CHAPTER 10

HOLLOW BASTION

toward light

THE GUMMI SHIP WAS GLIDING ALONG AGAIN THROUGH the Other Sky.

“I wonder if Riku’s okay…,” said Kairi, gazing fixedly out the window.

“I bet he’s fine,” Sora replied. “He’s pretty tough.”

“…Yeah, you’re right.” Kairi nodded.

Sora stood behind her, looking out the same way. “Hey, Kairi… Have you ever seen anything like this before? The first time I was on this ship, I was thinking how I wanted you and Riku to see it.”

Kairi put her hand up to the window. Whether they were stars or just pieces of drifting space rock, all the things out there sparkled. A view they’d never seen before—that was what she and Sora and Riku had wanted to see back on Destiny Island. “It’s so beautiful…”

Suddenly the Gummi Ship rocked.

“Quack!”

“What happened, Donald?” Goofy went up by the pilot seat.

Jiminy Cricket looked uneasy, too. “Heartless, all the way out here!”

The Gummi Ship fired its lasers and shot down the Heartless floating out in space. In the places where there had been asteroids or mysterious blocks in the way, now there were new kinds of Heartless. They came at the Gummi Ship with their big mouths gaping open.

“Wak! Hold on, everyone!” shouted Donald. “It’s full speed ahead, Traverse Town or bust!”

The Gummi Ship accelerated and zoomed away.

They landed once more in Traverse Town.

“Hi, Aerith, we’re back!”

As if she had known Sora and his companions would be returning, Aerith was there to greet them in the First District town square. “Welcome back…Sora. And you must be Kairi?”

Kairi nodded.

“So you found her.” Aerith smiled.

“Yeah. But Riku…” Sora looked down and bit his lip.

“He’ll be all right. I’m sure he will.”

“I guess so…” Sora fell quiet.

Goofy jumped up behind him. “Oh yeah! Aerith, that Ansem feller’s report you were talkin’ about—we found it!”

“Really? That is good news!”

“Jiminy’s got all the pages!” Donald crowed, like he was making himself sound more excited for Sora’s sake.

“Jiminy?” said Aerith.

“Oh—I guess we haven’t introduced him. He’s our friend!”

In reply, Jiminy jumped up out of Donald’s pocket. “How do you do, Aerith!”

“Nice to meet you…Jiminy.”

From his perch on Goofy’s shoulder, Jiminy politely doffed his hat.

“What a wonderful friend!” Aerith crooned. Goofy and Donald nodded brightly. Beside them, Kairi quietly looked at Sora.

They went with Aerith to the Second District hotel. Leon and Yuffie were already in a room, waiting for Sora.

“Welcome back, Sora!” Yuffie grinned.

“Hi, Yuffie. It’s good to be back…”

“So you found Kairi, huh?!”

“Yeah.” Sora looked at Leon, who was leaning back against the wall with his arms folded and his eyes closed. “Hi, Leon.”

“Tell me what happened.”

“Okay…” Sora and the others began to recount all that had taken place at Hollow Bastion.

Leon sighed. “So the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole…”

“And there are more and more Heartless everywhere,” said Goofy. “It sure looks like that’s why.”

“And the only way to stop them…,” Aerith began, gloomily looking at Sora.

He held up the Keyblade. “Seal the Keyhole, right?”

“Maybe,” said Leon. “But no one knows what will happen once it’s sealed.”

“Well, we can’t just stay here,” Sora protested. “We have to do something. I’ve got a friend back there!”

Riku was still there. He had to be.

“That’s right…,” Leon agreed. “And Riku’s Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses’ hearts—just like that Keyhole you saw.”

“But my heart…was missing.” Kairi clasped her hands over her chest.

“Then it must have remained incomplete,” Leon went on. “And once that Keyblade was destroyed, the other princesses’ hearts should have been freed.”

“Then the Beast and Belle must be together again!” Donald said with a bit of cheer.

“Maybe Jasmine and Alice are awake, too,” Goofy wondered.

“But I thought…that the Keyhole would make the darkness stronger,” Aerith added. “I mean, it is strong, but still…it ought to be stronger now.”

“The other princesses are probably staying in the castle, holding the darkness back,” said Leon.

Sora and Kairi looked at each other. The princesses staying in the castle…?

“We’ve gotta help them!” said Donald.

“If anyone can, it’s you.” Leon nodded to them firmly.

