"Heads up!" came Sora's voice from the top of the palm tree.

He hit the tree with his wooden sword and a batch of fresh coconuts fell. Before they could hit the sand, Kairi caught them all with a basket. Sora gave her a thumbs up and she responded with a grin.

"You two comin' up with a new game or sumthin'?" The question came from Wakka, who had been playing ball with Tidus by the shore.

"We've created a game too!" said the latter. "Everyone has to chase a ball and score goals underwater. You can play, but you'll never be star players like us!"

"That sounds fun!" Sora jumped off the tree and landed beside Kairi.

"Save it for later, Sora," she said. "Sorry boys, but we're busy right now."

"Busy with what?" asked Wakka. "What do ya even need so many coconuts for?"

"Grandma asked me to get some so she can make coconut oil."

"Why didn't you just buy some in the marketplace?" Tidus asked.

"Because… it's more fun this way."

It was a weak excuse, but if she didn't come up with something Sora would instead, and he was quite possibly the worst liar in the worlds. Thankfully, it was enough for Tidus and Wakka, who just wished them good luck and extended an invitation to play some other time.

They met up with Riku on the raft as he studied a map of the Islands, but he stopped to help them load the coconuts onto the crate with all the others they had collected. Other crates were filled with canned and dried food, so the coconuts were mainly a source of drinking water.

With the last crate sealed, the three pushed the raft to the shallows and hopped aboard. When the raft floated without issue, Sora whooped and jumped and almost kicked their provisions into the sea. Kairi was so enthralled by the stirring of the planks beneath her feet she paid it no mind, but Riku started giving him an earful. Not even a minute in though, Sora gave a mischievous smile and splashed Riku with seawater that caught Kairi too.

"Sora!" Kairi laughed and splashed him back, only for Riku to join in and shower them both.

Suddenly Sora jumped Riku, the two lost their balance and fell into the water. Kairi laughed even harder. Riku narrowed his eyes, grabbed her by the leg and pulled her into the water too.

"Hey!" Riku only laughed at her protest and soon they were all splashing each other and laughing like little kids.

They were soaked and giggling when they finally pulled the raft back to shore from the test drive. Riku was wringing water out of his hair and Kairi removing sand from her shoes when Sora proposed an alternative way to dry out:

"Let's race! Whoever wins gets to be captain of the Destiny Voyager."

Riku smirked. "If you wanted a shot at being captain, you should have picked something you could win."

"Sounds fun! Let's do it," Kairi said.

The cove was their favorite place to race, with the slopes, wooden platforms and palm trees serving as the perfect obstacle course. Per their usual rules, they started near the entrance, took any route to the opposite end to touch a star decoration, and then made it back to the starting point.

Once they were in place, Kairi went to start the kitchen timer they'd brought to jumpstart their races — because otherwise the one doing it would always rush ahead. While she was out of earshot, Riku inched closer to Sora and said just short of a whisper:

"If I win, I get to share a Paopu with Kairi."

Sora's head snapped toward him. "HUH!?"

Riku's expression was casual, like he had just commented on the weather. "Deal? The winner gets to share a Paopu with Kairi."

"Wha— Wait a minute—"

"It's about to go off!"

Riku and Sora went quiet as Kairi hurried back to their side and prepared to run, even though Sora's thoughts were going a mile a minute in all directions.

The timer rang and the three took off. Kairi immediately fell behind while Riku and Sora rushed ahead trying to gain the lead. Sora managed to keep up until the halfway mark when Riku suddenly sprinted meters ahead, touched the star tree and gave Sora a victorious smirk as he made his way back.

Sora pushed his legs and his lungs to their limit in hopes of catching up, but by the time Riku reached the halfway mark of the return route a full five seconds before him, winning seemed impossible. But just as he was beginning to panic, Kairi shouted from behind him:

"Do your best, Sora!"

Her cheer fired Sora up. He shouted and clambered up the nearest platform, a tower whose top was normally accessible via a loose ladder on the other side. Just as Riku reached the platforms in the final stretch of the course, Sora reached the top, grabbed onto the ladder and kicked the edge of the tower, plunging the ladder and himself forward. Riku's eyes widened when he suddenly appeared right next to him. Just before hitting the floor, Sora leaped and surpassed Riku for good. With one last sprint enhanced by his momentum, he crossed the finish line seconds before Riku.

