Chapter 3 - Lux

She swung her Keyblade away from her, narrowly blocking the incoming attack. The air sizzled, energy flowing out of the shape that assailed her. It hurt to look at, and her nostrils, full of a sulphurous smell, flared uncomfortably. A roll to her side, a duck of her head, and she sprang forward. Pages, scattered from misplaced books, splayed into the air, whipping her hair into her face and making her sputter. Her muscles tensed as she started to mutter a spell. The first she could think of, "Li - " but before she could finish, a dark hand flashed in front of her face, making her trip backward. She tumbled onto the ground. One hand rubbed at her mouth as she glared upward. "That's cheating."

He smirked, not unkindly, and said -

"Oh, come on. Get up, Kairi - "

"Get up."

Kairi glared at the Chirithy. It was eye-level to where she was at the moment, and that made it seem bigger than it really was. "I'm trying."

"Peh, you call that trying?" it said dismissively. "I've seen novices do better in their first missions. Come on, princess, get up."

It turned away, and she had to work hard to bite back harsh words. If she spoke back too frequently, or expressed too much frustration - or if she didn't stand up quickly enough - the Chirithy would just sniffle, hop into the air, and disappear into its acrid smoke.

It had done that too many times before, and Kairi was getting tired - and yet she never felt less willing to give up. She'd visited too many worlds to just give up now.

With a grunt Kairi shoved herself upward and sprung into the newly formed portal, into the next world.

The Chirithy - her Chirithy, now - had disappeared after she had taken the bangle and put it on her wrist. She had taken its invitation for what it was: a moment of rest. She hadn't been able to find her way back to the small park and the water fountain - all of the damage that she had been sure had happened around her in the street, all the shattering glass and displaced light posts behind her, even the flickering, were no longer there, and a strange part of Kairi had decided not to care about that.

Instead, after a few minutes of walking, she had found a vending machine around a corner. A well-placed Aero had knocked it around enough to release a few cans, and after opening one and instantly gagging at the fizzing liquid inside that sprayed half over her, she grabbed a bottle that turned out to actually be water. She drank a few sips before taking large gulps, coughing slightly as she tried to swallow too much at once. She threw the empty bottle into a trash can, grabbed another to wipe down the fizzing liquid from the earlier can, and then opened another water bottle - and closed it. She didn't know how long she would be here. She might need that. She wasn't a little kid anymore. She squirmed at the inventory she and Riku and Sora had made of a few coconuts and fish. As if that would have worked for longer than a day, even if they had the tools to open the coconuts and devein fish. Leaving the bottle next to the vending machine - it looked less like a vending machine now and more a squat...something, she looked around.

A small blue bench sat next to the machine. Its plastic exterior wasn't comfortable, but she laid down briefly, until her legs no longer felt wobbly and her head felt clearer.

The bracelet had stopped squeezing. Kairi tried to reach for that little flicker from before, but she could only sigh as nothing appeared to her heart.

If Riku had one of these bangles...did Sora have one as well? Did Axel? Did Master Yen Sid just forget to send one with the new clothes the Good Fairies had drafted? With how much the three argued, she supposed it were possible - but Master Yen Sid, forget something so important? Or King Mickey not mentioning it?

A buzzing in her ears dropped those thoughts from her mind as her eyes closed...

She was falling...she knew this darkness, she knew what it meant, that he was coming. She was lost. She wasn't supposed to be there. Where was Grannie, where was...where was Riku, and Aqua, and Axel, and - and -

And then there was a flash of light and darkness and Darkness and LIGHT and she was falling so fast and -

She woke up on the ground next to the bench, a sharp pain in her elbows where she must have fallen. The destroyed vending machine was beeping slightly, a little broken piece that read "Insert coin here" flickering. With a shake and a groan, Kairi grabbed one of the distressingly fizzy cans and stood up.

