The light of the Green Room buzzed overhead. The silence was deafening and no one spoke. It was taking Kairi a while to figure out what she should do in this situation. She wanted to laugh to herself, or maybe even out loud—she was in another world. It's what Sora and Riku had always dreamed of. Sora and Riku… Where ever they were, she was thinking about them. Maybe they'd gone to another world just as she had. Maybe they were in the same world as Kairi?

"Yuffie, Leon, you're kinda familiar with these parts, right? This world, I mean." Kairi asked, hoping to gather more information. Leon waved a hand in the air to signal his response.

"Well, we've been here long enough."

"Almost ten years to be exact!" Yuffie chimed in. Kairi put a finger to her chin, carefully choosing her words.

"So then, you would know when there was someone new in town, right?"

"Just like we knew you were new. Oh! I rhymed," giggled Yuffie. It was hard to tell when she was being serious, with her bubbly personality. She was even gigglier than Kairi, which was a surprise.

"Well, do you know if there have been any other new arrivals, besides me? Specifically, two boys named Sora and Riku." Kairi waited for their response and Leon returned it.

"That is specific. But there's been no one new besides you." Yuffie giggled at Leon's rhyme, pointing it out but didn't say anything after that. "Why do you ask?"

"Just…they were—I mean, they are my friends. They were on the island with me when it got swallowed by darkness. I was wondering if those who disappear together are found together."

"I wish we could help you…uhh…" Leon trailed off and then stopped completely. The three were silent with confusion. Yuffie was the first one to say something.

"Oh gosh! Come to think of it, we don't know your name! We even know your missing friends' names, but not yours!" Kairi let out a light-hearted laugh. It brought her up from her deep thinking about the whereabouts of her friends and back to reality.

"My name's Kairi."

"Kairi…" Leon said, "must be a common name."

"You know," Yuffie said, "I think I've heard that name somewhere before too."

Kairi had only ever met one person named Kairi—herself. She'd lived on that small bunch of islands since she very little, and before that she doubted anyone would've known who she was. Kairi thought she never was one to make a lasting impression. When she arrived at the Destiny Islands, she was a very quiet child, and though she somehow grew out of it, right now she didn't have much to say. In any other moment she knew she'd be asserting what she needed and where she wanted to go but right now, she felt lost, because in any other moment she'd be with Sora and Riku. Kairi wasn't sure if it was her thoughts getting to her, or maybe it was the uncomfortable atmosphere, but at that moment she was sure she felt a chill run down her spine and to her hands.

A ball of darkness appeared in the room just then. It made a sound as though it was trying to suck the light out of the room and, making the lamps shake. That was immediately followed by the sound of clattering metal, like a suit of armor. A strange creature appeared in the center of the darkness just then, shaking with the essence of darkness itself. It looked directly at her, its bright yellow eyes stood out against its black carapace, it's stare seeming to pierce right through Kairi's heart.

Kairi's hands shook with that chill that had overcame her body earlier, but she snapped out of it as soon as she heard Leon yell, he was swinging his large blade over his shoulder, looking right at the monster that had suddenly appeared just moments before.

"Yuffie, Kairi, go!"

Yuffie threw open a red door at the back of the room and Kairi followed right behind. She resisted the urge to look back, even when she heard the sound of breaking glass she still continued forward. There was another girl beyond the door in the next room, and while Kairi caught her breath, she could still make out a long pink dress and brown hair that called out Yuffie's name, her voice was soft and she ran toward the red door and slammed it behind her and locking it.

"What was that?" The soft spoken girl said. Yuffie took a moment to steady herself from the excitement. Kairi was breathing heavily too, although she'd only ran from one room to the next, her heart was beating incredibly fast. Was that the heartless? Was that what they were talking about—the nightmarish creatures that stole hearts? Kairi's own heart was about to jump out of her chest, her hands tingling so much she had to literally shake the feeling out of her.

"A heartless…" Yuffie huffed. "Nothing I couldn't handle, but we've got a princess to protect." Yuffie winked over and Kairi and she blushed at the compliment…or was it? Maybe Yuffie was just commenting on how damsel-like Kairi was? All this excitement was putting weird thoughts in Kairi's head, she needed to ground herself.

