There were grassy plains as far as the eye could see with a clear ocen just on the horizon. Within with picturesque landscape stood a grand castle. It was a tall structure with structures protruding from it's sides. Two large chains connected each side of the castle to two tall mountains nearby. On top of a nearby plateau with various training stands and a sparring circle was a boy and a girl.

The girl was who many would describe as beautiful: fair skin, flawless complexion, ocean blue eyes, and short auburn hair. Her outfit was a high collared, pink mid-thigh dress with black at the top, fitted with a pink hood adorned with black cat-like ears and a black belt with a silver buckle. There was an open zipper that showed a white undershirt with red frills at the top. The arms of the dress had very short, black sleeves decorated with pink plaid. On the sides of the dress were black pockets. The skirt was divided into two halves; the right side was pleated in black while the left side was ruffled with four black and pink plaid layers. Decorating the dress were eight silver buttons, six on the front in a two by three pattern and one on each of the pockets; however, the buttons seemed to be more decorative than anything else. On her feet were a pair of black boots. Finally, completing the outfit was a silver bangle on her left wrist, three silver bracelets on her right wrist, and a simple black string necklace with a small pearl attached.

Held in the girl's hands was a keyblade. It's guard was in the shape of a heart, one half depicted flowing water while the other looked like sand that continued to wrap around an orange shaft like a vine. The teeth of the blade looked like an arrangement of flowers, shaping an inner outline resembling a heart. Attached to the end of the guard was a chain of braided red string connecting to a star shaped charm.

Her opponent was a young man with blue eyes and spiky blond hair that pointed up. He wore a collared jacket, one half white and the other black, with a red collar and two black straps intersecting over his chest. Underneath his jacket was a vest with white and gray diagonal patterns. Underneath the vest appeared to be pieses of gray and green armor covering his midriff. He also wore gray and black baggy pants and gray shoes with pieces of green armor. On his left shoulder was a green armored pauldron and a checkered band on his left wrist.

He held a keyblade as well, but it was much different from the girl's. It's reach was shorter, and was held in a reverse grip. The offset handle was black, as well as the curved shaft leading to five pointed teeth of the weapon. The guard was colored a dull gray. Attached to the chain of the keyblade was a charm depicting the breezing wind with a green gem in the center.

The girl made the first move, rushing ahead and swinging her keyblade in a right to left arc. The boy rolled out of the way and appeared behind his opponent. He swung forward but the girl managed to turn around and block just in time. While their keyblades were bound, the girl moved hers in a circular motion, forcing the boy to twist his arm to keep up with the motions. His arm twisted so much his keyblade poped out of his hand. While he was defenseless, the girl swung and landed a solid blow on her opponent's chest, sending him backwards.

The boy recovered quickly and skillfully backflipped to land on his feet, summoning his keyblade back to him. He then pulled his arm back and flung his keyblade at the girl, who only barely managed to deflect in time. However, this is what he wanted, for now his opponent was staggered. He rushed in and performed a series of slashes. The girl managed to deflect them all, but the boy's onslaught was pushing her back.

The boy swung again and managed to catch the shaft of his opponents keyblade with the teeth of his. Seeing an opportunity, the boy yanked back his keyblade, pulling the girl's out of her grip. With his opponent open, the boy unleashed a flurry of rapid strikes before ending with a big hit that sent the girl flying back. She rolled back and realigned herself on her feet, resummoning her keyblade in the process. Losing strength, she glared at her opponent who was showing little sign of fatigue.

The boy could see his opponent was lagging in her movements, so he decided to end this battle now. He rushed forward and made the motion to strike from the right. The girl saw this and motioned to defend her left side. This action made the boy smirk. In an instant, he switched the position of his attack to the left, the side the girl left undefended. All he needed was one solid strike.

The girl fell flat on her back, her keyblade clattering on the ground before disappearing. The girl picked herself up to look into the smug yet sincere expression of the boy.

"Looks like I win again," the boy remarked, only for the girl to pout in response.

