like I was wearing a hard suit that looked like me."

Sora took a bite from the sandwich Merlin had made for him. He wanted him to try and pace himself while he ate. He hadn't had any food for nearly a week and eating too much too quickly could be bad for him.

"You shouldn't wander off, Sora" Kairi said as she entered the clearing. She took in the sunset before sitting beside Sora.

"Sorry, I just- I guess I needed to be alone for a bit. Sorry, I should be sick of being alone by now, huh?"

"It's alright, besides you didn't go too far." Kairi reassured. "This is actually a spot that Axel and I would take breaks on." She patted the rock they were sitting on "We'd watch the sunset all the time while training."

"It's still hard to believe this is real." He gripped Kairi's hand, but not making eye contact. "Woody offered me a place in Andy's room. I nearly accepted it too, because…" Sora swallowed, afraid to say the words out loud.

"I know, Sora." Kairi pulled him into her. "You wouldn't have accepted the offer if you knew we existed." Kairi pulled away. She wanted to comfort him with the hug, that much was true. But she also wanted to see his eyes again and leaving the hug he was staring right at her now. Her face grew hot as he looked at her, she hoped the pinks and reds coming off the sunset would help hide the blush she could feel on her face.

"Yeah, but you brought me back." Sora mulled over the words before letting out a soft chuckle. "-Again, now that I think about it."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when I lost my heart? You brought me back then. And when I didn't return to the islands you went out and found me and Riku and brought both of us back." Sora hoped she could hear the thankfulness in his voice. "I really would have left with Woody, and I'm not sure if you guys would ever have found us at Andy's house. But on my shoe, your name was there. And that was enough, I couldn't leave with Woody and Buzz. I had to find you, and once again…" Sora tried to look away, but Kairi leaned over to follow his head. Forcing him to keep looking at her. "Once again, you found me. Once again, you brought me back."

"Sora…" Kairi placed her hand on his. "You've always brought me back too. I'd lost my heart after the Islands were attacked. And don't forget I was kidnapped by the Organization as soon as I started looking for the two of you."

Sora looked away. "I'm sorry. It's my fault that the Organization came after you."

"No, it's not!" Kairi grabbed his hand, pulling his attention back towards her. "Sora, we're dealing with powerful enemies. And it's not just you or me who have needed help at some point. Everyone has needed help. Riku was taken by Xehanort's heartless, the King relied on Donald and Goofy to find you and defend the worlds, Ventus is missing and only Master Aqua knows where he is, Master Aqua has been trapped in the Realm of Darkness for ten years, and Terra is missing and possibly still under Xehanort's control. Sora, I know you don't look down on any of us even though we've all needed your help far more than you've needed ours. So please, please don't think less of yourself just because you doubted us and needed help."

Sora embraced Kairi again. "Kairi… Thank you." Sora didn't feel as weak as he used to when he was with her. "You make me feel… I don't know. Better I guess?" Sora didn't know how to express what he was feeling. Sid had made him feel worthless and all his attempts to help his friends forced him to accept his weakness. But talking to Kairi made him feel strong again. Sora wanted to tell her this but didn't know how to word it. He considered that just saying it would likely be for the best.

"I'm glad I could help you feel better." Kairi smiled at Sora. "But… I think I need to get back to training. I'll see you at Merlin's house when I'm finished, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll see you then."

"You're leaving today?" Kairi looked at Sora.

"Yeah. Somebody's got keep an eye out on the worlds while everybody else is busy. You knew I'd be leaving once we were able to walk again." Sora reminded.

"I know, I just didn't think it would be coming up so soon." Kairi looked at Sora's shin. The memories of him falling over with the newly formed open wound still fresh in her mind. "Are you sure you'll be okay? You've only been back for two months."

Sora placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping the gesture would bring her some comfort. "I know. But compared to most places I've been, I've stuck around here for a super long time now." Sora noticed where her eyes kept drifting down to. "And besides, you don't have to worry about my leg anymore. Yen Sid, Merlin, the three Fairies have all been making sure it heals as quickly as possible. Merlin even got in contact with Cinderella's Fairy God Mother and had her check on me too." Sora stamped on the ground a couple of times to demonstrate.

"I know, I know. It's just, what if something like this happens again? We almost lost you."

"There's no one else who really can go, Kairi. You and Axel still need to train and Riku needs to go with Mickey back into the Realm of Darkness. And that place is way more dangerous! I just got unlucky with this last world. I'll be fine"

"Sora, this isn't a game! The heartless are always going to try and kill you!"

"I know, but visiting all these different worlds and making new friends… Well, I love it. I promise I'll be safe, and if I somehow break that promise, you'll know. That's how you found me. And once all of this is done and Xehanort is taken care of, maybe you can come with me and we can visit all the worlds out there together."

