A/N: Well folks, I hope you're ready to read the absolute worst, dogshit Kingdom Hearts story ever to grace this franchise (second worst depending on the person who read other KH stories.) Also, the reason why this story is now M-rated is because of the worlds I've chosen for Kairi to travel to, among other things, not because of the usual thing it's known for. This is a Kingdom Hearts story for God's sake! If I'm not comfortable reading it in that rating, I'm sure as hell I'm not comfortable writing it. Now, Madoka opening as the first opening.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts and/or any of the other characters from the anime and games they come from. They all belong to their original owners. The OC that appears here belongs to me.

Light of Salvation

Second Lock: The Princess of Radiant Garden

A lone girl with neck-length dark auburn hair let out hurried breaths as she ran through marble white hallways with high ceilings while hearing multiple yelling behind her.

"Get her!"

"Don't let her escape!"

She glanced back to see half a dozen or so guards chasing after her. "Don't you guys ever give up?!" She looked in front to see the hallway cross-corridor. As she approached it, she immediately made a right turn.

The guards saw her make the turn. "After her!" They approached the corridor quickly. When they were near, the ice suddenly froze over the floor. They couldn't stop and they all slipped on the ice. They all yelled as they tumbled together on the floor.

They groaned as the girl they were chasing took a few steps towards them. "Better luck next time, guys?" She jumped over them and resumed running.

The lone girl approached another split corridor when she saw another group of guards arrive at the intersection. They noticed her right away. "There she is!" She stopped and turned around but only to see the previous group of guards already on her tail again. "She can't escape now! We have her surrounded!"

Instead of being worried, she just sighed in annoyance. "Oh, for the love of the Holy Light." She opened her right hand and summoned her Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace. As soon as the guards saw it, they stopped on a dime and became wary. She smiled as she jumped into the air in the direction of the second group of guards. She turned her body and pointed her Keyblade at the space above the first guard group. "Wind!" She fired a small gust of wind from her Keyblade and went over the second guard group. She landed on the other side of the guards and smiled. The second group turned around to face her and ran toward her. She just pointed her Keyblade at the floor. "Freeze!" She created a wall of ice that blocked the guards. After that was done, she put her Keyblade away. "It's been fun, guys. Let's do this again next time." She resumed running.

After a few more twists, turns, and avoiding a guard or two, she was near her goal, and she was approaching it fast. "Just past these doors and..." When she reached the double doors, she pushed them wide open and entered a large foyer with double spiral staircases on each side that led to the second floor. On the other side of the foyer were another set of double doors and two men were guarding it. One of them held a lance while the other held an axe sword. She knew these two men all too well. "Dilan, Aeleus."

"Princess Kairi," Dilan spoke.

"I don't suppose you two can look the other way and let me through those doors?"

"Unfortunately, we cannot grant your request."

Kairi just sighed at the answer. "Worth a shot. I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way then." She opened her right hand and summoned her Keyblade. "I will be going through those doors."

Dilan and Aeleus crossed their weapons together. "By our orders, you will not leave this castle."

Insert Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days OST: Vim and Vigor

They uncrossed their weapons and Dilan was the first to strike. He launched himself right at Kairi and when the distance was close enough, he thrust his lance at her. The princess swiftly moved to the side to avoid the first attack, but he quickly turned around and approached her while swinging his weapon in a cross-wave fashion. "Wind!" A barrier of wind surrounded Kairi and when the lance hit it, it immediately recoiled. Dilan hissed at the move while Kairi smiled smugly. "Ha! How do you like that, Dilan!? I've been working on this move. Now you can't hit me. Best of all..." She took a running start at him and jumped at him with her Keyblade raised. "I can attack and defend at the same time!" She swung her weapon at her opponent when falling to him, but he jumped away to avoid the attack.

Which Kairi was betting on. She pointed her Keyblade at him "Thunder!" She summoned a lightning strike, and it struck Dilan. He yelled in pain before falling to the floor. Kairi jumped and cheered. "Yes! I got him!" During her celebration, her wind shield reacted to something that hit it, and turned around to see Aeleus behind her. "Didn't you hear me? You can't hit me while I have this-" and the wind surrounding her quickly faded away and her face went from cocky to meek. "Oh, crud."

