The Sapphire Sorceress

Disclaimer: The rights to Kingdom Hearts belong to Disney and Square Enix.

Act 66: Space Paranoids

"Don't you worry, Aqua. I believe in Ven, too. Gosh, he's been as good a friend to me as anybody. And if both you and I believe in him with all our hearts...then he'll have two lights to follow instead of one."

Hollow Bastion: Marketplace ( Kairi's POV )

Despite the lack of a dark sky each of the kids went him for some rest while myself, Goofy, and Donald watched over Sora. Nothing much changed since he went into this strange state of being asleep despite his eyes remaining open. For a while, I assumed that Sora wouldn't wake up from his sleep, but then someone came to provide us with some help...and the person who helped save my friend was of all people: Axel.

"You! Here to finish what your keyblade user friend started with Sora!" He didn't look happy to see my friend in this state, and to my surprise, he was here to help wake him up instead of trying to hurt him some more.

"This is what she wanted to do with him. To think she's gone this far in order to wake up Xion and Roxas..." He didn't think she would push Sora this far, but I was more concerned about how Axel planned on "fixing" this mess considering what caused Sora to end up in that state. Never did I think I would have to thank Namine for coming to help reset Sora's mind from whatever condition it was in thanks to Aqua...no Auxaq. The real Aqua would never inflict this kind of pain on Sora no matter if he took away her friends or not.

"Sora can't continue to recall those lost memories from the beings inside of himself; the full extent of recalling those times in Castle Oblivion might shatter his mind or allow Roxas and Xion to regain control of his body."

"You mean he can't ever remember how he lost his memories? That isn't fair to him or his friends who also lost their memories!" Why couldn't regain those moments that lead to him nearly finding his friend and the king in that place. Unfortunately, he had to do this for his own sake, but Axel told me that I should avoid running into Auxaq along with my friends.

"Look, the problem extends not just to Aqua or Auxaq not understand why you guys are fighting against her. If you do cross her again perhaps you should ask her what her friends might think about what she's been doing, and by her friends I mean Terra and Ventus could break through to her unlike me and you guys. Got that memorized?" I couldn't forget about those names.

At the very least Sora was back to what I had to consider was normal for us and not a moment too soon. After bidding farewell to Pence, Hayner, and Olette from Twilight Town we had to return to Hollow Bastion due to Axel's last words about that place having an increase in heartless activity. Just as he said there were already heartless running around greeting all of us upon our arrival back in this place. First, we needed to find out what everyone has been up to. Next, we figure out why there is so many more heartless coming here. Finally, take care of said problem and if it involves Organization XIII we finally gain the upper ground against those guys.

After listening to a rather fancy-looking duck who gave some info we ran into someone Sora knew from Olympus Coliseum as Cloud, but he didn't seem concerned about the heartless if anything he seemed like he was in thought about something else entirely.

"I'll get him. This time we'll settle it. Me, and the one who embodies all the darkness in me."

"I thought you looked kinda different, Cloud."

"If I do, it's his fault."

"Whose?"

"Sephiroth. Tell me if you see him."

Yeah, whoever this guy was is someone Cloud wanted to find badly if he was telling us that he was supposed to represent his own darkness. While we had nothing to do with this guy Cloud was obsessed with warning us not to fight him suggesting he messes with our heads and hearts like nobodies.

"Is something wrong?" Aerith showed up seemingly knowing what is going on with Cloud, and I could tell that he didn't want her to get mixed up with whatever business he has with Sephiroth. I knew there was a very deep connection with them, but I wondered if they were just close friends or was it something much more personal between them.

"Wonder if he'll be okay."

"He'll be fine."

"I'm sure there is some light in him somewhere."

"You're right."

Agreeing with Aerith I asked her about the situation here and if there was somewhere we could go next to get a clue about solving this problem. That is when she could us to check up with Cid and Yuffie before walking off to help out some people in town. Well, if Cid could help add upgrades to our Gummi Ship he would know how we can help stop these heartless from overrunning the place; a town working so hard to rebuild doesn't need to lose anyone due to the darkness trying to consume this world.

Even while running over to Cid's place we had to deal with several heartless popping around including ones that were using books for their attacks. If this keeps up there will be many others who will lose their hearts to these monsters.

