In a world of darkness, Riku is stumbling down a path.
Sora's eyes widened. He knew that Riku ended up in the Realm of Darkness, it was how they closed the door together, but…
"Where are you?" Terra asked, worry for his intended successor racing through him. Was this… Ansem's heart? Riku's? It couldn't have been, it was too big. Though, Terra had only ever seen the inside of Xehanort's heart. It was possible the others were different. At least, he was glad that even if Riku was trapped within Ansem's heart like he was within Xehanort's, he wasn't restrained and contained like Terra was. Terra didn't want anyone to go through that.
"The Realm of Darkness," Riku explained. "I woke up there after stopping Ansem from attacking Kairi." Terra blinked in surprise but nodded in understanding. Strange, that Riku had ended up there but perhaps there was something else going on. He couldn't help that the feeling hadn't gone away the whole time he had been watching this world in particular. There was something else going on. And he had a feeling that Aqua knew about it.
Riku apologizes to Kairi and Sora as he stumbles. He wonders if this is the afterworld.
"It's not and you're not allowed to go there," Sora told the older boy, giving him a look. Riku returned it with one of his own. This boy, who had stabbed himself in the chest with a Keyblade, was telling him that he wasn't allowed to die? If one of them was going to die, it was probably going to be Sora, with all the ways he continued to throw himself into danger. Not that Riku was going to let that happen. Not ever.
Riku mentions that he's not ready yet but is interrupted by a blue light, that calls out to him, telling him he'll be there soon.
All of them made noises of surprise when they recognized Mickey's voice and several of the watchers turned to look at the mouse. Aqua smiled, remembering her interaction with the mouse king in the Realm of Darkness and Riku relaxed slightly. Finally, finally, his past self had found someone who would truly care about him and his wellbeing and put himself between the boy and the darkness that tried to consume him, instead of pushing him deeper into it. He had found his friend. Riku thought back to earlier, to what Mickey had claimed. His Master. His-
Probably one of the best things that had ever happened to him.
"You made it safely to the Realm of Darkness then?" Ven asked and Mickey nodded.
"I wouldn't call it 'safe'," Aqua muttered, remembering what the King had told her about his trip to the Realm of Darkness. Mickey gave her a hurt look, which she had no reaction to.
Riku asks who's there and Mickey tells him that he found the Keyblade from this side.
"There's a Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness?" Vanitas questioned, voice letting through a little bit of his clear shock. He hadn't… The Master had never mentioned that. Was it possible that the Master couldn't have known? But Xehanort was obsessed with balance, of light and darkness and their parallels. It was the literal reason he and Ventus were split. But… He had to have known, right? Because the Master knew everything. Right?
"Yep," Mickey responded. "It actually looks a lot like yours Sora." The boy looked to the king in interest. He had seen the Keyblade in passing, yes, but he hadn't actually sat down and taken a look at it. "I would summon it for you, but…" Mickey laughed slightly, rubbing the back of his head as he tried, futile as it was, to grasp the light that lived in his chest that housed his Keyblade. But, of course, it didn't work. "It's your Keyblade, Kingdom Key, down to the keychain. It just has flipped colors. It's called Kingdom Key Darkness, or just Kingdom Key D."
"Huh," Sora murmured out, trying to puzzle out this information. "Why would mine and Riku's Keyblade look like the one from the Realm of Darkness?"
"Our Keyblade?" Riku questioned, looking at Sora in shock. Sora tipped his head to the side.
"Well Aqua did confirm that you've been a Keyblade Wielder, or at least had the potential to be one, for a decade. And while Maleficent could have been lying, yes, she could have also been telling the truth, especially if she has Ansem in her ear." Sora looked away for a quick second. "You could have been the true wielder of Kingdom Key this whole time."
