Jenova Project K: Chapter 10 - Flower of the Slums
Kairi walked out of the infirmary...
"Kaaaaariiii!" came a squeal.
Before she could react she got a tackle hug from a certain black haired 3rd Class. "Jezz Kairi don't scare me like that!"
Kairi winced, colliding with the wall. "Sorry Zack."
They separated, and Zack's eyes roamed her with worry. What was it some of the other's called Zack? Mother hen? Pretty apt nickname when he wasn't being a puppy.
"You okay?" he asked.
She scratched her head a little nervously, "Y-yeah... umm... Zack, I'm sor..."
Zack waved a hand. "It's fine, I could see something was... uh... weird, with you."
He gave her another worried look, this time focusing on her eyes. "That was really wack, you know? You got all Seph eye'd on me, lifted me up like I was a little kid and just chucked me all the way down the hall, you got a pretty strong arm."
"Sorry," she mumbled again.
"Did he just call my Chosen One SEPH?! Why waste time apologizing to this fool?" asked Mother, "Your brother gave your instructions, go strengthen yourself without relying on your other 'lesser' brother."
Kairi's fists and eyes tightened a bit. "Mother. Please do not be rude to my friends nor my brothers."
Mother huffed, but did not argue. "Stubborn child."
"Hey, what'd I say? It's fine," said Zack dismissively, "Nothin to apologize for."
Kairi stared at him wistfully. He... really did remind her of Sora. Always friendly, never held a grudge, forgave everyone super easily...
Zack gave her a curious look. "Something wrong?"
She slowly shook her head and started walking past him. "You just remind me of someone I used to know."
Rather than leave, Zack fell in behind her. "So, waja up to?"
"Food," she grumbled, "I haven't eaten since before my 'Dragon Quest'."
Zack snorted. "Right, that. Genesis is nutz, ya know? Like, jezz Kairi, did you LOOK at your clothes? If it weren't for the fact you were walking and talking I woulda thought you were a corpse just by the blood and the tears on them."
Kairi shrugged. "I looked at them, yes."
Zack leaned forward to look past her and up into her face. "Aaaaand?"
Kairi shrugged again, voice lowering and murmuring, "I dunno..."
"You don't know?" said Zack, giving her a pointed look.
Kairi sighed. "Zack... just drop it, please."
Zack shrugged. "Okay, anyway, lets get some grub. How about we eat out?"
Kairi hesitated. "I... don't know anyplace in Midgar to eat, I haven't even been out of the building since I got here except for that first mission."
Zack blinked a few times. "Huh... well that's fine. I know a little diner in Wall Market down in the Sector 6 slums that's not bad. Let's go."
Kairi let him take the lead and followed him to the elevator, half-listening to him begin his mindless chatter about the day. It occurred to her suddenly what she was about to do. Leave the building. It made her nervous. Was she actually allowed to leave unsupervised? Would she get in trouble for this? Would Zack get in trouble for this?
"I am not one to endanger you my child, but, no one has explicitly said you cannot leave," pointed out Mother, "Flexing your chains could allow you to see how much you can push their limits. If they try to use it against, you, you could feign ignorance with ease, and pin the blame on the fool if need be."
Kairi frowned. "Mother. I would never do that to a friend. If there's trouble, I'll accept whatever blame is put on me."
She could feel Mother scowling at her, but she did not speak. Kairi half held her breath as they reached the first floor and started making for the entrance, maybe she was juuust a bit skittish, but, she half expected alarms to start blaring when they passed by the secretary and out the door. She visibly relaxed once they left the building and no one came hollering after them. She took a brief moment to look up at the building itself from the outside, she hadn't done that in the helicopter earlier. The building... felt ominous for some reason. All the sudden she really didn't like being in that building, period, end of story. Unfortunately, that building was probably going to remain her home for a long time.
They bought tickets and boarded a train, picking their seats to sit down on, she felt a little nervous. "I've never been on a train before..."
Zack smirked. "Really? Well I should warn you they wobble alot, people bounce around, the train sometimes leans over the rails, and god forbid of the train skips a track..."
Kairi glared at him. "Zaaaack! Not helping!"
Zack was grinning full force.
"Ugh, as if the helicopter ride hadn't been bad enough," muttered Kairi.