"Hey, fellas - you're just in time. Got some good news for ya," We certainly could use some good news for once, Cid. "So get yourselves over to Leon's."

"We found the computer Ansem was using!"

Yuffie told us before Cid went into more detail about how this could provide us with more information on both the Heartless and the Organization, which sounds like very good news to us in order to realize the full scope of their plans before it is too late to stop them. Sora also wanted to find out more about the dark realm if it meant we could find Riku and the King, but first, we need to head over to the computer room in this castle first meaning a lot more heartless would get in our way.

"Excuse me, are you with the Restoration Committee?"

"Ahh!" There were three small girls or were they actually fairies floating in front of us, but they weren't anything like a heartless not to mention these girls looks kind of adorable by how small they looked in front of us while explaining where Leon's crew was at this moment.

"Our leader, of course!"

"Yeah, you know, Malefi-" I didn't quite hear the rest as the more goth-looking fairy interrupted the more cheerful of the trio by covering her mouth while leaving us confused as to why they were even here besides explaining where we could find my old mentor before DiZ took over things. Running along the construction equipment that was lying around we saw a few knight-themed heartless with a giant spike ball heartless that got in our way. Unlike the other heartless they seemed to be trying to break some of the stuff here like it was an order given to them.

"We gotta stop them before they break anything else!" Nodding with Sora we started our attack while noticing these heartless were much tougher than normal shadows or soldiers we've dealt with earlier in our journey. Watching Sora enter his blue form while blasting at these guys was amazing to watch, but I didn't slack off with my own part of the effort as my keyblade took down a few off these heartless on my own.

"Good job, Kairi."

Hearing praise from Sora and his friends only made this new path I took in life all the more enjoyable to continue down. While they didn't go down as easily as other heartless they couldn't stand up to the might of two keyblade heroes, so with this small pack gone, we continue our trip through this construction site of sorts that was once the lair of an evil witch. Finally, we found Aerith who told us that the King was actually with Squall along with more details about Ansem's study which made me remember that he was once an ordinary man who researched all kinds of things.

'How could someone like that be driven into a state of madness that would have consumed the world in an endless sea of darkness.' Why would his research result in these monsters that can devour the soul of a person, and how could it possibly be for any kind of good? The more we ran through these corridors the closer we were to the heart of Ansem's private room in this castle.

'It is like we're heading into the heart of evil...' After dealing with a couple of flying heartless we found our way to where Leon was supposed to be; instead, we only found an empty room that looked like it had been hit by a powerful wind spell. Everything seemed in ruin except for one picture of Ansem that looked rather normal compared to the insane man I saw when he took control of Riku.

"Where's the King?"

Or Leon for that matter it seemed like this place has been abandoned by everyone.

"Hey, you!" Then, someone else showed up behind us who was dressed in a black outfit who seemingly was also here to find something or someone.

"Have any of you seen a guy with spiky hair?" Ummm are you talking about Sora? She laughed when Sora looked at his own spiked hair suggesting her friend had spikier hair than my friend, and she said that she would simply take a look around...by kicking a random wall showing an incredible amount of strength.

"Sorry to bother you all."

"No, bother, ma'am." She made Sora, Donald, and Goofy provide a saute to her either from fear or respect when she walked out of the room.

"So you made it." Leon? How on earth did you just appear like that from nowhere, he must have been Yuffie in disguise because there is no way he could sneak up on us like this.

"Isn't the King with you?"

"You'll see him soon enough."

"Hey!" Great, he's being all mysterious about stuff again.

"Here, this ought to tide you over." It turned out that place, where that black-haired woman kicked, was, in fact, a hidden passageway that was revealed by Squall touching a certain spot on the wall. This path was the route where Ansem's computer was really was instead of this room, the place certainly looked more advanced in terms of looks and appearance.

"This is it! Where is Riku? Where is the King?" Sora...that isn't how you really use a computer. As he continued typing at random keys achieving nothing.

"Easy...Wanna break it?"

"Oh, sorry. Guess I got a little carried away." I heard the sounds of some kind of animal when suddenly a blue creature that Donald scared off, but then I heard a monotone voice speak out.

"Attention current user. This is a warning. Further misuse of this terminal will result in immediate defensive action."

"Who is that?!"

