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Chapter Text

It was nearing Christmas time in Sora's world. Same with his boyfriend, Mark's. Sora has been helping Mark and his family decorate. He's been heading back and forth from Christmas Town and back to Mark's world, giving them real Christmas decorations from Santa himself.

He was just about to leave from Mark's house, until Mark was questioning where he was off to again. "I'll be back soon Mark, Santa said he'd give you guys some hot chocolate." Sora said facing him. Sora could tell that Mark wanted him to stay a little longer with him, and he knows why. Sora's been really busy for the past few days, and he hasn't been able to give his boyfriend, or even his friends any attention. Sora walked up to Mark, and kissed him on his cheek. "Don't worry Mark, I promise I'll stay with you when I come back." Sora said smiling. Mark looked in his eyes. "You sure?"

"Hey, didn't I said I promise?" Sora asked folding his arms. Mark chuckled. "Fare enough."

Sora smiled. "I'll be back in a few-" He said as he jumped into the lit portal back to his dimension.

****

Sora came out of the other end of the dimensional portal, and out into the Video Game Hallway. He walked out of it, and into Twilight Town. He was about to head to his Gummi Ship, to get to Christmas Town. "I'll make sure I come back to Mark. I know he misses me... and I miss him to"

He was walking, until he heard two familiar voices.

"Sora!"

"Hey, Sora!"

"Huh?" Sora said, turning his head, and he saw his two friends, Roxas and Hayner. "Hey guys!" Sora called out, as he walked over to them. "Man, were where you?" Hayner asked. Roxas nodded. "Yeah, it's like we haven't seen each other in a while, what happened?" Roxas asked.

Sora sighed. "Been really busy this Christmas. Been helping Riku and Kairi... then heading over to a few of Mark's games world to help them... helped Steve rebuild a shack for his dogs, and back in my world, just been back and forth from Christmas Town and Mark's world."

"Geez... why you never asked any of us for help?" Hayner asked. Sora shrugged. "I didn't want to bother you guys. And Mark has been busy with school, because apparently he has these... tests that he takes when winter arrives." Sora said. Roxas nodded. "A state test or something right?" Roxas asked. Hayner looked at him, and arched his eye brow. "How'd you know that?"

"Been researching up on Mark's world.....ever since that one thing happened to him"

Sora nodded. "So glad he got that... crap out of him."

Roxas nodded.

"Well..." Sora said trying to change the subject. "I'll be off now"

"Why don't we come with you? Me and Hayner are free right now"

"We are-?"

Roxas elbowed Hayner in his arm. "Ow!"

Hayner grunted. "Ugh, fine. Yes. We are."

"Great!" Sora exclaimed. "Lets head to the Gummi Ship"

***

All three of them, was in the Gummi Ship, heading for Christmas Town. Sora was flying it, and Hayner and Roxas was sitting on the two sets either side of Sora. "So, what exactly are we doing there?" Hayner asked. "Well, since this is Mark's first Christmas with us, I want him to feel at home. So, I asked Santa in Christmas Town if he could make decorations. Cause, apparently Santa doesn't exists in Mark's dimension. But, he does in ours. So, Mark is totally gonna have a great Christmas" Sora said.

Roxas smiled. "That's sweet"

"You still didn't answer my question Sora-" Hayner said. Roxas laughed a little at Hayner. Sora rolled his eyes. "Basically, I didn't really need your help... since I'm just gonna be bringing hot chocolate... but, I guess I could use a little company"

Hayner smiled. "Well, I got you covered with that"

"Don't you mean we? What about me?" Roxas asked looking at his friend. "Oh right... you too..."

Chapter Text

"Hello Santa!" Sora called out. Santa, was working on something, building some toys, on his own. He usually has his elves make the toys, but sometimes he loves to work on some projects by himself. And he'd give toys like that to children who really deserve it. "Oh, welcome Sora! I'll get the hot chocolate, wait here-" He said getting up, and leaving his work. Sora smiled.

As Santa was getting the thing he promised Sora, he continued to talk. "Sora, you wouldn't mind to do something for me, would you?" He asked. Sora nodded. "I don't mind at all, what is it?"

"Well, there is this strange door that's outside of my workshop. I know how your boyfriend is located in a different dimension that's far beyond ours, and I know how he has these 'games' that he can visit-" He started. Sora stayed put and listened. He was wondering what Santa was going to ask him to do. "The doors that lead to those games, have a very peculiar design to them. And, I'm not only talking about the art on them, I'm talking about the shape of the door it's self"

Sora tilted his head. "Yeah, what about the doors?"

"That's the thing. This door that's outside my workshop, looks just like those game doors." Santa finished. Sora was even more confused. When he flew the ship into the world with Hayner and Roxas, he didn't say anything of the sort. "Huh? Outside? I haven't seen anything like that"

"I probably should of been more exact, it's outside, but it's in the back of the workshop" Santa said. Sora nodded. "Ohhhh, ok."

Santa handed him the bag of the cocoa powder. "If it wouldn't be any trouble, can you please check it out?" Santa asked. Sora nodded. "Of course!" Sora said.

Santa smiled. "Thank you Sora, I'll get back to work now"

****

Sora walked out of the work shop, and saw Hayner and Roxas outside. They where both messing around in the snow.. Roxas threw a snowball at Hayner. "Ow!" Hayner yelled. "Dude, stop being so extra- there is no way you got hurt by snow!" Roxas yelled at him.

Sora just shook his head and walked out to them. "Hey guys-"

Sora got cut off, due to Hayner throwing a snowball at him and it slammed directly in his face. "Hey! No fare!" Sora yelled. Hayner laughed.

Sora rolled his eyes, and looked down at the snow. "You asked for this-"

Sora picked up a snow ball, and threw it at Hayner, and landed a hit. "AHH!" Hayner yelled. "Dudes a drama queen." Roxas said.

Sora started to talk, what he needed to say before Hayner could interrupt them again. "There is something we need to do before we head back-"

"Huh? What?"

"Santa told me something-"

Hayner cut him off. "What, he put you on the naughty list again?"

"Ugh, shut up Hayner! No, not that. He said there's this strange door that's out back"

"A door?" Roxas asked tilting his head. Sora nodded. "Yes. A door, that looks like one of the game doors. He wants me to check it out. Well, you guys can come.. well if you want."

"Sora, we'd love to, but didn't you promise Mark you'd spend time with him?" Roxas asked.

'Shoot-' Sora thought. He knew Mark would be disappointed. But, he also wanted to help Santa out. "It'll be fine, trust me. We just see if the door leads to another pocket universe, hop inside see if it's dangerous, if it is, we destroy it, if it isn't, we leave it alone. Easy-peasy."

Roxas looked at Hayner who shrugged, then looked back at Sora. "Fine. I guess it would be wise to see what it is"

***

Sora and his two friends walked around the back of the workshop, and sure enough, sitting on the snow, was a door that looked like one of the doors that lead to Mark's games. "So... it really is a game door?"

"Well, remember what Dark-Blade said. It's all apart of the Fictional Dimension. Three branches, TV/Movie Show Dimension, Book Dimension, and Game Dimension."

"But we have yet to see any pocket universes, for the TV/Movie Dimension and the Book Dimension!" Roxas said. "Uh... didn't we go into that one world with the talking trains?" Hayner asked

"You mean, talking locomotives." Sora said, thinking about Mark. That's something he'd say. "And no, that was like an infusion. Apparently, since his younger brother, James, has this old Thomas and Friends game, it opened a world"

"But how.... how did it infuse with the TV show?" Hayner asked, looking at the door. Sora shrugged. "I don't know."

They looked at the door.

It was strange. The door had nothing on it. Yes, it resembled one of the game doors, but the game doors has art on them, that resembles that world that is beyond it. The Minecraft door, has a pixelated dirt block, Thomas and Friends, has Thomas's number on the door, and Little Nightmares, shows an eye.

But this door that was out in the back of Santa's workshop, had not a single indication of what was beyond the door.

Sora, was of course already walking up to the door, getting ready to open it. He took a deep breath as he put his hand on the door knob. What was beyond the door? Mark has some very questionable games that he recently got.

He turned the doorknob, and peaked through. All he saw was snow.

'What the-'

Sora took his head from out the door, and looked to the other side to make sure he wasn't actually looking through an empty door frame.

Turns out, it wasn't.

There was a wall behind the workshop. But, trough the door, the wall wasn't there.

"Sora, what do you see?" Roxas called out. "I don't know. It's just snow!"

"...Snow? You're sure it's not actually just a normal door and you're looking right trough the other side?" Roxas asked. Hayner snorted.

Sora sighed. "No... the wall isn't there-"

Hayner walked up to him, and looked trough the door. "He's right..."

Sora walked in. "Hey, where are you going? It looks safe, we should probably leave-" Hayner said. But Sora didn't listen to him and stepped right through.

Roxas shrugged, and walked ahead of Hayner, into the door. Hayner sighed and followed him.

There was just snow all over. But, they walked into something like what looked like a neighborhood. A neighborhood that looked like one from Mark's world. "Where is this? Are we back in Mark's world?" Sora asked.

Then, the door closed.

More like, slammed.

It scared them all

"What the?!" Hayner yelped, and turned around, only to see that the door materialized out of existence. It vanished.

Hayner gasped, then looked behind him at Sora and Roxas, who saw the door vanish. Sora's eyes went wide. They where trapped in this pocket universe.

Hayner sighed. "Good going Sora. Now we can't get back..."

"What are we gonna do?" Roxas asked. Sora didn't know WHAT to do. He really wanted to keep his promise to Mark, but now he couldn't even do that. He knew that needed to find a away back. "Let's walk around or something. This is clearly a new world, or probably a new game Mark's got. Remember how the new games have gems."

"But... we don't have to find the gems anymore-" Hayner said. Roxas nodded. "Yeah, didn't we take care of that?"

"Yes, but still, it has a gem. And when you find the gem of the world, a door back to home will appear-" Sora said.

Roxas nodded. "Right... but.. how are we going to find this gem? Finding the past gems in Mark's games was so tiring. Especially in Los Santos..."

Hayner agreed. "Yeah, this world could be very big for all we know-"

"Guys, we found the gem in No Man's Sky didn't we? That was a whole entire 7 billion planet experience." Sora said. "Luckily, we only had to go to a few-"

Sora nodded. "Yeah, that's true-"

"I guess we should probably start looking around or something-" Hayner said. "We are the gem finder trio" Hayner said smiling.

"Did you just come up with that?" Roxas asked.

Chapter Text

They walked down the sidewalk of this neighborhood. The street had houses on either side of it, all stringed with Christmas lights as far as the eye can see. "This is beautiful" Sora said being mesmerized by all the lights. "This must be like a Christmas game or something." Roxas said. Sora nodded. "Yeah. Maybe Mark found a Christmas game to play since it's the holiday season."

