Disclaimer: The Mad Doctor claims no ownership to the Kingdom Hearts franchise. It belongs to Disney and Square Enix.

Notes from the Mad Doctor: Greetings readers! By now, I bet you're all wondering why there's been no encounters with the Heartless or Nobodies. Well, in universe, I currently don't have an explanation for the reason they seem to have taken a vacation. But maybe I'll come up with one later. Out of universe, I have a long journey for Kairi planned with multiple worlds and I don't want each visit to be too long. Plus, with Maleficent taking the reigns of the Big Bad for this story and since she lost control of her Heartless in KH2, it wouldn't make sense for her to just suddenly have them again. But don't worry. In nearly every world she visits, Kairi will be in a major battle. But not against enemies that you can just attack with a Keyblade until they pop. You'll see in due time. Now let's see how her flying lesson goes. Enjoy!

Chapter 10: Flying Lessons

Never Land

"I'm not sure this is a good idea, Peter," said Kairi as she stood up on a tall cliff. Gazing downward, she saw many sharp rocks at the bottom. "You expect me, for my first flying attempt, to jump off this?"

"Hey, if anything, it'll motivate you more to get it right on the first try. It certainly worked for Sora. He fell right toward the open mouth of Mr. Crocodile and took off just before he snapped shut," said Peter as he hovered in front of her.

"He didn't exactly have a choice about that with Hook forcing him off the plank," said Kairi.

"Look, it'll be easy. I mean take a look at me. I'm a natural," said Peter.

'Maybe it's because you're so full of hot air,' thought Kairi.

"I'll only do this if you promise me that if something goes wrong, you'll catch me. Is that clear?" asked Kairi.

"Okay. But don't worry so much. You'll get it. You won't even need me to catch you," said Peter.

"So how does it work exactly?"

"It's easy, Kairi," said the voices of the Twins. Kairi turned around to see the Lost Boys sitting on nearby rocks. Pluto stood nearby.

"All it takes is faith!" exclaimed Nibs as Tink began to sprinkle pixie dust on all of them.

"Trust!" exclaimed Slightly as the Lost Boys began to float in the air.

"And something else. I know what it is. But I just can't think of it right now," said Cubby as he scratched his forehead while turning upside down in mid-air.

"Pixie dust?" asked Kairi.

"Yeah. That's it! How'd you know?" asked Cubby.

"It is kind of obvious seeing as how you all lifted off right after Tink covered you with the stuff," said Kairi. 'Plus, I remember that's how Sora, Donald and Goofy got that ability too.'

"You see, Kairi? It's easy. Tink!" called Peter as the fairy flew directly in front of his face. "Dust her!"

Tink just folded her arms and turned away.

"Tink, don't be that way. Remember, we're doing this to help Kairi find Sora. If she's able to fly, she'll get a whole new view to watch out for him from. So, let her have it," said Peter.

'It's going to be harder to find Sora than that, Peter. Still, the ability to fly may come in handy wherever I may go on this journey so I can't afford to pass it up. In fact, maybe that's why the Wayfinder brought me here: to learn this skill,' thought Kairi.

Tink finally relented and circled around Kairi. As she flew, she spread her pixie dust all over the Princess of Heart. Once Kairi was covered head to toe in the magical substance, Tink returned to Peter's side.

"Now you're all set. Okay, Kairi. Give it a try," said Peter as he floated over the cliff and beckoned her to follow.

"Uh how do you start it up?" asked Kairi.

In response, Toodles floated in front of her. He slid his fingers across the corners of his mouth while smiling. Then he tapped on his forehead.

"What's he trying to say?" asked Kairi.

"He's saying to think of a happy thought," said Slightly.

"Yeah. That's all you need to start flying," said the Twins.

"It's true. Thinking of the happiest things is the same as having wings," said Peter with Tink nodding in agreement.

'Happy thoughts? Well, I haven't been having many of those lately. But maybe I can muster some up with a few good memories.'

