Chapter Ten
The next morning found Kairi sitting in the King's training room, legs crossed in what Minnie had called the "lotus" position. Minnie herself sat in a similar pose, eyes closed in meditation. Kairi tilted her head at the sight of Minnie's chosen dress, a simply-cut pink dress with no additions or embellishments.
"Now, Kairi," Minnie said, "Master Yen Sid has mentioned that you have taken to magic quite well since you began your apprenticeship." Kairi nodded, in an acknowledgement of fact rather than pride. "Well, wielding the Light could be compared to magic, but it is … also quite different." Minnie paused, as if considering her next words carefully.
"Magic is a force that surrounds us, and is in its own way vital to the nature of reality. But it is a tool, just like the fires used to warm us or a river that turns a waterwheel. These things are distinct, ever-moving, and alive in their own way. But they are not in any way … conscious." Minnie swallowed thickly, her fingers twitching.
"The Light is more than that. It does not think or reason like you or I, but it is, in some way, alive."
Minnie paused again, chewing her lip in thought. "Kairi, is it alright if I share my personal beliefs with you? I have no evidence to support them, but I feel that they are correct. I feel it the same way I know, without a doubt, that I love Mickey as much as he loves me."
Kairi nodded her assent. "Of course, Queen Minnie," she said.
"I believe that the Keyblades are, in some way, a manifestation of the Light. A physical reflection, if you will." Minnie closed her eyes, ordering her thoughts. "There are legends that say there are Keyblades of Darkness, as well. Where they are, if there are any left, is a mystery lost to time." She opened her eyes with a faint smile. "But here in the Realm of Light, they are made to protect the Balance.
"What you must understand, Kairi, is that Darkness itself is not evil. Not really. The Cornerstone of Light protects this world from those that are evil, not dark. When we were younger, Mickey and I believed Darkness should never exist. But I don't think extremes are a healthy way to live. And if Mickey's letters are any indication, he has realized this truth as well."
Kairi looked away from the Queen, thoughts whirling. Darkness wasn't evil? They weren't the same thing? Everything that she had seen about the Darkness; the Heartless, the destruction of both her homeworlds, Maleficent and her cronies, and of course Ansem. Nothing she had seen had given even the slightest hint that Darkness was anything but evil, but violence and anger and hatred.
Kairi was snapped from her thoughts by Minnie's tinkling laughter. "Oh, don't be so serious, Kairi. I'm somewhat aware of your past. I'm not forcing you to come to terms with this immediately. I just want you to be prepared to keep an open mind. After all, when we refuse to keep learning, to accept new wisdom because it defies tradition, that is when we stop growing. And when we stop growing, we begin to fall."
Minnie rose from the ground, prompting Kairi to do the same. "But I believe that's enough philosophy for one morning. I'm sure you're ready to begin more practical learning." Kairi grinned and nodded.
Minnie reached up and took her hands in a light grasp, only their fingertips touching. "Now Kairi, I said before that using the light is like using magic. With both, you learn to make contact with a powerful force and channel it into a chosen purpose. Before I teach you what you can do, first you must make contact with your own Light. Just as you once did with your magic."
Kairi nodded and closed her eyes with a slow sigh. After hours of training with Yen Sid in meditation, she had learned to enter a fragile trance. If given enough time. After a while, she felt the ambient magic within her, like a cocoon of shimmering energy that spread throughout her body, just under her skin. This was familiar and in its own way comforting. But it wasn't what she was looking for.
After a while, Kairi began to grow impatient. And her impatience cracked her trance, the pieces spider webbing to return her to full consciousness. With a huff and a deep breath, she tried again, but her efforts were rewarded with an even quicker return. After a full half-hour, according to a sandglass next to the curved walls, Kairi groaned. "This isn't working," she said.
Minnie hummed in agreement and tapped her finger to her lips in thought. This method had been taught to her by Mickey, who in turn had learned from Yen Sid. Wait … wait a moment! Minnie's eyes widened as she realized her error. The techniques had been taught by Yen Sid, but that wasn't how Mickey had first brushed the Light!
Mickey's voice echoed in her mind as the memory rose from within her - one of her most cherished.
"I remember clear as anything when I first touched the Light. A warm feeling rose up inside, and I felt like I could do anything! It was when I first saw you, Minnie." He took her hand in his, weaving their fingers. "You are my Light."