She didn't get motion sickness, but the sensation of being moved not of her own accord really made her uncomfortable for a reason she couldn't honestly guess. Zack continued to playfully poke fun at her until they arrived down at the Sector 7 train station. The moment they got off the train though, something felt... off... to Kairi. It wasn't any kind of danger, but something just felt... sad... in the air.
It took her only a few moments of staring around clueless at the people bustling about to figure out what it was, and it made her feel awful. Everything that she could see looked so dirty and run down. Litter was everywhere. There were plenty of people with obvious hand-me-down clothes, patched together. Some people looked thin, far to thin, or seemed sickly. Off in the distance she could see piles of scrap metal, and beyond that, some of the taller run down looking buildings.
She just stared at it all, feeling... she hadn't ever touched alcohol, but she wondered if this was what 'sobering' felt like.
"Kairi?" questioned Zack, looking a bit unsure at her.
"What... is this?" she asked quietly, "Why is everything... like this down here?"
Zack blanked for a moment before blinking a few times, suddenly looking extremely unsure of himself all the sudden. "Oh... you've never seen the slums before, have you?"
Kairi blinked a few times. "Slums?"
He scratched the back of his head. "Well... I don't really like it either, but... c'mon lets go, not a good place to talk in earshot of others, ya'know?"
Kairi followed behind quietly, feeling extremely apprehensive about being down here. She had never seen anything like this place. Nowhere on Destiny Islands looked so... utterly miserable to live in. She had seen a run down house or two, but, people were quick to pitch in to help each other out if need be. She had never even heard of the word 'slums' before, seeing these people living like this made her feel like her heart was bleeding out, and she had only been down here for less than five minutes. She dreaded to think what it was like to actually live down here. She looked up with a frown, suddenly noticing that there was no sunlight either, only artificial light, it was all blocked by the plates above them... what a god awful existence...
"Why do they live down here?" Kairi asked quietly as they neared the sector 6 gate.
"I don't think they really have a choice," said Zack.
"What? Why?" she asked.
"No money to move up top or out of Midgar," he said sadly.
That did little for Kairi's sobering mood.
"Why do you care?" asked Mother, "If the people down here are so pitiful that they cannot better themselves or force their way out, why bother feeling anything for them?"
"Because I'm not a heartless wretch," retorted Kairi.
"Is that what you think of me?" chided Mother, "After everything I've given to you? Have you not felt my loving touch?"
Kairi felt a sudden, but brief wave of guilt, before she countered, "I'm sorry, but, your always to mean to everyone who isn't me or Sephiroth, and you know it."
Mother huffed. "I have my reasons, one day, when we're reunited, you will come to know and accept them as your own."
Kairi couldn't help but wonder what had made Mother so bitter towards the world, then again, she was trapped in a cage somewhere with crazy scientists using her cells to make her kids and not let them near her. Who knows what that could honestly do to a person. She felt a pang of sympathy towards Mother and decided to try and ignore her hostility a little bit better. Once she eventually got Mother out of her cage, everything would be better, she just knew it would.
"Yes my child, yes it will," said Mother, a odd hunger in her voice.
They passed through the sector 6 gate and into what looked like a run down playground. She stared at it a bit sadly before starting to follow Zack to the northeast, only to pause as a shrill, young scream echoed to the south. She exchanged one look with Zack before they took off, swords drawn. They went south, through the playgrounds and dashed around a bend of metal debris.
Kairi's eyes snapped onto a set of six monsters cornering a terrified girl a bit younger than she was. The monsters were small ish, wide open gaping maws of teeth, no eyes she could see, a pointed tail, and pointed feet kind of like a spider's. The girl was in a blue and white dress with white sandals. Her hair was long and brown, but in a ponytail. Her eyes were an emerald green that almost seemed aglow. The most important detail about her to Kairi was that she was unarmed and defenseless.
"Whole Eaters," muttered Zack before charging and yelling, "Heeey!"
That got the monster's attention and briefly distracted them from the girl. Kairi was already moving, far faster than Zack was. Her blood was pumping, there was an innocent life in danger. She was already having a flashback to the day the shadow monster things had swarmed at her on Destiny Islands, how they must have moved on and destroyed her home, killed everyone she cared about, the others at the orphanage, and Sora, his mom, Riku... all the others...
She was done being weak and letting people down.
