Archive of Our Own

He’s not sure what calls him to the world. To be fair, he’s never sure why anything calls him at all in this crazy realm. The Realm of Darkness, at least, is pretty easy to understand: be careful, or you will die. That’s what makes these worlds of light so confusing. He might just die, but he’s never expecting it.

It’s Roxas on his mind when they land, Roxas on his mind when he sees the thick trees, the beautiful green fields. But before he can even turn to Goofy, mention the light shining through the rustling leaves, they see Heartless.

There are always Heartless.

By this point, it’s routine. Even if most of his power is gone, the memories are still there. It’s easy, fun even, to give out a good beating to some baddies. It’s exhilarating, feeling the Keyblade comfortable in his hand, leaping with high strikes, drawing on the magic and flinging pure fire at the creatures. It’s over basically before it’s even begun.

The man is gone. The man who’d run past them, Heartless hot on his heels. “Where’d Flynn go?” Sora asks.

Donald and Goofy shrug. It doesn’t really matter anyway. Either they’ll see him again, or they won’t. He’s learned to go with the flow when it comes to new worlds. “I think he went that way,” Goofy says, after a second.

“Goofy, that’s a fifty-foot rock wall covered in moss and vines.” Donald rolls his eyes, scratches at his head under his cap.

“Can’t hurt to try,” Goofy points out. Donald groans, but Sora laughs. The routine is old too, but this is why he loves them.

Donald shoots him a poisoned look. “Sure!” he squawks. “Let’s just poke at the mountain for an hour before Sora gets hungry and remembers he forgot to bring any food again.”

“What?!” Sora exclaims, patting down his pockets with mounting fear. Goofy laughs and holds up a wrapped package.

“Jiminy gave ‘em to me before we got off the ship,” he says. “Thought you’d forget again.”

“Can’t imagine why,” Donald mutters. Sora gives him a quick jab with his elbow, then ducks out of the flailing return strike and jogs over to the mossy wall.

The vines themselves are so thick he can’t actually see the wall. It’s only when, attempting to lean back in a cool, nonchalant way like Riku used to do, that he discovers the vines are just a curtain to a long, winding cavern.

“Okay, that’s cool,” he says, and he runs off down the cavern without waiting to see if the other two follow. They always do.

When he sees the tower, his breath leaves him. He’s seen plenty of beautiful things in his life, but the worlds keep managing to surprise him. It’s one of the very best things about being a traveller: getting to see the wonders of the realms with his own two eyes. It’s a lot more than he ever would have expected before that fateful day on the Islands.

He snaps a quick picture of the tower, smiling wide and waving at it. Maybe he can send the picture to Riku, somehow. Or Kairi. They’d probably love it. He stashes the phone as Donald and Goofy run up, then catches sight of someone climbing down.

“Is that Flynn?” he says, because he barely got a look at him before, and that tower goes up quite a ways.

“Told ya,” is what Goofy says, and Sora laughs.

“Let’s go say ‘Hi’, then.”

Flynn is almost to the ground when something long, thick and gold comes flying out of the high window, nearly braining Sora before he ducks out of the way. He looks up and sees another person come sailing down the side of the tower, using whatever it was like a rope. He looks down. It’s hair. Glimmering, golden hair.

And it’s attached to a girl.

She pauses before she hits the ground, reaching out tentatively with a single foot. When she does let go, she throws herself into the grass with a cheek-splitting grin, rolling down the hill and wading quickly into the babbling stream. She stomps around like she’s never done it before, and Sora feels his own face pulling into a grin. Her joy is infectious. Without a look back at any of them, she runs towards the cavern path full tilt, laughing and shouting at the top of her lungs.

“She’s in a good mood,” Donald says.

“Fellas, there you are!” says Flynn, overly familiar. Sora quirks his head to actually look at him. He’s tall, lean, big eyes and floppy hair. Riku would probably hate him, so Sora decides he likes this guy. Flynn points after the long, long, long trail of golden hair. “We’re gonna wanna follow her.” They do, though Sora does ask Flynn why as they jog to catch up.

“She and I have an… arrangement, you know?” They pause just past the curtain of vines. There are trails of hair all around, but the girl is out of sight.

“I don’t, but that’s okay,” Sora says.

Flynn flashes him a cheeky grin. “That’s why you’re my favourite sidekick. Hey, Blondie!” He cups his hand to his mouth and walks towards a length of hair.

“Sidekick?!” Sora repeats. “Who’s a sidekick?”

“You’re my sidekick,” Donald says, straightening up to all three feet of his height.

“Sure, Donald. Where’s your Keyblade, exactly?”

He’s not sure how a duck can purse their bill, but Donald sure manages. Goofy chortles and slaps them on the back. “You fellas are a hoot, you know?”

“Hey!” calls Flynn. “Can you help me find her?”

They do find her, sitting in the crook of two tree branches half a mile up. “Man, how’d she get up there?” Flynn says.

“She climbed?” He gives Sora a weary look, but he just shrugs. “Unless you think she flew?”

“I don’t think I could deal with flying tower girls today,” Flynn breathes. He shouts up to the girl. “Hey Blondie, come on down!”

“I am the worst daughter ever!” is the reply he gets.

Flynn just gives the tree this dead-eyed sigh, so Sora decides to help out. “Probably not!” he calls. “Unless you stole her dinner or something!”

“Why would I-” She pauses, then two wide green eyes look down at Sora from the tree branch. They narrow. “Who are you?”

“I’m Sora. And this is Donald and Goofy!”

“Pleasure to meetcha, ma’am!” Goofy says. The girl smiles at that, just a little.

Flynn cranes his head back, covering his eyes to get a better view. “These are the sidekicks I mentioned!”

The three of them turn to glare at him. “Since when?” Donald snaps.

“Since she needs an escort to the castle, and I would like to not die from monster attack on the way there.” He shrugs again. “I’m a good guide, and you three seem pretty talented in the whole, you know, destroying evil beasts thing, so… Here we are.”

Donald opens his mouth to argue some more, but Sora, curious, interrupts him. “Why does she want to go the castle?”

There’s a light thump as the girl slides softly to the ground. She takes a step towards Sora, holding a frying pan between them like a shield. “I want to see the lanterns that get sent up every year on my birthday.” Her big green eyes flick over to Flynn. “Mister Rider has agreed to escort me as part of our, uh, bargain, so long as I allow him to bring you three with us. Does that work for you?” Her eyes go back to Sora, and the frying pan rises an inch.

“Of course! We’d be glad to help!” He smiles at her, and that reaction must be the exact opposite of what she was expecting, because her face lights up with another one of those ear-to-ear smiles for a split second before something makes her shutter it away.

“I’m Rapunzel,” she says, sticking her hand straight out. Sora laughs again, and shakes it with his own, something in his brain noticing how small and warm it feels.

“It’s nice to meet you, Rapunzel.” She looks at him intently, then something in her shoulders relaxes, and that smile comes out again. Sora quietly makes it his goal to get her smiling more often. She seems sad, and nobody should have to live with sadness if they don’t need to.

“Wonderful,” says Flynn, “everyone is finally on the same page, yadda yadda, now if we’d like to get to the castle before the festival tomorrow, we should probably get a move on.”

Rapunzel blinks, getting that serious set to her body again. “Of course. Lead on, Mister Rider.” Sora gives Flynn a disapproving look, but he gets ignored.

They walk in silence for a bit, though Sora knows Rapunzel is watching him, when she’s not staring at everything around them. Finally, she shortens her stride to match his, swinging her arms just like he does and making him chuckle.

She blushes. “So, you… fight monsters? What’s that like?”

He puts his hands behind his head and smiles. “Oh, it’s a lotta fun, actually!”

“We’re heroes, you know,” Donald puts in.

She smiles at him, then looks back at Sora. “Don’t you ever get… scared?”

“Well, sure,” he says, “but that doesn’t stop us. If I turned back whenever I got scared, I’d never have beaten that first Heartless way back! And then I’d never be here, you know? It all works out!”

“What’s a ‘Heartless’?” Rapunzel asks.

