'Fire! Hellfire! All of you burnt to cinders!'

The parade route had managed to be one of the most torturous in Kairi's career. The crowds were particularly dense, and the children had become uncharacteristically rowdy.

A couple minutes after her float left backstage, a young boy had managed to escape the clutches of his parents and ran directly in front of her lumbering vehicle. The operators monitoring the show were able to stop the float just in the nick of time, but the expression on the boy's face as he realized his mistake left Kairi shaken.

It was as though a place he had once thought of as safe had suddenly turned sinister and life-claiming.

Security managed to swoop him from harm's way before any serious damage could occur, but it left Kairi with an unpleasant sensation in the pit of her stomach. 'With all of these crowds and all of these machines, it surprises me that more kids don't get caught between the gears more often.' It seemed inevitable. No matter how much you tried to childproof a place, someone would get hurt eventually. 'I wonder how many times it happens and we don't hear about it.'

Despite her internal complaints, the route continued on. She was still the Princess, and she couldn't let such small things take away her spirit. Morbid curiosity quickly turned to morbid humor in her mind as a grin returned to her face.

'A curse for you. May all of your children burn.'

A little girl from the street waved out to her with both arms flailing. Her Mickey Mouse hat almost fell from her head as she bobbed to the beat of "Be Our Guest." Kairi gave her a large toothy smile, and the girl burst with excitement.

Then she was sucked from existence.

Kairi continued smiling as though nothing had happened. 'It must be my mind playing tricks on me,' she told herself. 'Maybe child endangerment has become such a thing with me that it is beginning to take its toll psychologically.' Her grin grew wider. 'Maybe I'm going insane! My first steps towards serial-killer hood.'

She turned to the sidewalk to her left without a single crack in expression. Much to her surprise, a child of similar temperament was pulled violently under the crowd.

Her intuition began to tell her that it wasn't just a breakdown. Something clearly was amiss.

Her heart began to hammer. Another child was sucked under. The hairs on her neck began to prickle. An entire family was sucked away.

The screaming began. One family after another after another sunk until finally there was nothing left but a black void underneath their feet.

Suddenly, there came a loud roar from the sky. Screams of shock and horror shrieked from the crowd as they dispersed in all directions.

Kairi's float had come to a complete stop. 'That isn't the operators.'

Upon examining the new substance which coated the sidewalk, she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her chest. The black void moved as though it had a mind all of its own as it bubbled with each and every guest sucked within. As she watched a muscular young man in his twenties get sucked beneath the surface without so much of a struggle, fear coursed through her.

Hands falling with her smile, her princess demeanor was lost and her shoulders slumped. Her hands bunched into tight fists.

As guests attempted to flee, their screams were made barely audible over the bombast of the parade's soundtrack.

Once the void had made itself known, the following events happened so quickly as to send her into a state of shock.

Tendrils that looked barely thicker than wisps shot from the surface and went in all directions. A man screamed and kicked as it caught him around the leg and dragged him under.

Another loud crackling bang rang from the sky, this one startling no one in particular. Most everyone were busy facing death.

There was a tendril for every man, woman, and child who were unfortunate enough to stay for the festivities.

Gigantic inky hands came up from the goop, snatching cast members from their floats and dropping them to the street. "No, please!" she heard the woman who played Cinderella plead. "Not like this, I do-"

Kari had remembered the woman from her trips to the breakroom. She had a particular demeanor that drove all of the cast up the wall. She was egocentric and thought only of herself. She treated every grain of rice from her bento box as if it were a deadly explosive that could destroy her entire figure. She was mean-spirited and cared very little for the well-being of those who visited the park.

Kairi had always despised her.

But in that moment, none of it mattered. When the girl met her death, swung to the sidewalk and swallowed by the darkness, Kairi felt tears forming in her eyes. Those she once despised were now worth mourning, and those she had not even met were worthy of remembrance.

