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Kingdom Hearts: Destiny's Embrace

Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge.

That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that.

I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand.

I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times.

Darkness...Darkness of the heart. How is it born?

How does it come to affect us so?

As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness.

-Ansem's Report 1

Chapter 1: Destiny Island

"You know, Riku's changed," said Kairi, just staring out into the ocean, the setting sun lighting everything with an array of bright colors.

"What do you mean?" asked Sora, sitting next to her and also staring off into the distance.

"Well…" said Kairi, suddenly unsure of how to proceed. She'd been thinking about this for a while but she didn't know exactly how to phrase it, it was really just a feeling she had. She'd been hoping that Sora would have noticed too since he was Riku's best friend. "Hmmmm….."

"You okay?" asked Sora.

Kairi stayed silent for a moment as she tried to gather her thoughts. On a whim she turned to Sora, the words just tumbling out of her mouth. "Sora! Let's take the raft and go! Just the two of us!"

As soon as she said the words she regretted them, feeling embarrassed by the shock that Sora showed when he finally turned to face her. "Huh?"

Kairi forced herself to laugh, playing the whole thing off as a joke. "Haha, just kidding!"

"What's gotten into you?" laughed Sora, amused. He replied playfully, "You're the one that's changed Kairi."

Kairi was silent for a moment as she thought about that. "Maybe…" She stared out into the ocean and felt her thoughts from the past few days just come tumbling out. "You know…I was a little afraid at first, but now I'm ready. No matter where I go or what I see I know I can always come back here. Right?"

"Yeah, of course!"

"That's good," replied Kairi wistfully, glad that she had Sora around to comfort the worries she'd been harboring the closer their raft got to completion. "Sora, don't ever change."

"Huh?" asked Sora, seeming confused by her actions.

Kairi stood up on the pier, still looking out at the ocean instead of her companion. "I just can't wait. Once we set sail, it'll be great…"

"You're the one that's changed Kairi." Sora's words echoed in her mind.

Kairi lay in bed just looking up at the ceiling, her mind still racing from the events of the day. They'd finally finished the raft. It had taken a long time, but now it was complete. Tomorrow, tomorrow was finally the day… Riku had been talking about leaving the island with increasing fervor as the days passed and she'd felt herself getting caught up in the same feelings.

Unlike Riku and Sora she'd once lived somewhere else besides the Island, though her memories of her former home were vague. When she tried to think about her home she couldn't even remember a name, just images. Her grandmother telling her a story in a library, gardens full of flowers, a kind young woman with bright blue hair and darkness…darkness engulfing everything. Her first full memories were of being on the island, her grandmother convincing the Mayor to allow her to stay at her house and then passing away shortly after. Kairi had been sad at first, but soon she'd made friends with Sora, Riku, Selphie and the others and had been too busy enjoying each day to feel sad.

And now, they were finally about to leave. Kairi knew she couldn't tell the Mayor because the woman would try to stop her, but she did consider writing a note. It would be better than saying nothing and she could apologize for leaving and thank her for all the years she'd taken care of her. She wasn't an unkind woman but Kairi needed to go on an adventure, especially an adventure with Sora…

Kairi heard a loud boom outside and sat up in bed. Looking out of her window she saw the island that they played on during the day and saw that a large storm cloud had formed above it, lightning flashing in the sky.

"The raft!" exclaimed Kairi, worried about what the sudden storm could do to the raft. All that work, their one chance at freedom, it could be destroyed in an instance. She quickly pulled on her shoes and went into her closet. Inside she found the rope that she'd prepared for moments like this, where she'd need to sneak out without alerting anyone downstairs. She hesitated slightly as she smelled the aroma of fish stew from downstairs and heard the slight noise of the Mayor singing as she cooked. Kairi shook her head to dispel her doubts, opened the window and lowered the rope. Before she climbed down she remembered something and went over to her night stand. On it rested the charm she'd made out of thassalla shells, a wayfinder like the kind made by sailors to help bring good fortune on their journeys and to guide them home. She picked up the wayfinder and after looking at it for a moment, put it away into her pocket. She returned to the window and started to climb out of it.

Once on the ground Kairi ran as stealthily to her small personal boat as she could manage and untied it from the dock. Pushing off she rowed as quickly as she could out to the island, the sea shuddering under the storm. It was only once she was at the island and tied up that she really thought about the strange sudden storm. She realized that there was a lack of rain like would be expected. Looking up she was surprised to see dark clouds swirling around a pulsating black and red orb. Climbing onto the pier she saw that Riku and Sora's boats were already there, probably to also check on the raft. She saw two figures standing in the distance below the Paopu tree, and she thought that they were probably Sora and Riku.

Kairi ran across the beach to her friends, ignoring the ever darkening shadows around her. She ran across the plank connecting the Paopu tree to the rest of the island and stopped in shock at what she saw. She saw Riku, looking right at her, his hand extended to Sora, who had his back to her. This wouldn't have been too strange to see except that the ground all around them had been covered in shadows and the shadows were reaching up and around the two boys to drag them down. Riku was calm while this happened but Sora was flailing back and forth, struggling as the dark tendrils tried to grab hold of him.

