Chapter 18

Kairi looked around at the room she'd found herself in. It was a pale white all over, and was almost bare except for the bed she was on, and a table with chairs. A single window showed only a vast blackness outside. Kairi got up, wondering how she'd gotten here…she'd just remembered falling into a very large shadow when the man that'd tried to kidnap her dropped her. She suddenly felt a small hand tugging on hers, and she turned in surprise to see a very small figure, wearing a grey robe and hood, trying to get her attention.

"Princess! We have to go! Mother needs to talk to you!" It said, pointing at the door. Kairi was surprised at the voice. It was clear from how it sounded and its height that the small person was a very young girl.

"Wh-where are we? Who are you?" She asked, confused.

"There's no time! You have to talk to Mother!" The girl said again, scurrying over to the door and opening it. "Follow me!" She squeaked, and then walked briskly down the hallway. Kairi paused for a moment, but when the girl looked over her shoulder, followed the cloaked child.

The room, it seemed, was a part of a castle. She noticed that the doors in the corridor and all of the bricks were white.

"Why is everything white here? What is this place?" She asked her guide.

"This is the Sanctuary. Mother built it. She said it's white to remind us that this is the light that doesn't go out, no matter how strong the darkness." The girl said, a note of pride in her voice. Kairi noted that there were several more grey-cloaked children that were watching her curiously from the corridor behind them. The girl guiding her led her to a large, winding staircase. She hopped down the stairs energetically, motioning for Kairi to follow. They finally came to a very well-lit room. The girl held up her hand, stopping Kairi. She pointed at the large golden door in front of them.

"That's the Heart of Light. Mother goes in here when there's something important happening. She's seeing a guest, so we have to check before going in."

She motioned Kairi to a small hole. Kairi looked through.

The room inside was bathed in a soft radiance she couldn't see the source of. She noticed a man in an Organization XIII jacket finish pulling up his hood right before she glimpsed his face. He then bowed to someone out of view, and vanished into a dark portal.

The girl, after seeing Kairi nod, opened the door.

"Mother, I've brought her." She said respectfully, walking up to a woman in a chair.

Kairi looked at the woman her guide had called "Mother." She was wearing a simple, flowing silvery-white dress, and her hair was bone white. Kairi realized the woman's skin and hair color were that of an albino. She didn't have an albino's eyes, though…hers were an odd pale yellow. Despite her strange appearance, the woman was quite beautiful. She smiled kindly at the grey-cloaked child.

"Thank you, Sara." She said. The girl bowed, and left the room. The woman turned to Kairi.

"Are you well, Princess?" She said, concerned.

"…Yes, but I'm very confused. Why am I here? What's going on?" Kairi asked softly, sitting down in one of the other chairs.

"I'm sorry, I doubt that Sara was able to tell you much…this place is the Sanctuary. I built it as a place for castaways in the darkness. You fell into the darkness, and were brought here. We've been waiting for its effects on you to cease." The woman looked directly at Kairi. "You're also here…because it's the safest place for you to be right now."

"In the middle of the darkness? Isn't it dangerous here?" Kairi asked.

"No. There is a light in this castle…Heartless cannot find it, but I'm not entirely sure myself how it works." She pointed to the ceiling, and Kairi saw to her amazement that a radiant gem of monstrous size was embedded in the Ceiling.

"This is the Heart of Light…I know little about it, but it repels dark forces. It was once a part of the Realm of Light, but it fell into this void thousands of years ago...I merely discovered it when I fell myself. There are fragments of it still in the upper realms…the Cornerstone of Light, for example." The woman said. Kairi suddenly looked at her.

"I'm sorry, I'm being rude…I forgot to ask you what your name was, and how you know who I am." She said

"There is no problem…my name is Linnia. I know you are named Kairi, because I know of all of the Princesses of Heart."

Seeing Kairi's piqued interest, Linnia went on.

"Your friends, Sora and Riku, are battling against the Heartless, and their masters, the Remnant. You know of this, correct?"

"I didn't know they were called the Remnant, but other than that, I know what you're talking about."

"You met with King Mickey, I believe…a wise fellow. Still, there is more at work here than he realizes. Things have begun to happen…more than just the Remnant's eyes rest upon Sora and Riku." Kairi's expression saddened with concern for her friends.

