The Lost Princess

Chapter Eight: The Wind and the Rain

Riku's life consisted of almost nothing but listening to Xemans rant for the past few weeks. It wasn't even the type of rant that could easily be made fun of later. No, everything Xemnas did was rather boring now. He would pace constantly, and speak in a monotone, dull voice.

Still, Riku knew that Xemnas, although he never raised his voice, was absolutely furious that the Heartless had failed in killing Princess Kairi. Riku also knew that it would have been more effective if the Heartless had attacked her directly instead of attempting to sabotage the train. He didn't want Kairi dead though, so he stayed silently. The only reason he continued to stay with Xemnas was because he wanted to know what the insane, half-a-human (Or a Nobody, as he called himself.) was planning next. That, and Riku had no clue how to get out of the World that Never Was.

Xemnas' reasons for doing for sending the Heartless after the train instead of her were obvious though. Kairi had managed to destroy his own Heartless years before; there was a strong possibility that she might have been able to kill the others if she really needed to.

Now though, Xemnas' original plan had failed, and Riku was really beginning to fear for the Princess, her two friends, and the dog that followed them.

What was planned next was undoubtedly cruel.

VVVVVVVV

"Hey."

Kari turned around, looking at Sora as he approached her curiously. She had been sitting in the hall of the ship reading a book with Goofy snoozing faithfully at her side.

She couldn't help but notice his clothes first, and how different they looked. His long pants and shirt were replaced with black shorts with looping yellow belts and red pouches, and a navy shirt with a black sweater over it. Kairi quickly approved of the look, finding it more suitable than what he wore in the cold. She always had the impression that he would have taken to living in warmer weathers over the snow.

"Here," he said quickly and handed her a package while blushing slightly. "Destiny Islands gets pretty hot, and I figured that you would need something more appropriate than what you're wearing."

Kari grinned broadly before saying, "Really? For me?" She opened the package quickly and held out the rose pink dress. She stared at it oddly for a moment; both amusement and a light blush passing over her features.

"What?" Sora asked her as she started looking at the rest of the package with a playful smile on her face. She looked at the bracelets, shoes, white camisole, belt and pouch, as she seemed to search for something. "What are you looking for?"

"The rest of the dress," she replied as Sora's blush deepened.

"Well—ummm—Destiny Islands is pretty hot and this is what most people wear and…well Roxas was there before but I wasn't and—just try it on," Sora stuttered before walking away while scratching his head.

Kari looked at the dress curiously and Goofy barked at her while wagging his tail. She giggled a bit before walking into their empty cabin.

VVVVVVVV

"Kari is a dream come true," Roxas decided as he adjusted his lighter clothes. "She's memorized everything perfectly and she knows how to do almost everything we trained her to do. It was almost like she really did know all of this before."

Sora nodded his head and lifted his feet as Goofy ran under them, barking wildly. He heard footsteps behind him and quickly turned, a smile on his face. The smile vanished as he saw Kari with her hair down for the first time, and in the dress he had bought her.

My god, he thought, she's gorgeous.

Roxas laughed and said, "You're definitely radiant enough to be the Princess of Radiant Garden."

Kari snorted and punched Roxas in the shoulder and saying, "How long have you been waiting to use that?"

"A while now," he admitted. "But you were always so skuzzy looking."

She punched his arm again before turning to Sora and spinning around, "Well?"

"You—I—urm—" Sora stuttered, a deep red flush rising up his cheeks.

Roxas rolled his eyes at his brother and elbowed him sharply, causing Sora to jump and shoot him a quick glare. In return, Roxas shot him a mischievous look and said, "There's one important thing we didn't teach you, your highness, and it's really important. Sora agreed to help you."

Worry passed over Kari's face and Sora shot Roxas an odd look before the blond dramatically said, "You have to learn to dance."

"What?" Sora asked quickly as Kari grinned and nodded her head enthusiastically. He gave her a rather bashful look at she glanced his way expectantly. "Er, I'm actually not that good of a dancer."

"Better than me," Roxas encouraged, although they both knew that wasn't true. Roxas was actually the better dancer of the two, but that's because Naminé had showed him how the last time he had seen her.

