Chapter Text
Sora was sitting in his chair in the cockpit of the Gummi Ship, staring out the window and observing the vast ocean of meteors, comets and other celestial bodies that was surrounding him.
There were so many stars out there. So many worlds. And soon… They all might cease to exist.
Sora crossed his arms and sighed deep. The young key bearer had so many thoughts going on in his head, so many emotions that were stirring in his heart. Sora wasn’t usually the type to think or worry about things too much, but right now he couldn’t help it: The time had almost come.
The Keyblade War.
Organization XIII was so close to its end goal. According to what Larxene had told Sora, Master Xehanort had already gathered his thirteen darknesses. Meanwhile, the guardians of light were still a few members short.
Sora had traveled to many worlds with Donald and Goofy, searching for the power of waking. But no matter how much time they had spent looking, Sora still hadn’t been able to find it. He didn’t even fully understand what the power of waking actually was; Master Yen Sid had said it to be the power to free a heart from its sleep, but Sora still hadn’t figured out what that means.
Sora had assumed that when he finally regains the power of waking, he’ll know. But… What if he never does?
There were so many people whose fates were tied to Sora. Roxas, Ventus. Terra, Aqua. Naminé. Someone else, who Sora hadn’t been able to name.
Riku and Kairi.
Everyone was counting on him. Sora’s friends, they were his power. He couldn’t let them down. But lately, he had been truly realizing the extent of the responsibility that had fallen on his shoulders. It felt like all of the events that had unfolded ever since the day Destiny Islands fell to darkness, the day the Keyblade had chosen Sora, it was all leading up to this moment. This was the culmination of his journey as the key bearer.
If Master Xehanort can forge the χ-blade, if he can open Kingdom Hearts… It would be over. For Sora, for his friends, for the entire world. For everything.
Facing the prospect of a potential apocalypse, Sora felt uncharacteristically unsure of himself. If he had what it takes to protect his friends and those he loved.
For the first time in a long while, Sora was afraid.
“Sora?”
“Huh?”
Donald had sat up from his chair, walked up to Sora and nudged him to shake him out of his thoughts and back to the present. He had a sympathetic, slightly concerned expression on his face.
“Are you okay?” Donald asked. “You look a bit troubled.”
“I’m fine.” Sora said with a slight smile. “I was just thinking about stuff, you know?”
“Gawrsh Sora, that’s not like ya at all!” Goofy remarked, causing Sora to turn his head. “You’re usually not the type to be worryin’ about things!”
“I guess.” Sora shrugged. “There’s just so much that's been going on lately. The Organization’s still causing trouble, Riku and The King are still looking for Aqua, Kairi’s still training with Lea… And I still haven’t found the power of waking.” He stared at his hands.
“Ohhhh...” Donald quacked sadly. “Sora-”
“We’re running out of places to look.” Sora continued, unable to shake off his inner fears. “What if I don’t find it in time?”
Sora clenched his fists, lamenting the loss of his strength after his heart was damaged by Xehanort. Nearly becoming a vessel had left its mark on the boy, and often he found himself imagining what would have happened if Lea, Donald and Goofy had shown up just a few seconds too late.
“Don’t worry, we know you’re gonna find it!” Donald said, trying to cheer Sora up. “We just have to keep looking!”
“I hope you’re right.” Sora sighed, still feeling pensive.
“C’mon, you shouldn’t frown like that.” Donald smiled gently at Sora. “Remember, this ship runs on happy faces!”
“Uhhh, f-fellas?” Goofy gulped nervously, looking at the control panel of the Gummi Ship. “I don’t think the ship is currently runnin’ on anything!”
“What?!” Sora and Donald exclaimed in unison. Sora jumped up from his chair and rushed to the ship’s control panel with Donald, discovering to their horror-
“WAK! We’re out of fuel!” Donald yelped.
“B-but you said this ship runs on happy faces!” Sora exclaimed.
“It’s just a figure of speech!”
“Prepare for an emergency landing!” Sora tried piloting the Gummi Ship, to no avail as the ship began spinning wildly out of control tumbling down the Ocean Between, knocking the trio off their feet.
“Bleuugh, I’m gonna be sick!” Donald groaned, feeling nauseous from all of the spinning.
