AUTHOR'S NOTES:

Kingdom Hearts III Data Fights will be the death of me.

(Seriously reconsidering Vanitas' place in this story after he's spent the last three days kicking my keyblade to the curb repeatedly.)

So to calm my data-fight infused rage I am uploading this chapter a few days earlier than I planned. I need some happy fluff. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE | KADIRA

Kairi couldn't breathe. The sound of her grandmother's voice felt like coming home; the sight of the embroidered flowers around the hem of her apron brought back memories of fireside sewing sessions as the wind howled outside. Before Kairi could stop herself she had rushed in to her grandmother's arms. Her grandmother held her close, the hug tight and tender all at once a Kairi buried her face in her grandmother's shawl. She smelled like baking… like apples and cinnamon. Kairi clung to her tightly, losing herself in the sound of her grandmother's laughter.

"Let me look at you," she sighed at long last, holding Kairi at arm's length. Kairi was taller than her now, and it felt strange to be looking down at her grandmother instead of up. "How you've grown! You look so much like your mother… but you have your father's nose. Just like mine." She tapped her nose twice and Kairi couldn't help the giggle that rose in her throat. Her grandmother raised a warm hand to cup her cheek and brush away a wayward tear.

"Now, now, dear," she said softly, "this isn't the time for tears. Why don't you both come inside and I'll put on some tea? Oh, my apples…" She glanced down at fruit which had rolled out of her fallen bags. She bent slowly, lowering herself towards the ground with one hand pressing in to her back.

"Let me get that," Axel volunteered, skirting around them both to scoop the apples from the dirt.

"Oh you are a gentleman," she said. Kairi saw Axel's ears flush red as her grandmother reached for her. "Can you help me, Kairi? I'm not as young as I used to be." Kairi held out her arm and her grandmother pulled herself upright again with a gentle smile. Her hand remained in the crook of Kairi's elbow as Axel handed the bags back to her before she led them slowly inside.

Stepping inside was like crossing the threshold in to a dream. Suddenly everything seemed so surreal as everything seemed brand new and yet so familiar all at once – like a perpetual sense of déjà vu. Her grandmother led her round to the right, past the small dining table and in to the kitchen where she asked Axel to put the apples in to the sink and fill it with cool water.

"Of all the ways I dreamed of you coming back to me," her grandmother began, "it was never on the arm of such a fine young man. Quite a catch you have there, my dear." Axel stiffened over the sink, his shoulders leaping up towards his ears. Kairi felt her cheeks flush.

"O-oh no, we're not… it's not like that," Kairi said quickly, though the words came out in a quiet squeak. "Axel is just a friend. A very good friend." Her grandmother arched an eyebrow.

"In my personal experience, very good friends often become something more, given enough time," she said with a smile. Axel cleared his throat and turned away from the basin.

"I'm sorry to disappoint but Kairi's already spoken for," he said with a charming smile.

"Is she now?" she asked. "Well I hope I'll get to meet him soon too." She turned expectantly to Kairi who felt her stomach churning slightly. Her voice had truly abandoned her now, and it seemed she could do little more than stand there awkwardly until Axel came to her rescue.

"He's travelling right now," he said, "but I'm sure Kairi will bring him to meet you once he's back. Right, Kairi?" She nodded slowly. Her grandmother reached for her hand, offering her a patient smile.

"Here, dear, why don't you sit?" She led Kairi to the dining room table and sat her by the window. "And… Axel, was it? Come and take a seat. I'll get us some tea." She quickly ushered Axel out of the kitchen and set to filling a kettle. Doors squeaked open and closed as she shuffled from one cabinet to the next, pulling out mugs and spoons and teabags and setting them all on the counter. Axel slid in to the seat next to Kairi and nudged her lightly with his elbow, startling her from her stupor.

"You okay?" he asked quietly. She nodded, unable to tear her eyes away from her grandmother as she continued to bustle around the kitchen, humming under her breath.

"It feels so strange," she answered, "like I'm in some kind of a dream."

"A good dream?"

"A very good dream," she said with a nod.

"I thought you said you didn't remember anything about your past," he said. "You remembered your grandmother when you saw her. Do you remember anything else?"

