The end of KH1!

Shameless excuse for Sephiroth and Cloud cameo!

"The battle for the Realm of Light... Is not won.

Thanks to Terra and Mickey, I know what's at stake.

I'm not afraid. I will face the long darkness.

The next time someone wanders into the realm of darkness, I'll be here.

A light to cut through all the shadows. I will be their Wayfinder.

And one day, I will return to Terra and Ven.

I am Master Aqua.

And that's a promise."

~/~

Ok, so he's Ansem. The guy who possessed me from before. Riku thought frantically.

He, Donald and Goofy were basically sidelined as they watched Sora give him a beatdown, paling to previous examples of what Sora could do. Even Ansem was shocked!

With Sora having future knowledge and experience, Ansem was barely keeping up!

And then Ansem FINALLY took the fight to Kingdom Hearts, and Riku bolted for it as planned.

Sora smirked while Ansem was confused. The man's gaze switched between Riku on THIS side of the door and the door itself.

Why was Riku trying to get IN Kingdom Hearts?!

Riku slid into the door, just as he spotted Mickey and Aqua on the other side fighting the Demon Tower and Darksides.

Sora used the distraction to finally take him out.

Shaking his head at how dramatic the 'Norts demises could be, Sora flew in pursuit to his friends.

Running to the door, Sora stood his ground at the Entrance.

Riku nodded at having the door covered catching the attention of the Darksides, he and the others ran after Aqua to help her.

Riku startled briefly at the singular door off to the side. Why did that door look familiar?

Shaking his head, he used Strike Raid to sever the Demon Tower to give her an edge. Goofy provided Defense and Donald healed her before angrily running off in fury at the Shadows.

~/~

The girls began rotating rooms to meet in at the end of the day.

It took a few days, but Kairi smiled as morale was considerably higher now that they figured out how to two-way communicate with the spell Maleficent taught them.

Before bed, the girls tried to communicate with their respective families (well, those whose world hasn't been swallowed yet anyway).

Kairi made a mental note that Aurora got in contact with three fairies. Something tugged at her mind about them and she couldn't remember why those three were important.

As she sat in her room that evening, Kairi was taking notes with Maleficent peering over her shoulder. With everything Sora told her, Kairi was confident in forming a rapport with the witch over the others.

Maleficent was brilliant and determined. Her gathered knowledge over the years in her travels showed.

Later in their first week, Kairi sought her out just to talk.

That talk turned to discussions of the witch's travels, turned into debates.

Kairi was fascinated by what Maleficent had to say.

Maleficent was amused at first, then started to anticipate these talks.

Gazing around, the witch noted the girls slowly gravitated towards their preferred company in the… teachers. And wasn't that still a strange thought?

When Ursula wasn't enchanting them with her knowledge, the others held court and enjoyed the attention.

Not caring in the slightest, the witch refocused back on Kairi.

Being the brilliant opportunist she was, she quickly deduced that Kairi was her ticket to…. Anything, really. Her connection to Sora.

She was obviously Sora's priority in all of this.

Kairi was also the only one who could currently wield her own Keyblade.

Yet, the wench has refused to use it so far in their training. Curious.

Mentally forcing her mind back to the present, back in Kairi's bedroom.

She was asked here to go over an idea the girl had.

A change in scenery.

Doing the obstacle course everyday can only help them so much after all.

In the list young Kairi wrote was a bullet list of spells and combat styles gathered from her interrogations of everyone present in the castle. Even the witch was impressed by the compilation.

Holding the list, Maleficent stood straight to think over her proposal.

The idea indeed holds merit.

~/~

The next morning, as the darkened sky grew lighter, they met someone new at the castle.

A man with long silver hair and a huge black wing.

His eyes were closed, and he had a young man with a red cloak, asleep in his lap.

Ariel turned into a mermaid to get closer to where they sat. Curious, Kairi turned into the same and followed. She has a vague idea of the two, but couldn't place them.

"Hello there!" Ariel cheerfully waved as they approached.

Startled, the silverette looked upon them in fascination (they were two mermaids flying around a mechanical, seemingly abandoned, castle. Who wouldn't be curious?)

He nodded in greetings, looking cautious at them. Wing going almost protective over the young man.

"My name is Kairi and this is Ariel. Who are you?"

"Sephiroth." He declared simply. "This is Cloud."

Her eyes widened. That's it! Sora mentioned bumping into Cloud a lot who helped at Hollow Bastion fighting the Heartless, as well as the Coliseum. Cloud always fought or sought out the other.

But…

What changed?

Why are they just sitting here?

"How did you get here?" Ariel, oblivious to her friends' questions, started to 'swim' around them curiously. "We have been here a few weeks and assumed it was just us." She gestured to the other girls watching from below.

He followed her gesture and simply nodded to the group before facing the duo again.

"He needed rest. So, I brought him here."

They were silent as Ariel silently circled the two men. Kairi is still hovering before them thinking about that.

If she recalled right, Cloud was working with Hades at this point to find his light. So, What happened?

"May I ask what happened?"

"It is complicated. Another time, perhaps." He looked away.

"Ok. Do you have a place to stay?"

He nodded.

"Alright. Well, we'll be here if you need anything."

"May I ask, but what are you doing?" He looked at the girls below.

"We are training in self defense." Ariel looked at her in shock. Why is Kairi telling him this? "As a group we are being targeted. We are training to make us as unpredictable as possible, to throw off our pursuers."

"I see…" I gazed at her for a while. "May I watch?"

