Chapter Text
Somewhere in a decrepit castle, within a deserted world, a shadow awakens. For a moment, it does not know what or why it is. All it remembers is –
falling, falling, falling into
– nothing at all. Except... maybe, the slightest remnant of pain, suffered willingly. A sacrifice, though it does not know what for. And a voice, belonging to someone it should recognize? No, that’s not a memory, is it. That voice, the person it should know... they are here, right now, aren’t they?
With the little strength it has, the shadow emerges from the ground, its spindly body forming from a puddle of darkness that wasn’t there a second ago. It looks around, searching for the person it feels it should know, and locks on to an odd trio running from the room - a strangely dressed dog and duck, and a young girl it somehow knows must be the Voice it seeks.
The shadow pursues, driven half by instinct and half by curiosity. It runs through the castle until it reaches them, in a large room with a fountain surrounded by stairs. The duck doesn’t seem to recognize it, but the Voice does. She calls it Sora, and although it doesn’t recall hearing the name before, something about it just feels... right.
It doesn’t have time to process that fact, however, before more shadows appear to threaten the Voice. The next few seconds are a disorienting rush of sensation - a searing white light engulfs it as its memories return and its form is twisted into something it shouldn’t not have been, a feeling at once painful and soothing that confuses and strains the mind but still somehow feels right and -
Silence. A welcome reprieve, a sense of peace that remains even when the silence is broken by the former shadow. It speaks, for the first time, three words it remembers saying a thousand times before: “Kairi. Thank you.”
But the reunion is quickly interrupted by another wave of aggressive heartless and the Beast that appears to fight them, and so the group flees from the castle, returning to the safe haven of Traverse Town. They speak to allies about what happened, and plan their next course of action. Not that the shadow is paying much attention. It spends most of this time sorting through its memories, trying to make sense of itself. Who it was, what it wanted... It will need this knowledge, to avoid worrying its friends. Besides, it already knows that the only way to proceed from here is to - "Seal the keyhole, right?"
The swordsman - Leon, his name is Leon - agrees, though not in so few words. Even if he’s concerned what sealing the keyhole could do, he’s not about to stop “Sora”. After all, if anyone can save Riku, it would be the young keyblade master.
The shadow turns to Kairi and smiles, but it can’t quite figure out what to say. Sora would probably know, but it’s not really Sora, is it? Instead, it turns its head away. “I should prepare - to go after Riku. The three of us will be together again soon.” Kairi smiles, but it’s clear she can tell something’s wrong. Either that, or she doesn’t know what to say either.
It leaves the house and heads to the first district, partly to avoid any more awkward conversation and partly because it needs to speak to Cid. It only planned to upgrade the Highwind again, since the ship took a beating on the way back, but apparently that’s not good enough for the old man. He sends the shadow to retrieve a navigation gummi from the waterway.
Kairi’s already there, of course. After it retrieves the gummi from the mural and its allies start to leave, she speaks to it. “A light at the end of the tunnel...”
“Oh... like your grandma’s story?”
She turned in shock, but nodded once she remembered how Sora had seen that memory. “That’s right. We were together.”
“It’s funny,” says the shadow. “I looked everywhere for you, only to find you were with me all along. Now that we’re finally together again... it’s about time we get Riku back.”
At that, Kairi turns her head away. “You think it’ll ever be the same again between us? Riku’s lost his...”
It knows things can’t truly be the same, not as long as it’s like this. But... “When I became a heartless, you saved me, remember? I was lost in the darkness, and I forgot almost everything. My friends, who I was... but then I heard your voice, and you brought me back. I think it's because... our hearts are connected. The light from your heart broke through the darkness, and it saved me. So even if things aren’t quite the same... You, and me, and Riku will always be together. I’m sure of it.”
Kairi smiled, clearly reassured by its words. “Well then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”
Wait, does she mean... “Wait, hold on! It’s probably not a good idea for you to come with us. I mean, unless you learned to fight during our journey, but...”
She laughs at that, seemingly having expected it. “I might have picked up a few things,” she says, mimicking his basic swings. “But... I guess it doesn’t help much without a weapon, huh.”
“Yeah, probably not. And magic can only get you so far on its own. I’m sorry, but... you really should stay here,” it tells her. Of course, it’s not really that upset about it. She won’t be in any danger as long as she stays behind. And she doesn’t seem too bothered by it, either.
“Alright then,” she says. “But before you go...” She hands it a star-shaped pendant, made out of shells. “It’s the charm I was working on, back on the islands. Be sure to bring it back to me, alright?” It looked at the charm, then at her, and smiled. “I promise. We’ll all be home soon.”
Sora, rather predictably, left without much fanfare. He was never one for long goodbyes, and he probably felt more confident fighting than trying to figure out how to talk about the events at Hollow Bastion. Not that she could blame him. If she was in his shoes, she’d probably be uncertain about it too.
The rest of the Hollow Bastion crew, on the other hand, must be at least a bit disappointed, since they were preparing to fly over there for a proper farewell. Kairi was sitting on the steps to the accessory shop, watching them prepare for the trip, when Yuffie walked up behind her. “You’re not coming with us?”
Kairi shook her head and sighed. “No, I don’t think so. I already had my moment with him, and I don’t remember Hollow Bastion all that well anyway. Besides,” she said, holding her hand out in a hollow imitation of Sora, “we agreed it was a bit too dangerous for me without a key...blade...” she trailed off as she realized what just happened.
In her hand was a weapon with flowery teeth and a heart-shaped handguard, half of which had a sand-like tan color and half of which was made of blue glass and shaped like a wave. It even seemed to... flow, somehow. There was only one thing it could be, and they both knew it.
“Goddamnit.”