Chapter 24 – Fate
While Sora had escaped from Xehanort in his waking hours, it seemed that he couldn't escape him in his dreams. The man haunted him night after night until Meow Wow came to guard him. Always a taunting here, a flash of memory there, a world connected with great drawbridges, a mysterious study with a great white window and fluttering curtains.
He was tired, tired of fighting, tired of Xehanort messing with his mind and heart. He threw his Keyblade at him, only for it to bounce off and stick in the sand.
"Just leave me alone." He rolled onto his back and stared up at the stars, hoping Xehanort would take the hint.
He didn't. He even had the nerve to sit next to Sora and stare out at the sea. Sora had the urge to get up and move, but somehow he knew that wouldn't make a difference. Xehanort would just follow him wherever he went.
"This was once my home, too. You and I are not so different, Sora."
Sora propped himself up on his elbows. "Should I even bother answering that? When have you ever apologized to the people you've hurt for what you've done?"
Xehanort carefully scrutinized him. "You've made up with Kairi and Riku, haven't you?"
Sora said nothing. It was true, he'd made up with them, but there was still a long ways to go before the damage to his friendships was fully repaired. If it ever could be.
"See?" Xehanort said, a satisfied smirk on his face. "I knew they would forgive you."
"It would've been better if they'd had nothing to forgive in the first place," Sora said, his fists clenching. He had the urge to punch Xehanort in the face. He would have tried, too, if he knew it wouldn't be pointless.
"Ah, but then you would not have gotten to experience the full depths of their devotion. Now you know they would both die for you, much like you would die for them. And you finally have proof that Kairi will go to the same lengths to save you that you went to save her. Doesn't that warm your heart?"
Sora's skin crawled. He never wanted or needed such proof, written in bruises and tears and anguish and broken hearts. Just being with her was good enough.
"You're desperate to prove that we're different," Xehanort continued. "Why? Because you don't want to think you're capable of doing what I have done?"
Sora refused to reply. Yes, he'd been stupid to go off on his own and take Xehanort on alone. Yes, he'd hurt Riku and Kairi. Yes, his friends had risked their lives to save him. But that hardly put him on the same level as Xehanort. He was starting to believe that about himself again.
So of course Xehanort had to come along and try to destroy even that. Would the lies and manipulation never end?
"This may surprise you to hear," Xehanort said, breaking through his thoughts, "but I had a friend once."
Sora had to laugh. "You had a friend? Who was dumb enough to trust you?"
"Aqua, Terra, and Ventus's master. Eraqus."
"Their master? Seriously?" Sora sat up and gave Xehanort his full attention. "You were friends with him? But… he's not around anymore." His eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't have had something to do with that, would you?"
It was one thing to hurt people you didn't know or care about, but another to betray your own friends. Just when Sora thought Xehanort couldn't get any lower.
Xehanort shook his head. "No, it was Terra's doing. He attacked his master in a fit of rage, leaving Aqua and Ven without a master or father. Tell me, Sora, was saving someone like him worth the price you paid?"
Sora was silent. The Terra Xehanort described was very different from the one Aqua and Ven remembered.
He tried to protect me, too. Not only that, but he apologized to me and even thanked me for saving him.
"Somehow I get the feeling there's more to the story than what you're telling me," Sora said at last. There always was, with Xehanort. The man rarely outright lied, but he did tell a lot of half-truths. And that kind of lie was harder to spot, because it had enough of the truth mixed in with it.
Thankfully, Sora had gotten a lot better at noticing Xehanort's. It was hard not to, when he'd been the target of them.
"You think I'm obsessed with the darkness," Xehanort said, "but Eraqus was just as fixated on the light."
"I'm guessing he had a good reason for that."
"Would you like to see?"
Sora hesitated. Xehanort was inviting him into his memories? Was the world connected by drawbridges that Sora had seen so often in his dreams lately from Xehanort's past? Or would he be treated to more misery and anguish like what he'd seen in that awful lab on Radiant Garden?