Riku paused. "So? Kingdom Key is still yours." Sora's head whipped back to look at him. "What? It's true. Even if it had been meant to be mine, it clearly chose you, as much as Aqua says that doesn't happen." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her rubbing her temples in circle patterns. He felt like joining her. The more he learned, the more complicated this sounded. But he hadn't forgotten the way she had reacted to Sora's… method of freeing Kairi, so he had his eye on her just like he knew she and Terra had their eyes on him. "Plus, I'm happy with Way To The Dawn. It's mine now, just like Kingdom Key is yours."
Sora didn't have anything to say to that.
"But why that Keyblade specifically?" Kairi asked, bringing focus back to Sora's original question. "What's so special about it?" Riku couldn't answer her.
Mickey says that he's been trying to get through to Riku but that the darkness in his heart kept him away.
Riku winced.
Terra brightened slightly. It was nice to know that someone had been looking after his intended successor, when it seemed like no one else had. It was clear that Riku and Mickey were close, just from their interactions while watching this. His gaze drifted back down to his hands. It should have been him, had he not so foolishly gotten himself attacked and beaten. He should have been there for his successor. Now, instead, Riku and his friends were left trying to protect the worlds from threats that he and Aqua should have been dealing with. He had really doomed all of them, hadn't he?
Riku asks Mickey's voice who he is and what has happened to himself. Mickey explains that his heart overcame the darkness, but it was too late for his body, which was why his heart was there, in the place of darkness where hearts are gathered.
"Yay for you," Sora murmured, leaning into Riku's side. "You overcame the darkness."
Only because I saw you stab yourself, Riku thought. And was abruptly reminded about why I wanted to be strong and have the Keyblade in the first place. To protect you. Instead, I had hurt you, deeply.
I wonder if Ven and I are there, Vanitas couldn't stop the thought from crossing his mind. The Keyblade Wielder from before, the one who had brought them there, has said that he brought them all from the same time. Which meant, as strange as it was, that he and his counterpart were still alive, even after everything. Venty might have just been in his body, though asleep apparently, but what about him? Where had he been all this time? In the Realm of Darkness? Somewhere else?
He hated not knowing.
Riku asks what he should do, and Mickey tells him that the Door to Darkness will open soon but warns that they can't enter it. They have to close it from both sides and to do that they needed two keys and two hearts.
The two Kingdom Keys, Aqua thought. But why those? When I was there, on Destiny Islands, there was nothing special about Sora. He was a normal boy who happened to be friends with another boy who was one of the brightest lights probably in existence. So, how could have Sora summoned a Keyblade with that much significance? Even if he was Bequeathed later, it wouldn't have changed his potential. So, unless something drastically changed, it is most likely that the Kingdom Key was Riku's to begin with, before it fell into Sora's hands somehow. So, what was so important about Riku, what was his destiny? And had it fallen to Sora now?
Mickey wonders if maybe they were both destined to end up in the Realm of Darkness in order to close the door.
Riku couldn't help the small face he made at the word destiny. What had destiny ever done for him? If everything was destined, why did he have to be destined for darkness? Why did Sora have to be destined to always throw himself into danger for others? Why them, of all people, of all teenagers? What was so special about them?
Riku mentions that Mickey seems to know everything and asks if Sora and Kairi are okay. Mickey asks if he feels the echoes of their hearts and tells Riku that how he perceives them depends on what is in his heart.
Kairi smiled and reached out, leaning on Sora's side and grasping one of Riku's hands. No matter what, no matter what happened, no matter her slight disagreements with Riku, it was clear that the three of them were bonded together by more than just friendship. They would always find their way back to each other.
Riku closes his eyes and imagines Sora and Kairi. He thanks Mickey and continues on down the dark path.
Sora smiled up at Riku. They would always be connected, Mickey was correct. Sora wasn't going to let Riku slip away from him again.
In the Gummiship, Kairi and Sora are sitting watching the stars go by. Kairi wonders if Riku is okay.
