I'm going to be honest...this was the hardest one so far. But not because I'm shaky with Sora and Kairi stuff, btut because of the word count restriction. I was afraid of over-shooting it in the original draft, so things seemed kinda choppy and difficult for me to accept. But I was actually under count and added stuff to the draft... And guess what...

It's now 2000 words exactly! Mwahahahaha! -Cough- Blast it! Can't I laugh manically just once without choking?

I'm such a loser perfectionist. "Eleven words left..." -Types in new sentence whilst counting words- "There...2000 exactly" -Sigh-

Dedications: Obviously, they go to the lovely and talented xAkix who issued me this testing, though very beneficial challenge of a S/K thingie. Riku was sulking at me alot... He's so possessive... Oh... and I have an idea for a Cloud dealie too. And it's all because of you -Thump- Ow! Riku's throwing hard pillows at me now... Hope you enjoy your challenge while I torture a certain slivered haired freak...

Destiny's Light

You never think of the validity of old stories and legends once you step out of the aura of child naivety, do you? The story of darkness lived in me, but I didn't dwell on it that much. Even when I fell from the sky onto some forgotten Island in the depths of existence, I didn't concern myself with the words my Grandma spoke to me at age 5…

Have you ever felt like you're awake in a dream? Things are happening and you can feel the pain? They say it's not possible, but no psychologist can dictate what I felt. I know people feel like they're 'asleep' when they're conscious; going about the day's reality, except you're in such a freakish daze, you wonder if you were ever alive. I want to say I experienced one of these phenomena, but to be honest, I'd probably be lying. I wonder if I should just lie; even if I could find some adequate words to describe what I went through, I doubt anyone would believe me… Think I'm making up a legend of my own…

It started with that door… that bizarre door in our Secret Cave. On that night I lost everything for the second time in my 14 years of existence… That door…called to me. I was asleep; I'm positive I was. It whispered my name with a chilling intent…

I don't remember paddling over…I don't remember walking the beach or entering the Cave. My will…my thoughts…everything just ebbed from my entity like the moon drawn tide. I just recall him calling my name soon afterwards… I reacted, but my voice sounded drugged. How my frail body actually managed to turn is beyond me, and my hand reaching out to him could be doubled with a puppet's. His title left my lips and I shot forward. I looked to him…his arms opened as though to catch me…

…And then…there was darkness…

It's what happened next that perplexes me. I think I finally found a term to accommodate my situation… "Living Ghost"…

Don't scoff… It's hard enough trying to convince myself what happened…Fine! You come up with a description for someone who literally watched her comatose shell get carted amongst a collaboration of ridiculous worlds!

…My eyes blank…head bowed…practically as pale as my corrupted silver paladin… couldn't move… Couldn't speak…caught in the depth of Oblivion…and I couldn't do a thing…no matter how I willed that dead weight to move…

…I only succeeded once… Trapped in some stupid ship cabin with some other girl. She matters not, but I envied her anyways… She could talk, move…live…as opposed to that worthless body of mine… I knew he was on the boat…a previous encounter on the deck detailing it… His sapphires eyes… They...were so happy to gaze at me again…even in a comatose state… It felt strange…nice…

But soon, he found me again…called my name… I cursed and swore at that shell to move…soon begged and pleaded… How I managed to call tears to my formless cheeks is beyond me, but I broke down and cried at myself to move…

My heartless fingers grazed the grate…and he…smiled…

But…I soon lost him… At that point, I considered it to be eternal… After that, I stopped fighting those icy tendrils; let them possess my vision. I guess I just stopped caring…though I suppose that's because fighting to find the light in a hateful pit of darkness is so damn tiring, you constantly question why you bother…

My energy spent…I gave up and accepted the offer of falling through the endless night…

I've always felt this heart-flickering connection with Sora; from the very first day I met him…I guess. I can't say why… Maybe it's his innocent charm…or his amusing hunger for adventure…or his cute imagination…Hmmmmm…

Don't get me wrong; I love Riku too, but he's like a protective brother to me. Sora… I…I don't know…

…For a while…I wondered why my body never became one of those creatures of hell. I mean, that's what happens, right? Heart is devoured; Heartless is born… But that didn't happen…

Icy Oblivion wasn't as numbing as I thought it would be… I could still hear all that was spoken about that pathetic shell of mine. The falling of my Silver Angel… That Keyblade's creation… Hearing that I was a "princess of pure heart" brushed off like an unconvincing sale…the title meaning spit to my limbo-strung self. But then…he came again… He…he found me…again…

I felt a pulse when those white gloves gripped me. It tore through my formless body and shot away the black mist… And then…

"…Kairi's heart rests within you!"

I couldn't think it possible… Sora…holds my…heart? I know he meant literally, but…couldn't there be a deeper reason than that? Who honestly "inherits" a stolen heart?

…Sora…

It wasn't enough that he protected my heart from the darkness while he searched for me across the cosmos…but then…he…that…Keyblade… No…

It's like we were on some twisted scale of fate. My useless 120 lbs finally got to its feet and he…started to fall… Light began to encompass his foolish features, but not the chest-warming light people desire… No… The fading light of his existence… His treasured name weakly left my lips as I pathetically stumbled to him…

…My hands didn't even graze his skin before he disappeared into tiny flickers of sacrificed light… They rose sadly before dying out like the final embers of a cherished flame…

…I've lost him again… No…not again… I didn't leave him the first time… We were still together…but now… The…the stupid fool…

…Sora…

-x-

"Kairi! Come on, the Heartless are coming!" The abrasive sound of that duck's voice, Donald's, snaps my pointless focus and pulls my liquid-filled vision to Sora's two companions who stop at the ramp bottom of the Bastion's Lobby. They're waiting for me… No… I can't…

"No! I won't leave them behind… Sora's heart… I can't…" I hate being a female sometimes…these stupid emotions… They hurt so much…

"You can't help Sora if your heart is devoured by the Heartless!"

