Wow a lil short chapter this time around! Took me surprisingly long to write though, probably because Sora isn't in it which is just plain weird. Anyway this is a good interval in my opinion, a nice way to ease into our final full fledged Disney world and to tie or bring in a few loose plot ends as we start to gear up for the (rather quickly) upcoming climax. So... enjoy!


Chapter 58: Change of Heart, Change of Fate

Abunai, abunai, abuna -
Abunai abunai, abuna - abunai

A startled cry echoes out of the light gate that suddenly appears amidst an otherwise desolate canyon. Naminé bites back the tail end of that cry when she lands hard on the dusty ground, unable to stand her ground against Vanitas suddenly shoving her. What catches her off guard, however, is that her captor also collapses right next to her in the seconds after his light gate disappears.

Vanitas lets out an agonized yell, one hand gripping his chest as his other digs into the brittle earth below him. Naminé scrambles to sit up, pulling herself away from him out of instinctual fear alone. Even so, she can only watch as his agonized shout intensifies, as he throws his head back, as light, so bright it's nearly blinding, begins to engulf his limbs, enshroud his head, envelop his entire body until he's all but consumed by it. His frantic screams suddenly shift into shrill, inhuman screeches as gravity loses its hold over him, forcing him to float. His body straightens itself up, his limbs coming to hang loosely by his sides, his eyes opening to reveal void black pools to contrast the pure white light surrounding them. As his unnerving transformation reaches completion, Vanitas falls into silence and stillness, hovering hauntingly just a few short inches above the ground, a beacon of bright, yet utterly empty light. Light that has leached him of any semblance of control or awareness, of any kind of autonomy or emotion. Light that has just about sucked the life out of him completely.

After spending a moment or two awash in silent awe and shaken terror, Naminé finally remembers to breathe. She stands, anxiously sparing a glance at their surroundings. The compact nighttime streets of Traverse Town have been switched out for perhaps the most obvious place Vanitas could have brought them to: the Keyblade Graveyard. The dry, humid air pairs with the uncertain sky and vast expanse of dead, decaying weapons to create an atmosphere that's undeniably lonely, a place that Naminé has only ever seen within the memories of others. A place that she's never had even the slightest desire to visit for all of the strife that has been seen here, modern and ancient alike.

But she's here anyway, stuck in this miserable place with no one but her careless captor, a captor who just so happens to be lost to the light, lost to himself, lost to the fact that she's even present at all, it seems. Carefully and slowly, Naminé walks a wide circle around Vanitas to confirm that he doesn't seem to be cognizant of her, or if he is, he's clearly not showing any signs of it. She stays behind him after that circle is complete, surveying the more immediate area as she tries to weigh her options. They're perched on one of the many clifftops surrounding the graveyard's countless broken, battered Keyblades, a cliff that looks down on that lifeless scene from high above. There doesn't seem to be much of a way down, and without the power to create light gates or dark corridors herself, that leaves Naminé essentially no method of escape. She sighs, disgruntled as the all too common truth sets in for her once again: she's trapped and there's not a single thing she can do about it.

"I'm sorry, Master Eraqus…" she mutters as she walks past Vanitas. She sits down on the cliffside, letting her legs dangle over the edge as she stares down at the monument of long-past destruction below. "I guess I couldn't do it after all…"

She couldn't set things right, and now, the final sacrifice Eraqus had made for her will be in vain. She couldn't set things right, and now, Sora is somewhere worlds away, still starving, still scared, still suffering. She couldn't set things right, and now… here she is. Lost, alone, aimless… worthless. Just like she's always been. Just like she'll always be.

In the absence of anything else to do, Naminé pulls out her sketchbook and begins drawing. She has no particular subject in mind, so her lines largely find their places on the page without much thought or purpose. She intentionally avoids going to her usual "muse", avoids looking at any of Sora's memories, not wanting to see any sort of reminder of the massive mistake she'd made in trying to "help" him. What had she been thinking, trying to convince him to let her erase his memories? Why did she even think up such a feeble, deceitful scheme, much less suggest it to him? Why did she panic so much that she thought her horrid plan was the better alternative to Vanitas'?

Why did she simply stand there when Sora ran off again? Why didn't she try going after him, why didn't she try harder to save him? Why didn't she fight harder for her own freedom, why wasn't she trying harder to escape?

Why is it that any time she tries doing anything anymore she does it wrong?

Seconds turn to minutes and minutes soon become hours. The graveyard remains unchanged and abandoned as ever and Vanitas doesn't move, doesn't make a sound, doesn't awaken from whatever ghostly trance the light has put him under. And so Naminé keeps drawing… and drawing… and drawing. The only thing she can do to keep herself sane, to keep herself from falling to pieces any more than she already has.

She's so caught up in her latest sketch that she doesn't even notice when the blazing glow begins to fade from Vanitas' form. In fact, she only sparsely glances over her shoulder when she hears him fall, limp and exhausted, to the ground, back to normal and breathless from just how much of a strain his strange transformation had left him with. Naminé tries not to spare any sort of sympathy for the boy who captured her and plans to use her as bait… and yet…

"Are you alright?" she asks quietly, her face a mask of forced indifference as she keeps her focus on him.

Vanitas heaves in an unsteady breath, sweat shining on his forehead as he glares up at her. "What do you care?" he hisses, groaning as he covers his aching heart once more.

"...Sorry for asking," Naminé mutters indignantly, turning away from him. She says nothing more as she continues drawing, tensing just the slightest bit when she hears Vanitas' footsteps approach her only a few seconds later.

"What are you doing?" he asks coldly, standing over her.

"Drawing," Naminé replies simply, not looking up from her sketchbook.

"Why?"

"Because," she decides to answer honestly, knowing she has nothing to gain and even less to lose. "It's what I do when there's nothing else to do."

"...That's stupid," Vanitas sneers, crossing his arms.

"Maybe it is," Naminé shrugs. "But it helps."

"Helps with what?" Vanitas asks, raising a critical eyebrow. "You're not even doing anything worthwhile. You're just scribbling a bunch of nothing onto a page. What could that possibly do to-"

"It gives me a chance to be in control of something when everything else has been ripped out of my hands," Naminé interrupts, her tone distant, her mind somewhere far away. "It lets me escape from just how bad reality can be, even if it's only for a little while. It… it helps me feel like I'm free… even when I know that I'm not."

They both fall into silence after this, but even then, Naminé can practically sense Vanitas' eyes watching her hand's every move. She doesn't particularly care to draw for an audience, so she decides to turn to a blank page and turns her sketchbook over to him. "Do you want to try?" she asks, clearly catching him off guard.

Vanitas draws in a sharp breath to harshly turn her down, though as he steals another look at the book and at the girl offering it to him, he feels strangely compelled to take it. "Whatever," he mutters, taking a seat next to Naminé as she hands the sketchbook and her set of crayons over to him. At first, she suspects he might only be agreeing just to get his hands on the book and toss it over the cliff into the graveyard below. But to her slight surprise, he selects a black crayon and holds it over the page in hesitation. "What am I even supposed to draw anyway?" he asks, annoyed.

"Whatever you want," Naminé can't help but manage a small, amused smile at this. "Don't worry; I won't watch if you don't want me to."

"Ugh, this is so dumb…" Vanitas rolls his eyes. Though before he makes even a single mark on the page, he glances up to make sure Naminé isn't observing. He sighs in defeat as he begins his piece, wearing a scowl all the while as he works and voices the question that's at the top of his mind. "Why didn't you try to run away when I was… like that?"

