Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sora and his friends entered a cave and followed a narrow passage that led them to a large lake. In the middle of the lake was a small island with a strange-looking house. The roof of the house was in the shape of a sorcerer’s hat.
“This place is magical…” Kairi whispered.
Sora took a look around, but he found no path that led to the house. It was completely surrounded by water. “How do we get across?”
“The stones!” Donald shouted, pointing to a few stones in the water. He took a running start and jumped onto the first stone. When he tried to jump on the second one, however, he fell into the water with a loud splash. Just as he was about to jump, the stone simply moved away all by itself. Donald snorted angrily.
“Guess we need to be more careful with these stones,” Goofy commented.
He also jumped onto a stone and studied their movement patterns before making the next jump, so that he wouldn’t end up like Donald.
Sora went to the first stone and offered his hand to Kairi. Together they walked carefully from stone to stone. Suddenly, the stone Kairi was standing on jerked to the right.
“Aah!” she called and fell…right into Sora’s arms. He had caught her before she could fall into the water. Kairi looked up to his face, which was very close now, and blushed. “Thanks,” she said, shyly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
Donald rolled his eyes.
“Don’t worry, Donald,” Goofy said, smiling at him. “I’ll catch you too next time you fall.”
“Pah, I won’t fall anymore!” Donald shouted and jumped onto the next stone. Splash!
Goofy fished him out of the water and carried a sulking Donald under his arms to the island. With the exception of Donald, they were all dry when they arrived on the island.
They looked around. The house was pretty shabby. The facade had collapsed on one side of the house, and a green curtain covered a hole. Sora and the others went through it.

The house seemed rather gloomy and it was completely empty. Overall, it looked more like a musty cave. Kairi walked through the house, and a feeling of nostalgia overcame her. “There’s something about this musty place…it reminds me of the secret place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls. Remember?”
She stopped and looked Sora straight in the eye.
Sora just stared at her, and a warm feeling filled his heart. He remembered the paopu drawing again that he drew for her in the secret cave. One day she might discover it. How would he explain it to her then? He didn’t quite understand it himself.

“Well, well.” A voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts.

At the entrance to the house stood a strange-looking, elderly man. He had a long white beard that went all the way down to his feet, and he wore a blue robe with a pointy blue hat. He looked exactly like the wizards from fairy tale books.
“You’ve arrived sooner than I expected,” he stated.
“Wha…you knew we were coming?” Sora looked confused at the man.
He nodded. “Of course.”
Sora eyed the man skeptically. “Are you…a Heartless?"
“He doesn’t look like one,” Donald stated.
The man chuckled at Sora’s comment. “Oh, my. No. My name is Merlin. As you can see, I am a sorcerer,” he said, introducing himself to them. “I spend much of my time traveling. It’s good to be home.”
Kairi looked at the bag Merlin was holding. He seemed to have just returned from his trip. She looked at him pityingly and said, “I’m sorry. It looks like you’ve been robbed while you were gone.” After all, the house was completely empty.
“It wasn’t us…!” Sora quickly added, waving his hands in denial.
Merlin just laughed. Then he said, “Your king has requested my help.”
Donald and Goofy listened more closely. “King Mickey?”
Merlin nodded. “Donald, Goofy. And who might you be?” He looked over at Sora and Kairi.
“Sora and Kairi,” Sora answered for them.
“Ah, so you have found the key,” Merlin said, giving them a scrutinizing look.
“What did the king ask you to do?” Donald asked curiously.
“Just a moment…” Merlin walked into the middle of the room with his bag.
“Presto!” he called and raised his wand. Suddenly, his bag opened all by itself and a cup flew out. The wizard was dancing around, chanting magic words while more furniture emerged from his bag. Sora and the others stared at the spectacle with wide eyes. There was a plate, a teapot, a table, a chair…until after a while the house was completely furnished. It looked quite comfortable now.
Kairi felt embarrassed about her foolish comment earlier.
“There, now. Ahem…” Merlin cleared his throat and then continued, “Your king asked me to train you in the art of magic. We can start anytime you like. Let me know when you’re ready to begin the training.”
Sora and Kairi still had a lot to learn about using magic, and Donald was also interested in developing his magical skills further.
“Oh, and one more thing…” Merlin looked at a tiny white carriage. Suddenly, the whole room sparkled, and a stream of magic surrounded the little carriage. To their surprise, the carriage transformed into a fairy. In front of them stood an elderly lady in a purple robe, smiling at them.
“Hello. I’m the Fairy Godmother,” she said, introducing herself. “Your king asked me to help, too. I will assist throughout your journey.”
“I do not know how much we can be of help, but do stop by anytime,” Merlin offered them.

