Kairi Hearts

A Series of One-Shots About the Sequel Square will Never Make

By Chronic Guardian

Written for Twelve Shots of Summer: DECK

Week 1: Fool and Magician

01 – First Steps

Preceded by 07-Cuppa Wake Up

Cities were noisy and confusing. She wasn't sure why she hadn't realized this earlier, but it was a fact made more poignant by facing the clamor alone.

She had always been allowed to hide away from the world. When danger came, others would face it or stand in its way or rescue her or even send her away to wait. But that wasn't an option anymore. This time, Kairi had only herself. In the heart of what she had just discovered was the San Fransokyo Underground, she was going to do more than wait for Sora.

As a matter of fact, she was going to try to rescue him.

She wasn't sure how at this point. Usually, someone else came up with the plan. In the past, that had been Sora, or Riku, or Yen-Sid. When she started this journey yesterday, it had been Naminé. Unfortunately, slipping out of their world without a Gummiship hadn't been a very stable option, and Kairi had woken up in this new world—San Fransokyo—alone. Now, she was waiting on a helpful stranger to fix her phone while she looked for a place to start around the city.

"First, look for Sora," she murmured to herself. She knew he wasn't just lost in the usual sense, that his very existence had slipped out of the waking world of light. However, Mr. Hanekoma, the friendly barista and apparently part time phone repairman, had explained the Underground as a sort of sleeping realm beneath usual existence. That meant Sora could be somewhere here, right?

"Sora?" a cynical voice came in clear over the buzz of the cloud. Kairi froze up and began looking for the speaker, twitching her Keyblade into existence on reflex. There were still so many people and all of them moving everywhere. Was it just a coincidence? Had she imagined the reply?

Then she saw him. A man with orange-tinted glasses and a skeleton-ribbed hoodie-vest smirked back, standing still in the midst of the waves of strangers. Not just unmoving, she realized after a moment, but literally being moved through by the people around him.

He was a ghost.

A cold, aching realization gripped her heart as she realized the same was happening to her.

"What, am I too early to the scene?" Glasses sighed mockingly and shrugged. "I know the Game hasn't started yet, but who knows when we'll get those orders again? Let a guy live a little and at least get a conversation before the bloodbath begins."

Kairi shuddered. "B-bloodbath?"

"Depending on the number of Players they give us this Round," Glasses nodded, reaching into his hoodie's front pocket and producing a lollipop. "Not so many Heartless lately, though, so maybe we're looking at the Bostonian definition of a massacre. Anyway, what's your case, kid? Fell down some stairs?"

She took a deep breath and did her best to center herself. "I'm not just a kid," she said stoutly, mostly for her own benefit. "I'm a Keyblade Wielder."

"Oh, so that's what that is now," Glasses leaned forward as he unwrapped his treat and gave her weapon a glancing appraisal. "We had another Keyblade Hero in town not too far back, but he didn't come visit the Underground like you. You're a world-hopper then, aint'cha?"

"I—" She made a concerted effort to stop herself. She couldn't just lay her cards on the table just because someone was asking, she needed to be smart about this. She always got into trouble by just going wherever circumstances pushed her. That was how she had ended up dying in the final battle with Xehanort and that was why Sora was in this whole mess to begin with. He had to trade to bring her back. Now here she was about to waste all that by losing her head the moment the world got a little unpredictable.

"I'm not sure I want to talk to you about it," she finished, putting a firm edge on her voice and hunching into a combat stance to show she meant business. If he knew what a Keyblade was by previous successful visitors, then maybe she could use that reputation to cover for her own, largely underdeveloped abilities.

Glasses looked away and threw up his hands. "Fine, fine. No skin off my nose. Good luck finding a Partner, by the way."

"Wait."

She uttered the word without much of a plan, but she still felt a burst of satisfaction when Glasses gave her a patient eyebrow lift instead of disappearing into the crowd.

"W-when you said 'world-hopper'," she forced herself to keep moving and tried her best to make it sound purposefully measured, "is that… something that usually happens here?"

He grinned. "More so lately, but the higher-ups have always kept a pulse on it. You wanna know more?"

A lump formed in her throat. There was a chance, then. There was a chance he meant Sora. "Did—did you see him?"

"Him?" Glasses chuckled. "Latest pain in the Underground is callin' herself a Madam, kid. But so long as you're interested, I have a little proposal for ya. See, the higher-ups seem a little slow on the draw lately and things are starting to get out of hand."

