A/N: This is a story that is basically an AU I've had on my mind for a while now, where Kairi is far from useless or defenseless and actually has her own role to play. This story is Kairi-centric, which means most changes will revolve around Kairi, and since we've arrived at KH2, some will also revolve around Naminé (and somewhat Xion).
Also, please review! Tell me what you think!
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Disney in any way, shape, or form! I only own an OC who will appear much later in the story (about KH3-ish).
Note: Remember that if I don't add a scene (or don't write out the whole thing; same goes with the designs), it means that it's the same as in canon. Just FYI.
This chapter will focus on the ending and the addition of a new player in the game (so to speak).
Update on Art for this Story: I've colored the Eternal Gratitude and Solarflare/Lunaraqua keyblades, and I've also finished Xion's outfit collage (mainly because it contains spoilers for this chapter). They've already been posted to my DeviantArt page (same username). Go, check them out. Also, if any of you want me to draw anything from this AU, PM me.
And again, I'm sorry. I'm not good with action scenes. Also, if you haven't already seen it, then check out "KH2 final boss but Kairi doesn't get stuck behind the door" on Youtube. It's amazing, and that video actually helped me get back into the mood of writing this chapter.
!~~K~I~N~G~D~O~M~~H~E~A~R~T~S~~O~A~T~H~K~E~E~P~E~R~~A~U~~!
Kingdom Hearts: The Oathkeeper
Chapter 13: Kingdom Hearts 2, Part 5
~The Castle That Never Was~
Kairi was glad that no one got stuck behind the door. Xemnas stealing her access was really dragging her down, especially since that access was connected to a crucial part of her light that she honestly could not live without for long (not a joke). She was grateful that she had five people on her side, five people to watch her back, while she tried not to let her exhaustion slow her down.
Fortunately, when Xemnas was defeated, she felt that piece of herself return, and with it, not only her energy, but also her relief that she wouldn't have to alert Sora or Riku of what was about to happen to her.
She didn't want to see the sorrow and panic on their faces while she told them that Xemnas was about to win.
"Gosh, you all did great!" Mickey said, as the six heroes celebrated Xemnas' defeat, all of them now back at the Castle.
Sora walked over to Riku, and Kairi quickly followed as the brunette asked the taller male, "Hey, you're coming back with us, right?"
"I had given in to the darkness," Riku mumbled.
"Riku..." Kairi softly, sympathetically, muttered, as she remembered that it was Riku who opened the door in the Secret Place that fateful night, who had ushered in the darkness that separated the three of them, separated Kairi's heart from her body, and destroyed the islands.
Unshed tears came to Kairi's eyes as she realized that Riku considered his Ansem look as the necessary hell he'd been allotted for betraying his friends, a fitting punishment for causing so much destruction and ruining so many lives.
"How am I going to face everyone?" Riku asked himself.
Sora, after quickly noting the tears in Kairi's eyes, immediately answered, "Like this!"
He squished his face in, a move that made Riku laugh out loud.
Kairi also giggled, before she said, "You have nothing to worry about, Riku. I'm positive they'll forgive you."
"How can you guys be so sure?" Riku asked the two of them, a heavy and honest question. "You two are the people I hurt the most. I fought against Sora, and Kairi..." He trailed off, obviously unable to finish.
"You weren't the one I fought against, Riku," Sora was quick to jump in. "Remember, you being controlled by Xehanort's Heartless."
"Not the entire time," Riku reminded him. "There was a long time where I was a real jerk to you. To both of you."
Kairi softly cut in, "Yes, you were a jerk. But I do faintly remember, during that time, the warmth of someone hugging me, protecting me with their life and stopping at nothing to regain my heart." She didn't like Riku being hard on himself, or Sora comparing himself to Riku.
Both boys protected her. Riku guarded her body, while Sora guarded her heart.
Kairi's words made Riku stop and remember his initial reason for obeying Maleficent. It was because he wanted to find a way to get Kairi's heart back, and he sincerely was considering darkness as a possible method. He was never afraid of the darkness like Sora was.
He looked at both of their smiles and took in how warm and inviting they were. These two obviously forgave him.
And he returned the smile. Sora pulled them all into a group hug, just as the building started shaking.
