Chapter IV: A Chance Encounter
"I will fight it"
"I am going to win"
"I see it now, I see a light"
*****
"Where am I?" Kairi said confused sitting up. She was in a bed, but not her bed. The room did look familiar though, it was a room she was in before. She got up and glanced around, the room was covered in nothing but green. Green clocks, green bed, green table, and even a green chest were present in the room. Kairi walked over to the door, she pulled it open and entered a hallway.
"This all looks too familiar.." Kairi began saying to herself. Suddenly, from down the hall, an elderly man saw Kairi. He began to walk towards her as Kairi backed up. She never saw the man before, but it seemed like he was coming towards Kairi. She quickly turned her back and tried to enter the green room again when the man hovered over her and stopped her from opening the door.
"Who, who are you?" Kairi asked trembling.
"It's alright, you're alright" the man said. "I was a little bit worried about you when I found you out there all alone lying in that ally, so I brought you here and gave you a nice bed to sleep in. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Nilrem."
"I'm....Kairi." she said back to him. "So let me guess, this is Traverse Town?"
"Exactly!" Nilrem said. "The one and only. You from around here?"
"Not exactly, but I've been here before. It was over three years ago, right before the heartless threat ended."
"Ended?" Nilrem shrieked. "What are you talking about? Those little buggers are getting worse by the day. It was just the other day I was attacked by a group of blacked cloaked folks. They gave me a run for my money, almost killed me. Luckily, I was able to escape."
"Black cloaked folk?" Kairi asked a bit confused. "Heartless?"
"I'm not sure what they are, they act like the heartless. Mainly because they share the whole evil thing, but these guys are something way worse. So powerful you know?"
"I'm sorry but I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't seen one before."
"You haven't?" asked Nilrem. "Well that would make sense I guess, they don't show up too often. It's like one minute the ground breaks open, these guys appear, run around a bit, then go back. They don't even really do anything, besides for nearly killing a few people. It's like they are looking for something. Either that or someone."
Kairi wasn't sure what was going on, didn't Sora stop the heartless so many years ago. He did stop Ansem, but did that stop the heartless all together? Kairi decided she was going to find out these answers herself.
"Well thanks for taking me in, but I think it's time for me to go. I have a long journey to start." said Kairi. She gave Nilrem a smile, then started walking down the hallway looking for the exit.
"Aren't you forgetting something?" yelled Nilrem.
"What do you mean?" Kairi asked turning back around.
"That thing I found you with, I laid it by your bed. If you don't want it I guess I can always use it."
Kairi ran back down the hall towards the door to the room she was sleeping in. She opened the door and ran over to her bed. She couldn't see anything at first, but she moved to the opposite side of her bed. She saw it; she saw something that was going to change her destiny forever.
*****
"Your majesty, are you crazy?" Daisy bellowed. "We just can't leave the castle!"
"Daisy, something big has awoken. You have to understand my intentions. It's not something I want to do, yet something I must do. The king told me a long time ago that he feared something like this would happen, something bad. That's why he left me this" Minnie said holding up a clear crystal.
"What does that do again?" Daisy asked.
"It's a powerful gem; Mickey found it on one of his journeys. It's supposed to steer you in the right direction, lead you where you have to be. I was looking at it the other day and it was shining, glimmering. That's when a bright light shot across the room. It locked onto the map that hung in the grand room. On the map, the light pointed to Traverse Town. Daisy, that is where we have to go."
"What about the heartless?" Daisy protested. "Between me and you, how are we going to defend ourselves from them? We can't possibly go on a journey and make a difference by ourselves."
"That's why there was another part to this story" said Minnie. "The crystal also pointed to where help would be, most specifically a keyblade. What if...what if it is the boy Mickey talked about? The one that was prophesized to open the door to the light. He may be our only hope Daisy."
"What if we don't find him? What if it's just you and me, then what?"
"You have been studying magics since Donald has been gone. You even have one of his old staffs, you should be good to go. As for me, I can handle myself."
"Your majesty, are you absolutely sure you want to do this? There are people who do this for a living now, get rid of the heartless. There are so many heartless hunting groups around, why can't we just let them handle this stuff?" Daisy asked.
"Daisy, this is bigger than the heartless. Whatever I feel, it's not the heartless, it's something else, something bad. That is why we are going. It's not like whatever this thing is is going to be in Traverse Town anyway. Help is going to be in Traverse Town. Either way we have to go, for the king."
"The king is gone though.." Daisy said with a saddened face. "The king, Sir Donald, Sir Goofy, they are gone! As far as I see they aren't coming back either. Don't tell me you are just doing this hoping to find him. We looked once before your majesty. There is nothing more in the world that I would like better than to be able to find Donald, find the king, and find Goofy. We looked over and over again, we aren't going to find them."