"Why? Why are you doing this?" he asked. Xehanort didn't do a single thing unless it would somehow further his plans.
How do I know this isn't just more manipulation? How do I know he won't just show me more terrible things?
"Because you might understand. The others wouldn't, but you might."
"Understand what?"
"Go into my memories and see."
Sora was curious, how someone could become as terrible as Xehanort. Surely he hadn't always been like this. But he knew better than to just walk into another trap.
"No. I don't care what excuse you think you might have. You have no reason to treat people the way you do."
"I want to find the light in the darkness. Surely you understand the sentiment. You're trying to do the exact same thing."
Sora shook his head. "No. I want to heal all the people you've hurt. What good are all your goals and ideals if you have to hurt people to reach them?"
Sora had no more patience for listening to Xehanort's ramblings about how the ends justified the means. They never did, if people's hearts were the price. There was something very wrong about putting a price on hearts in the first place.
Sora wished, for a terrible moment, that he could force all the pain of his friends onto Xehanort, and see how that made him feel about using people like they were bottles on a shelf. But it wouldn't be right, to use his friends' hurt like some kind of weapon. The first place Xehanort had gone wrong was failing to treat people like people, and Sora wouldn't make the same mistake.
"But surely you've heard the legend?" Xehanort said. "The light from children's hearts is what restored the worlds after the Great Keyblade War. Everything had been plunged into darkness, but their light shone through and wrought creation out of destruction."
"Yeah, I know. Kairi's grandma used to tell her that story."
Xehanort's eyes had a strange gleam in them. "Don't you want to know more, Sora? Don't you want to see what it was like? The moment balance was restored?"
Sora considered Xehanort's question. "I guess, the same way I'm curious about anything that's happened before. But I'm not so crazy as to try to make it happen all over again."
And that was the difference between regular people and someone like Xehanort. Curiosity was never a good thing if it was allowed to reach obsession.
"Haven't you heard the stories? Whoever controls Kingdom Hearts can remake the world however they want it to be. I can use that power to overthrow the tyranny of light and restore balance to the worlds."
Sora couldn't believe what he was hearing. Xehanort wanted power to fix a problem he'd created?
He fixed him with a cold glare. "The worlds are only unbalanced because of you. You're the one who brought darkness to the realm of light. And my friends and I are the ones who always have to undo the damage. Not just once, not just twice – three times. Three times, Xehanort, on top of all the hearts we've had to restore. People whose lives you tried to destroy."
And the cost of that was something Xehanort couldn't even begin to fathom or understand. Sora did, and it had left him in his current state, broken and hurting and bleeding not just for his friends, but for himself now, too.
But if one person could bring such destruction and ruin to the worlds, then surely that meant one person could restore and heal them, too. After his miserable failure to keep Kairi and Riku safe, Sora knew it shouldn't be him, but surely one of his friends could do it.
Xehanort didn't address Sora's accusations. Instead, he said, "The worlds were not always the way they were. They were once as one."
Sora narrowed his eyes. "I already knew that. And if they were combined together again, we'd start a new Keyblade War. That's just what you want, isn't it? Everyone fighting each other over land and water and food. And not just that, but over who gets to rule, who controls the light, who controls Kingdom Hearts. You might want that, but I won't ever let it happen. I have to protect the world order."
Xehanort shook his head, as if Sora was a kid who didn't understand what his teacher was saying. "But I can remake the world order so it will be as if none of that will have happened. It has been foretold. And do you know how I know this?"
Sora sighed. "You're not going to leave me alone until I give in, are you? Fine. Show me your memories. But after that, you had better leave me alone."
"As you wish." With that, the beach of the Play Island faded away and transformed into something else entirely.
Sora had been to many worlds, but the scenery around him was unfamiliar. It was night, and he was standing in a shallow pond, the murky water covering his shoes and reaching up to lap at his shins. The moonlight danced between the trees and illuminated the dozens of blossoms floating in the water. They were pretty, sticking out of the muck and resting on the water's surface beside their round green leaves.