“They’re the monsters we fight. Well, not all of them. Sometimes there are Nobodies and sometimes there are Nightmares, and Master Yen Sid mentioned these things called the Unversed once but I can never tell when he’s joking so I kind of ignored it.” Rapunzel looks at him like he’s gone crazy, so he tries to salvage the situation. “Don’t worry!” he assures her, summoning his Keyblade to his hand. “As long as I’ve got this, we’ll be fine!”

Her eyes are as wide as dinner plates. Behind her, Donald has the look on his face he gets when he’s about to shout at Sora for being an idiot. “Secret,” he hisses under his breath, making Sora go red and dismiss the blade as quickly as he’d summoned it.

Rapunzel grabs his arm, leans in very close. He can smell the mint on her breath when she asks him, “Was that magic?”

Donald almost imperceptibly shakes his head.

Sora scans around for something to distract her, nearly gasping with relief when he sees the giant dandelion puff sitting in the next clearing. “Look at that!” he says, and when Rapunzel turns to look, she squeals with delight and runs towards it.

It is then, of course, that the Heartless underneath it bursts from the ground and attacks.

Sora is by her side almost before she can scream, wrapping an arm around her and leaping back from the danger zone. He sets her down next to Flynn, who’s watching Donald with a befuddled smile as he weaves a web of flames around the increasing number of plant-like Heartless that pop out to join their leader.

Sora signals to Goofy, who raises his shield above his head and launches Sora up when he hops onto it. Sora calls the Keyblade to his hand and dives towards the biggest one, scoring a direct hit on its head. Of course, that barely fazes it, and one of its thorny leaves slashes out and digs a shallow gouge into his arm.

Rapunzel gasps, but it’s not even the worst injury he’s had today. Donald will take care of it once they’re done, and the important thing is to clear out these Heartless before they hurt Flynn or Rapunzel. Goofy’s shield flies in from Sora’s right and lodges itself in another leaf, then Goofy himself is there, bodily yanking one of the smaller creatures from the ground and lobbing it away.

“Keep your head in the game, Sora!” he says, and it’s not a criticism. Goofy is only ever encouraging, and it’s what makes him the coolest head in a crisis.

Behind them, Donald is almost finished with the first wave of little ones, so Goofy spins to clear a path back to the leader. Sora fires off a quick shard of ice to stun it, then dashes in, trying to go for the killing strike. He manages to deflect the first blow that comes for him, but the second moves at twice the speed and whips at his head.

He’s suddenly yanked back by something, and flies backwards until he slams into someone’s outstretched arms. They smell of mint, and tea. “Be careful!” Rapunzel says. “I barely got you in time!”

“What?” is all he manages, because he’s still a little lost on how, a second ago, he was next to the plant Heartless all of twenty feet away. One of the little ones, closer, rears up and leaps, until a frying pan slams into it with an almighty clang and shatters it into smoke. He looks over at Rapunzel. She’s breathing so heavily, and her grip is so shaky on the pan that it seems she might drop it.

“Those are Heartless?” she asks.

“You better believe it, sister,” Flynn answers. He’s holding a short knife in front of him, but he hasn’t moved.

Sora gets to his feet. “Get me a shot!” he orders, and Donald and Goofy move to oblige, Donald throwing a lightning bolt into the creature’s flank and making it spasm while Goofy bats all the leaves away from its head. Sora leans back, calls the magic to him, and launches forward with a supersonic thrust, bursting the Heartless into black dust.

There are only a few stragglers, and Donald handles them pretty easily. Rapunzel, however, steps in front of Sora with a hard look.

“That was absolutely magic!” she says, waving back at the empty clearing. “You are magic! I thought I was the only one!”

“What?” Flynn and Sora say together.

“You saved me!” she continues. “You moved so fast, one second you were over there, and then the next- And you didn’t even blink!”

“You saved me too,” Sora points out, a little uncomfortable with the attention. “How’d you manage that?”

“She lassooed you with her hair,” Flynn tells him. At Sora’s dumbfounded look, he raises his hands in a long-suffering gesture. “She threw her hair at you, wrapped it around your waist, and yanked you into her waiting arms. Not much else to tell.”

“I wouldn’t put it quite like that,” she mutters, turning red.

“And then,” Flynn continues, “she hit one of those puffballs so hard with that frying pan it exploded into gross little puff powder. Bada boom, bada bing. Everyone’s a hero.”

Sora looks at Rapunzel, who is staring intently at her bare feet. “What did you mean about that magic stuff?”

She looks up. “Oh, well, it’s- it’s hard to explain.”

“We’ll listen,” he assures her, stretching out his arms. That’s when a sharp sting reminds him of the slice the Heartless took out of his arm. “Oh, right. Hey, Donald!”

“You’re hurt!” Rapunzel says, covering her hand with her mouth. Then, before he even moves, she sits down next to him and wraps her hair around his arm.

Flynn’s eyebrows go up. “This is odd.”

Sora looks at her, about to ask, when she sings. Her hair glows a brilliant colour, and the pain from the cut leeches away. There isn’t even the residual ache like when he or Donald uses healing magic. The song stops, the glow fades, and Rapunzel looks up with a sheepish grin. “I have magic hair,” she says.

Her voice is beautiful.

“Well,” Flynn says, standing up, “this day has been, by far, my weirdest. Shall we continue along?”

“Sure,” Sora says, getting up himself. He offers Rapunzel a hand up, noting the smile as she takes his hand. Donald is staring at her hair with a deep suspicion, but he doesn’t say anything.

In the next clearing, they find a field of actual dandelions. They all approach them warily, but when Rapunzel bends down and pokes one without getting attacked, the rest of them let out the breaths they’d been holding. She pulls the little white puffball up and stands, blowing gently and giggling as the seeds fly into the breeze. Sora picks one up too and blows them away.

Rapunzel watches the seeds float with a little smile. “If only there were a little more wind,” she says to herself, “then the whole field would fly.” A little lizard pokes out of her hair by her shoulder and looks at Sora. He blinks. The lizard looks at the dandelions, then back at him, meaningfully.

Oh! He grins as the idea comes to him. He walks over to where Rapunzel is standing and pulls up another dandelion for her. “Hold this,” he says. She takes it with a confused smile, and closes her eyes to blow. That’s when he calls on the air magic to spin around the clearing, pulling every seed into the air and sending them about in a wild dance.

Rapunzel opens her eyes and gasps in delight, dashing past Sora to dance in the gale of dandelion seeds. With a laugh, he joins her, and Goofy and Donald do too, and the four of them dance in the fray until the seeds settle down or float away. Granted, half of them land on them, coating them in a layer of white.

“Sora,” she says, “that was amazing! How did you do that?” She brushes a few seeds off her dress.

“Magic,” he cheekily replies.

“Oh, very funny.” She reaches over and pulls away a seed from where it landed on his nose, her skin only just brushing his. His heart thuds for some reason.

Flynn looks over at them from his position well clear of the seed tornado. “Seeing as you’re all layered in dandelions, can I suggest we head to a stream next? Wash all that off?”

“Hey,” Sora asks, “why didn’t you join us?”

Flynn smirks. “Allergic. And I don’t want another bath today.”

“You could use it,” says Donald, making Flynn squawk indignantly.

Rapunzel puts a hand to her ear, and they all quiet down. “I think I hear water that way,” she says, and then she runs off.

The rest of them run to catch up to her, cresting a hill and seeing that she was right: a shallow lake, sparkling clear and brilliantly blue, sits just below them. Rapunzel’s already running full tilt toward it, so they head in that direction.

She leaps into the water, kicking great arcs up into the air and stomping down as she lands. She spins around and around, laughing with glee. “I can’t believe I’ve never done this before!”

Sora stops, looks at Flynn, who’s sitting himself down on a nearby rock. “She’s never done this before?”

“Kid, I don’t think she ever left that tower before today.”

Confusion floods him. That, and a little dawning horror at the idea of never leaving one room your whole life. Who would do that? Why would you do that? How could you decide to stay inside forever when there were so many wonderful things to be seen in the worlds? No wonder she was so excited. He turns to Flynn again. “Why?”

“Didn’t think it polite to ask.”

