Chapter Two: Of Tea, Sunglasses, and Things That Are Not Goblins

Kairi screamed, and the goblin in front of her backed away. He- it held up its hands in a gesture of peace. "Whoa whoa! Hold on!"

Kairi paused; she was out of breath, and saw she was lying on a bed, surrounded by people. A light-haired man to her left grumbled, "Maybe having Lex here in the room was a bad idea." His voice was the smooth, charming one she had first heard.

The goblin sighed. "Sorry about the fright," it said to her. "Guess you've never seen a gargoyle before."

" Gasp gasp No, g-guess not," Kairi responded, surprised that she was able to form words. So it's a 'gargoyle'? Aren't those, like, drainspouts?

"My name's Lexington," it- he said to her, holding out a taloned hand to her. To shake, she supposed. The irony didn't escape her. And they say manners are dead.

Cautiously, she shook the green gargoyle's hand. He broke into a friendly smile that made his strange visage look almost human. Kairi found herself grinning back. So, she had made a friend. She looked around the small room she was in, at the group of strangers who all seemed very concerned for her wellbeing. "Where am I?" she asked. "And who are all of you? And how did I get here?"

A large black man standing behind the man with the charming voice laughed, a resounding boom. "So many questions!" he chuckled. "How 'bout you jest answer somma ours first?"

"Uh- okay…"

A girl with long black hair leaned in. "First off, what's your name, kiddo?"

"Kairi. Kairi…just Kairi." It was sometimes embarrassing being an amnesiac. Not having a last name occasionally raised questions with new acquaintances, but these folks seemed to accept her response.

"All right, Just Kairi. Where are you from?"

"The Destiny Islands."

They all exchanged puzzled glances. Kairi wondered what that meant. Was she so far away from home that no one had ever heard of her islands?

"Hmmm…," the brunette mused. "Can you tell us how you got here?"

Kairi's cheeks flushed. "Actually, I was kinda hoping you guys could tell me. The last thing I remember is wishing on a star and.."

"Your dream came true," several voices chorused.

"Well, kinda, I guess."

Kairi was looking around for the woman with the soothing voice, but the only people in the room were her, the voice man, the big black man, the girl, Lexington, and a bald man who was wearing sunglasses indoors for some reason.

She was about to ask about the woman when the door burst open and a small man with elf ears and white hair flew in.

"Well, how's our patient?" the little man asked, his voice sly and nasal. His unbelievably blue eyes seemed to be looking into her very soul, so Kairi looked away.

"Very well," the strange girl said. "Her name's Kairi."

"Did I miss anything?" said a voice from the doorway, the calm voice Kairi had heard while drifting into consciousness. A pretty brown-haired woman stepped into the small room, carrying a tray with a teakettle and several teacups perched neatly on top.

"'Course not," said the big man. "Jest waitin' for you so we can begin the introducting."

"The word is 'introducing', Professor," the elf smirked.

"Shuttup befo' I pop yo' head, foo'!" said the large fellow, inching closer to the elf, fist raised. The calm woman sighed.

"That's enough, boys," she said tiredly. "You're disturbing my patient. Why don't you two begin the introductions?"

The big man grinned wolfishly at Kairi. "My name's Barrett Wallace. Quiet fella wif da shades is Rude. Not that he ain't polite or nothin', that's just his name. And this lil' idiot is Puck."

The elf twirled in the air before executing a complicated bow. "Finest trickster of the Third Race at your service, little missie."

"And I'm Rufus," said the light-haired man in his impossibly wonderful voice. He gave Kairi a dazzling smile and she felt her cheeks heat up. "Just Rufus."

"Tifa Lockhart," said the black-haired girl, shaking Kairi's hand. "Nice to meet you."

Lex grinned at her. "You already know who I am," he said. He gestured to two people who had just stepped into the room, a girl Kairi's age with short dark hair and a pink female gargoyle. The human girl gave her a critical look, then seemed to decide that Kairi posed no threat.

"Marlene Wallace," she said. "Barrett's my dad."

Kairi smiled. It would be nice to have someone her own age around. The female gargoyle shuffled her feet uncertainly. "My name is- well, I mean, my name was- I mean- I'm…Rinoa Heartilly."

"Nice to meet you, Rinoa," Kairi said, wondering why Rinoa seemed so nervous.

The calm woman poured Kairi a cup of tea and handed it to her. "My name's Shera," she said, adjusting her eyeglasses. "Shera Leonhart."

Kairi drank the hot lemony tea, feeling strength return to her arms and legs. Leonhart….she thought. Where have I heard that name before? And her face…I've seen it somewhere.

"How did I get here?" she asked Shera, instinctively trusting this woman.

"Well, to be honest," Shera said, "We're not sure. You were falling out of the sky and Lex caught you before you hit anything."

Kairi smiled at the green gargoyle. "Thank you," she said sincerely. Lex gave her a bashful grin. "No problemo," he said. "It's kinda what I do."

"Guys?" Shera asked. "Do you all mind? I'd like to answer Kairi's questions, but I think having such a large crowd isn't so good for her after her ordeal."

"Okay, Sher," Barrett rumbled, striding from the room, pulling Puck with him by the collar of the fey's garish tunic. Tifa followed him, as did Lex, Marlene, and silent Rude. Rufus looked at Kairi one more time, as if he were trying to recall something, before shrugging and walking out, stopping at the door for a quick bow and a "Ladies."

