SoKai Week: Day 1 - Quote
Sora had to have fought the Demon Tide several times, but the mass of Darkness kept growing.
In the middle of the Keyblade Graveyard, it had swelled to the full size of a tornado, yet still continued to gather more Heartless each second. He panted and raised the Kingdom Key for battle once more.
It had to run out eventually.
A wave came rushing towards him. He ran towards it, letting out a battle cry in frustration.
He didn't get far before a small figure stepped in front of him. Her back was to him, her short red hair thrashing around in the powerful gusts.
"Kairi, no!" his heart dropped, and he instinctively reached to pull her out of the way.
She wouldn't budge, and instead raised her own Keyblade. A bright light burst from it's point, forcing Sora to shield his eyes. For a moment, everything went white.
When vision returned, the dark cloud had receded.
Kairi stayed in place, frozen like a statue. She stared forward, mouth agape. Sora knew his expression wasn't much different.
"H-how did you do that?" he muttered.
She turned, eyes on Destiny's Embrace still. "I...don't know." A smile slowly grew across her face, "But I think I should keep doing it."
"Well, it's either that or keep using brute force," he laughed.
She turned her gaze to her other hand, where he had grabbed her out of protection earlier. His hand remained interlocked with hers, but neither pulled away.
"Are you gonna let go?" she giggled.
Her tone didn't imply she was asking him to, but inviting him to find a reason to stay. Sora's face went flush. He missed her boldness, and despite them needing too many reunions, he was thankful she never wasted any of their few moments together with shy banter. He met her eyes, and time seemed to slow. If she wanted him to stay, he could think of a million reasons.
"No," he gripped her hand tighter, "we'll go together."
A subtle glow overtook both of their forms. His feet felt lighter, and each muscle stronger than they'd been before. The creeping dreariness from any Darkness surrounding them snuffed out, and he knew right away.
It was her Light.
His heart eased with warmth and comfort. He remembered the feeling from over a year ago, when her heart had resided inside of his for his first journey. Only this time, she still stood beside him. Her gentle smile told him she felt the same.
She closed her eyes and shivered in delight. "So this is what it's like."
He never knew how to reply when she said things like that, so he just smiled back. It was like no one else was around the battlefield, and they were simply back home with each other.
The wind picked up again. They weren't the only ones who'd used the brief moment to gain more power, for the swirling storm of darkness soon grew to its full size.
Kairi turned her attention to their opponent, and he reassured her with a nod. "Straight for the center."
They rushed forward, piercing straight through the outer layer with ease. With her Light protecting him from the poison of Darkness, it no longer weakened him as it had before.
A quick glance at her flurry of strikes told him she'd gained some of his strength as well.
They stayed close, back to back, carving through each pair of yellow eyes that got close. The desert outside the storm disappeared from view as they fought deeper. He'd be completely blind, were it not for the Light. They could only hope that their friends could stay safe outside.
They continued slicing through layer after layer, spinning around each other with ease and executing attacks in sync as if they'd practiced for hours. Even as the Darkness thickened, Sora never grew tired. There was a fierceness to Kairi's fighting that imbued him with seemingly endless energy.
"Look!" Kairi pointed between strikes.
A faint glow grew in the distance. It had a sickly red color that could only belong to the eye of this Demon Tide.
"Let's go!" he yelled.
The final few steps felt like miles, as Heartless occupied every bit of space around them. Sora ignored the few scratches to his legs, and Kairi took a few blows as well. Resisting the urge to turn at Kairi's winces of pain was more difficult than fighting the Tide itself, but he knew turning their backs to the surrounding storm would be bad for them both.
They finally stumbled through the final layer to the eye of the storm. The lack of both wind and Heartless threw him off, but the giant nucleus over their heads caught his attention.
The occasional Heartless still broke through trying to reach them, but Sora made quick work of them.
"It's too high to reach!" she shouted.
