Kingdom Hearts 1. Prologue: Awakening

**SORA'S HERO**

**- Prologue:** _Awakening_ **-**

* * *

From the very beginning—the day she washed up on shore—the two of them are as thick as thieves. At least, that's how Kairi remembers it. She knows that there must've been some time when they weren't, like those first few days she spent in a bed at the mayor's home, wracked with chills from her time in the sea. But what really matters is her earliest real memory of him (not counting the barely-recalled feel of his hands pulling her from the water):

"Hey! You're that weird girl from the beach!"

Well, okay, her first _meaningful_ memory of him: "So, do you want to be my friend?"

Sora may not have gotten any better at introductions (blunt and slightly tactless as he still is, even after the almost ten years she's known him), but that pure and simple kindheartedness is enough to win anyone over. And even if he'd walked up to her, called her weird, and pulled on her short, crimson hair, he'd spent the better part of a decade making up for it as her best friend.

Even though Sora's known Riku longer, Kairi's proud to say that _she's_ the one Sora likes better. A childhood of arguments with Riku and Sora always picking her side is proof enough. And, with the onset of their teenage years, even though Riku is slowly becoming the more attractive of her best friends, she can say that Sora's always held her affections, from the very first day they met. After all, when she was still the red-haired stranger from beyond the sea, when even Riku, the boldest of the islands' children, was wary of her, Sora was the first one to offer his friendship.

She'd even say that she might _like_ Sora, in the way children just discovering romance might say it. Not that she'd admit to anyone, not even her best friends, especially if Selphie's whispered gossip about the islands' burgeoning heartthrob is true…

Not that it matters either way. As much as she likes him, and as much as that colors her perceptions, even she can admit that Sora, for all his open friendliness, is a bit thick when it comes to relationships beyond mere friendship.

* * *

Even though Kairi's perfectly willing to admit that Sora is her nearest and dearest friend, when Selphie, or Tidus, or even her parents wonder just what it is about the brunet that draws her in, she finds herself at a loss to answer.

Part of it—from the youngest, simplest part of her, the one that predates her time on the islands—is that he was her first friend on the islands. Even before the mayor—or rather, his wife—decided that she would live with them, that she would officially become part of the island's community, Sora had already made her his friend.

But that's definitely not all of it. Riku's been her friend nearly as long, after Sora forced the two to spend some time together (which, after spending the better part of six months glaring at each other, Riku because he thought she had stolen his best friend, Kairi because Riku had simply been an insufferable jerk about the whole matter, was easier said than done), so it's not simply the length of their friendship. And, after spending the entirety of fifth grade dealing with the fallout of the duplicity and two-facedness of the 'popular' girls, it's not simply the strength of his introduction, memorable as it is.

Even after she spends two days pondering it, Kairi finds herself no closer to an acceptably complete answer. She could list off some of Sora's sweeter and more adorable behavior when it comes to her, but even with her crush on him distorting her thoughts, that's too shallow and 'lovey-dovey' and not at all adequate to describe the breadth and depth of their bond.

Maybe it's his utterly unshakable faith in her. Even now, there are some who—though they wouldn't dare say it to her face, or to their parents'—lift their noses up in the air to look down on the foreign girl, the only one in their year not born on the islands. But after that memorable showdown the summer after fifth grade, Kairi knows that Sora—and by extension Riku—would kick the crap out of _anyone_ who would dare express that sentiment. Not that she needed their protection—as the two black eyes and three bloodied noses she handed out would attest—but the thought was rather sweet and a tad charming.

Maybe it's his incredible kindness and nobility. She knows that she isn't the only one Sora's gone out his way to save (though none as memorably as her). All the schoolyard bullies know that while Riku's the strongest on the island, Sora's the most tenacious. And when something offends his sense of justice, Sora simply won't stop until the bully submits.

Or maybe it's that strange feeling she gets from him, the sense that, for all the normalcy and monotony life on the islands entails, Sora is meant for something _more_. Sometimes when she asks him something she thinks is perfectly simple and ordinary, he simply stops for a moment, then answers with the oddest tone of voice and the oddest look in his eye. Sometimes, that feeling thrills her. But sometimes, it terrifies her.

Like that time when they left the movie theater after watching the latest superhero flick, she had asked him if he were a hero, what he would give up to save a friend (she secretly thinks in her mind, what he would give up to save _her_).

It had only been an idle thought, and she had joked that she would give up her dessert for a year, but Sora had looked her dead in the eye and said, "I would give up my heart for you." The phrasing of his answer had confused her (how _does_ one give up their heart?) but the utter seriousness of his tone—heavy with the sound of someone who has truly sacrificed their everything for the sake of others, when Sora obviously hasn't and couldn't have—was almost heart-breaking.

In her occasional nightmares, she dreams of a walled city in flames. The sounds of screaming and the tearing of flesh, the sight of crystalline hearts breaking and bodies vanishing into darkness—all of it roars through her mind, and she screams as she ends up alone as the earth shakes her home apart. Even when the city is nothing but ruins, and the dying world fades away, when is alone in the still silence and emptiness of darkness, the sound of Sora's voice comes to her, as grave and serious and full of pain as it was that day.

As much as she loves him for his selflessness and heroism, as much as she wants to see him achieve all the greatness he's _meant_ to achieve, Kairi dreads the day when Sora will lay down his life and more for her. Because she knows she would do so for him, and that Sora would let nothing stop him from doing the same.

* * *

Still, those flashes of utter severity and graveness are few and far between. By the time Kairi turns fourteen, she can scarcely remember the sound of Sora declaring he'd die for her (but it persists in her nightmares). Her days with Sora and Riku are filled with laughter and trivial fun, with all the pleasures of the height of childhood.

Sora comes to her the day after her fourteenth birthday party, and announces that he wants to build a raft to go visit other worlds. The sheer ridiculousness of that statement nearly makes her laugh aloud, and she gives him the blankest, most deadpan stare she can muster.

Nevertheless, she hears him out, and when she hears that the raft is really Riku's idea, she doesn't hesitate at all to offer her help (especially after spending an entire childhood apologizing to adults for the messes Sora and Riku's harebrained schemes inevitably create). Sora, just as he had in all their previous projects, ends up slacking off day after day, often falling asleep on the golden beach.

