Thank you so much for the comments, they were a real treat! :D
Another thing - seing how this fic is going, I will indeed be taking the secret ending of the game into account but I will not acknowledge the TWEWY implications that come with it - instead, I will give it my own twist and I have no idea what it is going to be like. We shall see. I am, literally, improvising with just a few key scenes in mind. (insert shrugging emoji)
Also I would like to thank the lovely, wonderful and extraordinary animeXalchemist for beta-ing my fic. I terribly grateful bro, and I love you. Thank you so, so much.
"Riku, can I have a word?"
Her voice was shaking and she had absolutely no energy left in her for this dreaded confrontation, but she had no other choice — she knew it was better to get it over with now.
"Yeah, sure."
She saw the looks the others were throwing their way and chose to ignore them. She could handle herself - she new she had no reason to fear Riku. She led them outside, to the training grounds where she knew no one would be able to overhear them. Leaning against a tree, she watched Riku silently as he started pacing before her, still unable to look her in the eyes.
"I've been thinking, and — I think there is more information to be gathered among the princesses of heart," she finally said, breaking the awkward silence and managing, quite proudly, to keep her voice from wavering too much. "Snow White and Aurora both fell to the sleeping curse, and I believe there might be a way to find the evil queen's old grimoires and —"
"All right," Riku said, eyes fixed on something behind her shoulder. "I'll stop there and ask around."
Kairi blinked once, twice, and finally, irritation got the better of her. "No, that's not what I meant. I will go, and ask around."
She had managed to startle him, this time. He finally looked at her and raised an eyebrow, before letting out a cruel little laugh. "Wha-at? You?"
"Yes," she said, squaring her jaw and standing a little bit straighter so as to show him she was not afraid of what he might have to say about that.
"No!" he blurted, as if in total disbelief.
"What do you mean 'no'? Do you think I need your approval? That you have any say in what I choose to do?"
"Well — Yes, yes, I do."
"And why would that be?"
Riku let out a frustrated little noise and started averting his eyes again. "I — I just do."
"Oh, cut the bullshit, Riku. You have no right —"
"I have to look after you, okay? Sora is not here anymore to take care of that, now, is he ?"
Kairi remained silent for a few seconds, almost stunned. "I—I don't need you to look after me, Riku. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, thank you very much. If I choose to go on my own to Snow's, then I bloody well will do so!"
"Really? And how do you think you might be able to do that, may I ask?"
"What do you mean, how?" she gritted in between her teeth. "By foot , obviously? What, what do you think? That Master Yen Sid does not have a few ships lying around I could borrow?"
"Do you even know how to pilot one?" he asked, incredulous. "Besides, what do you intend to do, uh? Chat up your little princess girlfriends and somehow manage to escape the heartless lurking around their pretty castles? Yeah? Did you even think of that? What, do you expect me to follow you around and clean up the way while you run around dark forests and shady alleyways so you can have your moment of glory? I don't have time for that, Kairi, and you shouldn't throw away the life Sora has given you back, that's just - that's just ungratefulness at its finest. Don't waste anyone's time playing the hero and just stay safely home, ok? Just — go home, and wait for your boyfriend to come back. I'll take care of that."
"Is that what this is about, then?" Kairi blurted out, heart racing as Riku's words were thrown at her face like poisonous daggers. "I begged him to leave me be. I didn't - I didn't choose to be killed, Riku! You cannot hold me responsible for that —"
"I'm not —"
"Yes you are . I didn't mean to be killed, I didn't want him to bring me back, and you cannot just throw the blame at me when you know very well there is no convincing Sora to do something he doesn't want to!"
"You should never have been there in the first place!" Riku yelled, before closing his eyes and muttering a frustrated "Shit. Listen, I — I should get going —"
"No," Kairi retorted, crossing her arms before her chest. "You have something to tell me - just do it, just spit it out. I can take it."
"I don't want to do this, Kairi —"
"Tell me!"
"Fine!" Riku turned back on his feet, hands fisting his hair and desperately pulling at it in an attempt to regain an ounce of self control. That was okay. Kairi could take it. She wasn't afraid, never, not of Riku. "Fine! You want me to say it? You want me to finally say it?!"
"Yes."
"You are useless, and Sora would never have died had you not been there."