She wondered if the child who ran in front of her earlier found safety. Did he return back to his family as security dragged him from the street, or did he bolt from his parents once again and found himself falling into the earth?

She attempted to flee from her float, to find some sort of save haven within the chaos. Her legs would not respond, and she stood frozen before the chaos.

Within moments, what was once a bustling entrance to a national treasure more resembled a deserted ghost town, as everyone had been swallowed. The soundtrack switched to "Tale as Old as Time" as Kairi gulped.

The blackness stretched across the whole of the sidewalk. "True as it can be." It slowly began to make its way into the street, covering everything within its path. "Both a little scared." Something began to emerge from the surface, but then fell back flatly into the pool. Then, after mere seconds of non-activity, a claw shot from the gunk. An arrow strand thinner than a human arm connected it with the ground. "Neither one prepared…" Smaller claws began to emerge from the side of the float, scratching at its vulnerable surface.

Whatever it was that killed the others were taking their time with her, slowly edging forward and preparing for the kill. She was trapped on the float. Any attempt to escape would no doubt lead to the same demise as her former audience and coworkers. Breathing became labored and painful as hope became dimmer. Why they hadn't taken her already seemed illogical as she gazed out at the sea of black.

As tears flowed down her cheeks, she began to think that they would be doing her a favor. Main Street had now fallen into a nightmarish aberration, worse than anything she had ever seen before.

Kairi felt like screaming, but kept it lodged in her throat. No one would hear her. For all intents and purposes, Disneyland looked as though it had dipped straight into hell, with luxuries such as security completely gone.

There was no savior in sight. No knight in shining armor to sweep her from her plight to safety.

'Oh god… Sora.'

He had been positioned at the front gate, and if what she had witnessed were any indication, they would have swallowed him whole before he had time to flee.

A sudden surge of defiance welled up within her. Looking to both of her sides, Kairi attempted to find some way to defend herself. Anything that might be able to fight the claw off. Anything that would give her the slightest chance of seeing Sora again.

She looked to her old inanimate float decoration Lumiere and desperately attempted to rip him from his foundation.

"Come on come on!" she screamed. No matter how much she pulled, Lumiere would not budge. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she mustered all of her strength. "Move damn you, move!" She knew that it wouldn't budge, but she was determined to try no matter what.

"I can't die like this! I can't die… I can-"

There was nowhere to jump. There was nowhere to run. There was nowhere to cry. There was no place to hide.

The claw moved forward again as the black completely enveloped the sides of her float. No primary colors remained. Only the darkness.

In her final moments, she did not meet death with grace. "I didn't want to go like this!
She screamed out. "No please! Not like this! Not now!"

She sounded like Cinderella, whose confrontation with death had reverted her mentality to that of a crying child.

The claw swept at her fiercely. For the moments before she crashed into the void, one thought stayed with her. 'Sora…'

Her world went black. Life as she knew it came to an end.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

One more ticket, another chirp from the machine. Another ticket, another bird chirp. Another ticket, another chirp.

Sora felt his motions becoming continuously robotic, as though he were becoming one of the animatronics he envied. 'Well, at least they aren't conscious to know they're doing the same motions day in and day out.'

The inflow of guests had grown beyond anyone's expectations for the evening. Everyone working at the entrance gates gave each other concerned glances. There were beyond unprepared. They needed more employees to help lift their load, or else their guests were likely to turn on them.

Sora wondered why so many people would come to visit when the park was set to close in just a few short hours. This kind of rush was understandable during the day, but rarely during evening hours.

But stranger things had happened. Once, a delinquent had threatened him with a foam knife.

'It is like everyone and their cousin just decided right now was the perfect time to go to Disneyland. The perfect time to just invade me, beat me up, and leave me like the weasels would Eddie Valiant… out to dry…' He grinned at himself. 'God, I love that movie. Maybe I'll make Kairi watch it coming up here.'

Another ticket, another punch to the face. Another ticket, another punch to the gut. Another ticket and Sora was almost certain that he would pass out in front of everyone.