“Oh, that’s right…,” Aerith remembered. “We haven’t read Ansem’s report yet!”

Jiminy Cricket hopped up and handed her the pages.

“We just found that page in Hollow Bastion,” said Donald, peering over Aerith’s shoulder.

“I’ll read it.” Aerith began.

“That’s our king!” Donald leaped up.

“There’s much more,” Aerith said.

“So the king’s met Ansem!” The news about King Mickey had Donald and Goofy in higher spirits.

“And he knew about the Keyblade!”

“We heard about it from the king, too,” said Aerith.

“…Gawrsh, I wonder where he went.” Goofy cocked his head.

They’d been to more than a few worlds by now, but they still hadn’t found the king. Could there be other worlds that they simply couldn’t reach?

“There are only more and more questions,” said Aerith.

“But there are some things we know,” Sora replied. “We know what we have to do.”

He looked at Kairi and nodded.

Yuffie took a step closer to him. “You have to go back to Hollow Bastion, Sora.”

“We will!” Sora said emphatically.

“But the route was jammed with Heartless—they’ll wreck our ship before we ever make it!” Donald kicked at the floor.

“And we didn’t find any new Gummi blocks, either…,” Goofy sighed.

“Talk to Cid,” said Leon. They nodded to one another and left the hotel for Cid’s shop.

“Hollow Bastion, huh…?” Yuffie murmured, watching Sora go, and then she looked to Leon. “You know, I can hardly remember it.”

After a moment, Leon pointed out, “Well, it’s already been nine years.”

“I wonder how they’re all doing…,” Aerith said softly, turning her gaze out the window to the night sky.

“There you are, Sora,” said Cid with his elbows on the counter.

Sora stood at the counter and looked up at him. “We need to go back to Hollow Bastion.”

“But the route’s like a traffic jam of Heartless! Can’t you do anything, Cid?!” Donald demanded, jumping up and down.

“Pretty sure doing something about a Heartless traffic jam would be a job for you guys,” Cid retorted.

“Wak! Well, what are we supposed to do?!” Donald stamped his webbed foot.

“It’s a chicken-or-egg problem, huh?” Cid rubbed his chin. “Let’s see now…”

“There must be some way,” said Sora.

“Simple. You gotta go around instead of through.” Cid leaned his elbows on the counter again, as always, and looked straight at Sora. “Install a new navigation Gummi and take a new route.”

“But we don’t have any new navigation Gummis!” said Donald.

“I know, I know…” Cid shrugged to Donald and turned back to Sora. “Go to the secret waterway, Sora. There’s a nav Gummi down there.”

Goofy perked up. “Really?!”

“When I got here nine years ago, I stashed it there in case we’d ever need it.”

“Nine years ago…?” Kairi spoke for the first time.

“That was when we escaped from Hollow Bastion and ended up here.”

“So that means Hollow Bastion is…” Goofy exchanged glances with Donald.

“It’s our home world.” With his eyes half-closed, Cid went on with gravity in his voice. “Never thought a kid like you would be the one to need that nav Gummi.”

“I’m not a kid!” Sora pouted.

“You mean, you’re not just a kid?” Cid grinned and winked at him. “You go and get that Gummi. I’ll do a little maintenance on the Gummi Ship for ya, and the king’s men here can be my assistants.”

“Aye-aye, sir!” Donald jumped up and saluted.

“Go on now. And take Kairi.”

“Okay! Let’s go, Kairi.” Sora took her hand, and they went to the underground waterway.

Shielding Kairi, Sora fought through the Heartless in the Second District, and they ran into the secret waterway.

It was deserted and dim, but the murals on the walls gave off a soft glow.

“Places like this are always kind of exciting, huh?” said Kairi, looking up at the murals.

“It’s like that cave back on our island!”

“Yeah… Look at this mural. It’s almost hypnotizing, isn’t it?”

The painting of the sun seemed to gaze down on them with a mysterious warmth. As Sora walked closer, the sun began to shine.

“Wow…it’s so pretty!” Kairi gazed at it, wide-eyed. A beam of light fell into Sora’s hand, and the sun changed into a crescent moon.

The light that fell into his hand was a Gummi block.

“Is that a Gummi?” asked Kairi.

“Yeah. We’d better hurry up and take it back to Cid.”

Kairi looked up again at the moon. “A light deep within the darkness…”

“Oh, your grandma’s story, right?”

