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Chapter I: Burdened With Glorious Purpose
“It’s outside their field of expertise...”
There’s a pause, some snippets of conversation, updates on how everyone’s been since…
And then:
“What about Kairi?”
“Kairi…” Riku pauses. And then, in a low, defeated voice, almost like he can’t bring himself to hope, he says:
“She believes her heart may hold a clue about Sora. For a year, she’s been sound asleep while they search her heart.”
***
Kairi hauls herself up onto the ledge.
The rain is coming down in sheets; has been for at least an hour now. The Gateway Mountains are treacherous at the best of times, and even though she’s seething at the change in the weather, it would be foolish to press on.
She makes camp under an outcropping, sheltered from the wind and rain, and starts a fire. She’d managed to hunt some small game--the animals that live here aren’t like any she’s ever seen, but she doesn’t want to use her emergency rations unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Kairi sets the meat to cook over the fire, and then peels off her boots and wet socks to let them dry by the fire.
Opening her backpack, she pulls out her journal, a spare pair of thick socks, and a heavy blanket to ward off the chill. She mutters a spell, her voice rasping from disuse, and a small, bright orb of light materializes for her to write by. She leafs through the battered pages, letting out an exhausted sigh when she realizes how long she’s been traveling.
The entry for the previous day reads: Day 112 .
Has it really been that long already?
The Princess of Heart sighs and makes a brief entry in her journal:
Day 113
Think I’m getting closer to the Monastery Beyond. Weather turned lousy and I had to make camp early. Pretty sure Riku’s still following me, but he’s pretty far behind if that’s the case. Naminé’s probably slowing him down--she hasn’t had anywhere near his level of training, but he won’t leave her behind.
Hang on, Sora.
I’m on my way.
Kairi puts the journal away, swapping it out for bandages. Her feet are terribly blistered, and now is a better time than any to wrap her feet so they don’t get any worse. She shivers, scooting closer to the fire and taking a sip from her canteen.
It’s only now that she’s been forced to stop that she realizes how tired she is. She’s been traveling at an absolutely grueling pace since leaving Radiant Garden almost three months ago. She’d barely noticed her various aches and pains until now, shoving them to the periphery of her awareness so she can focus.
She doesn’t have time to rest.
She doesn’t have time to stop.
Because Sora might not have that kind of time.
Kairi sighs and tries not to dwell on it. Sora’s loss is an ever-present ache, one that will consume her if she lets it. She tries to focus her mind and meditate, but the smell of the cooking meat is too distracting. She checks on her dinner and deems it cooked enough to eat.
The meat tastes a little gamey, but it isn’t bad. It’s only once she’s wolfed down half the meat, fingers and lips dripping with grease, that Kairi realizes that she doesn’t remember the last time she ate anything. Or the last time she’d slept.
The last few days are lost in a haze of exhaustion, a smear of unfocused images and dim sensations in her mind’s eye. There’s a faint, floral scent on the wind, which is what Kairi’s been waiting to encounter for most of the journey. It means she’s close to her destination, and as she polishes off the rest of her meal, she thinks that it’s probably for the best that she’s stopped to rest.
She’ll need all her strength for the task ahead.
Kairi takes a deep breath and does her best to clear her mind. She won’t sleep tonight, but a few hours of meditation will keep the worst of the fatigue at bay.
***TDS***
The early morning air is crisp with the smell of fresh rain.
Kairi's managed to get past the worst of the terrain now that the weather has improved, but that doesn't change the fact that she's lost considerably more time than she'd like. The muddy trail beneath her boots is strewn with debris, but it's infinitely preferable to the loose, treacherous rocks that lay behind her.
The redhead lets out a long sigh, her breath steaming in the air in front of her. She consults her map again, frowning.
She's not lost per se, but she's certain that she's been down this path before. It's not like there are any trail blazes or anything to mark the correct direction.
Then again, it wouldn't be secret if everyone knew where it was…
Kairi allows herself a wry smile, and then continues on her way. She travels along the packed earth for some time before being confronted by a figure in a flowing white robe. The figure's face is obscured by the hood, but the voice that issues from them is deep and authoritative.
"Halt. You are not a student of The Path. You trespass on hallowed ground. Leave this place immediately."
Kairi frowns, her teeth grinding together in irritation. "I don't suppose you could tell me how to get to the Monastery Beyond?"
"I cannot. I will remove you by force if necessary. This is your last chance to depart peacefully."
