"Time travel? Are you for real?!" Sora's voice echoed throughout the Land of Departure's castle throne room.
Kairi resisted rolling her eyes at Sora. "Sora, you literally know people who have done it!" She pointed to Ventus. Ven shifted uncomfortably under everyone's gaze now.
"What it sounds like Ventus and the others did wasn't time traveling," Riku countered thoughtfully. "More like they just...went to sleep for a long time, and woke up again in the here and now. But this new thing with Xehanort...it sounds different."
"It is different," Luxu spoke tightly, his arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. "It's very different."
"Would you care to tell us what's going on, then?" Aqua said shortly, narrowing her eyes at him with cold blue steel.
"All we have to go off of is what Ansem said that Braig said - and that's assuming he was telling the truth," Luxu began slowly. "In this situation, I'm inclined to believe he was being honest. Either that, or Xehanort wants us to all focus on the Replicas so that we'll miss whatever he's really going to try and pull here. But if it's the truth...it makes too much sense."
"Then share it," Aqua snapped, glowering harder now.
Luxu sighed, uncrossing his arms - raising them to Aqua instead. He stepped off from the wall, coming to stand in the middle of the throne room. "Alright. Look, it's like this: there's a very advanced, very powerful Keyblade Master power that involves using connections between people and objects to search the past, connect with the last living version of that person, and then pull that person's Heart into the present. It's the method I used to return my friends to life - to bring them here. Now it sounds like Xehanort has used that same method, except...he's not pulling someone else out of the past - he's pulled himself into the present. A younger version of himself."
"Wait, how does that work?" Kairi interjected, frowning. "I mean, if his younger self is here...then he's not there in the past, is he? So why wouldn't that just - I don't know - erase him from existence or something like that? It happens all the time in books."
Sora grinned at her. "You read time travel books?"
"I've read a few - Selphie made me," Kairi dismissed, trying to remain serious. "She's into that sort of thing."
Luxu gave her a small nod. "That can happen - depending on the method used. Across all the worlds, in all their histories, there have been all sorts of ways of time traveling - or just time-seeing - invented by people. Whether by magic or technology. The rules are as varying and complicated as the methods themselves. Some are similar, some are far different. And among them all, there's no one, perfect method with all the benefits but no downsides. But there are at least some...clean ways of doing it that won't have lasting consequences on the universe. If you want to go from A to B, simple as that, you use the method I did - the one Ventus and his friends used."
"But nobody pulled our Hearts through time," Ven refuted, frowning in concentration. "We just got on the Ark and-"
"The Ark facilitated the time travel, but the reason you were even able to reform on the other side was because of the rules of this method of time travel - even if you didn't know it," Luxu interrupted calmly. "I helped you guys with that, at the time. I told Brain the way to do it, too. After you guys all left, I met with him, and we...uh, we came to an agreement. Not important right now."
"So what are these rules, then?" Terra asked patiently.
"A medium and a memory," Luxu answered. "A medium is an important, personal item that belonged to someone. That's the connecting thread from past to present. And the memories of someone...that's what allows them to be recompleted in the present - permanently. That works all fine and good if it's another person, someone separate from yourself, but if it's...another version of yourself...no, those two versions couldn't co-exist in the present for very long without the past version being booted back into their own time. It'd only be a few minutes. Not long enough to do much of anything. Even if you used the medium and memory method, time and the universe itself would collapse in on them and send them back. But if you did use a Replica..."
"What?" Aqua said, annoyed.
"The Replica could possibly act as a more permanent anchor - or a protective shell, maybe - to ground that past Heart in the present without undue issues," Luxu went on calmly. "At least, that's the only guess I've got, if it is true that it was a past version of Xehanort, and he did mention the Replicas. It had to have been for a reason."
"So you really just have no idea what you're talking about," Aqua huffed. "Wonderful."
"Hey, I'm just as blindsided and in the dark as you guys about this," Luxu responded.
