AN Sept 2016: Hey! This chapter also got edited as part of batch 2 Kairi edits. Coolio.
Chapter 107: A New Start
"So, between the Rebellion and the meltdowns, there was hardly any time to breathe, let alone come visit," Namine finished explaining. "I kept meaning to come visit, but…" She grimaced, stopping there, then looked to Kairi with apologetic eyes. "I'm really really sorry."
Kairi let out a long sigh. "No, it's okay," she said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. Maybe it worked? She couldn't say she was any happier about having spent the whole previous month alone and stuck here, but, Kairi figured there was no need to keep taking it out on Namine. She did say she was sorry. "You were pretty busy, from the sounds of it."
Namine nodded, sighing a bit herself. "I was," she said.
Kairi reached over and punched her in the shoulder.
"Hey, I'm just glad you're okay," she said, putting on a smile. "I almost thought something horrible had happened!"
"Nope! Nothing horrible," Namine agreed. "I got away from that Vexen Replica okay, and since then things have just been hectic, not horrible."
"That's good," Kairi said with a nod. Then she laughed. "I guess?"
Namine laughed too.
"Better than the alternative!"
"Fair," Kairi agreed.
Bitterness still bubbled inside her, and a bit of anger, because surely Namine had to have some spare moments to—no, no. She wouldn't think like that. Kairi clamped those feelings down inside her as hard as she could. It didn't matter. Namine was here now, so everything was fine. The past month had been hell, but… things were fine now. They were going to be fine.
Of course, she'd either have to talk Namine into staying, or into letting her come with when they left, but Kairi got the feeling that doing one of those things wasn't going to be too hard.
"How are those… memory meltdowns treating you?" Kairi asked, a little cautiously. Hearing how awful they'd been hadn't been exactly comforting. She'd seen Namine have a few, before, and she knew enough about what they were like then, and how Namine phrased them now, to know that they weren't…
They weren't good.
"Oh!" Namine acted like she was surprised. "They're- They're nothing," she said. She gripped her sketchbook tightly—she'd had it in her lap this whole time, but hadn't opened it to draw. "I mean, they're- they're exhausting, but… I'm fine! I'm fine."
Kairi leaned to study Namine's turned-away face a little closer. She knew a lie when she heard one.
"Namine…" Kairi began.
"Please, Kairi," Namine interrupted, her knuckles white. "I really don't want to talk about it."
Kairi took a deep breath, but, left it at that.
She placed her hands in the sand behind her, and leaned back, turning her gaze away from Namine and back to the ocean. They sat next to each other, facing towards the sea.
"How… How have you been?" Namine asked, turning to Kairi, interest along with shakiness pitched in her tone.
"Honestly? Not great," Kairi answered, seeing no point in lying. "I mean, it really wasn't that fun to feel like all my friends had abandoned me."
Namine cringed. "I'm- I'm sorry…" she began.
Kairi quickly shook her head. "No no, it's fine!" she said. "You're here now, so it's fine." Kairi took another deep breath to steady herself. She wasn't going to get angry.
Once she was sure she wouldn't yell, Kairi continued.
"It was just… rough, without you, Namine," she said. "No one else understood what I was going through, and the only people I could try talking to—my dad and Selphie—they… It wasn't even that they didn't get it! They just up and forgot everything about you and Riku, thanks to some dumb spell on this island." Well, there was probably a spell. "So, I couldn't talk to them even if I wanted to!"
"Oh…" Namine grimaced in sympathy. "That… that is pretty rough." She licked her lips, then smiled tentatively. "At... least you could talk to them about Sora, though?"
Kairi laughed. "Oh, no, I couldn't do that, either," she said. Not that she really minded. She couldn't remember the last time she'd really minded about Sora. (Something itched in the back of her mind, but as soon as she thought about it, it was gone.) "They forgot him too."
"I… Oh?" Namine said, though she didn't seem too sure. Kairi sent her an inquisitive look, and Namine quickly turned away to hide the way her brow was furrowed in confusion.
What's SHE worried about? Kairi thought. She can't be worried about SORA! Where's the point in that? The idea that Namine could be worried about Sora was almost laughable, but Kairi bit down the laughter.
"Hey, um, speaking of Sora," Namine said. "I think he's doing alright. I mean, I'm not totally sure, but he seemed alright a month ago, when I saw him."