"Did… Did you guys ask if Sora was okay?" Roxas questioned, still slightly reeling from the reveal of how he and Naminé came to be. He knew they weren't normal; it had gone through his brain once or twice and the way that others seemed to treat them continued to hammer that point home, but he didn't know that they were special because they were created when Sora stabbed himself with a darkness infused Keyblade to remove Kairi's heart, and thus his, from his body. And… everyone was just treating that like it was normal? Like, he knew he didn't know much about Somebodies, but given how everyone reacted when they saw it on the screen, you would think that they had reacted the same in real life. But at most, Donald and Goofy just seemed worried in the beginning, but just accepted it after it happened, and Sora returned. Maybe because it was the fact that they were being chased by Heartless and couldn't stop to ask? Or they just hadn't seen it?
"From stabbing himself?" Kairi questioned and Roxas nodded, forcing back the urge to bite his lip, from which he could now tell was a tic that he had gotten from Sora. "No," she admitted with a sigh, eyes looking away. "I know we should have, because that wasn't an okay thing to do." The second part of her sentence was aimed at her friend, who gave her a sheepish smile, not seeming to get why it was bad, before looking back to Roxas. "I… I'll admit I was still out of it from just waking up. I wasn't as aware as it looked on the screen. As for Donald and Goofy… I can't speak for them."
"I'm sure they were worried about you," Mickey said, words directed at both Sora and Roxas. "But they're also both soldiers. They probably just had to prioritize one thing over another, and Ansem was the bigger threat at the time." Sora nodded. He understood that well and it wasn't like they needed to check on him. He was fine, it had barely hurt, and it had saved Kairi! A double win!
Roxas frowned but sat back. That… Maybe it was because he didn't have any emotions of his own and thus wasn't blinded by them, but that didn't seem that great still. If Xion had done something like that, she had, he wouldn't let her out of his sight for weeks.
Sora bets he's fine and says he's tough, with Kairi agreeing.
"I shouldn't have brushed it off like that," Sora murmured, eyes moving to Riku's. "Sorry."
"It's fine," Riku replied. "You had a lot to worry about."
Sora asks if she's ever seen anything like this, motioning to the stars outside the window. He says that the first thing he thought when he saw it was that he wanted Kairi and Riku to be able to see it.
"The three of us need to go on a trip," Sora announced, leaning on Riku's side and reaching out to poke Kairi in the arm. "We'll take my Gummiship. I need to show you guys all the places I've been."
"That sounds fun," Kairi replied with a smile.
"What about you, Riku?" Sora asked when Riku didn't say anything.
"Well… Some of your friends, I'm not on the best terms with," Riku said carefully, pushing back the true reason he was hesitant to go. He shouldn't get in between Kairi and Sora; he had done that enough.
"Aw, that's okay," Sora dismissed with a wave of his hand. "Besides, you've changed, and they'll see that. You need to meet them, some of them know how much I've been searching for you." Riku bit the inside of his cheek.
"Maybe," he eventually settled on.
It's okay, Sora thought. By the time we're out of here, I'll have convinced him. It was just that he and Riku hadn't gotten a chance to explore the world together like they had wanted to ever since they were younger. And it had been long enough since Sora got space travel that they really needed to do it. He would convince Riku.
Kairi says it's beautiful and Donald tells them all to hold on as he starts the ship at a quick speed. Donald says they're heading to Traverse Town.
"Back to Aerith and the others?" Ven asked and Sora nodded. Kairi made a face as she remembered having to stay behind. She didn't want to be left behind ever again.
The Gummiship lands back in Traverse Town. Aerith is waiting for them.
"How did she know you were going to be there?" Naminé asked, tipping her head to the side and Sora smiled, chuckling slightly.
"Aerith just seems to… know things," he explained. "None of us really ask, but she seems to have some sort of presence that can just know things." He shrugged. "Just something Aerith can do."
Aerith greets them, guessing who Kairi is and saying that Sora found her. When Sora hesitates about Riku, Aerith reassures him that he'll be fine.