"Are you?" Aqua challenged.
"Don't you think if I knew about a bombshell as big as this, I would've told you guys all about it months ago?" Luxu replied, holding her gaze. "I told you already: we weren't swapping secrets over late night pillow talks. I don't know everything he had planned, even as his righthand man. Obviously he kept a whole lot of shit closer to his chest than anyone could have realized - even me!"
"It doesn't matter too much whether or not we believe you on that," Terra spoke up, raising a hand. "What matters is that we know now - and Xehanort might not know that we know. If he wants to keep this close to his chest for his own advantage, then our knowing about it might be our advantage. If he's expecting us to be caught off-guard by some time traveling plot involving other versions of himself...well, we won't be. We'll be ready."
"A past version of Xehanort..." Kairi murmured, closing her eyes, as a strange feeling nagged at her. "What did Braig say that this- younger Xehanort looked like...?"
"Silver hair and golden eyes - nice tan - on the slender side," Luxu answered. "He guessed early twenties, maybe. Why...?"
Kairi's eyes snapped open again as she let out a gasp.
"Kairi? What's wrong?" Sora asked instantly. "Did you just figure something out?"
"I did," Kairi confirmed, breathless. "Sora, remember when we first arrived in Traverse Town? After the Islands fell? And we met Aerith and the others, and then that giant Heartless attacked us - and then, right after that-"
Sora stared at her, then he gasped too. "N-no way! You think that guy - the guy we thought was his Heartless- but it couldn't have been, because-"
"Because we've met both Ansem and Xemnas now, and we know they're nothing like that guy from Traverse Town!" Kairi said swiftly, excitedly. "I thought he might have been Xehanort in Terra's body, but that can't be it, either, because- oh, after all this time with Master Terra now, they look nothing alike! It's not him!" She turned and pointed to Terra. "Look at him, Sora - does that look anything like the guy from Traverse Town?"
"No, he doesn't," Sora agreed, excited now too. "So you really think that guy was...but that was months ago?"
"And if it was months ago, but he's still around now, then that proves Luxu right about the anchor thing, doesn't it?" Kairi went on. "And- do you remember what he said to us? What he said to me? He kept going on about how...how..." She faltered, falling deep into her own memories desperately now.
Luxu was just watching her with absolute attention - and silent patience.
"He said something about how I was...an impossibility, or- something about a path or..." Kairi growled, stamping her foot in frustration and despair. "I can't remember...I thought it was just cryptic bad guy mumbo-jumbo at the time, so I didn't pay any of it too much attention! But I wish I had because...this has to be important!"
"Thankfully, we know someone who can help you with that," Luxu said quickly.
"Right!" Kairi exclaimed. "Let's go!"
"No, you stay - I'll get her," Luxu said, turning and summoning his Keyblade. He created a portal and hurried through it, disappearing.
Kairi paced the throne room anxiously, trying her best to jog her own memories even as she waited for Luxu's return. But it didn't do any good.
After a minute or two, Luxu came striding back into the throne room - with Namine behind him.
"...I could have just done it from my bedroom," Namine was saying humorously. "Remember? My powers work across worlds just fine."
Luxu stopped, turning to look down at her with embarrassment. "R-right...right...Well, you're here already, so...meh?"
"Meh," Namine said happily. She smiled at Kairi and gave her a wave. "Hi, Kairi. Luxu said there's a really important memory I need to find for you?"
"Yes. It's from just a few months ago - when I first arrived in Traverse Town with Sora," Kairi explained. "We met some friends, fought a large Heartless, and then there was this guy - Xehanort - or, we think it's a time traveling...anyway, if you can just find that memory and bring it up for me? So I can see it again?"
"Namine, is there any way you could make us see it, too?" Luxu asked suddenly. "The way you...gave that memory to Xemnas to trick me with?" he added, with both disapproval and fondness alike, strangely.