By the time Kairi arrived, Riku was bracing on his knees and panting and Sora was celebrating his victory.

"Woohoo! I won!"

"Way to go, Sora!" Kairi congratulated. "I guess that means I have to say 'Aye aye, Captain Sora' now."

She did a little salute and chuckled, which got a grin out of Sora.

"You just… got lucky," Riku said, walking up to them after catching his breath. "So, what do we do now?"

"Nothing," said Kairi. "We've completed the raft and we gathered provisions, the only thing left to do is tell my parents and your mom about our plans. Until then, we have nothing to do."

"Sweet, I love having nothing to do," said Sora while resting his hands on the back of his head. "That means we can do anything we want."

"How about we join the others then? I'm sure we can find something fun to do."

They both agreed. Rather than run ahead though, Sora let Kairi take the lead and spoke to Riku in a lower voice:

"Riku, what you said before the race…"

"What, the Paopu thing? That was just a joke. You should have seen your face."

Sora frowned. Riku's voice had the same swagger as usual, but something in it felt stiff.

Back on the seashore, Riku and Sora decided to play Tidus and Wakka's new game and Kairi opted to spend some time with Selphie, Ryukku and Yuna and indulge in one of their favorite group pastimes: doing each others' hair.

So an hour later, Riku and Sora were throwing a ball around in the sea, and Kairi was wandering the island with a basket and collecting flowers to decorate the girls' hair. Having picked flowers there her whole life, she knew well where the best spots for finding them were, meaning she could get a full basket in less than twenty minutes if she wanted to, but Kairi preferred to take it slow. She stopped to admire each individual flower and note how despite being similarly beautiful, they also had unique quirks. One had an oddly shaped blotch on a petal, another had a half-eaten leaf, two others looked like twins sprouting from the same stalk, or one flower in a bunch stood out for not having bloomed yet. Kairi thought that their quirks let each bloom stand out amidst their fellow flowers while also making each patch more beautiful than the sum of its parts.

After some search, she found amidst some foliage at the base of a hill an abundance of her favorite kind of flower — Yua flowers, aster blooms that came in all sorts of colors and the same kind as the ones on her necklace. Of course, she stopped to admire them and pick up some. However, she was surprised to find that behind all the foliage was a hole leading to the inside of the hill. It wasn't the hole that surprised her, but the notion that she was so distracted she didn't realize she was next to such a familiar place.

I haven't been here in a long time, she thought. Since she was there already, Kairi figured it'd be nice to pay a visit.

She had to duck her head to fit through the hole, then continued through a narrow tunnel deeper into the hill, ending in a small cave. There, the constant sound of the waves was but a hushed whisper. The rocky walls were adorned with sturdy roots and dozens of scribbles.

Strangest of all, at the opposite end of the entrance, there was a big brown door, always locked, with no doorknob or keyhole.

Kairi paid little attention to the door, having grown used to its presence in the ten years she'd visited this secret place she and Riku found when they were little, before Sora came to the Islands. Rather, she ran her hand and smiled at the drawings that filled the walls depicting fights against monsters, princesses and castles, aliens and spaceships, funny animals and random shapes. Each of them was a precious memory.

She stopped at one particular drawing of her and Sora's heads facing each other. They had carved it on the day she first took him to the secret place. Kairi crouched to touch her old doodle of Sora. He had a smile on his face, like always. A silly, pure and wonderful smile that could brighten up even a musty cave like this.

A small wish tugged at the back of her mind. Kairi picked up a sharp pebble and pressed it next to the image of herself Sora had drawn. An inner voice that sounded a lot like Riku's warned her against doing that. But in the end, the wish spoke louder and she scratched the pebble along the wall.

The drawing now featured her little self offering a Paopu fruit to Sora. Kairi smiled wistfully at the image. For a moment she dared to imagine Sora offering her a Paopu too, but quickly forsook the thought. Why would someone as strong and full of light as Sora ever share a Paopu with her?