But Riku, she sees, works with a single-minded intensity. Even though she offers all the help she can, Riku takes on all the work himself. Kairi knows that her silver-haired friend can be driven and focused, but there's something different about this time. He works not with the diligence of a student on a school project—as she's seen on late nights after he and Sora had left assignments off to the last minute—or the excited but unguided energy of a child on an improvised plan. There's a deliberate intensity in Riku's work, restless but focused—he works as if his life depends on it, with all the accompanying stress and fear poured into it.

As the raft nears completion, Kairi comes to realize that perhaps it does. She knows Riku's home life hasn't been exactly great, and that he's wanted to leave the islands since the age of ten. But she never realized how desperate he would be, and for all his focus, how little thought he's put into it (the day after she makes this realization, Riku hands her a list of supplies for their 'trip' on the raft, and she nearly faints at the inadequacy of it).

But she's Riku's best friend, and more importantly, _Sora_ is his other best friend. And she'll be damned before she lets those two idiots get themselves killed on this journey.

* * *

The day they finish the raft, Kairi finds Sora sleeping yet again on the beach. She pokes him awake, like all the other times, but this time, he wakes up with a start and a grimace. Concerned, she drops to her knees onto the sand beside him, and asks what's wrong, but he waves it off, only mentioning a bad dream. Their conversation smoothly turns toward lighter topics, and their excitement about the trip quickly comes to the fore.

As the sun sets with their preparations complete, she proudly shows off the little side project she had been working on: her newly-made wayfinder charm. It had taken her weeks to find thalassa shells of roughly matching sizes, but it had been well worth it. Riku finds the two of them at their usual spot on the paopu tree, and the three look at the sunset together, resolute and ready to discover what lies behind the horizon (Kairi thinks she and the boys will simply head out to sea, and inevitably return home after finding a whole lot of nothing; she never suspects that this will truly be the last time for a long time that the sun sets on the Destiny Islands).

She heads to bed early, already dressed in tomorrow's clothes, to make as early a start in the morning. Kairi simply wants to get as much rest as she possibly can, but fate, it seems, conspires to do the exact opposite. She's plagued with terrible nightmares, the most vivid she's had since the fever dreams of her first night on the islands. She sees the city burn yet again, sees the people torn apart by monsters she can barely glimpse, prepares to be overwhelmed yet again—when everything _stops_, and simply falls away.

When Kairi comes to, she finds herself on a glass platform, the top of a pillar which, as she rises unsteadily to her feet, is alone in an incredible void. When she looks down, she sees that the platform is dominated by an image of _her_: her leaning on the paopu tree, new wayfinder in one hand, and the oddest weapon in the other. When she looks elsewhere, she's startled to find that though the foreground is clearly her on the Destiny Islands, the background isn't: instead, it's the city of her nightmares, whole and radiant, resplendent with flowering gardens and waterfalls.

Nestled next to her image are a handful of empty circles. She sees Sora's smiling image in one circle, and Riku's serious one in another, and wonders what then the empty circles symbolize.

Before she can ponder the platform any further, she's interrupted by a voice she's never heard before:

**YOU MUST CHOOSE.**

"Wha—," Kairi barely makes out before an object suddenly appears before her: a strange sword-like weapon like the one her image holds, but simpler, with a gold handle and silver blade, without the flowery accoutrements of the one in the image. She instinctively reaches out for it, and scarcely grasps it before three figures emerge from the darkness.

As weird as this dream has turned out, Kairi is unsurprised to see Sora on the left and Riku on the right; it seems no matter where she goes, her best friends will accompany her. But she _is_ surprised to see the third figure in the middle: a boy, slightly older than her, perhaps Riku's age. What surprises her is not that she doesn't recognize him, but that she does: he's Sora, but not. Or rather, he has Sora's face: older, sharper with less baby fat, but the same basic features, the same blue eyes she's come to love. And a slightly tamer, more respectable hairstyle, with shorter, golden spikes in place of Sora's outrageous brunet spikes.

She takes a step closer to inspect the middle boy, wondering what the voice meant by 'choose,' when she's interrupted again:

**YOU MUST FIGHT.**

Kairi doesn't even have time to be surprised, as Sora and Riku disappear, and the unknown boy convulses, falling to his hands and knees, face distorted as he makes a soundless scream. She reaches out to him, and shouts out, "Hey! Are you okay?" But a wave of foul darkness—darkness as terrible as that in the burning city of her nightmares—engulfs him, and suppressing a gasp of surprise, she covers her face with an arm as the dark energies roar past her, squinting and straining to see the strange blonde with Sora's face in the midst of that darkness.

When the energies die down, and the figure stands once more, Kairi does gasp this time. He still has Sora's face, but now it's in an entirely different way from the first boy: the first boy shared his coloring, and had been calmer than Sora, with a more serious expression, but the same kind energy and enthusiasm for life shone in his eyes. Had their hairstyles been the same, Kairi doubted if she could've told the two apart on sight.

There is no doubt in her mind that this second boy is as different from Sora as could be. The features are the same still, but now the coloring is wrong, very wrong. His skin is pale, almost unnaturally so, his eyes an unearthly gold, his hair, arranged in spikes more akin to Sora's than the first boy, pitch black. And he bears an expression of such cruelty that Kairi barely bites back an unreasonable demand for him to stop misusing Sora's face.

With a crackle, a burst of dark energy blazes around the dark boy's hand; with a flash, a key-sword weapon appears just as hers did. The boy's weapon is nothing like the simple elegance of hers: red and black, with unnatural curves and jutting lines, studded with a ghastly pale blue eye. A weapon, Kairi notes as terror begins to rise in the pit of her stomach, as a chill wind seems to pass over her even though the air is completely still, as cruel as its wielder.

She realizes what the voice meant this time, when the boy raises his weapon in a mocking salute and smiles even more wickedly, and charges her. Days of watching Sora and Riku spar come to her mind, and—disregarding her former disparagement of the two for 'wasting their time on pointless fighting'—she raises her own key-sword in a perfect imitation of Sora's block. Kairi staggers back a step as she intercepts her opponent's attack just in time, arms shaking and straining from the force of the blow. Just as she tries to force him back from where their two blades lock together, he leaps back suddenly, and she nearly loses her balance.

