A/N: Just a quick warning, there is some child abuse that happens here. I don't want anyone to feel too uncomfortable, so if that is something that disturbs you, please be careful.
The beginning of the end of their happy place stumbled upon them all too soon. But unlike most harbingers, it took the form of an innocent and nameless young child.
They found him wobbling about the ruins, delirious, bleeding, wound already heavily infected. Vaan and Hayner spotted him on their supply run and did their best to support him back to the secret base. No one knew his name and he would only splutter out nonsensical gibberish when questioned. Something illusory and horrible was swirling around his head. The only thing that had made any sense was the word 'reconnect' that he would shout now and again with a commanding and harsh tone, clutching his hands at the air.
Hesitant glances passed between all the children, fear filling every corner of their quiet former safe place. They gathered together the few meager blankets and bedding materials they had found and set up as comfortable a place for the sick boy as possible, but otherwise the group felt frozen with indecision. Kairi, having at least some knowledge of medicinal herbs, reached for her small lavender colored pouch to check the contents.
Her supplies were woefully close to empty and she stared down at the meager remainders helplessly. She didn't have to say anything for the others to understand that the situation suddenly thrust upon them was already not looking good.
Penelo pulled at one of her braids nervously. "What should we do?"
Tilting the opening of the pouch towards him so he could take a look, Pence winced visibly. "Doesn't look good...do we need to get more?"
It was unfortunate, but he was probably right. To save that boy, they needed to venture above ground again and gather the right medicine. But it was already approaching dusk, and the dark beings always started to come out in droves in the evenings.
Kairi fiddled nervously with the pouch tassels, terrified. Either they waited until the morning, or they had to go out and hope the sunlight would linger long enough for them to find what they needed. Both options seemed scary. She had no idea if the injured boy could last until morning without help, but suggesting her friends go outside at the most dangerous time was also...
"Well what are we waiting for, then? Let's go already!" Hayner nodded towards the exit.
Vaan sided with him immediately. "Just tell us what we need and we'll get it. Family sticks together, yeah?"
Olette glanced back at the sick boy and tucked the blanket on top of him a little tighter around his side. "We all need to do our part."
"I wanna help, too!" Selphie interjected, reaching her hand up into the air and waving it excitedly.
They all had their minds made up, it seemed, and Kairi couldn't really in good conscience tell them not to go, but she was hesitant to agree. She also worried that if she went outside, it would only draw the ire of those knights searching for her and put everyone in even more danger.
In the corner of her eye, she caught Sora giving her a worried glance before scampering over and giving her hand a little squeeze, then gestured to the boy currently groaning miserably on the stone floor under their raggedy collection of blankets.
"Kairi, why don't you stay here so he doesn't get lonely. You're a great doctor, too!"
She knew that wasn't true at all. Penelo was much better at giving medicine. Kairi was only good at identifying the types of leaves and what kind of effects they would have. But she had a feeling she knew why he was suggesting for her to stay.
He knew those dark beings were out searching for her. The other children might stand more of a chance to escape without her there.
Gau cheered in excitement and started running in circles, huffing in anticipation for another town excursion.
Maybe splitting up was the best solution for right now. All they could do was try.
Kairi nodded slowly, and picked up a stick. With the slightly more pointed end, she carefully sketched in the dirt a rough image of the plant she would need. It was known as the Esuna plant, famous for being the main ingredient in most herbal remedies. Commonly called a 'cure-all'. There wasn't much that it wasn't good for, and since she had no idea for the cause of the boy's illness, it was the first thing she considered. Esuna grew often in small patches of light, half in the shade, often sprouting tiny blue flowers. Hopefully it wouldn't be too hard to find.
"Make sure you come back. All of you!" She cast another frightened look back at the door to the outside world.
It was particularly difficult to keep on a brave face, waving at them as they cheered and rushed to the exit. The dread felt heavy in her stomach. The last time she had felt this sick was when she had accidentally eaten too many mashed potatoes at dinner.
"Don't worry, we'll be back before you know it!" Sora gave her one last cheerful wave before disappearing after the others.
The cellar door slammed shut, swathing her and the injured boy in nothing but a heavy blanket of darkness and silence.
It had been so long since she felt alone. It was a horrid, yet familiar feeling. For so long she had been surrounded by new friends, and now they had all disappeared, sucking the very life of that dingy basement out with them. More than anything she wanted them to come back soon.
The boy's groans snapped her back to reality and she gathered up her remaining supplies. First, she heated some water up in the heavy iron kettle they had borrowed so she could make him some hot tea and steep some herbs in it. Even though she did her best to temper the sour taste of the medicine, he refused to drink anything.
"It smells a little strange but it doesn't taste bad, I promise! It tastes like peppermint candy. Do you like peppermint?"
He groaned and turned away.
Screwing up her mouth to the side she sat back on her ankles and thought, finally voicing herself out loud.
"Everyone is working hard to help you, so I'm going to try my best too. I'm very sorry about this, but it's for your own good."
Reaching over, she pinched his nose shut until he gasped, mouth wide, for fresh air. She took that as an opportunity and kept his mouth open so she could gently pour some of her impromptu drink inside.
He squirmed a moment, then relaxed. His lips quivered, before briefly uttering a string of garbled consonants.
Again, only one word was nothing more than babble: reconnect.
But reconnect what? She had no idea. And then, just as suddenly there was silence again.