"You know what lotuses mean, right?"
Sora whirled around. "Kairi, what are you doing here?"
She was the last person he was expecting to see here. How had she even found this place? What would she think if she knew he'd been talking to Xehanort?
"Our hearts are connected," she said, kneeling to pluck a flower out of the mud. "You came to me in my dream, so I figured I should be able to enter yours, too. Whatever Xehanort plans on showing you or doing to you, I won't let you go through it alone. Not again."
Well, that answered that question. She already knew. And her promise to stay with him, when before he'd felt so alone throughout his ordeal, warmed his heart.
She picked her way around the other lotuses and waded over to him. Standing on her tiptoes, she reached up to tuck the lotus behind his ear and smiled softly at her handiwork. It struck Sora, and not for the first time, that her eyes were especially beautiful at night.
"Xion was right," she said. "Lotuses do suit you."
"Because they grow in the mud?" The attempt at self-deprecation sounded even sadder than it had in his head.
Kairi rolled her eyes. "No, silly. They're a symbol of purity because of that. They're the flower that rises out of the mud surrounding them." She cleared her throat and put on her posh princess voice. It had been ages since Sora had last heard her use it. With a pang he realized how much he'd missed it.
"In the language of flowers, they can also mean rebirth, eloquence, sacredness, and… separation from the one you love."
Sora frowned. "Separation from the one I love? Why would I want a flower that means something awful like that?"
Kairi swirled the water with her shoe. "I don't know, but even when we're together now, it still feels like we're apart, doesn't it?"
How was it that Kairi could put so clearly into words the things he was feeling?
"It's my fault," Sora said, staring at the water lapping at his shoes. "I'm the one who pushed you away. I'm the one who hurt you."
Kairi shook her head, her face bowed low. "You're not the only one to blame for what happened. I… I could have fought back. I could have defended myself. But I egged Xehanort on instead, because I – I knew, if you had to hurt me, you might—" She looked up at him, and her lower lip was trembling. "I'm just as cruel as he is, using you to get the outcome I wanted! How can I even call myself your friend?"
Sora put his hands on her shoulders. "Kairi, stop. Don't blame yourself. It's my fault. If I'd been strong enough to stop him, this never would have happened."
"But don't you see?" She grabbed onto his arms. "There's only so much you can do, Sora! I can't watch you tear yourself apart any longer, even if it is to help our friends! You're only human. You need support as much as anyone. You shouldn't have to bear this all alone."
He gripped her shoulders so tightly his knuckles turned white. "Say that again." He hated how needy he sounded, but he had to hear her say it again.
She gave him a quizzical look. "You… need support?"
"No, not that part." He took a deep breath to try to steady his voice. "Tell me – tell me I'm human."
He still couldn't shake the horrible feeling that he wasn't. That he was some monster instead, or if not a monster some alien far removed from the people around him. An empty container for other people's hearts, soaking up their memories and feelings and experiences till he ceased to be Sora and became something else instead.
Maybe there never had been a Sora. Maybe Sora was only a combination of several different people smooshed into one. There wasn't anything unique to him. It was all just a collection of other people's memories and feelings. Even Ven used the exact same gestures he always did.
Take all those hearts out of him, and what was he left with? Take Xehanort's heart out, and what had he become?
Kairi gave him one of her knowing looks, and he knew she understood what he was really asking.
"Sora," she said, taking his hands in hers and running her thumbs across his knuckles, "it doesn't matter what Xehanort told you or made you do. Your power to connect hearts is special, but you're still you. You follow your heart in a way most of us can only dream of, and that makes you the most human of us all."
Geez, his eyes were stinging again. Leave it to Kairi to know exactly what to say. He'd just assumed his ability to connect to other people meant he was becoming something more than human, not more human. But maybe, maybe Kairi was right. Maybe this was what people were supposed to be, if their hearts didn't become so crowded by cynicism and weariness and hurt as they grew up that they could no longer reach out to the hearts around them.
