Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Kairi Sinclair yawned, trying not to drift off to sleep in the middle of history class. She stared down at her notebook, trying to make sense of what she'd written so far, but found that most of the page was covered in silly doodles. She slumped over her desk, tucking her hand against her cheek, and began adding to the drawings.

To her right, Sora Strife looked just as bored as she did, leaning back and staring at the ceiling. His twin brother, Roxas, sat behind him, angrily tapping the lead of his pencil against his paper while glaring at the back of his brother's head. It seemed he still wasn't over Sora accidentally dropping his phone and cracking the screen.

A paper airplane glided past her and she looked up in time to see it collide with the shoulder of one of her classmates. She stifled a laugh as he flinched and swiveled around to glare at the back row.

The teacher, Mrs. Johnson, cleared her throat and turned away from the chalkboard. "As I was saying, it is important to remember the actions of kingdoms and worlds of the past so we may not repeat their mistakes. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the stories of Radiant Garden, a once prosperous world brought to ruin by the follies of its monarchy." (From the corner of her eye, Kairi saw Sora sit up straight, all of his focus on Mrs. Johnson.) "Because of their actions, it became an uninhabitable world. All that remains now are ruins and- is there a problem, Roxas?"

Kairi turned her attention to the blond twin, who was frowning as he lowered his hand.

"That's not right," he said. "The king and queen had nothing to do with the fall of Radiant Garden! They did everything they could to save it and their people! They didn't just sit there and let it happen, they were right there fighting alongside everyone else!"

Mrs. Johnson raised an eyebrow and the class collectively held its breath, waiting to see how she'd respond. "Well then, since you seem to know so much about a kingdom that fell a thousand years ago, you and Kairi can do your final project on it."

Roxas didn't look pleased, but he didn't complain either.

"Each of you will be assigned a partner for this project," Mrs. Johnson said, eliciting groans from the majority of the class. "You have until the end of the month to complete it. During the last week, you will give a presentation to the class. You may choose a world from the paper I'm about to hand you, but no pair may use the same as another. If you're not sure which to pick, I will help you and I will be happy to answer any questions you have." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in and for the complaints to quiet down. "Partners will be as follows: Roxas Strife and Kairi Sinclair, Sora Strife and Tidus Clearwater, Selphie Tilmitt and Pence White, Olette..." She continued on down the list, pairing off her relatively small class of sixteen before instructing them to get together with their partners and decide what to do their project on.

The next ten minutes were spent with the sound of desks and chairs scraping across the floor as the class rearranged itself. Mrs. Johnson walked around and began handed out pages of information.

Roxas carried his chair over to Kairi's desk, not seeing the point in moving his desk when he could share Kairi's. Sora excitedly gestured for his sandy-haired partner to leave his corner in the back and join him in the second row, which the cheerful teen was happy to do.

"Nice of Roxas to open his big mouth and get you assigned to a world instead of being able to choose," Tidus joked as he sat down. He winked at Kairi and nodded towards Selphie, who was more than likely chatting off Pence's ear. "At least it's an interesting world. How much do you wanna bet that Selphie will convince him to do theirs on Trabia?"

Roxas immediately fixed Sora with a hard look – a fair mimicry of their older brother's no-nonsense stare. "No. No more dumb bets."

Sora pouted. "It's just some harmless fun!"

"It's not, because then you run out of allowance and have to beg me and Riku for snack munny. Or you go to Cloud and he gets annoyed and then I get lectured for letting you foolishly spend it all!" Roxas complained.

Sora was about to say something else, but shut his mouth as Mrs. Johnson swooped over to hand over their instructions. He smiled charmingly at her. "We were just discussing what place we want to cover. I think Gaia would be interesting, but Tidus hasn't told me what he'd like to do yet."

Tidus scratched the back of his neck, a sure sign that he was feeling nervous about his suggestion. Or it could've just been because their teacher suddenly focused her attention on him. "I, uh, I was thinking we could do ours on Zanarkand."

Sora looked intrigued. "That's in Spira, right? Alright, lets do that! I've done loads of stuff on Gaia before, so this'll be a nice change." He quickly informed Mrs. Johnson of their decision, to Tidus's great joy, and then began asking his partner questions so he could learn more about the most magnificent of Spira's ancient cities.

Kairi and Roxas exchanged amused looks at their enthusiasm and then turned their attention to their own project.

-.-.-

Lunchtime rolled around without further incident. Sora sneaked off to make his usual lunchtime phone call to his boyfriend, Riku, who conveniently didn't have class at the same time as their lunch period. Roxas scowled and set off in search of his twin, leaving Kairi and Tidus to walk outside to their usual spot together.

"So I think I heard Selphie talking Irvine into bringing his charcoal grill to the beach tomorrow," Tidus remarked as they walked through the crowded hallways. "Think she's trying to throw another party?"

Kairi shrugged. "It's possible. Unless she's finally taking Sora's suggestion for food seriously. We'll have to get someone else to help man the grill though, so Irvine doesn't have to do it all on his own. Someone who isn't one of my brothers," she amended, noticing the mischievous look on her friend's face.

Her brothers were fairly well known for their love of fire and pyrotechnics and often got in trouble because of it. Thankfully they'd calmed down more since graduating high school, but every now and then she'd hear of a rouge firecracker getting released in town.

Tidus laughed gleefully. He opened one of the double door leading outside and let Kairi go first. "After you, milady."

"Why thank you, kind sir." Kairi reponded with a quick curtsy before exiting.

Tidus hurried after to, letting the door swing shut behind him. Together the two of them walked over to the outdoor food court, which consisted of several round tables of different sizes. Since there were ten of them altogether, they always picked the largest of the tables. They could already see that most of their friends were already there.

A petite brunette named Selphie Tilmitt sat between two tall boys, one with orange hair which stuck straight up in the front and the other wearing a cowboy hat over his long brown hair, which was tied back in a ponytail like always. The redhead was Wakka Byrd, a boisterous fellow who was captain of Destiny High's prized Blitzball team. The boy in the cowboy hat was Irvine Kinneas, who was rarely seen away from Selphie's side.

To Irvine's left, three others were bunched together talking in hushed tones. One was a heavyset boy with dark brown hair named Pence White, who was friendly and kind. The other boy was a blond named Hayner Trudell who had a short temper and a mouth which often got him into trouble. The last person at their table was Olette Pierce, a stubborn and openly opinionated girl with wavy brown hair.

Tidus grabbed the seat next to Wakka, immediately getting drawn into the tale Selphie was telling. Kairi took her place next to him and tried to listen, but was quickly distracted by what she soon came to realize was a heated argument between Hayner and Olette, with poor Pence stuck in the middle.

"Look, I'm sorry," Olette hissed, trying to keep her voice down. "It came up all of a sudden and there's no way I can get out of it! I have to go back to Twilight Town for the weekend."

Hayner crossed his arms over his chest. "Tell them you've already made plans! They can just reschedule."

"I can't ask them to reschedule the baby shower, Hayner." Olette sounded exasperated. "You three will just have to hold movie night without me. You'll be fine."

"It won't be the same."

"We could always wait until you get back," Pence cautiously suggested.

"No. It has to be on Friday night. It's tradition," Hayner stubbornly replied. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the final two members of their group approaching the table. "Roxas! Tell Olette she has to stay for movie night with us!"

Roxas raised an eyebrow as he and Sora took the last two seats between Kairi and Hayner.

"I just told you I can't!" Olette exclaimed, finally raising her voice.

Roxas didn't look happy that he had to be the one to put an end to their argument. "If Olette says she can't, then she can't. Drop it."

Taken aback by his friend's abnormally foul mood, Hayner kept his mouth shut and didn't complain about Olette ditching them for the remainder of lunch. Instead, he sulked.

While half of the table was in poor spirits, Selphie couldn't look happier if she tried. She stood up, clapping her hands together to get everyone's attention. "I'm sure you've all heard about the beach party I'm throwing on Saturday, so now I'm just going to confirm everything. It's going to start around two, which should give everyone enough time to get there. Me and Irvy will be there before then to get a few things set up, so if you wanna join us and help out, that'd be awesome!"

Sora raised his hand in he air and waved it. "Question! We're having it on the play island, right? Not Destiny Beach? Because we almost got in big trouble last time."

"Because Reno thought it'd be a good idea to set off fireworks at three in the morning near the beach houses," Kairi mumbled irritably.

Tidus snickered.

Selphie nodded. "Since it's just our usual group, we're going to the island. That way we can be as noisy as we want and not have people complain! I think it'll be our last fun, friendly get-together before the end of the school year suckfest really begins."

Her words got some chuckles from her friends.

"Is it just the ten of us or are we inviting other people?" Wakka asked.

"I've already taken care of that. Riku, Axel, and Demyx are invited. And I also asked Lulu, of course." (Wakka smiled at the mention of his girlfriend.) "And I think they have a few people they want to invite. Or at least Riku does."

Sora looked a little puzzled by that.

There was a brief moment of silence and then Tidus cleared his throat. "Since no one else wants to ask the most important question, I guess I'll do it. Are we going to play Blitzball?"

Everyone laughed.

Chapter Text

Kairi awoke to the sound of her oldest brother yelling: "Has anyone seen my keys, yo?"

She groaned quietly and closed her eyes, wishing, not for the first time, that her brothers knew how to be quiet.

"Check the freezer!" Axel shouted from down the hall.

"It ain't there!"

Kairi would end up murdering both of them one day.

"Stop yelling! Your sister is still asleep!"

'Thanks, dad,' Kairi thought sarcastically as she sat up. She could feel that her hair was a ruffled mess, but made no move to try and smooth it over. Taking a deep breath, she yelled: "I'm already awake!"

There was a brief moment of silence followed by hysterical laughter from Axel's room, though it wasn't from her brother. It was a sad, sad fact that Demyx, who was as talkative as both Selphie and Sora, could still manage to be quieter than anyone in her family.

She sat there for a moment longer, debating whether or not it would be worth it to lay down and sleep for a while longer. As Demyx's laughter turned to high squeals and cries for Axel to stop and a loud crash sounded from downstairs, Kairi made her decision.

She rolled out of bed and got ready for the day ahead.

Axel had been best friends with Demyx Harbor for as long as Kairi could remember. In fact, they'd been friends for so long that he was practically a member of the family – just with blond hair (styled into some kind of Mohawk-mullet hybrid) instead of red.

"Morning, Kairi!" He cheerfully greeted when she finally emerged from her room. (She suspected that he must have retreated to the hall to escape from Axel.) "Ready for the beach party today? I know I am! It's going to be so much fun!"

Kairi smiled. Demyx's enthusiasm was contagious at times and she found herself energized just by being near him. "It'll be great to get everyone together before we really start worrying about finals and college applications."

Demyx made a sour face. "Ugh, don't remind me. I feel like I'll be lucky if I pass any of my classes this semester.

"Hey! No depressing shit today!" Axel hollered. "Besides, me 'n Riku are gonna tutor your ass so there's no way you'll fail!"

Demyx cheered up at the reminder.

"You'll do fine, Dem," Kairi told him reassuringly. She felt a little bad for bringing up the subject to begin with. "Axel's right. Lets not worry about that today. Selphie would kill me if she knew I'd unintentionally killed the fun before her party can get started."

"Then this conversation will be our little secret," Demyx said with a wink. "Now how about some breakfast?"

Axel stuck his head out of his bedroom. He was shirtless and had his brush tangled in his wild red hair, trying to tame it. "Don't eat all of my bacon this time!"

Demyx grinned cheekily. "No promises!"

Kairi and Demyx walked downstairs to find Reno with his hand stuck down the kitchen drain while Mr. Sinclair sat at the kitchen table slowly eating his food while reading the newspaper. His auburn hair was tied back in a ponytail and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up.

"Umm... isn't that the garbage disposal?" Demyx asked, wearily eying Reno.

"Yes," Kairi replied, not sparing her oldest brother a second glance. She grabbed a plate from the counter and sat down at the kitchen table next to her dad. Demyx was fast to join them, grabbing food and piling it on his plate before he'd even sat down.

Mr. Sinclair paused in his reading to take a sip of coffee. "Good morning, kids."

"Mornin', Mr. Sinclair," Demyx greeted through a mouthful of toast. "You know Reno's got his hand in the garbage disposal, right?"

He didn't even bat an eyelash. "Yes."

Demyx gave up questioning the safety of Reno's actions and instead started up a conversation with Kairi about the party.

"So if I were to, just for example, bring a dozen or so water balloons and hide water guns all over the island and then jump out and spray anyone who walks by my hiding spot, how annoyed do you think Selphie would be? On a scale of one to ten."

"I'm not sure Selphie's the one you need to worry about," Kairi said. "Imagine if you hit Axel, after he spent all morning getting his hair to look just right for Roxas."

Demyx thought about that for a moment and then shuddered, deciding it was in his best interest to forget the idea altogether. Axel was really good at getting revenge when he felt he'd been slighted and he was known to be rather creative about it.

As if summoned by the mention of his name, Axel slunk into the kitchen and stealthily poured himself a cup of coffee without anyone noticing. He rolled his eyes at Reno and then sat down next to Demyx.

Mrs. Sinclair stepped into the room from, her black high heels clacking loudly against the floor. Tall and slender with flaming red hair, it was easy to see where Axel got his looks. Her eyes though, were the same stunning shade of blue-violet as Kairi's. She paused a few steps into the room, taking in the scene before her.

"Reno Sinclair, get your hand out of there this instant!"

Reno flinched, yanking his hand out of the drain. "But my keys!"

Mrs. Sinclair sighed heavily and held up a worn brown boot. "You left them in here. Please be more mindful of where you put your things."

Reno turned away from the sink with a big grin on his face. He practically skipped over to take his boot and keys. "Thanks, ma! Yer the best!" He said as he breezed past her to the back door. "Hey there, li'l Strife!"

"Hi, Reno!"

Seconds later, Sora walked into the kitchen to greet the rest of the family and Demyx. "So who's ready to party?"

Demyx pumped a fist in the air, unable to speak thanks to his mouthful of eggs. Axel used the opportunity to swipe one of the eight pieces of bacon piled on the blond's plate.

"Oh? Is Selphie throwing one of her famous parties?" Mrs Sinclair asked fondly. "One of these days I may end up hiring her to organize one of mine. She could make a wonderful career of it."

"We'll pass the message along," Sora promised.

"You're here early though," Kairi remarked. "The party doesn't start for another few hours."

Sora nodded. "I know. But I'm meeting up with Riku in about twenty minutes and we thought you might like to join us. We're gonna go hang out in town. Maybe get some ice cream."

"You had me at 'ice cream'," Kairi joked.

-.-.-

There was nothing better than relaxing in the shade of an umbrella and enjoying an ice cream cone with best friends on a warm spring day. A light breeze kept the warmth from becoming uncomfortable and the people walking around and talking provided a relaxed atmosphere. And even though her best friends were being lovey-dovey with each other, Kairi found she didn't mind too much.

"You've got some chocolate right there," Riku said, tapping his cheek. "No, not there. Here." He reached over and gently wiped his napkin over a spot on Sora's face, removing the mess.

Sora smiled sweetly at him. "Thanks, Riku."

Kairi cleared her throat, reminding the two that she was still there. "If you two would like to rejoin me in the real world, we still need to find something to do for the next hour."

Sora reluctantly broke eye contact with Riku. "I thought we could do some shopping. My last swim trunks suffered an unfortunate accident thanks to Roxas and Axel, so I need a new pair."

"Axel set them on fire, huh?" Kairi said knowingly.

Sora shook his head. "Nah. The way they tell it, Axel set his essay on fire by accident and Roxas thought the best way to put it out was with my trunks. I must've left them on his side of the room or something." He shrugged. "So what color should I get? My last ones were blue, but I think I want something different this time."

"Pink," Kairi suggested jokingly. She plucked the string of her bikini top, which was visible beneath her shirt. "Then we'd match."

Sora cringed at the very idea. "No way, Kairi. I wouldn't be caught dead in pink!"

Riku looked thoughtful. "I don't know, Sora. A nice, vibrant pink just might suit you. And then I'll always be able to see where you're at."

Sora pouted and sunk down in his seat as his friends laughed at him. "You both suck. Just for this, I'm getting red. The brightest red I can find. And there's nothing you can do about it!"

Their laughter turned to strained cries of disagreement, begging him not to bring back the return of red pants. They weren't able to keep it up for long and soon the three friends were laughing as they set off for a little shopping.

-.-.-

By the time the trio arrived at the play island, most of their friends were already there and had stuff set up. There was a clear cut division between the lounge area - where beach towels and umbrellas, as well as the grill was set up - and the much larger space for running around and activities.

Selphie was in the process of directing Irvine, Wakka, and Demyx in setting up a volleyball net. It didn't look like it was going very smoothly, since Demyx was tangled in the net and no one was trying to help him get free. Irvine and Wakka had their hands full with the poles, which kept tilting and threatening to fall over.

Tidus was in as good of a mood as ever and was laughing and joking around with Pence and Roxas as they cleared out one of the old sheds of the junk they'd collected since they were kids.

"Strange, I thought Axel would be here by now," Kairi said as she stepped down from the dock and onto the warm sand. "Hayner too."

Riku and Sora hopped down beside her once they were done securing their rowboat to the dock.

"Lulu's not here either. Doesn't she usually ride over with Wakka?" Sora asked.

Kairi nodded. "I'm sure they'll be here soon. Though if mom found out about Axel's new collection of lighters, he might not make it at all."

"I could go ask Roxas. I bet he'd know," Sora said. "Or Demyx. Though he looks a little busy. How do you think he managed that?"

Kairi glanced down the beach and had to stifle a giggle at the sight of Demyx sitting in the sand and pouting because the net had gotten tangled in his hair. "I'll, um, I'll go lend him a hand."

"Then we'll help Irvine and Wakka," Riku volunteered.

They joined their friends and by some miracle managed to get the volleyball net set up without any injuries or ruined hairstyles. Even better, Tidus, Roxas, and Pence wrapped up their own project right after they did.

"I swear I don't know where half of that came from," Tidus complained, gesturing to the jumbled piles of crates they'd attempted to sort through. "And why do we have sixteen wood swords? Who needs that many?"

"Probably because you and Sora kept breaking or losing yours, ya?" Wakka said with a chuckle. He walked over to the mess and pushed a few things aside before pulling out a child-sized blitzball that had seen better days. "Now this brings back memories!"

"I'm surprised I have any memories of it," Sora joked, rubbing the back of his head as if still feeling the ache.

Everyone moved closer to the old toys, drawn in by the resurfacing memories, though Selphie and Irvine hung back a little.

Sora picked up one of the unbroken swords. "It feels like it's been ages since I last held one of these." He grinned and pointed it at Riku. "I never did knock you off your throne like I promised. Well today that changes!"

"No way," Riku refused.

"Scared that I'll beat you? Or that you'll get a splinter?" Sora taunted.

Riku crossed his arms over his chest. "Neither. I thought we'd outgrown this."

"I think he's too chicken, Sora," Roxas said with a smirk. "He knows there's no way he can beat me now. Listen to him, using his old age as an excuse."

"Fine. You want to fight, we'll fight," Riku said, delving into the pile to find the perfect weapon. "I didn't know you were so eager for me to kick your ass!"

Sora high-fived his twin, congratulating him on successfully baiting Riku.

Kairi covered her mouth to muffle her giggling. It felt like it'd been so long since she last saw the three of them so relaxed together. She felt justified in blaming it on the pressures of being a student. She'd certainly fallen victim to it as well.

"I'm in too!" Tidus exclaimed. He turned to look at the others, his blue eyes shining. "Anyone else?"

"Depends. Do I have to use this thing?" Wakka asked, holding up the old blitzball.

Tidus grinned at him. "If we have to use these swords, you have to use that ball. It's only fair."

Wakka looked from his friend, to the pile of junk before them, to the small blitzball in his hand, and then sighed heavily. "Fine. I'm in."

Tidus pumped a fist in the air in celebration.

Selphie began a whispered conversation with Irvine as Kairi stepped forward and joined Riku in digging through the pile for her own weapon.

"You too, Kai?" Demyx asked.

"Yeah," the red-head replied without looking up. She passed a larger sword to Riku, who gave her a thankful smile. "Can't let the boys have fun all by themselves. Besides, I have my own reputation to uphold." She withdrew a smaller sword that had her name etched into the blade and finally looked up to smirk at Tidus.

"This will be the day I beat you and regain my honor!" Tidus proclaimed.

Riku snorted in amusement. "Yeah. Good luck with that."

"I'll fight too!" Selphie suddenly announced, breaking away from Irvine's side. She shot him an annoyed look when he started to say something, which shut him up. Pleased that he wasn't going to complain, she knelt down to pick through the crates. "Jeez, did you guys never play with jump ropes or something?"

"There should be one in there, but I don't know if it's any good," Sora replied. He looked around at the remaining three who were standing around with nothing he do. Irvine didn't look the least bit interested and he knew better than to ask if Demyx or Pence wanted to fight. "So, which one of you wants to referee this time?"

"Me!" Demyx shouted, flinging his hand skyward. He immediately blushed at his exuberance and dropped it back to his side. "I mean, um, I'll do it. I'll referee. I'm not much of a fighter anyway."

Kairi, who was helping locate the missing jump rope, leaned over to Selphie and whispered: "He knocked himself out with his own oar last time."

The brunette giggled.

Demyx pouted a little, but otherwise gave no indication that he'd heard her. While the combatants finished locating their weapon of choice and began warming up, he grabbed a stick and began drawing brackets in the sand.

Pence and Irvine joined him, having nothing else to do.

"So how does this usually work?" Irvine asked.

"Normally it's rock-paper-scissors or we draw names," Pence said with a shrug. "But since Kairi and Tidus always end up facing each other first, we've given up fighting fate and just let them go. And since Riku's the champion, he doesn't have to fight anyone until the final round." He paused and watched Demyx write 'Kairi' and 'Tidus' in the first two brackets. "Rules change from game to game. Sometimes it's the first to score three hits. Others it's the first to disarm their opponent, though we can't use that one when Axel's here. He used to use these painted Frisbees with cardboard spikes…"

"Last time we drew a big circle in the sand and the loser was the first to step over the line," Demyx said. "We called it the championship to end all championships! I didn't think we'd ever be doing it again."

"How long has it been?" Irvine asked.

Demyx looked to Pence for help, knowing the other boy would remember far better than he did.

"It was just before you, Riku, and Axel started high school," Pence reminded him. "One of you-" (Demyx raised an eyebrow.) "Alright, Riku decided you were getting too old for such a childish thing so we had one last big battle. I'm still not convince that Roxas's use of two swords halfway through was legal but whatever."

Demyx rolled his eyes. "There was nothing about any of the fights that Olette should have allowed. I mean, I knocked myself out! Axel kept throwing his Frisbees and hitting people in the head! And it wasn't always who he was up against! Kairi and Tidus just did their own thing. Sora threw his sword aside and tried to wrestle Riku. It was a mess. But not this time." He stepped back away from his brackets. "Lets go settle who's facing who!"

-.-.-

It'd been fun squaring off against Tidus again. There was something nice – something familiar - about the clack of the swords and kicking up hot sand with their feet. It wasn't like going up against Sora or Riku, who held back to give her a chance. Nor was it like facing down Roxas, who'd disarm her within a minute.

Tidus was on her level. When they fought, it was the two of them clashing with all of their (meager) skills.

It felt great.

Kairi braced her hands behind her on the dock, stretching out her legs so her toes could skim the top of the water.

She'd been surprised when Selphie defeated Wakka in the first round. As old as his blitzball was, he still put up a good fight, but Selphie wielded her jump rope like a pro. It was almost terrifying the way she whipped it around, using the weight of the wooden handles and the flexibility of the thick yarn rope to her advantage.

But then she beat Sora.

And while Kairi hadn't expected to win beyond Tidus, she hadn't imagined being so thoroughly trounced by Selphie either.

She could hear Riku and Sora arguing about something as she raised her eyes to the cloudless sky and shifted her weight to rub her arm where the wooden handle of the jump rope had undoubtedly left a bruise. Where had Selphie learned to fight like that? The way she dipped and spun around, quickly and easily targeting weak points let her know that it wasn't the brunette's first time.

She supposed it didn't matter. Her skills still weren't enough to beat Riku.

"Kairi's on my team!" Sora yelled suddenly.

Kairi sighed and pulled her legs up from the water. She didn't have to ask what he was talking about. She already knew he was ready to take advantage of the volleyball net they'd helped put up earlier.

It wouldn't hurt to play a game while they were waiting for the others to finish whatever they were doing on the mainland and row over to their island.

Chapter Text

She watched through a fog as images and scenes flickered before her vision. Colors and sounds alike were muted, echoing as if being shouted across a distance but coming across as soft as a breathless whisper.

A young man with silver hair held another in his arms, smiling faintly as he looked to her and spoke of a great progress of some kind. Of training going well.

The image shifted to a petite brunette in yellow, spinning around a warmly lit room. She stopped and, with a broad grin, waved her clipboard and began issuing directions. Her words got grumbled responses from those around her, followed by people reluctantly moving to do her bidding.

There was a tall redhead with his arms around the shoulders of a much shorter boy with blond hair who was trying a little too hard to appear irritated. The redhead tossed his head back as he laughed. A second blond with much wilder hair ran over and squeezed between them. By some miracle, he managed not to spill a single drop of water from the glass in his hand. The first blond shoved them both away, looking away to hide his smile while they complained.

-.-.-

Kairi lay in bed for a minute or two, staring at her ceiling and trying to remember what she'd dreamed about. She had the strangest feeling of deja vu and could only figure that it had something to do with her dreams. Any fragments slipped away the more she tried to grasp at them. It was no use.

She sighed and dragged herself out of bed to get ready for the day. As much as she would have loved to lounge around all day, she'd promised to go into town with Tidus and help him find a gift for his mom's birthday. As one of his best friends, it was her job to make sure he didn't get anything completely ridiculous or inappropriate.

After breakfast and a few quick rounds of MarioKart with Reno, she left the house to walk a few doors down to meet Tidus at his house. He was sitting on the front steps waiting when she arrived.

He hopped up and jogged down to the end of the driveway when he saw her. “Ready to go?”