"Hurry, everyone!" Mickey called out. Now that Xemnas was gone, The World That Never Was had no reason to exist anymore. So it was collapsing, and they needed to get out now while they still could.
"Don't worry, I'll open a path!" Riku said, before holding out his hand to create a Corridor.
But nothing happened.
When Riku expressed confusion at this, Mickey "You don't belong in the dark realm anymore, Riku."
"Then how do we get out of here, Your Majesty?" Donald asked.
Kairi turned around when she felt a familiar prescence behind her. There stood Naminé (faded), Rainfell in hand, before she pointed it in the opposite and created a portal of light. Once it was created, she de-summoned her Keyblade and turned back to the group.
Mickey and Donald ran right through her to the portal, and Donald's next line tipped Kairi off to the fact that only she could see her Nobody standing there, "Who did this?"
"Well, I'm not sure," Mickey said. "But we'd better hurry and get through. It won't hold for long."
Pluto entered the scene by barking and running around Mikey and Donald, obviously happy, before running into the portal. Goody ran in next, followed Mickey, and then Donald.
When Donald went through, Naminé reappeared to the remaining three, who walked up to her.
The fact that Naminé was still faded told Kairi that the blonde's time as her own person was almost up.
Kairi smiled, "Thank you, Naminé."
"No problem," Naminé replied, before directing her attention to someone else, someone the other three couldn't see. "See? We meet again, like we promised."
Sora realized that the blonde was talking to him, but he didn't know what she was talking about. "Huh?"
"You said we'd meet again," came a familiar voice Sora had heard once, "but when we did, we might not recognize each other."
Sora saw the same blonde boy from within his heart walk out of him. Was that...Roxas?
"I didn't, didn't I?" Naminé's smile never faded.
"But I knew you," Roxas said.
"Mm-hmm," Naminé replied. "It's strange, isn't it?"
"I think I understand now," Roxas told her. "I see myself the way you remember me. And you see yourself the way I remember you."
A moment of silence passed before the two enveloped each other in a hug. "I always thought Nobodies were doomed to fade back into darkness..." Naminé softly muttered.
"Yeah," Roxas quietly replied, not breaking the hug, "but you and I didn't. We got to meet our original selves."
Naminé sniffed, "I missed you so much, Roxas. I don't want to be separated from you again."
"No one's going to do that, Naminé," Roxas reassured her. "From now on, we'll always be together. Anytime Sora and Kairi are."
Tears in their eyes, the two faded blondes broke the hug to face their Others, just in time for Kairi to nod, a smile on face, "Of course." She turned to face Sora, "We'll be together every day. Right?"
"Of course!" Sora smiled back.
Still side by side, Roxas and Naminé both smiled at this, grateful that their Somebodies were so kind and understanding.
Kairi then turned to the male blonde, "Roxas...?" Roxas calmly nodded, and Kairi's smile returned. "Thank goodness! I was worried something had happened to you. Thank you, Roxas. You helped me remember."
But Roxas gently shook his head, "Thank you, Kairi. You gave me a friend when I needed one the most."
Kairi smiled, as Sora turned to Naminé, "Are you...Naminé? By any chance?"
Naminé nodded, "Hello, Sora."
The brunette took a deep breath, "Listen, I know I'm supposed to thank you...but not like this. Not when I don't know what I'm thanking you for."
So he really didn't remember Castle Oblivion. Naminé gave a genuine smile and a soft giggle, "It's okay, Sora. I understand, and I can wait."
She then turned to Kairi and held out her hand. Kairi took it, the familiar surge of light and warmth radiating from where their hands connected. Both girls glowed before Naminé was transferred into Kairi, where she belonged, the only place she could truly belong.
Sora was surprised at this, and he wasn't sure why. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard Roxas tell him, "Look sharp!" and Sora immediately stood at attention.
In the very brief moment they connected eyes, Sora felt the same sense of gratitude that he had felt while at his own Station.
And he quickly found himself wondering who Roxas was. How different were they? How did Roxas live his life before all this nonsense with Xemnas happened? How did Roxas spend his time with his friends? What were his hobbies? Did he have feelings for Naminé? Did he even know what love was?
Roxas closed his eyes and faded away. Sora glowed as he took Roxas back into himself.
Sora immediately checked himself, "Huh?"
