So, this chapter is short, but it's a whopper.

Hope you enjoy!

Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!

My OCs © to me!

Other OCs © to their respective owners!

Chapter 28: Rift part 2

Kairi hacked and slashed against the fake Keyblade. But Frode had Yozora's strength and did not falter once.

With every slash, Kairi became more and more frustrated. He wasn't even flinching!

"Yozora seems to think you've grown since he met you," Frode/Yozora scoffed, "but I still see the same weakling that arrived. Honestly, you couldn't save that Sora boy even if you tried for the rest of your life."

"Shut up!"

Frode/Yozora finally moved, slamming her against a wall. "Your keyblade is a reflection of what is inside. You're cracked, broken. Good for nothing."

Kairi closed her eyes. The words, she'd heard them, told them to herself, many times…

They still stung.

"If Sora was here, he'd say the same thing."

Her head snapped up.

"What…?"

"If this boy of yours was smart, he probably let himself die to get away from you. You're a pathetic leach looking for someone to suck the life out of."

Kairi felt a lump rise in her throat. "You're wrong."

"Am I?"

"YOU'RE WRONG!"

She charged forward, their blades clashing with a flash of light and a sound of glass shattering.

The boys all turned away as Naminé started up the program. "I think it's… Kairi!"

Riku turned around, eyes fixing on the screen.

All eyes on the screen.

As Kairi clashed blades with the man before her, light flashed.

And her Keyblade shattered.

"No…!"

Her way home.

Her way to save Sora.

"Kairi!"

Riku watched as the man pulled back, clasping his head before he dropped to the ground, and Kairi dropped to her knees.

"N-no…" She reached for a shard, trying to fit it back with the rest of her weapon. "No! No! No! No!" She grabbed another shard, and another, not caring if they cut at her fingers. Blood dripped down her fractured Keyblade as tears dripped down her face.

Her body shuddered as she tried to fit another piece. This one sliced her palm. She hissed, dropping it. She stared at the blood before clutching her hand to her chest, letting out a scream.

A scream filled with agony.

"Kairi…" Riku reached out, touching the screen, his hand shaking.

"Nami," Terra whispered, "go tell the others what happened. Hurry." He waited till the girl pattered up the stairs before laying a hand on Riku's shoulder. "We will figure this out."

"How!? Her Keyblade is broken!? She has no way to get another one! She's stuck there! She's stuck there alone!"

"Not alone. Look."

Stella dropped to Kairi's side first, throwing her arms around the girl. Lucky arrived not a moment after.

"Shh, it's gonna be alright, Kairi. It'll be alright."

"No! It won't!" The princess gasped. "I-I'm so worthless! I can't do anything right! I'll never do anything right! I'm a curse! A WORTHLESS CURSE! I can't save Sora! I can't do anything!"

She felt hands grab her own.

"Don't you say that!" Magia held his hands over hers, casting healing magic.

Aegis tipped her head up so she looked at him. "You are NOT worthless."

"But I am… I'm weak. I just fail…"

"That's not true!"

"But it is! My friends back home… no one would say it, but I know it. I'm the weakest. They all know I'm the weak link. All I do is get captured. All I do is put others in danger."

She felt a sharp tap on her head. "I don't have my dart gun, so that will do." Cat said softly.

Lucky gently picked up a piece of the Keyblade. "We can fix it! I'm sure."

"I don't know how." Kairi sobbed. "I should've asked. I should've asked my friends, but I was too stupid t-" Cat thumped her on the head. "I should've asked… I just wanted to do things on my own. I didn't want to be a burden for once."

"You're not a burden!" Riku screamed at the screen. "You're not… you're not worthless…" He sank to his knees. "You're not the weak link. You're stronger than you think… and I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel less than what you are…"

"Is there any way we can find out how to fix it? You've been doing some sort of project with Phinehas, right!?" The man who healed Kairi asked.

Kairi nodded. "He's looked into it… I asked him to help me find books, and I'd help him research. He said he found a list of ingredients. But…"

A woman with a robot arm pulled out a phone, immediately flipping it on. "This is General Aiko. Put me in touch with Minister Phinehas now!" She waited for a moment. "Phinehas! Kairi's Keyblade just shattered! She said you've been helping her with fixing it. What do you need? We'll do whatever we can to find it!"

Kairi looked up at the general, only now noticing Yozora laying unconscious on the ground with Atlas and Cid kneeling over him. Vallis walked over toward Aiko, pulling out a tablet. As she began to speak, he wrote.

"Orichalcum. Orichalcum+. Mithril. And other magical metals and gems… I think we can arrange that. And a place of ancient magic."

Lucky grinned. "Don't worry, Kairi. I can get Orichalcum and Orichalcum+!"

"I bet I know where the metals and gems are!" Cid yelled from over by Yozora.

Stella nodded. "I'll search for the place of ancient magic!"

Kairi glanced around at the others. At her friends. They all held determined looks on their faces.

"General," Magia called, "permission to help and not go back to prison?"

"Granted! As long as you use those Yakuza connections to get us stuff to help Kairi."

"Consider it done."