Suddenly she heard a rustle, like that of a snake creeping on the sand. Kairi jumped up and turned toward the noise.

Standing in the shadows was a hunched figure in a brown robe with a hood covering their face. No body parts were visible, as if the robe hid only formless darkness.

"Who are you?" Kairi asked, trying not to let her fear show, nor the wave of cold that suddenly ran through her veins.

"I've come to see the door to this world," said the figure. His voice was deep to a bone-chilling degree. It sounded almost disconnected from his body. "This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness. Soon to be completely eclipsed."

"What are you talking about? You're freaking me out!" She hadn't heard the man coming through the entrance, and she doubted the large door would be so silent. It was like he had manifested out of the shadows. "Where did you come from?"

"Attempting to explain would be pointless," the robbed man said, finally acknowledging her presence. "There is so very much to learn. You know so little. One who knows nothing can understand nothing."

"Are you… from the outside world?"

The stranger didn't answer, but given his appearance and the way he spoke, Kairi felt certain of it.

"I know there's a lot I don't know, especially about the outside world. But that's why I want to go out there and learn about it. I want to understand."

"A meaningless effort. You do not have what it takes to open the door. Your strength is lacking."

"What do you mean? What strength do I lack?"

The man lifted his head. Under his hood, she saw nothing but darkness, but Kairi could feel his gaze on her, analyzing her to her core and freezing her in place. After a few seconds, she had to remind herself to breathe.

"Those who are strong move past their constraints," he finally said. "Forsake home to grow beyond its borders. Cast aside attachments to achieve the greater good. Burn the past to the ground to bring forth the desired future. Tell me, do you have the strength to do that?"

"What?! No! I would never do that! That's not strength, it's madness!"

"Then you are weak. If you rely on others you'll never find true strength. New growth cannot exist without the destruction of the old. The door is locked for you."

Kairi looked at the door, wondering if he was talking about it. When she went to address the man again, he was gone. As if he'd never been there.

She stood in the cave for several moments, thinking about everything he had said about strength, darkness, the world, and the door.

Eventually, her gaze turned to the brown door. Even when she was little it had never looked this imposing. She slowly reached her hand out and touched it. The door was strangely warm.

Has it always been this way? she wondered.

After a second or two, she felt a faint vibration. And then there was another one, then another, and another, like the pulsing of a heart.

What is this door, anyway? Why is it here? Where does it lead to?

"Kairi?"

"GAH!" she screamed at the sudden call and the touch on her shoulder. "Riku! You scared me to death!"

"Sorry," he said with a chuckle. "I thought you were hanging out with the girls. What are you doing here?"

"I… got kinda sidetracked."

For a moment she wondered if she should tell him about the robed stranger. But the whole encounter seemed so surreal, she honestly wasn't sure she believed her own memory. Besides, with the raft and the journey ahead, they had enough on their minds already. So Kairi just picked up her flower basket and headed for the exit.

"I should go already, they're probably looking for me. Bye, Riku."

As Kairi ran off from the secret place, she didn't notice when Riku caught sight of her and Sora's drawing — nor his face when he saw her addition.

The sunlight caused her to blink. The sand was soft, the sky clear and the ocean calm. The encounter with the mysterious man felt like something out of a bad dream. Borrowing a page from Riku's book, Kairi told herself her imagination was just making the world more interesting again and pushed the episode to the back of her mind.

She rejoined the girls and they settled on a spot next to a large tree. While Kairi braided Yuna's hair, she noticed Riku trudging down the beach toward the docks. His head was low and his shoulders slumped, the exact opposite of his usual confident steps. It made her uneasy.

She told Yuna and the others she'd be back soon and ran to him.

"Riku!"

He stopped and turned to her. But there was something in his eyes, like he couldn't truly see her and was looking at an apparition. Her heart stung at the sight. She should say something to cheer him up, or at least get him to talk about how he was feeling.

"Is… everything okay?" Bad start, she mentally scolded herself.

"Yeah," he said. She immediately knew he was lying. "I'm just heading back."