“Sora, how…? Oh, that’s right. We were together all along.”

He smiled at her. “You know what’s funny? I looked everywhere for you, but you were with me the whole time. But finally we’re together again, Kairi.” Then his smile faded a little. “Now it’s time to get Riku back.”

“You think it’ll ever be the same again between us?” She looked down, too, and her voice was small. “Riku’s lost his…”

“He’ll be okay! I turned into a Heartless, and you saved me, right?”

Lost in the darkness…I couldn’t find my way. I was stumbling along, and I started forgetting things…my friends, who I was. Even inside my head, it was dark. The darkness almost swallowed me. But then I heard Kairi’s voice…and it brought me back.

Sora gazed straight at her. “So here we are, thanks to you.”

“I didn’t want to just forget about you, Sora. I couldn’t!”

“…I guess that’s what it means, that our hearts are connected. The light from our hearts broke through the darkness… I saw that light, and that’s what saved me.”

Kairi nodded. Whatever happens, wherever we go, our hearts are connected, Sora.

She recited a line from her grandmother’s story. “No matter how deep the darkness, there will always be a light shining within.”

“I guess it’s more than just a fairy tale.”

“Well, let’s go and save Riku!” she said, determined. But Sora shook his head.

“You can’t go.”

“Why not?”

“Because it’s way too dangerous.”

“C’mon, Sora. We made it this far by sticking together. You can’t go alone!” Kairi shot back.

I just want to go with you, she thought.

“Kairi, even if we’re apart, we’re not alone anymore. Right?”

At Sora’s earnest look, she smiled brightly and put her shoulders back. “I can’t help?”

“Well, you’d kind of be in the way.”

“Okay. You win,” she relented and took something out of her pocket. “Take this.”

It was a charm made of thalassa shells, five of them tied together in the shape of a star.

“I’m making them so even if one of us gets lost, we’ll make it back here safe and sound. …So the three of us will always be together.”

“It’s my lucky charm. So you have to bring it back to me!” she said, teasing a little, leaning over the charm in his hand.

“Don’t worry. I will.” Sora closed his fingers over it.

“Promise?”

“Promise,” he said solemnly, looking into her eyes.

“Don’t ever forget, Sora. Wherever you go, I’m always with you.”

“I know.”

The moon in the mural gleamed down on them.

The Gummi Ship launched into the Other Sky.

“Sora, did you get to say bye to Kairi?” Goofy asked quietly.

Sora was looking out the rear windows at Traverse Town receding behind them. “Yeah. I told everyone good-bye.”

“But Cid just said, ‘See ya!’…didn’t he?” Donald remarked in the pilot seat. “Doesn’t that mean he thinks we’ll be back there?”

“I guess so…”

Then one of the instrument lights in the cockpit began to blink.

“There’s a new warp hole near Traverse Town!”

The engineer from Disney Castle was contacting them. “Chip! Are you guys all right?”

“Sure we are! Queen Minnie and Daisy are just fine, too!”

Chip’s cheerful voice squeaked through the cockpit.

“But…why the sudden radio, then?” Donald said into the communicator.

“You know there are more Heartless suddenly appearing in all the worlds, right? So Dale and I thought maybe something funny was going on in the Other Sky, and we looked into it. We were hoping we might find out something to help you!”

“Gee, thanks!” Goofy called toward the communicator. Then they could hear a lady’s voice over the speakers.

“Donald, Goofy? Do you copy?”

“Your Majesty!” It was the queen. Donald and Goofy both stood up ramrod straight.

“More and more stars are disappearing from the sky. The king must be terribly worried, too. Please, help the king and the Key Bearer save the worlds…”

“You can count on us!” said Goofy, and then the communicator lost the signal.

“Aw, nuts,” Donald grumbled. “We got cut off…”

“What was that…?” asked Sora.

“A top-priority message from our castle!” Goofy replied. “And we promised after we find Kairi and Riku and the king, we’d have everyone over to the castle, right?”

“Yeah! You’ve gotta meet Queen Minnie and Daisy, too!” Donald added.

“We can do it, Sora!”

“We’ll be able to go back and see everyone in no time!”

“Yeah…!” Sora agreed, and the Gummi Ship plummeted into the warp hole.

Hollow Bastion loomed against the bleak sky. The trio looked up at the castle and then at one another.

