So much to do…
So little time…
Take your time.
Don't be afraid.
The Door is still shut.
Now, step forward.
Can you do it?
Kairi looked around.
Light.
Everything was a bright white, with a platform in the center on which she stood, littered with images of herself, and two boys she had once known.
She hesitantly took a couple of cautious steps forward, not sure where she was or what she was doing. Everything was suddenly unknown, like a math problem where all of the numbers suddenly become variables. Nevertheless, this problem needed to be answered. Slowly, but surely, all the variables would be solved, somehow. Because there was always one constant. Herself.
Power sleeps within you…A platform solidified, holding a shining white sword.
If you give it form…
Another platform, suspending a scintillate red shield.
It will give you strength.
A final platform appeared, with a luminescent blue staff.
Choose wisely.
She plotted out the trinity in her mind. She could only have one, and she didn't have to think to decide which one. If one knows not oneself, one knows nothing.
"The power to destroy…"
She let her eyes rest upon the sword and the staff.
"To crush people's dreams…and take away their happiness…"
She turned her head to the shield.
"Or the power to protect…"
She held it in her arms.
"To help others…and guard the hopes and dreams of people in need…"
The power of the Guardian
Kindness to aid friends
A shield to repel allIs this the power you seek?
"Destruction doesn't fix any problem. It simply causes more destruction…"
To a normal onlooker, the shield disappeared. But Kairi knew. She felt the power flow through her…the power to protect…her power.
"Maybe I'm just an idealist…maybe there will always be conflict…but if I can protect what peace we have…there will always be a spark of light. If He taught me not that, then I learned nothing from Him."
She couldn't even say his name anymore.
Your path is set.
Now, what will you give up in exchange?That caught her off guard. But her composure remained unbattered.
"Everything comes with a price, I guess…"
The power of the Warrior
Invincible courage
A sword of terrible destruction
You give up this power?
"…Terrible destruction…"
The sword disappeared
"…Who would want such a thing…"
You've chosen the power of the guardian
You've given up the power of the warrior
Is this the form you choose?
"If this will bring peace…"
The floor cracked. She simply watched, as pieces of it flew into the surrounding abyss, not struggling even as the very ground on which she stood was disintegrated. She landed soundly on another platform she already knew was there.
A Princess of Heart…
She hadn't been called that in a long, long time.
Your heart should be the purest of pure…and yet…The bright whiteness that made up the background slowly began to fade, into an inky blackness no one could see through.
An image slowly began to form.
A happy, energetic, brown-haired boy, and a slightly older, silver-haired one, laughing. The backdrop was supplied by a foggy memory of her islands. Among them was another happy, laughing child, a girl with brownish-reddish hair.
All three of them were dead now.
The image once again fed from her memories. What was left of the islands. And what was left of her friends.
The brown-haired boy's eyes no longer held the bright vigor he once had. He simply lie there, motionless, a dim, black blade protruding from his chest. Kairi remembered those swords well. No matter how bright the sun, they reflected no light.
The silver-haired boy suffered a similar fate. His hand reached out to their killer, but to no avail. It lie on the ground as motionless as the rest of his body. A blade of pure light was lodged in his forehead.
And then was a brownish-reddish haired girl, able only to witness her happiness crumble before her.
And at the center of it all, was a raven-haired maiden, with her back turned. She simply stared up into the moon, grasping both of the boy's keyblades. Faint shapes of swords danced around her form, blades of pure light and pure darkness.
She turned around.
She had no pupils, or even irises. One eye was solid black and one eye was solid white.
"You humans are so stupid." She remarked. "Peace…Love…they're all…" She looked as though she was trying to find a simple word to explain something to a small child.
"Lies."
Kairi screamed. Tears streamed down her face as she sunk to the ground, her emotionless mask shattering. Everything was wrong. Everything was simply wrong.
The image dissolved into a puddle of darkness. Heartless began to arise from it, one by one.
A heart…is such a fragile thing…She found her keyblade in her hand. A brightly colored object that clashed with the darkness around it. Golden, with bright flowers and vines encircling it.
One drop of darkness can pollute the cleanest of hearts…This thing was just another lie. She threw it down, but it simply returned to her. She wanted none of it.
Causing it to slowly spiral downwards…The tears wouldn't stop. Even as the heartless grew and began to defile what was once pure, she threw her only weapon against them over the side of the platform. But it simply returned to her again.
…Into destruction…
She screamed. The heartless that had been simply milling about suddenly took notice of her. They were nothing more than simple shadows. But they were here. Here.
Kairi began to take her keyblade, wildly swinging it about, taking out her anger on the simple creatures of darkness before her. But as they disintegrated into nothingness, more came to take their places. The puddle of darkness created from Kairi's memories swallowed the whole platform.
She sunk into the darkness in frustration overshadowed by sorrow.
Everything was falling apart.
Hold on
The door won't open just yet
First, tell me more about yourselfShe found herself floating around aimlessly in a void of white and black swirling together. She watched in pseudo-amazement as the black tendrils slowly consumed the radiant whiteness that once reigned like a game of Othello.