"Are you sure? It's still early."

"I know. I just…" He avoided her eyes. "My mom wants me to be home early today."

Why did he have to be so good at avoiding any conversation about his feelings?

Riku didn't speak to her as he unmoored his boat. When he was about to board, Kairi spoke again:

"Riku." He stopped, his back still turned. "If anything's troubling you, you can talk to us. Me and Sora. We're your friends."

He turned to her and gave a weak, barely held smile. "Right."

Kairi watched Riku board his boat and row away, knowing he was hurting but unable to tell why. More than the echo of sorrow he left in her heart, it pained Kairi that she was unable to help.

As dusk arrived, Kairi sat on the Paopu tree and watched the sunset. Maybe it was because she was alone this time, but the way the sun sank into the sea, taking away the light of day with it, made her feel way more melancholic than the previous day.

"Hey there." Kairi turned toward the newcomer and smiled. Some of her gloom disappeared at the sound of his voice.

"Hey, Sora"

He jumped on the tree and sat by her side. Kairi tucked some strands of loose hair behind her ear, maybe in hopes he would notice the flowers on her braids.

It seemed she was in luck, because Sora continued looking at her. "Wow, those are very pretty. Did Selphie do it?"

Kairi blushed when he reached for her hair. "Yes…"

"It's beautiful…"

He went to hold one of the braids but his fingers ended up touching Kairi's cheek. He pulled his hand back awkwardly and turned his head to the sunset.

"It looks good on you."

"Thanks," she said and followed his gaze.

They fell silent after that. It was broken by Sora's humming, and Kairi smiled at his melody. Sometimes they dared to glance at the other, only to look away as soon as they glanced back. Even if it was dithering and uncompromising, the pattern was comfortable. Better to go along with it than risk ruining years of friendship.

Still, Kairi glanced at the Paopu fruits behind Sora and her heart fluttered. He was right here, his hand and the Paopus at her grasp, she just needed to ask…

("It'd feel weird, don't you think?")

She clenched her fists and turned her head away.

Stop thinking about that! If Riku is bothered, I'll only make it worse. He doesn't even think of me that way.

"Hey, Kairi." Sora snapped her out of her thoughts. "Is it just me or is Riku… y'know… different? Like he's…"

"Colder?" she finished. "Withdrawn? Like he's hiding something and not being honest?"

"Yeah…"

Sora, Riku and Kairi knew each other intimately enough to see through any masks they might put up. Which meant Sora and Kairi knew too well of the troubled heart hiding behind the hypercompetent boy who was always on top of everyone. Riku had always been eager to leave the Islands and see the world, but for the last few months — maybe even years — he seemed almost desperate to get away from it all.

"Maybe he's just nervous," Kairi suggested, maybe more to herself than anyone else. "You know, with the preparations and the journey ahead."

"Yeah, that makes sense…"

Silence settled between them again, but doubts persisted in Kairi's mind. Sora's question opened a floodgate she'd been holding back for weeks. She brought her hands to her chest and pondered.

Was the change in Riku's behavior a result of the change in his surroundings? Or did it reflect a change inside him? Had the last few years changed his heart? If that was the case, then what of the boy who was originally her friend? Did he still exist at all?

"Kairi, are you okay?" Sora asked, noticing the way she held herself.

"I'm fine."

He didn't look the least bit convinced. They could see through each other's masks, after all.

"I guess I'm nervous too." She looked at the Ocean, a sight of such comfortable familiarity and at the same time, terrifying uncertainty. "Riku said he wanted things to change, but… What if they change too much? What if we change? What if when we come back, we're different people? What if… What if we're not even friends anymore?"

"Hey, it's okay." Sora put a supportive hand on her shoulder. "I know it looks scary. To be honest… I'm scared too. But knowing I'll be with you guys makes me less scared. Because yeah, maybe things will change, and maybe it won't be the same between the three of us anymore, but if there's one thing I'm certain of, is that no matter how much things change, we'll always be friends. And no matter how far we go, this will always be our home. Which means we can always come back here whenever we need a safe place."

Sora held her hand and looked at her like she was all there was to the world. His eyes glistened in the sunset light.