"Okay, thats enough for now," spoke a female voice. She was a tall and slender young woman with blue hair the reached just past her neck and ocean blue eyes. She wore a high collared halter top with two pink intersecting straps on her chest and black shorts. On her arms were white bell sleeves, tan fingerless gloves and segmented bits of armor. On her waist were two pieces of of blue cloth that draped over her sides and a separate piece of white cloth wrapped around her waist. She also wore long black leggings and metal pointed shoes with a hook on the outer side of each.

"C'mon, Aqua, just one more match!" the girl pleaded, struggling to get back up.

"You've already sparred with Ven ten times in a row," the woman named Aqua declined, "You're getting exhausted."

"No, I can keep going," the girl insisted.

"You still wanna keep going?" the boy named Ven questioned, "Can we please stop already? I'm getting tired."

"See, Ven knows when he should call it quits," Aqua tired to reason.

"Just one more!"

"Kairi!" Aqua shouted, stunning the girl named Kairi into silence. Even Ven reeled back at the young woman's outburst, "I know you want to get stronger, but you shouldn't be running yourself ragged."

"But—"

"As your Master, I am ordering you to stop!" Aqua sternly commanded. Kairi, seeing no way to win this situation, accepted her fate.

"Alright then," the girl in pink resigned.

Aqua lowered her stern gaze into a look of genuine care, "Kairi, you are improving. Take that in stride."

"Okay then," Both Aqua and Ven left the sparring arena as Kairi pulled herself up. Her body ached in many places, and her emotional state was no better, "Getting better doesn't matter when I still lose…" she whispered out of earshot.


Nighttime overtook the land. After having dinner, Kairi snuck off back to the training grounds. Despite her muscles screaming in protest, the red head spent an hour practicing her technique with the various training equipment, much to her body's protest. She attempted to perform a cutting motion but her arm sprained at the wrong time. Kairi winced in pain and dropped her keyblade. She grumbled to herself and summoned it back into her hands.

"Okay, let's do this again," Kairi said to herself, performing the same motion as before. This time, her elbow gave out, prompting her to drop her keyblade and soother her ache, "Shoot!" Kairi summoned her Keyblade back again. She regained her posture and attempted to perform the move a third time.

"You know something," someone spoke from out of nowhere, surprising Kairi enough to make her yelp and drop her Keyblade once again. Kairi spun around to find Ven nearby, "If you wanted some late night practice, you could've asked."

"Oh, it's you Ven," Kairi sighed in relief, "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that," Ven replied.

"Look, I just need some more practice, alright. I've almost got it," Kairi called her weapon back to her, intending to perform the move again—only for her to lose her footing and fall face first into the dirt. She pried herself off the ground to see Ven offering her a hand.

"I think you need a talk," he said. Kairi accepted his gesture and allowed him to pull her back up. Ven then led her to a nearby bench.

When both of them were seated, Ven initiated a conversation, "I think I know why you're so frustrated."

"Yeah right," Kairi denied solemnly.

"I think I do though. You feel like you're not improving at all. Like all this training isn't going to amount to anything."

"You're right, because it isn't!" Kairi retaliated in frustration

Ven shook his head, "Kairi, listen. I know exactly what you're going through. I went though the same thing a long time ago with both Terra and Aqua. I did really bad when I trained with them a long time ago. Never won a single sparing session with them."

Kairi let her defenses drop after hearing what Ven said, "I had a similar experience with Axel when we were training. First time we spared, he absolutely destroyed me. I didn't even get a single hit in."

"Yeah, same thing happened to me with Terra," Ven reminisced, "But I'm sure you got better with each match."

"Yeah, I guess I did," Kairi relented, "Even then, I could never beat Axel."

"I know that feeling. Even now, I still can't beat Terra or Aqua."

"But you can defeat me?" Kairi sarcastically quipped.

"Well, yeah," Ventus replied sheepishly, realizing that the current flow of the conversation wasn't helping, "Look, the point is, it's not healthy to run yourself ragged like this."

"That's easy for you to say," Kairi lamented, "I feel like I haven't gotten any better."

Ven was at a loss. He wanted to say something to make Kairi feel better, but the words weren't coming to him. He knew that there was more to it than just losing so many times. Kairi's current mental state must stem from the events of the keyblade Graveyard, back when he was lost. Everyone took it hard, but Kairi especially had it bad. Thinking critically, Ven considered what would lift his spirits if he was in Kairi's shoes. Then something occurred to him, he was stuck in a slump like this once. All he needed back then was—

"Wait here one second!" He replied before running off. Before he disappeared from view, he turned back around to yelled, "I'll be right back!"