Sora had not forgotten their assignment and pulled out the book that Cid had given them. Merlin recognized it when he saw it. “Oh, that book…so, Cid asked you to bring this. Thank you.”
Sora and his friends looked at him questioningly. Merlin did not miss this.
“You wish to know what kind of book it is? I don’t even know myself. In fact, it’s not mine. Somehow it found its way into my bag one day. It was such a curious book, I asked Cid to repair it for me.” He took the book and set it on a small table.
“Well, I guess I’ll put it here somewhere, for now. This book holds a great secret. The missing pages will unlock it.”
Merlin explained to them that the pages of the book were scattered all over the worlds and asked them to bring the pages back to the book if they ever found any of them.
“My best regards to Cid for repairing it for me. Oh, and about that stone of yours…”
Sora looked at him, puzzled. How did he know he was carrying Leon’s stone?
“You should ask the Fairy Godmother about that.”
Sora went to her and showed her the stone. “Do you know what this is?”
The Fairy Godmother gave it a worried look. “Oh, the poor thing! He has turned into a summon gem!”
“A summon gem?” Sora asked, confused.
“This little creature lived in a world that was consumed by darkness. When a world vanishes, so do its inhabitants,” the Fairy Godmother explained. “My world disappeared, too. Oh, poor Cinderella…” The friendly smile disappeared from her face, and she looked rather sad now.
Kairi looked sympathetically at the Fairy Godmother. “I’m sorry…”
The Fairy Godmother gave her a friendly smile. Then she looked at Kairi in surprise.
“Why, my dear. I can feel that your heart is special, just like Cinderella’s.”
“Huh?” Kairi looked at her, confused. Then she smiled. “Cinderella seems to be a nice person if you talk so lovingly about her. I’m sure we can save her somehow.”
“Oh, I have no doubt about that,” the Fairy Godmother said cheerfully.
Kairi gave her the stone. “Can we save this creature too?”
The Fairy Godmother nodded. “Oh, yes. This one had such a strong heart, he became a gem instead of vanishing with his world. I may not save his body, but I can bring back his spirit. Now watch! Bibbity Bobbity Boo!” the Fairy Godmother chanted, and the stone transformed into a bright light that whirled around Sora and Kairi until it vanished.
“Whenever you call, he will help you,” said the Fairy Godmother and smiled.
“Who?” Sora asked.
“He was once a mighty lion. The king of his world. Simba is his name,” she answered.
“Simba…” Sora said, impressed.
“A lion king?” Kairi asked. “Sora, let’s try and call him later in Merlin’s training!” she said excitedly.
“If you find any more of these, bring them to me. Don’t worry, when their worlds are restored they will return there. Please help save them!” the Fairy Godmother pleaded.
“Don’t worry, we will,” Sora assured her.
The Fairy Godmother thanked them and then disappeared again. All that was left was the little carriage, which they could access whenever they needed her help.

The group turned back to Merlin, as they were now ready to begin their magic training. He nodded to them and then let a wooden board from the ceiling of the house come down to them like an elevator. Merlin directed them to jump on it, and together they rode up to the next floor.
They were in a large, colorful room that offered plenty of space to practice. Merlin explained to them that they could cast as many spells here as they wanted, since he would make sure that their magical reserves wouldn’t run out. Kairi was delighted. Finally she could test her magical abilities to the fullest.
“Here we go!” exclaimed Merlin, conjuring up pieces of furniture that floated across the room. They were meant to be the targets.
Sora grinned. “You mean we can smash furniture here without getting scolded by anyone?”
“Don’t let this become a habit, my boy.” Merlin looked at him reproachfully.
Sora smiled apologetically and then summoned his Keyblade. Kairi did the same.
They tried to aim their magic at the floating targets. With their lightning magic this wasn’t too difficult, but if they used fire or ice they had to aim more accurately. Donald also tested his skills, although as the king’s court magician he was already very experienced in handling magic. Goofy didn’t know much about magic, but he had enough fun cheering his friends on.
“Sora, let’s try calling Simba!” Kairi exclaimed.
Sora nodded to her. “Courage!” he called, and together they held their Keyblades high in the air. A stream of magic shot out of them and materialized into an impressive lion. From a magical sky he jumped down to them and let out a powerful roar. The sound waves of the enormous roar shattered the furniture around them.
“Wow!” Sora and Kairi were amazed. With such a powerful ally, they had a considerable advantage in battle from now on. With their Keyblades they increased Simba’s strength, and his roar got even stronger. This would allow them to destroy huge numbers of Heartless at once in battle.
They practiced some more with Simba until they made a good team. Eventually Sora and Kairi thanked him, and Simba dissolved into ether again. With that, Merlin ended the training.
“Not bad, not bad,” he commented while sipping a cup of tea that he grabbed during training as it flew past him. “If you ever need more training, you can come back here anytime.”

