Author's Note:I feel that right about here is supposed to be where I say a whole ton of confusing stuff about where this fits in... Well, in my universe it happens after what just happened (obviously, because how can certain characters be two places at once? (not going to tell you who, I'll let you read.)) As for rar's universe, this happens... before the last chapter she posted. Ideally, I would have had this up sooner... but that didn't happen, and she couldn't delay because she had to post a chapter for author's note purposes...
And this is where I tell you that this crossover is three chapters long, but it's going to take me forever to get it all posted because I'm doing fifty thousand things at once. Expect updates... semi-somewhat-regularly.
They left Hollow Bastion fairly early in the morning. Despite that, it was probably mid-afternoon by the time they reached the next World – Olympus Coliseum, Tifa called it. Tifa also said that the time difference probably wasn't anything that they need to worry about. The Worlds tended to run at different times from each other, apparently.
"So why are we here?" Kairi asked, glancing over at Tifa.
"Habit," Tifa replied. Her eyes were squinting, searching the area, almost as if something was wrong. "I always check here first. It's usually Cloud's first stop after leaving Hollow Bastion, for some reason. Usually, of course. He probably still isn't here…"
"Okay," Kairi said, not thinking it worth it to press the matter any farther. She glanced around the area, too, not quite sure what she was supposed to be looking for, and silently wished she had eaten something more substantial for breakfast. It had just been so early, and the thought of eating anything made her sick. She was lucky she had even eaten that muffin.
"Do you think Sora's here?" she asked, turning to look at Tifa again.
"He might be," Tifa said, not entirely sounding like she was worried about it. "No harm looking." She was still scanning the area, as if daring there to be something wrong. She let out an annoyed breath. "Something's not right," she declared.
"Really?" Kairi stared, confused. "How can you tell?"
Tifa made a face. "Something just feels off about the World." She turned to Kairi, brow furrowed. "Don't you feel it?"
Kairi shook her head. "I don't feel anything out of the ordinary," she said. She peered past Tifa, then, to get a closer look at something her eyes had caught seconds ago: two people. One of them looked strangely familiar. "I do see something out of the ordinary, though."
Tifa frowned, then turned around to see what Kairi was looking at. "Huh. I guess that would explain it."
Standing off in the distance, and looking about ready to head their direction, was a girl who could've been Kairi's twin, though there was an age difference. She was standing with a boy that Kairi didn't recognize, though he too looked slightly familiar. Slightly.
"So, what, this is that parallel universe you were talking about?" Kairi asked.
"Well, considering I'm looking at two of you, yes," Tifa replied. "Though I suppose this could easily be a different universe."
"Why don't we go ask?"
xx
"Roxas, I don't think I'm coordinated enough to throw my Keyblade and then catch it again," Kairi muttered, her Keyblade dragging on the ground.
"Come on, Kairi," Roxas said, rather patiently. "You know you're jealous when Sora and Riku have done it."
Kairi frowned. "Yeah…"
"So, basically all you do, is you toss your Keyblade at the Heartless, you let it hit them, and then, if it's not gonna come back to you, you summon it back. You'll get to the point where it will actually come back to you."
Kairi frowned again, but it was a thoughtful frown this time.
"Maybe I could try that," she said.
Another batch of Heartless showed up.
"Ready?" Roxas asked.
Kairi tossed her Keyblade.
"Ready!"
Roxas grinned. "It's all about being one with your Keyblade."
Kairi laughed. "I was one with a Keyhole once."
Roxas blinked. "I think I remember Xion telling me about that one."
Kairi summoned her Keyblade back to her. "It was fun. Except the passing out part. That wasn't fun."
"Passing out is never fun. I fell off a building once doing that."
"I think I remember that happening. Our hearts connected then."
Roxas' eyes lit up. "Oh yeah!"
With that, he set off to take care of his share of the Heartless too.
xx
Kairi gasped. "Heartless!" she shrieked.
Tifa took a fighting stance. "This is normal for Olympus Coliseum."
Kairi looked up at her with a mixture of bewilderment and shock.
"Get used to the danger, Kairi," Tifa said. "This is mild, even."
However, from the looks of things, the Heartless were more focused on the other Kairi (well, they had to assume that she was the other Kairi, since they hadn't confirmed it yet) and the boy she was with.
"They have Keyblades," Tifa mused. "That's why the Heartless are focusing on them."
"Why is that?"
"Heartless simply have a tendency for attacking those with the Keyblade. There are a few different reasons for it; like the Keyblades being a threat to the Heartless, those who wield Keyblades having strong hearts that the Heartless want to capture, among other things. I mean, Heartless will attack anyone, really. But they're the prime targets at the moment."
