15

The North Tower

"C'mon Riku, calm down."

"Calm down? How the hell am I supposed to calm down?"

"Sedatives? I don't know."

"C'mon, hurry, help me lift her out of the darkness… It's sticking to her! Hurry, lift her legs!"

Fingers on my neck, back, and thighs. Then a painful tugging on my already throbbing limbs.

"She's gonna be okay. Donald, hold her head, will you?"

"Sure, Sora."

Thin, almost feathery fingers on the back of my head.

"What? What do you mean she's gonna be okay? Look at her, you idiot! Are you blind? She's like a ragdoll… just like last time… lifeless…"

"It's not the same as last time."

"And how would you know? Freak, Sora, you're such a brainless son-of-a—"

"Shut up. I can tell she's okay without using my eyes. I can feel her heart."

"Feel it? Like feel it beating?"

"No. Like feel that it's there. It's synced up with mine, remember?"

"…Oh."

A long silence. I tried to lift my eyelids, but they were too heavy.

"So what do we do now, Riku? How do we get out of here?"

A long sigh. "I don't know. This isn't my realm anymore… I'm as useless here as you are… 'course, you're pretty much useless anywhere you go…"

A loaded pause. "Wow, thanks."

"Any time."

"…Let's just try and heal her."

"You're going to heal her? Are you sure you can?"

"Well… It'll help, either way… even if I can't get her back up to one-hundred percent… Hold her for me, will you, Riku?"

A pair of thick, strong arms wound around me and my head lolled against a solid chest.

"Heal!"

A tickly sensation flooded through me, and my eyes popped open as though the oppressive weight had vanished into thin air. Riku's face was close to mine, his eyes filled with anxiety. Sora was not far away, looking a little shaken up, but not overly concerned.

"Sora?" I murmured. "Riku? Where am I?"

"The realm of darkness," Sora said, coming close enough to take my hand.

Riku scowled. "A better question might be, 'how in the name of Hans Christian Anderson did you get here?'"

"Yeah, Kairi," Goofy's voice said, "We was wondering that ourselves."

I turned my head ever so slightly and saw Goofy on Sora's left. His bulbous eyes were on mine, and his unusually large front teeth stuck out from between his lips.

I couldn't help but smile. "Goofy? How did you get here?"

"I'm here too, Your Majesty," somebody quacked at my elbow.

I looked down and laughed out loud with delight. Donald! He stood there, holding his magic staff and smiling up at me.

"It was the strangest thing," Goofy said, reclaiming my attention; his long, silly ears flapped as he bobbed his head dramatically. "We was walkin' along, through the castle gardens, and all of a sudden, this shiny white portal opened up, right in the path! Donald didn't want to go, but—"

"I thought it might be dangerous, o-kay?" Donald said, scowling and folding his wings.

"Well, anyways, we jumped right into it, and then we ended up here! And you was layin' on the ground, with all sorts of Heartless on top of you! So me and Donald took care of 'em, and then Riku and Sora came along, and now everythin' is alright." He smiled, closed his eyes, and gave a happy nod.

I looked back and forth between the two of them, and then at Sora and Riku. Sora was smiling proudly, glancing back and forth between his comrades, but Riku was still scowling.

"Thanks, Donald. Goofy." I said, smiling rather feebly.

"No bother, Ma'am," they chimed together.

My hazy mind began to clear. I realized that Riku was holding me. Again, I felt a certain sense of security in his warm embrace, but I knew from past experience that to enjoy such a thing was hazardous to my health. So I leaned away from him and murmured, "Set me down. I can stand."

He hesitated, but eventually let me down on my feet. I wobbled a little; I was still a somewhat weak and my head spun. But at least I could remain conscious.

"You okay, Your Majesty?" Goofy asked, putting his heavily-gloved hands over his mouth.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I said, waving one hand. "And you don't have to call me that, guys—I'm just Kairi, okay?"

"Hyuck! Sure thing, Kairi," Goofy said, pleased.

I looked at Sora, and then at Riku. "So how did you two get here?"

Sora frowned. "Well, somebody opened up a portal for me, as well. Dunno who it could've been…"

"Same here," Riku said, folding his arms. "I was in Twilight Town."

"Really?" I said, looking back and forth between them in mild confusion.

"Yeah."

