Authors Note: Ah, well, this chapter took a little more time to type up, because I made it a bit longer than most chapters... and with my computer malfunctioning... haha. But hey I have a new screen so it's all good. I am starting chapter 15 today, and I think it's either the last or second to last one... but yeah, I hope you all don't get confused by this chapter, okay? Read on and enjoy!
Disclaimer: (insert "once again does not own Kingdom Hearts)
"You really did love him, didn't you?"
"Naminé, why would you care?" Kairi muttered, her head hung down, her arms clung to her knees.
"There was a time, when I thought Roxas and I would be together forever, when you and Sora were... but then he died, and I wasn't able to connect with Roxas any longer. He forgot me. He forgot what he was, and he became human in Sora's place. He is still half of Sora. Half of who you really loved in the first place." Naminé crouched in front of Kairi and sighed. "All I wanted was to be with him, because, I loved him too... or did I? Was it possible for me to ever love to begin with? He wanted you, and I tried manipulation to get him... I caused him to lose you. You to lose him."
"What are you saying?" Kairi brought her head up and met Naminé's eyes.
"I'm going to fix what I've done."
----
"How can you fix something that's already done with? You cannot change the past Naminé, even you know that." Kairi held her gaze with Naminé for quite some time, but her blue eyes were too much for her to stare into right now... they looked too much like Roxas's.
"I can try." Naminé smiled up at Kairi and stood, holding her hands together tightly in front of her. "If I have the power to manipulate people's memories, then maybe I can manipulate time itself,"
Kairi watched in awe as Naminé's hands began to glow, and a dark circle appeared before here, then she turned to Kairi and smiled. "Perhaps this should be my apology gift to you Kairi."
Then she was gone.
Staring at the portal before her, Kairi was hesitant as to stepping within it, but then she felt the pain sting her heart, and she jumped in without another second thought.
----
"Where do I have to go now? I cannot return to the darkness again, I just can't..." Roxas whispered. "I can't do that to Kairi. I can't go back into the Organization-"
A familiar feeling came over Roxas, and he looked behind him. There was a portal, one very much like the ones the Organization used to move around from place to place... but this one seemed different... As he thought to himself, and auburn haired girl came flying towards him, knocking him backwards. She coughed and sat up, staring down at him, a smile across her lips.
'Roxas!' She mouthed, but no words came out... and suddenley, he began to fade into nothingness, but this time Kairi grabbed his arm, and wouldn't let go. 'If you're going, then this time I'm coming with you,'
As they fell into the abyss before them, Kairi felt a sharp sting in her chest, and watched as Naminé fell beside her, like they were two completely different people. She reached out towards her but couldn't grab her, but she watched Naminé's lips move lightly.
'We're going back Kairi, to give Roxas a second try at life. I mean, there has to be at least one Key Bearer out there, right?' She smiled and dissappeared, as Kairi and Roxas fell deeper into the darkness...
----
The scent of the beach filled Kairi's nose as she fluttered her violet eyes open lightly. She sat up, holding her head, and she looked around, studying her surroundings. The familiar feel of the sand beneath her hands, and the view of the ocean before her... She was home. She was back on Destiny Islands again.
"I'm right back where I started from." She muttered, pushing a piece of hair from her face.
"What do you mean Kairi?" She looked over to her right, and there, perched upright, sipping on a glass of water, was Roxas. The whole scene they were in looked completely familiar... and Kairi realized... this was the night Roxas had almost died, when he was attacked by the same heartless Sora had been.
"Oh sorry, talking to myself." She pulled her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
"K-Kairi?" Roxas muttered, letting the scent of her strawberry shampoo fill his nose.
"Please, just let me hold you." She rested her chin on top of his head, and started to hum lighty. 'He's really here. Naminé really did bring us back. I get a second chance with him,'
"Kairi, you spaced out there for awhile... and you were crying... were you thinking of Sora again?" His voice sounded so soft, almost at a whisper.
"I was thinking of you Roxas. And what i would do if I ever lost you." Kairi smiled into his hair. "You mean everything to me Roxas."
He pulled out of her arms and she could see the redness in his cheeks as he stared into her eyes. He looked like a little kid, the way his eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and his hair bouncing about his head, just like Sora's had always done.
"Kairi, I'm sorry if I'm like a replacement for Sora... I never wanted to seem that way to you. I wanted to just be Roxas. Not Sora with an "x" attached. I have a heart, even if half of it used to be Sora's." Roxas held his hand over his heart. "That just adds more love I have for you."
Kairi placed her hand over her heart and sucked in a deep breath. "Naminé and I are different in many ways, she was born after Sora released my heart from within him, she has a connection to both of us, and so in a way she is connected to you, regardless if she feels it... But she loved you too. She gave you up for me. She helped me-"
A sudden rumble caused Kairi to jump up and Roxas followed as well, pulling out his two Keyblade's.
"Is it heartless?" Roxas looked around him, his childlike face gone, and in it's place, Kairi realized, was the face of a hero.
