Chapter Text
Of all the journeys they’d undertaken so far, of all the stops they’d been able to make, they hadn’t expected to spend three full days walking through a vast desert under the scorching sun. They hadn’t chosen the worst possible day for this task, nor had they ever imagined it would come to this.
Two weeks had already passed since Sora set off on his journey with Donald and Goofy; although the group had barely got to know one another, they had forged a strong bond as battle comrades, defeating every Heartless that crossed their path and sealing the Keyholes of the worlds to prevent the spread of darkness, all whilst searching for the whereabouts of King Mickey, and Sora's friends Riku and Kairi, following the destruction of the islands.
Their routine hadn’t changed much, apart from a few hiccups. After being expelled from Monstro – and despite the complications caused by the ‘disastrous’ get-together with Riku and the fact that they’d had to find a way to escape from the whale’s body – it turned out that when they were spat out, many of their supplies and materials gathered throughout their journey had been lost in space, including their precious potions, ethers and their munny; the materials for the Moogles had also been lost, and they couldn’t continue their journey without those valuable items (especially given Donald’s whingeing, as he was more upset by the loss of the money than Sora and Goofy). So they had no choice but to go back and gather everything all over again, including the materials dropped by enemies when defeated, and that has taken them longer than they thought.
They spent long, restless days trying to gather everything once more, as all of it was essential for their next journey, which would be increasingly more difficult and challenging than the last. Their last stop was in Agrabah; they had to find fire stones and rocks originating from the Heartless of the same element, but today they hadn’t been lucky enough to come across any of them, not even within the city, so they decided to look for them in the surrounding area, which ended up with them getting lost in the middle of the desert under the heat of the sun, which on that particular day was hotter than ever before.
They used to use Aladdin’s carpet to travel faster across certain parts of the desert, but now it was being used by Aladdin himself; he’d mentioned something about sorting out the mess Jafar had left behind last time, though they hadn’t gone into much detail. The three of them had been walking for hours, tired and silent, until Sora decided to break the silence.
‘Hey… tell me again...why do we have to do this? Can’t we just carry on?’ said the dark-haired lad, pulling his hood up to shield himself from the sun.
‘I’ve already told you why! Without money, there are no potions or ethers, and without those we’re just mincemeat for our enemies… and I’d rather that than get roasted again…’ replied Donald, already exhausted and dragging his feet. He had his staff summoned after a failed attempt to use Ice to cool the air, but it had ended up melting.
‘Gawrsh… but we haven’t even managed to scrape together 50 munny yet,’ said Goofy, just like his friends; he was using his shield as a parasol over his head but his arms were already tired.
It was clear that all three were at their wits’ end, dragging their feet through the sand, their cheeks already reddened by the sunlight.
‘Ughhhh!!! It’s all your fault Sora! Why didn’t you leave everything stowed away in the ship?’ grumbled Donald irritably, complaining to Sora, who shot him an indignant look. ‘I told you to put it in the chest! Not to leave it scattered all over the ship’s control panel!!’
‘Huh?! It’s not my fault!! The trunk was already full; if it hadn’t been, I wouldn’t have had to pack so many accessories! Besides, it’s not my fault the ship ended up spinning round and spilling everything out!’ replied the boy, somewhat flustered; they were both tired, and that was making everything – even their moods – a bit irritable.
'Guys! Guys!! There’s no need to argue about this; we’ll sort it out as soon as we get back to Traverse Town,” Goofy tried to smooth things over and calm the atmosphere, but judging by Donald’s squawks, it didn’t look as though they were going to listen to him.
They continued on their way whilst Donald’s moans grew louder; Sora could no longer bear another squawk and pulled his hood tighter so as not to even have to look at him. It’s true that the heat and exhaustion were making him intolerant of everything, but strange as it seemed, he had a headache; his legs were starting to feel heavier with every shuffling step he took, and he could barely keep his eyes open – he didn’t know if this was because of the grains of sand whirling about.
Sora felt strange, but didn’t know what was wrong; he wondered if his friends felt the same and wanted to ask them. When he opened his mouth, he noticed there was something ahead of them, not far away.
‘Hey guys… what’s… that?’
