Chapter 2 - Bangles and a Promise
A movement to her right made Kairi jump. Spinning around, she swung her Keyblade and yelled, "Fira!" The small burst of fire blurred her vision for a moment as it shot out - but the sound of shattering glass and the sudden blaring of a horn made her quickly blink back the stars that filled her eyes.
A car. She'd attacked a car. Or, more accurately, her reflection moving along a car's window. She took a deep breath and tried to still her nerves. The dark form in front of her wasn't a Heartless or a Nobody or...well, a Somebody. The beeping of the horn filled the night air, but instead of making the cityscape less quiet, it seemed to emphasize the otherwise still atmosphere. Gritting her teeth, she cast another spell, and the car exploded into a dazzling array of ice and metal. She quickly formed a crystalline shield to prevent a few sharper pieces from impaling her. That, at least, stopped the horn.
The quiet was louder than ever before.
As the silence descended again, Kairi took another steadying breath. She'd been walking for hours, wandering streets, passing shops with foreign objects - trying to find something that stood out as a clue. The pavement clapped harshly under her feet, and the changing colors on the different screens left her blinking more often than not. She was cold and she was unsure. Mostly, she was tired.
Sora and Riku had never described having trouble finding what to do in a new world. Riku made it sound as though he always had a plan before he even entered one. Sora, apparently, just stumbled upon missions like they used to stumble on seashells back on the Islands. They just appeared for him. Back before her training, when they were on the Islands together, they'd told her of impossible things. Flying on a pirate ship. Running as a lion, Keyblade in mouth. Meeting Santa Claus (this last one she didn't believe, although she was amused Sora was on the naughty list). Sora and Riku could do anything.
She didn't have those abilities. The only world she'd ever willingly entered - willingly being a strong word - would have been Twilight Town, and she'd barely lingered there before Axel had appeared and she'd been shuffled off to a new place without her consent. Her decision to explore her memories had been a plan. It hadn't amounted to much, except to lead her here, to this city.
With a sigh, Kairi let herself fall onto a curbside, leaning Destiny's Embrace on the pavement in front of her to keep herself upright. There had to be something to find, some sort of clue. The strange figure had sent her here. In her experience, strange figures sending people places ominously were important.
The streets just weren't agreeing with her logic.
Her Keyblade disappeared in a glimmer of light as she slumped onto her back. Her arms cushioned her head as she tried to stargaze. The sky surely had stars above her, but she couldn't see them. The streetlights were too bright. They polluted her vision, and the only thing visible above, besides clouds that threatened the remains of a previous storm, was the yellow of the unfamiliar moon.
There was just so much she had to learn. She'd spent time with Merlin and Axel, training. That had proved inadequate. She'd listened to stories from her friends about the other worlds - and that was also proving inadequate. She'd supposedly met Aqua when she was a child, and that was inadequate. She was supposed to be a Princess of Heart, a pure light. All that seemed to do for her was help her get captured and used as a victim.
If she had just been able to fight free of Xemnas' grip in the Graveyard, maybe she wouldn't be here, lost and confused and -
A movement to her right made her jump to her feet again.
For a moment, Kairi's eyes strained against the light of her Keyblade, and she thought she saw a larger shadow - and then she gasped as the cat-like creature stopped before her.
"You're...Chirithy?" Kairi asked, dropping the Keyblade she had hastily summoned. It certainly looked like the strange creature that she and Sora had found in the Final World - except perhaps the orange lighting of the streets was casting an illusion on her eyesight. Instead of the calming grey fur and blue eyes of the one they'd returned to Ventus, this one seemed almost purple, and its eyes were a burning red. The bag around its neck was black instead of pink, but it had the same star-like symbol on its front.
The cat nodded and jumped in the air with what could have been a bounce of glee. However, the sudden jerk of the movement didn't project happiness. Unwittingly, Kairi found herself taking a step back.