"I am the Master Control Program. I oversee this system." This was a computer program of some kind? I didn't have time to figure out what this meant when Donald accidentally pressed another key.

"Decision gate reached. You are now under arrest." I knew something bad was about to happen, a bright light suddenly came into my eyes as I felt a beam enter my chest that suddenly resulting in my body being put through a lot of pain. It was like my body was being cut, sliced, and pulled apart like I was a puzzle piece being scattered into many different pieces. Whatever was happening must be related to this "MCP" that we heard moments before we lost control of our senses...

Space Paranoids: Pit Cell ( Kairi's POV )

'Not another dream...' Instead of arriving back in that dark world filled with stained glass I noticed the ground I was laying on had several different lines moving on it. Also like in Halloween Town myself and Sora were in a unique outfit that wasn't our normal clothing.

"Sora!" Donald and Goofy! They were being pulled along by some data-themed heartless that seemed like they were a bug or virus in a computer system. Where on earth were we?

"Who're you?" I was started by the giant man in glowing red who looked down at us like we were mere peasants.

"I am Commander Sark."

"A heartless commander?"

"Observe."

I could only watch in horror as Goofy and Donald were suddenly put into a lot of pain by a sudden shock to their bodies. If this guy had this much power over us it wouldn't make sense to fight him, so we surrendered and we had been put into some kind of holding cell for prisoners.

"Man, what kind of world is this, anyway?"

"You're inside of a mainframe computer system." A computer what? There is no way we could be stuck in some kind of device even I can't suspend my disbelief that far...

"A computer system - for processing data. This system is a copy of the one created by a corporation called ENCOM. The original program was destroyed," Whoever this prisoner was seemed to know an awful lot about this place."But this copy was created by another user. The new User updated and customized the programs, renaming the system "Hollow Bastion OS". He used the system for town maintenance, and to advance his private research." Research? Could this User actually be Ansem?

"My name is Tron. I'm a security program. But now I'm under arrest, same as you."

"Well, at least I got one thing we are all trapped here and we need to get out of this place."

I knew Sora and his friends might not fully understand what Tron said but I knew that whoever locked us all here needed to be taken down. After getting introductions out of the way Tron gave us a clue about the identity of the one in charge here by the phase "MCP" or Master Control Program. For now, the goal Tron wanted us to do was to power up an energy core in a canyon that could help us but the problem was we still were trapped in this cell.

"Sora! Why don't you try unlocking the door with your keyblade?" Sure this door has no keyhole, but when I saw Sora's blade suddenly pierce the wall I knew this might be our way out. I was amazed by the things our keyblades could do as was Tron. With the door out of the way all five of us began our journey through this computer matrix, we were stuck inside of now. None of the other worlds had this sort of neon-themed setting to them, which did make sense if this was all part of a technological program.

"Tron? Why did you get locked up in that cell if you were meant to protect this place?" I asked while we were on this lift that would take us to the canyon area.

That must by why S"Oh, well after the MCP took over this system he deemed me to be insufficient and imprisoned me like other programs that wouldn't obey his orders." That must be why this Sark is "Commander" now, that also could mean he's a servant of this MCP that locked us in that cell back in that pit. Still, the fact we were going up against some kind of program that had that much power in this world made me nervous about confronting him. Looking at Sora I knew that despite my fears and concerns there was no way I could run away like on those islands.

"This is the energy core." Looking at the device I could see that it wasn't complete as one slot was missing a component that needed to be jolted into the missing socket by Sora. With that done Tron wanted us to do something for him, but Sora accepted without even asking what he wanted us to do for him.

"Trust us, Tron. We're keyblade heroes and that means helping out those in trouble no matter what trouble they are in."

"You guys really are Users. Your actions are totally illogical." Was that meant to be some kind of insult; despite it sounding rude I don't think Tron meant to act rude by saying that line. The first thing he wanted us to do was to head back to the Pit Cell where we first met him in order to access some kind of modem when he asked us to find where is User was that had the password to this DTD. Chances are this database could be where we might find info about the heartless and Organization XIII.

It also would restore the original programming Tron used when he stopped this MCP last time when apparently this place was free to all Users, but Goofy asked a good question about who created the MCP in the first place.

"I don't know."

You don't know? I didn't quite understand that however what Tron said next is something I understood perfectly.