“You bet!” She responded.

As they walked, her mind drifted back to her dreams. She didn't know why she was so intent on dwelling on them. It wasn't like she'd suffered through a horrific nightmare or had another dream where everyone's head were twice as big as normal or anything strange like that. From the bits and pieces still clinging to her memory, they were completely normal dreams.

But...

Kairi bit her lip, casting her eyes to the sidewalk.

An image of Selphie in a bright yellow dress, whipping around nunchaku covered in flames without getting hurt flickered at the back of her mind.

Kairi shook her head to clear it away. She was being silly! It must have been because of the tournament the day before when Selphie had kicked butt with an old jump rope.

“Kairi? Are you okay?”

The redhead snapped her head up and guiltily met Tidus's concerned gaze. “I'm fine! Just a little lost in my thoughts is all.” She gave him what she hoped came across as a reassuring smile.

“Are you sure?' Tidus asked. “I know this isn't anyone's idea of a fun Sunday, so if you have something else you'd rather do, that's cool. I mean, it's not like I could possibly pick a worse gift than last year, right?”

Kairi fought not to laugh, but her smile betrayed her amusement at the memory. “I wouldn't think so either, but I'm going to tag along just in case. Besides, shopping with you sounds like a much better way to spend the day than sitting around the house listening to Reno curse at the TV.”

“Sora and Riku busy again?”

Her smile slipped away. “Yeah... And Roxas too. Axel was moaning about it this morning before he left for the garage.”

As part of her mom's eternal quest to get the boys to behave and be contributing members of society, both Reno and Axel worked at the Highwind Garage, which was owned by an old friend of their father. It'd started out as a punishment for setting the roof on fire one summer, but the two ended up loving it there. And though Cid Highwind was a cranky man who would never admit he appreciated their help, everyone knew he did.

“Maybe Cloud's just been giving them extra chores? And, um, college finals are sooner than ours, so I bet Riku's just studying extra hard while Sora's too busy to distract him!” Tidus suggested.

“Yeah, maybe you're right,” Kairi said, thankful for his attempt to cheer her back up. “Too bad we can't switch partners for that history project.”

“Nuh uh, no way!” Tidus protested with a laugh. “Look, Roxas is cool and all, but me and him don't do well as partners. Remember last years science project?”

Kairi grinned. “I remember Sora falling out of his desk from laughing so hard. He smashed his nose and had to be escorted to the nurse's office.”

“Yeah, exactly! Bad things happen when me and Roxas team up!” Tidus exclaimed, gesturing wildly to emphasize just how not good it was.

“Well, when you put it that way, I guess I have no choice but to stick with Roxas,” Kairi said with an exaggerated sigh. Her teasing mood gave way to a more sincere one as they continued down the sidewalk and began to see the first few buildings that marked the start of Destiny Island's shopping district. “It'll still be nice to spend time with Roxas without Axel hanging around.”

Tidus glanced over at her. “How are you going to manage that?”

Kairi shrugged. “It's not as difficult as you think. Axel knows better than to interrupt us when we're doing schoolwork. But enough about classes and homework! It's bad enough Sora volunteered me to go with him and Roxas to check out East Destiny tomorrow. I was really looking forward to having Monday off too. I could have sat around, painted my nails, read a book...”

“Man, he was serious about that?” Tidus asked with a groan.

“Unfortunately,” Kairi replied. “I'll worry about it later. Today is all about helping you! Off the top of your head, name some things you think your mom would like.”

“Uh... a nice scarf? Like one of those fancy decorative ones?” Tidus guessed.

Kairi raised an eyebrow. “Ti, we live on a tropical island. No scarves. Not even a thin one.” She sighed. Helping him was starting to look more exhausting than she imagined. For the briefest of moments she wished she'd gotten Selphie involved, but the thought of the petite brunette dragging them to every store in a tireless search for the perfect gift sounded way worse.

Tidus frowned and kicked a rock down the sidewalk, the sole of his yellow shoe scuffing across the concrete. “Something she'd like... She likes cooking, so an apron?”

“Doesn't she have ten?” Kairi asked.

“Oh. Yeah.”

It was going to be a very long day.

-.-.-

Irvine slid into the booth across from his girlfriend, a troubled expression on his face. Selphie didn't look much happier as she read a lengthy article on her tablet. She accepted the cup of coffee handed to her without looking up and set it down on a simple paper coaster.

“It's getting worse, isn't it?” Irvine asked, already knowing what the answer was.

Selphie murmured an affirmative and handed over the tablet. She picked up her coffee and took a few long sips while waiting for him to get a few paragraphs in. “She's attacking Trabia.”

“Sel...”

“She's attacking my home and all I can do is sit here and be useless.” She set down her cup a little too harshly and splashed some of the drink over the sides. “Damn it...” She mumbled miserably, reaching for a napkin to clean up the mess. Tears welled up in her green eyes, obscuring her vision.

Irvine reached over and took her hand, soothingly rubbing his thumb over the back of it. “Hey, it's going to be alright. The Gardens will stop her. This is exactly the reason they were created.”

“I know,” Selphie whispered, finding it hard to speak past the lump in her throat. “But that doesn't make it any easier. We should be there, Irvy. We should be home with our friends, doing whatever we can do to help.”

“Yeah,” Irvine sighed. “Yeah, I know.”

-.-.-

After searching countless shops only to leave empty handed, Kairi was beginning to reach the end of her rope. She'd pointed out a number of things she was sure Mrs. Clearwater would love, only for Tidus to shoot down her ideas one after the other. To be fair, she equally vetoed all of the things he suggested, mostly because it was something that would never get used.

“Jewelry's good, right?” Tidus asked, gazing up at the sign above the next shop they were walking towards.

“Does she wear any?” Kairi asked, trying to picture his mother in her head. She couldn't remember her wearing anything extravagant, but that didn't mean she wouldn't appreciate something simple.

Tidus thought for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, every now and then. Most of the stuff she has is for special occasions, but she like necklaces and earrings.”

“Well then, lets see what we can find,” Kairi said cheerfully, striding towards the store ahead of him.

In the end, after giving in and asking one of the girls at the jewelry counter for assistance, the two both agreed on a simple, sterling silver chain necklace and a pair of charms to go along with it. While Kairi thought something more in tune with his mother's interests would be better (such as flowers or tiny baking instruments), Tidus insisted that she would love the blitzball charms he'd picked.

“Blue to represent me, and red for the old man,” he said, managing to keep from sounding too bitter when he mentioned his dad.

Kairi didn't breathe a word about it, knowing it would only put him in a sour mood. “They are pretty,” she said instead, admiring the carefully crafted metal. “See, you've got a better eye than either of us thought. You didn't need me to tag along after all.”

“Maybe. But I'm still glad you came with me,” Tidus said, handing over the munny needed to pay for his gift. He got an idea and turned to face the redhead. “How about, as a reward, I buy us some ice cream?”

“You know me, I'll never turn down free ice cream. The usual place?” She asked.

“Of course! Where else is there?”

-.-.-

When Kairi got home that evening, she found Reno sitting in the exact same place as when she left that morning. He was still on the couch in his pajamas, slouched over as he intensely stared at the screen and hammered the buttons on his controller. The only thing that was different was the number of empty beer cans and bags of chips and snacks strewn about the coffee table.

“Have you seriously been here all day?” Kairi asked.

Reno didn't look away from the screen as he narrowly avoided a piranha plant. “Nah, I got up for food.”

Kairi raised an eyebrow and watched her oldest brother in amusement. When it became apparent he didn't have anything else to say, she shook her head fondly and moved on up the stairs to her room. She could hear loud music blasting from Axel's, a clear sign that he was moping about something.

She paused to bang on the door. “Hey, turn it down! The rest of us don't wanna go deaf along with you!”

Axel's response was to turn up the volume.

Kairi gave up and stepped across the hall to her room, shutting the door behind her in an attempt to muffle some of the sound. It didn't work very well. She would just have to deal with it while she finished up the last of her homework for the weekend. She knew she wouldn't have time for it the next day, since she was sure Sora would find some way to keep them running around for hours with very little time to relax.

She settled in at her desk and got to work.

Chapter Text

“Heart! Wait up!”

A woman in a short pink dress and a mask which only covered her eyes stopped walking and half turned to face a yellow-clad woman who was running toward her. The woman in yellow had coppery brown hair that bounced with every movement and wore a mask just like the woman in pink.

“Is something wrong?” Heart asked, her stance going from relaxed to alert.

The other woman shook her head as she came to a stop next to Heart. “Everything's just fine. I wanted to ask you about training, that's all. I heard we're going to be working with the guys again tomorrow.”

“That's right,” Heart said, turning to continue walking.

The woman in yellow easily fell in step next to her. “Any reason why? I mean, usually it's just us. Seems a little strange that we're training with them two days in a row. What do you think it means?”

“All it means is that we need to better cooperate with them. It's not like we haven't talked about this for weeks, Passion. The goal is to get to know each others strengths and weaknesses, which will lead to more efficient combat,” Heart said, sounding as though she was reciting something that had been repeated to her many times.

Passion hummed thoughtfully, but didn't offer her own opinion or ask anymore questions.

Heart glanced over at her sunny companion. “Is there a reason you came to me for this?”

“Just wanted your thoughts,” replied Passion. She hesitated a moment, worrying her lower lip, and then plowed on. “Actually, what I really wanna know is if you wanna go down to the bar with me tonight. Some of the others are going to and I want you to meet some of my Centran friends!”

Heart sighed. “I'll consider it. There's still a lot I have to do today.”

“Well, as long as you actu--”

-.-.-

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Kairi rolled over with a miserable groan, pulling the covers up over her head. She didn't know what time it was, but she knew it was too early.

“Rise and shine, princess!” Axel yelled through her door, his voice obnoxiously cheerful. “Get your shit together so we can go! Sora has already called me three times asking me where we're at. Twice with Roxas's phone!”

Kairi curled her legs closer to her body, trying her best to ignore him and sink back into blissful sleep. She was aware that she was being childish, but were a few extra minutes really too much to ask for? It wasn't like Axel hadn't pulled the same thing on her a dozen times.

Axel banged on the door harder. “Seriously, Kairi! Get up or I'll call Sora and let him know the reason we're running late!”

“Fine! I'm up!” Kairi shouted, throwing off her covers in frustration.

“You better be!”

She heard Axel retreat and entertained the idea of going back to sleep anyway, but decided it wasn't worth whatever punishment her brother would think up. So she got up and went about her usual routine, letting her mind wander.

She felt like she'd had another odd dream, but once again couldn't remember what it was about or who was in it. More than the strangeness of the dreams, it was the not remembering that was worrying her. Normally she could recall bits and pieces of them, even if they made no sense.

“Kairi! Hurry up! Sora's calling me again!” Axel yelled.

Kairi tied her hair back into a ponytail and grabbed her slim wallet to slide it into the back pocket of her light pink shorts. She tugged down the hem of her white tank top and then left her room. “Alright, I'm ready,” she said, rolling her eyes at his impatience. She grabbed his phone before he could say a word to Sora and put it to her ear. “Yes, we're on our way. Please stop calling Axel.”

“Well it took you long enough! It's almost nine!” Sora exclaimed, not sounding annoyed at all. “But I'm glad it's you this time and not Axel. He was rude.”

“Maybe next time you don't yell into the phone,” Kairi suggested.

“He sounded sleepy. I just wanted to help him wake up. Roxas suggested it. Anyway, we'll meet you at the main entrance, but you need to hurry up! Riku has class at ten.”

“With Axel's driving, we'll beat you there,” Kairi joked.

“Don't die,” Sora unhelpfully suggested before hanging up.

Kairi gave her brother back his phone so he could text Demyx to see if he needed a ride and then hurried downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat. She managed to snag a granola bar before Axel caught up to her and practically dragged her to the car.

After a quick stop to pick up Demyx, they peeled off down the street, leaving a faint trail of smoke in their wake.

-.-.-

“Never again,” Demyx vowed, giving Axel a dark look. “No, seriously. If you're driving us home, I'm walking or hitching a ride with Riku. Curbs are not there for you to drive over!”

“You go right ahead and do that,” Axel said, unconcerned.

Demyx looked to Kairi for help, but she just shrugged and said: “Nothing is more terrifying than riding with Selphie behind the wheel.”

The three of them slowly approached the designated meeting stop with Demyx pouting over the fact that no one was agreeing with him. None of them were too surprised to see that Roxas, Sora, and Riku were already there waiting for them.

Sora jumped up and down and waved his arms to get their attention the moment he spotted them, a wide smile stretching across his face. Roxas stood and reached out a hand to rest on Sora's shoulder to try and get him to stop acting so childish. Riku fondly shook his head and made no attempt to help Roxas.

Kairi waved back, abandoning her brother and Demyx to run over and join her friends. She let Sora pull her in for a tight hug and then stepped back and greeted Roxas and Riku.

“So who's ready for the grand tour?” Axel asked loudly. He stepped up next to Roxas and slung his arm across his boyfriend's shoulders, tugging him in closer.

“Me!” Sora responded.

Axel grinned at him. “I knew there was a reason I like you. C'mon, we'll start in the main building and I'll show you all of the cool hangouts. Riku can show you the boring stuff later when he gets back from class.”

Riku gave the redhead an annoyed look. “It's not boring, it's useful. The campus is huge and we should give them some idea of the best way to get from building to building.”

“See?” Axel asked, leaning down to whisper to Roxas. “Super boring.”

Roxas rolled his eyes.

“Alright, lets get this 'fun' tour over with,” Riku said. “We'll end it in the Lounge, right? So I can find you all later.”

“Yeah. Sure,” Axel said flippantly. “Get us started, Demyx!”

Demyx grinned and strode forward, pulling open the double doors. “Welcome to East Destiny Community College! To begin our tour, we'll be walking through my personal favorite building, Art Hall! Directly to your left is our gymnasium, where yours truly has taken several dance classes and would gladly recommend them all.”

They followed him into the building and down the hall, barely listening as he rambled on about the different classes offered and the teachers he liked. Axel was clearly bored and kept trying to draw Roxas into conversation, but the blond was doing a phenomenal job of ignoring him. Sora and Riku held hands as they walked side-by-side and playfully bumped into one another. Kairi was the only one paying any attention she she followed along after Demyx and occasionally asked questions.

Demyx glanced back and narrowed his eyes at the stragglers as he stopped walking.“And here's where I once battled a fire-breathing dragon with nothing but a guitar pick and my fabulous hair,” he said, raising his voice. “After it ate Axel and Riku whole because they're buttheads.”

“What was that?” Axel asked, only hearing the last part of the story. He removed his arm from Roxas's shoulders to menacingly step forward.

Riku released Sora's hand to cross his arms over his chest and raise an eyebrow.

Demyx laughed uneasily and slowly backed up, raising his hands to fend off attack. “I-I was just joking around! Like, ha ha, very funny? Guys? Stop looking at me like that!”

Kairi and Roxas laughed as Axel grabbed Demyx in a headlock and vigorously rubbed his carefully style hair until Demyx's shrieks rose to such a volume that teachers stepped out of their classrooms to shush them. Axel let go of his friend after the first admonishment and grinned as the blond frantically tried to fix his hair back the way it belonged.

“Alright, now I'll continue the tour. Time to get the fuck out of this building,” Axel said.

Demyx pouted as his hair refused to stick up and flopped over the second he took his hands away.

“Lets hit Humanities and West Hall and then take them down to the Lounge,” Riku suggested. He double checked his watch to ensure they had enough time. “I've got twenty-five minutes until class. Sora, I'll-- Sora?” He frowned when he turned around to find his boyfriend missing. With some dread, he asked: “Where did Sora go?”

The others looked around as well, but none of them could see the brunet anywhere nearby.

Riku groaned in frustration. “Damn it, Sora...”

“Wow, twenty whole minutes. I think that's a new record,” Kairi said with a heavy sigh. She frowned at Riku. “What were you thinking, letting go of his hand like that? Now we're going to have to spend the rest of the day looking for him!”

“I know, I just...” Riku paused to sigh heavily, more angry with himself than anything. “I didn't think he'd run off like that. Not again.”

Roxas rolled his eyes and unsnapped his messenger bag. He dug around in it for a small stack of papers, which he handed out to each of them. “Lucky for you, I came prepared this time. These should make our search easier.”

Demyx practically stuffed his fist in his mouth to choke back his laughter at the sight of the colored fliers. Each of them had a photo of Sora with his mouth wide open as he went to bite into a hamburger. Above the photo were the words: “Have you seen me?” The words beneath it read: “If found, please return to Roxas (my way more handsome twin brother).”

“I helped make them,” Axel said proudly.

“Of course you did,” Riku muttered.

Kairi bit her lower lip to try and hide how much she wanted to smile at the goofy photo. She could only guess that it was a moment captured by Pence, whose skill at getting great moments on camera was second to none.

“Now we'll split up,” Roxas said. “Kairi with Demyx, and I'll go with Axel.” (The redhead suggestively wiggled his eyebrows, prompting Roxas to elbow him in the stomach.) “Riku, go with whoever you want until you go to class. Whoever finds him texts everyone else and we'll meet up in the Lounge. And for the love of everything good, don't let go of him.”

The others murmured in agreement and then they split up to search.

-.-.-

“So who do you think will find him this time?” Demyx asked.

He and Kairi had been roaming the halls for fifteen minutes, looking for their missing friend and asking everyone they came across if they'd seen him. No one had.

“Riku, definitely,” Kairi replied. “But, y'know, just for once I'd like to be the one who tracks him down and give him a piece of my mind. He makes me so mad when he does this!”

Demyx hid his amusement well. “So what do you think he saw this time?”

Kairi shrugged. “It could be anything. Last time it was because he saw a cat. The time before that he said he thought he saw Riku, even though he was right next to him. Though at the time Riku's cousins were visiting and they all kind of look the same, except Loz, and the one Sora saw was Kadaj...” She paused to sigh heavily. “None of his excuses ever make sense and this time won't be any different.”

They made their way around a small crowd hanging out in the hallway while waiting for class to start, and briefly paused to ask several of them if they'd seen Sora. There were some amused responses thanks to the photo, but none of them had seen him before.

Disappointed, they continued on and talked about whatever they could think of to pass the time. As ten o'clock rolled around, they saw fewer and fewer people.

“We could head down to the Lounge and relax for a while. There's probably more people there too,” Demyx said.

Kairi thought it over for a minute. She didn't want to give up so soon, but with the sparsely populated halls she knew they wouldn't have much luck tracking him down. The campus was so big that with so few of them looking for him, they would probably have better luck staying in one place and waiting for him to wander by.

“We'll ask one more person and then we'll go,” she decided. “How about whoever comes around that corner next?”

As if on cue, a dark-haired girl wearing a tank top and shorts turned the corner. Music played from the green headphones around her neck and was just loud enough to be heard from several feet away. She stopped when she saw them staring at her and reached down the ipod in her pocket and paused the music. “Hey there!” She greeted cheerfully. “You guys look a little lost.”

“Actually, we lost a friend of ours. He ran off while we were distracted and we haven't seen him since,” Kairi said, holding out her copy of the flier for the girl to see. As their fingers brushed, a static charge jumped between them. Kairi jumped, a little startled.

“Sorry, I've been doing that all day,” the girl said with a little laugh. She took a look at the paper and laughed a little louder. She calmed herself quickly, but couldn't wipe the smile from her face. “This is the greatest picture of Sora I have ever seen. Did Roxas make this? And can I keep it?”

“You know Sora and Roxas?” Demyx asked in surprise.

She nodded. “Uh huh. I'm friends with their brother, Cloud. And I'm partners with Riku in Chem, so I hear stories about Sora all the time. I'm Yuffie, by the way.”

“I'm Demyx. And this is Kairi!”

“Nice to meet you both!” Yuffie said, sounding genuinely pleased. “I wish I could tell you I've seen him, but I haven't. I'll help you look for him though! My first class was canceled for the day, so I have some extra free time. Where did you lose him?”

“Over in Art Hall,” Demyx told her. “But he's long gone from there by now. We were just about to go down to the Lounge and ask around there, since just about everyone's in class now.”

Yuffie hummed thoughtfully. “That's a pretty good idea While you do that, I'm going to run over to the courtyard and ask around there. I'll take a look around West Hall and the library while I'm at it. Either of you wanna go with?”

Demyx shook his head.

Kairi bit her lower lip. Part of her wanted nothing more than to go with the other girl, to spend more time with her and find our how she met Sora and Roxas. She didn't seem like someone who would be friends with Cloud, who was quiet and had the tendency to keep to himself, but then again she didn't know that much about the oldest Strife brother or what kind of people he spent time with. After some internal debate, she decided it was best if she stayed with Demyx.

Before they split up, they exchanged numbers so they could call each other if either party found Sora. (Kairi blushed a little when Yuffie added a little heart after her name in her contacts page. She couldn't help it; Yuffie was charismatic and undeniably cute.) Yuffie set off on her own with a bounce to her step while Demyx led Kairi around the corner and down the flight of stairs to the first floor and then through a pair of double doors.

“So it's a cafeteria,” Kairi said, looking around the room.

Most of the tables were round and accompanied by brightly colored plastic chairs. Some were raised up high and others had pieces of paper or cardboard jammed under a leg to prevent the table from wobbling back and forth. Pushed up against the windowed wall was a series of square and rectangular tables. On the opposite side of the room were cheap but comfortable vinyl seats and couches and low square tables. Flat-screen televisions were mounted on the walls, playing shows ranging from the news to childrens cartoons. Directly across from the entrance were two places to get food – one was the college cafe and the other was a Pizza Palace.

“Basically,” Demyx agreed. “C'mon, lets ask a few people and then sit. My feet are killing me.”

-.-.-

Kairi raced down the hall after Demyx, tossing apologies over her shoulder as the zipped past people. They'd been sitting in the Lounge for nearly twenty minutes before they got a call from Yuffie saying she found Sora and Riku on the third floor of West Hall, but that she couldn't stick around and wait for them because she had something she needed to go take care of.

They took the stairs, praying they weren't too late and that their friends hadn't left the hall.

“What was it this time, Sora?” They could faintly hear Riku ask.

“I thought I saw the prince.”

“Sora...”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I really think it was him this time! Riku, you've got--”

“Sora! Riku!” Demyx yelled, interrupting whatever Sora was about to say. He panted loudly as he ran over to them, exhausted from their crazy dash through two buildings and up several flights of stairs.

Kairi jogged over to them, a little worse for wear than Demyx, and mildly annoyed that she didn't get to hear all of the conversation. What was Sora talking about? What prince? There was only one way to find out. “So what was it this time?” She asked, unintentionally copying Riku's earlier question. “Another cat? Or was it a dog this time?”

Sora laughed. “Nah, just thought I saw someone I know. Turns out it was just someone who looked like him, but by then I was lost so I just kept walking around. I figured I'd run into one of you again at some point. But how'd you two know we were up here? They way you came running over, you must've known.”

“Yuffie told us,” Demyx said. He was starting to breath normally, but still wasn't ready for longer sentences.

“Yuffie's here?” Sora asked, craning his neck to look up and down the hall for her.

Demyx shook his head. “Not anymore. She called to let us know where you are and then said she had to go do something. Oh, um, she has a message for you! Well, actually it's for Cloud. She said for you to tell him he better not forget about tomorrow.”

“Alright, thanks. I'll remind him,” Sora promised. “So where's Roxas and Axel? We have a tour to finish, don't we?”

Rolling his eyes, Riku made sure to hold tightly to Sora's hand as he guided them back downstairs where the remaining two members of their party were waiting for them.

Kairi let her mind wander as she quietly walked behind them. It wasn't the first time she'd overheard a strange conversation between Sora and Riku and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. Why had he told Riku he thought he saw a prince? And what was he a prince of? There wasn't any royalty on Cardinal. Why had he covered it up when she asked the same question? It wasn't like him.

It wasn't the right time to ask about it. She would have to wait.

Chapter Text

Heart ducked and rolled to the side as a massive chunk of ice crashed where she'd just been standing. She quickly got back to her feet and continued to move as more shards of ice followed the first. She glanced at her attacker, a young woman dressed in a white, sleeveless turtleneck dress which split into several “petals” at the skirt, revealing a pale blue underskirt. While gloves wrapped up past her elbows and dainty strapped heels adorned her feet. Like Heart, she wore a mask over her eyes, though hers was white instead of pink.

When the next attack flew her way, Heart retaliated with a ball of pink energy, which shattered the ice into a harmless spray of dust. Several more orbs floated around her, ready to shoot off when she needed them. She slid to a stop and faced her opponent. Heart thrust her hands forward, directing the orbs to gather into one massive one and zip towards the other woman.

At the same time, the woman in white took a single step back and ducked down as she raised a wall of ice between them. It quickly thickened, but it was clear she was beginning to tire.

“PEACE!”

A streak of orange collided with pink before it could strike the wall, causing a small colorful explosion which ripped up part of the ground, throwing grass and dirt into the air. When it cleared, a woman in orange was standing protectively in front of the one in white with an arrow of shimmering golden light notched in her bow.

“That's cheating, Love!” Someone shouted from the sidelines.

Heart glanced over to see Passion standing there with several other people. Her hands were on her hips and she was scowling at the orange-suited woman.

“Well then, how about I even the odds?”

Heart caught sight of a confident, easy smile on a tan face framed by dark hair as her new partner ran over and joined her. Ire flared up inside of her. She didn't need help. But before she could say anything, the battle began again.

-.-.-

Kairi opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling, every trace of sleepiness seeping out of her body to leave her wide awake and alert. She could hear her dad moving around downstairs, preparing breakfast as quietly as he could. High heels clacked across the linoleum floor, which meant her mom was up and about as well. From the room next to her she could hear Reno talking on the phone, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. Axel's room was silent, which made sense since he didn't have to be up at an early hour.

“What the fuck...?” She groaned, rolling over and tightly shutting her eyes.

After days of being unable to remember her dreams, her wish had finally come true. Maybe she wasn't able to recall all of it, but the pieces she could made her regret ever wanting to remember them.

Was it too much to ask for some normal dreams? Something that didn't involve girls in miniskirts battling each other? Really, it sounded more like something Reno would dream about.