"That's me. Glad we don't need to do introductions. Now, I've got - "
"Aren't you supposed to be with Ven?" She remembered it as being slightly shy, if blunt. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, a new one shuffled across her consciousness: She didn't think she'd seen Chirithy since Sora had gently pushed it out of its hiding place. They had stayed to see the look of pleasant familiarity arise on Ven's face as it leapt into his arms, but then they had proceeded onto their next mission - the "loose ends," as Sora had called them.
He'd said they didn't have time to do everything together. She hated him for being right.
Chirithy shook its head, floating downward. As it did, its eyes flared, the red blinding the streetlights briefly, and Kairi had to blink back the glare that encompassed her vision. "Oh, I see. Nope, that's not me. Maybe we better do intros anyway. Ya see, dear old Ventus isn't my wielder."
"Your wielder?"
It sighed and waved its arms in the air in exasperation. It would have been comical if its salmon cloak didn't flare back in a wave of nonexistent wind. Kairi still shivered. "We've got to go back that far? This was supposed to be quick. Ya see, long ago, people lived in peace - "
"I know that story," Kairi interjected, taking a half step forward and raising a hand to her chest to clutch at her necklace. "My grandmother told it to me. It's about the light of the worlds." Chirithy's eyes blazed in its redness again.
"Can I finish?" it muttered. Kairi swallowed thickly and nodded. "So once upon a time, there was a lot of light, and a lot of Keyblade wielders. You saw the Keyblade Graveyard? That many. And every Keyblade wielder got a Chirithy to help out. Sorta like mentors. We'd keep them on the straight and narrow. So," and it hopped into the air, spiralling slightly so it turned around and landed facing the other direction, "the Chirithy you met was Ventus' Chirithy."
"Oh," Kairi mumbled. "So Aqua and Terra have one also?"
"No, no, no." The Chirithy shook its head vehemently. "Don't worry about that."
"But Ven's younger than - "
"You'd be surprised."
Kairi paused. Chirithy was rifling inside its black bag, humming to itself. It looked bored, eyes drooping, ears twitching, but she got the impression that it was listening closely to her hitched breathing. "Then who's your wielder?"
"Don't have one at the moment," it said, its tone unconcerned. Before she could question what that meant, it closed its bag with a small but firm snap and turned back around to face her. "I'm in the market."
Its red eyes stared right through Kairi, and she shivered. There was something about the glint that made her feel like it was deciding if it wanted to eat her, a look that reminded her of the Heartless with their beady eyes and irregular movements. For a moment, it seemed bigger than the foot-high cat; it felt twice, three times her size, dwarving her. She tried to summon her Keyblade, if only to have something familiar in her hand to hold on to, but when she grasped for it, it wouldn't come. She stifled a whimper and tried to move, but her legs were frozen, her heart beat fast, her breath was becoming hitched...
Then the Chirithy blinked, little purple folds of eyelashes covering the red for a brief moment, and the spell broke. Kairi gasped and stumbled for balance, moving back a few steps and almost tripping over a decorative plant that adorned the pavement's sides. The cat looked normal now, and when it blinked again, she wondered if she'd imagined that feeling of dread.
"I could be yours, I guess," it offered, nonchalantly.
"What was that?" Kairi demanded. This time her Keyblade came easily to her waiting hand.
Chirithy frowned, waving its arms in the air in little pinwheels. "What was what?"
"That...that feeling." As soon as she said it, she felt ridiculous, but the Chirithy nodded to itself.
"Oh, caught wind of it, have you? About time." It waved its arms in the air, its head bouncing to and fro. "Just residual darkness. This realm is crawling with it. You didn't notice before?"
She thought to herself. This world felt strange, yes, but she didn't think she'd felt anything that malevolent. To be fair, she hadn't felt anything particularly driven by the light, either. Most of it felt empty and hushed. If what Chirithy said was true, then she needed to pay closer attention - but she had been, hadn't she? She looked around the street, eyeing the vacant windows that reflected her visage back and the streetlamps that let pockets of light surround the pavement beneath them.
She reached out with her heart - and something reached back. It was warm, and slightly familiar. It felt like sunny beaches and strong smiles ought to feel, bright and comforting. An unspoken thought entered her mind: Go to it.
Kairi turned her head sharply, peering in the direction the tug had come from.