She snarled in righteous fury and cut through a Whole Eater in a split second, swinging her sword to cut into a second before kicking up with her foot and booting another one away. She firmly planted herself directly infront of the girl before Zack even joined the fight. The butchered the six monsters within a minute, blades singing back and forth.
Satisfied, and extremely happy to have made a difference, even if it was just for one life, she turned to look at the girl and ask if she was alright before she froze. The girl was staring at her with a look of complete and utter terror. Not only that, but now that the danger was gone and Kairi actually looked at the girl, she was getting the same sensation from her that she had gotten from those two pre-teens back in Nibelheim. Except, this was different, this was more than just a presence of what Mother had called 'the pull of those chosen by destiny'. This girl on her own had an unusual presence, but, not of the powerful martial kind that her brothers did. It was... an unusually calming presence to be around, it made her feel... settled...
Well, except for the look of utter terror on the girl's face that was ruining the sensation, she was inching away from Kairi as if she were some kind of monster.
"Erm, Kairi, sword," coughed Zack.
Kairi blinked and looked at her blood covered blade, still in hand. Oh, yeah, that was probably scary. Poor girl had been cornered by monsters, watched them fight, and was staring at two bloodied scary looking SOLDIERs. She sheathed her sword and offered the girl a smile.
"You okay?" asked Kairi.
The girl hesitated briefly, before giving a brief nod, but saying nothing else, still staring at Kairi fearfully. She didn't understand it... why was the girl so afraid of...
Hisssssss
Kairi blanked for a moment before she registered in her head that Mother was actually hissing.
"Cetra," hissed Mother in a rage, "KILL HER!"
Almost as if the girl had heard it, she tensed, terror coursing across her face.
"Mother! I am not killing some defenseless girl, what is wrong with you?!" replied Kairi angrily.
Zack stepped up to the girl and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, its okay, we're not gonna hurt you. I know Kairi is totally scruffy looking n all, but she's..."
"Excuse me? Scruffy?" exclaimed Kairi, forgetting about Mother for a second.
"KILL HER NOW!" screamed Mother.
Kairi flinched and fell to a knee, clutching her head as a spike of pain hit her. "M-mother?"
"Kairi?" exclaimed Zack, rushing over to kneel next to her, "You okay?"
"The Cetra are the ones who wronged me my child! Imprisoned me! She is a danger to us. KILL HER!" roared Mother.
Kairi's hand started flinching towards her sword against her will, it took a heavy and draining effort to halt her hand. "Mother! That's not fair! I don't know what kinda people 'Cetra' are, but she's just a kid, she couldn't have been involved! Don't take your anger out on an innocent!"
Mother hissed angrily. "She is a danger to us my child!"
"She's a kid!" countered Kairi.
"For now, not forever," warned Mother, "If she is not a danger now, she will be later."
"Then I guess I'll just have to make a friend out of her then, friends aren't dangers to one another," said Kairi stubbornly.
That gave Mother a pause. "Hmm... she IS the last Cetra, half blooded, perhaps... conversion could work... yes... it would be a powerful tool, wouldn't it?"
Kairi didn't understand the line of thought Mother seemed to be going on, but at least it wasn't murder, and Mother's heavy presence was receding.
"Very well, worm your way into the child's heart, when the time comes, she will 'join' our family," said Mother greedily, almost sinisterly.
Kairi took a deep breath and slowly stood up, feeling extremely drained, and waved off Zack. "I'm fine..."
Zack gave her a worried look over. "Maybe coming down here after you just got out of the infirmary wasn't a good idea..."
Kairi shook her head. "Saving a life is worth any brief pain."
She looked once more at the girl, noticing that her terror had receded a bit, and was now studying Kairi curiously. "W-what's your name?"
Kairi smiled at her. "I'm Kairi, how..."
"And I'm Zack!" butted in Zack.
"...about you?" asked Kairi, shooting Zack a look.
"I'm Aerith," answered the girl with a giggle at their antics.
Aerith stared at Kairi, fascinated. When the Flowers had whispered that the Calamity's Lost Child was near, she hadn't been able to resist investigating. Of course, it had been on a whim, and without the scary suit guys noticing her sudden disappearance to follow her. When the monsters had come, being all alone, she had thought she was done for. Then, she saw the Lost Child, then, she saw IT. She had felt IT. She now knew why the Flowers were scared, why the Flower's called the Lost Child, called Kairi tainted.