Sora made a face. Again, he shouldn't have been so dismissive of Riku. He had been worried, yes, but it hadn't truly passed his mind that Riku could be hurt by something. It still didn't. Riku was… well, Riku. He was the older kid, the one who was better at literally everything. The one who he could always rely on. The idea that Riku could be hurt was laughable. But he should have been better.
Goofy tells Aerith that they found the rest of Ansem's report and she says that's good news. Jiminy introduces himself and says that he has all the pages.
"I keep forgetting about that guy," Axel muttered, having jumped slightly when Jiminy revealed himself from Donald's pocket. He was barely around after all.
Aerith leads the five of them to the Hotel, where Leon and Yuffie are. Yuffie greets Sora and realizes that Sora found Kairi. Sora replies to her before looking to Leon in the back of the room, who asks Sora to tell him what happened.
"No hello?" Xion asked and Sora shrugged.
"That's just how Leon is," he said, echoing his other explanation for Leon's behavior during his second trip to Traverse Town. "Straight to a point."
Sora recounts what happened in Hollow Bastion. Leon says that darkness must be flowing out of the Keyhole and Goofy guesses that's why there were so many Heartless around.
"If darkness was flowing out of the Keyhole to create the extra number of Heartless," Terra murmured. "And the Heartless have been a problem for a while, when did the Keyhole first get formed? Kairi just got there a week ago. Much like some of the other princesses."
"It probably started forming once the first princess was captured," Aqua said, thinking it over in her head. "They just needed Kairi to finish the Keyhole and open it fully. But they had it ever since they capture the first princess which means some of the princesses have been there for a while at least." Her mind drifted back to Cinderella. She hoped the girl hadn't been caught for too long. She had found her world in the Realm of Darkness before it was restored, but she didn't have a good sense of time in there. It could have been fallen for months or years, even before Aqua stumbled upon it.
Kairi nodded. "Yeah, months at least," she replied, remembering the few conversations she had managed to have with her fellow Princesses of Heart. Aqua winced. Again, she hoped Ella hadn't been one of them.
Riku and Mickey both noticed that Sora had carefully skirted around what he had done to save Kairi's heart.
Aerith wonders about the only way to stop them and Sora responds that it's sealing the Keyhole, brandishing the Keyblade. Leon cautions him that they don't know what will happen once the Keyhole is sealed.
"Wouldn't it just stop the darkness?" Ven asked, causing Vanitas to roll his eyes. Obviously, when they split, he had gotten the brains.
"The Keyhole could be connected to the world's heart," he told his other half with a sneer. "Or it could do something to the darkness already out in the worlds, hurting them." Ven blinked in surprise, not having thought about that and Vanitas rolled his eyes again.
Aqua gave Vanitas a side eye, carefully biting her tongue to stop herself from saying anything. It was obvious to her now, despite how much she despised it, that Vanitas was smart. Smarter than she had given him credit for. She had known he had worked to drive them apart, just like Xehanort had done, but she had assumed it had been under Xehanort's guidance. That he had told the darkness user what to say and do. The implication that Vanitas could have done it on his own was… worrying.
Sora says they can't just stay here and that he has a friend still back in Hollow Bastion.
Riku looked away. He knew it was Sora, so it wasn't like the boy was going to do anything mean but… Sora still saw you as a friend, even when you stole the Keyblade, fought him, opened your heart to darkness. How could you possibly compare to that? How dare you even stand in that light when you're so dark?
Leon agrees that that they can't do nothing and says that Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses' hearts, just like the Keyhole.
"Ansem's Keyblade actually," Sora corrected absentmindedly, mostly for himself. He couldn't believe he had once believed that to be Riku's Keyblade. Now, having seen Way To The Dawn, it was so obvious that the Keyblade had never been his. Between Riku's current Keyblade and Kingdom Key, the idea that a Keyblade that dark could have ever been Riku's was laughable. Riku was far too bright for that.
Kairi says that her heart was missing though, and Leon says it must have remained incomplete and now that it is destroyed, the other princesses' hearts must have returned to them.