Kairi walked up to the edge of the cliff. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the various memories she held dear.

Drawing the first stages of the paopu drawing in the Secret Place when she and Sora were young.

Giving Sora her lucky charm for the first time.

Finding Sora's addition to the paopu drawing and adding her own.

Throwing her arms around Sora tightly when they reunited in the Organization's castle.

Kairi smiled and for a moment, it seemed as if she was slowly inching off the ground. That is, until other memories began to surge through her mind. These memories were the ones she wished she could forget.

Watching Sora vanish right in front of her after he used Ansem's Keyblade to free her heart from his body.

The sorrow as memories of Sora slowly slipped away.

Being ripped away from Sora twice during the Keyblade War first by the Demon Tide and then by Xemnas.

Xehanort explicitly telling her what he planned to do to her to give Sora motivation.

Kairi opened her eyes with a gasp. A tear rolled down her cheek.

"Kairi? Are you okay?" asked Peter.

"I-I'm fine, Peter," said Kairi as she wiped away the tear. "I was trying to jump start the happy thoughts with my favorite memories of Sora. But I lost it when a few bad memories came through."

Kairi then turned away from the cliff and began to walk away. Peter flew after her.

"Don't give up yet. I know you can do it."

"I'm not giving up. Just trying a different approach. Maybe with a running start and focusing on one single memory, I can pull it off," said Kairi as she turned back around.

After taking a deep breath, Kairi ran back towards the cliff. Peter and the Lost Boys gave out loud cheers of encouragement. Pluto, however, just covered his eyes with his ears.

As Kairi ran, she focused her thoughts on one special memory. This memory was the one she currently treasured above all others.

The sunset when she and Sora finally shared the paopu fruit for real and bound their lives and destinies together forever.

Holding onto this happy memory, Kairi continued to run until she reached the edge of the cliff. Closing her eyes and spreading her arms like wings, she gave a powerful leap and left the ground.

A few seconds passed before Kairi opened her eyes and let out a gasp of surprise.

She was hovering in the air. She was flying!

"You did it, Kairi!" exclaimed Peter as the Lost Boys cheered, and Pluto barked happily. Even Tink was smiling and clapping her hands.

'I did it! I did it, Sora! I…' thought Kairi when suddenly, a bad memory shot through her: the memory of the last words she heard from her beloved.

'Kairi, I'm so sorry.'

With the happy thought superseded by the awful memory, Kairi's brief moment of flight came to end. She immediately dropped like a stone. Gazing downward, Kairi saw the sharp rocks on the bottom approaching fast and screamed with terror

'Come on! Come back happy thought!'

But it was no use. With her mind filled with terror, there was no way to resume flight.

But suddenly, just before she hit the sharp rocks, she stopped. She was now dangling upside down in the air. Craning her neck, she looked up and saw that Peter had grabbed her by her ankles. She gave a sigh of relief.

Peter flew back up to the cliff and gently lowered Kairi so she was now on her hands and knees on the ground. As she pulled herself into a sitting position, the Lost Boys surrounded her with looks of concern. Pluto came right up to her and nuzzled against her face.

"What happened, Kairi? You almost had it," said Peter.

Kairi let out a deep sigh and clutched her knees to her chest. "I don't think I'm going to be able to fly at all, Peter."

"But why?" asked Nibs.

"Anybody can do it," chimed in Slightly.

"I'm sure anybody can. But as hard as I try, I can't keep up any happy thoughts. You see, boys, my happiest memories always involved Sora and my other friends. But since I lost him, I can't think of happier times with him without my worse memories interrupting them. That's why I don't think I'll be able to fly."

"I never knewed happy thoughts could become sad thoughts," said Cubby as he scratched his head.

"Maybe since thinking of Sora's not making her happy, why doesn't she just think of something else? Maybe another friend?" asked Slightly.