"You don't want to waste his sacrifice, do you?" Both voices are different…but I can't discern either… Stupid Sora… Always have to be the hero… You've left me… It hurts so much…

…His sacrifice… He died to… No… not died… Something much worse… Embraced by darkness without hope for salvation and happiness… Oh Sora…

"N-No…but…"

"We'll come back for them…but we have to get out now! There's a Heartless after us!" My body betrays me and propels me forward, down that ramp and to those strange friends of his. Those damned tears wisp into the air as I move, but rather than offer relief from the harsh burning, that release filters failure into my heart… As I abandon the one true light my pathetic existence pertained…

…I…can't…save…him… I've lost…Sora…

…K…Kai…Kairi…

I stop again… Did I just…? N-No…it couldn't have been…

"Confounded Heartless! Get lost, will ya?" I shake off those irrational assumptions at the sound of Donald's wand clunking a seemingly perplexed Shadow on the head. The Shadow… a creature thought to have no form of emotion and often claimed to have little intelligence… it almost seems to defy both counts without the slightest hesitation. It…it blatantly ignores those cracks to the skull and looks…directly at me…

The soulless aureate eyes of the Shadows scare me…so empty and uncaring…they imprint themselves upon your heart before the owner's of said orbs tear the object from your chest…without faltering. But these tarnished ellipses…they…they're different…

…They capture my heart into a stilled state…but…I'm not scared…

The atmosphere around us seems to fade away…it's only that creature and me… There's nothing in those metallic spheres…nothing but lifeless gold…but…

I feel like time pauses about us…slows into a singular frame upon a fate-binding screen…

It seems impossible…almost a fabrication of my pounding and desperate heart… But I swear…

…A flash of light-streaked cerulean passes over my vision…from…the Shadow's eyes themselves…

"…S-Sora… Is that you?"

A savage crash shatters the fervent aura between us as dozens more of these ruinous creatures break through the Hallway door and filter into the vast Lobby. Beneath scattered crimson strands, my eyes widen at their numbers, fear not wishing to make itself scarce any longer. Numerous antennae wave hungrily before they leap down in a wave of obsidian mist. I swear my mind loses control of my body to my heart as it collapses to the ground and becomes a shield to protect that one Shadow…

"Sora!"

I don't know why I did… These Heartless aren't after this random, though familiar, Shadow. They're after Donald, Goofy and me… And of all things…why did I call it…him…?

I can feel the tendriled claws slash viciously at my back, my shoulder blades beginning to feel chillingly warm. Sora's allies shout my name, but all I can really hear is the sound of the shifting darkness striking around me. Emotion falls passionately from my shut eyes as I pull that Heartless closer to me…my heart… His name escapes my lips once more, my breath savouring every note. I know he wanted me to live, but…I had to do this… My heart told me to…

…Sora…

-An image is called to my heart almost instantly when my tears escape, as though they displayed the memory themselves. I was crying…scared…upset…alone… Riku…my "appointed big brother" wasn't there… It wasn't his fault, but I was so scared… I ran for so long, unsure where I was going or anything else, but it didn't matter… I was alone…

Somehow, I ran into him…Sora… By chance or fate, it didn't matter. He was always like a kid…personal charm…but I didn't think he could help…

"I…..I….wish Riku were here…. I'm so scared…. Sora…"

I was wrong…

"Well… I ain't Riku…but…it doesn't mean I can't defend you from your nightmares… Trust me…"

"What if that thing that sent me here returns…? And I'm taken again… I don't wanna leave… I love this Island…and you and Riku are my only real friends…I don't want to lose everything again… I don't want to forget… I don't--"

His arms surrounded me and held me against his chest until I felt better. All I can recall afterwards were his concerned, but warm sapphire eyes and a soft, though kinda goofy grin as he promised he'd "protect me from whatever concoction…erm…Riku word…life created…" He never lied…-

…Sora…

The sensation of his arms possessively guarding my shaking entity suddenly becomes all too real as that strange warmth filters into my chest… My head feels like…no…it can't be…

"I've got you, Kairi…":

My eyes force themselves open… It is… I am…

-His heart pulses so strongly against my cheek…­­-

"Thank you…"

I pull away at his words and look up tearfully, those stupid emotions blurring the most cherished image of my life… Sparkling sapphire embraces my fuzzy vision and that smile… pulls at his blurred lips. The radiant light emanates around him so beautifully…it's almost painful to bear witness to. His hand lightly brushes at my cheeks, freeing them of my previous fright and sorrowed emotions. I tried to save him and he protected me again… Crazy idiot…

"S…Sora…" He nods and his smile widens; my vision finally clears and his gloves don't hesitate to absorb those stupid drops either. I was almost afraid to blink…Afraid he will just dissipate into the uncaring atmosphere once again. But softly, his palm cups my emotion-splashed cheek, his thumb gently stroking the damp flesh. He moves slightly closer, his entrancing breath draping over my lips and neck. It tastes so sweet, like his heart, but also scared…like his thoughts mirror my own.

"I've finally found you, Kairi… I won't lose you again…I promise…" His azure vision embraces my own before his hand reluctantly drops from my cheek to grip my wrist. As we're driven from the Bastion, a solitary thought and comfort weaves its warm entity into my heart…

…I…I…didn't lose him… No…I never lost him… Sora… My… My…

Light…