When the boy pointed out what he was seeing, none of them could believe their eyes. In front of them lay a green area with palm trees and bushes, next to a crystal-clear lake; it was an oasis, just in time, and at last they would get their rest.
‘Hey, look!! It’s an oasis!!’ Goofy confirmed it, and the three of them, looking at one another, ran with whatever strength they had left towards their salvation.
It’s not clear where they got that energy from, but it was enough to make them run as fast as they could towards the oasis – well, all except one. Sora began to slow down. He’d always been the fastest in his group, the most athletic; there wasn’t a race he wouldn’t win (except against Riku), but he noticed how his pace dropped until he was far behind Donald and his little legs. He felt very heavy; his legs felt as if he had bricks tied to his shoes. He was also struggling to breathe; he’d been panting from exhaustion before, but now he was doing so more frequently; he felt out of breath, and worst of all, his vision gradually began to blur. He couldn’t make out either of the other two, who hadn’t noticed Sora’s absence. He tried to call out to them, but the words wouldn’t come out of his mouth; not a sound could be heard from him, and this was already a cause for concern. Even so, he didn’t stop following them as far as he could… or as far as he was able.
(...)
The duck and the dog carried on running as fast as they could until they reached a small sandy hill, where they found themselves facing a lake full of crystal-clear, cool water. They were ready to dive in and cool off, just as they would in a swimming pool, but reality hit them – quite literally.
They both fell onto the sand; in fact, their bodies were half-buried beneath it. Donald struggled to free himself, using his feet to dig into the ground until he managed to pull his head out, whilst Goofy was still buried, with just his backside sticking out.
‘Phew, phew! It wasn’t an oasis!! It was just a mirage!’ he said as he spat out the sand he’d swallowed. He heard Goofy muttering something whilst he was still buried in the sand, and Donald had to pull him out himself, as if he were trying to pull a carrot out of the ground.
‘What did you say, Goofy???’
‘Ouch, I said I thought the water wasn’t all that great…’ he replied, spitting out a mouthful of sand.
‘It wasn’t! We were just fooling ourselves!’
They both resigned themselves to the fact that the whole trip had been in vain and they didn’t want to hear another word about the desert for quite some time.
-That’s it! Let’s go back to the ship!! I don’t want to hear another word about this!!
-I’m sure Cid will help us; you didn’t want to accept his deal last time…—before Goofy could continue, he looked around in several directions, noticing a notable absence.—Hey Donald… Where’s Sora?
The duck also turned round, still brushing the sand off his plumage, and noticed the boy was missing too. Wasn’t he supposed to be with them? Wasn’t that boy supposed to be the liveliest of the lot? Why on earth had he been left behind? Donald thought he’d left them behind because he was still cross, or perhaps because he wanted to play a trick on them, though all speculation came to an end when, in the distance, they saw a tiny speck running towards them.
‘Guys! Guys!! We’ve got bad news!!’
Jiminy, despite his small size, managed to make his way over to where Donald and Goofy had ended up, although he was more tired as the distance was much longer for someone like him. Goofy reached down to lift him up to their level.
‘What’s wrong, Jiminy? Weren’t you with Sora under his hood?’
‘That’s the problem!’ he said, taking a deep breath. ‘Something’s wrong with Sora! When you lot set off for the lake, Sora collapsed on the sand! He fainted!’
That was enough to alarm the wizard and the guard, who exchanged looks of deep concern; the two of them hurried back the way they’d come to find the Keyholder lying on the sand. They both approached the boy, who was face down. Goofy turned him towards them and removed the hood he was still wearing, letting Donald examine him closely. The look on Donald’s face showed that what he was seeing didn’t bode well: Sora was gasping for breath, still unconscious; he was struggling to breathe, and his cheeks were flushed red despite his tanned skin. This didn’t look good.
‘Sora! Sora!!’ Both of them called out to the boy, but he didn’t respond; they didn’t even know if Sora had heard them.
Jiminy hopped over to the boy and touched his face; as he pulled his hand away, he immediately gave his diagnosis.
‘Goodness! He’s burning up!!’ He turned to Donald, with whom he exchanged a worried glance, and then to Goofy.
