I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy
With one small step onto the wooden surface that was the docks, she stared off far ahead at the island before her. And then her fearful blue eyes looked upwards to the heavens, where the night sky had long since been shrouded in thunderous clouds which seemed to make everything almost pitch black.
This of course made everything in front of her harder to see, as she started taking hesitant steps forwards towards the island's small land.
From the moment she saw the dark clouds brewing mainly upon the island, she knew that something was wrong.
Normally on a rainy night, the clouds would extend out far into the mainland as well, and storms restricted to the island's shoreline boundaries were less than a rare occurrence.
What made Kairi all the more concerned, was the fact that upon her arrival, she had noticed a recognisable boat marked up by scratches, tied to a wooden post and floating up against it in choppy waters.
"That's Riku's boat..." Kairi thought to herself out loud, and she held a hand to where her heart was. She could feel it pumping and beating at a rather fast pace against her ribcage. Somehow, it was telling her that something was not right. Something was amiss.
If Riku was here on the island as well, then that would mean that he too was alerted to this strange weather phenomenon. Immediately her eyes began darting all around the side of the island she was on.
Destiny Islands felt more like a ghost town, without all the liveliness that she and her friends poured out onto the sands, and the beautiful and glistening Sun that shone its light upon its shores.
Sometimes even she wondered whether or not the island was filled with ghosts and creepy haunts from another lifetime. While her adoptive father the Mayor had assured her that there were no other occupants to the islands since the town's founding, there were dark parts where his words felt contradicted.
Speaking of which, Kairi felt bad for not informing her father about coming out to the islands this late at night, and he was not one to take lightly to her disobediences. As soon as this whole thing was over, she would have to come up with some explanation for her actions, and hope for the best he would not punish her. But for now however...
Shaking those thoughts out of her mind, Kairi maintained steady breaths to retain calmness as she ventured forth.
Calling out his name, Kairi worked tirelessly to find Riku. She scoured the entire island, every nook and cranny. The shorelines. The Seaside Shack. The Cove.
But at every location, she just could not locate him. Stopping short just beside the waterfall, Kairi folded her arms and began to think things over.
"Nowhere to be found..." she wondered to herself, "If I can't find Riku in those places where we frequent, then where could he be?"
Looking back to the docks, Kairi took note that Riku had indeed went back to the mainland on his own boat. Ever since they had hit ten-years-old, she and along with Sora had been told by Riku that they were too big to fit into his boat. Hence, he began to teach them how to row their own boats.
But Kairi always thought that Riku was just becoming too lazy. And coincidentally, so did Sora! Behind Riku's back at every turn during his lessons, they would converse in private and joke about how much Riku was not happy about them growing taller and bigger.
And to this day she still remembered the funny joke that Sora made. "I think he's thinks his boat is crying from our added weight! You can see the water leaking in from the sides!" The first time she heard it, Kairi founded herself on the sand, holding her sore sides from all that laughter. While most of the humour had died off by now, it still earned a giggle out of her every once a while.
But she admit that it was becoming a little too old, as Riku had mentioned a while ago. But if he thought that that would mean his troubles were over, then he had another thing coming! Kairi was pretty confident that Sora would come up with some new story about Riku's boat. She would kill to see Riku not being able to hear the end of it.
"Kairi…" a voice suddenly derailed her train of thought, and Kairi jumped in surprise at the sound of it. "W-Who's there?" she asked, her eyes were darting all around her to seek out the source. "Kairi… I'm here…" the voice muttered out faintly across the winds.
While it almost barely audible, Kairi could make out those words. And judging by the words used, it stands to reason that only one person would be saying it now. "Riku?" she muttered out with worry.
She began looking around again, hoping to look for some sign of her friend.
"Riku! It's me, Kairi! I'm here!" she called out in a terrified voice, "Where are you?" "I'm here…" Riku's voice responded, and this time it was much clearer. Clear enough for her to pinpoint the general direction it was coming from. Staring on ahead into the blackness that was the hidden entrance to the cave, Kairi realised that that was the final place of the island she had not checked yet.
She sighed internally and made a mental facepalm. "Of course, he would be in there!" she muttered to herself, "Should've started with the Secret Place first!" She quickly ran over to the entrance which was almost completely covered by a tree branches full of thick leaves, excluding the base.
Kairi crawled underneath the branches and got back up to her feet on the other side. As she quickly dusted herself off, Kairi stared at the cavernous pathway that lied ahead of her. On a normal day, she would not feel that creeped out about how spooky the place felt.
But somehow, this time she felt that something… was different. It was almost like she could feel something sinister lurking, awaiting her at the end of the road.
But she could not turn back now.
If Riku was here, then that would mean that he ran into trouble along the way. And now she was possibly the only one who could save him.
If she could save him.
She let loose a shaky breath, and steeled her resolve for what came next. With a determined look, Kairi ventured forth towards the Secret Place.
With every step she took, the distance between herself and her destination shortened, and with it, came a sense of uneasiness.
But Kairi shook it off.
"No! I can't falter now!" she thought to herself, "Riku needs my help!" Without a second thought, her walk turned into sprinting as she burst forwards. As she reached the opening into the Secret Place, she caught sight of a figure in the room that she could not immediately identify.
Even so she was crying out with relief, "Riku! I was so worried! I saw your boat and –" But she halted in both mid-sentence and her stride, once she got a better look at the figure. The darkness at first denied her the colours of the person's clothing, as well as his personal features.
But as soon as her eyes adjusted to the darkness however, they were widening with surprise and terror at what they saw.
Against the carving of the brown door at the back of the room, the outlines of the figure could be seen. It looked like was wearing a cloaked robe of sorts.
"W-Who are you?!" Kairi demanded, and she put on her best intimidating face.