“Let’s go!” said Sora.

“Right!” Donald and Goofy nodded, and as they did, Heartless sprang out of the ground.

“Quack!” Donald jumped.

“Gawrsh, there really are a lot…”

“Well, we have to go!” With his Keyblade up, Sora ran.

“Hey, Sora…,” Goofy said, even as he slammed into Heartless with his shield. “What if these Heartless are like you were, and they’re all somebody from somewhere, people who just lost their hearts and got changed into Heartless?”

“Maybe…but we can’t let anything stop us right now.”

“That’s right! We’re not gonna lose!” Donald shot off spells at them, and then they heard a roar.

“Beast!” He had chosen to remain behind at Hollow Bastion, and now he appeared above them at a higher foothold.

“You may need my strength,” he growled and rushed at the Heartless.

Still swinging the Keyblade, Sora asked, “Where’s Belle?”

“Still in the castle.” The Beast glanced up at the castle from the corner of his eye and knocked aside a Heartless.

“Not because the Heartless got her?!” said Goofy, giving Donald a magic-recovering potion.

“No. She stayed for a reason. The other princesses are with her as well.” The Beast crouched at the castle gate, catching his breath.

“I wonder why?” said Donald.

“Well, let’s go ask them.” Sora stared up at the gate.

When he’d entered this castle before, Donald and Goofy hadn’t been with him. But now they were all together with the Beast, too.

They’d be okay. There was no way they could fail.

They opened the gate to Hollow Bastion—the castle of emptiness.

No matter how many Heartless they defeated, more rose up to take their place. Sora and the others fought with all their might to get through the castle. But at least they wouldn’t get lost—they’d been here before.

“Sora, this way!” called Donald, waving his wand.

“Wait, just a second, Donald!”

“But the Beast already went on ahead!”

“By himself?!”

Scattering Heartless as they went, the trio hurried to the door through which the Beast had vanished. It should lead to the library, Sora thought.

“Beast!” They ran through—and there, the Beast and Belle were together in a warm embrace.

“Wak!” Donald covered his eyes but peeped out at them through his fingers.

“Beast…” Belle gazed up at him, smiling, then turned to the others. “You’ve come to seal the Keyhole, right?”

She gently let go of the Beast and moved closer to them.

“Belle… It’s really dangerous here,” said Sora, looking up at her. “Why are you staying?”

“We’ve been holding back the Keyhole with our own power. But… we can’t hold out much longer.”

“We’ll take care of it!” Sora said resolutely.

“…We should go to the grand hall, then. Quickly. The other princesses are watching over the Keyhole.” Belle touched Sora’s shoulder.

“Sora, let’s go,” said Goofy.

“Right!” Sora nodded, and they headed back into the depths of Hollow Bastion to the grand hall.

The six princesses gathered in the grand hall, standing around the Keyhole.

“You’re here at last! We’ve been waiting for you, Keyblade master.” A woman in a beautiful white gown greeted them. “I’m Cinderella. My world has already disappeared.”

Cinderella looked down sadly.

“Where’s Ansem?”

At Sora’s question, the princesses all exchanged a glance, and a woman in a low-cut blue dress stepped forward. “My name is Aurora. Ansem is no longer here. When the Keyhole appeared, darkness poured out… It swallowed Ansem, and he disappeared.”

“Disappeared…?”

Aurora looked grim.

A black-haired girl in a yellow skirt picked up the explanation. “Ansem may be gone, but the flood of darkness hasn’t stopped. We’re working together to hold it back.” She looked up at the Keyhole.

“What’s your name…?”

“Oh, how silly of me. I’m Snow White. My world is gone, too…”

“I cannot forget the look on his face…” Aurora’s brows knit tighter. “As the darkness engulfed him, he was smiling.”

“Sora! Please hurry!” That was Jasmine, the princess of Agrabah. “The darkness is going to escape the Keyhole.”

“It’s all we can do, just to hold it back,” Alice added fearfully.

“And we can’t manage for much longer…” Snow White shook her head.

“All right.” Sora nodded. “We’re on our way.”

“In the meantime, we’ll do what we can, too.” Snow White smiled at him.

“That Keyhole manifested through our power, they say, but in fact, I still find it hard to believe,” Cinderella remarked. “I never knew I had any power like that. I think the other princesses feel the same way, too.”

“I never thought I’d be wielding a Keyblade, either.”

