Kairi shifted. It was hard to move, she couldn't open her eyes. She hurt.
"Kairi? Are you awake?"
"Sora?" she said, except no sound came out. She tried again, and thought she heard her voice moan softly.
Kairi felt warm fingers brush her forehead. "Shh. You're hurt, Kairi. Try to sleep."
That was easy enough. Trusting in Sora's touch, she let herself drop back into darkness.
-O-
The next time, waking up was slower and less painful. Her dreams slowly changed into an awareness that Sora was nearby. She was on a bed, and she felt someone sitting on top of the blankets beside her. She was still in pain, and didn't want to move. Even opening her eyes felt like too much work. She laid as though still asleep.
Presently, she felt fingers softly touching her hair. "Mm," she sighed.
"Kairi?" Sora's voice was soft, too.
"Mm-hm."
"I was afraid you'd never wake up."
"Where are we?"
"Somewhere safe. You'll be safe forever, now, Kairi. I'll protect you."
"What happened?"
"You were hurt in a fight," Sora told her.
She'd been in a lot of fights. The Keyblade War, they'd called it, and since she had a keyblade now, too, she'd insisted on helping. But the last thing she remembered was being safe in Hollow Bastion. "Don't remember it."
"No. You were being controlled by an Endless. It made you fight us. I'll kill it, for making me do that to you. I'll kill all of them." Sora sounded odd. He was angry, Kairi realized. She'd never heard him sound really angry.
"Sora?"
"Shh. You're still hurt. Go back to sleep." His fingers stroked her hair again.
-O-
When she woke up again, he was gone. She sat straight up as soon as she realized she was alone. "Sora?"
No answer came. The bed she was in was very large and pure white. She'd been tucked under the covers, and she thought she could see the faint creases where Sora had sat. The rest of the room was dark, though. The walls were the color of the sea at dusk; the ceiling was the color of the sky at night, the carpet was the color of old rust. There were several small tables of dark wood in the room, and they all held lamps and candles, but the colors of the room ate the light. Everything beyond the bed was dim and shadowy. There were no windows.
Kairi slowly climbed out of bed. The wound in her stomach hurt as she moved, but she found she could stand up despite it. "Hello?" she called. "Sora? Are you there?" Her words echoed back to her. There was no other sound.
She took a lamp from the bedside table and moved toward the door. No - on closer inspection, there wasn't a door, just an empty arch. The hallway outside was decorated in the same dark colors as the bedroom, and there were no lights in it at all. The light she carried lit the whole length of the hallway, but only dimly. She picked a direction at random.
Where was this place? Had Sora brought her here to heal? She'd only been half awake, but she remembered Sora telling her she'd been controlled by an Endless, turned into a Stolen One. That must have been when she'd gotten the wound. Actually, it had kind of sounded like it had been Sora that hurt her. Someone would have had to - there was no easy way to free a Stolen One, and even Sora wasn't good enough to just ignore an enemy with a keyblade. He must have hated hurting her. No wonder he was angry.
All the doorways in this place were empty, Kairi realized. There were no actual doors at all. She couldn't pass an arch without wondering what could be hiding in the shadows of that open room. It was silly, she knew. Sora had said she was safe. But she still wished she could find another light, or a window.
Where was Sora, anyway? Had he left her alone in this creepy place?
She came to a staircase, curving down into a great room below. She started down. Maybe there was an exit on the ground floor. The walls of the large room were painted in odd, hard-to-see shapes of black on indigo. The floor was actually some fairly light color - pale grey? Tan?
She stepped off the staircase, and gasped when her bare feet touched the floor. "Sand?" You couldn't just make a building with a sand floor, could you? Kairi knelt down and ran her fingers through it. The sand was only about half an inch deep, she realized, but the floor underneath was sandstone, so her feet couldn't tell the difference. She stood up, wondering at this place, and walked to the center of the room.
She held up her lamp, and suddenly the bizarre shapes on the wall made sense. The silhouette of an alien landscape suddenly appeared around her, like a lost thing does when you spot it in the clutter. Rocks, it looked like, piles and spires and arches of rock, and the sand under her feet was a beach. But there was no sea, only solid walls, and there was no moon and no stars. There were no doors, and no windows.