Minnie looked up to Kairi, catching her gaze. Minnie had learned long ago how to read a person through their eyes. It was how she had trusted Mickey and his friends from the beginning, and how she knew ten years ago that Pete had gone too far off the deep end, that he would never change.
In Kairi's eyes, she saw fires of determination, tempered by compassion. She saw trauma in the girl's past, barely remembered as well as recent, which in turn was smoothed by the warmth of a loving childhood. And among all that, she saw something very familiar - something she saw when she looked in the mirror. She saw love, young love.
And more than anyone, Minnie knew that love in all its myriad forms was a power that connected all things, whether Light or Darkness.
"Kairi, I have an idea." She took Kairi's fingers in her grip again. "I want you to close your eyes and visualize someone for me." Kairi pursed her lips in puzzlement, but did as she was told. "I want you to imagine … Sora."
Kairi's focus was shaken by the unexpected order, but she pushed through it and onward. She smiled as she remembered everything she could, cherishing the fact that she actually could remember after her talk with Yen Sid. She saw every detail of him, from his cerulean eyes and chocolate hair, to that goofy grin. She felt his arms around her after he had been returned from the Darkness. Her fingers closed over the ghost of his as she remembered his promise to her. I'll come back to you.
And through it all, she felt a warmth rise inside her. A familiar warmth, one that she somehow knew had been sleeping inside her all her life. Acting on instinct, her arm rose, her palm up with fingers spread out, and motes of Light emanated from her palm to merge into a ball of golden Light.
Kairi's eyes shot open to find herself glowing like a beacon and the ball vanished, snuffed out like a candle flame. She blinked away the spots that dotted her field of vision, stumbling back as a wave of fatigue washed over her. "What just happened?" Kairi asked.
"Oh, you harnessed your Light!" Minnie cheered. "Well done, Kairi! Well done!" Minnie gasped as Kairi started to fall, catching her in her deceptively strong grip. Despite her size, Minnie was more than capable of handling a slim teenaged girl.
"I think that's enough for now," Minnie giggled. "We'll get you some brunch and continue after a nap."
Kairi could only give a shaky nod, her knees wobbling as Minnie helped her out of the training room.
As the sun began to sink beneath the horizon, Kairi trudged to her temporary room, every bone and muscle in her body feeling like she had been put through a clothes wringer. Minnie had explained that harnessing one's Light - even in the feeble, fleeting amounts Kairi had managed to summon in the eight hours of practice after brunch - was drawing power directly from the heart. And the body reflected the state of the heart and the mind, hence her exhaustion.
Kairi collapsed onto her bed, her frayed mind giving peaceful numbness to her sore body. And not just sore like a long day of Keyblade training. Sore like a deep, pulsing ache emanating from her chest and spreading in waves from the crown of her head to the tips of her fingers and toes.
Minnie had further explained, from personal experience, that the soreness would be gone by the morning and would steadily lessen with practice. Her heart was strong and she would adapt quickly.
As merciful blackness washed over her, dragging her into the peaceful folds of sleep, Kairi unthinkingly clutched at her pendant. Her breathing evened out as she surrendered to the call of slumber, her pendant faintly glowing in time with her heartbeat.
'Twenty-seven times', Aqua thought. 'Or, wait, is it twenty-eight?' She brushed that thought aside as she approached the Dark Margin for the umpteenth time. Her efforts to remember how many times she had stumbled upon this ebony beach had once again been thrown off. It may not have provided an accurate means of telling time in this hellish place, but it gave her something to do.
Nearing the shoreline, she approached a familiar arching boulder and summoned Master's Defender to slash another scratch into the obsidian surface. A quick count of the tally marks numbered twenty-seven. She shouldn't have second-guessed herself.
Aqua dismissed her Keyblade and plopped onto the black sands, hissing with discomfort as she peeled off her armored boots to reveal oozing sores. A quick cure spell fixed the damage, but the phantom pains would continue for a few hours. Not for the first time, she wondered how her boots were still functional after who-knew how much time she had spent in this Realm.
Setting her boots to the side, Aqua inched closer to the water - or whatever it was - and eased her feet into the merciful chill. With a shaky sigh, Aqua lay back on the sands, breathing evening out to rest.
Just as her heartbeat began to settle, Aqua opened her eyes and placed a hand on her chest. A faint warmth had risen there. Aqua glanced around … and stifled a shriek at the sight of someone else close by, their front buried in the black sands.