"Kairi… Whatever happens out there, we'll face it together. I promise."

How did he do it? How did he take all her fears and doubts and made them disappear with a smile? How was it that when she looked into his eyes and held his hand, she felt like everything would be alright? How could he soothe her heart so much simply by existing?

"Thank you, Sora." Her voice and her smile finally returned. "I hope you at least never change."

At night, Kairi occupied herself organizing anything she'd take on the journey ahead into a knapsack. The trip was still a few days off at least, but there had been so much on her mind since she arrived home she decided to keep herself busy with any other activity. There was no point in thinking about Riku's behavior or her feelings for Sora, so why bother?

She spent a good while organizing and reorganizing her things until she couldn't possibly rearrange them anymore. Everything she might need, from essential items to personal ones like the notebook her grandmother gave her and the materials to continue the Wayfinders were accounted for. There was nothing else for her to do.

Maybe Grandma could use a hand making dinner?

That'd be a good way of keeping her mind away from things she didn't want to think about, and she could spend some time with her grandma on top of it. Kill two birds with one stone. Yes, that's perfect.

Kairi was on her way out when something happened.

One moment she was standing, the next she was bracing herself on her desk, dizzy and drawing quick breaths. It was so sudden, she only made sense of what she felt after she felt it. It was like a quiet explosion that left the world untouched and only affected her inside. Even after the initial surge, she could still feel traces of something pulsing throughout her body, like she'd somehow grown a second heart.

And then, cold. It was similar to a chill up her spine, except it started in her chest. Kairi hugged herself when the chills spread through her body and filled her with an instinctual sense of dread. She didn't know how she knew it, but something was wrong.

The seashell and sakura wind chimes on her window clinked frantically. Kairi stumbled to the window in time to see a crack of lightning manifest from dark clouds on Kealoha Island. Seconds later came the roar of thunder.

"A storm? Oh no!"

Any heaviness in her mind or step was pushed away. Kairi put on her knapsack out of sheer habit and dashed out of her room and down the stairs.

"Kairi? Where are you going?" her grandmother asked when she arrived at the living room.

"A storm's forming down on the Island," she said on her way to the front door. "I have to make sure the raft won't get swept away."

"A storm? But the weather today showed no signs of… Regardless, you can't go in the middle of a storm! It's too dangerous!"

"I have to. We worked so hard, if the raft got lost now, Sora and Riku would be devastated. I gotta look after them."

"And I've got to look after you. Please Kairi, don't go. No amount of work is worth your life."

Her hand froze on the doorknob. She looked back to her grandmother and her pleading face. Something squeezed in her chest.

Why did this feel like a goodbye?

"I'll come back safe and sound. I promise."

She left the house before her grandma could say anything else.

Kairi fought the wind as she ran down the roads, then the waves once she made it to a boat. As she did everything to get to the Island, the flowers in her hair were swept away and carried off into the distance, but she was too focused on her goal to notice or care.

The wind blew even stronger on Kealoha Island. Thunder and lightning crashed but there was no rain. The ground thumped beneath Kairi's feet with the same rhythm she felt pulsate through her bones back home. Two more boats were moored at the docks, no doubt Riku and Sora's. The storm would be reason enough for her to worry about them, but her concern increased tenfold once she looked at the source of the storm.

Up in the starless sky, an enormous ball of dark energy floated in the air.

"What's that!? What's happening?" A million more questions came to her mind, but one statement spoke louder than anything else: "I've gotta find Riku and Sora!"

She took off along the beach calling their names, only to be greeted by something else.

Shadows rose from the ground and took the form of small inky black creatures with glowing yellow eyes. Kairi gasped at the sight of them.

This is a dream, she told herself. It has to be!

One of the shadow creatures attacked and scratched her leg with its claws, as if to confirm that this was no dream. Kairi cried and barely stepped away when another creature attacked as well. She broke into running.

The Shadows rose from everywhere and leaped at her as soon as she got close. She did her best to dodge their attacks and made it to the seaside shack, buying herself a moment to catch her breath and check the scratch on her leg. Luckily it wasn't deep, but that didn't mean those creatures couldn't do much worse things to her or her friends.

