Work Text:
There is she is. Standing by the shore. Waiting, waiting, forever waiting.Kairi laments bitterly. Staring hatefully at the fading sunset, it's familiar sight long burned into her retinas.Useless! A voice hisses.Wheather it be to herself or something else, she doesn't know. Not anymore.
Country to popular belief, Kairi wasn't just drowning in self-doubt, guilt or despair.
Kairi was angry. Burning with a hatred so consuming it scorched all in its wake, leaving nothing behind. Although there were some days where the world grew numb, cold and void of colour. Some days where she couldn't bring herself to eat, drink or sleep. (If she ever managed to leave her bed at all) Her soul aching with the way only devastating guilt could provide.
But those were times for another day.
Today, she was angry. Angry, with herself.
She burns holes at the keyblade resting accusingly in her palm. Destiny's embrace,it was a beautiful keyblade, with its flowery motif, heart-shaped handle and vibrant pink and gold colours. It was a marvel.
A work of art.
But today, those things only serve to add fuel to her rage. It's delicate flowery motif only giving fuel to the voices in her head. Weak, weak, weak! It chants. A repetitive ghost in the static of her brain.
"Urgh! I know! Just shut up already!" Kairi screams, tearing at her hair she chucks the keyblade far into the sea, it lands with a splash. It'll come back, Kairi laments bitterly. Of course it will.
A flashing beacon to broadcast her failures. After all. Destiny's embrace huh? Kairi laughs bitterly to herself, fingers bleeding into the palms of her hands. What better way to describe a fool who has done nothing but be subjected to the whims of those around her? The redhead laments, shaking her head. She turns, back facing the sea. She needs to take a walk. But deep down she knows that even tomorrow her ghosts will continue to haunt her.
__
On some days, better days, she often finds herself taking a trip to Radiant Garden. Staring intently at painfully familiar streets that egg at her mind yet bring no conscious recollection to her. While Namine hums softly beside her. Meticulously, but without fail breathing life into the pages of her precious sketchbook.The blonde’s silent strength and gentle support, lifesavers in the turbulent sea of her emotions.
Namine smiles, "Kairi look!" She says, gently shaking the redhead. "The flowers, they’re so beautiful today, aren't they?" She giggles, pointing to a nearby flowerbed. Kairi smiles slightly. “Yes" she says quietly, voice soft with contemplation.“They are"
And on those days, Kairi thinks.
She thinks about many things, her past, what she could do. What she wished she didn't do. What she wished she did do. But most importantly, she thinks about-
Her gummiphone rings.
Ah , speak of the devil, Kairi thinks, as Riku's profile flashes across her screen. Illuminating her dark room. “Can't sleep?” The text reads. Kairi grins, she can almost hear the concerned yet playful lilt in his voice. Somehow,he always seemed to know when she was awake. “Nope!” She replies cheerfully with a smiling emoji. “How bout you handsome?” She teases. “What's keeping you awake?” She texts playfully.
The reply is almost instantaneous.
“Very funny Kairi,” the text reads.
“it's the afternoon where I am.” The text said,the older boy’s amusement evident even through text. She laughs to herself, in the hushed quiet of her room. For all the change that Sora disappearance brought, the change in her and Riku's friendship was one she would never regret.
Another text come through.
Her smile drops.
Her room in Radiant Garden suddenly too dark, too cold.
__
Gone, gone, gone!
Her mind wails, face buried as she lay sobbing into her bed. He's gone! Her Mind cries, as that fateful day plays on repeat.
”I think I found something.” The text had said, “it’s about Sora, if I don't make it back.. I love you.”
And from there silence.
No amount of desperate calls or pleading could ever get him to answer. Not even the signal of his gummiphone could be found, it was if Riku had completely dropped off the map. It was as if he died. No. Kairi tells herself firmly as she forces herself to rise from her bed and brushes her unkempt hair. Riku isn’t dead. She refused to believe that.
Kairi tells herself firmly, as a stream of cold water hits her face.Washing away the stain of tears and sweat. She sighs, glancing briefly at her reflection in the bathroom mirror of her home in Destiny islands. Not at all missing the dark circles under her eyes, a physical manifestation of countless of sleepless nights.
Wow, she really was a mess. Huh? Kairi muses. While zipping up her dress and stepping out the front door.
But this time, as she stands along the shore and readies her keyblade. This time was different, this time she was ready. She refused to take this laying down. Why was she crying? Waiting uselessly for someone else to go save her friends? Needing recovery? Unknown effects of being so violently killed and revived? Too important to risk? Bah! Screw Master Yen Sid! They were her friends! This was her fight too! She has a keyblade for goodness sake, it was time she bloody used it!
And so Kairi trained.