"Yes. The one Sora fought. We need to kill it." Kairi managed to say before the earth before them cracked in half.
"Kairi get out of-" he paused and looked over at her as she held her hand out, causing Oathkeeper to come out. "We?"
"I'm not letting you do this alone Roxas. We're in this together." She looked over at him and he paused for a moment, but then nodded.
"Together."
As they both started to slay the heartless pouring from beneath them, Kairi smelled rotting flesh, and knew it was time for it to appear. She nudged Roxas and whispered lightly, "Watch out. It's coming."
Roxas turned, seeing the horns poking out of the ground, then the rest of it appearing before Roxas, taunting him. It lunged towards him and Kairi, but he used his two keyblade's to make a shield around them both, and then he jumped out of it, and towards the creature. It stuck it's head high into the sky, and caused lighting to hit the ground, and as he watched Kairi, she rotated the Keyblade to knock off the magic from it, as he did as well.
The heartless looked down at Roxas, and opened it's mouth, as if to speak. "Damn persistant Nobody."
"Sorry but I'm not a Nobody any longer. I have a heart now." He pointed the keyblade towards the heartless. "Why did you kill Sora?"
"We heartless fear the keyblade, so I was put to the task of destroying him. I mean, I only thought there would be one of them to kill-" It looked from Roxas to Kairi. "But now it seems the keyblade isn't picky."
"Leave Kairi out of this."
"Ah, the girl who was with the previous Keybalde master. Found a new lover for me to kill now?" The heartless swung it's claw towards Roxas's back, but Kairi parried it's attack back towards it, knocking it's arm off in the process.
"You will not touch him." Kairi said firmly, holding the keyblade in front of herself in defense.
"You will not touch her." Roxas said standing beside Kairi. "It's time to end this, once and for all."
Kairi nodded and they both charged at the same time. The heartless brought it's other arm down towards Kairi but she parried it's attack and knocked it back aways from them both. Roxas let out a grunt as the tail of the heartless knocked him back, but before it could bring it's teeth into his shoulder, Kairi jabbed her Keyblade into it's head, and it wobbled to the ground, destroyed. As it disappeared, a large heart floated from it, and broke into thousands of tiny ones and they scattered through the sky.
Kairi fell to her knees and gasped for breath. "That was insane."
"I can't believe you killed it! Where did you get those mad Keyblade weilding skills?" Roxas asked, sitting beside her.
"Well when you spend a good part of your childhood growing up with the Keyblade master..." She smiled and wiped her forehead. "Riku and Sora did a lot of rival fighting when they were younger. I wanted to try it too, so I studied their movements."
"He he, well Kairi. Let's go home. I think we've had enough adventure for one day." Roxas grabbed her hand and and the stood up, facing each other they hugged each other tightly.
"I love you Roxas."
"I love you too."
----
The next day, Kairi recieved a call on her cell phone, expecting it to be Roxas, she picked it up and spoke, "Hey honey,"
Silence came from the other end and Kairi spoke again,
"Roxxie?"
"Kairi, this is Riku." The deep voice from the phone sounded shocked, and she apologized instantly.
"Oh Riku I am so sorry. I thought you were my boyfriend calling." Kairi mumbled awkardly.
"Boyfriend? Well anyway, I'm just calling to tell you, I'm going to be visiting Selphie tomorrow, so if you would want to hang out tomorrow with us-"
"Oh of course!" Kairi yelled.
"Well we'll be at the beach at about 12:30 or so. So I'll see you then." Riku spoke softly.
"Ok. Bye Riku."
"Bye." She hung up the phone and sat on her bed, pondering about something Riku said.
"Wait, Selphie and Riku are together?"
----
"I cannot believe you are dragging me to the beach with you and Selphie." Roxas mumbled, as he and Kairi walked towards the waters of the shore.
"Oh come on. It's going to be fun." They arrived at the beach ten minutes later, and Selphie and Riku were waiting for them.
"Hey Kairi!" Selphie squealed.
"Kairi, you look, amazing." Riku's cool voice lingered in her ears for a moment, but soon, Kairi turned to Roxas.
"Riku, this is my boyfriend, Roxas."
Extending a hand towards each other, Riku and Roxas's eyes pierced each other as they shook hands. Kairi stared at them for a moment, then latched onto Roxas's arm.
"Swimming time!" Kairi pulled her shirt over her head and waded into the crystal clear water, and soon, Selphie followed.
She laid on her back and floated, staring at the sunny sky above, letting her thoughts wander...
'I saved Roxas. He'll actually be able to live... and Sora kept his word... so he must remember everything that happened in the past. Why doesn't Roxas remember? Did Naminé do this on purpose? Make it so he didn't remember the pain of before?' Kairi suddenly felt herself go under, and she noticed spiked blond hair to her right and she turned and smiled. Roxas was grinning largely at her.
