Trade our places
Take no chances
Bind me till my lips are silent
Stay where you are
Everafter
Chasing things that we should run from

"Kairi?" Sora shouted, hands by his mouth to project his voice further. "Kairi!"

He stood in a place that wasn't dark or light or even part of the realm in-between. A void his mind registered as black, filled with thousands of millions of sleeping forms, all smoke. The deepest, most instinctual part of him wanted to flee. He tasted death, smelled something stale and thick and simultaneously not a smell at all. He needed to find Kairi now and take them both home.

"Well if it isn't the little half-pint," a familiar voice quipped. "Come to play the hero?"

Sora whipped around, glaring up at Hades, lord of the dead.

"I didn't think you'd be dropping by quite so soon, seeing as you just sent us what's-his-name. Impressive work, I might add. Some of your best."

"Shut up!" Sora snapped. "Where's Kairi?"

"Oh, the little princess? If she's here there's no help for her, kid. You'd better skedaddle, if you still can."

"Tell me where she is," he spat through his teeth, lips curled in a snarl.

Hades shrugged. "Why should I? Besides she's not my dead."

"Where is Kairi?" Sora repeated, leveling the Kingdom Key at Hades's chest.

The deity held up his hands. "Relax, relax! Jeez, take a chill pill. She's here, but you're not gonna find her. Not even that thing can help you now." He nudged the tip of the Keyblade to the side.

"That's why you're going to take me to her," Sora growled, snapping his blade back up. "Make me a deal, or I'll fight you right here."

"Oy vey, you don't give up, do you?" Hades grumbled, rubbing his head. "Listen, kid, you're in the land of the dead. The final land of the dead. You've got no power here and nothing to offer me. And pretty soon, you'll be just like everyone else - dead. So either scram or settle in for a nice long nap."

"I'm done napping. Make me a deal."

"N-O," he spelled out, rolling his eyes.

"I'm not leaving without her," Sora insisted.

"You're not leaving at all. But if you want a deal, make me an offer. There's nothing you can give me that I'd want. Even I'm not stupid enough to think you'd hand over your old friend Jerkules."

The feeling was leaving Sora's fingers and toes. His breaths came slower, were a little harder to come by. His heart wasn't beating as hard as it should considering how worked up he was. He had no time. What would Hades want?

"What about a trade?"

That pricked Hades's interest. "You for her? I'm listening."

"Take me to Kairi, show me that she's okay, and I'll stay down here in her place."

"Alright, but you've got to find her before you croak yourself. If you can do that, I'll do her one better than Euridice and send her home. But you stay. Deal?" Hades held out his hand to shake.

Sora had no idea how to find her, but this seemed like the best chance he was going to get. "Deal," he said, shaking Hades's hand.

"Good luck, half-pint," Hades chuckled. "You'd better hurry. Time's a wasting…" Hades stared pointedly at the ground. Sora followed his gaze and saw that his toes and bits and pieces of his legs were turning to smoke.

He took off running.

This place seemed endless. Full of smoke and not-dark and that horrible not-smell that sent his brain into a blind panic. His awareness narrowed down to the too slow beat of his heart and the fight to keep inhaling, the pumping of his limbs and the sound of his feet striking nothing, noise ringing out nonetheless. There was a cold that sunk into his bones, intensifying with each wispy figure he passed through. He tried to avoid them, even full out sprinting as he was, but it was impossible. The dead stretched on forever in every direction.

They were every age, every possible build and gender and culture. Many in configurations he didn't even recognize, the inhabitants of every world and all that that implied.

None of them were Kairi.

He finally skidded to a stop, scowling, gasping to breathe. His stomach ached, churning. He gripped his knees, relieved to still be able to see them. His ankles and feet were almost all smoke, his fingers too.

"This isn't working," he said out loud, needing to hear his own voice in this deathly quiet place. Thinking was difficult. It was as if his mind was a bird refusing to land, fluttering from one half-formed thought to the next before he could realize what the thoughts even were. But he had to think, had to find her. He clenched his teeth; eyes squeezed shut. Reflexively, he clutched a hand over his chest and stretched out his heart, trying to feel something. Some kind of connection must lead him to her. If he was connected to anyone it had to be Kairi, it had to be. There was a faint sensation, but it wasn't enough to go on.