'There goes another little pale arm attached to a ticket.' Sora smirked. 'And another little pale arm. And another little pale arm. And another gunky inky arm.' Sora jumped. 'Wait a minute.'

"What the hel-" A chill possessed every muscle as he froze. As much as his lungs demanded for more breath, he couldn't catch any. He felt as though he had been plunged into a freezer and was being prepped for the slaughter.

It took everything he had to merely lift his head. What he saw glaring back at him stopped any action he might have taken. To hit it over the head with whatever he could manage to grab. To escape and flee and run and scream.

But he could not move a single muscle. The neck which had lifted his head was now as stiff as a petrified corpse.

In those few moments, he had no choice but to examine the thing which leered at him. There was no expression upon its face, and its figure looked as though it were made of tar. It shifted and changed every second, as though it were discontent with staying in any one form. It was indistinguishable, as though it did not belong in this world.

A mouth filled with blood red teeth formed, seeming to split two-thirds of the circumference of the thing's face. It grinned menacingly and began breathing rapidly.

He recognized that breath. It was not unlike the breaths he took when he saw Kairi in a bathing suit or imagined what their honeymoon activities would feel like.

As quickly as the creature grew fangs, the other guests just as quickly began to transform. Before his eyes, everyone with a ticket to Disneyland had the same breath and the same shape.

Sora heard their screams as they made the transformation. They weren't screams defying death. They were screams of exhale as death stole their lives.

They were all turned into something they were not. They all had the same blood red smiles and the same meancing leers.

Sora was certain he was going to die.

His thoughts turned to Kairi. All alone on her own float, those around her desperately trying to help and protect her. Quickly she is overwhelmed, and turns just like the guests in front of him. Into a monster that no longer knows who she is.

His heart pounded against his chest. He felt it was trying to escape from the cold and warm him to action.

He could clench his hands. He could move his toes. He could run.

"I-It can't end this way!" He cried out and fled in the direction of Main Street.

A sharp searing pain sliced down his back, and the brief warmth which spurred him left as soon as it came. His breathing slowed as he collapsed to the ground.

The pain blurred his eyesight as he turned to look upon his pursuer. From its mouth a cascade of drool fell to the pavement. It sharpened its claws against the turnstile, though Sora doubted that it needed to.

'It is playing with food.' The thought of being an appetizer for a rampaging monster was not something that had slipped his mind while daydreaming, but he wouldn't have imagined how real it felt. To know that something beyond his understanding would soon have him slipping down its throat.

Sora imagined its pinky going across his throat and his head popping off like a cap. That would be the end. He could be a blood fountain on the way up to Disneyland.

His arms and legs went numb as he continued to fight with his disability. "Come on!"
He struggled to his feet before falling back onto the pavement. "I can do this!" The creature moved closer to him. The freezing cold came crashing on him once again. "I can't let her die!"

'I'm never going to see her again.'

"I will see her again!"

The creature took two slow steps forward as it studied him with growing intensity. Sora shook as he forced his right foot forward, elevating his torso. A sharp sting rang across his chest, but he kept moving despite himself.

'She's already dead.'

"I-I w-will save h-h-her!"

The creature stopped. A long purple tongue wiped across the outside of its mouth, before a bellowing cry erupted from deep within its belly.

He limped back onto both feet, even as his wound felt as though it would split open and rip his body apart.

The creature stood before him motionless. Watching his every move.

'I'm going to die here.'

"I will never d-die!"

He stood as firm as he could with the equivalence of a blazing inferno upon his back.

Turning his back to the beast, he ran off at a sprint. After a single moment, he was back on the ground, having tripped over his own feet.

The pain had completely shattered him, leaving him with nothing but an aching heart and a non-responsive body.

'This is it. This is the end. I'm going to die.'

He closed his eyes and prepared for the last sensation he was likely to feel as a human being.

The creature's howl rang loud and true, making his earbuds tremble.

