Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: A Tear-Stained Floor In The Dalmatians' Den

"....Player?" Niko asked hesitantly.  "What should I... do?"

Silence fell.  Niko stood there in the Tower, waiting for a response from Player.

On the elevator ride up to the Tower's topmost room, Player had revealed to Niko that in order to send him home, he would have to break the sun, the lightbulb that kept this world alive.

Niko dreaded the thought; ever since he first arrived in this world in the Barrens, he'd met so many people and made so many friendships on his journey to the Tower.  If any one of them needed help, he had always been willing to lend a hand.  They were all his friends...  and he truly cared about every single one of them.  The last thing he wanted was to throw all of that away, as if it just meant nothing at all in the end.

But at the same time, he longed to return to his own world.  He missed his village and the wheat fields surrounding it.  He missed his neighbors, and...  his family.  His mama...

And now here, at the top of the tower, he'd just asked Player what he should do, whether he should put the sun back...  or smash it...  but so far, they remained silent.  No response.

The wait turned from seconds...  to minutes...  to a really long time.  Niko started to think he wouldn't ever get a response from them.

...

...Maybe...  He shouldn't try to force this responsibility on someone else.  He'd been relying on Player so much already.  Maybe this time...  now that he was finally at the end of his journey...  he should make the decision himself-

Return Home.

Niko gasped quietly.  A shiver went up his spine.  Return home?  Player...  Wanted him to return home?

...Yes.

He'd be home again.  He'd see his mama again.  He'd be happy again.

He'd get to do exactly what he'd wanted to do the whole time he'd been here....

...

...So why didn't he feel happy?  Why was he hesitating?

...

Niko knew exactly why.  It was because he was right on the cusp of making the decision himself; he was about to return the Sun and save the world.  Aside from losing his chance to return home, he didn't know what would happen to him if he put back the Sun...  But he knew for sure what'd happen if he smashed it.  The world would be destroyed; gone in an instant.  Clearly an uncertain future for himself wasn't that much of a problem if the alternative was certain doom for everyone else.

He had to return the Sun!

...

On the other hand...  All he knew about what would happen to him was what Player told him.  Did they know more about what would happen to Niko than they were letting on?  Something they hadn't told him?  Something too terrible to even mention?   Maybe if he put back the Sun, he'd be eaten up by the Squares-

Niko shut his eyes and clenched his teeth.  He didn't even want to think about that possibility.

Return home.

But...  What about everyone he met along the way?  None of them deserved to die, did they?

Return the Sun!

Then again, a whole bunch of people he talked to in the Refuge had said outright that they'd rather have the world die instantly than continue to suffer.

Return home.

...But that wouldn't be fair to everyone else!  The people in the Glen...  Alula, Calamus...  Everyone else who trusted him to save their world...  He couldn't let them down!

Return the Sun!

Return home.

But the guy in the cafe was nice to him...  He made pancakes for him!

But...  Mama's pancakes are better...

...

Niko just didn't...  know.  But... Player wanted him to return home...  he trusted Player, didn't he?

But...  Return the Sun!

Return home.

Return the Sun...

Return home.

Return... the Sun?

Return home.

....

“I...  Trust your judgment, Player.”

Smash!

Fwoooosh!

It happened faster than Niko could even process it.  At the moment he smashed the Sun, every trace of light, even the tiniest, had vanished.

Only darkness remained.  In only a matter of seconds, the sound of rushing wind could be heard outside the window.

Cr-ZAPPPP!!!

A bolt of violet lightning lit up the room from outside, and less than a second later a roll of thunder BOOMED , rattling his entire body.

"Wh-  what's happening?" Niko asked.  "Player?!  PLAYER!!!"

CRASH!!!

He felt a big, painful change in air pressure pop in his ears as a massive gust of wind broke through the glass in the tower, swept him up, and carried him away.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

The terrified child had covered his eyes with his arms the whole time as he swirled around like a leaf in the wind.  When he finally dared to open his eyes...  all he could see was broken-off bits of land mass he was able to recognise...  from the Barrens...  from the Glen...  from the Refuge...  all being pulled toward...  something that looked as if it was a glowing ball of purple energy...  It was glowing, yet it couldn't possibly be light...  not with the way it felt...

Just a matter of hours earlier, he'd told Player that he'd recently gotten over the fear of the dark that had haunted him for most of his life; back then he really thought he'd long since gotten over it.

But now...

Now that he didn't have the sun anymore...

Now that there wasn't a speck of real light to be seen anywhere...

And the only thing that could generously be described as "glowing" was this cold, oppressive, terrifying force of nature before him, completely unlike the warmth and comfort of a lamp, or a screen, or even a bonfire ...

He realized he was still afraid of the dark.

He clenched his eyes tightly shut, and braced himself for the overwhelming amount of energy that he knew was going to hit him.

...

Thud!

Niko gasped, his eyes suddenly snapped open as he regained consciousness.  He sat up and looked around; he found himself in an alleyway behind a building that seemed to be a hotel.  It was night, but the lights on the nearby buildings kept the area well-lit.

But there wasn't a single person to be seen anywhere.

“Player?” he asked.  "What...  is this place?"

No answer.  He got up from off the ground.

“Player?  Player?!”

Still nothing.  With only a faint glimmer of hope left, Niko tried contacting them one more time.

“...Player?”

...Still no response.  As much as he hoped it would work, he had a feeling that would be the case.  Now that the sun was destroyed, and the world with it, he had no way of contacting Player anymore.

It wouldn’t have been so bad, but...

"Player..." Niko whispered to himself.  "What is this place?  Why didn't you send me home?"

He took another look around...  and found a set of doors embedded in the hotel on the ground level.  The doors opened, and through them came...

Calamus!  He was alright!

The bird stopped next to a small channel of water that ran underneath the sidewalk Niko was standing on.

"Calamus!" called Niko, a smile across his face as he started running towards him.  He was so happy he was okay!  He'd never even considered the possibility that his friends from the other world might've survived!

Calamus turned and took a few steps toward Niko as he was running to him...  but after only a few steps, he stopped.  He fell down on his hands and knees...  and started to cry.

Niko stopped dead in his tracks, only a few feet away from Calamus.  Now reading the sorrowful mood his friend was in, he closed the remaining gap between them much more slowly before speaking.

"Calamus...  What's wrong?" he asked.  Calamus took a deep breath and let it out with a shaken shudder.

"Sh- She's... gone..." he said.

Niko gasped slightly.

"Wh-what?" he asked softly.

"Alula...  she's gone.  She was...  all I had left..." Calamus continued.

"Wh-  What happened to her?"

"There...  There were...  these monsters...  in the Glen.  They just...  showed up out of nowhere, and pieces of the Glen were breaking off, faster than I've ever seen them break before, and rising up into the air...  toward some big, shadowy ball in the sky.  I lost my grip on Alula's hand...  and...  one of the monsters...  one of them..."  He grit his teeth, clearly unable to bear the weight of this memory.  "...got her."

Niko's face fell as Calamus finished his story.  He already knew what the consequences of smashing the sun would be, so it wasn't as if the news of Alula's fate really surprised him so much.  But...  the fact that there was a possibility of survivors that he didn't know about...  the fact that Calamus had been spared...  and the fact that the one thing that he cared about more than anything else he had left didn't make it with him...  it was all too cruel for him to bear.

But that alone was nothing compared to what Calamus said next.

"I don't understand...  You put the sun back, didn't you?"

Niko froze as soon as he said that.

"Yes, you must've," Calamus continued, looking down pensively.  "You don't have it anymore.  That should've at least kept the world alive just a little bit longer...  but it's like it didn't have any effect at all..."

Guilt started to fester in Niko's core.  He desperately wanted to come up with some kind of excuse...  anything...  but he remembered what his mama taught him...  lying to get in less trouble was never a good thing to do.  He had no choice but to tell the truth.

"I...  I didn't put the sun back."

Calamus looked back up, eyes wide with shock.

"...Wh- ...What? "

"I...  I smashed it...  That's why all this happened.  Player told me that...  if I saved your world...  I wouldn't...  be able to go back home..."

Calamus remained silent for a bit.  Niko kept his head down; he just couldn't bring himself to look him in the eye.  But finally...  after about forty seconds of silence...  Niko looked back up again.

Calamus stared at him, his lips slightly parted; he said absolutely nothing in response.

Niko took a step forward.  Calamus edged backward.

The two remained in eye contact for only a few short moments more, before the red-clad bird got back up and started back to the doors underneath the Hotel.

"Calamus..." whimpered Niko, before raising his voice to a call.  "Calamus, wait!"