Chapter Text

While Kairi trotted after the group, lost in thought, she did not notice the impending danger that was creeping up on her from behind.
Instinctively, Sora turned around.
“Kairi!” he called when he saw a group of Heartless standing right behind her, ready to strike.
Kairi screamed. She wanted to summon her Keyblade, but the Heartless knocked her lucky charm out of her hand and she stumbled. Sora hurried towards her with his Keyblade in hand, hoping to reach her in time.

A powerful blow hit the Heartless and they disappeared. However, it wasn’t Sora who had saved her.

“You owe me twice now.” With a friendly smile, Riku reached down to Kairi to help her up.

Kairi stared at him with wide eyes. “Riku!” Instead of reaching for his hand, she threw herself around his shoulders, overjoyed. He was finally with them again.

“Riku?” Sora stared at him, baffled. Was that really Riku? He hadn’t seen him for a long time. But he really stood before them, safe and sound. Sora ran over to his friends and pulled them into a hug. At last the three of them were reunited.

“Hey, cut it out, you’re squeezing me,” Riku finally said, pulling out of the hug. He cleared his throat. “Well, looks like you two are still all safe and sound.”
Sora nodded. “We finally made it off the island, Riku! And now that we found you, we can go to all kinds of places together!”
Kairi beamed at Riku. “You won’t believe all the things we saw!”
She wanted to tell him everything, but Riku interrupted her. “Yeah, yeah. I know.” He reached into his pocket and pulled something out.
Kairi recognized it immediately. “My letter! You got it!” She clapped her hands excitedly. The letter had somehow found its way to Riku, as she had believed it would.
Riku gave Sora a skeptical look and then asked, “So, Sora became a true hero, huh?”
“That’s right!” Kairi pulled out Sora’s hero license and proudly held it in front of Riku’s face. She put her finger over the word Junior so that Riku wouldn’t notice.
However, Riku grabbed the license and read aloud, “Junior…hero?”
“Argh…!” Sora groaned and looked at the ground in shame.
Kairi smiled apologetically. “Oh, those are just minor details.”
Then Riku’s gaze fell on Sora’s Keyblade, which was still in his hand, and Riku wrinkled his nose. “Yeah. With that weapon of yours, you can easily become a true hero in no time.”
At first, Sora smiled, but then he realized the underlying insult. “Hey, it’s not just the Keyblade! It needs a very capable wielder!”
“Indeed, it does,” Riku replied with a shady expression. “Can I see it?”
Before Sora could answer, however, Riku was already reaching for his Keyblade.
“So this is a Keyblade.” Riku held it up and examined it.
“Hey, give it back!” Sora reached for his weapon, but Riku took a step back and Sora stumbled.
“And you have one too?” He turned to Kairi.
Kairi nodded. “It’s my good luck charm.” She proudly showed him the charm which then manifested into a Keyblade.
“Interesting…” Riku gave Kairi a scrutinizing look, and the longer he stared, the more uncomfortable she felt. Finally, he said, “I’m sure you’ll grow into a fine Keyblade wielder. If only you had more capable companions by your side.” Reluctantly, he looked at Sora’s Keyblade, as if he didn’t want to return it, and then threw it at Sora.
“Ouch!” Sora called, stumbling to the ground again.
“What’s that mean?!” Donald said, intervening. He did not miss Riku’s derogatory comment.
Riku didn’t want to pay any attention to Sora and Kairi’s new friends, but now he had to say something. “Who are they?” he asked with little interest.
“We’ve been looking for you, with their help,” Sora replied.
Donald wanted to introduce himself properly. “Ahem, my name is—”
But Sora cut him off. “We’ve visited so many places and worlds, looking for you.”
“Really?” Riku looked at him incredulously. “Well, what do you know. I never would have guessed.” He paused for a moment and then walked a few steps away from them so that they couldn’t see his face. “After all…you were perfectly fine with leaving the island without me.”
Kairi winced. She didn’t expect him to say that.
Sora looked at him, confused. “What? No, we—”
Riku interrupted him. “I didn’t really want to come, but Kairi wanted to see me.” He threw her letter back at her. Kairi caught it in her hands. Rather intimidated, she looked down at it.
“And now you’re coming with us, right?” Sora asked persistently.
For a moment it got very quiet before Riku gave them a crushing answer. “Why should I? You have your Keyblades. You should be fine without me. I have no interest watching you fight, Sora, when you can’t even wield it right.”
“What?” Sora looked at him reproachfully. They had looked everywhere for Riku, but Riku seemed to have no interest in going with them.
“You wanted to go on this journey alone, so have fun,” Riku said contemptuously, and then went on his way again.
However, Kairi couldn’t just let him leave again. “Riku, don’t go! Please, don’t leave us behind again,” she pleaded.
Riku stopped. Then he turned to Kairi, and her heart froze. He was glaring at her sinisterly. He had never looked at her like that before. “Like when you left me behind? Now you know how that feels.”
Kairi stared at him with wide eyes.
“Why should I believe you? After all, it was your idea to leave without me. Now you can have Sora all for yourself, without me bothering you. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