‘It must be heatstroke that’s made him like this! “We’ve got to get him out of this world!” said Goofy, lifting Sora into his arms. Donald nodded and set off back the way they’d come. To safeguard the order of the worlds, he hid the Gummi Ship outside the city, out of sight of any inhabitants, in a spot he knew well, and guided Goofy as they ran to reach it; the most important thing was to get Sora away from the heat of the sun.
The situation didn’t improve much after they returned to the ship. They’d made it back without any problems (apart from Donald mistaking the hiding place for another cave, meaning they had to go round again until they found the right one), but Sora remained unconscious and feverish; he’d occasionally let out a groan of discomfort or, to make matters worse for all three of them, a dry cough. This didn’t seem like a normal case of heatstroke.
Both Donald and Goofy did their best to look after him, carrying him into the three of their bedroom and laying him on the bottom bunk (a spot that Donald and Sora were always fighting over, as it was the only bed with a view of the window and, strange as it might seem, the most comfortable one). Once they’d settled him in bed, Donald went to the supply chest to look for any potions they had; they only had two. Donald would have preferred not to have to resort to using them, but this was a life-or-death situation—at least to bring his fever under control.
As the wizard he is, he knows full well that magic has no effect on serious illnesses or injuries; for that, the vital force of both parties is required (both for the caster and the receiver) – so he ruled out casting a healing spell. All that remained, therefore, was to use a potion; even if it didn’t have the same effect, it would at least do the trick until they reached Traverse Town. Whilst Donald administered the medicine, Goofy brought over a bowl of water and a towel to try and bring Sora’s fever down even further.
When they tried to give him a little water, the boy began to open his eyes with difficulty.
‘Sora!!’ they said in unison as Sora regained his strength—or at least tried to. He began to tilt his head, but felt as though his whole body was heavy, and only a few words came out of his mouth.
‘Don…al…d?…Goo…fy…?’
‘Yes, Sora!! It’s us! Hang in there!!’
‘Sora! Hang on a little longer; we’ll be travelling to Traverse Town soon and we’ll look after you!’ It seemed he couldn’t hear the last part because his eyelids snapped shut. Donald tried to wake him again by shaking the boy’s shoulder, but Goofy stopped him. It must be the fever that’s made him like this, and it was better to let him rest.
They had to set off now. Even as they exchanged worried glances, Donald took the controls of the ship, whilst Goofy and Jiminy stayed close to Sora in case he regained consciousness. They had to take him to Traverse Town to see if anyone in Leon’s group knew what to do.
The journey was quick, thanks to the newly installed instant-transport device that Cid had made for them as part of his latest errand; both Donald and Goofy did their best to carry Sora to Leon’s temporary residence in the third district (although Goofy did most of the work, with Donald merely helping to push him along to move faster), They didn’t need to go any further, because as soon as they reached the main street of the first district, they came across Yuffie and explained the situation to her. The ninja took it upon herself to lead them elsewhere, to the hotel in the second district, where they met Aerith, who looked deeply concerned upon seeing Sora in such a pitiful state. She told them to take him to the red room, where she’d previously discussed the Heartless, and a few minutes later Leon and Cid arrived as well; it was Cid who gave the final diagnosis.
‘Yes, just as I thought… he has the Fever Worlds.’
Cid was checking Sora’s condition with a stethoscope he’d brought with him (he wasn’t a doctor, but as he always said, it was good to carry the essentials), listening as the boy continued to cough and his chest seemed to creak with every breath.
-Huh? what’s that? – replied Donald, with more questions than answers.
-The Fever Worlds is like a flu that keeps building up – Leon was the one who finished explaining what it was, and Cid followed up with a comment.
-It’s rare, but to put it simply, it happens when a disease incubates—it could be a cold or flu from one world—and starts to mutate when you travel to another world, and it carries on like that until you end up with a worse flu than the one you had to begin with.
‘Normally, this illness doesn’t affect many people, as travelling to other places wasn’t common in the past…’ Aerith joined the conversation in a concerned voice, ‘…although… those who tend to suffer from it are precisely those who have never experienced such travels.’ Her gaze then fell on Sora, who was still struggling to catch his breath.