A second went by without a noise, as though the whole world had been turned on mute.

Another few seconds went by and there was no pain. There was no sound.

He slowly opened his eyes, and he was where he had laid before. Awaiting a death that seemed all but inevitable. But there were no pearly gates or men with pitchforks.

"I-I'm alive?" He got back on both of his feet without a single ache. "What in th-"

"I took care of it," a voice broke through the silence. "Your wounds and your attacker. You did really good out there for a first-timer. I've never seen anyone manage to withstand the Bellower's poison that long without training. You have a really stout heart."

Sora twirled around. All of the creatures from earlier had completely disappeared, as though purged from the face of the Earth. Instead, a man holding a long white blade with a gold handle took their place.

The man's features were unmistakable. "You'll have your own blade soon enough at this rate," he said.

Sora noted that the end had a peculiar shape for a weapon. It resembled an oversized key.

"Oh god…"

"The reality of your situation is going to come hard. It's okay. Breathe in and embrace it. Don't try to fight it."

"You were the guy from earlier! The guy with the cryptic message thing!"

The man stood stoically. "Well, I was just trying to warn you. The Heartless are not something to be tak-"

"Did you do all this?! Did you make the black sponge thin-"

The man nodded towards him in understanding as white sparks flew from the tip of his blade.

"What is that? What are you doing?!"

"Protect!"

A small egg formed at the end of the man's weapon. It expanded rapidly, enveloping them both as it shimmered in the evening sky.

"This is a protective spell," the man spoke. "When they come for us, they'll have to go through that first. And me, of course. It is my duty to protect you, after all."

Sora's brain refused to process all the new information that had been unloaded on him.

The fact that a man he had just met was real-life wizard and had saved his life from a horde of scary monsters was of the least importance to him at that moment.

'Maybe he can help me save Kairi!'

"I have to go to Main Street! My girlfriend, she might be-"

The shell surrounding them began to move forward, and Sora barely noticed that they were moving along with it."Your Kairi is safe, don't you worry about that. My wife has no doubt already saved her. I would trust her with my life." They both levitated mere inches off the ground as the bubble transported them.

"How do you do this bubble magic stuff?"

"I'm a Keyblade master. It sort of comes with the territory." He smiled warmly and took the young man in his arms. Sora squirmed at the intensity of the embrace. It wasn't exactly what he was expecting from his new protector. "I will explain everything as soon as you are both safe. But for now, just promise me you won't look behind you."

"How do you know her na-"

"Questions questions. Just don't look back."

"Why, what's behind me?" Sora found himself feeling unusually calm considering the circumstances he found himself. He had just witnessed the death of dozens of guests and had just met a self-proclaimed Keyblade master. But somehow, now that it had all happened, it was making some sort of quasi-sense in his mind. Like a hero from a movie who had been completely sedated by pain killers.

"You don't want to know," the man said. "If we don't have to fight our way through them, best you don't see them at all. Besides, the pacifist way is usually the best way if you can manage it."

Ahead of them laid a bridge where rested the Disneyland Railroad. Beneath the bridge was a short tunnel which led park guests from the front entrance to Main Street USA.

"The Protect spell tends to have a calming effect upon those within it. So if you're feeling a little out of it, just know that it is for your protection. It is easy to lose your head when you're fighting Heartless."

"Heartless?"

The man smiled. "I wish I could tell you the details. They're the bad guys and we're the good guys. I think that about sums it up."

At the bottom of the bridge, above the entrance of the tunnel, laid a bronze plaque with golden lettering. The man read the lettering aloud. "Here you leave today and enter the world of Yesterday, Tomorrow and Fantasy." Silence filled the air as his expression soured. "You might not want to look up either."

The rusted brown behind the golden lettering changed to a shade of dark purple. From within the sign reared a giant serpent head with green emerald eyes. The head followed the shell which floated beneath it hungrily.

"We should probably keep moving," the man sighed. "Without stopping. Lots of running. Now!"