When her alarm began to beep obnoxiously, she decided the only thing she could do for the moment was get up and get ready for school. She could dwell on her strange dreams later.

-.-.-

Kairi wasn't the only one noticeably out of sorts that day.

Olette dozed off in several of her classes and was unable to answer most of the questions her teachers asked. When asked later, she couldn't even tell Hayner what their assignment in Biology was. Selphie, who normally had a difficult time remaining quiet, slumped down in her seat and made herself as small as possible. Her smiles were strained, as if she had to force the muscles to work properly. Even Sora was a bit more distracted than usual and discreetly checked his phone throughout every class like he was anticipating an important call.

Kairi saw none of it.

But someone else did.

Tidus caught up to her after the final bell and leaned against the wall of lockers while waiting for her to put away the books she didn't need.

“No practice today?” Kairi asked.

“Uh, no? It's Tuesday, Kai,” Tidus said with a frown. “Are you feeling alright? You're not getting sick, are you?” He reached out to check her temperature with the back of his hand, but she batted it away with a small smile.

“I'm fine,” she told him. “I just keep thinking it's Monday, is all. And I haven't been sleeping very well lately.”

“Bad dreams?”

Kairi shook her head. “No, nothing like that. At least, I don't think.” She hesitated a few seconds, which made Tidus begin to worry that there was something really wrong going on. “I just... I can't remember anything about them. I wake up knowing that I've been dreaming, but I can't think of what they were about. They feel important though. Like I should remember. And then this morning...” She stared at the books in her arms, unable to meet his eyes. “I did remember. But I can't make heads or tails of what it was about, which I guess is how dreams normally are, but this feels different. I can't... I can't explain it. I don't know how.”

Tidus didn't know what to say. He'd had some odd dreams and nightmares of his own, but he didn't think it was the same as what Kairi was experiencing. He spotted Wakka and some of his other teammates walking towards him and frantically tried to find something thoughtful to tell her.

“Hey, Tidus! You comin', man?”

“In a second!” Tidus yelled back.

“Go on, Ti. I've got to get home anyway. It's my turn to help cook dinner,” Kairi said with a reassuring smile.

Tidus hesitated, concern weighing heavily in his heart. “Are you sure? We're just going to see a movie. I could skip and walk home with you if you want to talk some more.”

“Go,” Kairi emphasized with a gentle push. “I'll be fine. This is something I have to figure out for myself.” With a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, she turned and walked away.

As Tidus watched her leave, an idea sparked to life in his mind. He may not know how to help her, but he knew someone who could.

“Hey, Wakka, does Lulu still do that dream study stuff?”

-.-.-

Yuffie Kisaragi may not have been a native of Destiny Island (and in fact had not lived on the island for very long), but she still knew her way around better than most. So, of course she never had a problem finding Seventh Heaven, a bar tucked away in downtown East Destiny.

The building itself was one of the oldest in the area, and had hosted a multitude of businesses over the years. Most recently it'd been bought by a young woman hailing from Gaia, who transformed it from a failing cafe into a bar and became something of an overnight sensation with the college crowd.

Yuffie ignored the 'closed' sign on the glass front door and pushed it open. Her sneakers thudded softly on the dark wood floor, attracting the attention of the two people up at the front.

Behind the counter was Tifa Lockheart, the owner of the establishment. Her russet eyes were warm as she smiled at Yuffie. Sitting on one of the stools was Cloud Strife, the older brother of Sora and Roxas. Like his siblings, he had spiked up hair and blue eyes.

“Well this looks like a fun party,” Yuffie remarked as she joined them. She slid onto a stool next to Cloud. “Where's everyone else?”'

“They have things to do,” Cloud said.

Yuffie crossed her arms over her chest, pouting a little. “No fair. When am I going to get an assignment?”

“You already have one,” Cloud replied.

“Yeah, but it's so boring,” Yuffie moaned. “And you've got Riku doing the same thing! Come on, Cloud, there's gotta be something I can do that doesn't involve sitting around and waiting for something to happen! I'll do anything!”

Cloud looked at her for a moment and then nodded. “Okay. I'll find something. Just be patient.”

Yuffie cheered up at his words, knowing he wouldn't lie to her.

Tifa didn't look nearly so happy. “Now that we've gotten that out of the way, we have more important things to discuss. Like how quickly everyone is beginning to awaken.” She reached under the counter and pulled out a newspaper, which she tossed down in front of Cloud, article side up.

Yuffie leaned over for a better look when she recognized it as the Twilight Gazette, which was the major newspaper of Twilight Town. On the front page was a blurry photo of a figure in orange and a headline reading: “Mysterious Warrior Spotted Again”.

“Want to tell me when Love woke up?” Tifa asked crossly. “Or how about these two?” Again she reached under the counter, but that time she pulled out a tablet and turned the screen towards them. There was another photo, but it was a clear one of two men. One was a brunet in what appeared to be black leather and the other a blond in a long, gray trench coat.

“Brave and Fire Cross look good,” Yuffie remarked. “Hey, do you think I could pull off pants like that?”

“Yuffie...” Cloud said warningly.

“Is there anyone else you'd like to tell me about or am I going to have to search for myself?” Tifa demanded.

Cloud shook his head, just as Yuffie nodded and said: “Wild Thief's coming to visit soon.”

Cloud groaned.

Tifa gave him a cross look.

“He's going to need some place to stay while he's here,” Yuffie continued. “Tifa, you've got some space, right? Cuz I kind of alreadytoldhimhecouldstaywithyou.”

Okay, so that really wasn't how she wanted to ask Tifa. Her original plan had involved a long, kind of absurd story about her landlord's abhorrence of pets of any kind and how he'd probably blow a gasket if she invited a guy with a tail to stay with her for a while. There was probably a lot of bargaining and pleading before getting Tifa to agree too.

Maybe coming right out and saying it was for the best.

Tifa closed her eyes, looking as though she was restraining herself from screaming. “Fine. He can stay here. But he's going to help me out around here! And so are you.”

“Deal! You're the best, Tifa!” Yuffie exclaimed. She wondered if jumping over the counter to hug her friend would be too much. Judging by the look on her face, any sort of physical contact would push her over the edge, so she settled down on the bar stool and tried not to move around too much.

“It's already beginning,” Cloud murmured, staring down at his hands.

“What is?” Tifa asked.

Cloud was silent, taking a moment to carefully choose his words. “Everyone is beginning to gather here, whether they remember the past or not. Our enemy has chosen this place as the final battleground. Can't you feel it? The dark energy brewing on this planet acts as a beacon, drawing everyone in. We don't have long to prepare.”

Silence settled heavily over the room.

Tifa turned her tablet around and morosely swiped through articles, more to give herself something to do than to actually look for anything. She'd already read through all of them.

Cloud raised his head. “I should go. I promised I'd pick up some pizza's for dinner. Yuffie, walk with me.” It wasn't a request.

“Kay,” Yuffie said, hopping off the bar stool. Her stomach churned uneasily. Cloud singling her out was very rarely a good thing. “See you later, Tifa!”

Tifa bid them farewell, spending a few more minutes looking over articles from different worlds before putting away the device and starting to prepare for the evening crowd.

Yuffie obediently followed Cloud outside and around the side of the building where he had parked his motorcycle. “Sooo... what's going on? What do you not want Tifa to know?”

“It's nothing like that,” Cloud said. “I just want to talk to you about Kairi.”

And there it was.

Yuffie wanted to be anywhere else in that moment. She did not want to have that conversation with anyone, but especially not Cloud. She knew exactly what he was going to say. She'd heard it all before – many times.

She clenched her hands and turned her back to him. “I know, Cloud. I'm being careful,” she said, trying to keep her voice from trembling and betraying how close she was to breaking down. “I'm keeping my distance, just like I promised. You don't have to keep reminding me.”

“Sora says you saw her yesterday.”

Yuffie closed her eyes, remembering turning a corner to find a beautiful redhead standing there with a familiar determined look on her face. She could picture every little detail; from the freckles dotting her nose, cheeks, and shoulders to the scuff marks on her shoes to the way her blue-violet eyes lit up when she said she'd help them find Sora.

That one chance encounter was enough to bring back everything she felt for Kairi. Maybe it even made it worse.

“It was one slip-up,” Yuffie said, struggling to keep from crying. “It won't happen again. Anyway, I've got some stuff to do, so I better get to it. Call me if anything comes up.”

“Yuf--”

“Bye!” Yuffie shouted as she ran away, not letting him finish whatever he was going to say. She ran hard, blinking back the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

She knew she was being irrational. She didn't even know Kairi anymore and even if she did there was no guarantee that they would still be friends or anything else. Actually, she wasn't even sure if Kairi counted her as a friend in the past.

Still, it was a new life full of new choices and possibilities. As long as there was still hope, Yuffie would keep trying.

Chapter Text

Her name was White Rose and she was supposedly her perfect match. In a purely platonic sense.

Heart scowled as she watched her own brother laugh at something the female Knight was saying. Clenching her hands, she turned away from the sight and started to walk towards the edge of the outer garden which looked out over the sea. The only one who noticed was her oldest friend and Guardian, who immediately jogged over to her to talk.

“I hate her,” she mumbled when he was within earshot.

“You don't even know her,” he responded with a roll of his eyes. “Look, I know you don't handle new people suddenly coming in and trying to be all buddy-buddy with you, but she deserves a chance. I think the two of you will work really well together once you, you know, learn to work together.”

Heart stubbornly refused to look at him.

He heaved a sigh. “I'm not saying you need her. I'm not even saying you need to be best friends with her! Just please, try to work with her. That's all I'm asking. It'll only make you stronger and more able to protect the prince and everyone else. Hey...” He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, making her look at him. “If you won't do it for me, then at least do it for the prince. He's really happy now that you're working with the Knights, but he's worried about you. And he's not the only one.”

A strong gust of wind kicked up, tugging at Heart's black cape. The two of them turned towards the ocean where dark clouds were beginning to gather in the distance.

“Did Savage Nymph or Strength say anything about a storm to you?” Heart asked.

Her friend shook his head. “Not to me.”

Heart frowned. “Lets head back to the castle. I have a bad feeling about this, Sora.”

-.-.-

When Kairi left her house that morning, she found Tidus waiting for her on her front steps. That wasn't too unusual. They walked to school most mornings when he didn't go in early to help out with the pool the blitzball team used for practice. What was unusual was that he was sitting outside instead of walking in to say “hello” to the rest of the family. It was something of a joke that the doorbell was the most useless addition to their house, since no one ever used it.

He looked up as she walked down the steps and stopped next to him. “Good morning!”

“Morning,” Kairi responded. “Why are you sitting out here?”

“I got here as Reno was leaving and he said you were on your way out, so I figured I'd just wait here for you,” Tidus said. “Ready to go? I figured we could talk about, y'know, stuff on our way.”

“Stuff?” Kairi repeated in confusion. “What kind of – oh.” She should have known he wouldn't let her get away with not talking more about the dreams, no matter that there wasn't anything he could do or say to help. She wished she hadn't said anything about them.

Tidus stood up and offered her his arm, which she accepted with a tired smile. Despite how silly they may have looked with their arms linked, they started to walk down the sidewalk together.

“I know you said you were gonna figure this out on your own, but I called Lulu for advice yesterday. She used to help me out with my weird dreams and I was hoping she would be able to help you too,” Tidus said.

Kairi looked up at him curiously. “I didn't know that. What sort of dreams did you have?”

“It wasn't anything really strange. Just a big city that was all lit up at night. The only thing that bothered me about it was how many times I had it.”

“So how did you get them to stop?” Kairi inquired.

“I didn't. I still have them, but now it's, I dunno, easier,” Tidus admitted. “We tried a bunch of different stuff, but in the end just talking about my dreams was the most helpful. I spent hours describing them, talking about everything I could remember. When her and Wakka started dating, I started writing it all down in a journal. That helps too.”

Kairi sighed, staring down at her feet. “I wouldn't even know where to start. I can't even remember most of the ones I've had.”

“Well, did you have a dream last night? Maybe you could start there,” Tidus suggested.

Kairi nodded and, after a pause to gather her thoughts, began describing the world she found herself in when she dreamed. She talked about the colorful gardens and the high, gated walls surrounding them, separating them from the rest of the world. She spoke of the sea shimmering under sunlight and the cool air that blew in from it as dark clouds gathered in the distance.

When it came to telling him about the people she saw there, Kairi could only describe in colors and muted feelings. She also remembered the strange names, of course.

“Sounds like code names,” Tidus said. “Maybe you were some kind of superhero in a past life!”

Kairi laughed. “Come on! Be serious!”

“I am! About the past life thing anyway. Though I guess it could be because of the weird things that have been happening lately. Like that mysterious warrior Pence was talking about at lunch the other day! The one who started showing up in Twilight Town and fighting these crazy monsters that suddenly appeared! No one knows who she is or what the monsters are, but apparently it's not the first time something that this has happened. According to people on the internet, anyway.”

Kairi didn't remember hearing anything like that, but there was always a chance she just hadn't been paying attention whenever it was brought up. Things like that weren't something that interested her. It was just too far-fetched.

“It doesn't matter. They're just silly dreams,” Kairi decided. She pulled Tidus to a stop and stood on tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. “Thanks for talking to me. You're right. It does help.”

“Anytime,” Tidus said, giving her a fond smile.

They continued walking, arm-in-arm, all the way to school. They didn't talk any more about their dreams, choosing to focus on real life and predicting how much teasing they would get from Sora and Selphie for strolling into the schoolyard together.

-.-.-

She was on her way home when her cell phone chimed.

Need some advice. Wanna get ice cream?

Kairi didn't even need to ask where they were going for ice cream; she already knew. She sent Demyx a message saying she'd see him there and then turned back around to go into town.

It wasn't often that Demyx asked her for help. Usually he stuck with Axel or Roxas, so they must have been busy with something or weren't answering their messages. That or it was something they would undoubtedly tease him for. Either way, it couldn't have been too serious if it was something he was willing to talk about in public.

Before she knew it, Kairi was walking into Frozen, the local favorite shop to get a variety of icy treats. Demyx was already sitting in one of the booths and was poking at his bowl of sherbert. After ordering a simple strawberry cone (and spending a minute at the counter talking to Kristoff, who looked as though he was seconds away from destroying the jukebox, which was playing the same song over and over and over again), she joined Demyx at his table.

“So what's going on?” She asked.

Demyx lifted his head and looked around as if to make sure no one was trying to listen in. It was just the three of them and he doubted Kristoff was bored enough to start listening in on conversations. He leaned over the table anyway and motioned for Kairi to do the same. “I, um, Imetsomeone.”

Kairi raised an eyebrow and slowly leaned back as she translated his slurred words. “You met someone?”

Demyx nodded quickly and then began to spill every little detail he could think of. “We have Literature together. And it's not that I've never noticed him before, because I have! How could I not? He's gorgeous. And he's so smart, too! Probably the smartest person at East Destiny. Sometimes it looks like he's not paying attention because he's always reading but he actually is paying attention because whenever the teachers ask him something he just gives the answer like it's no big deal! No pause to think about it or anything! He's so cool...” He sighed longingly. “And his hair! It's this sort of blue color – and you know how much I love blue – and it looks so soft! And today when he walked into class he just looked so... so... I don't know, Kai! I can't describe it. And now I can't stop thinking about him!”

“Demyx,” Kairi gently interrupted, reaching across the table to rest her hand on his to ensure she had his full attention. “Have you ever talked to him? Do you even know his name?”

“Yeah...” Demyx's expression turned dreamy and Kairi knew she'd lost him again.

The bell above the door jingled as someone pushed it open and Kairi looked away from her friend to see who it was. She was expecting a parent with their children or maybe some of her friends from school, but instead she saw a familiar girl with short black hair wearing shorts and a purple shirt.

“Yuffie?” Kairi asked, half rising to be seen better.

The other girl looked over, surprise clearly visible on her face. For a split second, it looked as though she was about to bolt, but then she smiled and waved before turning to give Kristoff her order. She joined them soon after.

“Hello again, Demyx and Kairi,” Yuffie said, sliding into the booth next to the redhead. “I'm not interrupting a date or anything, am I?”

Kairi scrunched her nose. “No way! Demyx is basically another brother. Besides, the fact that he invited me here to talk about his giant crush on someone in his class would make that really awkward.”

Yuffie grinned. “You mean Zexion, right?”

Demyx snapped out of his daydreams at the sound of his crush's name. “Huh? Where?”

Yuffie and Kairi both laughed.

“He's not here, Dem,” Kairi told him. “So, Zexion, huh? How come Yuffie knows about this before I do?”

Demyx's eyes went wide as he looked from Kairi to the grinning newcomer sitting next to her. “Yuffie, no! You can't tell that story! Please!”

Yuffie thought it over for a moment and then shook her head. “Sorry, but you won't tell it right.” She looked to Kairi and began her story. “This afternoon I was walking around because I've got some time to kill before class, like always, when I hear what sounds like someone falling down an entire flight of stairs! Naturally, I run over to see what's going on and help out whoever it is and who do I find? Demyx, laying on the floor and moaning in pain, with his stuff scattered all over the place. And who's standing there to help him out? None other than local genius Zexion Shade, who also happens to be the biggest social recluse at East Destiny! Seriously, I've only ever seen him talk to, like, two people who aren't teachers. He's a little odd. Anyway, Zexion helps Demyx stand up, but the second Demyx sees who it is, he turns bright red and makes the strangest sound I have ever heard a human make and then lets go of Zexion's hand and falls backwards. So then he's just laying there passed out because he's bumped his head and the man of his dreams is standing over him trying to help. I had to help Zexion carry him to that new nurses building so they could make sure he was okay.”

“It was the most mortifying experience I've ever had,” Demyx said solemnly. “And that's why I need your help, Kairi! I don't want him to think I'm some clumsy idiot!”

Yuffie snorted. “You're not an idiot. I barely know you, but I know that. And Zexion doesn't either. He seemed really worried about you.”

Kairi knew there was little they could say to get Demyx to see it. He was too caught up in being miserable and convincing himself that he didn't stand a chance, which meant she was going to have to distract him by giving him some sort of plan to follow. “Do you have any ideas about what you want to do?”

Demyx balked. “Um, well, remember when Axel was trying to get Roxas's attention? I was--”

“No,” Kairi said, holding up one hand. “I should smack you for even considering the stupid stuff my brother used to do. Honestly, I'm still amazed Roxas ever saw through his bullshit and gave him a chance, because half of what Axel did was really creepy and weird. If you want to impress Zexion, you'll have to do something different.”

“I could teach you parkour so next time you'll go down the stairs a little more gracefully,” Yuffie suggested. “I'm getting really good at it.”

“No,” Kairi said firmly, giving Yuffie an annoyed look. It failed the moment she glanced into playful brown eyes. She quickly looked back across the table at Demyx, who failed to notice the exchange. “No crazy plots, Dem. You just need to be yourself. If he doesn't like you for who you are, then what's the point?”

“But I really, really want him to like me!” Demyx moaned.

“Then we'll figure out how to show him just how awesome you are,” Kairi promised. “But first you need to promise me two things. The first is that you will not take any advice from Axel. Or Sora, for that matter. Just don't. And second, you've got to actually talk to Zexion.”

“About what?” Demyx asked.

Kairi rolled her eyes. “How about you thank him for taking you to get your head looked at? You also have a class together. A class I seem to recall you being really good at. You could start with either of those.”

“Maybe,” Demyx murmured unsurely. “But what if--”

“No. No 'buts'. No 'what if's'. Just talk to him,” Kairi said, throwing up both hands in frustration. “Say hello. Ask him how his day has been. Ask to borrow a pencil. I don't care if you strike up a conversation about the fuckin' weather. Dem, you're good at talking once you get started. You'll do fine.”

“And you're fun,” Yuffie spoke up. “If anyone needs a little fun in their life, it's Zexion.” She shifted, which brought her bare arm in contact with Kairi's for a split second. A thrilling tingle shot through the limb and she was tempted to do it again, but instead she slid out of the booth. “Sorry to run like this, but I've gotta get some ice cream across town to my friend before she starts to worry I've gotten myself into trouble again. It was nice to see you both again. Good luck, Demyx!”

Demyx had resumed poking at his melted sherbert. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Yuffie raised her hand in a brief wave, collected her packages of ice cream from Kristoff, and left.

“Kairi?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you really think he'll like me?”

Kairi took a moment to look at him, taking in his slumped shoulders and drooping hair, which enhanced the sad but hopeful expression on his face. She smiled at him sincerely. “He's going to love you, Demyx.”

It took a few minutes, but slowly Demyx's lips curled up in a pleased smile. Things were starting to look bright and sunny in his world once again.

Chapter Text

Meeting them was a great honor. That was what her momma told her after two strangers showed up on their doorstep. They spoke of other worlds and creatures of darkness and many things she didn't fully understand, but the worst of it was when they said it was her destiny to become a great soldier.

“But momma, I don't wanna go fight!” She said as tears streamed down her face and dripped off of her chin. She made no moves to wipe them away. “P-please don't make me!”

Her mother, a beautiful woman with red hair and kind violet eyes, turned to face her. Her features softened when she saw how distressed her daughter was. “Oh Kairi...” she murmured, walking over to kneel down and wrap her up in a warm, loving hug. “It's going to be alright. No one is going to make you fight. You are going to be a very special kind of soldier; one who uses magic to protect the people she loves. But that doesn't mean you have to fight. There are other ways to protect people.”

Kairi pulled away to look up at her mom. “R-really? I won't have t-to fight?”

“Not if you don't want to,” promised her mom.

The little girl finally wiped away her tears using her sleeve and smile. “Okay. I can do it.”

Kairi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she poured over a massive tome on the history of her world and the royal family which had ruled over it for generations. It was by far the least interesting thing she had ever read, but it was information she needed to know in order to do her duty as the primary Soldier of her world.

Years had passed since she first learned of her destiny and she was no longer a frightened little girl. Still, her mom's words were truthful; fighting was not the only way to protect those she cared about

She glanced up when she heard several people enter the library. She could recognize two of the voices. One was Riku, who taught her combat and strategy and the other was Sora, who specialized in magic. The two of them were Guardians and were the closest she had to friends.

The two men soon came into view and with them was a girl around Kairi's age with pale blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. Sora was smiling so widely that Kairi was instantly wary of what he was up to.

“Kairi! I'd like you to meet Naminé. She's going to be training and studying with you from now on,” he said happily.

Kairi stood and held out her hand. “It's nice to meet you.”

Naminé hesitantly grasped the offered hand. “Yes... It's nice to meet you as well.”

It was almost a normal day.

Classes went on as they usually did. There was a test in Calculus, which Kairi was farily confident she'd aced, and a pop quiz in Health that no one was really concerned about. History was spent reviewing what was expected from their projects and getting together with their partners to work on them. Kairi ended up sitting with Sora and Tidus, as Roxas was absent that day, Sora had said something about him having a twenty-four hour stomach bug, which was believable since sickness was the only reason his twin would ever miss school.

Olette wasn't around either – a fact Kairi didn't pick up on until lunch when she saw not one, but two empty spaces near Hayner and Pence. She felt kind of bad about that. Olette may have been closer to Roxas, but that didn't mean Kairi didn't enjoy her company.

Pence was the only one who noticed when she and Tidus joined them at the table. Hayner was preoccupied with viciously stabbing his cafeteria food, annoyed that two of his best friends had ditched them for the day. Selphie was sleepily leaning against Irvine, who had one arm around her to help keep her upright, though he didn't look any more well rested. Wakka had yet to reach their table.

Realizing that Pence was looking for someone willing to talk, Kairi made sure to have Tidus sit closer to the brunet. She wasn't in much of a chatting mood that day, and thankfully Tidus recognized that fact and quickly struck up a conversation with him. While the two boys talked, she pulled out her notebook and finally began to write down her dreams.

Kairi was in the middle of describing how much older Sora and Riku looked when Pence said something that made her stop and look up.

And she wasn't the only one.

“Did you say 'monsters'?” Selphie asked, suddenly looking wide awake.

Pence nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah! People are saying they were attacked in downtown last night by what they're describing as 'animated white track suits'.”

Kairi raised an eyebrow. “Track suits?” She repeated incredulously.

“I know, I know. It sounds crazy. But look at this!” Pence said, holding up his phone so everyone could get a look at the screen. On it was a blurry image of a woman in orange kicking a hooded white creature.

Selphie made a croaking sound as she grabbed his phone and frantically examined the photo.

“Who's the girl?” Irvine questioned.

“No one knows,” Pence replied with a shrug. He kept his hand out for his phone and then dropped it when it became clear Selphie wasn't returning it any time soon. “There have been plenty of suggestions, of course. Most people believe it's a publicity stunt of some kind since she's also been seen in Twilight Town, but I don't think that's what's really going on. Too many people have gotten hurt from it. I think she's a hero. She's got to be.”

An uneasy feeling swirled in the pit of Kairi's stomach. She needed to get away. She gently nudged Tidus to get his attention and then whispered: “I'm going to go find Sora. I need to talk to him.”

Tidus nodded. “Okay. Let me know how it goes.”

Kairi quickly packed up her pen and notebook and slipped away while Selphie was busy drilling Pence for more information. The last thing she heard was Pence begging the girl to please return his phone and stop waving it around.

As she walked, Kairi gathered her thoughts and began to plan what she wanted to say. There were so many questions racing circles in her mind that it was difficult to decide where to start. And would he even know what she was talking about? There was every chance that the strange things she'd overheard him say was purely coincidental. Maybe her weird dreams were influenced by the appearance of the mysterious warrior, like Tidus suggested, and fueled by the secrets she thought Sora and Riku were keeping.

“...don't think it's a good idea to pull the others in yet.”

Or maybe she was exactly right.

Kairi ducked back around the corner when she approached the hall Sora used to call Riku every day. The brunet was pacing back and forth, every movement screaming frustration. Normally when she went to find him, he was all smile and laughs, but there wasn't a trace of merriment to be found.

“I know Olette can't keep fighting them by herself but-!” He exhaled loudly and she heard a squeaking sound as he pivoted on his heel. “Okay. We'll talk about it tomorrow. But not at the Secret Spot! There's something off about that place lately. I can't tell if it's bad or good.” He paused to give a little laugh. “Yeah, probably not good. Anyway, I'll see you after school. Unless you've changed your mind about going out for dinner?”