"But that means you need friends as much as the rest of else. No, even more than the rest of us." Kairi paused, lifting her head so she could meet his gaze. "Let me in. Let me help."
Sora stared into her eyes. He wanted to. He wanted to restore the trust between them. Anything to make up for what he'd done. His arms went around her, and a brief light shone from their embrace, illuminating the area nearby and warming Sora's heart.
"I don't want to push you away anymore, Kairi. I never did."
"I know."
Together they walked out of the pond and onto dry ground. In the distance was a long drawbridge, and that drawbridge led to what looked like a great castle. Sora had no idea where Xehanort wanted him to go, but the castle seemed like a good bet.
"What is she doing here?"
Sora couldn't see Xehanort, but he heard his snide voice all the same. That was when it hit him. Xehanort was still bitter about how Kairi had outsmarted him, about how she'd taunted him, gained the upper hand, and broken his control over Sora. Sora took a great deal of satisfaction in that, and his grip on her hand tightened, her comforting presence giving him courage.
"She's coming with me. Either she comes, or I don't see whatever it is you want to show me."
Kairi summoned her Keyblade. "Don't even think of trying anything. I've saved him from you before, and I can do it again."
It was nice to have Kairi watching his back. Now more than ever he could see how stupid he'd been to shut her out. For a fleeting moment, he felt like they could handle anything so long as they were together.
But then he remembered his failure to keep her safe, both in the past and in the present, and the moment died along with whatever positive thoughts and feelings had come with it.
Kairi noticed. She lifted her Keyblade in the air and addressed Xehanort once more. "And if you think that you can use what you did to me as some sort of sick tool to make him suffer, then think again. Your plan backfired in a way you never could have imagined. I may not have been able to see Sora or even hear him, but thanks to you I know I wasn't alone now. He was with me the whole time, just like he promised."
She turned to Sora, and there was a soft, tender look in her eyes. He just stared at her, a lump building in his throat. Xehanort had convinced him that he could only watch her suffering, but what she was saying made it sound like he really had been there with her as it had happened.
Was it possible that, in some mysterious way, he had? Not at the same time, of course, but he knew what he'd seen and felt had been real. Even if it was just a memory, he had shared it with her. Their hearts were connected, and maybe that connection went beyond time itself.
If nothing else, maybe knowing he understood what she'd been through brought some comfort to her now. And maybe it wasn't such a stretch to think that that comfort could move backwards in time as much as it could forwards.
And if so, then maybe his suffering wasn't as pointless as he'd thought. If it brought Kairi even a little bit of comfort, then that meant something good had come out of it when before he'd thought no such thing was even possible. Xehanort certainly hadn't meant for it to be. But that didn't mean Sora couldn't make it so.
Xehanort finally spoke again. "If you insist. Go inside the study of the castle, and you will find the answers you seek there."
"Any luck?" Kairi asked, poking her head around the corner. They were in the study of the castle, just like Xehanort had instructed.
Well, if this grand room could even be called that. There was an enormous window that stretched from floor to ceiling covered by fluttering gauze curtains. The same window that he'd been seeing in his dreams for the past several days. Shelf after shelf of books lined the walls, and there was even a staircase leading up to a second floor for easier access to all the books there.
Sora knew it was a dream, but it still felt like they'd spent hours here, looking in vain for whatever it was Xehanort wanted them to see.
He shook his head and sighed. "I got nothing. Somehow I feel like A History of Drawbridge Construction isn't going to help."
She giggled, and he caught himself smiling back. Being around Kairi, it was difficult to stay down in the dumps.
"Maybe it's not the books," she suggested. "Maybe there's something else here we're supposed to see."
"You could have just told us, you know," Sora muttered, knowing Xehanort could hear him.
"But what would be the fun in that?" came Xehanort's voice. "It would ruin the whole game."
Sora bristled. "If this is some kind of game to you, then—"
"Sora, wait," Kairi said, holding her hand up in the air. "I think he's giving us a clue."
