Chapter Text
“We’re so glad you could make it, Sora!”
The young man had never felt more out of place than right now. From the floors, to the ceiling, to the people, almost everything was swathed in lurid white and gold. And yet he had at least made an attempt to look fancy, scruffily negotiating his body into a black suit and bow tie. While any other person on the planet would look rather dashing in such fancy clothing, Sora… didn’t quite reach that calibre.
“I-it was the least I could do," he grinned awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck. “After all, you guys’re getting married! I had to be here!”
“And you’re looking so smart!" Princess Jasmine beamed.
“Oh, and we got ya a weddin’ gift too!” Goofy stepped into the conversation. About the only one in the building who could rival Sora’s natural unkemptness, the six foot tall dog-like thing had also made an effort, and changed into a white suit – one better fitting the surroundings. Both Sora and Donald had desperately convinced Goofy to get the suit without the tails, however. That would’ve been an accident just waiting to happen.
Goofy was about to hand over their wedding gift to Jasmine – a simple yet oddly shaped brown package – when an enormous, bright blue hand burst out of nowhere, barring his path.
“HALT!” A voice spoke, also from nowhere. “Premature handling of wedding gifts by the recipient is strictly prohibited!”
Both Aladdin and Jasmine rolled their eyes in unison at this ‘warning’, until the giant blue hand was enshrouded in like coloured smoke, only to be replaced with a humanoid.
“All wedding gifts are to be placed in the designated gifting area!” Genie continued in his ‘serious’ voice, swinging two large blue arms and pointing towards an adjacent room. “So if you don’t mind… sir?”
“Awwright then!” Goofy shrugged ambivalently, and waddled over to the side room where Genie was pointing. “I’ll be back in a moment, guys!”
“Sure thing, Goofy!” Sora called back, before resuming conversation with Aladdin and Jasmine, hands firmly lodged in his pockets. “So... why so serious, Genie?”
“You can never be too serious about wedding security, Sora!” Genie’s ‘serious’ voice continued to trail down the hallway, where Goofy was searching for a good spot to place his wedding gift. However he wasn't alone.
“Hmm?” Goofy poked his head around a corner, narrowing his eyes at the suspicious person on the other side of the chamber. “Now who could that be…?”
Wearing a full length, hooded black cloak, this person was browsing through the pile of extravagance, seemingly looking for something.
"Gotta be around here somewhere…” Goofy overheard them talking to themselves, providing further evidence.
However, the cloak alone was enough to send the red flag flying in Goofy’s mind;
“O-organisation XIII!” He gasped to himself, biting the nails off of one hand. For a moment, he contemplated stopping the intruder on his own, however past experiences with such dangerous criminals had taught him that this was a bad idea.
“I gotta get Sora!” He stammered, dashing back down the hallway.
“Sora!” Goofy called, standing at the edge of the wedding hall and trying to get Sora’s attention with a lot of shouting and flailing from the doorway. “Sooooooraaaaa!”
Luckily for Goofy, he went largely ignored by the other wedding goers, but the two people whose attention he was trying to attract – Sora and Donald – were trying to ignore him too.
“Know any Silence spells?” Sora whispered to Donald in the seat next to him.
“Just the one…” Donald hissed with laughter, pulling a mallet from literally nowhere and grinning.
“Err... I’ll go see what he wants.” Sora sighed, shuffling out of his seat as quietly as he could, so to not disturb the other guests. “Excuse me… sorry!”
Stumbling out of the aisle, the young man was mobbed by Goofy before he could so much as think;
“S-Sora! You gotta come quick! There’s a-”
“Gimme a second, Goofy!” Sora gasped, finding his feet once again and dusting himself off. One look into Goofy’s eyes could tell him that something wasn’t quite right, but with this much urgency?
“…what’s wrong, Goof?” He asked. His lips were thin, and his arms were folded. Goofy visibly gulped, and bent down to whisper into Sora’s ear,
“Th-there’s someone from Organisation XIII here!”
“You-WHAT?!” Sora yelled at full volume, startling several rows of guests. “But-but that’s impossible! We defeated them all!”
“Well maybe they found more or somethin’!” Goofy cried in response. “C-come quick! He’s stealin’ the gifts!”
“Gifts…?!” Sora was taken aback. What could be so awesome that a member of the all-powerful Organisation XIII would invade someone’s wedding for it? Regardless however, he followed Goofy’s lead, and signalled for Donald’s help from the aisles. Flattening himself alongside a wall next to Goofy, both nodded to each other silently, and peered around the corner. Sure enough, a figure shrouded all in black was indeed taking a healthy interest in the wedding gifts. Pottering about here and there, the mysterious robed figure was definitely searching for something…
‘three’ Sora showed Goofy three extended fingers,
two’
‘one…!’
“Alright, freeze!” The boy shouted, he and Goofy leaping out from behind their cover, weapons at the ready. The black cloaked assailant flinched from surprise, however instinctively dove into a defensive stance, pulling out a pair of bright green daggers.