Kairi watched the procession in wonder. Never in her life had she seen a stranger assortment of people. Shera noticed her wide-eyed astonishment and raised an eyebrow.

"Interesting folk, aren't they?" the woman asked.

"Oh, yes, very," Kairi answered. Suddenly, a question came to mind

"But…where are we, Shera?"

"This is Paris. We're actually in the Cathedral of Notre Dame."

Kairi scrunched up her nose. "Paris? Is this where you all are from?"

Shera gave her a small smile, one that didn't reach her sad eyes. "No, actually. Puck and Lexington are from a city-world called Manhattan, and the rest of us are from a world called-" she took a deep breath to calm her quavering voice, "-a world called the Bastion."

Kairi sucked in her breath. Could she mean the Hollow Bastion?

Kairi didn't have many memories of the time she had spent in that broken world, as she was without her heart for most of that time. Other than her Islands, the only world she was truly familiar with was Traverse Town, and grumpy old Cid.

A tear stung her eye at the thought of the man who had looked after her the whole time Sora was fighting Ansem. He acted so gruff, but Kairi could see right through that front he had put up. No one else could see that Cid was in such great pain. Kairi realized that his heart was hurting so badly over something he had lost long ago that he couldn't let anybody else in. She had comforted him with words and kind actions, and in return, he made sure no human or Heartless gave her any trouble.

They were eating dinner when Sora sealed Kingdom Hearts. Kairi remembered that she was in the middle of a sentence when Cid vanished and she was with Sora. She never even got to say goodbye, or to thank him for being the father figure she had needed at the time.

Shera noticed her pensive expression. "Munny for your thoughts?"

Kairi gulped. "Nothing, just- just wondering how you all ended up here. And why does Rinoa look like Lex if she's from- from your world?"

Shera gave her that almost-smile again and explained. "Well, we used to travel the World Routes, searching for other survivors from our world. Then, we ended up in Manhattan, where we, well, we met some new people and we found a new mission-"

"Mission?"

"Mission, but more about that later, perhaps. Well, we gained some members, Lex and Puck, and we went about our mission. We had just landed here when the World Routes disappeared, so now we're kind of stuck here until we can find a way out."

"And you really need to find a way out? I mean, now that the Heartless are gone, whatever mission you all are on, I mean, you don't really need it, right?"

Shera shook her head slowly. "I wish that were the case, but the universe is not out of danger yet. The Keyblade Master may have delayed the spread of the darkness, but-"

Kairi sat up straight. "Sor- The Keyblade Master saved the universe! How can you say he did a bad job?"

Shera patted her shoulder. "Now, now, don't overexert yourself," she said soothingly, "I didn't mean anything by it. I'm sure the Keyblade Master did a fine job. All I'm saying is that his job isn't done, and we're here to help him out."

Kairi looked into Shera's eyes, a warm brown under her thick glasses. "You think that the worlds could fall to darkness again?"

"I don't know what I think. I only know what I know. And I know," Shera murmured grimly, "That darkness is very, very resilient."

Her face looked so haunted, so suddenly tired, that Kairi didn't pursue the matter any further. "And Rinoa?" she asked, changing the subject. "Why is she…?"

"A gargoyle? Well, soon after we picked up Lex and Puck in Manhattan and began our mission, Rinoa was transformed into a gargoyle. We're not sure how, and we haven't found a way to turn her back to the way she was before. It's been over two years, so Rinoa's slowly coming to grips with the fact that she might be a gargoyle forever. And Lex is helping her out."

"Oh. And your mission? What is it?"

Shera looked down at her hands. "Why don't you try to get some sleep? It'll help you get back your strength. You don't have anywhere else to go, do you?"

Kairi felt a surge of fear. "Please! Let me stay with you all! I have no where else to go, I'm all alone here, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do, Shera…"

Good job, smirked the little voice in the back of her head. Maybe if you blubber like a complete baby they'll have pity on you.

Shera saw her distress. She flung her arms around Kairi in a comforting hug. "Hey now, don't worry," she whispered. "You'll stay with us. Somebody sent you here and I can only assume you're meant to be a part of our lives."

Kairi leaned into the embrace. After the day she had had, it was nice to feel like somebody understood. Shera quietly stood up, gathering the teakettle and Kairi's now empty cup.

"Get some rest," she said. "It's nearly midnight, you need to sleep. We'll sort everything out tomorrow."

Shera walked out, pulling the door silently shut behind her. Kairi snuggled down into the bed and closed her eyes.

She dreamed about white sands and cobbled streets at the same time, about gruff old men with broken hearts and friends who could be unexpectedly wise, about new friends and old, about sad brown eyes and dazzling smiles, about the past, and about the future.

But mostly, she dreamed about Sora. Where was he? Why was Kairi sent here, and not with Sora?

She dreamed about tomorrow, when all of her questions, she hoped, would be answered.

A/N: Enter….my AVALANCHE! Now, to get background information, go and read my fic "Years". It's a one-shot, it's relatively painless, and it's very informative. Oh, and it has CidSher in it! And Vincent. Read it for Vincent, if nothing else. And review, please. We live on reviews around here.