"There's not really anywhere to run," Naminé replies, keeping her sights set on the distant, dusty horizon. "Besides, you were… I didn't just want to…" "I didn't want to just leave you here like that," her heart presses her to say, but her mouth refuses to let her get the words out. Because she knows she shouldn't feel sorry for him, she doesn't owe him anything after how poorly he's treated her. But for as much as her mind tells her she should hate him, her heart stubbornly sees things far differently. Her magic gives her glimpses of his past, of his pain. And that kind of pain is something that her conscience simply can't ignore, no matter how much she might want to. "Why do you keep coming back here?" she decides to pose a question of her own. "You spent so much time here alone, all because Xehanort forced you to. But he can't control you anymore; you don't have to be here. So why are you?"

Vanitas glances up from his drawing, eyeing Naminé suspiciously. "How do you know all that?" he asks, even more on guard than he'd been before.

"I… can see it in your memories," she explains, looking down. "Like I told Sora, I have power over memories. Not just his–but those of anyone connected to him. Including you."

"Tch, and just when I thought being connected to that moron couldn't be any more of a nuisance," Vanitas grumbles, his strokes upon the page turning darker, more aggressive. "He's nothing but a weak, idiotic chump who's too nice for his own good. I hated him from the minute I laid eyes on him."

"But… he looks just like you," Naminé notes with a frown.

"I know, why else do you think I wanted to-" He cuts himself off, not wanting to say too much, not wanting to let her pry any more into his privacy than she apparently already has. Not wanting to let her know just how deep his hatred truly runs, both for Sora… and for himself.

"You wanted to kill him and Ventus, I know," Naminé recounts all the same. "But why? What would you have gained from ending either of their lives? Why do you think that would have made you feel any less worse than you already do?"

"Shut up," Vanitas replies bitterly, gripping his crayon so tightly that it nearly snaps in half. "I don't have to tell you anything."

And yet, for her part, Naminé doesn't stop trying to get answers, doesn't stop trying to figure out the truth that Vanitas seems almost too scared to let her, or anyone else, in on. "What made you think that merging with Sora would have even forged the X-Blade at all?" she asks, looking over at him again. "If it didn't work when you tried it with Ventus, why would it have worked with Sora?"

"Shut up," Vanitas repeats, his sharp crimson gaze refusing to meet her inquiring blue one.

"What would you have even done if you had gotten your hands on the X-Blade?" Naminé goes on, unafraid, unable to back down now. "What if it didn't make you feel as 'whole' as you think it will? Why are you so obsessed with being whole to begin with-"

"I said SHUT UP!" Vanitas shouts, his voice echoing across the graveyard. White spikes shoot up along the entire cliff face beneath them, a myriad of Unversed springing into existence, most of which scramble out of the immediate vicinity. Naminé isn't startled by them, she doesn't even flinch. Instead, she continues staring him down, even as he returns that stare with a hateful, blood red scowl. "You may think you know everything about me, sunshine, but you don't."

"I think I know enough," Naminé argues unflinchingly, undeterred by his violent fury. "I know that Xehanort was the one who told you that you were incomplete. He was the one who told you that the only way to end all of your suffering was to forge the X-Blade for him."

Vanitas finally reaches his tipping point when he hears this, the black crayon snapping in two as he pitches the sketchbook over the edge of the cliff in a blind rage. Naminé doesn't react to it's apparent loss, knowing she can summon it back to her as easily as he can summon his Keyblade. She remains calm as he jumps to his feet, his face hot as he yells at her, as even more Unversed swarm around him, as he unleashes his dangerous anger on her and her alone. "You don't know what you're talking about!" he shouts viciously. "I'm not doing any of this for him. I HATE him! Everything I've done since the day I wised up and left him has been for me, and me alone!"

"Has it?" Naminé raises a skeptical eyebrow. "Because as far as I can tell, nothing's changed. Even though you've broken free from him, you're still doing exactly what he always wanted you to. You're still trying to be what he made you to become."

"No, I'm not! I… I-I-" Vanitas shouts again as he fails to come up with anything to say in his defense, any way to prove something so undeniable wrong. His breathing hitches, his tight fists shake at his sides, his mind races for words that won't come, and his eyes burn with tears that he desperately tries to keep from falling. Because she's right, he knows she's right, knows that he's still every bit as stuck in the same pointless rut as he's been in since the day his miserable existence began. He's still trying to become something more than what he is, something he knows he can never be on his own. He's still trying to be the Blade, to be something stronger, someone better… and he's still falling short every single step of the way.

He draws in a shaky breath as he slowly sits back down next to Naminé. She says nothing as his hands slide over his face, as a small, dejected sob finally escapes him. If she was trying her hardest not to feel sorry for him before, she struggles even more against it now. His entire life has been agonizing; she can see it at a glance, watch all of his grief, his anger, his abuse unfold from afar. He was born as a simple, faceless creature of darkness, yet somehow became something more, something that even Xehanort could have never anticipated.

He became human. A human struggling to understand his existence, his purpose, his reason for living. And as a recently-turned human herself, Naminé finds that she can heavily relate.

Her sketchbook flashes back into her hands as she briefly flips to the page Vanitas had been working on. He didn't really draw much of anything, only colored just about every inch of the paper pitch black. It doesn't take her long to figure out what it might mean, how it symbolizes the darkness that he's lost, the darkness he still thinks he needs to get back. The darkness that he finally needs to realize he can and should learn to live without.

"I've been there, you know," Naminé mutters after what feels like ages. She turns to a new page, a blank slate as she begins another drawing, this time letting only her heart guide her lines along the paper. "I know what it's like to be treated like you don't deserve to exist. I know how it feels to only be used by someone who only wants what they think they can get out of you. I know how hard it is to be seen as just… the shadow of someone else, someone who matters so much more than you do. Someone you know you can never be like, you know you can never have what they have… no matter how much you wish you could…"

Vanitas looks over at her, on the verge of coldly telling her he doesn't care about her baggage when he has plenty to carry of his own. But what he ends up saying is something else altogether. "What do you mean?" he asks, his tone empty, emotionless. Exhausted in far more ways than one.

"I am–I mean, I was a Nobody," Naminé begins to explain, not glancing up from her drawing. "Kairi's Nobody. On its own, that would have been… fine, I guess. I mean, yeah I wouldn't have had a heart, but at least I would have been left alone–I would have been safe. But instead… I have the power to see and change Sora's memories, a power that Organization XIII was all too happy to exploit. They forced me to alter his memories so they could control him, and even after he put a stop to their plans… it still wasn't over. I had to spend a year fixing what I broke and the entire time, a man named DiZ… 'kept an eye on me'. I would have been much better off without him around though; he told me that because I was a Nobody, I'd never belong anywhere, that no one would ever care about me or want me around… And well, when that's the only thing you've ever been told, it's kind of hard for you not to believe it…"

Another beat of silence passes between the pair as Vanitas keeps his largely unreadable gaze fixed on Naminé. He tries to make sense of this odd girl, tries to understand why she's so willing to open up to someone she barely knows, much less someone who dragged her off against her will. It's only as he catches sight of what she's drawing, an image of herself, standing without another soul by her side, that he realizes…. maybe he's finally met someone just as lonely as he is.

"Xehanort would call me an 'abomination'," he speaks up, his voice barely above a whisper as he pulls one knee to his chest, letting the other dangle off the cliff edge. "He said Ventus led a lucky life, while I was lucky to be allowed to live at all. He'd leave me alone here for days, weeks, sometimes months at a time. And when he returned, he'd… he would…"

"...He'd hurt you," Naminé finishes where Vanitas can't.