He didn't listen.

He just kept running towards the doors he came from.

Niko started after him.  He didn't know what he'd say to him, and he knew he probably wouldn't even listen to him anyway, but he also knew that running around alone in an unknown place like this was-

Fwoosh!

...too dangerous.

At that moment, out of nowhere, a creature rose up from the ground right in front of Niko.

He stopped in his tracks, letting Calamus get away as the creature fixed its gaze on him.

The creature was about the same height as Niko was, though since it was hunched over it was hard to tell.  Two antennae stuck out of its round little head.  Its body was pitch-black and its beady little eyes glowed yellow...  but like the purple ball of energy that had destroyed the World, the glow didn't feel like light at all.  It felt...  much colder and darker than light ever could.  The creature kept twitching even as it was standing in place...  But it was clearly interested in Niko.

Niko took a tentative step backwards.  He'd never seen a creature like this before...  but the more he looked at it, the more fear started welling up within him.

This creature felt like...  darkness itself had become a monster.

And it wasn't alone either.

Several more creatures of the same type appeared right alongside it.

Niko ran the other way down the alley, as fast as he could on his little cat feet.  He didn't dare turn around to look at those terrifying creatures again.

He ran into a fork in the road at the end of the alley.  To his left, there was the small channel of water from further up the alley, leading into a cavern with broken metal bars lying in the entrance.  The water looked pretty deep, and Niko didn't know how to swim; if he jumped in, he'd easily be neck-deep in it and the monsters would get him almost immediately before he could escape.

Directly to his right was a short stretch of alley that ended in...  A set of doors!  Whatever that building was, he would surely be safer inside it!

Niko dashed through the doors, swiftly shutting them behind him and locking them.  He braced himself for the impact of the monsters slamming against the doors... but the impact never came.  Apparently the monsters didn’t like chasing their food very far.  That made him feel a little bit better.  Only a little, though.

Now that his life wasn’t in danger anymore...  his train of thought returned to him.

He smashed the sun.

He destroyed its whole world...  and nearly everybody living in it.

All so that he could selfishly try to return home...  And he didn’t even get to have that!

But the worst part was...  He wanted to put back the sun.  He wanted to save everyone, even if it cost him his way back home, or even his very life.  He wanted it...  almost to the point of defying Player's command.

But...  he didn't get past "almost".  He just...  went along with it.

Now he was trapped in yet another unfamiliar, dark location, this time filled with scary monsters in the streets.  Was...  Was he brought here on purpose?  Did Player... lie to him?  Did they...  abandon him?

“Oh...” whimpered Niko, as tears started welling up in his eyes.  “Oh no...”  He leaned against a wall close to the door.  He started shaking uncontrollably.  Tears were rolling down his face.  He turned around to face the wall and started crying.

Then a noise came from the door–the sound of the lock disengaging, followed by the sound of the doors swinging open.  Niko gasped as he whipped his head around, quick as a bolt of lightning.  The monsters!  They were back!  How'd they unlock the door?!

...

No, it wasn’t the monsters this time.  Standing in the doorway was...  a teenage boy, about twice Niko's height, with spiky brown hair and a face like those he saw often in the other world.  He was wearing a pair of large, yellow shoes with zippers on them, a red jumpsuit that ended in big, puffy shorts, and a pair of white fingerless gloves.  He looked a little like a clown...  a really cool-looking clown.  In his arms were three small dalmatian puppies, seemingly anxious to jump down and start playing.

The spiky-haired boy stood silently in the doorway as the two of them locked eyes, the only sound in the room being the yipping of the three puppies.  Clearly, he was just as surprised to see Niko in this building as Niko was to see him.  After the awkward exchange of glances, the spiky-haired boy walked across the room, opened the door opposite the one he came in from, and let the increasingly restless puppies in his arms down to play in the next room.  After taking care of that, he turned around to Niko, who'd been staring in confusion at him the whole time.

"You're a new face, aren't ya?" the spiky-haired boy said, his voice flowing with a seemingly effortless confidence.

Niko blinked a couple of times, and then voiced the only question he had in his mind at the moment.

"Wh-  Who are you?" he asked meekly.  The spiky-haired boy shot Niko a big grin.

"I'm Sora," he answered.  "What about you?  What's your name?"

Niko lowered his head.

"I'm...  Niko..." he said in response.  The spiky-haired boy—Sora—walked to the wall Niko was leaning against and sat down next to him, his grin disappearing.

"You okay?" Sora continued. "You look upset."

Niko remained silent for a few seconds.

"How... did I even get here?" he asked.  "I was supposed to go back home..."

"It's because your world fell into darkness," Sora answered grimly.  Niko snapped his head to Sora's face, his eyes wide with shock.  He wound up here...  because the world fell into darkness?   Because he destroyed the world's only lasting source of light?!

"This place is called Traverse Town," Sora continued.  "When a world is swallowed by the darkness, some of its inhabitants wind up here.  This world's a safe haven for those who've lost their homes."  Niko looked back down at the floor.  He couldn't believe what he was hearing.  He curled up and grabbed his knees.  Tears were welling up in his eyes.

"This...  This is all my fault," Niko sniffled.

"How so?" Sora asked.  "From what I've seen, the only way a world falls into darkness is-"

"It's all my fault!" Niko cried out, curling up even tighter and squeezing his eyes shut.  "I smashed the sun and destroyed the world!"

He buried his face in his knees as he started sobbing quietly.  Sora went silent for a little bit.

"You smashed...  the sun? " he asked, confused.

Niko looked up to face Sora, his eyes filled with tears.

"Yes, I did!  I smashed the sun, and that's how the world fell into darkness!  It was all my fault!  I admit it!"

Sora blinked a couple of times, and then shook his head.  He raised his hands and made a big gesture outwards.

"Okay, time out!  I'm completely lost here.  Can you explain everything from the beginning, Niko?"

"So, you were taken from your home world?"

"Mhm."

"And that sun you were talking about was actually a big lightbulb?"

"Yep."

"And you were chosen to take it to the tower in the middle of the world you were in?"

Niko let out a depressed sigh.

"I was supposed to..." he trailed off.  He and Sora had moved from the floor to the nearby window seat.  It was pink and cushioned, and pretty comfortable.  It was nice for him to be able to talk things out while sitting there.

"...So what happened when you got to the tower?" asked Sora.

"Player-  Player told me that...  the only way to send me back home...  was to break the sun.  And then when they told me to break it...  I just wasn't sure...  whether to break the sun and destroy the world...  or put it back and save it...  I didn't want to hurt all the friends I made there...  but...  I trusted Player knew what they were doing, so I went along with it...  and smashed the sun."

"But you wound up here instead..."

"Mhm...  And then Player stopped talking to me...  And then Calamus showed up...  and he got mad at me.  Everyone I met in that world...  They're all just gone...  and if they're not gone, they're mad at me for what I did," Niko's eyes were welling up with tears again.  "And I can't even go back home, either.  I'll never... ever see my mama again..."

Niko buried his face in his arms, sobbing quietly as he thought about his family he'd never get to see again.  It hadn't fully hit him until now...  but it was true.  Niko's mama...  the children of the village...  the neighbors...  Niko was separated from them...  and it looked like he wouldn't ever get a chance to see them again.  But...  if they knew what Niko had just done...  would they even want him back?

Suddenly, a wave of comfort came over him as he felt a hand on his shoulder.  He slowly looked up to Sora, who was looking at him with somber, sympathetic eyes.

"Niko...  I understand," Sora said.  "You know, I lost my own home world."

"You did?"

"It was swallowed up by the darkness.  And the one who made it happen...  was my best friend, Riku."

"Riku..." Niko mused.

"After my world was destroyed, I wound up here in Traverse Town.  I was scared, too, back then.  I couldn't find Riku, or my other friend, Kairi, either."

"How did Riku... destroy your world?"

"I don't know exactly what happened...  but I could tell from the way he talked about it that he had something to do with it.  He kept going on about how he didn't fear the darkness, and that using it was the only way to leave our island."

"He... wanted to leave his home?  Why?"

"All three of us wanted to leave.  But we were already building a raft by that point.  Me and Kairi, we just wanted to be able to go to new places and see rare sights; we never wanted to destroy our home in order to do it."

"But your friend Riku did..."  Niko let out a sigh.  "He destroyed a whole world to get what he wanted.  Just like me..."

"That's why I'm still searching for him," Sora continued, staring out toward the wall and...  smiling?  "I need to help him break free from the darkness...  And then go find Kairi...  And then she, Riku and I can finally be together again!  Just like we used to be..."