Sora was about to protest but Kari walked up to him and smiled brightly. He sighed and reluctantly positioned his hand on her waist and took her free hand into his. She looked confused for a moment before he said, "Put your other hand on my arm."

She nodded her head and after a moment they started moving, but quickly stopped when Roxas started laughing and Goofy started barking. "No, no," Roxas said with amusement. "You let him lead."

Kari nodded again and they started moving around the deck of the ship rather slowly at first, concentrating on not stepping on each other's feet before becoming comfortable enough to focus on exactly how they were dancing.

Sora glanced up and found himself staring directly into her indigo eyes, and gulped nervously before saying, "That dress—well it look's really nice."

She didn't blink, but kept staring up at him as she said, "Thank you."

"I mean, I know it wasn't super expensive or anything and I thought it'd look nice but I didn't really know. I looks really nice though, and—I hope you don't find it too short. I didn't think it was but—"

"You're rambling," Kari replied, an amused smile spreading over her face. She giggled quickly as a deep blush appeared on his cheeks.

"Am I? Sorry," he looked entirely too embarrassed for her not to be amused.

"It's alright."

They continued silently for a moment, Sora wincing as Kari managed to step on his foot every once and a while. Not that her feet were spared either. Roxas had to stop them every now and then, but they were doing fairly well for being absolutely hopeless.

After a little while, Kari yawned and said, "I'm getting tired."

"Want to stop?" Sora asked her. "You're getting the hang of it. You probably won't be dancing with someone who has massive feet anyway."

She let a small hum out of her throat as she buried her head into the fabric of his shirt and saying, "You'd look too weird without you're 'massive feet'. It gives you character."

Roxas snickered a bit and Sora glared at him before turning his attention to Kari as she leaned on him a little more. She yawned against his neck, causing him to jump a bit, and she laughed.

"Come on then, Princess," Sora said with amusement when he regained his composure. "Lets get you back to the room then, if you're going to fall asleep."

"But I don't wanna walk," she whined.

"How do you propose we get you can then?"

"Carry me?"

Sora blushed bright and looked at his brother, who quickly scooped up Goofy and said, "My hands as full. She's the princess man, you've got to listen to her."

He sighed as Roxas walked passed him, and quickly picked up Kari, who hadn't really been expecting him to. She let out a small shriek and gripped his neck tightly. She was tense for a minute as he began walking, but once she realized he wasn't going to drop her, she relaxed.

"Sora?"

"Yeah?" he asked while glancing down at her.

She moved quickly, kissing him on the cheek before resting her head on his shoulder without saying another word.

VVVVVVVV

Roxas leaned back against the wall while observing Kari, who was playing with Goofy. It was good to see her smiling again. After Sora had rushed off earlier, she had seemed rather down and sad for a while. Even now, he could see how she would shoot a look towards his slumbering brother, who had insisted on taking the floor.

He smiled slightly and said, "I envy him."

Kari looked up at him before glancing over at Sora and asking, "Why?"

"Well, the obvious reason is that he can sleep through anything," Roxas replied with a laugh. "But it's more than that really. He's so optimistic. Sora lives with a smile on his face, and he rarely ever thinks of himself. I mean, yeah, he likes to get ahead too but…"

Roxas didn't know what else to say. It was true, watching Sora from day to day, he was really helpful and almost selfless, and that made the scheme to get Kari to act as Kairi even more out of character.

Part of him wondered if all of this really was for the money like Sora claimed it was, or if there was something bigger running through his brother's head.

Kari giggled a bit and said, "The lazy bum." As if to prove her point, Goofy dashed over to Sora and tried to get to him, but ended up stumbling over his bag, and a star shaped charm fell out of it and slid to Kari's feet.

Kari reached forward and picked it up, stair at the shining object in her hand.

Roxas chuckled a bit as she stared at it in awe and said, "Pretty charm, isn't it?"

"A charm?" Kari asked curiously as she stared at it. "Are you sure that's what it is?"

"What else could it be?" he replied.