It was snowing, and it was a little cold. It was snowing a little harder than what it was back at the North Pole with Santa. "Man...." Hayner said. "How are we gonna find this stinking gem... if... I'm freezing?!" Hayner yelled. "Look at Sora, he has a jacket on!"

"Hayner, this 'jacket' doesn't even have sleeves." He said. Hayner grunted. "At least you have a hood..."

Since they had left Christmas Town, Sora's magic worn off, so the coats they had, and the looks they have that change when they go into other worlds, came off.

So, they where back into their normal clothes.

And Hayner wasn't happy about that, since this new location was even colder than Christmas Town.

They stopped walking for a bit. They stopped right in front of a house that was made of bricks. "Maybe... we... should... knock on there door and ask them for some hot chocolate or something-" Hayner said. "Dude, you can't just do that..." Roxas said. Sora looked at Hayner, then back at the house. "I don't know... maybe their asleep. The only lights I see on, are the Christmas lights."

Which, he was right. None of the houses on the block had lights on inside. All of them where pitch black inside. But Sora could see that Hayner was really cold. So, he decided to go and knock on a door. What's the worst that can happen? The worst they could say is no.

Sora was about to walk to the house, until-

Choooooo Chooooooo

They all stopped. Roxas arched an eye brow. There was no sign of a train track anywhere. "Uh... why do I hear a train whistle?" Hayner asked. Sora shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe there are tracks far away from here?" Sora asked. "Dude, that sounded like it was literally near by..." Roxas said.

Chooooooo

The whistle blew again. This time, it sounded closer.

Hayner was shivering, he wanted to get to the house, and walked head of them, but Roxas stopped him. "Ugh, what is it Roxas?"

"Um... why is there.... gold shining glitter in the street?" Roxas said. Hayner looked behind him, and so did Sora.

There was something that looked like gold glitter In the road, In the shape of a track. Then, an actual railway line appeared right there in the middle of the street, and the gold looking dust vanished.

Sora blinked, then looked at Hayner and Roxas. "Uh... maybe that is something normal for this world?"

CHOOOOO CHOOOOOOOOOOOO!

A giant large American steam locomotive thundered down the set of rails. "What the?!" Sora exclaimed. The huge steam engine screeched it's break as it was stopping. It was hauling a long set of passengers coaches behind it.

"What in.... Woah... I wish Mark was here-" Sora said remembering Mark's love for trains.

Then, they heard a door close.

They all turned around and saw a boy, in his pajamas running out from the door.

He looked like he was looking at the train, but he wasn't looking where he was going. He was running, then he saw Hayner. "Oh shoot!" He yelled, he tried to stop, but the slippery snow made it hard, and he slammed into Hayner and both of them fell onto the floor. "Hayner!" Roxas called out to him.

Roxas helped his friend up, and Sora helped the kid up.

"I'm sorry about that" The kid said, then he looked at the train, what was stopped. Right there in the middle of the street. The kid blinked. "... Do you guys have anything to do with that?"

Sora shook his head. "Nope... we are just as surprised as you are-"

The kid walked past them, walking up to the train.

Roxas looked at Hayner. Then, at Sora. "So... You're telling me this isn't normal in this world then-" Hayner said. Sora looked at the train. "Lets get on it"

"Huh? Why?!" Hayner yelled.

"This is something unique. You know how the gem usually is always linked with something that is a key part of a world" Sora said. "Key part-? How do you know that is is even that 'Key' part?" Hayner asked. "Dude. A train on a street?"

"Trams" Hayner said.

Sora rolled his eyes. "Ugh, this isn't a tram!"

Just then-

"Alllll aboarddddd!" A loud voice echoed through the air. Sora looked at the train, and a saw a man stepping out of one of the couches holding a lamp. The kid, was at the back part of the coal tender. He looked back at Sora, then back at the man outside the coach. He pointed to himself, last if he was asking the man if he was talking to him.

"Allll abaordddd! This is the Polar Express!!" The man bellowed.

"The Polar Express?" Sora whispered to Roxas.

They could see the boy walking towards the man. "Come on, lets walk with him."

Sora followed. "Sora what are you doing?!" Hayner yelled. "Come with us Hayner." Roxas said. "I mean, at least we'll be out of the cold" Roxas said. Hayner nodded. "You're right."

Sora was walking with the boy. The boy looked at Sora, then back ahead.

They walked up to the man, only to see that he wasn't just a man who happened to be on the train. He was the Conductor. At least, that what his blue hat said. "Well, you coming?" Then he looked at Sora, Roxas and Hayner. "Hm...." He said. Then he got out a clipboard. "I don't remember their being more than one pick up here-"

Sora came closer to Roxas. "Why does he sound like Woody-" He wishers. Roxas shrugged.

The man showed the clipboard to the boy. "This you?" He asked. The boy tilted his head, then looked at the Conductor. "Yeah...."

"Where does this go-?" The boy asked. The Conductor smiled. "Right to the North Pole of course! This is the Polar Express!"

Sora looked at Roxas. "Didn't we just leave the North Pole?" Sora whispered.

The Conductor looked at the clipboard. "It says only you're supposed to be picked up here... are these your friends? Or, family?"

The boy looked back at the Kingdom Hearts characters. He doesn't know who the freak they are. "Uh.... I... um-"

"Of course we are his friends! Wouldn't go anywhere with out him!" Sora said putting an arm around his complete stranger. The boy made a sound, then looked at Sora surprised, then back at the Conductor.

Hayner and Roxas blinked. They didn't know what Sora was playing at. But Sora knows. He knows this train is the key to finding the gem. And if they gave up the chance of boarding it, they probably will never be able to leave.

The Conductor nodded. "Well, I usually don't do this, but it's Christmas. The more the merrier! You three just sigh here-" He said showing them the clipboard. Sora took the pen, what the Conductor have him, sighed his name and so did Roxas and Hayner. The Conductor took the clip board back once they where done. "Sora, Roxas and Hayner. Welcome aboard!" He said. Sora smiled and walked up the steps into the coach. Hayner and Roxas followed. They entered into the couch, and saw a whole bunch of kids running around inside. "What is this...." Roxas asked. "A train ride to the North Pole?" Sora said. "But that kid seemed like he didn't know about it." Hayner said. Sora ran ahead of him. "I call dibs for the seat by the window!" Sora yelled out and quickly sat in the seat. Roxas rolled his eyes. "Ugh, you can be such a dork sometimes" He chuckled. Roxas sat behind him, and Hayner sat next to Roxas.

"Man... I really wish Mark was here.... He'd love this so freaking much" Sora said. "Yeah, he'd probably even sit beside you" Roxas said. "Of course he would, he's my freaking boyfriend-" Sora said.

Hayner started to laugh. "You two probably wouldn't stop kissing"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Shut up Hayner"

Sora looked out the window, only to see that the boy was backing away from the train. "Hm? What's he doing?"

"Hm? What's who doing what?" Roxas asked. "The boy... it's like he doesn't want to come on"

"A train that randomly shows up in the middle of a street right in front of your house? Yeah, I wouldn't wanna board either-" Hayner said.

Just then-

Choooo choooo

Clang!

The entire coach jolted and they started to move forward slowly. "Guys we're moving!" Sora exclaimed. "I think Mark has turned you into a train nerd like him" Hayner chuckled. Sora sighed, then sat on his knees on the seat so he could face Hayner behind him. "Dude, shut up!"

Hayner giggled. "You really didn't see how you where acting in Train Simulator where you?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "I'll agree with Hayner with that one Sora. That was you being a total dork fest" Roxas said. "Ugh, not you too!" Sora yelled. Both Hayner and Roxas laughed.

Then Sora saw the boy, entered the door of the coach. "Huh?" Sora asked, then sat back down. The boy looked at Sora, then looked around. "May I... sit with you?" He asked. The boy looked like he was out of breath. "Sure! I need the company" Sora smiled. The boy nodded, then sat with Sora. "Um... didn't I see you back away from the coach?" Sora said. The boy turned his head to face Sora. "Uh... I changed my mind and ran after the train... now that I think of that.... that was stupid... but... I don't have any way off now..."

Sora didn't know what else to say.

"Um... why did you say that I'm your friend? I mean, you seem like a likeable person, but I have no idea who you are" The boy said.

"I... well...." Sora didn't know what to say. The only reason he said what he said, was to get on the train to find the gem. Not that he wouldn't want to be this boy's friend of course. But Sora knows how silly the 'gems' can sound. Especially in this world, that kind of looks close to Mark's world. Sora knows how that world lacks of magic and anything supernatural. And probably, this one does too, considering the shocked face on the boy when the train showed up on his front porch. Well, probably even if you DO have magic in your dimension, you'd probably still question why did a giant 1000 house powered steam locomotive approached you on the street.

The boy was about to say something-

Then "Hey you!"

The boy looked up at the seat in front of him, and another kid in yellow pajamas was trying to get his attention. The boy looked at him. "Uh... me?"

"Yes, you. Do you know what train this is?"

The boy looked confused.

The kid in the yellow pajamas smiled. "It's a-

"It's a Pere Marquette 1225, Berkshire 2-8-4 N-1 class." Sora said. "Nerd alert-" Hayner said behind them. Sora groaned, the elbowed the seat behind him.

The kid in the yellow pajamas looked shocked. "H-How do you know that?"

"My boyfriend's a train fanatic, so...he kinda made me into one as well" Sora said.

"Wow, I need to meet him"

"It's also a magic train-"

Sora turned his head, and saw a girl in purple pajamas. She smiled at them. "We're going to the North Pole"

Sora saw the Conductor come out from the door that lead to the other couches. "Tickets please! Tickets!"

Sora looked at Roxas and Hayner. "Uhh.... Do... we have any tickets?"

"Does it look like we do?" Hayner said.

The Conductor walked up to the boy, who Sora and his two friends met first. "Ticket?" The Conductor asked. It seemed like the boy didn't have it either. "Try your pocket" The Conductor said. The boy tried it, but then he saw that there was a hole in it. "What happened with that?" Sora asked. "Ran out the house to fast-" The boy said.

"Try... your other pocket-" The Conductor said.

The boy did so, and when he put his hand in his pocket, his eyes widen a little. He took it out, and out came a shiny golden ticket. The boy gasped. "What... the..." He said.

The Conductor took it, and snipped it. Only thing is, he didn't just snip one. He sniped like about 50.

"....Ok..." Hayner whispered to Roxas.

He handed it back to the boy.

Then he looked at Sora. "Ticket? Try your pocket?"

Thing is Sora has like about a million pockets.

But, when he put his hand in one, he took out the same golden ticket as the boy.