"You mean you don't know? My User is the user of this system: Ansem the Wise." Ansem! I knew that he must have been behind this place, so that must mean all those weird things happening outfit could be related to this MCP that's taken over this program. Before we could ask more the computer Tron was using began to freak out meaning we've been found out!

"I'll keep this terminal up and running. You better exit the system, now!"

"Sura...But Tron...Ansem is..."

"We'll get ya the password!"

Why do things always get in the way of us finding out more things about what is really going on? After being hit with another beam of light we saw that...we were back in Hollow Bastion? Tron must have sent us back to the real world!

"Where have you been?"

"No glad to see you back in one piece, Squall?" As usual, he could hardly express any kind of emotion besides a few angry glares at me. Sora quickly explained the situation about the missing password while Squall believed we've been going on a fool's errand all this time.

"You're chasing what, now?" It was the woman from earlier who loved to cause violence to inanimate objects, and she quickly went back into the other room to break some more stuff with those fists and feet of hers. Well, if she refused to give up then we shouldn't give up either!"

"Excuse me." In another display of incredible strength, this girl just picked up the huge portrait - her hands quickly moved it out of the way revealing a drawing with a few words written on the wall behind it. Wow, the secret of this room certainly looked interesting...and then this girl punched the wall almost breaking it with several cracks forming in the structure.

"What's this doodle?"

"Hollow...Main...Security...Tron...Door to..."

"Looks like a diagram or somethin'."

"Door...to...darkness?" Of course, that must be what DTD stands for like Tron told us back in that computer simulation. Sora figured out what it meant as well, but we still didn't know the password.

"Say, fellas, did someone mention the Door to Darkness?"

No way! Despite the black hood of the organization that was covering his head I could tell those ears only belonged to one person Sora, Donald, and Goofy always talked about finding.

"Your Majesty!" I couldn't believe what I was seeing in front of me. Donald and Goofy quickly rushed over to see him, the whole look Mickey had was apparently to keep the Organization from listening or finding him. That must mean they could also be looking for Riku considering he was wearing that cloak the last time I saw him at the Academy.

"Password? Oh, I guess you mean like a code. Well, the Door to Darkness can be opened by the seven princesses."

"You mean the others like me then?"

"Exactly! I heard from Riku that you were in school, but I never expected to find you helping out your friend Sora. I'm glad to see you're doing well though."

"Yeah, it is a long story..." One that can wait for later, since we needed to find out more about Ansem from this computer database. Sora quickly explained how he already defeated Ansem, but Mickey apparently had quite the story to tell us about on this "Ansem" we believe to have been defeated.

"Hey, isn't Tron waiting for you guys?" It never seems to fail that the answers we want to know continue to elude us...

At least not only we would begin to get some real answers there was a "thank-you present" for Sora from the King himself once we helped out Tron. Still, I wasn't looking forward to reentering this strange world that seemed very alien to everywhere else I've been to since becoming a keyblade user.

"Hmm, where did Tron head off to now?" When we got back to the pit cell that program was nowhere in sight. Before we could explore further Goofy ended up messing around with the monitor in front of us that sent us to another location entirely.

"I didn't touch nothing'!" Oh, you most certainly did...I think. This place looked much more creepy than even Halloween Town with the pixelated clouds in the sky with the ominous darkness of this grid we were standing on.

"Welcome to the game grid."

"Game grid?"

"That's right, you've been chosen to play a few games. Lose, and you will be subject to immediate de-resolution."

"What if we win this game then?"

"Well, no one wins." Was this meant to be our...execution? Is that was de-resolution truly meant?!

'We have to survive this ordeal for Tron...' I told myself as with Sora we had to ride on this weird bikes through a simulated hallway with heartless bikes trying to mow us down. This certainly wasn't like riding a skateboard considering our lives depending on not failing this "game" we had to play. I saw the walls that kept coming out of the ground that I could crash into at any moment if I didn't focus on the track we were riding on when I saw a huge pink-colored tank heartless trying to blast at us with its huge cannon.

"Sora! Look at that wall!" Sure enough, I could see a huge crack in the wall likely giving us a way to escape from this place. The catch was riding over there without getting blown up or knocked back into a wall by these heartless trying to get us deleted by whoever was in charge of this survival game we had to play for some crazy reason that we didn't even know. After getting through the crack in the wall we had been teleported back into the pit cell with Tron laying on the floor.