Kairi tried to suppress the smile growing on her face. Over correcting with a frown that resembled a child frowning. Seeing Sora himself start to smile at the face she was making, she quickly gave up on looking serious and let it spread over her face. "I'd like that."

"C'mon, Sora!" Donald yelled as he and Goofy came out of a door from further down the hall. "Let's get going already!"

Sora turned to look at Kairi one more time. "Don't worry I'll be fine. And besides, I'm just a Gummi Phone call away." He turned and made his way towards Donald and Goofy.

"Gawrsh, what were you two talkin' about?"

Sora looked back at Kairi. She slowly got farther and farther away. "Just some plans for the future… She's still a little worried about my condition, but I think it'll get easier for her once we've been out for a few days."

"Plans for the future, eh?" Donald said. "What kinda plans did you make." He snickered."

"Just some ideas about what we'll do once Xehanort's gone." Sora said.

"Some plans for just the two of you?" Goofy added. "What'll Riku do without you two?"

"Wha- Riku's not excluded! We were just talking about what we specifically will be doing, because he's not here."

"Uh-huh, sure." Donald said.

"Aww, I think it's cute. I hope you two have somethin' nice planed for when this all done." Goofy said putting his hands on Sora's shoulders as a show of support.

"Guys, stop! It's not what you think!" Sora pleaded.

"Not what we think? Goofy scratched at his head. "Are you sure you both weren't having the same conversation but talking about different things?"

"Nah, he knows what they were talking about…" Donald teased. "He's just hoping he we won't press the issue further."

"Gawrsh, ya really think you can trick us like that, Sora? We've already seen her name on your shoe, and we know what that means."

"Did you tell her about seeing her name appear and what it means?" Donald looked up to Sora to ask the question.

"Not really. A while back, when I was visiting Merlin's Enchanted Forest. We talked for a bit. I told her that her name appeared, but I never told her what we thought the significance of it was."

"Why not?" Goofy asked.

"I just didn't know how to put it into words, I guess…"

"Well, could you try describing how you felt when you were with her at the Forest?"

"Strong, I guess? Before we started talking, I just felt so weak. Kinda worthless honestly. But when Kairi showed up all of that went away.

"Maybe next time you see her you should just say that."

"What? That she makes me feel strong? I was hoping for something a little more, uh I don't know, eloquent?

"Y'know, I think it's best to be open, rather than hoping to find the perfect moment. Otherwise you'll find the perfect moment will have already passed long ago."

"I don't know… What do you think, Donald?"

"You can probably trust Goofy's advice. Besides the King, he's the only one in this tower who's been married."

"What? Not even Yen Sid? He's old enough to have been at one point."

"Aww, I doubt Yen Sid ever gets out of his chair." Donald wondered just how powerful of a wizard Yen Sid was. "Say, you guys don't think the walls in this tower have ears, do you?" He asked nervously.

Sora laughed as they approached the exit of the tower. "Maybe you should have waited until we were outside before you said that!"

Sora was relieved when the Gummi-Ship Chip and Dale had prepared for them was finally in view. "We're going to have to find something else to talk about once were in flight, guys."

Sora walked ahead of them into the Gummi-Ship and flipped the system on. The familiar voices of Chip and Dale popped up as the system came online.

"Sora, welcome back!" Chip bounced up and down as he saw Sora's face on the monitor.

"Heya, Sora. I hope you're ready to travel to some new worlds again!" Dale said.

"Yep, I've had plenty of time to heal up." Sora flexed his muscles. "I'm as healthy as an ox!"

"And he's as smart as one, too!" Donald joked.

"Oh yeah? And who asked you?"

"Well, it's good to see your all back to one hundred percent." Chip said.

"Yeah, 'cuz we found two brand new worlds for you to explore." Dale added. Instantly Sora and Donald stopped scowling at each other in that goodnatured way friends do, where the scowl is located in the wrinkle of the nose than in the eyes.

"Alright, then it's takeoff time! Right, guys?" Sora looked back at Donald and Goofy. They both nodded at him, Goofy threw a salute up to the captain of the ship. "Alright next stop, wherever this place is!" Sora selected one of the unknown worlds and started the engines.

Excitement coursed through his veins as the ship lifted off the ground. Next time he saw Kairi, He'd be able to put into words how she made him feel.

Author's Note: And that's all he wrote! Thank you again to all who read this to the end! I hope I was able to entertain you. I'm sorry this took so long to write. But I'm pretty happy with how this came out. One thing I wanted to do when I wrote this final chapter was give some extra context to why Kairi would be so insistent that she'd protect Sora during the Keyblade war. I also wanted to add more of a reason for why Sora told Kairi that she made him feel strong feel strong of all things. And, hopefully, I managed to do that fairly well. Anyway I'm going to head off now. If you read this all the way through then I'll ask one more time to please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of this story.