As she sat there and watched him, she felt even more helpless than before. All she wanted to do was to help someone and now there was a person injured right in front of her and she was unable to really do much at all. She had no magic, she had no special powers.
She was just a girl who knew a little bit about plants, and had a heart that cared. She couldn't even join her friends on their task lest she make it more difficult for them. Sometimes she really felt like she was nothing but in the way. But surely she must have a place somewhere? And maybe she could save one person? Just one person…
Rather than think of the dire situation that her friends may be dealing with above, she decided to try and chat with the boy, to get some response other than mumbled gibberish.
"Can you tell me your name? What can I call you?"
"flahrehtoehtdlohuoy..."
That made no sense at all, and she sighed. Even if he couldn't answer her, maybe he could still hear.
"We are all family, so you don't have to worry about being alone any more."
He shivered. But even when she gave him every blanket they had down there, he still was growing colder by the minute. All she could do was keep talking to him. All she wanted was for him to not be so lonely any more. She knew what that was like, and how horrible it could feel.
She took a quick glance under the blankets at his discolored leg and winced. Maybe she could bandage it up with some cloth at least…
His leg seemed horribly painful. Gathering up the last of her herbs that weren't put in the tea, she mushed up a type of paste to put on the bandages. It was sloppy and poorly done, but her fingers were trembling and clumsy at mixing. Focusing on her task, she tried to stare at the leg as little as possible. The smell alone was making her feel queasy. She pressed on, knowing what needed to be done.
She tried to copy what the doctor had once done to her leg when she had tripped and skinned it badly on the carpet, but her version was unkempt and messy. At least it stayed put and didn't immediately unravel. Once she made the final knot, she looked the rest of his leg over to see if there were any other injuries she needed to help. Higher up, closer to his knee, her fingers suddenly brushed across something sharp under his trousers and she recoiled.
A sense of darkness and despair washed over her. Gulping, she shifted uneasily on her knees to briefly gather her courage before taking a closer look. Small dark spikes, like a sea urchin, were stabbing up through some holes in his clothing, just to the left of his kneecap. She vaguely recalled the pointed dark spore she had seen back at the temple, embedding itself into that man's shoulder. Could it possibly be the same thing?
Apologizing profusely, she attempted to shuffle up his pants leg to get a better look, but the cloth wasn't budging. Having no other choice, but knowing she needed to inspect the injury, she kept apologizing as she had to rip at the few holes already in the pants, widening them until the entire dark spiked monstrosity was fully exposed.
It was indeed the same as the other she had seen, and was buried deep in his skin. Dark purple lines were tracing their way up his blood veins. He groaned in pain at even the slightest touch of his skin around it.
How was she going to take care of this?
The boy's breath was ragged now, and she tried pressing the remainder of her medicinal plant mixture down onto his wound around the black urchin. He squirmed away again, more unintelligible shrieks bubbling out.
Tears swelled in her eyes and she gently touched her fingers to the dark spike. It needed to be removed somehow. It was causing him so much pain, and she didn't want him to get sick from it like all the other people. Maybe if she could get it out of his leg, he could get better.
But just getting close to it sent jolts of pain through her body, as if by dark magic. Wincing, she did her best to hold on. It was slippery like a worm and her hands kept sliding off. Whatever this black spike was, it was refusing to budge.
If it truly was darkness, all she could think to do was combat it with light. Not that she had her powers any more, but she decided to try and recall the same feelings inside as when she was blessing the water.
How did the lessons go, again?
She remembered what her grandmother had said, about how she needed to think of her duty. 'Close your eyes, and remember the traditions of her family and know you are the only one who can carry it on.' It was a constant echo of tradition and duty. Duty and tradition. The same two thoughts looping in her head. Her eyes were pinched shut so hard they started to hurt but she continued concentrating.
...nothing happened.
What else could she do?
"Reconnect it..."
Shocked that his voice was coming out more clearly, her eyes snapped open and she leaned up closer to his face. While it wasn't gibberish, his lips was still shaking, his words quiet under his breathing.
"Reconnect what?"
His eyes were glazed open, as if he was looking straight through her. "The heart of it all, asunder. The seed of life. Both now incomplete. One they buried in the earth where it grew and grew. The roots unseen but not gone. It's seeking endlessly for its other half. All of us in the darkness, connected to one thought. One mass."
One weak wrist reached semi limply towards her, shivering. "You have the other. The other half they buried in blood. Traitors to the world. So selfish. They wanted it for themselves. The light. All the light. They did not know the cost."
She had no idea what his words meant, but there was something sinister and frightening about them.
Spittle frothed a bit at the corner of his mouth, his eyes shaking in their sockets. "You must...reconnect. This world cannot live without it...slowly, slowly it will degrade until even nature itself stops..."
He writhed against the ground, his voice once more devolving into shrieks and moans. If this was just a fever dream, she needed to get him out of it. Kairi gripped down harder on the black spike and concentrated.
This time, she considered not on duty or tradition, but on the only thing she had left now.
Her thoughts drifted back to the fond memories with her mother, and the songs they sang near the swaying sunflower ocean. She remembered her friends and how much she dearly wanted them to be safe. She was so grateful that she had been able to meet all of them in this dark place. Especially Sora, who she knew believed in her and wasn't afraid to say it...
She wasn't sure exactly what happened next, but she felt something incredibly warm. And when her eyes opened again, the dark spike was no longer there. It was almost as if it had vanished into the air itself, disintegrated like mist under the rising sun. The nameless boy sighed in relief back onto his bed and Kairi gazed in shock down at her hands. Did she...actually...help?