This world has been connected.
Kairi did not know whether she should feel frightened or confused by this cryptic message. But immediately she could tell that this guy was bad news.
"I'm asking you a question! Who! Are! You!" she demanded once more, this time she was pointing an index finger at him.
Tied to the darkness…
Soon to be completely eclipsed.
It looked like the figure was either ignoring her, or was not interested in giving her a proper answer. So Kairi decided to play along with him.
"What do you mean by that?!" she questioned warily, "There is no such thing as darkness in this world!" Much to her surprise, the figure let out a low, dark chuckle.
You understand so little.
And then he began to take small steps forwards. Kairi in-turn started taking hesitant steps backwards. In those tense seconds, she could feel her resolve breaking, her confidence faltering.
Why she had not already turned tail and run away from this creep, she still could not say.
One who knows nothing can understand nothing.
And then the room lit up a little, as though there was some hidden artificial light source was turning on. Now Kairi could get a good view on the figure.
His robe has two dark brown straps crossing over his shoulders and chest with five metal studs lining either strap. He also appeared much shorter and crippled in the way he walked, and the robe's hood kept his face well-hidden.
Almost immediately, Kairi had a bad feeling that she may be in serious trouble. Now she was contemplating retreat from the room, which was starting to make her feel more like a cornered mouse against a hungry cat. But just she was starting to turn around, the ground gave way at her feet.
Wait, the ground was giving way?!
With a cry of terror, Kairi felt herself sinking into what appeared to be a pool of dark matter which had materialised from out of nowhere around her. Out of pure instinct, she attempted to struggle herself free. She tugged and pulled hard at her trapped legs with scrawny arms, to no avail.
But then the sinking feeling stopped halfway, right at her knee level. And that was much worse, for now she was forced to contend with the mysterious enemy from her state of entrapment. She stared down the robed figure, her eyes mixed with fear and anger.
In a split second however, the figure suddenly disappeared, much to her surprise.
Such strength within yourself...
You are... a special one, aren't you?
Once more, Kairi was looking all around at her surroundings from her stuck position, as she frantically tried to figure out where the figure was.
One thing was for certain, the figure had not left the Secret Place. And he was not through with taunting her yet.
Your heart is strong with the light.
Give me the pleasure of taking it away?
The sound of a loud explosion came from behind her, and when Kairi looked out, all she could see were bits of brownish robes... as the figure went right through her being. As he did so, a strange feeling started to go through Kairi's entire body. It felt like there was a part of her that was being ripped away.
And all of a sudden, Kairi started to feel weak. Her strength had been drained even though she did not exert herself that much. She was so tired to even care about the pool of darkness disappearing, which set loose her legs and causing her to tumble to the ground.
She felt the pain of the impact, but she made no emotion to acknowledge it. And then she realised with a small gasp – she could not feel anything.
Fear. Joy. Sadness. Anger.
She could not express any emotion whatsoever.
"W-What did he do to me...?" she murmured softly to herself as she struggled to get to her feet.
All at once, her arms and legs felt numb, and her muscles and bones felt like jelly. It took her several tries just to get onto her knees, and it took her several minutes to get onto her feet. But even when she was back up, Kairi could feel her body leaning sideways quickly, threatening to collapse onto the ground again.
As she continued struggling to regain her bearings, she heard booming knocks coming from the door. Wait, the door? Kairi looked on ahead to the door expressionless, and she could make out the surface bending outwards a little, as well as bits and pieces of the darkness coming out from the cracks.
"It's finally opening..." Kairi muttered absentmindedly, as she was unknowingly beginning to lose consciousness, "Maybe I can get to see..." Her vision was getting blurry. And her head was starting to throb.
With every second that went by, Kairi became much weaker than before.
But she could not care about it. How could she, when she had no emotion to convey through her facial features? Whatever that mysterious figure did to her, it must have robbed her of her emotions. And its effects were only getting much worse.
Just then however, a new voice called out her name from behind her, "Kairi!" It was familiar. But it was not Riku's. It sounded younger, and worried. Looking around to face her other friend, Kairi muttered out in monotone, "Sora..."
If she was able to emote, she would be both overjoyed and worried to see her other best friend at this time on the island, but such was not the case.
Once he saw the emotionless look on her face, as well as hearing that bone-chilling tone, Sora began to become really concerned and worried. What's going on with Kairi? What happened to her?
Before he could open his mouth and actually voice out his questions, Kairi suddenly began to glow.
In a yellowish-white hue, Kairi partially illuminated the Secret Place, as though she were an angel of sorts. Sora himself was taken aback by this scene, and all that he could do was open his mouth in agape, and his eyes were widened with surprise and wonder.
But then came the sound of the door swinging wide open, causing a great gust of wind to blow in Sora's direction. Because Kairi was standing in front of him, and in the path of the wind, she was practically tossed out in his direction like a ragdoll.
As she flew right at Sora, Kairi lost all control of her senses, and she could barely make an audible sound. With no emotion, she also could not brace herself for the imminent collision with Sora.
The distance between the two friends quickly closed.
Kairi made contact with Sora's body.
She knew no more.
Sora was gasping with terror as Kairi's body exploded into a thousand orbs of light that dispersed into the wind.
"W-What happened...?" he thought to himself in surprise, just when the darkness from the door exploded outwards, causing Sora to be blown back out of the Secret Place.
As the winds died down once more, a lone figure donned in a black hooded coat stared at the empty room from within the dark depths of the other side of the door, where he had witnessed everything play out between the three characters.
As soon as Sora had 'vacated', he stepped out into the Secret Place, and scanned the area to see if the girl was still around.
With narrowed golden eyes of anger, he softly seethed, "You fool..."