The creature lunged, breaking the shell which protected Sora from the unknown dangers which lurked outside it.

The breath from his lungs was sucked out as he fell into darkness.

X-X-X-X-X

It was the most at peace that she had ever felt. Her physical being was no longer of concern. She continued to fall, feeling as though she would never reach a destination.
It felt like no time had passed at all and yet she had lived for an eternity. The girl named Kairi was no more. Now she was just another element of the world. A tiny peon with no significance in the bigger picture of the universe.

Inside she knew that she would have to leave this place. That she would have to disconnect from blissful contentment. But at this time, the thought was merely a blip on her mental radar.

"The world you knew means nothing now." An all too human voice came from the void. It sounded similar to her own, but not her own. "All of this represents who you are and what you could be. A blank slate from which to be written on. To be filled with unseen potentials. For a girl whose heart yearns is a girl who can achieve great things."

She could not move her mouth to reply. The gentle breeze which accommodated her fall was quickly turning to a strong torrent of wind. "You have potential, young one. And who better to guide you than someone who knows you better than you know yourself."

As though guided from unseen hands, Kairi began plummeting at an increasing speed. The peace she had experienced prior was shattered, and instead was replaced with a numbing disorientation.

A platform came into view beneath her. "You must continue to yearn with your heart if you plan to survive outside your world. A heart which lays dormant is snuffed with the others."

Both of her feet landed softly on the platform, despite the speed with which she had approached. Her clothing was different than what she had fallen with. Instead of looking straight out of a Disney fairy tale, she was wearing her 'Death to Hello Kitty' shirt. The light shining from the platform was incredibly intense, mixture of colors that looked more comfortable within a church stained glass window than in a place where darkness reigned supreme.

She was standing atop a familiar face. Warmth spread to her chest as she acknowledged who it was. "That's you. In a stained glass window of sorts. Pretty nifty, huh?"

Looking out at the entire platform, she saw that it told a story.

The circle she currently stood within featured her hunched over fighting against a fierce snowstorm. Holding her hand was a quivering Sora, who attempted to shield his eyes with his other hand. Kairi had her other hand upon her blade, looking far more stern than she could ever imagine herself being.

At the center of the platform was engraved another circle. Within it laid a depiction of her holding a shimmering blade outwards as a black mist surrounded her. Though it looked intimidating, her expression was unwavering and fearless.

On the opposite edge of the platform laid the final depiction. Kairi looked as the circle showed her kneeling before a King in suit of steel armor. The knightly version of herself had tears flowing from her eyes, as though it were the greatest honor she could ever receive in life.

"Wielders of the Keyblade change from generation to generation. World to world. Place to place. Though the Keyblade chooses its master, it is you who are in charge of your own destiny. If you look closely upon what is within you, you also glimpse the future."

Kairi turned towards the voice. Out of thin air appeared a woman resting on a pedestal within the middle of the platform. Her face laid directly in her palms as rose red hair cascaded to her shoulders. The physicality of the woman was very much unlike Kairi's own. Though she had not looked directly at her, the way her shoulders stood and her hair flowed made her appear to be a woman of great confidence.

"I was always one-upped by my own Sora," the woman spoke. "Not your Sora, but my Sora. It might get confusing later." She took a deep breath. "But even as his wife, I only ended up being a participant in the big picture of his adventures. I fought by his side, but really just about anyone could do that. I loved him, but he was easy to love. Our story was really his story, no matter how much I tried to carve my own path."

She arose from her pedestal and began to walk about the platform, gesturing to the depictions below. "But it appears you have a destiny all of your own. I must say that I'm envious. It isn't everyday that you meet a young woman who is bound to take life by the horns. Not content with living on an island all on your lonesome while you wait for your life to begin." She cleared her throat as she turned a little red. "Sorry. I might have gotten a little too personal there."