"Oh, yes, I can do that!" Namine said instantly. She looked around herself. "I think I could even share it with all of you - since we are all connected. I've traced almost all of your threads before now already. Ven's when he was in Roxas, and then Terra's-"
"Wait, you've looked at Terra's memories before?" Kairi said.
Terra stared at Namine in confusion for a moment. Then he gasped, and he laughed. "Of course! It was you this whole time, wasn't it?"
"Her this whole time what?" Kairi said, rounding on Terra, baffled.
"When my Heart connected with yours at Castle Oblivion - when we spoke there - do you remember?" Terra said, smiling at her.
"Oh my..." Kairi gasped too. "You said some blonde girl led your Heart to mine - it was you this whole time?!" she went on, whirling back to Namine in disbelief.
"In my defense, I had no idea what I was doing!" Namine exclaimed, blushing furiously. "I was just-"
"You don't have to worry: no one's mad at you," Terra said lightly. "In fact, I'm grateful to you. When we first spoke...it was the first time I'd ever spoken to anyone in a very long time. And then, getting to meet Kairi, and learning about Aqua and Ven...that gave me more hope and strength than I'd ever had before."
"Oh...um...you're welcome, then," Namine said, smiling now too.
"Okay, now that that mystery's solved, can we solve this one too?" Kairi spoke up with a laugh.
"Right. Okay. I just need to..." Namine trailed off as she sat down right in the middle of the floor. Cross-legged, setting her hands in her lap. She bowed her head, closing her eyes. She took in some deep breaths, in and out...
Everyone else stood around and waited...
"This is kinda awkward..." Sora remarked.
"Shh!" Kairi said quickly. "She has to be able to concentrate."
"Oh - right - sorry..." Sora said quickly, hushed.
A minute passed them all by...and then suddenly a bright white light flashed, and the world changed.
The Land of Departure's castle...became the Second District's plaza in Traverse Town.
The familiar buildings and signs and lights...
And then there were the much younger versions of both Kairi and Sora, along with Aerith, fighting a large, armored Heartless in the middle of the plaza.
Kairi looked around herself, spotting the Sora of now, Riku, Ventus, Terra and Aqua, Luxu, and Namine, of course. All here, in this memory of their earliest, first major battle on this long, crazy adventure...
Kairi, Sora and Aerith of the past managed to defeat it in the end, with teamwork and hard work, and the giant Heart freed floated up into the night sky...
"Phew! That's that, then!" Aerith was saying in the memory, in wake of victory. She healed Kairi with a twirl of her staff, and they exchanged high-fives. "Great job, Kairi!"
Kairi's past self gave the woman a grin. Then she looked over to Sora with worry. "Are you OK, Sora?"
Sora frowned at her a moment, then gave a thumbs-up. "I'm totally OK! Are you, Kairi? That monster really seemed to have it out for you - first at the hotel, and now out here. It's like it was chasing you or something..."
Kairi's younger self mirrored that frown. "It was after me because of the keyblade, right? I didn't expect them to be so strong, though. If I have more like that following me all the time..."
Aerith gave a little sigh. "I'm not sure it was just your keyblade, Kairi. Remember, you're also a Princess of Heart. Light begets Darkness, and Darkness is drawn to Light."
"Great, so they're like, doubly drawn to me over anybody else?" Kairi huffed.
"It's likely so, yes," Aerith said, nothing but apologetic. "I think your journey is going to be more difficult than we could have first imagined..."
"How did you get here?" A voice rang out suddenly in the plaza.
Kairi's past self whirled around.
A tall, slender man in an Organization coat, hood up, was standing there. Just as he had in reality. And now he began to walk forward at a leisurely pace.
"Who are you? Show your face!" Kairi shouted, falling into her combat stance and summoning her Keyblade back.
Kairi of the now, along with the others, all tensed as well. Watching the scene play out. Helpless to do anything...