'Polar Express - Round Trip'

The Conductor took it, and just like what he did with the boy's ticket, he punched about 50 holes instead of one. He handed it back to Sora. Sora took it, and saw that there where letters the Conductor punched out. O was at the left side and C was at the other. "Hey, look at this-" Sora said showing the boy next to him. The boy nodded. "He did the same with mine" He said showing Sora. His had B at one end, and E at the other. "Hm... I wonder if it means something" Sora said.

"Man, what guy sure loves to show off with his ticket punching, look at what he did with mine-" It was the guy who was sitting in front of them. He was looking at them over the seat. "L E, what the freak does that mean-" He said.

"Yeah... Mine has letters....too..." Hayner said. Roxas nodded. "Mine as well." They both showed theirs to Sora and the two other boys.

Roxas had L on one side, and a R at the other.

Hayner had a B at one side, but a D at the other.

"What the heck do these mean?" Roxas said.

"Next stop, 11 344 Edbrooke" The Conductor said into a microphone. "Next stop?" Sora asked. The kid in the yellow pajamas looked out the window. "We're headed on the other side of the tracks-"

The train came to a jolt in front of a house.

"Oh... it's just another pickup." The kid in the yellow pajamas said. He then looked at the boy, and at Sora Roxas and Hayner. "That's weird. I thought you guys where the last ones."

Chapter Text

The steam locomotive hissed as it waited. There was another pickup, on this mysterious train journey. But just like the last boy, who Sora and his friends joined, looked confused onto why a train was randomly outside their house on the street. "He looks confused-" Sora said. He had the window down, and was looking at the boy outside. The Conductor was talking to them.

The boy who Sora befriended, squeezed by Sora, trying to look out the window too. He looked at Sora, then back outside, but didn't say anything.

"Right to the North pole of course! This is the Polar Express!" The Conductor bellowed. Sora blinked, then looked back inside, at Roxas and Hayner. Hayner had his head rested on Roxas's shoulder. "Guy's, the Conductor said the same thing he told us-" Sora said. "Well, aren't they supposed to? Isn't that like, their job to say the same thing at every station?" Roxas asked. Then, he chuckled. "I thought Mark turned you into a train nerd, how do you not know that?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Oh shut up. It just seemed weird that's all" Sora said looking out the window.

The kid didn't seem like he wanted to get on. "Suit yourself-" The Conductor said, as he climbed back into the coach. "Hey... guys, he doesn't want to get on" Sora told his friends.

"As I said before... who in their right mind would jump on a train that showed up in the middle of the street?" Hayner said, taking his head off Roxas, and looking at Sora.

Sora knew he was right. Even though Sora wanted to get on, he was still a little skeptical about it. He was just tying to be optimistic, because he knows they have to find the gem, and to be able to actually leave this pocket universe, to get back to their side. Sora was thinking about all of this, but then the loud ear ringing whistle of the locomotive blew, erupting Sora's thoughts.

The train jolted, then started to move forward, with the loud chugg chugg sound coming form the engine.

The kid outside, looking at them, going by.

The boy Sora befriended, looked at him, then just waved at him.

But then the unexpected happed as they inched further away from the boy.

He started to run to catch up to the train.

Just like what the boy Sora befriended said he did.

Sora gasped, and so did the boy next to him.

"H-Hey... that kid wants to get on the train-" He said, looking back at everyone. Sora looked at him. "What should we do?" He asked. The boy sora befriended, looked back out the window at the boy running. "Come on! Hurry up!" He yelled at him. But the boy fell into the snow. Sora gasped. "Oh no-"

Before Sora could say anything else, the boy be befriended, quickly jumped out of his seat, "We have to stop the train!" He told to everyone else. The girl who was sitting next to shrugged, because she didn't know how, but then the other boy who was in the yellow pajamas, spoke up. "Pull the emergency brake!"

The boy ran over the other end of the coach, and before Sora and his friends could do anything about it, the boy pulled it down.

Everything happened suddenly.

With the emergency brake pulled, it slammed down the brakes on the coaches, that gave a signal to the engineers, that made them same the break down for the locomotive, and the entire train came to a quick, and sudden halt. Nearly everyone went flying out of their seats.

Sora was on top of the boy he befriended, then got up, and helped him up.

As Sora helped him up, him and his friend both saw that the boy had entered the train, but he didn't went to join them, he went to the coach over.

Roxas had fallen on top of Hayner, and their lips where touching. Of course Hayner quickly got up with his face looking like Hades with he's upset. Sora didn't have anytime to even get a second to chuckle at the situation, due to the Conductor storming into the passenger coach. "WHO in the blazes applied that emergency brake?!"

"He did!" Yelled the boy in the yellow pajamas.

'It was him, but you told him to-' Sora thought.

But the Conductor marched with up to the boy, and yelled at him. "You-

"In case you didn't know, that cord is for emergency purposes only!" He yelled. Then, he walked over to the window, and waved his arms outside, for the engineer to know it was ok to move, and he blew the whistle. "And in case you weren't aware, tonight is Christmas Eve!"

Then he walked back over the boy. "And in case you haven't noticed, this train is on a very tight schedule!"

The boy was trying to defend himself, but Sora spoke up. "He was just trying to stop the train so the boy outside could get on" He said. The Conductor looked around, then his eyes diverted to the coach on the other side, and saw the boy sit on one of the seats. "Hm... I see."

"Young man, is that what happened?" He asked sternly to the boy Sora befriended. The boy nodded. The Conductor sighed. "Well, may I remind you, we are on a very tight schedule. So, everyone take your seats please!" He said as he walked to the end of the coach.

Sora sat back at the window seat, and his new friend sat beside him. He looked back at Sora. "Thanks...." He said. Sora looked at him, then smiled. "No problem."

Sora then looked behind him at Roxas and Hayner. Hayner had his head rested on Roxas again. But then he noticed that someome was watching him, so he looked up at Sora. "Sora? What is it?"

Sora giggled. "Don't think I didn't see Roxas kissing you when you where on the floor~?" He asked. Hayner's face instantly went red. "What?! That never happed?!"

Roxas blushed as well. "Um.. well I did, but it was an accident."

That made Hayner blush even harder.

Sora giggled then sat back down in his seat. The boy he befriended chuckled. "You three seem like good friends." He said. Sora smiled. "I love them both dearly. Best friends anyone could ever have." Sora said. The boy smiled, then looked down.

"Y-you're welcome to join us. We've love to have you in our friend group" Sora said. The boy looked at him. "Y-you mean that?"

Sora nodded.

"What's your name by the way?" Sora asked.

"My name? It's Tom. What about you? It's Sora right? Think I heard your friends call you that."

Sora nodded. Sora sighed. Then put his hands behind his head, and relaxed in the seat. "So... this is going to the North Pole huh?" He asked.

Tom shrugged. "I don't know. I find it hard to believe. It must be some made up amusement park or something. Santa isn't real." He said. Everyone gasped in the train, except the Kingdom Hearts characters. The boy looked around. "What?" He asked.

"You don't think Santa is real?" The girl next to him in the pink pajamas asked. The boy shrugged. "Of course he's real! I've met him many of times!"

"Sora... the world order!!" Roxas whispered though the crack of the seat loudly at Sora. "Oh shush Rox" Sora said.

The boy looked at him. "You... met him? What.... in the mall?"

Sora blinked. "Santa goes to malls?"

The boy blinked, looking like he was confused with what Sora said.

Sora decided to change the subject. "Ok... um... what do you do for fun?" He randomly said. But before the boy could respond, out came the Conductor, with a few people in chef's clothes, pushing carts with Hot chocolate and cookies.

So that distracted everyone.

Chapter Text

Sora put his hand on his stomach, rubbing it, as he just had drank a lot of the hot chocolate what they had served on the train, and he had also ate a lot of the cookies. In fact, everyone on the train ate and drank a lot. Free hot chocolate and cookies? Who could pass that up.

Sora's stomach growled uneasy, as he turned a little, how he wished Mark was there to rub his belly. "That was some good hot chocolate" Sora heard Tom say. He turned his head to him, then nodded. Then he saw that Tom chuckled a little. "Guess you drank way to much, it sounded like your stomach cried out for help" Tom joked. Sora blushed. "Yeah..." Sora said with his hand on his belly. "I wish Mark was here to rub it" He said without thinking. "Mark? Rub it?" Tom asked.

Sora blushed. "U-uh! I.. um..."

Hayner peeked over the seat. "Mark rubs your belly-?" He asked. Sora gasped, then tried to push Hayner away, all Hayner could do was chuckle. "Is.... Mark someone special?" Tom asked. Sora looked at him, then nodded bashfully.

Tom smiled. "How is he not with you then?" He asked tilting his head. "You came with two of your friends, but not him?"

Sora sighed. "I kind of had to leave him unexpectedly.... He is probably worried sick right now. I promised to meet up with him, but with certain circumstances, I didn't. And I didn't even tell him I wasn't going to make it."

"You know... you can always call him on your Gummi phone-" Roxas said.

Sora gasped. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that already?!" Sora yelled as he quickly got out his phone. "Because you're Sora" Hayner responded. "Shut it Hayner." Sora snapped.

Once he got out his phone, he quickly dialed his boyfriend's number, and waited. It buzzed, and buzzed, but nothing was happening. "Is... he not answering?" Tom asked, noticing Sora's expressions. Sora sighed. "He's not... he's-" Sora took the phone away from his ears, and looked at the screen, only to see there was no signal. "Rats!" Sora yelled. "What is it??" Tom asked, looking at the phone. "Mark isn't picking up-" Sora said. Hayner chuckled. "Has Mark finally gotten sick of you?" He joked. Roxas elbowed him. "Ugh shut it Hayner" Sora said.

"No, there's just no signal-" Sora said, shaking his head.

"Huh? No signal?" Roxas asked confused. "Aren't our Gummi phones supposed to connect to other wor-" Roxas slammed his hands on Hayner's mouth, before he could say another word to give away that they are not from this dimension. Hayner was annoyed, but he soon forgave Roxas, because he knew what the reasons where.

But Sora was sick of keeping this a secret. Dark-Blade was no more. The darkness that existed long before Dark-Blade, was done with. Meaning, that they are technically free to let different worlds, dimensions, pocket universes, know of other existing places.

Plus, everyone here was going to learn one way or another, when they find the gem, causing the dimensional door to show up out of nowhere.

Sora came up to Tom, pulled him close, and whispered in his ear. "I'm gonna whisper this... because I don't want Hayner and Roxas to hear me-"

Tom stayed put, then nodded.