Trained from the early morn till the sun went down. Trained under the heat of a sunny sky, Trained under the cold of a storming sky, Trained until her muscles trembled and mind shrieked in protest. Trained until her fingers bled from the repetitive dodges, swings, jabs,slashes and bursts of magic. Trained until her skin no longer resembled that soft, pliant texture,others used to applaud her for. Just like a princess! Slephie would say.Trained until-
“Wow.. you’re a little too stiff aren’t you?”
With a yelp, Kairi stumbles. Keyblade slipping from her grasp. It demateralises in a shower of petals. She turns, Glaring at the new intruder.
“Aren’t you supposed to be in the realm of sleep?” Kairi asks, immediately wincing at how demanding it came out.
“Eh,Yen sid’s not the boss of me.” The brunette shrugs, nonplussed. Ah, what a Mood. Kairi thinks, silently agreeing with the statement.
”Anyways,” The brunette continues, “I’ve actually been standin’ here for the past 10 minutes.” She grins, “I know Drills are boring, but you can’t let your muscle memory speak for you. Make that a habit and soon, your brain’s gonna be dozing off in a fight too! Believe me! I’d know” The older woman chuckles, body slouched lazily. But tinted empty eyes drills a long pensive stare into the redhead.
Unable to help herself, Kairi scowls. Shifting uncomfortably under its weight. “If you have something to say just say it.” She grumbles, arms folded. Cringing once again at the sharpness of her tone.
She couldn’t help it. She wasn’t trying to snap, but somehow out of all the time-traveling Dandelions, Persona was the one that unsettled her the most. She sent a perpetual chill down the redhead’s spine, leaving a prickling feeling of irritation and fear that the princess of light couldn’t quite stop from leaking out in every brief interaction she had with the brunette.
It was unsettling, and it made Kairi feel bad. The older woman had been nothing but friendly, helpful even. And yet here she was. Not even Axel or Larxene no, Elrena could get under her skin like this. And it was Axel and Elrena. The guy who literally kidnapped her and the lady who was the most snarky, stab-happy person Kairi knew.
Meanwhile, unbothered by the blatant hostility or maybe she simply didn’t notice it. The stockier brunette hums, staring out into the lapping waves and swaying ever so slightly. Before at last the brunette speaks up once more.“Hey, what do you know about Light?” Persona asks.
Confused, Kairi cocks her head to the side. “Huh?”
“Ah. Right sorry.” The brunette coughs awkwardly. “That was a little vague. Lemme try again,” She refocuses her gaze back on Kairi. “What do you think, is the fundamental nature of Light ? Good? Evil? A Primordial force of nature?”
A beat of silence is the brunette’s response.
“ Ok~ay, I’ll just take that as you don’t know.” The brunette sighs once more. “Yeesh, things really went to hell after Scala fell huh?” She chuckles, rubbing the back of her neck. The redhead remains silent. Deciding not to question why a wielder from the era of fairytales was talking about Scala Ad Caelum. Cuz really, what was continuity anyways? Time was clearly just a keyblade wielder’s bitch. If they could play it right.
“Anyways, I know you heard it before, but Light and Darkness aren’t all that different at all. They’re literally two sides of the same coin. I like to call ‘creation’. Honestly it all really cool” Persona explains. “Wanna guess which side Light is on?” Persona prompts, smiling.
Unbidden, a flash of memory stirs within the redhead’s mind.
(“Darkness and light’s final clash..”
“.. you require motivation”
Writhing, struggling. The ever creeping, ever moving wave of darkness clings to her body. Like an invisible nonsensical rythmn of chains that refused to budge. Move. Move.Move.
Why couldn’t she move?! )
With a clenching of her fists, something inside her snaps. Kairi shakes her head (mind) profusely to rid herself of that memory. “Order. Light is order. Darkness is chaos.” She spits out quickly. Faintly proud of herself for the lack of tremble in her voice. Even as her closed fists quivered. She wrangles back the urge to snap at that awful look of sad knowing brunette’s face. What do you know? Her mind hisses.
But just as quickly as it came, the look was gone. Leaving Kairi to wonder if it was just a trick of her mind.
“Ey~!Ding! Ding! Ding! You got a jacketpot!” The brunette singsongs, even throwing in some finger guns. It does not reach her eyes.
Cold. Empty. Go away. Snap out of it. Kairi chastises herself. Persona was just trying to help.
The brunette continues to beams. Clapping her hands together. “K’ay, now we got past that. Try that Light-Fira you were doing again.But this time, don’t just release that MP of yours in one big flash. Try to draw it out slowly, ya know? like water coming out of a tap!” Persona grins, shrugging.
“Light-Fira is’nt just your typical fusion spell. Light and darkness are a force entirely different from everything else and have to be acknowledged as such.” She explained, “Try to have a picture in mind of where you want the Light-Fira to go. Light is order. It knows what it wants. Nothing more. Nothing less. No exceptions. You’re just helping it.” Persona says. “Oh yeh, no keyblade this time” The older woman adds quickly.
Kairi nods numbly, turning away from the brunette to face the shoreline again. With her Nerves already pretty fried from her trip down memory lane, she could do little more than robotically follow the brunette’s instructions.
