A cool breeze carried the scent of sea salt through the air. It was yet another perfectly sunny day on Destiny Islands, the sun beating off the waves and baking the sand, the seagulls flying, trees full of fruit and a young girl walking along the shore line. The girl removed her shoes and stepped into the surf, a nice relief from the scorching sand of the beach. She closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of the beach, she enjoyed the smell but it was beginning to grow old. Kairi brushed long, red hair out of her face. The wind always blew it into her eyes, it was annoying but she was used to it. As she stared at the vast expanse of ocean she wished for another adventure like she had gone on with Sora and Riku last year. She wanted to go with them when they left to take their Mark of Mastery exam but was left behind. Why couldn't she go? She could use a Keyblade, and even though most of her battles were on impulse last time, Sora had taught her some basic stuff. She opened her eyes and sighed, looking down she saw a Thalassa shell being carried back and forth by the waves. She kneeled down and picked up the smooth shell from the water and rolled it in her hands. The shell brought a feeling of sadness to Kairi's heart. "These always brought Sora back to me." She said softly under her breath. "But now I want to be brought to Sora."
She replaced the shell gently into a wave and went back to the beach Bending down she replaced her shoes but noticed something different as she stood up straight again. The entrance to the secret cave was different somehow. It was hard to tell from the beach but something seemed wrong about it. Curious, she walked over and saw that all the plant life had been torn to shreds. Inside the cave there was a trail of shredded plants and slight claw marks on the walls. "This is my chance" Kairi said to herself excitedly, "If there's something down there and I manage to stop it then they'll have to take me next time. Maybe I can even prove that the monster Sora heard is real." Kairi giggled at that, Sora and his silly thoughts always made her smile. She bent down and crawled into the tunnel, emerging on the other side to familiar sights. She smiled as she saw all the familiar cave drawings her and her friends had made as kids. As she walked along she stopped and held her hand on a particular picture. It was a picture of her that Sora had drawn twelve years ago. It was very course and didn't look very good to most but to Kairi, it meant the world. As she traced along the scratched surface she came to the drawing of two arms sharing Paopu fruit between her face and her drawing of Sora's face. This brought a small tear to Kairi's eye seeing the silent promise that they would be together forever.
She turned to the door of the world and studied it for a short time. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary Kairi went to go look at the drawing of her and Sora again when she heard a loud, rumbling crack outside that sounded like the sky itself was falling. She ran out to see an all too familiar orb appear in the sky. It was the same inky black and red orb that had destroyed their island before and that meant only one thing. "Heartless!" Kairi cursed. But then she had a small glimmer of hope among her fear, this could be the chance she wanted, but is it more than she can chew? Kairi made her Keyblade, Destiny Place, appear and ran toward her boat destroying any Heartless that got near with a single swing. She clambered into her boat began to row back to the main island when she saw a small object falling from the sky. "It seems like I've seen this before." She said to herself "Almost like a dream. The falling object grew larger and came close enough to identify. "Sora!" Kairi yelled. She threw her oars into the boat and dived, without a second thought, into the raging ocean.
The waves were getting higher and fiercer as she forced her way to where Sora had fallen. As she desperately swam she saw a slight view of Sora's hair above the water and, after taking a deep breath, dove down below the surface. She swam down for what seemed like hours. As she approached Sora's limp body her legs and lungs were aching. She grabbed him around the waist and half carried, half drifted her way back to shore. She climbed onto the beach as fast as her in pain body would allow and lay Sora down on the sand. She pushed her hair out of the way and put her ear to his chest to check his heartbeat, it was non-existent! "No. NO! I won't lose him after I just got him back!" Kairi screamed as she proceeded to pound his chest. Sora coughed once but lay still. Kairi could only think of one other thing, it was embarrassing but she had to do what she could. She took a deep breath and breathed air into Sora's lungs through mouth to mouth. She was about to try again when she heard a noise behind her and turned to see Heartless appearing on the beach and slowly make their way toward her though they seemed reluctant to get close. She dragged Sora's body into the shack nearby with great difficulty and tried some more to wake him up but he wouldn't budge. Kairi felt a wave of exhaustion hit her as the adrenaline from the encounter faded and her eyelids began to droop. "No, I have to protect him." She muttered as she collapsed from exhaustion.