That was enough. Without hesitating, she started off in that direction.
A voice drew her back. "Well?"
"...well?" she questioned as Chirithy leapt in front of her.
Its sigh shook its entire body. "Look, do you want a mentor or not?"
She looked at Chirithy, who was standing with its arms folded over the bag on its chest. Then she turned back toward where that pull had come from. "I think I'm good."
"Of course you are. You've done so well up till now, haven't you?" It hopped forward, and Kairi struggled not to flinch back. She focused on the strange tug. "Pretty confident for someone so inexperienced. I guess I want a stronger wielder, anyway."
Her concentration broke. Memories of hands on her wrists, of being trapped in a cell, of white walls and of dark shadows filled her mind. She tried to swallow but a small whine escaped instead. "What do you mean? I'm strong." She pretended that her voice didn't crack over those last words.
It didn't answer her immediately, Rather, it started walking down the street in the opposite direction from where the tug had come, its small legs kicking themselves into the air in a sort of strut with each step. After a few paces, it looked back over its shoulder.
"A Heart of Pure Light, and can't even use a Keyblade properly," Chirithy intoned. "You could use all the help you can get."
Something in Kairi stirred. "I'm working on it." And she was, she knew she was. Why else had she agreed to train with Merlin and Axel? Why else had she agreed to be one of the Guardians of Light that the prophecy foretold?
(She tried to stop the vision of Sora's horrified face looking at her as Xemnas grabbed her wrist and the look of fear and frustration on Axel's. That wasn't her. She had tried, hadn't she?)
(Even if it hadn't been enough.)
(Part of her knew that they all thought it'd never be enough.)
Chirithy was watching her with curiosity. It flicked its cloak out behind itself, and Kairi caught a sudden whiff of a scent she couldn't place. But its chill burned her nose, and a sneeze erupted from her. The cat didn't react, but it watched her as she rubbed her cheeks. After she finished sniffling, it said, "Which is why you blew up a car."
Kairi stiffened, quickly looking over her shoulder at the remnants of the ice crystals behind her. "That's not important."
"Why not?"
"I was startled."
"Like you were startled when you lost your heart? Or leapt into the Dark Corridors? Or were destroyed by Xehanort?"
"NO!" Kairi drew her Keyblade up and aimed it at a flowerpot. This time she cast an Aero, and the plant sped into the air with devastating speed before crashing into a store and breaking its windows. Shattered glass landed around them, falling haphazardly. One shard hit her cheek before she could react, and she winced as she felt blood drip down from the cut, but she didn't move to stop it. "I'm...I know I'm scared. I just want...I just want to find Sora."
The Chirithy shook its head and cocked its head slightly. "You can say that, but we both know that's not true."
The small street seemed to grow tighter around her. The buildings were closing in. Her reflection on the windows stared at her, a hundred Kairi's in them mocking her fear.
"I...what do you mean?" Kairi whispered.
"Sure, you want Sora. But what you really want is to be his equal." It jumped into the air again, eyes flashing with crimson. "You want to be stronger."
"Stronger?"
It nodded, the black bag hanging on its neck wobbling slightly with the movement. "Why else are you here? You want to be accepted, so you want to protect Sora because you're the reason he's gone. You want to be the one who saves the day, don't you?"
She didn't answer. She couldn't. Thoughts span around her mind. She didn't like them because she wanted them. For a moment, she looked behind her and saw the ice of the car she'd surrounded turn into shapes. She saw a younger her fighting the Heartless in Hollow Bastion besides Donald and Goofy, tossing them out of the way as they made their escape. She saw herself beating off Axel in Twilight Town to protect Hayner, Pence, and Ollette, stopping the Organization's plan in a moment of easy victory. She saw herself twisting out of Xemnas' grasp in the Graveyard and shooting a quick spell that made him stumble back.
She saw her regrets turn into promises.
And she hated how much they made her think about Sora. In her mind, she saw his grin. Him appearing out of a Heartless to save her from the others in the castle; him appearing in the World that Never Was because she was there; him...his face when she felt a hand on her wrist... Her heart panged when she thought about the last time she, Riku, and him were together: about to enter the fray of the Graveyard, shooting comforting glances at each other. They'd shared a last group hug. She wanted to feel that kind of hug again.
