Work Text:
Kairi was woken by what sounded like a clap of thunder—except it was too loud, too close to be real thunder. She jolted upright in bed, gasping for air as her still-fuzzy brain tried to process what was going on.
Electricity burned around her—it did not touch or hurt her, but it was thick in the air, making the hairs on her arms stand up. It felt like… someone had just cast Thunder magic? That would explain the noise, but why in the worlds…
Kairi’s wondering stopped short as her brain registered the sounds in her ears. Namine. Her voice was small and shrill and panicked—“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry,” she cried, that and nothing more.
Kairi threw the mound of blankets off her stomach and vaulted out of her bed and towards Namine’s, which sat kind of awkwardly in the center of the room. (It was the easiest way to fit three beds in here, without having to mess with any of the other rubble.)
Namine was curled in on herself, clutching at herself and still stammering apologies and trembling like she was terrified. Of what? Kairi reached out to grab her shoulder, but that only resulted in Namine flinching away and more furious string of ‘sorry’s spilling from her mouth.
“Hey, Namine,” Kairi said, because, okay. Touching her was a bad idea. “Hey it’s, it’s okay? It’s, fine. You’re—” She stopped there. Her brain was not awake enough for this, and even if it had been, she had no idea what to say, because she had no idea what was wrong.
Giving up, Kairi lifted her eyes from Namine’s cowering form to Aqua’s bed, which lay on the other side of Namine’s. Her heart dropped into her stomach.
Aqua had her Keyblade pointed at the ceiling.
It was still glowing with a faint energy.
Kairi nearly tripped over her own feet in her haste to get around Namine and to Aqua. She still wasn’t totally sure what to do, but recognized that this was the bigger problem right now. Closer inspection showed that Aqua was still asleep. Her face was tight, her body rigid. A nightmare, Kairi’d wager.
“Aqua,” she said, and then louder: “Aqua!” No response.
Kairi grit her teeth. She reached out to shake Aqua by the shoulder, then thought better of it. She’d startled Aqua more than once in the past, and… Well, she didn’t want a Keyblade in her gut. She frowned at Aqua for a second, tired brain spinning rapidly to solve this situation. Maybe… a bucket of cold water? Kairi couldn’t say it would be the safest, but it sounded effective.
Except, Aqua’s Keyblade was glowing again.
Kairi sprinted to the door and leaned out into the rest of the mansion, deliberating for a half-second—she wanted to call Riku, but he’d be no help, so: “MICKEEEEEYYY,” she screamed, and then moved for Namine, throwing up a Reflect around them. Or, as around them as she could manage. It didn’t create a full bubble, but a large portion of one, forming a solid barrier between them and Aqua. Kairi just hope it was strong enough, knowing how powerful Aqua’s spells could be.
It didn’t matter.
Mickey arrived, and some sort of spell from him flooded the room.
Kairi wasn’t sure what it was, but once it surrounded her, something cold filled her veins. Her Reflect vanished. She fumbled for another one, but it was like trying to hold water in her hands. Why couldn’t she pull at the magic?
“Sorry,” Mickey said, his expression frantic and apologetic. “I had’ta—”
He didn’t finish.
Aqua woke with a strangled shout, sitting bolt upright and looking terrified.
“Sorry!” Mickey said again. “It was the fastest way I could think of to keep ya from casting anything else! D’ya want me to… I can undo it, hang on—”
Aqua shook her head, and seemed to realize then that she was holding her Keyblade. She dismissed it, feet swinging off the bed as she reached a hand out to Namine and Kairi. “Oh, no,” she whispered. “Did I—”
“It didn’t hit anyone. We’re fine,” Kairi assured her quickly. Then she reassessed, considering the way Namine still trembled in her arms. “I mean? It didn’t hit me. I’m not sure about—”
“I’m fine,” Namine said, her voice small. Her face was painted with guilt. “It didn’t- I just…”
Except she didn’t explain any further than that.
“I’m so sorry,” Aqua said. She buried her face in her hands. “I’m so sorry…”
“We’re okay, we’re okay!” Kairi assured her again, hoping she didn’t sound terrified or anything. (She wished she didn’t feel terrified.) “Honestly, it’s no big deal.”
Aqua didn’t seem convinced, though.
“Here,” Mickey said, and his magic filled the room again. The coldness in Kairi’s veins let go of her, and now that it was back, she could feel her magic pulsing in the back of her mind again.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Silencing spell,” Mickey answered, still looking incredibly apologetic.
“Cuts us off from magic,” Namine added, voice still small.
“Aqua still had her Keyblade, though,” Kairi protested. “Isn’t that magic?”
Mickey shook his head. “Keyblades are different.”
That wasn’t nearly enough of an explanation for Kairi’s tastes, but she didn’t get a chance to press further. Aqua got to her feet, then, and briskly walked for the door. She said nothing, and her body language was… impassive.
“Aqua…?” Mickey asked, looking up at her as she pushed past him.
She hesitated in the doorway.
“I… I’m going for a walk,” she said.
And then she left.
Mickey watched her for a moment, then sighed. “I’ll… go try ‘n talk to her,” he told Kairi, with something of a smile. He looked incredibly worried, though. Then he sent a longer glance into the room, eyeing the three beds. “And maybe, we should think about… I mean, I don’t know if there’s enough rooms in this mansion, but…”
He seemed to have trouble finishing it, but Kairi understood. He was suggesting moving them to separate rooms.
Kairi opened her mouth to protest that she could handle it—but then she remembered the way Namine had trembled, fear thick in her eyes, the frantic way she’d kept apologizing. Kairi couldn’t force Namine to go through that again, even if there was no predicting if it would happen again, even if tonight had only been a fluke.
“Okay,” Kairi told Mickey.
He nodded, and headed after Aqua.
Kairi waited a second, and then sighed. She shifted so Namine could move and sit up the rest of the way, then took a seat on the end of Namine’s bed.
“What… was that about?” she asked, even though Namine was looking down at her lap, hunched in on herself.
“I… I don’t really want to talk about it…” she whispered.
Kairi eyed her, wanting to press, but knowing she shouldn’t. Namine’d been through enough.
“Well,” Kairi said instead. “I’m gonna go find Riku.” She hopped to her feet. It was weird that he hadn’t also come running, actually. “You wanna come with?”
“Maybe I’ll go back to sleep,” Namine muttered.
One look at her told Kairi that was a bad idea, after everything else that had happened tonight. She grabbed one of Namine’s hands and tugged at her. “Nah, come on! Come with!” she insisted.
Namine didn’t resist. “Okay, okay,” she laughed, sounding exasperated.