Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This fic is mine. I decided to actually proofread this since the site I use to watch Harper's Island episodes has decided to hate me today…Grr…Anyway, good thing I did because I found a few bad boo-boos in this thing. Fear not, they have been corrected. As always, constructive feedback is always appreciated!

..:--X--:..

"Ansem the freakin' Wise? Are you serious?" Wakka smacked the steering wheel.

Kairi exhaled, "Unfortunately."

Wakka swore under his breath, mounting the curb as he turned into the dock area on the beach. Kairi winced at the grating of her car's underbelly on the concrete, but didn't dare complain as Wakka pulled the car to a sharp halt, crookedly filling two parking spaces. Without a word, Wakka all but kicked the driver's door open and climbed out. Kairi calmly got out of the passenger side.

"This—None of this is—We shouldn't be doing this, ya?" Wakka pointed a finger at her. "This psycho lady took down Riku—RIKU!—How the hell are we supposed to stop her?"

Kairi exhaled and rubbed a hand down her face. "I'm not asking for a full out assault here, Wakka. I just—" She let her hands fall to her sides with a slap, "I can't just sit around and drink when I know Sora's in danger. Can you?"

Wakka glared at her for one hot second, and then swore under his breath, slamming the driver's door closed and stomping toward the docks, where the boats were locked in. Kairi followed him, eyes sliding around the empty dock. There were five decent sized boats tethered in the bay, and Wakka was bee lining toward Sora's father's boat, a small fishing vessel named the Tulpa.

"At least tell me who the Alliance is sending." Wakka asked, stepping onto the bobbing deck of the Tulpa.

Kairi hopped over after him. "Tifa said she was coming."

Wakka raised his eyebrows, "With a small army, right?"

Kairi narrowed her eyes, released the tether, and nudged the boat from the dock. "You can still duck out. I won't hold it against you."

Wakka's jaw flexed and he scooted over to the helm, gunning the engine. The engine chugged to life under the deck and the Tulpa pulled out into the open water. "No way." He quipped.

"Good, because I would have totally held it against you." Kairi reproached, walking up the deck and tying off the main sail, squinting into the dusk at their childhood island a few miles off the coast.

Wakka angled the boat toward the island and as the Tulpa hit her stride, Kairi eased herself down onto one of the smooth parts of the deck. She hugged her knees to herself. The salty sea breeze wafted through her hair, but it was a small comfort.

"So, this shapeshifting thing," Wakka started. "Are we packing silver bullets or is she, like, mortal?"

"As far as I know," Kairi didn't look at him, "she can be injured by anything like normal people."

"Normal…When has anything ever been that easy for us?" Wakka replied.

Kairi frowned, "Then let's hope Tifa brings plenty of weapons."

Wakka snorted and muttered to himself behind her. Kairi ignored him, squinting at the island and trying to make out any shapes on the shore. It was still too far away to make out much of anything, other than the paopu island in the shallows and the Great Tree at the base of which was the Secret Place. The Heart of the World. She rubbed her arms to ward off the sudden attack of goose bumps.

They passed the ten minute boat ride in silence, and just as the Tulpa was nosing into the shallows of their island, Kairi felt her cell phone vibrating against her thigh. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out, checking the caller ID. She immediately picked up.

"Riku?" She asked.

Static blasted across the receiver and Kairi pulled her ear away from the phone, grimacing. Wakka looked up at her as he dropped the anchor, readying the sole rowboat that would take them to the island. Kairi tentatively leaned into her phone again.

"—airi, there's a---der no cirumstan—ora isn't—don't let—" Riku's voice came in and out.

"Riku, I—I can't understand a word you're saying." Kairi yelled into the phone.

The line fizzled and cut out, dropping the call. Kairi looked at her phone and then to Wakka.

"What'd he say?" Wakka asked, climbing into the boat.

Kairi climbed in after him. "I have no idea. The interference was terrible."

Wakka quirked an eyebrow. "There's nothing out here to cause interference."