She looked up into Kairi's eyes and gazed deep within them. "I am offering my services as a spiritual guide, because you are in a very dark place right now. The worlds may meet many grim fates without you to intervene. Our hearts are connected, and in that way I shall always be with you. Your journey is now my journey, and vice versa."

There was a rumbling and a quaking from all sides of the platform. Kairi fell to her knees, not making a single sound. Her guide stepped towards her, examining her face. "I hate to do this to you so early in your life, but you must be tested. And if you don't make it through this, they will take your heart whole. Believe me, you do not want to become one of them."

Hands arose from the mural. They blotted the color which once seemed blinding to her.

"I cannot find your blade for you. But I am carrying you."

A monstrous form arose from the mural, towering over Kairi with meancing gusto. It was solid pink from top to bottom with a sparkling tiara atop its head. "Everyone's worst fears look different, I suppose. Good luck, young me. You will need it."

With that, Kairi was left alone with the beast. Her guide had disappeared from sight. She remained unable to move as the beast moved towards her.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
"What do you mean you lost him?!"

He had seen the look countless times before. It was always at the very moment he had managed to fail his responsibilities and he had to turn to his wife to fix his mess. It was not a proud tradition between the two of them, but as they had gotten older they both realized it was a necessary evil.
"The Heartless just ganged up on us and he got swallowed by the snake," he explained. "He got eaten so quickly that I couldn't get my hands on him, and my offensive spells are all dried up!"

Blubbering out whatever came to his mind was perhaps not the most tactful method, but he had always had a policy of being honest even in the face of embarrassment.

He had managed to lose the boy he was intended to protect, and she already had the girl in her arms. It was not boding well on his heroic duties. She was huffing and puffing from activity while he looked like he might fall over from an anxiety attack.

"We can't do this without him! You know that, don't you?!"

"I gave it my all and I screwed up. The Heartless is still over there! He isn't beyond saving!"

She sighed, putting the girl down on the ground near his feet. "You take care of the girl. I'll get him."
"Darling, shouldn't w-"

"If one of them falls, Sor-"

"Shhh!"

"The world is going to end, Sora! If one of our other versions die, all of this will have been for nothing."

He fell silent. He knew she was right. "I will protect the boy."

"With your life." She headed in the direction of the serpent, which was currently resting within a bed of ghastly hands. Kairi approached slowly as they caressed his blotchy scales. 'It would be a beautiful creature if it wasn't so destructive,' she thought to herself. 'It is a shame we can't domesticate them.'

The snake opened its eyes and hissed in her direction. 'This is where the fun starts.'

"Hey you!" Her voice was bellowing and commanding, like a commander who had just marched onto a battlefield. "You know that kid that you just ate?! I really want him back!"

The creature quickly slithered in her direction, its head bobbing as if to some unheard rhythm.

"Fire!" A blinding light leapt from the tip of her blade and struck the creature straight down the belly. It cried out in pain, but not before Sora crashed down to the ground below. The creature slithered back within the horde, which had amassed upon the ground and was thankfully paying little attention to the blade wielders.

She swept him up into her arms with an 'oomph', noting that he was much lighter than she had anticipated.

His eyes fluttered open. They quickly started to bulge out with surprise. "W-Where am I?!"

"You were swallowed by a horrible creature from another world," she replied. "I just rescued you."

He began to shake. She was unsure if it was from the cold or from fear. "Kairi. I need to find… Kairi! Is she okay?!"

She smiled. There was a certain someone whom had always put his life on the line for her no matter what happened. Someone who has brave and dumb all at once. Someone who was very much like the young man she carried, whether they looked alike or not.

He squirmed out of her grasp and quickly bolted towards where Kairi was laid to rest. When his hands came close enough to touch her, he found that they were repelled away from a protective shell.

"Kairi!"

"Sora has her beneath his shield," she assured him. "Nothing is going to get through there. Not as long as we're both here."

"Darling…"

"Oh come on, he isn't stupid. He is going to find out about us sooner or later."