"Like we saw," Naminé said, thinking back to the orbs of light returning to the princesses after Sora… stabbed himself. Sora nodded.
Donald says that Belle and the Beast must be together then and Goofy says that Jasmine and Alice are probably awake too. Aerith says that she thought the darkness would be stronger now that the Keyhole is complete, but Leon tells her that the princesses are probably still at the castle, holding back the darkness.
Kairi winced, looking away. Another time of you doing nothing, her thoughts said. You could have stayed, could have done your duty as a Princess of Heart and kept the darkness back. Instead, you ran, even after Sora sacrificed himself for you. What kind of a princess, of a Keyblade Wielder are you?
Donald says they have to help them, and Leon tells them if anyone can, it's them. Aerith remembers that they haven't read Ansem's report yet.
Roxas made a face, not being the only one to do so. He really didn't want to hear anymore words by that man.
Jiminy gives her the pages, with Donald remarking that they found it in Hollow Bastion.
Mickey thought that made sense. With Hollow Bastion once being Radiant Garden, it made sense that most of the report had remained there, in the castle where it had been penned. He sighed. He didn't know if he wanted to hear more from his old friend. While it was clear that in the end, Ansem had regretted what he had done, it didn't change that he had done it. That he had hurt Roxas, Riku, Naminé, had plunged his world into darkness, even if it was possibly indirectly. He should have seen it, when he met the man all those years ago. Should have seen that Ansem didn't truly know how to stop until he was shown that he was only making it worse. Mickey had seen it with the apprentices, with the machine in The World That Never Was. He should have known.
"Simply astonishing! Today I had a guest from another world. He is a king, and his vessel is built from the material that composed the meteors."
Several gazes turned to Mickey.
"Your first meeting?" Aqua asked and Mickey nodded. His eyes drifted to Terra. He hadn't… He hadn't thought about the first meeting for years after it came to his attention that Radiant Garden had fallen, the memory locking itself away with his memories of Ven and Aqua. He couldn't deal with losing yet another friend a mere months after losing them, so he did his best not to think about Radiant Garden. But now…
He could remember the apprentice, coming in through the doors. White hair, a placid expression. Wanting to talk to Ansem but Ansem seemingly upset at the presence of the man.
He had never met Terra, only ever heard about him. Perhaps if he had, he could have seen what had clearly happened. He had heard Aqua's words when they woke up. "You, you." Possession or mind-control. Perhaps both. And now, knowing what he did, it was unfortunately clear to him what must have happened. But that would imply that Xehanort was alive, and Mickey couldn't deal with that, wouldn't deal with that, because that mean that Aqua's and Ven's sacrifices had been for nothing and that Mickey had done nothing while that evil darkness user moved across the worlds for ten years.
Donald realizes that it's talking about Mickey. "He had much to tell, and we talked for many hours, but one story in particular caught my interest—that of a key called the 'Keyblade'."
Sora couldn't help the giggle that slipped out of his mouth. "What happened to World Order, your majesty?" He asked. "I highly doubt that Donald would approve of that."
Mickey gave the boy a smile. "Like we said earlier, World Order wasn't that much a thing when the four of us were traveling around," he replied, with a head nod in the way of Aqua and the others. "And Ansem clearly had some idea of the outside world already, it wasn't like I was dropping it all new on him."
"It is said to hold phenomenal power. One legend says its wielder saved the world, when another says that he wrought chaos and ruin upon it."
At that, the three older Keyblade Wielders looked away, thoughts swirling in each of their heads. It had been a harsh lesson the three of them had to learn during those weeks, when fighting Xehanort and Vanitas. That Keyblades could be used for evil and at the behest of Darkness. Master Eraqus had always taught them that Keyblades were weapons of light and anyone who had one were then warriors of light. The idea that someone evil could use one… wasn't even crossing their minds.
"I must know what this Keyblade is."