Kairi averted her eyes to the entrance to the Secret Place as Wakka lowered the boat into the water. If Ansem's widow had taken Sora to the Secret Place, the evil in her heart would rile up the electromagnetic force inside the Heart of Destiny Islands. Kairi had seen the inside of this world's heart once, and she had no desire to see it again. But if Sora was in there, she wanted to get him the hell out of there, and she wanted to get him out of there yesterday.

..:--X--:..

"Wake up."

Her voice was like a wisp of smoke, curling through the air and barely reaching his ears. The glassy tones carried a smile and thin laughter with it. If he had had any vision left, he would have seen her approaching, all swagger and seduction.

As it was, his vision had been reduced to blobs of color and slurring movement. After a length monologue about this deranged woman's love of the darkness and her gratitude toward and hatred of Sora, she'd resorted back to the torture. He wished she'd monologued longer.

The latest round had been flat out beating. She had a hammer-shaped tool and had struck him repeatedly with it. It wasn't a hammer, per se, because the number of times she'd hit him in the head and neck would have killed him. No, it was softer and the head less dense, like a camping mallet or something.

Once or twice she had hit him in the face, right around his uninjured eye. Now they were both swelling and painful, and for all practical purposes, he was blind. This was strangely comforting and terrifying at the same time. On one hand, he couldn't see this monster parading around looking like Kairi, twisting her voice and filling her large blue eyes with evil. On the other hand, he couldn't see what she was doing, what she was preparing to do, to him next.

So when her hands brushed against his neck, and the burns and bruises there, he couldn't repress a startled jerk at the touch. She giggled.

"Sh, dear, dear, a bit skittish now a days, aren't we?" She gushed, her fingertips roaming around the flayed skin around his neck and collar.

Sora didn't have the strength left to even moan in protest. His lack of response must have irritated her, because one of her hands ran up and grabbed a fistful of his hair, wrenching his head up so that his eyes were level with hers, not that he could see her anyway. Her face, surely just inches from his, had been rendered to a grey and tan blob.

"You're not puttering out on me, are you?" She hissed. "The great Master of the Keyblade, done away by a little old lady with a few weapons? I can read the headlines now."

If you called corkscrews and live wires weapons…

She released his hair and Sora let his head flop forward back to his chest. His back muscles groaned against the action, but there was nothing he could do about it.

"No one's coming for you, you know." She spoke casually, still uncomfortably close. "They're sitting pleasant as you please, in their little houses and with their little families. They barely put out a missing person's report on you. Gracious, after the stink they made when I nearly killed Riku, you'd think they'd dispatch one, teeny, tiny search group for you."

Sora knew what she was doing, and he was determined not to fall for it.

"But, nay, I guess. You just aren't…special enough." As she paused, she reached out and wriggled one of the corkscrews, the one twisted into the muscle above his hip. "Riku wasn't supposed to be the Keybearer anyway, right? This just puts things back in their natural order."

Her fingers trailed down his arm, curling around his hand. "Go ahead." She murmured, "Summon that little lock-pick you call a sword. Go on."

Oh he wanted to. He had been trying to since he woke up down here. He wanted nothing more than to get off this wall, strike this psycho down, and then die himself. Unfortunately, summoning the Keyblade demanded a small amount of energy that he couldn't provide. Even if he could have summoned it, what would he have been able to do?

"Oh, sad day." She tsked, "Tell you what." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "If you can summon your little Keyblade, and open Kingdom Hearts for me, I won't hurt your girlfriend."

Bile rose to Sora's throat. "Nn—ri—" He choked.

She laughed, "Yes, Kairi. Now, don't hit me with that 'she's not my girlfriend' spiel. You wish she was and you know it. It's the natural thing to want. War hero, princess, love. That's how all the Mother Goose stories go. But, it's beside the point. If you won't open Kingdom Hearts for me, I'm gonna hunt pretty, pretty princess down and string her up, just like this." Her hands were suddenly around the shackles, grasping the raw skin of his wrists.

