One, Two: The Darkness is Coming For You
Chapter One: Who Are You?
Kairi stopped rowing for a moment, looking around at the dark blue waters around her. She shivered, and picked up the oars again. Her pain was coming back, and out here; where none of the islands were within her sight… she let it out. On the outside, we all pretend to smile, to laugh, to have fun, to hang out with friends. But on the inside, below layers and layers of bubbly teenage happiness, we are all crying even though we don't realize it right away. Screaming. Dying. Praying for death to ease the pain in our hearts. She felt this exact way. Her scream traveled far, but died into sobs and choking. Her tears were salty, like the ocean itself. She dug her fingernails into her own shoulders, trying to calm down. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small tissue pack. She pulled one out and dried her face, unable to get rid of the film still lingering over her eyes, cheeks, and chin. The remainder of unshed tears clung to her eyelashes, giving them a glittery effect. Sora… where are you, and why… why would you leave me like that? she thought. She picked up her oars and quickly rowed the rest of the way home. When she got there, and saw the party Selphie was throwing, another thought crossed her mind at the sight of bright colors and tiki torches casting an orange glow over the shore. Please come back, I need you.
She flung herself on her bed, releasing the last of the day's tears into her pillow. It was stained with the tears of every night, when she cried herself to sleep. But sleep, the closest thing humans had to death, was dreadful. A living hell, where the worst nightmares encountered her, vulnerable and broken. They broke her down to nothing, to where she would put a razor to her wrists to try and end it all, but she couldn't do it. She sat up, and changed into a baggy t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants with purple and blue polka dots. She didn't feel much hungry, and covered herself in a blanket on the couch. She was about to drift off into another nightmare, when she heard the sliding door open and shut. She looked, but the curtains were closed as normal. Yawning, she turned the other way and tried to sleep.
"Kairi… we need to talk to you."
She shuddered as a rush of cold wind hit her back. She sat up and looked around. A blond girl stood there, in a white dress with blue sandals. She was unbelievably thin, as if she'd been living on only sugar and water for all her life. Her ice-blue eyes were bigger than necessary, and had a look of sheer sorrow.
"Yeah, we really need to. It's important, a life-or-death situation."
"I think she's scared of us."
"Well, I would be too if my house was invaded by ghosts."
"Ghosts? Are you here to kill me?" she asked the blond boy standing next to the girl. He wore a white mini-jacket with a checkered strip across the front and red trim along with baggy jeans that started out being white and turning black at the thighs. She noticed that the girl's wrists had narrow but deep gashes on them, blood flowing quickly from them. The girl's skin was tinted blue, and her pupils seemed to be opaque. The boy didn't have the cuts on his wrists but he had blood soaking his black shirt and leaking through the zipper. He smirked at her shocked look.
"Heheh, you wish."
"I do. Kill me, I don't wanna live anymore, just do it before I lose it."
"We won't kill you."
"'Cause we need you. I know you think 'life is a fugly bitch for all the pain but it's important that you live."
"Roxas!"
"What? Oh right, language. My bad!"
"…"
"What do you want from me?"
"We need you Kairi, to help us along our perilous journey. 'The others before you have passed, and you are to be the last.' 'End the hurt, restore the balance, and consider them an allowance.'" The ghost girl stopped abruptly, realizing Kairi had no clue what the riddles meant. "The 'others' are Riku Sumizome, Sora Ceirri, plus us, Roxas Arasoi, and Namine Shira. We are fallen heroes, you could say. Roxas freed the hearts trapped within the Organization, I helped clean up the mess. But when Roxas was leaving the headquarters for the last time, he was attacked and killed. I committed suicide not long after."
"We need you to come with us to restore the balance, she means. Nam, stop babbling."
"I know those two! But they're gone, f-forever. They disappeared during a storm four years ago." she added.
"Serves them right. Couldn't mind their own business when one person disappeared off the face of the world."
"Feel free to ignore him. When we died we were told that we could choose two people to carry out our missions. Roxas chose Axel, and I-"
"Can I come to find Sora and Riku with you? Pleeeeeease!" she asked, begging. The two undead spirits looked at each other, and then faced the broken one lying on her knees before them. Roxas summoned two tarnished keys and told her yes. They waited for her to pack her things.
"I'm sorry Nami, that I put you through this crap."
"It wasn't your fault. I loved you and I still love you, dead or not. When I got the news about you and Axel's fight on the tower, I couldn't help myself. I snuck into Marluxia's room in the castle and took his scythe. I used it to cut my wrists and you know what I was saying the whole time?" he looked down at the floor, "I was saying, 'For Roxas, this is for Roxas. This is for me, for everybody. We'll be free.' I didn't do it just for you; I did it for me too. I was trapped there, in pain, and bleeding to death was worth all the trouble in the world."
"Lovesick girls."
"Lovestruck boys." she said, kissing him on the cheek. He turned his head to steal a kiss on the lips. She was used to the cold feel of death, but she wasn't used to the warmth of his lips on hers. He didn't know why her own lips were warm either. They pondered this for a moment, but shrugged it off. Kairi came back with a pack of lethal weapons and munny. It always helped when your mom was in the army.