It appeared as though Riku regretted the words almost immediately as tears began welling up in Kairi's eyes at the words that he had dared to speak out loud. "Shit. Shit, Kairi, I'm sorry, I-"
"No, it's okay, it's— I get it, you lost your friend and—"
"That's no reason to— I shouldn't have—"
But she didn't hear whatever he had left to say; she hid her ears in between her hands and blurted incoherently: "You're right! You're right, okay? You're right, I killed him, I thought I could do it, that I could protect him, but I couldn't, and he's gone, he saved me and he's gone and now I have to at least try and you hate me and—"
She kept on going, her hands slowly sliding from her ears to press against her eyes, trying to somehow keep her tears inside, as if that could possibly work, because she was tired, too tired of the guilt and the pain and all she wanted was to go back in time, back to keep them from ever building a raft and everything would just be fine.
She felt Riku's hand pressing against her shoulder but she pushed him back, violently, and glared up at him through her tears, white rage clouding her judgement and her following words:
"Do not touch me, I do not need your pity or your — or your contempt. You have no idea what it's like—"
"Me? Me, no idea what it's like? To lose him?!"
"Yes, you—"
"He's my best friend!" Riku shouted, his face gone white with indignation.
"And I love him!" she cried back, before letting out a surprised gasp at the tears her words had conjured in Riku's eyes. "You—"
"Do what you want," he growled, furiously wiping away the treacherous tears as his face flushed in embarrassment. "I don't have time to deal with your nonsense. Have fun playing the saviour, and try not to get killed."
And with that, he was gone, violently kicking a few stones that'd had the misfortune of getting in his way. Kairi remained against the tree for a few more minutes, slowly processing the brand new revelation Riku's tears had brought to the surface. Did he —
Yes, of course he did.
Oh, how it all made sense now.
"So, you're the Riku Sora's been looking for everywhere," Leon stated, eyeing him up and down and Riku couldn't help but blush.
"Yes."
"Did he? Find you?"
"Oh, yes, a long time ago."
Leon seemed to hesitate for a few more seconds, as if reflecting on whether or not Riku was worth his trust, and seemed to finally settle on the positive as he let him and the others into the HQ of the Radiant Garden Restoration Committee.
"Hello," Terra said.
"Hi, nice to meet you," Aqua smiled at Leon as she walked past him into the room.
"Good morning!" Ventus beamed.
"Leon! Good to see you again!" Mickey said, and Leon's eyes widened in surprise.
"Your Majesty! I didn't see you there."
"That's because I'm short," Mickey replied with a wink, and Leon couldn't help a smile as he closed the door behind him.
"You said it, not me."
Riku had heard a lot about Sora's friends from Radiant Garden, although he'd never had the pleasure to meet them - only observe them from afar a few years ago, when he'd been blinded by jealousy and set on a path he'd struggled to stray away from for years. Aqua, Ventus and Terra went to stand by the window, seemingly awkward in this unfamiliar place and looking around with interest. Riku, on the other hand, stuck by Mickey as he took in his surroundings.
The HQ had been moved to the castle and was adjacent to the laboratory he knew Ienzo, Even, and Ansem the Wise were working in and Riku knew they would soon be joined by Isa and Naminé. This place stood on the lower floor of the castle and the room's high windows were mostly obscured by complicated formulas and doodles of what Riku guessed were new ideas to either protect the world and its inhabitants from the ever growing forces of darkness or bring back the present city to its former glory. A gigantic computer stood on one side of the room and a blonde haired man was busy typing on it at full speed, a cigarette hanging from his lips. He didn't seem to have noticed them yet.
"Is Merlin around?" Mickey asked, perching himself on a chair next to the only unobstructed window; there was a round coffee table before him and a few other seats, and Riku figured this spot was meant for visitors to discuss with the committee. He sat next to the king and nodded to the three other people as an invitation to join them.
"I've sent word of your arrival when I received your call," Leon replied, going for the little kitchenette and turning on the coffee machine. "Tea? Coffee?"
Riku nodded - it was still pretty early and he had barely been able to sleep for a few minutes that night, his fight with Kairi playing on repeat in his head all the while desperately trying to ignore it so as to find his way back to Sora's dream. It had been a complete failure.
A few minutes later, Leon came back with a tray carrying their drinks and sat before them, crossing his fingers above his knee and leaning back, waiting for them to engage the conversation.