"Follow my lead," Sora directed the Kingdom Key at the target.
She did the same with Destiny's Embrace, and a ball of Light began to form between them. It grew quickly, its brightness lighting up the entire eye of the storm. When it grew bright enough to barely manage, they released it at the nucleus.
As the beam hit, the storm around them grew weaker. At the same time, they were getting pushed back by the sheer force. Back towards the wall of Heartless they'd just fought through. Sora dug his heels into the ground and secured an arm around Kairi.
The beam of Light slowly thinned. It had peeled away the dark outer layer of the nucleus, revealing a bright red center.
Kairi's arms were shaking, and Sora himself was growing tired. As determined as they were, both Sora and Kairi knew their time of heightened power was limited. They had to defeat the Demon Tide soon, or they'd be stuck in the center surrounded by swarming Darkness.
Kairi looked to him. She pouted, not in frustration, but like she always did when she was thinking hard.
Then her eyes went wide.
"Throw me."
"What?!" He did a double take, thinking he misheard her.
"Throw me!" He didn't mishear. "You're strong, I have Light. I can pierce it!"
"But, how? Kairi, I can't-" He wasn't even sure how to say it, "what about you?"
She smiled, "I trust you, Sora, believe in me."
He did, more than anything, but he promised to keep her safe. Throwing her into a ball of immense Darkness seemed counterintuitive to that.
Still, it was the only way to reach it. He sighed, "I trust you too, Kairi."
He knelt and opened a hand for her foot to rest in. She did so, eyes up at her target.
She ran her hand across Destiny's Embrace. A glow of Light followed the trace and engulfed her entire blade.
Her eyes met his, filled with determination, "I'm ready."
He shot up, heaving her with all of his strength. At the same time, her foot pushed off of his hand.
And then she was flying.
Sora was surprised by his own strength, but now all he could do was watch.
She directed her Keyblade straight ahead and pierced the pulsing nucleus like an arrow. Darkness erupted from it in a large explosion, knocking Sora back. The swirling storm around him burst, and the winds slowly died down.
The Tide was gone, destroyed, and the bright light of day began seeping through.
With his vision restored, the first thing his eyes caught was Kairi falling from where the storm had been.
"Kairi!" he quickly got to his feet and ran.
He couldn't tell if she was conscious or not, but he wasn't going to risk it. He stretched his arms out and caught her at the last second. The impact sent him stumbling onto his back, but she was breathing.
He raised his Keyblade with a free hand. "Heal!" he shouted, and magical green vines sprouted around them both at his command.
Her eyes fluttered open, and Sora released the breath he'd been holding.
"Wha...what happened?" she asked.
Holding her, seeing she was okay, he couldn't help himself. He pulled her close to his chest, stroking her hair gently, "You did it, Kairi."
A soft smile formed on her face, and she curled herself further into his hold. "Your heart's beating so fast," she giggled.
He knew why, and it wasn't just from the fight. "Yeah," he chuckled, "it was pretty intense."
"But it was fun, right?" she looked up to him, her playful demeanor returning.
"It always is with you."
Their friends would be on them soon. He helped her to her feet, but she stumbled forward once again, nearly sending them back down.
He thought she fell, until her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. She wasn't falling, she was embracing him.
"We did it," she added to his earlier words, "together."
He chuckled and hugged her back. At that point, he didn't care who else saw them.
"I told you, Sora, I'll keep you safe."
He meant every word he'd ever said to her, and he wasn't going to stop now.
"And I told you, Kairi," he said,
"I feel strong with you."
Happy SoKai Week 2019 everyone!
This is my first time actually participating, I believe, so I hope you enjoyed this piece for the prompt "Quote". The scene between Sora and Kairi after the Final World had so many good lines, but Sora's "I feel strong with you, Kairi," just resonated so much. I wanted to write that strength being shown in what's essentially Sora's Limit with Kairi. Thank you so much for reading!