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He just had to check they were on the right course.
He just had to make sure they still had fuel.
He needed to get something he left on the console.
This was the sixth time Sora had padded out of their shared sleeping room that night, each time thinking of an excuse he would use if Donald or Goofy questioned him. It didn’t matter that it was his first night even knowing what a gummi ship was , if he said it confidently enough he was sure they wouldn’t press him on the details.
He hadn’t needed to use any of his excuses so far, but it was a practice he had started years ago (and had long since become a habit) when he first got caught coming home from a late-night hangout on the island with Riku and Kairi.
Riku.
Kairi.
Sora’s heart ached. He stepped over the creaky panel he had learned to avoid after waking Jiminy up a couple of hours ago.
There wasn’t much space for privacy on the gummi ship. There wasn’t much space for anything on the gummi ship.
It had two main rooms, the console and the sleeping room, the narrow hallway that connected them, plus a bathroom. There was a small hatch that led to the maintenance room, but it was a tight fit even for Chip and Dale, who were the only two small enough to fit between the pipes.
The control chair was comfortable, if a little oversized for him. The worn fabric reminded him of his mom’s car, a beat-up old thing with just enough life in it to go to work and back, fighting the whole way. He always used to beg his mom to let him drive, despite his lack of a license.
He was honestly surprised when Donald and Goofy gave in and let him drive the ship after only a few minutes of bickering; though, of course, they weren’t his mom, and didn’t have the same reservations.
Asteroids and meteoroids passed in front of the ship, the viewscreen showing each crater in detail. Sora focused intently on them, counting each divet; if he’s thinking about space debris, he’s not thinking about anything, or any one , else.
Heaving a sigh, he picked at the peeling material of the control stick.
It’s stupid, really. He just needs to keep going, and soon enough he’ll see everyone again. A month, tops, and then everyone will be home and things will be just how they were when he left. He can apologize to his mom for missing dinner, he and Riku can go back to having friendly competitions, and Kairi will be alright again.
Though.. How long does saving worlds take, exactly? Would he be here for two months?
A year?
…Multiple years?
He slumped further down in the chair.
Asteroids passed overhead.
“You okay there?”
Sora jumped, hastily scrubbed at his face, and whipped around.
In the doorway, clad in pajamas of his own, was Goofy.
“Uh, yeah. Sorry if I woke you, Goofy, I was just, uh, checking we were still on course.”
“Uh-huh. I’ve heard you goin’ back and forth a buncha times tonight, everything alright?”
“Yeah!” he gave Goofy a big grin, well-practiced, “Looks like we’re on track to get to Wonderland by the morning.”
While he felt a little guilty, all Sora wanted was for Goofy to leave him alone and go back to bed. There’s no way he could tell anyone about this. He wasn’t a little kid anymore, it was stupid to get hung up on something like maybe never seeing your best friends or mom or home ever again and never even getting to say goodbye.
“I’m glad things are a-okay with the ship.” Striding over, Goofy pulled up the chair next to Sora and flopped down. “But I meant with you , Sora. You okay?”
“Of course. Donald said this ship runs on happy faces, right? Well, I could single-handedly power this ship for miles!” He beamed, again.
Goofy gave a thoughtful expression, canting his head to the side.
“Do ya wanna know a secret, Sora?” he looked around conspiratorially, before leaning in close, whispering, “Don’t tell Donald I said this, but this ship is actually powered by its engines.”
He laughed, a hearty “A-hyuck!”, before continuing. “Of course, happy faces help , but only when they’re genuine.”
“Why wouldn’t mine be?” Sora let his smile slip, being replaced by a slightly more defensive tone. The last thing he needed was to be thought of as a liar. They needed to follow him because he had the key, of course, but Sora still wanted them to like him.
“You’ve had a heck of a day, Sora. You got yer key, sure, but you lost your home and your friends. And from what I hear, you went head-to-head with that Leon fella!”
“Yeah. But... I’m fine, really, Goofy. Let’s go back to bed.”
“Sora.” Goofy’s tone was more serious, though still gentle. “Gawrsh.. What I mean to say, is that it’s okay if yer scared. I’m scared, too.”
“You?” Sora sat back down, looking at Goofy. While of course he had seen Goofy flee from some Heartless earlier, he sort of figured he was playing it up for Sora’s benefit.
“All the time, a-hyuck!” He laughed, maybe a little more loudly than he meant to.
They sat in silence for a moment, Goofy choosing his words carefully.
“You don’t hafta bear everything alone, Sora. You might have the keyblade, but me and Donald will help any way we can. At home, I have a son, and–”
“A son?!”
“A-hyuck, yup! His name’s Max, and he’s about yer age. I don’t know what your parents are like, but I know I’d hate for something like this to happen to Max and have him be alone with nobody to turn to.”
