You guys must hate me. I'm SO sorry for the late update. I should have NEVER taken all honors classes AND everything else in my life. What was I thinking? :c

But here we go, for those of you wonderful ladies and gentlemen who are still with me. Chapter Six. Lots of stuff will happen in here, even though it's a little short. Stuff you probably didn't see coming. Including the identity of the voice.

Thanks to all my lovely reviewers. You guys are the greatest people on Earth and I love you all. c:

Disclaimer : How about no.

(*)

W h e r e T h e y W a i t F o r H i m

C h a p t e r 6 :

W h i l e D a r k n e s s R e m a i n s

(*)

Darkness.

Again.

No beach.

No islands.

No ocean.

No Riku.

No Sora.

Just… darkness.

Kairi's hopes of waking up and returning back home were once again shattered when she opened her eyes.

But, this time, things were very different.

Like, monumentally different.

For starters, Kairi's entire body was floating high above yet another platform. Which was enough to make anyone freak out.

But the whole floating concept wasn't what really freaked her out.

After she realized who was pictured this time, her eyes practically bulged out of her skull and her hands flew to her mouth to cover it.

It was…

Her.

She was seeing herself in stained-glass form.

But, older and a lot more sophisticated-looking.

This Kairi was wearing a beautiful long, flowing, and fancy gown. It was a dark green shade, which complimented her hair nicely. The bottom of the dress poofed out around her and it was obvious that there was one of those cage things underneath it. An even darker green ribbon was tied around her waist. The top of the gown hugged her figure tightly. It wasn't extremely low-cut, but it showed more than her usual outfit. It was laced down her chest from the bottom of the neckline to about half way down her torso. The dress had long sleeves that also had laces going down the arms. Her hair was the same length, and a crown sat atop her head. Loosely held in her right hand was Destiny's Embrace.

In short, she looked like a princess.

Which, obviously, she was.

But, she never pictured herself being a princess like that.

The stained-glass version of her was positioned sideways, in a kind-of reclining position.

Next to stained-glass Kairi's upper half were six circles. Each circle had the head of a person, also in stained-glass form.

Kairi easily recognized Sora's face in the largest circle.

Huh.

Why was his circle bigger than the others?

Sora looked exactly the same as Kairi had last seen him. She had half expected him to be older as well.

Not that she was complaining, or anything.

Riku's circle was below Sora's, slightly smaller than the latter's, but larger than the other four. His silver hair was shorter than what its present length was.

On Sora's right was… well…

Someone who looked extremely familiar.

But, as hard as Kairi tried, she couldn't put a name to the face.

The face was female, and the girl was definitely older than Kairi. She had short, choppy blue hair and her eyes were closed for some reason.

Below the blue-haired girl was a man who looked to be the same age as the girl. His eyes mysteriously appeared to be half-open.

Next was a boy who looked identical to Roxas. His eyes were closed as well.

Finally, in the last circle was another man. A much older looking man. Someone Kairi had seen before not too long ago. His eyes were, of course, also closed.

But why was Ansem the Wise included on the platform?

The background of the platform included different hues of pink. More circles surrounded the outer edge of the platform, each one containing a Paopu Fruit.

Near stained-glass Kairi's feet was something that looked like a mural of a castle. The castle was a light-pink color with towers branching out around it. Pictured below the tower were beautiful gardens.

This too looked familiar to Kairi.

A little too familiar.

She felt like she had been here many times.

And it was driving her, if it was even humanly possible, even more insane.

But that was impossible! She had been never been there.

After Kairi had taken in the appearance of the platform, it slowly became bigger and bigger.

Due to how exhausted Kairi was, it took her a few minutes to realize that she was slowly being lowered onto the platform. Moments later, she found herself next to Sora's portrait.

The intense music slowly became audible again as she looked over her left and right shoulders to make sure nothing was about to attack her from behind.

"Princess of Heart, your heart is pure. No darkness lurks within." The same voice from earlier said monotonously.

Kairi, at a loss of what to do anymore, simply nodded.

"However, your heart has been kept within another who is affected by such darkness. Because of this, you have been unable to unlock your true potential as a Princess of Heart."

Sora.

Kairi bit her lip. About two years ago, when the life-changing journey of the three islanders had just begun, her heart had been kept within Sora while her body was put into a comatose state. He had unlocked her heart by stabbing himself with a Keyblade. She knew Sora had had a small amount of darkness within him. He had even turned into a Heartless due to his sacrifice for her. And she had been able to bring him back.

Was that due to her abilities as a Princess of Heart?

As Kairi thought about this, something began forming behind her.

Something even more familiar than that voice.

Kairi heard a footstep and whirled around, her Keyblade reappearing in her hand.

However, the familiar feeling of the blade being in her hand was short-lived, because what Kairi saw made her gasp and drop her weapon.