Leon is a fine looking man, Riku thought while Mickey started summarising their last adventures and Sora's unfortunate end. Riku tried to remain as expressionless as possible. He remembered Leon to be a freakishly tall potential adversary he might have to take down if their paths ever crossed, and also recalled very vividly the blind hatred he'd felt towards him and his friends as Maleficent whispered lies and deception in his ear on that fateful night he'd found out Sora had made new friends in a very short amount of time.
But now, he could see genuine concern on Leon's face as Mickey finally revealed the reason they had set off on this new quest, and Leon's eyes immediately sought Riku's, as if to make sure he was okay. Riku couldn't help feeling grateful and offered him a little smile.
"I am so sorry, it must be terribly difficult for you," he said. "Please, let me know how I can be of help."
"We are looking for Maleficent," Riku replied as calmly as possible - although he couldn't help the dread tingling in his mind at the prospect of having to face her cruel lies again before he'd be able to untangle the truth from her words. "We know that she has used a sleeping curse on one of the Princesses of Hearts, ten years ago. She might be a terrible person, but there is no denying that she is an incredibly powerful fairy, and her knowledge might be of use to us."
"A sleeping curse? I don't understand, isn't Sora…"
"We have reasons to believe that Sora is trapped in the realm of sleep; the problem is, we do not know much about it, as it can be pretty unpredictable," Mickey said. "This is why we would also like to talk to Merlin; he might be able to guide us in a direction we have not thought of before."
"Maleficent?" the blonde man suddenly said, finally turning away from his computer to look at them with tired, wrinkly eyes. "Oh, yes, we might know of her whereabouts."
"You do ?" Riku said, and exchanged an excited look with the king. "Where? Where was she sighted?"
"Hey, chill out, kid. That was a few weeks ago, I don't know if she's still hanging out around here."
"Spit it out, Cid," Leon said, sounding exasperated.
"It's our little fairy friends," Cid added. "They used to hang out with her crew but they switched sides like, a year ago or so. Our finances never recovered from that… They can sense it when she lands in this world; it's a fairy type of antenna, I guess."
"Yes," Mickey said. "The three good fairies told us they'd sensed her return from the dead."
"Yea, that thing. Well, they've told us whenever they thought she'd be trouble again, happened quite a few times these past months. We haven't had any kind of problem, though. Apparently, she would just come by and leave a few days later."
"Do you guys know where?"
"The girls told us she was probably hanging out in the hollow bastion."
Riku blinked. "Wait — what?"
"You know? That old castle on the other side of the canyon?"
"Yes, yes I know of it —"
"Well, that's where she might be. We still haven't taken the time to restore the place, it's filled with Heartless. It's in our plans though, we should get to it in the next month or so."
"Sorry," Leon added. "I could come and give you a hand if you'd like."
Riku smiled at him, seeing in his eyes genuine concern over Sora's wellbeing. "We'll get in touch if we need backup."
The change of scenery seemed to have done them a lot of good. Although their arrival at the Dwarf Woodlands and the excruciating long hours it had taken them to reach the city had taken a toll on them, they had been laughing and drinking and catching up late into the early morning by the time they reached a cosy tavern. By the time they all went to bed in their respective rooms, they all had a tired yet satisfied smile splattered on their faces.
It had been good to just leave the pain behind and finally take action, to see the stars twinkling outside their small Gummi Ship and Axel had been wonderful - he hadn't asked any questions, had just given her a brief hug as she dried her last tears and offered to join her on her quest. Roxas and Xion had appeared from nowhere and declared they would come too, and Kairi didn't have the strength - or the will, really - to refuse. She didn't know them very well, but Axel had told her so much about Roxas, and there seemed to be a certain something about Xion - other than the fact that she looked like a brunette version of herself - that just screamed family.
Therefore, she smiled and thanked them, and they all went to Master Yen Sid to request one of his spare ships.
They woke up late, but Kairi couldn't find the strength to mind it. She had slept like the dead and the sun was shining upon her as if trying to melt Riku's icy words. She tried to shake it off, to focus on her mission and quickly put on a pair of jeans, a pink sweater and tied her short hair into a half-bun. She had thrown her old dress to the ground the night before and she suddenly realised she couldn't even stand the look of it — useless, he had said. She quickly hid her dress in her backpack and went downstairs where she found a very hungover trio falling asleep over a steaming breakfast.