"When my heart was with Sora and he travelled through Radiant Garden, I remembered us sitting in the library together," she answered. "Now that I'm here, I feel like I remember this cottage… this table… The more I see, the more I think I can remember." The corner of Axel's mouth lifted in to a fond smile as her grandmother arrived with a tray of tea and biscuits.

"I can't tell you how happy I am to see you again," she said as she settled in across the table from them. "The day you disappeared… I thought you were lost forever, but here you are. A young woman, and so beautiful! Just like your mother. How I wish your parents could see you now..." She trailed off, her tone wistful and her eyes glistening. Kairi swallowed thickly past the lump in her throat and her hands trembled around her tea.

"Where are they?" she asked. Her grandmother's expression fell a little and she stared at Kairi with such longing and sadness that Kairi's heart skipped a sympathetic beat.

"After you disappeared, it was terribly difficult," she said, her voice soft. "Your mother disappeared a little after you did; vanished without a trace. As for your father… He was so lost without you both. He moved back in with me here, but he was never himself again. Not long after that there came a terrible darkness… It swept through our world like a plague, and it… it took your father. He fell to despair, like so many." The smallest of smiles broke through her sadness, like sunlight through storm clouds, and she reached across the table to squeeze Kairi's hand tightly. "They would both be so happy to see you well. They've been watching over you, I'm sure." Kairi swallowed thickly past the lump in her throat.

"I wish I could remember them," she said. "I have hardly any memories of my life here."

"Well that's to be expected, dear," her grandmother said firmly, pulling her hand back to wrap it around her teacup. "You were so small when you disappeared. I'm surprised you even remembered me. Surprised and delighted." She smiled in to her tea as she took a sip. "Now I want to hear all about you. Where have you been?" Kairi felt her stomach tighten and she glanced desperately to Axel. She'd never been told the ins and outs of protecting the world order, but she'd gathered enough in passing to know that it probably wasn't that good of an idea to start telling her grandmother about other worlds.

"It was somewhere very far from here," Axel said carefully. "Very remote, and cut off from this w- town. That's why it's taken her so long to get back." Her grandmother nodded sagely.

"Another world, then." Axel's eyes bulged. Kairi let out a surprised squeak. Even Vanitas seemed more than a little concerned at how calmly she said it. She chuckled. "Oh it's the worst kept secret in Radiant Garden that there are other worlds out there. That funny little fellow, Mr McDuck, he's been to several of them I believe."

"Scrooge McDuck?" Axel asked.

"That's him," she said. "Started the ice-cream shop on the far side of town before he left on some other new venture. Haven't seen him since. A shame, really; he was a fine chap. And let's see… I'm fairly sure half of the Restoration Committee have been to other worlds, or they've met people who have at any rate. There was a funny young fellow a few years ago, asking questions about travelling beyond the stars… And your mother, too; it wouldn't have surprised me to find out that she was from somewhere else." Kairi frowned.

"My mother?"

"Oh yes," her grandmother continued. "I knew almost every little girl and boy your father's age, and I watched them grow in to young men and women. When your father brought Jiniya home for the first time, I didn't recognise her at all – not her face nor her name."

"Jiniya," Kairi repeated. "It's such a pretty name."

"A pretty name for a pretty young woman," her grandmother said fondly. "The first time your father saw her was at the market, and he wouldn't stop talking about her for weeks afterwards. Always going on about her beautiful hair or her eyes or her smile… I thought he was exaggerating until he finally managed to bring her home."

"Finally?" Axel asked. "What took him so long?"

"Well she wasn't interested," she said bluntly. Kairi's eyes widened. "She kept saying she was looking for someone, and that she wasn't looking for any kind of commitment, but your father was a persistent little devil. He wooed her with flowers and chocolates and frankly awful poetry until she decided to give him a chance. And a good thing she did, too; I've never a seen a couple more in love than your mother and father."

"Really?" Kairi asked.

"Oh yes," she said. "They would have gone to the ends of the earth for each other, and after you came along they took all the love they had for each other and shared it with you."

"What was my father's name?" Kairi asked.

"Your father was called Edsel, named after your great, great grandfather, Edric," she said. "And you were named after me."

"I was?"