Luxu stepped forward, closer to Kairi's past self, his hand curling into a fist - his arm half rising - before he let it go again. His face was taut, and pale. Even now...did he recognize...?
The man in the memory reached up a slender arm to throw back his hood - revealing his features to the people of past...
And present.
"Holy...shit!" Luxu breathed, taking a step back now, aghast.
"Who is he?" Aqua asked, noticing his reaction. "Is it some form of Xehanort or not?"
Luxu took a moment before he answered - just staring at the young man of silver hair. Then- "It is. That's Xehanort as I remember him from my time in Scala, decades ago."
Terra suddenly gasped, stumbling forward and clasping a hand over his Heart! His face screwed up, his arm rising, shaking-
"Terra?" Aqua said, turning sharply with alarm. "What's wrong?"
"N-not- now-" Terra gritted out, his eyes shut tightly. "Enough..."
Xehanort of the past, the true past, they now knew for sure, began to speak to Kairi's memory self...
"For you to achieve such a thing on your own - to be where you are not meant to be, to become what you were never meant to be - would be an impossibility, even for a Princess of Heart," the man's cool tones came, as his eyes roamed her small form (in a way that still made PRESENT Kairi's skin crawl). He gazed at her for a long moment...then he blinked, and let a breath go. "I see what has been attempted - such a meddling witch. But she failed in her plan: though the path has been altered, our ultimate course remains the same. It was not enough. And the price she will pay for it will be for nothing. Heh. Regardless, just in case, I suppose you will require more observation. Very...close observation."
As the man was speaking, as suddenly as it had happened, Terra suddenly relaxed. He opened his eyes and straightened up again, breathing deeply. His hand fell from his chest, and he twisted his features into calm again.
"Terra, what was that?" Aqua insisted.
"Forget it," Terra said firmly.
"You expect me to just forget that you had some kind of-"
"YES," Terra said, firmer still. Even hard, now. He turned to gaze at Aqua. "It is nothing to concern yourself with!"
Aqua startled, staring at him strangely now. She pressed her lips together. "You sounded just like our Master for a second," she said coolly, turning back to watch the younger Xehanort now.
Aerith in the memory attacked the younger Xehanort - but to no avail. It was an impressive show of power...but...Kairi already knew the results of that attempt.
Leon, Yuffie and Cid arrived on the scene now, just like they had in reality.
And then the laughter rang out, and the younger Xehanort emerged from a dark portal - completely unharmed.
"Look at you all," he said with amusement and a theatric sweep of an arm. "You believe your power and strength of Heart are enough to change what is fated. Many have tried, but even those who believe themselves the strongest or the most clever can only but give destiny's path a small-"
Past Leon interrupted his monologue with a fierce, fiery attack - and they began to fight.
All of them, against this younger Xehanort, who wielded twin blue energy blades.
But they still lost.
Xehanort attacked Kairi directly, knocking her to the ground. "Hmph. A much more impressive effort than you should even be capable of at this stage, Princess of Heart - but it will do you no good. Not against me."
"Want to bet?!" Kairi got to her feet, ran for the man and slashed at him again. "You think some fancy glowsticks can stand up to a Keyblade!" she shouted, slashing furiously as the man blinked in and out of existence - as her attacks just phased through him entirely.
"Perhaps if its wielder were more capable...as it is, I've nothing to fear from you, princess," the man spoke to her, in completely calm tones even as he continued to phase through her attacks. "But, to make sure of that...perhaps a little test is in order. You have already strayed from the appointed path, something that in itself should not have been possible." Briefly, there was a hint of something in his eyes - something like uncertainty, doubt - but then it was gone.
Kairi had noticed it even back then, but now...it meant so much more.
"I have heard enough of your cryptic nonsense!" Kairi's memory self exclaimed breathlessly. Then she jumped up and came down swinging for Xehanort's head.