“We don’t wanna fight, alright?” Sora attempted the disarming route first. His Keyblade was still raised at the ready, however. “Put those away, and we can talk about this. We don’t wanna ruin the wedding now, do we?”
The dark figure said nothing.
“Besides, you’re outnumbered!” Goofy raised a brilliant point. “So whatever your evil plan is, it’s gonna have to wait! After all, ain’t you bad guys s’posed to take a day off some-”
“COMING THROUGH!”
“Agh!”
“Oww!”
Wielding his staff and charging, Donald made his entrance onto the scene, knocking into both Goofy and Sora. Confusion was stirred into the air as Donald looked around for whatever was causing trouble, while the mystery person in the black hood relaxed their daggers, contemplating…
And they were away!
Grabbing something from the pile of wedding gifts, the intruder dashed off with amazing agility, practically bouncing off the walls of the palace.
“Donald…!” Sora groaned, rubbing his sore head. “Talk about bad timing...”
“Yell at me later!” Donald squawked in response, giving immediate chase. “He's getting away!”
“R-right!” Sora cried, bounding back to his feet and charging down the hallways in best pursuit.
Meanwhile, the hooded figure was already tearing through the streets of Agrabah, a notable distance away from the palace. Turning back on themselves, peering around unfamiliar corners, they quickly ended up just wandering aimlessly after a few moments and ultimately just stopped in their tracks altogether. The hooded figure just scratched their head. Now what?
“Alright, this time we gotcha!”
Leaping out of the air, Sora once again gave the hooded figure a start. Landing on one knee in front of them – and clutching his chest – he gasped. “Y… you’re fast, I’ll… give ya that.”
Goofy and Donald joined up with Sora, however they cleverly joined from the other side of the street, blocking off the stranger’s only exit.
“You can’t escape now,” said Sora, standing up straight and creeping closer to his enemy. “And I believe you have something that belongs to the palace."
The hooded figure looked to the item in their hand – a long, slender thing, not unlike a mage’s staff – and then back to Sora.
“Are you gonna give that back?” The young man threatened, raising his Keyblade once again. “Or are we gonna have to take it back?”
The hooded figure once again armed themselves, however it wasn’t with twin daggers this time. Instead, they continued to hold the staff in their left, and brandished a double-edged sword with their right.
“Looks like we’re doing this the hard way…” Sora grimaced, pacing defensively. "Why did they always pick the hard way?"
The last thing he wanted was to ruin this suit; according to Yuffie it cost a fortune!
And Sora was the first to take a leap, jumping forwards and slashing with his Keyblade. It was met with the hooded figure’s sword, both of which clashed with an awful ‘shing!’
Attempting to force his enemy back, Sora put all of his strength into his swing, however the opponent held strong with just their sword and body position alone. That obviously wasn't going to work, so Sora changed tactics, releasing the first attack and immediately swinging around with a low, sweeping strike.
His agile opponent leapt over the assault effortlessly and knocked him back with his own blade.
“Grr…” Sora growled, as blood trickled down his arm. “B-bah! Only a flesh wound!”
The hooded figure hesitated for but a moment. Just a flinch, barely anything. Sora frowned, but couldn't ponder the reasons behind it, because that split second was over and he had to defend again.
“Kgh!” Sora gasped, pain searing through his left arm as he defended with his right, scarcely holding his opponent at bay with the Keyblade. With a clumsy backwards roll he avoided another close shave from the bright green blade, and pivoted off a nearby rock to finally catch his opponent by surprise and land a hit.
The figure was knocked down to the ground, springing back to their feet after just a second, only to have to dodge again instantly as a Fire spell was launched from Sora’s Keyblade.
They spun around in the air, once again proving their superior athleticism, but there was one thing this enemy forgot to take into account;
Goofy's shield smashed into their face, reverberating like a gong. They staggered backwards from Goofy’s assault in a daze, and couldn’t quite gather themselves in time for Sora’s next attack, which cracked them right in the small of the back.
“Ngh!” A voice was finally heard from within the depths of the robe, as Sora’s Keyblade floored them. Dust clouds were kicked up, blinding the three, and the hooded figure rolled out of the way, avoiding a ground piercing strike from the Keyblade.
“Sora!” Donald cried, healing his companion with a Cura spell while there was a chance, and Sora lunged once again. The dust might have been blinding, however he had a vague idea of where his opponent was hiding, and he couldn’t spare a second.
Out of pure dumb luck, Sora struck his opponent in the chest with the Keyblade, knocking them back another few paces.
“Urggh…” the hooded figure grunted, clearly in pain. But before Sora could chance his next attack, a powerful glow started emanating from his opponent.
"Uh oh..." Sora muttered, stepping away from the figure in black. With a grin practically visible from behind the shrouded folds of their hood, the figure laughed.
"It's all over."