Niko looked up at Sora in confusion.

"But...  But what about your home?  How can you still call Riku your friend... after he did something so horrible?"

Sora looked down at his knees, and chuckled before continuing.

"Well, what kind of friend would I be..." Sora turned to face Niko, "if I didn't keep believing in him?"

Believing...

"And..." Niko said, with a grain of choked-up hesitation in his voice, "do you...  believe in me, too?"

"Yeah, of course!" Sora smiled.

Niko started to tremble.  He'd already been feeling emotionally overwhelmed this whole time, but now he felt overwhelmed for a different reason.  Sora had only just met him, and after what he'd just admitted to, he really felt that he shouldn't have wanted anything to do with him.

But to have Sora not only accept him, but actually believe that he could be forgiven for what he did...  even while only knowing so little about him...  It moved him more than words could describe.

Niko got up, and hugged Sora.  Sora raised his arms and flinched at the gesture, clearly not expecting it...  but shortly afterwards Niko could feel his arms wrap around him.

The two remained like that, sharing a warm, caring embrace that greatly eased the pain in Niko's heart.  The pieces of his heart that felt like they had been chipped away when Calamus confronted him...  seemed to slowly come back and reintegrate themselves.  He had felt like he'd never be able to be whole again, but now...  now he felt like he was.  After about a minute or two spent in the embrace, Sora broke the silence.

"Feel any better yet?" he asked.

"...Mhm," went Niko, sniffling a little bit.

Niko pulled away from Sora, the latter giving him a big, cheesy, reassuring grin.  The little child wiped his tears away with his sleeve and smiled; he was feeling much better now.  Since he first got here in Traverse Town, he'd been in a near-constant state of regret...  but now, he'd made a new friend, one that knew of his most horrific deed, yet was still kind enough to look past that and give him an opportunity to make up for it.

Maybe...  maybe things would be okay for him after all.

But soon...  the smile on Niko's face disappeared.  There was still something on his mind.

"Sora..." he asked.  "Will... Calamus ever...  forgive me?"

Sora dropped his grin, and put a hand up to his chin in thought.

"Well..." he began.  "Have you apologized to him yet?"

"Oh...  N- No, not yet." Niko said, suddenly feeling a pang of shame in his stomach.  "I haven't...  really had the chance to."

"Then the next time you see him, make sure that's the first thing you do, okay?"

Sora had a small smile on his face as he said this, but his voice was calmly adamant.  Niko found himself dreading the prospect of confronting Calamus again.  He'd already hurt him once...  what if he didn't forgive him?  Or worse?

...What a silly thought.  That wasn't the point of apologizing at all.  Even if Calamus brushed him off...  he would have already done the right thing by apologizing in the first place.

Niko took a deep, slow breath, and then let it out.  When he finished he raised his head and looked Sora in the eye.

"...Okay," he answered resolutely.  "I will."

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

Suddenly, a group of tiny knocking sounds came from the door to the room that the puppies had been dropped off into.  Niko and Sora both turned to look at it.

"Sounds like they want in," said Sora as he got up from the window seat to let the puppies into the den.  Niko tried to get up too...  but apparently he wasn't feeling better enough to walk on stable legs yet.

"Whoa- Oof!"

Niko stumbled on his way down from the window seat and fell face-first onto the floor.  He looked up and opened his eyes...  and suddenly found himself nose-to-nose with one of the dalmatian puppies.  The puppy licked his nose; Niko reeled back in disgust.

"Bleuch!"  Niko quickly wiped the small amount of slobber off his nose.  The puppy walked up against his forearm, settling down comfortably beside him.

"That one's called Lucky," chuckled Sora.  "I think he likes you."

Niko knelt up and looked around at the dozens of tiny dalmatians that had flooded the den after Sora had opened the door to the adjacent room.  One of them, a blue-collared puppy with black ears and a pattern of spots around its neck, was pawing at Sora's shoe.  Niko watched Sora pick it up and cradle it in his arms as it started pawing and biting at his crown-shaped necklace.

"Okay," sighed Niko.  "I just have to ask...  what's with all the puppies?"

"They live here; this is the Dalmatians' House," Sora answered as he walked back to Niko and sat beside him again.  "In their old world, there were ninety-nine of these little guys, and they all lived with their parents, Pongo and Perdita.  But when their world was destroyed, only Pongo, Perdita, and a few of the puppies made it here to Traverse Town; the rest of them were all scattered across the worlds.  I've just been bringing back as many of them as I can find."

"Oh..." Niko looked a bit downcast at the Dalmatians' sad story.  "...How many of them have you found by now?"

"Maybe... about a third of them?  I dunno, I'd have to ask Jiminy.  He's the one keeping track of how many of them I've rescued."

"Do you...  think you'll even be able to find all of them?  What if some of them were...  on the world that I..."  Niko trailed off before he could finish.

"I don't believe that," replied a confident Sora, looking out toward the puppies.  "I'm going to bring back every single one of the ninety-nine puppies, safe and sound.  I know I can."

Niko looked down at the floor, and let out a small sigh.

"...You're so positive, Sora," said Niko.  "I...  haven't met many people like that in awhile."

Sora turned to face him.

"What do you mean?" he said.

Niko paused for a second, his face a little downcast.

"Well...  it's just...  so many people in that world...  the world I was supposed to save...  they kept saying that me putting the sun back wouldn't fix anything.  I knew what I had to do, but they kept telling me it was too late and there was nothing I could do to help.  It all felt so...  hopeless."

Niko turned to face Sora again.

"But then there's you," he continued.  "You don't even wanna believe you can fail.  How do you know everything with the puppies will work out?"

"...I don't."

"Wh- what?!"

"I don't know for sure if I'll be able to save all of them," Sora explained.  "...But if I stop believing I can, then I definitely won't be able to save them, 'cuz I won't even try to.  So, I'll keep looking for them, no matter where they are, until they're all back safe and sound..." He smiled down at the precious little puppy in his arms as it too smiled back up at him.  "...And until then, every single puppy I rescue is 'mission accomplished' in its own right."

"Yeah..." Niko smiled.  "I...  hadn't really thought of it like that...  but you're right!"

As Niko pet the little dalmatian, Lucky, beside him, he continued to think about how different Sora's outlook on life was from that of all those other people he'd met on his journey.  It was...  honestly quite refreshing to have such an optimistic friend by his side for a change.

While Niko and Sora were talking, another puppy had come up to Lucky while he was laying beside Niko.  It barked something at Lucky, and immediately afterward Lucky's head perked up and he got up to follow the other puppy.

"Oh-  okay," said Niko as Lucky climbed over his knee.  The puppy Sora was holding jumped out of his arms as well.  The three puppies raced through the den to the old-fashioned TV in the corner of the room.  Sora chuckled.

"Well, I think the puppies will be alright for now," said Sora.  "Come on, let's go, I'll give you a tour of the town."

Niko looked over to Sora as he got up and walked to the doorway.  The one...  leading outside?!  His eyes widened.  The monsters!  They were still out there!

"W- Wait!"

It was too late.  Before Sora could open them, the doors flung open by themselves.  Niko curled up into a ball.  A wave of terror came over him as the room was flooded with the sound of...

Angry...  quacking?

He looked back up at the doorway, and found two figures standing there.  One of them was a rather large duck, much shorter than Sora, but about the same height as Niko was, and the other was a tall, rather funny-looking man with a head that looked like a dog's.  They both...  honestly looked like something out of a cartoon.

The duck's speech was a little hard to understand, but Niko found if he concentrated he could make out the words.

"Sora!" the duck quacked angrily.  "How long does it take to put back three small puppies?  Just get the reward and come back out already!"  Sora closed his eyes and crossed his arms as Niko looked back to him.

"I'm not doing this just for the rewards, Donald," he told off the duck.  "And we were just on our way out, anyway."  Niko was honestly impressed.  Sora seemed to understand him perfectly.  Niko could only just barely make out a coherent sentence from all of those quacking noises.

"What do you mean we? " asked the duck—Donald, apparently—before he and the dog-headed man turned to find Niko on the floor near the window seat.  It seemed they didn't even notice him until just now.

"H-hello," greeted Niko sheepishly, waving a hand in greeting before getting back up.

"Aww, hello there, little feller!" said the dog-headed man affectionately.

"What's going on here, Sora?" asked Donald, turning to him.  "What's this cat doing in the Dalmatians' House?"  Niko understood that sentence perfectly.

"Hey!  I'm not a cat!" he retorted.  Donald turned to Niko, raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"What do you mean you're not a cat?" he asked.