"Don't worry," Riku said, having seen all of this. "You're still all you."
Sora smiled, despite that not being what he was worried about. He was wondering if Roxas still existed or if he was gone forever.
"C'mon," Kairi said. The two turned to her, and she nodded her head in the direction of the still open portal. "Let's go home."
"Hurry!" Mickey shouted, his head halfway through the portal, having wondered why they were taking so long. "It's unstable!"
"We're coming!" Riku said, letting the other two lead him there.
The wavering portal began to close just as the trio started to run to it.
"Sora! Riku! Kairi!" Mickey cried just as the portal fully closed and disappated.
"What?!" Sora cried, and he wasn't the only one confused.
'I'm sorry!' Kairi heard Naminé tell her. 'Something else interferred with my portal!'
Kairi relayed to Sora and Riku, "I don't think it's over!"
There was a flash of light and the three saw a nesting core. A giant flying mecha burst out of the core and flew toward them. It knocked into the castle tower and roared. The tower broke and started to collapse as Sora, Kairi, and Riku slid toward the ground. Then, Riku saw a hovercraft and ran toward it.
"Riku!" Sora called out to him. "Where are you going?!"
Riku jumped off the falling tower and onto the hovercraft, and with it, he flew it up to the tower, calling, "Sora! Kairi! Hop on!"
Sora and Kairi jumped on and the mecha flew up alongside them. They attacked several parts of the mecha with lasers from the hovercraft, before watching as it crashed to the ground.
But then, energy swirled around it and the area filled up with smoke. The smoke cleared to show an even larger mecha equipped with even more guns, in its place. And Xemnas, in his kingly armor, sat at the head.
The trio flew to the head of the mecha and jumped off. As the hovercraft was lost in the huge swirling abyss, the teens summoned and readied their Keyblades as the armored Xemnas lifted his head. They started to fight him, when he shot them into the abyss.
"Nothingness is eternal!" Xemnas told them. "Riku...are you sure you're not jealous of Sora?"
Sora glided to a discarded building and smashed it with his Keyblade. Riku and Kairi both rode the building as it crashed into the mecha, before Kairi slammed Oathkeeper into it and split the building in half, breaking the mecha's shield.
Xemnas shouted, "Embrace nothing! Hearts are power!"
The trio glided back to the head of the mecha and start beating up Xemnas again. At the final strike, there is a flash of light and Sora, Kairi, and Riku suddenly appeared in a gray area. Xemnas stood before them in a black and white coat.
"It's over, Xemnas!" Kairi sternly told their enemy. "You no longer have access to Kingdom Hearts! What you stole from me has been returned!"
"Heroes from the realm of light, you are wrong," Xemnas said. "I will not allow it to end this way-not yet. If light and darkness are eternal, then surely we nothings must be the same...Eternal!"
"You're right," Riku said, as he and Sora joined Kairi. "Light and darkness are eternal. Nothing probably goes forever, too. But guess what, Xemnas?"
"That doesn't mean you're eternal!" Sora finished.
Xemnas chuckled, "No more eternal than that radiance of yours..." His hands began to spark with blue energy. "Anger and hate are supreme."
The trio attacked Xemnas in tandem, dodging his thorned vines and red lasers, before he blocked Sora in a sphere of blue energy.
"Can you spare...a heart?" Xemnas asked.
Kairi jumped in with Oathkeeper to stop him, but Xemnas blocked her attack before sending her flying. Riku followed up with Oblivion, but was hit by the energy and knocked away.
"Sora! Kairi!" He cried.
Xemnas then sent out an image of himself against Riku, while he continued to hold Sora. Riku blasted through the clone and kept running,
It took Kairi longer to recover than Riku, because her endurance was not quite as high due to lack of experience, but she grinned widely when Riku finally reached Sora and punched in, grabbed Xemnas' hand.
The barrier blocked Sora vanished and he fell to the ground, but was caught by Kairi, as Riku took the hilt of the blade and smacked Xemnas in the face, before taking the hilt of his blade and smacking Xemnas in the face. He grabbed the Nobody horizontally and spun him around, before throwing him.
"Is that all you got?" Riku asked as Kairi cast Cura on Sora.