What's going on? Where did those things come from?

It was hard not to think of the robed stranger's words earlier that day.

("This world has been connected. Tied to the darkness. Soon to be completely eclipsed.")

We need to get out of here!

Kairi ran up the stairs, hoping to get a better view of the island. But right there, standing on the islet with his back turned to her, was Riku. Relief and panic alike washed over her as she ran to him.

"Riku! There you are! Have you seen Sora?"

"The door… I did it," he mumbled as if in a trance. When he turned to meet her, his face showed no fear, only excitement. "I opened the door, Kairi! We can finally go to the outside world!"

"What are you talking about?" Her voice was almost drowned out by the storm. Her only hope of being heard was to shout. "We have to find Sora!"

"We'll take Sora with us, of course! The three of us will go out there and create a destiny of our choosing."

Riku looked up at the ball of darkness. As he did, the same kind of dark energy swirled around his feet.

"Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see this place or our families again. There's no turning back. But this might be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us. I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

Kairi's heart stung, and she brought her hands to her chest. "Riku… Why?"

He stretched out his hand to her with an elated smile. When she flinched at the offer, Riku's smile fell.

"This is what we wanted! A chance to leave this place! Why won't you come?"

"I never wanted this! Look around you, Riku! This is destroying the island!"

"So what!? There's nothing for us here! Out there, we can go wherever we want! Live however we like!"

"But this will come at the expense of others! Riku, please, you have to stop this!"

The hand on Riku's side clenched. The darkness beneath him began swirling more violently, like a barely contained flood.

"Come with me, Kairi," he demanded.

"Riku, please… I can't…"

"I said, come!"

The dark energy exploded and swarmed around Riku. Even still, he continued reaching out to Kairi even as the darkness engulfed him completely.

"Riku!"

Kairi didn't hesitate to plunge her hands into the darkness. An awful stench attacked her nostrils and she felt like her hands were submerged in mucky and freezing water. Before she could think of thrusting her hands further, dark tendrils crawled up her arms and slowly spread through her body. Once the darkness reached her feet, she couldn't move them anymore.

But Kairi didn't try to get away. Because Riku was in trouble, and that alone drowned out all the fear in her heart.

"Give me back my friend!" she shouted to the darkness even as it crept up her face. "Give him back! The three of us stick together, always! Whatever you did, Riku, I won't give up on you!"

Finally, the darkness shrouded her entirely. Lost in a pitch-black abyss, Kairi continued to struggle. Riku was still in that abyss somewhere, she could still reach him, could still save him!

Just as it looked like the cold would freeze her insides, somewhere, she felt a source of warmth. It was faint, like a small ember that miraculously weathered the storm, dim and frail, but still burning. When she noticed it, the ember seemed to grow stronger, until it produced the tiniest glimmer of light.

Kairi reached for that light. The darkness restrained her movements, so she called to the spark with all her heart. When she could feel its warmth resonate close to her chest, she envisioned herself taking hold of the light.

The darkness around her was purged in a blinding flash. Kairi gasped, finally able to breathe again. When the light died down, she found herself once again on the islet with Riku nowhere to be seen.

Strangest of all, she now had an object in her hand. It was the length of a sword, but the shape resembled a key entwined by vines and flowers. As she admired the strange object, a voice echoed in her head.

Keyblade…

Shadow creatures rose from the ground again and one leaped at Kairi. On instinct, she blocked the strike with this Keyblade and then sliced the creature in half. The Shadow disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She took a moment to admire her feat, but with more incoming, Kairi took on a fighting stance. She swung the Keyblade left and right with the same ease as a toy sword, but this had the lethality of a real weapon. After one or two hits, the Shadows disappeared completely.

But no matter how many she took out, more kept on coming. Fighting all of them would take time and energy she couldn't waste. Sora was still out there. Even if Riku was out of her reach now, Sora wasn't.

Kairi jumped off the islet to escape the Shadows, landing with her feet on shallow water, and promptly called:

"Sora! Where are you?"

Something pulled at her chest, and somehow she knew where to go.

