Alright, I'm back. A note about this chapter--I honestly couldn't come up with a plausible and believeable way for Kairi to leave the Destiny Islands without resorting to something silly like "she found some gummi blocks and built a ship and flew away!" I'm just not for that. So you're going to have to think way back, to your first trip to Hollow Bastion. Riku is interrogating the Beast on how he managed to get there withoutuse of the Heartless or a "vessel." Remember what the Beast replied? "I simply believed, nothing more to it." And with that, here's the next chapter of "This Time, I'll Fight". Please review!
There's a bit of language in this chapter. I'm considering changing the rating. Actually, I'm definitely going to be changing the rating soon, what with the next few chapters. Don't worry, it's nothing sexual, nothing too violent, none of that. It ISa SoraKai story, after all. I'm not planning on making this into a hot, passionate sexual romance story. This is going to be...well, for lack of a better term, a "simple and clean" love story. Sit tight.
And if you're waiting for the return of certain characters...don't worry, they'll wander in at some point. A KH story is never complete without...well, I'll leave it to your imagination.
EDIT! July 4 2005
I want to sincerely apologize for the odd line about Cid later in the chapter that you might have noticed before. My sister played a prank on me. She had been reading my document before I posted the chapter and decided to add...well, a few words about Cid scratching his butt and picking his nose. I didn't realize she had saved it that way until I read the story over today. So I've fixed it...sorry about that! Bad sister!
Chapter Two: Escape
"On the lookout again?"
Kairi jumped slightly, startled by the sudden voice from behind. The smallest of the ocean waves lapped around her clunky school shoes, slowly soaking into her knee-high navy socks. A slight chill was in the October air.
Selphie appeared at her side, and gave the horizon a quick sweep with her emerald eyes. She looked up at the older girl, whose gaze was fixed on the sky.
"You okay?"
Kairi looked down thoughtfully, brushing her long bangs from her face.
"Yeah," she said finally. The Islands looked so beautiful in this light...pink and gold clouds drifting lazily above the setting sun, and making the sheen of the palms shimmer like the ocean.
"You know," Selphie began, sitting down in the sand to take her shoes off. "It's Murphy's law that they'll show up exactly when you're not expecting them, if you spend all your free time watching."
Kairi crossed her arms.
"You're probably right."
The last year had been uneventful. Kairi had taken up permanent residence at Sora's house, where his mother still lived in relative grief over the loss of her son. It had taken an entire evening of reassurance, but Kairi had managed to convince her that Sora was still alive and in good hands. She had even confided that Sora had sacrificed himself to save her on one occasion. Still, the childless mother had her doubts. But it was the maternal comfort that came with caring for Kairi like she had with her son that kept her spirits up.
They had all gone back to school the autumn after her return, but nothing was quite the same. Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie were really her only good friends. The rest of the kids at school thought of Kairi as a bit of a tangible impossibility--someone who had died and come back to life again. Plus, if the rumors were true, she was a princess. And not just a princess...one part of a group of seven from other worlds. They simply chose to give her peace, which translated to ignoring her. She had a secret, they knew...one they didn't care to know. The fear of losing the comforting presence of a home firmly tethered to the ground, unaffected by darkness and terror, was all the motivation they needed to not press their luck.
The cool breeze blew Kairi's hair forward and into her face. She brushed it back roughly.
"Why did I ever let this grow out?" she said, annoyed, pulling it back into a ponytail with the holder she had around her wrist.
Selphie grinned at her, and rubbed her hands together before clasping them under her and sitting on them.
"It's freezing out here," she commented. "Want to head back?"
"Yeah...I guess," Kairi consented, bending down to pick up her backpack and using her other hand to flatten her plaid kilt from flying up in the wind.
"KAI!" Selphie cried in a hissing whisper, reaching up to grab at the edge of Kairi's skirt, nearly shanking her as she tried to pull her down.
"What?" Kairi said, realizing the urgency, being yanked down onto the sand beside Selphie.
"Look!" the younger girl cried, pointing to the skies.
Kairi squinted in the direction of Selphie's finger. She threw up her hand to shield her eyes from the sunset's glare, but she could just barely see a brilliant streak of white making its way across the sky. And another! Smaller and farther away. Shooting stars...
Her eyes widened. Selphie's finger slowly curled back into her hand and she faltered, completely at loss for words.
Both were motionless for a long moment, the only sound being the soft sloshing of the ocean waves as the tide came in.
A smile tilted the corner of Kairi's lips.
"Selphie!" she cried, grabbing her friend by the shoulders, making the younger girl jump in fright at the sudden outburst. "The barriers...the barriers are gone! I can get out of here! I can...I can go find them!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Selphie objected, waving her hands in front of her face. "Hold on. What are you saying?"
"Come on!" Kairi said excitedly, grabbing Selphie's wrist.
He hadn't visited the Rising Falls since he was ten years old. But the sound of the rushing water and the soft scent of the flowering ivy that grew around the small island brought something back out of distant memory.
Squall sat on the edge of one of the floating ice pillars, in deep thought.
Aerith and Yuffie had convinced him to take back his old name once Hollow Bastion was restored. But on a trip upstairs just two days ago, he had found the keyhole of the castle exposed again...and worse, a shadow heartless had appeared under his boot upon his inspection of the Grand Hall.
How could Sora have failed?