"As I thought," Aeleus spoke. "Your new technique is powerful, but it uses up too much magic quickly. Even faster when you use other magic attacks. You put too much faith in something that'll result in your defeat. Such as so!" He lunged at Kairi while swinging his weapon down at her.

Kairi jumped back and pointed her Keyblade at him. "Fire!" She tried to shoot a fireball at him nothing came out at all. "Uh-oh."

"I told you," Aeleus said. "That wind barrier you conjured drained all your magic. You can't use any more magic attacks!" He closed the distance between them and threw a heavy punch at her midsection with a resounding boom. The ground beneath them cracked. She gasped in pain as the attack sent her hurdling to the wall and crashing into it. As she did, multiple cracks appeared around, and groaned in pain as she fell out of the wall. While she was trying to recover from the attack, Aeleus looked down at Dilan. "How long are you going to continue to lie there?"

He saw Dilan stand up while groaning. "Her attack was much stronger than before." They both saw Kairi beginning to stand up. "Little by little, she is becoming stronger."

"And as such, we must resort to more drastic measures as were our orders."

Kairi finally stood up while panting heavily. She winced at the pain coursing through her midsection. She placed her hand on it but remembered what Aeleus told her. "I can't use cure. Darn it!" She focused on her opponents. More specifically, the door that was behind them. "I'm so close. I must get out of here. I can't stand being in this insufferable prison of a castle." Readied her Keyblade for the second round, even if she was at a disadvantage.

Dilan and Aeleus saw the determination in her eyes. "You wish to continue?"

Kairi scowled at them. "I'm getting out of here no matter what."

"Very well." Both he and Aeleus crossed their weapons once more. "Come at us!" Kairi said nothing as she charged headfirst at them while yelling with her Keyblade ready to strike them down.

End OST

B

Kairi groaned in pain as she slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a pink ceiling and immediately knew what that meant. "Back in my room again." She sat up on her queen-sized bed with a small pile of plushies in the top right corner and looked around. Her room was pink and white all around. There was a large dresser with a mirror, a large walk-in closet, a bookshelf with different books, and just in front of her bed to the right side was a set of large, windowed doors that led to a balcony. She stood up and walked to the doors to open them to walk on the balcony. She walked up to the counter of the balcony and leaned on it as she looked at the town the castle towered over. She could see all kinds of decorations visible from where she looked as if they were preparing for a big festival. The only reason why she hadn't escaped via the balcony was because it was too high up for her to do so. She sighed in a melancholy way at the sight. "One day I'll go there. One day."

She then heard some loud knocking on her bedroom door. She didn't have to ask who it was because she already knew who it was. "Come in!"

The door opened and Dilan and Aeleus walked in. "Hello, Princess. Your father would like to speak to you."

Kairi groaned upon hearing that. "Yeah, I figured. Let's get this over with." She left her bedroom along with her bodyguards. They walked in silence but Dilan and Aeleus could tell she was dreading to speak to her father. Again. They finally arrived at the doorway that led to the King's study. She smacked her face a couple of times to prepare herself and took a deep breath. "Alright, let's get this over with" She opened the door, and they entered the study.

The study was typical looking with bookshelves that had rows of important books, a couch that was set to the side, and in the center was a large desk with a man sitting behind it writing a document. The man appeared in his late forties and wore a white regal outfit, had long brown hair tied up in a ponytail with a bushy mustache and a goatee. Behind him was a large mirror. "King Lumen, we brought Princess Kairi as you ordered," Dilan announced.

King Lumen stopped writing and put his quill down. He then lifted his head and gave Kairi a piercing look. "Yet another failed attempt at escaping, Kairi? You still haven't learned, have you?"

Kairi glared at her father. "I'm getting out of this castle whether you like it or not, no matter what. What kind of father makes his daughter spend most of her life within these Light forsaken walls? I want to get out, see what's outside, and finally meet some new people for once! More importantly, I want to go out and experience the Festival! You think a festival celebrating my birthday would be something I could go but no, you have me holed up in here for no reason at all!"