That was all she wanted, nothing more, she told herself. She wasn't sure if she were lying.
"No," she said, shaking her head viciously. "I just want my friends back. That's all."
Chirithy cocked its head to the other side before fiddling with its pouch for a moment.
"Oh, I see." Its eyes didn't shine again, but she felt a shiver run down her spine as it looked her over, and she didn't dismiss the Keyblade in her hand. It sent a dismissive look at the flower-potted window and seemed to shake its head. "See ya, then."
And with that, it hopped in the air again and disappeared in a dark cloud of smoke that left her throat aching when she breathed it in. Kairi coughed a few times and looked around, but the creature was gone. The shattered glass at her feet shone in a vivid array of sparkling luminescence. For a moment, she just stared at the shards.
Sora had told her a bit about what had happened to her when Xehanort had struck her down. She wondered if she'd looked like that, if only for a moment.
Raising her head, she reached out with her heart again. If she could just follow that tug - it had felt so gentle, so known to her…
Nothing was there.
She bit her lip and tried again this time in a different direction, and then another, and another.
Whatever that warmth had been, it was gone. There was nothing for her heart to latch on to.
That never stopped Sora. Kairi steeled herself and leapt over the glass at her feet to an area of clear pavement. If she couldn't find it again, at least she could go in that direction. After all, that was the first lead she'd had.
She'd always considered herself a decent navigator. Back when they were kids, Riku liked to joke that she learned the ins and outs of Destiny Islands better than Sora had, even though Sora had lived there his entire life. (Sora would vehemently argue that he never got lost, he just explored better by losing his way; Riku would always shoot back that that was the definition of getting lost.) At first, she thought she'd find similar skills here. This was just a city. Cities had rules for how streets worked. And at first, she thought correctly. The street she chose wasn't straight, but it curved to her left, which was the direction she had remembered the tug coming from.
She walked for a few minutes, away from the quaintness of the potted plants and the simple storefronts. She was thankful the neon wasn't so prevalent here. The moon still shone like an eye above. It was peaceful, although the tension that the strange encounter with Chirithy, and that residual darkness she had felt, kept her looking over her shoulders and struggling to not keep her Keyblade in hand.
After a bit - it was probably less than ten minutes but it felt like hours - the street ended abruptly, leading into a small park full of emerald trees and bushes and, at the far end, a short silver slide. Weeds covered the ground, not uncomfortably, and a water fountain sat at the left, welcoming despite the cold air around her. The road she had been on diverged into a fork, right and left, neither going the direction she needed. The best way to follow that strange tug would be through.
She walked into the park slowly, looking for some sign of a gate on the far end, but there was nothing behind the vine-ensconced fence to suggest that the path continued as it had been. Kairi shook her head. The playground reminded her of one on the Destiny Islands, outside the schoolyard; she and Selphie had played tag there, and skipping rope, and "king of the castle."
The memories fresh in her mind, Kairi hummed to herself and cast Aero. She leapt into it, fumbling slightly but managing to get the momentum she needed to land at the top of the slide. With a laugh, she thrust herself down and threw herself into the same Aero, even as it fizzled out. With its weakened potential, she didn't go far, but she was able to latch herself onto a rocking horse fixture, letting the swaying numb her anxiety as she remembered the play she had with the others on similar toys.
They hadn't let her do adventurous things too much; she was always the "princess," the "damsel." Even Selphie got to play knight more than she did, claiming her skipping ropes were whips and that she was the mighty dragon tamer. With that thought in mind, she grabbed her Keyblade and swung it around her, imaginary villains dissolving into shadowy husks before her eyes. Wind rippled her hair. Sweat poured down her face as she moved to and fro, letting her pretend assault carry her throughout the park.
It didn't feel the same as before, she had to admit. This kind of play was calculated.
(Are you even having fun?)