There was a second presence within Kairi, and it scared Aerith to the depths of her soul. It was a sickly, vile, menacing, sinister presence. The word evil didn't seem to do it justice. It was a blackening within Kairi's near blinding bright aura. She had never seen or felt someone that seemed so... pure. To be honest, such purity was strange, unnatural, even she herself had her little mischievous ticks at times. Yet, in the face of that purity was a vile ugliness that seemed to be snaked through the light, tainting and corrupting it slowly but surely. Something so dark, and something so light, emanating and struggling over the same body...
She didn't know anything about Kairi, yet, she felt so scared for the girl. Did she have any clue what was happening to her? She wanted to cry out and warn her of the taint blackening her, but, that presence, it had felt so malevolent towards Aerith. She had not been blind to see that the presence had tried to take control of Kairi for a moment, and there was little doubt in what the presence wanted to do to her. But, that Kairi had fought off it's control on her behalf... it made Aerith hopeful for the girl's future. That did not however mean she was going to challenge the presence and risk it trying to control Kairi and kill her through the girl. The presence had gone passive for the moment, and Aerith highly preferred it that way.
At last though, she understood the Flower's fear. This presence, the IT, that thing, that was the Calamity, wasn't it? What the Flowers were so scared of. When she got back to the church, she was going to question the Flowers thoroughly. Something wrong was happening, and she needed to know more. To that end though, she had at last fulfilled the Flower's initial wish, she had found the Lost Child. Now, she wanted to know more...
"Your eyes are glowy," said Aerith sheepishly.
Kairi blinked a few times. "Oh, right. I have to remind myself of that sometimes."
Aerith giggled. "Really? You don't know what your own eyes are like?"
Kairi rolled her eyes. "They weren't always like this, only after I got mako in me and became a SOLDIER."
Aerith suddenly shrank back a little. "S-SOLDIER?"
"Aww c'mon, we don't bite," teased Zack, stepping up to Kairi's side.
Aerith hesitated for a moment. The guy seemed nice... and was a little cute. She reddened slightly at that, but banished it quickly. Not quickly enough for Kairi not to notice.
"I think she likes you Zack," teased Kairi.
"D-do not!" squeaked Aerith.
Zack pouted. "I'm not likable?"
Awww... that look was adorable, Aerith giggled a little bit, "Okay, your likable."
If more SOLDIERs were like these two, maybe they weren't as scary as she thought. Maybe her initial fears of them were silly, like fearing the sky, though, the thought of it falling down on her still made her feel a bit squeamish. To be honest, there was only one real thing to fear, that presence hiding in Kairi.
"Anyway, where do you live kid? We can take you home," said Zack.
Aerith huffed. "Kid? You don't look much older than me Mr. SOLDIER!"
It was Zack's turn to grow sheepish. "Heh, maybe not."
There was an audible rumble, for a moment Aerith thought the monsters had come back, before she realized where it had gone from, let out a giggle, and looked at Kairi's stomach. "Someone's hungry, c'mon I'll take you guys home. Mom is an amazing cook!"
"We don't want to impose," began Zack.
"Oh dilly dally," said Aerith with a wave of her hands, starting forward to sector 5.
"Uh hey, one of us should probably take point," said Zack, scrambling to get ahead of Aerith, "Just tell us which way to go."
Aerith giggled. "Race you!"
Not that she had a real chance of winning, but the two SOLDIERs kept up slightly behind her, letting her come away victorious by the time she walked up to the door. "Mom I'm home!"
She walked in and noted her mother, Elmyra, rushing towards her, worry on her face. "Aerith! It's almost eight o'clock at night! Where have you been I was worried!"
Ut oh, busteeeed. "Umm... I was at the church, then I got a little lost and got attacked by monsters and..."
"Monsters?!" exclaimed Elmyra.
Aerith glanced backwards. "It's fine, my two bodyguards saved me!"
"Bodyguards?" said Zack, only to wince as Kairi elbowed him.
Elmyra glanced up at them, noticing them for the first time. "Oh, thank you so much, I don't know what I would have done if something happened to Aerith."
That praise seemed to brighten Kairi, she gave Elmyra a warm smile. "It's not a problem miss, it was the least we could do. We just wanted to drop her off and we'll be on our..."
"Oh no you don't," scolded Aerith, "You two are eating with us and that's that!"