"There is a reason, you naïve girl." King Lumen replied. "The outside world is more dangerous than you fantasize it to be. You will not and shall not leave this castle. I've told you this countless times."

Kairi clicked her tongue at that. "If Grandma was still around, she'd let me. Or maybe even..." She stopped herself from completing that thought."Well, a bunch of your guards aren't very good at their jobs. I've beaten and outsmarted them how many times now? If I can handle them, then I can defend myself." She summoned her Keyblade and presented it to her father. "Especially when I-"

Her father slammed his hands on his desk as soon as he saw it. "DO NOT SUMMON THAT WRETCHED THING IN FRONT OF ME!" Kairi couldn't help but wince at her father's raised voice. For some reason or another, he really hated the fact she had a Keyblade. She put her Keyblade away. He calmed down quickly after his outburst. "In any case, you've yet to defeat Dilan and Aeleus. Time and again I might add. If you cannot get past them, it shows how inept you are to the outside world. You already know my orders. Whenever you try these escape attempts, they are to bring back no matter how it's done or what it takes. I will make sure you will never leave this castle." He looked at her with his cold, piercing blue eyes.

Kairi growled at her father as her hands clenched tightly out of anger and looked at him with disgusted eyes. "Stupid dad, I HATE YOU!" She ran off and out of the study.

King Lumen looked at Dilan and Aeleus and they nodded at them. They clearly understood what they had to do and made their leave. After everyone left, he sighed and set his elbows on his desk while interconnecting his fingers together. "This is for your own good, Kairi. I will make absolutely sure it doesn't come to pass. I must. Even if you do hate me for doing this."

B

"Dim-witted..." Kairi swung her weapon at an enemy. "Dense..." She swung it again. "Dumb..." And again. And again, after each insult while destroying something. "Daft, dippy, dorky, doltish, doofus, JERKFACE OF A DAD!" She struck another object, and it vanished while leaving behind a number. "YOU MAKE ME SO MAD!" She let out another frustrated scream while more pixelated enemies appeared. While it seemed like she was fighting in the real world, that wasn't the case.

Her real body was in a white spacious chamber while wearing a goggle headset. Outside the chamber was a rather large laboratory and above the twin doors connecting to the chamber was a flat screen monitor that showed Kairi, wearing a blue-tinted cyberese version of her current outfit. It even had audio as everyone in the laboratory heard her screaming. Above the monitor was a counter that kept increasing. "She seems more worked up than usual. I'm guessing the talk with her father went worse than usual." One of the scientists heard a ping as soon as the counter hit a specific number. "Oh, she beat her high score."

"I'd wager your guess correct, Ienzo. She seems more aggravated than usual today." Another scientist spoke while walking up to the monitor as he looked at it.

Everyone in the room heard loud beeping coming from the monitor and the words "New High Score" were on it. "Even! Raise the difficulty! I still have a lot of pent-up anger I need to get out!"

"You've already beaten the game on the highest difficulty, Princess." Kairi removed the headset and her digital avatar vanished. The doors opened as she walked out of the chamber and to Even. "I'll create a new difficulty for you. Perhaps a Critical Mode would test your abilities to the limit."

For once since her meeting with her father, Kairi smiled. "I look forward to that, Even."

Off the corner of her eye, she noticed a pink slushie on a platter being offered by Aeleus with Dilan standing behind him. "Raspeberry-Lemonade Slush, Princess?"

Kairi took one look at the slushie before grabbing it. "Thank you, Aeleus." She began sipping on the slushie.

"Also, I'd like to apologize for the attack I inflicted on you earlier."

Kairi thought back to when Aeleus punched her in their fight earlier. She just shrugged. "You were just following my dad's orders. I don't blame you for getting rough when you need to. But that drives me more to beat you and Dilan." She smiled at him. "So, the tougher the fight, the more satisfying my victory will be when I beat the two of you. "Both Dilan and Aeleus smiled back at her. Even if they were following the king's orders, they couldn't help but admire her tenacity. "In the meantime, if I can't beat you two in a fight, I can still whoop your butts in D-Speedstorm."