"I don't understand. Why are you here?" Umm, we're here to give you the password, Tron. Apparently, he wanted us to simply transmit the data but he suddenly fell over Sora's body looking rather tired for a computer program. I just hoped that whatever the answers were would be worth the effort we were putting in by helping out Tron in this bizarre, simulated world.

"Tron, do you mind if I ask why this program exists? I mean I know it was designed for a certain reason, but for a computer security system this place has an arena where you have to ride around to avoid getting de-resolution."

"I guess you had to endure those games as well...Well, the first thing you should be aware of is the name of this program given by my User. Space Paranoids." Sora and I didn't quite understand the name of this world.

"The data, files, and information collected here were meant to provide safety for another place outfit, but not even I fully understand the motivations my User had in making this system. I was only created to provide security from rogue hacking or viruses that could infect this system." That seems like quite a big task for a program like Tron to perform if things like this MCP were anything to go with, but I still couldn't believe this was all merely a series of codes in a computer we were walking down.

"Stay alert the heartless are coming!" Those bike-shaped creations had managed to find us even in this place? Whatever. They would just have to be stopped or I guess deleted in this case. As I charged at these guys I noticed they began to run away when I began running after them.

'Don't go...'

"I have to stop them!"

'This isn't normal...'

Something warned me about heading into danger, but I ignored this feeling due to my desire to stop these things from hurting my friends...if only I had listened to the voice in my head.

"W-What's this?!" I suddenly felt red lines come over my body as the heartless I tried to destroy vanished into nothing as if they were never real, to begin with...

"Kairi!" I tried reaching out to Sora however whatever was pulling me down was too strong as I saw a huge hole open right underneath myself that seemed nearly bottomless.

"This must be his doing..." His? I tried breaking free of this bind, yet this pull seemed too strong for me as I felt my body sink into darkness once more.

DeStInY iSlAnDs: SeAsHoRe

"Resting on the sand again? Come on and get up, sleepyhead!" Hmmm? Sand? I could hear the sounds of birds flying in the sky, my skin was also on a bright light that seemed like the sun shining down on me. Wait I knew this island - my home! What I called home for many years, and the person looking down at me was...Riku?

"You're getting to act just like Sora, you know?" He looks just like he did when our lives were changed forever on a dark, and stormy night. So, why was I back here like my whole journey never even happened in the first place?

"Awww, you say that like that is a bad thing!" Standing next to my other friend was indeed Sora. I should be happy that everything is back to the way it was...

No.

I'm not happy.

"Why do you look unhappy, Kairi?" They asked me as if I shouldn't even be frowning right now. Something about this place felt wrong, the structure, setting, and people here they...didn't seem real to me. They tried coming closer to me, so I merely backed away saying that I wasn't feeling well at the moment, not a complete lie. When I ran away from my "friends" I notice the sky began to get more cloudy with Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka looking at me with eyes that looked hollow.

"Why reject your dreams?"

Happiness? Is this supposed to be what I want deep down within myself? Well, this is something I've been dreaming about ever since I lost Riku and Sora during that storm, however, I didn't want my life to just be reset like a...computer.

"Do you wish for suffering and strife?"

Whatever this voice was it didn't have the mysterious tone to it rather condescending authority. When I ran over to the little island where Sora and Riku dueled I found someone waiting for me...Auxaq no wait this was Aqua?

"Don't you want to be here with your friends once more? The ones you can rely on when things get hard on yourself. That why you don't ever need to even use a keyblade..." Then, why are you telling me this Aqua...who wasn't even wearing her Organization cloak when she was talking with me here. I knew she couldn't have regained her soul back this fast when the last time I saw her in Twilight Town. None of this could be real this wasn't a dream, however, so the question was how did I end up here?

"Wouldn't be easier to just go back home to this place? Just behave like a normal girl rather than endure more punishment and pain in the future..." It would be easy to just go back from danger and let Sora take care of things from here; it wouldn't be the right thing to do in my heart!

"I'm not running away from my friend not when it took so much just to find him again!"

"How contemptible...after I scanned your mind to understand your human concepts you still provide predictable answers..."