"I don't care, I'm still going to follow what he said. Daisy, you could stay here, but I'm going." Minnie said sitting up from her throne. She passed Daisy and began walking down the long red carpet. Daisy sighed, then ran to catch up to Minnie.
*****
Kairi gasped. She couldn't believe it, it was a keyblade. She bent over to pick it up, when she noticed something. Attached to the handle of the keyblade was a small paopu fruit key chain. She picked up the keyblade and gripped it in her hand. She felt power, she felt strong. The keyblade was Sora's..
"You kept a promise" Kairi said aloud to herself. "You brought it back."
The keyblade was no doubtfully the oathkeeper. It was the keyblade that Sora once owned, but was now Kairi's. Kairi wasn't sure how it happened, but she felt Sora had sent it back to her.
"It's too late now, everything is intertwined. It is now your destiny." Kairi whispered under her breath. These were the words Sora told her in her dream. Everything was coming together now. Sora seemingly passed on his destiny to Kairi, he gave her the keyblade, but how? Where was Sora? Was he alright? Kairi needed to know.
She ran out of the room into the hallway. There was no one in sight. Where was Nilrem? He was just there a minute ago, but now he was gone. Oh well, it didn't matter. Kairi had the keyblade now. If what Nilrem told her was true, then the town most likely had heartless in, heartless that were waiting for someone to show them some light. Kairi opened the door and ran off into the second district.
It looked the same. The clock tower was still there, the shoe store, the other stores, and even the fountain which hid the keyhole. She walked down the steps and stood in front of the fountain. "Nilrem said heartless were in this world, yet Sora sealed the keyhole." Kairi said to herself. Something didn't seem right, did the keyhole reopen?
Pacing around the second district, Kairi didn't know what exactly to do. She figured she should try to visit some old places, try to reacquaint herself with some old things. That's when she came up with it, she came up with the idea to go to the cavern. The cavern was where Kairi gave Sora the oathkeeper. It's also where Kairi and Sora shared the paopu fruit together. She had to check it out again, she had to go there.
Kairi entered the ally way behind the hotel, and walked along the waterway. The gate was opened, and Kairi entered.
*****
"That's it! Our hearts are connected. And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw that light. I think that's what saved me. No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within. I guess it's more than just a fairy tale." Sora said staring in Kairi's eyes in the cavern waterway.
"Well, let's go." Kairi said getting closer to Sora.
"You can't go."
"Why not?" she asked.
"Because it's way too dangerous." Sora retorted.
"Come on, Sora. We made it this far by sticking together. You can't go alone."
"Kairi, even if we're apart, we're not alone anymore. Right?"
"I can't help?" Kairi asked saddened. She wanted to help Sora in the worst way. They truly were connected, they should be together always.
"You'd kind of be in my way."
"Okay. You win." Kairi let out a sigh. She then pulled something out of her pocket, it was a star shape itemed. It was what Kairi called the oathkeeper. It was for Sora to attach to his keyblade. "Take this. It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me."
"Don't worry. I will" Sora smiled.
"Promise?" Kairi asked shyly.
"Promise."
"Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you." Kairi said. "That's why I have something else for us."
"Really?" Sora asked. "What is it?"
"You do know the legend of the paopu fruit right?" asked Kairi. "If you share it with someone you truly care about, you'll be connected with that person, destinies will become intertwined."
"Our destinies were always intertwined Kairi, I'm always with you." Sora said splitting the paopu fruit down the middle with Kairi.
*****
Kairi wiped a tear from her eye, along with wiping the memory out of her mind. She sat down alongside the water in the cavern. Someone was watching though, someone in the shadows had an eye on Kairi. He moved along the cavern walls watching her, studying her. Suddenly he brushed alongside the wall as a rock came loose and rolled up by Kairi. Startled, Kairi jumped up and turned around to see the figure. She held her keyblade in her hand tight.
"A keyblade master?" asked the figure. "You're just a girl!"
"A girl?" Kairi responded. "Care to say that in a fight?"
"You, I know you" the figure answered. "You were friends with the boy."
"Sora?" Kairi jumped up shrieking. Her tone of voice began to change. "What do you know about him? Where is he?"
"I was hoping you would be able to tell me. See, I too am looking for the boy."
"But who are you? How do you know him?" she asked.
"My name....my name is Cloud."
*****
Again leaving you hanging. Like hot damn, what could Cloud be doing here? Anyway, the flashback scene is from the original game, but since they never said what happened after Sora got the oathkeeper, I added that bit in there. Hey it's all fair, not like they never said Kairi left, she was still standing there, so you know. Well if you want to know, you got to wait until Chapter V when everything will be explained. So I'm not going to blabber on down here, I'll just post next chapter's info.
Chapter 5: Someone To Fight For
Release Date: April 27, 2003
Preview: Kairi and Cloud just met, now what is going to happen?
Well this chapter will have Cloud in a bit of a storyteller position, as answers
to his past are answered, and the reason he came back is revealed.