She had no idea if this would fix his other cruel injury, but at least the darkness was no longer tracing its way up his body. Maybe he wouldn't get sick now.
All she had left to do was wait and see. His breathing was still slightly ragged, and the dark purple lines were still flowing up his legs in jagged lightning shaped patterns. It looked like he had fallen into a deep slumber. And for the first time since she had met him, she saw him finally seem at ease, his lips curled into the tiniest of smiles.
For what seemed like hours she sat up with him, checking on his temperature, wiping down his forehead with water and trying to give him more tea. All while she did so she talked to him and told him stories. Perhaps it would be comforting to him, or give him pleasant faerie-tale-like dreams.
She was startled when the trap door entrance swung open with a clack and everyone came pouring in. Some of them were nursing injuries, the others helping to support them. Others looked more ragged than hurt, but at all of them were smiling.
Held proudly out among them were a few sprigs of esuna. It was obvious they had all worked hard to get the herb, and she truly believed now everything would be alright.
Why wouldn't it be? She turned her relieved face up to them all. Her thanks unsaid, but still understood.
Using the new plants, both Kairi and Penelo did their best to make some rudimentary medicine for the sick boy. Or at least, as best as two children could do. She really wanted him to wake up so she could learn his name, and introduce him to all her wonderful friends to make him a part of their family. It would be such a wonderful miracle.
But some miracles simply aren't meant to be.
Even though she had pried him from the grasp of the darkness, he remained restfully sleeping, not saying a word while his body temperature continued to fall. And in the weak hours of the morning, he stirred for one last time. Gasping, he reached out towards the specks of morning light streaming down from above through the small crack in the cellar roof. It played gently across his fingers, caressing them, warming them softly as the heat faded from his own body.
She heard his voice mutter just once, hoarsely towards the sky.
"I'm not...alone..."
And somehow, he smiled a little.
They buried him in the corner of the farm, right next to the small patch of half wilted wild flowers that were a remarkably rare shade of orange. None of them knew him, so they didn't know how to mark the small grave. Instead, they just put a pretty stone at the head and scratched in, as neatly as possible, 'A Friend'.
Their safe space was somber, with no more laughter at all echoing through the room. All they could hear was the sounds of the storm picking up outside, rain drizzling down though the few cracks.
Kairi couldn't motivate herself to eat anything, and just kept staring at her shoes. Perhaps it didn't help that Selphie could only keep asking them what was going on. But no one really knew how to explain the answer. They barely understood it themselves.
Sora sat next to her, saying nothing; staying close. It helped, but she still felt nothing but an emptiness washing over her. Eventually the pain grew unbearable and, when she was sure no one was looking, slipped out through the exit to the farm above. She wanted to escape from everything.
Her failure to save even one person was bitter and crushing.
It was pouring outside now, the water felt cold and merciless. She only made it a few steps before collapsing under the half charcoal ruins of a nearby house.
There was nowhere to run to.
She plopped down in the mud, numb now to the downpour. It pattered against her skin, prickling it like she was being bitten by the water with each tap. The rain was even so intense that pebbles from the road were being launched upwards, and clattering against discarded armor squished into the mud.
Armor from more people that she couldn't help, still scattered across the landscape.
Useless. That's all she was. She had no place any more, and no matter what she tried to do, she couldn't manage to change anything.
She trembled against the cold, and the futility of everything. Her ears picked up the light squelch of footsteps behind her, and she knew someone had decided to follow. While he was trying his best to stay quiet, it was obvious who it was. Especially obvious, when he dropped himself down right next to her, his back bumping gently up against hers to support it.
He was warm, even in the rain.
She didn't deserve that.
"Why are you-"
"It's not your fault."
She didn't respond, only stared into the thick of the rain silently.
"I mean it. It's just not. You tried to help and I didn't know him or anything, but...I think he was happy that you were there for him. He was smiling...at the end. You made him feel like he wasn't alone."
Sora was far too sweet to her. Why did he always treat her with such kindness? She wasn't anything.
"I'm not good enough." Her tears mixed with the rain, dripping down her face off her nose. "E-everyone did their best. But I...there's nothing I can do to help anyone."
"Kairi..." He spun around and leaned over, his eyes focused on her, serious and sad. More sad than she had seen him before. "You helped me..."
"How could I possibly have-"
An extremely loud clap of thunder clashed across the sky and she shrieked, unintentionally leaping forwards to cling to him for cover. Once the sound died down, she embarrassingly tried to retreat back to hugging her legs, but he refused to let her go, keeping her snuggled tight under the rain.
"You are the first person who ever called me a friend. You said we were family. I never had that before, ever. You were the first person who didn't chase me away swinging something, calling me a good-for-nothing rat-kid. And...even though it was really important to you, you let me borrow your coat, too! I never got a present like that before either."
The first person who didn't chase him away? What kind of people had he been meeting before her?
She shook her head. "None of that is special, it's what any good person would-"
He cut her off firmly and finally released her from his hug. "Even if you don't believe any of that other stuff, look right here!"
Before she could question him, he spun around, showing off the stitches that she had sewn in on the back of his tunic.
She stared at her sloppy handiwork and huddled her knees closer. "The patch?"
"Yeah!"
"That...really isn't much, either. How am I supposed to help everyone by sewing things?"