"I mean, I'm not a cat!" answered Niko, crossing his arms in return.

"Aw, phooey!  You look just like any other cat I've ever seen!"

"Seriously??" asked an increasingly frustrated Niko.  "You've seen cats that can walk on two legs and talk? "

"What are you talking about?  Why wouldn't they walk on two legs and talk?" asked Donald.

"Huh?" Niko raised an eyebrow.  "Wait, do cats... actually do that around here?"

"Well, maybe not here in Traverse Town," replied the dog-headed man.  "But they sure do walk 'n' talk back where Donald and I come from!"

Niko stood completely still, his lips slightly parted as he tried to process this information.  He was dumbfounded.  The concept was completely new to him...  it almost didn't make sense to him...  but if a "cat" wasn't necessarily just a dumb animal in this place like it was back home...

"Well...  okay.  I guess if it's easier for you guys to think of me that way, then...  I guess it's fine for you to call me a cat," he relented.  "Oh!  I'm Niko, by the way!"

"Donald Duck.  Nice to meet you, Niko," said Donald, holding out a hand in greeting.

"Name's Goofy," said the dog-headed man, extending his hand as well.

"Nice to meet you both!" said Niko cheerfully, shaking both of their hands.

"So what were you doing here in the Dalmatians' House, anyway?" Donald asked again.

"Oh..." said Niko, looking down a bit.  He replayed the most recent events of his life in his mind.  He obviously didn't want to relive smashing the sun...  or his conversation with Calamus...  but as far as the main reason he wound up in this house in the first place...

"I was...  hiding," answered Niko.  "...from the- from the monsters."

"Monsters?" Sora asked.

"They attacked me earlier, just before I found this house," Niko explained.  "They had these really weird eyes...  they looked like they were glowing, but...  the glow didn't feel like it was made of light."  As soon as Niko said that, he realized...  just how little sense his explanation made.  "Sorry, I guess that doesn't really make any sense..."

"Well, it sounds like you're talking about the Heartless," said Sora.  "They have been pretty common around here lately."

Donald crossed his arms as he looked up at Sora.

"Of course he's talking about the Heartless!" he snapped at him.  "They've been 'pretty common' everywhere lately!"

Niko tilted his head to one side.

"The...  Heartless?" he asked.  Donald turned to face Niko.

"Big trouble," he answered.

"They're creatures born from the darkness in people's hearts," explained Sora.  "That weird glow you noticed in their eyes?  That's the power of darkness."

"I...  didn't know darkness could glow like that.  It's... kinda scary," shuddered Niko.  "...So what are the Heartless doing here anyway?"

"Well, part of it is that they're looking for this world's Keyhole," said Sora.

"Keyhole?  You mean like...  on a door?"

"Not exactly.  It's a secret spot in each world that leads to its core.  When the Heartless enter through a world's Keyhole and devour its core...  the rest of the world gets swallowed up by the darkness."

Niko gasped quietly.

"You mean...  " he whimpered.  "Just like...  Calamus' world?  The Heartless... are trying to destroy this one, too?"

"Yep..." said Sora, before smirking and stretching out his hand.  "...But they don't stand a chance against this. "

There was a sudden flash of bright light, and a moment later Niko saw something materialize in Sora's hand.  It was silver, and had a yellow handle guard, with a silver emblem hanging from a chain on the bottom.  It looked like...

"A...  really big key?" asked a bemused Niko.

"Oh, this isn't just any old key," said Sora.  "This is the Keyblade.  You know how when you were separated from your home, you were chosen to carry the sun?  When I lost my home world, I was chosen to wield this.  This thing has the power to unlock doors, treasure chests... pretty much anything with a lock on it."

"Oh, so that's how you got in after I locked the doors!"

"Yep!  And not only that, but it also has the power to seal the worlds' Keyholes.  Once that's done, that world's safe for good; the Heartless might still stick around, but they'll never be able to destroy the world."

"Wow...  So, have you sealed this world's Keyhole yet?"

"Uhhh," Sora slurred, before letting out a slightly embarrassed chuckle.  "Actually, I'm... still working on it."

"Oh..." said Niko.  "Then... the Heartless might still get to it first?  This world's... still in danger from them?"

"Yeah, well... don't let that fool you," said Sora, quickly regaining his confident demeanor.  "The Heartless may be strong...  but Donald, Goofy and I are stronger!   They'll be so busy dealing with us they won't have time to find the Keyhole!"

"Yeah!" "Uh-huh!" Donald and Goofy both nodded in agreement.

"I...  see..." said Niko as he fixed his eyes on the Keyblade.

"So," said Sora, twirling the Keyblade, hoisting it over his shoulder, and nodding in the direction of the double-doors leading outside.  "Wanna take that tour of the town now?  Now that you know how much stronger we are than the Heartless, that is."

"Um..." Niko looked back to the double-doors.

Knowing about Sora and the Keyblade definitely made him feel a bit better about the Heartless...  but not quite enough to risk going back outside.

"Don't worry," came Goofy's voice.

Niko turned toward the dog-headed man, and saw him pulling a round silver shield with gold highlights out from behind his back.

"You just stick close to me," he continued, holding up his shield.  "I'll make sure they don't come near ya."

"Well...  okay, " Niko timidly agreed.

Niko followed Sora, Donald, and Goofy out the doors back into the alleyway.  It seemed quiet enough for now, but he kept close behind Goofy and his shield, knowing that at any moment-

Fwoosh!

A small group of Heartless suddenly appeared right in front of them.  Niko hid behind Goofy's leg, peeking only an eye out as Sora and Donald stepped out in front of them.

Sora crouched down, Keyblade in hand, ready for battle.  Donald conjured up a short staff with a decorative hat on it.

Sora snapped his head to the nearest Heartless and ran toward it.  He began attacking with the Keyblade, needing to hit only three times before the monster disintegrated in a cloud of dark smoke.

One down, three or four more to go.

Donald took a step forward, pointing his staff toward the Heartless.

"YYYAAH!" he cried.

Suddenly, a spread of ice crystals shot out from the staff.  Sora, noticing the ice crystals out of the corner of his eye, quickly rolled out of their way.  The ice crystals hit the Heartless, tearing through them and disintegrating them.  The ice crystals disappeared, and there wasn't a single trace left of the Heartless they hit.  The coast seemed to be clear.

"Whoa..." went Niko, sticking his head out from behind Goofy.  "Was that...  ice?"

Donald turned around to Niko.

"Yep!  That's Blizzara magic!" he proudly proclaimed.  "A Mage's Staff can cast all kinds of magic spells!  I always manage to take down most of the Heartless that stand in our way!  Sora would never stand a chance against them without my-"

"Fire!"

Suddenly, a single fireball shot by, right in between Niko and Donald.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Niko as he ducked behind Goofy again.  He followed the fireball's path to see it annihilate a Heartless a little ways away from Donald; it seemed to have been sneaking up on the self-aggrandizing duck.

Niko turned the other way, and saw Sora holding the Keyblade outward, smoke rising from the tip.

"...Missed one, Donald," smirked Sora.

"H- Hey, I was saving that one for you!" snapped Donald.

"Yeah, right," Sora rolled his eyes.

Niko smiled a bit at the exchange, feeling comfortable enough now to step out from behind Goofy.

When he first got here, these monsters seemed really scary to him, but Sora and his friends were so used to fighting them that the way they'd bicker over who'd get to fight them was like a silly little argument over leftover food.  The three of them must've been really brave to fight the Heartless as often as they did...

And with everything they'd shown him so far...  Niko could feel himself becoming just a little bit braver, too.

"Well, now," came a small voice from somewhere on the ground.  "I was wonderin' when you fellas'd come back out."

Niko looked down, and found a tiny, well-dressed cricket standing in front of Sora.  The cricket jumped from the ground up onto Sora's shoulder.

"We were making a new friend," said Sora. "This is Niko.  Niko, this is Jiminy Cricket."

"Ohh...  so you're Jiminy!" smiled Niko.

"That's my name!" replied the cricket, raising his little blue top hat in greeting.  "I take it Sora happened to mention me?"

"Mhm!  He said you were keeping track of the dalmatians," explained Niko.  "Could you tell us how many he's rescued so far?"

"Well, let's take a look," said Jiminy, pulling a tiny brown book from his jacket pocket.  "I've got it right here in my journal."

Jiminy flipped through the pages and stopped somewhere around three-quarters of the way through the journal, counting through the grid that signified the number of puppies that Sora had rescued so far.

"Looks like Sora's rescued thirty-six of the ninety-nine puppies so far, including the three we just found in Agrabah!"