“Fellas!” Goofy yelled, managing to see through all of the chaos that the Gummi Ship was currently on crash course towards a nearby world. “We’re gonna crash!”
“H-hang onto something, quick!” Sora crawled towards one of the chairs of the ship and held on as tightly as he possibly could, with Donald and Goofy doing the same. The three of them were all screaming at the top of their lungs and bracing themselves for the impact, Sora instinctively summoned his Keyblade and used it to shield his head and then-
“AAAHHHHH!”
As soon as the ship crashed into the ground below, Sora was knocked out cold. When he eventually regained consciousness, he slowly sat up wincing and holding his head.
“Ugh, my head…” Sora felt incredibly disoriented. “Donald? Goofy?”
Sora looked around his surroundings: He appeared to be in a clearing very deep in the heart of a dark forest, for a second almost thinking that the ship had crashed into the Kingdom of Corona, but all of the trees and plantlife looked so alien to him, almost mystical. Then, Sora took another look and found that there were no traces of the Gummi Ship, Donald or Goofy anywhere, and his Keyblade had also gone missing.
“Donald! Goofy!” Sora called out as he stood up. “Where are you?”
No response. Suddenly, some sort of magical wisp flew past Sora’s face: Sora turned his head to follow its direction and spotted his Keyblade sticking out of the ground a little bit of distance away from him, surrounded by vines.
“At least my Keyblade is safe.” Sora mumbled. “But I’ve still gotta find Donald and Goofy, and the ship.”
Sora began walking towards his Keyblade to pull it out of the ground. However, when he got closer to the Keyblade it suddenly began glitching and contorting around.
“W-what?”
Sora couldn’t believe his eyes: The Keyblade had transformed into a sword with an ornate, golden handle that had a gemstone embedded in it. The blade of the sword almost looked like it was made out of glass, or a large crystal.
“What’s going on?” Sora wondered, feeling completely lost. After hesitating for a moment he decided to grab the sword by its handle, but a magical burst of light emanated from the sword as soon as Sora’s fingers made contact with it, temporarily blinding him.
“Ngh…” Sora rubbed his eyes and looked around again. He was now in some sort of white void, completely empty aside from the sword that was still stuck on the ground in front of him.
Sora suddenly had the eerie feeling that he was being watched, turned around and gasped. In front of him was standing a purple, tall woman with short hair, wearing a gown, a cape and a hood. Sora noticed that the woman's eyes were glowing and she was transparent, almost looking like a ghost.
Or… A hologram.
“Wh… Who are you?” Sora asked, utterly perplexed. “A-and where am I?”
The woman spoke: “Balance must be restored. Etheria must seek a hero.”
“Etheria? What are you talking abou-”
Then, Sora felt something stir inside of his heart and fell to his knees clutching his head, as memories began flashing rapidly before his eyes.
Memories that weren’t his.
“FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!”
“Hey, Adora.”
“Horde soldier!”
“The sword is meant for you.”
“I'm not going home, Catra. I can't.”
“I just need a little more time!”
“Best Friend Squad!”
“You don’t have to go back, we can fix this!”
“Oh, Mara dearie!”
“Catra, please DON’T!”
“Bye, Adora. I really am gonna miss you.”
“I didn't break the world, but I am gonna fix it.”
“What do you want, Adora?”
“Catra… Shadow Weaver is in Bright Moon.”
“The Rebellion accepts your allegiance, She-Ra, Princess of Power.”
“Catra, she distracts you, confuses you.”
“And you? You made your choice. Now live with it!”
“The weapon… The weapon is Etheria.”
“Well, maybe your best isn't good enough. If it was, my mother would still be here!”
“Take care of each other.”
“Open the portal and let's end this.”
“Adora, I’m sorry! For everything!”
“She-Ra’s gone. The sword is broken.”
“Goodbye, my oldest enemy.”
“You're worth more than what you can give to other people.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Don’t you get it? I love you! I always have!”
“Adora!”
“Adora!”
“ADORA!”
“...Sora! Sora!”
“Mmmph…” Hearing his name being called, Sora very slowly opened his eyes and spotted two familiar faces staring at him. “Donald? Goofy..?”
“Gawrsh, thank goodness you’re okay, Sora!” Goofy said, relieved to see Sora awake. “You’ve been out cold for a while.”