He sighs, his tone conveying well just how tired he is, just how beaten, and battered, and bitter that constant abuse has left him. "He told me that pain would make me stronger," he explains, glaring down at the graveyard where it had all happened years ago. "He told me that each time he struck me with his Keyblade, it would temper me into the kind of weapon he wanted me to become. And for the longest time I just… believed him. I… I trusted him, because what else was I supposed to do? Aside from Ventus… he was all I knew…"

"So… what made you turn against him?" Naminé wonders, still missing that particular piece of the puzzle.

"When he brought me back to life, he told me he was giving me a 'second chance', a way to make up for failing him before," Vanitas spits the words out crossly. "He said I should be 'grateful' that he's such a 'generous' master, that I should bow to his feet and run at his beck and call. But after spending so long doing everything he ever told me, I finally got tired of following him to nowhere. So… I decided I was done and I just… left."

"...Do you ever regret it?" Naminé can't help but ask.

Vanitas shakes his head, and Naminé finds herself appreciating his honesty. Appreciating just how bizarre yet open, how odd yet sincere this entire conversation has somehow become. "The only thing I regret is not doing it sooner. He made me feel like I was nothing. And maybe I am. But at least now I can be nothing on my own terms instead of his."

Despite his rare show of earnesty, he's met with, of all things, a small bout of laughter from Naminé. "What's so funny?" he asks, suddenly offended.

"Nothing, really," Naminé shrugs, still chuckling humorlessly. "It's just… kind of ironic, I suppose. How neither of us are supposed to exist, how so many people don't even want either of us to exist, and yet here we both are… existing anyway."

"Sometimes I wish I didn't," Vanitas mutters, a dull breeze blowing through his ebony hair. "At least if I was still a part of Ventus, I wouldn't have to deal with… all this. I wouldn't have to feel so… weak."

"Feeling pain doesn't make you weak, Vanitas," Naminé says as she sets her sketchbook aside. "It makes you human. It shows that you have a heart; much more of a heart than someone like Xehanort ever could."

She smiles as she welcomes a nearby Unversed, a tiny, curious Flood, to sit upon her lap. Vanitas marvels at the creature, marvels at the peculiar sense of warmth that swells up in his chest when Naminé gently strokes it between its antenna. Marvels that she isn't afraid of the monster in the slightest, that she isn't afraid of him, that she hasn't been from the very start. He can't say he's ever met anyone quite like her; she may technically be a literal captive audience, but she's still taken the time to talk to him, to listen to him. To make him feel like someone actually cares about him, something that no one has ever done before. Yet even still, he stays on guard, not wanting to be lured in by lies, led on by false words of acceptance and solidarity. His trust has been broken far too many times before to let himself fall into the same kind of sadistic traps his former master always used to set for him. And in light of that, he's all but ready to shut himself off from her completely, to keep himself from telling her anything else, until…

"You know, we… have a lot more in common than I first thought," she says, still petting the Unversed as it curls up into her lap, letting out an odd 'purring' sound all the while. "Not only are our pasts similar, but our presents are too. Despite everything each of us have been through… we both found a way to set ourselves free from what everyone else wanted us to be. And I don't know about you, but now that I'm free to exist as just me… I want a fresh start. I want to find a way to become so much more than a 'witch' or a Nobody or anything else they used to call me. I just want to be… me for a change."

"Hmph, an artist and a poet; I didn't know you were so talented, sunshine," Vanitas deadpans, though the hint of wistfulness in his tone isn't lost on Naminé.

"I'm serious," she smirks, though her smile turns a touch more genuine as she looks his way. "You could–you should do the same thing, Vanitas. Xehanort isn't your master anymore, he can't tell you what to do or who you should be. You've already become more than just Ventus' missing half; you're your own person now, you have your own life. So live it."

"...How do I do that?" Vanitas asks before can stop himself. Largely because he's so bewildered by such a foreign concept, by the idea that he doesn't have to be or do what someone else tells him to. That he can make his own choices, create his own future. That he can be his own person, just as Naminé said.

"I don't know," she says wistfully, yet contentedly. "I guess that's the exciting part. You get to figure that for yourself. We both do now."

They both do. And for some outlandish reason, Vanitas finds himself not only wanting to figure out whatever his new life is supposed to be. He finds himself wanting to do it with someone else; with her.

He skims a hand against his heart, suddenly speechless as he tries to make sense of the mysterious sensation spreading through it. He's more than used to negative emotions; after all, they're the spark that brings his Unversed to life. He's used to pain and anger and grief and misery, they're all he's ever really known. But now… something else is slowly starting to take their place, something he can scarcely even comprehend. He's only heard of these kinds of feelings before, never experienced them for himself. He barely even knows what they're like, can't even describe them for how incredibly unfamiliar they are. But as he looks at Naminé, as he catches the bright warmth of her admittedly lovely smile, as he reflects on her words, spoken with such gentle kindness and caring, as he feels everything he ever thought he knew slowly start to shift all around him… he finds himself craving those emotions. He finds himself longing to know what they are, what they mean. He finds himself wanting to feel them, wanting to hold onto them, and above all else… wanting to hold onto the girl that brought them to him in the first place.

Because after standing so long in the lonely shadows… perhaps letting a little light shine through might not be so bad after all. Perhaps it's finally time to let someone else into the walls he's built up around himself so tightly, to even let those walls fall entirely. Perhaps what he's been desperately searching for all this time, what he needs to finally be complete, to lead a brand new life all his own… is sitting right in front of him.

"Naminé…" he whispers, though as his face suddenly flushes red, he's quick to recant. "I-I mean, sunshine, I… I'm…" He cuts himself short, unsure of what to say, what to do. All he does know is that he's never felt like this before, that he never wants to stop feeling like this. Whatever this feeling actually is.

"Vanitas?" Naminé looks to him curiously. "Are… you ok?"

He nods, knowing that this might be the first time in his entire existence that he actually, truly is. Better than ok, really. By all accounts, he's thriving, and he owes it all to her. Not that his pride, whatever still remains of it, would ever let him openly admit that. So instead, he decides to pose her a question, to shift the conversation away from himself as he tries to figure everything he's feeling out. Not that he's sure he ever really will.

"W-what do you want to do?" he asks, calling back to what she had mentioned before. About starting anew, about leading a life of her own.

"What do I want?" she echoes, pulling the snoozing Unversed in her lap a bit tighter. "I guess… I want to finally feel like I'm part of something. I'm so tired of standing on the outside of everything, always just looking in. I want to be part of my friends' lives like they're part of mine. But I think, most of all… I just want to be with them. I want to see them, to help them… to set things right…" She closes her eyes as she remembers telling Eraqus the exact same thing, her mission, her goal, her desire above all else. To turn the tide in a tumultuous sea, to bring the sun back after a storm that's lasted far too long.

Vanitas falls into silence once more when he hears all this, his gaze drifting back down to the graveyard below. The rush of new emotions swirling through his chest is permeated by something he's a bit more familiar with, a touch of conflict. He's struck with the sudden reminder that the only reason the two of them are here together is because he essentially kidnapped her, forced her to follow him for the sake of a scheme he doesn't even believe in anymore. Of course she wouldn't actually want to be here, it only makes sense that she'd rather be anywhere else, with anyone else.

And while normally, Vanitas wouldn't bother worrying one bit about what anyone else wants… when it comes to her, he's a bit more inclined to care. He doesn't know why it matters to him, scarcely understands what force, bewildering and bewitching, is compelling him to think and feel this way at all, much less about her. But even for as much as he might want to, even he's powerless to fully resist its persistent pull upon his heart. He's powerless to resist her.