Sora continued to pound against the shield with very little effect. A red shell formed around him as well, and his contact was shut off. "How could he be Sora when I'm Sora?"

"Well I'm Kairi and she's Kairi too," she spoke. "I know it is all very confusing, but now is not the time…" She turned him around. "I'm afraid that there is some chance that she may die…"

Sora stared over into the shield, coming close to tears. It felt like his stomach was being turned inside out and his heart had sharp tacks sticking out from it. How could this woman speak so casually about whether his Kairi was going to live or die? She was the only Kairi that he was ever going to learn to love. The only girl that meant anything to him at all.

This woman didn't know her. Not like he knew her.

"That's impossible," he retorted. "Look at her! She's not wounded! She's fine!"

"Her injuries are those of the heart," she said. "When the Heartless grabbed her, she was sucked within them for too long. When people come that close to the darkness, they don't always come back."

The man next to Kairi protested. "It is that kind of talk that keeps people from coming back! Sora, what she needs from you is your full and undivided attention. Do you think that you can do that?"

He gulped and looked him sincerely in the eyes. If they both thought it were an emergency, who was he to say that it wasn't? Though these matters of the heart seemed ridiculous to him, stranger things have happened.

"I would do anything. Just tell me she isn't going to die."

"She isn't," he assured. Looking both ways as to see any enemy movements, he thrust his blade to the ground and his shield shattered. "Come to her. Now!"

The red shield shattered in the same fashion. Sora sprinted to Kairi's side, quickly grasping her hand as he crouched beside her. "We will have to leave here soon," the woman said. "Our ship is not far and we may have wasted too much time already."

Sora could feel her pulse as he held her hand tightly. Two soft breaths followed by one wheezing sputtering breath. It was irregular, almost as though she were waging some sort of battle well beyond his understanding. "What is happening to her?"

"She is going to war," the woman nodded. "Though with us both here now, maybe it will have a positive outcome."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The Heartless represented everything that she despised. The little cute costumes that they made her wear in order to appease audiences. The girly colors that seemed to practically embed itself within her skin. She hated all of it.

But yet it was her. It was a her that could exist if she let it.

She didn't feel fear as she stood before it.. "How do I kill it," Kairi finally spoke.

There was no response. She was completely alone. The creature puckered its lips in a smooching gesture, making grotesque smacking noises in the process.

She despised it. The part of her that could take control at any moment. The part that would lead her down a path towards something that she was not. The path of a Disney park princess.

An object of affection and joy which prohibited her from acting like herself.

All of the attention. All of the waving hands. All of the excited children.

None of it was her.

Her heart raced as her blade materialized within her hand. It was bright red, with a key-shape that was distinguished with a gawdy flame design around the edges.

With her blade in hand, and a new found respect for herself raging, she stepped towards the creature.

"I've always wanted to get rid of you," she stated nonchalantly. "And now I'll actually have the honor of doing it."

The creature cackled in a sing-song tune, as though a small bird might land next to it and aid in its victory. With its eyes trained down at Kairi, it grinned sheepishly.

"Do you want to know a secret?" The creature spoke to her." Promise you won't tell?"
With a voice as clear as crystal and as soft as a feather mattress, Kairi had just about enough.

"We are standing on a battlefield." It laughed. "Make a wish upon the field. That's all you have to do. And when that wish is made with all of your heart, your most dreaded fears come true…"

It lunged towards her, with the same sheepish grin laid across its face. "I'm wishing…" Kairi quickly slashed though it seemed immune. "For the one I wish to eat…" Its neck snaked around her, stretching from the torso of the princess. "To find me!" Kairi hacked at its exposed neck as it howled. "Today!" Her blade was now covered with black gunk where a half of the creature's neck used to be.

"I'm not afraid of you," Kairi said. It was far from the truth. She had never been so afraid in all of her life.

"Wouldn't-it-be-easier," the creature spoke slowly and sweetly. "To-work-with-me? That is all you'd have to do. Accept your weakness and become something-better-than-you."