The air shimmered, blue light flashed out to blind them all - and Kairi's past self was frozen in mid air...by that powerful time magic.
And then the man moved, a blur of color that seemed to push aside the air itself, slashing at her a dozen times in less than a second. The light flashed again, the world returned to normal, and Kairi was flying forward on her own momentum, and she landed face-first on the ground.
"Hmph," Xehanort scoffed as he stood behind her, gazing down on her with contempt. "Very well, then. I've learned all that I needed from you here. Journey on, then, princess - and we may meet again."
"We're not finished with you!" Leon snarled, snapping his blade up to aim it at the man's side, sending out six different fireballs that wound around each other like serpents.
Xehanort turned and raised a hand, creating a barrier to block the attack.
At the last second, however, Leon's fireballs suddenly curved outward, moving around the wall and then swinging in on the other side to hit Xehanort from both sides at once. Those yellow eyes showed true panic as the fireballs connected with him, causing him to cry out - and then they exploded in a brilliant ball of yellow and orange to top it all off.
"Gaaah!" Xehanort cried out, falling to his knees, darkness and fire alike wafting off of his figure. His hand went to his chest, his face twisting into an ugly expression. He looked up at Leon - glanced left at Yuffie - looked right to Aerith, who was preparing another attack of her own - and then he teleported again.
Kairi's memory self glanced around for him, waiting for him to reappear and strike.
He reappeared behind her, and she shrieked as he seized her by the back of her neck and raised her into the air.
"Do any of you really believe that this child can change the fate that awaits you all?!" Xehanort shouted out, his voice quivering with anger now. His breathing was shallow and ragged.
"If I ever see you again, I'll- I'll destroy you!" Kairi's memory self shouted out, kicking back with her legs and trying to twist around and slash at him with her weapon.
(Maybe self-indulgently, Kairi admired her past self's tenacity.)
Xehanort, however, just laughed at her. "Perhaps not now - but, in time... Either way, I suppose we will all have to wait and see. Very well: you miscreants can keep your princess. But know that she will not save you from what is to come!"
The air shimmered and swirled, and the man was gone, dropping Kairi onto solid ground again. But it wasn't instant: he didn't teleport. Nor did he use that dark...portal again. It was like he just...faded out of existence.
Kairi had had that thought at the time, too. How strange and different it had been...
And she still thought it now.
Because she knew now, didn't she?
They all did.
A white light flashed again, and they were all suddenly back in the throne room of Land of Departure's castle.
For a long minute, everyone just sort of stood there - staring at each other.
Namine got to her feet, looking to Luxu immediately. "Did that help?"
Luxu looked far more shaken than even before - when he'd first seen the younger Xehanort's face. Heard his voice. He screwed up his face and shook his head, taking shallow breaths.
"Luxu...?" Namine reached out and grabbed his hand, looking worried now.
Luxu startled, staring down at her. His expression slowly returned to a semblance of normality. "Uh...Yeah - I'm fine. Just - this is a hell of a lot to take in. It's...Thank you. Without you, we'd still be in the dark about all of this. You- you did great, kiddo."
"You're welcome - and thanks," Namine said brightly, letting his hand go again. "But...what now? What does this all mean?"
Luxu looked around at the others. He frowned, deep and troubled. "I, uh, I don't exactly know...I-" He glanced at Kairi, and held her gaze for a long moment of time before looking away again, his face flushing.
"What did it all mean? Do you know?" Kairi asked, stepping forward. "What he said, about me not being...'where I'm supposed to be?' Or- or that I 'became what I wasn't meant to become?' And all that talk about some 'appointed path', about altering it, and-"
Luxu held up his hand, his face screwing up again. "Just- just give me a minute, would you? Please?"
"I'm sorry."