Riku must have responded positively, because Kairi could heard the joy in Sora's voice as he said his goodbyes and hanged up. Before she could step around the corner to confront him, the bell signaling the end of lunch screeched through the halls.

Kairi cursed under her breath at the unfortunate timing. She hadn't wanted to wait until after school, but she no longer had a choice. The only benefit was that she would have a little more time to talk to him, since Riku's last class didn't end until five.

Pence honestly didn't know what was going on anymore. In the past few days, the dynamic of their group had gone through a massive change and it wasn't one for the better. Suddenly, half of his friends were distant and when they did smile or get involved in the conversation, he got the impression they were forcing themselves to be cheerful. Added to that were the strange attacks by unknown creatures, which even he didn't have a logical explanation for.

It hadn't escaped his attention that it all started at the same time as those attacks.

The moment the final bell rang, Pence set off on a mission. He quickly found that Sora, Selphie, and Irvine had taken off for home without a word. Hayner was in no mood to talk to anyone (and probably wouldn't be until he went to see Roxas and Olette). Then Tidus and Wakka excused themselves for practice when he approached them.

Kairi was at her locker when he found her.

“Wanna go down to the art room with me?” He asked before she could slip away as well. “I need to pick up the photo's from our last get-together.”

The annoyed expression on the redhead's face morphed to one of surprise. Pence supposed he couldn't blame her. It wasn't often they spent time together without the rest of the crew around too. But then she smiled and nodded.

With Pence in the lead, they turned and walked back into the school, somehow getting past the crowd without much trouble. Twice Kairi had to move out of the way or else get run over by someone so frantic to leave that they weren't looking where they were going.

“I got some pretty good shots that I can't wait to show you! I even captured Demyx's volleyball to the face perfectly,” Pence bragged. If there was one thing he was most proud of, it was his ability to capture candid photo's of his friends.

Kairi giggled. “You'll have to make extra copies of that one. I'm sure Demyx will turn it into his life mission to have it destroyed.”

Pence laughed as they turned down the hall to where all of the art classes were held. Various paintings, drawings, and photos were on the walls, showcasing the talents of the students. “I get the feeling all I really need to do is keep any copies from the hands of Axel and Sora. Those two are bound to use it to endlessly torment him.”

“Yeah, they would,” Kairi replied. For a moment, she looked greatly amused by the thought, but then a shadow darkened her face and her smile faded.

Pence frowned. “Is everything okay?”

Kairi quickly snapped out of it. “Of course! So, what other pictures did you get? Anything embarrassing of Axel?”

“Nah, not this time,” Pence replied. He pushed open the door to the art room, which at first glance appeared blissfully empty. A wave of disappointment crashed over him when he spotted a thin girl sitting on a stool in front of one of the easels, paintbrush in hand. She wore a school supplied apron over her uniform to prevent too much paint from splattering on her clothes, and her pale blonde hair was pulled back.

“Hey, Naminé,” he greeted.

Next to him, Kairi gave a startled gasp as her eyes locked onto his friend.

Naminé looked away from her work and smiled at him. “Hello, Pence. I just wrapped up the finishing touches, if you'd like to see.”

Pence's eyes lit up as he hurried over to her. Her painting was part of their final project of the year and she'd been working on it since the beginning of the year. He was one of the few people who had gotten to see her progress and offer advice every step of the way, despite preferring an entirely different medium. “Oh wow...” He breathed, awestruck when he saw the finished project. “It looks amazing, Naminé!”

She blushed at the praise. “Thank you.” She glanced over at Kairi, who was hovering uncertainly in the doorway. “You shouldn't keep your friend waiting. I think Rapunzel put your camera back in your box. She promises she'll bring you some of her home baked cookies tomorrow.”

Pence walked over to the cube-like shelves and slid out his blue box so he could reach inside for his camera and packets of developed photos. He could hear Naminé getting up and walking to the sink to carefully rinse out her paintbrushes and palette. He felt kind of bad for his disappointment at seeing her, but he had wanted a chance to talk to Kairi alone. Still, he couldn't help but think of all the times he and Naminé had walked home together after staying after class to work on various art projects.

He sighed as he made a decision, his shoulders slumping. There would be other times to find out what was bothering his friends. Turning, he put a smile on his face. “Naminé, I'd like you to meet Kairi.”

An unnerved as she'd been at first to find out Naminé was a real person and not just a figment of her imagination, Kairi soon found herself relaxing around the dainty blonde. The more she listened to her and Pence tell stories, the less she equated her with the Naminé in her dreams. Sure, physically they looked impossibly similar, but personality wise they were two entirely different people. The Naminé walking alongside of her was warm and prone to giggling. If there was a distance to her, it was due to shyness rather than the reserved aloofness of dream-Naminé.

Kairi began to laugh and tell stories of her own, thoroughly enjoying the reactions she was able to pull from the artists as she described a particularly memorable tale involving her brothers and their old cranky aunt. Even Pence was captivated by it, though he'd been present for some of the story.

The three of them were so caught up in their conversation, none of them noticed the screaming until some woman bumped into Naminé and sent her crashing to the ground. Pence immediately stooped down to help her while Kairi looked around with a critical eye.

The streets were disturbingly empty for a Thursday evening.

A sudden chill crept down Kairi's spine. “Guys, we need to-- watch out!” She shrieked, instinctively running in front of them to protect them from the white creature that suddenly appeared. She swung her schoolbag with all her might and knocked it back several feet, but more were already starting to swarm on their location.

“Kairi, we have to run!” Pence said as he and Naminé stood back up. He reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her towards an alley that lead to the next street over. “This way!”

Kairi didn't hesitate to follow him, but before they could get very far there was a new monster blocking their path with a samurai sword. Heat raced through Kairi's veins as they were forced to a halt, blocked on both sides. Static roared to life in her ears as she stepped protectively in front of her friends.

“I won't let you hurt them,” she said, her voice deceptively calm.

It felt as though someone else was in control of her body as she closed her eyes and drew forth her inner strength. Warm pink light washed over her, transforming her into someone else. Someone familiar.

When the light faded and she opened her eyes, Kairi knew without looking that she was garbed in the same clothing she wore in her dreams. She could feel her hair bound tightly on either side of her head, just as she could feel the black mask covering her eyes without hindering her vision. Her zippered pink dress was the same as always, but in place of the cape was a simple black hood.

“Not today,” Heart Soldier coldly said, holding up one gloved hand to blast the monster into oblivion. She turned and did the same to the 'animated track suits' behind them, dissolving most of them and sending the rest scurrying away to wherever they came from.

She stared after them for a moment and then shook her head, snapping out of her daze. As she lowered her hand, Kairi's clothes shimmered away, changing back to her school uniform.

For a moment, there was silence between them as they fought past their shock.

Pence recovered first. “Okay. That was weird.”

Kairi wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry. “Weird doesn't even begin to cover it,” she said shakily. She was unable to bring herself to look at them, too afraid by what she might see.

“Hey,” a soft voice asked, followed by an even softer touch at her elbow, which drew her eyes to the petite girl, “Are you alright?”

Kairi opened her mouth to say “yes”, but what came out instead was: “I don't know.”

“Well... If you need anyone to talk to, we're here for you,” Pence said.

Kairi finally looked at both of them and felt almost overwhelmed by their earnest gazes. She had some difficulty swallowing before she spoke again. “Thank you. Both of you.”

Chapter Text

Within two months of meeting Naminé, Sora brought yet another Soldier to train with them. She was a spunky brunette with green eyes who wore a short yellow dress in her transformed state. Not long after that, the two Guardians decided it was time to meet the one they were born to protect.

The three girls stood side-by-side, waiting for Sora to finish inspecting them while Riku stood nearby and rolled his eyes at his partner.

"Sora, they look fine," he said as the brunet reached out to fix an imaginary hair straying from one of Heart's hair buns. "Leave the girls alone. They're ready for this."

Sora backed off to go stand at Riku's side.

Heart self-consciously patted her hair.

Riku gave her a reassuring smile and then gestured for all of them to follow him. He led them down a long corridor to the heavy side door leading to the throne room. A tall man with dreadlocks moved aside to let them pass, but kept a steady eye on them until they were on the other side.

The King and Queen sat on their thrones, looking as radiant as the world they ruled, even when wearing what could be considered casual next to their normal clothing. The Prince stood next to the Queen, quiet and reserved.

"Your Majesties, we would like to introduce you to the three Soldier's we've selected to protect His Royal Highness, Prince Ienzo," Sora said, for once managing not to fumble over the proper words. He motioned for Heart to step forward first. "This is Lady Kairi, the Soldier of Heart, chosen by this magnificent world."

Heart carefully curtsied, keeping her head bowed in respect.

"We also have Lady Naminé of Traverse Town on Cardinal, who is Peace Soldier."

Peace stepped forward and elegantly curtsied.

"And finally Lady Selphie, hailing all the way from Trabia on the planet Centra, who is Passion Soldier."

Passion bounced forward, all smiles as she bowed, eliciting a sigh of frustration from Riku. While the King and Queen began to welcome them to their kingdom and thanking them for all of their hard work, Heart took a chance to glance up at Prince Ienzo, who was watching them with undisguised curiosity.

Kairi marched to school, determined to get some answers from her friend. No longer did she believe her dreams were just the product of her hyperactive imagination; not after the events of the evening before.

It didn't take her long to find her friends. They were standing around in the same spot as always, relaxing in the slight shade of a cluster of palm trees while waiting for the first bell to ring. Even from a distance she could tell that Hayner was in much better spirits, as Roxas and Olette were back by his side along with Pence. Nearby, Selphie and Irvine were laughing at whatever Wakka was telling them. The only ones missing were Sora and Tidus.

"Where is he?" Kairi bitterly muttered to herself. It figured that the one person she specifically wanted to talk to was nowhere to be seen. At least Roxas was around. She could always ask him to pass on a message to his twin.

"Kairi?"

The redhead jumped in surprise and whirled around to face the person who said her name. She was amazed to see Naminé standing no more than three feet away. "Oh! Good morning!"

Namine shyly smiled. "Good morning. I just wanted to thank you again for yesterday. You really saved our lives!"

"I- um..." Kairi bit her tongue. She almost said she hadn't meant to save them, but that wasn't right. Fighting the monsters had been the furthest thing from her mind when they got trapped in that alley. It was just some strange instinctive reaction that led to her transforming and vanquishing the threat. "You're welcome."

"What's this? You're not running around playing superhero without me, are you? And here I thought we were best friends!" Tidus joked as he walked over to them. He smiled at Namine. "Hey there!"

Namine stammered a greeting in return, a light blush painting her cheeks. "S-she just pulled me out of the way of a speeding bicyclist is all. So, um, thanks again. I'll see you later."

Before Kairi could stop her, the blonde ran off.

"Huh. Well that was strange," Tidus remarked, watching her until she was out of sight. "What was that about, anyway? You really save her from a speeding bicycle?"

"Not exactly. I walked home with her and Pence yesterday and we have a sort of... encounter," Kairi said.

"Encounter?" Tidus repeated, narrowing his eyes. "Who hurt you? I'll kick their ass!"

"It's nothing like that!" Kairi hurried to explain. "Do you remember those monsters you and Pence have been talking about? We were surrounded by a bunch of them and, well... Lets just say I don't think my dreams are dreams. I'm starting to think they're memories."

Tidus looked at her with wide eyes. "Wow. So, when you say memories...?"

Kairi laughed, but it was without humor. "Yeah. I had one messed up past life. And apparently it's not over." She paused to look around and make sure no one was listening in. She reached out and pulled Tidus closer, lowering her voice when she spoke again. "I transformed last night. Like a literal transformation. But it was weird. I didn't feel like I was in control of my own body. All I could do was watch as these waves of pink energy shot out of my hands and destroyed those things. And then it just... all went away. When I could move on my own again, I was back to normal."

"You really need to talk to Sora," Tidus said after a moment of silence."He's been in your dreams a few times, right? Maybe he knows something about what's been going on."

"That's what I think too," Kairi said as the first bell screeched, warning them to get to homeroom. The two of them slowly began migrating towards the building. "I'll have to catch him some other time though. It doesn't look like he's here today."

"Call him after school. Or tell Roxas you need to talk to him," Tidus recommended.

Kairi nodded in agreement. "I will. But I wonder if there's someone else I need to talk to first... Are you doing anything after school today?"

Tidus shook his head. "Not today."

"Good. Meet me after class."

Naminé was minding her own business, carefully inserting her painting into a frame so it would be ready for the upcoming Art Show. It was still two weeks away, but there was something nice about avoiding the last minute rush to get things done, especially with something like a painting. There were still colored drawings she needed to get done; a difficult thing when she had yet to find the right subject.

She sighed and stepped back to get a better look at her work. She eyed it critically for a few minutes and then smiled, pleased with the way it turned out. Humming, Naminé picked up the framed painting and went to put it where it would be safe until the Art Show. As she entered one of the side rooms, she heard the door open.

"Okay, so why are we in the art room, exactly?"

"Shush, Tidus. Hello? Naminé?"

Naminé gasped softly when she heard Kairi calling for her, stunned that the other girl had sought her out so soon. "I-I'm in the back!" She stammered in reply. "I'll be out in a minute!"

Kairi spoke quietly to her friend, but Naminé couldn't make out what was being said. Trembling, she set down her painting and spent a few minutes trying to calm herself down. She breathed in and out deeply and then brushed off her skirt and tugged on the bottom hem of her shirt before she left the tiny room.

Naminé noticed Kairi first and then her gaze slid over to the boy standing next to her. It was the same one who interrupted them earlier that morning and she knew exactly who he was. But then, everyone knew who Tidus Clearwater was.

"Hello again," Naminé softly greeted.

Kairi turned around with a determined expression on her face, ignoring Tidus's requests to calm down. "Have you been having any strange dreams lately? Please, I need to know!"

Naminé shook her head. "I'm sorry. I haven't." She frowned when Kairi's determination was replaced by utter defeat. "Is everything okay?"

Tidus looked between the two girls and then took it upon himself to explain. "Kairi started having weird dreams a few days ago about her past life. Apparently you're in them. After what she says happened yesterday, I think she was hoping you'd know something about them. Or at least that she isn't the only one."

Naminé went still. Dreams weren't something that plagued her, but there was something else new in her life that was a little alarming. She nervously tucked a loose lock of hair behind one ear. "There's something you need to see."

Without waiting for their response, Naminé quickly retrieved her sketchbook from her satchel. With shaking hands she flipped through it until she found the right page and then walked over to show the two of them. "Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with this intense need to draw. I've been doing it since I was little, but... It's a lot more frequent now."

Kairi gasped when she saw the setting of one of her more recent dreams brought to life with pen and paper. Even without the bright colors of the fields of flowers and the crystal blue sky, she could easily recognize the Outer Garden.

"There's more," Naminé said, hugging herself with her arms to keep herself from snatching away the sketchbook. "You can look through it, if you want."

Kairi was already flipping through the pages, her eyes widening more and more with every image. Tidus looked over her shoulder, not wanting to be left out.

Naminé didn't need to look to know what pictures they were seeing. She'd gone over them many times herself, trying to figure out why she couldn't stop drawing them. There were no good answers. Many of the pictures were of that garden from different angles. Sometimes there were people there, but it was no one she recognized. Others depicted a group of people on a grassy field and often included bright colors swirling around them. Her favorite had been of a girl with her hair up in two buns, pink color blazing around her staring down another girl in shorts and dark hair, but after the evening before it filled Naminé's heart with fear.

The girl in pink looked remarkably like Kairi.

"These are amazing," Tidus complimented.

"Thank you," Naminé responded automatically.

Kairi reached the last page and stared at it for a moment before carefully closing the book and handing it back to the blonde girl. She started to speak and then stopped, frowning and reconsidering her words until she knew exactly what she wanted to say. "Naminé, I don't really know what's going on, but I'm going to find out. I promise."

Somehow, her words put Naminé a little more at ease.

Sora pouted as Roxas roughly re-bandaged his arm, not even trying to be careful. "Ow," he complained.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Don't be a baby. It's you're own fault you got hurt. You shouldn't have jumped in front of that Berserker like that."

"He's lucky he didn't break his arm," Riku said as he and Olette walked into the twins' shared bedroom. He walked over to the side of the bed Roxas wasn't on and sat down next to his boyfriend. "Does it feel any better? Is that potion kicking in yet?"

"A little. Still hurts though. Roxas," Sora said, giving his brother an annoyed look.

Roxas smirked and tugged a little too hard as he tied off the bandage.

Olette slowly approached the bed, a worried look on her face. "Maybe it's time we start seriously considering finding some of the others. You guys keep getting hurt trying to help me and you don't heal as fast as I do!"

"No," Sora responded immediately, his voice hard. "We've talked about this. The others aren't ready."

Olette narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips, ready to argue the boy into submission if she had to. Roxas recognized the look in her eyes quickly backed away from his twin, leaving him and Riku directly in Olette's crosshairs.

Riku calmly laced his fingers with Sora's. "We also said that when it started getting too much for us, we would tell the others. This is the second time in two days we've barely won. We cannot keep going like this. Not for long."

Sora looked crushed. "But Riku-"

"I agree with Riku," Roxas said, earning three surprised glances. He raised an eyebrow. "What? I'm not allowed to agree with him just because I think he's an ass? He just happens to be right for once. Now we just need to decide who."

"I vote Passion," Olette said immediately. "We need someone else with magic. Plus, she can work long or close range, depending on the situation."

Riku nodded. "There are also the Knights to consider. I can think of two of them who are close by and don't have busy schedules."

Sora shook his head. "Look, I know you think I'm going to say no to those two just because I don't think this is a good idea, but I know exactly who you're talking about. Neither of them have shown any sign of awakening! And trust me, I would know because Roxas would've said something if they had."

The other two looked to Roxas for confirmation. He sighed. "There hasn't been any spontaneous combustion or reports of strange flooding, so safe to say they haven't remembered a thing."

Silence filled the room for a few brief seconds and then Olette spoke up again, despite already knowing what the answer would be. "There's always Peace and Heart."

"No," Sora and Riku said in unison.

"They will awaken eventually," Roxas reminded them. "I think they'd rather you tell them rather than find out on their own."

"I know, but..." Sora helplessly looked at Riku, but the silver-haired boy didn't have any reassuring words to give.

The silence returned.

Roxas sighed heavily and turned towards the door. "Alright. We'll try and get Passion back on board. I'll go let Cloud know and then I need to get going. C'mon, Olette. Hayner might have an aneurysm if we miss movie night again."

Olette glanced at Sora and Riku, who had bowed their heads together and were talking quietly. Deciding to leave them to it, she hurried after Roxas.

Chapter Text

Heart couldn't recall the last time she'd seen Sora look so happy. Even nearly a year ago, when they added Passion to their ranks, he had seemed pleased, but not so overjoyed that he was practically bouncing off the walls.

She and Peace sat back and watched as Sora danced around the hall, weaving in and out of Passion's attacks. It was a training exercise in magic. One would defend and the other would attack, and then they would switch. It was a common thing to do on days when the weather didn't lend well to training. Normally they stuck to weapons only, in order to cause less damage to their personal training hall, but Riku was away for the day and had warned them against it.

"The last time we did this, Sora tried to use a bunch of throwing stars," Riku had told them. "Three of them are still stuck in the ceiling and I have two scars."

All three Soldiers made sure not to let Sora touch any of the weapons.

Peace cleared her throat, tearing her gaze away from the fighting duo. "So who do you think Riku is bringing to train with us now? I've heard a few rumors of another Soldier on Gaia."

"That's a possibility," Heart agreed. "Or it could be someone Passion trained with on Centra. I also heard Sora and Riku talking about possibly recruiting a Soldier from Terra. Whoever they are, I think we're about to find out." She nodded towards the slightly open door, where two figures were standing.

One was Riku, watching the ongoing match with a critical eye. The other was a familiar-looking boy with slate gray hair, dressed in a crisp black uniform, accented by navy blue piping and a cape draped across the back of his shoulders.

Sora glanced his way and called Passion to a stop, dodging one last attack before going still. Passion pouted at first, but brightened when she saw that Riku had returned.

"I would like to introduce Wisdom, who will be training with us from now on," Riku announced as he strode into the room. The dark-haired boy followed after him. "Though 'introduce' perhaps isn't the correct word, seeing as how you've met him before."

Heart's blue-violet eyes went wide as she finally realized why he looked so familiar. "Prince Ienzo?!"

"While you are training, he is not your Prince, but a fellow Soldier," Riku said firmly. "Heart, you will treat him no differently than you would Peace or Passion. You may not have been doing this for long, but we feel you are ready to step up and take your place as the leader. It's the best way for you to learn."

Heart stared at him, flabbergasted by his statement. "You- You can't honestly expect me to go along with this! You said it was my duty to  protect  the Prince, not lead him by the hand into danger!"

"It's your duty to protect him, just as it's his duty to protect his world," Riku reminded her.

Heart whirled around to look accusingly at Sora. "And what about you? Is this what you think too?!"

Sora nodded. "We hadn't intended on doing this so soon, but the Queen asked us to. She and the King have powers of their own – it's how they've guarded the kingdom so well. Prince Ienzo's abilities are stronger, which means he needs more specialized training. You know better than anyone that it's not up to  us  who becomes a Soldier. He was chosen by this planet."

Fury and helplessness swelled and swirled inside of Heart.

"I couldn't have put it better myself," someone announced from the door.

Everyone turned at once to the doorway, where two strangers stood. The one who spoke was a girl who was clearly a Soldier in her orange and tan dress and matching mask. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled up to one side by an orange ribbon and was neatly curled. Next to her was a boy with spiky blond hair wearing white and black.

"Roxas!" Sora shouted happily, running across the room to hug the boy. Once he was done, he pulled away and grinned at the girl. "And you brought Love with you!"

"Of course I did," Roxas said, rolling his eyes. "I wasn't going to just leave her behind in Twilight Town. Besides, you were the one who asked if I thought she was ready, and I believe she is." He paused to look over the Soldiers Riku and Sora had gathered together so far. "The two of you have been busy."

Riku stepped over to Sora's side. "Allow me to introduce you. Everyone, this is Roxas. Like us, he's a Guardian. And this is his charge, Love Soldier."

"Hello!" She said, waving. "I look forward to training with all of you!"

As Passion skipped over to say hello and Peace slowly got up and walked towards them, Heart wondered just how many more people she was expected to lead.

Kairi raised an eyebrow when she stepped out of her room to find Demyx sitting in the hallway, picking at the dirt beneath his fingernails and just looking uncharacteristically sad. She sighed heavily and slid down the wall to sit next to him. "So, what's going on?"

"Huh?" Demyx asked, sounding tired.

"You're sitting here in the hallway staring at the carpet instead of barging into my room and demanding attention. Something is wrong," Kairi said. "Wanna talk about it?"

Demyx didn't look at her. "Not really..."

Kairi hummed, not at all convinced.

"It's just..." Demyx paused briefly and then charged on. "Okay, so I took your advice about Zexion. You know, that guy I like. And it was going great at first! Better than great! It was going perfectly. We went to the movies and had dinner and this one time we went mini golfing with Roxas and Axel – which was probably a mistake, but I think Zexion had fun. And he did say something about not holding me responsible for the actions of my idiot best friend. And- Oh! I got to hold his hand! In public! It was wonderful..." He trailed off, lost in daydream.

Kairi patiently waited for him to return on his own.

He sighed sadly, dropping his hands to his lap. "I don't know what I did wrong, Kai. Yesterday I went to go meet up with him after class like I've been doing, but he wasn't there. I try to call him, but he doesn't answer. I went to go find him in the library and he saw me and ran away! I know it's only been a day and maybe I'm just imagining it, but I can't help but feel like he's avoiding me for some reason. Maybe I was wrong from the beginning. Maybe he's hated me all along but he's just too nice to tell me to bug off! Maybe I-"

"Demyx," Kairi interrupted before he could beat himself up further. "Take it easy. Breathe." She paused a moment while he did so. "I'm kind of amazed you managed to do all of that in just one day, but maybe that's the problem. When you get interested in something or someone, you tend to just charge in full sprint. You get so swept up in what you're doing that you don't realize just how fast you're moving. And believe me, it's one of your most endearing qualities, but to someone who isn't used to it... It can be a little overwhelming."

Demyx looked even sadder, if possible.

Kairi gently wrapped an arm across his shoulders in a sort-of hug. "Just take it easy. Give him the weekend to have a little breathing room. Send him a text or leave a voice mail if you're really worried, but wait until you see him again to talk to him about this. Communication is key, right?"

"Right," Demyx murmured. They sat there for a few minutes in silence and then he laid his head on her shoulder. "How'd you get so good at this, Kai?"

"All that practice mediating Roxas and Axel's arguments is finally paying off," Kairi joked. "But really, I don't know. Maybe it's just that I have a better outside view of things." She removed her arm from him as he sat back up. "Hey, you know what might make you feel better?"

"Romcoms?" Demyx asked, sounding a little happier.

"Absolutely," Kairi replied. "You pick out a few and I'll meet you downstairs."

Demyx gleefully agreed and got to his feet, rushing to go get everything ready. Kairi laughed softly and went to go prepare for an all-day marathon.

Something strange happened about halfway through their third movie.

Kairi had just finished painting Demyx's toenails a pretty blue color when the doorbell rang. At first, neither of them reacted. But then it rang again. And then a third time.

"What's that sound?" Demyx asked, looking around in confusion.

Kairi shrugged. "Must be the TV."

"Are you sure? It sounds an awful lot like a doorbell," Demyx said.

Both of them looked at the screen, which was showing two of the characters walking around in a park with a tiny dog on a leash.

"Okay, it's not the movie," Kairi agreed, carefully removing Demyx's feet from her lap. "If you mess up your toes while I'm gone, I'm also doing your nails."

Demyx grimaced.

Kairi got up and stretched out her arms before slowly making her way to the front door. None of her friends ever used the doorbell, preferring to just go inside whether anyone was around to greet them or not, so there wasn't much point in hurrying to answer the door for a salesman or one of her grumpy neighbors coming to complain about her brothers doing something reckless in the yard again.

