Kairi's breath caught in her throat at the sound of a knock on the Old Mansion front door.
Riku had left an hour ago, on his own, to find Xion. No guides or backup. Insisted they lock the door behind him. If that guy with one wing suddenly appeared and started calling down fire from the sky, they were to get as far away as possible and contact King Mickey or Aqua for help. Without looking back. At the time, Kairi hadn't been able to argue - she'd seen Namine's vision just like everybody else, and she knew just what the one-winged man was capable of. So she'd helped Pence bake cookies while trying not to think about losing Riku and Xion. Or about Roxas and Namine, still unconscious in the guest room. Or Sora.
Nearly knocking Pence over, Kairi ran to the front door. Axel, already in the hallway, grabbed Olette's arm before she could follow. "Wait. What if it's Sephiroth?"
"I don't think a guy like him would bother to knock?"
Hayner was already unlocking the door and flinging it open. In walked Riku and Xion, looking exhausted but otherwise unharmed. Kairi, envious of Axel's long arms for the first time in her life, did her best to wrap both of them in a hug. "You're back! I was worried sick! You must be -"
Xion pulled Kairi's arm off of her. "Where is Roxas?"
"He's still asleep. You must be starving. We have plenty of leftover -"
"Where is Roxas?"
Axel grabbed Xion in a hug of his own. Or at least tried to. Xion shoved him away.
"Where. Is. Roxas?"
Olette chimed in. "In the guest room on the upper floor. He's okay, but he's still -"
Xion stormed past everybody, jogging up the stairs and out of sight.
Kairi tried to read Riku's blank expression. "What did you tell her?"
"Everything." Riku turned to Hayner. "You and your friends need to go home."
"What? No way!" Hayner said. "I'm not afraid of some loser with a weird sword -"
"This isn't about Sephiroth. Xion fought and drove him off earlier -"
Axel's eyes bugged out. "She did what!?"
"- and she and I got lost on our way out of the Underground. I'm pretty sure we walked the whole place again, and we didn't see Sephiroth anywhere. He's gone. He's not the problem."
Olette frowned. "You don't want us to be here when Roxas wakes up."
"We don't know what state of mind he's going to be in. He's dangerous right now -"
Hayner got in Riku's face. "Roxas is our friend -"
"- and if he wakes up confused and hurts you guys, he's going to hate himself for the rest of his life. Trust me; I have experience in this."
After several seconds, Hayner backed down. "Okay. For his sake. But we're coming back first thing tomorrow morning."
Once Hayner, Olette, and Pence were on their way home, Axel and Riku retired to the dining room. Kairi grabbed a mug of coffee and a plate of cookies before joining them.
"So."
"So."
"Roxas."
"Yeah, Roxas."
"Mm hmm."
"Hmm."
Apparently Kairi hadn't missed much. She set the plate of cookies in the center of the table. "Do you think Roxas's, um, disorientation is a replica problem? Like, his eyes aren't working right, so he thought you were somebody else? We could contact Ansem over the computer -"
Riku shook his head. "Ansem already gave Roxas a clean bill of health, remember? This is something else."
"I...have an idea about that," Axel said. "While Roxas was attacking you, I heard him yell something about Xion?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah. Xion 'didn't deserve what I did to her'."
"But Namine was the one lying on the ground. Roxas didn't have any reason to think you hurt Xion; she was lost in the Underground at the time."
Riku shrugged. "So he misspoke. Roxas wasn't exactly thinking straight. And Namine and Xion are identical, apart from the hair."
"That's my point." Axel looked uncomfortable. "Roxas, Xion, and me have a lot of history together. Not all of it good, especially near the end of our Organization days - we've all fought each other at least twice. Roxas and Xion got the worst of it. The last time they fought, Xion, uh, -"
"- pretended to go crazy and forced Roxas to kill her, so Roxas would survive and Sora would get his memories back," Riku said, staring at the table.
"Right...wait, you know about that?"