Kairi frowned a little. That itchy feeling started up again in the back of her mind, except, it was a lot less itchy and a lot more jittery. She tried wrapping her mind around what Namine said, tried to come up with a good response, but that jittery feeling made it hard to think.
"I don't know where he is now, though," Namine continued. "Sorry about that. I couldn't keep him from leaving and haven't heard from him since."
"Oh… NAH, don't worry about it!" Kairi laughed, blowing it off. The jittery feeling in her quit immediately, much to her relief. "I don't care where he is."
"Uh…" Namine squinted at her. "You don't?"
"Well, why should I?" Kairi asked. It wasn't as casual as it might have been, because she was studying Namine in confusion. Why did she care so much about Sora? It's not like we can do anything about him, he's gone, Kairi knew.
"I mean, he's your best friend," Namine argued. "That seems like a pretty good reason to want to know.
(A voice echoed in her mind. "Don't you recognize your best friend?"—not anymore, and that was the scariest thought of all, but: "You don't have to be afraid any longer.")
The jittery feeling started back up again in Kairi's chest, and there it bounced around. Something was wrong, something was wrong, but—
"It's… whatever," Kairi said, tightly, trying to blow it off again. Maybe if she did, the jittery feeling would stop.
It didn't.
"Kairi…" Namine said slowly. There was a note in her voice that suggested she knew something, and she asked like she was going to start prying. The thought of Namine prying made Kairi want to puke.
"Can- Can we talk about something else!?" she shouted. It was all she could think to do. Something gross writhed in her stomach, and there was an itchiness on her skin, and that jittery feeling that wouldn't go away. She wanted it to go away.
Namine reeled. "What? No! What's wrong with…? Kairi, why are you—"
"PLEASE, NAMINE," Kairi interrupted. If this wrongness twisting in her gut didn't cut it out, she was sure she'd be sick. "Can we please talk about something else?"
Namine hesitated, but then nodded.
"I… Yeah, sure," Namine said. She cleared her throat, and then pulled her bag over to put her sketchbook away. Kairi frowned as she watched her, but now Namine just looked a little excited.
Namine waited until she had her sketchbook stashed in her bag before turning to Kairi.
"I was actually wondering," she started, and then cleared her throat. There was a gleam in her eyes. "Do you want to come with me, to Castle Oblivion? It's not, like, the greatest place, but Riku can't leave until the Rebellion's done and I don't want to leave him on his own, but…! It'd get you away from here! And you could hang out with us. That wouldn't be so bad, huh?"
Kairi broke out into a large grin. The gross feeling inside her vanished completely, replaced by a swelling hope and excitement.
"That'd be great!" she said, punching at the air. "I'd love to go!"
"Great!" Namine was grinning too. "We should probably get going now, then. We have one stop before Castle Oblivion—Unless, uh! Unless you had something you still had something you wanted to do here? Or show me?"
Kairi shook her head and jumped to her feet. "Nah! I mean, I gotta let my dad know, and pack a bag, but otherwise we're good to go." She reached out a hand to help Namine up.
Namine took it, and used Kairi to pull herself to her feet.
"We'll have to find Joseph and Toby, too," Namine said.
"Then let's go do that!"
"Yeah. Hopefully they didn't go too far…"
xxx
Kairi stopped them outside the door to her dad's office, taking a moment to address Namine.
"Listen," Kairi said. "If he can't remember you right away, it's not his fault. There's something funky going on with the Islands."
Namine looked a little queasy, but she nodded. "Got it."
"What about us?" Joseph asked.
"He never knew you to begin with," Kairi argued.
Joseph opened his mouth. Closed it.
"Fair," he said.
Kairi pushed open the door.
Her dad was hunched over his desk, rubbing at his head and tapping a pen against the edge. It seemed he was up to his usual worktime pastime: glaring at his paperwork as if hoping it'd do itself.
"Hey Dad," Kairi said.
Ren looked up distractedly for just a moment. "Hey princess," he said. Then he really looked up.
"Namine's here," Kairi said, pointing at her. Namine smiled and waved. Kairi figured she could wait on introducing Joseph and Toby, since their introductions wouldn't require jogging her dad's memory.
