So simple and clean
It was not as simple as it seemed, nor even as complicated as it sounded.
It fell somewhere in between and it was up to Kairi and Sora to build it into something that made sense.
They had only the future to look forward to and only time could cure their ills.
It was with great regret that Sora left Destiny Islands. There was another place for him to be and it was not by Kairi's side. He found a nice little cabin, close to the door where he would stand guard. His friend was there, waiting for him in his quiet, sulking way.
Sora had to tend to his needs, sweeping his place of rest, picking out the weeds, planting new flowers every spring. He wanted to make up for all of the mistakes they had made together and to live out the memories they had shared. He sat down every morning and reminisced with the headstone of his beloved friend. He stood guard in the afternoon, ensuring that no one would approach the door, no one would wonder at it and try to open it. At night he would come out to see the stars, kiss his friend goodnight and lay his own head to rest on a cool pillow, alone and quite happy.
Kairi might have known. She couldn't give him what he wanted most and that was to have his friend back. She could only hold him in his lonely hours and kiss him and tell him that he mattered.
But he didn't want that, so she let him go. She stayed on her beach, playing with the children that arrived from time to time. She spent time with them, pretending that they were her own. She hoped that one day Sora might return to her and really live his life, but she realized in her heart that it was not to be.
They were connected by a very thin thread, a silken strand of fate. It held them together, even far away and she knew that she wasn't really alone. No one is ever really alone. She sighed, looking up to the golden sky as the sun blinked out over the horizon.
Tomorrow would be another day. The darkness could not touch her. She was free.
She felt washed by this experience, cleansed in a way that she didn't quite understand.
The past was buried with her brother. The light was still living along side the darkness of her heart, something that no one could rid the world of completely. She smiled very lightly reaching her hand out to touch the sky while her other hand lay buried in the soft beach sand.
She could reach the heavens and hold the earth all at the same time and for once that was more than good enough.
The princess did not have a castle, but she had already built one in her heart.
The End