"Yes, dear. It's somewhat of a tradition to pass down names in our family. I was named after a great aunt on my father's side. She was called Kaiella, which meant beautiful one. My name is Kadira, which means descendent of beauty, and your name means radiant beauty. The women in our family have been very fortunate in our looks." She pursed her lips and fluffed her hair and Kairi couldn't help but laugh at how ridiculous (and how painfully familiar) it looked.

A clock on the mantel chimed. Her grandmother looked towards the empty fireplace in shock.

"That time already!" she breathed. "I must have spent longer at the market than I thought. Franne really can talk the leaves off the trees when she gets going." She turned back to them both with a smile. "You will stay for dinner, won't you? We have so much to talk about." Kairi turned to Axel again then and he responded with a shrug.

"I can let Riku and the others know that you won't be back for dinner tonight," he offered. Her grandmother tutted loudly.

"Oh come now, young man, you're most welcome to stay too," she said firmly. "I'm sure you have plenty of stories about my Kairi that I'd love to hear. And one guest isn't half as fun as two." Axel glanced to Kairi then.

"Please stay, Axel," she said. He pursed his lips thoughtfully before giving in with a dramatic sigh.

"Well if you insist," he huffed with a grin.

"I do," her grandmother said firmly. "Kairi, why don't you come and help me in the kitchen? This pie isn't going to bake itself." Axel stepped outside then to make the call and Kairi followed her grandmother in to the kitchen. Her grandmother quickly showed her through all the cupboards before pointing in the direction of the small pantry under the stairs and reading out ingredients for Kairi to bring back with her.

"Need a hand?" Axel teased when he came back in to find her reaching for a tub of flour on the top shelf.

"I got it," she said with a grin, though her fingers barely grazed the side of the tub. Axel folded his arms and watched her with an amused smirk.

"Y'know, there's a footstool right next to you if you need a lift," he said after watching her struggle. She turned to stick out her tongue over her shoulder before finally admitting defeat. Too proud to ask for his help now, she snared the footstool and lifted herself up to grab the flour.

"Were the others okay?" she asked as she searched for cinnamon and brown sugar.

"Yeah they're fine," he said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I just told them that we'd met someone you used to know and that you and I were gonna sort ourselves. I figured I'd leave it up to you if you wanted to tell them who it was that we found." The gesture was oddly comforting and she smiled gratefully at him before loading him up with ingredients.

They skirted back around the counter and as her grandmother began unloading the ingredients on to the worktop she was quick to set them to work. Axel excused himself as fast as he could ("Really, you don't want me behind a stove," he'd said with a nervous laugh) and her grandmother had instead set him to work washing and preparing the apples whilst she and Kairi got to work on the pastry.

"So tell me more about where you grew up," her grandmother said as she measured out the flour.

"It's a handful of islands," she answered. "It's quite small."

"So you must have been close to the sea."

"I could see it from my bedroom window," she answered with a nod. "We lived at the top of a hill, and I got the best views when the sun set."

"And what about the people that raised you? What were they like?" her grandmother asked. Kairi swallowed thickly and took her time measuring the butter.

"They're really nice," she said. "I think you'd like them, especially my…" She trailed off. What should she call them now that she knew about her real mother and father? Was it still okay to call them that? Would her grandmother be upset? Her grandmother reached over to take the butter with a gentle smile.

"Your mother? Or your father?" she asked. When Kairi remained silent she placed a floury hand atop Kairi's and squeezed it gently. "They still raised you and loved you like their own, Kairi. Finding out about your parents here doesn't change that." Kairi chewed the inside of her cheek thoughtfully.

"My mum," she said at long last. "She likes to bake too. When I was little we used to bake paopu cookies together." Her grandmother laughed and started mixing the butter in to the flour.

"What's a paopu cookie?" she asked.

"Back on the islands we have this fruit called a paopu fruit and it's shaped like a star," she explained. "So when you make paopu cookies, you cut the dough in to a star shape and then you decorate them with icing. They're supposed to be yellow with green leaves, but mum used to decorate them with patterns and shapes in lots of different colours."

"And do you put any of this paopu fruit in to the cookie?" she asked. Kairi shook her head.

"You can, but you're only supposed to share a paopu fruit with someone that you really care about, so most people just use lots of sugar and lemon," she said.

"And what makes sharing this fruit so special?"

