"Wait, before we go," said Tom, as he took out something. Sora looked behind him, "Huh? What is it?"
The girl also looked behind her and saw that Tom was holding a golden ticket. The girl gasped. "Y-You found my ticket!" She quickly hugged him. "Thank you! How did you find it?"
Just at that moment, the Conductor climbed up on the steps at the front of the coal tender they were on. "Did someone say, that they "found" a ticket?" He took out the puncher. The girl turned around to him. "Yes, I did!" She said nodding. The Conductor smiled, then took it. "Well, in that, case, Tickets please-"
And just like what the Conductor did with the past tickets, he punched a bunch of holes in it, instead of just one singular one. Sora just shook his head at it, because he still doesn't understand what's the point of that.
He then handed the ticket back to the girl. She looked at it. "L E?" She asked. "Hey, isn't that what was on that kid in the yellow pajamas?" Sora asked. Tom nodded.
"Hey, what's your name by the way?" Tom asked. The girl looked at him. "Oh, my name's Holly," She said. "Holly? Mines Tom,"
She smiled. "I've heard Sora saying your name a few times," She said. Then, she giggled. "Especially when you pushed the reverser, instead of the break,"
Tom went red in the face a little. "Well, hey! We all make mistakes, don't we..." He pouted. The train was now, going at a good pace. "I think we should take this time to come back," Sora said. "While the train is going at a calm speed,"
Tom nodded. "Sora's right, we don't want to fall off,"
The Conductor came to help them after he had left to go check on something inside the train. The train started to go up a spiraling mountain. "Be careful you three, shouldn't be walking up here, watch your step,"
They all came down from the Tender, safely and stood on the plate above the couple hooks. "Um... You guys can go on-" Tom said. He then looked at Sora. "I... Want to talk to Sora...."
Holly looked at the Conductor. "Best you come inside, you might catch a cold, and it's not that safe out here,"
"I'll be fine, I just want to say something to Sora,"
The Conductor nodded, then let Holly go inside, and followed her. Sora stayed with Tom. "Hey, Tom, what's wrong?"
"Um..." Tom held onto the grab bar that was on the back of the tender. As the train was going over a suspension bridge, it rocked and bounced on the rails. "I'm worried..."
Sora tilted his head. "About?"
"Meeting Santa... and... That thing we saw... "
"You mean Nerraw?"
Tom nodded. "What if it comes back?"
Sora shook his head. "If it comes back, I'll try my best to protect you, the rest on this train, so don't you worry-" He summoned his keyblade as soon as he finished talking. Tom looked down at it, then back up at Sora. He hugged onto the railing. "But what if it's not enough,"
Sora sighed, he could tell that Tom was really worried. "It's not only that you are worried about, is it?"
Tom looked over at him, then back at the ground below them going by. "No... As I said before, I'm worried about seeing Santa, if... He does exist,"
"Well, I told you I've met him before. Just right before I came on the train, I was helping him,"
Tom's eyes went wide. "H-Helping him? B-But you don't look like an elf at all!"
Sora chuckled. "Well, that doesn't imply he couldn't get help from others,"
But Sora wasn't sure if Santa does exist in Tom's world. Santa doesn't exist in all dimensions. There are some, where he doesn't exist at all. Such as Mark's. Tom's could even be one of them.
But Sora doesn't want to ruin the fun they could have on the trip to the "North Pole" So he didn't mention all of that to Tom. He made his keyblade vanish, then held out his hand for Tom to take. "Come on," He said. "Let us go back to the others,"
Tom looked down at his hand, then back up at Sora. He smiled. "Sure,"
Sora smiled, and they both walked into the couch door.
"Man, what's with all these toys in here?" Sora asked as he pushed some away. The coach car was filled with old toys, games, and other things many children, and even some adults would want for the holidays. But they looked all damaged as if they were used so many times, that they all got very worn out. "They all so beat up-," Tom said as he picked up one. It was a doll, that looked very moldy and dirty. Sora also picked up one. Its nose was chipped off. "Hmm...." Sora then heard something next to him. He looked up, down the coach car, and saw a shimmer of dark mist, that fell to the ground, at the door at the other end. His eyes widen.
It was here. 'That thing doesn't give up does it...'
Sora then grabbed Tom and pulled him close. "Ow! Hey, what gives!?"
"Just, stay close to me..."
There, just at the door, the dark mist appeared again. "O-Oh no..." Tom said as he saw it. "It's here again," Sora said. The dark mist circled until it formed the figure of a person. Nerraw stared down Sora and Tom. "Getting run over by a 138 Ton locomotive isn't fun-" It said. Its arms hung down, then turned into dark shards. "You'll pay for that Sora,"
Tom was frightened and hid behind Sora. Sora summed his keyblade, staring back at Nerraw. Tom didn't notice, but Sora Magically wiped up an elixir. And drank it, right there.