Kairi fell silent. She could feel her heart shattering at Riku’s words. What was she supposed to say to him? Riku was right. On a silly whim, she had suggested running away with Sora, but she hadn’t really meant it. But Riku had gotten hurt by what she had done. The pain and darkness in his eyes…was she responsible for it? The thought of that brought tears to her eyes.
Hopelessly, she stared at her lucky charm. It had brought her safely through their journey and eventually to Riku. But Riku didn’t want to be found. What was the point of their journey now? As she thought about the situation, her vision blurred. She vaguely noticed how Sora and Riku were arguing now. Sora wanted Riku to apologize to her and go with them. Had she known that her decisions would tear them apart so much, she would never have started this journey. She glanced at her lucky charm one last time.
Then she threw it away and ran off. As she was running, she could hear Sora calling her name, but she didn’t want to talk to him now. She ran until she reached the little house and finally disappeared into it.

Sora picked up Kairi’s lucky charm. Only Donald and Goofy were with him now.
Kairi was already with the others and Riku had made off. Sora didn’t understand anything anymore. They had finally found Riku, so why weren’t they all happily together? They had argued instead, and Kairi seemed to not want to have anything to do with this journey anymore, while Riku didn’t want to have anything to do with him. How could this have happened? Sora looked sadly at the good luck charm, wondering what he should do now.
Donald and Goofy kept silent for a while. They had hoped the three friends would sort things out themselves. Normally, Donald didn’t have much sympathy for Sora, but now he felt sorry for him. “Sora…” He wanted to say a few words of encouragement, but he couldn’t find the right ones.
Goofy also tried his best. “Gawrsh, I’m sorry about your friend…but you never know, he might change his mind after all.”
Then it became silent. Donald knew no matter what they said, it wouldn’t change Sora’s mood. So he put on a more serious tone. “Sora! I know you’re sad, but our mission comes first! The worlds are depending on us. And King Mickey, too! No matter what happens, we have to carry on!”
Sora snapped out of his thoughts and put Kairi’s lucky charm in his pocket.
“You’re right. We still need to find the King. Let’s head back to Cid and the others,” he said, but it didn’t sound like him at all.
Donald and Goofy gave each other a gloomy look and followed him.

Aerith served Kairi a cup of freshly made tea. “Here. It’ll make you feel better.” She smiled at Kairi. “I know how exhausting your journey is. Sometimes it’s better to take a break and relax. After that, you can see things more clearly again. But you can stay here with us for as long as you need to.”
Kairi smiled back at Aerith. “Thank you, Aerith.” She had told Aerith everything that had happened between her and Riku. Kairi was no longer sure whether she wanted to continue the journey, and she had a feeling that the more they progressed, the further they moved away from Riku. She didn’t even know if she had what it took to complete her tasks as a Keyblade wielder. She often got into trouble, and then Sora or Riku had to save her. Unlike Sora and Riku, who had trained with their wooden swords from an early age, she didn’t have much experience with fighting. She wondered why the Keyblade had even chosen her in the first place. She felt that Riku should have gotten the Keyblade instead of her. After all, he would have needed it more. Maybe then he would have come with her and Sora.

At that moment, Sora, Donald, and Goofy entered the little house. It was no longer as dark and dusty as when they’d first visited. Yuffie had set up the room for them and it looked quite cozy now. She even put a small bed down in case any of them wanted to rest.
Then Sora’s gaze fell on Kairi, but she ignored him. She just sat there gloomily, still thinking about Riku’s words. Seeing her like this felt rather unusual to Sora. Kairi never lost hope, or at least that was what he had always thought. Sora didn’t know how to deal with the situation, and that made him feel even worse. Making faces would certainly not help now.