"That might work. Kairi, why don't you try thinking of happier times with your other friends. Maybe that one with the silver hair? What was his name? Riku?" asked Peter.

"Before I left, Riku and I weren't speaking to each other, Peter. So, that won't work either," said Kairi. 'Guess I won't be learning a new skill after all.'

Then Pluto began to bark. He sounded worried.

"What is it, Pluto?" asked Kairi.

In response, the dog pointed with his nose toward her neck. Her hands went to where he was indicating, and she gasped.

Her usual necklace was there. But the Wayfinder was missing.

"The Wayfinder! It's gone!" exclaimed Kairi as she rose to her feet and ran back to the edge of the cliff with Pluto, Peter, Tink and the Lost Boys following behind her. "It must have slid off of me when you stopped my fall, Peter. Could you and Tink please go down there and look for it?"

"You got it, Kairi! Come on, Tink!" said Peter as he and the fairy flew down toward the sharp rocks.

Kairi clutched the sides of her head worriedly. 'I hope it's not damaged or worse. That Wayfinder's my only hope of getting Sora back.'

Just then, Tink flew up back to the cliff. She had the Wayfinder dangling from her tiny hands.

"You found it! And it's alright! Thanks, Tink!" exclaimed Kairi as she approached the fairy, ready to take the Wayfinder from her.

But, with a sly smirk on her face, Tink suddenly tossed the Wayfinder into the air. It sailed over Kairi and landed in the hands of one of the Twins.

Kairi was shocked. "What did do that for, Tink?" she asked prompting the fairy to give a mock shrug in response.

"Hey, Nibs! Go long!" said the Twin as he prepared to throw the Wayfinder himself.

"No! Don't!" cried Kairi as she ran to stop him. But she was too late, and the Twin already threw it to Nibs.

The impromptu game of keepaway escalated as each of the Lost Boys tossed the Wayfinder back and forth as Kairi frantically tried to retrieve it.

"Come on, boys! This isn't funny!" she yelled. But the Lost Boys were too busy laughing and keeping up their game that her protests fell on deaf ears.

'Maybe Peter can stop this,' thought Kairi as she turned around, hoping that Peter had finally come up.

He had indeed returned. But he was currently floating in the air clutching his sides as he laughed at the scene in front of him.

Kairi scowled. 'I can't believe he's allowing this. Can't he see that I'm not pleased at all with this?'

Finally, just as Slightly had thrown the Wayfinder in the direction of Cubby, Pluto leapt up into the air and caught it by the chain with his mouth. He then walked over to Kairi. With a grateful smile, she took the talisman from him and put it around her neck.

"Thanks, Pluto," she said as she petted the top of the dog's head.

"Aww! The dog ruined our game!" shouted Cubby.

Kairi gave a look of disgust toward the Lost Boys as she held up the Wayfinder. "This is not a toy to be played with. Why couldn't you boys just stop when I asked? You know what. This is the last straw. I'm not spending one more minute with such insensitive, thoughtless children who think life is just one big game. Because it's not."

Paying no attention to the stunned looks on the boys' faces, Kairi stomped off toward the jungle with Pluto following behind. Peter flew after her.

"Aw come on, Kairi! They were only having some fun. You should have joined in. It probably would've made you feel better," he said as he flew alongside her.

"Peter, the only thing that will ever make me feel better is finding Sora. And my Wayfinder is the only thing I have that can possibly lead me to him," said Kairi angrily.

"Well, how were we supposed to know that?" asked Peter.

"I would've explained it. But for a bunch of boys who won't grow up, I'm afraid any attempt would be lost on you."

"But Kairi…"

"Just forget it, Peter. You all have no idea what it's like to miss someone so much that you'll do anything to see them again," said Kairi.

With that, Kairi accelerated and ran faster into the jungle and Pluto followed. They didn't care where they would end up. They just wanted to get as far away from Peter and his crew as possible.