"Well, Chancellor Tsukada opened up one for me," I inserted with a shiver. "I mean—Chancellor Tsukada's Heartless."

"What?" Sora said. "He's a Heartless?"

Even Riku looked startled. "Wait—how long has he been a Heartless?"

"I don't know," I said, a little despairingly. "I don't know! That's what freaks me out!"

"Well," Donald said, "Was he mean to you, Your Majesty?"

I was startled by the straightforward nature of the question. My eyes widened. "Yes," I said slowly, "But there are plenty of mean people in the worlds that aren't Heartless, aren't there?"

Donald didn't hesitate to answer. "Well, I think the meaner they are, the more darkness is in their hearts," he said. "And the more darkness is in their hearts, the more likely it is that they're a Heartless."

"Yeah," Goofy agreed, "It's like Master Yen Sid said! If somebody gives in to all that meanness inside 'em, they'll lose their heart!"

A profound silence followed.

Riku raised an eyebrow. "I think they're right," he said, insultingly surprised.

"So…" Sora said, putting his hands behind his head, "Chancellor Tsukada was a bad guy, ever since Kairi knew him?"

"Maybe not that long," I said thoughtfully. "I mean, there was definitely darkness in him, but…" I sighed. "Oh well. I guess what matters is… he's gone."

"Yeah," Sora said. "But his Heartless is still kicking."

Then, something occurred to me. "Holy crap!" I exclaimed, making Donald and Goofy jump, "It was him!"

"What?" Sora, Riku, and Donald all asked at once.

I was almost jumping up and down in my astonishment. "He was the one who crashed out of the castle! He's the one letting all the Heartless in!" My brain was spinning.

"Chancellor Tsukada's Heartless?" Sora exclaimed. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Of course! He's just power-hungry. That's probably why he lured me in here in the first place; he wanted to get me out of the way. He wanted to do me in, so that I couldn't interfere anymore!"

"Yeah, that makes sense…" Riku murmured. "Did you guys see any sign of him after I left yesterday?"

I racked my brains. "No. I didn't see him at all yesterday."

"Hey, maybe you did!" Riku exclaimed, his aqua eyes glowing with sudden understanding. "The man in the black coat, remember? I chased him in and out of portals for hours. Then I lost him in Twilight Town. He must have come back here once he was sure I wasn't following him anymore. And he created another security breach!"

Sora looked completely lost. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. Why would he do any of this? Why would he attack the city?"

"To subdue the rebellion," I said. "He wants absolute power. He wants to rule Radiant Garden!" The anger was welling up inside of me; why hadn't I realized any of this sooner?

Riku frowned as though he were not entirely convinced. "Hmm. We don't really have any proof. But it sounds… probable."

Goofy's eyebrows pulled together. "The more I hear about this Chancellor guy, the more I don't like 'im!"

"Yeah," Donald said, raising his staff into the air, "Don't worry, Kairi, we can take care of him!" He looked so cute in all his quacking fury, with his eyebrows pulling over his round black pupils and the corners of his bill turned downward. I was touched by his sincerity, and would have graced him with a giggle and a hug if I hadn't known that such a thing would hurt his feisty ducky pride.

"I think they have a point," Riku said. "The only way to end this is to end that Heartless."

I realized that everyone was staring expectantly at me, as though they were waiting for my approval. I took an involuntary step back. "What?" I asked. "You know it isn't up to me. We have to do what's right."

"Are you gonna be okay with this?" Riku asked, frowning. "He is your uncle…"

"No," I said firmly, "He's my uncle's Heartless. And we have to stop him before he ruins everything that we've worked so hard to build. It's what Ansem The Wise would have wanted."

"You weren't so sure about Ansem The Wise a couple days ago," Riku reminded me, giving me a knowing look. "And now you think you know what he would want?"

I thought about that for a second, then gave him a tiny smile. "Yeah. Actually, I think I do."

~o~

I opened up another path rather effortlessly, in spite of the fact that I hadn't been able to do it before without Naminé's help. Something about having my friends there with me made me feel stronger. Confident, even.

To my despair, Riku threw an arm over his face as the light tore its way across the darkness and took several hasty, stumbling steps backward. And then, as he raised an arm and opened up a portal of darkness without a word to anyone, I suddenly understood the need for two portals to bring my friends to me. Riku didn't want to use the Corridors of Light. He couldn't.