Aqua stumbled to her feet and approached to kneel before this person. She gently moved their head to get a look at them. After clearing some stray sand from the person's face, Aqua placed a hand over her lips in astonishment. It was Kairi!
Kairi groaned and her eyes fluttered open, blearily looking at her. It took a moment for her to comprehend what she was seeing … and she shot up to her knees when it clicked. "Master Aqua?!" she shouted. Her face turned red enough to match her hair and she clapped her hands over her mouth in mortification at screaming at her Predecessor.
Aqua laughed at the display, blinking rapidly as her smile fell. It had been a long time since she had laughed.
"Master Aqua?" Kairi asked at a much more sedate volume, "Where am I? How did I get here?"
Aqua pursed her lips as she thought back to her visions of Terra and Ven not too long ago. Or maybe it was? Whatever. "I don't know," she admitted. "What were you doing before you got here?"
"I was learning to use my Light with Queen Minnie," Kairi answered immediately.
Aqua's brows shot up in pleasant surprise. "Queen Minnie's teaching you? I thought you were apprenticed to Master Yen Sid?"
"I am," Kairi assured. "I think that he believes it's good for me to learn something from someone else. Or maybe he just wants some time alone to get back to his reclusive sorcerer thing."
Aqua chuckled again, her heart feeling lighter than it had in a long time. "Kairi, I don't think you're really here," she revealed. She held up a hand to stall Kairi's questions. "I think … our link with your spell has allowed you to see this place. Your presence here is an illusion created by my heart. Your exhaustion must have lowered your guard and allowed your mind to wander to this place. For a time."
"How'd you know I was so tired?" Kairi asked.
"Did you think I was just born with skill with the Light?" Aqua replied. "As impossible as it seems, I had to learn it too. And I remember how tired I felt after I started learning under my own Master."
Kairi chuckled and tucked her legs underneath her, idly scratching patterns in the sand around her. "You still didn't say where this place is," she commented.
Aqua shrugged. "I've been calling it the 'Dark Margin'. I feel like … it's the edge of the Dark Realm." She blinked as a thought crossed her mind. "Maybe that's why we can speak like this. It's as close to the Realm of Light as I can get."
Kairi looked down at the reminder of Master Aqua's plight. She had spoken with Yen Sid about the Dark Realm, wondering beyond hope if there was a way to rescue her. Yen Sid had told her what little he knew of the place and how unlikely was to find her by chance. Not to mention impossible without a functional way to enter the Realm itself.
"Can you stay here?" Kairi asked. At Aqua's questioning look, she decided to elaborate. "I man, can't you stay here so we can talk. It doesn't look like there's any Heartless around," Yen Sid had mentioned that the Dark Realm was crawling with Heartless, "so can't you just relax here until we come and get you?"
"Get me?" Aqua asked.
Kairi's gaze turned hard as steel. "Get you. I'll get you out of this place, Master Aqua. I promise you that."
Aqua blinked at the feeling of something cold on her face, brushing away a stray tear. "It is peaceful here, but … Time is different in this place." She looked at herself in the reflection of the gently lapping surf. "It's been ten years on the outside and I look exactly the same. If I just stayed here, I'd go stir crazy." She chuckled without humor. "And I think my sanity is strained enough as it is."
Kairi clenched her jaw in frustration. Frustration at herself for being unable to help the woman who had quickly become her idol. "Well, can you at least come here often so we can talk?"
Aqua smiled warmly. "Of course. I mean, this place just kind of appears when I really need a break, but I'll do what I can." Kairi nodded, resolving to try and meditate before bed every night. As the silence stretched on, Kairi wracked her brain for something to say. Her hero was right here! She needed to say something!
"How are your studies coming?" Aqua asked.
"Good," Kairi sighed in relief. "Very good. Great, even. My swordplay is getting better and my magic is awesome!" Kairi cleared her throat as she reeled in her enthusiasm. "I guess it's coming along pretty good if Yen Sid moved mt up to using Light," she reasoned.
"Master Yen Sid," Aqua stressed, tone firm. "He is your teacher and deserves that much respect."
"Yes, Master Aqua," Kairi replied with a grin. Aqua grinned in return before turning to look back out to sea.
"What have you learned of the Light so far?" Aqua asked further.
Kairi blushed at the thought of her nearly disastrous first day. "Nothing much, yet. Queen Minnie's starting me out with the 'Pearl' spell, but I can't seem to get a hold of my Light long enough to do anything." Aqua smiled in sympathy, memories of her own training rising up.
