Chapter 13

“Oh…really?” Sora said. “Thanks!” Just as that word was out of his mouth, the signal bell on the platform rang. “You should hurry and get your tickets,” Olette reminded him. Sora ran to the ticket window and reached into his pocket for the purse full of munny that King Mickey had given to him. “Huh?” Seeing the purse, Olette cocked her head. “What is it?” asked Donald. In response, Olette took a small purse from her own pocket. It was identical to the one Sora held, embroidery and all. “They’re the same,” Goofy remarked. “Yeah.” Olette nodded, a little mystified. “Three tickets, please,” Sora said at the ticket window. As he took some coins from the purse, a piece of paper and a little blue crystal ball fell to the floor. “Hey… What’s this?” “More treasures for us to share.” Those words came up from somewhere deep in his heart when he looked at the crystal. Who had said that? “Sora, hurry up!” Donald called, jumping up the stairs to the platform. “Uh-huh…” Sora put the slip of paper back in the purse and pocketed the crystal. Goofy was calling to him, too. “What’s the matter, Sora? C’mon!” “It’s just…I can’t help feeling like we won’t see this town again.” A sense of separation was coming over him for some reason. “Aw, you’re thinkin’ too much,” Goofy told him, easygoing as ever. “Yeah… You’re right.” Sora plodded up the steps to the platform. Somehow, he felt…incredibly sad. “Sora! Move it!” Donald was waiting by the train doors. Hayner and his friends were climbing the steps behind Sora. And…they looked sad, too. Sora had just begun to shake it off, his mind made up. “Okay, let’s go!” Donald and Goofy nodded and jumped into the train car. “Bye!” Sora turned back to Hayner and his friends and forced himself to smile for them. “Hey, Sora… You sure we haven’t met before?” Hayner said, with Pence and Olette staring at him, a little surprised. “Pretty sure…,” Sora replied, but his head was cocked uncertainly. “Why?” He couldn’t have met Hayner and the others before. But then…why am I so sad to leave them now? “Heh… I dunno.” Hayner smiled awkwardly. Tears welled up in Sora’s eyes and a drop spilled down his cheek. “Huh…?” He had no idea why he would be crying. He rushed to wipe it away. He was sad but happy. Happy and yet sad… “You okay?” Worried, Olette peered at him closely. “Y-yeah. Don’t know where that came from.” The tears had already stopped. “Pull it together,” Hayner said, covering with mock exasperation. “Right… See you.” Hayner, Pence, and Olette followed Sora as far as the train door. He didn’t know what to say to them, and he just waved, then climbed aboard. As they watched, the doors closed with a thunk. The train smoothly began to pull out. Sora could see the trio on the platform, staring at the train—watching him quietly, not even waving to him. The purse from King Mickey was in his pocket along with that little crystal. “You know…,” Sora murmured. Donald and Goofy stopped looking out the windows and turned to him. “This…hurts.” He clutched the crystal in his pocket. Something in his chest ached. He didn’t know why he felt like this. “We’ll come back,” Donald told him with a shrug. “Yeah,” Goofy added. “We can visit Hayner and those guys again.” “You’re right.” As Sora nodded to them, the train rolled out into the light, taking them onward to a new journey.