"And I'm gonna hurt her." Her grip tightened, straining the broken bones. "And ooh, you think you've got it bad. I haven't even dished out the good stuff yet." She released his wrists and he heard her step back a few steps. "I've always wondered how far the body can be stretched before it starts to tear apart." She commented absently.

Hot tears of utter helplessness scalded the back of Sora's eyes and he dry heaved. Pain raked across his chest, angering the splintered ribs and over-exerted lungs.

"Oh yes. And how long does it take a blow torch to melt through finger bones?" She continued, waging her psychological warfare. "And of course, what happens when you draw and quarter a human's insides?"

Try as he might, Sora couldn't hold back the involuntary whimper as his imagination took hold of her projected images, recreating the hellish scenarios she was throwing at him. Kairi. She was going to torture Kairi. It was becoming harder and harder to put together coherent thought. The only thing he could hold onto was the shred of assurance that he could not, would not, open Kingdom Hearts for her.

The widow giggled and one of her hands palmed the side of his ribcage. "I'll kill her slowly and right in front of you. You will hear every gasp, every cry, and every scream. I'll keep going until she's hoarse from begging for mercy. Then I'll kill you, in front of her, and then I'll leave her here, hanging from the hooks I'll drive through her back. I'll bring Riku down here, and the cycle starts all over again."

The bile was burning in his throat now and Sora half hoped he would drown in it, pass out, and die. No, he couldn't wish for that. If he died, she'd go for Kairi and Riku and Riku couldn't fight back because…why? Something had happened…He remembered blood…and Kairi would get hurt…but how was that possible? Kairi was right here with him, and she was hurting him.

Why was Kairi hurting him?

"Why don't you just save us a lot of trouble and just open the doors?" She said.

Her voice was like liquid silk, winding through the air and tickling at his ears. The soft tones carried a smile and gentle laughter with it. If he had had any skin left, he would have had goose bumps from the light hearted bubble in her voice.

He shouldn't. For some reason, Sora knew he shouldn't do what she was asking him. Something was wrong. Something was wrong with Kairi, but what? It smelled like blood and sweat down here. Why had he come down here? He couldn't remember when he'd come down here or whether Kairi had been with him at the time or not.

"Open Kingdom Hearts for me, and all of this will stop." She asked softly.

That was a bit of a silly request. Why would Kairi want Kingdom Hearts open? It was just a realm of light, infected by Heartless. She'd seen it once, but she never talked about it. How was he supposed to open it anyway? He couldn't move his body. His limbs were heavy and sore. He tried to tell her, but his jaw wouldn't obey him. He tried to look at her, but he couldn't see.

Why couldn't he see anything?

"W—hy--" He managed.

She giggled, "You silly goose, I already told you why."

Something was wrong with her voice. Sora couldn't put his finger on it.

"Once you open it for me, I can unleash all the Heartless trapped inside. I'm just trying to restore the natural balance. In the beginning there was only darkness, and in the end, the darkness shall return. Rather apocalyptic to me, but the light has never had any place in this realm." She explained.

Now that made no sense. Kairi was a princess…a princess of light, he was sure. Why would a princess of light want to release the darkness? Unless light was really darkness…then maybe she was right. He couldn't remember why he hated the darkness so much anyway.

"I'm getting impatient." She said coldly.

Don't be mad at me, Sora thought dully, his senses fleeting. He couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't supposed to listen to her. He felt strangely disconnected, like he couldn't control his body, or that he was watching Kairi talk to him from the ceiling. Well, that wasn't right either.

One thing he did know: he didn't want Kairi to be mad at him.

"—kuh—" He mumbled.

"Hm? What was that?" She asked, her voice close and her breath on his face.

"L'dit."

"You'll do it? You'll open Kingdom Hearts for me?" She sounded happy and…surprised.

Why would she be surprised? Kairi knew Sora would do anything for her. It bothered him that she had such little faith in him. If Riku was here and she'd asked him, Riku would have agreed right away. Riku had always acted in Kairi's best interest; Sora had baubled around and wasted time. He'd fought Heartless and battled Maleficent when he should have been rescuing and protecting Kairi. Kairi had always had faith in Riku. But Riku wasn't here.