She tilted her head. "I don't see why not. We may be leaving for trips soon, however. But we'll be back."

He nodded, before turning his focus back to the sleeping blonde.

She waved and swam back to the girl with Ariel cautiously following.

"Kairi?"

She shook her head with a smile and rejoined the group.

At breakfast, Maleficent made the announcement of them taking a field trip off world tomorrow. To prepare, they have today off.

The girls cheers, having done the course daily for two weeks now.

Kairi grabbed Belle's hand and made for the Library below.

"Kairi? Where are we going?"

"To the library. I've been wanting to do research on a couple of projects, but haven't had the time to find the books yet."

"Oh! What kind of research?" Excited for a side project, as well as a chance to get to know their mysterious friend, Belle hurried to keep pace.

"My research involves two things. The first of which involves myself." Turning to her friend, she explained how she used to be from here and how she came to the Islands. "And so, I just want to learn more about my past. If all I find is a journal entry, a file with my name. Or even just a photo…"

Kairi turned silent.

Belle clenched her fist before pulling the younger into a hug.

"I'll help you find yourself." The elder declared firmly, giving a squeeze before pulling away.

Kairi nodded before composing herself.

"And the other project?" Belle softly prompted.

"Both the men from this morning as well as a group of friends in Traverse Town. The other friends were from here too. And… I have a hunch the two from this morning were as well. I want to get to know my friends better. And… whatever I find, I want to give back to them. What they lost."

"You are a good friend, Kairi. I hope we find what we're looking for." Nodding, the girls made their way down.

~/~

Later that morning, as the girls sat at a desk under the stairs, books piled high between them…

Belle looked up at the sound of a roar.

She gasped excitedly. "Beast!"

And when she looked back at Kairi-

She vanished.

"Kairi?" Bolting out of her chair, Belle frantically looked around. "Kairi!"

~/~

Back in the Realm of Darkness, Sora silently passed Riku his Keyblade.

Sora, Aqua and Mickey remained inside the door as Riku, Donald and Goofy walked out.

The two friends smiled bittersweet.

Goodbye for now, but they'll meet up again at Castle Oblivion.

Nodding, Donald and Goofy finished closing the door.

Leaping back, Riku and Mickey simultaneously sealed it from both sides.

Taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out, he was comforted by the fact that they'll see Sora again.

But… without Roxas or Namine, the next year will be interesting to say the least.

"Riku!"

Startled, they whipped around to see a startled Kairi in the distance.

"Kairi!"

A boom and the tiny patch of sand started to move away. He caught her hand.

Their eyes widened.

From Sora's stories, this is where Sora said goodbye to her so he could find Riku. Kairi stayed behind to be safe.

Her eyes narrowed. Determined.

She let go, took a few steps back then started running.

"Wha-!" Riku looked so confused.

She giggled as she leapt across the distance and into his arms.

"Not this time!" She grinned from his embrace as they fell to the ground from the momentum.

"I didn't go through all that training just to be left behind like before!"

A ball of light slowly hovered between them.

Looking up, it practically snowed little balls of light.

Standing up, the group gazed around in wonder as the tiny patch of sand bloomed out as the Islands restored themselves before their eyes.

Lights shot up from below and flew into the sky, each light up as a new star in the sky.

"Is this what he saw?" She softly stared at the footprints in the sand where she once stood moments ago.

The five of them could only watch as everything went back to how they were.

~/~

Meanwhile, back in Traverse Town.

Cid lit up a cigarette as there were some sort of reverse meteor shower. He calmly watches as more and more stars light up the sky.

He had no idea how empty it became until it became more and more filled out.

That punk did it. Just like his tale from before.

As the light show progressed, he watched as everyone in the streets (also watching the light show) suddenly vanished.

He assumed back to their respective homeworlds.

Taking a long exhale of smoke, between one blink and the next-

He was back home.

In his old bedroom.

Staring at an old doodle for a plane.

Smirking, he remembered the Gummi ships he built that could travel the stars themselves now.

He held that doodle fondly and vowed to show Sora at some point.

He may have built the dam ships, but he has yet to have the guts to fly them.

Damn Heartless.

Chuckling, he put it down. Time to get to work!

1) Cloud and Sephiroth- Please note, I have been playing the original FF7 lately (currently just helped Tifa and Cloud piece together Clouds memories and is back on the Highwind. NO SPOILERS PLEASE! I am bound and determined to beat it! I had the PS1 version but it skipped early in the first disc when you get to the Chocabo farm, so I never beat it.) So, I remembered these two in KH. But then I realized: WTF is their storyline in KH?! I get in the original game, but in KH? I'm half a mind to assume Heartless like with Ansem! But then Cloud looked fine in KH2. I am so confused... Anywho!

I'm making my own storyline to go with KH canon.

Also, Shinra doesn't exist here and Zack is in Thebes not Radiant Garden. If Cloud and Sephiroth are from Radiant Garden, wouldn't it make sense that they were guards for Ansem the Wise as he was the 'king'? Now my mind mentally picturing them in the guard uniforms, lol.

So, again, my own plot concerning these two. (Does that make Xehanort, Ansem's Apprentice, the Hojo equivalent? The possibilities...)

2) Kairi's initiative- Her research project has many layers besides what she told Belle. Sora told her many things Xehanort researched. She needs to see those notes herself to understand Xehanort better.

3) Rushed ending- This is not the last chapter. The next several is the year Sora was supposed to be asleep. I'm already cackling at the ideas I have.

Hint: Kairi commissions her own Gummi Ship. Focus remains on Princesses.