For Day 26 of the Kingdom Hearts 3 Countdown Challenge - Darkness.
Contains spoilers for the opening trailer and a more recent trailer. Lots and lots of spoilers. Proceed at your own risk. (But please no spoilers in the reviews, especially about the Final Trailer which I still have not seen).
Don't give in to the darkness. That was the one rule he'd set for himself in all of this. Because if he did, it was all over. Xehanort was still after his heart. He and Roxas were both candidates for the last position on Xehanort's list. And if there was one thing Sora had learned in all this, it was that Xehanort did not fight fair.
Which meant he was doing everything he could to make the darkness in Sora's heart take over. Encounter after encounter with his "vessels" had really driven that point home.
And the thing was… a small part of Sora wanted to give in to the darkness. He wanted to rescue Roxas. He wanted to make Xehanort pay for all the hurt he'd caused. He wanted to give in to the shadowy creature that lived inside his heart, the one that only came out during a fight and unleashed his rage on his enemies till Donald and Goofy snapped him back to his senses.
But he couldn't. He just couldn't. His heart had to resist. There was no other option.
Until Xehanort targeted Kairi.
Sora knew it was gonna happen sooner or later. Kairi was a Princess of Heart. And not just that. She was the only one of the new group who'd carried over from the old group. She was the only one with a Keyblade, the only one who could be a Guardian of Light, too.
Sora had always known she was special. But now Xehanort did, too.
So when Xehanort looked down at her from up high with that greedy look in his eyes, something inside of Sora snapped.
No more. He'd failed her enough. She'd lost her heart and gotten kidnapped because he couldn't protect her, and he wasn't about to let Xehanort take her, too.
Throwing caution to the wind, he jumped in front of her. There. Now Xehanort would have to go through him to get to her. His body, his heart, his soul – it was all a small price to pay for her safety.
Xehanort just smiled. Ugh. Sora lifted his arm to guard her, the darkness inside him spiking to dangerous levels as he glared up at Xehanort.
"The light of the worlds is sustained in all your fellow princesses," came Xehanort's annoying voice, "but it seems you, Kairi, are the lynchpin holding it all together."
"Don't you lay a finger on her!" Sora yelled up at Xehanort. Dark smoke was coming off his arms in wisps now, but he didn't even care anymore.
"I don't have to. All you have to do is hand Roxas over… or yourself."
Sora froze. So that was what this was all about. Xehanort was gonna make him choose between saving Roxas and protecting Kairi. Either that or—
"Will the king choose to save his knight… or his queen?" Xehanort asked, just to really drive the point home. "Or will he sacrifice himself and lose the game?"
"Why you—"
"Shut up! He won't do any of that!" came Kairi's voice from behind him before he could finish his answer.
He glanced back at her, and her fists were clenched and her eyes were narrowed as she glared up at Xehanort. But then she met his gaze, and her eyebrows knitted together and her eyes filled with anguish.
"I won't let you sacrifice yourself for me, Sora. Not again, please, not again. I can protect myself, I swear!"
How could he explain? It wasn't that he doubted that. It was just that… losing her…
He'd rather hand himself over to Xehanort than let that happen. He'd rather tear out his own heart again, if it came to that. He'd rather lose his soul and die, leave his heart and body behind and allow Xehanort to do whatever he wanted with them, than lose her again.
"Roxas wouldn't want this either," she implored. "We can find another way to help him! Please."
"Kairi—"
She stepped forward so she was standing beside him. "Sora, your heart is strong. You have to keep fighting the darkness. Don't give Xehanort what he wants!"
She summoned her Keyblade, and her light glowed a little brighter. Everything else seemed to fade away – Xehanort, the darkness, even the Keyblade Graveyard itself. All that was left was her and him.
"Never forget," she said, moving into a battle stance, "no matter what happens, I'm always with you!"
The words of their promise snapped him out of his funk. He had his answer. He knew he knew what he had to do.
His Keyblade appeared in his hand with her upgraded lucky charm dangling off the hilt. As their friends joined them and the fight began and reality came crashing down all around them, one last thought went through his head.
No matter what happened, at least he wasn't alone. Because Kairi was still here. His friends were still here.
And for them, he would fight to the very end.
A/N: A big thank you to Rapis_Razuri for talking to me about chess imagery a lot and Alja for inspiring me to write this story based on our conversations!
Hope you enjoyed!