"Oh. A game, huh? What kind of game would be in a study? Maybe something like—"
"Chess." Kairi held one of the curtains back, revealing an enormous windowsill. On it was a chessboard, but unlike any Sora had ever seen in his life. The squares were laid out diagonally, and some of them were even raised above the other ones. On one side was a series of silver and white pieces, and on the other black and gold ones.
Kairi picked up one of the white pieces to show him. "Sora, look. It's the king." Sora took it from her and stared. He couldn't believe his eyes. His crown symbol, the same as the one that was on the necklace he always wore, was attached to the top of the piece.
"How? How is that even possible?"
"There's more." Kairi pointed to another piece on the board, what looked to be the queen. "This one, with the star shape on top – it's like the paopu fruit on my Keyblade."
She was right. And it wasn't the only one. One of the chess pieces had a symbol in the shape of Mickey's head, and another Riku's heart emblem. The keychains for Terra, Aqua, and Ven's Keyblades were all there, too.
Seven. There were seven distinct symbols, even if a few pieces repeated themselves.
"Sora, this is crazy. Someone – someone must have known about the Guardians of Light and made all these pieces to reflect that."
"Not just that. They knew who we would be. How else would the symbols be so perfect?" Sora paused. He'd had another thought. "What about the black and gold pieces? Do they match the white and silver ones?"
Kairi shook her head. "Look, the king for them is—"
"Xehanort." Sora would recognize his ram emblem anywhere. It was on the Keyblade he'd forced Sora to wield, after all. "Kairi, how many distinct pieces are there?"
She examined them, lips moving as she counted them up in her head. Then she met his gaze. "Thirteen, Sora. There are thirteen."
"Do you see, now?" Xehanort's voice boomed. "The future has already been written. 'On that land, darkness shall prevail and light expire.' You cannot stop the prophecy from coming to pass. Eraqus, in his arrogance, tried. That is what caused his downfall, and that is what will cause your downfall."
"It doesn't matter," Sora said, clenching his fists. "If you really think that showing us some old chessboard is going to keep us from stopping you—"
"Oh, I know it won't keep you from fighting me. I just want you to be aware of the futility of resisting me. The worlds have been unnaturally separated for too long. They must be joined together again if balance is to be restored, and I fully intend to be the one to do it. You can't stop destiny from being fulfilled."
Kairi slammed her hands down onto the board, sending chess pieces flying. "Don't underestimate the light! It's more powerful than you think!" Her eyes flashed, and Xehanort's laughter pealed throughout the study.
"You know, that's exactly the kind of thing Eraqus used to say to me. You're more like him than you know. Just don't let your fixation on the light lead to your downfall, too. Light can be used for evil just as much as darkness can. If you don't believe me, just ask Terra and Aqua."
The scenery around them began to fade to darkness.
"Kairi!" Sora called. He reached for her hand and held it tight.
"Sora, when we wake up, come find me. This could be the key to it everything. I'll write down whatever I can remember. Hurry!"
Sora woke up with his heart pounding. Light streamed through the window of his room. He tossed the covers aside and threw on a t-shirt. He had to check if what he'd seen was real. He had to know if Kairi had seen it too.
"Sora, honey?" his mom called up. "Do you want breakfast?"
"Sorry, Mom, there's something I have to talk to Kairi about!" he called down. "I'll be home for dinner, anything you want me to pick up while I'm out?"
"Hmmm, we're about out of milk and eggs. And we could really use some more paper towels."
He ran down the stairs, taking them in twos. "Got it. I'm heading out now!" He planted a quick kiss on her cheek as he raced past her, then grabbed his shoes and slammed the door behind him.
Kairi, as the daughter of the mayor, lived in a big, fancy house up on the highest hill of the island. In his lazy bum days, racing up that hill would have made him balk, but now he didn't care. Kairi's last words to him had been to come find her, so find her he would.