He's never helped anyone but himself before. Never even considered the idea of doing something for someone else. But now… he knows he has to help her. He doesn't know why, but he has to. His heart, his frail, foolish, floundering heart won't let him see any peace until he does.

So he'll help her. Even if that means… even if that means he has to lose her.

He says nothing as he stands, the sharp light of the crisp sky casting shadows over his eyes as he lets out a resigned sigh. Naminé watches him, confused and curious, as the Unversed in her lap awakens and suddenly skitters away to somewhere unknown. Vanitas still doesn't speak as he holds his hand out to the space behind them, a white glow enveloping his hand as he forms, of all things, a light gate.

"What's that for?" Naminé asks, looking up at him. "Where are we going?"

"Not we," Vanitas says, unable to meet her questioning blue eyes. "You. That gate will take you to where the guardians of light are. Take it… and do what you want."

"Huh?" Naminé blinks, surprised as she slowly stands herself. "What are you… y-you're… letting me go? But I don't understand, I thought you wanted to use me to lure-"

"Forget it," Vanitas huffs shortly, still looking away from her. "I already know that plan's a bust, all of them have been. There's no point in trying to convince myself that I can do this. I… don't even think I want to anymore."

"Then… what do you want?" Naminé asks, taking a step closer to him.

"You," he'd say, if he were a bit bolder, if he knew more about the practically painful longing panging through his chest. But instead, he simply shrugs as he looks back at her, hiding his torrent of unfamiliar emotions behind a mask of stoic serenity. "I don't know. I guess I'll have to figure that out, just like you said."

"...Vanitas…" Naminé says his name in a way that he's never heard anyone speak it. She looks at him with an expression he's never once seen meant for him before. She treats him like no one ever has before, not like he's a monster or a mistake… but like he matters.

And if someone like her can think that he matters… then maybe he can someday start to think the same thing too.

"Don't make a big deal out of it," Vanitas crosses his arms, still trying to act cold. Still trying to pretend that his entire world hasn't been entirely turned upside down. "I just don't feel like dragging you around with me anymore if I don't have to. So…"

Naminé manages a small chuckle at this, sensing that there's more to this sudden decision than he's making it seem. She can tell even from a glance that this isn't a simple change of mind; it's a change of heart. A change that she could have never seen coming from someone like him… but warmly welcomes all the same. "You could come with me, you know," she offers as she reclaims her sketchbook from the ground.

"No," he replies curtly. "I don't belong with them. In fact, I'm sure more than half of them hate my guts. Besides, I do better on my own."

"No one's 'better' on their own," Naminé counters, shaking her head. "Not even you."

He glances over at her again, wanting to say something, wanting to agree. Wanting to walk side by side with her into the light, into a new world, a new life, a new future. Wanting so much more… only to waste his one chance to take any of it. "Are you gonna go or not?" he forces an air of impatience into his tone to hide just how much he doesn't want her to. Just how much he doesn't want her to leave him behind like everyone else has.

But of course, she still wants to anyway, still wants to return to her friends, still wants to reclaim her freedom. He can't blame her for it, he knows he shouldn't but… it still stings when he watches her approach the gate. "Thank you, Vanitas," she offers him another small smile all the same. "I won't forget this."

"Neither will I…" he thinks, but only nods. Still too scared to say what he wants to, still too reserved to tell her how he truly feels.

"Before I go, I… I have something for you," she flips her sketchbook open, carefully ripping a page out of it. She hands it over to him, but his eyes never leave hers, not even as he takes it, completely ignoring whatever she might have drawn upon it. "I hope we see each other again soon."

"...Yeah," he says simply, stupidly. Unable to express just how much he hopes the exact same thing. Unable to tell her just how much hope is swelling within his heart as a whole.

"Well… I guess this is goodbye, for now," she glances over her shoulder as she comes to stand near the edge of the light gate. She sends him a small, friendly wave, one that he weakly returns as he watches her walk into the light. He knows he could easily run after her, he wants to run after her, wants to stay with her, to be with her more than he's ever wanted anything else. But in the end, he stays where he is, stuck in the waste of a world where his existence began, where the very worst of that existence had been. Where his existence, all at once, has suddenly seemed to begin anew.

"Bye, sunshine…" he whispers only when the light gate closes, when he's sure she can no longer hear him. He draws in an unsteady breath as he finally spares a glance down at the drawing in his hands. What he sees practically sends him into orbit for how much it makes his heart soar, for how much hope, how much happiness it brings him.

Because on that page, Naminé had drawn herself, standing and smiling, and she'd drawn Vanitas doing the same. She'd drawn them standing close, she'd drawn them holding hands, and best of all, she'd drawn them together.

And for all of the strange, exciting new things Vanitas has found himself wanting, as he smiles down at that simple, yet beautiful drawing, he realizes that perhaps Naminé wants the exact same thing too.

His eyes feel wet, his heart feels heavy, yet he's never felt more light in his entire life. He's grounded yet dizzy, drowning, yet flying all at once. He's never dreamed before, but now, he thinks he finally gets the appeal. The point and purpose of longing, of waiting for something worthwhile, of wanting someone more than anything. He's spent so long missing out, he thinks as he stares down at that drawing in awe. So many years living only for his master, for what he was told he should be, not what he wanted to be. So long spent in the cold, empty dark that he never knew just how warm and welcoming the light, how love could truly be.

Because now, even though he feels so lost… for perhaps the first time ever, he finally feels found.


After weeks with no Keys recovered and no real results in their search for Sora, Yen Sid calls the guardians of light back to his tower for a much-needed regroup. They all arrive roughly at the same time, only sparing sparse reunions with each other amidst their shared, longstanding stress. Even Roxas doesn't have much to say to Axel or Xion, and likewise, Terra and Aqua have little to tell Ventus. Mickey does his best to inject a bit of optimism into the otherwise worn-down group, but it's to little avail. An air of dejection, downright depression, hangs over just about each and every one of them like a shroud. But there's no one it's draped over anywhere as heavily as it is over Kairi. She doesn't meet the sympathetic gazes of any of her fellow guardians, she barely hears the quiet words of reassurance Aqua and Axel have to offer her alike. In fact, she all but tunes out Yen Sid as he gets the meeting going, unable to think of anything else but the pair that should be standing here alongside her. A pair that her heart has been aching to see for far longer than she can even tell.

"I think it would be best to begin with the most pertinent updates from the past few months," Yen Sid starts after his initial greeting is through. "It is to my understanding that a handful of you have indeed come across Sora in your travels. Aqua, Terra, would you care to share your experience with the group first?"

The pair nods as Terra steps forward to solemnly start telling their story. "We ran into him a few months back. I tried convincing him to come back, and it nearly worked too, but…"

"But it was all over when he saw me," Aqua pipes up with a sigh. "He thinks that if we bring him back or if he comes back on his own… we'll lock him away. He was so terrified that he ran away from us all over again. I can't imagine what he's been going through since then; it's enough to break my heart just thinking about it…"

"But… we'd never lock him up!" Mickey protests. "Sora knows that! So why would he think-"

"A fabrication on the part of the Organization, no doubt," Yen Sid interrupts. "Many of us know all too well by now that Xehanort is a cunning and crafty adversary with a keen talent for trickery. I have no doubt that he formulated this cruel lie to deceive Sora, to drive him further away from us… and further into the Organization's hands."

"That's why he wouldn't go with us…" Ventus says, his eyes wide with realization. "When Roxas and I found him, he said he was ready to trust the two of us. But he seemed… scared when we wanted to bring him back to the rest of you. I guess now we finally know the reason why…"

"I think we still could've gotten him to come back if Xemnas hadn't gotten involved," Roxas remarks bitterly, crossing his arms as he glares at the ground. "When he showed up, Sora panicked. He made a deal with him–with the Organization–to search for the rest of the Keys for them as long as they left all of us alone."