A sewing needle certainly wasn't the weapon of choice for any brave fighters from her stories, nor would it really do much to push back the denizens of darkness. Unless they for some reason decided to hold a cross-stitch competition to determine the fate of the country.
He opened his mouth to argue against her, but froze, as if unsure of what exactly to say.
"Well..." He dropped back down into the mud right next to her and sighed. "I guess just...things are really sad sometimes and that's life. But there's always something good and wonderful out there that's worth fighting for. I know there are a lot of people you can still help somehow just by being you. So long as you are still willing to keep trying, I think you could do so much. I don't want you to give up now and not be able to help them."
Kairi paused and stared out at the mess of mud and death that stretched out before them. Hauntingly awful things that no child should ever have to see were all put up on display right before them both. Yet he still seemed to be clinging to something; his light in the darkness, and at this point she wasn't sure what was even left.
"Sora...where do you find hope like that? When everything is like...this?"
Somewhere in the distance, part of a house collapsed, finally beaten down enough from the fires and the storm. The thunk of the wood echoed through the dead silence of the town around them. It felt like maybe there was something in common between her and that dilapidated home.
"Hope...?" Sora glanced up at the clouds covering the sky, blocking the warmth of the sun from view. "I dunno. But I always imagined hope as like a rainbow."
Kairi breathed out slowly, remembering the last time she had seen a rainbow. She wasn't sure how long ago it had been, but she knew how exciting it had been. With her mother, the two had been playing light music in the garden and spotted it together, stretching across the field like a smile over the sky.
"I love those..."
"Uh-huh. I dunno why they only come out in the rain, but I've only ever seen them when it's all wet and yucky out. So it always makes me extra happy when I see one. I guess that means...even in all the yucky stuff there is pretty stuff too. I don't know where they come from. But sometimes when it's raining suuuper hard you can find one. It's like the sky says 'Hey, don't cry! Here's a smile!'. So...please don't cry. You can't see rainbows too good if you're crying..."
Maybe it was explained in a very childish way, but for some reason Kairi couldn't help but think he was quite profound, somehow. Simple, yet maybe not so simple at all.
He pointed out over her head towards the sky. "Maybe the sky is full of rainbows all the time! Do you wanna look for one with me? We can play a game together, okay? Let's try to spot one. If we find one rainbow we win!"
She nodded and leaned closer against him, trying to scan the gray sky for any spot of color.
"The rain is cold..." Kairi wiped away some of the hairs sticking to her forehead as they cuddled close together in the storm. "But I'm glad you're here. I never want to be alone any more. It was so awful."
"Don't worry, I'll stay with you. I promised, remember? Let's find the light that's hiding in the dark, okay? It'll be our game together. I'll make sure to keep you safe until you find whatever it is that you wanna be in the future."
"And...once I do? Will you leave?" She shivered, feeling the slightest spark of something stirring inside, like it wasn't all hopeless.
"You can't get rid of me that easy!" A sudden wide smile spread across his face and he gestured over towards a small patch of sky in the distance. "Ah! Over there!"
She traced along the path of his finger, hastily drying the tears from her eyes with a ragged section of her dress, desperate to get a clearer look. Sora cupped his hand around hers, lifting her up to her feet with him and he laughed.
"There it is! I knew there would be one!"
Overjoyed, the two of them began to smile in the rain, running around the one still standing post of the house among the crumbled ruins. Neither of them noticed the ravens cawing in the distance, warning them that three dark figures were slowly approaching from up the dirt path. The darkness still wanted to claim the light for its own.
The knights, corrupted and controlled by the darkness were not going to be shaken away easily this time.
It wasn't soon before the two of them were spotted, and their happy safe place was also washed away in the storm.
The small band of orphans darted pell-mell through the damp sewers, not caring about the slime and gunk as they tripped and staggered away from the monsters chasing them. How had those three knights, the dark trio, managed to find their secret farm? Had they followed one of them back after they had gone out searching for the medicine?
The knights began an unrelenting chase, forcing them to unlock the rusty door to the dark waterways below the town in an attempt to find a new safe haven to hide in. It was dark in the sewer, but they could at least slightly see where they were going because of the little bits of dim light streaming through from some grates above. Even with that light, no matter how many times she glanced over her shoulder, Kairi couldn't see their pursuers clearly. It was almost like nothing was following them after all. But the heavy presence of their aura, however, let her know they were still there, steadily approaching. Their taunts also still followed after the children's panicked footsteps.
Selphie slipped on a puddle and crashed to the ground next to her, her shriek echoing through the tunnel. Kairi lent her a hand, and Selphie shivered, her grimy fingers clutching at hers, leaving smudges along its back.
"S-sis..." Her fearful eyes said volumes that she couldn't, but Kairi pulled her to her feet.
"It's okay, we can make it."
They continued on together, fear gripping the entire group, their feet pattering through the puddles. Through narrow passages, over slimy bridges long forgotten, over darkened chasms of gushing water, they ran until they reached a locked gate made of thick metal bars. It was the safe place they had all found together before. If they opened the gate and locked it, no one else could follow them through.
They all ran so fast towards the gate up ahead that they nearly crashed into it. Vaan, with trembling hands, unlocked it with the rusty key that threatened to crumble into nothing but dust. One at a time, all of them managed to slip through.
Save for one.
Sora pulled away, glancing back the way they had come at some of the other branching tunnels. Judging by the sound, the men were closing in quickly.
"Guys...I think I have a plan. I'm gonna go lead them down a different tunnel."