"Me and my friends, are from a dimension far from your own. Your dimension, connects to mine, in some sort of sense, and we need to find this item called the "Gem of The Universe" a gem that powers these pocket universes. It acts like a key, to lock things from other existing universes, bad things, from escaping, to enter your world." Sora departed from Tom, then looked at his friend, only to see him blinking. Boy did he look confused.

Tom slowly turned his head to Sora, then mouthed the word 'What the heck you just said?'

Sora could only internally sigh. 'That was the best I could explain that in-'

Before Sora could say anything, he saw the girl, who was right of them, get up out of her seat, holding one of the hot cocoa cups.

Tom noticed Sora looking, so, he turned around to see her walking towards the coach door. "Where are you going?" He asked her. "The Conductor told us to stay in our seats"

"The boy back at the other coach didn't get any hot chocolate, or any cookies. Going to give this to him" She said as she continued to walk to the last coach of the train.

"Well, that's sweet of her" Sora said. "Wish I could somehow save some for my Mark"

Tom nodded. "He'd probably love hot chocol-" Tom was talking as he was looking around the coach, but then he saw a gold ticket on the seat the girl just got up from. He got out his seat, then, took the ticket.

"Uh oh..."

"What is it?" Sora asked. "She forgot her ticket!" Then he looked around it. "And it hasn't been punched!"

The Conductor before, had seen that the girl had went to caboose coach of the train, to give the boy the hot chocolate, So then Tom wanted to go to the coach to give it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" The one kid in the yellow pajamas said. Tom looked back at him. "What?"

"You can't just jump coach cars without a grown-up, that's dangerous!" He said.

"Well, I need to give her the Ticket" Tom said and went to the coach.

"Why don't you just wait for them to come back?!" Yellow pajamas kid yelled.

But by then, Tom was gone.

Sora was just watching the scene, and didn't know what to do. So, he got up and went to assist Tom. "Sora, where are you going?" Roxas asked when he saw Sora get up. Hayner was resting on his shoulder, and Roxas was rubbing his head.

"I need to assist Tom." Sora said, walking by them, but before he could get to the door, Tom came running back into the coach, yelling. "No! No! Come back! Come back!" He yelled, running by everyone, bumping into Sora, then slamming into yellow pajamas kid pushing him back into the chair. "Ow!" They yelled. Now Sora was concerned. "Tom, what's wrong?" He jogged over to him, only to see him trying to open the window. 'What's he doing?' Sora thought.

When Sora got closer, he saw why Tom acted the way he had.

There was a gold ticket hitched on the window seal outside. "W-what? Tom how did that reach there?!" Sora went to help, but before he got to him, Tom managed to open the window, but that only made the ticket get unwedged from the seal of the window, and it blew out and went into the air outside. "No!!" Tom yelled.

Tom sighed, then bashed his head into the seat.

"See? Ya should of listened to me-" Yellow pajamas said.

Sora sat next to Tom, who had his face buried into the chair. "Hey, it'll be alright-" Sora said.

"No it won't! I probably just got that poor girl in trouble-" Tom sighed then got up from the seat, and went back to the one he was sitting at before.

***

Shortly after, the girl and the Conductor came back. And just about everyone's luck, the Conductor remembered the ticket. "Young lady... forgive me but I have seemed to have forgotten to puch your ticket-" He said.

'Oh no-' Sora thought. Tom sighed then covered his face.

The girl looked to the left of the seat, then looked back at the Conductor. She looked confused. "I left my ticket here... it's not here anymore... it's gone."

The Conductor arched an eyebrow. "You're telling me, you have lost your ticket?"

The guilt was to much for Tom. So he had to fes up.

"She... didn't lose her ticket... I did." He got up, then walked over to the girl and the Conductor. "I was trying to return it to you... but the wind blew it out of... my... hand..." He said. The Conductor sighed. "Wasn't it you who pulled the emergency brake? Just how much disasters are you going to cause?" He looked at the girl. "You're Just going to have to come along with me." He gently took her hand, and walked her over to the back coach.

Everyone watched. "Where's he taking her?" Tom asked.

"He's going to throw her off the train." Yellow pajamas said.

"WHAT?!" Everyone In the coach yelled. The yellow pajamas shrugged. "They might slow the train down little bit, but they are never going to stop it"

"That's it!" Tom yelled running to the front of the coach. "I have to stop the train again!"

"No please! Don't do that again!" Yellow pajamas yelled.

Sora quickly caught up to him, putting his hands on Tom's shoulder, before his hand could yank the brake. "Wait... there has to be another way. You've... been in enough trouble. No need to get in trouble a third time" Sora told him. Tom blinked. "But she's gonna-" Tom looked ahead of Sora, then walked away from him.

"Huh? Where... what is it?" Sora followed him. Then he saw Tom taking a golden ticket out of the vent. He turned to Sora, holding the ticket. "I have to give this to them!" He said running to the coach. "Before it's to late!"

"Hey, wait up!" Sora yelled, running after him.

"Sora!" Both Roxas and Hayner yelled, but by then Sora and Tom where gone.

Chapter Text

Sora ran after Tom, running trough the door of the coach, that enters outside, to connect to the other coach. Sora pulled the door open, running out. It was freezing. But that was the least of Sora's problems. Sora was running to fast, and barely saw that Tom was standing on the couch outside, looking down at the giant coupler. "Oh crap!" Sora yelled as he tried to stop, but slammed into Tom. "AHH!" Tom yelled as he went falling to wards the shaking couplers. But luckily, Sora grabbed him back his arm. "I got you!" Sora yelled as he pulled him back up. "Ugh, what are you trying to do, kill me?!" Tom snapped. "S-Sorry!" Sora said, feeling bad.

Tom looked back at the shaking back coach. The wind was howling as the train was flying down the rails. The coupler was vibrating and shaking. "I'm gonna jump across!" Tom yelled, then stuffed ticket into his pocket, but then his hands went trough. "Shoot!" He yelled. He put it in his mouth, then jumped across. Thankfully, he landed perfectly fine on the platform of the coach. He turned around frantically. "Come, on! Jump! Or stay there!" He yelled.

Sora closed his eyes, then sparkling glitter revolved around him, and Sora then started to hover, then he glided across.

Tom went wide eyed, and his mouth hung open, and the ticket dropped out of his mouth. But Sora quickly caught it. "I told you I'm from another dimension" He said. "Come on! Let's go find the Conductor!" He yelled.

They both ran to the other end of the caboose coach, right to the end, that has a small little porch, for you to stand outside. They both ran by the boy who was the last pickup, not even noticing that he was there. But he sure did notice both of these boys run past like they where running for a marathon.

Tom quickly opened the door to the porch. Sora figured he was looking to see if he saw the girl anywhere, but with the speed they where going, if she was thrown off, she would of been miles down the track by now. Now Tom was in a panic, and didn't know what to do. Sora didn't know what to do either. "If something happened to her, she would be miles away!" Sora said. "And even if so, where the heck is the Conductor?!" Tom yelled.

Tom was right. Not only did the girl disappear, but so did the Conductor. Where was he? The coach isn't that big, where he could be hiding somewhere.

Sora then remembered the boy who came on last. "Let's ask him-" He suggest. Tom quickly jumped to it, and ran back inside to the boy. "Where did they go?! Did you see them?" Tom practically yelled. But the boy seemed shy, as he looked like he didn't know what to say. "Please! She's in big trouble you have to help me!" He yelled, showing him the girls golden ticket. Sora nodded.

But before Tom could talk to the kid anymore, Sora noticed a silhouette of two people walking on top of the train trough the window. Shining on the mountain side that was inches next to the train. "Tom they're on the roof!"

"What?!" Tom yelled. Then he noticed. Without thinking, he ran back outside to the porch. "I knew this was here! I'm going up there!" Tom yelled. Sora was confused what Tom was talking about, but then he saw Tom trying to climb some ladder, that is used to get onto of the caboose coach. But one looked at how close those mountains where, it made Sora quickly decide that was to dangerous for Tom. So, Sora activated his glide ability, hovered to Tom, then quickly put his arms under Tom's arms, then hovered into the air. "Here, let me carry you, it'll be safer" Sora said. Tom gasped as he felt Sora held him. "W-what-?!" He said.

"Just keep still!" Sora said. It was hard work for Sora to keep up with the speed of the train. It's like the was going faster than 50 Mallards mashed into one. But Sora managed to place Tom directly on the room. "There they are!" Tom yelled, pointing in front of him. Sora set him down, but then Tom started to yell out to them. "Hey! I got your ticket!!" Tom screamed out.

But the girl and the Conductor didn't hear them. "Hey! Wait up! I have your ticket!"

But with the loud howling of the wind blowing, as the train was pushing through the windy snowy air, they obviously could never hear anything. "I have your ticket! Please wait!"

Tom tried to walk forward, but the wind was so strong, he nearly tripped. But Sora managed to catch him. "Let me see if they see this-"

Sora summoned his keyblade, and that made Tom go wide eyed as he saw the giant key materialized in Sora's arm. Sora aimed his keyblade at the sky.

"Blaze!" A huge fire blast shot out from the tip of the keyblade. Sora's plan was to see if they'd see the orange, red glowing fire ball, but it seemed that didn't work.

The look on Tom's face was a look of a dazed expression. He looked down, then saw footsteps. Then looked up, and saw the light from the girl and the Conductor, the lantern, was stopped.

"Tom! I think they saw my fire blast!" Sora explained. Tom realized. "Yes! Let's go!" He started to walk, and press on more into the windy air. "They shouldn't be to far ahead now!" Sora said.

But as they got closer, they soon realized it wasn't the girl or the Conductor at all. It wasn't either of them.

The light wasn't even the lantern. It was some man, who had some can over a cheaply made fire, strumming a guitar, humming to himself.

Sora blinked, wondering what the heck he was seeing. 'Uh....' He thought. The wind was blowing hard and cold, with this train moving probably near 80 miles an hour, and this man was just sitting on top of the train, boiling some coffee.

Even Tom looked confused. Tom got closer, but then the man, stopped strumming his instrument, and then looked up at Tom, then Sora. "... Is there something I can do for you?" He asked, rising an eye brow.

"I'm.... looking for a girl-" Tom said.

The man was looking at Sora, with a confused expression. Probably wondering why Sora looks the way he does, but when Tom said what he said-

"A gir-" He got cut off by him laughing. "Hey buddy, so am I" He said.

"N-no.. I.. that's not what I meant-" Tom said. Sora started to softly chuckle, but then Tom shot him an angry look. Tom looked back at the strange man. "I... have this. Her ticket." He said showing the man.