Already thrown off-guard by the boy's dazzling speed, Kairi barely has the presence of mind to raise her sword as he charges again. And so it goes, the boy dominating the fight, forcing her to always remain on guard, never able to retaliate against the boy's lightning fast strikes and charges. Arms shaking from exertion, breath coming in gasps and pants as if she had run a marathon (isn't this only a dream, a tiny part of Kairi wonders), Kairi fears what exactly the consequences of losing this fight might be.

The voice interrupts a final time:

**YOU MUST ENDURE.**

And just as suddenly as that proclamation, another memory of her boys sparring comes to mind, as the dark boy prepares to charge yet again. This time, Kairi raises her blade into a slightly different guard, and even as her opponent smirks with mocking confidence, she readies herself, arms, legs, and core muscles all prepared to face the might of his attack, despite her exhaustion.

The dark blade meets her silver one yet again. But now, instead of simply absorbing the force of the charge, Kairi slides her blade against its length, ducking around the weapon. The dark boy's golden eyes widen in surprise, and he stumbles forward another step, even as Kairi steps around his attack and into his guard.

A simple twist of her blade—just like Sora had done the one time he had beaten Riku in a head-on clash—and she brings her weapon up and slashes across the dark boy's exposed torso. With that one strike, her opponent falls to his knees beside her.

Kairi turns to face him, sword at the ready and prepared to fight once more, only to be dumbfounded, jaw dropping with shock, because the dark boy is gone. Instead, dressed in a black coat she has never seen before, is her Sora, with skin tanned by the beach sun, hair the same warm brown it had always been, eyes as blue as his namesake, and the gentle smile that is his default expression.

"Sora?" she whispers, unable to comprehend.

Unaware of anything but her friend, she is helpless when the darkness suddenly takes her, engulfing her completely, and Kairi falls, sinking into the platform itself. Blinded, she thrashes wildly, desperately reaching out for a handhold. Something—or someone?—grabs her outstretched hand, and she hears a shout.

"Kairi!"

"Sora!" she yells in reply, fighting to hold on, struggling to claw her way out of the darkness.

"Kairi! I need you!"

* * *

She awakens in her bed, shaking and in a cold sweat. Throwing off the sheets and slowly pulling herself up, Kairi wipes at her face, brushing off both sweat and tears. What on earth was that, she wonders numbly and hazily. Then she remembers the last part of the dream.

She leaps out of bed, not truly thinking, barely considering how her parents would respond, just desperate to get to her best friend, whose voice shook with unimaginable pain and fear in the dream. If Sora were truly hurting with all the pain evident in his dream self's voice, nothing, come hell or high water, would stop her. Kairi throws open the door, ready to run to Sora's house even in the dead of night—and comes to a complete halt, dumbfounded for the second time that night.

A massive storm rages in the heavens above the Destiny Islands, though there is no rain, only cold, biting wind. And the ground is alive with shadows, seething and writhing with impossible life. Kairi stands at the doorway of her home for another second, utterly stupefied. Then the shadows leap at her.

* * *

**A/N:** Well, here goes my first work of fanfiction. The plot bunny ambushed me in the middle of the night when I was trying to sleep, and demanded I complete it. So, this is the product of working at four in the morning, coupled with the pains of inexperience, and without the guidance of a beta reader. Hopefully, you find the idea as interesting as my addled brain did. Either way, lambast me with all the constructive criticism you can muster; I probably need it. Review away!


	2. Chapter 1: My friends are my power

**SORA'S HERO**

**- Chapter 1:** _"My friends are my power…"_ **–**

* * *

Kairi throws herself forward without a thought, dodging the mass of shadows with only inches to spare. Landing roughly on her hands and knees, she barely has the time to turn back and watch in horror as the darkness surges into her home. After a moment of horrified silence, she screams, "Mom! Dad!" Then she notices that another wave of shadows is coming right towards her.

Scrambling upright, she runs down the street, unable to dwell on her fear for parents' safety any longer. When another wall of living darkness rises into a wall before her, she ducks down a side street, heading towards the beach—or rather, the docks.

If Kairi knows her friends, the first thing they'll think to check on will be the raft. The newly-christened _Highwind_ is Riku's pride and joy, and Sora—lazy though he may be—won't give up on _anything_ once he's started. Beyond that, Kairi doesn't have a clue what they'll do next—dealing with a storm is one thing, but who could ever anticipate dealing with an invasion of _living shadows_?

She reaches the docks in record time, and heaves a sigh of relief when she finds it deserted. Still, Kairi chances a glance backwards, and her lungs seize for a moment to find the shadows stirring behind her. Facing forward, she pumps her legs even faster, racing down the dock and finally leaping into her boat at the dock's end. She notes, even as she unties her boat and begins rowing her way to the play island, that Sora and Riku's boats are already gone. Whether she should be relieved or frightened still, she can't say.

The trip to the play island is relatively peaceful. 'Relatively' being the key word: there may have been no shadow monsters on the sea, but rowing through the churning waves is still one of the hardest things Kairi's ever done. An active lifestyle on the islands, combined with Sora's occasional prodding for her to spar with him ("C'mon Kairi, even Selphie spars with us! And she uses a jump rope!"), means she's physically fit for her age, but she's still only a fourteen-year-old girl. And even grizzled sailors three times her age rightly fear the power of a storm.

Still, she makes the crossing, safe and sound if a bit damp, and Kairi smiles as she sees two more boats already on the play island's pier. Sora's boat is, she notices, untied, and already on the verge of drifting away with the current. The knowledge that her friends are safe loosens the grip of fear around her heart, and she can already imagine the reprimand she has in store for Sora for almost losing his boat to the sea.

But the slight relief shatters, because the moment she steps on solid land, the shadows begin gathering around her once more with a new, horrifying familiarity. Fear courses through her once more, nearly choking her with terror and despair. The shadows are taking the Destiny Islands—and Kairi realizes that, though there is no fire or screaming, she is about to lose another home.

So she runs, as fast and as hard as she can, as far from the darkness as she can go.

* * *

Kairi doesn't have any idea where she can go: nowhere is safe. She barely feels her legs moving, hardly notices her breath coming in choked and panicked gasps and pants. All she knows is that she needs to get _away_: away from the monsters, away from the darkness that makes her heart tremble and her thoughts seize with half-remembered nightmares.