Kairi shook off some more nerves and looked around the room. She noticed two characters beyond Yuffie and the other girl, one seemed out of it, frozen behind the door, and the other was studying him. Kairi watched them for a while, long enough to where the two girls noticed her gaze. The girl in the long pink dress stepped forward and excused herself.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners? My name is Aerith, I'm a friend of Yuffie and Leon's." Aerith was a bit older than Kairi and much taller, but she seemed sweet, almost giving off an older-sister vibe. She waved her hand over to the two strangers behind her. "My guests here are Goofy," The taller stranger stood quite awkwardly, but he seemed to be rather mannerly. He turned his attention away from his friend and tipped off his hat toward Kairi as he lowered into a knightly bow. She returned his gesture with a small curtsey, but cracked her composure when she made eye contact with the other individual. He was short and stout and his beak was hung open in shock. From the looks of it he'd been caught behind the door when it swung open. Goofy waved to his friend. "This here's Donald Duck." Donald fell forward onto the ground and groaned as Kairi and the other girls laughed.

"Is he alright?" Kairi asked, not forgetting her manners. At that moment Donald jumped from the floor and shook his head about, his feathers ruffled and his face was stern. He yelled an obscenity that, gladly, no one was able to make out, as his voice was scratchy and ambiguous.

"Who did that?!" Donald shouted grabbing at his bill, rubbing out a bruise there. He pointed once more to the door that connected the two rooms from which Yuffie and Kairi had come tunning through. Yuffie stepped forward and knelt down in front of him to meet his eyes. She smiled apologetically and turning her head to the side.

"Sorry about that, Donald. We were in a bit of a rush." She patted his head in a friendly way that made him jump. He blushed and stomped his foot.

"Oooohhhh," he grumbled, scrunching up his bill. Yuffie was such a good friend to everyone, there was no way he could ever stay mad at her. Yuffie returned to Aerith's side, but they couldn't help noticing Goofy looking around quizzically at Kairi then back to the girls, to Donald, and then back to Kairi.

"Uh, pardon me for asking but…who are ya?"

"Right!" Kairi jumped, "and when you were so polite to introduced yourself. My name is Kairi."

"Well uh, if you don't mind me askin' Kairi, but did you come from another wor—"

"WAAAHHH!" Donald suddenly interrupted Goofy, flailing his feathers about. "That's classified, Goofy!" Goofy put a gloved finger hand over his mouth and guffawed, making a shushing noise to himself and nodding understandingly before Yuffie helped them out.

"It's alright boys, Kairi did come from another world. It was swallowed up by the heartless and she wound up here—just like me and the gang did once upon a time. She's from...uhm..." Yuffie looked over to Kairi with wide eyes. "I actually don't know where you're from."

Kairi smiled her response, the sound of her home on her words warming her.

"Destiny Islands huh? Sounds pretty."

"What about your world Yuffie, Aerith, and Leon too?"

"And Cid!"

"Cid?"

"He runs the accessory shop here, we used to buy from him back at Hollow Bastion all the time."

"Hollow Bastion? Is that where you're from?" Its name sounded empty compared to that of Destiny Islands'.

"Well yes…and no. Yes and no…and no."

"Another no?"

"Yes."

"Two yeses and one no."

"No, just two yeses and—wait, you're confusing me!"

Kairi scratched her head and motioned for Yuffie to continue. The ninja cleared her throat like she was going to begin a story and the whole room listened in.

"No."

"So three no's?" Kairi said, raising an eyebrow. Yuffie cracked herself up with her own joke and waved away the tears from her eye before continuing again.

"Yes, we came from a world called Hallow Bastion, but no, it wasn't always called Hollow Bastion. Yes, it was taken over by heartless… but no, it did not disappear. They consumed nearly the entire town. By then most people had already left, most not willingly." Her tone had become more solemn, a change from the spunky self that Kairi was beginning to know. The room could see the memories fill her eyes as she spoke. "The only thing left was the castle… but at that point that didn't matter either because the princess had already disappeared, and the king…" She stopped, realizing her words were stealing her breath away. Yuffie sighed, taking in a deep breath, but she didn't continue. Aerith came to her and put a hand on her shoulder, finishing her words for her.

"It used to be so beautiful…it wasn't a 'hollow bastion'. We lived in Radiant Garden—waterfalls and gardens and a town that surrounded the most beautiful castle you'd ever seen."

"Radiant Garden?" Kairi said, and like her own home those words warmed her heart. That sounded right.