"There's still so many left..." said Niko.  "I hope you can still find them all."

Sora smiled.

"I will," he said.  Niko smiled in return.

At this point Jiminy flipped closer to the beginning of the journal and started scribbling something down.

"Hmm..." he hummed.  "Now, I'm told your name's 'Niko', yes?"

"Yeah, it is...  Uh, what are you doing, Jiminy?" asked Niko.

"Why, I'm writing down a journal entry for you , of course!"

"What?  Y-You really don't have to-"

"Oh, nonsense!  It's part of my job to keep track of everyone we meet!" 

The cricket turned the book around, and Niko saw an illustration of himself on the right page.  It was drawn so cleanly...  it looked just like him!

"Oh, wow...  That's a really good drawing, Jiminy!"

"Why, thank you!  I've had quite a bit of practice, y'know!"

Niko's name was written toward the top of the left page, opposite the illustration, but most of the page was blank.  Jiminy turned the book back around.

"'Course, I gotta put more here than just an illustration," Jiminy explained.  "I'll need some information about you, too!  Go on, tell me a little about yourself!"

Niko's face fell.  Jiminy's question sounded innocent enough...  but that was because he didn't know about Niko's history.  About the sun...  and what he did to that whole world.  What could he possibly tell him?

"Well-"

Niko didn't even get a chance to form his next sentence.

Because just then, Niko heard a scream coming from a little ways away.  Sora, Donald, and Goofy also turned their heads toward the noise, the three seeming to go straight into "serious" mode as soon as they heard it.

"Someone's in trouble!" exclaimed Goofy.

"In the Second District!" observed Donald.

"Come on everyone, let's go!" commanded Sora.

And Sora led the way down the alleyway. Jiminy jumped into the dangling hood of Sora's hoodie; the rest of the group followed closely behind Sora.

Niko kept close to Donald and Goofy as Sora went through the wooden doors in front of them—the same ones that Calamus had gone through earlier—and entered the main street of the Second District.

Niko gasped when he saw the chaotic scene before him.  How could this be?  He couldn't believe it!

The main street was crowded with people, and a handful of robots, and Niko found himself recognizing nearly every single face in the crowd.

Calamus...

Kip...

The Lamplighter...

George...

And many, many more faces.  It looked like...  nearly everyone he met in the other world was here.

Nearly everyone...  except for Alula.

But...  maybe that was for the better.

Because surrounding the crowd were a big group of Heartless, stalking their prey and ready to attack.  Some of the Heartless present were the pitch-black, shadowy type Niko had encountered in the Alleyway, while others were wearing metal helmets and armor.

There were about three or four robots present, including ProphetBot, but they were all powered off in a heap on the ground.  Kip and the other engineers were bringing them into a pile within the crowd to keep them from getting damaged.  The robots' power generators...  they must've been left behind in the other world...

One of the bird villagers from the Glen panicked and tried to run away.

A helmeted Heartless took notice of him.

The Heartless jumped up and pinned the runaway villager down to the ground.  It raised its claws, and forcefully dug them into the villagers' chest.  The villager's body suddenly shone in a bright light, and something rose from his chest and ascended into the air.  It looked like a glowing valentine made of energy...  was that... his heart?

The villager's body disappeared, and his heart descended to ground level.  In a swirl of darkness, the heart became engulfed in a shadow that grew a set of dark limbs...  taking the form of a Heartless.

Niko's eyes widened as he witnessed the horrific scene play out in front of him.  He looked back to the rest of the crowd...  the rest of his friends...  they were in just as much danger as that villager.

Sora immediately leapt into action, with Donald following shortly behind him.  Niko took a step forward...  before he felt a hand pull on his shoulder.  He looked up to see Goofy holding him back, an unusually stern look on his face.

"Niko!  What do ya think you're doin'?" he scolded.  Niko suddenly realized...  he was about to walk right into the battlefield with the Heartless.

"Ya need to stay here, where it's safe!"

"R- Right, of course!" Niko replied, and took a step towards a nearby wooden park bench as Goofy joined the fray.  He watched as Sora, Donald, and Goofy tore through the Heartless like they were made of pancakes, and all the while, he wondered to himself, why did he even consider it?

His initial step forward just now was almost instinctive...  but going out into the battlefield?  With all those Heartless?  Without knowing a single thing about fighting?  What was he thinking?  Sora clearly didn't need Niko's help fighting the Heartless, and there was a high probability that going into battle with the Heartless would end with him losing his heart-

Niko shuddered at the thought.  That was something else he really didn't want to think about.  He shook his head out and looked back up at the battlefield.

That's when he saw it: as Calamus was scrambling for safety, one of the helmeted Heartless was approaching behind him.  Niko looked over to Sora, then to his two friends.  They were occupied with Heartless further down the street, none of them even noticed the one approaching the red-clad bird right now.  Niko snapped his head back to the Heartless, which had just taken hold of Calamus.

Without a second thought, he ran toward them; there was no time to think about all the reasons he shouldn't step in, he couldn't just stand back and let his friend die!  Besides, if even Donald, the smallest of Sora's team, could regularly hold his own against these Heartless, then maybe he could, too!

Niko jumped onto the back of the Heartless, his arm wrapped around its neck in an attempt to pull it away from Calamus.

In all his life, Niko had never attacked any living creature before.  It felt... completely wrong to be doing this...  but he refused to let this instinct get the better of him.  This Heartless was attacking Calamus.  He knew if he didn't put all of his might into keeping it in this chokehold, his friend would lose his life!

He pulled on the Heartless' neck, causing it to momentarily let go of Calamus and allow him to run to safety.  Niko continued to grapple with the Heartless in his clutches as he hung off its back and around its neck.  The Heartless was strong...  but so what?  His success in saving Calamus had filled him to the brim with confidence.  There was no way he was going to let this Heartless get the better of him!

But then, out of the corner of his eye, Niko noticed something.  Something that immediately sapped all of his confidence, as quickly as a candle getting blown out.

The fight had been going on for only a minute...  and Donald had already been knocked out!

The sight shook Niko to his core, and the helmeted Heartless he wrestled with wasted no time in taking advantage of the moment.  It grabbed onto Niko's coat and threw him off of its back onto the ground in front of it.  It reached out and swiped its giant red claws at him.

"Aah!" Niko screamed as he reeled back from the attack.  He clutched his stomach in intense pain.  His eyes were fixed on the helmeted Heartless, towering over him and suddenly seeming more intimidating than anything he could imagine at the moment.

The Heartless flinched, covering its face for a moment, but soon afterward it crouched down and leapt at Niko with an overhead kick.

Niko shut his eyes, waiting for the inevitable impact that would surely end his life right there.

But...

At least this time he knew he'd die...

Trying to do the right thing...

....

"Niko!" came a very goofy voice, followed by a metallic clanging sound.

Niko was engulfed in a green-colored mist, and he suddenly felt his intense pain wash away.  It felt like he'd never been hurt in the first place.

He looked up, and found Goofy standing between him and the Heartless.  Goofy lowered his left hand and dropped behind him a small, round, bright blue shield with a lime green fleur-de-lis design on it.  He kept his own shield toward the Heartless, but turned his head to face Niko in a serious expression.

"So ya really wanna fight the Heartless, do ya?" he asked.  Niko stared at Goofy intently.  He couldn't kid himself anymore: he had to protect his friends.

"Ye- Yes!  I do!" Niko replied.  Goofy's face brightened up considerably.

"Follow my lead!" he exclaimed.

And off Goofy went, finding another Heartless to fight as Niko picked up the little blue shield he dropped for him.  Niko looked behind him to see Calamus joining a steadily-growing crowd of people at the south side of the Second District, near a small fountain decorated with three paintings of bells.  It looked like he was safe enough for now.

Niko looked back at his target, just in time to raise his shield to block a swipe of its claws.  He stumbled backwards a bit as the attack bounced off his shield; he hadn't prepared himself for the weight of the attack.  Now he kept his eye on the Heartless in front of him, looking away only to see what Goofy was doing.

Goofy ran forward, shoving back the Heartless in front of him with his shield.  He used the momentum to follow up with an uppercut, causing it to stagger a bit.

Niko steadied his shield...

Here goes nothing!

The child ran forward and rammed his shield into the Heartless in front of him, it reeling backward with each hit.  Once he'd backed the Heartless against the wall, he followed it up with an uppercut with the shield just like Goofy had done.

Once it had a chance to, the Heartless covered its face.  Niko took a quick glance to see Goofy dodge an attack by jumping around his shadowy opponent.