"it's fine..." Luxu said roughly. "Just...Okay, if he's using the same method as I did, it's either a clean jump from A to B, no issues there, or...but either way, he's right that there's no changing things. Not with that method. It's...scientific, it's strict, it's universal rules - no chance of messing anything up. Things will go how they're meant to go, even if you tried to change it. That's how it prevents paradoxes. And when you go back, even if a past version of you did get pulled forward, you'd lose your memories of what you experienced in the future - to prevent paradoxes, again. The universe tidies itself up afterwards, and you can't game the system. And he'd want to use that method, because he's a careful guy, and he wouldn't want it to backfire on himself as much as give him an advantage over his enemies..."
"But what he said-" Kairi insisted.
"I know what he said," Luxu agreed. "And that's what I'm thinking about here. Despite the failsafes and the method he had to have used, he still said things had changed. And if that's even true, if it's even possible to break through like that...then this whole worldline...isn't how it...would have been... What else did he say? A meddling witch, who failed in her plans - and who'd pay the price for it... Of course, anyone who actually succeeded in changing time like that would have suffered the consequences - but if it wasn't-"
Namine gasped, reaching up a hand to grab her head.
"Namine?" Luxu instantly was turning to her, reaching for her. "You okay? What's going on? Is it your memory powers again?"
Namine shook her head, slowly letting her arm drop to her side. She gazed up at him, her face full of conflict and confusion. Then... "Luxu...?"
"Yes?" he said, quiet and attentive.
"Do you remember...when I was learning to draw - when I told you about Roxas's mission with me to Twilight Town?"
"Yeah, I remember that, sure. Why?"
"Remember how I told you about...how something had happened to me out there. In front of that old mansion. We talked about- DiZ? And I told you...that I heard my own voice? A conversation with Roxas that I still can never remember having before? I remember that I- my voice- myself- said that I was a- a witch?"
Luxu looked about to faint now. He his hand shot out and seized Namine's shoulder. Probably for support more than anything else, Kairi thought. He lowered himself down, getting to eye level with Namine. "And I chalked it up to your memory powers being faulty, at the time..." he whispered, his voice shaking now. "Namine - this conversation you can never remember having - what exactly was said in it? Between you and Roxas?"
"Roxas was just- asking me who he was - he didn't seem to know. And then I said...that DiZ called me a witch. That I wasn't sure how to use my powers, and- that's pretty much it," Namine responded quietly.
"DiZ was the name Ansem The Wise was going by, a while back, when he was opposing the Organization," Luxu said, almost randomly. "But you've never met him in your life - not even now, have you? Over in Radiant Garden?"
Namine nodded. "I haven't seen him or anything yet..."
"You told me the name made you feel afraid - terrified, more like, from the look on your face at the time..." Luxu said slowly. "You said the mansion also felt familiar. But you'd never been there before, either, had you?"
Again, Namine nodded.
Luxu let her go, slowly rising to his feet again. "Okay...All right...So this is what we're dealing with now...? Is this really-"
"Do you want to tell the rest of us what you're thinking?" Aqua interrupted suddenly.
Luxu startled. He glanced over at her. Then he nodded. "R-right. Yeah. Sure thing. Uh...With all that that- younger Xehanort said-"
"Young Xehanort?" Namine cut in.
He stared at her.
"We have to call him something, or this is going to get even more confusing, really fast, right?" Namine went on quickly, blushing.
"Sure - fine," Luxu agreed absently. "What...'Young Xehanort' back there was saying, about Kairi not being where she was supposed to be, and doing things she wasn't supposed to do - combined with what we've just heard from Namine here about some impossible memory that still felt familiar...with knowledge she shouldn't even have had at the time...I guess if this is what we're dealing with, then it's not out of the realm of possibility that even though this worldline has changed, there's still some remnants or- or bleedthrough going on."
"Maybe none of us are even aware of it, nobody's attuned to pick up on it - except Young Xehanort, because he is a time traveler, and...and Namine. Because her whole thing is Hearts, and connections, and memories," Luxu continued on. "And with as powerful as memories are, with how they can even alter and affect the physical world...that could mean she has the ability to pick up traces of- how things used to be. The old worldline. Maybe. It's just a theory. But it would fit with what we learned."