The man set down his instrument, then took the ticket. "Oh... this... you better keep this in a safe place young man. This is your ticket to ride" He said, giving Tom. But the thing is, Tom's pockets are that great, so he handed it to Sora, who has like a billion. "If i was you, I'd place my valuables right here in the old size 13" The man said pointing to his shoes. "But I see your friend here, has pockets for everything, so he's got you covered"

The man took the coffee what he was making. "Would you like some joe?" He said pouring a cup. Tom nodded, but Sora didn't want any. That kettle didn't look clean at all.

Tom took it, but it seems like Tom started to cough after he took a sip. Mostly because there was no sugar in it, and just the standard bitter coffee. "Bless you" The man said.

Tom looked at him. "Where... is this train going exactly?" He asked.

"Where is the train going?" The man said. "To the North pole of course"

"But... we can't possibly be heading to Santa? Are we?"

The man smiled. "Ah. I see. You don't believe Santa exists do you?"

Tom looked down. "I... I don't know."

The man looked at Sora. "What about your friend over here?"

Tom looked at Sora. Sora realized he was talking to him. "O-oh... Um, yeah I do! In fact I've met him! And I'm practically friends with him."

"Oh..." The man said with a small shocked expression. "H-Have you been on this train before?"

Sora didn't know what to say. He keeps doing this, by letting everyone know he's not from this world.

But the man continued to talk. "Well, I doubt your friend would lie" He said to Tom. "I know why you don't want to believe cookie lover doesn't exist. You don't want to be let down, you don't want the wool pulled over your eyes, you don't want to be taken for a ride, railroaded!" He said as he splashed some water, on the fire, taking it out. "Woah!" Tom and Sora both yelled out as the smoke from the now outed fire, filled the air. It quickly vanished as the train was moving through.

He smiled. "Seeing is believing." He said. "Am I right?"

Tom blinked at him. He didn't know what to say. The man reached down and picked up a sack. "So, lets go find that girl!" He said turning around, taking his stuff with him. But then, he stopped, then turned back to Tom. "One other thing.... do you believe in ghosts?" He asked. Tom looked at Sora, who had no comment to that. Sora did, since he seen plenty in Halloween Town, but Tom shook his head to the man. "Hm... interesting...." He said, then continued to walk.

The man started to walk away from them, and he was going pretty fast, for the wind to be blowing at such a high speed. And Tom couldn't catch up. Sora wanted to pick him up, and try to glide, but the wind was so strong, that he didn't even want to bother with it. But then Tom was about to give up. He fell to his knees. "This is a dream... this can't be real...."

Sora saw him fall to his knees. "What? No it's not! This is real" He said. "No it's not! None of this is real!"

"Tom, I'm telling you, it's not!"

Tom grunted angrily, making Sora surprised. Tom got on his legs, then turned around to Sora. "What do you know!?" He yelled, making Sora more surprised. "We are on a train, going to this so called 'North Pole' and I'm standing next some guy who looks like the main character in my sister's Manga! You just hovered across the two train cars! And a freaking train just showed up in my front lawn!! This is sooo not real!" He yelled.

Sora could only watch Tom being bad. 'This is like Mark's world' Sora thought. 'They don't have any form of magic or anything, or if they do, it's kept hidden by some strange stuff.'

Tom kept talking about how he was either going insane, or how he was dreaming. So, Sora decided to do something.

Sora booped Tom on his cheek.

Tom stopped talking, then froze, looking at Sora. "Uhhhh... what was that for?" He asked.

"Did you felt that?" Sora asked. "Uhhh... yeah...."

"That means you're awake." Sora said. Tom blinked. ".... Uh, well... no. Not exactly" He said. "Oh...-" Sora then started to tickle Tom playfully on his belly and bellybutton, and luckily enough, Tom was ticklish, and that caused him to giggle loudly. "Hey, quit it Sora!" He giggled.

"Nah, not until you say this is real-" Sora continued to twirl his finger in Tom's bellybutton, making him laugh harder. "Ok! Ok!"

"You didn't say this is real-" Sora chuckled, and continued to tickle his friend. Tom laughed. "Fine! This is real!"

Sora took his finger out of his bellybutton, and Tom chuckled. He then placed his hand on his belly, lifting up his blue pajamas to look at it. "Nearly dug your fingers through. That felt so weird."

"Oh shut up, I didn't do it that hard"

Tom chuckled, then put his shirt back down. "Man, that cold is gonna freeze my belly and bellybutton. I'm glad I'm waring this warm pajamas."

"Well, I'm freezing" Sora said. "Well, that is like the least warm jacket I've ever seen" Tom said looking at Sora's thin coat.

"Come on, let's find the gir-"

As Tom was about to set off, something materialized in front of them.

Sora gasped, then wiped out his keyblade. Then, Tom fell over and landed on his butt. "Woah, what the?!"

There was a creature, with dark mist covering it's body, circulating around it. It was in a shape of a human. "Sora, what is that?!" Tom screeched. "I didn't mean it when I said I didn't believe in ghosts!" He screamed.

Sora couldn't believe he eyes.

"....Dark-Blade?"

The Dark Figure lifted up his head, looking at Sora, you can see two eyes, and a mouth. The shape of human's face, within the darkness. This couldn't be right. They had defeated Dark-Blade back in their world. How was he here?

But something looked different with him. Dark-Blade had something that looked like hair on his head, but just like the rest of his body, it was too, covered in darkness.

But this is a different hair style. More curly. But then Sora noticed the biggest change. Dark-Blade didn't have the letter on his chest.

Meaning that there was not one single ounce of light left in him. "Dark-Blade! Why are you here?!" Sora yelled out. Tom quickly got up, and hid behind Sora for protection. "Don't you dare mess with this pocket universe!"

Dark-Blade just smirked, then chuckled. "Sora, Sora, Sora. I've heard so much about you"

"Huh?" Sora asked, arching an eyebrow. His voice sounded nothing like Dark-Blade. It sounded like one of those seductive people, who try to sound dark, to try to sound hot. Clearly, it wasn't working. But that was not how Dark-Blade sounded. "Who are you? Really?" Sora asked. The figure smiled.

"My name is Nerraw. And I'm friends with Dark-Blade. He... created me." They said. Sora gasped as he tried to take all of this in. "Created you?"

Nerraw smirked. "Well, that's enough chit-chat, gotta fly" He smirked then vanished in a cloud of black mist. Sora looked down at Tom was was practically clinging onto him for protection, but then Nerraw came back, and Sora resummoned his keyblade, that he had just desummoned. "Take this before I go" Then he vanished again, only this time he left something.

The unversed.

Sora gasped. The unversed where glowing. "No! What?! This can't be!" He yelled as now there was a new threat. Dark-Blade could of used the heartless, but this new thing could use the unversed.

The unversed was feeding off of the last of Tom's negative energy. "Tom! Stay behind me!"

Sora aimed his keyblade at the sky. "THUNDER!!!" Sora yelled out, as a loud lighting strike the top of the coach.

Thankfully, all the unversed got defeated.

Sora sighed. "They're all gone-" He said. "Tom... Are you alright?"

Tom grunted, then got up. "If this... is a dream wake up. Cause this is insane" He said. "Ugh, how many times am I gonna prove that it isn't-" Sora wiggled his fingers towards Tom's belly, who started to already giggle before Sora even touched him. "Nhohoh! Not that again!" He laughed. Sora giggled.

"Fine. I guess this is real. But how?" Tom asked. Sora sighed. "Sometimes... I think the same way.... like...is any of this for real, or not?"

"But it's best to keep on going. I have a loving boyfriend, who I go on adventures with. Life couldn't be more happier" Sora said. Tom smiled.

Chapter Text

Sora and Tom both traversed down the top of the fast-moving express train. The wind was blowing hard, as Sora had Tom behind him. He had his keyblade out, in case Nerraw decided to show up. And the in case the Unversed came up too. "Geez, where is that guy?" Tom asked. "I don't know!" Sora said, barely could form words as the wind was blowing really fast and loud in his face. It was hard to even keep thier balance as the train was shaking and vibrating on the rails below them. Sora looked behind him at Tom, "Come on, we have to catch up to them." Tom nodded, then put on a determined face. So, they both pressed on.

But then as Sora and Tom started to press on, they saw a light coming towards them. Tom had noticed it. "S-Sora? What is that? Is that the girl and the Conductor?" He asked. Sora looked infront of him, right at the hard to see though snow, and saw the faint light. "It might be!" Sora said. But then the light seemed to be getting closer. Sora was confused, because at first he thought it was them walking up to it, but with the speed they where going, that was impossible. So that meant, the light was coming towards them. "Tom, it's coming towards us! Are they coming back??" Sora said, squinting. Tom peeked over Sora, as he was trying to hug onto him to feel warm.

But as the light got closer, it wasn't the girl and the Conductor at all.

It was the man who they talked to earlier.

"Heyyy!" They yelled. "Come on! If you both want to make it up to the engine, we have to move pronto!" Theh yelled. "W-what, you again?" Sora said.

The man was in different clothes. A more thicker jacket, and he had sleds beneath his shoes. "How are we going to make it to the engine!?" Tom yelled. "Hop on!" The man yelled, as he turned around. "Both of you!"

The boy went behind him, and then Sora went behind Tom. Once Tom and Sora where on, the man got out two sticks, then waited. "W-what are you waiting for?" Sora asked.

Sora soon got his answer.

Then train started to go down hill. It seems like the man's plan was to slide down the train, on the sled, but with how much the wind was blowing, it caused them all got sent sent backwards. "Woah!" Tom yelled. The man tried to stop them from getting any further, and took the stick they had, and grabbed a part of the top of the caboose coach, but the sudden jerk, caused Tom to get sent flying backwards. "Tom!" Sora yelled. Tom was hanging off of right light that was behind the coach. "Grab on!" Sora yelled. He had summoned his keyblade, and stretched it towards Tom who was hanging off of the back of the coach. Tom quickly grabbed onto the tip of the keyblade, and then Sora pulled him back up.

"You both are alright?!" The man yelled. "We are now!" Sora yelled. The man nodded. "Come on!" He yelled, and pushed the ground with the sticks, and the sleds skidded along the frozen roof, and down the train.

"You two better hold on!" The man was coming up towards the gap between the caboose coach, and the following coach that had all the passengers. He crouched down, and jumped, and the all leaped over the gap. And then safely landed on the other car, still sliding down the train. "We have to hurry! Before we reach the tunnel!" He yelled.

"T-The tunnel?!" Tom yelled. "Yes! Unless you want your heads taken off!"

As the train was moving down track going at a very high speed rate, it still felt like they where sliding down faster. Then they could hear the whistle blowing loudly.

Chooo choooo!

"It's nearing the tunnel." The man said. Sora noticed the tunnel at a distance, it was coming up fast. "Are we even going to make it?"

"We will!" The man yelled.

"Alright! When I yelled jump.... you JUMP!" Then the man literally vanished into thin air.

