Author's Note: To my solitary anonymous reviewer, the non-canon characters are from Disney franchises (Goliath from Gargoyles, Launchpad from DuckTales, and in later chapters there will be more Disney movie characters that haven't yet been included in the Kingdom Hearts games), and one Final Fantasy crossover character (Lulu from FFX). These seemed like fairly natural inserts to me given the wild crossover nature of Kingdom Hearts with Disney and FF, but I realize now that I *did* pull characters from the mid-90s and early 00s, so I guess that one's on me for being old... heh.


-o- CHAPTER NINE -o-


boot camp


Roles were given, quarters assigned, and a grueling schedule set from our arrival until the yet undetermined arrival of King Mickey.

There are no words for the toll put on my body. For everyone else, this was merely a way to keep the muscles active, but for me, this was my beginning. I was the only one there who wasn't already a hero. Even Launchpad, chosen to be our pilot, slightly bumbling though he was, had more adventurous stories to tell than I could imagine. I was starting from the very bottom, and every morning I woke up more determined than ever.

A routine quickly fell into place, a routine that I latched onto with vigor. In the absence of home, I had only this: training for the war I'd always known was coming. The war Naminé had warned me of. The war everyone else wanted to believe would just disappear.

We were quartered in rooms accommodated within the Coliseum's miles of underground passageways. I shared my space with Lulu the black mage, who was about as enthusiastic to be my roommate as Riku was to wear a dress. Her surliness made me all the more eager to spend as little time lounging in my quarters as possible. Who had time to lounge, anyway, when you had to prove to everyone you were more than just the hero's girlfriend?

Phil split us into groups of three every morning after breakfast, and we'd train together for the rest of the daylight hours. He changed the groupings every day, so that as the days passed, each of us learned more and more about our teammates. Riku and Sora, who I knew better than anyone, still managed to show me sides of themselves I'd not really seen: their warrior sides. In training simulations, I was awed by their precision and focus. They knew what they were doing, because they'd been through it all up close. I was strangely jealous.

From Yuffie and Leon I learned a great deal about weapons and martial arts; I also learned that Yuffie was every bit as exuberant and playful as Leon was stoic and serious. Aerith and Lulu were skilled in magic; Aerith in the white arts of healing, and Lulu the black arts of elemental attacks. Aerith was more than happy to try and teach me the basics of magic, though Lulu was a little more withholding. Her idea of teaching me was more like showing off; showing me fire and ice spells that could easily knock me into next week. Letting me know just where I ranked in this illustrious squad.

Simba had nothing to teach, exactly, as his strength was the raw and natural product of his animal design, but working with him was about learning to fight side-by-side, to train my strengths and swiftness to work in effortless rhythm with his catlike maneuvers. Launchpad, it was a comfort to realize, was often on par with me in terms of combat training. He, too, was learning from others with far more battle experiences. He had no sense of arrogance or machismo about him, and I often found that I liked being paired with him and Simba best. If nothing else, there was just a little more room for giggling when Launchpad was around.

In the evenings, we took turns, in teams again, prepping dinner over a crude fire. This was part of our preparation, too. Feeding a team that large under unknowable circumstances would be just as crucial to our survival as our battle skills. After dinner, if I wasn't too exhausted, I would try to spend some time on my yoga practice. My days were so long and intensive, learning to work so closely with such a diverse team of fighters, thrust completely into a new and strange existence. It hadn't been so many weeks ago that I'd been a more or less ordinary high school girl. In adjusting to this new routine, those precious minutes I could spend by myself were sacred. I knew that once our mission (which was still a mystery to us all) began, there would be no more alone time. I reveled in the peace and quiet of yoga while I still had it.

I was careful to avoid my quarters, and Lulu's quiet but undeniable dislike for me, until I was absolutely ready to hit my head to the pillow. The first few days of training, that time came with ease. I was so exhausted, mind and body, that I nearly found myself dozing off before dinner was even over. Increasingly, however, as the toll of training became routine, my habit of restlessness returned. No matter the exhaustion, my mind seemed unwilling to shut down. Sleeplessness only brought roving, dangerous thoughts, and even real sleep did not last. All it brought was nightmares.