She hadn't gone far out of sight of the 104 building; she hadn't wanted that monster, that darkness, to return without Chirithy around. Chirithy was small (and likely couldn't fight, she had to admit), but it seemed to understand this world in some way. She'd rather have it with her for whatever else might come. So when she had finished her nap and her drink, she returned to the bottom of that building, following the red numbers in the skyline to find her way back.

She looked around with uncertainty as she stood in the increasingly familiar intersection, rubbing at her bangle. She thought that Chirithy would have said something after their pact, but - maybe she was supposed to find it? It had mentioned fighting, but as far as she could tell, there was nothing in this world other than herself and the cat creature. And the darkness thing. Not a great selection of things to fight, she thought, as she walked up to the curved wall of the building and looked at her reflection in the glass and the portal that arose from behind her...

Kairi spun around. Where there had once been just a normal night street now stood a tall lightish - thing. A white glow in the center stood surrounded by purple light and white tendrils. It wasn't the same purple as Chirithy was; this one seemed warmer.

She regarded the portal hesitantly. She'd had her share of them, after all: from her first meeting with Axel, to her second one, to joining Namine's escape plan, to - this wasn't her fault - getting captured by Xemnas in the Graveyard, to...well, to however she got to this strangely towered place. Portals were dangerous.

So was everything, something muttered in her mind. So is nothing.

She didn't look around. She didn't hesitate.

She stepped through.

The fairy-tale land that greeted her took her breath away.

But only the first time. Every time after, the worlds lost some of their magic to her.

She could only hope she was gaining some of theirs.

"Took you long enough this time," murmured Chirithy as she returned again, her bangle shining as the glow from it floated to the little pouch on its neck. It shone for a moment as it trickled in, a fiery black that always caught her attention. "Not a lot of lux over there anymore, huh?"

"Blame that guard. We were up and down the desert all day and night just looking for rubies. Rubies! I could find rubies in the Dwarven Woodlands if that's what we wanted!" Kairi huffed, rubbing at her wrist as the warm heat of the lux dissipated, leaving the fresh, humid air of the city behind. She leant on one foot to remove a boot and pour grainy yellow sand out before doing the same with the other and then, for good measure, turning out her pockets. They were also full of sand, and that annoyed her more than it should have. That reminded her of a beach, far away. "Maybe you should send me to better worlds."

"I told you, I told you," Chirithy shook its head, hopping from foot to foot. "There aren't a lot around. Most are just memories at this point."

It jumped onto Kairi, who let it fall into her arms comfortably as she gave up her pockets as lost causes. They had worked hard to get to this stage in their relationship. "Am I beating Riku, yet?"

"Ah, he's a tough customer," it answered. "He just got out of Wonderland. Seemed to not be his cup of tea - "

"Hah."

" - and is moving on to the Coliseum." It hopped away from her; Chirithy only liked small amounts of physical affection. "Though he'll be gone by the time you get there."

"You don't know that - "

"Kairi," Chirithy said warningly, a clear sign it was going to disappear in its puff of smoke in a minute if she kept arguing. She shut her mouth. When it did that, it would sulk for hours before sending her on random other tasks in other worlds, usually ones she didn't enjoy finishing. Like this latest one in the desert.

Instead, she leaned against the bench that she had taken up as a sort of residence. "Are you sure there are other wielders like Ven? How come I never see them?" How come I never see Riku? She thought but didn't say aloud.

As though it knew her unspoken addition, Chirithy's eyes gleamed. It tutted, once, before turning around. "They all have different tasks. You must just miss them all the time."

Kairi accepted this as a lie. It was easier than trying to continue the conversation about all the other wielders that Chirithy liked to allude to, to compare herself with. They were never kind comparisons.

But after every world, every trial, every spark she felt flare into the bangle, she felt more.

"The real point is…" it leaned forward, head cocking slightly as to eye her from its angle. "Do you feel stronger?"

"Of course I do!" she murmured. "Otherwise, what am I doing?"