"W-what?!" Tom yelled. "Tom JUMP!" Sora screamed as he saw the tunnel getting closer, basically inches from them. Sora pushed Tom into the coal tender that was infront of them. And both him and Tom fell into the dusty coal bunker.

*****

(end music)

Both of them slid down the coal, and slammed into the cab of the locomotive. "Ow..." Sora said. "This... let's not do that again." Tom groaned as he stood up. He went to help Sora up. "Thanks Tom." Sora said. Tom smiled and nodded. Tom looked at the coal, that was inside the tender. "Are we..." he turned around, and saw all the levers and gauges of the steam engine. "Woah! We are inside the-" Then in the locomotive engineer's seat, was no other then the girl.

Tom blinked. "You?! W-What?? I thought you got thrown off and you're.... driving the train?!"

Sora was confused too. "Yeah, we came all this way to see if we could save you or something!"

"I... no! These engineers put me in charge! Him and the fireman had to fix the light." She said.

"Fix the light?" Tom asked. "I'm guessing it's the light that's infront of the engine. Most locomotives have that" Sora said.

"H-How do... you know what to do?" Tom asked. "It's pretty simple actually! Aside from the firebox work, but the fireman told me not to do any of that." She said. Then, she started to show all the parts. "That's the break, and that's the throttle-"

Tom seemed like he was getting interested, but Sora already knew everything she was talking about. Considering that his boyfriend is a train fanatic, it would be strange if he knew nothing. "And that rope is the whistle-" She said pointing at a rope. Tom looked at it. "The... whistle?" He asked. The girl nodded, smiling. "Wanna try it?"

Tom gasped, then quickly smiled. He looked at the rope, then grabbed ahold of it, and yanked it.

The whistle blew, sounding loud and rough just as an American steam locomotive should sound. "Woah! Wanted to do that my whole life!" He exclaimed. Sora smiled. 'He's just like Mark when it comes to this' He smiled.

Tom was looking around at all the parts, but as he was,, Sora heard something what sounded like faint yelling. Sora blinked. "Is... that yelling?" He looked around at the Tom and the girl, but they didn't seem to hear anything, so he figured he was hearing things. So, he shrugged it off. But then he heard it again. And this time Tom and the girl heard it. Sora saw Tom trunk around and looked at him. "...Did you hear that?" He asked. Sora had to nod. "I thought I was hearing something-" Sora said. "I didn't hear anything." The girl said.

But then it became more heard. This time, there was words.

"Stop the train! Stop the train! Stop!"

The girl gasped and quickly stuck hear head out the window. Sora did the same, and saw man yelling at them from infront of the train. "Wait, I just realized that he's actually at the front of the train like that?! Isn't that dangerous!?" Sora said.

But it seemed like it was dangerous.

And not just dangerous for the two locomotive workers, but for all of them in the cab as well.

Sora and the girl could see that there was some light on the track, in the distant. "There's something on the lines!" Sora yelled. The girl gasped. "We have to brake!"

She put her head back into the cab, then looked over at Tom, who was over at the controls. "Hey you, pull the brake!" She yelled. But Tom definitely wasn't a train nerd and went to seriously pull the freaking reverser. "That's not the brake!" The girl yelled. "What? Are you sure it's not this! This looks like a brake!"

"It's not!" She yelled. "Are you sure?!" He yelled. "Tom she's right! That's not the break at all!" Sora yelled. "That's the reverser!"

Tom looked stressed, and didn't know what to do, so he went to pull the red handle. But he shouldn't have done that. He pushed the reverser forward, and that caused the locomotive to chugg faster. "Tom!" Sora snapped. He pushed him aside. "Hey!" Tom yelled. Sora grabbed the right lever, and pulled it.

The engine's break locks slammed onto the wheels, making it's wheels stop instantly, and it skidded along the rails. Sora and the rest had to grab onto each other as the train jolted.

Luckily, it seemed it had stopped before it hit what was infront of them. "What happened?" Tom asked. "I don't know, lets check-"

"What is happening now! Is this train never-.... YOU!" It was the Conductor. As soon as the train stopped, he quickly made his way up to the engine, and as soon as he saw Tom, he quickly got upset. "Young man, are you trying to make sure this train never reaches the north pole!?"

"We have to brake for this!" The girl yelled. She was sitting on the engineer's seat. She was pointing out the window, infront of the train. The Conductor walked over, and looked out.

"What? Caribou crossing?!" He yelled. Sora was curious, so he looked around out, and saw about over 9000 deer's all around them. "What the..." He said. They where all up on the tracks, all around the tracks, the train wouldn't be able to move without hitting them all.

Chapter Text

"We can't move with all those deers on the line!" Tom yelled. The deers where all over infront of the train. Some, even trying to climb ontop of the cow catcher of the locomotive.   "Maybe we can pull the whistle!" Sora suggested. "Try that!" The girl agreed. Sora left the window, and quickly walked up to the rope.

Choooo CHOOOOOO!"

Tom looked out the window, and not single deer moved. "What?! None of them moved Sora!"

The Conductor was standing there waiting for them, but he decided to take matters into his own hands, and he climbed over the window, and onto the side of the locomotive. "W-What? Where are you going?" Tom asked. But the Conductor didn't answer.

"Come on, let's go with him, he probably knows what to do" Sora said, and followed the Conductor. "S-Sora!" Tom said. Tom looked back at the girl. She shrugged. "Come on, let's go. Maybe he does know."

But Tom was nervous. "I... being on the edge of the locomotive like that? I don't wanna do that-"

"Don't worry, there's guard rails. And we're not moving at the moment" She stuck her hand out for Tom to take. "I won't make you fall, promise." She said. Tom sighed, then nodded. "Ok... let's go." Tom said.

"Are you both coming or what?! The Conductor is at the front of the engine already!" Sora ran back to the cab window. "Ugh, we're coming Sora!" Tom snapped. Tom looked out the window, and put his foot over the window seal, and stepped over onto the platform outside on the locomotive. "Why does this thing even have a platform for?" Tom asked. "You're telling me people walk on this while it's moving?" Tom had fully stepped onto the ledge that led down from then engine's cab, already down to the smoke box. "I believe is used for when they need to make repairs to these steam engines. They have these ledges for them to easily clean and fix the locomotives." Sora said. The girl nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense." She said. Tom sighed. "Yeah I guess it does."

At the front of the engine, at the smoke box. Was the Conductor and the engineer and the fireman. With all the millions of deers all infront of them. "We need to do something about this." Sora said as he walked along the guided platform. Tom and the girl followed him.

"How are we going to clear this? We definitely can't move unless they've cleared the tracks!" The Conductor said.

Sora walked up to him, but then tripped. "AHH!" He yelled as he fell. "Sora!" Tom yelled. Sora tried to grab onto something to prevent himself from falling and he did.

But then he heard a loud scream. Sora didn't even let go off of the thing he was holding, and used it to brace himself back up. So, he pulled whatever he was holding, to be able to get his balance back. Then the scream happened again. Now, Sora was confused, and he looked at what he pulled on. He gasped. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!"

Sora had accidentally pulled onto the fireman's long beard.

But then one of the deers who was right infront of the cow catcher, made a grunt sound, and backed up a little. It was like it didn't like the scream the fireman made. "Um..." Sora said. The Conductor, who was studying the caribou, to see how they where going to let them move, went and pulled on the fireman's beard. Sora gasped, and he wasn't expecting that to happen. The fireman's yelled, caused the caribou to make another grunt, and then all the surrounding caribou backed away from the tracks. "How... H-How did that work?" Sora asked, and then he looked at Tom and the girl. They both shrugged. The Conductor smiled. "Problem solved! All ahead... slow!" He said to the engineer. He nodded, and both him and the fireman went back to the cab. The three kids went to go back aswell, but the Conductor stopped them. "All you three need stay with me, here at the front."

"H-Huh?! B-But we'll be directly at the front! Basically exposed!" Tom said. Sora nodded, agreeing. "It'll be fine. We'll be safe. It'll be more dangerous for 6 people to be inside the cab with the hot firebox"

Sora nodded, "Yeah, that makes sense" he said looking at Tom. Tom grunted at Sora, because he agreed with the Conductor. "Tom, It'll be fine, I promise." Sora said. Tom sighed as he walked up to the railing that was at the direct front of the cow catcher. He held onto it. Sora just chuckled. "Tom, no need to be so scared." Sora said. "Scared!? We are literally at the front of a train!"

Just then the engineers started the train, and the train jerked forward and vibrating. "AHH!" Tom screeched as he hugged onto the railing. Sora covered his mouth, trying to hide his laughs. "You think this is funny don't you?!" Tom snapped. Sora just giggled.

The Polar Express chugged along the tracks going at a slow speed, and it's whistle blew loud and proud as it was moving along. As the train was chugging, Sora went closer to Tom, up to the railing. "Man... Mark would be wetting his pants if he was here..." Sora said, looking around him, then behind him at the massive lamp that was on the massive smoke box of the engine.

As they where moving along, the slow chugging of the engine, started to sound more rapid. It was sounding more rapid, because it was going faster. "Hm... I told him to go slow..." The Conductor said. He looked at the kids. "One of you, tell him to slow down."

"I'm not moving from here... Sorry.." Tom said. "I'll do it" Sora said.

Sora let go off of the railing, and walked over to the steps, that lead up to the side platform of the locomotive. "Hey! Guys!" He yelled to the cab. "You're making the train go to fast!" For a moment nothing happed. So, Sora called out to them again. "Sora, what's going on??" Tom called out to him. "I don't see where we are going any slower! It's like we are going faster!"

And they where. The chugging was getting even more rapid. The train was going faster and faster. "They can't hear me! Like at all it seems like!" Sora said. The Conductor singled him to come up to the railing on top of the cow catcher.

The train was going over some very, very unsafe looking bridge. They passed a sign that said-

Danger! 179° Grade!

And another-

Use low gear

"I don't like the look of this" The Conductor said. "Quick, under the safety bar, all of you!"

"W-What's going on?! What should we do!?" Tom yelled. The Conductor got something what seemed to be a rope, and put it around everyone's back. They where all right behind the railing, and then he tied the rope on each end. It was like a seat belt or something.  "Well, considering the fact that we are in the front of the locomotive, and lost communication with the engineer, the train seems to be accelerating uncontrollably.... and we are rapidly approaching Glacier Gulch...."

"Glacier Gulch? W-Why does that sound terrifying?" Sora asked. "Because it's the steepest downhill grade, I suggest we all hold on.... TIGHTLY!"

What happed next made everyone scream like they where on a roller-coaster. The rails sloped down literally like how a roller-coaster would have that heart stopping drop. "Holy CRAP!" Tom screamed. "WOOO!" Sora exclaimed. The tracks went up, and the train up, and around and down....