Panting for breath, he rang the elegant-looking doorbell with black and white trim. Her father's secretary opened it, proper and regal and composed in her sharp-looking suit. She took one look at his disheveled appearance and raised an eyebrow. Sora plowed on as if nothing was amiss. He couldn't afford to waste any time.
"Morning, ma'am. Is Kairi—er, I mean, Miss Kairi, home?" He and Kairi had been friends since childhood, but her father was still the mayor, and in his home, a certain level of decorum was required. Well, around other people, anyway. As soon as he and Kairi were alone, she insisted he drop the miss.
"Sora!" Kairi's window popped open above him, and Sora was so glad to see her he was about to start climbing the wall of the house to reach her.
The secretary, of course, stopped him. "Sora, whatever may be happening, it does not require scaling the wall of the mayor's home like some sort of monkey. The stairs will do just fine."
Sora rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, ma'am." She opened the door wider, and he stumbled up the grand velvet staircase to Kairi's room. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been inside, but it was completely different from his memories.
A dark purple comforter covered the bed, and an elegant wooden desk was wedged in the corner. On the desk was a bulletin board filled with pictures, many of which he was in. With a pang, he realized all of them were from before their adventures had started. All except two, in the short time they'd had together before he and Riku had left to take their Mark of Mastery.
The first was of the three of them on the Play Island. Sora remembered the moment they'd taken it. His smile was so wide his eyes were almost closed, and he had his arms around Kairi and Riku. But the second one he had never seen. Kairi must have taken it when he hadn't been paying attention. Eyes filled with light and happiness, smile as big as the sun. It was probably one of the best pictures he'd ever seen of himself.
Is that how I always smile when I'm looking at her?
I… I wish I could smile at her like that again. Free from guilt and shame. Free to express how he truly felt.
"Sora," came Donald's familiar quack, "are you going to keep gawking at Kairi's pictures, or are you going to help us figure this out?"
Sora felt the heat rising in his cheeks as he turned to face his friends. "Donald? You're here? And Riku and Goofy too?"
Sure enough, they were all sitting on the floor next to Kairi. Goofy waved and returned his attention to the purple spiral notebook resting on the floor between them. Sora could make out Kairi's neat handwriting on its pages.
"Of course," Riku said. "Kairi called me and told me what you guys saw, and Donald and Goofy have been guarding her, so they were already here." He raised an eyebrow. "You ran over here as soon as you woke up, didn't you?"
Kairi giggled at this, and Sora felt oddly self-conscious about his appearance. Since when did it matter if he had bed hair or wrinkled clothes? His friends had all seen him like this before.
But it did matter, because Kairi was here.
Ignoring the conflicting mixture of feelings swirling within him at the moment, Sora turned to Kairi and said, "I didn't just imagine it. You really were there with me. In the dream I mean." He caught himself before he sat down next to her. She'd forgiven him, but things still weren't completely back to normal. He didn't have the right to just act like everything was fine.
"Of course," she said, scooting over to make room for him and patting the spot next to her. "I told you I'd protect you, remember?"
He swallowed. "Y-yeah."
They spent the next several hours recreating everything as well as they could from memory. The chess game, the layout of the study – every detail that might be relevant, they jotted down.
"Do you think Xehanort was telling the truth?" Sora said, staring at the chess diagram Kairi had sketched. "Are we all just doomed no matter what?"
Goofy scratched his head. "Well gawrsh, all this chess board tells us is who the Guardians of Light and the Seekers of Darkness are, and we already knew that anyway. We knew we'd have to fight Xehanort, too. If anyone made this come true, he did."
"But he didn't remember what would happen in the future, when he went back to his own time," Donald pointed out.
"No, but it was his actions in the present that set him on his current path. I can see why he thinks his future was determined for him," Riku said.
"Was it though?" Kairi asked. "If he didn't remember, then did he freely choose what he became, or not?"
Sora looked to Riku, who simply shrugged. "Maybe his younger self isn't to blame, but his current self is. I think we can all agree on that."