At this line, Naminé couldn't help but remember, as much as she didn't want to, Marluxia's obsession with the Keyblade. His want to know it, to control it, to the point that he was willing to destroy Sora's entire mind to control it. A want seemingly created from nothing, as Marluxia's memories were nothing but blank before his time in the Organization. What was so special about the Keyblade that it drew people to it, wanting to understand it?
"A key opens doors. It must be connected to the door that I have opened."
Donald and Goofy realize that the King had met Ansem in the past and that he knew about Keyblades.
Axel paused, thinking back over the words. So, it wasn't Xehanort quite yet, but he knew the man had written at least one report pretending to be Ansem. After he… Axel blinked. He knew that the apprentices, minus Ienzo, had done something to Ansem, had gotten rid of him. For the longest time, he had believed they had killed the man, but that clearly wasn't true if he was alive. So, where had he been?
Goofy wonders where Mickey could be, and Aerith says there are only more and more questions.
"Story of our lives," Roxas muttered. Every time he had learned something, about himself or Xion or even Axel, it had only led to more and more questions. He had never gotten a clear answer. He hoped he would now.
Sora says that they know something and know what they have to do. Yuffie tells him he has to go back to Hollow Bastion.
Aqua made a face, something copied by the few other adults in the room. Sora needed a break, a time to take a breather and process everything that had happened to him in the past couple of hours. He needed to sleep, probably, needed to eat, needed something more than just throwing himself back into work.
Sora agrees but Donald says that the Ocean Between is full of Heartless, but Leon tells them to talk to Cid. The four of them leave the shop and Yuffie muses over Hollow Bastion, remarking that she can barely remember it.
Kairi felt a pang in her chest, relating to Yuffie. They were both from Radiant Garden, both from the same place. And yet, they both could barely remember it.
Leon points out that it has been nine years since they've been there and Aerith wonders how they're all doing.
"Who's she talking about?" Naminé questioned, hearing the plural in Aerith's voice and Sora paused.
"I think she is talking about the others that she once knew, who lived in Radiant Garden," the boy said. "Like Cloud and the others."
Sora meets with Cid and tells him they need to get back to Hollow Bastion. Donald says that it's a traffic jam of Heartless and asks Cid if he can do anything.
"Sora, did Cid give your Gummiship weapons?" Riku questioned, raising an eyebrow at the boy when he didn't answer immediately. "Sora?"
"Not… yet?" Sora responded and Riku's second eyebrow went up to join his first. Kairi giggled into her hand. "What? We needed it to defend ourselves."
Riku shook his head slowly with a sigh. Giving Sora access to guns on a ship he already seemed extremely excited about piloting… Riku couldn't see that ending well.
Cid remarks that taking care of Heartless is usually their job and Donald asks what they should do. Sora says there must be some way and Cid says they simply have to go around instead of through.
"There sure are a lot of pathways around the worlds, aren't there?" Kairi mused and Sora nodded, echoed by Aqua and Ven. While the three of them hadn't ever used Gummiships before, preferring their gliders, it hadn't stopped them from moving around the worlds freely, even before all of this.
Cid says they should install a new Navigation Gummi and go around but Goofy says they don't have any new Navigation Gummis. Cid tells them to go down to the secret waterway and that there's one down there.
"The caves in the sewer?" Ven asked, thinking back to Sora prior visit to Traverse Town and Sora nodded.
Cid reveals that when he arrived in Traverse Town nine years ago he stashed it there in case they ever needed to go back. Kairi questions the nine years ago and Cid explains that they escaped from Hollow Bastion and ended up in Traverse Town.
Lucky, Axel thought, curling one hand into a fist and trying not to think about… everything that had happened, both before and after his and Isa's… transformation into Nobodies. At least you got out. Many people didn't. 'Ri, his grandmother. The women from the salon, the man who sold flowers.
Goofy realizes that Hollow Bastion is their Homeworld and Cid says that he never guessed a kid like Sora would end up needing the Navigation Gummi. Sora says that he's not a kid.