“I suppose it’s like that…” Cinderella nodded.

“I’m so glad that we have one another here,” said Aurora. “If the Keyhole had only needed one princess, how terribly lonely it would be for her.”

The princesses looked at one another then, each smiling in her own way.

“You helped me during that silly trial, Sora,” Alice said brightly, stepping closer to him. “So now, it’s my turn to help everyone else!”

“Yeah! What an awful trial that was!” Donald added, and Alice laughed.

Then Snow White spoke. “Sora… There’s someone very dear to me, but I just don’t know what happened to him. So I want to protect this place. I don’t want to see any more worlds disappear.”

“Me, too,” Sora replied. “I can’t stand the thought of any more worlds disappearing or any more people getting swallowed up.”

Snow White smiled, but her eyes shone with tears.

“I have the Beast here with me, but we want to go home to our world…” Belle looked at him, too. “Please, Sora.”

“I’m worried about Agrabah… But I’m sure Aladdin will be all right, whatever happens.” Jasmine closed her eyes as if remembering the desert city.

“A-hyuck! It’ll all be okay!”

“Wak!”

Goofy and Donald tried to cheer up Jasmine, then looked at Sora. “We’d better get going.”

“Right!”

Sora climbed the stairs and stood in front of the heart-shaped gate. The Princesses of Heart were facing it and praying. He stepped through the gate…

“There’s the Keyhole!” Donald pointed to a heart in a strange emblem at the back of the room.

“Yeah…” Just as Sora lifted the Keyblade, something made the Keyhole vibrate uncannily.

“Yipe! Something’s here!” Goofy jumped and clung to Sora. Darkness flowed out from the Keyhole and from it came an enormous Heartless—the Behemoth. It was like a huge, ferocious bull, with two long horns, and when it roared, they were surrounded with purple flames.

“Here we go!”

“Right!” Sora gripped the Keyblade. He wouldn’t let anyone stop him—or anything.

Until he saw Kairi again…and brought Riku back.

Until everyone was home in their own worlds… Until they were home on Destiny Island.

“Donald! Goofy!” he called. He was fighting for these friends, too. And he wouldn’t lose.

Light flashed out from the Keyblade and struck the Behemoth. Donald fired magic into its mouth, and behind him, Goofy helped them with potions—it was their surefire strategy.

“Got ’im!”

The Behemoth let out a final roar, slowly turned into light, and faded away.

“Now let’s lock up that Keyhole!” said Goofy.

Sora pointed the Keyblade at the Keyhole in the heart emblem. A beam of light shot into it from the tip of the Keyblade, and they heard a resounding click.

“We did it!”

The heart emblem began to shine, and the Keyhole disappeared. The trio went back out to tell the princesses that the portal was closed.

“Huh…?” Donald cocked his head. They had emerged, not into the grand hall, but some mysterious chamber they’d never seen before. Clinging mist obscured their sight.

“Where are we?” Sora murmured. And a strange sensation came over him—it was almost as if someone else had passed through his body.

“Ah, it seems you are special, as well.”

The voice came from behind him. Sora whirled around. “Who’s there?!”

A man stood there in a deep black cloak with a hood that hid his face. Sora couldn’t even tell whether it was a person in that cloak or a Heartless.

“Ansem…?” Goofy raised his shield.

“That name rings familiar…”

On their guard, the trio glared at the strange figure.

“You remind me of him,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Sora demanded.

The man looked calmly down at him from beneath his hood. “It means you are not whole. You are incomplete. Allow me…to test your strength.”

He seemed to glide over the ground instead of walk as he moved closer to Sora, and light erupted from his raised hand.

“Whoa—!” Sora was knocked back hard.

“Sora!” Goofy tried to run to him, but two swords flew at him and sent him sprawling.

“Firaga! Thundaga! Blizzaga!” Donald pelted out his spells, but each barrage of magic disappeared when it neared the mysterious figure’s cloak.

“Impressive. This will be enjoyable…”

“What’re you talking about…?!” Sora shouted, jumping up.

“It is beyond your comprehension for now. We will meet again.”

“Who are you?!”

“I am but an empty shell.” As if he were made of smoke, the man vanished without a trace.

Then, as Sora still stood ready to fight, a familiar voice spoke from behind him. “Good work, Sora.”

They turned to see Leon standing in front of the heart-shaped gate, resting the Gunblade on his shoulder.