“Sora!” Rapunzel calls, knee deep in the water. “You’ve gotta jump in! It’s actually warm!” She waves at him eagerly, and with what he just learned in mind, it’s easy to detach himself from Flynn’s side and run into the water with her.

It is actually kind of warm, though there’s still that morning chill deep below it. He feels the water soak into his shoes and decides to take them off. His shorts, he doesn’t mind being wet, but the shoes will squelch for hours.

“Come on!” she says, and then he runs right at her, stopping just before he sprays her. She steps from side to side, watching the way her feet distort in the clear lake water. Her hair trails behind her onto the sandy bed, looking even more golden in the rippling light. Behind them somewhere, Donald and Goofy are running around splashing each other. Rapunzel watches them play, then turns back to Sora with a sly look on her face. He just smiles. She’s got such an expressive face, and it makes him happy to see all the ways she expresses herself.

Then she splashes him in the face.

It takes a second for his eyes to clear, and by then she’s dashing away, laughing wildly at the water dripping from his hair. “Oh, you’re gonna get it!” he calls, chasing after her and splashing with all his might. They circle each other for a minute or so, each splashing the other with equal fervour. Then Sora gets a mischievous idea. Waiting until she ducks close enough to get him, he calls the Keyblade and slashes up a huge spray of water. Rapunzel gets drenched, but she’s laughing, she’s laughing, and so Sora laughs too. She wipes the water from her face and then her eyes go wide. Sora looks and sees that the spray has caught the sunlight, creating a shining rainbow right in front of their eyes.

“Oh, Sora,” she says, “it’s beautiful!” She puts her hand on his arm and sighs. They stand there until the rainbow fades, and she doesn’t take her hand from his arm for a moment after that. He doesn’t know why he feels so pleased.

Flynn brings them back to reality once again. “Now that we’ve all cleaned ourselves up, can we get this show on the road? We’ve got a festival to see!”

Sora swipes the last of the dandelions into the water, sees Rapunzel doing the same. She looks so happy in that moment, he just can’t believe she’s never left the tower before. It can’t be true. “Is this the first time you’ve left home?”

She pauses, glances up at him. She hesitates. “Yes, it is.”

“Why?”

She bites her lip. “Mother said it wasn’t safe. She said I’d be attacked, that people would want to kidnap me for my hair.”

“Well, we were attacked,” he offers, but that just makes her frown.

“But you saved me! And I saved you! Mother only ever told me about all the horrible things that could happen if I left, and she never once said anything about the good! I’m having fun, Sora! More fun than I’ve ever had in my life! I think a little monster fighting is worth that, don’t you?”

“Absolutely! That’s exactly how I feel! If you just sit around scared of the bad things that could happen, you never get to live life’s greatest adventures! And adventures are the best part about life!”

“I’m really glad I met you.” She smiles that perfect smile again, and his heart does a loop de loop.

“I’m really glad I met you too.”

“Blondie! Spikes! Let’s go!” Flynn points down the forest trail, where he, Donald and Goofy have already started heading.

“We’re coming!” Sora calls back. “Sheesh!” Rapunzel giggles and he gives her a smile. “Seems like he’s got somewhere to be, huh?”

Her smile fades, and Sora feels the light leave him. “I suppose he does.”

While he spends the minutes it takes to get to the next clearing furiously trying to figure out a way to raise her spirits again, it ends up not mattering. They’re all distracted by an oddly-shaped flower that turns out to be a very hostile Nobody.

The three of them shape up for battle when Rapunzel and Flynn join them, frying pan and tiny dagger held at the ready. He gives them a consoling look. “I don’t think this is the safest place for you two to be.”

Rapunzel stares fiercely at the Nobody. “I’m not afraid, Sora. I want to fight alongside you.”

He puts a hand on her shoulder, trying not to be upset when she starts. “I know what you mean, but literally only a Keyblade can damage those things.” He waves his weapon with his other hand. “I don’t want you two to put yourselves in danger.”

“A smart choice,” says Flynn, whose eyes never leave the monsters. Rapunzel still has a fire to her that Sora definitely recognizes, so he decides to appeal to Flynn instead.

“Take her and head further down the trail,” he tells him. “We’ll take these fools down and then catch up, easy.”

Flynn nods. “Sounds like a good plan. Come on, Blondie.” He takes Rapunzel’s arm, but she doesn’t quite move.

She stares at Sora. “Do you promise?” The little lizard pokes out of her hair again, mirroring her intense gaze.

“Of course!” he smiles cockily. “We eat guys like this for breakfast.”

“If you could hurry up!” Donald shrieks, hiding behind Goofy as he catches the first blow on his shield.

“Okay,” says Rapunzel, and then they’re gone. Sora gives himself over to the fight, and they win without any issue.

It’s only after, when the words of the man named Marluxia sift through his head, do the issues begin.

“What do you think he meant, guys? About Rapunzel needing to be kept safe from darkness? Do you think she’s in danger?”

Donald looks back from ahead, the witchlight floating in his hand casting the side of his face Sora can see into shadow. “We’re all in danger, Sora.”

“I know that, but-”

“You have a job to do, and you should try to stick to it. People are counting on us.”

Sora sighs. “I know that, Donald, and I’m trying. It’s hard trying to regain power you don’t exactly remember having in the first place.”

“That’s not-” Donald turns back around. “Marluxia is a member of the Organization. They all tell lies. I wouldn’t worry about Rapunzel too much.”

“Well, I’d be less worried if we could find her,” Sora points out. “It’s dark, it’s late, and we haven’t seen them in ages.”

“Maybe we could try shouting for ‘em,” Goofy offers. Sora shrugs, because it’s not like he’s got any better ideas, and so they shout into the night for Flynn and Rapunzel, hoping they’ll answer. They don’t.

Someone else does.

A figure steps into the light. “Excuse me,” comes a woman’s voice from under a dark cloak, “do you three know Rapunzel?”

They unconsciously close ranks, moving their backs to each other. “Yeah,” says Sora, “we might.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” says the woman, as she pulls back her hood. She’s middle-aged, with frizzy hair to her shoulders, and though her smile is wide, there’s a wary look to her eyes that Sora recognizes from somewhere. “I’m her mother.”

“You’re her mother?!” says Donald.

“You’re so young!” says Goofy.

The woman smiles at the compliment, but her attention doesn’t waver from Sora for longer than a second. “Please, tell me where my darling girl is. She ran away from home and I’m worried sick. She’s never been out on her own before.” She reaches out, beseechingly. “If you have any idea where she might have gone, you must tell me.”

Sora frowns. “She said she never went outside because you told her it was horrible.”

“Sora!” Donald admonishes. “Don’t be rude!”

Rapunzel’s mother stares right at him for a long second before she speaks. “And was I wrong? She’s gone, it’s late, the woods are filled with monsters and you have no idea where she is. What kind of friend are you?!”

He feels the words like a punch in the gut. She’s right, only a bad friend, a friend who didn’t care, would let someone like Rapunzel be alone at night in a strange place.

“She’s not alone!” Goofy interjects. “She’s with Flynn!”

Rapunzel’s mother shoots him a condescending smirk. “Flynn, you say? Flynn Rider?” They all nod, which makes her reach into her cloak and pull out a scroll. “This Flynn Rider?” She unfolds it with a flourish. It’s a wanted poster for Flynn, although…

“What’s with the nose?” Sora says.

She rolls her eyes. “Flynn Rider is wanted by the king and queen for stealing one of their great treasures. He’s been on the run for days.” She flings the wanted poster at Sora’s feet. “How well do you know this man? Who’s to say he’s not after my great treasure as well?”

He stares down at the poster, feeling every single thud of his heartbeat. Was Marluxia right? Is Rapunzel in danger, and from Flynn? They don’t know him very well, no, and they have no idea what he’s getting out of this “arrangement” with Rapunzel. What if it’s something sinister? What if…

“If you want, miss, you could come look with us.” Goofy, ever the diplomat, gestures welcomingly at their little group. Donald barely conceals his scoff, and Sora is secretly pleased when Rapunzel’s mother scoffs as well.