Somehow, she finds herself further inland, and for once the stink and deathly chill of the shadow monsters is absent. The moment she realizes that, Kairi collapses on her knees, exhausted, wheezing harshly. She brushes sweaty locks of hair away from her forehead, momentarily glad that she's kept her hair short all these years ("But I miss your old hair! It looked nicer!" "Yes, Sora, but this is more _practical_. And now you can't pull on it.").

Even after taking a minute to recover, no shadows emerge around her. With their unearthly presence and aura gone, Kairi is finally able to collect her thoughts and _focus_. The fear's still there, of course, but she can actually push it aside and think.

Clambering to her feet, breath coming under control, she finds herself disgusted by the overwhelming terror that possessed her. Kairi's never thought of herself as a coward, and she's not about to start now. What lingers is her very real fear and concern for her friends and family: she knows that the shadows entered her house, probably entered the houses of everyone else on the island, probably attac—

Kairi shuts down that line of thought right away. She knows it'll haunt her nightmares later, but for now there's nothing she can do about it. Finally rested and ready to face the darkness, she examines her surroundings, trying to decide where she can go next. And discovers, with a jolt of mild surprise, that the entrance to the secret place is right before her.

At first she thinks it was just coincidence: her body merely carried her to a place she considered safe. But a shudder of warning echoes in her heart. In an instant, the familiar and comforting entrance to the secret place becomes foreboding and ominous. And Kairi's eyes widen as she realizes why no shadows have appeared in so long: because just as the shadows radiate death and fear and despair, _something_ is giving off an even more terrible aura inside the secret place.

Whatever it is, it is far more powerful than a mere shadow. Kairi briefly wonders just _what_ is happening to the Destiny Islands, and turns her back on the cave entrance—even mindless shadow monsters are preferable to that _thing_ that has invaded the secret place. But when a creaky wind blows out of the secret place, another shudder passes through her heart, and she freezes in place. Because masked underneath all that foul darkness is something familiar: _Sora_.

And for the first time since she woke up, Kairi clearly remembers the details of her dream. In an instant, her fear is thrown aside. Because Sora isn't just hurting, doesn't just need her help: Sora is in the cave with the intruder. Sora is in grave and terrible danger.

So she swallows once, exhales sharply, then narrows her eyes, sets her shoulders back. Kairi finds her resolve. And with heart blazing, thoughts purged of fear, and head held high, she marches into the secret place, ready to come to Sora's aid.

* * *

She passes by years of drawings, schemes, pranks, and half-forgotten ideas, running again. Even as she dimly recalls those days long since passed ("Sora, that's the worst drawing of a dinosaur I've ever seen." "It's not a dinosaur, it's a chocobo!" "…what's a chocobo?"), the intruder's aura immediately quashes her nostalgia. There's no time—she needs to get to Sora _now_.

But when she reaches the cave's end, where that odd door has always been, she slides to a halt, heart stopping. Even though the intruder is right there, his aura swirling more thickly than anywhere else in the cave, Kairi hardly notices.

Because Sora is lying at the intruder's feet. Unconscious, with untamable spikes even more mussed than normal, blood streaming from his forehead. Righteous anger surges through her heart, and she charges in, mouth set in a hard line (whether to check on Sora or give the intruder a piece of her mind, she can't say).

Her charge comes to a sudden stop when the intruder appears in front of her with a burst of blinding speed. Clad in a black coat (just like Sora's in the dream, she dimly realizes), he grabs her by the wrists, arresting her momentum completely. And before Kairi can vent her fury on him, her rage dies a quick death as his aura becomes overwhelming (he's barely taller her than her, Kairi realizes, only a few years older at most, but his presence is something beyond any normal teenager).

"Not so fast, little princess," he rumbles, face obscured by the cloak. "Your part in these events has been deemed… unnecessary." And without a further word, he effortlessly throws her into the cave wall. Stunned, Kairi falls to the ground, dazed and blinking rapidly. She struggles to rise, but nothing is moving.

The dark figure turns its back on her, as if deeming her of no further concern. He picks up Sora's unconscious form just as effortlessly, slinging the boy over his shoulders. And just as Kairi manages to stop the room's spinning and gather her thoughts, the cloaked figure offers a final admonition, not even deigning to look at her.

"You may have found some power, little princess, but that won't be enough. None of you have the strength to stop what's coming."

Kairi realizes for the first time that the door in the secret place is _open_. And before she can yell at the figure to let Sora go, a howling wind blasts out of the door, picking her up bodily and sending her flying. Struggling to right herself in midair, Kairi catches one last glimpse of the figure before the wind hurls her out of the secret place.

Darkness surrounds the man in the black coat, and consumes him and Sora both. The two vanish without a trace. Then the wind has her, and throws her with unimaginable speed out of the cave, out of the jungle—throws her towards the beach, and back to the monsters. Realizing that the landing will _not_ be pleasant, she closes her eyes, and braces for impact. Kairi barely feels the crash before she falls into unconsciousness.

* * *

When she comes to, Kairi wonders if she's dead, if the monsters took her, if she'll never see Sora or Riku or anyone from the islands ever again. Then she feels the grit pressing into the skin of her arm and her face, feels the pain of being thrown into the cave wall and the aches and sores of crash landing on the beach. With a gasp and a groan, Kairi opens her eyes. She slowly rolls over onto her back, and shakily sits up.

As she pulls herself upright, she almost shrieks with fright when she sees Riku standing before her, back facing her and utterly still. Just as she catches herself and finds her voice, to ask her friend why he's just _standing_ there when the islands are falling apart around them, Riku moves, looking up to the stormy sky, even darker than before.

"You saw it too, didn't you," Riku half-asks, half-whispers. "The door has opened." He still doesn't face her. Above their heads, the heavens begin seething and raging with unnatural darkness—the storm has become something else, something Kairi can't even begin to comprehend. "This is our chance. Our chance to finally leave."

"Riku…." she whispers. "What are you talking about? What have you done? We can't leave—someone _took_ Sora!"

"It doesn't matter. Don't you see? This is the only way. The only way to leave all this behind.

"We might not be able to return. But no matter what's out there… I'm not afraid! Of the unknown, of the darkness, or anything else!"

Kairi shouts back, "Riku! You can't do this! There's more at stake than just us: we need to find _Sora_!"