The creature met her eyes with a fiery passion. Kairi braced herself as its neck curled close to itself, seeming to prepare for another lunge.

"No? Oh, you make for a very bad princess, don't you?"

Its mouth opened as two tendrils came shooting forth. They wrapped around both of Kairi's arms, sternly tugging her towards the creature's sharp candy cane teeth. She could hear the soundtrack of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves as she was pulled forcefully towards the mouth. Kairi couldn't think of a more horrifying funeral march than 'Whistle While You Work'.

Her blade disappeared as the music became louder, piercing her eardrums. She could hear nothing else, not even her own thoughts. Just the most cheerful lyrics one could ever imagine.

"KAIRI!"
She knew that voice. The only clear thing she could hear other than Snow White's tunes.

"Kairi, if you died now… if you died now, I just wouldn't know what to do with myself! Right when I thought that I finally had you, you slip away from me again!"

She could hear the beating of her heart.

"You can't die now! There is so much I've yet to show you. So much I haven't told you. So many movies I've yet to make you watch! Like Roger Rabbit! You have to live so we can watch R-Roger R-Rabbit"

Her heart thundered like lightning.

"I love you so much that everyday is worth enduring just to spend a few mere moments with you!"

Her blade reappeared as she was mere inches from the creature's teeth.

"If you come back, I swear to God things will be different. I'll be better. I'll take care of you no matter what! Just don't die on me! Please…"

Sora's sobs rang through her mind as she sliced against the creature's tongue.

It howled with pain as she cut herself free of its tendrils. "I was afraid of you," Kairi sighed under her breath. She walked towards the head as it writhed on the ground. "I'll never make that mistake again."

She plunged her blade into the creature's skull.

The platform crumbled beneath her.

The light overtook her.
X-X-X-X-X

A/N: This is version 2.0 of this chapter. Lots of spelling and grammar errors have been corrected, as well as a couple of continuity boo-boos (Sora's blade handle was changed back to gold as opposed to silver).

Special thanks to my super special awesome editor 'sweater kid'. Without her, this chapter wood probery be filed wit grammer probs al ovr teh place. Keep up the good work, Sweater! I'll continue to pay you in Cheerios.

This took much longer than it really needed to, but here it is. Chapter 2. Which much like Chapter 1, is about half the amount of content that I planned it to be. The end of the 'Kairi/Princess' fight seemed too good of a bookend for this particular section of the story that I decided to shave the whole back quarter of the chapter off.

Don't worry, it will still be coming. It will just likely be a chapter of its own.

By the way, I'm very proud of the ending of this chapter. I had a ton of fun writing it and it made me grin a whole lot. I'm not the most talented at writing action sequences (I would say it is probably my greatest weakness other than keeping characters from 'being snarky'), but I feel like the emotions and the symbolism was there to make it satisfying.

I think what is most important with this chapter, and I hope that it came across, was how the dynamics between 'this' Sora and Kairi is going to be different than the 'original' Sora and Kairi. They are kinda similar, but they are also very different.

This chapter was very much Kairi-centric, which was lovely to write. She's my favorite character to write by a long-shot, though alternative Sora is fun from a 'how many Disney references can I cram into his internal dialogue' perspective.

Perhaps it is suiting that the first chapter was very much in Sora's head and this chapter is more about what is in Kairi's head.

I'm trying to keep the gender roles between this universe's Kairi and Sora a little more untraditional than the original game. I kinda hate the damsel in distress archetype and find that women are typically portrayed very poorly in male-written works. Which is why I've been trying to find a place for strong female characters in all of my current writings, in hopes that I may one day be one of the exceptions who can write 'decent' females. Any feedback in this area would be fantastic.

Strangely enough, I'm quickly falling in love with the alternative versions of everyone. The next chapter is going to be a bit crazy (I think Donald Duck might be in there somewhere…) so stay tuned! Things are about to get heavy.

Any feedback of any kind is fantastic! Tell me what you think.