"Why don't you give me some answers in return like who are you, and why the hell did you scan my mind without my permission!" Looking at "Aqua" she began to fade away into digital pixels while I saw the rain begin to fall down on the island, the wind picking up and behind me was none other than Xion and Roxas.

"Why do you wish to endure more pain? Knowing your friends will also have to suffer because of yourself adding more danger to their mission that will likely fail." These two spoke at the same time, a hollow echo ringed out as they continued staring at me while these "nobodies" waiting for my response to their question.

"Because he needs me...just as much as I need him." Closing my eyes for a moment I felt my heart beat a little faster after saying that. Instead of seeing anyone else or even having another disembodied voice echo into my head I could hear the sounds of crashing water.

'Why is it getting louder?' Turning around I could see a giant tide of water coming this way!

"Such is your fear...the death of drowning. Can you overcome your own despair?" Is this another sick game I'm being forced to take part in? Even if it wasn't real...my body wouldn't stop shaking like I was about to die!

'The island's caves!' I knew the water couldn't totally drown this whole island, so I ran back to shelter only to discover the island was now smaller in size.

"You wish to discover the truth about heartless, nobodies, and my creator? You a mere human wish to understand a program like myself; such reasoning is beyond your comprehension." MCP! This must be what that voice was earlier, but how did he drag me into this fake version of Destiny Islands? Shaking my head I tried to look for somewhere that I can go into to stay above the water when I saw Sora and Riku run up to me with creepy, blinking eyes.

"Hey, KaiRi. Why don-nnnnnn't yOu...JuSt PlAy WiTh Us LiKe BeFoRe!" I cut through their bodies with my keyblade despite how much I wanted to believe their words. Running into Sora's old home I saw his mother and my other friends with food in their hands, but the water was coming ever closer to this island. My body rushed past them phasing through their digital bodies as I tried to get onto the roof through his bedroom window.

"This isn't real! I can't be drowned in this place. So, calm down and relax Kairi."

"Foolishness. In this world, if you die in this game you will die in real life."

"Shut up! You don't know anything about humans. You're just pieces of data and codes...nothing real or alive."

"Ignorance of a naive keybearer. This simulation is far more advanced than the work of Ansem the Wise." Ansem the Wise? I thought he went by the Seeker of Darkness? Suddenly the floor disappeared from my feet as I saw the water coming up near me, so panic and desperation came into play when I tried freezing the water to no effect.

"ThIs Is ThE eNd YoU dReAd AnD dEsIrE..."

"Aqua" taunted while she watched the water begin to crash onto the island. I knew it was pointless to keep fighting when I had no control of this world, the cold water began to crash into my body just like when I fought Demyx although that seemed like a kid's pool compared to this sea of liquid coming over my face. My screams were quickly silenced as my mouth was filled with what I believed to be real water despite knowing this was a simulation. The last thing I saw before heading under was Aqua's face looking at me with glitching out eyes as I saw nothing but a dark sea leading to my water grave if I don't swim back up.

"Ahh, so you've made it this far." Huh? That didn't sound like the MCP relishing in my despair. Looking around through the darkness I saw a beacon of light piercing through the water.

"Surely you can overcome a little bit of liquid if you're truly a keyblade warrior of the light." Following the new mysterious voice's advice I began to swim through the huge ocean I had ended up in trying to reach that one spot of light in this sea of darkness. It wasn't easy to do, but finally, I got closer to this warmth that shouldn't feel so real to me right now. I guessed while none of this was actually happening my mind was thinking this really was my body swimming through a vast ocean of water for survival.

"Kairi..." When I looked up at the surface I saw a hand reach out for me to grab hold of it, which I did but instead of seeing Sora I looked at an elderly man in red who merely smiled at me while pulling my body out of the ocean and dragged me onto the beach. Panting out and breathing in what I thought was air I saw him look down at my wet body with some amusement before he spoke.

"I think it's finally time you get some answers, keybearer."

[ This took a while longer due to how many Final Fantasy characters show up in this part of the game and I couldn't avoid including the FF7 cast since their game still hasn't gotten the first part of the Remake out yet v_v. Hope you weren't scared of the simulated nightmare Kairi had to endure, but it will be important when getting over her fear of not just water and Demyx later. Next time Kairi escapes the matrix and confronts her fear in the form of a water-based nobody. ]