The Heartless took another swipe at Niko; he jumped out of the way just like Goofy did.  Now Niko was beside the monster, which had only barely registered that its attack missed its target.  He had an opening now!

He rammed the Heartless again, keeping up the pressure...  Until with one final uppercut from the shield, it disintegrated in a cloud of sparkles and dark smoke.  A burst of joy surged through Niko.  He was doing it!  He was actually holding his own against the Heartless!

Now that the one Heartless had been taken care of, Niko scanned the area again.  He saw one of the crouched-over, shadowy Heartless close by, creeping up behind the Lamplighter.

Niko dashed toward the Heartless and stopped right in front of it, just in time to block its attack.  The Lamplighter flinched and quickly turned around; he backed up against the wall as soon as he fixed his eyes on the shadowy monster.

Niko tried to tackle the Heartless, but as soon as he was on top of it...  it just sank into the ground?!  Somehow, the shadowy monster had completely flattened itself against the pavement, avoiding his attack.  He tried again and again to grab it, but it was like trying to grab onto his own shadow; with every attempt his hand just kept impacting the ground underneath it.

The Heartless scrambled around Niko underneath the ground.  It came up out of the ground behind him.  Niko snapped his head toward the Heartless just as it was getting ready to attack the Lamplighter again.  And then...

"Hurgh!"

...Sora dashed in out of nowhere, attacking the Heartless Niko was fighting.  After two more strikes with the Keyblade, the Heartless disintegrated.  As soon as the coast was clear, the Lamplighter ran to safety.

"Niko!" Sora called as he turned to face him.

"Y- Yes?" asked Niko, a little uncertain of Sora's tone.  He'd been distracted by the Heartless when Goofy gave him the shield...  was he going to tell him to go back to safety, too?

"Goofy and I are gonna draw the Heartless towards the Gizmo Shop," said Sora.  "Keep 'em away from the people!"

Niko smiled.

"Okay!" he affirmed.

Sora turned around, locking onto another Heartless to fight and rushing off towards it.

Niko took a look around at the battlefield; most of the people he recognized from the other world had joined the crowd of people near the fountain, while most of the remaining Heartless were clustered around the north side, near a bright-white building with clear windows that he assumed was the Gizmo Shop that Sora had just mentioned.

Niko scanned the area again, and saw a little bird girl—the one who had been catching fireflies for her mom in the Glen—separated from the crowd, with her back against the wall, staring in fear at the crouched Heartless in front of her.

Niko ran up to the Heartless, and, with all his might, shoved it away from the bird girl.  The monster turned toward him, and just as quickly shielded its eyes.  The brave child kept his shield toward the Heartless, but turned his head to the bird girl.

"Join the others!  Go!"

The bird girl did as Niko told her, leaving him with the Heartless that had targeted her.

The Heartless kept trying to look at him, but Niko noticed that it kept covering its eyes.  ...Was it because of his eyes?   Because they shone with so much light that it blinded the Heartless?

Niko smirked.

If that was the case...  then he clearly had the advantage here.

Niko ran forward again, ready to ram his shield against the crouched Heartless...  but just like the last one, it sank into the ground before he could land a single hit.  He was getting frustrated; he didn't think the smaller, weaker Heartless would be harder to fight than the helmeted ones.

He took a quick glance at the rest of the battlefield to look at what Goofy was doing.  He didn't immediately find him, but he did see Sora finishing off one of the helmeted Heartless with a strong-looking half-spin attack.

Niko turned back to the crouched Heartless in front of him, keeping his eyes locked onto it...  until it finally rose behind him.

The Heartless jumped into the air, before pointing its feet at him in a downward kick attack.  Niko held his shield up and blocked it, causing the Heartless to bounce off his shield and land awkwardly on the ground.

Before it had a chance to get back up—or sink into the ground again—Niko once again rammed his shield against the Heartless.  It was a lot lighter than the helmeted one he defeated earlier, so he felt there wasn't any harm in trying something new here.

Once Niko pushed it far enough along, he pulled his shield inwards, and quickly put all of his strength into a half-spin attack just like he saw Sora had done.

"RRYYYAH!" grunted Niko.

Niko's shield sent the Heartless flying backwards, landing a little ways away, near Goofy.  Goofy had just finished off another one of the monsters; as soon as he noticed the smaller one next to him, he pulled back his own shield.

"Come on!" he shouted, and he dashed toward the Heartless with his shield, completely destroying it in a single blow.

Niko readied his shield as he stood between the battle in front of him and the panicked crowd behind him.  By this point, there was only one Heartless left on the battlefield, near where Sora was...

Aaaaaand there it went.

With one final onslaught of three hits with the Keyblade, Sora took care of the last Heartless quickly, and with that, the battle was over.  Niko found himself shaking with excitement.  His heart was pounding.  His breathing was heavy and erratic.  Beads of sweat were rolling down the fur on his face.  That whole battle was exhilarating!  He never thought he'd do so well in a fight!  He'd have to thank Goofy for showing him how to fight with a shield.

But as soon as he turned around to the crowd behind him...  Niko's mood immediately fell.

All he saw were people.  Broken, hurting people.

The surviving members of the crowd didn't have any physical injuries...  but since the Heartless made people's whole bodies disappear, there was no doubt that lives had been lost during the battle.

Parents were clutching their children, making sure they were still with them.  Men and women were pushing through the crowd, looking for their spouses in a panic.  And...  the little pink bird girl...  the one Niko had just saved...

"Mommy?" she called out.  "Mommy?"

Calamus rushed to the little bird girl, looking her in the eye and putting his hands on her shoulders.

"It's gonna be okay, Cindy," Calamus told her.  "It's gonna be okay."

"Calamus?  Where's Alula?  Where's Mommy?"

"Everything's gonna be okay," Calamus repeated, pulling her into a tight hug, before turning his head, meeting eyes with Niko.  Niko took an instinctive half-step back and lowered his head.  He could feel his guilt washing over him all over again.

He might've helped save everyone here this time...  but he was still the one who brought them all here in the first place.

To Be Continued...

Chapter Text

"Donald!" Niko heard Sora call out.

He turned around and saw Sora thrusting the Keyblade into the air.  The Keyblade glowed in a green aura, and another green aura formed over the unconscious duck.  The aura seemed to have healed him, because in the very next moment...

"yyyYAH!" Donald shook himself awake, and angrily started shadow-boxing the air in front of him...  before sheepishly looking around and realizing there weren't any enemies on the battlefield anymore.  Niko breathed a sigh of relief and smiled; at least Donald turned out to be okay in the end.

Niko looked back to Calamus, who, in the midst of the panicking crowd, was still taking care of the little pink bird girl—Cindy—in his arms.  He wasn't looking at Niko anymore; that eye contact he made with him might've been by accident.

Niko put his shield away and took a step towards him.  He couldn't wait.  He told Sora that he'd apologize to him the next time he saw him, and there he was!

He gulped as he stopped, hopefully within earshot of the red-clad bird.  He raised his voice to make sure he could hear him over the commotion.

"Cala-"

BANG!

Niko covered his ears—along with everyone else present besides Sora, Donald, and Goofy—as the deafening sound of a gunshot rang inside them.  They all looked up, toward a shop that advertised "Hats and Suits", and saw a man standing on the railing.  He had long, brown hair and was wearing a gray short-sleeved jacket with a red patch on it in the shape of a lion's head.  He had a silvery sword...  or was it a gun?  Niko couldn't tell.

Standing next to the long-haired man were two girls, a beautiful brown-haired one, and a younger black-haired one.

"Settle down, everyone!" the long-haired man addressed the crowd, before directing his attention to Sora.  "What's going on here, Sora?"

"This crowd showed up right here in the middle of the Second District," Sora told him.  "The Heartless attacked them, but the four of us fought them all off."  Sora gestured to Niko as he said this.

The brown-haired girl standing next to the long-haired man looked around at the crowd in concern.

"My goodness...  Are all of these people from just one world? " she asked.

"I...  don't know-" began Sora.

"Yes!" Niko spoke up.  "I know all of these people.  They do all come from just one world!"

Niko could feel the tension in the air as the crowd directed their gaze at him and started murmuring amongst themselves.

"Hey, wait a minute, isn't that him? "

"He doesn't have the sun anymore..."

"Then is it true, what Calamus told us?"

He had an idea of what they probably thought of him now.

The whole time Niko had been with Sora in the Dalmatian's House, Calamus had been here with the crowd of other survivors from his world.  He must've told them all about what Niko had done...  how he smashed the sun in a futile attempt to return home.  Now everybody knew what Niko had done to their world...  and now they were all mad at him...