“If you don’t know where my pearl is, then you’re useless to me.” She pulls her hood back on and spares him a frosty smile. “Perhaps, if you run into Rapunzel and feel like doing something right for once in your life, you can bring her. Back. Home.”

That, more than anything, cuts him to the quick. He slides down to the ground with a dull thud, feeling more hollow than he has in a very long time. “Goodbye, Sora,” says the woman, and then she disappears into the darkness.

Goofy and Donald are still trying to cheer him up when they finally find Flynn and Rapunzel the next morning. It’s not going well, but the sight of her mediating an argument between Flynn and a massive white horse is definitely entertaining enough a distraction.

“What happened?” he asks her once the dust has settled. She laughs, tiredly, runs a hand through the hair behind her ear.

“Maximus caught up to Flynn just before we woke up.” She waves at the horse, who perks up at the sound of his name. “Turns out Flynn’s on the run for something, and Maximus is the guy who wants to take him in.”

Last night’s revelations come thundering back. “I know,” he says woodenly.

“You know?” she says. “You know about the horse?”

“I know about Flynn,” he replies, pulling out the wanted poster and showing it to her. She scans it for a second, but she doesn’t seem surprised. “You’ve seen this before,” he says.

She shrugs. “Maximus had one, and I actually think they’ve been plastered all around the forest?” She stares at the one in her hands. “Although they never seem to get the nose right, do they? Anyway.” She hands it back to Sora, who stows it miserably. They look over at Flynn, chatting up Donald and Goofy and apparently regaling them with some grand story. “I know what he stole,” Rapunzel finally says.

“What?”

She looks sheepish. “I, um, might have it in Maximus’ saddlebag.”

Sora stares at her. “Why do you have it?”

Rapunzel looks away from him, embarrassed. “Well, I did leave it at home, because I didn’t want him finding it and running off, but then, last night, Mother showed up and-”

“So she found you after all?”

“What do you mean, after all?” She gives him a puzzled look, and the contents of his discussion with her mother come ratcheting back up his spine as he remembers.

“Well, uh,” he begins, before looking to see that the others are still out of earshot, “we ran into your mother last night.”

She goes white. “You did?” He nods. “What did she say?”

He doesn’t look at her when he speaks. “She told us about Flynn, and about how worried she is, and that I’m--we’re-- bad friends for leaving you alone in the woods.”

“Oh,” says Rapunzel, exhaling quietly. “Okay.”

That… is not the reaction he was expecting. “Why do you sound relieved?”

“Well, I already knew about Flynn,” she begins, and that’s as far as she makes it before he interrupts her.

“So why are you going with him?” he asks, worry and guilt adding a little more fire to his voice than is necessary. She takes a step back, frowns. It wrinkles up her mouth to a tiny line. It is adorable.

“Because I am going to see those lanterns tonight, Sora. I know he’s a thief, but I made him a promise. He hasn’t steered us wrong yet.”

Despite himself, Sora feels his face set into a glare as he looks at Flynn. “I guess so.”

Rapunzel sighs and puts her hand on his arm. It draws all of his attention away from Flynn like a lightning rod. “We talked a little last night, Flynn and me. About life and dreams and such.”

Sora would almost feel jealous, but her hand is still pressed against the fabric of his sleeve. “And?”

“I think he’s had a rough go, you know?” She purses her lips as she looks at him, and the hand on Sora’s arm squeezes. “He just wants to be able to live his life the way he wants to, and I really get that.”

“He told you all that?”

The hand retreats to run through her hair, leaving a cold patch on Sora’s arm. “I’m extrapolating a little, I guess. He was a tough nut to crack.”

“Extrapo-what-ing?”

She grins at him, perfect little smile lifting his heart out of the pit her mother had put it in. “I’m guessing, is all.”

Still, though. “Stealing is wrong.”

She rolls her eyes. “You sound like Mother. I am aware, Sora, I am making an exception.”

Because, on his dark days, he hates himself a little, he asks. “What else did she say?”

“Oh! Well!” She twitches and red starts to seep into her face. “She wanted me to come home, and I told her I was going to see those lanterns whether or not she came with me. Then she, well, she gave me the thing and told me I was being ridiculous.”

It’s easy enough to dislike Rapunzel’s mother, so he lets himself do it. “Why’d she say a mean thing like that?”

Rapunzel, surprisingly, won’t look at him. “She says I’m, uh, that I’m getting attached. That people aren’t who they seem, and if I keep believing that they’re, uh, that they’re wonderful, I’m going to get myself hurt.”

“Your mom thinks you’re getting attached to Flynn?” Sora scoffs. Rapunzel lets out a strangled laugh but doesn’t say anything. “Man, she’s weird.” The cloud settles over him again. “But I think she might be right, you know, about you going home?”

She turns on him in a flash. “Excuse me?! I am going to see those lanterns, and-”

He holds up his hands. “I don’t mean right now! I meant after.” He looks at her unhappily. “Last night, she seemed really worried about you.”

“I know,” she sighs, “I know.” She rubs her palms into her eyes. “I don’t want to leave home forever, you know? I just want to see these lanterns, and then I can go home, okay?”

“Okay,” he says.

Rapunzel gives him a sad little smile, and it sickens him to know it’s his fault. “It’s my dream, Sora.”

Without thinking, he takes her hand. “I’ll make sure you live your dream, Rapunzel.” She looks at their hands, then up at him, and tears start to form at the corner of her eyes. “I’m sorry!” he immediately says, letting go of her. “I’m so sorry!”

She smiles at him, teary-eyed, and moves to wipe the water from her eyes. “It’s fine, Sora, don’t worry. I’m not upset.”

“You’re not?!” She shakes her head, still smiling. “Girls are weird,” he mutters, which gets a bright peal of laughter from her. Donald walks over and turns into Sora’s space.

“We’re heading out,” he says, giving Sora one of his trademark Looks. As he always does, Sora ignores it and walks over to Goofy, Flynn and Maximus, ready to pretend the previous night never happened.

As the day goes on, though, he finds himself watching Flynn harder and harder. The older man doesn’t really participate in any of the fun, and when they do come across Heartless, he fights with this cagey, trapped look behind his eyes. He’s loud and boisterous whenever he’s talking, but the second everyone’s attention wavers, a shadow crosses his face. It’s suspicious. When they all pause for lunch, Sora corners him.

“What’s your game, Rider?” he demands, poking Flynn’s chest with a finger.

Flynn looks flabbergasted. “What’s this?”

“What do you get out of this whole ‘taking Rapunzel to the festival’ deal?”

Flynn looks at him for a second, a cool pall falling over his face. “That’s between me and my lady love, shortstack.”

Sora nearly recoils. “Lady love?”

He scoffs. “Money, Spikes. I get money. That’s what I’m after, that’s why I’m playing nursemaid to her, you, and your weird nannies.”

“They’re not nannies!”

“They nag you like them,” Flynn points out, which is a fair point.

Sora’s not deterred, though. “But really, Flynn, money? Don’t you care about her at all?” He jerks his thumb over at Rapunzel, who’s staring enraptured at a flock of birds singing in a branch just above her head.

Flynn shoves him back, anger and weariness clear to see on his face. “Sure, kid, I care. But I care more about having enough money to make sure I never have to deal with anyone who makes me feel like trash ever again.” He elbows past Sora gruffly. “And currently? That includes you.” He stomps over to where Maximus waits and sits down with a huff. Rapunzel whips her head around to look and the birds fly off at the sudden motion.

She looks crestfallen. Flynn looks morose. Sora knows how to fix one of those.

He creeps past Rapunzel, a finger held to his lips. She quirks an eyebrow as he passes but says nothing, willing to play along. With small steps and gentle motions, he follows his ears to where he can hear the flock of birds starting to sing again, in a little copse of trees a few yards away. He walks up to it, silent and almost motionless, and waits. After a second, the birdsong starts anew. He waits a whole minute, and then he starts to whistle in tune with the flock. The birds pick up on it almost immediately, singing more alertly and looking down to where he stands. He puts a little magic in the whistle, pushing, hoping, and the birds fly down to circle around him, singing along to his tune. With the exact same care and grace, he leads them back to where Rapunzel waits, whistling all the while.

