Disclaimer: Standard.
Notes: Snapshots from Delena/Aneled Hupp's and my Kingdom Hearts AU, where Kairi is the one chosen by the Keyblade and Selphie and Fuu are traveling with her to find Sora and Riku, who were seduced by the Dark Side of the Fo- Maleficent. One day it will all be posted as three full-length fics- Divergence, Severed Chains, and Redemption (KH1, Chain of Memories, KH2). Today is not that day.
Lots of spoilers for if/when Delena and I write the AU as a whole and not in snapshots. The first two take place during Divergence, third is in Severed Chains, and the last two feature events from Redemption. Reading this one clears up most of who's doing what.
~o~0~o~
1)
"There may never be a way for you to return to your home," Leon says and Selphie nods. It sounds pessimistic of her, but she didn't expect returning to be an option. What with the Darkness that seemed to cover all of Destiny Islands, she didn't think there would be anything to return to.
They learn magic from Aerith and true combat from Yuffie and Squall, and at one point, Selphie goes off by herself to another district. The nunchaku is still foreign to her, almost but not quite like her jump rope, and fresh calluses are mixed with healing burns from disagreeable Fire magic on her hands. She isn't ready to fight the big Heartless, not by any stretch of the imagination, but there's something she just hast to know.
Yuffie finds her hours later, doubled over in an alley in the furthest district and hyperventilating. Selphie doesn't explain, doesn't know how to explain, that Traverse Town and its lack of visible sky, sea, and earth feels so wrong, and what terrifies her more than anything is the thought that she'll die on this patchwork world where everything feels -is- man-made and not alive.
2)
An arc of black comes down at Selphie's head, and the only things keeping her from losing said body part are long hours of practice in Traverse Town and the fact that Riku always opens a fight the same- "Riku?!" she exclaims in disbelief as she blocks another powerful hit. "You're alive! We thought you were gone-"
"Yeah," he sneers, and Selphie nearly drops her nunchaku. For all Riku's competitiveness and drive to be the best, he's never been outright cruel, least of all to her. They'd somehow bonded on the islands despite not having much at all in common; she never laughed at his dreams and he never mocked her need to ensure Kairi's safety. "Sorry to crush your hopes."
"Riku, what's gotten in to you?" Selphie blocks each slash of his odd, hinged blade, less out of a wish to fight than a strong desire to keep living. Because there's something wrong here, something she doesn't understand. "We didn't know you were alive, or we'd have looked for you, you know that!"
The nunchaku is swept from her hands and Riku pushes her against the side of a building. "You abandoned us," he accuses, eyes bright with some otherworldly light. "You and Kairi both, you didn't care that Sora and I had disappeared. You've already replaced us!"
"We would never replace you two," she whispers, and tries to find some trace of Kairi's friend in this bitterly angry teen.
Dark fire blooms in Riku's hand, mere inches from Selphie's face. "You're lying."
In that moment, she honestly thinks she might die.
3)
Larxene's laugh is high and cruel as she shreds through Selphie's Blizzard cast and attacks Kairi head-on. "Silly little girl," she scorns, batting away the Keyblade and nunchaku as though they were nothing. Without even looking, she casts a Thunder that drives Fuu back. "You honestly think that bit of frost will stop me?"
All elemental magics have their opposites, Aerith had told the girls so long ago, and Selphie should have remembered. Her ice was a boon against Axel's fire, but only enhanced Vexen's wintry attacks and seems useless against the lightning Larxene commands. Kairi's own lightning-based attacks only seem to fuel Larxene's, and Fuu's Aero casts can only give them so much of an advantage.
Selphie swings her nunchaku onto her back and peels off her gloves. "Giving up already?" Larxene crows as she dives at the melee soldier, kunai raised for a devastating attack.
Fuu, still half paralyzed from that last shock, miscalculates her cast and the Aero only drives the Organization member faster at Selphie. That works out fine for Selphie, though; she isn't sure she could hit Larxene if the woman were farther, her hands-and the rest of her, for that matter- are shaking so hard. Selphie lets the fear show in her eyes, knowing Larxene will take it as fear of her and not the spell that none of the girls had ever properly mastered. Kairi and Fuu because they never needed it, Selphie because that brand of magic still gives her nightmares.
"Fire!"
4)
Twilight Town looks like Hallow Bastion- gutted by fire and fighting, and devoid of hope. Around the girls, the townspeople have slowly begun the process of salvaging what they can. Kairi finds an old acquaintance of Fuu's in the graveyard, digging new plots. "He did it for no reason," Hayner finishes the account, shaking his head as he leans on the shovel wearily. Olette is placing flowers on graves nearby and Pence sets a marker- prominently marked with a name Selphie doesn't know- at the burial place Hayner has just finished digging. "Just appeared and razed this place. If Seifer hadn't hurt him as bad as he did, he'd still be at it."
"The Sora I knew wouldn't have done this," Kairi declares, still holding out hope that under all the Darkness and destruction, the boy she grew up with still exists.
Selphie is afraid that boy may be long gone.
5)
Keyblade rings against Keyblade as Kairi fights Sora one on one, for what may be the last time. Sora had declared it winner-take-all, and that could be his downfall here. The Darkness in him has been unstable lately, slower to heed his call, and Selphie can see the slips, the slight hesitations he has. All Kairi needs is to summon the Light inside her to drown out his Dark and it'll be over, they'll have Sora back and things will start getting better again-
Sora dive-rolls and springs up to throw all his weight behind his blade and, without warning, a portal opens behind Kairi and both fall through. "Kairi!" Selphie, Fuu, and Riku shout, but the portal shuts as fast as it opens. Selphie feels her heart stop as she realizes that the princess is gone, she's failed her mission, the one hope for the worlds is somewhere Selphie can't follow. Fuu rounds on Riku almost immediately, demanding, "Where?"
Riku shakes his head, hands curling into fists. "They could be anywhere," he says. "We're just going to have to trust Kairi to beat Sora and get him back. She's done more with less."
Selphie fights back the urge to snap, "But she had me with her!" and focuses on projecting absolute faith in Kairi.
Still, that nagging fear refuses to stay in the back of her mind, the fear that her princess is far beyond her reach, and no amount of wishing or belief will bring her back.