My throat tightened as he disappeared in the pulsating blackness. But then Sora took my hand, and we sank in to the light with Donald and Goofy close behind us.

"He'll be waiting on the other side," he said, his voice gentle and reassuring in my ear.

When we stepped out of the portal, we were in a dark, chilly place. Piles of shattered marble littered the slick white tile we were standing on, and the high windows above us were broken. A couple pigeons were perched around their edges.

With a soft sucking sound, Riku appeared. I tried to capture his gaze, but only stared at the floor.

"Where are we?" Donald quacked, as though he hadn't found Riku's mode of transport unusual or else didn't care. He looked around the vast, empty room, his staff raised and his eyes narrowed.

"The castle entrance hall," I said after a moment, puzzled. "But it's so quiet."

Sora frowned. "Well… the giant Heartless appeared here, didn't it? It must be long gone by now."

I nodded. But then why had the portal brought us here?

Riku didn't look convinced. "Don't let your guard down," he advised. "Anything could happen."

"So what should we do?" Sora asked.

Riku peered around the dark, echoing room. "Well… let's search the castle. Maybe this is where Chancellor Tsukada's Heartless is hiding out."

We began the long climb up the staircase, leaping over the places where the marble had been blasted away. It was all so still and calm after yesterday's battle; I couldn't help looking over my shoulder for a Heartless now and then.

When we reached the third floor where the grand staircase ended, I noticed the air was full of dust and smoke. Sora coughed and pulled his shirt up over his nose, but Riku merely looked nervously about, his eyes glowing, fierce and icy despite the dim light.

"Wak!" Donald said.

"This castle sure is spooky!" Goofy commented, tapping nervously at his chin.

"Not as spooky, since it was remodeled," I said fairly. "It's just the smok—"

THUUUUUUUD!

The floor shook so violently that it threw us in a heap. With multiple shouts, we were sent sprawling. Despite my best efforts, I landed on Donald and felt my left elbow make contact with Riku's stomach.

"Wak!" Donald said. "Ouch!"

"Gawrsh! Sorry, Donald!" Goofy cried, removing his foot from his friend's head.

"Ow!" Sora complained. "Freak, Riku, you punched me in the nose!"

"You'll live," Riku said unsympathetically, getting to his feet and brushing the dust and ash from his T-shirt.

Someone beneath me gave a tiny groan. "Oh, gosh, Donald, I'm sorry!" I cried. I rolled off Donald's squishy, feathery body squealing, "Sorry, sorry," all the while. After pulling the duck into a sitting position, I was a little alarmed to see his pupils spinning around in dizzy circles.

"I'm o-kay, Kairi," Donald tried to reassure me, but his slurred words contradicted it.

I tried to get to my feet. "Ow," I murmured, rubbing at my elbow. I caught Riku's eye, and he grinned.

"Rock hard abs," he said with a shrug. "You got what was coming to you."

Suddenly, an earsplitting roar sent us leaping to our feet. It made the entire castle tremble, such was its volume.

"What was that?" Goofy yelped.

"The Heartless!" Riku cried, and his eyes were suddenly fierce and intense. With a clang, his keyblade appeared. "It's outside—hurry!"

We ran to the balcony overlooking the castle gardens. From the railing, we could see it—a huge, maroon-colored monster with scaly wings, perched right on top the south tower!

As we gaped at it, it gave another terrifying roar.

Suddenly, something had a vice-grip on my shoulders. In sharp, jerking movements, it began dragging me away from the group. I yelped and tried to wriggle out of its grasp, but it was no use—and then I tilted my head back and caught a startling, upside-down image of my captor.

"Riku!" I yelped, grabbing his hands and trying to pull them off. "Let me go!"

"No," he said firmly. "You're going to wait inside."

"I don't want to!" I said, prying ferociously at his fingertips. "I want to help! I can help!"

Suddenly, to my astonishment, he stopped. I felt his entire body go rigid with tension, and then his voice became as icy as death itself. "Let go, Sora."

I turned my head around and saw Sora standing at Riku's elbow, his eyebrows angrily pulling together. His hand was resting firmly on Riku's shoulder.

"No, you let go," he said blackly. "She has just as much business being here as you do."

I caught sight of Donald and Goofy. They were staring at us, and their eyes were wide with shock. Donald's bill was hanging open.