"But don't be afraid."

(*)

"Er, Master Yen Sid?"

"When da ya want ush to, um, wake her up?"

"Patience, you two… Patience."

(*)

"S…Sora?"

It certainly looked like him. The person – or thing – in front of Kairi looked identical to the stained-glass Sora next to her.

Same face.

Same body.

Same clothes.

Same over-sized shoes.

Same chocolate spikes.

But something wasn't right. His normal bright and shining eyes were cold and almost life-less.

It couldn't be him.

…Could it?

He took another step forward. By this time, Kairi's blade had once again formed within her clutch; just like Sora's had when he had shown it to Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka back on the beach. With every step he made towards her, her knuckles grew whiter from the grip she had. She would surely have blisters all over her palms from her constant death grip on Destiny's Embrace.

Kairi shook her head.

No.

"Y… You're not Sora!" Kairi's voice boomed, echoing into the darkness. It had come out louder than she had expected it to.

At her words, "Sora's" lips curled into a smile - nothing like that cheesy first-grader-chosen-to-be-the-very-important-person-of-the-week smile that Kairi had grown to love. It was cold and uninviting.

As Kairi blinked her eyes, "Sora's" body was enveloped in blackness.

Two piercing and unforgiving yellow eyes replaced the other lifeless blue ones.

It lunged towards her and Kairi was somehow able to block the attack.

That's when Kairi's mind stopped working all together and the hand holding her Keyblade seemed to work on instinct.

"While darkness remains, light cannot triumph." the voice said, slowly growing fainter and fainter with every word.

But Kairi really didn't hear it, because she was busy blocking another of "Sora's" attacks.

(*)

The storm wasn't showing any sign of stopping anytime soon.

Which just continued to add to Sora's anxiety.

He rubbed his temples, trying to think of some kind of plan. Or, at least something to do. Instead of hopelessly watching the countless raindrops pour down from the heavens while he worried himself sick about Kairi.

Roxas didn't seem too happy either.

Yet, he was silent in Sora's mind.

Of course, Sora knew that he was anxious though. Because whatever Roxas felt, he felt.

And vice versa.

Riku was asleep again beside Sora. Apparently, he wasn't as heavy a sleeper as his brunette friend. He had gotten a few solid hours in on the beach, but not as much as Sora had.

Sora probably couldn't have slept anyways, due to the current situation.

"What are we gonna do, Roxas?"

Although he thought it unlikely, maybe his other self had an idea.

"What can we do? Riku's right. If we went looking for Namin- I mean Kairi, something bad's bound to happen."

Sora sighed and clenched his fists.

This wasn't fair.

This was supposed to be a long-awaited and deserved vacation after saving the worlds twice.

After saving Kairi twice.

Kairi wasn't supposed to disappear again.

Things were supposed to be back to normal.

Kairi was supposed to fall into Sora's open arms and fall in lo…

Never mind.

Sora tilted his head back and banged it against the wall of the shelter.

But he didn't hear the thump over the sound of the thunderclap that shook the ground.

(*)

Kairi was knocked to the ground with an unbelievable force.

Her body told her to just stay there. She was exhausted, scared for her life, and hurt. Why should she get back up just to get knocked back onto the ground again?

But her mind thought otherwise. Her mind told her to get up and fight. Fight for her life.

So she did.

But her opponent was quicker.

And seconds later she was once again, falling face first onto Sora's face engraved below what should have been her feet.

There was no way she could win this.

She was too weak.

Too dependent on Sora and Riku to come and save her time and time again.

She raised her torso up with what was left of her arm strength. After blinking back some unwelcome tears a few times, she found herself staring into who she knew as the real Sora's eyes. They were the brightest of all blues, not that cold and haunting yellow.

She had seen those yellow eyes before.

And then it clicked.

This thing…

It had to be the darkness inside of Sora.

The side of Sora that Kairi herself had rescued him from by simply calling his name and holding him close to her.

Maybe…

She heard the Anti-Sora come behind her, and Kairi knew that she had to act fast.

With all that was left within her, she flung herself at it and wrapped her arms around its neck. She held it close as she possibly could for as long as it would let her.

And then everything was white.

(*)

Naminé slowly began regaining consciousness. She didn't know what had happened. All she remembered was Kairi telling Sora about her doubts about being a Keyblade Wielder. But after that, she could recall nothing.

Kairi was still either asleep or knocked out. It was difficult to tell for sure. But Kairi's side of their shared mind was definitely not awake.

The once-blonde cleared her throat and tried to wake her other half.

"Kairi? Kairi, wake up."

(*)

"Kairi?" A familiar high pitched called.

Said person's eyelashes fluttered as her eyelids slowly opened…

…To reveal a duck and a dog less than a foot from her face.