A ripple of dread and surprise spreads through the other lights when they hear this, and yet, even amidst that dread, Kairi still finds a small spark of hope where none of the others do. Because of course Sora would make a sacrifice like that, of course he'd put his friends above all else, above his safety, above his freedom, above himself. That kind of selfless devotion, that dedication to everyone he cares about, has always been at the very core of who he is. It's something that no amount of lies or pain or hardship or anything else the Organization might throw at him could ever crush or wipe away. It's something that shows Kairi that he's still himself, he's still Sora, he's still her Sora.

It shows her that despite all of the odds stacked against them… it might not be too late to save him after all.

"So… if Sora finds the last few Keys, he's just gonna hand them over to the Organization?" Mickey asks with a fretful frown. "We can't let him do that! If they get any more of them, then they'll-"

"Who cares about the stupid Keys at this point?!" Roxas huffs, beyond frustrated with the situation as a whole. "Finding them doesn't matter anywhere near as much as finding Sora does! Why are we even still trying to look for them when we should be-"

"Roxas," Axel suddenly speaks up, fixing the boy with a disapproving scowl over his heated outburst. "Cool it."

Of course, Roxas doesn't listen, instead drawing in a breath to say so much more. Only for Yen Sid to interject before he can get another word out. "Recovering Sora, as well as the remaining Keys are tasks of equal importance," he asserts firmly. "There is no doubt that possessing both is essential to Xehanort's plans, which means it is our responsibility–our duty–to ensure that he cannot claim either. Now, does anyone else have any further information to aid us in achieving that duty?"

"I… think we might," Xion raises her hand apprehensively. "We didn't find Sora, but we did find a family that took him in for a bit."

"They said the poor kid was sick and half starving to death–basically skin and bones when he showed up on their doorstep," Axel adds, his tone sympathetic. "They were nice folks; they took care of him, nursed him back to health, even invited him to spend the holiday with them."

"But…" Xion continues sadly. "When we asked them where he was, they said he left in the middle of the night. We'd just missed him."

"Maybe if we hadn't then he'd be here with us right now…" Kairi mutters practically to herself. She recalls feeling such a strong spark of hope when they'd met the Radcliffes, when they'd confirmed they had indeed seen Sora. But that hope had all but dwindled down to nothing when the kindly family told them he was gone, leaving only a note behind that explained nothing. They'd been so close, so very close, in the same world, the same town as him… But in the end, they'd been too late. They'd been one step too far behind, she'd been one step too far behind. Just as she always seems to be anymore.

"I see," Yen Sid nods gravely. "In that case, we have no choice but to continue our search. It is paramount that we bring Sora back and safeguard him as best we can, before his assimilation into Organization XIII can be completed. If not… then we may have to prepare for the unfortunate possibility that when we next see him, he might be standing on the opposite end of the battlefield."

"No!" Kairi suddenly shouts, unable to keep quiet after hearing such a horrid suggestion. "Sora would never turn on us! He would never fight any of us! He loves us, each and every one of us, so much! And we all love him too, right?"

No one hesitates to agree, a chorus of yeses filling the room as Kairi finds herself emboldened by them. Emboldened by how much they all want the exact same thing: to bring Sora home safe and sound. "We have to keep looking, we have to keep trying to help him, to save him, no matter how bad things might get," she insists as she steps into the center of the room. "Sora has never given up on any of us before. We can't give up on him either, not when he needs us most."

"Uh… how exactly are we supposed to get him to come back when he thinks we all hate him and wanna chain him up?" Axel asks dubiously.

"We just… have to find a way to show him that isn't true," Kairi counters, determined despite the odds. "Maybe… maybe if Riku or I found him and talked to him, we could make him understand that-"

The sound of the study door creaking open suddenly cuts through the conversation completely. Donald and Goofy enter, unsurprising, as they're among the only few missing from this meeting. Their expressions are equally forlorn, something that isn't lost on anyone, especially not Mickey as he makes the first move to welcome them. "Fellas! You're back!" he exclaims, mustering as much of a smile as he can manage. "Uh… h-how have things been goin' for you? Is Riku doing alright?"

The pair exchange an uneasy glance, knowing they have much to tell and knowing that just about none of it is good. In the end, however, Donald is the one who speaks up first, hoping to quickly come up with some way to explain it all. Some way to reveal something he and Goofy can scarcely believe themselves. "Well…"

"Alright, outta the way, sidekicks, a grade-a, boney-fide hero is comin' through!" Donald and Goofy are suddenly shoved aside by none other than Pete as he manages to squeeze his way into the room. Despite the broad, proud grin on his face, several of the lights tense up at the mere sight of him, and Mickey even goes as far as summoning his Keyblade, knowing a potential threat when he sees one.

"Pete!" he exclaims, keeping his weapon at the ready, just in case. "What are you doing here?!"

"Hey now, your royal squeakiness! That's no way to treat someone who bailed one of your best buddies outta huge trouble!" Pete protests, scowling down at the king.

"What are you talking about?" Terra asks, eyeing the former henchman distrustfully. "Bailed who out?"

"Sora, duh!" Pete huffs, disgruntled. "Maleficent went and nabbed him all over again, but I wasn't about to stand for it, so I-"

"Maleficent captured him again?!" Kairi exclaims, horrified by such a thought. The thought of Sora in chains, the thought of that witch torturing him, the thought of him suffering… and her not knowing a single thing about it, not doing a single thing to stop it.

"She sure did, and if it weren't for ol' Petey here, then the poor kid would've never seen the light o' day again," Pete's self-satisfied grin returns in full force. "Ya'll oughta give me a big thank you for all the hard work I put into rescuin' him. 'Cause I've more than earned it."

"Gosh, is all that true?" Mickey asks, surprised.

"Believe it or not… it is," Donald deadpans.

"Yup!" Goofy agrees with a small smile. "Strange as it sounds, Pete's on our side now."

For his part, Mickey takes pause at this, stunned by everything he's just heard. Stunned that someone like Pete would turn away from the treachery of his longtime partner… all to save someone else instead. To save a former foe from a fate far worse than perhaps any of them could even imagine. "Wow… Pete," he scratches the back of his neck as he lets his Keyblade disappear. "I… don't know what to say…"

"Are them big round ears o' yours deaf or somethin'?" Pete rolls his eyes. "I already told ya what to say: thank you."

"...Alrighty then. Thank you," Mickey grins, extending a hand out for a shake. Pete manages a genuine smile himself when he returns it (albeit a little roughly), solidifying the end of a years-long standoff. And perhaps, Pete hopes, the end of a years-long banishment too.

"So, uh… the kid mentioned that if I helped him out, ya might do me a good turn in exchange," he says as their handshake comes to an end. "Ya wouldn't be willlin' to, oh, I dunno… finally lemme back into Disney Town after all this time?"

Mickey initially hesitates, though as he catches the mostly agreeing nods Donald and Goofy have to offer on the matter, he finds himself hard-pressed to say no. "Aw, what the heck?" he grins spiritedly. "If that's what Sora promised ya then sure, Pete. I'll get ya there on the next Gummi Ship out."

Pete quickly perks up, scarcely able to contain his (rather noisy) excitement. "Oh boy! Peg n' the kids are gonna be so surprised when I come strollin' back into town! It'll be just like old times, back before-" He sharply cuts himself off, his beaming grin switching out for a look of forced apathy when he notices the dumbfounded glances just about everyone in the room is sending him. "Er… I-I mean, y-yeah, you better let me back in after all I've done for you goodie-goods. Standin' up to Maleficent wasn't no walk in the park, ya know, but I did it anyway. Out of er… the niceness of my heart, or somethin' like that."