Riku shrugged out from beneath the offending hand. "Look, Loverboy, I just don't want her getting hurt. You may think this is just a game, but it's not."

"I never said it was!" Sora said angrily. "I just know that she's tired of having to stay behind."

Donald shook his head and came forward. "Sora, maybe she would be safer in there," he said quietly. He put a wing on Sora's elbow.

"No. I'm going. You're not leaving me," I said, catching Sora's eye.

"Of course we're not," he assured me.

But Riku made a low, gravelly noise in his throat. "Yes we are," he said forcefully, and began to drag me toward the imprisonment of the castle doors.

When Riku released me it was so sudden that I was sent stumbling toward the ground; I caught hold of Donald's shoulder just as an earsplitting clang filled my ears.

I whirled around to find Sora and Riku glaring at each other from opposite sides of crisscrossed keyblades. Riku's teeth were bared, his arms straining against the weight that Sora was bearing down on him with. Sora's eyes, so usually filled with perfect compassion, were tight and nothing short of furious. The muscles in his arms and legs were taut.

"No!" I shouted. "Stop!"

The blades slipped, and in a lightning-quick motion, Riku lunged at Sora. But Sora evaded the attack with a nimble bound and a spin. As he came around, he caught Riku in the back with the tip of his keyblade. Riku stumbled, then whirled around to meet Sora's next attack. The blades clashed again—they seemed to be rebounding off each other, as though they wouldn't quite contend with one another.

"What's happenin'?" Goofy asked anxiously.

Sora and Riku lunged at each other again, but each gracefully maneuvered out of danger's way. They moved so quickly that it was hard to see them at all, but whenever the keyblades came in contact, they would bounce off one another with a clang and a flash of light.

Suddenly, I realized that my fingers were curled around something. I looked down and was startled to see my keyblade hanging there. I hadn't even consciously summoned it.

And then I understood what was going on. Every time Sora and Riku came together, my fingers flexed around the handle of my keyblade, and a barrier erupted between them.

"Oh," I breathed, looking down at my miraculous weapon, "I'm doing magic!"

"What'd'ya say, Kairi?" Goofy asked, taking his gaze from the battle for a moment.

I smiled. "Look, it's me! I'm doing it!" And at that moment the titans clashed again. This time, I noticed a bright flash of light come from the tip of my blade. "I'm doing magic!"

"Magic!" Goofy exclaimed, putting his gloved hands over his mouth. "Where'd'ja learn that?"

There was a sound of heavy scuffling, and suddenly Riku and Sora were sent flying on the rebound; each landed on their butt. They quickly recovered themselves and were at it again.

"I don't know!" I said. "But I can kinda feel it."

"Hmm," Donald mused. "I've heard that some magic comes from the heart. Not from a spell." He frowned. "At least that's what Merlin said."

"Gawrsh, I guess Kairi's heart just don't like to see Sora and Riku fighting," Goofy said wisely.

I returned my gaze to the boys I loved so much. It was true—the last thing I ever wanted to see was a brawl between them. They'd been best friends before I'd screwed everything up, after all.

There was an even louder clang, and both were sent sprawling. Rather than jumping to their feet and leaping at each other, however, they only sat up, panting and glaring.

"What's going on?" Sora demanded, his breath coming in heavy gusts.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Riku snapped.

Donald and Goofy chuckled, and Sora and Riku looked at us. I put my keyblade behind my back, but I knew they'd already seen it. Their eyes widened.

"Kairi!" Sora said, "Was that you?"

I nodded, but couldn't help smiling.

"How are you doing that?" Riku growled.

I shrugged. "My heart, I guess. Physically, I may not be able to keep you from fighting, but…" I smiled.

Sora laughed outright, but Riku only continued to scowl. Suddenly he was on his feet.

"Well," he said, "I guess Sora isn't going to be able to attack me again," he said, taking a tight hold on my arm.

My delight suddenly turned to resentment. I grabbed Riku's hand and tried to pry it from my arm, but I couldn't do it. He was dragging me toward that confining door and there was nothing I could do about it. How did he get so damn strong, anyway?

"No!" I yelled, "Riku, stop it!" I wanted to take a swing at him with my keyblade, but at the same time, I didn't want to hurt him.

Sora started forward, but Goofy touched his shoulder. "It'll be okay, Sora," he said, and after a long moment, Sora nodded.