"I… Namine?" Ren asked. He squinted hard in Namine's direction, but that only lasted about ten seconds before his eyes went wide with realization. "OOHH! Oh. I- Forgive me, Namine?" He was sweating pretty hard, but, hey, at least it hadn't taken that much effort. "I don't know how I—" He stopped there, then rounded on his daughter. "See, Kairi? I'm telling you, something funky's going on with these Islands!"
"Yeah, I know," Kairi answered.
"Anyway!" Ren turned to Namine now, smiling wide. "What brings you—Wait hang on Kairi there are two more kids here." His smile quickly fell to a, well… It wasn't a frown, exactly. It was more just confusion.
Joseph waved enthusiastically. "Hiya Mr. Kairi's Dad sir!" he said. "I'm Joseph, and this is Toby!"
Ren cautiously looked to Kairi. "Should I… uh… remember them?"
Kairi shook her head. "Nope. You've never met them before. They're friends of Namine's."
"Ah." Ren waved back, smiling again. "Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too!" Joseph chimed. Per usual, Toby said nothing from his hiding spot behind Joseph, though he waved a little bit this time. "And, actually," Joseph continued. "It's more like Namine's babysitting us."
"Well, that's not…" Namine began. She frowned a moment. "Okay, I mean, I am babysitting you guys," she admitted. "But that doesn't mean you aren't my friends."
Joseph lit up considerably. "Didja hear that, Toby!?" he said, turning to his smaller friend. "Namine considers us friends!"
Like on some sort of cue, Toby—though not looking entirely thrilled—lifted his hand up in the air. Joseph reared his own hand back, and then slapped it hard against Toby's, in an extremely enthusiastic high-five.
"Um," Namine said. "It's not like this is a new development…"
Joseph froze, his grin turning into a sort of half-grimace. Then he grimaced entirely.
"Well, no, I guess not," he said. "Look I just really wanted to high-five someone, okay?"
"Okay…" Namine said. She raised her eyebrows in Kairi's direction, sort of apologetically saying 'sorry this is what you'll have to deal with all the time if you come with'. Kairi shrugged back—it was better than staying here.
"Anyway, Namine," Ren said, drawing their attention back to him. "What've you been up to, huh? Where've you been?"
"Um… somewhere called Castle Oblivion?" Namine answered, her tone at the end of the sentence pitching up a little bit. Kairi couldn't blame her, seeing as she didn't think telling her dad about the Rebellion seemed like a good idea either. Namine coughed. "Riku had, some, um, business there."
Ren frowned. "Riku…?" he said, slowly, turning to Kairi.
"He's the one who came on the alleged shipwreck," Kairi answered, with a bit of a sigh. She wasn't sure how many times she'd had to remind her dad of this.
"That's right!" Ren clapped his hands together once, then nodded. "Sorry Namine."
"It's… It's fine," she said. "I was only going to say that we're just sort of hanging out there until Riku's done."
"We're going to Hollow Bastion first, though, aren't we?" Joseph asked earnestly.
"Well, yeah, of course," Namine answered. "But, for the long run, we're in Castle Oblivion."
Joseph let out a ginormous sigh of relief. Sounded like he was really interested in going to… wait a minute, had he said Hollow Bastion?"
"Hollow Bastion?" Kairi asked, turning to Namine, wishing she'd been filled in on this. "Isn't that wh—oh wait, that's right. There's a town around the castle." That's where her invisible friend supposedly lived. Kairi mused for a moment what the chances of running into him were. Then, a little more worriedly, she wondered what he'd do when she didn't show up to their meeting spot later today, or the next day, or…
Oh well. He'd deal.
"What's in Hollow Bastion?" Kairi continued, since that's what she really wanted to know.
"Riku, at the moment," Namine said, laughing. "He had to visit some people we know! Oh, by the way: if Castle Oblivion turns out to be, like, too boring for you, you can always stay with them, I think! They're all pretty great people."
"Well, I doubt I'll be too bored, but, good to know I guess," Kairi said.
"Is Sora there?" Ren asked. Kairi had to turn away a moment to hide the way her mouth curled in distaste. Ren's question was for Namine, though. "I mean, with Riku. In general, not just in that Hollow, um, Bastion place. Unless he is there…?"
Namine shook her head. "No, he's not in Hollow Bastion, at least as far as I know," she said. "And he hasn't been around Castle Oblivion for, I don't know, at least a month now. I… I don't know where he is."