Up on the railing, the black-haired girl scanned the crowd, seeming to take in each of its individual members.

"...They don't look like they all come from the same world," she commented.

"Yuffie!" the brown-haired girl softly scolded the black-haired girl.

As the crowd continued to murmer amongst themselves, the binocular-headed man from the Refuge spoke up.

"What's going to happen to us now?" he asked.  "Where will we live?  What'll we do?  And what were those weird monsters that attacked us?"

The brown-haired girl stepped up and addressed the crowd.

"May I have your attention, please?" the brown-haired girl spoke up.  "My name is Aerith."

She gestured to the long-haired man and the black-haired girl.

"We've lived in this town for a long time, and we know our way around here," Aerith continued.  "If you'll all just form an orderly line, we'll lead you all to the First District.  There, we'll get as many of you settled in as we can.  We've secured the First District a long time ago; you don't have to worry about the Heartless there."

After a moment of confused hesitation, the crowd began to form a line up the stairs to the shop where Aerith and her group were.  Discomfort came over Niko as a few members of the crowd started glaring and scowling at him.

A regretful feeling mixed in with the discomfort as he watched Calamus and Cindy bring up the rear of the line.  As much as he wanted to apologize to him right now, it seemed like he'd just missed the opportunity to do so...

The only people who stayed behind were Kip and the surviving members of her team of scientists, puzzling over what to do with the pile of robots they had on their hands.

Niko walked up behind her.

"...Are you guys okay?" he asked.

"Hmm?" Kip turned around.  "Oh, yeah, we're fine...  And the robots are, too, thank goodness."

"That's good to hear," said Niko, looking at the collection of robots in the middle of the street.

He looked back up to Kip.  He didn't really want to ask her this, but...

"Calamus...  told you what happened, didn't he?"

"Yeah,"  said Kip, looking away a bit.  "He did."

Niko lowered his head.

"Well...  Hey!  It... could've been a lot worse!" Kip said, punctuating her sentence with a nervous chuckle.  Niko could tell that wasn't true; there had been way too much that was lost.

"Still..." he muttered.  "I wish I never did it in the first place."

"Well," said Kip.  "Whatever you did in the past, maybe you could help us out now."

"Huh?" Niko looked back up at Kip.

"You've met ProphetBot in the Barrens, right?"  Kip gestured to the white-and-red robot on top of the pile of robots.

"Yeah..."

"He can collect information about the current state of the world," Kip explained.  "Well, the last world, anyway.  Things like our recorded history, or how many people are present in the world.  That's how he was able to give you such an accurate picture of it when you first got there."

"I see."

"And he should still be able to sense those sorts of things now and tell us about them," Kip continued.  "Theoretically, he should be able to tell us how many people from the last world survived...  as soon as we figure out how to power him back on, of course."

"So how do you want me to help?" asked Niko.

"Well, I don't know if you've already found this out or not, but...  ProphetBot has always had some difficulty talking to people who aren't the messiah.  If I had access to my old lab, I could probably access his source code and change that, but..."

"Right..." sighed Niko.  Her old lab was gone, destroyed with the previous world.

"...Anyway, you're the only one ProphetBot can really talk to.  So...  could you ask him the questions we need to ask?"

"Uh, sure," said Niko. "So... does that mean...  nevermind."

"Huh?" asked Kip.

Niko looked up at Kip hesitantly.

"Um...  does that mean...  you don't...  hate me?"

Kip chuckled.

"Well, we still need you, don't we?"

"Oh!  Well...  I guess that's good, then!"

Kip smiled down at Niko, and he returned the favor.  Kip's smile fell, though, as she looked back to the pile of robots in the middle of the street.

"Of course, their power generators were left behind in the last world, so first we're gonna need to figure out how to build new ones here."

"Build?" Sora chimed in.  Niko and Kip turned to see Sora, Goofy, and an irritated-looking Donald coming towards them.

"There's an Item Workshop in the First District," Sora continued.  "The Moogles opened it just recently.  If you need something built, they're the ones to ask!"

"Really...  well, I guess it's worth a shot then," said Kip.  "What's your name?"

"Sora, and this is Donald, and Goofy."  Sora gestured to his two party members.

"Thanks for the tip, Sora," replied Kip.  "And thanks for saving us from those monsters, too!"

"No problem," replied Sora.  "Just let us know if there's anything else you need."

"Actually, there is," answered Kip.  "Could you carry the Rowbot over there to the First District for us?  He might be a little too big for my team to lift, but with the way you guys were knocking those monsters around I'd say you're pretty strong!"

"Sure!" said Sora, as he and his two friends walked to the boat-shaped robot.  Sora took the bow, and Goofy took the stern, with Donald at its side, holding its keel and ready to keep it steady.

But as soon as they hoisted it up, the Rowbot started wobbling back and forth above them.  Niko flinched each time the three of them nearly dropped it as they tried to lift it up off the ground.  It looked like they were having a hard time trying to keep it balanced in their grip.

"H- Hey, be careful, guys!" warned Niko.

"Hey, we- gh!  ...we got this, Niko!" smiled Sora as he struggled to keep the Rowbot balanced.  "It's- whoa! ...a piece of cake!"

"...Okay, if you say so," said Niko.

Kip's entourage followed behind her with the smaller robots as they followed the orderly line to the First District.  Niko followed behind them, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy brought up the rear, clumsily carrying the Rowbot above them.

Niko soon found himself waiting in the corner of the Item Workshop on the Accessory Shop's second floor.

Once they'd arrived in the First District, Sora and his friends had set the Rowbot down in a free spot by a blue safe before leading Kip's entourage into the Item Workshop, run by tiny creatures called Moogles.

The Moogles were kinda funny-looking creatures with big red noses and...  bat wings?  But they seemed to be really, really good at making things.  Apparently, some of the newer equipment Sora had with him was made by the Moogles.  They must've been really good at their job if their work impressed him.

Kip and her team, alongside the Moogles who ran the workshop, were on the other side of the room, near the furnace, busy designing and constructing the makeshift generator for ProphetBot.

They'd been working for a few hours already; it looked like they were going to have to wait a while longer for them to figure this particular puzzle out.

Downstairs, in the Accessory Shop, Niko could hear the long-haired man interviewing the new refugees.  As time passed, Niko couldn't help but recognize many of the voices he heard talking to the man.  Many of them were upset about what Niko did to their world...  Most of them were.  Niko felt terrible for them...  but what could he do to make up for it?

"Okay, Niko!" Kip called over.  "I think we're ready now!"

"Oh!" perked up Niko, looking over to the furnace where Kip and the Moogles had been building the makeshift generator.  Niko made his way over to the center of the room—taking care to avoid the ladder that led downstairs to the Accessory Shop—and stopped in front of ProphetBot.

Wires were running down ProphetBot's back, leading to a small metal box.  Nine tiny gem fragments that glowed yellow could be seen through the metal box's front window.

"So...  how did you say this gizmo would work, kupo?" asked the Moogle.

"The electricity should agitate the dormant blue phosphor in his power cells," explained Kip.  "Then the power cells should reactivate and power him up again.  Blue phosphor recharged this way should be able to last at least a few hours."

"I don't know if this'll work that long, kupo...  Even with nine Thunder Shards, there might not be enough energy to keep it powered on for very long."

"Well, there's only one way to find out!"

Kip flipped the switch on the makeshift generator, and suddenly, ProphetBot began to stir.  He looked up, and looked back and forth, seeming to take in the area, scanning it for data.

After his gaze passed over Niko twice, he grabbed his head and turned it to face him.

"ProphetBot, do you remember me?" Niko asked.

"[Oh!  Hello Again.]" ProphetBot greeted, seeming to recognise Niko after all.  "[Are There More Questions You Wish To Ask?]"

"Yes," answered Niko, before turning his head to Kip.

"Ask about the last thing he remembered before the last time he shut down," whispered Kip.  Niko nodded and turned back to ProphetBot.

"Can you tell me the last thing you remember before the last time you shut down?" asked Niko.  ProphetBot's internal mechanisms whirred as he processed the question.

"[...I Recall The Ground Was Shaking,]" reported ProphetBot.  "[There Was A Purple Sphere In The Sky That Was Drawing Broken Pieces Of Land Towards It.  I Was Lifted Towards It, Too.  I Arrived In An Unfamiliar Place, Different From The Previous World.  I Remained There For Only 200 Cycles Before I Lost The Connection To My Power Generator And Deactivated.]"  One of Kip's scientists started writing down ProphetBot's words in their notebook.

"Ask him how many people from the last world he detected in that unfamiliar place," Kip whispered again.