"I feel like we should go help them… but I don't know how to fight."
"That's going to go on the list of things I teach you while we're out. World's know we'll have the time while we're out looking for them…"
Kairi frowned.
"I never said finding Sora was going to be a quick thing. Finding Cloud never is."
Just then, the boy looked right at Kairi. He froze in the middle of the Heartless he was battling. The Heartless (Kairi had no idea what kind it was—it was medium-sized, black and ugly) attacked his head. He merely swiped it off and sliced through it with his Keyblade—hardly even looking at it.
xx
"Uh, Kairi, we're in our universe, right?" Roxas asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Kairi said, not looking at Roxas as she answered. It was pretty typical for any group of them to talk to each other while fighting. She hacked through a Gigas Shadow in several strokes. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, you've got a twin. I mean, she looks just like you. Except… younger, maybe…"
Kairi turned, the other Kairi's eyes drifted over to her and they locked eyes, neither dropping the gaze.
"Pearl!" Roxas shouted.
Most of the Heartless were blasted back.
"Kairi, Heartless first, questions later!"
"Right," Kairi said. She extended out her hand. "Diamond Dust. Let's destroy these things."
Roxas gripped her hand and in a burst of light, each of them were covered in an icy-blue aura.
xx
"What is that?" Kairi asked.
"A combo of sorts," Tifa replied, her hands twitching.
"You want to go fight, don't you?" Kairi asked.
Tifa didn't respond. Kairi took that lack of response to mean yes. Tifa's personality just screamed that she was a fighter. By choice or by fate, she was a fighter. But it wasn't their business to fight the Heartless at this particular moment.
Especially since the Heartless were now all gone. The red-haired girl and the blond boy took off running towards them, Keyblades banished.
"Let's get out of the arena before more Heartless show up!" the boy said.
Tifa seemed to already know where she was going as she grabbed Kairi's hand and yanked her away. The four of them ran for the arena's entrance, amidst both jeers and cheers.
"Hey! Kids! I got two words for yeh!" Someone shouted after them, his voice rising above all the others.
"You can't leave like that!"
"That's five words," Kairi said, counting them.
"Yeah," the boy said. "He thinks everything is 'two words'; it never is."
"Huh," Kairi mused.
By now, they were in a lobby of sorts. Kairi looked around to get her bearings, but nothing looked familiar at all. She had definitely never been here before. Especially if they were in a different universe. But she assumed that this place (or something like it) existed in her home universe, otherwise Tifa wouldn't have tried to come here.
How ironic. Her first voluntary off-world travel and she winds up in a different universe entirely. Nowhere near Sora.
It was rather frustrating.
"I'm Kairi," the girl said, extending out a hand for her to shake. "I'm going to assume that you're Kairi as well."
Kairi nodded.
"I thought as much," Roxas said. "Now, the question is, who's in whose universe?"
"You never introduced yourself," the other Kairi pointed out.
"Oh!" he said sheepishly. "I'm Roxas." He gave a little wave.
"I'm Tifa," Tifa offered.
"Kairi," Kairi said. "But you already knew that."
"Back to who's in whose universe," Roxas said.
"Shouldn't we figure out if it's the two universes that are always intersecting, first?" Kairi asked.
"Yes, that seems like a very logical idea," the other Kairi (older Kairi, Kairi decided) agreed.
"Your friend, Riku," Roxas said. "He's a Replica, right?"
Kairi nodded.
"So is Namine?"
Kairi nodded again.
The older Kairi, frowned, thinking. Kairi found this weird, it was like looking at herself in a backwards mirror. She made that same face when she was thinking.
"There's a Rebellion going on in Castle Oblivion, with the Replicas," she said,
Kairi nodded.
Tifa frowned now. "I'm not sure if I'm convinced…"
"Joseph," Roxas said. "Little kid, loves ice cream, little bit of a troublemaker…"
"Yeah," Kairi said. She looked up at Tifa. "How many Joseph's can there be?"
Tifa shrugged. "Probably not many."
"I'm going to say that we're from the connected universes purely because we both know that other universes exist," the older Kairi said.
"I know what will determine it," Kairi said. "You mentioned Joseph, right?"
Roxas and the older Kairi nodded.
"He asked you a question once. He asked you that if Sora did something really bad, if you'd forgive him. And you said yes."
The older Kairi thought about this for a second, and then nodded. "I don't think that's exactly what he said, but it's pretty close. Why do you bring that up?"
Kairi looked down at her shoes. "Because he brought it up with me last night."
Tifa's face instantly became tense.
The older Kairi's eyes flew wide.
"Shad!" she spat.
"You were there!" Tifa exclaimed. "One of those times that he was."