She spoke apologetically, and though she was answering Ren, she kept flicking glances in Kairi's direction. Kairi tried to ignore it. What did Namine care so much about Sora? He was gone, and she knew it. She was the one who had drawn the pictures that—!
"Oh, oh well!" Ren said. "That's fine. I was only wondering." He laughed heartily, shrugging a little. "I thought maybe we would've lucked out, and you all were together."
"Nope," Namine said.
Ren turned to Kairi now, smiling. "Hey, maybe you'll run into Sora, at some pont!"
"Uh, yeah, maybe!" Kairi told him, sounding as chipper as she could manage. It was to keep her dad from bothering her anymore about this. Maybe it'd make Namine leave her alone, too. (The jittery feeling came back in her stomach, but so long as she didn't look at the furrow of Namine's brow, it was easy to suppress.)
"And, hey, when did you guys say you'd be back?" Ren asked.
"We didn't!" Joseph said, brightly. He probably thought he was being helpful.
"We don't really know," Namine added. "But, probably not until Riku's done, because we really can't leave him alone there."
"You didn't happen to already say what business Riku had, did you?" Ren pressed.
Namine grimaced. Kairi grit her teeth but otherwise kept her face calm. She could come up with a good cover story—though she supposed it probably wouldn't matter if they told her dad about the Rebellion, seeing as he'd forget—she just needed a moment to think…
Before she could, Joseph took a step forward. "We're doing some, um. It's a research project," he said, with only the slightest hesitation. "Not that Riku's helping with that, of course!" He laughed like there was some sort of joke there. "I don't think he's really interested in the research part, but the research facility has kind of broken down and he's helping out with repairs! So he'll probably be done when the repairs are. Right Namine?"
Joseph turned to Namine, something burning in his eyes. Something that Kairi recognized well enough. She tried not to look surprised by his lying skills, though she had to say she was impressed. That was better than anything she could have come up with on such short notice.
"Um," Namine hesitated, but she understood what was going on before too long, and she quickly nodded. "Yeah! We know some people there, too, and he's pretty invested in helping them out."
Joseph nodded as well. "Uh-huh! He's pretty good friends with tw- with my dad, who's in charge of the project. And Castle Oblivion is Riku's homeworld, too, so… Oh! Kairi mentioned Riku was from another world, right?"
"I definitely did," Kairi said. That wasn't a lie.
"Yeah, I remember," Ren said, with a thoughtful nod. That was a relief. He looked at Namine. "Is this your homeworld, too?" he asked.
Namine nodded. She didn't look very comfortable, though.
"So, I can go, right?" Kairi asked, to change the subject. And, move the conversation along.
"Yeah, sure!" Ren answered, smiling. "Don't see why not." He held out his arms, and recognizing the invitation for a goodbye hug, Kairi went over to him. "Just, stay safe, alright? And try and check back in here, if you can. Surely there will be a few spare moments every now and then, right?"
"I'll try," Kairi promised him. That was all she could do. She hugged him hard. She was glad to be leaving the Islands, but she was going to miss him. She just hoped he wouldn't forget her, but, seeing as he hadn't forgotten her mom…
"That's good enough." He kissed her on top of the head, then let her go.
"So, I guess we'll be going!" Namine began.
"Not before you give me a hug too, young lady," Ren said, and then he laughed. "I mean, I'd like to actually tell you goodbye, too."
Namine blushed a little. She went over and let herself be hugged.
"You stay safe, too."
"I'll do my best!"
Ren let go of Namine.
"Do I get a hug, too!?" Joseph asked.
Ren laughed loudly. "Well, sure, if you want one!" he said. So, he hugged Joseph, too.
"I don't want a hug," Toby said, before anyone could ask him.
Kairi waited until her dad was done hugging Joseph, and then she said: "So! I guess this is goodbye for real, now?"
"Um, actually, one second!" Ren hastily pulled a paper out of the stack on his desk and dug out his pen. "Kairi would you mind… writing down everything you just told me? Please. I just… I don't want to forget."
Kairi swallowed. "I don't think you will, dad," she told him. She still went over and wrote down the basics, though.
After that, and one more goodbye hug, they were off. Well, they off to Kairi's house, anyway. She'd like to pack a bag, at least including a change of clothes, if not a few other things. If they were going to be gone for a while, well… There were a lot of things she'd want with her.