A while later, Kairi and Pluto had stopped. They were currently in the middle of a small clearing in the jungle. Still steamed about what had happened earlier, Kairi was pacing all around while Pluto watched.

"I don't know about you, Pluto. But I have had it up to here with this place. Peter and Tinker Bell were such a big help to Sora, Donald and Goofy on their adventures. Why aren't they doing the same for us?" she asked.

Kairi then raised the Wayfinder up above her head to the sky and shouted, as if her words could reach the ears of her mysterious benefactor, "I'm trying to do what you said I had to do. But couldn't you have given me more information of what I have to do to get this thing to glow? Because if there's supposed to be a reason for my being here, I am not seeing it. Why couldn't it bring us to a world where I could get actual help in finding Sora?"

The Princess' rant went unheard. She wasn't surprised. In fact, she would've been more surprised if the mysterious woman from her dream had actually answered.

Pluto whimpered. Kairi glanced at him and let out a big sigh.

"I don't know, Pluto. They shouldn't have been playing around with the Wayfinder like that. But maybe I was a little too hard on them. It's not like they knew how important the Wayfinder is. I haven't exactly told them everything. They believe that Sora's just lost somewhere and can easily be found. But how do I tell them it's not as simple as that?"

Kairi continued to walk around the clearing. 'Then again, it's not like I've been completely honest before I started on this quest. I didn't tell Riku and the others how I guilty I was feeling about what happened to Sora. But like a stubborn fool, I thought it was my burden to bear alone. Maybe if I had told them, maybe we wouldn't have fought, and we'd all be searching for Sora together right now.'

"Should I go back and at least try to explain to them more about what happened to Sora and what I'm trying to do? Peter and Tink already know about the other worlds so I wouldn't have to worry about the world order. But would they even understand? What do you think, Pluto?" she asked as she turned toward her canine companion. She let out a gasp at what she saw.

Pluto was currently being hogtied by a couple of thuggish men dressed in pirate garb. They had also tied his mouth shut with rope.

Before she could react further, a gag was suddenly pulled over her mouth. Then she felt her arms getting pulled behind her back.

A horrible feeling shot through Kairi. The attack on her brought back the memories of Xemnas abducting her in the middle of the Keyblade War; the moment where everything truly went downhill for her and Sora.

As her hands were tied behind her back with rope, more pirates stepped out of the foliage. All of them were brandishing cutlasses and guns and evil smiles. They chuckled wickedly at her.

Then, stepping through the middle of the crowd, came a very familiar face. He was a tall, thin pirate dressed in a red coat and hat. He had black hair and a very thin moustache. But his most notable feature was the metal hook that replaced his left hand.

The most infamous pirate in all of Never Land: Captain James Hook.

Followed by his ever faithful first mate, Mr. Smee, Hook walked up to Kairi. Bending down to her eye level, he gave the captive princess a wicked smile.

"Hello, Kairi."

Notes from the Mad Doctor: So, the old codfish has finally shown up. And in doing so, has set this story up for this world's big battle. You can tell I've been using Return to Never Land as a major influence for this world visit with Kairi as a stand-in for Wendy's daughter Jane. So I bet you aren't surprised that Kairi was going to be unable to fly. Even though she's not as cynical as Jane, in Kairi's state of mind, it was a foregone conclusion. After writing this chapter, I realize I'm still tormenting her even though I said I had brought her to rock bottom after her nightmare a couple of chapters ago. But the path up from the bottom is never easy. Also, the non-canon scenes and aspects I mentioned (for example, Sora's last words) will be shown later down the road. Anyway, I like to give a shoutout to another post-KH3 Kairi-centric work which I should have included with my shoutouts on the summary page. It's a comic on Deviantart called A World without Sky by Miraclekid92. It's got great artwork and a great selection of Disney worlds. Anyway, the big battle starts next chapter! Reviews are much appreciated! Stay tuned!