As she stared at it, she could hear a faint song playing in the back of her mind, and she could see people in glittering glows twirling around her, just like back in the palace ballroom. "I don't know. Something special. Something like a secret." She broke out of her thoughts and started laughing as Goofy ran up and jumped on her. She put the charm back in the bag and climbed onto the bed.

Roxas climbed up onto the bunk above her and she asked, "Do you think that's possible?"

"You pretty much taught Sora to dance," Roxas said with a laugh. "Anything's possible."

She grinned broadly and said, "Goodnight Roxas." She then situated Goofy beside her, and he quickly fell asleep.

"Goodnight, Princess," he replied sleepily.

VVVVVVVV

"Little princess is sound sleep," Riku said to Xemnas while looking in the swirling black smoke in front of him.

"Excellent," Xemnas said as he stepped forward. He pointed the Keyblade at the black smoke, and for a moment, several pale shapes twisted around them before vanishing and appearing on the other side of the smoke.

Riku blinked with surprise and said, "What are they?"

"Nobodies like myself. The other half of a Heartless. These particular ones are a new, beautiful creation I've just perfected. Illusion Nobodies are my first attack, but should they fail, Dusks are being sent as well. If something goes wrong with them, I have a nasty surprise in store though."

"Illusion? Dusks?" Riku muttered and watched as they moved towards Kairi. They stood around her body for a moment before slowly blurring out of sight. There were a couple others in the room that seemed to bend around the door and slip out of sight. "Where did the ones that just vanished go?"

Xemnas stared with what could only be described as a memory of satisfaction and said, "Into her mind."

VVVVVVVV

Kari was humming happily as she sat on a bench in a beautiful garden, enjoying the warm air on her face. She giggles as two butterflies flew around her head, and stood up to get a better look at them. She flattened out her nice, pink dress that was the common fashion for aristocratic women to wear on a daily basis.

"Kairi!"

She turned around and saw a young man standing before her. He was taller than she was, but she knew that he was younger than her. While she was eighteen, she knew for a fact that he was only fifteen.

"Come on!" he called out to her, his red spikes moving as he motioned for her to follow before turning and rushing into the palace doors behind him.

Kari hesitated for a moment before quickly rushing after him, giggling as she said, "Wait for me, Axel!"

Goofy jerked out of his slumber as Kari pushed herself out of the bed. She blindly stumbled passed Sora, and to the door, eyes still closed. Goofy let out a bark that was eclipsed by the raging storm outside as she opened the door and stumbled out. Goofy tried to follow her, but the door closed before he could.

Kari laughed happily as she walked after Axel. She stumbled a bit –

--And hit one of the walls that protected the interior of the ship. She giggled at her clumsiness and pushed herself up again, determined on following her younger brother.

Goofy barked wildly and quickly threw himself at Sora. He barked in the young man's ears and jumped on him, as Sora struggled to ignore him. Finally, Sora let out a groan and shot up, grabbing Goofy into his arms before snapping, "What? What do you wan—" His eyes caught sight of the empty bed, and Roxas slumbering peacefully up top (he too could sleep through anything once he was asleep). The sound of the raging storm reached his ears and a terrified feeling passed through him. "Kari."

He dropped Goofy to the ground and shot up. He stumbled through the door, crashing into the parallel wall as the ship rocked violently. He rushed towards the stairs, and Goofy dashed behind him, barking. The little dog couldn't get up the stairs though.

Kari watched as Axel leapt over the ledge of a railing. She looked right and left, and noticed (with building suspicion) that both of the stairways were blocked. Something didn't feel right about this at all.

She carefully walked towards the ledge and looked over –

--she walked towards the edge of the rocking ship, holding onto the edge tightly as she looked over cautiously.

"Kari!" Sora yelled while looking around wildly for her. "Kari!" He quickly flipped up the stairs, grabbing onto one of the ropes that still securely clung to the mast of the ship, but had fallen loose early. He looked around and finally he found her. She wasn't responding to him though, and she was dangerously close to the edge of the ship. "Kairi!"