Kairi halted, gaping at him and rushed back through to his side of the gateway. "You can't do that! You might get lost too! And what if they catch you?"
His plan was no good. No good at all. She knew there was something else that had to be done. It was her fault those three were following everyone in the first place. If anyone needed to volunteer for such a dangerous job it was her.
"Sora, I can't let you go." Her throat clenched. She wanted to be brave, but she was terrified of the passage stretching towards the darkness slowly encroaching. "T-they are only after me. Maybe I can finally stop this whole thing now. If I can at least do that, then even if..."
Horrified, he jumped between her and the passage, refusing to let her walk back down towards the enemy.
"No!" He reached out and squeezed her hand in that now familiar, comforting way. "You told me before that you still don't know what you wanna be in the future. So...you gotta still have time to figure it out!"
She shook her head bitterly, only remembering the face of that nameless boy she couldn't save. "I don't want to have a future if it means other people have to suffer because of it!"
Straining against his grip, she tried to continue on her way. He refused to let her shake him off, and instead pulled her into a tight hug.
"Kairi...you put so much pressure on yourself to be something. All you have to be is yourself and stop blaming yourself for everything."
She felt a shiver of regret rushing up her spine. Her past, and the role she had been meant to fill was something she had never actually gotten around to telling him. Maybe she really should have. Her regret was palpable, and she suddenly felt as if she had betrayed him a little by not mentioning it. None of them, especially not Sora, had any idea that she was a princess. She had liked it that way, feeling like she was a normal girl. But now she wished she had more time to tell him the truth. Then maybe he would understand why she needed to go. She had been running from her responsibility, and it really was all her fault.
"You don't know who I was before all of this..."
He huffed and shook his head furiously at her. "That doesn't matter! I know who you are now. And the Kairi that I know...you are gonna help so many people some day. I'm sure of it. And no matter what kind of person you think you were supposed to be, it's okay if you can't do everything."
With a toothy grin, he jabbed himself in the chest with his thumb."That's what I decided I wanna do. I'm here to help you. All our friends want to help you too."
With a gesture, he indicated the group huddled against the rusty bars just behind her. They nodded in agreement, but their faces were cloudy with worry. Selphie sniffled, wringing her hands along the edges of her dress.
"Sora...I don't want you to go, either. We should stay together."
Hayner squeezed her shoulder and shook his head. "Nah. Sometimes a man's gotta do what he's gotta do and no one should stop him."
"That's ridiculous!" Olette clearly disagreed and crossed her arms with a glare. "This has nothing to do with being a 'man'. Or did you somehow forget your own age?"
Rather than argue back, he grumbled and nodded sternly back at Sora. "You'd better come back or I'll never forgive you."
Sora bobbed his head over to their spunky blond friend, who was unusually quiet now. "Hayner, can you guys make sure to keep Kairi safe for me?"
"Y-yeah, but..."
Happy with Hayner's answer, Sora then started pushing her backwards, trying to get her to go back through the metal gate. She dug in her heels, struggling back against him.
"Stop it! I'm the one who should go."
Sora froze, his face suddenly twisting sadly despite his attempts to hide it. "I'm...really happy I met you. I got so many fun memories, and got to do and learn about so many things I didn't even know about before."
That sweet, ever bright smile of his returned. "Remember what I said before? All I wanted was to have an adventure."
"Sor-"
And before she even saw it coming, he leaned in and squished his face awkwardly against the side of her cheek. She gasped and froze.
A tiny, clumsy kiss held so much meaning behind it. It was the only thing he could offer when it seemed his words were not enough. It was a way to say how much she meant to him. Maybe he had been listening to all that stuff after all.
Properly stunned, she didn't notice he was maneuvering her backwards now through the gate, and only realized what he was doing once it had been slammed shut in front of her then locked promptly with the key clenched in his hand.
"Wait!"
"I was used to doing whatever I wanted before I met you. No one wanted me around and sometimes I felt like I was just...there. Unwanted. But you made me feel for the first time like I had a reason. Now I get to do something brave just like the guys in your stories."
He gave her one more unflinching smile. "Thanks for everything, Kairi. I'll never forget you. And even if you don't remember me, please don't forget who you really are. You're you and not whatever anyone said you were supposed to be."
Before she could say another word he already began running away down the tunnel, the splashing echo of his footsteps slowly disappearing around the corner.
The reality of it all struck her, and she yanked at the metal bars viciously, screaming down the tunnel, not caring out much noise she was making.
"Please don't go!"
She felt the hands of her friends trying to pull her away from the door, but she struggled against them, crying out into the darkness of the sewers beyond.
"No, no, no! I can't just leave him behind! Please! Let me go!"
Her hands ripped at the bars, shedding flakes of rust from under her pinched skin. It was all she could smell now. The sour smell of it; that horrid clammy stiff metal, immovable under her hands. It was trapping her, keeping her from reaching out to him as he left her, running straight towards the destiny he had just decided for himself.
It was ice cold. Sora had taken the key with him, likely hidden it somewhere and now there was no way to open the gate again. The children would have to leave from a different path.
She could hear shouting echoing down through the tunnels and realized the knights must have seen him already. And by the sounds of it he was already in trouble.
Determination swelled inside her like the steady yet strong pull of a rising tide. For once, she wasn't just going to freeze and do nothing. She was going to do everything it took to keep him safe. There had to be another way around. She was going to save him this time, no matter what it took.
"Sis…?"