“I-I have?” Sora wondered, as Donald and Goofy helped him up on his feet.
“Yeah, we were starting to get worried!” Donald nodded. “Though I should’ve known you’d be fine, you’ve got a thick enough skull to protect you from any blows!”
“Hardy har.” Sora rolled his eyes, then observed their surroundings: He looked to be in the same forest as before, just a different part of it. “Where are we?”
“Beats me.” Donald shrugged. “I don’t think we’ve been to this world before!”
“Huh…” Sora had a very peculiar feeling in his heart. He didn’t know what exactly it was, but there was something different about the world they had crash-landed on. “Where’s the ship?”
“It crashed over there.” Goofy pointed towards something behind Sora’s back. Sora turned around and saw the wrecked remains of the Gummi Ship having crashed into a tree, with various Gummi blocks being scattered around its vicinity. “Donald and I were fine, but ya got knocked out when we landed so we figured you needed some fresh air!”
“It’s totally busted…” Sora muttered, crossing his arms while observing the destroyed Gummi Ship. “What do we do now? I don’t think you guys know anything about fixing ships, either?”
“Nope.” Donald shook his head. Then he had an idea: “Wait, your Gummiphone! You could give Chip and Dale a call.”
“Yeah, they can give us tips on how to rebuild the ship!” Goofy agreed. “Or maybe we could call Ienzo, ask him to send someone to come pick us up.”
“Good idea!” Sora reached into his pocket, taking out the Gummiphone. “Let’s see…”
After a while of fiddling with the phone Sora discovered much to his dismay that he wasn’t able to get any calls through, the Gummiphone was completely dark.
“Seems this thing’s broken, too.” Sora sighed. “Or we’re out of range, I can’t get a signal.”
“Great, so we’re stranded on an alien world without any means of escaping or contacting anyone…” Donald grumbled.
“Maybe one of the locals could help us!” Goofy suggested. “There might be a mechanic ‘round here or somethin’.”
“We’d need to find said locals first, we’re neck deep in these woods. Hmmm…” Donald tapped his foot on the ground. He looked around, seeing magical wisps floating around the forest and said: “Ooh, there’s some powerful magic in this place!”
“Uhh, how do ya know that?” Goofy wondered, scratching his head.
“I’m The King’s Royal Magician, you big palooka!” Donald quacked, bonking Goofy on the head with his magic staff. “If there’s one thing I’m an expert on, it’s magic!”
“Donald’s right.” Sora said, crouching down and placing his hand on the grass underneath his feet. “I can feel it in my heart, this world is… Different. Almost like something out of a dream.”
“Huh, well it is quite pretty-lookin'!” Goofy claimed happily.
“C’mon guys, let’s go check this place out!” Sora stood back up and grinned. “Who knows, maybe we can find something here that’ll help me regain the power of-”
“AAAAHHHHHHHH!”
“E-eh?”
Suddenly, Sora, Donald and Goofy heard a high-pitched, shrill scream coming from somewhere nearby.
“Gawrsh, did ya hear that?” Goofy asked, placing his hand behind his ear.
“Sounds like someone’s in trouble!” Donald replied.
Then, the three of them heard another woman’s voice yelling out: “For the Honor of Grayskull!”
“It’s coming from over there!” Sora pointed in the distance towards the direction the voices were coming from. He summoned his Keyblade and said: “They might need our help, let’s get going!”
“Right!” Donald and Goofy raised their own weapons and ran after Sora, the three of them dashing through the woods for a while until eventually-
“There!” Sora exclaimed, spotting the source of the screams they had heard coming from a large clearing within the forest.
It was a group of four people; A tall, muscular woman with long, golden hair and a magical sword, a shorter woman with pink and purple hair and clothes who was throwing sparkly magic blasts, a young man with broad shoulders and a cropped top that left his midriff exposed who wielded a golden bow, and a woman with catlike ears, claws and a tail, brown hair styled in a pixie cut and mismatched eyes, her left eye being yellow and her right eye being blue. The group was surrounded by a horde of dark creatures that were all too familiar to Sora, Donald and Goofy.
“Heartless!” Donald gasped, recognizing the antlike Shadows that the four strangers were trying to fend off.