Sora was quiet for a moment. Instead of replying, he focused intently on the bits he’d peeled from the control stick earlier, twirling them between his finger and thumb. “I know my mom would be really worried, too. Not just about me, but about Riku and Kairi as well. But… I don’t know if she even can worry, wherever she is.”
“I don’t know either, Sora. But I can promise ya, wherever she is, you’ll see her again. Everything’ll turn out alright; if we believe that, it’ll hafta be true.” He laid a comforting hand on Sora’s shoulder. Cid had insisted they borrow some clothes before they set off; Sora’s shirt was covered in rockets and stars, fabric softened and faded with age.
They stayed like that for a few minutes. Meteoroids passed, a few just shy of hitting the ship.
“What’s Max like?”
Goofy smiled big, immediately reaching in his pocket for his wallet. A storm of pictures exploded out, all focused on who Sora assumed was Max. “This is my backup wallet, so I don’t have so many on me right now; you’ll just have to imagine the rest, a-hyuck!”
The backup wallet still had enough that they were cascading onto the floor. Max’s first steps, a blurry photo of Max on the TV, Max’s middle school graduation… Sora picked one up; it was a birthday party, with Max in front of a huge cake with six candles.
“That was for his sixth birthday party! Gawrsh, I spent hours on that cake…”
“Eating it or making it?”
“Anyways, here we are at this big concert. His friends couldn’t believe it when they saw us on TV, a-hyuck! That’s a great story; it all started with this talent show..”
~~~
“...What about your friends, Sora?” Goofy asked, after an hour.
Sora immediately perked up. “Riku and Kairi! And Tidus, and Wakka, and Selphie… We all hang out on this giant island, about a ten minute boat ride from our island, and it’s the best! We all sword-fight and there’s paopu fruit, and me and Kairi and Riku were building a raft to go see other worlds!”
He paused.
“I guess this kinda defeats the purpose of the raft, though.”
“Naw. I mean, the point of the raft is that you made it together, right?”
“That’s true! When we get back, I wonder if I’ll finally be strong enough to beat Riku. I always tried, but he always kicked my as– I mean, he always kicked my butt. He’s a year older than me so of course he’s gonna be stronger, but he always gets so smug about it. We’ve known each other the longest, though, so I can’t stay mad at him no matter what. Kairi only came a few years ago, but me and her and Riku hang out all the time! Her dad’s the mayor, so sometimes we get to sneak her out of official stuff.”
“What’s your favorite thing to do together? Me ‘n’ Donald, we like to go fishing. I tried to do that with Maxie a couple times, but you know how that turned out.”
“Like, what game do we play the most? I guess we do compete a lot, and sometimes we fish, too, but we also have a secret hideout that’s full of drawings we’ve carved on the rocks together… Oh! And sometimes we have homework after school, but I always just make paper airplanes out of mine and see how far they can go. Riku’s always go farther than mine, though, which is really unfair; he might be older, but his paper airplanes aren’t!”
They shared a laugh, before lapsing once again into silence; this time, a comfortable one.
“Thanks, Goofy.”
“Of course!” he reached over and ruffled Sora’s hair, making it stick up in all the wrong places. “Donald might be a little prickly, but deep down he cares just the same. Don’t tell him I told ya that, though!”
“How did you and Donald meet, anyway?”
“Well, it’s a long story… Y’see, it all started back years ago..”
~~~
Sora has always taken a long time to wake up; Riku teased him about it for years. As a result, it took him about ten minutes to realize he’s waking up in his bed on the gummi ship, despite his last memory of the night before being in the command chair.
Already, he could hear Donald and Goofy talking in the console room, the short distance doing little to muffle the volume.
He took his time stretching, before heading to greet them. Would it be awkward, after last night? He did talk a lot…
Sora didn’t have much time to dwell, though; immediately, he was greeted by Donald. They were puttering around the console room, a small table with three normal-sized chairs and one extra-tiny chair somehow squashed into the spare area.
“Finally!” he said. “You’ve been sleeping for hours .”
“Gawrsh, he’s a growing boy, Donald.”
“Pah!” Still, Donald set a plate of pancakes down. Vaguely, Sora wondered where he got them; it’s not like the gummi ship has a kitchen he knows of. “Here. You’ll need the energy for today; we’ve arrived.” Donald gestured out the window, where Sora could see a pink planet covered in different board games.
Sora beamed. “Thanks, Donald!”
Donald grumbled vaguely, and they dug in. Sora cleared his plate almost immediately, suddenly realizing how hungry he was.
A few minutes later, he came back from eagerly staring at Wonderland to find another pancake had mysteriously appeared on his plate. Goofy caught Sora’s eye and looked at Donald, a “shh!” gesture forming. Sora nodded, smiling.
He knew if he thought too much about his mom, or about what Riku was doing, he would feel the same as how he did last night. But right now, the future seems a little easier to bear with his friends to lighten the load.