And then it happened.
Fire. Bright. Fire. White fire. Fire unlike anything she had ever seen before. It springs forth from her outstretched hands. Sharp. Precise. More akin to a near perfect geometric shape as if the fire itself was designed by an AI programmed to make the neatest, most perfected flame in alive than the normal flickering, wavy shapes of fire that she had gotten used to looking at from campfires and normal fire spells.
“Ah!” The girl cries, taking a step back as the spell bursts forth, growing in volume till it hugged the shoreline and engulfed even a nearby coconut tree. But then just as quickly as it came, it was gone. With naught but a sizable mass of newly minted hot-red glass, rising steam and a now leafless and scorched coconut tree as evidence.
“HOLY SHIT!” Kairi whoops, throwing her hands jubilantly into the air. “I-I did it! Sona-! Did you-?! Wait! I have to show the others!” The redhead cried, heart soaring and eyes glowing, her joy overriding her discomfort. If one couldn’t tell she was a princess of heart, they could certainly tell now from how her oceanic eyes seemed alight with joy.
Fingers fumbling, she whips out her gummiphone and snaps a photo of the spell’s aftermath, sending it to the trio in the Land of Departure. “I went practicing with light Fira today! What do you all think?” Her text reads. If anyone had to know, it was them.
Once sure the message was sent. Kairi quickly clicks the phone off. Whirling around to face the brunette. “Persona-! Thank you-! Ah.” Her smile drops, arms falling to her side. Greeted with an empty space where the brunette once stood. Only a pair of footprints in the sand as a witness to the older woman’s presence.
Ah.. I guess.. she was really busy after all, Kairi smiled sadly to herself. Slightly disappointed she couldn’t thank the brunette in person.She stares at the empty space for a while. Interrupted only by the faint buzzing from her phone. She pulls it out. Greeted with a notification for 2 new messages.
“Woah!” Ventus’s texts reads.
“That's amazing! You’re so cool Kairi!”
She quickly texts a reply. “Aww, thanks Ven! But i still have a long way to go If I want to catch up!
“There is no need to be so hard on yourself, such level of power is unheard for most wielders at your stage. You have potential Kairi. Keep going.” Aqua chimes in. Text Formal but warm. Much like the bluenette herself.
Kairi beams, warm with the praise from the young master. Only to stiffen, head snapping up and away from her phone. As the sound of a spell being cast reaches her ears. She then smiles, body relaxing as she glances up to see a Ventus, Body half emerged from his own light corridor. Keyblade in hand, the blond grins cheekily."Spar?" He asks, mischief alight and a glint of something else, something competitive, almost fierce in his normally carefree sky-blue eyes.
Kairi nods, “Don’t hold back.” she smirks playfully. Destiny’s embrace falling seamlessly into her hand.
Ventus is a surprisingly good sparring partner. Kairi later finds,as he patiently abet strangely grumpily at times, calls out the imperfections in her stance, her movements, her footwork even while sparring.
Patient and serious in correcting and pointing them out. Revealing an uncharacteristically serious, mature side she hadn't known existed from few interactions she had with the normally energetic and cheerful boy. Or was it a side that only took root because Sora was gone? She wonders morbidly. Before quickly dismissing the thought when a particularly hard jab from his keyblade wacks into her side.
And thus, the months carry on. Sparring, training, perfecting stances, perfecting spells.
The time passing like sand being washed away by the ebb and flow of the waves. And before she knew it, there she stands. Standing by the shore. Keyblade in hand. The waves lapping by her feet.
2 weeks, 18 months and 3 days. Since Sora's disappearance. And 12 months, 5 days since Riku’s own.
But this time, as she stands alongside the beach, gazing at the inevitable but urgent call for a regroup at the mysterious tower from the group’s resident (and currently only) young master.
“Everyone. Riku and Sora are alive. The fairy god mother, Master Yen Sid, Enzo, King Mickey and the others have discovered a potential location and route to their whereabouts,” The bluenette's message says. And Kairi has never been happier. Her two best friends are alive!
“Vanitas may be there as well,” Kairi has to do a double take,“All will be explained,” the text then reads, “but as of now please come to Master Yen Sid's tower. As soon as possible.”
Message end.
Heart pounding, Kairi takes a deep breath. Anticipation and hope soaring. She knows she is not afraid. Lifting her keyblade, Light shoots out from its tip to takes form of a light corridor. Gazing forward determinedly, she steps into the light. Her phone pocket chiming with the replies of the others as they voice their assent.
Kairi holds her head high, come what may, she knows she will stand strong and embrace destiny with her own two hands. Walking down the path of her own choosing. And hey, if she's lucky, she may even be able to give Riku a piece of her mind for leaving Like that. She always did wonder what it'd be like to punch the silver haired boy in the face.
Whatever came after,
She knew she was finally ready.
She was at peace.