But he acts as if he doesn't hear her. Riku extends his arm, offering his hand to her, somehow smiling in the midst of this _nightmare_. Kairi doesn't know what to say, doesn't know to do, except maybe to grab hold of Riku and shake some _sense_ into her friend. But before she has the chance to even do that, the shadows come alive beneath them.

It's not like the monsters that have taken the islands, Kairi realizes, but more like the darkness from her dream, the shadows that seized her and pulled her under. And even as dark tendrils wrap around the both of them, Riku's hand remains outstretched, small smile still in place.

Desperate now, Kairi reaches out to him, stretching her hand out to try to hold onto his. Even if he's gone crazy, she's not about to lose her other best friend, too. But the darkness is too strong—and it pulls her under once more.

* * *

Just like in the dream, Kairi struggles to find something, _anything_ to hold onto in the midst of the darkness. But the darkness is _everywhere_. There's nothing to hold onto, nothing but overwhelming, suffocating darkness.

Her struggles slow, as a heavy, lethargic numbness settles over her body. Why should she bother? There's no point to any of this, her mind slowly reasons, as cold overcomes her. Her home is destroyed. Riku is gone. Sora is gone. Kairi closes her eyes, even though it's a useless gesture in this absolute darkness.

But a voice interrupts her surrender, just like in the dream. It doesn't have the otherworldly, overwhelming force of the dream voice. But it carries a commanding power and authority nonetheless.

"You are needed still, little Princess. This is not the role fate intended for you. But it is the role you must play, for all our sakes. You have been Awakened. You have found your power.

"You are more than a mere light. You are a warrior against the darkness. Now stand, and fight!"

And in the darkness, a blinding light flares. Despair may have claimed the strength of her body and soul, but her heart, even wrapped in the freezing cold of the darkness, burns bright and hot.

Kairi's eyes shoot open, and she comes to a decision. It doesn't matter if she's alone. It doesn't matter if her home is gone again. It doesn't matter if Riku's chosen to go off on his own, or if some incomprehensibly powerful being has taken Sora. Her story doesn't end here. Kairi will _not _give up. And she _will_ find her friends ago.

The light blazes even brighter. And suddenly, the darkness is gone, and Kairi find herself on the ruined beach once more. She can dimly note that behind her, the play island has been reduced to so much rubble by the shadows. A whirlwind of dark power surrounds the island, and where the sea and its waves should be is nothing but the void. A shadowy mockery of the sun dominates the heavens now—nothing is left of her adopted home.

But none of that catches her notice. Only the new yet familiar weight in her right hand does that: the same silver and gold key-sword from her dream (part of her wonder how much of that was _actually_ a dream). And this time, its proper name rings in her mind, and she savors the rightness of the name:

_Keyblade_.

She wings the weapon experimentally, and it moves so smoothly, so effortlessly, that she understands what it means to say a sword is an extension of yourself. The heft of the Keyblade and the gentle light that shines from its entire length comfort her, gives her reassurance and confidence that despair had stolen from her.

Kairi knows that this Keyblade is the expression of her new resolve. She knows it is the expression of her determination to face this darkness, and to find her friends once again. And as darkness surges once more behind her, she knows it is the expression of her will to endure and _fight_.

She turns, as the darkness coalesces into a single, terrible form. The monster before her is the most horrific thing she has ever seen. Thirty feet high, with unnatural proportions and a face wreathed with tendrils of moving shadows and a massive hole in its chest with the shape of a heart.

But for the first time that night, Kairi is utterly unafraid of the darkness. This abomination is the ultimate expression of the darkness that has destroyed her home. It is the darkness's final weapon, meant to purge the last remnant of this world. And it is nothing before the strength of her resolve and will, the strength of her heart.

The dark titan reaches for her, massive fists open and grasping. But it moves with aching slowness—compared to the fearsome warrior in her dream, this is a piece of cake. Kairi easily leaps out of its reach, and then strikes at its hands. The Keyblade sings through the air, and every strike that lands blazes with light.

The titan seems to register her attacks, and with a thunderous groan, it recoils, pulling back its hands. But Kairi pursues it, hounding it still, bashing and slashing at its fists. Then—with a strength she didn't even now she had, augmented by the power of the Keyblade ringing in her heart—she leaps into the air, striking at its massive, unguarded torso.

With her blows raining down on it, the shadow titan suddenly falls to its knees, as if in defeat. But when the hole in its chest surges with even greater dark power, Kairi knows the battle is far from over.

Spheres of crackling dark energy blossom in the outline of a heart, and fire into the air. Kairi breaks off her assault and runs to make some space, only to see the dark spheres begin to track her, following her retreat. Kairi doesn't know how she can block such a massive blast of shadow, when the idea suddenly comes to her.

Courage and will blaze in her heart, and light surges along the length of the Keyblade. As if she had practiced the motion a thousand times before, she points the weapon at the incoming spheres, aligning the tip and teeth with her target—and she fires. A beam of blazing light, dazzling in the gloom of the ruined island, pierces the spheres, and they dissipate, vanishing under the radiance of her light.

In the meanwhile, the titan has recovered, and even now begins reaching towards her. But Kairi is more than ready. She dodges, strikes easily at its hands, and leaps at its torso, inflicting countless wounds upon the embodiment of darkness. When it kneels in false submission once more, charging up its dark spheres, Kairi finishes it.

She whispers, "Sora. Riku. I'm coming." Then she lets the power of her determination blaze within her, and the Keyblade glows even brighter than before. The beam of light illuminates the island completely, shining out into the void, blotting out even the shadowy sun above them. And the titan's head evaporates entirely, burned away by the light.

Already, the corpse of the shadow titan begins dissipating, darkness leaking from its limbs. But as Kairi savors her first victory, the false sun pulses once. And the shattered remnant of the island begins shuddering under her feet. The whirlwind rages stronger; Kairi can barely resist the pull of the wind.

Unlike her, the titan can offer no resistance, and the huge corpse rises into the dark void above them. Kairi reaches down, desperately grasping onto the dirt. But the pull of the void is too strong: it swallows the titan whole, and Kairi loses her hold on the island.

Even as she falls upward, pulled into the void, the last fragment of the Destiny Islands breaks apart before her eyes. There is nothing left of her second home, nothing to hold onto here. So Kairi lets go, and decides to face the void head on.