Yes, you are. The thought made its way to all of the adults in the room. Sora was fourteen when he faced this problem. He was only fifteen now when he had saved the worlds again. He was very much a kid.
We should have been there, should have been there, Aqua thought, looking down at her hands, the train of thought very familiar to her ever since she started to watch this. We should have been there to take the burden off their shoulders, should have guided them, taken care of them. But they hadn't. And Sora and Riku and Kairi had suffered for it.
Cid corrects Sora, saying that he's not just a kid, before telling him to go and get the Gummi. He says he'll do some maintenance on the ship with Goofy and Donald's help and Sora agrees, he and Kairi leaving the shop.
"It wasn't dangerous down in the waterways, was it?" Terra asked and Sora shrugged.
"A little, there were some Heartless, but nothing that I couldn't handle," Sora responded. Aqua winced. Again, he should be taking a break, not going and throwing himself into danger again.
The two of them make their way down the waterway, Sora shielding Kairi from the Heartless.
Kairi made a face at herself on screen. She wasn't… But it was fine. Kairi had her own Keyblade now and she wouldn't be helpless again. Never again. She would learn to fight, and she would be right there next to Sora, the two of them fighting Heartless and never being separated again.
The two of them make it to the cavern, where there is no Heartless. Kairi walks up to the mural, remarking that places like these are always exciting and Sora says that it's like the cave back on their island.
Riku looked away. The Secret Place, Their place. Until Sora brought Kairi, because of course he wanted to spend time with her. Their place becoming their place.
The sun in the painting shines brightly and gives Sora the Navigation Gummi. Kairi asks if it is the Gummi and Sora confirms it, saying they should take it back to Cid.
Mickey couldn't help but wonder how it was that Cid managed to hide the Gummi in the wall like that. Last he knew, Gummis couldn't change shape, not like it clearly had.
Kairi looks to the moon mural through the tunnel and mentions a light in the darkness. Sora says that's like her grandmother's story and Kairi is surprised before remembering, saying that they were together all along.
"Man, you're really out of it, aren't you?" Axel asked, able to see was probably everyone else was missing. He had gotten used to reading body language while in the Organization because it wasn't like he could rely on their words to be truthful.
"Yes," Kairi admitted with a hint of embarrassment, looking down to the ground and not making eye contact with anyone. "I can't really remember any of this looking back on it now. My first memory that I can remember concretely from after I lost my heart would probably be Sora's and my goodbye, when all the worlds were being restored. Everything before that, even once I'm freed, is… foggy. Except for giving Sora my charm."
Naminé flinched at the mention of the charm, trying not to think about it. About white halls and desperation and lightning crackling down the walls, sadistic laughter following after it.
"You should have said something," Sora told her, twisting to look at her. He hadn't… How had he not realized that Kairi wasn't fully awake yet?
"How did no one notice?" Vanitas asked with an eyeroll, a sneer in his words. Honestly, he knew nothing of the girl and was watching second hand but even he could tell that Kairi wasn't fully there.
Sora looked to the side. He should have…
Because they were also all exhausted, Aqua thought. Sora had just come from fighting who knows how many Heartless, half of the time without a Keyblade, had to fight his closest friend, twice, stabbed himself and got himself turned into a Heartless, and then fought through more Heartless once Kairi saved him. It's no wonder why they're all clearly working on half of their energy.
Sora says that it's funny, that he looked everywhere for her but that she was with him the whole time. Sora says it's time to get Riku back.
After everything, after everything, he would always come back for you, Riku's thoughts wondered. Why? What have you done to deserve that loyalty? Riku sighed slightly, closing his eyes. Nothing.
Kairi asks if he thinks if things will ever be the same between the three of them. She starts to say that Riku's lost his heart but trails off.
"Well, not the same but close enough," Kairi said, looking at the two of them. "It would be rather boring if everything just went back to the way it was, wouldn't it?"
"Of course!" Sora responded. "We've been through so much. Just because we've changed, and our lives have changed doesn't mean anything has to change between us."