Dilan couldn't help but chuckle. "It's a challenge we'll always be glad to accept."

Kairi raised her fist in the air out of cheer! "Alright!" She turned her attention to Even. "Even! Put D-Speedstorm on!"

"Of course, Princess."

"You seem to be in a better mood than I heard, Kairi."

Everyone's eyes widened in shock when they heard this new voice and turned to the direction where they heard it. Kairi just laughed happily as she set her slushie back on the platter. Uncle Ansem!" She ran toward the man called Ansem and jumped at him when she was close enough to hug him.

Ansem laughed heartedly and returned the hug. "I'm glad to see you too, Kairi." He set her down. "How's my favorite princess in Radiant Garden?"

"I'm the only princess in Radiant Garden."

"Then that just means you're my favorite."

"Um, Ansem sir." Ansem turned his attention to Even. "It's a pleasure to see you. What brings you to the lab?"

"Ah. Well, I figured Kairi would be here venting her frustrations after what I assume after another one of those terrible talks with her father. I thought she'd confine me of her thoughts once again."

Kairi hadn't forgotten about that. She'd just figured it was better to vent and she got it all out, then she'd go to Ansem's study to properly talk about her feelings. "And I will, Uncle Ansem. Just let me do one quick race with Dilan and Aeleus, okay?"

"I understand. I'll be waiting."

Kairi ran back to Aeleus, grabbed the platter, and made Ienzo hold it. "H-Hey!"

"Hold this until we're done with the race, okay Ienzo?" Kairi smiled at him. Before he could say anything, she ran off with Dilan and Aeleus following behind her. All Ienzo could do was sigh and wait for Kairi to come back. Meanwhile, Even just smiled and prepared D-Speedstorm.

Kairi decimated Dilan and Aeleus and won easily.

B

"And then he said he'll make sure I'll never leave the castle! You'd think at this point he'd see his so-called guards keep getting their butts kicked by me! Ugh, he's such a giant jerk!" Kairi stopped pacing back and forth and huffed as she dropped onto the chair. Meanwhile, Ansem said nothing while listening to her while he sat behind his desk. They were both in his study. Dilan Aeleus wasn't currently in the room but was standing outside. Whenever Kairi had these talks with him, it was usually kept only between them. If it wasn't for Even's VR games and Ansem listening, she would've lost it a long time ago. "Sometimes I wish you could knock some sense into him as his advisor and convince him to let me out of here."

Ansem interlocked his fingers. "And why are you so insistent on escaping from the castle? Have we really treated you so badly over the years?"

Kairi just slightly lowered her head as if she felt guilty. "It's not that. I love everyone here. Well, mostly everyone. You, Ienzo, Even, I've known Dilan and Aeleus since I was little and they're just following my dad's orders so I can't blame them. They've been stuck with me for the longest time. All of you have been good to me. But..."

Ansem raised an eyebrow. "But...?"

Kairi raised her eyes. "That's just it. I just know all of you. I want to meet the people outside the castle. If I'm going to rule Radiant Garden, shouldn't I get to know the people? Not to mention I thought it could be more fun to do it at the festival of my birthday. I could meet all of them at once. That's what I always thought for the last couple of years. And I'm sure this year's festival will be something else since I'll be turning sixteen soon. I've spent all my birthdays here in the castle. I don't want to spend my sixteenth birthday here. It'd be more fun at the festival. Does all of that make sense?"

Ansem stroked his goatee as he pondered Kairi's words. "In short, with your birthday approaching, you like to use this opportunity to celebrate it at the festival and to know about the people firsthand. Is that correct?"

Kairi nodded eagerly. "Yeah, that's right. You put it a lot better than I did."

"And let's say you did succeed in escaping from the castle. You still must wait several days for the festival to happen. Where would you stay?"