"Do you know something? Do you know who's behind all this?"

Linnia's expression became pained, and a shadow passed over her face. The momentary silence made Kairi extremely uncomfortable; she suspected she had said something very wrong.

"I have suspicions," Linnia said at last. "Guesses and glimpses seen in a dark and fragmented mirror. I have knowledge of some of the forces that would harm or use Sora and Riku…but there is something else at work here…something I know nothing of."

"Is that…why I should be here? Why you said I'm safe here?" Kairi asked.

"The Princesses of Heart are all in danger. I know what hunts you all too well. I have taken measures to ensure the safety of the other Princesses, but my power in the Realm of Light is failing. I too rely on Sora to do what is right, in the end…" Linnia said. Kairi felt a sense of foreboding, but pressed on.

"The way you speak of these things that hunt us…they're not the Remnant, I assume. What…are they?"

"They are ABOMINATIONS." Linnia said fiercely, her voice quiet but filled with hate. Kairi almost recoiled, alarmed at her reaction. Linnia didn't meet Kairi's gaze.

"Nobodies do not exist. That is a simple fact, and something they cannot help. But there are things in this life that SHOULD NOT exist at all." She said, her voice still quiet and harsh. Kairi saw that Linnia was exerting herself considerably to even speak of these things, whatever they were…for some reason, although she hadn't raised her voice at all, the quiet hate in her voice frightened Kairi much more. Linnia closed her eyes.

"I am sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." She said, her voice still strained, but much closer to its original tone. She opened her eyes again, looking at Kairi.

"I know that my power is limited, but I do what I can. I have sent out the two defenders of this Sanctuary. One now protects Sora and Riku; he is never far from them, and shall not be in the future…the other guards the Princesses. You need not worry for your friends or fellow Princesses of Heart…I trust those two not only with my life, but with the lives of everyone here."

"Who are they? Have we met them before?" Kairi asked, recalling the man in an Organization XIII jacket she'd seen earlier in this room.

"Who are they…? That is not something that can truly be asked of them. They are castaways of the darkness, like the others here…the only difference was that they chose that life for themselves. You would not have known them." Linnia said, shaking her head. Kairi was still curious.

"But…you only mentioned two…how can one person defend all the worlds the Princesses are still on?"

"I have taken steps, as I said…my preparations are not indomitable, but they should be enough. The one standing watch over the Princesses has a long reach…I hold no doubts that he will succeed." Linnia stood, but a jolt seemed to run through her and she almost fell forward. Kairi was able to get up in time to stop the older woman from falling; she realized that Linnia's body was extremely frail…the woman did not seem healthy. Her skin was like ice…

"I'm sorry, Kairi. My strength is not what it once was…I must retire for now. We can talk further later, but for now…you may explore the Sanctuary, if you so desire." Linnia said, her voice seeming distant. Kairi, after asking several times if Linnia was sure she'd be all right, reluctantly let her stand up. Linnia began to go. Kairi recalled one final question she'd had when walking through the Sanctuary.

"Linnia…why are there so many children here?" She asked. Linnia stopped. She sighed, and Kairi detected a slightly bitter note in it.

"That is a question for Ansem the Wise, were he still alive." She said cryptically, coughing weakly a few times. She walked into a room beyond the Heart of Light. Kairi, her mind full with all she'd just learned, turned and left the room.

Linnia closed the door, and sat down, leaning heavily against it. She looked at her hand. Her skin had become paler, if only briefly.

"The cold…it's always so cold when it comes…" She whispered. She thought of the Princesses, and remembered the ever-nagging doubt she'd somehow failed. Kairi and the others did not know the full extent of their enemies' collective malice.

"Then there's the one I cannot see…that one that plays with the Remnant and Sora from a place I cannot fathom…is this all his doing?"

Linnia's trembling hands weakly gripped a small, glowing gold stone around her neck that looked like a tiny piece of the Heart of Light. The coldness in her blood lessened, and a more healthy pallor diffused her skin.

"Sora, forgive me…" She whispered. "You don't know what they will do to you given half a chance…for everyone's sake, please stop Iramaul…"