They're all looking for clues to Sora's whereabouts, not literally looking for Sora. it's not a game of Sora Hide and the GoL's Seek lol.
They know he got SNAPPED, they just don't know what SNAPPED itself means. It's kinda like..they know you're not supposed to misuse the power of waking, they know that it can effectively "kill" the misuser, but they don't know what function of the misuse exactly that whisks you from the realm of light.
Kinda crazy how the power of asspulls can be defined but simultaneously undefined.
Right. Plus, I'm sure they've consulted Yen Sid in all of this. It's not like Sora's been gone for a year and they haven't told the guy about it, he absolutely knows. Yen Sid is probably equally as in the dark as everyone else is though, because surely abusing the Power of Waking isn't something that just happens all the time.
If we didn't have the secret endings, wouldn't we be making the same wild guesses as the characters?
Bingo. If KH3 Vanilla had ended without an epilogue or a secret ending, you'd think that was the end of the story. TAV going to the RoD isn't an illogical decision to make, because who in the hell knew what really happened to him?
WE know he just faded and ended up in The Final World, but to everyone else, imagine seeing that in real time and he's actually gone. Like, erased. Not even we know the full story, because if ReMind's anything to go by, Sora still has his Keyblade. So when Chirithy means that he can't return without his powers, it's probably referring to the Power of Waking. If he still has his form, then something's still holding him to life, if not his own sense of purpose. And as a matter of fact, it's hard to say if he can even just walk right out if someone came to get him. The fact that he's still all complete in TFW would probably be a surprise even to Chirithy.
That's why I actually like the fact that there's a year timeskip, despite others not liking it. If it were six months, that's not a big deal because how long do you think these games take? Certainly not like, a day or so (not the numbered titles/major entries at least). Time passes during the games, Days especially touches on how long CoM takes. So a year makes sense because you're searching everywhere you possibly could look, and there's no sign of him at all. They've exhausted every avenue, all that's left is Kairi's current journey (which turns out to seemingly be the right one).
Look.
I REALLY don't think they've been in the realm of darkness for an entire year straight. Come on guys.
Time flow differences aside, I think it's safe to assume they've been coming and going, making regular trips, since they're well within their ability to do that now. I'm sure even the Wayfinders understand that spending more than a few hours at a time there would be dangerous.
As for Chirithy, I think it's entirely possible it did tell them about Sora, but doesn't know where he is now? Unless I'm misremembering parts of re:mind. Since sleep and death and darkness are stated (by Chirithy among others) to be rather close together, it makes sense they'd decide to travel there to look for clues and possible connections and/or points of travel? Maybe things that could have crossed over? And considering A. Aqua herself has plenty of firsthand experience with the Road and B. The Wayfinders are the only wielders with keyblade armour, it easily makes sense they'd be the ones to explore that avenue instead of anyone else.
(I know other characters might still have black coats but assuming they didn't ditch them completely and immediately burn them in a fire in a PTSD fueled act akin to cutting your hair short, they have other methods specific to them to try out anyway i.e. exploring their own memories and whatnot)
I don't remember if Chirithy had mentioned if darkness was tied to the Realm of Sleep and death, but I could see it being a thing. Young Xehanort did say that Sora's price for abusing the Power of Waking "lies at the bottom of the abyss", so the fact that he ended up fading away and is in The Final World... Makes you wonder. Although, Chirithy says that during Sora's dives, he sometimes ends up in The Final World by accident, and Dives aren't necessarily tied to darkness. It's tricky.
They probably weren't in there the whole year, but I wonder how long they've been in there. To them, it won't be a year, but keeping track the flow of time has to be weird. I agree though, they're probably not going to want to stick around there for too long, because it's just not a safe idea no matter how you slice it. Riku and Mickey nearly got wiped twice in KH3 because of how much stronger the Heartless are, and Aqua knows just how dangerous it is, so I like to think they'd exercise caution.
The only one who theoretically could look in the RoD other than TAV (black coats aside) would be Riku and Mickey, but Mickey is with Donald and Goofy exploring the worlds, and Riku's been looking on his own (maybe the Realm of Sleep himself? It was never said how he spent the year looking).
I still maintain that the best way to find Sora is most likely via the Realm of Sleep. Melody of Memory might touch on this, since I guess Kairi diving while asleep would count as the Realm of Sleep too, right? She's not visiting the Sleeping Worlds, but her own memories in her heart due to the traces of connections back when Sora had her heart, so maybe that's why Kairi's the focus now.