Kairi paused for a moment to think about that part. "I figured I'd think of something"

"Do you even have Munny to stay at a residence?"

"Of course...I don't. But then again, it's not like I can announce myself saying 'Hey, I'm the Princess of Radiant Garden! Gimme a place to stay!'. Since I've been cooped up in this castle for all my life, no one knows what I look like." The more Ansem heard about her plan, the more holes he found in it. Look, all I want is to spend at least one day outside the castle. That alone is worth going through all this trouble. He can't keep me here forever."

"I believe you can escape from here," Ansem assured. "Little by little, you're gaining strength with each escape you've attempted. Quite remarkable for someone who is self-taught."

Kairi really needed to hear that. "Thank you. Just imagine if I was actually trained by a real Keyblade Master. I'd be unstoppable." She could only imagine the kind of magic and Keyblade moves she could do. It was one of her many fantasies. She still had that bitter memory of her father saying he'd never allow her to be a Keyblade Warrior. Which was strange because she still didn't know how she was able to summon hers in the first place. She closed her eyes and sighed before opening them again. "Thanks again for listening to me again, Uncle Ansem. I should get going now."

"Of course. And remember, you are becoming stronger and between you and me, I believe you can prove your father wrong."

That was something Kairi wholeheartedly agreed with. "Yeah! I'll show him! I'll talk to you again sometime!" She waved goodbye to him and left his study with a smile on her face.

B

Kairi let out a content sigh as she set her utensils down on her plate. "I assume you enjoyed the meal, Princess?"

In her room were Dilan and Aeleus who were also enjoying some dinner with her. Inside the room was a dinner cart brought in by Aeleus. "Dinner was good as always. You guys have your fill yet?"

"We have, yes." Ever since Kairi has been having fights with her father, they never had dinner together. That was fine by her since she vastly preferred Dilan's and Aeleus's company. Dilan noticed that she hadn't entirely finished her dinner as he noticed she hadn't touched her vegetables. "You didn't eat your vegetables again, Princess."

Kairi just leered at him. "I hate eating them. They taste so bland and boring."

"And that is why you will always lose to us. You can't become stronger if you don't eat your vegetables."

"That always sounds like such a scam to make me eat them. I'm doing just fine."

"You say that but you've still yet to best us." Aeleus pointed out.

An imaginary pointed arrow struck the top of Kairi's head and it stung. She shrugged it off. "Just you wait and see! I'll beat you two!"

"Not if you refuse eat your vegetables."

"Okay, that's it. I'm beating both your butts next time we fight."

"Impossible since you refuse to eat your vegetables."

Now Kairi saw red. "I've had enough! Out of my room, both of you!"

Both Dilan and Aeleus laughed a little as they grabbed the dinner plates and set them back on the cart. They were now just outside Kairi's bedroom door, and they looked back at her with smiles. "Good night, Princess."

Kairi waved at them. "Good night, Dilan, Aeleus." Dilan closed the door. As soon as he did, she sighed. She walked to the set of doors leading to the balcony and opened them. She went to the ledge and leaned over it to see the town below. She always found the town to be pretty when it was at night. With the festival preparations, it was looking prettier than usual. "I wonder what the people are like down there? What do they like? What kind of food do they eat? I wonder if...I can be friends with anyone down there." These were questions she'd always asked every night whenever she looked at the town below. She'd hoped one of these days she could go to that town and see what it was like. The sooner the better since her birthday was coming up soon.

She left the balcony and closed the doors. After changing into her pajamas, she turned off the lights and lay on her bed. Before sleep took over, she had one last passing thought. "Tomorrow's another day. Hopefully, things will be different. I'll take anything that can get me out of here." With that thought, she fell into a deep sleep.

A/N: Before anyone gets on my ass about Ansem, I just found out he was the king of Radiant Garden while working on this chapter when I've planned this arc for a long time before knowing that. Hell, I thought he was an advisor to a no-show king. Hey, I did say this was going to be the worst, dogshit Kingdom Hearts story ever despite me doing what research I did. Some topics were more important to research than others. Now, Bofuri ending one as the first ending.