"Your courage and your willingness to help Sora in such dire straits is deeply appreciated, Pete. You have all of our thanks," Yen Sid says, giving the former henchmen an sincere nod before he kicks the meeting up once more. "Donald, Goofy, shortly before your arrival we were discussing the latest progress on our search for Sora. Do either of you happen to have any clues as to his whereabouts?"

"Er… well, we did bump into him just a few days ago…" Goofy admits, rubbing the back of his neck.

"But he barely stuck around long enough for us to say anything to him," Donald grumbles, crossing his arms. "If there's anything about him that hasn't changed after all this time, it's how stubborn he is."

"We don't know where he is now though," Goofy continues sadly. "In fact, the last one to see him… was Riku"

"Riku?" Kairi's attention is immediately caught, a wave of hope and worry rushing through her all at once. "How is he? Is he here?"

"Uh… he is…" Donald hesitantly replies.

"He's right downstairs," Goofy adds just as apprehensively. "But Kairi, maybe ya shouldn't-"

Kairi doesn't bother listening to another word. Instead, she rushes out of the chamber, practically running down the stairs to the foyer. She doesn't notice the rest of the lights trailing only a few steps behind her, doesn't hear Donald or Goofy's continued warning calls, doesn't think of anything other than the fact that, after so many months apart, she's at least about to see one of her closest friends again. That even if Sora is still missing, even if none of them still have a single clue about where he is… at least she can finally stand by Riku's side again. At least the two of them can finally work on repairing the broken bonds between them, in the hopes that they can find a way to reconnect those same bonds with Sora too.

"Riku!" she exclaims, unable to hold back a smile when she sees him standing near the front door. His back is initially turned, even as she makes it down to the main level, but she doesn't stop, wanting nothing more than to run into his arms. To be in the comforting, consoling embrace of someone she cares so much about.

But in the end… that embrace never comes to be. Because when Riku finally turns to face her, Kairi is met with a sight literally nothing could have ever prepared her for. She stops dead in her tracks, nearly stumbling to the ground out of sheer shock alone as the air is sucked right out of her lungs. Behind her, a chorus of equally startled gasps sounds out, though Kairi is all but deaf to it against the blood rushing through her ears, against the pounding of her horrified, already splintering heart. She blinks, thinking that it'll go away if she does, but there it remains, running down, ruining his once so very handsome face.

A scar, deep and damaging and defiling. Jagged, heavy lines crest down from his forehead to his cheek, with one sliced straight through his eye. Though the wound has been healed as much as it can be, the eye itself is clearly unsalvageable. Its once teal shade has turned a dull, milky color, his pupil all but faded from it entirely. It takes Kairi far too long to realize that he certainly must be blind in it now, takes her far too long to see the anguish hanging on his expression that's more than enough to match her own. But whatever pain his horrific injury has brought him has long since eased by now. No, the pain he feels, the pain both of them feel, runs so much further beneath the skin, all the way down to the very core of their hearts.

And it's the worst kind of pain possible.

Silence practically rings through the foyer, only permeated by Kairi's slow footsteps as she approaches him. Riku tries to look away from her, not wanting her to see his sickening scar, his unshakable, unspeakable shame. But in the end, he's powerless to stop her when she reaches a trembling hand up to trace her fingertips along the ugly marks mutilating his familiar face. She lets almost all of the healing energy she has to offer flow through her gentle touch, but even then, her light isn't enough to chase away a scar that's already set in so heavily. When it doesn't work, she draws her hand away, focusing less on that scar and more on the rest of his face, his tired, remaining eye, the tight frown his lips are set in, the way he won't speak a word to her.

Which is why Kairi decides to speak instead. "W-what… how… w-who did this to you…?" she dares to ask, her voice but a tiny, tight whisper.

Riku opens his mouth… then closes it, then opens it… then closes it again. The entire way back, he hadn't considered that this was a conversation he'd have to have, but clearly he should have. At least then, he might have felt a little more prepared to have it, to tell Kairi, to tell everyone something he can barely stand to think of himself.

"Was it the Organization?" Mickey interjects when Riku's silence lingers. His expression is awash with concern for his young friend, yet there's an edge of obvious anger too, aimed at whoever dared to hurt him in such a wicked way. "Which member was it? Xehanort? Ansem? Xemnas?"

Riku simply shakes his head, still largely unable to form words, to tell a truth that's haunted him from the very moment it happened. A truth that he desperately wishes was anything but.

"W-well, if it wasn't them, it must have been Maleficent, right?" Mickey continues to press, determined to get to the bottom of this. "With how she's been going after Sora lately, I wouldn't put anything past her."

"Uh… it wasn't Maleficent either…" Goofy pipes up when Riku still doesn't speak.

"Then who was it?" Kairi practically begs, taking Riku's hand and holding it tight. "Whoever it was, we won't let them get away with doing something so… so horrible, but we won't be able to do a thing if we don't know who did this in the first place. So please, Riku… just tell us, tell me…"

Riku draws in a shuddering breath, closing his eyes as he pulls his hand away from her. "I can't…" he finally speaks, his voice so low only she can hear it.

"Why not?" she asks, as much as he wishes she wouldn't. As much as he wishes he'd never let her see the scar in the first place.

"Because… I-I… I just can't…" he reiterates emptily, exhaustedly.

"Why not?" Kairi repeats, her tone more firm, more instant as she takes his hand again, this time refusing to let go.

"Kairi…"

"No," Kairi rigidly hisses, her eyes narrowing in anger as Riku so much as turns toward the door. "I let you walk away from me before, but not this time. Not after something like this. I have to know, Riku. I need to know!" Tears have started slipping from her eyes by now, and not just hers either. His still-functional eye brims with them, but just like before, he tries to hold them back. Really, he's surprised he has any left to shed at all after just how many he spent back on that beach.

"Please," Kairi implores him once more, practically pushing him to his breaking point. A point that he's been dangerously close to for quite some time. "Please, Riku, just tell me! Who did this-"

"It was Sora!" he suddenly explodes, unable to keep the truth buried any longer. It tears itself out of him, ringing out raw and agonizing as it echoes throughout the foyer. The rest of the lights fall even deeper into shocked silence than they already are, but Kairi finds she can't keep quiet. Not when what she just heard doesn't make any sense in the slightest.

"...W-what?" she asks, her eyes wide, her voice trembling, her world shattered.

Riku hesitated to say it again, both out of despair and out of dread. By now, he's noticed the eyes of all of the other lights resting solely on him. As their leader, he knows he owes them a proper explanation. But as someone who's been so deeply scarred both inside and out, he struggles to say what he knows he unfortunately must.

"S-Sora… did this," he says, the words practically burning as they leave his mouth. "I found him, I tried to convince him to finally come back, but… he wouldn't listen. He–we got into a fight and…" He trails off, not seeing the need to explain much more beyond that. After all, the results of that ill-fated fight are plain to see just by looking at the scar on his face.

But even still, that doesn't stop the dam from bursting; it doesn't stop the flood of intense reactions and emotions from rushing out all the same.

"No," Roxas steps forward first, approaching Riku with longstanding ire in his eyes. "You're wrong. Sora would never do something like this!"

"Roxas…" Xion softly interjects, grabbing his arm to try and calm him. It doesn't work in the slightest as he swiftly rips it free to aim an accusatory finger at Riku, far too angered by this entire unfair situation as a whole to stop himself now.