Squall stood up and picked up his gunblade. He wouldn't let the others know. He'd just go down to the Gummi Ship dock at the base of the falls, and find out what was going on.
He dropped lightly from step to step, sliding slightly across the top of one and stumbling. His Gunblade slipped from his grasp and fell to the solid ice below, burying itself to the hilt and sending shavings every which way.
He muttered angrily and dropped to the ground, wrenching the weapon out of the ice.
"Leon!"
A voice from behind made him yell in shock. He turned around. A teenage girl stood in the portal, shivering.
"Kairi? Is that you?"
"Yeah!"
"What the HELL are you doing here?"
He ran across the ice and leapt up onto the brick platform. Kairi grinned at him, her arms crossed tightly across her chest and her knees knocking together lightly from the cold.
"Come on, let's get you inside," he said, reaching out to rub her upper arms in attempt to warm her up. He took his jacket off and draped it around her slight frame and helped her up the frozen stairway.
"Want to tell me how you got here?" he asked very seriously as they walked.
"Oh my GOD!"
Leon and Kairi had walked into the library only to have Yuffie come pelting towards the younger girl, to wrap her in a huge hug.
"Oh, man, I never thought I'd see you again! AAAH!"
Kairi laughed at the overly excited welcome, returning the hug. "Not too bad!" she answered as the ninja let go, beaming.
"Damn...it's been really lonely here, with everyone so much older than me. I missed you!"
Squall cleared his throat and crossed his arms, giving Yuffie a sardonic grin and a questioning look.
"I mean...not that it wasn't...one great, fun-filled year with you, Squall!" the ninja countered, swinging her bent arm in front of her exaggeratedly. Squall snorted, cuffing Yuffie across the top of the head with one gloved hand as he passed by and disappeared around one of the tall bookshelves. She aimed a weak kick at his retreating form but connected with only air. She turned back to Kairi, grinning.
"How on earth did you get here? Last time I saw you, we were all camping out in Traverse Town!"
"I...I really have no idea. I saw a shooting star, and I knew that the worlds had become connected again..."
Yuffie grabbed Kairi's wrist.
"Hold that thought...tell it to these guys."
She pulled Kairi around the winding bookcases until she began to hear the light murmuring of a small group talking. Kairi couldn't help but stare as they began traipsing up the staircase. It all looked so familiar, somehow, but estranged at the same time...
They emerged onto the upper landing. Aerith sat on the desk, her boots barely brushing the floor. Leon had his back to a tall bookcase, and two people Kairi didn't know stood nearby: one, a spiky-haired blonde with serious eyes and dark clothing, and the other an older man with windswept hair and pilot's goggles balanced on his forehead.
A loud outburst of confused greetings came from the group, and Aerith turned her head as the two girls clambered off the top step. She smiled welcomingly at Kairi and held her hand out. The teenager grinned and walked forward and Aerith gave her a one-armed hug.
Leon stood up straight.
"Kairi, this is Cid Highwind," he said, gesturing to the older man nearby. Cid gave a mock salute and grinned, replacing both hands on his hips. "How 'ya doing, Kairi?" he asked. His lower jaw chewed moved forward, making the small piece of straw he had between his teeth shift.
"And this slacker here is Cloud...Cloud Strife," he said, giving the other a dig in thefoot with the toe of his boot. Cloud nodded, murmuring "Hello," and held out his hand, which Kairi shook.
There was an awkward silence.
"How is it that you got here, Kairi?" Aerith said gently, looking down at Kairi as the redhead got up onto the desk beside her.
Yuffie strode forward to sit on Aerith's other side. "She said she saw a shooting star...probably a gummi ship," the ninja answered for her, crossing her legs and planting her chin between her two fists.
"Kairi...was it a shooting star...or a disappearing one?" Cid asked, cocking his head.
"It didn't...disappear, I don't think," Kairi responded. "I watched it until I couldn't see it anymore, if that helps."
Leon nodded slowly. "Not a disappearing world...did you use a gummi ship, Kairi?"
"No," she said firmly. "This might sound silly...but I swear I brought myself here just by remembering you all."
Leon perked up at this. "Believing...?"
"There was one other person who managed this. Do you remember, Squall? The Beast?" Aerith asked.
"Yeah..." he replied, nodding.
Kairi was slowly understanding. "So you're saying...that by seeing the shooting star, I believed it was possible to find you all again...and that was enough to get me here?"
"You must not have made your thinkin' specific enough. You wanted to find 'yer friends' again," Cid remarked, grinning. "Aren't we special! But you found us, and not Sora."
The mention of Sora made Kairi's heart skip a beat. "Yeah, I guess..."
"What's going on here?" Yuffie asked frustratedly, leaning back and gripping the edges of the desk.
"I don't know..." Leon answered, shaking his head. "Well, we've been sitting here waiting for any news--preferably good news, but beggars can't be choosers. We may as well try to figure out where to go from here."
Kairi looked at the floor.
"What is it?" Aerith whispered as the group began to get up and leave, her arm around Kairi's shoulder.
"His voice...it's left me," Kairi said quietly. "Maybe that's why I can't find him. Not yet."
Aerith smiled sadly and led Kairi to the lift stop.
It looks up from here, I promise! In fact, I've been wanting to write the next chapter for ages...it's gonna be good!
I've already written the ending chapters for this story, and man, wait and see what's in store for you guys! I'm really liking how it's turning out. Once again, please make good use of that purple button right below this. I LOVE REVIEWS!