And for the life of him, Sora couldn't remember why.

..:--X--:..

The door looked like it always had: old, dusty, the coarse grain rubbed down to a smooth surface. It looked like it hadn't been disturbed in over fifty years, but Kairi knew better. Just six years ago that door had opened, and she had seen the heart of Destiny Islands. That is, right before her heart had been torn from her body, in a blast of black, icy wind.

"There's nothing here." Wakka remarked, pacing the rocky walls of the cave. "No one's been down here since you guys got back from the war."

Kairi scanned the walls, all adorned with their childish, chalk drawings. Roots and stalks of vines were overtaking the walls now, but all plant life was avoiding the old wooden door. A few thin columns of light fell from the crevasses in the ceiling of the Secret Place. It felt cold and dank.

"What are we doing down here, Kairi?" Wakka asked. "All that's down here are the artistic outreaches of ten year olds and an ancient door that doesn't even have a handle. Why would Madame Masquerade drag Sora down here?"

Kairi looked at him, "What better way to end the Keyblade Master, than in the heart of his own home world?" She nodded toward the door.

Wakka followed her gaze, "In the heart of the world? Please, Kairi. That door doesn't lead anywhere. Some bozo probably got stoned one night and put it there. How could that door lead anyplace anyway? There's no handle, no knob, no lock—"

"You're wrong." Kairi interrupted, "There's a lock. I've seen it."

Wakka gestured toward the door, "Where? Is it invisible? Does the door SHAPESHIFT and pop out a lock? What?"

Kairi pursed her lips, "I've only seen it once, and that was right before the door opened. It was the night of the invasion." She caught his eye and held out her hands, "I know it sounds ridiculous, but it's true."

Wakka eyed her steadily, "You really had too much to drink tonight, and I'm indulging in your bacchanalian delirium."

Kairi exhaled heavily and marched over to the door. "No, I'm not drunk. Look, the keyhole only reveals itself to the Keybearers."

"Then how could you see it? You slinging key-swords now too?" Wakka asked incredulously.

"I did once." Kairi whispered, but shook her head, "No, I'm not a Keyblade Master, but I am a Princess of Heart, at least I used to be…It should reveal itself to me."

Wakka sighed exasperatedly and beckoned for her to continue, "Well, go ahead. Knock, knock."

Ignoring his jab, Kairi approached the door, the lump in her throat growing. She really, really did not want to see beyond this door again, but if Ansem's widow had Sora down here—and Kairi knew she did, she could feel it, there was no other way.

Breathing deliberately, she held out a hand and pressed her palm flat against the door. She blinked slowly, watching the faint silhouette of the door, the faded gold inlaid in the framework. The door felt unnaturally warm in the cool, damp cave. There was a low humming noise that seemed to be emanating from the wood.

The door did not respond to her touch or her silent commands. No keyhole appeared and they were no closer to viewing the interior of Destiny Islands' heart.

After a whole two minutes, Kairi dropped her hand from the door and rubbed her forearm across her face, wiping away the nervous beads of perspiration. Wakka was leaning against a rock a few meters away, looking unsurprised and weary.

"Nothing's happening." He stated needlessly.

Kairi bit her bottom lip and put her hands on her hips, swiveling on her heel to face him. "Well, then we'll have to try something else."

"Like what?" Wakka straightened, "I didn't exactly bring my battering ram. I'm telling you, there's nothing but rock wall on the other side of this damn door and even if I tried to kick it in—"

"I don't recommend that."

Kairi and Wakka jumped and turned in unison toward the tunnel entrance to the cave.

"Riku?" Kairi gaped. "What are you doing here?"

Riku walked out into the cave, "I should ask you the same thing."

He looked tired, and his right arm was in a sling, strapped close to his chest. Still, above the dark circles, his eyes were sharp and intent. Tifa walked out of the tunnel behind him, stopping in her tracks when she saw Kairi and Wakka.