"Radiant Garden is—was the center of all worlds. People used to be in and out of that world from all different ends of gummi space—that is, until the connection between worlds was broken."

"It's so vivid." Kairi said closing her eyes. She could almost hear the gentle waterfalls that fell off to surround gardens so flush with flowers that you could pick some every day and there'd be even more than there was before. "I can almost imagine being there."

"Maybe you were when you were younger." Aerith smiled gently, "As I said, there were people coming in from all sorts of different worlds. You could have come from your islands before the connection severed."

Kairi's head throbbed where she'd fallen earlier. Her head hurt as she mulled everything over. She didn't really remember anything before she came to the island, but the pain at the back of her head brought something to the front of her mind… She thought of picking flowers once more before Leon came through the door.

"WAAAAAAHH!" Everyone heard Donald shout and Goofy carefully peeled back the door to reveal a once-again stunned Donald. Goofy unstuck him from the wall and carried him away from harm's-way so he didn't get hit any third time.

"The poor feather—er, I mean feller," Goofy said and chuckled.

Leon didn't bat an eyelash at it, instead his eyes fell upon Kairi. He was bruised and his hair stuck up in places it hadn't before. Aerith looked up at him with her doe eyes, but before she could say his name Leon spoke.

"We have to get her out of here, it's not safe." Leon's face was stern and Yuffie tried to chime in with an optimistic response.

"If it's heartless, Leon, then it's nothing we can't hand—"

"No. It's not just heartless. They're getting bigger, stronger, and they've been multiplying like nothing we've seen before."

"Multiplying?" Aerith asked softly.

"I believe the keybearer has found his way to this world. Goofy, Donald, I'm sending you two out to look for him." Goofy saluted to Leon and Donald jumped up at attention as well. The two marched out of the green room and the sudden silence was briefly followed by sounds of emerging darkness and shouts.

Yuffie ran over to the room's entrance and peered down the hallway to check if the coast was clear. A bright light came from the hallway when the room suddenly felt cold. Yuffie looked back, her face covered in frost and her hair sticking up at the sides. Her teeth chattered into an awkward smile.

"Blue Rhapsody," she shivered, notifying the presence of an ice heartless. "I think we should go." Yuffie shook off the frost from her nose as Leon threw out a hand, realizing that the hallway was a no-go, he pointed out the back.

"Yuffie, Aerith, Kairi, let's go!" Yuffie turned to Kairi and grabbed her hand, pulling her out the back door onto the balcony, the air was cool and the stars were high in the sky. They twinkled so brightly and so strangely that Kairi almost lost herself in them before she was swept from her feet, literally, feeling a warmth around her body.

Leon had scooped up Kairi and she felt a jolt as he jumped off the balcony and landed solidly on the ground with her in his arms. He let her down then and she took a step back, not realizing there was a ledge to lose her footing on. The three of them reached out to all pull Kairi back to her feet at once. Kairi looked up at everyone who wanted to help her without hesitation with a flush in her cheeks.

A running waterway leading down to a large gate at the end of the alley ran behind her. She looked back up to face Aerith who gave her a reassuring smile, but the girl's faced revealed its solemn thoughts as she looked over toward Leon.

"Leon…this alley." She warned.

"I know...but there no other way to the first district from here since our other way is currently blocked off." Leon looked to Kairi, explaining the situation as to not worry her or keep her in the dark. "We need to get you back to the first district—where it's safe. We could've gone out the hotel's front door and taken a short run to the gates, but with those heartless blocking the way, going around through the alleyway, back to the second district, and then to the first will be our only shot. It'll be dangerous, so stay close."

Kairi nodded firmly, clenching her fists. She had to be of help in this situation, she thought. She wasn't going to be left behind again.

Darkness surrounded the group, congealing into individual balls of blackness, heartless slowly swimming out of each one. They were surrounded.

Yuffie made the first move, her pointed ninja stars whizzing through the air and taking out two heartless. The dark creatures twitched uncontrollably, making their way toward the group like stop-motion figures. Leon took out three smaller heartless with one swoop of his sword, clearing a path in front of them which they moved though without hesitation.

There were four heartless close at foot behind them and a bright light flashed behind Kairi, who turned to see Aerith in a stance of power. Her dress hiked up to reveal large combative boots. Aerith put her hands together and cried out, magic erupting from her hands. Several heartless had been vanquished back into darkness, yet their numbers only seemed to increase.