Kairi awoke to the sound of seagulls and soothing waves. "What?" Kairi asked jumping up on her hands. Her head as pounding and felt very woozy. "I thought we were under attack by Heartless." "We were." Kairi jumped as the unexpected response came. Sora came down the stairs of the shack with a smile on his face. "But I fought em off, ya'know, like a hero." For a small moment Kairi could have sworn there was a slight flicker of yellow in Sora's eyes but shook it off, blaming it on exhaustion.
"Well," Sora said gesturing with his hand toward the door. "Wanna check how things are outside?" Kairi slowly nodded her head, still trying to piece together the past events. Sora grabbed her hand and helped her up supporting the exhausted girl as the two walked outside. Everything seemed back to how it was that morning. Calm surf, flying seagulls; it was like nothing had even changed. "What exactly happened?" Kairi asked as she tried to walk on her own and stumbled, falling into Sora's chest as he went to catch her. "That doesn't matter now," Sora told her reassuringly cupping her chin in his hand, had he gotten taller? "We're together again and that's what's truly important." "What's up with you?" Kairi asked pulling her chin away, cheeks turning slightly red. "You never showed an interest in anything romantic, you just like going on your crazy adventures." Sora chuckled to himself at that. "That was the old me" he replied "After my exam I realized how much I missed you." He gazed down at Kairi with a look in his eyes that she had never seen before. She knew Sora had feelings for her but this look seemed different, hungrier.
"Really?" Kairi asked skeptically. "Definitely." Sora said affirmatively "But I received some info from the king. The Heartless are planning on hitting the islands again, harder this time." At that fear began to well up in Kairi's heart again but then she remembered, she had Sora again, she could face anything. "Well then, we better get ready." Kairi said, trying to make the tone more serious than Sora was. She pulled away from Sora and began to walk down the beach.
Sora and Kairi strolled along the beach in silence, Sora staring at Kairi and Kairi still trying to figure out all the strange things that had happened. Kairi felt Sora's eyes digging into her and it made her feel uneasy. Sora had never stared at her like that before. He was always so childish that he would be too embarrassed to do something like that. The two were about to reach the docks when the same deafening sound as before pierced the sky. Clouds rolled in at an alarming speed and raindrops began to fall, slow at first but quickly picking up. "What? I thought you said they weren't attacking again until tonight." Kairi yelled over the noise of the howling wind, pushing hair out of her face. "Guess I was wrong." Sora yelled back. He turned toward the group of Heartless approaching them, growing larger by the second. "Get behind me and I'll show you how a hero takes care of these things."
Sora grabbed Kairi's arm and pulled her behind him. He then lunged into the crowd of Heartless, destroying them left and right. Every time he would swing his Keyblade hearts would fly into the air only for the newly empty spots only to be refilled. Kairi watched Sora fight and noticed his battle style hadn't changed much over the years. Same posture, same poses, same attack patterns. But as she watched she noticed his normal battle style begin to change. He started becoming less coordinated, more wild, cold even. She had never seen Sora so intent on violence, much less enjoy it. "Sora? Are you ok?" She asked over the roaring wind, deep concern in her voice. "Of course I'm ok!" he laughed back with a voice of someone in the heat of the moment. Kairi thought she saw a faint smile on his lips but couldn't be sure. The Heartless began to circle her more and more and Sora seemed to pay less attention to her and more on killing the creatures. Kairi could fight them on her own but her training was minimal, they were becoming too many for her to handle. "Sora! What are you doing?!"At that moment there was a flash of lightning and Sora turned toward her with a face of malicious intent, almost as if he lived for the feeling of battle. Kairi screamed and closed her eyes, falling to her knees in terror with tears rolling down her cheeks.