It was a little strange how the entire train set didn't fly off of the rails.

There was one final drop, and poor Tom looked like he wanted to die.

For the rest of the time, there was one last stretch. And the train was still going faster than the Shanghai Maglev.

But that wasn't the end of their problems. "Is it over, no more loops-" The girl asked. They where now on a flat grade. Then the Conductor saw something infront of them.

"Jiminy Christmas, the ice has frozen over the tracks!"

"What?!" Sora yelled. He looked down the tracks, and the Conductor was right. Ice was completely covering the train tracks.

And there was nothing do to. They couldn't slow the train down.

The entire train slammed onto the ice, and it went drifting on the frozen water. The back coaches where literally meeting up towards the front.

And them drifting on the ice wasn't even the last of the problems.

There was a giant ice berg just sitting onto of the ice. And the train of course had to hit it. The locomotive tilted, it balancing on one side of it's wheels. "Tom!" Sora yelled once he saw that his friend was about to fall off. The girl, then grabbed him by his pajamas, and then the Conductor grabbed her, and Sora grabbed the Conductor trying to pull them all back to the floor. But that was so hard to do, due to the engine being tilted. They started to slide, but then Sora felt someone grab him. And he was confused, because no one else was there with them. He turned around, and saw that it was the man who was ontop of the train. He managed to pull them all up, but then he vanished.

'What the...' Sora said when he saw him vanished.

"Quick thinking on your part!" The Conductor said to Sora, when they where all on the platform.

Now, they had to keep their balance, since the engine was still doing ballerina moves on the ice.

But just at the moment, the locomotive workmen must of finally gotten the memo that the train wasn't even on the tracks anymore, and they slammed the brakes. The wheels instantly stopped. The train skidded on the ice, but it eventually slowed down, and came to a halt.

The engine was still tilted. So, Sora, the girl, Tom and the Conductor tried to get to the other side to put more weight. That did the trick, and the engine came falling back to the ground, but it hit the ground to hard and Tom almost went flying off, if the Conductor didn't grab him.

Everything was finally settled. Tom sighed. He looked over at Sora. "Never... am.. I... trusting you again..." He said.

The Conductor sighed. "Well... let's see what's going on in there"

"You kids stay here" The Conductor said as he walked over to the cab.

Sora leaned onto the railing. Tom was sitting down on the floor of the platform. "Sorry... I seriously didn't know the train was going to literally turn into a roller-coaster." Sora said to him. The girl nodded. "He's right. That was surely unexpected." She said. "What are we even going to do?" Tom asked.

Sora shrugged. "Possibly a break down train? They have those in the town I visit a lot. And where my boyfriend is from."

"But... we can't wait for a brake down train! We'll never reach the North Pole!" The girl said. Sora knew she was right. "You're right.... but... how are we going to reach it, when we are stuck on the ice?"

As Sora was talking to the girl, he saw a strange look on Tom's face. "Tom? What's wrong?"

Tom looked frighten as he pointed to something that was supposedly in front of them. Sora turned his head around to look ahead of the locomotive. "Tom, what is-" Sora gasped and went wide eyed.

A dark figure was hovering over the ice. Just a shadow figure. "It's Nerraw! What's it doing now!?" Sora snapped. "W-What is that?!" The girl exclaimed. Sora summoned his keyblade. "Someone who doesn't belong here!"

Nerraw was at a distance away from them. He wasn't too close, but they could see him clearly. Then, he went closer to the ground. Towards the ice. "W-What is it doing?" The girl asked with fear in her voice. A dark mist came out of it's hand, and into the ice.

The ice cracked.

One crack, led to another, and another.

"He's trying to crack the ice!" Sora yelled. Indeed it was. The ice got separated, and and was coming closer to them. Then, Nerraw disappeared. Sora desummoned his keyblade. "Hey!" He yelled out, for the Conductor to hear him. "Mr. Conductor! The ice!" He yelled. The Conductor came up to them. "What is it? What about the Ic-" He gasped when he saw the ice cracking. He quickly ran back to the engineer. "Get us the blazes out of here!!" He yelled to them.

All of a sudden, the chugging started.

Then the train reversed. "What's happening? How are we going to do this?!" Tom yelled. But the Conductor didn't hear them due to him being near the cab. Even Sora didn't see how this was going to work out. There was a screech, as the brakes came on. The cracking ice almost came right up the the cow catcher, as Tom was seriously panicking. The train was drifting along the ice.

The brakes came off, and the chugging resumed. The train started to move forward. The whole train looped around, and now they where heading away from the cracking ice. "How are they doing this?!" Tom yelled. "I don't know!" Sora said.

The train was going full speed down the ice. Heading for.... the tracks.

Right dead ahead of them, was the other side of the tracks. The other end of the tracks what the ice had frozen over. "Guys... are those rails?!" Sora exclaimed. Tom squinted it is! Are they trying to aim for it?!"

Sora looked to the left of him, and saw a dark mist flying along side the locomotive. 'Nerraw...' Sora said.

Nerraw flew right in front of the train, and stayed hovered there, facing towards them. With his arms folded. It was crazy how it was going the same speed as the train. But Sora had enough of him. "He's the reason the ice has been cracking..."

He quickly summoned his keyblade. "FIRE!" He yelled and a fire charge flew out of the keyblade, but Nerraw dodged it. "You can't defeat me... Sora~" He said with a smirk. "I might look like Dark-Blade... but I'm 100% different."

"Sora what is it talking about?!" The girl nervously asked Sora. "Don't play mind games with me, 'Nerraw' all of you are the same, beings covered in darkness from my world. My magic is your enemy. Just because your more agile than Kyle doesn't mean I'll won't defeat you too!" Sora said with his eyes filled with anger at the dark figure who was hovering infront of them all. Nerraw just evilly laughed. "This thing is definitely not filled with Christmas Joy..." The girl said. "Watch your mouth kid. Or I'll-"

Sora used that time, while Nerraw was distracted to attack him. "LIGHT!" Sora yelled and a beam of light shined out of the keyblade, and slammed into Nerraw. "OWW!" He yelped, and he dropped to the ground, and the train ran him over. "Oh... holy...um... did we kill him?" Tom asked.

"No. He's invisible. At least I think... he's not like the other one" Sora said.

It sounded as if the wheels where stopping and going, stopping and going. And while it was, the engine was turning left and right, left and right. "How are they doing this? This seems impossible!"

"What's going to be more impossible is us being able to line up with the track as soon as we reach up to it!" Sora said. "Should we help somehow?" The girl asked. "Yeah. Let's super hero it, and keep the train aligned!" Tom yelled. "Hey! Mean..." She said. "Guys calm down, your bickering isn't helping."

"What if that thing comes back?" The girl asked. "Sora can just use that.... key thing again"

Sora shook his head. "I'm out of magic. And I don't have any Ethers. If he comes back right now, we're screwed." He said. "Well, that's a wonderful thing to hear." Tom said.

"Maybe I can..." Sora summoned his keyblade. Tom looked at the girl, then back at Sora. "Can... what?"

Sora new what he was about to do. There is some magic he can use in the keyblade, that doesn't drain out his magic. Of course, none powerful enough to even scratch Nerraw. But, he might be able to guide the train. Sora rose the key in the air. Then closed his eyes. He was about to use one of his abilities, and try to convert it to the train.

Glide

Sora is able to do that, but he has never been able to master it. But now, he tried. As he closed his eyes, he tried to focus on the train. He channeled his energy into the train, and the people within it. His glide ability started to enter the train, and made the train align with the track that was coming up. "Sora... whatever it is that you're doing... it's working! I...I-I think.." Tom said. The train was chugging very fast down the ice.

But before it could reach the end of the ice journey, they could hear a loud cracking sound. It sounded like it was behind, so Tom and the girl quickly peeked around back of the train. And saw that the couches where submerged in water. "OH NO!!" They both yelled. 

Sora tried his best to focus to keep the train on in a perfect line, and just in the nick of time, the engine's wheels slammed onto the tracks. The train finally reached the other side, and the locomotive pulled the couches out of the water, and up onto the tracks. Sora let go off the energy, and sighed. He blinked, and looked behind him, but then he got cut off of his thoughts due to both Tom and the girl hugging him. "Woah!" He gasped. "Sora you did it!" The girl exclaimed. "Good going Sora!" Tom said. Sora smiled and hugged back. "I can't believe... what I just did! I never been able to master that before!"

Tom broke from the hug. "I'm just glad you where able to use it at this very moment! That was crazy!"

"We should probably check on the Conductor" Sora said. Both his friends nodded. "He's probably inside the cab."

Chapter Text

"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.

Chapter Text

Entering the end car, which was a caboose, Tom and Sora had been there earlier, when they both went onto the roof to track down Holly. This beautiful car had couch like seats, that was facing sideways, and not frontwards like the other cars. Sora didn't have time to look at it, because he and Tom were so focused on returning the ticket. "Wow, this car is honestly nice... Mark would be going crazy over this-" Sora said. Tom nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's pretty nice,"

As they walked along, they saw that the boy, was on the little patio outside, and Holly was just inside, at the door. Tom and Sora walked up to her. Tom was about to say something to her, but Holly quickly shushed him. Then, Sora was about to say something, then she shushed him as well.

Turns out she didn't want to disturb the boy because he thought he was alone. He was outside, singing to himself.

"-And trying to believe... That even though it's far... He'll find me Christmas eve..."

Holly walked a little closer, up to the door. Sora just looked over at Tom, who only just shrugged.

"I guess that Santa's busy... cause he never comes around... I think of him when Christmas comes to town..."

Sora was about to whisper something to Tom, but then Holly all of sudden started to sing along as if she knew the words that the boy was singing. That left Tom and Sora, just staring at them very confused. "The best time of the year-" She sang. "When everyone comes home. With all this Christmas cheer, it's hard to be alone,"

Tom just slowly looked over at Sora, and all Sora could do was quitely giggle at Tom's reaction.

"Presents for the children wrapped in red and green"

Then the boy just joined in and didn't care. "All the things I've heard about, but never really seen,"

"No one will be sleeping the night of Christmas Eve,"

Then they both started to sing "Hoping Santa's on his way,"

It went on like that for a few minutes. "That's all I want... when Christmas comes to town-" They both finished.

Tom just stared at them blinking. "Um... What just happened-" Tom asked. Sora busted out laughing. "Geez, let two people share a moment," Holly said rolling her eyes. She turned her head, "Hey! Look!" She pointed to the sky.

"Huh? What?" Tom asked, walking closer. "Ooh! Cool! The Northern Lights!"

The night sky had a pretty natural light show going on. "So pretty!" Sora said once he saw it.