"Okay, so if Namine said she's the witch - and Young Xehanort said that a witch altered...time...then that means-" Kairi began, trying to puzzle her way through it all. And to puzzle through something else that was now bothering her. Something familiar, in that term - "witch". Something was bugging her, something besides what Young Xehanort had said...
"Some version of Namine...changed things somehow - for all of us," Luxu finished, looking plain overwhelmed now. "No idea how, or when, or where - but...she...must have. And she didn't use the method Xehanort and I did, because...that method can't change things. It's not meant to. It's meant to be foolproof, self-sustaining, regulated - abiding by all the laws of the universe. But if you chose to break those laws, with magic or some kind of machine...but the consequences could be- a disaster! And you'd never in a million years be able to predict how it would all ripple out and affect...everything."
"So we know a few things, at least, if this theory is true," Kairi said, pondering. "We know that I wasn't supposed to be in Traverse Town back then? And we know Namine knew Ansem The Wise, but- was afraid of him for some reason? And maybe Roxas didn't know who he was, for some reason, too."
"Scraps and fragments is all we've got..." Luxu sighed, putting a hand to his forehead and rubbing it firmly. "Not much to go off of."
"Not that any of it matters too much," Terra spoke up at last. "Whatever happened, happened. The only thing that should matter is now - and the future still to come. If things have already changed, I don't think any of us can know if it was for the better or not. Or if it was a bit of both. But if things have changed in some way, then we know that's proof we can keep changing things. And whatever the future holds for us, we can change it even further, with every choice we keep making in our lives."
"That's right..." Luxu breathed. "Namine, you were so set on getting me to believe that the future could be changed - and you succeeded - but the truth I didn't even see was that it already had changed!"
Namine didn't look pleased by his words. Instead, she looked troubled. "But then...if I- or she- the other me hadn't done whatever she's done to...change things...would you have ever changed?"
Luxu froze, looking as uncertain and worried as she did now. "That- uh- look, we don't even know where or when or how she changed anything, so it might not necessarily have even affected my actions in life. We just can't know - so it's best not to...to go speculating like that. I'm sure in whatever worldline, we'd still be together - and I still would have broken free of my Master's bullshit. And even if that's even remotely a possibility - like Terra there said - so what? This right here is the reality we live in, not some other one. And that's all that should matter to us. Trust me when I say that you can't spend your life getting caught up in 'what-if's'. Because as long as they're just in your head, they're just possibilities. Not reality."
"But it matters to me! If you- if I-"
Luxu dropped to a knee and pulled her into a strong hug. "It doesn't matter. Okay? This is all that matters. This. You got that? This is real, this is us, this is now. Nothing else matters."
"But if I changed things-"
"Then you changed it for the better, in my book!" Luxu told her fiercely. "You know, maybe in some other worldline I did continue on for another millennia, alone and stuck in my rut of hopelessness and exhaustion - but then you came along and you pulled me out of it! Whether it was some other you, or the you right in front of me...I'm glad you did. That's one good thing you've changed: my entire life. My whole Heart. You opened my eyes, made me realize...and for that I'm always going to be grateful to you. More than I could ever express in words..."
"So you...you don't think I just messed everything up?" Namine whispered.
"Not in a million years," Luxu said firmly. "Okay?"
"Okay..." Namine reluctantly agreed.
"Don't be so...hard on yourself," Kairi told her. And then, it hit her like a wave. She looked down at herself, pulling back her sleeves to stare at her scarred arms...and the memory came back to her like a far-off dream.
A warm, white void - and a woman holding her, embracing her...
Long flowing hair...
And a voice...
"After all this time, I'm still nothing but a wicked, wretched little witch...playing with the Hearts of others."