When the first bird lands on her finger, her whole face lights up. When two more sit down in her hair, she looks at Sora in awe. It does something to him, something he can’t define and doesn’t understand, but having Rapunzel look at him the way she is, is one of the greatest moments in his life.

The birds stay and sing, Rapunzel singing with them, for a little while longer. Then, as birds do, they get bored and fly off. He watches them go with a satisfied smile; Rapunzel is no longer upset.

She stares at him for a long time after that, not saying anything, until finally she presses her side to his and whispers “Thank you”. The feel of her body is electric, and he’s not sure what to do about it. Luckily, she pulls away just as quick and walks off.

Everyone is staring at him. Even the horse. Even the little lizard peeking out of Rapunzel’s hair.

“What?” is what he says.

“You’re a good kid,” Flynn says, getting up and ruffling Sora’s hair. “I get what you were after before.”

“What does that mean?” he demands, which, surprisingly, makes Flynn laugh.

“Ask your nanny duck, he’ll tell you.”

Sora looks over to them. Goofy has his usual smile. “That was sure nice of ya, Sora. I betcha Rapunzel really appreciated it. I sure did.” Donald, on the other hand, is not smiling. There’s a lot happening on his face, cycling between anger and worry and so many other emotions Sora would need to be a genius to figure it out. And he’s no genius, he’s just a nice guy. He tells Goofy as much.

Soon enough, they come to the edge of the forest. Flynn points down a steep hill, covered in violet blooms, at a sandy shoreline they can barely see. “That’s the Corona Sea, that’s where the castle sits. We’re almost there.”

Sora eyes the hill. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen before, but the other two might be hesitant to run down--

“Catch me!” Rapunzel says, and then she’s racing down the hill at top speed. Without hesitation, Sora dives after her, rolling through the flowers and settling himself into a slide once he hits the really steep part. It seems to go on for ages, but soon enough they’re bursting through the tree line onto a sandy beach, and the great spread of the sea is before them.

Sora stops and looks across the water. Filling up the horizon is a massive island, covered in gleaming buildings and topped by a massive ivory castle that almost glows in the afternoon sunlight. Without even really thinking about it, he pulls out the Gummiphone to take a picture.

“What’s that?” asks Rapunzel, sliding into the frame. She’s standing in the water, dressed hiked up to keep from getting wet, though her hair is once again completely submerged.

“It takes pictures,” he tells her, before he even thinks about it. She frowns, because she obviously doesn’t know what a picture is. “It’s like a painting, except real life.”

Rapunzel brightens. “I love to paint! Can you show me how it works?”

And that’s how Sora finds himself taking a picture with Rapunzel, the Gummiphone held aloft in his right hand, Rapunzel’s chin resting on his left shoulder, the both of them squinting in the sunlight. It is the best photo he’s ever taken.

He lets Rapunzel play with the phone as they cross the massive white bridge to the island. She snaps pictures of everything, and her joy is worth the sour look on Donald’s face.

They get to the castle town, and it’s very obvious that Rapunzel is overwhelmed. Sora’s pretty sure she’s never been in a place with more than five people total, and they keep stepping on her hair. But it’s Flynn to the rescue, as he rounds up some local girls to braid her hair up and out of the way.

“How do I look?” she asks when it’s done, and it’s hard to provide a straight answer. He guesses the correct answer would be “breathtaking”, since he can’t breathe as he stares at her. The girls wove flowers into the braids, and Rapunzel looks so happy she could die. He hopes she doesn’t, though.

She grabs him by the hand and drags him to every stall in the festival, cooing over the foods and gasping at the artwork. At one point, he sees a little girl looking sad, so he stand on one hand and does a few spins. She, and the other people watching, look so pleased that he finds himself doing a whole acrobatics routine right there in the thoroughfare. At the end, everyone claps, even Donald, and one of the women mentions to her friend that Sora might be a good dance partner for later.

“There’s dancing?!” Rapunzel gasps, bouncing up and down when the woman tells her how to get to the town square. She grabs his hand again and sets off at a run, dragging him along as they get nearer and nearer to the music.

There are already a few people dancing when they arrive, but Rapunzel’s entrance sets the whole group alight with energy. Flynn cajoles the band members to strike up a lively jig, and then the square is alive with dancing. They move and turn and spin, and everyone dances with everyone else as the music builds faster and faster and faster. Sora and Rapunzel end up on opposite sides of the throng, Sora’s partner sends him spinning with a wink and a hearty toss, and Rapunzel slams into his arms just as the song ends.

They stand there, breathing heavily, her chin resting on his shoulder. Without wondering why, he wraps his arms around her back and pulls her tight. Her breath hitches, and he can feel her heart hammering against his own. She smells of mint, and tea, and the flowers in her hair, and when she pulls back to stare wide-eyed up at him, he has the overpowering urge to kiss her.

He steps away like he’s been burned.

She looks at him then, not hurt on her face, not quite yet, but mounting apprehension. “Are… you okay, Sora?”

He needs to fix this. He needs to fix this. “Of course!” he says, all bluster and energy. “It just took a lot out of me, dancing. I might go sit down by the pier for a bit. Hope that’s okay.”

A little crease appears between her eyebrows, and it’s beautiful, it’s beautiful, and he wants to kiss there too, and he needs to leave now. “Okay,” she says, with a lot of emotion behind it, but it’s the words he needs so it’s the words he hears, and he takes off down the lane without looking back.

He’s only been sitting on the pier for ten minutes when Donald shows up. He sighs and sits down next to Sora, pulling his hat off and placing it beside him. He doesn’t say anything for a long moment.

It’s Sora who breaks the silence. “I want to kiss her,” he says, and that alone feels like the end.

Donald looks out across the water to the distant shore. “I know you do. I knew this was gonna happen, and I didn’t try hard enough.”

“Donald,” Sora starts, but he doesn’t continue because he doesn't need to. He knows, just as well as Donald does, that they’re not supposed to interfere. They’re not supposed to let other people know about all the worlds, all the realms, all the ways they intertwine. Just look at what happens when people find out: Maleficent, Xehanort, Organization XIII. Sora is fully aware that the greatest secret for them to keep is this one. While they’ve had slip-ups before, he’s never felt worried about his words or actions while protecting the worlds. Until now.

Because before today, he’s never felt the way he feels about her. Not about anyone. There was Kairi, and there was Riku, but he’s not sure at what point friendship becomes love and love becomes friendship, and all he’s ever wanted for those two, from those two, is to see them safe and whole and happy. He’s never wanted to kiss the crease between Kairi’s eyes, or press Riku’s mouth to his to see if he tastes the same way he smells. So what is it about her?

“I’ve never been in love before,” he breathes.

“You’ve known her for two days, Sora,” Donald points out. “Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

Sora’s blood boils. “That doesn’t mean-” he starts, and then he realizes the trap. Donald looks at him pityingly.

“It’s real, Sora,” says Donald, “even though it’d be easier if it wasn’t. Because you can’t stay here. We have a mission.”

“She could come with us,” he offers, but he knows it’s a weak argument.

“She’s been a part of this world, really, for two days. You’d take her away from this? And for what, to stand with you as the realms go to war?”

“I know,” he says, and he does, he does. It’s not safe for him out there, and he’s been fighting the darkness for years. For Rapunzel, it’d be a death sentence. So there’s really nothing else to say, so he doesn’t.

Donald does. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, and he puts his hand on Sora’s shoulder until Flynn comes down some time later.

By then it’s nearly dark, and people have started retreating from the pier. Flynn kneels down beside the two of them and places two unlit paper lanterns in Sora’s lap. Donald turns around with his mouth open to protest, but Flynn holds up a hand to stop him. “This is her dream, boys. She’s waited all her life to be here.” He points down the wharf, and Sora spots Rapunzel standing by the lighthouse all alone, staring up at the castle. “I know you all have your mysterious business going on, but she’s had a bit of a shock today, and I think she could really use a friend right now.”

A friend. He can do that. He can be a friend. He looks down at the lanterns, then up at Flynn. “What should I do?”