When the darkness swallows her yet again, Kairi is unafraid still. Somewhere, in worlds beyond this void, her friends are out there. Her home may be gone, but her journey is only just beginning.

* * *

**A/N: **Well, here's chapter 1. Still un-beta'd, so please offer as much constructive criticism in the reviews as you can. It was a bit harder moving on from the generalities of the prologue, but hopefully the transition wasn't too jarring. Anyway, the seeds of the plot have been planted: what did you think? Promising? Cliche? Boring?

I've settled for a weekly update schedule over the summer, but we'll see how that holds. And since I've got a more solid outline of things to come, here's a preview for next week:

**Chapter 2: **Meetings

_"Stop Leon! Look at her!"_

_"That's impossible. You can't be here."_

_"Well, clearly I am."_


	3. Chapter 2: Meetings

**SORA'S HERO**

**- Chapter 2:** _Meetings_ **–**

* * *

For a long time, there's only darkness. Nothing to feel or see, not even a sense of the passage of time. Kairi can't tell whether she's even awake or dreaming. She simply drifts through the void, waiting for _something_.

Pain is the first to return: as Kairi slowly regains sensation, the first things she feels are the aches and pains throbbing in her muscles. Next is touch: compounding the soreness from her fight against the titan are the hard, rough, and _freezing_ stones pressing against her bare flesh.

Finally, the rest of her senses return. The sounds of a bustling town wash over her, echoing over the cobblestones she finds herself lying on. Letting out a small groan, Kairi opens her eyes at last and slowly pushes herself up off the ground. Just moving makes her pains worse, and she realizes that on top of all that, it feels like there's a hammer pounding into her skull behind her eyes (the only other time she's felt this bad is when Riku—a mite overenthusiastically—bonked his wooden sword straight into her first, in her first and last sparring session with the boys). She shakily raises a free hand to press against her aching head, shutting her eyes again to focus on her breathing.

A few moments later, and she manages to get the pounding down to a dull buzz, indistinct from the other aches that currently plague her. Letting out a shaky sigh, Kairi rubs her temples one last time, before opening her eyes and finally seeing where she has ended up.

And releases a gasp of wonder this time. The night sky above her is much the same—studded with the same shining moon, dotted with the familiar pinpricks of starlight. But she realizes that the stars are fewer in number, dimmer—and that none of the constellations Riku painstakingly taught to her are to be found.

The oddly foreign sky would have been a conundrum in their own right, were it not for her more immediate surroundings: Kairi finds herself in the biggest town she has ever been in.

She takes that label back almost immediately. Her home on the main island (she quickly quashes the memory of it) is a town. Here, there's no grass or sand or trees to be found. There's no broad, endless horizon where sea and sky meet, far off at the edges of the world. Paved stone covers everything, and the buildings rise into the air, three, four, five or more stories above her head, crowded together with no space between them.

This, Kairi understands, is a city. And, for all that it dwarfs everything back home, not a particularly big one. After a lifetime in the sunny, breezy, and open air of the Destiny Islands, she feels a little claustrophobic. But the mild fear fades when the realization (the first of many, she feels) comes crashing over her.

"This really is another world," Kairi marvels. "Sora. Riku. I made it."

* * *

The Princess is safe and relatively sound. The robed figure peers at the rising form of the girl from the rooftops, safely hidden and ensconced within the shadows.

Judging from the slow deliberateness of her motion, he determines, coupled with the occasional wince when she moves too quickly, her body is still strained from the efforts of her battle against the Darkside. Still, she had made an admirable showing for her first clash against the Heartless. His former self would not have fared half as well at twice her age, given the same amount of preparation. Even untrained and particularly unskilled, the power of a Princess of Heart is not to be underestimated.

The board has been disturbed, pieces stolen and removed without his notice. Another player—a true rival, unlike the witch and her cronies—is interfering with his plans. But he has spent ten years plotting, and no one knows the ways of the worlds like he does.

The Princess will suffice. She will be his agent, and deliver herself at the destined time. The witch, in all her shortsightedness, would ensure it. Simple as that.

But the disappearance of the spare is troubling. A potential Keyblade Wielder is never a simple pawn. The Princess _is_—and will remain—safe, he reassures himself. Her heart blazes too bright to falter now; the Keyblade will protect her until the proper time.

With a final glance, seeing the Princess walk out into the town proper, he turns and steps into the darkness.

* * *

Kairi can barely keep her mouth from hanging open in awe as she wanders the town. Intellectually, she knows that it's basically the same as the islands, if more crowded and less inviting. But the simple fact that this is an entirely separate world makes the simple differences seem marvelously significant and impressive.

Still, for a city so large, it's oddly empty. She catches the occasional glimpse of motion from behind curtains shrouding well-lit windows, and sometimes snippets of hushed conversation. But the streets are utterly deserted. Kairi checks her watch. "Huh," she mutters. Late, but hardly the dead of night. In a place as seemingly well-populated as this, she'd expect _someone_ to still be out and about. She taps a finger to her lip in thought. Maybe time flows differently here (like in that old serial Riku dragged Sora and her into watching)?

But as she wanders through a pair of large gates and into an empty square, her idle wondering is brought to a halt when a wave of chilling fear washes over. At first Kairi freezes completely, the memories of her home's destruction brought crashing back to the forefront of her mind. But this darkness is different somehow, subtler, more controlled—hiding and lurking, instead of devouring and destroying everything around it. Swallowing hard, she finally shoves the memories out of mind once more when she hears the sound of strangled gasps and of metal clanking against stone.

From around the block, a middle-aged woman tears out of a side street maybe fifty feet ahead of her, forcibly dragging a small girl by the hand. Kairi takes a worried step forward, but the words of concern die in her throat when she sees what's chasing them.

Dark soldiers, nearly a dozen of them, each clad in armor and shadow. Kairi almost thinks they're cute in the ungainliness of their limbs and the comical design of their armor (almost like the hero of Sora's favorite action cartoon, until Riku started teasing him about it), but the scent of darkness wafting from them quashes that feeling instantly. Living shadows they are not, but their aura and the unearthly glow of their eyes are exactly the same as those shadows that destroyed her home. The similarities almost overwhelm her, and Kairi can't help but compare their jerky, relentless advance (twelve is nothing, twelve is _manageable_, a defiant part of her whispers) with the hordes of shadows that swept across the islands.