“Ugh, of course those things would find their way into this world, too…” Sora grimaced, tightening his grip on the handle of his Keyblade.
“C’mon fellas, let’s go help ‘em out!” Goofy said determinedly. Sora and Donald both nodded, getting ready to charge into battle.
“Ugh, these things just keep coming!” Glimmer groaned, firing another sparkle bomb at the group of shadowy creatures that had ambushed her, Adora, Bow and Catra in the Whispering Woods. “You take one out, and two more show up in its place!”
“I’m running low on arrows here!” Bow yelped as he fired a barrage of three arrows at three of the creatures, seemingly taking them out before more of them appeared out of thin air. “What even are those creatures, anyway?”
“They kinda look like the shadow spies that Shadow Weaver used.” Adora, currently transformed into She-Ra, remarked. She tried to cheer her friends on while swinging her sword at one of the shadows, bisecting it vertically: “Don’t give up, guys! We’ve got this!”
“These things have been popping up ever since those people in the black coats showed up.” Catra stated, jabbing her right arm through the head of the shadow she was currently fighting. “I don’t think that’s unrelated.”
“You mean, someone’s sending these after us on purpose?” Bow asked. “But who? And why?”
“I dunno.” Catra shook her head, glaring at the next creature that was approaching her. “But it can’t be just a coincidence.”
“Urgh, we JUST got done dealing with Horde Prime!” Glimmer grumbled as she fired a beam of sparkly energy at a group of the shadows, sending them flying. “Could we have, like, a month where some new threat isn’t trying to kill us?!”
“Keep at it!” She-Ra yelled. “We didn’t survive the Heart of Etheria just to have some shadow monsters take over our home!”
“We can’t keep this up indefinitely, Adora!” Catra wiped her brow: She, Bow and Glimmer were all beginning to tire out. Catra turned to Glimmer and said: “Sparkles, teleport us outta here!”
“No way!” She-Ra sent a magical shockwave from her sword that cut through a large amount of the creatures. “We can’t just let these things run rampant, what if they go after someone else?”
“There’s not much we can do here when none of our attacks are enough to get rid of these things!” Bow sighed. “Adora, we have to go!”
“A-Adora… Has a point.” Glimmer panted. “W-what if, they decide to attack one of the kingdoms? Or, o-or they start targeting civilians? We can’t take that risk!”
“Well, we need to come up with a plan then!” Catra stated. “And fast, before we end up- AHH!”
One of the shadows tackled Catra to the ground and looked ready to attack her with its claws. Catra tried to hold the creature off, but something about its presence, feeling how cold to the touch the shadow was, staring directly into its soulless, yellow eyes… It was unsettling Catra to her core, her heart rate had skyrocketed at an alarming pace. It almost felt like the creature was trying to drag Catra’s heart out of her chest.
“CATRA!” She-Ra cried. She started running towards Catra to help her out, angrily shouting at the shadow that attacked her: “You leave her alone right now, or I’ll- Eh?”
Suddenly, She-Ra saw something flying through the air past her: A large key that was spinning around like a boomerang which cut the creature that had pounced Catra in half, saving Catra’s life.
“W-what…” Catra muttered, still feeling a little shaky from her close call. “What just-”
“Catra, are you okay?” She-Ra rushed over to Catra and crouched down, tending to Catra and helping her sit up.
“I, I’m fine.” Catra said quietly, then her pupils narrowed as she spotted something a bit of distance away behind She-Ra and asked: “W-who are those guys?”
“Who?” She-Ra turned her head to look behind her and gasped after spotting three strangers wearing odd-looking clothes: A teenage boy with brown, spiky hair, and an anthropomorphic duck and dog wielding a staff and a shield respectively. The brown-haired boy reached his hand out, summoning the large key from earlier into his hand in a very similar fashion to how She-Ra would summon the Sword of Protection. “Whoa, they look… Weird.”
“AAAHH!” Bow and Glimmer screamed, as the dark creatures overpowered them and knocked them down.
“Bow!” She-Ra yelled, worried for her friends. “Glimmer!”
The brown-haired boy commanded his two companions: “Donald! Goofy! Go back them up!”
