Disclaimer: I do not own Sora, Kairi, or any other Kingdom Hearts characters involved in this story. Other persons/places mentioned in this story are fictional and are not intended to name any realistic person/place.

Warning: This chapter and/or future chapters may include: Suicide, Self-Inflicted Harm, Alcohol Abuse, Child Abuse, and Minor use of Profanity

Chapter 18: The Locket

Kairi spent her days at the hospital. It took days, weeks, months, but the nurse and doctors did the best they could to help her regain her strength. She worked so hard to simply be able to walk, she had to see him again. He was the only thing on her mind. She had no idea what was going to become of her after she got out of the hospital, but one thing she did know, she had to find him. She hadn't went through all this to leave empty handed.

"How are we today?", the nurse would ask.

"Ah, better than yesterday but not good enough." she would always respond.

"You'll get there honey, soon enough, you'll see."

"Yeah, I know."

"That boy sure must be something to have you this anxious."

"Oh Wendy, he is. He's amazing, if only you could meet him. He has ocean blue eyes, oh those eyes are gorgeous, and soft, thin lips that feel great against mine. And on top of all that, he has the greatest personality. He's the only thing that has kept me going, you know."

"I know, I know, you have told me all this before. Just be patient, and with time you'll see, that you'll be out of this hosiptal and with that boy.", the nurse assures her.

The two giggled as the dreamt. Kairi was so eager to find him again.

It was a week before school started when Kairi left the hospital, a week before their senior year. There had been so much change that had occured in the little town, who would have known. Her old house was bought and sold to a new wedded couple. The ice cream stand had closed. Sora's home was up for rent. That wasn't going to stop her, not after all this. As she continued to walk, she spotted a familair face.

"Kairi?", she said in in awe.

"Hey, Namine."

"But, I thought... ", she began.

"Thought what?"

"I'm sorry, its just that Sora, oh God... Sora... he thinks your dead."

Kairi laughs silently at the way Namine simply spat it out. "Yeah, I know. You won't know where to find him, would you?"

"Why, yeah actually. He spends at lot of time at Midnight's Peak, I was about to meet him there." A smile appears at the corner of her lips, "Come with me."

Since the day Sora had entered the abandoned house that was once Kairi's, he spent a lot of time alone thinking. Namine, who had become one of his besfriends, knew he needed space and a place to be alone, so she told him about Midnight's Peak, the place where she would go to be alone. They spent a lot of time there, whether it was sitting in silence or talking about their thoughts and dreams. They talked about everything, everything included Kairi.

"Okay, this is it. Just follow the path up and you'll be there." Namine says eagerly.

"Thanks."

As Kairi begins to walk uphill, her heart begins to race much faster than before. What if he doesn't remember me? God, what if he he doesn't even remember my name? Then I'll feel stupid, but I can't help but wonder. It's been at least a year since he last saw me, it could well be possible. Her hands begin to sweat. Oh great, now I'll smell as well as feel ridiculed. It begins to sprinkle, but yet its not rain. It's like a mist substance falling from the sky. Rain, just want I need. She feels so nervous, she cannot swallow. Oh what have I gotten myself into? She reaches the top, without a moment to spare. God, there he is. Sora stands at the edge of the cliff, staring at the view below him, the mist like sprinkles surround him. Please remember me...

"Sora?"

He turns around to face her. "Oh my God, Kairi!"

She nods and smiles.

"But I thought..."

She laughs at his confused look. "Nope. I'm alive."

"But how? I saw the blood on the walls of your house. I guess I just asumed... but what really happened?"

She soon explained what had really happened. How her dad had been drunk that night and struck her into a coma. How Silent Sue, the old lady who doesn't get out of her home, saw what happened through the living room window. She had called the cops on her father and the ambulance took Kairi to the hospital. They had kept her there until she regained movement in her body and strength, and since her father was put in jail, child welfare searched for a new family for Kairi. She soon found a nice home with the Davidsons down the street.

"...And well here I am.", she said with a smile.

Sora couldn't take his eyes off of her, he simply couldn't. He was amazed, astonished, by the fact that the girl he once thought he would never see again was standing before him. A single tear forms and slides down his left cheek. Could this simply be a dream? A figment of my imagination? A mirage? God, I don't care. I only know I'm not going to let her go this time. He only stood there baffled by the mear sight of her. He was scared to blink, afraid she would disappear before his eyes.

Kairi saw the tear sliding down his face. Her smile grew wider. She gently took her hand and wiped the tear away, holding on to his cheek bone as she leaned in to give him a tender kiss. Lightning eluminates the mist filled sky. Drops of water cling to their hair, they continue to kiss ever more passionately than before, as thunder echoes around them. They stand holding one another surrounded by the mist like substance, almost as if it were fog.

He takes his lips off of his belovid, long enough to speak. "I have something for you."

Confused she asks, "What is it?"

"A locket."

Fin. So, I hope you liked the story. Please leave reviews and let me know what you thought about the ending or the overall story if you hadn't reviewed yet. Thanks for reading, and thanks for the overall reviews I recieved throughtout the story. Gives Hug To Reader.