Something was there. Kairi froze, straining to hear again whatever sound she had heard, but there was no sound. She simply felt a presence, something dark, watching her. Slowly, she turned around, holding up the lamp. She told herself she was imagining it, there was nothing there, she was safe. But didn't that shadow have an arm? A head?
"Who's there?" she called weakly. To her horror, something laughed, a quiet, knowing chuckle. "Who are you?"
The shadow moved, straightened. "You don't remember my name?" it said. Kairi gasped. "I guess I can give you a hint. Starts with an S." Kairi moved her lamp, and suddenly the shadow melted into Sora, wearing black. He had a new scar, just a little nick below his left eye.
"Sora! You scared me."
"Scared of the dark?" Sora chuckled, stepping closer. "Don't be. I told you, nothing can hurt you, here. Darkness can be beautiful, too, if it's yours."
Kairi looked around. "I'm not sure I like this place, Sora."
"Aw, come on. This place is great! Here, close your eyes." Slowly, Kairi did. Then Sora put his hands on her shoulders from behind. (She hadn't heard him move, but he must have.) He whispered in her ear. "Listen." Kairi listened, but the only thing she heard was her own breathing. Except, something was odd. . . "Do you hear that?" Sora asked.
"I'm not sure."
"It's the waves, Kairi. Just like when we were kids." Kairi still wasn't sure there was any sound at all. "It's so peaceful here, isn't it? Like a blanket wrapped around you." As he said that, his arms wrapped around her, gentle and warm.
"It is nice and quiet," Kairi admitted. "But - " She tried to twist around, so she was looking at Sora's face, but the movement twisted her wound as well. "Ahh!"
"Kairi!" Before she knew what was happening, Sora had picked her up. "Stay still, Kairi. You need more rest." He carried her in his arms, up the stairs and back to her room.
As he tucked her back into bed, he whispered, "Sleep, Kairi. Get better. We have all the time in the world."
-O-
She woke up when she felt the bed shift. "Sora?"
"I'm here."
Kairi sat up, and opened her eyes. Sora was perched on the edge of the bed. "Did you just sit down?"
"Yeah. I went out while you were sleeping."
"Sora, I feel like something's wrong."
"Everything's great, Kairi. Honest."
"Then why are we in this place? Why aren't we in Disney Castle, or Hollow Bastion?"
"I needed somewhere safe for you, Kairi," Sora said. "I built this house so the darkness would protect you. No one can find you here, no one can take you away."
"I'm almost better," Kairi pointed out. "So we can leave soon, right?"
"You really don't like it here?" Sora pouted. "Oh, I know! I'll show you the tower." He hopped off the bed and ran to the door. "You've gotta see this, Kairi, come on!"
Bemused, Kairi picked up her lamp and followed him. "Wait up, Sora!" She came into the hallway, and saw him beckoning from another doorway. Once she'd seen him, he went on ahead. "Sora, wait! Don't you need the light?"
She heard his contemptuous chuckle. "No way, Kairi! I told you, I built this place."
"How?" The place was a huge mansion; Sora couldn't even build a sand castle.
"I'm stronger, now, Kairi." She glimpsed him in a doorway ahead of her. Once she knew he'd seen her, he vanished again. "I can do lots of stuff I couldn't, before."
"Stronger? What do you mean?"
"Come on, Kairi, up here!" She followed him up a narrow, pitch-black spiral staircase, just managing to keep his heels in sight.
"Sora, slow down! Why aren't you answering my. . . oh!" She came up into a room at the top of the stairs, and suddenly the light from her lamp flashed back in her eyes from everywhere at once. Squinting, she realized that the walls were reflective. They looked like black glass, or polished obsidian. She could see her own reflection.
Kairi set down the lamp and stepped closer to the wall, to get a better look. She looked different than she had before. . . or maybe, it was these mirrors that were different. Her reflection was beautiful, here, achingly so. She'd never thought herself anywhere near this pretty. But she looked so weak, like a starving little girl. She raised a hand to her cheek, and watched her reflection feel the hollow there. It wasn't really that bad, was it?