“You got it, Sora!” The two nodded and rushed in to help Bow and Glimmer out: The duck, Donald, cast a lighting spell from his staff which destroyed the shadow harassing Glimmer, while the dog, Goofy, charged with his shield towards the shadow that was standing on top of Bow and tackled it away, knocking it off of him.
“Are ya okay, son?” Goofy asked, offering his hand to Bow.
“Y-yeah, thanks!” Bow, although a little confused, smiled gratefully as Goofy helped him back up on his feet.
“Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!” Donald reassured Glimmer, before blasting more magical attacks towards the creatures while Glimmer looked on completely flabbergasted.
“Uhh, s-since when did they let ducks become sorcerers?” Glimmer muttered, before joining Donald and firing more beams of her sparkly magic at the shadows.
“Seems they’re on our side.” She-Ra claimed, letting out a sigh of relief.
“Don’t let your guard down.” Catra warned her as she stood back up on her feet. “We don’t know who they are or what they want, we should be-”
“Hey!” The boy, Sora, ran up to She-Ra and Catra and happily waved to them. He raised his key-like weapon with a confident grin and asked: “Mind if we tag in?”
“Don’t think we’ve got much of a choice.” She-Ra joked, before adding: “Thanks, we could use the help!”
“Hmph, so long as you stay out my way, ‘kay?” Catra snarked, as she, She-Ra and Sora all took a stance before charging at the horde of shadows to help their friends out.
She-Ra, Catra, Bow and Glimmer worked together with Sora, Donald and Goofy in fighting the shadow monsters. It was a long and arduous battle, but their combined efforts eventually allowed them to prevail against the creatures and eliminate them.
“Thanks, you guys came in at just the right time!”
She-Ra wiped her brow after the dust had settled. She, Catra, Bow and Glimmer were all feeling pretty exhausted, as were Sora, Donald and Goofy.
“Yeah, you saved all of our lives!” Glimmer agreed, crossing her hands over her chest. “Don’t know what we would’ve done if you three hadn’t shown up.”
“We owe you one!” Bow stated.
“Eh, don’t mention it!” Sora grinned, placing his hands on the back of his head and generally looking carefree. “We’ve got lots of experience fighting off those things in the past!”
“We were just happy to help ya!” Goofy said cheerfully.
“Kssh…” Catra hissed, suspiciously glaring at the three outsiders and feeling strangely unnerved by Goofy’s appearance. “Now then, mind telling us who the heck you three are?”
“Oh, sure!” Sora nodded. “I’m Sora.”
“Donald Duck!” Donald introduced himself.
“The name’s Goofy!” Goofy raised his hat.
“Sora, Donald, Goofy… Huh.” Bow tilted his head, then whispered to Glimmer: “Those are some pretty strange names.”
“I know, right? ‘Donald?’” Glimmer chuckled. “But uh, anyway,” She turned her attention back to the trio. “I am Queen Glimmer of Bright Moon. This here’s my sweetheart, Bow,” Bow placed a smooch on Glimmer’s cheek, then Glimmer gestured towards her two other friends to her right. “And these are our friends, Adora and Catra.”
“The four of us, we’re the Best Friend Squad!” Bow explained to the trio.
“Hiya!” She-Ra waved at Sora. Then, Sora, Donald and Goofy all yelped as they witnessed She-Ra suddenly transforming in a flash of light into a smaller form, with much less impressive hair and a red jacket.
“Whoa, d-did you get shorter?” Sora wondered.
“What? Oh uh, this is how I usually look.” Adora explained, smiling awkwardly. “I can transform into an eight-foot-tall magical warrior princess called She-Ra at will.”
“Oh, we had no idea we were fighting side by side with royalty!” Donald remarked. “It’s an honor!”
“Only this idiot here and Sparkles are princesses.” Catra said, punching Adora on the shoulder. “Arrow Boy and I are just normal people.”
“Pfft, since when have you been in any way ‘normal?’” Adora asked, raising an eyebrow and sounding amused.
“Hmph! Anyone would look normal next to a goofball like you!” Catra fired back, playfully shoving Adora as they both laughed. Sora felt a weird sense of déjà vu as he observed Adora and Catra bickering, reminding him of the way himself, Riku and Kairi would so often tease one another.
“It’s nice to meet you!” Glimmer said thankfully, causing Sora to turn his attention back to her.