When she finally opened the door, she was stunned to find Naminé standing there.

"Sorry to just drop by like this," she apologized. "I, um, I realized I never got your number yesterday and I probably could have gotten it from Pence, but I wasn't sure how involved in all of this he wants to get..." She nervously twisted her finger in the hem of her shirt. "Can we talk?"

Kairi nodded, stepping aside to let Naminé in. "Of course. I think movie day is just about over anyway. Neither of us were paying attention to this last one..." She shut the door behind the other girl and then led her down the hall to the living room, where Demyx was admiring his toenails. "Naminé, this is Demyx."

Demyx immediately looked away from his toes, trying to play it off like he didn't secretly enjoy the color. "Hey there!"

"Hello," Naminé replied with a smile.

"Demyx, I forgot that there's something Naminé and I have to do for class. A project," Kairi lied. "You don't mind if we call it quits for the day, do you? We can finish this movie first."

"Nah, it's okay," Demyx replied with a shake of his head. "Axel should be off work by now. I think I'll go see what he's up to." He glanced at the television. "I have no idea what's been happening in this movie. I stopped paying attention after the girl tripped and fell into the fountain, pulling her date with her." He picked up the remote and hit the 'stop' button before turning off the DVD player and the TV.

Kairi watched him get up, slightly worried. It wasn't that long ago that he was moping in the middle of the hallway. "Are you sure?"

Demyx nodded and gave her a bright smile. "Yeah! You go on and have fun! Or, well, as much fun as you can have doing a project. Which probably isn't much fun. Mine never are."

Naminé giggled.

He bid them farewell and then left the room, removing his phone from his pocket to call Axel and see if he wanted any company.

Kairi turned to face Naminé. "You wanted to talk about something?"

Naminé nodded. "Actually, I wanted to talk to Tidus too, but I don't know where he lives. Is there anyplace quiet the three of us could go? So there's no chance of anyone overhearing us?"

"I can think of one," Kairi replied. "I'll call Tidus and then we can go."

As it turned out, Naminé's motives for getting them together were quite simple and not at all unexpected. Kairi only wished she had more information to give the girl, but she still hadn't had the chance to talk to Sora or Riku about anything that had been happening to her. Even with that, their trip to the island wasn't completely pointless.

Without anyone else around to distract her, Kairi was able to settle into a meditative state and transform on her own for the first time.

"Whoa!" Tidus exclaimed, scrambling to his feet to get a better look at her. "You really were telling the truth!"

Heart put her hands on her hips, giving him an annoyed look. "Of course I was! Do you really think I'd lie about something like this?"

"I-" Tidus paused to scratch the back of his neck and carefully consider his words. "No. I'm sorry I doubted you even a little bit. It's just sort of surreal, isn't it? These monsters, and you being able to transform into some sort of magical girl. You have powers, right? Cool ones?"

"I think so," Heart said unsurely. "I only used them the one time, but it wasn't really me in control. I think I might be able to..." She lifted up her arm, palm facing out, willing something to happen.

There was nothing.

Tidus looked disappointed.

Naminé looked thoughtful. "Maybe it only happens when there's something to fight," she suggested.

"Maybe..." Heart murmured. She was about to relax and shift back into her normal self, when a pinprick of darkness caught her attention. She instinctively moved into a fighting stance, looking around for whatever she felt. The entrance to the Secret Spot that she, Sora, and Riku claimed as their own so many years ago captured her eye for a moment, but then something moved in her peripherals. "Watch out!" She shouted, shoving Tidus aside just as a very large object slammed into the ground where he'd been standing seconds before.

Naminé shrieked in alarm as something knocked into her, sending her sprawling into the hot sand.

Heart spun around, knocking away the giant enemy with an arc of pink energy. It didn't do much more than annoy it. She yelled for Tidus to get himself and Naminé to safety and then threw herself into the fight. She found herself incredibly thankful for all of the hours she and her friends had spent running around in the thick sand, because it meant she knew just how fast she could move with it hindering her.

She ducked under the swing of a massive weapon and then had to immediately roll to the side as another tried to sideswipe her. She quickly got back to her feet and released another blast of energy. The monster staggered, finally wounded, but didn't go down. Heart took a chance to see where her friends were, forgetting there was more then one.

"KAIRI, NO!"

Heart went down. Hard.

She gasped for air, using all of her strength to roll her body to one side to avoid a bonecrushing blow, but the monster was faster. She could see the heavy weapon swinging downward, intent on ending her life, and she closed her eyes and prayed.

"Blizzard!"

There was a sound like shattered glass and then the monster crashed down mere inches from Heart and burst into bubbles, which quickly dissipated.

Heart opened her eyes in time to see a figure in white hurrying to her aid. She opened her mouth the warn the girl that there was still another one nearby, but a sudden flare of orange light left her speechless.

The second monster disappeared just like the first.

As Peace Soldier helped Heart sit up, a figure in orange and tan walked towards them with a grim look on her face.

"Love," Heart greeted with a rasp. "Nice of you to save us."

Peace looked shocked as the other Soldier knelt down next to them. Tidus hung back a little ways, worry clear on his face.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Love told them. "I'm so sorry." She reached out to touch a scrape on Heart's arm, but the redhead pushed her away.

"I want to talk to Sora. Right now, Olette," Heart demanded.

Love drew back. "You can't. Not tonight. I haven't even talked to them today and they always let me know when there's been activity from the enemy." She paused, taking in Heart's determined expression and then Peace's obvious confusion. Her frown deepened when she saw Tidus standing nearby. "We're meeting up tomorrow at the Strife's. You should come talk to them then. All of you."

"Fine," Heart agreed, not at all happy about the arrangement. "But if they're not there, we're coming to you for answers."

Chapter Text

Kairi had calmed down by the time she and Tidus met up with Naminé on the street the Strife's lived on. She at least no longer wanted to kick down their front door and yell at her friends until they gave her a straight answer. (Well, maybe she did a little, but Cloud could be really scary when he got angry and she figured breaking the door to his house wouldn't make him happy.)

"Are you sure you want to go with us?" Kairi asked Tidus for what must have been the eighth time since the evening before. "You don't seem to be a part of this mess. There's still time for you to get out of it."

Tidus adamantly shook his head. "No way! You are my best friend, Kairi. There is no way you're doing this without me there with you every step of the way. Just because I'm not having dreams or visions or whatever like the two of you doesn't mean I'm not involved."

"I guess there's no talking you out of this..." Kairi murmured.

"It's too late now anyway. Olette will have told Roxas that Tidus was with us yesterday," Naminé said knowingly. "If he wasn't with us, Cloud would just send someone to get him."

Kairi stopped walking, gazing at Naminé with stunned realization. When her friends realized she wasn't next to them anymore, they stopped as well.

"How... how do you know that?" Kairi asked. "I never mentioned Cloud. I wasn't even sure he was part of this until this morning. I mean, I assumed he was but..." She looked to Tidus for confirmation. He looked just as puzzled as she felt.

Naminé looked at the ground. "I was going to wait and tell everyone together. I remember now... Your dreams, my visions; they're real. They're our memories." She paused and took a deep breath. "It was strange waking up this morning and remembering this whole other life. I wanted to just stay in bed all day. I never feel like that. Maybe you're the lucky one." She finally looked up at Kairi. "You're getting your memories back piece by piece and not all at once. You get to hold onto who you are now. Meanwhile I'm... I'm not even sure who I am anymore."

Kairi wanted nothing more than to reach out to her new friend and pull her into her arms. She sounded so lost. So heartbroken.

Tidus beat her to it.

He walked over and gently grasped Naminé's hands in his own. "I know who you are. You're Naminé Snow, an amazing art student and Senior at Destiny High, who just happens to also be able magically transform and kick monster butt! You're also my friend. And no memories of some past life are going to change that. I'm not going to say that memories aren't important, cuz I guess they kind of are, but it's up to you to decide what to do with them. Maybe you can't be the same Naminé I knew yesterday, but you're not the same person you were in your past life either. You can be someone new! Someone just as amazing."

Naminé's light blue eyes welled up with tears. With a choked sob, she threw her arms around Tidus's neck and tightly hugged him. The blond boy immediately wrapped his arms around her, giving her the comfort she needed.

Kairi smiled at the pair. When Tidus finally looked up at her, she mouthed: "Thank you."

Heart cautiously circled her opponent, her eyes narrowed behind her mask. She was aware of the Guardians standing off to the side with her fellow Soldiers, as well as the strange blond man who'd introduced himself as Cloud, but that wasn't important. All of her focus needed to be on the Soldier across from her.

Strength Soldier was a girl from Gaia who'd spend years training under the guidance of Cloud and alongside a handful of others. She'd been cheerful and displayed a surprising enthusiasm when she'd been introduced, but once in the training ring she became deadly serious. She never once turned her back on Heart, keeping her in sight at all times.

Like Peace, Strength had short blonde hair, though hers was perfectly straight. Her uniform consisted of a sleeveless, navy blue jacket which split into two 'tails' in the back. Beneath it she wore a collared white shirt, a blue tie, and a black mini-skirt. Her gloves and mid-calf boots were also black, but her mask was the same navy blue as her jacket. Lightning crackled around her as she moved, itching to strike out.

As if by unspoken agreement, the two attacked in the same instant.

"Heavenly Ribbon!"

"Thunderstrike!"

The resulting shockwave knocked everyone from their feet.

Heart smacked her head against something hard and blacked out.

When she came to, there was a red-haired boy standing over her, lightly making fun of her frizzy, electrocuted hair.  Lea , she remembered.  My brother.

Her vision again went black. When it returned, there was a pair standing over her. Prince Ienzo spoke calmly, enunciating his words to ensure she understood. The other boy was blond, with wide, worried sea-green eyes.  Emyd.

With a sigh she closed her eyes. She wanted to sleep, but new voices had her reluctantly opening them again.

Sora, Roxas, and Riku were there, looking as they always had, even after ten years. Strange how they never seemed to get any older...

"And that's all I remember," Kairi said with a shrug. She was beginning to get unnerved by the way everyone was looking at her so intently. It made her feel like she'd done something wrong and that they were watching her for any sign of weakness. "So what's going on? Why am I still having these dreams when everyone else seems to remember?"

From the couch, Sora and Riku exchanged an uneasy glance, while Roxas just looked annoyed and Cloud contemplated. Olette, seated comfortably in the blue recliner, strummed her fingers on her knees, looking between the Guardians to her fellow Soldiers and Tidus (on the smaller couch) and then back again.

The silence stretched on long enough that Tidus began to get annoyed.

"Isn't there, I don't know, someone in charge of restoring memories or something?" He asked. "Some kind of memory Soldier? Maybe you could ask them."

Cloud frowned. "There was a Soldier from Memoria, but I think I speak for everyone when I say it's best if he had nothing to do with this."

Sora made a funny face. "Y'know, I think I'd die happy if I never had to see him again. He was weird. But even if he was still around, he never had any power over memories."

"He had some influence over dreams though," Riku pointed out. "It's possible that he has a hand in this. But enough about him. I imagine you have some questions about what's happening right now and why it's happening."

Kairi crossed her arms over her chest. "Oh, so now you want to explain things."

"Kairi!" Tidus hissed.

"No, it's alright," Cloud said calmly. "You have every right to be angry. We should have told you the moment the enemy began showing itself around town. It isn't fair that you've been suffering over this for a week and I apologize. Now we'll start from the beginning."

"The Fall," Roxas muttered.

The atmosphere in the room took a turn for the worst. No one who remembered any part of the past wanted to speak.

Tidus had no such qualms. "The fall of what?"

"Radiant Garden," Naminé quietly explained. "The day our lives ended. I don't remember much about it. I think... I was fighting and then... nothing."

"Everything was in ruin by the time the first two waves were fought off," Riku said morosely, staring at a spot on the wall opposite of him. "They came out of nowhere and overpowered our limited forces. So many of us were lost or fading fast. Those of us who survived... we never would have made it. Our enemy was too strong. Too clever. So the King and Queen did what they needed to do to keep the rest of the worlds from falling to the same darkness."

"Using the last of their powers, they sealed away our enemy," Sora continued. "And we were sent along with it, so that when the day came that our enemy regained its power, we would be there to stop them. But to do so, we had to be reborn, which meant a new life and new memories. We were told that when the time was right, each of us would remember. And most of us have."

Olette looked down at the carpet as she spoke. "We're still not sure who was reborn with us or where they're at. We hoped you would be, Kairi, but it's sort of a trial and error when it comes down to figuring it out. If it makes you feel any better, they didn't come right out and tell me either."

Kairi didn't feel very reassured by that. If anything, it made her feel more annoyed. She could understand why they did it, though. If there was a chance that she wasn't destined to be Heart Soldier in her new life and they told her that she was, the consequences could have been disastrous.

Naminé leaned forward. "So who has been found? Does Passion know yet? Or Strength?"

Sora shook his head. "We were going to see if Passion remembered anything, but then Olette told us about you two. So aside from the three of you, we only know of Courage and Brave and a couple of the Knights."

"Knights?" Kairi and Tidus asked in unison.

"Haven't remembered them either, huh?" Sora asked, sounding tired. "They're sort of like the flip side of a coin to Soldiers."

Cloud cleared his throat. "In the past, Knights arose to help keep Soldiers balanced. They were paired together to keep one another stable, but as time wore on, it was no longer necessary. By the time you began your training, the planets had figured out how to establish that balance within each individual Soldier and Knight. Still, exceptions arose." He paused a moment to allow the information to sink in. "Brave Soldier is weighted heavily by his powers over ice. He was rather withdrawn to begin with, but his element enhances that at least twofold. Likewise, Fire Cross is threatened to be consumed by his. Their opposing powers work to keep them in perfect balance. Luckily, the two keep finding each other without any of us having to get involved."

"I don't get it," Tidus said, scratching his neck. "Why call them Knights? I mean, couldn't two Soldiers have a bond like that?"

"It's possible, but very rare," Riku admitted. "More than that, there really is a difference between them. More than just the names, its the way their abilities manifest themselves."

Sora nodded. "Yeah! Knights need a conduit for their energy. Usually it's a weapon of some kind. Soldiers don't need to do that. I'm sure you've noticed that you can use your powers with just your hands."

"Soldiers also have the ability to mold their powers into a weapon," Olette spoke up. "Like my arrows of light or Naminé's ice chain. Knights tend to prefer tangible weapons. But like Cloud said, there are always exceptions."

"I thought we agreed a longtime ago to stop counting Melodious Nocturne as a normal Knight," Sora said jokingly.

Roxas punched him in the arm. "Have some respect. We don't even know if he'll recover his memories."

Sora pouted and rubbed his arm, leaning away from his twin and into Riku.

Cloud sighed at the behavior of his younger brothers. "While I'm sure this is entertaining to the two of you, we have other matters to discuss. Now that Peace and Heart have awakened their powers, they'll have to start training again. There's only so far you'll get on instinct. More importantly, what are we going to do about Tidus?"

The aforementioned blond sat up straight, suddenly worried. "What do you mean?"

"You know our identities, but have no abilities of your own. That makes you a risk," Riku said.

"Then he can train with us," Kairi said, coming to her friend's aid.

"But he's not–!"

To everyone's surprise, Sora interjected before Riku could finish. "It's too late to change what he knows. Besides, if I know Tidus, it'd be way worse not to give him some training. One way or another he's going to get himself into trouble, so lets make sure he can handle himself when it happens."

"Yeah!" Tidus enthusiastically agreed. "Hey, wait a sec... are you insulting me?"

Everyone except Cloud began to laugh.

Chapter Text

Heart raised an eyebrow when Love and Passion approached her the second she completed her patrol of the outer limits of town. The pair looked excited about something, which rarely boded well for her.

"You are coming with us!" Passion happily announced, putting her hands on her hips;. "We got permission from Sora to take you out for a night on the town! A couple of the other Soldiers and Knights are going to join us as well."

"Including a certain Wutaian princess," Love sang.

Heart rolled her eyes. "Sorry. Not interested."

"Too bad," Passion replied. "You don't have a choice. When we told Sora it would be an excellent team bonding experience, he made it mandatory for all six of us. We already sent Strength and Wisdom to tell Peace."

Heart frowned at them, unsure of what to do. While it was true she was the leader and had the power to decide for herself what so-called "bonding activities" she would take place in, the fact was that Sora outranked her. If she did make a big deal of it, he would get the other Guardians involved and she would lose the respect she'd earned over the years.

So even though the last thing she wanted to do after hours of running and jumping across rooftops and stopping petty crime was to go out and socialize, the consequences would be far worse if she didn't. As long as she didn't make a complete and utter fool of herself, like she suspected her comrades would be doing, she would be okay.

"Fine," Heart said with a barely concealed sigh. "But I'm not staying long."

Love and Passion high-fived their victory.

Vibrant  was one of the newest bars in town; one which quickly became the nightly hangout for the more social Soldiers and Knights. From what Kairi understood, it'd been discovered by Wild Thief and Wandering Dawn, who were forever on the lookout for adventure and fun, and they quickly informed everyone else. Within a few days,  everyone  knew about it.

Kairi felt exposed as she stepped into the bar, flanked by an overly excited Selphie and a disguised Prince Ienzo. Even off-duty and forced into heels and a short, chiffon dress, the first thing she did was take notice of her surroundings. In a matter of seconds, she memorized the various exits and where would be the best place to bunker down in case of an attack. She then took a moment to get a look at the people inhabiting the bar, even knowing most of them were her comrades.

"Pretty cool, right?" Selphie asked, slightly raising her voice to be heard over the music. It wasn't so loud that it caused the entire building to pulse, but speaking at a normal volume would be difficult.

Kairi shrugged. How was she to know what made a bar cool or uncool? All she knew was that it was different than what she'd expected. Whenever the others mentioned going drinking, she envisioned a dimly lit room filled with wooden furniture and floors and maybe a scruffy-looking bartender.

Vibrant wasn't like that.

Aside from the stage, which  was  wood, the floor was tiled with perfectly level stone in shades of blue and green. About a third of the way up on the walls was something similar to window planters, except it was continuous across three walls, except where the front door and the emergency exit were. Brightly colored flowers and leafy greens filled the beds, illuminated by soft lights hidden behind them. Beneath the planters, the wall was oak paneling, but the top two-thirds was simply painted a cream color. Pictures of various locations around Radiant Garden were hung throughout the room. A total of four ceiling fans spun lazily from the ceiling, providing just enough of a breeze to keep things comfortable.

Prince Ienzo leaned close to her so he wouldn't have to speak loudly. "Emyd and your brother are over there. I'm going to go join them."

Kairi followed his gaze to the side of the room, where a redhead with a short ponytail and a blond man were sitting. The blond was gesturing wildly and she could only guess that he was using his powers over water to keep his drink from splashing all over the table. "Don't go anywhere without me," she murmured.

Prince Ienzo nodded and then left her alone with Selphie.

"Naminé's at the bar," the brunette said, nudging Kairi towards their fellow Soldier. "I'm gonna go let Olette know we're here and then I'll join you.

Kairi watched her skip away and then reluctantly made her way towards Naminé. Before she got very far, two guys swooped in and took her by both arms, gently steering her away. One was a blond with a ponytail and the other was a short-haired brunet. Kairi glared at the blond one.

"Oh, lighten up," he said, rolling his eyes. "We just want you to come talk to our friend and then you can go sulk in the corner if that's what you really wanna do."

"Though I don't know why you'd want to," said the brunet. "Why would you come here if you're just going to sit and not talk to anyone? What's the point in that?"

"Sora made it mandatory," Kairi grumbled. "Let go of me. Both of you."

"Mandatory?" repeated the brunet, sounding amazed. "Hey, Zidane, you think we could trick Squall into making every night mandatory bar night?"

Zidane laughed. "Not a chance! Though it could be fun to try. I bet we could get Seifer to help us."

The brunet winced. "Um, that might not work very well. I kind of accidentally pissed him off."

"Bartz...!" Zidane groaned.

As the two bickered, Kairi could only sigh and let herself be shuffled towards a table where a slender girl with short black hair was sitting. She was sure that having one of the Knights annoyed with another would come back to bite her in the ass later, but it really wasn't her problem to solve. Her issue was rising from her seat, a hopeful expression on her face.

Kairi steeled herself for a long night of keeping her partner at arms length.

Naturally, Sora decided that immediately after school was the perfect time to head out to their island and do a little training. Tidus had lucked out with his Monday evening practice, but Naminé and Kairi were shepherded along with no regards to how they felt about it. Thankfully, they had Olette and Roxas around to keep Sora from having them do anything too crazy.

"Sora, it's ninety degrees out here," Roxas said, rolling his eyes. "We are not making them run an obstacle course. We talked about this last night, remember? The objective today is to help them summon their personal weapons."

"But I had it all planned out!" Sora complained. "Can we at least do it tomorrow?"

"You can if you want, but I think Olette might have something to say about me skipping study group," Roxas said. While his twin grumbled about the unfairness of it all, he walked over to the three girls to let them know what they'd been doing.

One-by-one they transformed.

Kairi's school uniform shimmered away in a dazzling pink light, replaced by her pink zippered dress and pink sneakers. Her hair twisted itself up into two buns and her mask settled on her face. Black gloves replaced the bracelets on her wrists.

A frost-like substance quickly crystallized over Naminé, starting from her fingertips and toes, and transformed her clothing into a familiar white dress. Instead of wrapping into any sort of hairstyle, her hair shortened until the longest pieces could just reach her jaw. It was a slower process than Heart expected and she wondered just how much time they lost when they had to shift into their Soldier forms.

She got her answer a moment later when a dazzling golden light blazed to life around Olette only to clear a second later. Heart rapidly blinked her eyes to try and clear the spots dancing across her vision. As they began to fade, she finally got a better look at Love Soldier.

Her curly brown hair was pulled up to one side and held in place by an orange ribbon, which matched the shade of her mask and dress. Her dress was a bright orange which laced up in the front loosely enough to reveal the tan slip she wore beneath it. Her long tan gloves covered only the back of her hand with one loop around her middle finger to keep it from sliding. Her knee-high combat boots were the same color, though the laces were orange.

"It gets easier," Love promised them, reading the expressions on their face perfectly. "Soon you'll be transforming just as fast as me!"

"Using your abilities will also get easier with practice," Roxas said. "Right now you'll only be able to use the basic forms of your powers. Normally, this means we wouldn't push you to summon your weapons, but our situation here is a little more unique. Peace, you will be working with myself and Love, since you remember your weapon. Heart, you will spend time meditating with Sora until you recall yours."

Relief flooded Heart's body as she walked over to Sora, who looked more cheered at the fact that they would be working together. Once she reached him, he led her away from the others to a more shaded area where they could sit in quiet.

"So, how are you feeling about all of this?" He asked.

"Still confused," Heart admitted, settling down in the cool sand. "Sora, what if I never remember everything? What if I spend the rest of my life viewing my life through my dreams? Just... fragments of memory?"

Sora sat down across from her. "Then we'll figure out how to deal with it. But you know, I think you'll be a great Soldier even without them." He smiled softly, reaching over to take her gloved hands. "You're so strong, Kai. It's a different strength than before, and that's not a bad thing. I always used to wonder how different things would have been if we gave you the chance to grow up without your destiny hanging over your head and, well, now we know. And you're better for it."

Tension Heart hadn't realized she'd been carrying melted away at his words. "So that's why..."

Sora smiled bitterly and let go of her hands. "We were warned back then, that the consequences of waking your powers too early could have dire effects on you. And he was right. You were one of my best friends back then, but there was always this... distance to you. It always killed me that no one could get through it. So, that's why when I remembered in this life, I made everyone promise not to force the Awakening." He paused, turning his head to watch as Love demonstrated her arrows of light. "You can see the effects on Naminé too. You two worked together a lot in the past, so I'm sure she's prevalent in your dreams."

Heart nodded. "She seems... happier, I think."

"We found her not long after we started your training. We thought putting the two of you together would be our best course of action. At least then you'd have someone your own age to spend your free time with. But, uh, it turned out not to be the best balance," Sora said, scratching the back of his neck. "We talked about this yesterday, remember? About Knights being the balance for Soldiers? I mean, it goes both ways, of course, but that's primarily what happens. Sometimes another Soldier can serve as a placeholder of sorts, until an appropriate Knight is found. We took too long though..."

"My past self wasn't very friendly," Heart said bluntly.

Sora looked startled.

"It's okay. You can say it," Heart said with a quiet sigh. "You should stop blaming yourself. I'm sure you were just doing what you thought needed to be done." She paused a moment. "I do have one question."

Sora sat up straight. "Okay. Lets hear it!"

Heart looked him in the eyes. "You never aged back then. Why?"

Sora stared at her with wide eyes, his mouth forming a tiny 'o' shape until he got over his shock. "Oh. Right. I forgot you wouldn't remember that..." He sighed, tilting his head back to stare at the bits of sky he could see through the leaves of the palms. "It's such a long story... but the gist of it is, back then the four of us were sort of... stuck outside of time. We stopped aging. We never really knew why, so we decided to make the best of it. Since we've got our own special powers, it sort of made sense to help train all of the people the planets were choosing as their champions. Along the way, they named us Guardians and that's what we've called ourselves ever since. Of course, now we actually age normally," Sora said with a laugh. "I'm kind of glad about that, because it would raise some awkward questions nowadays. Plus, we never would've gotten to be friends!

"But enough about the past. It's time to focus on the now," he said. "Me and you have some meditating to do! So take my hands and close your eyes..."

Sora found it impossible to sit still when he met up with Cloud, Riku, Yuffie, and Tifa at Seventh Heaven later that evening. He strummed his fingers on top of the bar for a while, only to cease when Cloud gave him an annoyed look. Then he moved on to jiggling his foot, but had to stop when he accidentally kicked Yuffie. After a few seconds pause, he returned to tapping a rhythm on the bar.

"You look like you did after you found out I have an espresso machine in the back," Tifa said, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. "You haven't been drinking my coffee again, have you?"

"Nah, Riku wouldn't let me," Sora replied with a grin. "Some good stuff happened during training today! I helped Kairi figure out her energy ribbon! Oh! And Naminé managed to summon her ice chain! It shattered before she could use it, but it's a great start!"