"Hey, you four!" Said a familiar voice. All of them turned around to see the Conductor walking towards them. "We just crossed it, Latitude 66°33 The Artic Circle,"

Then, he pointed to something. It was an Island, sitting in the ocean. "You see those lights in the distance? Looks like a strange ocean liner, sailing on the open sea?"

"That... Is the North Pole!"

All of them got excited. "R-Really?! The... The North Pole!?" Tom gasped.

Even Sora was surprised. How can there be two Santas?

The Polar Express chugged through the ice and snow, and up to the 'Noth Pole' passing over a Viaduct, that twisted, and turned in very weird ways, right into the Island, then right up facing the Island. Sora wouldn't dare say it out loud, but this 'North Pole' put the Santa he knows, North Pole to shame. It was giant. A lot of factories, and old-style buildings. "Come on let's get back to the coach!" Tom said excitedly, basically dragging Sora's arm.

They both ran back into the main coach. Roxas and Hayner were both looking out the window. "No way this is the Noth Pole," Roxas said. "This shits an entire city," Hayner said. Sora sat next to them. Poor Hayner got startled. "AHH!" He screeched. Grabbing Roxas by accident. "Dude... Geez," Roxas said to Hayner, just after kissing his cheek because he was close to him. And that made Hayner blush extremely. And Sora had to laugh loudly at that. Hayner just pouted, crossing his arms. "Sora, do you see this place?" Roxas said pointing outside. "Yeah! It's huge right?!"

"It can't be the North Pole, can it?"

Sora nodded. "It is! The Conductor said it is,"

Roxas looked back at the window. "The Gem has to be in there, if not the train,"

"Great, how are we gonna find a gem in an entire Town like that?" Hayner asked. "Don't worry, we will," Roxas said. As they inched closer to the land where Santa lives, one of the kids asked the Conductor something. "Where are the elves?"

"Yeah, where are they?" Another asked. "I don't see any," One more said.

"Well, The ones back home didn't stay outside in the freezing cold," Hayner whispered to Roxas. Roxas nodded. "Yeah, they stayed inside to make toys and stuff,"

"They are gathering in the center of the city," The Conductor responded to the kids. "That is where Santa will give the first gift of Christmas,"

"First gift?" Sora whispered to Sora and Roxas. "Better give me the Gem," Hayner whispered, but Roxas elbowed him in the arm. "Ow!"

"Who gets the first gift of Christmas?" The kid in the yellow pajamas asked. The Conductor looked at everyone. "He'll choose one of you-"

As they chugged along the lines... It looks like they came up to the center of the city. "Look! The elves!" One of the kids exclaimed.

Right outside had the elves of the North Pole, marching alongside the train. Not one, not two, but possibly thousands of elves.

"Holy Mother of-" Sora gasped. "T-That's a lot of elves..." Roxas said blinking. "What is that, over a million?!" Hayner exclaimed. The train was slowing down now until it stopped at the foot of a really, really huge Christmas Tree, that looked over the town, with a very bright shining star at the top.

Once they stopped, the Conductor allowed everyone to leave the train. "Alright, two columns if you please, shorter in the front, taller in the rear,"

Hayner sighed. "Great I have to be behind everyone,"

Roxas giggled. "No one's fault that you're tall,"

As Sora, came off with Tom and Holly behind him, Sora saw Holly walking up to the Conductor. "Um... Excuse me... what about him?" She pointed to the caboose.

It turns out the boy who was alone in the caboose car, didn't leave. "Well, no one is required to see Santa," That was all he said, and went back to guide the rest of the kids. She looked over at Sora and Tom. "Come on," She said to both of them, walking over to the car.

Tom looked at Sora. Sora shrugged, so, Tom followed her, and Sora followed him.

"Where are you going now?" Roxas asked. "Like geez, can you stay with us for one minute?" Hayner asked.

"Don't worry, I'm not going far," Sora said. Sora was right behind Tom, and Tom jumped up onto the steps of the caboose, but his foot hit something, and he tripped. His foot also pushed something down. But, he didn't notice. Neither did Sora. Sora just saw when he tripped, and caught him, hosting him up onto the caboose. "Phew, thanks Sora," Tom thanked him.

Sora nodded, then walked up once Tom was in.

Holly, who was inside, ran up to the kid. "Hey... You have to come with us," She said to him.

The kid just looked at them, then back down. "The holidays just don't work out for me. They... Never do,"

"But why not?" Holly asked. The kid just shook his head. "They just never do,"

"Look," Tom said. "I... Don't know if today would be different, but don't stay here by yourself, you got us to keep you company out there, it'll be fun," He said. Sora nodded. "Right! You'd feel terrible just setting here by yourself while everyone is having fun,"

Holly nodded. "Yes come with us, we'll all go together. All 5 of us,"

The kid looked like he was thinking about it, but then he looked at Sora. "Why... Do you look like the main character in my Manga-"

All Tom did, was had to giggle at that. "Well, that's what I asked him earlier,"

Sora just playfully rolled his eyes. It looked like the boy was about to get up, to go with them, but then the caboose car shook. "Woah, what's going on?!" Sora asked. Tom lost his balance and grabbed onto Holly. Then the lights flickered, then shut off.

"What's going on?" Holly asked. Then it felt like the car was rocking like it was moving. Tom ran to the end and opened the door, that would connect to the car, only to see that the caboose was leaving the entire train behind. "Holy shi- Guy's! We got a problem!"

"What happened?" Sora asked once he saw Tom running back to the other end, he opened the patio door. "Ok! This... Is gonna be fine-"

"Why? What's going-" Then Sora saw that they were starting to pick up speed. "Wait... did we disconnect from the train?!"

Chapter Text

"W-We're gonna be okay..., This is going to be fine," Tom nervously commented as the loose caboose car was drifting along the tracks, going backward and leaving the train behind them. Sora, despite him being optimistic all the time, didn't see how this was going to be fine at all.

The breakcar hit a device on the rails, and it triggered an incoming switch. "Woah! Maybe not!" Tom gasped, as the car swung left on the switch. Sora, Holly, and the other boy nearly tripped over, from the sudden jerk.

"Is there a break on this thing?!" Holly wheezed. Sora and Tom gasped at the same time. "The emergency brake!" They both said. Sora held onto the door. It was hard to keep his balance, due to the caboose rattling and shuddering, rumbling down the hill at this very fast pace. "Is it out here? I don't see it!" Sora yelled, as tried to keep his stability, out on the patio.

"It might be on the other side!" Tom said. He left Sora and tried to make his way to the other side of the car.

Tom tried to make his way through the car, but it was difficult to walk forward with the car rocketing down the track lines the opposite way. It felt like he was losing his balance and almost fell over many times. "Come on! Get to it!" He yelled to himself.

The caboose was set up differently than the rest of the cars. He was looking for the break cord. But he didn't see it.

"Guys! I can't find it! There's no break! I can't find the break!" He yelled. He scanned the upper walls of the interior of the caboose, and there was no cord visible.

"Try the outside!" Sora yelled.

"Be careful Tom!" Holly yelled.

Tom grabbed onto one of the coach seats, and pulled himself across the car, up to the door that once connected to the rest of the train.

He could see that, put the door, the rest of the "North Pole" was flying by, with them going backward. He finally made it to the door. He held onto the hinge of the door frame and poked his head out. He looked to his left, then his right.

On the right side, there was a round steering wheel-looking device. "All there is a wheel!" Tom yelled, looking back at his friends on the other end.

"A wheel? Try and turn it!" The other boy said.

Tom looked back at it. "Here goes nothing," He quickly made haste, reached over, grabbed it, and pulled it down. The wheel spun-

SCREECHHHH

The car vibrated and jerked for a moment. Tom gasped. It was the break. But, it needed more turns. "Hurry up Tom!" Sora yelled. Tom determinedly, tried to turn the wheel, but it was very hard to do from the position he was in.

Then, they were engulfed in darkness.

The runaway car entered a dark tunnel. And all that did, was made it harder for Tom to see the break.

He managed to make another stroke-

SCREEECCCHHHH

The sparks from underneath the caboose lit up the tunnel in an orange and red hue. "Tom we are in a tunnel!" Holly screamed. "You think I don't know that!" Tom yelled back. Tom finally got a foothold and managed to continuously turn the brake wheel.

The wheel wasn't exactly light. It required a lot of force to turn. And still, the position Tom was in, didn't exactly make it easier.

SCREEECCCHH

Went the metal wheels, rubbing on the metal rails.

They were slowing down a little bit-

But then:

"We're going to crash!" Tom heard Holly yell out.

"WAIT... WH-" Before Tom could finish his outburst, he felt the car make a violent shake, and it bounced, he grabbed onto the door frame, to prevent himself from falling out of the car. Everyone else had seen the end of the line coming up, and ran back into the car. Once they hit, they all fell to the floor.

Sora got up and tried to help Holly, but the car was still shaking, and he nearly fell over.

"W-Why are we spinning?" Tom asked.

The car felt like they where spinning around and around, the loose metal joints, could be heard shaking in the car.

They all went to the outside, patio,

And they got their answer.

They were on a turn table.

It slowly came to a stop.

It looked as of the car shook the table out of place, and put it in a spin cycle. There was a buffer at the end of the table. They must have bounced into that.

"Holy... shoot..." Sora said as he looked at the surroundings. "Where are we?" Tom asked. There were tracks, that lead into tunnels in the distance. No one had any idea of where they led to. "How are we going to get back?" Tom asked.

But then, Holly shushed him. "Do you hear that?" She asked.

"Hear what?" Tom looked at her. "The music that's playing?" There was Christmas music playing, seeming to be coming from speakers. "No..." Holly said. "A Sligh bell! Don't you hear it!?"

"I think I heard it," Sora said. "W-What? What are you two talking about?" Tom said. "It's coming from that tunnel!"

Holly pointed to one of the tunnels the track lines went into.

She quickly ran over to it, and Sora followed her.

"Hey! W-Wha... guys wait up! Geez!" Tom yelled, and both he and the other boy ran after them. He caught up. "Geez, can't you just... W-What..." Tom had to shut up at what he saw. There was a bridge, to the tunnel.

All of the tunnels around the round turntable had bridges. But from the area they were in, they didn't see the danger of what it was. It seemed like there was no ballast. Or wooden planks. It was just the two rails over what seemed to be an endless abyss.

"That's the way we should go!" Holly said. "I'm telling you, I heard some bells, there's probably someone who can help us," Then, before anyone could say anything. She started to put one foot on the skinny slippery rail line and started to slowly walk on it like someone at a circus walking on a tight rope.

"What?! ARE YOU INSANE?!" Tom screamed. "I AM NOT DOING THAT!"

"Yeah! There has to be a safer way!" Sora said.