AN/ Update May 2016: The contents of this chapter and the next chapter have been swapped for pacing reasons. Everything's still here (though this scene was rewritten), just in different places.

Chapter 56: Longing Darkness

Kairi sat on the more secluded side of the play-island, blank paper in her lap. She tapped her pen against it a few times, trying to decide what to do. She doubted any of her letters to Sora were actually reaching him, so she'd kind of given up on that. Why bother if they weren't doing anything?

She'd already written a few letters to Namine before, but that's what she was doing again. She was just trying to come up with something new to say, so she didn't send another word-for-word where are you, please tell me you're okay, message that she kept sending.

It was just, telling Namine about school and life and how much it sucked without her wasn't interesting or therapeutic or anything, it was just exhausting.

She was spared from having to come up with anything by the sound of shifting sand, followed by someone coughing.

It was that invisible guy she'd met a couple days back. She, uh, still hadn't wormed any sort of name out of him, despite valiant efforts. And she wasn't just going to name him herself, either—maybe if another week passed and he wouldn't budge, but for now she'd deal with not knowing his name.

In fact, she didn't know anything about him, Kairi realized, as she patted the ground to her right, offering him a place to sit. He wasn't forthcoming about the information himself, and kept dodging questions when she asked. Maybe she'd have to be more aggressive about asking questions about that.

"How's it going?" he asked. The sand shifted, and there was a soft thump, so he had sat down.

Kairi moved to put her pen and paper away, purposefully elbowing him in the process. Her elbow connected a lot sooner than she expected it to, though he was still sitting a respectable distance away from her, at least. He'd probably caught on to what she was doing a few days ago, but this was her not-so-subtle way of trying to make sure she knew where he was sitting.

"Same as usual," Kairi told him. "School sucks, no word from Sora, no word from Namine, no word from Riku." Not that she entirely expected a word from Riku, as much as she loved him. He was a good friend, just… forgetful. And, four months wasn't boding well for his case either.

"That, uh, that still stinks," Invisi-guy said (maybe she'd just call him that?).

He laughed nervously once he'd said it. In all the times Kairi'd talked to him so far, he hadn't been anything other than nervous. It must've been just how he was.

"How 'bout you?" Kairi asked.

"Um… same… as always?" he said. He didn't sound totally sure, or excited.

"Bet you can't do much, being invisible," Kairi said, picking up the slack for him.

"I mean, not really," he agreed. "Though I can pull off some really serious pranks."

Kairi laughed at that, able to imagine well enough all the things you could get done when you were invisible. He laughed too, and, it was a nice sound. Something still tugged in the back of her mind, though, like it always did when she was with him. She ignored it, though. She always did.

Turning in his direction, Kairi put on a smile.

"Hey, where are you from?" she asked.

"Uhh…" He hesitated for a long moment, almost like he had to think about it. "Hollow Bastion," he answered, finally.

Kairi raised her eyebrows.

"Hollow… Bastion?" she repeated, not sure if she'd heard him right. That was where Maleficent lived, right? That castle? Had he lived with her…?

"Oh, not, like, in the castle," he answered quickly, as if reading her mind. "There's a town outside of it. That's where I lived."

"Ohhhh."

Kairi'd had no idea about the town, but, she supposed it did make sense.

"I mean, it's not like I've been, um, home in a while though," Invisi-guy said. He was back to that nervous laughter again.

"Let me guess, not since getting turned invisible?" Kairi said.

"Uh, haha, yeah. That."

"Any chance you're gonna tell me how that happened?" Kairi pressed, leaning a little bit in his direction. Not too far, in case he'd shifted, so she wouldn't get too close. She'd keep pressing him on this, because there had to be some sort of juicy story behind getting turned invisible.

He only laughed, though, much more confident now.

"Nope, not a chance!"

Kairi sighed, but then elbowed him. Her elbow still made contact sooner than she'd expected it to, but she could've just misjudged this time. A sharp pain ran through her elbow, from coming into such hard contact with his arm, but she ignored it.

"How 'bout a name, then?" she asked. Invisi-guy would work, she supposed, but, like, any sort of name would be much preferable.

"Still haven't come up with a good fake one to give you."

"Come on, seriously."

"It's hard!" he whined.

Kairi groaned nice and long, throwing her head back and rolling her eyes as hard as she possibly could. She hadn't expected anything else from him, of course, but it was still frustrating.

Sometimes she wondered if she had made a mistake, in agreeing to talk to him, in allowing him to come visit her every day. (She had changed their meeting spot to somewhere less-likely for them to be overheard, so that she wouldn't look crazy to everyone else who couldn't see him.)

But, the thing about him was…

He didn't forget, wouldn't forget, about Sora, or about Namine, or about Riku or anything else that she told him about. He remembered those things the next day, unlike Selphie, unlike Tidus, unlike everyone else on this island. He didn't forget. She could actually talk to him about them, and it was nice.

It was really nice.

She wasn't laying her entire heart out to him, of course—she wasn't stupid—but he was still… nice to be around. He was good company. She could talk to him about things she couldn't talk to anyone else about.

For the first time in a while, she could really laugh with and genuinely complain to someone and it was nice. She'd missed that. A lot.

Plus, there was something… familiar about him, too. She couldn't place it, exactly, but if you pressured her into giving an answer, she'd probably tell you he reminded her of Sora. She wouldn't dare say he was filling the gaping hole Sora and Namine and Riku had left behind, but she'd admit he was certainly helping ease the pain.

It was nice.

It was really, really nice.

xxx

Sora's Shadow would admit, he was a little surprised Kairi was so open to the idea of talking to him. Despite not seeing him. Despite not knowing—never being able to know—anything about him. Of course, he wasn't complaining, he was glad.

He was really glad.

She had to leave and head home only about an hour after he'd first arrived to talk to her, but he didn't mind about that either. Any time spent with her was a pleasure. And besides, sitting around on Destiny Islands still gave him a headache, so it wasn't like he'd be able to stay much longer than an hour, anyway.

They talked about nonsense the whole time. Nothing he really cared about. But it was still nice. Even putting up with her prying questions about a past he didn't have was nice. Just plain, spending time with her was nice.

He wouldn't trade this for the worlds.

"See you tomorrow?" Kairi said to him, as she finished gathering her things.

He nodded. Then he remembered she couldn't see.

"Uh, yeah! Tomorrow!"

That feeling of warmth, of something else, was swelling up in his chest. Especially at the sight of her smiling at him. She was smiling at him, and she didn't even know who he was!

Well, she was smiling at him because she didn't know who and what he was, but that was beside the point.

That was entirely beside the point.

"Don't get all sentimental," Sora's Shadow muttered to himself, as he watched Kairi leave. "You don't have the heart to be doing things like that! So what, she'll never know who you are? That's for the best! So what, if she finds out, this is over? I'll enjoy it while it lasts! So what if—"

So what if it won't last? he was going to finish.

So what if, once you do what you're truly meant to, you'll never be able to see her again?

But those thoughts…

Those thoughts weren't ones he was comfortable with.

He pushed them out of his mind.