Over her reflection's shoulder, she saw a face. In that instant, it was cruel and mighty and dark. She spun around, and there was Sora, smiling the same smile he'd always smiled, showing her some secret hideout. Kairi swallowed. "Sora." She paused, to gather her nerve. "Sora, how did you become stronger?"
"It was in Verge, when we got ambushed. It was like the whole world changed. Everything suddenly made sense."
We. How could she have forgotten? "Sora, where's everyone else?"
He looked puzzled, like no one else could be important. "Like who?"
"Like Riku." Riku and Sora had left together. Mickey, too, but he was always disappearing somewhere. "Where's he?"
"Oh, Riku's dead," Sora said casually.
Kairi didn't understand. Her thoughts vanished into blank shock. "What did you say?"
"Riku's dead." Half of Kairi's world was suddenly gone. It couldn't be. Not Riku. "I killed him," Sora added, smirking a little at the memory.
Kairi backed up fast, and bumped against the mirrored wall. She saw something out of the corner of her eye, like a moving shadow, but her eyes were locked on Sora's face. "Sora, this isn't funny."
"It's not a joke." Sora smirked again. "Come on, Kairi, you know I always hated him."
"He was your best friend!"
"Only because I was too stupid to know how I felt." Sora didn't just smirk, he sneered. "He always had to make it look like he was better than me. He always had to be in charge. And then he betrayed me, and took you away. I hated him so much!" He didn't sound like Sora any more. The voice was the same, but there was so much rage! Sora never got this angry, not anywhere close. "When I finally realized it, I told him exactly how I felt. He was crying when I killed him."
There was a shadow moving in Kairi's peripheral vision. In the mirrored wall. There was nothing in the room itself but Sora and Kairi.
"Sora, what's wrong?" Kairi realized she was crying. "What's wrong with you? You're not like this!" The horrible part was, he still felt like Sora. She felt the same familiar warmth from him she always had, and some unthinking part of her wanted to be comforted by it.
"Nothing's wrong, Kairi. Can't you feel how right this is? I'll never let anyone hurt me again." He laid a hand on her cheek. His palm wasn't just warm, it was hot, as though madness were a fever. "Or you. I'll keep you safe here forever. How can that be wrong?"
"What about Riku?" He just smiled. "What about Donald and Goofy?"
"They used me. All they wanted was a good little hero. . ."
"Sora, stop!" She stepped toward him. Bemused, he backed up. "You're a good person, Sora! You're the nicest person I've ever met. You're not this. . ." Over his shoulder, she spotted his reflection in the mirror wall. ". . . monster. . ." The mirror-Sora trailed tendrils of shadow like the smell of evil.
Sora looked over his shoulder at his reflection, and turned back, grinning. "Everyone's a monster, Kairi." He bent down, slowly, and the smoky shadows appeared around his real body. By the time his hand touched the ground, he was covered in darkness, crouched like a beast. "It's just that I'm not scared to admit it." Even now, his voice was exactly the same.
"You've turned evil," Kairi breathed. "You're a Heartless." Sora's features were hidden in empty blackness, but she could feel that smirking grin. She forgot she was looking at Sora. All she saw was a Heartless, one strong enough to beat Riku. Her keyblade appeared in her hand.
Sora jumped, twisted in mid-air, and kicked the keyblade away. It skittered on the ground. Kairi stepped backward and concentrated, and the keyblade reappeared in her hand at the exact instant Sora tackled her. They hit the floor hard, and skidded, and then Sora had both Kairi's wrists pinned.
"Drop it, Kairi! Drop it now!" Terrified, she let the keyblade vanish. "Please don't do that, Kairi," Sora's voice came earnestly from that darkling face. "Next time, I might not be able to stop you without hurting you. I never want to hurt you." He let her go, and moved away.
"Sora," Kairi swallowed. "Sora, I'm feeling much better. My wound still hurts a little, but I could fight if something attacked me. So, do you think I could go somewhere else?" If she got out of this place, she could. . . she could do something.
"No! You can't leave, Kairi, it won't be safe."
"What if you came with me?" she tried. "Then I'd be safe. After all, you're so strong now."