As she opened her eyes Sora was standing over her, a gentle expression on his face. "See." He said with a smile. "Nothing to fear." The Heartless were gone. Had Sora taken care of them all in that short amount of time? Everything had an orange glow as the sun began its dip below the skyline. Sora took Kairi's hand and helped her up. "Now that that's settled why don't we get something to eat, I'm starved." Kairi slowly nodded her head in agreement, still in a state of shock from what she just saw. Sora led her to the water pool near the secret cave's entrance. The small waterfalls trickled into the pool making a peaceful sound that eased Kairi's tension. "Wait here while I get what we need." Sora told her as he walked off down the nearby ramp and into the shack, looking back at Kairi before he went inside, like he was making sure she wasn't running away. Kairi finally got some time to think. Sora was acting strange, that much was certain, but what was the cause? Was it really that he missed her or is something else going on here? She had to test it, and she knew how. Some careful prodding and questioning would bring the mystery to a close. As she was preparing what to say Sora returned with a basket and a beach towel. He laid the towel out on the ground next to the pool and sat down on it, motioning for Kairi to sit with him. As she sat he and pulled out two bars of Sea Salt Ice Cream from the basket and handed one to Kairi. She took it with disguised reservation and bit into the salty yet sweet taste of the frozen treat.
"So," Kairi said, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "Where's Riku?" Sora looked at her with puzzlement for a split second before regaining his composure. "Oh him? He's still back at Yen Sid's taking the exam. He couldn't pass as fast as I could so I decided to leave him behind and come back and see you." That sounded wrong to Kairi, why would Riku be having such trouble and why would Sora just leave him behind? Kairi knew she was getting closer to the truth; all she needed was one more little push. "But what about everyone else? You know the ones Mickey told you about. Roxas and Namine and the others." Again Sora looked puzzled but only for a moment. "Well I had a choice, I could come and be with you or go save them, and I think we both know which one was more important." Sora leaned in for a kiss but now Kairi had her answer. Whoever, or whatever, this was it was definitely not Sora. As he leaned toward her his outward appearance began to change. It had the shape of Sora but was as black as night with eyes that glowed an eerie yellow, eyes that stared into her very soul.
"Get away from me you monster!" Kairi yelled and shoved him away. The fake Sora stumbled but caught himself. As it steadied it started to laugh, a laugh that chilled Kairi to the bone. "Monster?" The thing quipped "Don't make me laugh. You haven't seen a monster yet!" The pseudo-Sora slowly grew in size and morphed into a new, horrifying creature. It looked like a lizard creature mixed spliced with a wolf. It stood on its hind legs and had a tail the size of a palm tree. It was around 20 feet tall with the same inky black skin and a mane of glowing green fur. It had arms that drug the ground and ended in large, clawed hands. Its legs were shorter than his torso with toes as long as Kairi's forearm. Its face had an elongated snout and a long, purple tongue hanging out; licking the air like it was feeding off of something. "What are you?" Kairi asked in horror as she summoned her Keyblade.
"I am known as the Feeder" the creature said "I feed off of the emotion of lust, of need you could say, and you young lady have plenty of that. Your need for Sora was strong but your need for power was even larger. And now, thanks to you, I have enough power to devour this world's heart!" The Feeder bent down and grabbed Kairi in his giant grasp. She struggled but couldn't get free; its grip was too tight. She did the only think she could think of and stabbed him in his oversized fingers. The creature screamed and released its prey. As Kairi fell to the ground she rolled and took off at a sprint toward the secret cave. She ducked into the entrance and crawled as fast as she could. When she made it in she ran over to the drawing of her and Sora and fell to her knees in tears, throwing her Keyblade away from her. "Sora! I need your help! Where are you?!" As she yelled to no one the whole cave shook. Kairi looked up to see the small hole in the ceiling that normally filtered in a few rays of sunshine become filled with two giant hands. The entire ceiling was ripped open wide and the evil creature peered his face inside.