Slowly, a floor was defined. The more the darkness consumed around her, the more everything began to make sense. Basic laws of physics manifested, until eventually she stood within a destroyed version of what was once her islands.
The two boys were there. As well as the one who killed them.
She slowly walked towards the silver haired one. Despite the brilliant white blade through his head he still spoke.
"Kai…ri…"
She simply stood and watched, her emotional barrier slowly rebuilding itself.
"What is it…you most fear…?"
She stood, silent for a long time.
"Destruction." She answered after a long time, "…and Death."
The silver-haired boy smirked.
"All things are destroyed…all things die…what you fear is not destruction not death…it is time."
Kairi scowled.
"Everything…will be…destroyed…it is…inevitable..."
She dashed the boy's image with her keyblade, causing it to disintegrate into multicolored specks, fading into the darkness.
She still had that disgusting, shiny, flowery lie.
"Kairi…over here…"
The brown-haired boy spoke as though he was on the brink of death.
"What is it…you desire…?"
She, again, stood long in thought.
"Peace. Prosperity for everyone."
The boy smiled.
"Kairi…do you remember…what you said to me? When we were watching the sunset…before the islands were…"
Kairi stood motionless.
"You told me…not to change…"
She fought to throw the image from her mind. She wanted nothing that reminded her of Them.
"…Don't ever change…Kairi…"
Kairi pointed the shiny golden keyblade at the image of the boy, and a shining white beam cut through it, sealing the memory away forever.
Finally, she turned to face the woman that had killed them both.
"What…is your purpose?"
Kairi was silent.
"What is it…that you go on for?"
She thought intently.
"Maybe…one day…I can be happy again…like things were before…"
You fear Death and Destruction…You want Peace and Prosperity…
And you go on with dreams of happiness…
…Is this what you believe yourself to be?
As she listened to her own answers, she disgusted herself. She let down that mask of lies that the always wore and answered the questions again.
"I fear…that happiness might not exist anymore…or ever has…or ever will…I want everything to be fixed…and I go on…" She was stumped again, "No…I don't go on anymore…my heart beats, but I died…long, long ago…when they did…"
You fear Loneliness…You want Happiness…
And you feel you have no existance…
…Is this what you believe yourself to be?
"Yes…" When she heard those words…no matter how bleak and dim they sounded…they were true.
Your journey begins in the dead of night…your journey won't be easy, but a rising sun awaits at the end of your path…
"A rising sun…?" Kairi smirked, "There's no such thing."
She found herself at the foot of a large staircase, made out of a similar stained glass. She looked back to see a hoarde of Heartless tearing away at the platforms she once stood on.
She turned forward, slowly climbing the steps. Every time her foot touched the ground, it left behind a shadow print. Before long, her footprints had turned into a string of heartless, devouring the stairs she climbed behind her. As she reached the top, there was no turning back.
A single pillar of light pierced the darkness.
Kairi stayed along the outside of the platform, content to merely watch as the last semblance of light struggled under the pressure of the darkness surrounding it.
She didn't belong there anymore.
"The closer you get to the light…" She watched as the pillar of light became thinner and thinner, "…the greater your shadow becomes."
Two beings.
A shadow, and an entity of pure light, both the same size and shape, humanoid, and at odds.
Both of them reached their hands out to Kairi.
But don't be afraid…Kairi took hold of the shadow's.
Before long, a giant black monster stood above the small, white, being, crushing it with ease. The last of that accursed light was gone.
The giant shadow disintegrated, and reformed in Kairi's hands. A black keyblade, with a circular hilt, and a dark blue, swirling gem in the place where the hilt and the blade meet. An ornate, black, slightly unsteady blade ran up to the top, where it was topped off with a headpiece of swirling black tendrils, coming together to form a solid, ornate shape at the end of the blade. The good luck charm she had given the brown-haired boy before dangled from the hilt, but it too was consumed by darkness, becoming itself a black crown.
…For you hold the mightiest weapon of all…
It was Oblivion.
"Hey…bodiless voice thing…" She called out, "I want to redo one of the choices I made earlier."
And what is that…?"The power of the guardian…the power to protect people's dreams…screw it." She swung her new keyblade around experimentally, "I want the sword…the power to destroy the one who destroyed me…the power to take back my happiness by force."
You've chosen the power of the warrior
You've given up the power of the guardian
Is this the form you choose?
"…Yes."
Don't forget…You are the one who will open the door.
"Sora…Riku…"
She said their names aloud for the first time in a long time.
"Why…why can't you just go away… why must you live on in my dreams…"
The delicate world slowly began to collapse as Kairi slowly drifted out of unconsciousness.
"I just want to forget…"
She fell into the darkness that surrounded everything here.
"Forget…everything…"
The last thing she expected was an answer.
"You want to forget about us now? Jeez, Kairi, after all we've been through…"
She woke up.