“The pleasure’s all ours, Your Majesty!” Sora replied honorably, humbly bowing before Glimmer with Donald and Goofy.
“Oh please, there’s no need for formalities.” Glimmer giggled, blushing a little. “You can just call me Glimmer!”
“So,” Bow started. “What were you three doing all the way out here in the Whispering Woods?”
“Uhhhh…” Donald awkwardly scratched his head. “We, we crashed our… Our v-vehicle! Yeah!”
“Ah-hyuck!” Goofy nodded with a chuckle. “It ran outta fuel and we drove it into a tree!”
“That… Sounds familiar.” Adora murmured. She then turned to Sora and asked him: “Wait, you said you had experience fighting those creatures before, right? Can you tell us what they are?”
“They are called the Heartless.” Sora replied, with a serious expression on his face. “They are beings of darkness who are trying to find the hearts of worlds so they can plunge them into darkness as well.”
“‘The Heartless?’” Bow said fearfully.
Glimmer added: “That sounds ominous. So,” She raised an eyebrow. “Is there anything more that can you tell us about these… Heartless?”
“The Heartless are born when a person’s heart succumbs to darkness.” Goofy said. “They’re drawn to the darkness in folks’ hearts, their aim is to consume ‘em and create more Heartless that way!”
“Gross.” Adora said very bluntly.
“The Keyblade is the only weapon that can release the hearts taken by the Heartless and destroy them for good.” Sora reached his hand out and summoned his Keyblade. “We’ve been fighting for a long time trying to take them out, but as long as there’s darkness within people’s hearts the Heartless will continue to exist, so… It’s a struggle.”
“Wak! But if the Heartless are here, then…” Donald muttered. He, Sora and Goofy turned around for a few seconds, lowering their voices.
“Sora, do ya think the Organization..?” Goofy asked.
“It’s possible,” Sora whispered. “But what would Xehanort want from a world like this? These people don’t seem like they’d be a threat to him.”
“We have to make sure!” Donald said, with Sora nodding in agreement.
“Uhh, what are you three whispering about?” Adora asked as the trio turned back around.
“Hey uh, listen,” Sora crossed his arms. “This might be a long shot, but… Have you four seen any people in black coats running around here?”
“Wait…” Catra gasped, her pupils narrowing. The shock on her face soon turned into rage as she shouted at Sora: “You know those guys?!”
“We’re- Whoa!” Sora yelped as Catra pinned him to a nearby tree with her left forearm while raising the claws on her right hand.
“Sora!” Donald and Goofy yelped.
“Catra, what are you doing?!” Glimmer exclaimed.
“These Heartless started showing up as soon as those creeps in the black coats arrived here!” Catra growled, staring Sora down. “Are you three working together with them?! Spit it out!”
“W-what?” Sora muttered, fearing for his life as he glanced at Catra’s claws. “N-no, we- We come in peace! Those people in the coats, they’re our enemies!”
“Yeah, right!” Catra scoffed. “You’re just lying to save your own skin!”
“Let him go!” Donald said angrily, him and Goofy both raising their weapons and looking ready to fight Catra.
“Sora ain’t done anythin’ wrong here!” Goofy stated.
“Catra, stop!” Adora walked up to Catra, placing her hand on Catra’s shoulder. “Sora saved your life, there’s no way he’s a bad guy!”
“These guys knew about those monsters, Adora!” Catra turned her head. “That means there’s a lot more they aren’t telling us, either!”
When she turned back to him, Sora looked into Catra’s eyes and tried to sound as gentle as possible while calmly raising his arms: “I promise, we’re on your side.”
Catra’s right hand was shaking as she kept it in place, still ready to strike at Sora if necessary.
“Catra.” Adora firmly grabbed Catra’s wrist. “Let him go.”
After hesitating for a moment, Catra sighed before very harshly letting Sora go of her hold. “Fine,” She said. “But you three better start talking, or else. What’s going on here?”
“Sora, are ya okay?” Goofy asked as he and Donald ran up to Sora.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” Sora reassured his friends. He looked at Adora, Catra, Bow and Glimmer and said: “I guess we’ve got a lot to explain. We’re-”
“Sora!” Donald shushed him. “Remember, we can’t! The world order!”