When sleeplessness came, I would spend some time accompanying Launchpad as he prepped our gummi ship. He was good for laughs, and I was good for handing over tools and bandaging various body parts when he inevitably injured himself. He was astonishingly accident prone, which had to make one a little nervous about having him as the ship's head pilot. When I grew wary of Launchpad's antics I would move on in search of Goliath, whose energy was far more somber and intense, but just as comforting a distraction.

Goliath, for obvious reasons, could not train with us during the day, but no one seemed concerned about his abilities to keep up or work in harmony with the rest of the group. There was an awe-inspiring energy about him, an air of strength and wisdom, that was beyond question. In my sleepless nights, I would amble through the Coliseum's tunnels and emerge at the surface, where I was sure to find the gargoyle, either training or simply gazing at the stars.

After two weeks of training, the distance between home and my new life as stark as could be, I awoke after less than an hour of sleep. I had dreamt of being on the beach again, Axel coaxing me into joining him. Only in the dream, I accepted. I followed him into the Darkness. The next thing I knew, it wasn't a portal I was walking through, but a raging fire. I was trapped in flames, felt it scorch through skin, then muscle, and finally, bone... such a nightmare...

Furious at losing another night of sleep, I threw the blanket off of me. I wiped the layer of sweat from my face. I tiptoed past the lightly snoring Lulu and wandered upstairs.

Goliath, by then, had come to expect me. "It saddens me that your nightmares return," he said to me, perched in the empty stadium seats. "But, as always, I am glad for your company, Kairi."

I smiled weakly as I took a seat beside him. "This stadium is a lot less intimidating without all those watchful eyes," I supplied.

"I see. You are not pleased with your progress in training, then?"

"No, I am, it's just... I don't know. I guess there's a lot of pressure. I don't feel like people really believe in me. Everyone's perfectly nice, but I can't shake the feeling that deep down, no one thinks I can do this. It's alot to soak in, really."

Goliath smiled and placed his enormous hand on my shoulder. "It does not matter what anyone thinks. You are doing this. And when they see you on the battlefield, what they think will still mean nothing. Because then they will know."

"I know. It's just hard," I answered, immediately feeling selfish for even saying that. My struggles seemed so small, given everything the world was facing.

"There is redemption in suffering," Goliath soothed, echoing the first profound words I'd ever heard him speak. "How can we recognize true greatness, if we have never seen wickedness? How can we value sacrifice if everything we desire comes easily? The brightest light only seems so because of its contrast to the darkness."

I nodded to him, and was soon inspired enough, or at least subdued enough, to try once more at a decent night's sleep.

-o-o-o-

We became a single entity as the weeks passed. At the end of our third week, Phil announced that at last, the King would be arriving, and debriefing us in our mission.

"So today, I want you to show me your stuff," barked the scratchy-throated satyr. The twelve of us lined two long benches in front of a small sparring ring. Hercules stood next to a wooden board, helping Megara fill in tournament brackets with each of our names. I felt butterflies in my stomach as she etched the five letters of my name into a bracket paired with Mulan.

When I glanced down the bench I met her eyes. She smiled and waved in good sportsmanship at me. I liked Mulan. She was compassionate and warm, as a teammate. As a foe, I had no desire to test my skills against hers. In the Land of Dragons, she had served in the military in several battles, including joining Sora to defeat the Heartless. I fell back on Goliath's words to calm my nerves.

I watched Aladdin and Simba battle in the tournament ring, both of them eerily catlike for only one of them being an actual cat. Aladdin flitted away from many of Simba's charges with ease, knocking him around several times with his practice-blunted sword, but eventually the animal's pounces prevailed and pinned Aladdin to the ground. Graciously, he stroked Simba's mane and nodded respectfully in concession. I watched Launchpad fight admirably against Yuffie's rapid-fire gymnastics and ninja stars, though he was overwhelmed pretty quickly. It made me nervous for my new friend. His main role on the team, of course, was to pilot us safely through our travels. But if it came to foot combat, he still had to be prepared to join us in the fight. It scared me to think that Launchpad wouldn't be able to protect himself on the battlefield.