"There is no such thing as light!" Xemnas cried, before forming two spheres of energy in each hand and melded them together. He lifted them over his head and black thorns pierces outwards. Everything around the trio turned black.
Riku immediately reached out for Sora and Kairi, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he felt two individual sets of hands grab his own.
Out of the darkness, a thousands points of red light suddenly appeared. Xemnas' lasers were now surrounding them, with no exit, no way to dodge them all safely.
Kairi saw Sora and Riku both instinctively step a little closer to shield her. Despite her dislike of this, she understood. She knew she was outclassed on this one, but to be honest, they all kind of where. All three of them knew they'd be lucky if they survived this.
Xemnas laughed as he sent each of those thousand lasers directly at the trio. Kairi's mind didn't have time to remember her speed training with Yuffie, but her muscles did, and she, Sora, and Riku are started reflecting them with spinning Keyblades.
After a couple of minutes of dodging and reflecting, there was a sudden flash of light, and now Sora, Kairi, and Riku were staring Xemnas down.
Sora called out to Riku when Xemnas knocked him back, "Riku!" before turning back to see Xemnas holding a laser sword at Kairi's head (since she was closer to him than Sora was). Riku looked up to see the same thing.
Xemnas lowered his glare at Kairi when he saw her staring him down, unfazed. She was scared, honestly, but she wasn't going to show it. If she did die here, she wasn't going to give Xemnas that satisfaction.
Xemnas swung his arms back to hit her, and a horrified Sora sped up to block the hit. Fortunately, Riku was faster than him and got up in a flash and blocked the attack with his Keyblade. Xemnas swung around as Riku pushed Kairi behind him, out of the way, and got a strong him with Xemnas's beam in his left side. This sudden shock and pain made Riku fall to the ground.
While Kairi went tumbling back, Sora leapt forward and grabbed Riku's Oblivion and slammed it into Xemnas' chest.
However, Xemnas quickly countered him and knocked him back, sending both Kingdom Key and Oblivion out of his grasp.
But Kairi caught them and smashed Xemnas with the two keyblades, spunning him back. Kairi crossed the Keyblades and knocked Xemnas high into the air, as Riku and Sora managed to pull themselves together in time to watch her wail on their enemy.
Kairi and Xemnas both spun around and Kairi landed in between Sora and Riku, weilding Oblivion in her left hand (where Riku was), backhanded, and the Kingdom Key in her right (where Sora was), in a normal grip.
She said nothing to either of them, only nodding to both of them as she held out their respective Keyblades to them. Both boys understood and placed their hands over Kairi's, the ones holding their Keyblades.
She used Oblivion as a conduit to redirect Riku's light through herself and to the Kingdom Key, and then used Sora's Keyblade to combine their light and send a beam at Xemnas, which went through him.
"Cursed...Keyblade..." he angrily reached out to them as he faded away in wisps and smoke.
The trio took a moment to celebrate their victory and regain their breathing. A speechless Kairi handed the Keyblades back to their respective owners as she heard Sora cheer, "We did it!"
Just then, Dusks appeared, and Riku replied, "I wouldn't be too sure of that."
The trio readied themselves for the incoming fight, but Riku fell to his knees, and Kairi remembered that he had taken a couple of bad hits for them.
"Riku!" Sora and Kairi cried out simultaneously.
"I'm sorry..." Riku apologized, "I can't..."
"Don't say another word!" Sora said, as he slung Riku's arm over his shoulder and helped him back to his feet. "It's not over. It's just not."
Kairi felt Naminé offer her light to combine them, and Kairi immediately accepted. She was suddenly engulfed in a bright light and when it faded, her outfit was white and some black highlights. Weilding both Oathkeeper and Eternal Gratitude, she glided over to the horde of Dusks surrounding Sora and Riku.
"Kairi!" she heard Sora call out after she destroyed a few Nobodies.
"Go! Now!" She called back immediately, not stopping in her fighting.
"But what about you?" Sora asked.
"I'll catch up!" she reassured the two boys. "Just go!"
"How can you say that?" she heard Riku ask her. "Even if we could go on...just look at where we are."
"Aw, c'mon, Riku," she could practically hear Sora roll his eyes. "You've been hanging out in the darkness too long. You gotta try and think positive! Kairi's right. You're too injured to help her fight. We have to get somewhere safer."