"What is this, a tiki party?" The woman said, lifting a hand to point at Kairi. "I told you I was handling the rescue here."

Kairi clenched her jaw, "I wasn't going to just sit around when I knew Sora was in danger."

Tifa narrowed her eyes, "And what exactly were you planning to do? Charge in with Rambo here?" She nodded to Wakka, "You don't even have weapons!"

Riku sighed, striding past Kairi and heading toward the old wooden door. "It's just a good thing you two didn't trek into the heart of the world by yourselves. Kairi, Wakka, get out of here. Tifa and I will get Sora, taken down the psycho bitch, and get out of there."

"No." Kairi said staunchly.

Riku traced the outline of the door with his eyes. "We don't have time for this, Kairi. It's too dangerous—"

"We can handle it." Kairi cut in.

Riku summoned Way to the Dawn, backing up a few steps and angling the teeth of the blade at the door. Tifa walked between Wakka and Kairi.

"No, you can't. You're not trained. If you come in with us, you're just two more bodies we have to protect." Tifa argued, "The primary focus is getting Sora out alive."

Wakka spoke up, "Kairi's right. We came over here to rescue Sora. I'm not leaving until I know he's safe, ya?"

Tifa rolled her eyes as Riku tapped the door with the Keyblade. Obediently, the golden keyhole flashed into view. Riku exchanged a look with Tifa and leaned forward, sending a single, silvery jet of light into the keyhole from the tip of the Keyblade. The door unlocked with a deep, resonating click. Riku turned back around, dismissing Way to the Dawn.

"All right, look, if you two insist on tagging along, you're sticking close and you're not trying anything heroic okay? Because it won't work." Riku said pointedly.

Wakka lifted his hands in surrender, and Kairi steeled herself, nodding in submission.

Tifa looked incredulously at Riku, "You're not actually—"

Riku pulled the door open with his good hand and looked back, "We don't have time to dally around with this. We need to get Sora out of here, and we need to do it yesterday."

Tifa looked like she wanted to argue, but held her tongue and handed him a medium sized duffle bag, which he slung over his good shoulder.

"Okay, Wakka, you're with me. Kairi, go with Tifa."

"But—" Kairi started.

Riku's eyes bore into hers, "Just do it."

Kairi pursed her lips and exchanged a look with Tifa, who did not look thrilled with her new charge. The lieutenant reached into her pocket and pulled out a revolver, handing it to the princess. Kairi took it without a word, swallowing at the cold steel of the handle.

Riku led the way into the dark chamber beyond the door, followed by Wakka, Kairi, and Tifa brought up the rear. The realm across the threshold was dark, dank, and the air was rancid and warm. Kairi followed right behind Wakka, watching Riku's silver head bob in and out of the dim lighting. Were those torches lining the walls? She certainly didn't remember that.

Nor did she remember the long corridor. They were walking down a torchlit hallway, walls of concrete blocks and square stones on either side of them. The floor was dirt and brick. Grime and moss lined the walls and spread out on the gothic ceiling.

"Now I know why you never wanted to talk about this place." Wakka whispered over his shoulder.

"This—This isn't right. It wasn't like this before—" Kairi muttered.

Tifa shushed her, "Of course it wouldn't be the same."

"What? Why?" Kairi whispered.

"The heart of a world has no visible, physical form. Its appearance is based on a person's perception of what it should look like. Reality here is just an exploitation of the individual mindset." Tifa explained.

Wakka snorted, "Then why doesn't it look like Sunday at the Blitzball stadium? Because that's what I wished it looked like."

Riku slowed to a stop and turned to the group, "Because you're not the dominant mind down here, Wakka. That psycho is. It'll look like whatever she wants it to look like until we take her out." He glanced around, "We'll split up here. Tifa and I have radios. Keep radio silence until we find Sora or that crazy bitch. I don't want to be down here any longer than we have to. This realm can be tricky."