Riku and Lea both stared at the books that was in their hands. It looked like a children's book, although it was clearly a notebook, so it had an air of innocence surrounding it.
Because he found it comfortable and stylish, Riku was still wearing his outfit from the Mark of Mastery exam. The same old black zipper shirt, blue jeans, and white and yellow jacket from before. Even the bandage on Riku's right arm was still on his body. Only thing that really changed was that Riku was a little bit more bluff since training two pupils was hard work. Training was even harder work if those two pupils were named Lea and Kairi.
Lea wanted to get out of the Organization Xlll uniform as fast as possible. Now it was exchanged for something more colorful that matched the fiery redhead's personality much more. His jacket was a dark pink that could was almost to the shade of red. Underneath it was a plain white t-shirt that pretty much had nothing but one accidental tear on it. Lea also wore yellow cargo pants, and, to match with it, there was a piece of cloth tied onto the top of his left upper arm.
"Are you sure this is the book he mentioned, Lea?" Riku asked.
"I got it memorized! It has to be that Winnie the Pooh...thing." Lea sounded confident, however; Riku was not entirely convinced. "Let's get this over with."
"Are you sure? Because the last time you were wrong, Kairi wiped the floor with you." A smirk grew on the white-haired teenager's face.
"She used ice magic-"
"She still owned you real bad. And your middle name is supposed to be 'Dark Rescue'. How can you rescue somebody if an enemy can defeat you in a mere five seconds?" Riku rebutted. "If you are done with that, we should really see what this book is all about. We should visit the so-called wondrous world of talking bears and minigames!"
"...Bears and minigames...Next thing you know, this is gonna turn into some horror story. Alright, let's get this over with." Placing his hand onto the pages of the book, Riku opened the yellowish-white pages. The very first sight that welcomed the two boys was an overwhelming light that could have blinded anybody.
When they both came to, they took notice at the landscape that surrounded them. The place was a literal war zone. Everything, from the bloody sand underneath their feet to the sound of gunshots, warned Riku and Lea about the horror of this place.
"Lea, I don't think this is the world that Sora was talking about."
"...Is that Kairi?" The redhead scratched his head. He tried to put all the pieces together in his head, yet that was the most futile thing Lea had ever done. Kairi was holding a gun of all things and pointing it at a guy with yellow eyes. She pressed the trigger which caused the duo to look away.
"...Yes...Yes, that's her," Riku responded, equally dumbfounded. "That seals it, you got the wrong book."
"Hey, Riku, what are ya doing here?" Suddenly, without even making a sound, Kairi appeared in front of Riku. "And Axel too..." She stared at both of them intently. Compared to Kairi back home, she was noticeably a lot messier. Dull greens and browns replaced the vibrant purples and pinks. The only thing left from her usual fashion was the silver necklace that was around her neck.
"Yeah...Kairi, can you tell us what is-"
"Prove it," interrupted Kairi. Kairi then aimed a gun at Riku's face, and she pulled out a knife and aimed it at Lea. "Tell me, how are you not under Xehanort's influence?"
"Calm down, Kairi! I'll tell you once you get that gun out of my face!" Sighing, Kairi pulled her weapons down but was still on guard.
"This as I thought this day couldn't get any worst. Kairi just seems to be putting me in my place today," commented Lea. "Oh, and the name's Lea. Get it memorized."
"Kairi, to be honest, I've no idea what's going on here."
"The two of you must've hit your heads against a rock or something. But...wait, that means!" Without much warning, Kairi jumped on them. She hugged the both of them with her eyes holding back tears. "I can't believe this is happening! You're finally home again!" Riku hugged his childhood friend back.
"Don't hold your emotions in, Kairi," advised Riku.
"Yeah, or you'll not like the result," Lea added-on. Instead of listening to their warning, Kairi backed away. Her face was still clean.
"In this war, you don't have time to cry. I hate it. But, as a Princess of Heart, I've been forced to accept it." Kairi's hands tightened. Then, shocking everybody there, Lea went up to her and slapped her in the face.
"Snap out of it! The Kairi I know wouldn't do anything like this-"
"Apparently I'm not the Kairi you know somehow! People change! These are hard times-"
"That's no excuse! The way you're going, you're just gonna become a Nobody!" Shocked by this side of Lea, Riku stood there speechless, just letting all the drama soak in. "The path of the martyr, or messiah, or whatever the Hell you consider yourself, is nothing but worthless self-destruction!"
"But-"
"Kairi, in my world, you're a sassy, confident, stubborn, kind-hearted individual that doesn't care what other people think about her! Who will let herself get captured for the sake of her friends! Don't fall into their hole of despair!" Lea yelled. There was clear anger in his voice, but Riku thought it sounded sincere as well. "Don't let yourself become a slave to dark emotions."
"Plus, you shouldn't do something you hate. Listen to heart, Kairi, and you'll find a way." Riku's words finally left his mouth. Only if somebody said those exact same words easier to his past self, so much pain would have not transpired. That was in the past now though, and Riku was glad that he was at least helping out this version of Kairi.
"..." A tear fell down Kairi's cheek. She did not wipe it away. After that, Riku and Lea then noticed the same blinding light from before. They could feel themselves being taken away to somewhere else. Then, only seconds later, Riku and Lea saw that they were back to where they were before. Looking back at the notebook they entered, they saw two simple words written on one of the many pages.
Thank you.