"H-Huh?! what is that?" Tom asked. Now, Sora's magic was fully restored. His health was stronger, and he felt more focused. He aimed his keyblade at Nerraw. "Give up Nerraw. Get off this train, that's your final warning..."
"My final warning? Oh really?" Then he hovered in the air slightly. "You can't warn someone stronger than you," Nerraw said.
"You may be stronger, but thanks to Dark-Blade, I've learned how to get around the strengths of the likes of you,"
Nerraw chuckled, evilly. "Let's see how that turns out, Yaa!" Nerraw punched his fists forward, and a dark mist ball got sent through the air. Sora swung at it with his keyblade, and the dark mist disappeared. After doing that a few more times, Sora shook his head. "Is that all you got?"
"No, but thank you for asking-"
Nerraw stomped on the ground, the entire ground split away, and Sora quickly stepped back. The entire underneath of the car was exposed. One wrong step and you could fall to your death right on the track lines.
But Tom... Figured he should help out. He secretly left Sora and was underneath the seats. He was already halfway to Nerraw, but then the ground split, but it didn't reach the seats. He was terrified. Before, and now. He wasn't sure what he would do to Nerraw once he had reached, but with the ground split like this, he saw his chance.
Sora gripped his keyblade, staring at Nerraw. Nerraw continued to shoot black orbs at Sora, with Sora smacking them all. At one point, it shot a black dark beam. Sora gasped, and held the keyblade infront of him, trying his best to make sure the dark mist wouldn't touch him. The beam was powerful, and it started to push him. He tried his best to keep his balance, but then Nerraw stopped his power, and Sora swung, but nearly fell onto the tracks. "AHH!" He yelled, then quickly got back stability.
Nerraw laughed corruptly. "One wrong step is all it takes," He said, smirking. At that time, Tom managed to safely, and quickly crawl under the coach seats, and get behind Nerraw. Sora saw, but before he could say anything, "And all it takes is one wrong push-" Tom shoved Nerraw, Nerraw didn't have any time to react, and he fell right out of the Passenger coach, and onto the tracks, getting run over for the second time. Sora gasped, then looked at Tom, who looked up at him with his eyes widen a little. "I... I... I... Just did that-"
Sora desummoned his keyblade, and quickly glided over to Tom. Once he did, he hugged him. "When the hell did you leave from me-"
"O-Ow..." Tom wheezed getting crushed by the hug. "That was very brave of you," He said. Tom just smiled bashfully. "Um...Let's... get back,"
Sora nodded. "Yeah, everyone is wondering where we are,"
***
Sora and Tom both entered the coach car that had everyone. All of the kids seemed fine. None seemed hurt, even though the train was on the ice.
Sora saw Roxas and Hayner were still sitting together at the end of the car. Sora smiled. It felt like it's been forever since he has seen them, although it's only been a half hour or so. Sora walked over to them, then Roxas turned his head. "Sora! W-Where have you been?"
Hayner looked at him. "Dude! You just missed it! The Conductor said we were on the ice of a frozen lake or something! But it didn't feel like we were at all,"
"Yeah, what happened? And where have you been? We were getting worried,"
"Well... Just was walking around the train with my new friend," Sora said, looking at Tom, who was standing at the door that connects to the caboose, looking inside. "Mark would definitely want to be with you for that," Roxas said, with a warm smile. Sora could only smile back. "He most definitely would, the cutie,"
Hayner just shook his head. "The two nerds,"
Roxas just playfully punched Hayner's arm.
"So you, how's your new friend? He's the kid who was with us at that house, right?" Roxas asked. Sora nodded. "Yes, he is,"
"Classic Sora, always making friends," Hayner said.
Sora smiled. "Hey, it's what I do!"
Sora looked over at Tom, who was just looking at the door. "Hold on guys, I'll be back,"
As Sora left them, he sighed. He didn't want to mention about Nerraw to them both. They've been through a lot of dealing with Dark-Blade. They don't need to know that there is something amongst them that's nearly the most identical.
He walked over to Tom. He noticed that Tom had his head down. "Hey, you alright?" Sora placed his hand on Tom's back. "O-Oh, Sora... Um, Yeah, I'm doing alright,"
Sora smiled softly. "You did great. That was some quick thinking with you,"
Tom smiled. "I... I just don't want it to come back,"
"It might," Sora said bluntly to him, Tom sadly looked down. "But... That doesn't mean we wouldn't be able to outsmart him every time," Sora smiled at him as Tom looked back up. Tom smiled back. Tom looked back at the window. "Hey, isn't that Holly, and that boy?"
Sora looked. "You're right..."
It was the boy who got at earlier. "You want to go say hi to him?"
Tom nodded.