He struggled, reaching out further desperately. "Kairi," he whispered, automatically breathing out her name as he exhaled. "Kairi!" he called again, louder, focusing on that faint sensation in the distance. The glint of it in his mind intensified, brightening to a spark. He took another deep breath.

"Kairi!"

There she was - a fragile light impossibly far away. His eyes snapped open, fist still clenched over his heart. He knew how he moved fastest, and there was so little time to get to her. He reached his heart out again, but this time inwardly.

Buried in places he'd rather not think about was a power he'd never used intentionally. His darkness, woven into the fiber of his being just as surely as his light was, was waiting. It leapt out as he called on it, snapping over his limbs in a rush. He bared feral teeth, jumping forward all at once. Skimming over the dead, he flew on, faster than he'd ever been before.

Somehow, it was easier to sense her like this. Darkness is ever drawn towards the light, and he was no exception. He ran. Throwing himself upwards, he slanted forward into a glide. Landing on all fours, he dashed ahead until he had the momentum to fly once more. He loped through the dead and no longer felt the cold. His lungs and stomach no longer burned. The nothing felt strange under his fingers, but he barely noticed it - there was only Kairi's light.

Finally, he reached her. Like the others, she was floating on her back, body wispy smoke. But inside, where her heart should lie, was a brilliant crystalline flower. It was pink, with five large petals in a star shape. Five more petals made another small star in the center.

The mere sight of her flipped Sora back to normal. The darkness slid off his skin so fast it made him dizzy. Eyelids fluttering, he tried to regain his balance. It was once again a struggle to breathe. Still gasping, he watched her heart, floating gently up and down in time with her body. All the dead bobbed faintly as if on the surface of a vast ocean. Her face looked peaceful.

Would she want this? Was it right to wake her up and bring her back? The questions only made him pause a moment. She would want to be with him, to travel with him and Riku and the others. She'd never sailed with pirates or seen Halloween Town's moon, never swam with mermaids or been a lion running on all fours. He hadn't gotten to teach her how to fly or drive a light cycle or how to swing from jungle vines. She'd never even gotten to see Radiant Garden restored or visited Aqua, Terra and Ven in the Land of Departure. There was so much they were going to do together, so much yet to explore.

He plunged both hands into her not-body, gingerly cradling the flower of her heart as he drew it back out. He held it protectively against his chest, shoulders curling forward automatically.

"Hades!" he shouted into the void. When the deity didn't immediately appear, he started to yell again. "Had-"

"Enough, enough!" Hades cut him off, appearing behind him. "I get it. You found her, huzzah, drinks all around." He waved his hands dismissively.

"Change her back," Sora ordered, holding out Kairi's heart.

Hades eyed him, one eyebrow raised, arms crossed. "What, that's it? No asking nicely, no groveling? You know people worship me."

"We had a deal," the teenager pressed, glaring.

"Fine, fine, she goes, you stay. Say good-bye, squirt."

"Change her back first."

Hades rolled his eyes. "Or what? Maybe you haven't noticed, but you don't have all day."

"Or the deal's off!" he snapped.

"Heroes," Hades muttered under his breath. Still, he waved his hand and the flower-shaped heart floated out of Sora's palms. Glowing brightly, the light expanded until it took on a familiar silhouette. The light shifted, and she became three dimensional, albeit translucent. Her eyes were closed, and she collapsed. Sora darted forward, catching her.

"Satisfied?" the god of the dead asked. Color spilled over Kairi's body, rendering her solid in Sora's arms, so he nodded once. "You're mine now," Hades snarled.

The Kingdom Key sprang into Sora's hand. "You wish," he spat, raising it towards the sky and opening a Keyhole that shattered the darkness above them.

Hades lunged for him, but he was already gone, carrying Kairi with him.

Intro lyrics are from Tether by CHVRCHES. For whatever reason 80% of their music is perfect for writing this fic to.

I wrote a much longer version of this initially, but decided all you really needed was this chunk. I'll probably throw the long one in the process works thingy, though some of it is deprecated by now. But if you're interested you can find it there.

See you all next week :3