Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Kairi: Confession

As time went by, Kairi learned from Aqua during the day, then went to hang out with Hayner, Pence, and Olette in the evenings. And at the end of the day, before she went back to the mansion, the four of them would have sea salt ice cream on top of the clock tower.

This day, Kairi got away from Aqua earlier than usual, so she headed over to the Usual Spot, thinking nothing of it.

As she drew closer to the entryway, she heard voices. Sure, there was Hayner, Pence, and Olette, but she also heard Vivi Ornutia, the little black mage she had met when she had first come to Twilight Town, and another man, older. After a few seconds, Kairi remembered the man's name. Setzer Gabbiani. Just before she was about to walk inside anyways, she heard Setzer say one word that made her hang back. Warders.

After checking to make sure that nobody was coming, Kairi got close to the fence, and listened to the conversation.

"Heartless have been showing up in Sunset Terrace," Setzer said, "and none of those Warders have bothered to go over there."

"I can take care of them," Vivi offered. "I don't have anything else to do, I can stay on Sunset Hill and destroy them if any come by."

"Thanks, Vivi," Setzer said. "Next thing. I've heard some business about some Warders, staying on the outskirts of town. I don't know what they're doing, but keep your eyes peeled. If any of those guys found out about us, the Twilight Town TSUNAMI would be done for."

Kairi gasped, and cursed herself for doing so. The conversation stopped inside. Kairi's heart beat at a mile a minute. She quickly focused the light around her in a trick Aqua had taught her a few days ago. It could just maybe save her.

Setzer came from the Usual Spot. He looked around, and even looked directly at Kairi. He narrowed his eyes, and returned inside. "Must have just been the wind. Thought I heard somebody."

Kairi walked away slowly, waiting until she was around the corner to release her magic. The light around her bent, and returned to normal. It was a spell that effectively rendered her invisible. But it took a lot of magic, and a lapse in concentration could lead to a shimmer in the air.

After catching her breath, Kairi ran away from there. She could only hope that Aqua would be able to give her some advice.

---

Kairi slowly opened the door to the library. Aqua was looking over the shelves of books. "Aqua?"

The woman looked over. "Kairi, I'm surprised to see you," Aqua said, but pleasantly so. "Is something wrong?"

"I need some advice, but you have to promise me not to mention it to anybody." Aqua looked amused, but swore that she wouldn't tell anybody. "I found out who is in the Twilight Town TSUNAMI. The thing is, a few of the friends I made here are in it. What do I do?"

Aqua sighed. "Have you told these friends of yours that you are a Warder?" Kairi shook her head. "Then you've got three choices here. One, you can report them thus fulfilling your duty to the Warders. Two, you can pretend that none of this ever happened. Or three," Aqua said, turning to Kairi. "Three, you can tell them the truth. That you overheard their meeting, and that you are a Warder. But you don't intend to turn them in, because they are good friends of yours."

"I'm supposed to choose the third one, aren't I?"

"Oh, I don't know about that. I would personally choose the second one. But that could just be one difference between you and I. Depending on what you choose."

---

Later that day, Kairi was at Sunset Terrace with Hayner, Pence, and Olette. She had suggested coming up to Sunset Hill. After persuading Vivi to let her talk to them alone, they sat down.

"I came over to the Usual Spot earlier today," Kairi started with. "I heard you talking with Setzer and Vivi." A look of alarm crossed their faces. "Don't worry, I won't tell anybody about it. But I do have a confession to make myself." Kairi took a deep breath. "I'm a Warder."

Hayner laughed. "Nice one, but there's better jokes."

"I don't think it's a joke," Olette said uncertainly.

"It isn't," Kairi said. "I'm a Warder. I'm one of the low-down scum that make the worlds worse than they are." Hayner snickered, but stopped when he saw the looks from his friends. "And I'm sorry. Not about the fact that I'm a Warder. But that I didn't tell you guys. And I wouldn't have told you, if I hadn't found out about this."

"So you lied," Olette said. "But we did too. Both for good reasons. You didn't want people to be afraid of you, and we didn't want to get in trouble. So, I'm not upset." She looked at Hayner and Pence expectantly.

"Fine," Hayner mumbled.

"It's alright," Pence said. "It's perfectly alright." But there was no feeling behind his words, and the smile on his face was clearly forced. Kairi knew why.