"Xion and I have history too." It was Riku's turn to look uncomfortable. "I had a hand in her decision back then. I didn't remember it until recently because of the whole everybody-forgets-Xion thing. She filled in the blanks for me last week. Told me it wasn't my fault."
Several expressions went across Axel's face - surprise, anger, sympathy - before he settled on resigned. "Just blame everything on Xemnas. That's what I do. Anyway, remember my little freak-out yesterday, at the Coliseum? The stuff I yelled at Xion - it wasn't random. It was things I'd yelled at her before, back when she'd tried to escape the Organization and I'd hunted her down."
"Meaning what, exactly?"
"Ever since I became a Somebody again, I've been getting flashes of my old life as a Nobody."
"What!?" Kairi said. "But you've been a Somebody for - Why didn't you tell me? All that time we trained together - I could've helped you!"
"It took everything I had just to act normal around you. Teaming up a kidnapper and his victim? It wasn't easy for either of us. I still think Yen Sid did that on purpose."
"Is that why you apologized so much? You kept remembering."
"The point is, I think Roxas is having the same problem."
Kairi made a mental note to give Axel the biggest hug of his life later. "Okay, so Roxas turns a corner, sees Xion-with-blond-hair lying on the ground, and he flashes back to their fight and Xion's death. And then he attacks Riku because he confuses him with...Roxas?" Kairi scratched her head. "Roxas was trying to attack himself?"
"Is that really so weird? We've fought thirteen different versions of the same guy before. Attacking yourself is kind of mundane in comparison."
"And I understand the feeling," Riku said. "If I ran into my younger self, hanging out with Maleficent? I'd smack him with a keyblade too."
Axel nodded. "I know I'd like to have a few words with a certain Nobody...say, didn't Xehanort figure out time travel?"
"I already asked Yen Sid. You have to give up your physical body. It's a one-way trip."
"But if I -"
"Sent back your own Heartless? You don't have nearly enough darkness for that."
"Then how about -"
"Replica bodies? Even would never agree to it."
"Hmph. Fine."
"Anyways, I don't think it's just circumstances that triggered this," Riku said. "For some reason, Roxas has been obsessive about keyblade practice. Keeps wearing himself out. That can't be good for his hold on reality. I should've made him take a break."
"You tried to." Kairi kept an iron grip on her coffee mug. It was the only way to keep her hands from shaking. "You wanted to take everybody back to Destiny Islands, and then deal with the Underground yourself. But I talked you out of it. If I hadn't, Roxas -"
"- would have freaked out some other time," Axel said. "We're keyblade warriors - we're gonna get hurt eventually. Remember Roxas's panic when he hit Xion with ice cream, back in Disney Town? I think all this was inevitable."
"Really, it's good that we're uncovering this now," Riku said. "What if Roxas had his breakdown during a fight with Maleficent? Or another Xehanort? We'd all be in danger. Kairi, you were right that Roxas was having problems adjusting to normal life. You did the right thing..."
Kairi wasn't so sure. She wondered what Sora would say -
Kairi, I'm back! I'd like you to meet Elsa. She's one of the new Princesses of Heart. Except she's actually a queen. And she's got this awesome ice magic. It went out of control once, and she had to leave her kingdom. Isn't she amazing, giving up everything to keep her friends out of danger? I've never met anybody like her. Great singing voice too. I might be falling in love!
- or if she'd even be able to face him again.
Riku was still talking. "...or at least the main swarm, so Twilight Town should be safe now. And we're all still alive - I know that sounds cliché, but we have all died before - so I'm counting today as a win. And if Roxas is the only one having problems, then -"
Namine walked into the dining room, still wearing her blood-stained dress. "Good afternoon! Or is it evening? Twilight is so confusing."
Riku nearly leaped out of his chair. "Namine! You're awake!"
"Yup! Roxas is still asleep, by the way. Xion's with him. I guess she's worried. She didn't say anything to me." Namine sat down, setting a plate of food on the table. "I helped myself to leftovers. I hope you don't mind."
"Are - are you okay?" Riku said.
"Mmph! Mmf mm mmphmm -"
"Namine, don't talk with your mouth full," Kairi said.