She ignored the voice in her head and turned to a nearby tree, Keyblade dismissed as she scaled it far more easily than she could have as a child. Sap coated her hands, and she didn't think as she wiped them on her skirt. When a taller branch crackled under her weight, she jumped, landing calmly on her feet and palms. This was who she had become. She wasn't a child anymore. She wasn't a damsel.
As she let her tension leave her shoulders, she eyed the water fountain distrustfully for a moment before letting her parched mouth decide for her. The water gurgled happily from the spout for a moment before coming out in a steady amount, and its coolness reminded her that she didn't know how long she'd been exploring. It could have been half an hour; it could have been a day. Time stood still here.
But here she was. She was the one in charge. She could decide what happened. She would save Sora.
Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she returned to the street and looked around. She had two options - three if she decided to scale the fence anyway, but after what Chirithy had mentioned about residual darkness, she had a sudden urge to stay close to the illumination of the streetlights while she could. Kairi looked at the forked road in front of her. One way would take her closer in the direction that she had felt that tug, but it would also be following a similar path to how she had come down already, going back up to that little street she had met Chirithy on. It might not turn back, and then she'd be even more lost. The other way wasn't much better, but it was still going in the general direction she wanted. If she could just find a way to turn left in a short while, she would likely still be able to remember enough of the tug to follow a general sense of where it had come from.
So she turned that way, casting one brief glance back at the playground. Something about the emptiness made her chest pang more than the vacant stores and deserted streets did. Shaking her head, she started again.
She turned right at the next intersection she came to - the left side still was going too far in the wrong direction - and felt a small victory when the next choice she could make started leftward and down again. That triumph was short-lived when that street curved back to the right almost immediately. The joy she had felt at the playground had left a bitter taste in her mouth. She was wasting time. Who was she to play knight when she was on a mission?
Kairi let out a huff and stared in the vague direction she thought she remembered the pull to have come from. For all her frolicking in the park, she still knew where to go. A building, short and stout, blocked her way.
If Sora and Riku could do it, she could too. She took a deep, steadying breath, braced herself, and ran forward. When she was maybe three feet away - she was going to crash - she leapt, thrusting herself at the wall of the edifice. Her legs moved forward as gravity shifted, one step, two…
She blinked back stars as pavement met her bottom and her head cracked painfully on the asphalt beneath her. Apparently, she still hadn't mastered scaling buildings. She hadn't practiced, sure, but Sora had made it look so easy.
Sora made everything look easy.
You want to be stronger. You want to be the one who saves the day. Chirithy's words echoed in her ears uncomfortably as she sat up, rubbing at the back of her head and ignoring the torn skin on her elbows. Maybe she did want to be stronger. Maybe she wanted to be like Sora and Riku and Axel and Aqua. Maybe she didn't want to be dead weight.
She stood up, sighing and ignoring the urge to cure herself. She wasn't great at magic, either, and wasting it on a few scrapes and a bump on her head was risky when she didn't know what lived in this world, especially with the darkness Chirithy had mentioned. (She ignored the spells she had cast in the playground. Those were for her.) Shaking her head, she sent a determined glare at the wall. She could do this. It was only a single story. Riku could probably jump onto the rooftop without a second thought. She could at least get up there. The wall came closer as she darted forward again, and as she approached, she could feel what she needed to do to latch onto the side.
A tremble shook the ground as a roar filled the air around her.
Kairi stumbled, losing her balance. She barely managed to plant her hands in front of her to stop herself from letting her face taste the brick of the wall, and she inventoried new scrapes on her palms to add to her ever-growing collection. That thought dissipated as the roar - a guttural, inhuman sound - pervaded the air around her once again. The pavement was shaking. The building she was latching onto rocked dangerously; Kairi quickly leapt back as glass shattered and fell in a splatter where she had been standing a moment ago. She coughed as dust filled the air. Lights flickered overhead. Kairi had never been in an earthquake, but she had the vague notion that this was what one felt like. Where did someone go during one? Away from falling objects, she thought - but everything seemed ready to fall. She yelped as a lamppost stuttered, violently creaking, before toppling to the ground with a loud metallic thud. She frowned; but when another thunderous sound filled the air, she let her instincts take over. She ran.