She's shaken out of her fearful reverie when the woman starts screaming, "No! Not my daughter!" And Kairi sees that while the memories had washed over her, the girl has tripped and fallen, forcing the mother to turn back and spend precious seconds hauling her child to her feet.

And that in those seconds, the soldiers have drawn too _close_. And Kairi realizes that the destruction of her home wasn't a random incident, that the shadows are here _too_, and that more lives will be lost if she doesn't _act_. Three seconds are all the lead soldier needs to close in on the pair of mother and daughter.

So with the barest whisper of a thought, the Keyblade blazes into existence in her right hand. _One second_. With another, she swings her right arm up, almost faster than Kairi realizes, despite the aching tremors that wrack her muscles. _Two_. And as the mother clutches her child close, eyes closing and scream dying, a beam of light flashes through the air, harmlessly passing over the two—and as the soldier _leaps_, claws extended, eagerly grasping for defenseless prey, its armored head _evaporates_, its body instantly dissipating into mere wisps of shadow. _Three_.

And Kairi is _running_, running as fast she can. But the toll of her previous battles slows her, dulls her senses, and she can barely lift her feet. Just as the band of soldiers is too close to the helpless pair, she is simply too far. Time seems to slow down as she throws her all into this effort, but there's nothing left to give. Her legs stop responding, and she trips, falling to her hands and knees, and Kairi knows she has failed. She looks up, hoping that maybe, just maybe she has bought enough time for the mother to run away, but knows, as horror and guilt settle upon her heart once more, that it wasn't. Not for a terrified woman scared out of her wits. _Four_.

But perhaps it was enough for someone else. For in the fourth second, a dark figure leaps out from the rooftops above, and (even as Kairi wonder what fresh terrors this newcomer will unleash) a blaze of red energy flashes along a length of silver.

And just before the soldiers are upon the pair, a wave of fire consumes the shadows, launched so expertly that not a single flame blows back upon the two humans. Time snaps back into normal speed, and the mother scrambles to her feet, this time carrying her daughter in her arms, and she runs towards Kairi and past her.

Their savior lands lightly on his feet before the flames, the tails of his fur-trimmed black jacket flapping. Kairi can only gape at his entry, her fear instantly eclipsed by awe at this perfectly-timed rescue.

And as the flames die down, and a mere handful of soldiers stumble out to charge their new foe, Kairi can only continue to gape, as he attacks with the strangest weapon she has ever seen (impressive, she thinks, considering she wields a _Keyblade_). Gleaming arcs of silver pass through the air as he swings his ridiculous gun-sword with well-practiced ease, effortlessly dodging the soldiers' wild attacks and bisecting them in return.

Kairi knows her fighting skills are rudimentary, and holds Sora and Riku as the standard she wants (_needs_) to surpass. But those two (who have spent the past ten years sparring against each other, and she knows from their cuts and bruises how hard they train) are nothing compared to the unstoppable brutality and elegance that is this man's swordsmanship.

Another four seconds pass, and the fight is over, as the last wisps of darkness fade into the air. With an ease just as practiced as his attacks, the man settles his weapon over his shoulder, and turns to face her. Kairi scrambles to her feet, finally shutting her mouth, and can barely decide whether to thank him for saving them from the soldiers, explode with wonder at his skill, beg him for lessons, ask him his name, ask him about this world…

Her train of thought screeches to a halt when he marches towards her. And when he draws near, for all the blank, controlled stoicism that is his expression, she can see the anger in his eyes.

"What the hell were you thinking?"

* * *

Leon's pissed. Well, more pissed than usual, if Yuffie were here to gauge his emotions. Someone breaking curfew is bad. Someone drawing the attention of the Heartless because of said breaking of curfew is worse.

And someone trying to play hero, with _light_ magic, is worst of all.

So yeah, for once Leon finds himself (not that he'd ever admit it) agreeing with Yuffie. He's pissed, and for very good reason. Protecting Traverse Town is hard work: a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week duty. The Heartless are always waiting and watching, ready to prey on the helpless. The fact that most survivors who make their way to the town are _not_ fighters in any way, shape, or form doesn't help.

Protecting the town with four people is practically a nightmare. The only way to keep things manageable is to do as little as possible to draw the Heartless's attention. That means staying in groups, sticking to well-lit, well-traveled paths, and staying indoors at night.

And under no circumstances, absolutely _no_ light magic. Nothing provokes a Heartless feeding frenzy like the radiance of pure, untainted light. Aerith was nearly _killed_, and Leon's not about to let anyone risk their and everyone else's lives because of ignorance or stupidity.

He marches over to the idiotic heroine-wannabe, lets his "pissed drill sergeant" expression (as Yuffie so aptly named it) bleed through, and promptly begins to tear into her. He's about to give the standard chewing out to the girl, when Leon realizes he's never seen her before (the clothes are a dead giveaway. Much too flimsy for the dank chill of a Traverse Town night). And then his eyes fall to the weapon loosely clutched in her right hand.

His spiel dies before it even begins, and he doesn't know if he should start ranting or remain gobsmacked. Because she's holding it. The one thing that could save them all, the key to saving all the worlds. The legendary Keyblade. In the hands of a teenage girl, who doesn't even know the first thing about fighting the Heartless.

Leon presses a hand to his forehead, closes his eyes, and exhales sharply through his nose.

"So that's the Keyblade," he mutters. "And it just had to choose you."

* * *

Kairi doesn't know whether to be terrified or ashamed. She feels like a student being scolded by a teacher, except she doesn't even know what she did wrong. But as she waits for the dressing-down, the man goes silent and wide-eyed, anger fading. She wonders what's running through his mind, and realizes his eyes have fallen upon the Keyblade, still loosely clutched in her hand.

Then he covers his face and mutters, "It just had to choose you."

First relief courses through her at the averted lecture. Then shock, and she wonders how he knows about the Keyblade. Finally, the tone of his words catches up to her, and it's indignation that rises above everything else, roused at the sheer disparagement in his voice.

"Excuse me?" Kairi snarls. "What was that about?"