She did feel stronger, was the thing. The warmth of the bangle against her sweat-coldened skin, her calves aching nicely as she put her boots back on, the way her hood seemed a part of her now, rather than just an accessory - she felt different. She liked it.

"So what's the matter? Look-see, I have another task - "

"Chirithy."

It stopped. "Yes."

"I'm ready."

It hummed. "Why do you think that?"

"Why shouldn't I?"

If Chirithy could smile, it would have. "Well then. Do you want to see what you're made of?"

Before she could respond, she felt a tingling, and then - she gasped with the intensity - a light came from her chest. It burst out. She could feel a small tearing sensation and then - stillness.

She could see the light now. It formed into a small porcelain heart, daintily dancing in the air before her eyes. As she fell to her knees, shadows squirmed and moved around her. The darkness that surrounded her, the natural, street-lit darkness, fled around herself, leaving a swath of emptiness. It was neither light nor dark where they left. She watched as it all moved in unison, like fish swimming, toward that one piece of light. The shadows cast by her fingers between them and her skirt; the locks of hair that swept close to her shoulders; her own shadow beneath her cast by the neon lights. They all moved together.

All of the darkness that she could cast found its way around the little heart.

For a moment, there was only that image. Kairi blinked back tears at the strange sensation. An emptiness filled her. She watched, panting, as the darkness formed itself around the little light, morphing, transforming. First a strange shape that grew a circle - no, a head. Arms and fingers. Legs and boots.

The darkness covered the light and her shadow appeared.

It was her. It was as though she were looking at herself in a mirror, albeit a version of herself that was...that was filled with darkness.

"Chirithy!" she called out, gritting her teeth as the shadow-her looked down an empty face at herself. "Chirithy, what is this?"

"It's what you're made of." She could barely hear Chirithy's voice over the ringing in her own ears. "Just you," it said, lifting its feet flamboyantly in the air as it stepped to stand in between it and her. "Rather, she's everything you don't manifest yourself. The bangle collects energy, right? Now it will collect energy as you fight her, and that energy will flow into you and help you get stronger. Like Riku, right? Like we agreed upon."

Kairi couldn't answer. At the mention of the bangle, she noticed it, burning on her wrist again. She gripped it with one hand again, pulling at it to try to stop it from touching her skin - but the warmth that flowed from it wasn't unpleasant. Actually, the more she felt it, the more she realized it felt calming, like a warm blanket or a fire on the beach. It filled the emptiness the light and darkness had bleached from her skin and left her with...she stumbled on the word, but she knew she knew it.

Power. It left her with power.

She had barely enough time to block the attack as the Keyblade rushed at her. She took a deep breath as the bangle on her wrist glowed and tightened slightly, before she pushed back with Destiny's Embrace.

The dark silhouette took a few steps backward before rushing her again, and she had only enough time to parry the Keyblade away. She rustled, letting her personal Destiny's Embrace's teeth tangle with the non-Kairi's one. It, like its owner, was covered in shadows. With a small shout, Kairi pushed it away and sent a ball of flame over it. The shadow dodged quickly - and then it disappeared.

"Where - "

She felt her own Keyblade fall from her grasp as something hit her from behind. Kairi stumbled and fell to her knees. Behind her, stepping outside of a shadow the building cast, her own shadow walked calmly. It placed its Keyblade under her neck and then it waited.

A small clapping filled the air.

"Good try, I guess," Chirithy said.

Kairi glared before laughing. "Could I learn to do that?" she asked. She wasn't sure what "that" was - the fighting, the strength, the dissipating into shadows - but she wanted it all.

Chirithy cocked its head before nodding. "I guess you could." The shadow self moved backward, getting into a new fighting position.

"Now get up and try again, princess."

She got up.

A/N: This isn't the longest chapter in the world but I refuse to write a full training-montage scene. For those unfamiliar with KHUx, lux is an element you collect to compete with others. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me! Otherwise, I hope you're enjoying!