Elmyra gave Aerith a pointed look. "Eating dinner at eight o'clock? You should have been back hours ago missy and been in bed."
Aerith winced. "Yes mom..."
Elmyra sighed and ruffled her hair. "Alright, I'll go heat up some leftover lasagna."
"Yay!" said Aerith, bounding to the table.
"And I thought Zack had endless energy," mocked Kairi playfully.
Elmyra glanced over at them briefly as she made for the refrigerator. "You two are... SOLDIERs?"
"Yes ma'am," answered Zack.
Elmyra gave Kairi a second glance. "I didn't think girls could become SOLDIER."
"I'm the first," was Kairi's reply, though, Aerith noted it was a bit quiet.
She studied the girl, noting a slight pain hidden behind her eye. There was more to that story than she just being the first, something she didn't appear to like being reminded of. Aerith stored the thought away, not wanting to inquire about it, yet.
Aerith looked up at a startled gasp, noticing that Kairi was staring at the table almost wordlessly. "What's wrong?"
Kairi stepped forward and looked at a flower vase on the table. "I... just realized I haven't seen a flower in over a year..."
A sad smile played over Aerith's face, she fished a single lily out of the vase and laid it on the table. "For when you go home, take it with you."
Kairi gave her a warm smile and sat down, grabbing the flower gently and twiddling it between her thumbs, staring at her silently. Aerith found the mixture of emotions playing across the girl's face a bit sad. Sadness, grief, self-loathing, longing, in roughly that order. She suddenly felt a bit bad for bringing her here, she didn't like making people sad, even if it was unintentional. She couldn't help but wonder...
"What does it remind you of?" asked Aerith softly.
"Home," was Kairi's quiet answer.
Which meant, not Midgar if she had flowers back home. Hmm...
Elmyra laid several plates of leftovers on the table and they all dug in. Elmyra made polite dinner talk, asking a bit about them and their jobs. She could tell that mom was uncomfortable around the SOLDIERs, but, she was being nice and accommodating.
"Where did you get these flowers?" asked Kairi as they finished eating.
Aerith beamed. "I grew them myself!"
"In the slums?" asked Zack with a bit of disbelief.
"Ahuh, I grow them in the church," said Aerith.
"Your kidding, right?" asked Zack.
"You remember the turn we made to head to my home? Go straight ahead and you can't miss it," said Aerith, "Go check if you don't believe me."
She pointed a warning finger. "Be careful around my flowers, otherwise you'll catch holy hell."
"Aerith!" exclaimed Elmyra, "Language!"
Aerith giggled. "Sorry mom!"
Elmyra gave her a stern look. "Upstairs and get ready for bed."
"Aww mom, can't I stay up and talk to my new friends longer?" she said, trying to mimic the pout she had seen on Zack's face earlier.
It apparently wasn't as effective on someone else's face. "Upstairs, now, you can see them the next time you see them."
Aerith gave a sigh and removed herself from the table. "Okay. Bye Zack, bye Lost Child."
Kairi gave her a curious look. "Huh?"
Aerith was already up the stairs by the time she realized she might have goofed a little...
Kairi watched as the girl disappeared upstairs, feeling a bit baffled. Lost Child? What kind of a weird nickname was that? She shrugged it off and looked to Zack.
"Shall we?" she asked.
He nodded. "Yeah, it's getting kind of late."
She turned to Aerith's mom. "Thanks for feeding us."
The lady smiled softly. "It's the least I could do for you saving Aerith's life."
Her smile slowly faded as she gave Kairi a thoughtful, inquisitive look. "Perhaps SOLDIERs aren't as bad as I thought if they have a nice young lady like you in them."
"What about me?" whined Zack, pouting.
The lady gave him a pointed look. "That pout needs more work if you want it to work on me."
Zack winced. "Oh owch."
Kairi laughed. "That pout might work on battle hardened SOLDIERs, but not moms!"
"I'll say," said Mother dryly, "If he looked at me like that, I'd rip that 'pout' off his face."
Yeeeesh, Mother really didn't like Zack.
Kairi turned to the door before pausing. "Miss..."
"Gainsborough, Elmyra Gainsborough," said Aerith's mother.
"Miss Gainsborough... why are there monsters in the slums?" asked Kairi honestly.