The older Kairi nodded. "Namine did most of her dealings with him, but yes, I was there."
"I should have recognized you sooner," Tifa said.
The older Kairi shrugged. "No matter. I'm sure you've seen loads of things on your travels."
"Never a different universe."
"Well, you're in one now. Because, I can tell you right now that I'm in my Olympus Coliseum."
"How do you know that?" Roxas asked.
"I just do."
"Everything feels different to me," Kairi said.
"Understandably so," the older Kairi said. "How often do you leave the Islands?"
Kairi grimaced.
"Thought so. I remember those days."
"What do you mean?"
"Being left behind. Everyone's off adventuring without you. Until finally you go as well."
Finally, someone who understood!
"So you're sure that we're in our universe?" Roxas asked.
"Yes, I can tell," the older Kairi replied. She turned to Kairi. "Doesn't something about this world feel off to you?"
"Well, yes, now that you mention it. But I just thought that it was because I hadn't had enough breakfast. Either that, or it just feels different from like, the three other worlds I've been to besides the Islands." She shrugged. "Why does it matter so much to him about what universe we're in?"
"I think he's jealous," the older Kairi replied. "That he's never been in a different universe."
"Am not!" Roxas protested.
"Are so," the older Kairi replied, as a matter-of-fact.
Roxas pouted. The pout was similar to the one Sora would make when he was losing an argument. But why would this boy be making a face similar to Sora? He wasn't Sora… he wasn't even this universe's version of Sora. Kairi would know. She shook her head to clear it.
xx
"I suppose the next question is," Tifa said, breaking into the conversation. "Why are we here?"
"That is a good question!" Kairi said. "I'm going to guess that you tried to go to your own Olympus Coliseum."
Tifa nodded. "We're searching for Sora, and Cloud too. I always check Olympus Coliseum first, by default."
Kairi figured that this Tifa's Cloud went wandering a lot. She'd never actually met him. But she could assume. Especially since there was a default location to go and look.
The other Kairi—the younger Kairi—kept fidgeting. She was impatient. Tifa had said they were looking for Sora, too. That would probably explain it. From what she could piece together, it had been a while since this Kairi had seen her Sora. Kairi could only imagine what she would feel like.
Not that this younger Kairi was exactly like her. But, she figured that when it came to Sora, things were probably rather similar. Maybe.
"I'm hungry," Roxas mused.
"You're always hungry!" Kairi replied, trying to keep from sounding exasperated at him.
"Maybe let's go into town and grab a bite to eat," Roxas suggested. "She did say she hadn't had enough for breakfast." He pointed at the younger Kairi as he said this.
She merely shrugged.
"Food probably wouldn't hurt," Tifa said. "We can easily talk over food. And then maybe we can figure out if there's a reason for us being here."
"Is there always a reason?" the younger Kairi asked.
Tifa shrugged. "I'd like to think there is."
The younger Kairi sighed. "I think it's just my luck. We're trying to find Sora, and what do I do? I end up in a different universe."
"What is it with Sora and getting lost?" Roxas mused, starting to walk in the direction of the town.
The younger Kairi grimaced, alerting the older Kairi that Sora was definitely a rough subject to talk about.
But then… what was there to talk about?
"Looks the same," Tifa said, looking about as she changed the subject. "But you're right, it does feel different."
"How can all of you tell this?" Roxas asked.
"When you go to a different universe, you'll know," Kairi replied. "Granted, I have a pretty strong connection with all worlds…"
"It's cause you're a Princess, isn't it?" the younger Kairi asked.
Kairi nodded. "You are too, right?"
She nodded. "Though, it doesn't get me much. I get more as the Mayor's Daughter than I do being a Princess."
Kairi laughed. "Boy do I know that feeling."
"This is weird…" Roxas said.
"Two Namine's would be weirder," Kairi pointed out.
Roxas blinked and scratched his head, trying to imagine that.
"Oh goodness," the younger Kairi exclaimed. "They probably wouldn't even talk! They'd just… draw things…"
"They'd be telepathic," Roxas said. "No doubt about it."
"Two Rikus!" the younger Kairi mused, actually getting enjoyment out of this conversation.
"Actually, our Riku and your Riku would probably try and kill each other," Kairi said.
"Excuse me, what?" the younger Kairi said, her face blank.
"Well, your Riku is a Replica of our Riku," Roxas said. "They fought to the death once, and then Riku was taken to your universe as like… a second chance."
"That makes so much sense!" the younger Kairi said, her eyes going wide. "With him just arriving on the beach that one day… Oh my gosh… that is so weird!" She paused, then, and her face fell. "Everything… started changing… after Riku showed up."