Flynn nods over at a small boat sitting nearby. “You should take her out in that to the middle of the lake.” He indicates where with a finger. “The lanterns usually float down that way after they’ve been let loose. She’ll love it.”

Mechanically, Sora gets into the boat and unmoors it from the pier. It’s easy enough to steer with magic on your side, and he brings it alongside with the lighthouse where Rapunzel waits.

“Hey,” he says.

She looks down at him, surprised. “Hi. What are you doing?”

“Hop in,” he says. He tries to smile. “Got the idea from a friend.”

She tries to smile too, and if that wavering, wobbling attempt is what his looks like, no wonder hers isn’t forthcoming. Still, she does slide into the boat, sitting across from him in silence as he sails them over to the suggested spot.

“What are we doing?” she says, after they’ve sat silently for a few minutes.

“A friend once told me that good things come to those who wait.”

She chuckles, just a little, and he takes it as a good sign. “Okay then,” she says, “I trust you.”

And doesn’t that twist the knife even further.

When the first lantern flies down from the castle tower, Rapunzel’s eyes immediately lock onto it. When the second, and the third, and the fourth fly up from the courtyard, her hand comes up to her mouth. As the shining horde of paper lanterns crest the castle walls and rise up into the sky, he can see their light shining in her wonderful eyes, casting a fine glow over her and everything around them, making it all seem perfect.

It hurts, how perfect she is.

Like Flynn said, the lanterns come down all around where they’re waiting, skimming just above the surface before hopping back into the sky. Rapunzel leans against the prow, reaching out to touch those that float close enough. Figuring now is the best time, Sora lights their two lanterns and holds them up to her. She smiles so wide and joyful that all he can see is her face, her smile, her eyes, and the way she beams at him in the lamplight. She takes one of the lanterns in her hands, and they release them together, letting them fly high into the sky until they’re lost amongst countless others.

They’re quiet for another moment, though this one is not quite so sad. Still, when eventually she does look back at him, fear and worry carve deep lines into her skin. She sounds like she’s lost all hope when she speaks.

“Sora, are you mad at me?”

He looks at her, at this perfect, beautiful, wonderous girl, and he tells her everything.

After, she sits very still, eyes locked on some faraway thought. Sora tries not to watch her and fails, because he has broken every rule he’s ever had set for him, and his entire existence is now to be defined by this moment.

After eons, she looks up at him. “There are other worlds.”

“Yes.”

“And you protect these worlds.”

“Yes.”

“And there is a great evil that is trying to destroy these worlds and control everything.”

“Yes.”

She stares right into his soul. “And this evil has tried to kill you countless times.”

His eyes flutter closed. “Yes.”

She doesn’t continue, and he can’t open his eyes, can’t look at her when she breaks his heart.

“Then I have to go with you.”

But she doesn’t break his heart.

His eyes fly open and he stares at her like he’s never seen her before. “You… you want to come with me?”

“Yes,” she breathes, barely audible. “Yes,” she says again, stronger. “If you’re going to spend your life fighting for everyone else, then I’m going to too.”

“But I’ve been doing this for years, Rapunzel, you’ve only been out of that tower two days.”

She laughs, a wet, warbly laugh. “And think how much of the world I’ve seen. And there are so many more worlds to see, Sora! If you can find a home among the stars, if you can find friends and family wherever you go, then I know I can too.” She gives him a shy look then, and a blush starts to pull across her face. “Besides, you’ll need someone there to protect you.”

He does kiss her then. He kisses her and kisses her and she kisses him right back, and the light in the lanterns has all but gone out by the time they make it back to land.

He leaves her by the square with a lamp, because he has to speak to Donald and Goofy, has to speak to them alone, because Donald won’t talk about this in front of her, and he can’t bear to see her hurt.

He doesn’t find Donald or Goofy. He finds Marluxia, who blows pink powder in his face, and then he doesn’t find anything else at all.

When he comes to, he’s sitting alone in a dark jail cell. The stone is cold and clammy, and he can’t hear anything for how thick it is. There are many cells he can see, when he walks up to the bars and looks around, but not a single one of them has any occupants at all. Where’s Donald? Where’s Goofy? If Marluxia got to them, wouldn’t he have locked them away here too?

What if he got to Rapunzel?

Sora’s breath seizes in his chest. He left her alone, standing there in the dark, saying he’d be right back. What if Marluxia decided to go with his back-up plan? To kidnap Rapunzel, one of the pure hearts of light, instead of dealing with Sora any longer. That’d been what he’d implied, but Sora hadn’t really paused to think about it until this moment. If he’s in here, then she’s in danger, and he has to find her as soon as possible.

The Keyblade is in his hand before he blinks. This is clearly not an Organization prison, then. A quick tap unlocks the cell, and then he runs off down the corridor towards what he hopes is the exit. Then he runs headlong into Flynn, who’s gunning it in the other direction.

It takes a second for his head to clear, and Flynn’s hands are all over him. “You’re here!” he shouts. “You’re alive! That spiky pink-haired guy said you were going to be executed!”

Sora bats away the hands poking and prodding for injuries. “I’m fine, Marluxia’s a liar.” He looks up at Flynn. “What’s going on? Why am I down here?”

Flynn hoists him to his feet, points him back the way he’d come. “Apparently, he told the king and queen you knew where to find their missing princess.” He sets off at a run, Sora easily keeping up as they dash through the halls of the prison.

“There’s a missing princess?” he asks.

Flynn shrugs, which is quite a feat when running for your life. “It’s a whole thing. The lanterns, the festival.” He throws out an arm, keeping Sora from dashing out into the next hall. He hears voices down the way, and Flynn lowers his own to keep from being overheard. “They’re desperate for information, which is why they threw you in the deepest, darkest cell they had.”

“That doesn’t seem very nice!”

He gets a long-suffering look in response to that. “Try not to let it bother you,” Flynn whispers, glancing around the corner. The coast is clear, so he gestures Sora forward and they dash into the next hall. “You’ve got bigger problems than that.”

“Rapunzel,” Sora says, and Flynn nods. He feels his face tighten. “What happened to her?”

“Well, she was worried when you didn’t show up,” Flynn explains, pointing out a side corridor they take at a sharp angle, “that’s when I found her. She was all set to run after you, but I calmed her down, said you’d never let her down before, so why would you start now?” Sora feels some small, burgeoning delight start to grow in him, and he smiles widely at Flynn, unsure why he ever doubted him. Flynn grins back, but the apprehension never leaves his face. “That’s when Pinky showed up with his pack of flower monsters.”

They pause as a pair of soldiers troop past. The loathing Sora has for all the Organization members starts to catch flame in his heart. He asks, “What did he say?”

“He told Rapunzel that you’d left, that you’d never actually planned to take her with you.”

Sora interjects hotly. “That’s-”

“I know,” Flynn says, gesturing for quiet. “I don’t think she believed it either. But then he implied he’d done something horrible to her mother, and she had to make a choice.”

He doesn’t begrudge her leaving. Her mother, whatever he feels about her personally, raised Rapunzel up to be the person she is, and she obviously has to take priority. “So she went to save her mother,” he finishes.

Flynn cocks his head. “Well, he didn’t want to let her leave, but Max and I told her we’d hold off the monsters while she ran.” He unconsciously reaches up to brush his neck, and Sora gapes at the burn he can see just below Flynn’s collar. Flynn gives him a tired smile. “It didn’t work too well. But after she was gone, he seemed to lose interest.” He leads them up a stone staircase to a door only half the size of a regular person. “That’s when he told me about getting you locked up.”

“So you came here to rescue me?” It’s kind of a novel feeling, being the one rescued for once. His words make Flynn bark out a strangled laugh.

“No, they found me lying in the courtyard after he left and threw me in here too. I’m kind of a wanted thief.”

“I know.”

He looks at him in surprise. “And you didn’t say anything?”

It’s Sora’s turn to shrug. “Rapunzel trusts you, so I do too.”

“You’re a good kid, Sora.” Flynn’s real smile, maybe the first time Sora’s actually seen it, shines. “I can see why she likes you.” That thought makes Sora blush across his entire face, which draws an incredulous laugh from Flynn. “You spent an hour kissing her last night, Spikes. I think she likes you back.”