-The thing is, it’s not usually that bad, but we’ve heard of cases where, if you overdo the travelling and don’t get proper rest, it can end very badly…
And this made both Donald and Goofy realise the gravity of the situation. Sora had only just begun travelling to other worlds thanks to the ship, and in just two weeks he’d managed to achieve so much. They’d never imagined that something like this could happen, let alone to the two of them – because they were adults and their bodies were used to any change in environment, but Sora wasn’t; he was just a child, a child who bore the enormous responsibility of safeguarding the universe from the darkness. And this also made them realise something else…
-‘Gwarsh… we’ve been travelling through these materials for so long that we’ve never thought to get proper rest…’ This remark by Goofy made both him and Donald realise the consequences of not resting properly, and this made them feel incredibly guilty.
They had a responsibility towards Sora; although Donald doesn’t like to admit it, he’d only sought him out because he was the key both to finding the King and to fulfilling the request Sora had made of him, and he wanted to stick to that line of thinking until it was all over. But it was inevitable that he’d grow fond of Sora, who’d saved him from trouble on several occasions, and who drove him more mad than anyone else ever had, but it was inevitable that he’d worry about him; even in the bad times, Sora managed to see the bright side of things. Goofy, at least, felt that affection from the very moment they joined hands as companions, so he, too, shares in this guilt.
‘Owww, Sora…’ Donald gasped sadly and turned to Leon. ‘How can we help him? Could we strike a deal with the Moogles to create an elixir?’
‘That won’t work, unfortunately…’ Cid interrupted, now addressing Donald. ‘As the Fever Worlds is a mutated disease, healing potions won’t have any effect.’
-What?!-
-Isn’t there any other way to counteract it? Perhaps magic might work?
-It’s far too dangerous; in the state this lad’s in, he wouldn’t be able to withstand even a short healing session.
-What about Merlin? He must know some cure or spell to counteract that.
-Merlin’s off on another business trip; this time he didn’t say where, and we don’t know how to get hold of him…
-And there’s no other alternative??
-One option would be for Sora to try to recover on his own… though, here comes the other bad news… we don’t know if this lad will make it until tomorrow; this fever’s hit him really hard…
The room fell into complete silence at Cid’s final remark; this terrified Donald and Goofy even more and left Leon and Aerith speechless, but thanks to Yuffie, a glimmer of hope was restored.
-Hey! All is not lost! We can ask the Witch of the North for help!
‘The Witch of the North?!’ exclaimed the knight and the wizard in unison, exchanging confused glances. Aerith then spoke up, remembering something.
‘A few years ago, Yuffie also came down with a fever, and at the time we had no way of supporting her recovery. Fortunately, we had the help of a witch who called herself the Witch of the North.’
‘—who actually lives on the north side of town!’ said Yuffie, still trying to lighten the mood.
‘Yes, she gave us some special medicine and that cured her the next day.’
‘Oh!! That’s great! Maybe she can help us cure Sora!!’ Both Goofy and Donald perked up at the mention of someone who might have the cure.
-‘Of course she will! So! Where does that witch live?’
-‘Well…’
-‘Oh no… don’t say “well…”’
-‘Ermm… the thing is… we haven’t seen the witch in years; in fact, nobody’s seen her for a long time.’
And their spirits sank again in a matter of seconds, but, surprisingly, Leon offered another glimmer of hope.
‘Maybe they’ll find her if they follow the path; if the town hasn’t changed much, perhaps her house is still there,’ he remarked, resting his hand on his chin as he thought, and that was enough to lift Donald and Goofy’s spirits. However, there were still uncertainties as to whether that ‘witch of the north’ would still be living there, and if not, what other options they would have.
Whilst the group were discussing this, they soon noticed that Sora’s eyes were beginning to open again…
Everything was still blurry to Sora, but he could make out some shapes and colours—something white and blue, something black and green—and he could also see something pink and brown.
‘Sora!! You’re awake!’
Jiminy was the first to notice, as he was closest to the boy (he was on the bedside table), and the group turned their attention to Sora, who still couldn’t make them out properly. The dark-haired boy did his best to speak, even though his mouth was still dry.