Namine swallowed. "Yup! Just hungry. We did a lot of walking today, didn't we? And I think that mental projection wore me out. I feel bad about that, by the way. I didn't mean to show Sephiroth. It's just, when we ran into him in the Underground, I knew I had seen him before. Kept trying to remember where. And when I wanted to stop Roxas from fighting, I thought I'd use a projection of the Coliseum, since we went there yesterday. Then I finally remembered - Sephiroth was in Sora's memories! Sora and Sephiroth had fought each other in the Coliseum. That's how I knew him. And, like, once you start thinking of something, it's hard to stop, you know? So I ended up projecting the fight to everybody. I'll have to practice so that doesn't happen next time."
Namine took a look at herself. "I need to buy a new dress too. Maybe a red one, so the blood doesn't show up? I like white, but when it gets stained, it's impossible to -"
" 'Next time?' "
Everybody turned to Riku.
"What do you mean, 'next time'?"
"The next time we go on a mission like this. I want to help more."
"You will help by not helping," Riku said. "I'm glad you're awake. I want to apologize, for taking you into the Underground -"
"You didn't. I followed you. It was my idea."
"Well, yeah, but I shouldn't have gone along with it. I made the wrong decision, and it -"
"...you're apologizing for listening to me?"
"The point is, it won't happen again. You're not going on another mission with us."
"But - but - Riku, I'm fine! You were with me the entire time. And I got hurt, but it wasn't that bad -"
"You could've lost your leg."
"It was just a cut! You didn't have any trouble healing me."
"Because the Barrel Spider hit your leg. What if it had hit your head or chest instead? Magic can't fix everything." Riku shook his head. "We're not doing this again."
"But I have to go on missions! My keyblade won't show up if I just sit at home, right?"
Riku was silent for several seconds. When he spoke again, his voice was low. "Namine...tell me that you haven't been deliberately putting yourself in danger on the off chance you'd get a keyblade!"
"So what if I was? None of you can tell me how to find it, so I'm doing it myself!"
"Of all the - "
"You can't order me around. I'm not your student, remember?"
"Namine, I'm taking you back to Destiny Islands, and you're staying there!"
"NO!" Namine stood up. "No! Nobody is locking me in a castle ever again!"
Namine ran from the table. Kairi could hear her stomp up the stairs.
Then silence.
"Sooo...Sephiroth," Axel said. "What is he exactly? One of those talking Heartless? I know he's not a Nobody; Xemnas would've been thrilled to have -"
"No!" Riku snapped. "He isn't a Heartless, or a Nobody, or an 'Unversed', or a - a - sometimes a person is just a monster." Riku left the table. A few seconds later, the front door slammed shut.
Kairi managed to hold back a scream. Mostly. It came out as something like a whimper. She put down her coffee mug; it wasn't helping steady her anymore.
Axel opened his mouth, then closed it again.
"I don't know what to do," Kairi said softly.
After a moment, Axel straightened up and gave Kairi a grin. "Whatever we can do. You may not feel like it right now, but you're still a Princess of Heart. I bet Namine needs somebody to talk to." He stood up. "And I'm still Axel. We beat most of the Heartless in the Underground, but there might still be stragglers, right? Good. I need to burn things. When Roxas wakes up, you can tell him where to find me."
Axel was right - focus on what you can do. Namine was taking a shower in the bathroom adjoining the master bedroom. Kairi grabbed a spare blood-free dress from the Gummi Bus, then sat on the bed and waited.
When Namine came out, Kairi gave a shaky grin and held up the clothes. "You probably don't want to walk around the Mansion in a bathrobe. You still hate pants, right? This dress isn't your usual color, but..."
"Thanks." As Namine moved to take the dress, Kairi suddenly hugged her. "Oh!"
"I'm so sorry! Riku told us to stay together, and I ran off anyway. I could have protected you!"
After a moment, Namine managed to loosen Kairi's grip enough that she could talk. "Kairi, I'm okay! It was just a cut."