"So, how many people from the last world did you, uh, detect in that unfamiliar place?"

"[...At The Time Of My Deactivation, I Could Detect 78% Of The Previous World's Population,]" said ProphetBot.  "[Now, However, I Only Detect 56% Of The Population Remaining In This World.  I Am Unsure What Happened To The Other 22% I Detected Earlier.]"

Niko's eyes widened.  He knew exactly what had happened to them.

The Heartless.

They'd attacked the crowd in the Second District, picking off quite a few of them before Sora and his friends stepped in to rescue them.  If that many of them were lost to the Heartless in just one attack...  How long would it be before they got all of them?

Suddenly, ProphetBot's blue eye dimmed, and his head tilted down.  Niko turned to look at the makeshift generator hooked up to ProphetBot, and saw the once-yellow Thunder Shards were now a dark gray, completely devoid of any glow they once had.

The whole room was dead silent.  Even the Moogles didn't comment on how quickly the Thunder Shards had been drained.  Niko looked around the room.  Everyone present, from the scientists, to Sora and his friends, looked uncomfortable.

He could tell they were all thinking the same thing.  The sheer drop in numbers...  the lives lost to the world's destruction...  and then again to the Heartless so soon afterwards...  it was all just so overwhelming.

And the judging stares on the faces of the scientists was all it took to remind him that he was the cause of all of this.

Niko turned towards Kip, whose gaze was fixed on ProphetBot.

"...Thanks, Niko," she said, barely above a whisper.  "We've got the information we needed, we'll be fine from here."

"...I'm really sorry, Kip."

"Mmh..." was all she responded with.

Niko was about to ask what she meant, when he suddenly felt a hand on his back; he looked up to see Sora looking down at him.

"Come on, Niko," he said.  "I think we should leave them alone for now."

Niko complied, giving the deactivated ProphetBot one last look before following Sora out of the building.

"What are your names?"

"I'm Calamus, and this is Cindy."

The two bird children sat down together on the black couch in the corner of the First District's Accessory Shop.  Across from them was the long-haired man who had commanded their attention with a gunshot in the Second District.  He had been busy getting the town's newest residents settled in.  Elsewhere, his female associates had been doing the same for the other survivors of his world.

They'd been waiting in line for quite a while for their turn to get settled in, but now they had finally made it to the long-haired man in front of them; now it was time to get introduced and have housing and everything sorted out.

"So..." said Calamus.  "Your name is 'Squall,' is it?"

"...It's Leon," answered the long-haired man.

"Oh!  Sorry...  It's just, the black-haired girl called you 'Squall'-"

"I don't use that name anymore," answered Leon.  "It's a long story."

"R- Right..." said Calamus.

"...So are the two of you friends?  Family members?  Did any other family make it with you?"

"I only had one family member," answered Calamus.  "My younger sister, Alula."  Calamus looked down and closed his eyes.  "She...  didn't make it to this town."

"...I saw my mommy just before those monsters attacked," said Cindy.  "I...  didn't see her anywhere after that."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Leon.

After a short moment of silence, Calamus looked back up to Leon.

"...So, are you gonna help us get settled in?  What's the first step?"

"Well, first, I'm gonna show you a layout of the town," said Leon, getting right down to business.  "First-timers get lost here all the time."

He pulled a folded map from his jacket pocket and laid it onto the cushioned bench between them.  Calamus and Cindy studied the map closely.

Leon pointed to the square-shaped section in the lower-left corner on the map that was marked "1st".

"We're right here, in the First District's Accessory Shop," continued Leon.  "The First District is the safest place in town.  There's plenty of shops and restaurants here.  No living areas, though, but right now, we're planning to build two apartment buildings to accommodate you guys."

Leon moved his finger to an empty area in the First District.

"One right here, near the Accessory Shop..."

Leon pointed to another empty area in the First District.

"...And another one here, right next to the Café.  Got it?"

"Yeah...  but where will we live until they're built?"

Leon pointed to a rectangular area in the upper half of the map marked "2nd".

"You'll all have to stay in the Second District's Hotel for the time being.  Here are your room keys."

Leon set down onto the map two small keys, each tethered to a blue card with four fish printed on it.

"You'll be sharing the Blue Room with Magpie, Potter, and the other bird villagers as well.  As you've already experienced, the Heartless are a fairly common sight in the Second District, so watch out."

Leon pointed to an area marked "3rd", in the lower-right section of the map.

"And avoid the Third District altogether, if you can help it.  There's nothing there except Heartless.  Strong, fast ones that even we have trouble dealing with."

Leon moved his finger back to the Second District, this time to the far end, opposite of the door to the First District.

"And for that matter, avoid the Gizmo Shop as well.  The Heartless are stronger there than anywhere else in town."

"So...  what's with these 'Heartless' things, anyway?" asked Calamus, assuming the 'Heartless' were the monsters that had just attacked them.  "Why'd they suddenly show up in our world?"

"The Heartless are drawn to darkness.  Both physical darkness, and the darkness in people's hearts," answered Leon.  "Was your world a dark place?"

Calamus lowered his head.

"...Yeah, it was," he answered.  "Most of our light came from phosphor that retained our old sun's light energy...  but after our sun burnt out, our supply of phosphor light was finite.  We were running really low on it by the time the savior-" he stopped himself.  "...by the time our world was destroyed."

After several seconds of silence, Calamus raised his head, to see Leon with his arms crossed and his eyes closed.

Leon had talked to a lot of the people from his world up until now...  there was no way he didn't know about the prophecy and about Niko by this point.  He just had to get an answer.

"So..." began Calamus.  "What do you think of Niko?  That kid with the glowing eyes that your friend was with?  He was the one who was supposed to save our world..."

Leon opened his eyes, looking Calamus directly in his.

"I don't know yet," Leon answered.  "I'd have to hear his side of the story first."

"...Right," Calamus sighed again.

"Even so," Leon continued.  "I gotta say, you guys were incredibly lucky; usually, only one or two survivors from a world's destruction make it to Traverse Town.  The survivors from your world alone have more than doubled the town's population."

"Still..." Calamus sighed.  "We've lost family members because of what Niko did..."

"...This is Traverse Town," Leon simply replied.  "There isn't a single person here who hasn't lost loved ones in their world's destruction."

Silence fell between the two of them.

Calamus...  wasn't exactly reassured by Leon's words.  Cindy looked back and forth between the two, not entirely sure what to think.

After several seconds of tense silence, the red-clad bird sighed again, before picking up the two room keys.

"...Thank you for the accommodations," he said, before grabbing Cindy's hand and getting up to leave.

"...Calamus," said Leon.

The two birds stopped just as they reached the Accessory Shop door and turned around to Leon.

"...Welcome to Traverse Town."

"...Thanks," said Calamus, before turning back to the door and heading out.

Niko exited the Item Workshop behind Sora, Donald, and Goofy, a miserable look on his face.  The four of them stood there outside the door.  An uncomfortable silence hung in the air for a few seconds.

Niko clenched his teeth as he tried to process what had just happened.

He wanted to help Kip with ProphetBot because he wanted to start making up for what he did...  but after ProphetBot revealed just how many lives had been lost by now...  and that everyone knew he was the one who caused it...

"Hey, Niko, are...  you alright?" Sora finally asked.

"Y- Yeah, I'll be okay," said Niko, hoping he didn't sound as unenthusiastic as he felt.

Sora exchanged concerned glances with his friends, before he looked at Niko with a smile.

"Don't worry," he said.  "We can stay here and protect the town for as long as...  well, as long as we need to!"

"Sora!  We can't stay here all the time!" interjected Donald.  "We're supposed to be sealing the keyholes and looking for King Mickey, remember?"

Sora shot a glance at Donald, before lowering his shoulders.

"Yeah...  I guess you're right..." he said.

"It's...  it's okay, guys," Niko replied.  "Kip's smart...  she and her team will figure something out...  they will..."  At least, he hoped they would.

Niko suddenly noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned towards the stairs that wrapped around the Accessory Shop building to see someone coming up them.  It didn't take long to recognize who it was.

Niko froze in place as Calamus and Cindy reached the top of the stairs.  They noticed Niko immediately and stopped.  A slight grimace came over the older bird's face as the younger looked up at him curiously.

Sora looked back and forth between Niko and the new arrivals, before addressing the red-clad bird.

"Hey," said Sora.  "Are you Calamus?"

"Yeah," he said.  "Why?"

Niko looked up at Sora, who gave him a gentle nudge forward.

He looked back to Calamus and, steeling his nerves, walked the rest of the way over to him.

To Be Continued...