-Where… am I…-
-You’re in Traverse Town, Sora,– Aerith took one of the nearby seats; she picked up a glass of water with a straw and held it out to the boy so he could drink from it. It was a relief to finally have some water. –You fainted, but your friends brought you here.– She gave a sweet smile, something Sora did manage to catch a glimpse of.
-I… fainted…?- He was still gasping for breath and coughing now and then; he wasn’t fully lucid yet, especially as it was clear his eyes wouldn’t stay open for much longer.
-‘Sora! It’s us! Me and Donald! Do you need anything?’
-‘Owww, Sora, we’ll have you back on your feet in no time…’ – Both of them stepped back behind Aerith, waiting for some response from the boy; however, Sora said nothing, mainly because he was staring into nothingness.
What Sora saw through his blurred vision was different from what should actually have been there; the shapes he’d seen before had changed to reveal something else. Now those black and white figures had changed colour (and size) to red and yellow, and that pink figure he could see closer by had turned green… green like the sea. Sora stood there, bewildered, staring at the scene.
‘Mo...Wh…a… guys…?’
Aerith noticed what was happening to Sora and asked the rest of the group to continue their conversation outside the room, so that the dark-haired boy could rest, but not before placing a cloth soaked in water on his forehead. Once everyone had left, Sora drifted back to sleep.
Once outside, they resumed their conversation and Leon took out a map.
‘Right, this is the second district, where we are now. To get to the north of the city, we need to go through a narrow alley; there aren’t many houses in use there, but they’ve started to appear as more people have moved in.’
‘So, is the best option to go there, and will we reach that house?’
‘We’re not yet sure if it’s still standing. The city changes as it expands with the arrival of new residents, so we don’t know if the area around there has changed.’
‘We’ve got nothing to lose by going there!’ said Donald decisively, which took Goofy by surprise, although the duck hadn’t noticed yet. ‘Even if there’s no one there or we don’t find anything, we have to give it a go! It’s our only option!’
‘Agyuk! You’re right, Donald!’ Goofy finally let out a laugh and, along with Donald, was roused to go and find that cure.
"Okay, that sounds good to me. So, here’s how we’ll organise ourselves," León quickly took charge of the mission. "Yuffie and I will help you get to the north. There might still be Heartless lurking in the darkness, and as Sora isn’t with us, it would be difficult for the two of you to deal with those creatures on your own…"
‘I can climb and run across buildings! So I can give you a full overview of our route.’ Yuffie winked, also throwing her weight behind the mission.
‘I’ll be near the First District. I still have to look after the shop, but I’ll stay close by and send your nephews over here in case you need anything.’
‘Ugh, I’d forgotten they’re here too… um… tell Dewey I’ll pay him next week.’
-I’ll stay here to look after Sora; I’ll be in contact with Cid and the others in case anything happens.
-Hold on a moment – what if they attack here at the hotel too? Neither Donald or I will be here to help you, even if you leave Sora on his own.
-Don’t worry! I’ll stay here too! – Jiminy hopped down from under Donald’s hat and landed on the floor. – I’ll be right by Sora’s side, and if he needs help, I can hop over to Aerith – don’t worry about me! Besides, I’ll use this chance to update my journal!
-Besides, Cid’s still carrying his cannon, and that’ll at least help us stun the Heartless.
-I should also mention that Aerith’s a great fighter! You’ve no idea how serious she gets when it comes to combat!!
-Oh, Yuffie
-You’re right, Sora won’t be on his own whilst we’re out there.
-If that’s what you say, then we’ve got no time to lose!” Donald adjusted his cap and put on his most serious face for this short journey.
-Jiminy, we’re leaving Sora in your care—look after him for us.- Goofy adjusted the brim of his cap and summoned his shield, but not before saying goodbye to those staying behind.- We’ll be back as soon as a cock crows!
-And you’d better get a move on—if you haven’t found that cure by dawn, it might be time to start thinking about a gravestone _
-CID, THIS IS NOT THE TIME!!
-All right, all right… don’t get angry…
And with that pessimistic comment from Cid out of the way, Donald’s group set off towards the northern part of the city to try and find that witch or the medicine that would help cure their friend.