Reaching out to hold Selphie by the hands, she took a deep breath. "Selphie, I want you to stay with everyone else. I am going to go help."
Hayner, protesting, tried to pull her away from the gate. "No way, he told us to get you out of here."
She ripped her wrist out of his grip and glared at him. "If we abandon him now, he won't ever make it out of here. I can't sit around knowing that is going to happen."
Before they could protest or hold her back again, she rushed down the tunnel to search for another path.
She tried to follow the flow of the water, and she could hear Sora and the knights now shouting at each other. The sounds mixed with the yelling of her other friends trying to catch up to her frenzied run. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a small drain pipe jutting out from the wall. It was narrow, and she wasn't entirely sure if it was going to take her where she wanted to go, but the rest of the tunnel was starting to veer the opposite direction. She tilted her ear towards the opening, and could definitely hear Sora much more clearly through it. Perhaps it was the only way to get closer to him. Getting up on her tip-toes she was just able to pull herself up and squish inside the opening.
It was so tight she had to crawl through on her hands and knees, but she didn't even stop to think about how scary and claustrophobic it was inside that dim path. Slimy green water rushed across the floor, staining her dress. She gulped for fresh air, but there was none. The question of stopping wasn't even an option to her, and she slogged through the mush.
The tunnel was filled with rats, and they scurried all around her. She could hear it in her ear, their horrid gnashing teeth. She saw their haggard forms with crazed, twitching eyes. But she trudged through the slime, not caring as her clothes became irreparably soiled in the process. It felt harder and harder to breathe the further she went, but she knew it was only a trick of the mind simply because the water was so close to her mouth, pouring down the ramp in the confined space.
From up ahead she could still hear Sora, shouting at his pursuers through the walls.
"Hey, tubby! I'm surprised you can run so fast!"
"If you're trying to be a distraction, boy, it's not going to work this time. We will find her."
As she crawled, she started to hear more and more horrid things. They must have cornered him somewhere. Sora was yelping in pain as what she could only assume were kicks raining down on him.
"We know you know her location. Lead us to her, now."
"No!"
They kept questioning him over and over, but each time he refused to answer.
It sounded like another struggle, briefly, before the dull thunk of more beatings continued. Each one of Sora's pained yelps made her tremble and hurry on faster. As she crawled on, she kept feeling the large rats bump her hands out of the way.
From the entrance of the tunnel she could hear her friends trying to cajole her to come back, but she was refusing to listen. She wasn't going to leave without him. Their voices were starting to argue, unsure if she had really crawled into that small pipe, or if she had continued down the tunnel. None of them had seen exactly which way she went, or seemed particularly keen on checking the narrow pipe, so she heard their hushed whispering continue down the tunnel path further away.
Her face unexpectedly bumped up against the end of the pipe, and she realized her way through was blocked by another metal grate and a stream of water.
"No! It can't be blocked!" She gasped and pawed at it in frustration. It was going to be so hard to crawl backwards and would waste too much time. She wrapped her fingers around the grate and tugged as hard as she could, but it only roughly scraped against her fingers, scratching them. She tried to peer through the water and was fairly sure she could see a Sora colored blob beyond it, along with the dark trio of knights. The thick stream blurred everything, running the colors together into an unclear mess.
Stuffing her fingers through the square holes yet again, she pushed further and managed to divert some of the draining river away, giving her a tiny little window to peer through. But there was no way she could get past it to reach him.
He was being restrained by two of the knights, held up in the air by his arms while the third smacked blow after blow down on him, gleefully cheering as he did so.
It was horrible. She wanted to just hurl one of her sewing needles at them, but it was still in her back pouch, and the pipe was far too narrow for her to reach around behind her to grab it. Instead she felt around with her fingers until she bumped against a few pebbles at her knees. Rearing back she hurled them through the gaps of the bars. Some missed, and ricocheted back into her face.
"Stop hurting him! I'm right here!"
None of those in the room beyond even reacted to her voice. She could only assume that the sound of the water pouring over the grate had garbled her voice to be indecipherable, and had swept away any of the little pebbles that had made it through the grate. She was useless yet again.
"You're an orphan aren't you, boy? An unwanted rat child." He kicked at him so hard that Sora whimpered softly, biting at his tongue in an attempt to choke it back.
"If you tell us where she is we'll make the pain stop. We'll give you anything you want. What would you sell her out for? A hot meal or two maybe?"
Sora took a moment to steady his breathing, sniffling several times as tears poured down his face. "All I want...is for you to leave us alone! Pig head!"
The knight with the pointed beard snarled and pointed over to the corner of the room. "Go string him up over there. See how much he's willing to talk then."
Kairi twisted her neck and pressed her nose into the grate to try and see what he had been pointing to. It was what looked like stacks of some kind of fishing equipment. There were hooks, ropes, and even a metal cage or two for crabs or some other deep sea creatures. Under his orders, the tall and lanky knight grabbed a thick rope and wrapped it around Sora's body, pinning his arms underneath it.
He struggled, kicking and biting like a cornered animal but there wasn't much he could do to overpower three grown men on his own. Once he was fully bound, they looped the rope around a large fishing hook made for tuna to hoist him up into the air, dangling helplessly but not quietly between the three of them. Sora shouted more insults down at them while they watched him slowly rotate, his momentum fueled by his incessant flailing kicks.
"You're all cowards!" As he spun, he spit fire at the different knights surrounding him. "You're a noodle man, you're a marshmallow tub and you're a hedgehog face!"