"What about the rest of the prophecy?" Kairi said. "He said darkness would prevail and light would expire. That… doesn't sound good."
"Actually…" Riku began to say, but Goofy interrupted him.
"But that could mean anything, Kairi," he said. "It doesn't mean we'll lose. It may not even be the whole prophecy. It could be talkin' about a single world, or a single person. We have no idea, and I think the reason he showed Sora all of this was to try to push him even further into despair."
"I'm not despairing," Sora said, his voice soft. "Guys, I know you're worried about me, but I haven't given up hope." He paused, then decided to just be honest. "I'm having a hard time forgiving myself for what happened, but that has nothing to do with you and everything to do with me."
"Which is why we're here to remind you that you should forgive yourself." Riku stood and offered his hand. "Don't forget what I said before. I fully intend to show you how to control your darkness so it doesn't control you."
Sora nodded and grabbed his hand, allowing himself to be pulled up off the ground.
"Kairi, Donald, Goofy, find Aqua and Terra and Ven and tell them what happened, would you?" Sora asked as Riku hauled him to the door. "I'm gonna go practice with Riku."
"About that," Riku said, pausing and letting go of his hand. "I haven't had the chance to tell you guys yet, and maybe now isn't the best time, but... Eraqus is alive. He's been inside Terra's heart, all this time."
Donald and Goofy sprung to their feet. "He what?!" They cycled through surprise, then confusion, then realization together.
Sora couldn't believe what he was hearing. Xehanort had made it sound like Eraqus was dead, like Terra had killed him. But maybe that's not what had happened at all.
Of course. I should have known better than to believe Xehanort.
Kairi's face brightened, and she scrambled to her feet. "Then that means… You didn't just save Terra, Sora, you saved Eraqus, too!"
"I… I did?" It had never occurred to him that by saving Terra he might have saved Eraqus as well.
She took his hands in hers. "Sora, don't you see? Your sacrifice wasn't in vain. It's already brought more good than you or Xehanort ever could have imagined."
She was looking at him again in that same way as before, and that paired with her words brought a calming warmth that radiated up his body from their connected hands.
"She's right. Eraqus has a plan," Riku said. "A plan that not even Xehanort knows about."
This was the best news he'd heard all week.
"What is it?" Goofy asked.
Riku opened his mouth, but Sora stopped him.
"Riku, wait." He looked to Kairi, and she nodded. "Whatever Eraqus has planned, I can't know about it, because then Xehanort might find out. He might use his connection to me to access my memories again."
Riku frowned. "Oh, I guess you're right." His fists clenched, and a shadow passed over his face. "It's never enough for him, is it? First he has to—"
"It's fine. I can use it to our advantage, really. I mean, I've already gotten information out of him." Sora attempted a smile, but if he was being completely honest, he'd rather not have this connection at all.
"You tell him to stay out of your head," Donald said, wagging his finger in Sora's face. "He has no place there."
Sora rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't think he's going to leave anytime soon." His eyes flickered to Kairi. "It's fine, really. So long as Kairi's with me, I know I can face him."
Kairi gave him that look again, and he found himself smiling back. Not the radiant smile from the picture, but something softer and gentler.
Afterwards, as he rowed his boat to the Play Island to wait as Riku told everyone else Eraqus's plan, he couldn't help but wonder. Would light expire and darkness prevail no matter what they did? What did that even mean? The pieces hadn't accounted for Roxas or Xion or Naminé, either. What role would they play? Was it possible that they could upset Xehanort's carefully laid plans?
And then his thoughts wandered to his role. I was the white king. The direct rival to Xehanort's. If light expires, then does that mean… does that mean I'm going to die?
Death was his constant companion, ever since the night Destiny Islands had fallen. It had followed him around and whispered into his ear, reminding him of the precariousness of his situation, the uncertainty of his life. And yet, he wasn't afraid. After his sacrifice for Kairi, after he'd stared death in the face, it had even become something of a friend.
But the decisions he made affected more people than just him.