There’s so much he wants to say. However, “She smells nice,” is the sentence that comes out of his mouth.

Flynn purses his lips. “Because we’re friends, I’m gonna ignore that.” Mortification makes Sora blush even harder. “Look, there’s the last door.” He points at a thick iron door, hanging heavily a few feet in front of them. “We get through that, and we’re in the castle proper. Then I can get us out. I just have to pick that lock.” He pulls a hairpin out from his shirt and holds it aloft.

“I got this,” Sora says, calling the Keyblade and tapping it against the door. Like always, there’s a thunk as the door unlocks and creaks open. Flynn gives the Keyblade an appreciative look.

“How do I get my hands on one of those?”

Sora laughs. “There’s a lot of, uh-” He waves his hand about to indicate some impression of “magical shenanigans”, “-you know?”

“I didn’t know magic existed until two days ago, so whatever that was, I do not know.” He shoves the door wider and squeezes through, Sora close behind. The change in scenery is immediate, as everything is bright and colourful compared to the dungeon, and it kind of hurts his eyes. “We’ve got ten minutes before they notice we’re gone,” Flynn says. “So help me get up to that window so we can get out of here.”

They dash over together, and Sora hoists Flynn up to the high glass window. He pushes it open and leans down to offer Sora a hand up, but he just leaps up like it’s nothing and grins at the look of Flynn’s face.

“You’re some kind of impressive, Spikes,” Flynn says, and then he leaps out of the window.

They land on Maximus’ back and he sets off running down the street, moving full speed regardless of if there are people in the way. Flynn stays quiet, but Sora shouts along the way, making sure people see them coming before they get run over. There are a few guards waiting by the bridge, but Maximus clears them with a powerful jump, and they’re away.

They don’t stop until they’re deep in the forest. Maximus needs to take a breath, and Sora can move pretty fast on his own two feet. They’ve been doing nothing but running, and the pause reminds him there’s more than just Rapunzel at stake here.

“Have you seen Donald and Goofy?”

Flynn looks down at him from Maximus’ back. “Marluxia said… that they were gone, too. He didn’t say anything else.”

Bile rises in Sora’s mouth. “So he’s done something to them. Alright, Marluxia, I hope you’re ready for a world of pain.”

“Love the enthusiasm, kid, but let’s take this one thing at a time.” They come to the veil of vines and push past. “We get Rapunzel, then we go for Donald and Goofy.”

“You’ll help me?” His hand brushes a rock nervously. Flynn just smiles again.

“That’s what friends do, Sora.”

They get out into the hidden grove and head for the tower, and they can hear shouting coming from the top. Flynn pulls out his dagger and Sora his Keyblade, and Maximus actually draws a sword with his mouth. The shouting continues. Flynn jerks his chin up at the tower window. “You should be the one to head in. We’ll cover you.”

Sora nods and leaps at the the side of the tower, running vertically up the side. When he’s halfway up, two screams cut through the shouting, and then somebody flies out the window and plummets to the ground. He leaps out to catch them, but before his fingers can even grasp the edges of their cloak, the person lets out an animal scream. Their body coils in on itself, seeping darkness from every edge, and he barely latches onto the tower wall in time to avoid being blasted by the dark wave of energy that signals someone’s transformation into a Heartless.

“Sora, go!” Flynn screams. “We got this!”

They absolutely do not, what with the creature growing larger and larger as it twists in on itself, but then he remembers Rapunzel up in the tower and decides to trust Flynn’s instincts. He dashes up the rest of the way, flings himself through the open window with his Keyblade at the ready.

Rapunzel is there, arms bound together, and the relief on her face buoys him for the split second it’s there, before fear and horror come crashing back in. Her hair is still braided from the night before, and her eyes look dark and frightened. Marluxia is beside her, a hand on her shoulder and another coming back to his side, and Sora knows then that he is the one that pushed Rapunzel’s mother to her death.

He points the Keyblade directly at where Marluxia’s heart would be, if he had one. “Let her go.”

Marluxia smiles, condescending, cruel, and pats Rapunzel’s shoulder. “I did warn you, Sora, didn’t I? About keeping the heart of light safe? If you aren’t going to play by the rules, I have no choice but to go with my backup plan.” His hand tightens. “You’re a poor listener, but maybe she’ll do better. She does seem a lot smarter than you.”

“Shut up,” Sora growls, and he raises the blade a bit higher. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”

Marluxia jerks her to his chest, drawing a pained gasp from her mouth, and he’s going to pay dearly for that. “How in the world could you possibly stop me?”

Then the tower explodes.

Sora leaps for Rapunzel, getting battered by splinters of wood and stone. She drives her bound fists into Marluxia’s eye and dashes into Sora’s arms, and together they jump clear of the crashing tower and into free air. The Heartless, a massive creature of wood and leaves, spies them falling away and lurches into the air after them, leaving behind its destructive assault. Rapunzel clings tighter to him, and he pushes off the mountain-side to zoom further away from the immense creature. They don’t let go of each other until they’re through the veil, but then Marluxia is there, scythe in his hand and gleaming dangerously in the light.

Sora parries the first slash high, catching a strike that would have taken him through the neck. The second comes low, and he barely manages to keep his leg from getting gouged. The third comes even faster, but then Rapunzel is there, somehow with a sword in her hands, and Marluxia has to twirl away to avoid both their strikes.

“You can’t be serious,” he says, leveling his weapon at her. “You’ve never held a sword before right now.”

She points it at his chest, a mirror of Sora’s same threat. “I’ll improvise.”

Marluxia glowers at her, naked fury marring his face, and leaps. Sora jumps to intercept, but it is the arrival of the Heartless that turns Marluxia’s head, as it crashes down atop him from the mountain with a painful screech.

“Let’s go!” Rapunzel shouts, seizing Sora’s hand and booking it for the trees. He glances back at where the creature is doing its best to devour Marluxia, who dashes and dances away from its heavy strikes. It’s a good an opportunity as any to escape, so he lets Rapunzel lead him away from the fight.

“Where are we going?” he gasps, because they have not stopped and her grip on his hand is painful.

She takes them down a twisting marshy path. “Away. As far away as we can get.”

They run together, with the only noise being their heaving breaths, until at last they break through the trees and onto the beach. Rapunzel skids to a stop, gasping for air, but her hand never releases Sora’s. The sight of the city in the distance. The both of them look at it, and the sight of its spires seem to energize them once again.

Now that they have a moment, he has to know. “What happened?”

She looks back at the trees, wary, watching. “That man said he’d done something to Mother, so I went back to the tower. She was fine, apart from being crazy with worry. She said I was tearing her heart out, that I didn’t care about her, that I was choosing a boy who’d leave me alone in the night instead of my own mother.”

“Rapunzel, I-”

She lifts their entwined hands, presses a kiss to his knuckles. It makes his heart patter. “I know you wouldn’t. But she was out of her mind. She said we were in terrible danger, that she was going to take us as far away from here as she could. We spent the entire night arguing about it, and then he showed up.” Her face goes distant. Sora begins envisioning suitable demises for Marluxia. “She just screamed and screamed at him. She said he was a monster, he was a liar. She said he was trying to steal her only family away. He,” and here she pauses. “He said she was just as bad. That she was the thief and the monster, and that, despite all her scheming and plotting, she’d failed to keep me secret and safe. Then he said he was taking me away.”

Sora squeezes her hand. “He’s not taking you anywhere.”

Rapunzel does not look into his eyes. Her next words are clipped, hiding the fresh hurt. “Mother attacked him. He pushed her out the window. Then you showed up.” She lets his hand go, and the sea breeze is a lot colder on his skin than it had been a moment before. “Was that Heartless… Was that my mother?” He doesn’t get the chance to answer.

“Yes,” says Marluxia, stepping out of shadows in front of them. “It takes an incredibly strong heart, one overflowing with darkness, to become a beast like that. I’m impressed that she was actually useful in the end.”

Rapunzel shudders, but doesn’t look away from him. “You’re a monster,” she snaps. Marluxia just smiles.

