Author's Note: Sorry this one took so long. Hopefully the next chapter will come around a little quicker, which is unlikely. School is very time consuming, so either my chapters will get even shorter, or the space between them will become longer. Anyway, enjoy, and thanks to the people-- person, who reviewed.
Kairi coughed and sputtered into wakefulness. She had no idea what was going on, and was glad that she had finally woken up from that bad dream. It had to have been her scariest one yet, and not to mention realistic. For once she couldn't wait to stumble from bed and outside to see the arrogant, commanding Riku… Wow, she would have never imagined that she'd ever think something like that.
Finally she found her feet beneath her, far from realizing that she had been curled up on the cold floor rather than a straw mattress. She'd probably fallen from bed in her nightmares. Stumbling through the darkness she let out a groan to find her feet unwilling to move, and her body numb and cold. She felt terribly ill, and had already began to fantasize about the healing sunlight when she reach out her hand slowly to push her door open and spread light into her dark room. Unfortunately, her hand never hit the splinter oak door of her chamber. Instead her fingertips stubbed into an unexpected array of cold, rusted, steel bars.
Kairi cried out before reaching forward again. She grasped one of the bars, and then another with another hand. She pushed at pulled but they did not shake or snap. Feeling around her throat, she winced as her palm brushed along a nasty-looking bruise, in the suspicious oval shape of a fingerprint. The young girl was nearly brought to tears at this discovery. The pain was real, the cold, the bars, it was all real. That meant that the Prince had to be real as well, or just some crackpot who lived in the woods. Neither would surprise her, but then again, it wasn't important whether the legend were true or not. The face of the matter was she was kidnapped, and she had not been dreaming.
"Help!" She called out, but was only responded with echoes. Very quickly she began to panic. She was sick from the cold hours or maybe even days she had been lying on the floor, she couldn't tell. Not only that, but it was too dark to see anything in here, and she didn't know where she was. It was pitch black, and she was alone. As instinct took over once again she started rattling the bars, trying to climb up them without success. In such a short time her life had been turned upside down, and she feared that she was going to die here if not from starvation, but from the fever that burned her from the inside out.
"Somebody help! Please! Somebody please help me!" Kairi screamed. She had been reduced to sobbing and shaking uncontrollably. She was tough, she wouldn't gloat on it but it was the truth. This was something that she just couldn't take. She'd just watched her companion being stabbed through the shoulder by a fairy-tale turned real, and now she was locked up in some cell God-knows-where. This just wasn't her week.
At last she slumped to the ground, forcing the tears to stop. Now was not a time to let emotion over run her actions, but instead she would have to rely on her intelligence and planning skills for this. Very slowly she felt along the walls of her tiny prison for anything, anything at all. At last she determined that the front of the cell was made up of a locked, barred door. The rest of the room was made of stone, almost seamless and with few cracks and no windows. The only objects of interest found had been two rats, one living, and another a little less so. Kairi hated rats, but their presence meant something significant—where there were rats, there was a steady source of food, at least somewhere. Food down in a place like this meant that people were regularly visited here for one reason or another. This didn't narrow her whereabouts down significantly, but it gave her a hope that she would not be alone for long.
Kairi was wrong. She spent hours, and what could've been days in the cold damp cell, brooding over what would become of her. Sleep was hard to find, and whenever she managed to catch it she was always snapped back into the waking world by a sudden chill, rat, or some kind of insect. Several times she cried and subbed herself to sleep, and just as she feared that the remainder of her sanity was gone a light filled the dark corridor lined with cells. At first she could not believe it, but was relieved when the soft glow of firelight grew more intense, and a pair of footsteps made their way towards her.
Now that there was some light shed on her situation should could get a better view of her surroundings by looking out of the barred door. Her cell was only one of many that lined a very long corridor, and she presumed that they were all vacant of life. To her left was only darkness, but at the right was a very odd looking figure, walking towards her cell with a lantern in his hand.
The form seemed masculine, but hardly human. He was clad half in armor, and half in regular clothing. A helmet was stationed over his head with the visor flicked up to reveal his face. Instead of a nose he held a very long snout. His eyes were large and round, filled with compassion and child-like joy. Long dog-ears dangled at the side of his head, giving him a goofy and comical appearance. His stride was gawky and irregular, matching perfectly with his tall, lanky body. He was odd to say the least, but he seemed harmless, and the keys dangling from his other hand brought a new burning hope into Kairi's heart.
As the humanoid canine stopped in front of her cell the young woman opened her mouth to call out to him, but found that her voice was lost. After this discovery was made she dropped down to her knees and cried once again, this time out of joy. It seemed that she was finally getting out of here, and for once she was right. The tall dog unlocked and opened the barred door, picked up the hysterical and ill Kairi, and made his way back out into the corridor as quickly as he could. He was looking back and forth as if nervous, but his worried expression didn't override the comfort in his large, dark eyes.