Cloud sighed. "We're supposed to wait for Roxas before you tell us about it."

"Don't care. Roxas was there. He knows all of this," Sora said, ignoring his older brother's eye roll and mutter of: "That's not the point."

Yuffie perked up at the mention of Kairi. "So she remembers now? Does this mean I can start fighting alongside of them? I'm so tired of recon!"

"Not yet," Cloud told her.

Yuffie pouted and slumped in her stool. "No fair. Sora gets to have all the fun."

Cloud sighed. He wasn't sure which of them was worse: Sora or Yuffie. "If you promise me you will not count every attack as an emergency, then you can join them when they could use the extra help. Three Berserkers do not count as an emergency."

"Four Berserkers?" Yuffie tried. She wavered under Cloud's hard gaze. "Fine. Six of them. Or Three Assassins, a Berserker, and two Sorcerers. Or-"

Riku interjected before she could get too carried away. "If it looks like they won't make it out of the fight without help, then you go in. It's as simple as that."

With a loud, exaggerated sigh, Yuffie agreed to the terms. She cheered up seconds later when her cell phone chimed and she pulled it out to see the message. A big smile split across her face and she jumped down from the stool. "Time for me to run and pick up Tifa's new house guest at the docks! I'll see you all later!"

Tifa waited until she was out the door before turning around to go to the back room. "I better go put away the espresso machine."

"You are way too fucking worried about this," Axel criticized as he sat down on the couch next to a moping Demyx. "Okay, so you couldn't talk to the kid today. Big deal."

"But I love him!"

Axel rolled his eyes and smacked Demyx in the head with one of the couch pillows. "Don't be so melodramatic, dumbass. This isn't one of those lifetime movies you think I don't know you love to watch." For good measure, he bopped his friend a second time.

Demyx tried to wrestle the pillow from the redhead, but quickly gave up to dramatically flop over the arm of the couch. "I'm a failure! I'll never love again!" He wailed, hiding his grin with his arm.

"Yeah, yeah," Axel muttered.

"I'm not like you. I can't just snap my fingers and have him fall into my arms!" Demyx continued, hamming it up as much as he could.

"Right. Let me just snap my fingers right now and watch Roxas fall into my lap and profess his undying love for me," Axel said sarcastically. Then he snapped his fingers.

Flames sparked to life from his fingertips and he yelped loudly, violently shaking his hands in an attempt to kill the fire.

Demyx lifted his head up and shrieked, practically climbing over the back of the couch in his haste to get away before his best friend could catch him on fire as well. He windmilled his arms as he toppled over backwards.

A small wave of water crashed over Axel, soaking him and the couch. It also effectively put out the flame.

As Demyx hesitantly peered over the arm with wide eyes, Reno stood frozen in the doorway, watching the scene unfold.

Chapter Text

If there was ever a time Kairi wished she could cast aside her duty and relax for a change, the annual Royal Ball was it. No matter how many years passed, she would never enjoy or look forward to a night of fancy dresses,uncomfortable high heels, and faked politeness.

She grimaced when she noticed one of the princes from Balance starting to make his way towards her. Kairi hurriedly cast her eyes for an escape and found it in the form of a young nobleman from her own world. She reached out and tapped him on the arm, plastering an obviously fake smile on her face when he turned to look at her.

Cold blue eyes silently appraised her for a moment. Then he sighed and offered his arm to her. “If you insist. You know, one day someone will catch on and then what will you do?”

Kairi ignored the question as she let him lead her to the dance floor. “You are a life saver, Isa.”

“I doubt it would end your life if you danced with someone else,” Isa said wryly. “Though your feet may suffer.”

“They already are. I'd like to prevent further damage.”

Isa chuckled and said nothing more as they danced through several songs, moving in perfect harmony. He stayed with her until her most persistent pursuers backed off to find more willing dance partners and then kissed the back of her hand and bid her goodnight before disappearing into the crowd.

“Boy am I glad he's finally gone!”

Kairi tensed at the familiar voice, automatically turning her head to look at the most adamant of her suitors. “Princess Yuffie,” she said stiffly.

The other girl smiled brightly and eagerly held out her hand. “Dance with me?”

“Sorry, I'm too tired now,” Kairi said, quickly excusing herself and hurrying towards the buffet table. She pretended not to notice the crushed expression Yuffie wore.

Kairi had never heard Sora curse so expressively before. Normally he seemed to go out of his way to avoid it, often coming up with creative alternatives.

Sora threw his weight against the door of an empty classroom, slamming it shut just as a Berserker began charging towards them. “Now would be a good time to transform!” he grunted as the Nobody plowed into the door, nearly smashing it open.

Kairi nodded and in a matter of seconds, Heart Soldier stood in the center of the room. Energy thrummed around her as Sora dove out of the way to avoid being crushed by the door as the Berserker finally succeeded in its quest. Heart disintegrated it with a well-placed attack before it could get any further.

“Why are they here?” Heart asked as Sora stepped over top the wreckage to peer out into the hall.

“With so many people in one place, it's the perfect opportunity for them,” he replied grimly. “Send in a couple of low-levels to cause trouble and get us all riled up, see how fast we respond and what we're capable of - it's a common tactic. What I wanna know is where are Love and Peace?”

Right on cue, a spear of ice flew past a nearby junction and then Peace Soldier ran past, her heels clacking loudly on the tiled floors. Love was right behind her, but she skidded to a stop when she spotted her friends from the corner of her eye.

“Sora! Heart! There's a huge group of these things going to the gym! Roxas is already over there, but he can't do anything without revealing himself to everyone!” she yelled.

“Go,” Sora ordered. “I'll stay here and take care of any stragglers.”

Heart nodded and joined Love as she continued chasing after Peace. The two of them caught up to her in the western side of the building near the gym. Three Nobodies floated in the middle of the hall, blocking their path. Two were protected by blocks of sparking red light and the other kept flicking cards between its hands.

“Oh great,” Love muttered sarcastically. “Those two.”

“Which ones are these?” Heart asked.

“The two with blocks are Sorcerers. They're resistant to all elemental magic, so you and I will have to take care of them,” Love explained, holding out her hands to conjure her golden bow. An energy arrow was already in place and aimed at one of the monsters. “Peace! Take care of that Gambler and don't let it trick you into a game!”

Peace nodded and set out to get the attention of her opponent and lead it away from the others. “Blizzard!” she cried out, releasing a spray of ice.

The Gambler shuddered and then left the safety the Sorcerers provided, fixated on the girl in white. Peace smirked.

Love released her arrow, which blasted through a single block and effectively enraged one of the Sorcerers. She and Heart were forced to dive away to avoid five spinning blocks, but only Love rolled right back to her feet.

“Graceful Cascade!” she yelled, raising her hand in the air and then sweeping it downward. Golden light rained down on the Sorcerer. It reeled back in pain and tried to recover, but Love's attack was too much for it and it soon disintegrated.

Meanwhile, Heart was struggling against the second Sorcerer, which had swooped in while she was recovering from her poorly executed dodge. Blocks surrounded her, sparking threateningly as they slowly closed in on her. She tried her usual energy blasts, but they were too weak to cause any damage.

Heart chanced a look at Peace, who was running circles around the Gambler, peppering it with ice. She watched the monster stumble and then had to duck as a block went whizzing at her face. “Love! A little help over here!” she shouted.

The orange-suited Soldier tried to get to the Sorcerer, but it was wisely staying on the opposite side of Heart. Love wouldn't be able to attack without hurting her friend. All she could do at that moment was keep it distracted long enough for Peace to finish off the Gambler and join them.

Heart attempted to summon her ribbon like she had the day before during training, but struggling to do more than channel a ball of energy to her hand. She shot it at a block, but it barely even moved. Growing desperate, she wracked her mind for something useful from her hazy memories of the past.

There was nothing.

Heart opened her mouth to order Love to attack regardless of her position, when a figure crashed through the ceiling in a blaze of fire and cracked the Sorcerer in the head using oversized nunchaku. The Nobody recalled its blocks, but it was too late. The new Soldier swung her weapon a second time and ripped through the monster, pleased when it burst into bubbles and disappeared.

“Well that was fun,” Peace remarked as she finally rejoined them, having finished off the Gambler. Thin cuts marred her cheeks and her long gloves were torn in several places, but other than that she wasn't injured. She curiously eyed their new ally as the other girl dismissed her weapon and began brushing ceiling debris from her short yellow dress.

Realizing everyone was watching her, the new Soldier finally grinned and looked up at them. “Hey guys! I'm not too late to the party, am I?”

Love laughed. “You're just in time! It's good to see you again, Passion.”

There was no time for them to stand around and talk, as they were jarringly reminded of when there was a loud booming sound, followed by terrified screams. Wordlessly, the four Soldiers ran for the gym to save their classmates and eliminate the threat.

Naturally, the school's response to the attack and destruction of the gymnasium was the send everyone home early for the day and close the school until a proper cleanup and investigation could be done.

Some students rejoiced. Others were furious.

Emotions in Kairi's group of friends were torn between the two, which lead to an awkward after-school gathering at the Burger Bar. After Olette and Hayner nearly came to blows over the subject, everyone decided it was in their best interest to go their separate ways for the day.

As Kairi prepared to walk home with Tidus, Naminé and Pence pulled them aside to have a quiet conversation. They settled in a booth towards the back and waited until all of their friends had left before they started talking.

“So let me get this straight,” Pence said, struggling to comprehend the information that had just been dumped on him. “You two have powers and are – how did you put it? Reincarnated magical Soldiers? And it's just now that these monsters are running around that you're remembering your past life.” He looked at Tidus. “So what about you? Do you have powers too?”

Tidus shook his head. “Nope. Totally normal person here. Kind of wish I did though.”

“No you don't,” Kairi and Naminé said in unison.

Tidus wanted to argue, but when he noticed their expressions he let it go and slumped back against the booth. He wasn't done talking though. “So what do we do now? These things are getting bolder to attack a school in daytime.”

“We'll probably have a meeting about it tomorrow,” Naminé said thoughtfully. “But in the meantime... maybe you and Kairi should go out to the island and do some training. No offense, Kairi, but you need it just as much as Tidus does.”

Kairi frowned and stared at the table, not wanting to admit that the other girl was right. She was useless during the attack that day with her inability to properly use her powers. If Selphie hadn't showed up right when she did, they may not have made it to the gym in time.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Pence asked.

Naminé smiled and nodded. “Of course. Roxas gave me an assignment I could use a little help with. It's just detective work, really. Nothing dangerous.”

“I could do that,” Pence agreed.

“Great! I have to go get a few things first, so maybe we can meet back here in about an hour?” Naminé asked.

Kairi slid out of the booth and gestured for Tidus to do the same. “You two have fun with that. The two of us will be training, since we're so useless.”

Hurt flickered in Naminé's eyes. “Kairi, I didn't-”

Kairi walked away without a backward glance.

“It'll be okay,” Tidus said reassuringly. “She just needs a little while to cool down, trust me. I do need to go catch up with her, so, uh, good luck with your detective work.” He smile at them unsurely and then slid out of the booth and ran to catch up with his best friend.

On the easternmost side of the island there was a docking field for airships. While it was nowhere near the largest or grandest of them on Cardinal, it was still a decent size and surprisingly busy at all hours of the day.

Reno Sinclair was no stranger to the docks, though it was rare that he was there waiting on a person rather than a package. He grumbled to himself as he impatiently stood outside of one of the ships, wishing he'd never made the call to his boss the evening before. Reno just knew that his quiet life was about to be disrupted in a massive way and he wasn't pleased about it.

He watched as a young woman with blonde hair exited the airship and rolled his eyes skyward. Seriously, his boss complained about him running late all the time? He'd been standing there for twenty minutes and the guy he was picking up still hadn't showed. Reno had half a mind to leave him stranded at the port to find his own way to the hotel. That would show him.

“Excuse me?”

Reno blinked. While he'd been lost in contemplation, the young woman had approached him. He looked her up and down, taking in her dark red, short-sleeved shirt with a white-and-blue sailor collar, her black pleated skirt, and simple black loafers. It was a school uniform. A very familiar school uniform. “Fuck,” he muttered with a low groan.

The girl rolled her eyes. “You must be Reno Sinclair. I'm Elena Hawkeye, here on the order of President Shinra.”

“Yeah, I figured that much,” Reno said. “What the hell is he thinking, sending a kid out here for this?”

Elena's brown eyes flashed in agitation. “I'm nineteen. And I've trained, just as you have. You'll find I'm more than capable of handling whatever is going on around here.”

Reno wanted nothing more than to argue and force her back onto the airship, but something in her voice stopped him. Or maybe it was the determined expression on her face. Either way, he sighed in aggravation and gestured towards the car waiting behind him. He'd just have to trust their boss.

Chapter Text

"Welcome to our secret headquarters!" Sora exclaimed, throwing open the door and stepping back to let his friends walk down first. He tried to hide his amusement at their expressions, but failed spectacularly.

"Um, Sora? That's just your basement," Selphie said.

Next to her, Irvine nodded in agreement. "And there's no one else down there. Selphie told me this was a group meeting."

"It is," Sora promised. "What I'm confused about is why Selphie invited you. Unless you're her Knight?"

"Knight?" Irvine repeated, furrowing his brow. "But Selphie's not a- oh! Right. Not that kind of knight. No, I'm a regular person. No powers, no magic. I've just known about Selphie since we were fifteen."

Selphie was the first to walk down the stairs, eagerly looking around the familiar room. "We'll have story time soon enough and I'll explain everything that I can. Now let me guess..." She paused dramatically, spinning around to look back up at Sora with a grin. "There's totally a secret room behind the bookcase, right?"

Sora laughed. "Well, where else would we put it?"

Pleased that her deduction was correct, Selphie cheered and ran over to investigate the books, trying to decide which one would open the secret room. Irvine watched her with a fond gaze.

Selphie poked and prodded at various books and trinkets until her eyes alighted on a book simply titled "The Silver Alliance". Humming, she pulled it forward until there was a loud clicking sound and the bookcase started to swing open. She stepped back in order to open it fully, and then waved at the assembled group on the other side. "Ta-da! No need to worry any more, I have arrived!"

"You're late!" Olette called out with a smile.

Selphie playfully stuck her tongue out and then hopped down the three steps into the cozy room. A computer system took up the entire far wall, displaying all kinds of readouts that Selphie didn't care to analyze at that moment. A large, round table was in the center of the room, leaving just enough space to squeeze in two old couches and a handful of colorful lawn chairs. Kairi, Tidus, and Riku were on the couch to the right, while Olette and Roxas were on the other. Namine had chosen a dull green chair near Kairi, while Cloud had substituted his lawn chair for a much more comfortable computer chair.

"Interesting décor," Selphie said teasingly. "What'd you do, spend all of your money on the bookshelf?"

"Ha ha, very funny," Sora said as he and Irvine stepped into the room.

Roxas rolled his eyes at their childish words. "We have more important things than interior decorating to discuss. Come sit down."

Pouting, Sora shuffled to the couch on the right and sat down next to Riku, who casually draped on arm over his boyfriend's shoulders. Selphie reached back to Irvine's hand and tugged him to the couch Olette and Roxas were sitting on.

Cloud turned away from the computer and looked over the group of teenagers. "Before we start, I want to make sure we're all on the same page." His gaze rested on Kairi and Tidus longer than the rest. "Our enemy is one we have faced before, in the final hours of Radiant Garden. We still don't know if they have built themselves back up to full power, but judging by these recent attacks, they're getting close. Fortunately, we're much better prepared this time, which means we have the advantage."

"Last time we were caught completely unaware by their attack. We didn't have time to strategize or call for help. This time we've been able to spend years planning. They won't catch us off guard again," Riku spoke up confidently. "Even better than that, our allies have started gathering here. The darkness staining this world draws their attention, even if they don't remember yet. We have several people working in secret to find our enemy's stronghold. We're getting closer."

"What concerns me is the matter of the prince, who Riku and Yuffie still haven't found," Olette said.

Kairi looked pained, but not surprised, by the news. Whether it was in regards to their missing prince or the friendly female Knight, Selphie wasn't sure. It could easily be both.

She remembered all too well the bond Kairi and Yuffie shared in the past, no matter how much the redhead tried to hide it. Selphie had been jealous of them then. Through all of their trials, Kairi had someone who would always stand by her side. She would have someone no matter how many times they were reincarnated.

However, she no longer felt that way.

Selphie smiled up at Irvine as he comfortingly squeezed her hand, bringing her back to the present. Maybe he wasn't a true Knight, but that didn't matter to her. She didn't need him to be.

"So far we've been biding our time," Cloud said. "We strike down our enemy when they are to show themselves, but so far our biggest goal had been to find our allies, new and old. There are now enough of us here that we can start to do more."

Selphie's heart sank. She felt Irvine tense next to her, knowing what she was about to tell them.

Something unreadable flickered in Riku's eyes as he took notice of their reaction. "Is something wrong, Selphie?"

The copper-haired girl took a deep breath, steadying her nerves as she prepared to speak. "We... we can't stay. This morning we received orders to return home."

Everything went still. Then a cacophony of noise broke out as their friends voiced their protests.

"What?!" / "But we just found you!" / "You can't leave!" / "Orders from who?"

Roxas stood and whistled for everyone's attention. Once he had it, he crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm sure Selphie has her reasons for leaving and I'd like to hear what they are. So if you all could be quiet for longer than a minute, I'm sure you'll start to understand just what sort of position she's in."

His words got grumbled agreement from the Soldiers and Tidus. He nodded to Selphie and then sat back down.

"I guess I should start at the beginning, huh?" Selphie mused. "Well, not the very beginning. Our days at the orphanage aren't really relevant to this... are they?" She looked to Irvine for help, but he just shrugged. She sighed and went on. "The only importance it has is that it's where we met. I'll start a little later than that... Oh! I was thirteen when I started to remember. I was at Trabia Garden by then. It's a, uh, mercenary school. One of three. Anyway-"

"Mercenary school?" Tidus interrupted incredulously.

"They were originally created to serve as a force that could stop any Sorceress who began to get out of control. But it's really not unlike any other military training school," Irvine explained. "There are three Gardens. Balamb is the biggest and most well-known. Selphie studied at Trabia and I attended Galbadia."

Selphie cleared her throat. "Like I was saying, I started to remember when I was thirteen. When I turned fourteen, I'd risen to the top of my class thanks to my recovered memories, and it was later that year when I heard about two others who'd done the same at Balamb. So I transferred. I'd have gone eventually for the SeeD exam, but I needed to know if I was right." She smiled. "I recognized Brave and Fire Cross immediately, of course. It helps that they're pretty unforgettable.

"We graduated together the next spring. By the time I turned fifteen, we'd noticed the darkness growing here on Cardinal and we'd devised a plan. Brave and Fire Cross couldn't go because of their roles at Balamb, but I could. The Gardens insisted I take a partner with me and that's where Irvy came in."

Irvine picked up where she left off. "It was purely by chance that we met again. She'd come to Galbadia on the insistence of my headmaster to meet a few people he thought she might choose. Instead she picked me, even though I wasn't anywhere near close to taking the exam. If it wasn't for the Commander and Headmaster Cid speaking up on my behalf, I wouldn't be here."

"But now our world has broken out in war," Selphie said, taking over once again. "A powerful Sorceress has risen and is trying to destroy everything we've accomplished. The Commander – Brave Soldier – let us stay for as long as he could, but the situation has grown too serious. We ship out on Friday."

Stunned silence blanketed the room. No one knew what to say after a bombshell like that.

Selphie leaned against Irvine for strength, wearily closing her eyes as tears began to gather. She knew the silence wouldn't last forever, and then she would have even more questions to answer. Questions she wasn't sure she could answer.

It was Cloud who broke the quiet first.

"Selphie, go do what you need to do. We won't hold you back."

Relief crashed over her. All she could do was sob her thanks as slumped against Irvine, relying on him to keep her upright.

It was dark by the time Kairi returned home, but both cars were missing from the driveway. While Reno's absence was nothing unusual, she did wonder for a moment where their parents had gone. Belatedly, she remembered they were attending a dinner party with some of her mother's colleagues on the mainland and most likely wouldn't return until the next afternoon.

Kairi yawned as she opened the front door and stepped inside. Her only desire was to drag herself up the stairs and crawl into bed. They hadn't done more than talk and brainstorm plans of attack all day, but it was proving just as exhausting as an evening of training.

She nearly missed the spectacle in the living room as she started up the first few steps. Then her brain caught up with her eyes and she stumbled back down them in time to witness Axel juggling three balls of fire with his bare hands. On the couch, Demyx was singing to a glass of water, making the liquid swirl up into the air.

Kairi miserably ran a hand through her hair, starting at her bangs. "Fuck."

Knights.

Heart had never heard of such a ridiculous idea. She and her fellow Soldiers could defend their worlds perfectly well! They didn't need help! She rarely wanted to dismiss what the Guardians had to tell her, but in that moment she wanted to declare them all liars and walk away.

On either side of her, Passion and Love looked intrigued by the idea. Wisdom was leaning forward, his eyes fixed on the bundles of paper in Sora's arms. Strength leaned back in her chair, her brown eyes bright as she tried to coax more information from Sora. Even Peace, normally similar in thought to her, was contemplating Sora's words.

"We've found a few of them already," Sora said, unaware of Heart's growing ire. "They were closer than we thought they'd be, but I guess it makes sense that they are. Knights tend to be drawn the most strongly to their partner, though it goes both ways." He flipped open the first packet of information. "We found Fire Cross years ago, but we thought he was just a strangely named Soldier. We should have known better..." Sora sighed and tossed the file onto the table.

Passion gasped, leaning forward for a closer look. "Seifer Almasy?  Seifer  is a Knight?"

"And Brave's partner," Sora said, amusement coloring his voice.

Passion giggled, finding the information funny for some reason. "Oh, I bet he  loves  that."

"Do all of us have partners?" Love asked.

Sora shook his head. "No, we don't think so. But three of us do." He hesitated and then set down the next two packets.

Heart went cold when she saw the faces of two people who were very dear to her. One had red hair much brighter than her own and mischievous green eyes. The other had sea-green eyes and tousled blond hair.

"Lea and Emyd..." she murmured, struggling to keep her fury from bursting free.

"Emyd is Melodious Nocturne, partner to Wisdom," Sora said. "And we think Lea is meant to be Roxas's, as odd as that sounds. He's Dancing Flames."

Peace's gaze briefly went to Heart before she voiced her question. "And the third?"

A fourth file joined the three on the table. A girl with short raven hair and warm brown eyes stared up at them alongside a list of information.

"Yuffie Kisaragi, the White Rose," Sora said, reluctantly meeting Heart's eyes. "She's your partner, Kairi."

End Chapter

Next chapter: What Friends are For

Chapter Text

It was something of a treat to see Cloud look so genuinely pleased by something. All-too-often their Soldier-Knight training sessions were little more than a disappointment to him, with half of the team unwilling to work with the other half. He was determined to get it to work, no matter how much certain individuals resisted.

Heart watched the match with an air of indifference, though even she had to admit that it was an impressive battle. Brave and Fire Cross moved in perfect tandem, seeming to always know exactly where the other was. When Brave drew back to charge up an attack, Fire Cross was there to defend him. When Fire Cross miscalculated a block, Brave was there to drive off the attacker.

"So cool," Passion murmured from beside her, watching the fight with awe clearly displayed on her face. She laughed a little. "I've known them for years and I still can't get over how great they are together. At least now I know that it's their bond that helps them do that. It's a bit reassuring knowing why Seifer's always been able to pinpoint exactly where Squall is. I was starting to think he had some weird Squall-sensing powers." She paused, looking contemplative. "Huh, I guess that's actually not far off."

"You said they trained together from the beginning, right?" Heart asked.

Passion nodded. "Well, yeah, but it wasn't really that long before I joined them. Even after all this time, I can't keep up with them when they get like this."

Fire Cross began an assault on Sora, but Riku was there in the blink of an eye, sliding his sword in the way and giving Sora a chance to recover. Brave took the opportunity to ice the ground beneath their feet and the two went down in a heap of tangled limbs. Fire Cross stepped away and tossed his head back as he laughed at the sight they made.

Heart rolled her eyes. "It wasn't that great of a move," she muttered.

Passion inhaled sharply like she wanted to say something, but stopped herself before she could say anything. She slowly breathed out, keeping her eyes on Fire Cross as he celebrated yet another victory.

"Peace!" Heart called to the white-suited Soldier standing over near Roxas and Love. "You and I can take them!"

Roxas frowned and looked to Cloud to see what he had to say about it, but the oldest Guardian nodded his approval.

Pleased, Heart strode into their makeshift arena and waited for Peace to join her. She and the other Soldier had trained together since they were little girls. If anyone could beat Brave and Fire Cross, she was confident that it was the two of them.

No, they  would  beat them. That would prove to everyone, once and for all, that there was no way White Rose was her partner. Heart didn't need some stranger in her life in order to be strong. She needed someone she could trust. Someone like Peace.

She never could have predicted just how wrong she was.

"I still can't believe they made us go back to class today," Tidus complained for what must have been the fiftieth time that day. "They haven't even cleared the mess near the gym yet! They just blocked it off with caution tape!"

Kairi couldn't bring herself to be annoyed by his whining anymore. It'd been a long, sleepless night and an even longer morning as her thoughts intensified her worries. Finally noticing the toll the situation on Centra was taking on Selphie and Irvine didn't help either.

Tidus went quiet after a heavy sigh, but stayed by her side as they left the schoolyard and headed towards home.

Originally, they'd all planned to meet back up at their headquarters once school let out. Apparently they hadn't done enough sitting around and talking about possible locations the enemy was hiding and where they might show up next, so they had to have yet another discussion. Since half of their group had things to do and wouldn't be able to meet up until later in the evening, Kairi and Tidus figured they could squeeze in a little training beforehand.

"You don't have to do this, you know," Kairi said suddenly.

Tidus blinked in confusion as he looked over at her. "I don't have to do what? Train with you? Because that's just as much for me as it is for you. I think I've just about figured out how to do this cool flippy move without braining myself with my sword!"