"You guys look glorious," she said as she sat next to them, stealing Axel's plate from under him and trying out the bacon. "Oh my gosh, this is so good."
"You can have it," Axel said, looking at the plate with disgust. "I don't think I can swallow a single thing this morning."
"Oh, I feel fine," she replied in a sing-song voice.
"I didn't know you could drink that much, really — you and Xion can hold your liquor."
"We're made from the same mould," Xion replied, and Kairi snorted coffee out of her nose.
"Too soon," she said, half laughing and half choking; Roxas reached out a hand to tap on her back.
"By exactly three months," Xion added and slid a cup of water towards her.
"Naminé stayed with Isa, didn't she?" Roxas asked.
"She said they'd go back to Radiant Garden, I guess they got on the ship with R— the king," Axel spluttered, carefully avoiding the R word. Kairi rolled her eyes at that.
"You can say his name, you know. Avoiding it won't make him any less of a shithead."
Axel chuckled and ruffled her already messy little bun. She punched him on the arm, and they ate the rest of their breakfast in companionable silence before setting off into the city towards Snow White's castle, where they announced themselves to the guards as being old friends of the queen.
The castle was big and imposing; truly, it was a masterpiece of architecture made of old structures and artful windows. Its corridors, although nicely decorated with fresh flowers and beautiful curtains, remained decidedly somber and Kairi could only imagine what it would have been like to spend a childhood locked up in such a place as the unlawful servant of an evil queen.
"Her Majesty will see you now," the young valet who had guided them said and, with a little flourish, he opened the door for them.
The room was resplendent, calling to mind a beautiful boudoir, and Snow White was standing by the window. Upon hearing the door opening, she quickly ran towards Kairi and held her in a warm embrace as she giggled her excitement at seeing her again.
"I could not believe it! When they told me a strangely dressed red-headed girl had asked for a meeting with me, I just knew! Oh, Kairi, it has been so long! Come, come, and you too, friends, come and sit! I have called for some tea. Oh, Kairi, I am so excited! And look at you, how you've grown!"
Kairi couldn't help letting go of a few tears as she saw the same emotion glistening in Snow White's eyes, and she was directed back to the little sitting area the queen had set up for their arrival.
"And you look like you're doing very well too, Snow," Kairi said, still holding onto Snow White's hands, and smiling like an idiot. Her heart seemed to answer to her friend's light, and a strange warmth seemed to spread throughout her body. "Oh! This is Axel, Xion and —"
"Ventus?" Snow White said, squinting at Roxas. "You're Ventus, aren't you?"
"Actually," Roxas said, before letting out a little embarrassed laugh. "Oh, well, this is going to be complicated. I am not— I am not Ventus, actually. But, yeah, I do look like him."
Snow blinked. "You do! How strange… how is it possible? And now that I think about it — Xion and Kairi —"
Xion, Kairi, Axel and Roxas laughed awkwardly — oh, this was going to be really difficult to make sense of.
"It's —" Kairi started, scratching her head. "It's complicated."
"To be honest," Axel said, crossing his arms, "We still haven't completely figured it out yet."
"You're right! We haven't ," Kairi gasped.
"Do we really have to, though?" Roxas groaned. "We all look like each other for some weird reason, thanks to Sora. But we're not the same. It's as simple as that."
"How peculiar," Snow White said, a little smile curving at the edge of her lips.
"At this point, we're mostly relying on clothes and hair colour to differentiate ourselves," Xion added, rolling her eyes.
"But Ventus — is he all right? Oh, it's been years since I've last seen him. He was such a sweet boy."
Axel smiled at that. "Oh yes, he is! He's doing very well, and he is back with his friends, at long last."
"I am glad to hear that."
Kairi smiled at Snow, who raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her. "So?" the queen said, settling into her seat gracefully. "Please, let me know how I can be of help."
"We're— we're looking for informations, actually," Kairi began, feeling suddenly uncomfortable at the memories she was about to awaken in Snow White. "Sora — do you remember him? The boy who woke us up from our slumber when Maleficent was holding us hostage?"
"How could I forget him? He was such a nice friend to you, wasn't he?"
"He is." Was, she recalled painfully. "Well, he is currently lost in sleep — at least, that is what we think. Things — things didn't go as planned, and we have reason to believe that he is lost in the realm of sleep and — and I was wondering if you could tell me more about this place. If you have any memories of it, that is. I — I thought you might have some informations, seeing that you had fallen under the sleeping curse."