"The name's Goofy," he informed her. Kairi broke out into fits of maniacal giggles at his statement, since it had been so long since she had seen another being she had gone just a little crazy. Besides, his voice was hysterical. Goofy just sighed and shushed her, opening the door at the end of the corridor, exiting, and proceeding down a flight of spiral stairs. As he reached the end of the stairs Kairi was given a chance to look over her surroundings more clearly.
The long staircase had opened into a massive hall. Ancient artwork and empty suits of armor lined the walls. The corridors were dark despite the torches that lit them, but after being locked up in the pitch-black darkness everything seemed to be bright here. All in all, it looked like a very large castle, and assumption that proved to be correct. This meant that the horrible fantasy tale was true, and Kairi groaned when she realized this. Like many others before her, she had been kidnapped and taken to the castle of the Heartless Prince.
Goofy carried her up another, but smaller flight of stairs and into another darkened corridor. From here he entered a side-door which led into a massive, vacant room. Time had not touched this place at all—it wasn't even dusty. It seemed like a place for royalty. It was this fact that caused Kairi to laugh once again as Goofy told her that this was where she'd be staying. She wasn't royalty; in fact she was the furthest thing from it. So to be offered to live in a room fit for queens and kings was just plain ridiculous.
"I think that you would be wise to stay quiet," Goofy advised her in warning. It wasn't that he didn't like to listen to her laugh and talk, it was just that if the master heard… well, he wouldn't get into what would happen, but the Master would definitely be unhappy. He was always unhappy when his prisoners were released from their cells, but this poor girl was hungry and sick. "Now, you stay here, and I'll get you some food and water."
Kairi stared at the back of her rescuer as he turned around and walked from the room, closing the door silently behind him. She waited for a minute and listened for his echoing footsteps to fade completely before rising from the bed and stepping hesitantly out of the room herself. It wasn't that she didn't trust the odd looking stranger, it was just that he seemed to have no intention on getting her out of here. That's all she needed right now. Her grandmother needed her, and she couldn't sit around here being pampered while her elder's condition could be worsening.
"You just gotta get out of here, Kairi," she chided herself shakily. When she finally mustered up the courage to step out of the threshold to her room she found herself already panicking. The halls were darker than they should be, and she found it hard to navigate in the dim torchlight. Fortunately for the young traveler her eyes were quick to adjust, and she was jogging through the corridors in no time. She ran up and down flights of stairs, but the more she ran the more lost she became. The dark corridors became monotonous, and everything starless window looked exactly like the one before. She would've turned back, but after turning around she realized that she didn't recognize the halls behind her.
The soft, yet familiar sound of shifting clothing caught her attention. She snapped her head around to the source of the sound, but found only darkness to greet her gaze. The torches around her slowly faded down into soft, glowing embers. This allowed some dramatic shadows to be thrown across the hall, but little to no light to see with. The shadows had crept forward, and the air became suddenly dense: sweet with the smell of death. Her breath caught in her throat, and the cold feeling in her gut was screaming at her nerves to run, so she did, and this resulted her speeding into the first room that she saw.
The room she now found herself in was dark and dusty. The rotting smell was even stronger here, and the terror multiplied ten-fold. Navigating around broken and downed furniture she stumbled towards the main attraction of the room located on a round table on the balcony. It was a small glass container, and within it was a small ball of light, or what she assumed to be a ball. In all actuality it was shapeless, for it was no more than a fragment of glowing light.
With curiosity getting the better of her, she lifted the glass container off and set it off to the side. Gathering her courage she reached out with hesitant fingertips. Her hand moved closer and closer to the tiny source of light, and she gasped as the warmth that radiated off of it whispered across her palm.
"Beautiful…" She murmured. Kairi wasn't even aware that she had spoken as she fingers laced through the light floating just inches above the table. It was warm, and the moment her palm had contact with the light she was hit with a sudden bolt of emotion. It wasn't something she could explain; it was just a calming affect that swept across her entire form. Every cell was warm and at peace and her once cluttered mind cleared into an ignorant abyss. Exhaling deeply, Kairi leaned back against the wall behind her… or at least what should have been a wall.
Instead of falling back onto the stone wall at her back, her body was met with a resistant, soft, and warm object. The moment she touched it she realized that it was a body, and before she had time to cry out or turn around there was a strong and familiar hand around her neck, with another across her mouth. Yelling and thrashing against the arms that restrained her, Kairi found her head being forcefully tilted back and to the side to view the face of her attacker.
It was the same young man from before— Sora, as he called himself. With the light illuminating his features she could distinguish his features properly. He seemed to be pissed, wait, no, more than that. He seemed to be infuriated with her, and Kairi figured that it must have had something to do with the small orb of light on the table.
