Chapter Text
[The two who were never suppose to meet]
-----
"What are you doing?" The hooded man asked in bemusement. The flash of gold light that told a keyblade had been summoned caught his attention. Not that it was hard to miss the flash as the Dark Margin was true to its name.
In one hand, his companion in the dark held the keyblade, it glowed a soft light. It highlighted the outline of the weapon. In the other hand, a blue glass-stained charm also glowed the same light. It flashed brightly and a beam of light shot out towards the horizon.
"It's a Wayfinder charm," the woman said fondly, laughing at the end. "I made three for my friends and I. Although I didn't use Thalassa Shells since we didn't have any at our homeland."
He looked on as his companion strolled towards the water, knelt down and let the dark waters claim Master Keeper.
"Surviving here will be harder without your keyblade." He commented.
She chuckled, stretching as she watched her master's memento float away. "You survived here twice without one, I think I can manage."
"True, but what was the purpose of letting it float away?"
The female held up her charm, lifting it up not unlike the way she did when she proudly told her friends what spell she casted on it. The light was gone, but she had a feeling it did exactly what she made it for. The moon's light glinted off the sliver into blue eyes.
"An unbreakable connection."
"Maybe waiting isn't good enough." She responded, tucking a stray strand away from her eyes. "And I have a feeling that they don't want to wait any longer either."
-----
[And the three who will start the awakening]
-----
"What's that?"
Sora turned around at Riku's voice. Behind him was Kairi, both looking puzzled at what Sora was holding. The King had granted the Destiny Islands trio a small break back to their home world before their duties. Sora would be travelling with Donald and Goofy to find other Guardians of Light while Riku would be journeying with Mickey to find his lost friends. Kairi would be left with Yen Sid to be trained on how to wield the keyblade with Lea.
"I dunno, it was just on the beach when I came here."
The trio examined the mysterious keyblade. It was longer than Way to Dawn, Kingdom Key, or Destiny's Embrace. The guard of the keyblade was box-like, the keychain looking like a fusion of a heart and a cross, and the key teeth was in an 'E'-shape. Sora passed it on to Riku to examine. "Do you know any other wielders that used this keyblade?"
"No, I haven't seen any other wielders except for us and the King." Riku replied. "And…well, another a long time ago but he didn't use this one."
"Don't forget about Lea." Kairi laughed as she reached for the keyblade. She had to shield her eyes as once she touched it, a bright light erupted from the keyblade and her necklace. Images flashed into her mind. A brown haired man wielding a keyblade shielding a blonde boy, a castle being torn down by violent winds, a blue-haired woman carrying the same blonde boy, but this time sleeping, into the destroyed castle. She clutched her head as Sora and Riku urgently asked her what was wrong.
"Maybe waiting isn't good enough."
She knew that woman. But from where…?
In her small, stubby hands she held out a bouquet of flowers.
A soft smile, a magic spell, a metallic-blue keyblade.
"My name's Kairi! Nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you too, I'm-"
"Aqua." Kairi whispered. Light surrounded the tip of the keyblade and Kairi lifted it to shoot out towards the water. A portal opened, beckoning her to enter.
"Kairi, are you okay?" Sora and Riku were hovering around her, looking so concerned that it made her laugh.
"Sorry," She giggled when she noticed the two looked put-off. "Your faces just looked funny."
"Excuse us for being worried!" Sora crossed his arms, trying to look stern but his lips twitched in amusement.
Riku laughed, "Right. You alright though?"
"Yeah." Kairi turned to the portal. "I think…there's someone I need to help over there. I knew her when I was still on Radiant Garden."
"You can't go there!" Sora exclaimed. "It's too dangerous!"
Kairi put her hands on her hips, glaring at Sora. "You think I can't handle it?"
"Er. Well…"
"What Sora means," Riku interjected, elbowing Sora. "It's better for all three of us to go. For safety reasons, you know since we were about to head out to fight against Xehanort and you are a Princess of Heart."
Kairi glared at Sora for a few more seconds to watch him squirm before nodding at Riku's logic. "Let's leave a note for the King and the others in case they come looking for us and then we'll enter the portal."
-----
[3]
-----
"We're here again."
The three exited the portal and onto the sandy beach of the Dark Margin.
"We wandered here after defeating Xemnas." Riku explained to Kairi. "Then your letter in the bottle came here and a door to light appeared. That's how we got home."
"I'm glad I sent that bottle out that day then." Kairi said. She scanned her surroundings, no sign of anyone.
Suddenly, a roar was heard across the area.
"Over there!" Sora shouted. He dashed forwards with Riku and Kairi behind him.
The three fought against neoshadows, they were fiercer than the ones Sora and Riku remembered before. Probably because they were in the realm of darkness, they were stronger here. Kairi was glad she came with them, she was a bit miffed that Sora thought she couldn't handle herself alone, but Kairi only became a keyblade wielder a year ago and wasn't able to summon Destiny's Embrace by will until a few weeks ago.
Basically Kairi's an amateur compared to Sora and Riku.
But she'll catch up.
The young keybladers trekked on until they reached a wide clearing. They saw a a blue-haired woman firing blizzard spells against a gigantic Heartless. It dodged on four legs, menacing claws slashed at the woman who created a barrier. The Heartless kept attacking at the barrier where cracks started to appear.
"It's Ansem! She's trying to protect him!" Riku pointed, recognizing the figure laying prone on the ground behind the woman.
"We got to help her!" Kairi shouted, running towards the monster, keyblade in hand.
"Thunder!" Sora casted the magic spell to catch the monster's attention. Seeing it was caught off guard, Kairi slashed at it, hitting its arms while Riku attacked its head. Sora rushed towards the woman and Ansem while casting Cura on both of them. As he got closer, a memory surfaced into his mind when he saw the woman.
"Just like now, be by his side and help him. It's a job only you can do Sora."
"It's you…" Sora muttered, he remembered during his Mark of Mastery Exam right before he fell into darkness a time when an outsider visited the play island. The sun setting and a pretty lady looking down at him and Riku. Sora shook his head. "We can talk later, quick! Take Ansem and hide, we'll take care of this!" He dashed off before he could listen to her protests.
Sora joined Riku and Kairi, he stared up at the monster in front of them and took a deep breath.
"Okay, so what's the plan?"