The shaking didn't abate as she moved through the streets, dodging hail storms of cracking glass and lights that fell like timbered trees. A vague part of her kept her moving in the direction she thought the pull still was, but it was a distant thing, an afterthought, and it was soon lost in the flurry that had become the cityscape. She quickly abandoned her attempts. The streets became a maze. Most of the lights struggled to keep their shine. The moon didn't help. It reflected off of myriad glass shards that now littered the ground in a dizzying array. Kairi struggled to keep her balance more than once, and tripped on multiple occasions, quickly pulling herself up.
The roaring kept coming.
It kept coming closer.
When she finally reached a wide enough intersection, she paused and took a deep breath. The ground shook, but nothing could hit her here; the buildings were far enough away,and the lamps that had once stood tall now lay horizontal on the pavement. She couldn't do anything about the quakes, but she needed to figure out the roaring.
If it were a creature, she could fight it, or talk to it, or follow it, or…
An ache in her chest alerted her of something behind her. Kairi slowly turned around. Standing behind a flickering street lamp, half cast into shadow, was a pair of pincer-like hands and massive, glowing crimson eyes. She couldn't see the face, but she could hear it snarl, and she could see the movement as it started creeping forward.
Kairi couldn't help herself. Later, she would say it was just the shock of the moment, the fact that she was alone, but deep down she knew that, even if someone else were there, she would have probably done the same: She screamed.
She cast a quick Fira at it before moving, not waiting long enough to see if the spell hit. Beads of sweat pulled at her skin, latching her bangs to her forehead and making her skirt tangle uncomfortably with each step. She was aware that the creature, whatever it was, followed - that it followed closely. She tried to turn a corner - if she could just lose it in these streets…- but when she did, a claw reached out and grazed her forearm. Shrieking, she turned the opposite direction, blindly swinging her Keyblade at it. She felt the impact of blade on skin; the feeling made her shiver. An animalistic groan of pain filled the air as she darted onward, but her relief was short-lived when she saw the creature, just a silhouette, jump above her and block her path. Stumbling, she changed directions at the next intersection. The ground still rumbled, and Kairi cast several quick Aeros to move lampposts and broken glass out of her path as she ran.
She didn't know how long she went. It felt like hours, but a part of her told her it had only been minutes. For a moment, she didn't understand what had changed. Then she realized that her breathing was the loudest thing around her. She felt exhausted; her hand trembled as she came to a halt, her lungs aching and her breath catching in her throat as she tried to fill them properly. The creature was behind her, only a few paces away. She could hear its rough panting, though its wasn't out of exhaustion but out of excitement. Sora wouldn't have felt like this. Sora would have -
She steeled herself. Sora wouldn't have run at all. He would have stood and fought. If she were going to save Sora, she needed to make a stand. She...she could be strong like him and Riku and everyone else. Closing her eyes tightly for a moment, she focused - and then, eyes opening fiercely, she turned around.
There was nothing there.
She held her Keyblade and looked around. The ground had stilled. The path she had taken had led her to the brightly lit streets again. Gone were the small stores and quaint alleyways; back were overly tall buildings and blinding lights, like where she had begun. Above her, the bright inscription of "104" marked an edifice; she couldn't read much else. There was no sign of the earth's quakes here. It was as if that had been a dream. The only thing that made her sure it was real was the distant flickering of lights from where she had come, lighting and dimming ominously in the foreground.
The quiet had returned. She didn't like it anymore than she had before.
"You good, kid?" a voice said behind her. Kairi jumped and turned on her heel, pointing Destiny's Embrace at the speaker.
"Ch-Chirithy," she managed to sputter out before lowering her weapon.
Its purple image seemed especially vibrant in the neon around them. "Glad you haven't forgotten," it intoned drily. "I see you met some darkness."
Kairi refrained from the urge to look behind her. "I guess so."
"You handled it well, I'd say. Running away, screaming a bit...real professional." Chirithy hopped on one foot a few times, waving its arms in the air to keep balance. "I don't think I could do any better."