The man lifts his hand away, and looks at her directly, anger now replaced by simpler irritation and exasperation. "They're going to keep coming after you, you know," he lectures, already dismissing her. "They won't stop attacking you while you wield it. And the Keyblade just had to go and pick a kid like you."

Kairi's cheeks _burn_. "What's that supposed to mean? I'm more than capable of holding my own!"

He simply shakes his head in reply. "The first rule of fighting Heartless is no light magic. Sure, it tears them apart, but it also whips them into a frenzy. One destroyed Heartless is nothing when a horde's coming after you. Now hand it over, before you get us all killed." He raises a hand expectantly.

Kairi knows that she's a mess. Her body's still aching, and her heart's been through an emotional hurricane dealing with losing her friends, seeing her home destroyed, and fighting the shadows—or Heartless she supposes. This man's _infuriating_ condescension is simply the topping to the worst day she's ever had. So, simply put, Kairi _snaps_.

"No way," she snarls. And with a huff, she pokes him in the chest with her Keyblade, knocking him back a step. "You're not getting your hands on _my_ Keyblade."

The man simply shakes his head once more. "Fine," he says nonchalantly, and swings his gun-sword from his shoulder into a ready stance. "Have it your way."

* * *

Leon's been putting trainees in their place since Hollow Bastion, when it was simply protecting the kingdom from invaders. With the fate of the worlds at stake, he's not about to let an arrogant little girl in over her head stop him. Just as he tenses and prepares to blitz the girl, a feminine voice cries out from behind him. "Leon! Don't!"

He sighs, and pinches the bridge of his nose with his off hand. "Aerith, this really isn't your business. Get back to your watch." He raises his blade, and faces the girl again, who glares back at him with fire in her eyes. "I need to make sure this girl knows just what it is she's holding."

Aerith runs over, panting, and before he can start this lesson, she steps in front of him, arms outstretched and green eyes just as defiant as the girl's. "Stop Leon! Look at her!"

He places a hand on his friend's shoulder, ready to move her aside, when he catches the girl's eyes again. This time though, he doesn't a see a pair of blue eyes filled with defiance and indignation, but eyes filled with laughter and the simple wonderment of a child.

"…Kairi?" he whispers.

* * *

The fight's over before it even begins, when the woman in the pink dress steps in front of Leon. Kairi ignores their conversation, eyes totally focused on her opponent, anger blocking out all other thought.

But when the man whispers her name, the shock that blossoms disrupts her focus, and Kairi drops her guard. "How do you know my name?" she shoots at him, Keyblade half-raised with suspicion, ready to defend if necessary.

The man's own shock quickly fades, his suspicion rising to mirror hers. "That's impossible. You can't be here."

She snorts, and quips back, "Well, clearly I am." Kairi narrows her eyes, and defiantly raises her Keyblade back into Sora's basic defensive stance.

Even though the woman's back is turned towards her, Kairi still sees her shake her head. "She doesn't remember Leon," she says gently. Then the woman turns, her brown locks waving with her motion. The woman's bright green eyes meet hers, and a sad smile crosses her gentle features. "You don't remember us, do you Kairi?"

Kairi doesn't know what to expect from either of them now, only that something is definitely not right. "Of course I don't…" She tries to make it sound defiant, but her words simply trail off into uncertainty. The most fearful part of her roars to attack anyway, but another part says _no_. And Kairi realizes it sounds the faintest bit like Sora.

The gentle gaze and beatific expression of the woman diminish her anger, and she notices that even the man has relaxed in her presence. Letting the last of her outrage seep away (and Kairi finally realizes just how bone tired she really is), she finally relaxes, arms falling to her sides, the tip of the Keyblade resting on the ground. Body half-sagging with exhaustion, Kairi whispers, "Why should I?"

The sadness darkens the woman's expression as she bows her head. "Because we're from Hollow Bastion." Kairi doesn't recognize the name. "Just like you."

Then pain blossoms behind her eyes, more intense than any headache she's ever had, and the aches and pains across her entire body flare, and the weight of all she's suffered over the past night press down on her all at once, and suddenly she sees fire and hears screams and realizes she's falling, falling to the ground, falling into nightmares.

* * *

_This world is nothing more than a ruin, he muses. A shining beacon, blazing bright for all the worlds, and within the space of a year he had brought it crashing down. Radiant and glorious, now nothing more than a hollow, shadowed remnant._

_He waits while he muse, not to avert boredom, but merely out of habit, ingrained in memory. Finally, after the sun has set and shadows claim the abyss that is nearly the whole of this world, his cloaked counterpart appears, stepping out of a corridor of darkness. He cocks his head in false eagerness._

_His counterpart, shorter and slimmer than he but exuding a far more powerful aura of darkness, gives a slight nod of acknowledgement. "The vessel has been claimed," the other man states. "Ensure the spare does not interfere."_

_He offers a single grunt of affirmation. "Zexion has made the appropriate preparations. Xigbar will keep the Organization in order."_

_His counterpart returns his grunt. "The spare is nearly here. The plan is in motion."_

_He doesn't respond—restating the obvious is pointless. Sensing their conversation is over, his counterpart turns and steps into a dark corridor once more, and offers a final admonition. "We cannot tolerate failure this time. Watch him."_

_And just as his counterpart vanishes into the shadows, a rip of darkness opens in the air above him, spatting out a boy with silver hair. The boy's journey was evidently rough; he groans as he crashes to the ground, and simply lies in the dirt._

_He allows himself a final dark grin, before turning to the boy, concern etched over his face. "Are you okay?" he asks, kneeling by the boy's side as he struggles to sit up. "It's okay, I'm here to help. What's your name?"_

"_Riku." With another groan, the boy finally opens his eyes, and meets yellow eyes framed with brown locks._

_The man gives a reassuring smile. "I'm Terra."_

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the late posting; had my first case of writer's block writing this chapter -_-'. Wasn't quite sure where I wanted to go this chapter, and struggled to get everything in Traverse Town done, but I guess this'll have to do. Again, I need all the constructive criticism you can give. My biggest concern this chapter was the use of multiple viewpoints. Effective? Confusing? Redundant? Please, tell me what you think!

Again, I'll try to aim for Friday for the next chapter. And another preview:

**Chapter 3: **_Chains of Memory_

_"Tell me about our home."_

_"I... I can't do that."_

_"Some things, Kairi, are just too painful to remember."_


End file.