Elmyra frowned. "Because Shinra doesn't bother coming down to clean them out."
Kairi matched that frown, her anger starting to rise. "I see."
She smiled grimly. "I'll just have to personally do something about that then."
Elmyra gave her a curious look, but Kairi merely turned around and made for the door. "Thanks again for dinner."
Zack followed her out and questioned. "Do something about it?"
"If Genesis isn't my mentor anymore, then I'm going to have a lot of free time, aren't I?" she questioned.
Zack shrugged. "I guess, but, you could fill that time with other classes, training, or ya know, hanging out with the rest of us and..."
Kairi rounded on him, stepping into his guard, anger flaring on her face. "Not while there are innocent people potentially being killed down here because no one in Shinra gives a damn."
Zack opened his mouth to speak before hesitating and closing it, sighing. "Yeah... your right, sorry."
Kairi stepped away and sighed as well. "No need for you to apologize, I'm just... that girls so sweet, the thought of her or anyone else being killed by monsters that are being allowed to freely roam around down here really grates on me."
Zack grinned at her. "Guess we'll both have to do something about that then. How about we take a bit of a detour and do a little bit of 'monster clearing' before we head back? Whoever bags the most in thirty minutes wins, you game?"
Kairi matched that grin. "Your on."
She paused. "Well, after we see that church of hers, I want to go there first."
Zack shrugged. "Sure, I kinda wana see if she was pullin my leg or not too."
They left the sector 5 town and started to the southwest, the church Aerith had spoken about coming up in the distance. Kairi approached its doors and slowly opened it. She was... well... she hadn't thought the girl had been lying, but, it was still surprising to see flowers so freely growing at the center of the church where there were none anywhere else in the slums. Kairi slowly approached, staring at the patch of green sadly.
She hesitated for a moment before kneeling down, bowing her head, and clasping her hands together. She had never been religious back home, but...
She closed her eyes, and let out a sad, futile prayer, "Please... let Sora and Riku be alive... and if they did die... then... at least let it have been fast..."
A single tear ran down her face before she sighed and made to rise to her feet...
...before her whole world turned white...
Kairi floated above a castle teeming with darkness. There were creatures everywhere that seemed like the little shadow monsters that invaded her island, only bigger, stronger, and meaner. They were overrunning the area, chasing after a number of people fleeing and screaming into the castle depths.
But there, before the castle gates, were two lone figures, fighting side by side against the seemingly endless tide of darkness to save the lives of those fleeing within...
Sora and Riku, still in the clothes she had last seen them in on the islands, both wielding strange, key-like weapons.
"Come on Sora, is that the best you can do?" taunted Riku, swinging his blade and unleashing a wave of dark energy that obliterated several of the big shadows.
"Get real, look at which one of us is winning, I'm totally gonna get the most and tell Kairi when we find her," shouted back Sora playfully, suddenly zooming around the battlefield at high speeds.
"Right," said Riku, a sad look on his face.
Kairi's breath was caught in her throat. That look on Riku's face... it just... showed of defeat and sadness...
"It's recognition of fate," murmured Mother's voice.
"Mother? You can see this?" whispered Kairi.
Mother ignored the question, "I never realized it before, but, the connection to this place... you are not from another world, you are from another realm, another reality... how did you even get to ours?"
Kairi was confused. "I don't... understand..."
"It's a shame, I would have enjoyed tasting your world, but, I doubt we could ever go there, not unless you could replicate the circumstances that led to you coming to our world to begin with," said Mother.
Kairi felt agony at those words, to see the sad defeat on Riku's face, not believe he'd ever see her again, to see Sora's determination and hope, which may be for nothing. She looked at them with mixed feelings. At least they were alive... but... to know she could probably never go back... they... they needed her... they were fighting so hard...
She frowned. Why were there so many of those shadow things? They were everywhere...
"C'mon Sora!" said Riku, starting back towards the castle gates, "Let's go, the princesses of heart have to be ready by now."
Sora frowned and followed. "Is this... the right thing to do though? The King said the realm of light was already so weak after losing... losing the seventh princess of heart. If the princesses burn their energy like this, won't it make things worse in the long run?"
Riku shrugged. "The realm of light won't last long anyway at this rate. The darkness has to be pushed back, even if it only comes back stronger, we need the time."
"What about you Riku?" asked Sora quietly.
