Welcome to Gaia! ::

Riku smiled back, but it seemed subdued; his mind was clearly elsewhere. It was clear to him now that he shouldn't have brought the subject up at all. "I wasn't saying that I was going to stay," he said. "I'll go get the ship started; you should help Sora find Donald and Goofy, since it's clear he won't leave without them. We need to get going."

Sora walked quickly down the hallway, trying to hang onto some level of composure, but this was becoming increasingly difficult; he couldn't find Donald or Goofy anywhere. He'd bumped into Lady Daisy, but she hadn't seen either of them all morning, either. The longer he wandered through the enormous hallways, the more sense Riku's words seemed to make, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the two behind, not after everything they'd been through together.

Akiko stood just outside the building, utterly shocked.

The mouse had explained everything to her...and to tell the truth, she hadn't quite grasped it at first. The only thing she'd been able to think about was how exciting this was, to be able to really live what she's always pretended and written about!

Her mind had wandered to the future. Mickey had said she should wait for Sora, Riku, and Kairi to arrive while he went to take care of..."things."

Yes, that sounded like the Mickey from the game. Never caring to reveal the situation fully.

And the Golden Trio...could it really be possible that such divinely cute boys could exist?

Akiko had giggled at the thought. She knew she'd have to quench her fangirlism now that they were real people. Besides, Square-Enix had probably just used their amazing technology to give Sora that gorgeous, trusting smile...and Riku those beautiful, sad eyes...

Gr. If they were real, she wouldn't have any excuse other than she was being a typical teen girl. How frustrating. She'd have to control her hormones from now on.

But yes, all that had sounded very fun...and since Akiko lived a block away from the building, she figured she'd go out and maybe practice some fighting with the weapon she'd been given, or see if maybe she could find some people walking around. After all, the King had said this area was safe...

However, as she stood outside, the normally busy streets were absolutely silent. It was so creepy...the lights were shining brightly, but there was not a sign of human life.

A little rat, free of human intervention, scuttled across her path. Akiko let out a dry sob. How stupid was she...this was too serious to enjoy...

"We might have to leave them, Sora. Riku's getting the ship ready and we need to go meet the King." She said in a slightly apologetic tone.

Riku was waiting for them in the pilot seat of the gummi ship; the engine was already purring away. He glanced up as they entered, taking in Sora's unhappy face and Kairi's apologetic manner. Donald and Goofy weren't coming, then, which was hardly a surprise. When Riku had asked Donald for healing the night before, the duck had looked decidedly ill. "Shut the door," he ordered calmly, "Sora, you have the map, right?"

((Sorry for the time-jump. If anyone objects, I'll edit.))

Sora, looking, if anything, more upset than ever, shut the door, although he couldn't stop himself from peeking through one last time before he did so, hoping that he'd see his friends sprinting pell-mell towards them. He silently handed the map to Riku, then flopped into an empty seat beside Kairi. He was surprised into laughing in spite of himself at the look on her face. "Gosh, Kairi, if I didn't know any better, I'd say that you think we're immature!"

"Oh, and I was just about to break out the popcorn," replied Sora in an uncharacteristically cool voice; he still hadn't quite forgiven Riku for saying that they should leave Donald and Goofy behind, and definitely hadn't forgiven him for being right. He immediately felt a twinge of guilt for taking his own frustration out on his friend. "Er... How close?" he asked, his tone conciliatory.