Save the Queen
Kairi. A Princess of Heart.
She is waiting, always waiting. She is waiting for her heroes to come home.
Kairi hates waiting. She misses her friends, her knights, sometimes so much she can't stand to breathe without them. Why does she have to wait?
She spends most of her time day dreaming about Sora and Riku. She wishes they would hurry back home. She wonders why they never let her with them because it's 'too dangerous'. Why can't they see? She spends some time outside her studies to train in healing magic. Plus, she can defend herself, and much better than anyone else near her.
When will they finally return home? Kairi wants to do something, something more. It's distressing, being without friends you have grown nearly your entire life with. She loves them, both of them. She is stronger now, more patient, but it doesn't help. She has grown, but growth and strength does nothing. Healing doesn't do much either.
Kairi is a Princess of Heart. That means her's is one of the Universes purest hearts, one of the Seven. She has no darkness. She can't get angry, no matter how much she wants to, or thinks she should. It's hopeless, and she is hopelessly optimistic. She is a Princess of Heart, she should not be fighting. She has to wait.
She fights anyway.
In her heart, she fights and tries and trains as hard as she can. She can heal, she can hit, she can hurt. She does her best. Kairi will be ready to save her friends when they need her. She is ready to join them, because she cares.
The next time she sees them, she hopes she can land two good punches on them, one each. She doubts her heart would let her, but apparently, Belle could elbow the hooded man named Xaldin just fine. She is stronger now. She can fight for the ones she loves, and the innocents of the Universe. She can heal too, if that counts for something.
She just wants to see her friends again, and she wants to stay with them. Kairi wants to join their adventures, to fight and protect them.
Kairi is still a Princess of Heart, but she doesn't see any rule in the Universe Rulebook that says she has to wait like she does and has done.
Kairi is strong now. She is still a Princess of Heart, one of the Seven purest hearts of the Universe, but she is stronger than she has ever been. She wants to see her friends again and she will punch them, hard and painfully. She can imagine their faces. Sora will look shocked, because he would never have expected her to punch him. Riku would look surprised, because he wouldn't have ever expected her to punch so hard. Kairi feels her knuckles twitch in anticipation. Just after she punches them, she'll hug them both, without mercy. Then she would heal them. That would show them. Kairi is strong, strong enough to not have to stand by waiting. Strong enough to join them, and guard them, and save them.
She waits and waits, still. It's infuriating, but there's only so much anger a heart without darkness can feel. Kairi trains daily, beating any bullies or unrighteous citizens she is feels she must. Kairi knows she is strong now, and so does everybody else. If only Sora and Riku could see it too, when they return.
Kairi is a strong Princess of Heart, who despises waiting. She's graduated from Princess, at this point. She doesn't feel that way, but she is strong, and her heart is stronger. She has always been strong.
Kairi has become worthy to be called a Queen. If she is, then she is a strong Queen, who does not need to be saved.
They finally return home, in bursts of light. Tears come unbidden and trail down her porcelain face, but she is done being a pretty doll, waiting for someone to play with her. She does not move from her spot on the beach. The sun is setting, and the colors cast a fiery glow on the island. They run towards her, eager and clumsy in the water, like the children they once were and sometimes still are.
Riku's hair shimmers in the sunlight, and she admits he is even handsomer than the last time she's seen him. His hair is enough to make a model jealous. Riku is well-built, but thin. His smile is strained, like he doesn't remember how to smile or believe he can really be this happy. From Riku's eyes, however, Kairi can see the smile is more genuine than anything else she has ever seen.
Sora is just Sora, as usual. He hasn't changed at all. He looks a bit more mature, but his smile is as dorky as ever. He pauses when he wades near enough to see Kairi is crying, and he doesn't know what to do or what is going on.
Kairi stops waiting for them to reach the shore, because she was never good at waiting and she hates waiting anyway.
She splashes through the water and she changes her plans at the last minute. She pounces on both of them, and they crash on the wet sand. She is crying and laughing at the same time, and it takes a second or two before they join in.
"We made it." Sora and Riku say simultaneously, Sora smiling broadly, Riku grinning minimally.
"You're home." She sobs into their shoulders and chests, before standing up and pulling them both upright.
"Boy, Kairi. It looks like you've gained a bit of weight, what have you been doing all this time while we were away?" Sora teases. Before this point, Kairi has been hoping to spare them a few more moments before the grand finale, but she decides now is as good a time as any.
Kairi pulls back her fist, before smashing it against Sora's cheek. He looks suitably shocked, and Riku looks predictable surprised. Sora falls into the sea and gurgles a muffled, "Ow."
Riku seems to realize what's coming for him, but before he can even defend himself, Kairi collides her fist to his cheek. Kairi knows she is strong enough now, and she is strong enough to leave a bruise on the two Great Keybearers of the Universe.
Riku, recoiling from being slugged, stumbles backwards and trips into the ocean, next to Sora. Sora is laughing. Riku starts laughing too. Kairi, who hates waiting and is strong, stops crying tears of reunion and starts crying tears of laughter and happiness. Kairi is laughing with her knights, and her knights can see she is strong and more than strong enough. Kairi falls to her knees beside the two Keybearers. She heals their bruises, to make sure they understand that she wont be waiting for them anymore.
Their chuckles subside, and Kairi collapses next to them, so that they are lying side by side on their backs, holding each other's hands. The trio closes their eyes. Kairi is happier than she's ever been, and she has proven to them that she is strong and wont wait anymore and will save them instead of the other way around.
Kairi is the Queen and she can save her knights, and her knights know that now.
Who said the Queen needs saving?