Kari suddenly whipped around as Sora's voice assaulted her ears. She could hear Axel below her, yelling at her angrily to jump and go with him and their sisters. She ignored him though, drawn more to Sora's voice.

Sora sighed with relief as her eyes snapped opened as she looked at him. She seemed shocked that she was at the edge of the ship and quickly stumbled away from it. That's when he saw them. There were white shapes bending around the masts like large snakes, and they were heading towards Kari.

She let out a scream as the creatures grabbed a hold of her arms. She didn't know what they were, but they were dragging her towards the edge of the ship.

Sora quickly grabbed onto the rope and slung himself down the deck quickly, kicking one of the creatures away from her before letting go and stumbling onto the ground. He then dashed at the other one and threw himself at it, trying to drag the creature off of her.

Kari fell backwards onto the slippery deck as the creatures were forcefully pulled off of her. She watched with horror as one of the creatures wrapped it's arms (or at least, what she assumed was it's arms.) around Sora's neck.

"Get off of him!" she yelled and grabbed at the creature. It seemed to almost hiss in pain as she tried to yank it off of Sora, whose face was coloring in a horrifying way. It let go, moving away from the two people. The others that looked identical to is swayed back at forth for a moment before suddenly vanishing.

Sora took in a deep breath before grabbing Kari close and hugging her. Kari buried her head into his shoulder as she heard a dark voice whisper around her, "You all must die. The Hart curse. You all must die!"

She let out a sob and hugged him close, saying, "Sora." Her body was still in shock over what had just happened. "The curse. The Hart curse!"

"Shh," he muttered as he rubbed her back. "It's okay, Kari, everything will be alright. You're okay. I don't know what those things are, but I won't let them hurt you."

Kari backed away from him and stared into his eyes. She opened her mouth to say something when the ship lurched dangerously. She fell into him and looked around fearfully as crewmembers started running around them.

"We've hit something!" one of the sailors yelled.

"Hit what? We're in the middle of the goddamn ocean!" someone yelled back.

"Come on," Sora said urgently. "We gotta wake up Roxas. I have a bad feeling about this." He tried to get her to stand up, but her body shook violently and stumbled against him. He stared at her face and noticed that it was paler than normal, and her eyes were shooting around the ship in panic. He reached down and picked her up carefully in the same way he had earlier, not caring that she clenched onto the skin of his collarbone instead of his shirt.

Keeping a tight grip on her, he made his way down the stairs towards the room they were staying in. He had a very bad feeling that something terrible was about to happen. Those white—things had vanished much too quickly for his liking.

Roxas was already at the door by the time Sora got there, wide away and looking terribly worried. Before he could ask anything Sora quickly said, "Get our stuff now."

"Why would I—"

A loud, groaning sound echoed around them, but this wasn't coming from outside, it was coming from the ship itself. Almost like the steel itself was crying out in pain. Kari, who still seemed traumatized from what had almost happened earlier, whimpered and hid her face in Sora's neck again.

Roxas shot towards the bags and instead of taking more than one of them, he shoved everything into a single bag and put it on his shoulder before grabbing Goofy. They started making their way towards the deck, just as one of the crew appeared in front of them.

"Good," he said quickly, easily out of breath. "Get into the lifeboat over there with some other passengers and some of the crew."

"What's going on?" Roxas asked the man.

"It's—"

Another groaning sound interrupted them, but this time it wasn't from the steel of the ship. Everyone froze and looked around at the same time to the portside of the ship. The water seemed to be calm for a moment before breaking open as a giant jellyfish with an odd, almost heart shaped symbol on it, appeared, grappling onto the side of the boat.

"What in gods name is that?" Sora asked, his eyes widening. Kari struggled in his arms a bit, and he quickly set her down, but she didn't go far, opting for squeezing his arm instead.

"Get in the lifeboat!" the sailor yelled at them as the creature's weight started to tip the boat a bit.

"Won't it attack us?" Roxas asked as they moved over to one of the small boats.

"It seems pretty focused on the boat," one of the sailors that was in the lifeboat with them noted.

That much was true. There were more of these giant jellyfish around the boat, but even as their smaller boats were lowered into the water, they were ignored.