"You were unconscious on the ground, covered in blood! That's not okay! We were all horrified."
"Well, maybe, but shouldn't we be more worried about Roxas? Do we even know what happened to him?"
"Roxas flipped out when he saw you were hurt. Axel thinks he -"
Namine's eyes widened. "Roxas attacked Riku because of me?"
"That's not what I -"
Namine pulled out of the hug. "I - I had no idea. No wonder Riku's so upset! I almost got him killed!"
"No! Don't think that!" Kairi started smothering Namine again.
Suddenly Xion walked into the room. "Can you two keep it down? Roxas is still asleep, and I really don't want him to -"
"Xion, look out!" Namine said. But it was too late; Kairi released Namine and latched onto Xion.
"Aah!"
"And you! I'm so sorry you were lost in the Underground all that time!"
"Ngrfh...Kairi...can't breathe..."
"Everything happened at once, and I was just so - so - you mean the world to me, I need you to understand that - I can't believe I didn't -"
"Um, Kairi? Xion's turning blue."
"- I wanted to go after you, but Riku said no - I should've insisted - baking those cookies was the hardest thing I've ever done -"
"Kairi!" Namine pulled on Kairi's arm. "You need to stop before you break something. Don't make me use my Sephiroth vision again."
Kairi finally let go. After a moment to catch her breath, Xion spoke quietly. "You...were really worried about me?"
Kairi nodded, unsure if she could say anything else without bursting into tears.
Namine grabbed Kairi's shoulders and carefully pushed her into sitting on the bed. "Kairi, listen to me. I know we had a really bad day, and you're blaming yourself - for some reason - but we're fine. Xion and me. We're still here. And Roxas is -" Namine turned to Xion. "- you said he's still asleep?"
"Yes. Also, I tied him up. Found some rope on the Gummi Bus." Xion turned to Kairi. "That's what you would do, right?"
"...why?"
"So Roxas doesn't hurt anybody - or himself - when he -"
"No. Why would you ask that? What I would do?"
Xion blinked. "Because...because you're Kairi. You're my role model -"
"I'm the LAST person you should be copying! Unless you want to put your friends in danger, or get kidnapped over and over, or - or make your friends watch as Xehanort murders you, so he can create the x-blade and doom the universe! And then the person you care about most - the one who saved the universe - gives up everything to rescue you! Again!"
After several seconds of silence - apart from Kairi's quiet sobbing - Xion sat down next to Kairi. "Kairi, do you know why Roxas exists? He was born when Sora released his own heart to save you. Sora didn't even hesitate. He knew you were worth saving."
"Well, maybe he was wrong."
Xion suddenly looked angry. "You don't get to -"
"Why do you even need a role model? You're so much stronger than me."
"Don't say that!"
"I should be learning from you, not the other way around. Why can't you just be Xion?"
"I don't know how!"
In the back of her mind, Kairi realized this was the first time she had ever heard Xion raise her voice.
Xion stood up. "You don't get it!" She pointed at Kairi. "You're Kairi." She pointed at Namine. "You were Kairi's Nobody." She started to pace. "Everybody started out as either a Somebody or a Nobody. Except me. I was just one of Even's stupid lab experiments. Xemnas explained it to me once - I wasn't even supposed to have a personality!"
Xion faced Kairi. "I never had a Somebody. I was born from Sora's random memories - I look like you by accident. But it's all I have. You have to be my role model. And I've been trying my hardest to be like you - wearing your clothes, teaming up with you, copying your fighting style. Nothing works. It doesn't matter if I have a heart now, or a body, or whatever. I'm still a sham. One day Roxas is going to wake up and realize that. You all will. And then I'll be forgotten again. I don't really -"
"I don't really exist in your heart. I don't exist in anyone's heart. I never have existed anywhere." Namine gave a wan smile. "That's what you're thinking, right?"
The room started to blur. Kairi jumped up. "Namine, what are you doing?"