"It's just an old wive's tale," she said with a shrug, "but the story goes that if you share a paopu fruit with someone that you care about then your destinies are intertwined forever." She remembered the last one she'd eaten, sitting on the crooked paopu tree with Sora at her side. She had picked two, not willing to take any chances – they'd each taken a bite of the other's before eating the rest. She remembered the juice running down Sora's chin. Her grandmother smiled.

"Well then you'll have to bring me one some day so that we can make sure our destinies are intertwined forever." Her eyes misted over and she stopped mixing to look up. "I couldn't stand to lose you again, Kairi."

It didn't take long for them to make the rest of the pie. Axel chopped the apples while Kairi lined the tin with pie crust, and then her grandmother placed the pieces of apple in to a delicate arrangement. Together she and Kairi rolled the remaining mix and cut it in to strips to make a lattice that they lay over the top of the pie.

"The secret," her grandmother whispered not-so-quietly, "is an extra dash of cinnamon and just a little sprinkling of salt. Really brings out the sweetness in the apples."

After placing the pie in the oven she set about starting dinner. She tasked Axel with starting a fire to ward off the early evening chill that was starting to seep in through the windows. Axel was more than happy to oblige, and after sweeping out the remnants of last night's fire he made his way outside to collect logs and kindling from the small wood shed.

Kairi found herself drawn towards the empty fireplace, and she ran her hands over the mismatched furniture. The large purple armchair was her grandmother's favourite seat, and the thick-knit blanket draped across its back brought back memories of curling up in front of the fire with it wrapped tightly around her shoulders. The burgundy love seat was covered in a patchwork throw and pillows with hand-embroidered flowers in every colour. If Kairi thought hard enough she could remember her parents sitting there, curled up beside each other, but it was impossible to remember their faces. Next to the loveseat was a giant, threadbare pillow. Kairi crouched beside it, running her fingers over the worn fabric.

"You could spend hours on that pillow," her grandmother said fondly. She was standing behind the loveseat, drying her hands on a dish towel. "Every market day you and I would go up to the castle library and pick out some new books, and then we'd come back via the market to pick up ingredients so that we could bake together. Once it was in the oven I used to light the fire and you would curl up right there with your book." She walked around to the dresser and withdrew a carefully wrapped bundle which she handed to Kairi. The pink silk was faded and moth-eaten in places, and the knot was tied tight. Kairi knelt on the pillow and placed the package in her lap to tackle the knot with two hands.

"I couldn't take myself to return the last books you borrowed," her grandmother continued with a tight smile. "It was too much, to go back there with you. Luckily the custodian… he understood. He let me keep them."

She remembered them all; The Fern in the Flower Field, The Moonlight Garden, and The Tales of Hopsy Flopsy. She pulled the last one from the pile, running her fingers over the cover. It had been her favourite. She could remember curling up between her parents in the loveseat as they read to her; her mother would read the story but her father did all the voices. All of a sudden she found herself remembering how he would screw up his nose and use his fingers like whiskers whenever he was pretending to be Farri the Fieldmouse.

Bundled behind the books was a threadbare plush rabbit. It seemed so much smaller than she remembered. One of its eyes was missing, and one of its ears had been patched up with so many different pieces of cloth that there was hardly any of the original fabric left. She held the rabbit close and buried her face in its belly; beneath the musty damp there was an indescribable smell that made her heart swell. Her grandmother chuckled.

"I gave you that rabbit when you were just a baby," she said. "You used to carry it round with its ear in your mouth." Kairi looked at the patchwork ear and crinkled her nose.

"I don't think I'd be brave enough to do that now," she replied. Her grandmother laughed.

"No, I don't think that would be wise," she agreed. Kairi set Hopsy on her lap and began to flick through the books, running her hands across the familiar pictures. The feeling of déjà vu was returning as each page was new and familiar all at once.

"There was a story you used to read to me," Kairi said. "I remember bits of it… something about the light and the dark, and the children… What was it called?" Her grandmother perched on the arm of the loveseat and folded her hands in her lap.

"I don't know that it ever had a name," she said. "It was your mother's story. She used to tell it to you when you were a baby and you wouldn't sleep. Over the years I heard it so many times that I could tell it too. You always used to tell me that I told it better than your mother did." She finished with a mischievous smile and Kairi laughed a little at the thought.

"I hope I can hear you tell it again some time," she said.