"No! Goofy, you traitor!" I howled.

"Sorry, Kairi!" Goofy said as Donald and Sora chuckled.

Riku pulled me inside the doorway, then turned and slammed it shut in my face. I watched as he picked up a piece of twisted metal that had fallen from the explosion on the tower and rammed it through the door handles.

I yanked on them, even though I knew my efforts would be futile. "Riku!" I shouted, "Riku!"

But he ignored me. I watched as Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Riku gazed skyward, and then latched onto the rough stone walls of the castle and began climbing upward.

I was furious. Why did Riku have to do this? He was so protective that he was smothering me. He just didn't understand that this was my fight just as much as it was his. Or maybe even more so.

"I'm not a sissy little princess," I hissed through my teeth, to no one in particular.

And then an idea struck me. Though the stairs had probably been blown away, there were probably alternate routes to the tower. And I was sure that I knew where one was—one that I was almost positive that no one else had ever found. It was on the other side of the castle.

I'd been there before. I could vaguely remember a crystal switch and a rickety platform dangling from a cable…

I ran down the hallway and up another flight of stairs. When I reached the heavy library doors, I pushed them open with confidence. Inside was the same dusty, vacant place that I had encountered the last time I'd been here to stare at Setzer's portrait.

I ran up the stairs, and there, right in front of me, was the bookshelf standing next to the passageway. I slipped inside, and, ignoring the paintings that lined the walls, hurried into the dark.

The passageway seemed longer than I remembered it, but maybe it was because I was in a hurry and didn't have a flashlight. I felt spider webs brushing against my arms, and occasionally one of the little creatures made contact with my skin, but I didn't have time to worry about them today. I brushed them off of me and continued on until I could see a dim light at the end of the tunnel.

And sure enough, the balcony, the platform, and the switch all looked exactly the same as I remembered them. They hadn't been touched during the remodeling of the castle, so they were still perfectly intact.

I hesitated before the crystal switch. I wasn't really positive that it would even take me where I wanted to go.

Then again, if I never tried it, I'd never know…

I touched the crystal. For a moment it glowed, and then the platform glided to the edge of the balcony. I could see the mists of Radiant Garden swirling far below, and for a moment, my head spun with fear. But then I thought of Sora and Riku, and pulled myself together.

The platform carried me horizontally for a while, gliding over spires and past windows. Then, it hit a sharp incline, and in a few short moments it was thrusting me into the clouds.

I'd never realized how tall the castle really was. The platform carried me up and up and up, until at last it reached its destination.

I climbed off of it and onto a small balcony. A door stood there, gaping open as though it had been standing that way for years. I wondered what awaited me inside it.

It was dark and musty, of course—like any other uninhabited part of the castle. A flight of narrow stairs twisted upward in a distinct tower-style fashion.

"This is it," I said under my breath. Take that, Riku.

I hustled up the stairs, and was again surprised at how very tall this tower must be. The stairs just kept coming and coming. There seemed to be no end to them.

After a while, I found myself trudging rather than hustling up the stairs and clutching at a stitch in my side. "I bet you wish you'd done those exercise videos with Yuffie, now," I reprimanded myself through winded breaths.

At last, I could hear wind whistling through cracks in the eaves of the tower. I arrived at a trap door, wrenched it open, and felt a shower of dust and bugs crash down on my head. Coughing and swatting at my hair, I pulled myself through the trap door and onto solid stone. The top of the tower was flat, thankfully, so I wouldn't have to worry about rolling off. My keyblade materialized in my hand, and I leapt to my feet, expecting the blow of a heavy claw or a high pitched cry in my ear.

But the roar sounded a lot quieter than I'd though it would. It echoed as though it were some great distance away. I whirled around and gasped at what I saw.

The Heartless was on the top of the south tower, alright. And I was on the top of the north one! I was so surprised and angry that I actually dropped my keyblade and ran to the opposite side of the tower for a better view.

I could see Sora and Riku taking jabs and slashes at the great beast. I could see it rear and snap at them with its great jaws. It would flap its mighty wings, and the sudden gust of wind would just about blow them off the tower.

Not that I had a great view of it or anything, though.

"Great," came my sarcastic snarl. "Just perfect."

"I'd say so, yes," came a quiet response.

I whirled around, and there was Chancellor Tsukada's Heartless, smiling and spinning my keyblade around on his finger.