"You may think you're his 'best friend', but you don't know him, not like I do," Roxas hisses viciously even as Ventus and Axel both intervene to pull him away before any sort of physical altercation can break out. "He helps people, even when he's the one who needs the most help! He'd never hurt someone who didn't deserve it. Then again, after everything you've done, maybe you did deserve it."

Maybe I did… Riku almost agrees. But instead, he keeps quiet, not having much to say in his or in Sora's defense. Not knowing how to explain something that, by all accounts, is as unexplainable, as unfathomable as this.

"Are you sure it was really Sora that did this? Maybe it was just an illusion of him made to deceive you," Aqua suggests, far too familiar with such cruel trickery after her time in the Realm of Darkness.

"O-or if it was actually him," Xion adds with a worried frown. "Maybe the Organization forced him to-"

"No," Riku counters, having thought and wished for both scenarios himself. Only to remember time and time again what the awful reality really is. "It was him. I know what I saw. And what I heard… He… he called Xehanort his 'master'. When I tried telling him that he wasn't… that's when… T-that's how this ended up happening…" He skims his hand against his scar, still struggling with the fact that it's there, that it's left him partially blind and disfigured. That his very best friend had been the one to land such a crushing, life-changing blow against him.

He's not the only one who struggles to believe it, though. Because after what feels like an eternity spent in stunned speechlessness, Kairi finally has something to say. In fact, she has so much to say that she scarcely knows where to start. So she begins with the easiest thing to do; to deny and deflect, to do anything to chase away the terrible thought of her two closest friends battling in cold blood.

"N-no," she starts, her voice quiet, though it's quick to raise in rising panic. "No! I-it couldn't have been–There has to be another explanation, there has to be!"

"There isn't," Riku counters firmly, yet remorsefully. "I'm sorry, Kairi. I know you won't want to hear this, but… after everything that's happened, I… E-even if we do find him, even if we do bring him back, it might… We might already be too late to-"

"Don't," Kairi cuts him off, her tone bitter and brutal. "Don't ever say that. I don't care what happened between the two of you; you can't just give up on him like that! I won't let you!"

"I don't want to," Riku argues, glaring away from her. "But you weren't there, Kairi, you didn't see how he was acting. He's barely even a shadow of himself anymore. Maybe if we'd gotten to him sooner, it wouldn't be this bad, but Xehanort has ruined him from the inside out. And I don't think that whatever is still left of the Sora we used to know is enough to-"

"It is enough to save him!" Kairi protests fiercely. "It's gotta be, I know it is! You just don't want to try anymore!"

"Nobody wants to help him more than I do!" Riku practically shouts back, his hands in tight, trembling fists at his sides. "But what else do you want me to do, Kairi? I tried looking for him, I tried convincing him to come home, I tried saving him, and look what happened!" He motions to his scar, to just about the strongest proof he has on hand that Sora very may well now be too far out of their reach. "I've spent way too long trying to do something that I just… can't do. I need to focus on what matters most right now: leading this team and stopping the Organization. Even if… e-even if Sora is now a part of-"

Before he can even get another word out, Kairi's hand slams into the unscarred side of his face. Tears pour down her own face, hot and hitched in heartbreak and fury as the other lights all flinch in surprise behind her. "Do you even hear yourself right now?!" she practically shrieks, beyond outraged by the very implication he just voiced. "When did your new 'job' as leader become more important to you than trying to help the people you love?! Sora isn't one of them, you know he's not! He never will be! He's one of us! And if you won't do anything else to remind him that he is, then… then I will!"

A ripple of muted confusion and concern spreads across the other lights at such a proclamation, though Kairi makes no attempt to explain herself, not even when Riku asks her to. "What are you talking about?" he asks, the stinging side of his face all but forgotten as he watches her swiftly walk past him toward the front door. "Kairi, what exactly are you planning on doing?"

She doesn't answer, doesn't even bother looking back at him as she reaches the door. Because if he can leave without saying anything meaningful, without making sure they're on the same page, without doing a single thing to show her that he still cares… then so can she.

She's all but ready to do exactly that and then some… but as she swings the door open, she's met with the sight of someone who stops her totally in her tracks.

"...Naminé?" Kairi gasps, her eyes wide, her former anger quickly ebbing into shock and surprise. But sure enough, there Naminé stands, her hand raised to knock on the door, only for the door to open for her before she even could. And, despite how impossible it might seem, despite everything that had been keeping them both together and apart in the past, here both girls are, other and Nobody, Kairi and Naminé, face to face again after all this time.

"Kairi!" Naminé finds she can't contain the sudden burst of excitement and joy that rushes through her. Amazingly enough, Vanitas had indeed kept his word; he got her to the lights, to where she most longed to be. And if she could, she'd go back and thank him far more than she did when she'd left him all alone.

Naminé throws her arms around her other, locking her into a tight embrace that Kairi can only scarcely think enough to return. She's beyond caught off guard by her Nobody's inexplicable reappearance, that she would resurface here and now, of all times, after being missing for so many months. In fact, the only thing she thinks could stun her even more is if Sora were to walk in right after her, but of course, he doesn't. No matter how much she wishes he would.

"Naminé!" Xion rushes forward, barreling into the other girl as soon as she and Kairi part. The two share a happy hug, one filled with more than enough relief to go around after just how harrowing their last encounter had been. An encounter they'd both only managed to survive thanks to Naminé's quick thinking and selfless sacrifice. "I-I can't believe it!" Xion exclaims, beaming brightly. "How are you here? I thought the Organization-"

"I escaped," Naminé explains simply, still smiling as their hug ends. "But… I didn't do it on my own." Her expression turns more solemn as she takes a step forward, exchanging warm greeting grins with Roxas and Axel, and offering Riku a small, reassuring nod, before she sets her sights on another certain trio gathered here.

"Aqua, Terra, Ventus," she says, her tone respectful and kind. "You may not know me, but… believe it or not, your master was actually one of the two people who helped me get here."

"M-Master Eraqus?" Aqua gasps, aptly surprised.

"You saw him?" Terra presses, just as bewildered as he exchanges an incredulous glance with Ven. "But… how?"

"Well, it's… more like I saw his spirit," Naminé explains, her smile fading somewhat. Even so, she knows that she owes it to Eraqus to deliver the words he wanted her to pass onto his pupils. After how he set her free, it's the least she can do to repay him. "He wanted me to tell you that he's sorry about what happened before, that he's very proud of each of you, and… that he misses all of you so much…"

"...Master…" Ventus whispers, truly touched by their master's final message. Likewise, Aqua and Terra find solace in it, glad to have such much-needed closure with the man who they both looked up to like a father, a man who was taken from them far too soon.

"Hey, Naminé?" Axel speaks up from his spot on the stairs. "Not that it isn't great to see you 'n all, but uh… we sort of have a situation here that you might be in a pretty good position to help us out with. You see, Sora's been MIA for-"

"I know," Naminé nods gravely. "I just saw him not too long before I got here, actually. He… he isn't doing well at all," she sighs, knowing there's no point in hiding the truth from them. However horrible that truth might be. "He's falling apart, physically, mentally… just about every other way there is too. I don't think he has much time left before… well, you all know by now. There's no way his heart can hold out for much longer after how badly they've broken it."

Silence falls over the lights at this, their former melancholy returning in full force. All of them have either seen or suspected that much by this point, but to hear it be so openly confirmed out loud, by Naminé, by Riku, but just about anyone really… it's more than most of them can bear. But even still, even after hearing it from her very own Nobody… Kairi still refuses to accept it. She still refuses to stand on the side, doing nothing as Sora suffers, as he bends until he breaks, as he fractures and fades until there's nothing left of him at all. She won't give up on him, not even after everyone else already has; after all, he never once gave up on her. She owes it to him to finally, finally return the favor.