Aerith lost to Sora, and Hercules (standing in for the sleeping Goliath) was defeated rather impressively by Lulu's spells. At sunset, when Goliath awakened, Riku and Leon's match easily put on the best show for all of us. They were matched blow for blow for what felt like an eternity. The butterflies returned as I watched their blades gleam and the sweat glisten on their faces. My match was next, and watching Riku I felt more ineffectual than ever. He truly had been taking it easy on me, all those afternoons on the beach.

Finally, Leon conceded to Riku. Panting and grinning, Riku sat down next to me and toweled off his face. "Just like we practiced, Kairi," he said to me as Megara crossed out Leon's name and wrote Riku's into the next bracket. My moment would come in mere seconds. "Only, you know, win this time."

Two rows back, I heard Lulu chuckle ever so softly. Riku looked back at her and smiled, but she would not meet his gaze.

Perfect. Riku's odd form of affection was the last thing my ego needed before performing in front of the entire group. There was a din filling my ears as Megara called my name. In a daze, I marched into the ring and waited in my corner. Mulan and I bowed to one another. I tried to take a deep, measured breath, as Megara's distant voice counted down three, two, one...

Mulan took the first swing and it hit me squarely in the jaw. I leapt backward quickly to evade further blows, my vision a little warped from the blow. Don't get hung up on it, I told myself, resisting the urge to look out into the crowd. Move on. Move forward. Don't think, just move.

I pivoted and moved offensively, striking Mulan with my Keyblade. She was shaken up, but hardly lost her balance. We exchanged blows that clanged and echoed. The force of her swings was incredible; I could move fast enough to meet them, but my arms throbbed with the effort. My jaw still ached. I saw spots in front of me. If only I'd been better at magic, faster on my feet. A splash of Cure would have done wonders for me in the heat of the moment, but I was so busy keeping Mulan's attacks at bay that I couldn't fathom the thought of focusing on a spell at the same time.

I'll never beat her with force alone, I realized. I was heaving. I could feel my parries growing weaker, and before I knew it, Mulan had backed me into a corner. One of her blows got past me, slammed into my ribs. Every bit of breath I had left was gone in an instant. I felt my knees shaking. I wanted nothing more than to yield. It was a friendly match, after all. Who cared who won? But then I thought of all those eyes in the crowd, people I would have to fight beside, people whose lives may depend on my not sucking...

Taking my mind off the fight was a mistake. I took another blow to the face. My knees gave way and I was on the ground, barely holding up my upper body. I need a spell, I knew. It was the only way to keep this fight from reaching a swift and embarrassing end.

I saw Mulan's eyes alight as she lifted her weapon. She hesitated for a moment. She feels bad for me, I thought. The thought was humiliating, and more importantly, enraging. I was angry that still, after all these weeks of training, Mulan was reticent to treat me like any other sparring partner. I thought bitterly of the day I'd first been introduced to her, when she smiled sweetly as Aladdin called me "the girlfriend."

As I felt blood dribble down my lips and onto my soiled white tank top, I felt the change in me. Everything slowed down, everything got dim. I could feel magic in me, a sensation Aerith had described for me a dozen different ways, but I had never truly understood because I had never truly felt it until that moment. I could see red scorching fire rising from my palms and didn't feel the burn. What I felt in my hands and in my veins was suddenly familiar; it reminded me of the Darkness that had allowed me to escape Axel. Almost by instinct, I was casting a Fire spell. I can still win this. I'm not just the girlfriend...

The whoops and yells from my teammates had been building behind me, but suddenly halted to a hush. Something was happening outside of the tiny world in which I sparred, and I let it break my concentration. I gazed past Mulan's sweaty face and intense gaze and saw three figures in the distance, entering through the Coliseum's gate. The small one in front was King Mickey; behind him, a towering old man in blue robes; and behind the two, in that unmistakable black cloak...

Axel was with them. Axel, the Nobody, the kidnapper, the petulant ghost of my dreams, marching confidently behind our fearless leader. The realization was stomach-churning: Axel was the Thirteenth.

It only took that moment to lose my focus, to let the coursing power between my palms release uncontrollably. I felt my skin burn and scream as my own fire spell imploded in my hands, knocking me to the ground. I was down and out cold.