The knight, who he had insultingly dubbed noodle man, reared back and punched him hard, sending his body swinging back and forth like the pendulum on a clock.
"Well you're just a worthless child who no one ever wanted in the first place. No one ever loved you, that's why you're all alone. Rat boy."
'Marshmallow tub' grunted in excitement, punching Sora back in the other direction. "Hey, do you know the only thing an orphan is good for?"
The third knight with the beard, hedgehog face, snickered and gave Sora his own smack. "What's that?"
"Entertainment. No one is ever going to miss 'em, so who cares what you do to 'em!"
Kairi tried to scream out for them to stop again, but her voice was drowned out to nothing. She scrabbled at the rocks, searching for anything to throw.
"Stop." A cold woman's voice suddenly echoed across the room and Kairi gasped, shrinking away from the grate. It sounded familiar and filled her with dread. "We may be able to use him."
From under the blurry stream of water she could see her: the witch in the long purple dress and horned hat. She slowly approached the captured child still wriggling in the ropes and cackled slightly. Reaching forward, she wrapped her long fingers around Sora's chin and he tipped his eyes up to face her.
There was nothing weak in that stare of his. It was a furious blue, unwavering and full of a deep inner strength far beyond a normal child. Despite his tear-stained cheeks, his resolve was unquestionable. Who knew what trials he already had to overcome, having lived out on his own for as long as he could remember.
The witch hummed, almost as if impressed. "You might make a good source. There is desire in you to be strong, yes? I could give it to you. A seed inside that will bloom and give you more power than you could ever dream of. Wouldn't you want that?"
Sora blinked twice and spit directly into her face.
She recoiled in disgust and slapped him, her nails leaving a light scratch under his eye. "Know your place. Do you even know why we need her?"
"Because you're stupid?"
The witch didn't dignify his insult with a response, only glanced down at her nails. "A long, long time ago, far longer than your tiny brain can even comprehend, some apprentices of mine thought they would make their own little kingdom and disrupted the very balance of the world. They stole the light. All of it. And kept it for themselves, leaving everywhere else to suffer. They call themselves royalty, but their kingdom is only built on lies. She's selfish for not returning it."
Kairi racked her brain but had no idea what this witch was even talking about. And how could anyone steal light? Besides, even if the light she was born with was stolen, she didn't have it any more.
"Kairi is not selfish!"
"No, my pathetic ignorant child. She's a particularly selfish little princess."
"P-princess...?" Sora froze, letting the rope hook drift him around in a half circle before snapping back to his senses. "Shows what you know! Kairi isn't a princess!"
The witch burst into horrid laughter and Kairi felt her stomach drop. "My goodness, how manipulative! She never told you who she was!? So not only is she a thief, she is a liar as well."
Angrier now, Sora struggled against the ropes to kick out at her. "E-even if she is a princess, that doesn't matter!"
The witch clicked her tongue and sighed. "It really isn't worth explaining to you, boy."
"Good! I didn't wanna hear what an old hag like you had to say anyway!"
The witch pursed her lips and sighed again. "The darkness will keep seeking her. Your insistence on protecting her is ultimately futile. My apprentices created an imbalance, and the darkness will never rest until it is whole again. If you tell us where she is, we can end all of this. Rejoined again, both the darkness and light will return to the world in equal balance. Isn't that only fair?"
When Sora refused to say anything else, she snapped and indicated for the knights to begin the beatings once more. They gleefully went at it, the boy moaning in pain with each hit, but still refusing to speak. He kept his fierce stare locked onto the witch and she seemed to memorize it closely.
When she finally called the knights off again, she sneered down at the sagging boy, bleeding into his binds.
"Well, you fool? Change your mind?"
"M-maybe I am kinda stupid, and I dunno what you were trying to say about the darkness, the light or any of it. But Kairi didn't steal her light. It's her own, and more special than anything! She's the most special person-"
"You only say that because you don't know any better. She is nothing special: only fortuitous through birth."
Sora just roared in response, his whole body straining against the ropes. "Liar! Take that back right now!"
One of the knights whacked him again, this time with the blunt side of his sword and Sora cried out again, his little body bruised and starting to break. He couldn't even lift his chin anymore.
"Leave her...alone..."
"Just die a fool then." She nodded over towards the knights. "He's useless. Go ahead and squash him. Make sure he no longer gets in our way."
Kairi screamed everything she could out into that room, but it made no difference at all. The knights unleashed their fury, bashing him with no abandon.
Eventually, he stopped crying out.
Perhaps that took some joy out of it for those miserable villains, but they kept at it. She kept sobbing into the pouring water, tugging at the metal grate, feeling the rats scurrying around her feet. The witch was right. She wasn't special, she was useless. Sora believed in her and now it was hurting him.
The knights ripped him down off the hook and hurled his limp body into one of the metal fishing cages, slamming the door shut.
"There's another use for orphans, eh? Maybe he can go feed some rats."
Sora slumped to the side, too weak to move. But she could still see his eyes from where he lay, still as blue as the sky.
The knight with the pointed beard gave him one more mocking gloat, and pulled his equally pointed sword from its sheath.
"Time to die, boy."
He had been the source of her hope. The one thing that had helped her keep going, to keep her from falling down altogether. Clinging to one another they had braved through the land ravaged by darkness and evil.
She wanted to give up but she couldn't.