"Oh my god," Kari muttered as she moved closer to Sora. The tentacles of the creatures were starting to engulf the boat.

"What are those symbols on it?" Roxas muttered, squinting his eyes. "I think I've seen it before."

Goofy was barking wildly at the edge of their small boat. At first, they all assumed that he was only barking at the large jellyfish, as they got farther away from them, or the other boats that were around them. It was one of the sailors that looked over the edge of the small boat and leaned closer, having seen something.

Kari let out a horrified scream when a green…thing jumped appeared out of the water and dragged the man down with it. It had the same symbol as the large jellyfish on it.

Roxas let out a few choice words and winced when a spear was tossed out of the water, scraping his arm.

"What are those?" Sora asked. Several more of the creatures appeared, their round yellow eyes staring at back at the people in the boats.

"Those are the things I saw! The ones puncturing the ship!" a man yelled. The creatures stared at them for a moment before ducking back into the water.

"It's okay," Sora whispered to Kari as he held her close. "Everything will be fine."

"Tell me that when there's not a mass amount of monsters surrounding us," she snapped back quickly.

A loud yell caught their attention as a spear shot up through another one of the boats, and yet another was flipped upside down.

"Lady Calypso is frowning upon us," one of the sailors muttered. "Sending demons upon us."

"Not demons," Roxas muttered. "These things are branded, and I don't think Calypso's symbol."

"No," another man agreed from another boat. "It's not."

Kari let out a horrified scream as a large wave rocked their boat. She reached her arms out for Goofy, and Roxas quickly handed him over. She hugged the puppy close to her while staying close to Sora.

Sora suddenly let out a cry of pain, and Kari shot around. One of the odd creatures had come close to the boat and had clenched onto Sora's arm with it's claws.

"No!" she screamed and grabbed a hold of it quickly. The small boat rocked violently, and no one else saw the creature suddenly shudder in pain as light originated from her hands before vanishing in twisting tentacles of darkness.

There was a pause in the creatures' attacks before they suddenly all vanished, as if afraid that they too would fall victim to the girl's light.

"What in god's name just happened?" one of the sailors from the closest boats yelled. The large, steel ship that they had come from had been yanked to the ocean depths, and now they were all stranded in the tiny lifeboats.

"The storm's vanishing," Roxas muttered as he stared at the sky. "Those creatures left, then the storm left." It was ridiculous to think that those two things were connected but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. They obviously weren't creatures of nature, not with such strong branding on them.

Kari ignored his ramblings as she set Goofy adown and proceeded to study Sora's arm. She winced at the angry red marks and said, "It got you good."

Sora chuckled a bit and said, "Probably would have taken me into the ocean if it weren't for you. Look at your hands." He took them into hers, showing that she had a rather nasty cut, having been scratched by one of it's claws. "I guess I just—" he was cut off quickly as she leaned up and kissed him deeply. His eyes stayed open for a split second from surprise, before he quickly closed them and returned the kiss.

They stayed like that until they heard Roxas clear his throat. Breathing heavily, they separated, only to see Roxas' smug grin and a to hear a few chuckles from the sailors around them. Kari's cheeks blushed brightly and she buried her face into the crook between his neck and shoulder again. She brought Goofy close to her too, enjoying the feeling of warmth, even in the cold, ocean air.

VVVVVVVV

Author's Note

So this is the third time I rewrote this chapter. Purposely making it different from the movie while keeping part of it the same. Yes, the 'creatures' in this were the goddamm heartless from atlantica. I have a serious beef with those things, I swear.

So who wants to write an essay for me about Pico della Mirandola and Christine de Pisan and if their views are Christian or more ancient? Lol I'm kidding. These are the type of essays that I rock at. Not the crappy ones my English Prof gives me.

Anyway, thank you for all the reviews. As always, you guys rock! Thank you to: Eragonmetal6, Narwe, Topaz Tsubasa, DAN88, Trainalf, pichucherrimteam, catharsis25, chasingfireflies and Oracle's Song.

Let me know what you all think about this chapter!

Krystal Lily Potter