She pulled him close to her and held him for a moment, then realizing they needed time to breathe, pushed herself up into the open air above. She opened her eyes and let the sun warm the top of her head, then, she turned towards her friends and smiled.
"Hey Kairi, let's go out deeper!" Selphie muttered somewhere to her left, but she was already ahead of them.
Deeper into the depths of the ocean she swam, almost to where she couldn't see her friends, but it excited her, the danger of it all. As she plunged under, she watched the fish and creatures below her swim in a grace she knew she couldn't perform. Then, a glittering at the bottom of the ocean caused her to stop, and her curiosity got the better of her, and she swam down to see what it was. As she reached the bottom of the ocean, she soon realized it was a charm, one in the shape of a crown...
Kairi's head began to spin, and she saw nothing but blackness... then...
'Who are you?'
"Who...? Who are you?"
'I'm Roxas.'
"Roxas? I'm Kairi."
'Kairi? That's strange. Is this a dream...?'
"Eh? It might be. You're speaking into my mind..."
'I've seen you so many times in my dreams... you were building a raft on an island with a couple of boys.'
"You know them...?" There was a pause, then, "Please! Tell me those boys names!"
'Ah... Um... Riku...'
"Yeah... And the other one?"
Another voice soon sounded in her ears, and Kairi's heart jumped at the sound of it.
'You don't remember my name? Thanks a lot Kairi!'
"!"
'Okay, I guess I can give you a hint... it starts with an "s"...'
"Kairi, Kairi!" Someone was shaking her... they sounded so concerned... "Kairi please wake up!"
"R-Roxas?" She opened her eyes, and realized she was staring straight into the faces of Roxas and Riku. "Riku?"
"We saw you go under... then we realized you didn't come back up. Riku and I rushed to get you... but we thought we were too... too late." She noticed specks of wetness on his cheeks, and she couldn't help but smile.
"I had a dream Roxas... about meeting you. We met through our dreams when Sora was still alive. I heard his voice again..." Kairi looked over at Riku and saw that he was frowning.
"Kairi he's dead... he isn't coming back." Riku whispered.
"I know. But, that's okay you know? Because... even though I won't ever have Sora back... I still fell in love again. I have someone... and Sora wanted me to be happy... so I think he approves of Roxas." She smiled and let her hand fall on Roxas's. "Even if he was once half of what Sora once was."
Riku looked over at them, and sighed lightly, sneaking glances at Kairi's face. He was hoping to talk to her without that "thing" near her... but she was basically attached to him, and he knew it would be difficult to get her alone.
"I'm going to go Kairi. If you need me, you know where to find me." He turned, pushed his hair back, and walked away from them.
Kairi sat up and held her head, as she watched the beach get dizzy before her.
"Are you okay to sit up? Do you want me to take you home?" Roxas put his arm around her waist and pulled her up.
"I'll be fine, but thank you anyway." She kissed his cheek, then turned away, a frown across her lips. 'Riku...'
----
'Why? Why do you have the Keyblade?'
Riku sat, staring at the walls of the secret place where he and Sora had always played in... even Kairi came in here once in awhile... so it was a special place to him. He remembered Roxas, that was definite... but why was he here now? He had joined back with Sora before the battle with Xemnas...
"Did he get released when Sora died?"
"You don't remember everything from before do you?" Kairi's voice made him jump, and he turned to face her.
"What do you mean? All I know is that Roxas was a part of Sora..."
"Let me explain..." Kairi sat there with Riku for the next half hour, telling him how Naminé had taken her and Roxas back into the past, and how everything had happened, how Sora had actually come back, how she had lost Roxas. It took him a few moments to let it all sink in, but finally he nodded.
"So Roxas left you because you wanted Sora, and when Sora saw that opportunity, he used Roxas as a passage... draining his life force. But me, I was the puppet. He used my physical body to come back. Then he went back, Roxas came back, but he wasn't human. Naminé changed time... and now you're here, fixing everything?"
"Basically, yeah." She smiled, then looked down at her thumbs as she twiddled them slightly.
"So I caused a reaction by... k-kissing you?" He stumbled on the word, but he looked at Kairi hopefully.
"Yes. It was a mistake. I mean, it ruined you and Selphie. Also me and Roxas... and I can't live without him Riku."
"I do love you Kairi, I want you to know that at least. I have loved you, basically as long as Sora has. I never wanted to tell you, because Sora had you, and I didn't want to ruin what you had. Just, please, be careful... I don't want to see you get your heart broken again. I care about you." He smiled and touched her hand lightly.
"I know, Riku." She patted his hand lightly and smiled. "Come on, we better go."
As they reached the shore of Destiny Islands, Riku watched as Kairi leapt into Roxas's arms, and he felt his heart drop in his chest. But something about the smile on their faces caused him to smile, because the smile on Roxas's face looked just like the one he'd grown up seeing when Sora was still around.
End Note: Well, I hope this chapter was long enough for you guys. Ha. Well, keep on the watch for more stories I am working on, and chapter 15!! Also, use that all-time special purpley review button!!