Kairi lets out a slow breath, trying to keep her cool as her blood sings with pre-battle adrenaline. "I can't leave either, so it looks like we're at a stalemate."
The robed figure stretches out a hand and summons a Keyblade.
Kairi rolls her shoulders and smiles. "Alright then."
The figure's advance is measured and swift, the carefully paced stride of someone who has spent a lifetime training in combat.
The first strike is hard enough to make Kairi's teeth rattle. But she can tell by the blisteringly fast salvo of follow-up strikes that it was only meant to test her guard. Her training has been relentless, falling into the rhythm of combat is as natural as breathing.
The sound of their blades is almost musical. Their weapons wheel between them, flashing and sparking and singing. Kairi gives ground, using reflect spells as well as her keyblade to hold off her assailant.
She slips a lunge that nearly skewers her, countering with a kick powerful enough to shatter solid rock--she's done it enough in practice to be confident in her ability.
Her assailant gives a surprisingly-human wheeze and doubles over. But, the robed figure recovers fast enough to block her follow-up attack--countering with a brutal backfist that leaves Kairi tasting the coppery tang of her own blood. Kairi retaliates with a vicious cut that narrowly misses her opponent's head. She's driven off the path by a furious counter attack. The spike of panic she feels when her back collides with a large tree trunk is as primal and visceral as it is nauseating. She manages to duck before her head is taken from her shoulders, but only a desperate roll saves her from being crushed under the tree as her opponent cleaves it in two.
The robed figure is on top of her immediately, soaring over the fallen tree in a great leap, blade angled for a devastating overhand strike.
Kairi barely gets her weapon up in time to keep herself from being cut in half. She's trained relentlessly for the past two years, but she's never faced anything like this . Her keyblade gives a distressing groan as the force of the blow travels up her arms and rattles her teeth. She slips the next blow, but the next strike gets past her guard slamming into her side with a dull crunching sound. She sucks in a breath and almost collapses at the agony that comes with it. She can already feel the blood soaking into her shirt, and she knows that she has to end the fight as soon as possible.
She pushes forward, using the pain to fuel her assault. She's got her assailant on the retreat when his blisteringly fast counter connects with enough force to snap her keyblade in half. Kairi allows herself a brief moment to be shocked, and then throws herself aside, her opponent's weapon carving a deep furrow in the dirt where her head had been.
Kairi stares at the jagged stump of her weapon in disbelief, fending off her opponent's follow-up with a reflect spell. Her attacker stumbles back, and Kairi seizes the initiative, discarding her broken weapon in favor of wailing on the robed figure with her bare hands. Although her adversary’s face is obscured by the robe, the meaty crunch under her knuckles on impact gives her a grisly kind of pleasure.
Nothing like some good-old-fashioned pugilism.
The ripost of her opponent’s Keyblade draws a bright slash along her right cheek, too fast to dodge, and she’s forced to put some distance between them again, letting the robed figure regain his footing.
Despite the fact that they’ve only been fighting for a few moments, Kairi’s breath is already coming in short, ragged gasps, and she knows she needs to end the fight as soon as possible. She sucks in a breath, setting her feet as her opponent rushes her–if she messes this up, she’s dead.
She registers the deadly overhand blow angling to split her cleanly in half, and allows herself a fraction of a second to panic.
And then, she moves.
Her hands come together in a perfectly-timed counter, trapping her opponent’s blade between them as she breathes the word that will save her life:
“Reflega.”
Kairi channels her energy into the spell, pouring all of her magical might into it, and she is rewarded when her opponent’s blade shatters in a blinding flash. She doesn’t even have time to be surprised at her own success, seizing her opening and driving the jagged stump of her opponent’s blade into his throat.
Her opponent gives a desperate gurgle, his hands clutching at his neck as he topples over onto the leaves, blood pooling in the dirt.
Kairi stares at the body for a moment, before her stomach lurches and she stumbles away to vomit into a nearby bush. Shaking, she wipes her mouth and rinses the acidic taste from her tongue with a swig of water from her canteen.
The wound in her side throbs, and she peels her shirt up to survey the damage. There’s a deep cut along her side, deeper than she’s capable of healing,and the skin around the injury is an ugly, swollen, bluish-purple mess.
Kairi fishes through her pack for some bandages; she doesn’t have much, but it will help with the bleeding and–hopefully–keep the wound clean.
Oh… Kairi thinks, gritting her teeth as she begins binding the wound.
This is bad.