But I want it to change, the other two thought, both unaware that the other was thinking the same. I want it to change between the two of us.
Sora says that Riku will be okay and that he turned into a Heartless and Kairi saved him.
"Not that it was the same," Sora corrected his past self. What had happened with him and what had happened with Riku was vastly different.
Sora says they're here thanks to her. Kairi says she didn't want to just forget him, she couldn't.
"Also, Princess of Heart magic," Kairi said offhandedly. "Even if we have no idea how it works."
Sora says that it means that their hearts are connected, and the light of their hearts broke through the darkness. He saw that light and it saved him.
I hope so, Aqua thought, with a quick look to Terra. If all hearts are connected and they can help each other out of the darkness, I hope that means we can help Terra. We can pull him from the darkness Xehanort threw him into. It didn't leave her mind that when they left this place, Terra would be returned to the darkness, to being imprisoned inside of Xehanort's heart, trapped in the darkness. Sure, she would be returned to the Realm of Darkness, but at least there she was herself. She existed for herself. She didn't know what she would do when that time came, and she had to let go of Terra again.
Kairi says that no matter how deep the darkness, there will always be a light shining within. Sora says he guesses it's more than just a fairytale.
"The Age of Fairytales," Ven murmured to himself for no apparent reason and a pang went through his head. Why… did that mean so much to him?
Kairi says let's go save Riku but Sora pauses, saying that Kairi can't go with them.
"Not anymore," Kairi said, giving Sora a look. "I have a Keyblade of my own now. I'm not being left behind again."
"Of course," Sora responded.
Kairi asks why and Sora says it's too dangerous. Kairi says they've made it this far by sticking together and that Sora can't do it alone, but Sora says that they're aren't alone even if they're apart.
"We're never alone," Sora murmured, eyes moving to Riku, then Kairi. "None of us. We always have each other in our hearts."
Aqua reached out, wrapping an arm around Ven and holding him close, feeling Terra's hand settled on her shoulder. The three of us are always connected, through our Wayfinders and through our hearts.
Both Roxas and Xion leaned into Axel's sides. The three of us spent one of the most dangerous, backstabbing year together. Even Kingdom Hearts itself won't be able to keep us apart if it is in fact true that we must be alive in some capacity.
Vanitas rolled his eyes. Such sappiness. His chest burned and he pushed down the urge to summon an Unversed. He didn't need anyone, not at all.
Naminé looked down at her hands. Are the two of us… connected? She wondered, thinking back to the boy with silver hair from the while corridors. Even though I don't have a heart and yours is a replica? Can we still… be together?
Mickey smiled as he looked around the room. It was clear that, no matter where they came from or what they went through, Keyblade Wielders always had a habit of coming back to each other, no matter what.
Kairi asks if she can't help, and Sora admits that she'd kind of be in the way.
Roxas snorted. "Brutal," he muttered. Kairi gave him a look.
Kairi says he wins and gives him something. He looks down and sees her lucky charm from before when they were building the raft.
Naminé gazed at the charm, seeing all the variations of it in her head. Everything she had changed and manipulated.
The Lucky Charm turned into one made of a yellow star which turned into a silver crown on a chain which turned back into a yellow star.
Kairi explains that it's her lucky charm and he has to bring it back to her. Sora says he will.
Sora blinked in surprise, suddenly reaching down into one of his pockets and pulling out the charm.
"Here," he told her, pressing it into her hand. "I brought it back." Kairi paused, looking at the charm before shaking her head and gently giving it back to him.
"Keep it," she told him. "This fight isn't over. You'll need it until then." Keep it, as a token of my affection for you.
"If you're sure," Sora said and at her nod, he placed it back in his pocket. "I'll take good care of it."
Kairi asks if he promises, and Sora says he promises. They look back at the moon mural.
"And I always keep my promises," Sora told her.
"I know," she replied. Always. You'll always come back to me.