"Would you care for some advice?" she asked. It was only fair; she had inadvertently Chosen this girl. Kairi leaning toward her, eyes wide, was answer enough. "It's not like regular magic. You can't really … force it. You have to let it come to you. Your Light is a part of you in a way magic is not. It comes from your heart." She placed her palm over her chest to illustrate. "Your heart will never lead you astray, Kairi. So trust in your heart, and in the Light. And it will come to you."
Kairi glanced down as she committed these words to memory. "Thank you, Master Aqua," she said.
"You're very welcome, Kairi," she replied. The silence that settled on them was gentler now, more friendly than suffocating.
"Master Aqua?" Kairi asked. Aqua hummed in response, showing she had heard. "Could you tell me about your friends, Terra and Ventus?" Aqua turned bodily to face Kairi, here eyes wide and body stiff with ire. But just as quickly as it happened, before Kairi even had a chance to flinch, she relaxed again.
"What do you want to know?" she answered quietly, almost whispering.
"What were they like?" Kairi asked. "If they were anything like Sora and Riku, they probably drove you crazy." Her wide smile showed she was joking, and it drew a faint smile from Aqua in turn.
"I met your friends once," she revealed. "And I remember thinking how similar they were to my friends. Terra had passed his power on to Riku, just as I did you." Well, he probably did it on purpose, but the principle was the same. "And Sora, I felt like he and Ven could have been brothers. Had I not known better, I would have believed it without hesitation." Aqua looked out over the water as she became lost in her thoughts.
"Terra was … strong. He was determined and hard-working, and so, so stubborn. He put everything he had into everything that he did, even if he didn't like it. Training, chores, cooking, you name it." Another tear. "He was my first friend, my partner from the time Master Eraqus took me in as an apprentice." She chuckled. "Terra always like to put up a stoic front, but he was a giant softie underneath it all."
"Ven … their drive for training aside, he couldn't have been more different. Ven was loud and energetic, always moving. I swear he was incapable of staying still for more than three minutes. Except when he slept, then he slept like a rock. And it would have been easier to wake a rock up. He was like the baby brother I never had." Another tear.
Kairi swallowed thickly at Aqua's story, her eyes shining. This woman had been through so much … it made her own problems look childish in comparison. Yen Sid had once cautioned her against comparing suffering, stressing that all suffering was relative and unique, something to be overcome rather than to fight over. But at least she knew, deep down, that her friends were alright. Aqua had no such assurance.
"What happened?" Kairi gasped and covered her mouth, that sentence meant to be silent.
If possible, Aqua grew even more solemn. "Ven shattered his heart to vanquish a great evil and his body was lost to slumber. I hid it away in hopes that I could find his heart and return it … but I can't while I'm here. And Terra … I think he's had it worst of all. From what I can gather, Xehanort did something to him. Took him over somehow. He-" Aqua cut herself off, face twisted with sorrow. "I don't want to talk about it anymore," she whispered.
Kairi wept freely for her first Master, unashamed of it. It was all she could do, really. "I will get you out of here," Kairi said.
Aqua glanced toward her to find empty air. Not even an impression in the sand where she had been sitting. She was alone again. And yet, even so, she felt lighter than she had in far too long.
Aqua drew back her feet from the water and replaced her boots, the ache in her feet a distant memory. And for the first time since she had come to this place, she did something that had driven Ven crazy, even as Terra and the Master endured it.
She quietly sang a wordless tune - Solemn, but hopeful. Fitting for her mood.
Kairi groaned as she began to wake up, her body still aching from her training. A faintly glowing sandglass showed that she needn't meet Minnie for breakfast for a few more hours. And yet, she had a feeling trying to get anymore sleep would be pointless. Now determined to start the day, Kairi quickly dressed in a flannel shirt and denim pants from back home to wander the castle halls.
After some time, Kairi noticed the windows around her begin to brighten as the dawn approached. With a start, she realized she was standing before the giant faux-doors of the throne room. An idea sprung to mind and, without thinking about it, she knocked on the right-hand door, causing it to separate and let her in. A quickly-conjured ball of lavender light allowed her to navigate herself to the thrones, and a search of the armrests revealed the switch to move them aside.