"Oh," Snow White said, averting her eyes, and she took the time to place her cup on the table as she looked outside the window. "Yes, I do remember it. I do remember it pretty well, to tell you the truth, although... I try not to."
"I understand," Kairi said, reaching out to her friend and placing a comforting hand on her arm. "But — I wouldn't ask you if it wasn't important. I — We need to bring him back."
"We owe it to him," Roxas said, and Snow White's gaze softened when she turned her eyes on him.
"I know. I can feel it - your longing for your friend."
She remained silent for a few seconds, as if searching for her words, but Kairi could see her hands trembling against her lap. Soon enough, Snow White rose from her seat and started pacing around the room - calmly, her steps as light as air. Kairi couldn't help but admire how graceful she moved around them — like a queen. A strange, forgotten memory gnawed at the edges of her mind — she pushed it away, focusing on her friend's speech.
"She lied to me — the queen, she took on the form of an old woman and tricked me into taking a bite of her apple. I was confused at first — one second, I was standing outside my friends' house, and the next, I was lost in the middle of these strange, gleaming — buildings, yes, that's what it was, although I had never seen anything quite like it."
She stopped by a lovely desk covered in books and trinkets, her hands hovering over the items, lost in thought, and finally turned to face them.
"The strange thing was — I was alone, completely alone. The ground was made of this strange dark stone and there were so, so many lights, shining from strings stretched in between these tall structures, from the windows and even from under me. I — I do not know how long I stayed there. It felt like months, years, maybe less. Time didn't seem to count, there, so I walked, and walked some more. Sometimes, I would explore these buildings, but at other times, some of these rooms were empty. Not — empty, the way you would say that a jar is. There was just nothing there — just, this strange and daunting whiteness that seemed to stretch on forever. I never — actually, no, that is not true. I entered one of those rooms, once."
Her hands had started shaking again, and she quickly hid it by pressing them against her chest. "I entered, and I remember that I was surprised there was a sort of ground I could stand on. And — oh, yes, it was strange, but I remember wishing to sit down, and suddenly, a chair appeared, and it was a very similar chair to the ones my dwarf friends had, and as soon as I started thinking of them, the — the place changed, turned into the inside of their house. Oh, how I had missed them. And then —"
She stopped, as Kairi recognised what sounded like a sob escaping her mouth. She immediately rouse rose up from her chair and went to support her, one arm sliding against her back while the other rested against her elbow.
"It's okay, you can — you can stop there, if you want."
"No, I —" Snow breathed in slowly, profoundly, and seemed to regain an ounce of confidence. "I have to. If Sora is stuck in such an awful place, then — then you need to know, and hurry. The time I have spent in that dream, here, was short. Less than a couple of days. How long has Sora been gone?"
Four days, Kairi thought, and what felt like permanent dread had settled in her stomach. "Not long," she replied, which was only half a lie. It probably felt like centuries to Sora already.
"Then hurry . Because — because, if he starts missing his friends, if he starts missing you, things — things will change, things will become ugly. I did, I missed them, missed my friends so much. And therefore, the dream provided me with them. But I knew , I knew it couldn't be them. I knew that was not the real world, and that it couldn't be them. But some part of me wanted it, and that place answered to my wishes, always. So — they would interact with me, although — oh, it messed with my head, Kairi. I do not even know how to explain it. I do not even want to remember falling prey to their tricks again— I ran, as quickly as I could, I ran from that room and refused to enter a building ever again. And then — and then my prince woke me up, and finally, finally, it was all over."
Silence followed her words as they all tried to untangle the information she had provided them with. Kairi couldn't make much sense of it; it didn't sound at all like the dream Riku had shared with them. Sora had been in an empty place that was somehow filled with —
"This might sound like a strange question," Xion started, her brows furrowed in concentration as she tried to join the dots together, "But were there any dandelions? In your dream, I mean."
"Oh!" Snow White said, narrowing her eyes at the brunette. "Well — yes, yes, now that I think about it. The air was filled with them — their seeds flowed throughout the whole place, as if carried by the wind, although I never managed to find where they came from."
The four friends exchanged a meaningful look and Kairi thought — Master Yen Sid had better stop talking in riddles and start giving us some straight answers.