"Perhaps after dinner, before you and your friend head home." She sighed and looked around. "I wish I had the room for you to both stay with me, but you're a little too tall to curl up on the sofa anymore."

Probably not the best time to tell her you spent a couple of years sleeping in the dirt, right? Vanitas quipped.

"It's fine, we're staying with friends in town," she said.

"I hope I can meet them some day."

"I'm sure you will."

Axel chose that moment to re-enter (and Kairi couldn't help but feel it was a deliberate decision, given that he only had an armful of wood and the wood shed was scarcely more than ten steps from the back door). He flashed her a bright smile before he turned his attention to the fireplace, carefully stacking kindling and fire starters beneath several larger logs. He tried his best to light it with her grandmother's fire steel, but after several failed attempts he glanced over his shoulder to make sure she was distracted in the kitchen before shooting fire from his fingertips.

Their dinner was better than Kairi could have ever expected. Not only was the cottage pie delicious, each mouthful brought back a wave of nostalgia that left her reeling. Her grandmother fussed over Axel between bites, complimenting his hair and his keen eyes and challenging his wit at every opportunity until he was left flustered and floundering.

After dinner Kairi and Axel insisted on clearing away the dishes (well, Kairi insisted and glared at Axel from the corner of her eye until he begrudgingly volunteered to help). Kairi washed, Axel dried, and her grandmother put everything back in its rightful home before she set about wrapping up the remains of the pie and handing it to Axel.

"For your friends," she said, patting Axel's elbow lightly. She glanced at the clock on the mantel and sighed. "It's late. Too late for that story tonight, Kairi. You'll have to hear it tomorrow. You will come back and see me again, won't you?"

"Of course!" she promised. Her grandmother's face lit up in a smile.

"You're welcome too of course, Axel," she said. "I can't tell you how grateful I am for you bringing my Kairi home to me." Axel's cheeks flushed.

"Y-you're welcome, ma'am," he stammered. She swatted his elbow lightly.

"You call me Kadira," she corrected firmly for the hundredth time that night. "I'll not have anyone standing on ceremony under my roof." Axel had nodded tightly.

It was with great reluctance that they finally left the cottage. Her grandmother hugged them both tightly and wished them goodnight, and she lingered in the doorway silhouetted by the light until they were out of sight. As they came upon the bridge Axel nudged Kairi lightly with his elbow.

"Are you all right?" he asked softly. It took a while for the question to work its way through her frazzled brain.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, though it was more automatic than anything.

"You sure?" She shook herself from her stupor. The bridge creaked underfoot.

"It's just… I never really thought about my family," she said. "I wanted to find out where I came from and how I got to the islands, but I never stopped to think about my parents or…" She slowed to a halt and glanced back over her shoulder. The cottage was truly out of sight now, but her gaze lingered back along the path.

"It's okay to be a little overwhelmed by all this," he said. "It's a lot to take in, and you didn't exactly know what you were gonna find here. It'll probably take a day or to for you to figure out what you're feeling."

"I can't believe I ever forgot about them," she murmured. Axel arched an eyebrow.

"You didn't notice, did you?"

"Notice what?"

"The flowers around the cottage, they're the same as the ones on your keyblade." He paused and smiled. "You didn't forget them, Kairi. Not really." The realisation made her heart swell and she glanced back along the back again, half-tempted to run back to the cottage to see for herself. Eventually she thought better of the idea, and instead nodded and smiled. They walked the rest of the way home in silence, Kairi's hand holding Hopsy tightly in her pocket.

I'm so glad that I veto'd the Princess Kairi plot, but honestly this chapter is so much better without it. I'm having so much fun writing Kairi's grandma. She's a little bit of Julie Andrews, a little bit of Judi Dench, and a spoonful or two of my own nana and grandma. I grew up around markets and still attend them now, and the monthly Radiant Garden market is very heavily inspired by a regular trader's market that I have a stall at every month in the summer.

Originally there was another scene in this chapter, but once it was all written out this was the only real place where I could put a chapter break in without us creeping up on the 10k word count again, and personally that's just too long to read in one sitting (and, unlike a book, it's fairly difficult to mark your spot mid-chapter on FFnet to pick up later).

On the plus side, it means that I'll be uploading again in the next few days so you won't have to wait too long. See you then!