Kairi descended the steps to the Hall of the Cornerstone, dismissing her light source as she approached the radiance of the hall's single occupant. Kairi placed a hand on the crystalline surface of the great artifact, her gaze drawn to it like a kindred spirit. She wondered about the great sphere's origins. Who could have made something like this? And how?
As she continued to gaze into the Light of the Cornerstone, Kairi's thoughts wandered to Aqua's advice. She couldn't force it - she just had to trust in it. Kairi smiled as she thought about Sora, about his carefree nature. No doubt he hadn't tried to force anything. He had just let it happen.
With a deep breath, Kairi summoned Destiny's Embrace. 'May our hearts be our guiding key,' she thought. Yen Sid had said that a few times during her training, but she hadn't really understood. Perhaps this was what he meant. Determination and drive were all well and good, but even more important was trust. No, more important was faith. Faith that things would all turn out right, that it would be better tomorrow than yesterday. That everything they did meant something.
Kairi turned and left the Hall, emerging into the Audience Chamber, the throne platform closing back into place behind her. With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to relax, to gently search out the Light inside. Unbeknownst to her, her body began to shine with a faint golden glow.
In her mind's eye, she pictured Ansem, the dreaded Seeker of Darkness. Everything from his mane of white hair to his sickly amber eyes, glinting with equal cunning and madness. And most of all, that arrogant sneer he had worn before Riku had stopped him from hurting her.
Anger tried to rise in her heart, but she tamped it down. Ansem was gone, destroyed by the Light of Kingdom Hearts. As Yen Sid had revealed. But the threat that he represented, the chaos that threatened to destroy all worlds, was still very much real. Minnie said that Darkness was not evil, and maybe she was right. But it was still the opposite of her, and in the now it empowered the very forces that threatened her and her friends.
Guided by the glow within her, Kairi gently prodded it to take shape in her palm, just as she had seen Minnie do. And unlike before, where it had escaped her grasp or refused to cooperate, the Light seemed almost eager to act. She felt it coalesce into a sphere of radiance and opened her eyes to find herself holding a ball of golden Light, bigger than her closed fist.
With a surge of joy, she flexed her fingers, sending the Pearl racing around the grand chamber. The Pearl raced away before gently curving around to return to her, and with a precise swing of her Keyblade, she struck it out of the air to explode into glittering golden motes.
Kairi smiled widely before stumbling to her knees, falling on her Keyblade for support. Seems she'd still need a lot of practice to be able to use that for real. Slowly pushing herself upright, Kairi slung her Keyblade over her shoulder and left the Audience Chamber to try and make her way to the dining hall.
And after training today, maybe she'd go out and explore the town again.
And so Kairi learns about the Light. What did y'all think? Leave a review, tell me how I'm doing!
I had originally meant for this to be a lot different, but inspiration guided me into this.
*Kairi contacting Aqua in her sleep was inspired by Terra and Ven's appearances in 2.8 - A Fragmented Passage.
*Neither Kairi nor Minnie know that she has already touched her Light for the first time - when she brought Sora back from the cusp of Darkness. Now she just has to learn to tap into it willingly.
*Kairi brushing her light by thinking of Sora was inspired by the end of CoM. Kairi is Sora's light within the darkness, it would only make sense that he in turn is her own.
*Minnie's speech about learning about the Balance is based on CoM-Reverse/Rebirth. Mickey explains to Riku that he showed that Darkness is not inherently evil. And in KHII, Minnie mentioned that Mickey sends her letters. I have no doubt that he tells her everything. And Minnie is clearly smart - she can come to her own conclusions given the right information.
*Kairi's views on Light, at this point, are similar to Aqua's in BBS. She has seen nothing but destruction come from it, spearheaded by "Ansem"/Xehanort's Heartless. And she hasn't seen what Riku can do.
*My idea of the Light responding to faith and trust was partly inspired by Sora himself. He determinedly trusts the people around him, and it serves as his greatest strength. I can easily imagine him picking up the powers of Light without being taught (or perhaps gently nudged by Ventus's heart) because trusting in something, even something he doesn't understand, just comes so naturally. Plus, Sora's first "Light" power in KHI was learned after defeating Captain Hook - e.g. after he had learned to fly and learned that Kairi had been found. I think it gave a boost to his morale and let him first harness his own Light.
On a side note, anyone have ideas of where the Cornerstone of Light came from? Not necessarily for this story (though I wouldn't complain about it), but in general. That's one powerful artifact, even if it's not entirely foolproof. Leave your thoughts on that in a review or PM me.