"Then that settles it," she speaks up, turning back toward the door. "I'm going to find him. And this time… I'm going to bring him home."

"What?" Riku starts, naturally the first, and really the only, one to question her.

"You heard me," Kairi counters, glaring back at him. "You had your chance to bring him back; I deserve to have mine."

"B-but–no," Riku protests once more, grabbing her arm before she can reach the door. "You can't, not on your own."

"I don't see why not," Kairi pointedly pulls her arm away. "You went on your own."

"Yeah, and look at how that turned out for me," Riku motions to his scar, his tone and expression both stern to hide how scared he is underneath. "If you go alone, there's no telling how he'd react, what he'd do if he-"

"He won't hurt me," Kairi insists sharply, refusing to let him even finish such an unthinkable notion. "He can't… not anymore than he already did when he left without even saying goodbye…"

"But… but even if he doesn't, then the Organization-"

"I'm not scared of them," she retorts and she means it. She doesn't hold single trace of fear for any of their members, not even for Xehanort himself anymore. If anything, the only thing she harbors for any of them now… is nothing less than absolute hatred for how they've torn Sora's life, for how they've torn all of their lives really, apart at the seams. "In fact, the only thing I am scared of at this point… is what'll happen if we're too late to stop them. If we're too late to save him."

"What if we already are…?" Riku mutters, glancing away in shame.

Kairi draws in a breath to counter this, only for the rest of the lights to finally take their chance to voice their own opinions on her newfound plan. "Kairi," Aqua speaks up first, stepping over to the younger girl. At first, Riku hopes that she intends to take his side, that she's going to rationally, reasonably explain why Kairi can't go through with such an ill-conceived idea. And yet… "I think–no, I know you can do this."

"You do?" Riku and Kairi both practically ask in surprised unison.

Aqua nods, smiling warmly as she rests a hand on Kairi's shoulder. "Since I got back, I've been able to see just how much you've grown, as a magic user, as a Keyblade wielder, as a person. Even through everything that's happened, you've never lost your hope, your light, even after everyone else here already had. And that's why I'm positive that you're the one who'll be able to do what none of the rest of us could: you're the one who will bring Sora back the hope and the light he needs so much of right now. You're the one who will bring him home."

"That's right," Naminé readily agrees. "If there's anyone who can break through the walls Sora's built around himself, it's you, Kairi. After all…" her smile wavers just the slightest bit as she struggles to meet her other's gaze. "T-there's no one who's more special to him than you…"

"My money's on Kairi too," Axel shoots her a broad, proud smirk. "She may not look it, but she's actually pretty tough." He chuckles when Kairi sends him a playfully insincere pout, though she's clearly grateful for his support all the same. "I wouldn't dare underestimate her, and if anyone in ol' Org. XIII does, well… I think they'll be pretty quick to realize their mistake."

From there, the other lights also pitch in with even more spirited rounds of agreement, even the members of the group she doesn't know particularly well like Terra and Roxas. But their consensus is all the same: that Kairi can do this, that Kairi should do this. That Kairi is the only one among them who is able to do this. But for as much as his team all believes so strongly in her… Riku still stands out as the only one to stubbornly hold onto his heavy doubts.

"My answer is still no," he says rigidly, unrelentingly as his voice drowns out all of the others'. He feels an odd spark of relief when they all fall silent, relief… mingled with just the tiniest hint of jealousy. Because where was their support when he insisted on venturing out on this same search on his own? Where was this kind of earnest encouragement when he wanted to undertake the very same mission she's trying to embark upon?

Why do they believe in her… but not in him?

"You're not doing this, Kairi," he shakes his head clear as he once again pushes his authority to its limits. As he tries, once again use that authority to reign in one of the two people he wants to be free more than anything else. "I won't let you."

"You may be the leader, Riku," Kairi says, her voice coming out much calmer than she actually is against such opposition. Against the fact that he's the only one here who won't stand with her, even though he's the one she wants standing with her the most. "But I have to listen to my heart on this. And my heart is telling me that I can't waste any more time waiting behind like I always have. I may not be able to feel much of a connection to his heart anymore, but… I can still feel it breaking. Even with as much darkness and distance as there is between us, i-it's like I can still hear him calling out to me, just like he did before. And I can't–I won't keep ignoring that call any longer than I already have."

And he can't force her to continue ignoring that call either; he knows he can't, not when they both ultimately want the exact same thing. And yet… "I-I…" his voice goes low, his steadiness shattering as he struggles to come up with something to say. But in the end, what comes out… is simply the truth. "Please…" he doesn't order her this time. He begs her. "Kairi, don't… I just… I can't lose you too…"

"You won't lose either of us," she answers just as softly, managing just the smallest of smiles as she brushes away the first of his emerging tears. "Because when I return… you'll be getting us both back."

At this, he finally relents in full, knowing there's not much else he can do. Her mind and her heart are made up. Who is he to try and change them, to try and stop her from salvaging someone they both cherish so deeply?

But even still, he can't deny the longing ache that floods his chest when he watches her offer a sparse, yet sweet farewell to her fellow guardians. He can't deny what his heart is practically pleading with him to do as he watches her turn back toward the door, to wherever that call, wherever fate itself, might end up leading her. He didn't get to say goodbye to Sora before he drifted so far away from them both, neither of them did really. But at the very least… he can say goodbye to her.

"Kairi, wait," he steps forward, and for a moment, she half-expects him to try and stop her again. But he doesn't. Instead, he kisses her.

It's very quick, almost shy, in an odd way. His lips touch hers, light as a feather, for only the shortest of moments. His face is blushed a gentle shade of red when he pulls back, but hers is burning hot, her eyes wide and her heart racing so loudly she almost doesn't catch what he has to say to her next. "Be careful," he whispers, lingering close to her. "A-and… if you see Sora, tell him I'm-"

"Shh," she quickly regathers her bearings enough to place a finger over his lips to silence him. She smiles fully now, her eyes all but sparkling with the kind of adoration she's only ever felt for him… and for Sora. "You can tell him yourself."

"...Ok," he nods, sharing her smile, sharing her affection. Affection meant for each other… and for someone else who so badly needs it. Someone who neither of them can wait to see again, to speak to again, to hold again… to love again.

Without much left to say, Kairi offers Riku one final, gentle farewell, and sends a small, short wave to the rest of her friends. As soon as her last goodbyes are given, she turns back to the door and pushes it wide open, her Keyblade coming into her hand as light begins to swirl around its tip. She closes her eyes, concentrates solely on what her heart is saying to her, listens to the still lingering whispers that Sora's is somehow sending her. And with only those whispers to guide her, she calls upon a light gate, letting it lead her to another world, letting it take her to wherever she needs to go, to whatever still needs to be done. To all the things that are still missing that must be found: one last Key to claim, one last light to save…

And one last lost heart to finally lead home.


Aw yeah! Its Kairi's time to shine! Fuck Melody of Memory! Fuck KH3! Fuck Tetsuya Nomura! It's Women's History Month, so Women boutta go own it! Anywayyyyy my coffee-fueled spite aside, looks like we're approaching our FINAL Disney world! I'm honestly so excited but so sad I could cry. Except I wont because the final Disney world is one I've been looking forward to for so long! Let's just say its a world that KH3... didn't do quite right in my opinion. So like everything wrong with KH3 (and there is... just so much wrong with KH3), its up to me to set out to fix it! But until then, don't forget to show some love in the REVIEWS!