If I die, Kairi will never get over it. Riku won't, either. None of my friends will ever be the same again. A piece of their hearts will be missing without me in their lives. And if I lose any of them, there'll be holes in my heart, too.
Never again would he throw himself away without any regards to the people around him. His friends deserved better. Reckless sacrifice was not the answer. It never had been. He'd learned the wrong lesson from saving Kairi. That had been an act of love, but saving Terra had come more from a misguided sense of duty, a desire to help Aqua and Ven and a stupid refusal to find any other solution. And it had hurt the people he loved most.
He wouldn't throw his life away, because his life was not his to throw away. It was a gift to be shared with his friends, just as they shared their lives with him. And yet, Sora knew he might not have a choice. It was possible they were all going to die. What else could "light will expire" even mean?
But maybe that wasn't the right way of looking at it. Even if light did expire, even if they were locked into their fates, even if it meant they would die, Xehanort had to be stopped. The worlds were depending on them. Xehanort was making the prophecy come true, but what happened beyond it was in their hands.
Maybe… maybe the future wasn't so set in stone after all.
Kairi watched Sora leave. He still wasn't fully himself. But ever since their conversation in the Secret Place, he did seem to be doing better. She could only hope he would continue to heal as time went on.
She sighed. If only she knew where Lea was, too, and how he was doing.
"So, tell us this plan," she finally said, turning to Riku.
Riku nodded. "Right. Kairi, Eraqus is like Xehanort. He's lost his body before, so in theory, he can travel through time."
Riku paused and let that sink in. Kairi had been so focused on the present and future that she hadn't stopped to think that the key to all of this might in fact lie in the past. Thinking about the previous explanation for Xehanort's convoluted reasoning for how he'd traveled through time still made her head hurt. No wonder she hadn't given it much thought. That and all the other, more pressing matters she'd had on her hands had kept her mind busy.
"But Riku," she finally said, "if that's the only requirement, then Sora and I can do that, too. We both lost our bodies, remember?"
She hadn't even considered that she might be able to time travel, too, but she supposed she did fulfill the criteria, as did Sora.
Goofy nodded. "Yeah. And I guess you did too, Riku, when Ansem took over your body, I mean, I'm not sure if that really counts, but, uh…" He trailed off, not even sure what he was trying to say anymore.
"C'mon, guys, think," Riku said, his voice quivering with excitement. "If Xehanort's right, you can only travel through time if you've lost your body. And only then to times where a version of you already exists. Eraqus is older than any of us. He can go further back than Sora or Kairi ever could."
"Back to when he and Xehanort were still friends," Donald said, catching on to what Riku was saying. "Back before any of this ever happened."
Riku nodded. "The only thing is, we know that whatever Eraqus does in the past has already happened. It's the only past that ever existed. We can't change it, and we can't change the present, either."
"But what about the future?" Kairi asked. "What if Eraqus has to go back in time? What if the future depends on him going back?"
"Exactly. Now you're thinking," Riku said. "The key to Xehanort's defeat is already in place because Eraqus is about to put it there years in the past. After we get him into a data body, anyway."
"What is it, then? What's the key?" Donald and Goofy asked, leaning in close. Riku paused, a smile slowly working its way across his face.
"Xehanort's whole plan revolves around the prophecy. Eraqus is going to steal the most important part of it before Xehanort will ever get the chance to hear it."
A/N: With the chess pieces, I don't think it was confirmed what kind Sora's is supposed to be, but his piece is definitely facing off against Xehanort's in one of the trailers, so I decided to make his piece one of the kings and Xehanort's the other one.
I also realized I never replied to several of my guest reviewers, so to Guest(s) on April 12th and 15th and to SV, thank you for the reviews! And a big thank you to highhello for the lovely review, it really made my day! I do agree that Sora would be dealing with some serious trauma after what he's been through, and one of the things I really wanted to explore in this story was how he would recover and heal from that. I'm glad you've enjoyed the story so far and I hope you like the rest!
And of course a big thank you to my regular reviewers. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!