"What's all that?"
"Sweet! I'll take this and this and ooh that one!"
She smiled a little at Roxas acting like a kid in a candy store. He grabbed two handguns and an arm knife launcher she had bought at a military discount in the Destiny Islands Market. He made sure to get the stuff on Namine, but she shook it off. Eventually, he got her to at least hold a couple of smoke bombs. Kairi picked up the case and stowed it inside her backpack that she used for school. Roxas and Namine walked out into the storm with her, hoping only Kairi could see them. But in truth, three kids who had grown up with Kairi and cared for her while she tried to heal from the disappearances and possible murder of her closest friends saw them as well. Tidus walked away from the party and confronted the two beaten kids; what were they doing with poor, sweet, innocent Kairi? He cleared his throat.
"We know you're here. You don't have to do that."
"Please, don't scare him."
"Look, I have no idea who you are, where you're from, why you look like that and what you want with Kairi, but as her friend… I think you need to leave her alone."
"We can't. We used to play with her,"
Kairi had a sudden flashback, feeling butterflies in her stomach fluttering their wings to tickle her insides.
"Ya wanna play, Kai-Kai?" a tiny, four-year-old Roxas asked giving her a toothy grin. Namine sketched a picture of them, talented as ever, on the sidewalk.
"Before we play, can I teach Kai-Kai my special song, Rox?"
"Sure thing, Nami." Roxas replied, smiling at her. She put away her chalk and took out a skipping rope. She told Kairi to start jumping rope, and sang her song while the redhead jumped.
"It goes like this, 'One, two, the darkness is comin' for you. Three, four, ya better open the door.'…" Roxas began to sing along. "'Five, six, use up all your tricks. Seven, eight, your hearts are theirs to take. Nine, ten, the War starts all over again'"
"Kinda dark Nami, don't you think?" Kairi asked.
"I know, but it's fun to say right?"
"Yeah, it is!" Sora said, running up to them with his shirt only halfway on. His mother chased after him, trying to finish putting his dry clothes back on. She thought she saw an older, more mature Sora watching from near a tree, but it disappeared, as did the memory.
Tidus was flinging punches at Roxas and his hand went right through. "Stop!"
"Don't worry Kairi, when we were given our powers by you-know-what, we were given the power of invincibility to physical attacks. Bare hands, you know?"
Kairi grabbed her friend and shook him hard. "Tidus, stop it. They're here to help me find Sora and Riku. I'm going now."
"Wait, if they're helping you then what's up with all the beatings?" Tidus asked, and Roxas lifted up his shirt to reveal the wound. Namine showed him her slit wrists.
"We're dead."
"Quite dead."
"Oh so very dead."
"Not alive."
"Never alive."
"Won't ever be alive."
"Everyone who is 'dead' please shut up. ("Tidus!") All I wanna know is why."
"I was in a fight. I turned my back to take care of someone, and a certain somebody-who's-name-will-not-be-mentioned stabbed me. The others pushed me, back down with the weapon attached, and I fell off the skyscraper. Then, the weapon slid all the way through, and you can trace the rest."
"I slit my wrists and bled to death."
"You sure about this Kairi?"
"I want—no—I need to find Sora. And Riku too."
Just at that moment, Riku was dragging his best friend's body up the stairs to the library. He propped the body up against the wall, and stared at it. Sora's skin was pallid, lips blue, and eyes wide open. The ironic thing about his appearance, was the smile still stuck on his face. It was a sad one though, and took some of the irony away, but still…
"Riku, you can't stay like this forever. I'm already in denial that you stayed with it for a year, but seriously!" Xion said, leaning against a bookshelf. Riku looked down at the floor, meeting with the handle of the Keyblade that Sora had stabbed himself with. His best friend's sacrifice had saved everyone and everything, but it didn't matter. He was gone, Roxas was gone, Namine was gone, and Kairi was probably gone too if she ended up like them.
"I should jump out that window. What do you think?"
"I think you should go to the anti-stress kit over there." she replied, motioning towards the wall. He shook his head, but didn't tell her to go away as usual. She sat next to him, both staring at the corpse. "I think I can relate to you." He didn't say anything, but turned to her to let her know that he was listening. "I felt the same exact way when Roxas had the accident. I tried to stop Axel, but he was too angry and gave him that cut. Then I tried to fight him and let Roxas get away, but he used him as a shield and I stabbed him. Saix was watching the whole time, and wouldn't do anything. He only flinched when Axel pushed Roxas off Memory's Skyscraper. What I felt is something no human should have to go through. I nearly ended up like Namine, I mean, Roxas was my best friend—my only friend. But you can't just stop your life because of this, you gotta keep going. Even if it is Sora, it's not the end of the world."
"How would you know that?"
"Hey, I'm still here aren't I?"
"Yeah. You are,"
"Don't be so hard on yourself. C'mon, let's get smoothies and talk about whatever."
"You sound like Kairi."
"Milkshakes?"
"Ugh, I'll go if you leave me alone!"
"No promises!"