“We’re back…?” Sora said, confused.

“What happened?” Leon asked.

“Never mind, it’s nothing… What are you guys doing here?”

“We came in Cid’s ship!” Yuffie replied from her perch on the banister.

“This was our childhood home,” said Aerith. “We wanted to see it again.”

Leon glanced around dismally. “It’s in worse shape than I feared. It used to be such a peaceful place…” His gaze fell.

“Don’t worry. If we defeat Ansem, everything should be restored.” Aerith tried to comfort Leon, then looked at Sora. “Your island, too…”

“Really?”

Aerith nodded, smiling.

Yuffie jumped down from the banister and said sadly, “But…it also means good-bye.”

“Once the worlds are restored, they’ll all be separate again…” Aerith looked down.

“Then I’ll just visit you guys with the Gummi Ship!” Trying to be cheerful, Sora ran to Yuffie’s side.

“It’s not that simple,” said Leon.

Sora turned to him. “Why not?”

“Before all this, no one knew about the other worlds, right? Every world was isolated, divided by unseen walls.” Aerith looked expectantly at Leon.

“The Heartless destroyed those walls,” Leon went on. “But if the worlds return, so will the walls.”

“Does that mean we won’t be able to fly in the Gummi Ship?!” Donald exclaimed, running up to Leon as if he might argue the point.

“It’ll be useless.”

Hearing Leon’s curt words, Sora bit his lip. “So you’re saying we’ll never…” He couldn’t finish the sentence. His shoulders drooped.

Donald and Goofy looked at Sora miserably.

“You won’t be able to come visit Disney Castle…”

“And we won’t get to go to the beach at Destiny Island…”

“We may never meet again,” Leon told them, “but we’ll never forget each other.”

“No matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again.” Aerith smiled sweetly.

“Besides,” said Yuffie with a grin, “I couldn’t forget you even if I wanted to.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?!”

She laughed and ran to the other side of the hall, as if she had to flee from Sora.

“Thank you, Sora. I think the darkness is getting weaker now,” said Alice, spreading her hands.

“But be careful…” Jasmine looked around nervously. “I can feel something huge and sinister… Ansem…”

“It’s the heart of the darkness,” said Aurora. “It must be where he went.”

“Then we’ll take the Gummi Ship there and deal with Ansem and the Heartless,” Sora said resolutely.

“An answer worthy of the Keyblade master.” Cinderella smiled.

“Sora… There’s one more thing I want to tell you.” Aerith looked terribly serious.

“…Aerith?” he said anxiously.

“The last page of Ansem’s report. I found it in the library.”

“So you found the whole thing?” Sora took the stack of pages she handed him, still looking straight at her.

“Ansem disappeared when this world fell to the darkness. We all thought that he died defending people from the Heartless, but…”

Goofy finished for her. “But Ansem was the one who brought ’em here, wasn’t he?!”

“That’s right. Even though he was known as a sage…” Aerith looked down, troubled.

“Say, Aerith, could you read the rest of the report for us?”

“All right…” She took the pages and began.

“Is this…about Kairi?” Sora murmured.

“The hearts of the worlds…? Gawrsh, what could that be?” Goofy wondered.

“It’s probably the world’s core, which Ansem was trying to reach,” Aerith replied.

“But what’s there?”

“Wait. I’ll keep reading.”

“Ansem abandoned his own body for the sake of his research…,” Aerith murmured.

“That’s weird!” Sora blurted. “He was only doing all that for himself anyway!”

“That’s true… And then he opened the door.” Aerith mournfully lowered her gaze.

“We’ll close it, Aerith!”

“I hope so…,” she said with her hands clasped, like she was praying.

“Please, Sora. Your courage can bring back our worlds.” Snow White bowed her head.

“Once the darkness is gone…everything should go back to the way it was before,” Cinderella added.

Leon looked down at Sora. “Just like we were able to come back to Hollow Bastion… You’ll all have your worlds to go back to.”

“Then our island… Will Kairi be back there?”

The blue sea…the blue sky. He missed Destiny Island so much.

“Of course!” Cinderella said sweetly.

“But… We can’t go home until we’ve found Riku and the king. Right, guys?” Sora turned to Donald and Goofy.

“Right! ’Cos we’re gonna bring them back!”

“We sure will!”

The three nodded to one another and then set off for the core of the world.