"They're not going away!" cried Yuffie.

"Let's go!" Leon called. Aerith pulled Kairi's hand, who'd been stuck looking back at the heartless in horror, their bright yellow eyes staring into her own deep blue ones. Aerith's hand was warm from casting magic and it calmed Kairi down as the group hurried through a small door at the end of the alley that led back to the second district.

Kairi's eyes were on the sky again as the buildings passed her by in stupor. The walls seemed to go up so high around the city, she could hardly see the stars in this district. Maybe it was how fast she was running, or maybe the night was just getting younger, but Kairi could've sworn that she saw one of the stars go out.

"Look out!" shouted Yuffie. Kairi snapped back to attention. The heartless were mere shadows this time, but larger, darker, and charging right for them. They'd been backed into the corner of the second district. Yuffie, Leon, and Aerith formed a wall between Kairi and the heartless. Each of their backs looked so strong and willing to protect someone they'd just met, and as she studied the wings on the back of Leon's jacket, she was reminded of Riku

Her eyes dropped to the floor when she remembered the last time she'd seen him. Again, she found herself in a place she wasn't supposed to be. But she wanted things to be different this time.

Her three guardians charged forward at the heartless, beating them down effortlessly, yet every time they seemed to finish one off, two more would appear in its place. Kairi's eyes darted back and forth between everyone's battles. She was so caught in awe it took her a moment to realize that the ruthless heartless that was in front of Leon had disappeared into a portal of darkness… and reappeared right in front of Kairi.

"Kairi!" Leon called. He reached out at her, the rest of the gang turning their attention back to Kairi was well.

She could feel her heart in her throat. The darkness towered in front of her, cocking its head in different directions, it's long, claw-like fingers twitching about in different directions. Seemingly, it didn't have a mouth, but when it puffed out its chest and raised its head up to the sky, a large gaping hole appeared from the middle of its head, opening down to its chest. The most blood curdling of screams erupted from its mouth, shaking a few more stars from the sky and though it only screamed once, its mouth did not close. It stayed open wide and the creature lowered its eyes down toward the fearful girl in front of it…and then, it lunged forward. Her world seemed to slow.

Kairi remembered what it was like to be afraid of the dark. When she first came to the Destiny Islands… That thought was on her mind a lot lately—all this uncertainty and fear bringing back her old self, when she was just a child. The first thing she remembered was darkness… and before that…? Something sparked at her center. A handful of flowers and someone to give them to. Someone showing her what it meant to put up a fight. Before darkness she recalled fairy tales, knights, princesses… She recalled light.

"No!" Kairi shut her eyes as the heartless lunged at her, throwing her hands out in front of her. She felt her back hit the wall, all the air escaping from her body in a single breath. She felt a sudden weight her and witnessed a bright flash of light even behind her eyes shut so tight.

She waited to be clawed to death, to have her heart stolen, but the moment never came. Carefully, she opened her eyes and saw light bursting from every direction.

Leon looked like he'd seen a ghost. Yuffie had just thrown a star, but her wide eyes were locked on Kairi. Aerith, too had just let off a blast of magic, creating the first of four lights that Kairi had seen.

The second light was from her necklace, shining so bright it left her skin feeling hot.

The third light was from the heartless, which erupted into dapples, popping like a balloon and from the inside, letting out a shining light.

It was a heart. The precious thing floated up to the sky, spinning until it vanished into the night above.

The fourth light was from Kairi's own hands. It was hard to ignore the long blade of solid sheen that extended from her hands and ended at where the heartless had just been. It was perfect in her hands—a large, silver key.

The heartless did not reappear, but before Kairi could think anything of it, she heard a voice, clear in her mind. It was a woman's voice. It was familiar, calm and drawn out. It whispered the word over and over again in her mind…

Keyblade…

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Originally, this chapter was a bit too on the nose with some of its calls to lore, so I've dialed it back down on that end. Kingdom Hearts will never not keep me going and I hope that when things get tough and you feel fear you can call upon a time where you knew light. Lately I've been indulging in my art as I've began to sell at conventions as well as working on my own fantasy adventure novel in my free time. Somehow all the things to do pull me away from this fic as well as give me the creative energy to continue returning to it. Thank you again for turning in and as I did in the past, I do take suggestions for character indulgences and world indulgences in case you have a favorite you want to see a little more love given to. This fic is fan to fan so do leave a comment and share if you can.