"That's not what I mean!" Kairi exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing his arm, yanking him to a stop. "Tidus, you're not a Soldier or a Knight. You don't have powers or accelerated healing or any other special abilities. You're normal."

"Yeah, but so is Irvine, and I don't see you telling him to stay out of it," Tidus replied with a frown.

Kairi let go of his arm and turned away from him. "He has training."

Tidus crossed his arms over his chest. "Pretty sure that's why I've spent what free time I have running around on the island with a wooden sword. And I know – I know – it isn't the same," he lowered his voice as he took Kairi by the shoulders and forced her to face him. "I know I could get hurt. I know that I'll be lucky if I can even get a single hit on one of those things. That's not the point."

"I don't want you to get hurt. I couldn't bear it," Kairi quietly admitted.

"I don't want to see you get hurt either," Tidus responded. "But more than that, I don't want it to be because you're worried about protecting me. Kairi, I'm not asking to be part of the big final battle. I'm not even asking to fight all of the little ones now. These things – these Nobodies – they attack indiscriminately. If I can do something to protect myself and the people around me, even if it isn't much, I'm going to do it. Like I said before: you're my best friend and I won't let you go through this alone."

Someone near them began clapping. Startled, Tidus released Kairi and stepped back. Both of them looked to the side where Sora and Riku were standing.

Sora smiled at them. "Good to see someone is interested in training. Getting Olette to do it is like pulling teeth most days. I don't envy Roxas one bit."

Kairi frowned. "Riku, why are you here? I thought you had class."

"It's a review day," he replied. "I figured this was a little more important than going over stuff I already know." He looked at Tidus, who turned his eyes to the ground and shuffled his feet, uncomfortable with the attention. Riku chuckled. "Relax. I'm not here to talk you out of fighting with us."

Tidus jerked his head up and stared at Riku. "You aren't?"

Riku shook his head. "Sora and I know a thing or two about fighting without powers. We figured you could... benefit from our expertise."

"Yeah, if that's what you want to call it," Sora teased. "Olette had never picked up a sword before and she disarmed you in five minutes."

"And I told you, I let it happen on purpose so she could see what it was like," Riku said in a tone that suggested it wasn't the first time they'd had the argument. "I was teaching her the proper technique."

"Uh huh. Sure."

Their banter succeeded in getting a smile and a tiny giggle from Kairi. Tidus made sure she couldn't see him move as he gave the pair a thumbs up.

Riku chose to ignore Sora and instead focused on Tidus. "If you're really serious about this, then you're going to need more than just a wooden sword. Luckily for you, we've assembled an arsenal over the years, just in case anyone wants to branch out from their usual weapons."

"Or for any new Soldier or Knight we find," Sora inserted. "It's how we used to figure out compatible weapons, so Cloud made sure we have a good selection. It's nothing like what we had on Radiant Garden, but at least it's something."

"Wait, you're serious? You're really going to give me a weapon? A real weapon?" Tidus asked giddily.

"You're just borrowing one for now," Riku said. "You'll have to prove yourself to Cloud before it's yours to keep."

Tidus victoriously pumped a fist in the air. "This is awesome! Can we do it now? What kinds of swords do you have?"

"Loads," Sora replied. "Name a type and I'm pretty sure we've got it. Cloud's a bit, um, obsessive about it."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Grinning, Tidus took Kairi's hand and got her to run with him down the sidewalk, laughing all the while.

Sora and Riku exchanged amused looks before chasing after them. The two shouted apologies to everyone they passed whenever Kairi couldn't. At least for a moment, things felt like they were back to how they used to be.

"Hit me," Yuffie demanded, gazing determinedly at Tifa.

The older woman audibly sighed as she set aside her wash rag. "Yuffie, I don't think you know how to play this game. You don't want to go over twenty-one."

The blond next to her leaned away from the counter, confidently displaying his two cards which also added up to twenty. A long, gold colored tail swayed behind him. "Go ahead and give her another, since she's so eager to lose to me."

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him.

Tifa could only roll her eyes at their childish antics and dutifully flip over the next card. By some miracle, Yuffie won that round, which resulted in a great amount of loud cheering from the Wutaian and an overly dramatic display from the boy, which resulted in him toppling backwards from his barstool.

Yuffie's laughter followed Tifa as she gave up on getting them to act like mature adults and left to take care of a few things in the back.

Kairi sat on the couch with Roxas and watched Tidus marvel over the room of weapon's in the Strife's basement. (And seriously, just how much space did they have down there?) Riku was right there with Tidus, explaining the different types and the most popular fighting style for each one.

Roxas cleared his throat to draw her attention away from them. "So Selphie and Pence are giving their project tomorrow before she and Pence leave. She said they talked to Mrs. Johnson about it today and got the go-ahead." He paused briefly. "It got me thinking about our own project. Obviously, we have a good start from what we've done in class, but there's only so much we can do there. We'll have to make some time for it soon."

Kairi nodded. "The sooner the better, right? What if we use this weekend to work through as much of it as we can?"

"Yeah, sounds good. We can work on it here, since we have all of the reference materials we could possibly need," Roxas said. "How about noon?"

Kairi agreed and turned her attention back to Tidus in time to see him pick a weapon from the wall. The sharpened edge of the hooked blade gleamed in the light, making it stand out even more from the deep red of the broad side. He briefly fumbled with the weight and then got a handle of it and lifted it for a better look. Riku nodded in approval.

Roxas made a curious sound next to her, his eyes on the unusual blade. "Interesting choice..."

"What is it?" Kairi quietly asked.

"A longsword," Roxas replied, also keeping his voice down. "An appropriate choice for him, I think. That's not what's interesting though."

Kairi waited for him to tell her on his own. Whatever it was, he seemed to be torn between amusement and wonder.

"That particular sword was forged on Spira," he finally told her.

A shiver ran down Kairi's spine. There was no doubt that had Tidus known there was a Spiran-made weapon in that room, he would have gone for it immediately and never considered another. Judging by the way he was taking a few experimental swipes between looking at the other swords, he had no idea where his chosen weapon was made.

"It's probably just a coincidence," Roxas said as he got up from the couch. "I'm going to go check on Sora. It should not take fifteen minutes to order pizza."

"Well, this is Sora we're talking about," Kairi said with a laugh, also standing. "Want me to go with you?"

Roxas shook his head. "I can handle it. Actually, why don't you go over with Riku and Tidus and see if there's any weapon you're drawn to."

Kairi looked confused. "But I already know what mine is. It's my energy ribbon, remember?"

"Olette mentioned you were having some trouble summoning it during battle, which got me thinking that you're no longer as compatible with it," Roxas said, not unkindly. "You'll be able to use it, but it takes more concentration than what you can afford. So, go over there," (he pointed to the weapon room) "and see if there's anything that calls to you. If there isn't, then we'll keep working with you on your ribbon until you can call it up with ease."

Kairi had to admit he had a point. Before she could tell him so, a loud THUD reverberated through the ceiling and everyone looked up.

Roxas grumbled as he slowly made his way towards the stairs. "I've got this. You get over there."

She almost ignored him. Whatever was going on upstairs sounded a bit more manageable than looking at a bunch of dangerous weapons and trying to find one that "spoke" to her. Still, the fact was she'd only been able to use her ribbon after meditating with Sora for what felt like hours, and since then she hadn't been able to get more than a whisper of it to form.

With a sigh, Kairi walked over and joined Tidus and Riku in the weapons room. Riku said nothing about her sudden interest. Roxas had probably already talked to him about it.

"Kairi, check it out!" Tidus happily exclaimed, waving his new sword around. "Pretty cool, right?"

"It suits you," she replied, earning herself a sharp look from Riku. She charged ahead anyway. There was no way she was keeping secrets from her best friend. "Roxas told me it's a Spiran blade."

Tidus looked gobsmacked, his mouth going slack as he stared at his sword with reverence. "You serious...? I just thought it looked cool. I never imagined..." He ran one hand over the broad side, marveling over the smooth metal. "Spiran. Wow. Then that settles it. I want to train with this sword."

Riku crossed his arms over his chest. "You shouldn't pick it based on where it's from."

"Relax, Riku. It looked to me like he'd made his choice before he knew," Kairi said, deliberately avoiding the sword wall to look over the assortment of other types of weapons. From the giant mace to the throwing stars of different sizes to brightly colored whips, they certainly had a wide variety to choose from.

Even then, nothing stood out to her.

Kairi moved onto the sword wall once she was sure she'd gotten a good look at the other weapons available. Most of them were massive. She doubted she would ever be able to wield anything that was the same size of her body, so she ignored those. She took a katana from the wall, but it didn't feel right in her hand, so she put it back. Kairi repeated the process with a short sword and then a pair of daggers before giving up.

"It's not always an immediate connection," Riku said reassuringly. "We'll keep looking. Maybe I've got something in storage at home that you'll like."

"Wait, you're telling me that this isn't even all of it?" Tidus asked, waving his hand to indicate everything in the room. Another thought occurred to him and he frowned thoughtfully. "Don't you have an older brother? What does he think ab-"

"It doesn't matter," Riku interrupted. "He's never home. Anyway, I'll start sorting through my collection this weekend. It's a mess right now. I'll let you know when I find something you might like."

There were several things Kairi wanted to ask about, but she got the feeling it was nothing Riku felt like answering or talking about. The subject of his family had always been something of taboo and after meeting his three cousins, she could almost understand why.

A second loud THUD over their heads caught their attention.

"What the hell is going on up there?" Riku muttered, staring at the ceiling with an incredulous expression.

"Only one way to find out," Kairi said, already heading for the stairs. Riku followed after her a split second later.

Tidus reluctantly put away his chosen longsword and gave it one final affectionate pat before running after his friends.

Chapter Text

A gentle breeze ruffled Kairi's hair as she walked through the Outer Garden of her home planet. All of the plants were in full bloom, displaying their vivid colors. She smiled and knelt down at a bed of red tulips, reaching out to brush her fingers against the soft, smooth petals.

In the back of her mind, a small voice whispered that something wasn't right. Nothing was  wrong , but there was something off about the whole thing.

Kairi looked up and watched in a trance-like state as fog began to creep in and blanket the gardens. She could no longer see the castle walls or gates. The fog was so thick around her that it felt more like she was on a floating island of flowers.

She blinked as suddenly the large, central fountain was no longer anywhere to be seen.

Kairi stood up, suddenly worried. "Hello?" She asked.

The wind kicked up.

Something whispered her name.

Kairi awoke with a start, sitting up in bed and raising a hand to rest over her fast beating heart. She took a moment to breathe and calm herself down, all the while wondering why she was having such a strong reaction to her dream.

Once she got her breathing under control, she looked to her alarm clock to check the time. Upon seeing she still had over an hour before she needed to get up, she groaned miserably and flopped back down against her pillow. Kairi tightly shut her eyes and prayed she would be able to get back to sleep. She would need all of her strength to get through the day.

It took some time, but eventually she did.

The presentation given by Pence and Selphie in class had been a thing of beauty, filled with pictures and various facts about Centra. Naturally, the largest portion of their project was dedicated to the continent of Trabia, which was Selphie's home. It had been nice to see Selphie so passionate about something again.

It felt like a normal day. Everyone was trying to hard to mask their sadness.

But then classes ended for the day and all too soon the group of friends found themselves on the eastern coast of the island to see off Irvine and Selphie as they left to go back to Centra.

Kairi had never had a reason to go to the airfield before, which meant she hadn't had the chance to see an airship up close in her new life. They were quite different from the ones from her past. While they were larger, they were also less bulky, and the seams were not visible from where she stood on the ground.

"Well, this is it," Selphie said, gazing up at the maroon and gold airship that was bound for Centra. She reached out and slid her hand into Irvine's, lacing their fingers together. "Our ride home."

The tall brunet nodded, adjusting his cowboy hat with his free hand.

Kairi looked around at her friends, taking in all of the people who had gathered to see the two off. Naminé, Olette, Roxas, Sora, Riku, and Tidus were there, of course, but Hayner and Pence had also tagged along. Wakka had wished them safe travel at the school, unable to get away due to Blitzball practice. (He had basically shoved Tidus after them, saying he would cover for him just that once.)

Hayner awkwardly cleared his throat and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Well, have a safe trip."

Selphie turned to look at them, letting go of Irvine's hand to do so. Unshed tears glittered in her eyes. "Thank you. All of you," she said, drawing a shaky breath. "We'll- we'll be back before you know it! Promise!" She met Kairi's eyes and had to immediately look away, unable to stomach the sadness she saw there.

Kairi stepped away from Tidus's side to run up and give Selphie a tight, lingering hug. "You two stay safe. I mean it," she said, her voice tight.

"We will," Selphie replied, pulling away. She smiled even as her tears began to fall. "And when we come back, we'll have Squall and Seifer with us. Then we can get the mess here sorted out too."

Kairi smiled back at her and then moved on to Irvine, who was greatly surprised when the redhead gave him a hug as well. "Take care of her," she whispered.

"I promise," Irvine replied, just as quietly.

Olette was next to run over and give her goodbyes. Then Sora broke down, separating himself from Riku to make a spectacle of himself, which successfully lightened the atmosphere and got some laughter.

One-by-one, everyone bid them goodbye in their own way, until the two could no longer put off their departure. Together, they walked onto the airship. Together they turned back to wave at the friends as the ramp door closed. Together they left for home.

Kairi stayed until the airship rose up and up into the cloudless sky and then began moving out over the ocean, picking up speed until it was finally out of sight. She wasn't aware that everyone else had left until Sora tapped her on the shoulder.

"Wanna get ice cream?" he asked.

Kairi stared at him in surprise for a moment and then a tiny giggle bubbled up at the earnest expression on his face. Somehow he always knew exactly what she needed.

There was some sort of birthday party happening at Frozen, so rather than sit in the noisy, crowded shop and watch a despairing Kristoff try to handle the situation on his own, the two took their treats to-go and were soon wandering around the outdoor shopping center.

"Axel and Demyx have started using their powers," Kairi mentioned. "I don't think they remember yet. Demyx would've said something to me if he had."

"Maybe. But he doesn't know that you know, so maybe that's why he hasn't," Sora pointed out, not at all surprised by the information.

Kairi rolled her eyes. "You give him too much credit. Demyx doesn't have that much tact and neither does Axel." She paused to sigh heavily. "I'm just glad they haven't done it around anyone else. I can't imagine trying to explain any of this to mom and dad. Reno either, for that matter."

Sora appeared troubled. "Yeah... We should talk to them. Tell them how dangerous it is to use their powers so freely. I bet if Roxas is with us, then Axel would take it seriously." He pulled out his phone from his pocket and began typing out a message, careful not to get ice cream all over the device. "You think they're at your house right now?"

"If they aren't, then they will be by dinner," Kairi responded. "Isn't tonight movie night? Would Roxas be able to get away?"

Sora's thumb hovered over the send key. "Probably not... but he should know what's happening. I just wish you'd told one of us sooner," he said, revising his original message before sending it off.

"I didn't find out until last night, and there wasn't a good time to tell you earlier," Kairi said. "What do we do now?"

"Step one: talk to them and see what they remember," Sora said, putting his phone away. "Step two: take them to Cloud, whether they remember or not. He can handle things from there." He grinned suddenly. "This means we've only got to worry about finding Strength and the Prince!"

Kairi nodded and fell quiet as she focused on eating her ice cream before it melted all over her hand. She took the time to think about her team, quickly making comparisons to the past. As it usually did, thinking of Radiant Garden reminded her of her dreams and she briefly thought of mentioning how unusual her most recent one had been, but quickly dismissed the idea. There was something else she wanted to know.

"Yuffie's known this whole time, hasn't she?"

"Yeah," Sora replied with a nod. "For about a year now. We asked her not to seek you out because we were worried she might slip up and mention something about the past before you were ready. And, well, you didn't really get along with her before."

"That's one thing I haven't understood," Kairi said. "She seems so nice. Why didn't I like her then?"

Sora shrugged. "I dunno. You never told me. Roxas had a theory, though I don't remember what it was. You should ask him about it. Speaking of whom..." He removed his buzzing phone from his pocket and held it up so she could see the caller ID. Motioning for her to stop walking, he stepped away to try and answer his irate twin's questioning without getting his ear drums blown out.

While Sora was preoccupied, a whistling blond walked up next to Kairi and offered her a playful grin. Kairi's eyes went wide as she realized who he was. Even in shorts and a light-colored t-shirt, there was no mistaking Wild Thief. (To be fair, the tail was a dead giveaway.)

"Zidane?" Kairi asked cautiously, hoping she was remembering right.

Sora glanced over and gave the Knight a tiny wave before sighing loudly and saying: "Yes, Roxas. I'm listening."

Zidane looked delighted. "You really do remember! Here I thought Yuffie was setting me up to get lectured again. You know, for someone who really doesn't like talking all that much, Cloud's lectures go on forever."

Kairi giggled. She'd heard all about Cloud's lectures from Sora and Roxas since they were little kids. It didn't surprise her in the least that he did the same to the more trouble-making young Knights. "It's good to see you, Zidane. Where is Yuffie? I haven't seen her around for a while."

"Probably running across rooftops to prove her elite status as some crazy parkour ninja or something," Zidane said. "I'll let her know you asked when I see her later." He took a moment the look her up and down and then nodded to himself. "You really have changed."

Before Kairi could ask what he meant, Sora loudly told Roxas that he would "take care of it, stop worrying so much!" Zidane patted her on the shoulder and then took off without another word.

Sora rolled his eyes and ended the call. "Really, you'd think I was five years old, the way he goes on. C'mon, lets go get Axel and Demyx before Cloud starts calling me too. Ugh, I can hear him already. It's not like I'm around either of them enough to notice! Roxas is the one dating Axel! He should have been the one to notice!"

He continued to complain about his brothers all the way to Kairi's house.

Both of Kairi's brothers were home when she arrived. Sora went straight to the living room, where Axel and Demyx were hogging the couch as Axel schooled his friend in the fine art of Mortal Combat. Reno was walking down the stairs, chatting with a pretty girl who wore her long blonde hair in ponytails.

"New friend?" Kairi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"This is Elena. We work together," Reno quickly introduced. "Elena, this is my sister, Kairi."

Kairi smiled at the girl, wondering why she seemed so familiar. She was sure she'd never seen her around the garage before. Though that was easily explainable, as there were few people willing to put up with the antics of both Sinclair boys on top of Cid Highwind and his foul mouth.

There was loud cursing from the living room and seconds later Sora came back through the room, ushering Axel and Demyx to the front door.

"I'll have them back for dinner," Sora promised, reaching out and grabbing Kairi by the arm to pull her along as well. He payed no attention to Elena.

"You can keep them!" Reno shouted as the door closed behind them.

Sora laughed in response.

Chapter Text

If Selphie thought the hidden city of Esthar was beautiful from the sky, it was nothing compared to walking through the streets and staring up at the tall buildings. She could feel the cities technology buzzing beneath her feet and vibrating in the air. It was an amazing feeling. One she never thought she'd get to experience again.

She felt like she was home again.

She wanted to look at everything. She wanted to get her hands on whatever piece of technology she could and take it apart to see how it worked. Selphie knew that if Irvine wasn't holding her hand, she would have become lost in the city the moment they touched down.

"What I don't get, is why the Commander is here and not at Balamb," Irvine said, just loudly enough for their guide to hear. He didn't get a response from the man, but that didn't surprise either of them. Their guide hadn't said a word to them when he'd picked them up at the airship docks, instead handing them an envelope containing a note from the President of Esthar, who welcomed them with open arms.

At the same time, their Commander sent a message through on Selphie's tablet, saying their guide was Ward Zabac and that he would bring them to where he was staying in the presidential building. It was a long walk, punctuated by Selphie's excited squeals whenever she saw something particularly interesting. At last, Ward brought them to a door labeled "Conference Room B" and let them inside.

Sitting at the head of a long table was Squall Leonhart, dressed in his stiff SeeD uniform and looking the picture of authority. Next to him, Seifer Almasy looked extremely uncomfortable in his own uniform, even with his jacket off and tie undone. The pair looked up from the papers they were reviewing when Selphie and Irvine entered the room and Seifer grinned broadly.

"Well look who it is! It's about damn time you two got here!" Seifer said, rising from his chair to properly greet them. Selphie received a big hug while Irvine got a simple pat on the back.

Squall was less exuberant with his greeting. "It's good to see you. Have a seat while we wait for the others to arrive."

"Others?" Selphie asked. "There are other Soldiers and Knights here?"

"Just one. And she follows Squall around like a lost little puppy," Seifer said jokingly.

The door slid open and a young, dark-haired woman stepped inside, her lips quirked up in a playful smirk. "Are you sure it's me you're talking about and not yourself?"

Seifer rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Rinoa. Where's Loire and the rest of the peanut gallery? You were supposed to be bringing them with you."

"Laguna's on his way. Ward and Kiros needed to talk to him about something. Not that Ward actually – oh, you know what I mean! I haven't heard from Zell and Quistis since you sent them back to Balamb to check in on everyone. They may have hit some trouble on the road and it slowed them down, but I'm sure they'll return soon," Rinoa said before turning to Selphie and Irvine with a smile. "Hello! I'm Rinoa Heartilly, Faith Soldier. It's nice to finally meet you both."

Selphie happily introduced herself and Irvine as they all sat down to wait. She fixed Squall with a cross look. "So when she says Zell and Quistis...?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to tell me why our childhood friends are involved in this mess?" Selphie asked.

"They're SeeD," Seifer spoke up. "Hell if I know how chickadee made it."

Selphie leaned forward, fixing the tall blond with a teasing look. "Sometimes I wonder the same about you. Now, stop picking on Zell or I'll tell matron!"

Seifer and Irvine chuckled. Squall cracked a smile. Rinoa watched them, puzzled.

Realizing she had no idea what was going on, Irvine redirected the conversation so Rinoa could be involved. "Who's this 'Loire' person you mentioned?"

It was Seifer who answered, casually tipping his chair back and balancing it on two legs. "Laguna Loire is the president of Esthar. He's been helping us out."

Selphie had heard the name before, but never in connection with Esthar. She glanced over at Squall, taking in the tension of his shoulders and the deepening frown on his face. "This... this is a good thing, right? I mean, obviously it's not ideal but-"

"Selphie," Squall interrupted. "Not now."

She pressed her lips tightly together. As much as she wanted to press on, it would only make Squall clam up worse than usual. Besides, neither Irvine nor Rinoa looked as though they understood the connection between their fearless leader and the president, and it would probably be best to keep them in the dark for the moment.

After several long minutes, during which Rinoa did her best to bring some cheer back to the room, the door finally opened again and admitted a man who was so far removed from how Selphie had pictured the president. More than that, he was the furthest thing from how she'd always imagined Squall's father.

Squall's mother was a woman named Raine Loire, from whom he'd gotten much of his looks and quiet nature. She'd been around to raise Squall in their past lives, but his father had died soon after he was born. Squall had never forgiven him for leaving his mother alone and had chosen to take her maiden name as his own when he got older. It seemed to be the opposite situation in their current lives, as Raine had passed away when he was a baby. If only it hadn't taken eighteen years for Squall and Laguna to meet.

As different as he turned out to be, Selphie found herself immediately liking Laguna, with his genuine smile and relaxed posture.

Squall cleared his throat. "If we could get started on the reason why we're all here..."

Seifer leaned forward, setting his chair back down on all four legs. "You two've missed most of the 'fun' shit. Matron was possessed by this sorceress who, by the way, is from the fucking future using this idiot scientists machine – I'll get to him later – and she's been trying to find Ellone. Yeah, our Ellone. Except possessing matron didn't get her what she wanted, so she switched to Rinoa. Now she's sunk her ridiculously creepy claws into the last sorceress who tormented Centra because that asshole scientist decided the best way to deal with it was to put her in cryogenic sleep and shoot her into space."

Laguna looked uncomfortable. "We didn't know what else to do! Doctor Odine was the only one to come up with something that would stop her and prevent her powers from jumping to someone else."

"Yeah. Great. Except now we have this stupidly overpowered sorceress fucking with time and trying to kill us!" Seifer exclaimed.

"Doctor Odine – "

"Is a moron," Seifer cut in scathingly. "And fucking insane."

"Seifer," Squall said quietly.

Clearly irritated, the blond listened to his partner and shut his mouth.

Laguna tried to recover, explaining the events of the past that led to sealing Adel and stumbling over Doctor Odine's current ideas for stopping Ultimecia before it was too late.

Rinoa carefully leaned closer to Irvine and Selphie, gesturing for them to do the same. Quietly, she began to explain what had happened upon their arrival in Esthar. "I was unconscious at the time, but Zell told me that first Odine tried to seal me in one of those pods and send me into space. Seifer wouldn't let him. Then Odine overheard someone talking about how Seifer is Squall's Knight and kind of drew some... ah, strange conclusions about that."

"And he's still living?" Selphie quietly asked, raising an eyebrow.

"For now," Rinoa replied, sounding amused.

Irvine cleared his throat and the girls realized that the others had fallen silent and had heard the last part of their conversation. Rinoa sheepishly returned to a normal sitting position, but Selphie sat up straight and met Squall's eyes.

"We have our own plan, right?" she asked.

Squall graced her with a rare smile. "We do."

Chapter Text

Kairi found herself back in the garden, surrounded by a sea of heavy fog, which was beginning to strip the flowers and pathways of color. Overhead, dark clouds swirled and churned ominously. The wind picked up, no longer playful, yanking at her hair and clothing.

"Hello?" Kairi called out, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Is anyone there? Sora? Riku?"

"Kairi..."

She whirled around. "Is someone there?"

"It is time..."

Kairi continued to turn, trying to find the source of the voice. "Who are you? Show yourself!"

A terrible gust of wind slammed into her, knocking her head over heels and jarring her from the dream world.

Kairi was curled up on her couch, watching re-runs of Gilligans Island and munching on Doritos, when Demyx and Axel sat down with her. She grumpily eyed the two of them, not pleased with their interruption.

"You can't have the remote," she told them. "Roxas bailed on me, Tidus is training with Cloud, and everyone else is busy, so I'm just going to sit here and watch TV all day. Nothing else."

