Naofumi looked around, scanning the area for mobs.

  “Guess the coast is clear...” Still shaken from the incident a few weeks ago, he quietly got up and proceeded back to Melromarc.

  The city was bustling. If it weren’t for the betrayal that he faced right after arriving in the kingdom, he might have participated in it. It’s strange, really. The castle and town had an alluring feeling, one could get lost for days just taking in the sights and sounds. The smells of the bakeries, which used to be reminiscent of his hometown, were now more stale than the bread they threw out after it had been left out for too long. He lost all sense of feeling, and belonging– even his dignity was taken from him. It felt like an eternity ago that the town started to dehumanize him for a crime that he didn’t even commit.

  He put up the hood of his cloak as a way to hide his face from the city’s peasants, which presented the potential for a more dangerous type of mob than the ones he was used to fighting outside of the castle walls.

  Could they even hurt me? After all, I am the ‘legendary’ shield hero. He deliberated on the situation for a moment. The thoughts echoed the voices that sounded not long after he arrived, voices that one moment were cheering for him, and the next they were jeering at him.

  “Nobody defended me from the bitch princess, the trash king, or the bastard spear ‘hero.’” Not able to stand the thought of it all. He went silent…

  People are always talking about villains, and how ‘we’re’ wrong, and ‘they’re’ right… but what if the world is the villain? Is morality judged by whether or not the masses say something is okay? That turned out great historically, He internally mocked.

  The thoughts were starting to become more frequent, more lingering, more unpleasant. He closed his eyes for a bit, and as they lay closed, he hoped that it would all come to an end. He hoped to wake up from this nightmare of a world, to find a way back in his own home.

  He opened his eyes just in time to see a group of thugs approaching him from the shadows.

  Oh, come on. Naofumi thought to himself.

  “This is all a cliché at this point.” He said, looking at the encroaching posse, bracing his shield into a ready stance.

  “There’s a reward for your head, Shield Hero. You know how you said you wanted to leave this world? Well, we’re the guys who are going to give you a one-way ticket out of here.” The leader, who was unsheathing his knife, said, amused by his threat.

  Naofumi flinched, but held strong, blocking the attacks from the bandits like they were nothing, when something came by and smacked the bandit leader in the head and knocked him out.

  Was that a shield? Naofumi, who was gazing in the direction from which the object came, questioned. The shield hero then heard something that sounded like a voice, but more mumbled– It was also less clear than what he was accustomed to.

  “Blizzard!”

  The bandits, too, looked to where the voice was coming from just in time to receive a bunch of ice balls to the face.

  “What the hell is going on?” One of the bandits shouted in confusion, his balance thrown off as he fell onto his rear end.

  The bandits are panicking now. Naofumi breathed a sigh of relief– He was just on the receiving end of their taunts, now he was thinking about how pathetic they looked. Their pained expressions were comforting to him, but they also presented far bigger problems. He already knew who paid the bandits money to bring them his head, but who was the person who attacked the bandits? Should he be worried? The shield hero heard someone who sounded like they were approaching fast.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  If they could take out a few bandits with a couple of blows, what does that mean for me? He thought to himself as he started raising his shield in a defensive position. It was about that same moment when a guy with a giant key showed up.

  “Sorry I’m late!” he exclaimed, annoyed at himself for being absent from the battle.

  “BAAAK! We’re always behind schedule.” The biggest duck that Naofumi had ever seen was tagging right behind the new potential threat.

  “Gawrsh, fellars, I don’t think the people we just fought were heartless.”

  A giant dog and duck? This was starting to become way less of a cliché than Naofumi thought, though he still didn’t know what to make of these assailants, he lowered his guard a bit.

  “Are you the Shield Hero?” The boy with the sword-like key asked him.

  Shit! Naofumi raised his shield again, bracing for a high-impact collision.

  “We’re not going to hurt you. We kind of understand what you’re going through. “I’m Sora! This is Donald, and that’s Goofy.”

  Naofumi wasn’t listening to any of it, all he heard were a triad of names.

  “You always come in threes, don’t you? First the three stooges looked down on me, then the three accusers betrayed, now you three– You’re here to finish me and claim the reward, aren’t you!?” Naofumi cried, holding back the tears, but his voice left a crack in his defense.

  Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked at each other with pained expressions. They’ve seen sad and broken hearts before, but…

  “I told you, we aren’t going to hurt you. You’ve been through enough.” Sora said in a stern but compassionate voice. Realizing that his weapon was still drawn, he sent his keyblade away, motioning for Donald and Goofy to do the same. They nodded and sheathed their weapons, too.

  Naofumi was feeling a sense of guarded relief. He still didn’t know what to entirely make of the situation at hand, but their weapons weren’t drawn.

  Would they have attacked me by now if they could? Naofumi questioned himself. His thoughts were running rampant with possible outcomes, but for the first time in a long time, most of them were ending on a positive note. Proceeding to lower his guard, if just for the moment, he asked.

  “You three are heroes from another world, aren’t you?”

  Sora, Donald, and Goofy were taken aback. Wondering how to protect the world order. However, they were getting the same feeling from Naofumi, so they retorted in unison.

  “Are you?”

  Naofumi, who was taken by surprise at how defensive they got, decided to humour their question first.

  “Don’t get so defensive, I’m the shield hero here.” Naofumi said, now realizing that the ‘people’ here were potential allies and not enemies. Following up with his pun, he answered.

  “I’m from Earth, and as much as I’d like to assume that you’re from the same place, Earth doesn’t have walking, talking animals.”

  “I’m from Destiny Islands,” Sora said.

  “We’re from Disney Town,” Goofy followed up.

  “We started our journey from Disney Castle. I’m the Royal Court Wizard, and Goofy is the Captain of the Royal Knights,” Donald finished, a bit of pride in his voice.

  “Never heard of them, but it’s nice meeting you,” Naofumi said, putting his hand out, still with a bit of reluctance, but more sure than he was before.

  “No, like this,” Sora stated in earnest. He, Donald, and Goofy put their hands together, one on top of another, and the trio said almost like they coordinated it.

  “All for one, and one for all!”

  Naofumi thought that he had heard that saying somewhere before.

  Maybe from a book? He pondered, having somewhat of a disdain for books now after one dropped him face-first into this world.

  “Not happening,” Naofumi, who just snapped back to reality, said aloud.

  “Oh, come on!” Sora cried, not with his eyes, but with his voice.

  Maybe one day, but not here. Not now. Not yet, Naofumi thought. The people he met in this world had shattered his heart, but now, with newfound allies from other worlds, he might just be able to put it back together again.