"I need to show you something." The room continued to -
- shake, like the Islands are falling apart. Not the real Destiny Islands, of course; you're still in Castle Oblivion. You're currently walking through an illusion constructed from your childhood memories, somehow condensed into a trading card. But that Darkside you just fought felt real enough. And so is the person right in front of you.
It's her. Namine. The girl in your heart. You found her. You've been through so much - fighting enemies, pushing away friends, losing your mind - but none of that matters now. You and Namine are together again. You kept your promise.
"Oh, Sora, forgive me...I'm not supposed to be in this picture."
What?
"Was it really me you came for?"
Of course it was! You may have forgotten things in this castle, but not Namine!
"Think, Sora. Think of the person who's most special to you."
Namine isn't making any sense. Maybe Castle Oblivion is affecting her memories as well? There's no question of who's most special to you. It's - it's - Nami -
"The girl you care about...the one who was always with you..."
- Nami - Kai -
"It's not me. It's her."
- Kai - Kairknknkdskl;fkjd;lfdkjfd;lkjfdsklfd...
...the blond woman in the black coat casually tosses Riku - a fake Riku? - against a wall. She then walks over to Namine and touches her cheek.
"Oh, so cute...but behind this little face, you do awful things."
She turns towards you, smiling like a shark.
"Don't you get it now? The girl you've been trying to protect all this time is really a manipulative witch who shackles people's hearts! Messing with people's memories is about all she's good at. Lies, lies, all lies!"
The woman summons knives and advances towards you. Namine grabs her arm.
"Excuse me? It's a little late to grow a conscience, witch. Last I checked, you're the one who got him into this mess!"
The woman swats Namine aside, sending her to the ground. You ready your keyblade. It takes everything you have to keep from recklessly charging and trying to strike down the woman then and there.
"What's this? Are you upset? You don't even know her!"
You made a promise to Namine.
"You are such an idiot! There is no promise! There never was!"
Maybe not. Maybe your memories are fake. But they're yours, and you're going to be true to them.
Kairi wobbled slightly as the vision ended, revealing the master bedroom and Xion. And Namine, not injured - it had been the vision's younger Namine that Larxene had attacked. Which somehow didn't make Kairi feel any better.
Namine's face was red. "I really didn't want to show that to anyone, but I didn't know how else to explain this. When I was in Castle Oblivion, I did awful things. Sora saved me anyway." She looked at Xion. "It didn't matter where I came from, what I was, or what I wasn't." She looked at Kairi. "Or what I had done to him. Sora still cared about me. I've only been a Somebody for less than a month, so I'm no expert, but I think that's how hearts work? You don't have to be perfect for people to love you."
Kairi took a deep breath. She'd always remember what had happened in the Keyblade Graveyard. What Sora had to do to get her back. Part of her would never forgive herself.
But watching Sora save somebody, from his perspective? Kairi finally understood.
"Thanks, Namine."
"Did it make sense?"
Kairi nodded. Xion nodded too. Neither were smiling, but the tension was gone.
"Good. Because I'm not reliving that memory ever again." Namine frowned. "You guys said Larxene faded away at the Keyblade Graveyard. That was permanent, right?"
That got Xion to smile. "I should go check on Roxas. Maybe wake him up. He's been sleeping for hours, right?"
Kairi nodded. "He also missed lunch - or was it dinner? Twilight is weird. Anyway, there are leftovers in the fridge. You should eat something too."
"Okay. We can eat after we talk. I'm going to comfort him. Or yell at him. I haven't decided yet. Maybe I can do both at the same time?"
"Xion, you've already watched over Roxas," Kairi said quickly. "How about I take a turn, while you find Riku? He wandered off outside somewhere."
"I can help you look," Namine said. "I need to tell Riku a few things."
"Well, alright."
As Kairi walked to the guest room, a plan for Roxas already forming in her mind, she could still hear Xion and Namine talking.
"You should get dressed first. That bathrobe doesn't look very warm."
"I was going to -"
"Unless you want to show Master Riku that your leg is fully healed? He's probably thinking about your legs right now. A bathrobe would be practical."
"Xion!"
"Although you always wear skirts, so maybe it doesn't matter..."