After a brief silence, during which the two boys just watched Kairi fight all the Dusks by herself, a fight that Riku could not provide the strength to help her with, Riku quietly asked, "Sora?"
"Hm?"
"You lead."
He saw Sora smile, "Got it."
And they started walking, their destination unknown. They just knew that if they stayed, then Kairi's sacrifice would be for nothing.
!~~~K~I~N~G~D~O~M~~H~E~A~R~T~S~~~!
It was a while before Kairi had cleaned up all the Dusks, and she was completely exhausted. Her adrenaline was now gone, which means that she could feel all of her sores and injuries.
As she reverted back to her normal form, she heard Naminé tell her, 'Get out fast. This world is about to disappear.'
Kairi obeyed and she slowly trudged in the direction that Sora and Riku left in and she quickly found herself in the world beyond the door to Kingdom Hearts, the same world that Riku was trapped in a year prior.
!~~~K~I~N~G~D~O~M~~H~E~A~R~T~S~~~!
~Realm of Darkness~
Kairi had quickly lost track of time. She assumed it was because of the increased surge of darkness all around her. It was weighing heavily on her light-filled heart. She wondered how Sora and Riku were doing, if the darkness within their own hearts was protecting them or if it was weighing them down.
She didn't know when it was, but at some point in her journey, she caught a glimpse of a blue-haired woman aimlessly wandering around. Kairi immediately turned around to see the woman again, but she saw no one else.
The redhead tried to rub her headache away. This darkness was playing with her mind.
As she walked away, she missed the same blue-haired woman catch a glimpse of her. The woman turned around, only to see no one else there. Telling herself it was just an illusion, she turned around and walked in the opposite direction.
!~~~K~I~N~G~D~O~M~~H~E~A~R~T~S~~~!
Sora had no idea how long it had been since he and Riku had been forced to leave Kairi behind. He was worried about how she was doing, if she was even still alive after fighting all those Dusks by herself, but the fact that he had completely lost track of time (without meaning to) was really confusing him.
"You know..." Riku spoke up. He was trying to hide it, but Sora knew that he was still in pain from the fight. "I always figured I was better at stuff than you."
"Really?" Sora asked.
"Are you mad?" Riku asked, trying to judge the expression on Sora's face in order to determine what Sora was thinking.
"No," Sora calmly replied, and Riku breathed a mental sigh of relief. "I kinda always thought that you were better at everything, too." He looked ahead and saw a light. "Riku, look. What's that light?"
The two walk into the light and ended up on a dark beach. It was a mirror of the one on Destiny Islands, except the only color found here was various shades of gray.
"End of the road?" Riku surmised.
"Yep."
"Put me down," Riku requested. "I can walk now."
Sora helped him stand up straight before letting him go. He himself walked over to the edge of the water, and muttered, mostly to himself, "You know, maybe the darkness has gotten to me, too." He turned around only to see that Riku had faceplanted. "Riku!" he called, before running over to him.
*'Idiot...'* he heard Roxas try to hide his chuckle.
Despite the current situation, in that moment, Sora felt better. He wasn't sure why, but somehow Roxas' prescence made everything a lot less grim.
Sora helped Riku to his knees, and as he knelt, he commented, "This world is perfect for me, you know. If this is what the world really is...just this, then maybe I shoulder fade back into darkness."
"Riku..."
The silver-haired teen continued, "If the world is made of light and darkness, and Kairi is the light, then we'll be the darkness."
Somehow, Sora felt fine with that, "Yeah." Kairi was the necessary light, so he and Riku would be the necessary darkness. "The other side, the realm of light...it's safe now. The King and the others are there to protect it."
"Exactly," Riku said.
"But Kairi's still back there," Sora reminded him. "I really hope she's okay."
"Me too," the other male replied. "Hey, Sora. Could you help me? I want to get down to the water."
Sora nodded and helped him up.
As they walked to the water, Riku commented, "At least the waves sound the same." The two sat down at the waters's edge for a while, before Riku continued, "What I said back there...about thinking I was better at stuff than you...To tell you the truth, Sora...I was jealous of you."
This surprised Sora, "What for?"
"I wished I could live life the way you do. Just following my heart."