"Sora!" yelled Kairi, stopping short just of the shadows.

"You should join us Kairi," said Riku calmly. "We never needed the raft after all, we can get to other worlds just like this!"

"Kairi?" exclaimed Sora, looking over his shoulder at her.

"What are you doing Riku?" asked Kairi, panic filling her.

"Leaving, like we always wanted to. You two just need to take my hand and we can all go together!"

The darkness surged at that moment and tendrils wrapped completely around Riku and dragged him down into themselves and out of sight. They tried to do the same for Sora but he struggled and managed to turn around, falling onto his knees in the process.

"Kairi!" yelled Sora, stretching out his hand for help.

"Sora!" yelled Kairi, forgetting her fear and running out onto the shadows, small tendrils grabbing at her feet. She ran over to Sora and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him up and the shadows wrapped tighter around him. As she grabbed his hand, light surrounded their hands and Kairi felt as if something warm had just entered her heart. "You won't take him!"

Sadly the shadows didn't agree with her as Sora was yanked downwards into the ground and she was flung forwards into the thick, reaching tendrils. They wrapped around her back and pulled her down into the shadows but she could only wonder at how curiously empty her hand felt now that Sora wasn't holding it anymore. She tried to struggle but the shadows didn't budge an inch. "Let me go and give me back Sora!"

As it looked like she was about to be swallowed by the darkness light poured out of her and collected in her hand. The light shot out and dispelled the darkness and Kairi was left lying on the ground below the Paopu tree, a strange object now in her hand. She stood up slowly and studied it. It looked vaguely like a giant key. It had a circular shaft of some silver metal that ended in the teeth of the key, also of the same strange metal. The appearance differed from a key at the butt end which instead resembled a very fancy sword with a guard that formed a square with rounded edges and was made from gold colored metal. From the end was a chain that ended with a small charm with two small circles attached to a larger one. Kairi wasn't sure of what to make of it or what it was, but for some reason it felt right in her hand.

A sudden crack of thunder drew her attention and Kairi was terrified to look up and see as large chunks of the island were being drawn straight into the enlarging black-red orb in the sky. She felt the ground below her start to shake and heard the breaking of rock and wood. She barely had time to jump unceremoniously onto the beach as the ground below her was lifted into the air and sucked into the orb.

"Ow…" muttered Kairi, standing up shakily, her strange new possession still gripped tightly in her hand. "What's going on?"

Around her the shadows started to pool once more and she felt goosebumps run down her arms. She gripped the key tightly in both hands as the shadows stood up, forming into 2 foot tall bug things made of pure shadow except for their large glowing yellow eyes. One of the shadows crouched and then jumped at her suddenly. Kairi let out a yell and swung the key, hitting the shadow in midair. The key cut the shadow in half, the pieces landing on the ground and disintegrating into dark smoke.

As Kairi marveled at what she'd done the other shadows started to slowly close in on her. She swung the key again at the nearest one but it just leapt backwards, dodging her attack before continuing to press in on her. She swung with increasing desperation, completely inexperienced with fighting. She'd watched Sora and Riku spar with wooden swords but she'd never joined them. Now she wished she had, they'd know what to do in a situation like this…

The shadows were closing tighter around her every second and all around them chunks of the island were being ripped apart and sucked into the orb. She heard the sound of rushing liquid and was surprised to see the oceans being completely drained as they swirled into a vortex that culminated in being sucked into the orb and disappearing. She was so surprised that she let off on her wild flailing for a moment. That's when the shadows decided to pounce. Kairi swung the key at one of the shadows before it could get to her. The key slashed straight through the shadow, destroying it.

Sadly, all the others were on her in the next instant, clinging and clawing at her. Kairi tried to hold up her hands to defend herself, hoping to get the key between her and the shadows. She could feel them tearing at her, scratching and trying to kill her. Between flashes of darkness she saw some of the shadows fall into the ground, turning into pools of darkness. The darkness pooled underneath her and she started to sink into the darkness.

Panic filled Kairi and her heart started to sink. She had no way to get out of this. She couldn't fight and she had no one to protect or rescue her. Sora and Riku were gone and there was almost no way anyone could get through the vortex to help her. It was a dream. It had to be a dream. Just because it felt so real and she didn't remember falling asleep meant nothing. Soon, she'd be sucked into the darkness and wake up in her bed, having passed out right before dinner and being chided by the Mayor for ignoring her call to eat again.

Suddenly, as Kairi's sight was filled with darkness and she felt the breath being sucked out of her, she heard words in her mind, soundless but with the air of encouragement. "Don't give up. Things may look bleak now but even in the midst of darkness, the light will shine through. Don't be afraid, you aren't alone on this journey. You may not be the key, but that doesn't make your light any less important or powerful. You'll just need to believe…" And as the last words terminated through her mind, Kairi felt a warm light build up inside of her, protecting her as she passed out, her vision going truly dark.