He turns to Sora, that aggravating look still on his face. “Let me offer you a deal, Keyblade bearer. You must be wondering where your noisy companions have gotten to, yes?”

The Keyblade is in his hand immediately. “What have you done with them?”

Marluxia’s smile goes poisonous. “They’re fine. For now. But here are your options: you give me the girl, and your friends will be returned to you.” He gestures at Rapunzel, who stares at him with open hatred. “Or: defy me, in which case you’ll never see your friends again. You have thirty seconds.”

Entire lifetimes flash by Sora’s eyes as he considers the question. He has to get Goofy and Donald back, he has to. But at what cost? Could he give Rapunzel to this horrible man, with whatever horrible plans for her that the Organization has? He glances over at her, and sees pure determination waiting there for him. He knows then, she’ll support whatever choice he makes, and that really makes the choice for him.

“You’ll never have her,” he states, bringing the Keyblade to bear. “I don’t care what you do.”

“Sora!” gasps Rapunzel, shocked, so he takes her hand again.

“You will never have her,” he repeats.

Marluxia does not look surprised. “And your friends?”

It hurts to think about them imprisoned, but there’s one thing he knows about them that Marluxia does not. “They’re strong! Together, we’ve lived through worse than you. I know we’ll find them.”

“Together,” says Rapunzel, bringing her own weapon up as well.

Marluxia smirks. “How entirely expected.” He raises a hand, but a dark portal appears instead of the weapon they were expecting. “Enjoy your happily ever after, children. I’m sure it will be worth it.” He steps into the shadows and vanishes, and they get a split second of relief before the massive Heartless bursts through the trees.

It’s wounded, that much is clear, but it’s still just as huge and just as dangerous, and all it seems to want is to get Rapunzel away from Sora’s side. They duck and weave and dodge, but they’re already exhausted from their mad flight from the tower, and the two of them alone just aren’t enough to take it down.

The blast from a horn splits the air, and all three of them turn to look for the sound.

An army rides down the beach towards them. A massive file of soldiers in golden armour atop sprinting horses, rushing across the sand to where Sora and Rapunzel fight. At the head are two riders whose armour shines in the sunlight, and ahead of them, moving as fast as his horse can carry him, is Flynn Rider, sword held high.

The creature fights fiercely, but is overwhelmed by the sheer number of fighters. Flynn leads the army in incapacitating its limbs, while Rapunzel, Sora, and the two lead riders whirl and step around its face, dashing in for quick strikes before retreating from its wooden teeth. Eventually, Sora sees an opening, but before he can take it, the first rider, a massive man with a massive mustache, launches the second, a slim figure in a golden mask, up into the air. The second rider raises their spear high above their head and plunges it down into the beast’s unblinking eye. The Heartless shatters, coating them all with dust for a second before it dissipates. The blast flings the second rider clean off the beach, hitting the water with a big splash. Several of the soldiers immediately file in after them.

Suddenly there are arms around him, Flynn hugging him hard enough his feet come off the ground. Rapunzel laughs gleefully and throws her arms into the hug two, and they get a beautiful four seconds before reality comes crashing down once again.

The big rider strides over to them, giving Flynn and Sora intense looks. “I suppose, seeing as you have helped us defeat a threat to our realm, we can forgive your escaping from the dungeon.”

Sora starts to argue, but Flynn slaps a hand over his mouth. “Thank you, your majesty, you are very kind.” He feels his eyes go wide. This is the King of Corona, the one with the lost daughter, the one who was in that mural in the town square. However, he has experience with kings, and he bows low at the waist as soon as Flynn lets him go.

“Thank you, your majesty.”

But the king doesn’t respond. He’s staring at Rapunzel, and the pain is so raw on his face that even Sora can see it. She’s staring back, apprehensive and unsure, but she seems to be seeing something in his face that Sora can’t.

“Well, that was an adventure!” comes a woman’s voice from the water. He turns to see the second rider stepping lightly onto the beach. The soldiers, having helped her up, stand at attention behind her. She pushes her hair out of her face and takes off her mask.

Sora’s heart breaks.

She has wide green eyes, and rounded lips. Her hair is long and thick, and the sheen of water makes it glow auburn in the blazing light. Her skin glows, and her nose turns up at the end. There are pale circles under her eyes, and creased lines at their edges. It is all very familiar. The soldiers defer to her because she is Queen of Corona.

She is also Rapunzel’s mother.

A tiny sound escapes from Rapunzel’s mouth, making the Queen turn and actually look at her. There’s a second of shocked silence as they take each other in, noting all the perfect, horrible similarities. Then the Queen rushes forward and takes Rapunzel into her arms, squeezing her like she might never let go.

“I’m the lost princess,” Rapunzel breathes. The Queen squeezes tighter, saying Rapunzel’s name over and over, choking the word out between sobs. The King, tears welling in his eyes as well, wraps his arms around the two of them and together they sink to the sand, a whole family once again.

They do not get arrested.

She comes to see him, once, before he leaves. There’s a lot that goes unsaid between them, because the words catch in their throats every time they try. He has to go find Donald and Goofy, and she has to learn how to run the kingdom she’ll one day rule. They both know what they’re meant to be doing, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.

She takes his hand, leads him up to the highest tower in the castle, and they step out onto the balcony. He makes a little joke about her and towers, and her sparkling laugh buoys him up just enough that he feels able to speak.

“I’m sorry,” he says, and she smiles this heavy, happy, hurting smile and kisses him. He pulls her into his arms, and she throws hers around his neck, and she kisses him so hard and strong it sears the memory deep into his soul. He feels the tears start to drip down his face, and then she’s crying too, and they’re crying and kissing and laughing about how incredibly wild the whole thing has been.

She pulls away eventually, though her hand still cups his cheek. “Never be sorry,” she says, her green eyes locked onto his. “Never apologize for this. We don’t get what we want, but I wouldn’t trade knowing you for anything.”

His tears flow freely. “I don’t know if I’ll ever see you again.”

“You have worlds to save.” She smiles simply. “It’s one of the things I love about you.” Her words send a shock through his body, and he nearly swallows his tongue in his eagerness to respond.

“I love you, Rapunzel.” She beams, and leans in for one final kiss. They both know, without saying it, that it’ll be the last.

“I love you too,” she says, and then they wrap their arms around each other one last time.

“Take care of Flynn, alright?” he breathes into her hair.

“I’ll keep him safe,” she says, chin nestled in his neck. “Give my best to Donald and Goofy when you see them.” He lets out a sob at that, so she runs her fingers soothingly through his hair. “You’ll find them,” she says, “you’ll find them.”

They break apart an eternity later, and she steps back to the door. One hand comes up to wipe away the tears, but the other stays at her side, twitching as though longing to hold his once more. “Good luck,” she says, stepping toward the door.

He isn’t supposed to do this, but what’s one more rule to be broken after all these? He holds the Keyblade high, shooting a beam of light straight up into the air. Not a second later, his ship swoops down through the atmosphere to hover just above him. She laughs happily, always excited by the things he does, and he reaches a hand up to touch the hull.

He stops, looks at her again, and places a hand over his heart. She silently matches the gesture, and that’s what he keeps in his heart when he dematerializes.

The ship soars into space without his input. It’s something he thinks somebody programmed in after Donald had complained about his piloting one too many times. He spends the short trip with his eyes closed, remembering.

“Sora?” says a little voice, and he feels Jiminy hop onto his shoulder. He doesn’t open his eyes. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“I’m sorry.”

“That’s okay, fella!” The little weight disappears from his shoulder, and he hears Jiminy land on the dash. “I know it’s hard. We can talk later. I’ve got some news for ya!”

He opens his eyes. Jiminy’s looking at him with a lot more wisdom and understanding than he’d expect from a normal cricket. Of course, Jiminy’s one special cricket. “What’s that?”

“King Mickey’s got an idea about where Donald and Goofy are! He and Riku are headed there now!”

That’s… alright. That’s a goal. That’s something he can rush towards without looking back. That’s something he knows he can do. He reaches down to the console and starts up the engine, the humming of the ship straightening his spine.

“Alright then,” he says. “Where to?”