Sora smiled. Donald always lectured Sora on jumping head first into situations without thinking things through. But it was Sora's heart that was his, Donald's, and Goofy's biggest weapon. "Yeah, well, I've got my share of problems, too."
"Like what?" he heard Riku ask.
"Like wanting to be like you," Sora confessed. "I mean, you were stronger, faster, and so much more popular, so I didn't think of myself as a worthy rival to you. But I realize now that none of that matters, because every heart is one of a kind."
The two looked up when they heard shoes scuffling along the sand. "Kairi!" Sora immediately jumped up when he saw that it was Kairi, who looked injured and utterly exhausted. Riku made a move to jump to his feet too, but immediately sunk back to his knees. "Stay, Riku," Sora sternly told him. "You're hurt."
He turned back to Kairi and caught her before she collapsed (whether out of relief or exhaustion, he didn't know; he assumed it was both). He then ushered her to where Riku was rest, and set her down in the middle of them.
She leaned her head on his shoulder, "Thank goodness I found you two. I don't know how long I've wandering here."
"It doesn't matter, Kairi," he was quiet. "We're just glad you're okay, and that we're all back together again."
Kairi smiled contently, and Riku watched Sora lean his head on hers. The silver-haired teen smiled and leaned against Kairi too, "Well, there is one advantage to being me, something neither of you could ever imitate."
"Really?" Sora asked. "What's that?"
"Have you two for best friends."
Sora smiled wider, "That's good. Because I've got something none of you could ever imitate either."
The three looked up at the starless sky and closed their eyes, feeling the breeze on their wounded skin and hearing the familiar sound of the waves that they hadn't heard in so long. The three just leaned on each other, enjoying each other's prescence after all three of them were all alone for an entire year. In that moment, all past transgressions were forgotten and the darkness surrounding and weighing down on them was lifted.
A bottle suddenly hit Riku's foot from the water, and he picked it up and opened it. There was a letter inside and he read it the first two lines before he smiled in understanding, "Sora?" Sora turned to face him as Kairi diverted her gaze to him.. "I think it's for you."
As he handed the letter to Sora, Kairi straightened herself out. She already knew what the letter said.
After all, she's the one who wrote it.
"'Thinking of you, where you are'," Sora read.
"'We pray for our sorrows to end,'" Sora and Riku both turned to Kairi when they heard her voice speak the same words that Sora was. Kairi got to her feet, as she and Sora continued, "'and hope that our hearts will blend'."
Kairi took over the narration, as Sora realized that she was the author of this letter, "'Now I will step forward to realize this wish'." She walked onto the water, a glow growing and surrounding her to more she spoke, "'And who knows: Starting a new journey may not be so hard. Or maybe it's already begun. There are many worlds, but they share the same sky-one sky, one destiny'."
The light surrounding Kairi suddenly grew larger before opening up like a door.
"Light," Riku said.
"The door to light..." Sora muttered. "Kairi was the key this whole time."
Kairi turned back to face them, a calm smile on her face, "C'mon, boys. Let's go home."
Sora smiled before standing up and offering his hand to Riku, "Yeah. Let's go together."
"Yeah," Riku returned the smile before getting to his feet.
Kairi connected their hands together as she led them into the light.
!~~~K~I~N~G~D~O~M~~H~E~A~R~T~S~~~!
~Destiny Islands~
Mickey had chosen to remain on Destiny Islands the moment the portal closed, and Donald, Goofy, and Pluto had chosen to stay. He was hoping that the three teens would eventually find their way back. The waves rushing against the shores the islands were relatively calm as three falling stars graced the sky.
The falling stars fell into the water, creating visible splashes. And when the objects surfaced, Mickey immediately recognized them and called out, waving, "Sora! Riku! Kairi!"
The three teens turned to see Mickey waving at them, and they smiled before proceeding to swim to shore.
Once they hit the sand, Pluto immediately ran up to Kairi and pounced on her, knocking her back into the water. Donald and Goofy wrapped Sora in a group hug. Meanwhile, Mickey ran to Riku, who picked him up and spun him around.
Sora turned his gaze to Kairi, who smiled back. The two felt their Nobodies share this moment with them. Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out Kairi's Lucky Charm and gave it back to her.
They were home now, and together again.
And Roxas and Naminé had finally made it to the beach.