Kairi watched the blonde boy run off and disappear past the nearby stone stairs to who knows where. Nothing for it but to wait for his return. Waiting: that's something she's good at.

It wasn't long until Ven returned, his face full of excitement as his hands were behind his back.

"Ven, what's this about?" Kairi questioned as Ven's smile grew even bigger.

"I know exactly how to cheer you up," He then revealed what he held behind his back, "Tada!"

"Ven, that's a stick…" Kairi said. Ven brought a simple wooden branch, clearly something he picked up from the ground. Despite Kairi's reluctance, Ven went along with his plan.

"In your hand, take this Key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend—no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."

When Ven was done with his speech, he made a motion for Kairi to grab the stick for herself. Kairi merely looked back and forth between the stick and Ven's cheerful smile. In an instant, Kairi put a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle. Ven's smile slowly dissipated into a frown as Kairi's giggling transitioned from cackling all the way to uproarious laughter.

"Hey, what's so funny?!" Ven asked indignantly.

"That is the silliest thing I've ever seen!" Kairi giggled.

Ven pouted, "Hey, this is what cheered me up way back when," The only difference was that Ven didn't have a wooden Keyblade to give. Kairi continued to laugh, so much so she had to clutch her stomach. Ven slumped in place, "Thanks, now I'm the one who's depressed."

Kairi managed to stifle her laughter enough to address Ven proper, "Sorry, it's just, you remind me so much of Sora."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Ven asked.

Kairi reached out and accepted the stick, her face forming into a genuine smile, "A good thing," Ven took it in. It wasn't what he expected, but he at least accomplished his mission. That was enough to make him crack a smile.

Ven really was like Sora. His smile alone was enough to make Kairi feel better.

"C'mon, it's time to rest up," Ven held his hand out for Kairi to take.

"Yeah," She hesitantly accepted and lifted herself off the bench, groaning as her aching muscles acted up. As the two of them walked back, Kairi felt the need for one more jab.

"A stick? Seriously?"

"Give it a rest already!"


Exhausted and frightened, Kairi found herself face planting onto to the cold, unforgiving ground. Her wrist ached as she held onto it to ease the pain. Xemnas teleported away after he dropped her off in this unknown location. She appeared to be on top of a plateau that towered over the labyrinth. She had to get back, everyone was fighting for the sake of the World, she had to do the same. As she struggled to get up, she soon noticed she was not alone. Standing on the other side of the plateau with his hands behind his back was an elderly man wearing black clothes and white gloves. The only amount of hair on his head was a long, grayed go-tee. His amber eyes were more than capable of intimidating anyone, if his snide smile didn't do so already. Kairi suddenly felt a jolt of adrenaline when she discerned who it was.

"You're Master Xehanort!" Kairi stumbled to stand up and quickly casted Curaga on herself to give herself a boost in stamina. She stood ready in her battle stance, but her entire body was shaking in dread at the thought of facing someone as powerful as Master Xehanort.

"So you were chosen as a Guardian of Light," Xehanort spoke in that gravelly voice of his, "Tell me, was Yen Sid truly that desperate?"

"SHUT UP!" Kairi roared, charging forward with the intention of striking down Master Xehanort. She drew back her Keyblade for a wide strike. All the while, Xehanort stood with a smug expression. Kairi swung, only for her momentum to immediately halt. Xehanort grabbed hold of Kairi's Keyblade and held it in place. In a swift motion, the Keyblade Master flung her blade in place, using momentum to yank Kairi's grip off of her weapon, thereby throwing her to the side.

"How do you hope to win, dear princess?" Master Xehanort questioned, tossing Kairi's keyblade aside like a piece of garbage, "You may carry one of the seven lights within you, but you are naught but a fledgling when it comes to the Keyblade."

Kairi re-summoned her weapon and stood in her battle position again, "Even if I can't win, I'll still fight to protect my friends. If it wasn't for you, no one would be hurt," Kairi accused, "Sora, Riku, Terra, Ven, Aqua, Roxas, Naminé. So many have suffered because of you!"