"So why don't you do something about it?"

"Me? Gee, I would, but I thought I'd take a cue from my betters and push it off on someone else. And seeing as you don't have a Game to play yet, I figure you could prolly use the exercise."

Kairi opened her mouth, then closed it again. She didn't like how the conversation had gotten away from her, but it was at least something to do. Was that how Sora did it when he first left the island? Just taking every opportunity until he got where he wanted to go? "...What do I need to do?" she asked.

Glasses flashed his teeth in a grin as skeletal wings flared behind him. "'atta girl. Now, what I want from ya is a bit of a pest control job. You come with me on down to the Scramble and—"

"The Scramble?"

"Ah, right, World-hopper," He sighed and shook his head. "The street crossing down that-a-way. You can follow me, but I can't say I'm in the mood for hand holding. If we're lucky, we'll find ya a Partner and then we can get down to business stickin' a wrench in some plans. And then, assuming you survive that long, we can discuss a friendly split where you don't replace our mark as public enemy number one. The brass talks about out-world meddling like it's a bit of a no-no, so we'll have to be slick about it."

"Okay…" Kairi took a breath. "slick. Got it." How had Sora managed all this time? Not to mention that he had Donald and Goofy to worry about… did they seriously manage to convince every world they visited that giant talking ducks were nothing to worry about?

Well, if Donald and Goofy could blend in, it couldn't be that hard.

She followed Mr. Glasses down the street through the shadows of towering retail outlets with glass displays and digitized advertisements. Kairi wasn't totally unfamiliar with the conventions of marketing, but she'd never seen it done so constantly. Or distractingly, for that matter. Even if there wasn't a swamp of pedestrians burbling conversations all around her, she would probably still get lost. There was so much to do, so much to see… and somewhere in all that noise were probably clues to Sora.

"A'ight, so..." her dubious companion came to halt as their current street opened up into a churning cross-section she could only assume was the Scramble, "Scoutin' for a Partner. You have your Player Pin?"

"My what?"

Glasses made a show of rubbing his temples. "Oi, world hoppers… Guess we're just gonna have to be extra-under-the-table on this one, then. No Player Pin means no If I get caught with an illegal Player, then we're both toast."

Kairi blinked. "Weren't you saying the higher-ups have been slacking?"

He gave a wry smile. "They have, but you never know who's gonna stick their nose in where it ain't wanted. Just don't go advertising, a'ight?"
"Uh, sure..." The warning stoked her creeping sense of indignance at this world's rules. How was it her fault that she'd shown up in the Underground?

Looking away from her guide, she let her eyes wander the crowds. The Heartless problems couldn't be that bad out here with so many people casually roaming the open streets. The "Madam" Glasses had mentioned must be a similarly contained problem.

That, or the problems were simply ignored.

"Boo!"

Kairi jumped at the voice coming just behind her, then landed on her feet wrong and tumbled over herself. "Aaah!" She did her best to turn the fall into a roll and tried to summon her Keyblade. It answered instantly, the hilt forming in her hand, only for her fingers to fumble and the send it spinning away from her.

However, now she was turned around enough that she could get a good look at the culprit. "Hahahaaah!" a stout, shorter woman with a shock of poorly kept white hair cackled. "Aren't you a jumpy one?" Her wrinkled face split in a malicious and decidedly less-than-full grin as she leaned in. "New to the Underground, Dearie?"

Glasses, now behind Kairi, hissed."Mim!"

"Mad Madam Mim to you, twiglegs!" the woman spat back, her grin shifting into a snarl before settling back into an unsettlingly gleeful smile as she regarded Kairi again. "Now, let an old woman have her fun."

Mim, from what Kairi could see of her, seemed like every storybook hag she had ever read about rolled together into a squat, bow-legged crimson package. She gamboled and cackled and gawked about like an apish parody of a woman, but Kairi could also sense a dark aura about her.

Which, assuming Glasses was against Mim, earned him a shade of trust.

Righting herself, Kairi glanced back at her guide and saw a pinprick of light forming at his fingertip. A moment later, it burst into a flurry of missiles corkscrewing past her and towards Mim.

The hag batted them aside and laughed. "Fool! You're nothing to my magic!"

Magic! Kairi mentally slapped herself and pointed her hand forward. She was terribly underdeveloped compared to any other Keyblade wielder, but she had at least mastered what Axel had taught her. Focusing on the heat and energy of a fire, she conceptualized and then released a blast of her own.