"You think your safe in here? This is where I found out about your Sora. Your little drawings are very informative. And now I can open this door and devour this world." Kairi stood up and grabbed her Keyblade from the ground. "I won't let you!" she said confidently as she stood in front of the door. "You've served your purpose girl. I have all the power I need and you are now nothing but a nuisance." The creature swatted Kairi to the side reached down to open the door. Kairi quickly bounced back and countered with some techniques that Sora had taught her but to no avail. She attacked the creature over and over but nothing seemed to phase it. She used everything she knew how to, moves she learned from Sora and Riku, even some of her own but The Feeder acted as if she wasn't even there. The beast lurched as the door finally jerked open, knocking Kairi back. A loud noise sounded as the door opened. It sounded almost as if an earthquake was ripping the world to shreds. A giant gust of wind rushed out of the door and pushed Kairi into a wall, knocking her out.
When she awoke she found herself on a patch of sand. Pieces of wood dotted the landscape and a few trees stuck out at odd angles. Kairi took a step back from the sight to find there was no more land behind her, it just dropped off. She looked over the edge to find herself on a floating piece of island, torn from the world itself. The world was unable to hold itself together without the heart and had slowly floated away into the orb, now once again in the sky. She turned around to see the Feeder standing across from her, gingerly holding the world's heart as if it could break at any second. Kairi stood slowly and, after regaining her senses, ran toward the monster. She tried yet again to attack him but he didn't even notice at first. After a few attacks The Feeder finally noticed her and simply batted her away with a figure. "You tries are admirable but you know as well as I do that you do not have the power to stop me." It said, turning his back to her. It was so transfixed on the heart that it completely ignored its surroundings.
"I need more?" Kairi said exhaustedly and sat on the ground. "I need more." She was exhausted and didn't think she could muster any more strength to fight. As she sat there The Feeder broke his gaze from the heart and glanced over at her slouched form. "It seems I can gain more power from you yet. You still have some desire for power." He extended his long, slimy tongue toward Kairi to devour this new meal when she looked up at him, eyes glowing like a furnace. "No," Kairi said softly "I don't need more power." She said even louder. "You need me to think that so you can grow stronger. But I've always had the power to beat you and you knew it all along." She yelled at The Feeder
"Silly Girl, I only told you the truth. You are a weak little child who can do nothing without your friends and you have no power of your own." Kairi stood and re-summoned her Keyblade, which now was surrounded by the shining aura of a giant blade. "That's a lie! I realize that now. That the only power I ever needed was to believe that my heart was strong enough to face anything it came up against, and that means you!" Kairi's heart began to emit an engulfing light that surrounded her in a glowing suit of armor and she began to hover slightly off the ground. "What is this?" The Feeder asked as the light swallowed him. "NOOO! YOU'RE TOO WEAK! YOU CAN'T WIN!" He screamed as the light blinded him, holding the heart to his chest like it was being taken from him. Kairi disappeared in a flash and reappeared next to the creature, separating his tongue from his mouth with a single stroke of her blade. "You will no longer feed on anyone ever again." She said in an otherworldly, echoic voice. The last thing the Feeder saw was a girl with wings of light, bringing down a giant blade as a final judgment.
Kairi slowly drifted back onto the island fragment, tired but unharmed. "Now what?" She sighed "I'm trapped here." She hung her head and put her hand to her heart. "I miss Sora. I just want everything to go back to normal." As Kairi spoke the words her heart heard her wish and caused her Keyblade to appear in her hand and began to glow. A ball of light appeared at the end and stars began to swirl around it. A light engulfed the area, forcing Kairi to close her eyes. When she opened them she was lying on the beach, sun beating down, waves gently crashing on the shore, everything was like that morning, just like she wished.
Suddenly a shadow loomed over her and she looked up to see Riku standing next to her, looking just as he did when he left a few days before but something was different. He seemed more, well, happy. He laughed down at the girl lying there, "Get up you lazy bum, and you complain about Sora. C'mon, Yen Sid wants to train you to be a Keyblade master." Riku reached out his hand helped Kairi to her feet. "What were you doing lying there anyway?" Riku asked as he opened a gate of pure light to the unknown. "Just dreaming of an adventure." Kairi said, smiling to herself as she and walked through the gate, with new confidence and head held high.