"You are too weak to protect anyone, not even yourself," that last comment seemed to have struck a chord. Kairi stumbled back and let out a light gasp. It was very subtle, but Xehanort's keen eye was able to see, "Do not fret, child. You still have a part to play in all of this."

"And what's that?!" Kairi questioned.

"You are the fire that feeds Sora's anger," Xehanort reasoned, "He's never been able to help himself from coming to your defense. Given the right circumstances, he may be driven to do something rash."

Kairi suddenly felt herself go cold. What could Xehanort be planning? Whatever it was, it had to do with Sora, and she couldn't let that happen, "I won't let you hurt Sora!"

Xehanort chuckled in response, "He is not the one you should be worrying about, my dear," Xehanort waved his hand, his fingers moving in erratic and unnatural ways. Somehow, he willed the many broken and lifeless keyblades of the graveyard swirled in a stream of blades and dust. The stream made it's way towards Kairi, who only just managed to roll out of the way before she was impaled a hundred times over. She knew she had to make a move, so she quickly improvised something.

"Please work!" Kairi pulled back and flung her Keyblade towards Xehanort. As the blade spun forward, Kairi vanished in a swirl of light, stunning Xehanort for a short moment. The old master held his arm up so that the keyblade would bounce off. As it did, Kairi suddenly appeared right were her blade was, gripping it like her life depended on it. In a fast motion, Kairi swung her keyblade and impacted on Xehanort's ribcage. The force of the impact pushed Xehanort back a considerable distance, yet he still stood. Kairi stood back in position, but her aching muscles made it more difficult than not. Xemnas' earlier attack left her stamina mostly drained.

"Ah, I see. You certainly have potential," the keyblade master complemented, "But you are still a fledgling," Master Xehanort held out his hand and summoned his own keyblade. It was a wicked pitch black weapon with streaks of white at the top. It had a hand guard resembling bat wings and a main guard resembling a demon's head. The blade had an open center and many jagged edges both on the blade and the teeth. It's most defining feature was the blue and green serpentine eyes at the top of the blade. That same eye was in the charm at the end of the keychain. Xehanort made his move, a move so fast Kairi eyes couldn't even keep up. In less than a second, Kairi felt a strong and fast slash strike her body. In response, she flew back and landed flat on her back, her keyblade clattering at her side before it vanished. She was still conscious but didn't get back up.

Xehanort smirked at his fallen opponent, "You will be the pillar from which my victory is built," with a wave of his hand, Kairi suddenly levitated above ground, her body too weakened to resist.

"STOP!" Kairi screamed in pure desperation.

"As ferocious as a cornered animal," Xehanort taunted, "Very well, I'll stop—just as soon as the X-blade is mine!" the wave of broken keyblades appeared once more, striking Kairi with it's full force. All she could do was scream in agony. Numerous blades cut into her body, offering no reprieve. It was to the point where she could no longer take the suffering. Everything past is blank..


Kairi jolted up, now fully awake. It took a second for her to realize she was safe and sound. Her heartbeat lowered as she convinced herself that awful memory was behind her. Maybe it wasn't. Everything Master Xehanort said still held true.

Tears leaked down Kairi's eyes as the truth came back to her yet again, "Sora's lost, and it's because of me."

Kairi repeated that to herself every night since arriving at The Land of Departure. She had to get stronger, otherwise Sora would suffer more. Ever since he gave up his own heart to save hers all the way back when, she wanted to help him to return the favor. That was just a fantasy. As if she could be anything but a burden.

"Sora…"

Her mind drifted off to that fateful day. She would treasure every moment of that last day she had with him. At the very end, atop the tree they always sat at, that last thing he said to her continued to play in her mind. Her greatest regret was that she couldn't find the courage to utter four simple words back to him.

"…I love you, too."


Sora looked up at the night sky. Nights in Equestria were so beautiful. If only he could share these with someone. He glanced over to the wayfinder in his hoof. He still had an oath to return this, to return to her.

"Kairi, I'll come back to you. I promise."


Finally. I was able to finish this chapter before the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary Event. Wonder what Nomura the Madman's cooked up this time.