Kingdom Hearts; The Dark's Keeper

Chapter XXII; Land of Dragons

X leaned against the wall of the gummi ship, his arms crossed as he watched Sora, Donald, and Goofy. He hadn't realized how much he had missed this ship, even if it was so slow and Donald and Sora were always fighting about who got to drive and there was nothing to do except play card games while they traveled. It was a peace X wasn't used to, but one that set him more at ease than he could remember being in a very long time. While he had been with Y he had found his mind wandering to what Sora was up to, even sending Heartless to check up on the keyblade wielder.

"A photo and some ice cream? Hmm. Wonder if they're some sorta clue. And who woulda left 'em for us, anyway?" Goofy said, pulling X out of his reminiscing. 

"Riku?" Sora suggested.

"Ya think?" Goofy asked.

"How'd you draw that conclusion?" X asked. Sora turned in his chair to look at X. He looked at him for just a moment before answering.

"Just this feeling I got," Sora said, smiling brightly at X. X only raised an eyebrow, hoping for more explanation. There had to be a reason Sora took so long to answer. Sora offered no more explanation though, just turning back to face the direction their ship was going.

"Look! We're almost there!" Donald said, pointing to Mulan's world, The Land of Dragons according to Jiminey.

"Hey, what if the Heartless are back again? I can't use the keyblade- that would only help the Organization," Sora said, his shoulders slumping as he looked at the world. He was frowning his eyes seeming to stare past the world.

"But Sora, I think you have to use it. If we don't fight 'em, the Heartless'll keep on hurtin' folks," Goofy said. X nodded in agreement as Sora looked over at them.

"Goofy's right. As I said before, we just have to find another way to stop them," X said. He offered Sora a small smile, which the brunette returned as they landed the gummi ship. They stood in the burnt remains of the village they had been supposed to protect. X frowned glancing around. Strange place to land.

"I wonder how everybody's doin'?" Goofy asked as he looked around.

"Look!" Donald said, pointing toward the edge of the village. Toward the mountain's summit. Standing in the snow was a figure in a black coat. X tensed as he took note of the coat, small details were usually all the clues they could get to identify the member until a fight started. It came as a surprise when the cloaked figure took off running up the mountain.

"Wait!" Sora yelled following him.

"Sora!"

Sora paused just long enough to turn and see who had yelled. Mulan ran up to join them, panting heavily.

"Mulan, hey. No time to talk. We gotta catch that guy!" Sora said, pointing where the man had disappeared.

"I'm following him, too!" Mulan said, not stopping as she headed up the mountain. The group exchanged a look before following her.

"Then let's go!" Donald said. X rolled his eyes, the remark was late but it wasn't worth making a remark. 

They followed the cloaked figure up to the summit where he appeared to disappear. X frowned as he looked around. Had they been led into an ambush? It was odd, if it was a member of Organization shouldn't they have been attacked by now? Why were they running? Which member was it anyway? 

"Looks like he got away," Mulan said with a sigh, turning to look at the group.

"How come you're after somebody from Organization XIII?" Goofy asked. Mulan tilted her head to the side in confusion.