Could it possibly be a coincidence of some kind? No - the term had now come up three separate times in their lives, from three separate sources. And yet, every time, it was said with the same connotations - within the same context.
"HEY!" Kairi exclaimed in excitement, causing everyone to stare at her. She flushed hard, stammering on, "Um - I might have met...this other Namine before. The 'witch.'"
"WHAT? How? When?" Luxu gasped, turning to her.
"After I got these injuries-" Kairi reluctantly held up her arm, showing off the scars. Then she pointed to her face. "-remember how Master Aqua and everyone else said they thought they'd lost me? Because of that poison and everything? Well, during that time, while I was asleep, I had this dream that I forgot all about. There was this woman - I couldn't see much of her - but she...talked to me about how she felt bad about how I got so hurt, and she called herself 'a wicked little witch, who plays with the Hearts of others!' Doesn't that sound like Namine's memory powers? And she was talking about the same things as this Young Xehanort - and she used the same term as him, and as the Namine in the memory she can't even remember. Three separate instances of the same word? Coincidence? I think NOT!"
"It is true, then," Luxu said, nodding tightly. "Three separate places, people - same thing keeps coming up? No way that's coincidence. It settles it." He turned back to Namine, and fixed a grin on his face. "You really are looking out for us all, aren't you?"
Namine blushed, but nodded with pleasure. "I guess so..."
"Uh, but - where is she?" Sora spoke up hesitantly. "The other Namine, I mean? If Young Xehanort's out there, and we have some other Namine here too...what's she doing? How'd she talk to Kairi like that, and why wouldn't she talk to any of us? Or- or her...self? This is already confusing..." he added in a murmur.
Kairi frowned, chewing at her lip in deep thought. Ultimately, she gave up and shook her head. "Maybe she thinks she can't do anything more to help us - whatever she even did? She seemed really down on herself, after all. Both, when she met me, and- in that memory that our Namine got a glimpse of. Or maybe it's like those rules Luxu was talking about: maybe she couldn't stay very long before she had to leave again? But she might come back, if that's the case..."
"Yeah," Luxu nodded. "There aren't any rules on the number of trips you can take to the past or future. And whatever way she's using to do it, I'm sure she'll show up again. Maybe...right when she has to. Anyways - Namine - why don't we go back home?" he told the girl, getting to his feet - and pulling her up by the hand with him.
"Is there anything else we should know?" Aqua called out to him.
"If I think of anything, I'll let you know," Luxu told her evenly, before departing with Namine at his side.
Aqua let out a small sigh, and then turned her gaze to Terra instead. "How about you, then, Terra?"
"Don't worry about it," Terra said flatly.
"I am worried. Because the last time I saw you acting like that, you were fighting with Xehanort from inside your own Heart!" Aqua said, sudden and loud - fierce.
Terra took a breath, and held her gaze intently. "All right. I get that. But I can promise you with a hundred percent certainty...that there's no trace of Xehanort left in my Heart. He's gone - alright?"
"Then what happened to you? What's wrong?"
"I'm not ready to tell you that yet."
"I thought we were never going to keep secrets from each other again," Aqua hissed, stalking forward with clicking heels on the stone floor. "Why are you-"
"It's not my secret to tell, okay?" Terra said roughly - loudly. He put a hand to his chest, his expression flashing with anger. "I can't tell you yet - so just accept it and butt out, Aqua. I thought you'd learned to stop doing that by now, but apparently not."
Aqua stared at him, slack-jawed. "W-what? How could you say...Terra..."
Terra took that moment to spin around and stride off toward the stairs, disappearing.
Kairi looked at Sora, then away again. She sighed to herself.
There was way too much to think about now...
But the one, main thing that kept resonating in her mind...
"...To be where you are not meant to be, to become what you were never meant to be..."
If that was true in any great way...that Kairi's fate had been changed in some way, somewhere, somehow...
Then what was her destiny?
And what had it been before - in another 'worldline'?