His eyes were one of the most hypnotic things she's ever seen. They were crimson and lined with black, reminding her of the eyes of the wolves that stole sheep from her village. Not only that, but they actually swirled around. It wasn't a swirling of different colors, but instead different shades of gold. They were deep, simply open windows to the depths of his soul, which Kairi found to be empty. They were no emotion to be found in them, but the expression on the rest of his face made it clear that he was resisting tearing her apart. She didn't know why he'd resist, but she was thankful that she did.
"Put… Put the glass back," he commanded firmly. His voice was shaking as if every word were a struggle to utter. After making his demands he slowly unwrapped his hands from her mouth and throat. Kairi complied as quickly and carefully as her trembling hands. She didn't dare make a dash to the door since the Prince stood in the way. She couldn't very well jump over the side of the balcony either. They were maybe only the third floor away from the ground, but three stories was all that was needed to break a leg, or back.
After the light was sealed away in its protective case the Prince was free to act. Advancing towards her, quicker than lightning, and seizing her by the hair she was given no chance to resist. Already he was dragging her out of the room and across the hall. It was all the young girl could do but to keep her footing and keep most of her hair intact. Again she was crying and calling out into the darkness, with her only response being the echoes of her own shrieks.
"Do you realize what you could have done!" The Prince screamed. Veins along his neck rose as his face reddened. Kairi had no idea what he was talking about, but considering his expression earlier it had to do with the inside of the glass. However, the only thing she was sure of was that they were coming upon a flight of stairs that led down, and he seemed dead set on going down them. The problem with this was that she was bent over and trying to wrestle her hair from his grasp, and walking downhill would be made impossible. Surely she'd trip and fall and being dragged downstairs by her red highlighted locks was not something that she looked forward to.
In the end, she didn't have to worry about climbing down the stairs in her awkward position, because the moment he reached the staircase Sora just tossed her down them and sneered as she bounced from one step to another. This roller coaster of pain and colors jolted Kairi around as she jolted around after hitting the first stone step, and rolled down the rest. She managed to twist her ankle in a pathetic attempt to regain her feet, and there was a sharp dull pain as she struck her face and tore open the section of skin just above her eyebrow.
Whimpering and coughing at the foot of the stairs Kairi hadn't realized that the Prince had already walked down them again. To her relief he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her across the floor. Kairi didn't even bother to stand anymore. Soon enough the Prince pushed open two large doors to reveal the frigid cold, twilight world beyond the castle. Dropping the maiden outside, the amber-eyed Prince once again sneered at her, the anger within his eyes still burning fiercely.
"I release you," he growled bitterly. Kairi had little idea what he was talking about. She had never agreed to stay anyway- but she supposed that he was the one that had kidnapped her, and thus in his twisted mind held ownership over her. "If you ever return, it will be the last thing you do." With that the Prince left huffily, slamming the double doors behind him as if to confirm her banishment. Kairi assumed that she had to have done something pretty upsetting in order to be exiled by her own kidnapper, but you wouldn't hear her complaining about it.
After a short session of tears of relief and recovering from her ordeal with the stairs Kairi stood and ran. At first her legs were unsteady but she finally reminded her legs the fluid movement of sprinting, and she was traveling more efficiently as more time rolled by. She only had a rough idea to where the village was, and she hoped that she was right. At this time of day Heartless and wolves roamed the forest, both of them looking for a quick meal, and Kairi was tiring.
The growls of the forest that she dreaded finally came. First there was only an occasional howl or snarl, but they were beginning to grow both in number and in intensity. Her muscles couldn't very well take her much farther, and the blood that leaked into her eye from the gash on her forehead impaired her vision. Her breath grew ragged and uneven, so it didn't take long for her to stumble on the thick vines and roots that sprawled across the forest floor.
When she fell she looked up into the darkness, breathing heavily against the fallen leaves before her and shaking in terror. Not a few feet in front of her stood the creature that she had feared. It was like some sick, demented wolf hybrid. It looked like different parts of several animals had literally been sewn together. Its back half was narrow and gray, most definitely from the body of a wolf. The two front paws that had been sewn onto the body were bulky and reptilian, bearing massive muscles, scales, and treacherous-looking claws. The head was much more lion-like, with the jaws slack and drooling, and the thick mane around them swirling around in the wind.
It didn't take long for these eerie Heartless beasts to emerge from other shadowed areas behind her. All of their bright yellow eyes were glowing brightly, and although they had no pupils Kairi could tell they were all locked on her in a hungered stare. Finally her mind regained control over her fear-stricken body and she struggled to her feet. Looking left and right she was aware that there was no where to run. At every side a drooling, chimera Heartless stood. She was without a weapon, and without a protector, so she screamed at the top of her lungs and into the night in a desperate plea that would remain unanswered.