When Pence was a little kid, he had been out with his dad in the town. Heartless had suddenly attacked, and the Warders were nowhere to be seen. Pence's dad had fought them back, giving Pence a chance to run. The Warders had eventually come, but it was too late. He had lost his heart, leaving Pence with only a mother that didn't really care about him. All he had was his machines, and eventually his friends. But no father, the father that had cared about him so much.

"I'm sorry, Pence," Kairi said. "I know that it was the fault of the Warders that you lost your dad."

"You wouldn't have been one yet," Pence said. "You would have been only five at the time, and you're recruited at 9, right? Then for me to blame you would be stupid."

"Thanks, but I still feel a little guilty," Kairi admitted. An idea came to her. "Can your little robot, Murb, hold materia orbs?"

"I guess I could make the adjustment to it, but why would I--" He stopped suddenly, and turned to Kairi. "For real?"

"If you want it," Kairi said, pulling out the magic materia. "It's at the equivalent of Thundara." It had upgraded already, while she had been dueling with Aqua. "At least, that's what the spell is called, but it's more powerful than the Thundara from a charm." She handed it to Pence.

He examined the materia in disbelief. He dug through his pocket, and pulled out Murb and a pocket knife, which held many more tools than just knives. It actually had only one knife. Within a few minutes, there was a spot in the robot for a materia orb, and Pence placed the green orb inside. "Murb, wake up." The little robot reformed. "Use a Thunder spell on that bush." He pointed at a bush, which Murb floated over to and loosed a bolt of lightning at it, causing it to burst into flame.

"Blizzard," Kairi said, pointing at the bush. The ice crystals put out the fire. She put her hand down. "Hey, I just got an idea. Hayner, you know that place you mentioned, Genji Cave? Why don't we try exploring it?"

"Do the words 'infested with heartless' mean anything to you?" Hayner asked incredulously.

"All four of us can fight, right?"

"Yeah, but then there's the fact that it takes two hours of walking to get there," Hayner said. "I don't want to walk two hours."

Kairi thought for a second. "You know that blocked off area, over in Tram Common? It leads to a mansion. That's where I'm staying with my teacher . . ." She faltered for a moment. She cleared her throat. "There's a path behind it, through the woods. I looked at a map of the town, a real map, and it leads straight to an area marked 'Danger: Heartless Infested Cave.' I don't think that there's any other heartless infested caves in Twilight Town. We could get there in less than a half an hour."

Hayner considered it for a moment. "You swear that you got this idea just now, and there aren't any Warders waiting to ambush us there?"

"Swear on the grave of my goldfish, Lucky," Kairi said, holding her right hand over her heart. "He wasn't very lucky."

"Alright," Hayner said. "I need to get my sword, and we can head over there right now. It's not too late, and so what if we don't get home 'till midnight?"

"I'm in," Olette said.

"Hey, I'm not getting left behind," Pence said.

They ran to Hayner's house there in Sunset Terrace, where he grabbed his sword along with a few torches that worked on magic. They went through the Underground Passageways, and came to the opening. Kairi opened it up, and they passed through the forest, to the mansion. She pulled out her copy of the mansion key, and stuck it in the keyhole. After turning it, the key turned to dust in her hand. Precaution, she'd have to get another key from Aqua later.

Kairi went through the front door of the mansion first. "Shush. My…mentor is probably working on something, we shouldn't disturb her. Just give me a second."

Kairi ran up the left side stairs and into her room. Stuff was scattered all over the floor, mostly pencils and paper. There, in the corner gathering dust, was her keyblade. She grabbed it and snapped it to her belt.

She ran back downstairs, and couldn't ignore the glances that they gave her keyblade. "It's just a sword, nothing more than that." She led the way through the back door of the mansion, and they were swallowed up by the forest.

---

The entrance to Genji Cave had a sign, saying "Keep Out" in bright red letters. They walked right past it, and headed into the bowels of the cave. While the first chamber let sunlight in, the second chamber was completely dark.

Hayner lit one of his torches, and it cast its light everywhere. Magic. Gotta love it. He led the way through the cave, at least until they were about ten minutes in, and heartless appeared. Just some little shadows, though, which were dispatched quickly.

"This is weird," Kairi said. "I'd expect there to be more heartless. Am I right?" She shivered. The temperature had dropped since they had gotten in there, even with the torch.

"Yeah," Olette agreed. "There's a weird feeling in here, you know? Like everything is made of glass, and if you touch it, it'll shatter all around."

"Or a rubber band, stretching further and further, about to snap," Pence added.