Kairi felt a soft paw lay on her hand as Chirithy appeared. "Kairi. You don't have to do this alone. Stop trying. It's not a crime to rely on those around you. Your friends want to help you. Your friends here, and back home."

"I just… I don't want to be a burden."

"You're not."

Out of nowhere, Shadow and Bubbles appeared. Bubbles nuzzled up against her, squeaking sadly. Shadow wrapped his wings around her.

She felt Sora's warmth. She felt his comfort. His love.

She felt Riku's pain. His sorrow. His regret.

"I'll get started. Lucky, Stella, why don't you take her back to the dorms. And get her some chocolate ice cream; the king doesn't have to know." Aiko smiled. "And Phinehas said that we're not to tell the king about the Keyblade issue either."

"Yeah."

"Wait…" Kairi turned. "What about Yozora?"

Atlas stood up. "He's alright. We'll take him to medbay and keep him sedated and confined until we are sure who is in control of his body. Him or Frode. We do not want another incident."

"That's true and inform the king of Yozora's condition. If he asks, Kairi was hurt and is recovering, and does not want visitors. Understood?"

"Yes, General!"

Riku didn't move as he heard footfall enter the room. "I shouldn't have said anything. I shouldn't have said those things before she left! I should never have doubted her!"

"Riku," he heard Aqua's voice over his shoulder, "Nami told me what happened."

"You didn't hear what she said. She said we saw her as the weak link! That she was worthless. A burden."

"I don't know if I should talk, but I can understand why."

Riku turned around, eyeing Isa, who sat by his dog. "Oh really?"

"I did help, or my Nobody helped kidnap her once. I know, she means the world to Sora and she's one of your best friends, so I don't want to make this worse. But, when she was kidnapped, my Nobody did make sure to let her know that she was putting Sora in danger, and that if he got hurt it would be her fault(1). And…" He paused. "I felt abandoned by Lea when he made friends with Roxas and Xion. And if me feeling so bad I would intentionally hurt two innocent kids just because my best friend made other friends, how do you think she felt being left on the beach while you and Sora went off to have adventures and save the world?"

"… I never meant… I never wanted to hurt her. And Sora would never hurt her."

Aqua sat beside him. "We never do. But sometimes we hurt our friends with our good intentions." She glanced up at Terra, smiling sadly. "I know I did." Terra smiled back and placed a hand on her shoulder. "But sometimes those words hurt the most. If you want to fix this, you have to show her, not tell her. We all do. She thinks we all think that way."

"I know I don't." Isa smirked. "I saw her take on Xemnas by herself and make him fall back. He had to restrain her and Sora before we could continue. She's tough. Tougher than she knows."

"If only she could see it."

"Then we will all have to show her."

"Yes. We will."

Kairi took a bite of chocolate ice cream, letting the sweet taste fill her mouth. "I'm sorry." She said after swallowing her bite. "I should've said something."

"It's fine. We all make mistakes." Stella sighed. "I mean, I screwed up the big mission with my botched surveillance. Nearly got you killed too… but this isn't about me." The blonde girl smiled, handing Kairi a pink fuzzy blanket. "When I was little, I would huddle under this blanket and run away to a magical world in my head when I had a bad day. Want to give it a try?"

"Sure."

Kairi huddled under the pink blanket with her chocolate ice cream. She closed her eyes. Cleared her thoughts, which wasn't hard because right now she was way too emotionally tired to put much thought into anything. And she let her mind wander.

But where would it take her?

What fantasy would unfold before her eyes?

As it appeared in her mind.

She smiled.

Smiled as a single tear trickled down her cheek.

A figure in a black hood stood over Twilight Town, smiling under his hood, down at the smoldering town. A second figure approached, carrying a bag over his shoulder as he exited a grove of trees.

The hooded figure smirked. "I thought that was you down there. Haven't seen you without the mask in a long time."

"Well, figured the mask would make me stand out." The green-eyed boy with white hair and black spiked bangs grinned. He set down his bag and pulled out a leopard mask. "I figured you and I could have a chat."

"About?"

"This." Gula threw on his robes and his mask. "You said you're doing what the Master wanted you to, but he fought on the side of light. I've watched you. I watched you side with and send Heartless after good people who just want to help the innocent and their friends. And Heartless are defiantly not on the side of light. And then you set fire to an innocent town full of people who were just enjoying a festival."

"Your point, Gula?"

"My point, Luxu, is that you don't act like you're on the side of light. And that makes me wonder why I should even trust that you're on our side." Gula glared under the mask. "Thing is, we never found the traitor before… never. So, either there never was one, or the prophecy was for a later date and we overreacted."

Luxu turned around, lowering his hood. "You don't trust me."

"So you noticed." Gula leaned against a tree. "The last thing that the Master told me was to trust no one but myself. And right now, I see no reason to start trusting people again."

"What are you going to do then?"

"What I want. I'll find the answers my way." The boy smirked, waving as he strode into the trees. "See ya, Luxu."

Luxu's single eye narrowed. "Always the nosy one aren't you…"

Hope you enjoyed!

I hope to update next week but I might update a lot or very little in the next few weeks. We'll see

Footnotes:

(1) This is a callback to Sïax's line in KH2 where he tells Kairi that she was "the fire that feeds Sora's anger".