Riku shrugged. "I'll take a corridor into the realm of darkness before it goes off, don't worry. Let's go."
The two rushed into the castle, Kairi wanted to follow, but was unable to make her body move. She fidgeted nervously, wondering what was going on, what they meant by the 'realm of light', and what a princess of heart was...
She had little time to think, as suddenly, a pillar of light exploded out of the castle, releasing a nova of energy that obliterated every touch of darkness in sight, and sent Kairi reeling back, blinded by light...
Kairi gave a startled cry and fell to a knee, putting her hands on the ground for support.
"Kairi?" exclaimed Zack, kneeling down next to her, worry on his face.
Kairi clutched her head, feeling dizzy, before looking around. She... was in the church... not floating above a castle. What... what had that been? A vision? But why...
She paused, realizing what it had been...
She smiled sadly, stood up, turned, and bowed deeply towards the flowers; it had been an answer to her prayers. "Thank you..."
"Uh... Kairi? You okay?" asked Zack.
She righted herself and gave him a weak smile. "Yeah..."
"Let's skip the monster hunt for tonight," offered Zack, "You've been clutching your head and falling way to many times today, I think you need some beauty sleep."
She was tempted to argue, but decided to give in. "Alright, lets go home I guess."
With that, she gave one last look at the flowers and whispered again. "Thank you..."
Crossing her arms inside the lifestream, a golden plated woman-like figured smiled. "You are welcome, Lost Child."
She frowned briefly, tilting her head in thought. "But... I question, was taking you into this realm when you cried out in your time of need the right thing to do? I did not realize the importance of your role, your home realm begins to crumble without you child, and you have been tainted by the sins of the planet's children, by an evil beyond what I have seen in your world..."
She sighed. "I'd send you back, to those who need you, but... even I don't understand how you opened a door between realms, all I can do is see through it at times, and even that takes great effort. Even if I could open the door, I couldn't send you back now. Your world is not prepared to face the Calamity's wrath. The way everything in your world connects to one another, the Calamity would taint that connection. It would consume and make the darkness of your world its own, and swallow the light within it's gluttonous gut. You would bear an apocalypse into your world if allowed to return as you are now."
She smiled sadly. "That's of course if you don't become our world's apocalypse first. But I have faith in you child. You were born of light, I hope and pray that it may one day banish the shadow infesting itself within your soul, and help us to finally be rid of the Calamity once and for all..."
Author's Notes:
Kairi has no idea who she's feeling 'sympathy towards' with Jenova. Oh, I can't wait to make that train crash, hard.
Aside from a moment when Jenova was screaming bloody murder over Aerith, a nice little chapter.
Just in-case anyone didn't understand, the 'Flowers' = the Planet, this is a younger Aerith who hasn't quite figured a few things out about herself and her abilities yet.
I also took the liberty of seeding the way for the future. I plan for three stories/books for the 'Jenova Project K' story-line, which I have come to dub as the "Calamity of Light" trilogy. I'll leave you all to guess just what that tittle means. :tease:
Book One: Up to the Nibelheim incident, followed by an Epilogue.
Book Two: Uncertain how long it would last, not going to spoil what would happen in it.
Book Three: Return to the realm of Kingdom Hearts (whether Kairi is alone or has company from FF7, IDK yet), how book 3 would end, and whether or not Kairi stays in KH or FF7, even I don't have envisioned yet. It will probably be a few years before I get to this point.
So... I imagine when it's all said and done... 100-200~ chapters between all three books, not sure on the exact count. I hope your looking forward to it. This will probably be my longest fanfiction in the long run, even outstripping Potara eventually (maybe?). (Book one will probably be the shortest of the three books, with book three most likely being the longest, idk, still up in the air).
The point of the vision of what's happening in the realm of Kingdom Hearts is to show that things are NOT well. Kairi is a Princess of Heart, according what I remember, when the world fell into darkness at the end of the Keyblade war, it was the light in the hearts of children that pushed back the darkness, I.E. Princesses of Heart. With one of those Princess being ripped out of the Realm of Kingdom Hearts, the barrier between the Realm of Light and Darkness weakens, allowing far more darkness through than what existed in Kingdom Hearts 1. Consider it... Kingdom Hearts Apocalypse maybe?
Book Three is going to be a mega clusterfuck when I eventually get to it. Tee hee.