“But-”
“Hmm…” Bow pondered for a second, before asking: “You guys are from another world, aren’t you?”
“Wak!” Donald quacked, at first panicking before clearing his throat and trying to feign ignorance: “Ahem! W-what are you t-talking about, hehe, we’re not-”
“I think the jig is up, Donald.” Sora shook his head, and Donald sighed.
“Gawrsh, how’d ya figure us out so fast, Bow?” Goofy wondered.
“We’ve been to outer space before.” Bow explained, with a triumphant grin on his face.
“Yeah!” Glimmer said. “We’ve visited other planets!”
“Oh, phew!” Sora sighed out of relief. “That makes this so much easier.”
“What do you mean?” Adora asked him.
“We aren’t supposed to let people know that other worlds exist, it’s against the rules.” Donald explained. “But since you guys already know, we can be upfront about it!”
“Hmph, good.” Catra muttered, still glaring suspiciously at Sora, Donald and Goofy with her arms crossed. “So, who are those creeps in the black coats?”
“They’re members of Organization XIII.” Sora replied, looking much more serious. “They are the ones who are sending Heartless into different worlds, searching for the New Seven Hearts and trying to further their own goals!”
“Thirteen, huh?” Glimmer raised an eyebrow. “What’s their endgame, then?”
“Their leader is trying to trigger a new Keyblade War!” Donald clarified. “He needs thirteen darknesses and seven lights to clash, in order to forge the χ-blade!”
“A war? And… What does this ‘χ-blade’ do?” Bow scratched his head: He, Adora and Glimmer looked utterly confused.
“With its power, they’re able to open Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds.” Sora stated. “I don’t know what exactly they’re planning to do with it, but with such power… It could spell the destruction for every world out there!”
“Whoa…” Adora mumbled. “That’s uhh, you’re throwing a LOT at us right there.”
“We’ve been tryin’ to stop the Organization from muddling with other worlds-” Goofy said.
“Meddling!” Donald corrected him.
“-but our ship ran outta fuel and crashed into this world here.” Goofy finished. “And now our ship’s broken and we’re kinda stranded!”
“Been in a similar position before.” Bow said sympathetically. “Say, how about you three let Entrapta take a look at your ship? She’s a genius who loves messing around with tech, she could probably repair it!”
“R-really?” Donald asked hopefully. “Do you think she’d be willing to do that?”
“Getting an opportunity to mess with tech from another world she’s never seen before?” Adora chuckled. “Oh yeah, Entrapta’s gonna be all over that.”
“It might take her a while to fix it.” Glimmer clapped her hands together and smiled. “So in the meantime, you three are free to stay at my castle for as long as you’d like, as thanks for saving us from the Heartless!”
“Well, as long as the Heartless and Organization are running around here we can’t really leave anyway, so… Thanks, Your Majesty!” Sora grinned.
“Guess we’ll have some good time to explore this world, uhhh…” Goofy paused for a moment. “What’s this world called again?”
“Ah, right.” Glimmer spread her arms to her sides before declaring in a grandiose manner: “Sora, Donald, Goofy, welcome… To Etheria!”
“Etheria… Huh.” Sora murmured. He didn’t know why, but something in his heart resonated with that name.
“So, which way’s your ship?” Adora asked.
“Over there!” Donald pointed towards the direction he, Sora and Goofy had come from. “Not too far from here.”
Bow pulled out his tracker pad and began typing on it. “I’m gonna contact Entrapta,” He said. “Let her know what’s going on with the ship.”
While everyone else was getting ready to head to the Gummi Ship’s crash site, Adora turned to Catra and noticed that she was looking over her shoulder, staring deeper into the Whispering Woods.
“Catra?” Adora hollered. “You coming?”
“...Yeah.” Catra muttered. For a split second she thought she had heard something, but decided it had to have been just her imagination.
Sora, Donald and Goofy began leading Adora, Catra, Bow and Glimmer towards their ship. What none of the seven were able to see was a figure in a black coat who was hiding within the shadows of the Whispering Woods, observing them from the distance.
A member of Organization XIII.
The figure looked on as the group departed, seeming to pay closer attention towards Adora and Catra in particular, and said quietly to themselves:
“At last, we have found them… Our thirteenth.”