He told her what to do. She had to find a light in the very depths of the darkness and embrace it, just like spotting a rainbow among the dreary clouds of a rainstorm.
In her heart she wondered what sort of person he would grow up to be. She wanted to be there to see it. She wanted to be his friend, always. Be right by his side to repay him for opening her eyes to the freedom and love she could find if she only allowed herself to see it.
And as the sword swung towards his tired, broken body he called out to her just once before his voice faded. Time slowed as she felt the chill of the world bearing down on her. His eyes looked past her, frozen and fading. The eternally cheerful bright sparkle that had always been there was slowly melting from their center. All she could do was scream. Only desperately reach out through the stiff metal bars as he lay still against the cold stone, every fragment of his warmth and life evaporating like the remains of a soap bubble just after it bursts. Her grasping fingers were unable to grab up the traces of his spirit, and she could only watch as every last piece of him drifted away right in front of her.
So she just screamed. And wrenched against the bars, praying for the light that she knew must be there somewhere to save him before that final sword blow finished him completely.
The rats, startled and angry rustled around her, their sharp needles for teeth sank into her, drawing blood. Their feet scampering, jumping at her, their claws getting tangled and ripping at her hair. The knight with the horrid pig like voice was just standing there, laughing, fully ready to plunge his sword into an innocent child.
That awful man didn't know how important Sora was. He was…
He had taught her freedom. He was the first person other than her mother who truly wanted her to be herself. Sora was too important to her to just let go without a fight.
Kairi felt a spark of something more warm than a thousand cups of hot cocoa on a cold winter's day while snuggled under blankets by the fire. More cuddly than a pile of her beloved stuffed friends. The same comforting feeling of safety when she went on long walks with her grandmother down at the shore.
She was going to save him. She was going to save everyone.
And that was the last thing she remembered.
A warm light filled the sewers, filling her very soul with something nostalgic and kind. She heard the witch gasping out in disbelief, her words garbled as she struggled to comprehend the sudden glow. And briefly, maybe for a moment, Kairi thought she could hear her mother singing to her once more.
Cheer up my little rain cloud,
What are you crying for?
We are both together now,
Within in this big downpour.
Even though the rain is cold,
And darkness looms around,
Sing out all the louder now,
Echos of love in the sound.
Oooh, Oooh,
I will sing this song for you.
See me dance across the sky!
Full of color, flying by…
Oooh, Oooh...
Hidden often yet still true.
So remember little cloud,
If all the light is gone,
I am always here with you.
Let's make a rainbow dawn!
"Kairi, can you hear me?"
She couldn't see anything but a dimly soft glowing light. The girl's voice was oddly familiar, but she couldn't place where she had heard it before.
"Yes? What is this place…?"
"Our hearts are connected here. Just for a moment."
Her vision slowly adjusted, but it was still foggy, as if the world itself was covered in a thick layer of mist.
"You won't remember what happened after that, I imagine." The voice didn't seem to be seeking confirmation, but Kairi nodded anyway.
Softly, the unknown speaker continued. "In my memory, a strong wave of light spread across everything that day, purging the darkness and freeing everyone trapped in its thrall. Many souls had been lost over those dark two weeks, but something pure and wonderful had given us all another chance to recover."
Kairi paused, almost in disbelief at what she was hearing. "My...light? It did all that?"
"Yes. Even though no one really knew it had been you."
"The strain caused you to collapse, and it took some time for your body to be recovered and brought back to the castle." This voice was different. It sounded tired, yet full of relief. She vaguely recognized it as belonging to Ellone.
"They feared the worst had happened and that you had lost your powers permanently. Before you awoke, they forced me to perform a memory transfer. They assumed that even if you had been touched, if you no longer had the memory of it, you may still be able to perform Refraction to stop the darkness from coming back. When you woke up and your powers were not only still usable, but actually stronger than before, they assumed it had been a success. I was then kept down beneath the temple, barely alive, just in case they needed my powers another time. But they reported my death, so I could never tell a soul of what I did, lest you somehow discover the truth."
"But...why? Why hide it all from me?"
Ellone paused for a moment before giving her answer. "...They feared if your memories returned, you may no longer be able to save them."
Kairi felt lightheaded, and the mist swirled around her as she felt her dreams slowly lifting. Once more, the soft voice she had first heard returned, as gentle and kind as a floating flower blossom on the wind.
"Do you remember now, Kairi? Do you remember where your light truly comes from?"
There wasn't any question in her mind now what the answer was. Her grandmother had once told her so while they sat together under the tree relaxing in the afternoon. The true light wasn't the same thing as refraction done out of duty and tradition. Not even close.
"I do. I really should have understood sooner."
It almost felt like the owner of the soft voice was smiling at her, even though she couldn't see.
"Everything can be set right then. There are so many things I've yearned to tell you over the years. But first...perform the ritual one more time. This time knowing the truth about it all. I think you'll understand."
And Kairi immediately realized who the voice was.
"...Namine?"
But before there was an answer from the soft voice beyond the light, she felt herself drifting upwards from the sea of dreams.
She awoke in a pile of sweat, staring up at the ceiling of the nurses room, bathed in early morning light. While she had relived nearly two weeks in her mind, in the real world it seemed time had barely crawled forward.
So little time had passed, but so much had changed. So, so much.
A/N: And so wraps up our flashback sequence! Sorry for those of you patiently waiting to find out what will happen to Sora and Riku. Next chapter is going to be a really big one, so queue up that ominous music!