What are you working on?

“I gotta admit, kid,” Luxu smirked, resting his Keyblade on his shoulder as Kairi knelt in the sand, struggling to catch her breath. “You put up a hell of a fight! Honestly, I didn’t think you had it in you—I mean, I’d heard you and Sora fought the old coot together, but y’know, the kid’s been at this for a while now. You, though…”

His voice trailed off as Kairi stabbed Destiny’s Embrace into the rock beneath her, and struggled to push herself up. Her muscles screamed at her, sweat poured from her brow. She got one foot underneath her—then the other. She yanked her Keyblade from the ground, and, shaking, pointed it at Luxu once more, her chest heaving.

Luxu was silent for a moment. “…You, though,” he amended, “are clearly tougher than I thought. Well done! I was wrong about you, yeah, I can admit that.” He swung his Keyblade back down to his side. “But it’s still not gonna be eno—”

“ALEXANDER!” Kairi called.

The pressure in the Graveyard immediately changed, and burnt ozone assaulted Luxu’s nose. Suddenly, the dust clouds above them parted to reveal an enormous starship hanging in the sky, the word Axiom emblazoned on its side. His eye widened.

Kairi swung her glowing Keyblade, and every ounce of ordnance the Axiom had fell upon the desert.

“We can use it, the power of waking!” Kairi suggested. Riku’s furrowed his brow, glaring at her.

“Kairi, the power of waking is too dangerous.”

“What makes it dangerous?” Riku blinked once. Then blinked again.

“What?”

“What,” Kairi said, folding her arms, “makes it so dangerous to use?”

“Kairi, Sora disappeared into nothing!” Riku yelled. Ventus and Xion winced. Aqua, Terra, Roxas, and Lea shot him a look. Kairi, however, glared.

“Why yes, he did, thank you for the reminder, Riku. But how about you tell us – tell me – what did Sora do, specifically, with the power of waking that makes it so dangerous?” Riku looked at her, then to the ground. Kairi exhaled, and rolled her eyes.

“You don’t know…do you?” Silence. “Riku!”

“Master Yen Sid…never really told us what it can do,” Riku said, sighing. He folded his arms against his chest, looking around the circle of Guardians. “At first I thought it was just for awakening sleeping hearts, like I did for Sora.” Kairi continued to stare at Riku, her look softening.

“But then everything happened so fast. Mickey and I used it to access the Dark Realm, using Mickey’s connection to Aqua,” Riku gestured toward her. Aqua had a strange mix of sadness and frustration on her face. “Then, somehow, Sora used it to save all of us, and rewrite history itself. I…I have no idea what the power of waking is anymore – I probably never have.”

“Riku…” Kairi said, walking over to him. She put a hand on his shoulder, offering a sad smile. Riku returned the smile.

“It feels like there’s so much about the power of waking that we don’t understand,” Riku said, Kairi’s hand falling from his shoulder as he paced around in front of her. “What if one of us tries to use it, then disappears like Sora? Or worse?” A loud, exasperated sigh echoed throughout the room. Kairi, Riku, and the rest of the Guardians turned toward Ven, and the Chirithy snuggled in his arms.

“What was that about, Chirithy?” Ven asked, scratching Chirithy’s head. Chirithy purred for a moment, before jumping out of Ven’s arms onto the ground.

“I swear, eons can pass and you Keykids will still find a way to use a power you don’t understand,” Chirithy said, surveying the Guardians.

“What do you mean?” Kairi asked, kneeling to Chirithy’s eye level. “Do you know what the power of waking is, Chirithy?”

“The Power of Waking,” Chirithy corrected, shaking its head. “How did Yen Sid – Yen Sid – end up being the only old Keyblade mentor left around?!” Chirithy muttered, hopping over to the seat on the other end of the room. Kairi rose back to her feet, and looked towards the rest of the Guardians. Everyone shared a shrug as they followed behind Chirithy. The Dream Eater hopped onto the chair and took a seat.

“All right, Guardians. Everyone take a seat. I’m going to explain the Power of Waking, so hopefully none of you will tell a bunch of unassuming kids in the future about something you don’t actually understand yourself,” Chrithity said. As everyone took a seat, Chirithy cleared its throat.

“Now, Riku is correct. The Power of Waking is to awaken hearts. And to traverse hearts, protect hearts, and ultimately, understand the hearts of the people and worlds around you. The Power of Waking isn’t just one power: it’s seven.”

VANITY FAIR EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW WITH US GOLD MEDALIST RAFE AL-HASHIM

I’ve barely crossed the threshold of 29-year-old Olympic judoka Rafe Al-Hashim’s apartment before he’s offering me and the photo team something to eat or drink. “It’s no trouble,” he insists, and we’re delighted to discover that he has a talent for baking snickerdoodles in addition to judo. He’s a gracious host. When I ask if his parents were the ones who taught him to be so polite, he pauses, and gives a cryptic “Sort of.”

I get the impression that this is clearly something that will come up later, so I steer the conversation elsewhere for the time being. Rafe does nearly all of his own cooking—he has to keep a certain diet to maintain his physique for judo, and he tries to keep halal as well. “I still get to eat some of the good junk food every once in a while,” he says, smiling. “I make the stuff I have to eat taste good, but nothing really beats a nice, greasy pizza, you know?” As my mom has been trying to get our whole family doing keto, I have to agree (sorry, Mom).

Ren sighed at Futaba. “What did you do this time?”

Futaba gave him a smirk. “Nothing that wasn’t unwarranted, catboy.”

“Inkling.”

“Shoujo love interest!”

“Gremlin!”

“Four eyes!”

“Futaba, you wear glasses too. And your eyesight is worse than mine!”

“Catboy!”

“You already said that!”

“…CATBOY 2: THE NYANQUEL”

Makoto sighed. Yusuke and Sae had gathered behind the couple at the booth. “Can you please show us your laptop screen?” Somehow, whenever Ren and Futaba got like this, it was as though the collective brain cells between the two plummeted to zero.