Mim's cackle turned into a surprised squawk. The fireball had exploded in her face, but, as the smoke cleared it quickly became apparent most of the damage was to Mim's smug sense of superiority.

"A witch!" She sputtered indignantly. "Not fair! Not fair! You didn't declare yourself!"

"You're one to talk about rules!" Kairi returned, "Aren't you the one messing up this world?"

"Not really in the best position to talk," Glasses murmured next to her. "But since we're on the subject, I happen to know a few rules you're pretty explicitly breaking, Madam."

"Oh, phoo to your rules," Mim growled, dusting herself off. "These are small potatoes, sonny. Besides, I'm finished with your world. No relics, despite the mergings. I'll just have to look elsewhere… But you, dearie," she squinted at Kairi and fixed a bony finger at her. "If we cross paths again, I'll be expecting a name and a proper duel."

We can have a proper duel now! Sora would have said. Kairi almost shouted it out herself, but just couldn't squeeze the words out. Still, she managed to not fall over again under the witch's withering stare.

"Well, scram then," Glasses said, shooing her off. "Go dig up your relics on some other world."

Mim cackled, apparently restored to her usual mood. "It's been real, pumpkin!"

Before Kairi could get in another word, Mim was gone in a flash and plume of smoke. With the immediate threat gone, she felt her knees give and suddenly she was facing the pavement. She choked, swallowed back a sour surge in her mouth, and blinked away sudden tears.

"Not bad for your first time," Glasses commented, leaning down to watch her with one hand in his pocket and the other still holding his lollipop. "Might wanna work on the hero act if that's what you're goin' for, though."

"...I should have fought her."

Glasses laughed. "You'd have your backside handed to you. Honorable, I guess, but you're not gonna change much if you're smoked. Live to change another day, kid.

"And, on that note, you should get goin' before I remember my job description. Reapers gotta reap, ya dig?"

Kairi took a deep breath and nodded. Forcing herself back to her feet, she collected her Keyblade and took a moment to orient herself on the streets. "Umm..." All the streets looked the same. No matter what else she did from here, she would need her phone. "Did I…?"

"We came from that way," Glasses said, waving dismissively down one of the streets. "Don't go too far back, now."

"Right," she gave herself a tight smile, "Just far enough back to go forward."

Without looking back, she hurried on her way.

-K-

Kairi arrived at the WildKat in the Shibuya District of San Fransokyo not an hour after leaving. Still, it was enough time for her new friend to do what he needed to do with her phone.

"Heya, kiddo!" Mr. H. greeted her with a grin as she came in the door. As she approached the counter, he pushed her phone across face up and leaned forward on his palms. "Bored of the big bad city already?"

Kairi tried to smile in return as she collected her equipment. "I think I've worn out my welcome…"

"Ah, well… Josh's Game isn't for everyone. If skippin' town's your plan, can I interest you in some Keyblade Armor? Wouldn't recommend goin' through the same way you came in."

"K-Keyblade armor?" She felt her mouth hanging open as she tried to balance her surprise at his knowledge of Keyblades with the idea of her own armor set. She'd heard about Keyblade armor, and even seen a suit of it during the final battle with Xehanort, but Sora hadn't ever said anything about it.

"Yeah, you seem due for a few upgrades," Mr. H. said. "'Sides… I've got a soft spot for young folks figuring themselves out. You mind a few freebies?"

"Is that… against the rules?"

"What, for someone like me interfering with an out-worlder like you?" He laughed. "I've been around long enough to know a thing or two about the big wide world, kiddo. Shibuya wasn't always part of this city. Pretty sure it's the same in other worlds out there. Something new's comin' around. Might as well play by some new rules to match, right? So whaddya say, care for some charity from a stranger?"

"...I'll pay you back."

"Worry about it later, kiddo." He offered his hand. "For now, let's get down to business."

Chapter Closed

Kairi Obtained "House Blend" Keychain

A/N: So, chapters masquerading as oneshots that have been truncated to match my hectic schedule… Yep, that's where we're at. Still, it's giving me time to mull over Kairi was a character and having her balance out her over-eargerness to get things done with her developed level of competence. The goal is to have her totally capable by the end, but she needs to start at close-to-level 0 to match what she's canonically done so far.

Also, fair warning that these concepts were formed before Re:Mind and will most probably be non-canon with KH IV. You can only carefully tiptoe around the chaotic mess of canon so far, right?

Anyway, assuming I haven't scared you off yet, see you next week?