There was a bitter taste on her mouth. Something inside her panged. With a small voice, she muttered, "I didn't mean to. It just - "
"It's what you're used to," the Chirithy said, not unkindly. "You're used to running to hide behind someone. That's perfectly normal." It paused before continuing. "But it doesn't suit you. You're not a hider. You don't wait. Do you?"
She looked behind herself once more. "The...that thing is gone?"
"For now," it said, as though that were unimportant. "It'll probably be back. Will you run again?"
"I…no."
"No?"
"No. If I see something, I'm going to stand my ground. I'm going to fight. Like Sora."
"Oh, that's not the correct answer," Chirithy said, shaking its head. "Try again."
For a moment, Kairi was befuddled. Then she closed her eyes tightly and stated, "I'm going to fight better than Sora."
"'Atta girl." The cat hopped into the air, landing at her feet. "Anything else you want to say?"
"You can help me."
"Yes?"
"Become stronger?"
"Sure." Its expression didn't change, but it leaned forward.
This time, she didn't hesitate. If this would help her...
"I'll do it. I'll be your wielder."
The Chirithy cocked its head up at her, its eyes narrowing slightly. "Only if you're sure."
"I am," Kairi said with a determined grimace. "I want to get stronger. I need to get stronger. If you can help me with that, then I'm in."
"All right, then. Took enough time." It jumped back a foot, nodding to the empty air around them.
Kairi waited for a moment for something to happen. When nothing did, she cleared her throat. Her heart still beat fast from the chase she had just escaped. "Is there anything we need to do? To make the bond?"
"Nah, you're mine now," it said before shaking its head. "Oh, wait, sure, almost forgot. Here."
From the dark pouch that hung around its neck, it pulled out a silver bracelet. Its sides were adorned with red diamond-esque shapes. The front featured a gold star motif, the five points surrounded by triangles that might have been starburst from it.
"Put it on," Chirithy commanded, holding the bracelet out to her.
As she grabbed it, she felt a sharp pain in her chest, where her heart was. She flinched away, letting go of the adornment instinctually. The bracelet dropped to the pavement below, splashing in a puddle and rippling the lights that reflected in it. "What's that?"
Chirithy shrugged. "Just a power bangle. It'll help you fight and gain power."
She fought the urge to say that it hurt. Chirithy seemed to see through her confusion anyway.
"A bit uncomfortable, right? Getting stronger isn't easy, you know." It bent down and grabbed the bangle, shaking it in the air a few times to get the droplets of water off. "You'll get used to it. Everyone else has." It paused for a moment before adding, "I'm surprised Riku didn't show you his."
"Riku has one?" A second later, a different thought occurred to her. "You know Riku?"
"Of course. I gave him one a while ago. He'd be useless without it."
For a moment, Kairi stared blankly at the bangle that Chirithy was, once again, holding out to her. Riku used this to get stronger? Why hadn't he offered her it, when she was so weak?
"Riku uses this to be strong?"
"He hasn't told you? I thought you were his friend," Chirithy said nonchalantly. It waved the bracelet around a few more times, drops of water landing on Kairi's legs. "I guess everyone has secrets."
"He doesn't keep secrets from me…" she stated before tailing off, staring at her wide-eyed expression in the puddle, her face in the trembling water surrounded by the bangle. Riku did keep secrets. When he was masquerading as Ansem, he had tried to ignore her. When she was training, he had barely visited. When she had returned to Destiny Islands, and he had tried to hide the pain in his heart that it was her who appeared and not Sora.
She grabbed the bangle and, ignoring the intense panging in her heart, slipped it on her right wrist. It immediately tightened into a vice-like grip. She winced but held back a gasp.
"Now what?" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Now? Now you get to fight," Chirithy said, before popping into the air and disappearing into a burst of smoke.
A/N: For pre-reordered readers, this chapter basically just combines what used to be chapters 1.5 and 2. I decided I didn't need to rely on silly cliffhangers. Bonus points to anyone who can decide which street of Shibuya - ahem, Quadratum - ahem, wherever - Kairi and Chirithy meet. There's a pun!