In the secret place where they laughed and comforted each other so many times over the years, standing before the door and panting, was the boy that hours ago had soothed all her fears.

"Sora!"

He looked exhausted. It took him a moment to raise his head to look at Kairi, as if that alone was a struggle.

"Kairi…" he called weakly as he reached out to her.

Suddenly, the perpetually closed door slammed open and darkness erupted from inside. Kairi weathered the blast, but Sora was sent flying toward her. She opened her arms to try and catch him. She wanted to hold him and feel his warmth so badly, to find comfort in his smile knowing at least that would never go away.

But when he was an arm's reach from her, his body faded away, leaving behind only air for her to hug. Kairi called his name desperately only to receive no answer. Finally, she too was blown out of the cave.

She hit the ground with a grunt. Around her, the wind blew as strong as a hurricane. Looking up, Kairi saw the ball of darkness had grown bigger and closer, and now sucked wreckage of wood, rocks and trees. With effort, she picked herself up. Maybe there was still time to warn her grandmother about the danger, or her friends, or anyone.

Any hope died when she saw where she was.

Before her, the ground dropped off into nothing. She stood on a chunk of the island suspended in a dark sky. Everything else was gone. The ocean, the beach, the island she'd known since she was a little girl. Gone.

"How did this happen?" her broken voice wondered. "Why is this happening?"

Behind her, something huge stomped. She turned to find a creature towering over her, pitch black with yellow eyes like the others but twice as tall as a palm tree, with tentacles on its head like hair and a heart-shaped hole in its chest.

Kairi's legs gave in and she fell to her knees. The monster clenched its fist, and she could only stare at her imminent destruction. She was nothing. Useless.

I couldn't help them. I couldn't do anything!

Her eyes stung with angry and desperate tears. What had happened to Riku and Sora and the Island? What would happen to her grandma, her parents and everyone else? Because she failed them…

I'm sorry…

("Every person has power that can change the world. It's by uniting that power that we can create a bright future.")

Her father's words were always empowering. He could pump up any crowd, make everyone believe they were capable of anything. When he led them and they worked together, they really were.

I'm sorry…

("Life isn't always kind. That's why we have to be.")

Her mother always eased people's worries. Wherever she showed up, people's faces lit up, like her presence alone took some of the burden off their shoulders. Her smile gave them the strength to keep going.

I'm sorry…

("There will be hurdles and hardships along the way, but you must press on. As long as you keep moving forward, you're bound to find many wonderful things.")

Her grandmother had been there for her since Kairi was born. She nursed her as a baby, held her hand as she learned to walk, treated her wounds when she fell, saw her off and welcomed her home every time she went to see the world.

I'm sorry…

("Come on, Kairi. I know you're stronger than this.")

Riku believed in her potential even more than she did. Even though he didn't wear his heart on his sleeve, he pushed her to go forward and get better, while always promising security when times got rough. An anchor through and through.

I'm sorry…

("Whatever happens out there, we'll face it together. I promise.")

Sora… He was light made human, full of energy and life. He had so much joy in his heart it spread everywhere he went. Even when the darkness was at its deepest — like now — his light shone through.

I…

("I want to live a happy life. Full of friends and love. And one in which I can make other people happy too.")

That was her own voice.

Her grip on the Keyblade tightened and she rose to her feet. When the giant's punch came, she leaped out of the way. With the thing's arm still down, Kairi unleashed an onslaught of fierce strikes.

"I won't give up! I won't stop fighting! Not until the three of us are together again! Not until we can come back home!"

The creature began to rise. Kairi grabbed onto its arm. It must have realized it because next the creature brought its hand over to its head. Just what she needed! With a shout, Kairi jumped toward the giant and stuck the Keyblade right between its eyes.

There was no cry — the creature had no mouth to speak. All that came out was dark smoke as the lumbering beast tried not to topple over. But a howling sound was heard as the wind got stronger and the ball of darkness above swelled and sucked everything into its core. Kairi held onto the Keyblade for dear life, but it was useless. Even the giant was sucked into the darkness, taking Kairi along with it.

Everything went black.