"'I'm so strong now?' Since when do you talk like that?" Sora laughed. "I'm a Heartless, Kairi, not a Brainless. You're still scared of the dark." He prowled around her, moving on all fours. "You need to stay here, Kairi. I have enemies that want to take you away. That's why I built this place. Even with a keyblade, they can't get in. This house has no doors. No windows. Nothing to unlock - no matter what key you use." That meant Kairi couldn't get out, either. Sora knew what a keyblade could do, and he'd found a way to keep a keyblade wielder captive. "I'll keep you safe, Kairi, I promise. You'll be mine forever."
A circle of black appeared in the air, and Sora jumped through before Kairi even realized what it was. The portal closed as soon as he was through.
Kairi laid there for a long time, her pulse pounding in her ears, staring at the darkness.
-O-
There were no days in the House With No Doors, just darkness all the time, but Kairi slept and woke several times in constant fear. When Sora was there, she was constantly thinking of what he was now, what he'd done. And when he wasn't there - well, Kairi could never be sure he wasn't there. The shadows were on his side, and he moved like a ghost. But when she thought he wasn't there, she wept. She didn't cry for herself, or not entirely, though she was still afraid. She cried for her lost boys, the one who died and the one who fell.
The worst part was, he wasn't trying to scare her. He treated her just like he always had, except more protective. He teased her for being scared of him, calling her afraid of the dark, and then he hugged her and said he'd never hurt her, said it would be all right. He hugged her with the same hands he'd used to kill Riku, and part of Kairi's aching, traitor heart actually felt better.
Once she tried to push him away. He pinned her face-first against the wall, with her arm twisted behind her. It didn't hurt - he was being playful. He let her go at once, with a grin and a joke. But he was so fast! Kairi's hands shook for hours, thinking of what he could have done if she'd made him angry.
He never did get angry, though, not at her. He was still furious at Riku. He shouted rants about Mickey and Donald and Goofy. His rage at the Endless should have scorched the floor. But Kairi could call him evil, and a monster, and he wasn't angry. She said she wanted to leave, and he wasn't angry. He'd yelled at her only once, when she'd drawn her keyblade on him, and when she let the blade vanish, the anger went with it.
Sometimes, she would see him freeze for just a moment, staring through the wall into nothing, and her heart would catch. It took her a while to figure out what she was seeing, why it mattered. He was listening for enemies in the house. Behind the infinite rage, Sora was also afraid. It reminded Kairi of the timid little Shadow he'd been in Hollow Bastion. It made her think of how she'd brought him back once before.
Eventually, she gathered the courage to leave the island of light in her bedroom. She found Sora in the sand room, lying on his back with his eyes closed. He looked like he was napping on the beach on Destiny Island. "Sora?" she called, coming down the stairs. "Are you awake?"
He opened his eyes, squinting in the light from her lamp. "Yup. I never sleep any more." He sat up. "Hey, you came out. Not scared of the dark anymore?"
Murderer! Monster. Kidnapper, traitor, brother-killer. Frightened shadow. "Not as much. Can I sit with you?"
"Sure!" He patted the sand beside him. Then he closed his eyes for a moment. Kairi wondered if the surf he was listening to was too faint to hear with human ears, or if it existed only in his mind. "What's up?"
"Remember when you and Riku built that treehouse?" Kairi began.
Sora snarled at the mention of Riku. "Oh, yeah. That was torture. Everything I did was so hilariously wrong. I should have showed him the best way to use a hammer, knocked that smile right in. And then the saw. . ."
His casual lust for pain was nauseating, but Kairi swallowed the bile. "You had fun, Sora. I was there, you thought that treehouse was the coolest thing since wooden swords."
"I was stupid back then," Sora said. "Weak, begging to be hurt."
"You had fun," Kairi repeated.
"So what?"
Kairi sighed and continued with the story. Sora seemed happy enough to spend time with her, even if he didn't like the subject. He scoffed and sneered, and described horrible things he wanted to do to all their friends. He tried to change the subject, he let his attention drift.
Kairi bit down on the fear and kept talking. Once she had taken a frightened shadow and reminded it of who it had been. She would do it again. She would, no matter that this shadow was a thing of rage and hate and cruelty. No matter that she was so scared she thought her heart would freeze.
Sora had said it himself. She had all the time in the world.