"Are you poets done?" Hayner asked sarcastically. "This place is weird, I get it. And it's a lot smaller than I imagined." As he said this, the tunnel opened up into a large chamber. Hayner used his torch to light another one, and the flames spread from torch to torch, lighting up the room. There appeared to be some sort of fighting ring in the middle.

Kairi gripped her keyblade tightly, and stepped forward. She went further and further. When both feet were in the ring, a gust of cold wind blew through the room. The wind carried with it snowflakes, despite the fact that it was Spring. The wind whipped around, forming the shape of a person. Ice was created, then shattered apart.

Where the ice had been, a blue-skinned woman now stood. She had an aura about her that said that she was incredibly powerful, and yet, she did not seem malevolent. Her face was calm, framed by light blue hair. She wore only enough clothing to conceal her modesty.

In a voice as smooth as ice, and as soft as snow, she spoke. "I am Shiva, the Ice Queen. Speak thy name, maiden."

"I am Kairi Hikari, Princess of Heart of Radiant Garden," Kairi said.

Shiva looked somewhat interested. "Thou can use that blade of the worlds. The Keyblade. But, it holds not the power of a true keyblade. But potential still is held within thee. Defeat me in battle, and I shall allow thee and thy allies to obtain the treasure held within. I shall also allow thou to call upon my power in battle. I believe it is what humans call a Summon Gem. What doth thou say?"

Kairi thought about it. From her pocket, she pulled out a big leather bracer that Aqua had lent her. She slipped it over her right wrist, and placed her two materia in it. They glowed, awaiting the fight. Kairi drew her keyblade. "I accept your challenge, Lady Shiva."

A barrier went up around the field. Shiva waved her hand through the air, creating a spear of ice. She spun it around, and threw it at Kairi, who avoided it easily. Shiva sent a flurry of ice spears at Kairi, who deflected them with her keyblade. "It appears that you are not one to be underestimated," Shiva noted. "Very well, then." With a flick of her wrist, a thousand ice needles were created, and shot at Kairi.

"Fire!" the Princess shouted. A burst of flames evaporated most of the needles, but some continued onwards and buried themselves in her skin. Kairi pulled them out, and cast a quick cure spell. She willed the yellow materia in her bracer to activate. Immediately, her senses increased. She could see Shiva's aura reflecting her current status. The Ice Queen was, obviously, still full of energy.

Shiva put two fingers up to her mouth, and blew. A stream of freezing wind went at Kairi, who avoided it easily thanks to her senses. A blade of energy shot at her, but she ducked under it and went at Shiva. Kairi managed to get a hit in, before being blown back. Shiva created an orb of ice, and sent it at Kairi. With a snap of her fingers, it exploded apart, with bits of ice catching Kairi in the face.

"Ah!" Kairi gasped in pain. She turned her left palm to face her, and saw that she had a sliver of ice embedded in her hand. Rather than going the same way as the needles, Kairi left the shard in her hand to prevent bleeding.

An aura of light started to surround Kairi, quickly glowing brighter. With one thought, Kairi released the aura, which shot at Shiva, consuming the Ice Queen in its light.

When the light cleared, Shiva's aura was flickering. "You, are indeed, powerful," Shiva gasped. "I only wish, that your life had gone down, a different path." Shiva glowed, then vanished, leaving behind a light blue gemstone. It floated into the air, and in Kairi's outstretched hands, with the ice shard gone already with Shiva, the injury healed. The gem was freezing cold. Kairi placed it into her pocket, and zipped it up.

At the other end of the room, a door appeared in the side of the cavern. Kairi gestured to Hayner, Pence, and Olette. "Let's go!"

Much to their disappointment, the treasure room was nearly empty. There were only a few pieces of armor left behind, along with a sphere of some sort. Olette picked up a white shoulder guard with two materia slots. "You want it, Kairi? It's better than the bracer you have."

Kairi took the guard, and removed her materia from the clunky old bracer. She slipped on the armor, and inserted the materia. The orbs glowed for a moment, before settling. "Thanks, Olette."

Each of them took a piece of armor, leaving only the sphere. Normally, you could play back what was recorded on a sphere, but this one was quite stubborn. "I'll take it," Kairi volunteered. "I'll try searching for a way to restore old spheres." Pence tossed her the sphere, which she pocketed. She checked her cell phone. No messages. Riku was probably training, and Sora must have been busy on his mission, as usual.