!~~~K~I~N~G~D~O~M~~H~E~A~R~T~S~~~!
Sora had just left the Secret Place, his mind still buzzing and his heart still fluttering about what he saw. Kairi had made an addition to their drawing that he never noticed before. The drawing was changed, as Kairi had drawn herself giving a paopu fruit to him.
Now, he was approaching the paopu tree overlooking the water, where Riku was, as the older teen sat on it.
"Nothing's changed, huh?" Riku asked him.
"Nope," Sora smiled as he leaned against the trunk. "Nothing will."
"What a small world."
"But part of one that's much bigger."
"Yeah."
"Hey Riku," Sora asked, "do you think that there were other ways to open the door to light."
Riku pointed at Sora's chest, "This."
"My heart?"
"Yeah," Riku explained. "The door only opened after you started reading Kairi's letter. I think the key is always closer than you think."
Sora smiled just as Kairi called out to them, "Sora! Riku!"
The two turned to see Kairi kneeling over someone on the beach down below. Her back was to them, but she was twisted around to face them, and she was waving at them frantically.
"Down here!" she told them. "Hurry!"
As they ran down there, they noticed that she was holding a glass bottle, with a letter inside it. But they also noticed, just as quickly, was the little girl (with short black hair, with a white tank top, red shorts, and yellow shoes) lying down on the ground.
They didn't have to ask what was wrong. The two boys immediately knelt at the little girl's side, and Riku gently shook her awake.
"Hey, are you alright?" he gently asked.
The girl opened her eyes (a beautiful indigo color) and softly replied, "Y-Yes..."
"Do you remember your name?" Sora asked, his and Riku's first meeting with Kairi coming to mind.
"Yes," the girl answered as she let Kairi help her sit up, revealing to them a single thalassa shell tied around her neck like a necklace. "It's nice to meet you three. My name is Shion."
To Be Continued...
!~~K~I~N~G~D~O~M~~H~E~A~R~T~S~~O~A~T~H~K~E~E~P~E~R~~A~U~~!
Author's Note About Various Changes: Here, no one gets left behind the door, because that's stupid. In canon, they all agree to defeat Xemnas together, and yet Mickey and Kairi get stuck behind the door, and that's very unfair. The portal doesn't close on Kairi here for the exact same reason. The access being connected to Kairi's light makes sense when you remember that the Princesses of Heart were created from the seven pieces of light that the original X-Blade created when it shattered.
The RokuNami reunion is a lot more sweet and heartfelt, because remember, they're best friends. I really like the idea of Roxas/Kairi and Sora/Naminé being friends with each other. And yes, Sora will remember Naminé eventually. Just not right now. Give him some time.
The Xemnas fight was hugely inspired by ramflega on Tumblr, and Kairi's Holy Form is a mirror of Sora's Final Form. Also, Kairi catching a glimpse of Aqua in the Realm of Darkness will have connotations and ramifications later. Again, just be patient.
The reason I avoided uploading Xion's outfit collage until now was because of the appearance of Shion, and yes, the two are one and the same. The explanation as to why will be explained during the final battle in the KH3 arc. Also, the absense of the X in her name symbolizes her freedom from the Organization.
Note: While I am a big fan of Kingdom Hearts, I just recently got into the fandom, which means I still don't understand most of the lore. So if I get anything wrong, I'm sorry. I'm trying my best to stick to canon as closely as this AU will allow me to (but this point is where I'm starting to go my own direction). Please, no flaming. Instead, just politely inform me in a PM or a review, so I can correct any mistake I make. If you have any ideas or questions, please let me know.
If you want to know what I imagine Kairi to look like, then go to my DeviantArt page, titled "SepticAbzies", and go to the piece titled "Kairi ~ Oathkeeper AU (Full Color)", and I have collages for Naminé, Xion, and my OC now as well.I will update the cover image to match Kairi's appearance (as well as Naminé's and Xion's) as I update each chapter, but keep in mind, Kairi's design in this AU matches how I imagine her growth to be.
Next chapter will focus on the role of Data-Kairi, a chapter I'm actually really excited about.
Also, I don't know Coded's story well enough to know where I could write in Data-Kairi without changing much of the overall plot. If you have any tips, please leave them in a PM.