"I think you should sit here and talk with us," Demyx said, plucking the remote from her hand. He turned down the volume and then passed it to Axel for safekeeping. "Cloud mentioned that you don't remember everything yet, so I thought talking to us could help you!"

Kairi raised an eyebrow. "Strange, since you don't remember everything either. Or has that changed in twelve hours?"

"Well... no, but Axel remembers!" Demyx exclaimed. "And I mostly know stuff, some of it's just a little, um... you know that feeling when you're underwater and your ears get all weird and you can't really hear or see clearly? It's like that."

"He doesn't remember anything about the prince," Axel said, sounding amused.

Demyx frowned. "You all keep saying that, like it's some great big deal that I can't remember some prince from hundreds of years ago! I mean, I'm sure he was important to us and stuff, but that was before. Besides, I remember everyone important! Like you, Kairi, and Roxas, Sora, Cloud, and Riku. Oh, and Selphie, Olette, and Naminé." He paused, thinking hard. "There was another girl with you, right? And that guy..."

"Strength and Wisdom," Kairi told him.

"Wisdom..." Demyx murmured, his eye glossing over.

Axel rolled his eyes and stood up. "And here's where I leave you. Good luck getting anything sensible from him for the next hour."

"Where are you going?" Kairi asked.

"The Garage," Axel replied. "Cid called me in a while ago, but I was kind of putting it off since, y'know, day off. But Reno never showed so now I need to go fill in his spot. Hey, if you see him, tell him he's an asshole and he owes me."

Kairi held out her hand for the remote. "Fine. Just hand it over."

Axel took pity on his sister and gave her back the remote before leaving her alone with his best friend. Kairi sighed and turned the volume back up so she could hear what sort of trouble Gilligan had gotten himself into, while Demyx tried to sort out the thoughts in his head.

Ten minutes passed before the blond spoke again.

"Kairi?"

"Hmm?"

"The prince... he was Wisdom Soldier, right?" Demyx waited until she nodded before continuing. "What was he like? I think I remember, but... I just need to be sure."

Kairi muted the TV so she could give Demyx her full attention. "He was nice. A little quiet if he didn't know you very well, but once he did it was hard to get him to stop. I don't think there was ever a subject he didn't know something about."

"Yeah, I know that," Demyx said impatiently. "What did he look like? I can almost picture... but that can't be right. He can't be..." He looked to Kairi, worry in his eyes. "His hair isn't blue, is it?"

"More of a grayish-blue," Kairi replied.

Demyx closed his eyes, letting a memory wash over him. "Ienzo..."

"Lea!" Emyd shouted, sliding on skinned knees into the shallow trench his friend was holed up in. He swallowed thickly, taking in the number of injuries Lea had before his gaze slid to the unconscious blond resting against him. There was an alarming gash dripping blood down the side of his head. "Oh no..."

Lea cracked open his green eyes, wincing when he bumped his shoulder wrong. "M'alright. Think my arm's dislocated though. Anyone else still out there?"

Emyd shook his head, trying not to cry. "I can't find anyone. I thought I saw Riku but... it didn't look good. I don't know what to do, Lea."

Lea leaned his head back against what was once part of the courtyard and closed his eyes again. "Ienzo went to scope things out too. He should be back soon. Betcha he'll have an idea."

His words didn't put Emyd at ease in the least. The blond looked uneasily at Roxas, who didn't appear to be moving. "Is Roxas...?"

"Still breathing," Lea murmured.

A shower of stone and dirt announced Ienzo's return. The prince looked just as battered as they did, if not worse, without his Soldier abilities working to continuously heal his wounds. His uniform was shredded and bloodied and it'd been hours since he shed his cape. There was a fresh set of scratches across his left cheek, which were deep enough they would scar if they had time to heal.

"Did you find anyone?" Emyd asked, despite already knowing the answer.

Ienzo shook his head. "The others are gone. We're the only ones left."

"Shit," Lea muttered. "Some last defense we make."

Ienzo was quiet as he carefully maneuvered himself into a sitting position in the damp dirt. He shook his head when Emyd approached with a wet cloth, clearing reading the man's intentions to clean his wounds. "It doesn't matter now. My mother is initiating a Rebirth."

Emyd went still, his eyes widening in shock.

Lea opened his eyes to stare at Ienzo, puzzled. "The fuck's that?" he slurred.

"She'll use the last of her power to seal the enemy away and ensure that the rest of us will be reborn when we're needed," Ienzo said.

"So we're giving up," Lea said.

"We've lost," Ienzo said. "There's nothing else we can do. At least this way we'll have a chance to make sure this never happens again. We'll be prepared."

"We'll be different people," Lea remarked.

Ienzo sighed tiredly. "Yes, that's typically how reincarnation works. Though, I believe our names will be the same. It's how we'll be able to find each other again, aside from our natural bonds."

Lea didn't speak for a long moment. "Not me."

Emyd frowned. "Lea, what are you-"

"Lea is a failure. Lea couldn't protect his home, his family," he said, looking down at Roxas. He gently stroked the man's blond hair. "I won't be him again."

"Then who will you be?" Ienzo asked gently.

"Axel."

Ienzo studied Lea for a moment and then nodded, understanding. "Very well. Then I shall be known as 'Zexion'."

Emyd took a moment to put together how they came up with those names and then grinned triumphantly. "Demyx! That'll be my new name."

"Cloud will not like this," Ienzo said with a humorless chuckle.

"He can deal," Lea replied as his eyes slid shut for a final time. "I might... I might take a nap. Wake me when this is over."

Emyd worriedly looked at his friend. "Okay..."

"Zexion. It's Zexion!" Demyx gasped, jumping off the couch. He began to pace in front of the TV, only slightly aware of Kairi's surprised expression. "I remember now! The three of us met up at the end and decided–! Well, that's not important. What is important is I know who the prince is and where to find him!"

Any notion of continuing to lay on the couch all day flew straight out the window. Kairi was on her feet in an instant, her desire to have her team back together outweighing her laziness. She turned off the TV and tossed the remote onto the couch. "What are we waiting for? Lets go find him!"

Delighted, Demyx grabbed her hand and pulled her from the house, pausing just long enough that they could both put their shoes on. Kairi was thankful she had the foresight to put on pink shorts and a tank top instead of laying around in pajamas.

"We'll take my van," Demyx said, gesturing to the faded blue minivan parked in the driveway. "This way we'll be able to get around quickly and check all of the places he could be. I figure we'll start at the library and then walk around downtown for a while and ask around to see if anyone's seen him. If not... I guess there's also the area around East Destiny. He might live near there."

"He's still not answering your calls?" Kairi asked as she walked to the passenger's side.

Demyx shook his head, sadness visibly overtaking his joy. "I send him a message or two every day. Just silly things. He hasn't told me to leave him alone or anything... You knew Ienzo. Zexion's basically the same. He'd let me know if I was annoying him." He opened the drivers-side door and slid into the seat. While Kairi got into the passenger's seat, he started up the van to give it a few seconds to warm up.

Once they were both buckled in, he began the short drive into town. Soon enough, Demyx was talking again, rambling about all of the different places they might find Zexion. Kairi input a few ideas of her own, reminding him that Ienzo had been fond of visiting coffee shops on their days off.

Demyx was smiling again when he parked behind the library.

While Kairi quickly searched both floors of the building for anyone who even slightly resembled the prince, Demyx made his way to the checkout counter to ask his favorite librarian if she'd seen his friend.

"Sorry, Demyx," Belle apologized. "I haven't seen anyone like that come in today."

Disappointed, Demyx thanked her and then set off to find Kairi so they could go try their luck at various other shops.

First was Tower Bakery, where Rapunzel easily talked both of them into buying a muffin. She wished them luck in their search and they went on their way. Then there was Paopu Punch, where Demyx was unable to resist a strawberry-banana smoothie.

"Are you going to buy something at every place we go?" Kairi asked as they left Starlight Cafe.

Demyx broke his cookie in half and handed one of the pieces to Kairi. "It would've been rude not to after Jasmine was so nice! Besides, it was a good deal!"

"And now you have two drinks," Kairi pointed out. "You don't even like coffee."

"But Zexion does! So when we find him, I can give it to him," Demyx said, sounding proud of his logic. "Where to next? I think I heard of a new bookstore over on fifth that we could check, but if you know of anywhere else we could go first, let me know!"

Kairi was about to agree when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see who it was and smiled whens he saw Zidane standing behind her along with a very familiar raven-haired girl.

"Are we looking for Ienzo today?" Zidane asked, getting Demyx's attention.

Demyx turned around, his eyes lighting up when he saw the two of them. "Yuffie! Zidane! What are you doing here?"

"We heard you finally remember and figured the first thing you'd wanna do is find Ienzo," Yuffie cheerfully replied. "We're here to lend a hand, though you probably don't need it."

"Maybe," Demyx said uncertainly. "I know who he is, I just don't know where he is. I could try and catch him after class, but..."

Yuffie didn't look too surprised by the news that it was someone who went to East Destiny Community College with them. She'd suspected as much for some time and it was almost a relief to hear her thoughts confirmed. "So, it really is Zexion. I thought it might be, but I didn't want to say anything just in case. I should have known better. You two've always had a strong bond."

"Even before we knew you were a Knight," Kairi murmured, an old memory drifting to the surface of her mind. A memory of Emyd always knowing where to find Ienzo. How neither of them could hide from the other, even if they wanted to.

She slowly looked up and met Demyx's eyes. "You know where to find him. You always do."

Demyx furrowed his brows, opening his mouth to say something, but failed to find the right words. He looked to Yuffie and Zidane for assistance and received nothing but silent encouragement from both of them.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to think.

"Okay, this officially sucks," Sora said, ducking into an alley after Riku. He pouted when he pushed his sopping wet bangs out of his eyes, only to have them flop right back into place. His only consolation was that Riku was even more miserable. "Remind me why it's necessary for us to run around Traverse Town in the middle of a hurricane."

Riku rolled his eyes. "It's just a rainstorm, Sora. We've dealt with worse."

"Yeah, but that doesn't make it suck any less," Sora retorted. "Why couldn't we have gone to Twilight Town instead?"

"Because Roxas knows it better and you decided you couldn't stand being apart from me for a full day. Though I suspect it has more to do with the fact that Roxas caught you trying to dump hot sauce all over his burger and is pissed at you again," Riku said, pausing at the end of the alley to cautiously peer around the corner. How he could see anything through the downpour was a mystery.

"See anything?" Sora asked.

Riku shook his head. "Nothing. It's a dead end. No trace of darkness either."

"Ugh, what a waste of time," Sora grumbled. He miserably plucked at his black shirt, which clung to him like a second skin. "There's no way they're letting us back on the train like this."

"I saw a hotel back there. We could go rent a room and get dried off while we wait for the rain to clear. Maybe spend the night," Riku suggested. "I'm sure Cloud would understand if we tell him we'll have better luck searching tomorrow with clearer weather."

It was hard for Sora to stay annoyed when his boyfriend went out of his way to try and make him happy. Suddenly, getting caught in a torrential downpour didn't sound like the worst thing in the world. Not when the outcome was the chance to snuggle with Riku all night without having to worry about either of his brothers catching them.

"What are we waiting for?" Sora asked, reaching for Riku's hand. He eagerly tugged him back towards the main square, ready to get out of the cold, unrelenting rain.

Demyx stared through the large cafe window.

There he was, sitting at a table all by himself, paperback novel in hand. He was wearing one of his sweater vests over a short-sleeved shirt, even with the temperature soaring into the upper 80s, but he looked so handsome that Demyx couldn't bring himself to make fun of him for it, even in his head.

"I-I can't do it," he said without taking his eyes off of his crush.

"Of course you can," Kairi gently encouraged. "All you have to do is go in there and say hello. We'll wait out here."

Demyx tore his gaze away, looking panicked. "No! I need you to go in with me!" He looked pleadingly at Yuffie, knowing she was the one most likely to help him. "I can't go in there alone! He doesn't want to see me. Please, Yuffie!"

Yuffie shook her head. "Sorry, but I'm with Kairi on this one. It has to be you and you need to do it without us. It'll be okay."

"But I'm not brave enough!"

"Dem," Kairi said, grasping his shoulder. "You can do this."

An unspoken message passed between them and a few seconds later, Demyx slumped in defeat and nodded. He took a deep breath and walked into the coffee shop, cautiously approaching the table where Zexion was sitting.

"Ienzo?"

The blue-gray haired teen looked up, a surprised expression on his face. His entire body was tense as he shut his book, fully prepared to run if he needed to. His eyes flicked briefly to the front window, through which Kairi, Yuffie, and Zidane were clearly visible.

"Can I, um, sit?" Demyx asked hopefully.

Zexion nodded towards the empty seat and put aside his book, forcing himself to stay where he was.

"This is kind of weird, huh? I mean, I know I only remembered everything this morning, so of course it's really weird to me. I bet you've known for a while, so you've had time to adjust and everything," Demyx babbled as he sat down. "I can't imagine what I would've done without Axel going through it with me..." His face fell. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, Zexion. I should have been."

"There is nothing you need to apologize for. I couldn't expect you to help when you had no idea what was happening," Zexion said.

"Is that why you started avoiding me?" Demyx asked curiously. There was no anger or resentment in his voice. "Because I didn't remember? That must have been so hard. I don't think I could've done it."

Zexion guiltily looked away. "That wasn't... That is not entirely the reason."

Demyx reached across the table and felt a massive wave of relief when Zexion allowed him to take his hand. "Then why?"

"Every time I saw you, all I could remember was my failure in our last few minutes," Zexion quietly admitted. "I was more than just a Soldier. I was the prince and I failed to protect my kingdom. Why should it be any different this time?"

"Well, because everything is different this time," Demyx said. "None of us are who we were back then and I think that's a good thing. I believe we can win this time. What about you? What do you really believe?"

Zexion hesitated, staring at their joined hands. Ever so slowly, as if afraid he would scare Demyx off his he moved any faster, he laced their fingers together. Unaware of the growing smile on the blond's face, he whispered: "You. I believe in you."

Chapter Text

Chapter 17: Pulling Back the Curtains

The ground quaked beneath her feet. Lightning cracked across the sky in zigzag patterns, accompanied by thunderous roars. The wind howls in her ears as it tore at her clothes and hair, constant gusts keeping her unsteady on her feet.

All at once, it stopped.

Kairi stumbled, but caught herself in time to keep from face-planting on the ground. She looked around at the changing landscape, trying to peer through the dark clouds that had taken the place of the raging storm.

From the gloom, five orbs of white light flew towards her. Kairi leaped back with a surprised cry and then rolled out of the way as they collided with the ground and burst, sending up a spray of rock.

“Rise and fight, Soldier of Heart!”

Kairi raised her eyes to where a figure with long, feathery silver hair was floating in the air. Several orbs swirled around him. “Dream Soldier,” she snarled, the name coming to her with little thought.

Dream Soldier smirked, watching her with frosty blue eyes. He easily dodged when Kairi transformed and sent a blast of energy in his direction; a warning strike to let him know she was in no mood for his games.

“Get down here and face me!” Heart shouted, furious.

“Apologies, darling, but I'm not your opponent today,” Dream drawled, raising his hand and gesturing to something behind her. “That is what you shall be facing.”

On guard, Heart quickly turned to look at what he was pointing to. Dream Soldier was far from being the most trustworthy of her allies, but such an obvious lie was so far beneath him that it was guaranteed to be the truth.

Standing behind her was a solid shadow, shaped in her likeness.

“What is this?” Heart asked, more to herself than the other Soldier.

A chuckle was the only response she received from Dream before the shadow monster began to move. It began its assault with a flare of pink energy, which had Heart once again dodging out of the way. When it followed that up by weaving the energy into a familiar ribbon, Heart cursed under her breath.

Whatever it was, it was more than just a physical copy. It could also mimic her abilities.

“Protect!” she shouted, throwing up a barrier in time for the ribbon to strike against it. The hastily cast spell broke down under the attack, but before the energy could fade Heart re-purposed it into an attack. “Energy Blast!”

Her copy screeched angrily as it was ripped apart by the powerful attack.

Dream Soldier gleefully floated closer to her. “Good to see you haven't lost your touch, Heart.” He looked even more amused when she glared at him. “Ah, there's that look. I suppose there are some things that will never change. I must admit, though, I've grown quite fond of the new you. I would so hate to be the reason you regress.”

Heart crossed her arms over her chest, trying her best not to let herself be affected by his words. “What are you doing here, Dream Soldier?”

“Why, am I not allowed to visit an old friend?” Dream asked with a playful lilt to his voice.

“Kuja.”

He huffed and rolled his eyes. “Very well, since you're so determined to be a killjoy. Officially, I'm here to complete the restoration of everyone's memories.”

“So, you were the one in charge,” Heart murmured, recalling a conversation between Sora and Riku from the week before. “Why am I the only one who doesn't remember everything?”

“I haven't the foggiest,” Dream replied nonchalantly.

Heart scowled, not at all fooled by his show of obliviousness. “Be serious, Kuja. If you're the one in charge of this mess, then tell me why you decided I shouldn't remember everything clearly.”

Dream sighed, all traces of amusement fading from his expression. “I've tried,” he told her, completely serious. “There's something blocking me from completing my task and trust me when I say I want nothing more than to finish my work and take my leave of your mind. Perhaps the problem here isn't me, but you. Do you truly want to remember?”

“Don't be ridiculous!” Heart snapped. “Of course I want to remember! I need to!”

“Ah, but want and need are two entirely different things,” Dream reminded her. “Just because it's something you feel you need, does not mean it's something you want.” He dramatically sighed, using both arms to make a gesture to indicate he didn't understand why she couldn't understand such a simple concept. “I suppose I'll just have to stick around a while longer. Do try not to bore me too much.”

“I'm not here for your entertainment!”

“Perhaps not,” Dream Soldier agreed. “But you're all I've got now.”

The world shifted around them and Heart put a hand to her head as a wave of dizziness made her sway. Dream looked mildly off-put, like all of his fun had just been spoiled.

As the world faded away to darkness, Heart could hear the other Soldier say one last thing.

“Do me one favor and watch out for my idiot little brother.”

.

.

After an unusual breakfast with her family and Reno's apparent new best friend, Elena Hawkeye, Kairi made her way across town to meet up with Roxas and finally get started on their history project. With Sora and Riku still off on some super secret mission, there was no one around to interrupt them as they settled in the living room with books from the school library and the page of guidelines their teacher handed out.

Things started out well.

They each picked a stack of books to go through and decide which parts they could use as references. Cloud shuffled past at one point, wearing sweatpants and a turtleneck. He gave them a curious glance, but didn't intrude on their work.

After nearly an hour of quiet research, Roxas huffed and tossed his book aside.

“Something wrong?” Kairi asked as she jotted down a few more notes.

“The school library had the worst set of books on Radiant Garden that I've ever seen,” Roxas complained. “All of them refer to it as Hollow Bastion, with its true name only listed once or twice, and only in the footnotes. And if I have to read about how horrible the ruling family was once more time, I'm going to be sick.”

“Then we won't use them,” Kairi said. “We know plenty of the history from our own experiences. When we need references for bits of information, then we can search for books that corroborate. What we really need to decide is how we're going to present this to the class. I was thinking that we could put together a map of the castle and surrounding town. Just the basics, of course.”

Roxas frowned. “It sounds like a good idea, but there's no way we'll have time for that. I know it sounds like the easy way out, but I think a power point would work best for us. It would give us the space to present everything we need to and some of Cloud's books have maps that are rough estimates of the castle and the grounds. Most of them were written after the fall, so none of them are perfect, but they're close enough.”

“If we made our own map, that would show Mrs. Johnson that we're serious about our project,” Kairi argued. “We still have a few weeks before we need to present. Even if there's an attack or two, we still have time.”

“And if we don't, then we'll have nothing to show. This is a more practical approach,” Roxas responded.

Kairi opened her mouth to continue arguing her point, but a knock from the entry to the kitchen stopped her.

“Hey!” Demyx greeted, poking his head in the doorway. Behind him, Axel shuffled his way to the basement door. “Um, Cloud told me to get you two before I head down to the basement. I got Zexion to come over, so Cloud called everyone in the area to come over. Maybe we'll get to meet someone new!”

Roxas stood up and arched his back until it cracked. “We haven't found anyone new yet. We've heard rumors, but nothing concrete. And anyway, we have some stuff to sort through before we even think about training new Soldier and Knights.”

“Like a better place to train,” Kairi suggested, thinking of her difficulties trying to run through deep, dry sand without tripping.

“One problem among many,” Roxas agreed. “Now lets get down there before Cloud sends someone else to get us.”

.

.

Cloud quietly surveyed the crowded space and took note that they wouldn't be able to continue using the secret computer room as a meeting room once Selphie returned from Centra. He was almost glad that Sora and Riku were still on their mission to Traverse Town thanks to a heavy rainstorm. Cloud wasn't sure if he really bought that excuse, but figured he'd let it slide for once.

His gaze slid to Roxas, who was sandwiched between Axel and Olette on the bigger of the two couches. Demyx was balanced precariously on the armrest closest to the computers and therefore close to Zexion, who was standing there half hidden in the shadows. Zexion fidgeted with his clothes, unable to stay still.

On the other couch, Kairi Yuffie, and Zidane were all pressed close together. Zidane had casually thrown his arm across the back of the couch and was distracting Yuffie by tickling her ear. Kairi bit her lip to keep from laughing at the pair of them.

Naminé was on the only recliner, her knees drawn up to form a sort of table as she worked on a sketch for class.

“If you're all ready to begin, I believe the prince has a few things he'd like to tell you,” Cloud said, his voice carrying easily over the din.

Kairi looked away from Zidane and Yuffie, her smile fading. “But Tidus isn't here yet! We shouldn't start without him.”

“I stopped by his place to invite him, but he's busy today,” Naminé spoke up before anyone else could.

Appeased by the answer, Kairi leaned back and relaxed.

Cloud stepped aside as Zexion moved to the front of the room. The teen cautiously raised his eyes to look at the others in the room. His posture relaxed when he was met with looks of curiosity instead of hostility.

“We all remember how, years ago, monsters and fiends were the biggest threats to our worlds,” Zexion began. “Before Soldiers and Knights, every world had it's own way of coping with these threats. Scientists and great warriors alike struggled for centuries. Even once we were discovered, their efforts continued.

“On Radiant Garden, we were plagued by appearances of shadow-like creatures called Heartless. They mostly kept away. Our world was filled with too much light for them to be able to survive. Still, they were a problem.” Zexion paused and began to pace. “A group of scientists decided to study them and that was where it all went wrong.”

“I remember the Heartless,” Zidane remarked, crossing his arms. “But that's not what we're facing now. It's something different. Nobodies, right?” He looked to Cloud for confirmation. “Those didn't exist before, so where did they come from? What are they?”

Zexion stopped pacing and gave him an annoyed look. “If you would allow me to explain.”

“Be my guest,” Zidane replied cheekily.

“You're right,” Zexion managed through gritted teeth. “Nobodies didn't exist before. It was because of these scientists that they came to exist. You see, they began to conduct secret experiments and eventually came to create Heartless of their own. It all went awry, as you might expect. One of the scientists wanted to see the effect of a human losing their heart, but not due to an attack by the Heartless. And that was when the very first Nobody was born.”

“So that's how...” Cloud frowned, his brow furrowed. “Zexion, you know who these scientists were?”

Zexion visibly hesitated. “I know who they are.”

A tense silence filled the air and he turned to the computer and pulled up a file of information he brought along with him.

“Who they are?” Olette repeated numbly. “So, they're still alive? But how is that possible? It's been so long!”

“I believe they were reincarnated, same as us,” Zexion responded. “They were on world when my parents enacted the Rebirth. The magic would have targeted all people still on Radiant Garden.” He pulled up an image of a man with white hair and golden eyes. “The leader, Xemnas. He lead the experiments on the Heartless and coerced the others into joining his plots.” He switched to the next. Another man with golden eyes stared back at them, though his hair was black with a vivid gray streak through it. “Xigbar, the second-in-command. He was a royal guard back then. Next, Xaldin. Another guard.”

The next image, of a man with dark dreadlocks and hard violet eyes, made Kairi's heart ache. Dilan, she remembered. He was a stern and diligent man who watched after the main castle doors alongside his partner.

“Lexaeus.”

Kairi averted her eyes from the screen, unable to bear seeing the image of a broad, orange-haired man with blue eyes.

“Vexen was the second scientist. I suspect that he was the true genius behind the creation of the Heartless. Xemnas, of course, is the mastermind behind all of it,” Zexion continued. “And finally...”

Axel suddenly rose from the couch and snarled at the sight of the next image. Demyx and Roxas both reached for him, trying to gently pull him back onto the couch.“No!”

Kairi chanced a look at the computer screen and her breath hitched. It could only be Isa, except for one detail. “But he had blue eyes...” She whispered, fighting to speak past the lump in her throat.

“Saix. The first experiment.”

Axel wrenched away from their grasps and stormed out of the room.

Kairi's gaze lowered back to her lap, disbelief coloring her face.

“But... how?” Demyx's voice cracked as he spoke. “I mean, that's Isa, right? But he was our friend. He was a good guy. He wouldn't try to destroy everything! He wouldn't want to!”

“You're right. Isa wouldn't,” Zexion agreed. “But he's no longer the friend we knew. I'm sorry, Kairi.”

Kairi shook her head, unable to find her voice for a moment. She lifted her head and stared at the screen, fighting back the tears threatening to gather at the corners of her eyes. “No, you're right. That isn't Isa. Not anymore.” She tore her gaze away from the screen. “What do we do now? And how did you find out about all of this, Zexion?”

“Lexaeus told me.”

Olette's eyebrows rose in shock. “And you didn't find this suspicious? How do you know he's telling to truth?! How do we know you're telling the truth?”

“Because I'd know if he wasn't,” Demyx said loudly. He stood up so he was standing right next to Zexion and met Olette's gaze head-on. “Zexion's on our side.”

Olette visibly deflated. “I didn't mean-! I'm sorry, prince. It wasn't my intention to suggest you're on their side. I just... I don't understand why he told you all of this if he's against us. Could it be part of some plot against us?”

Zexion shook his head. “I don't think the others have any idea that he came to speak with me. Nor am I sure of why he came to me. Perhaps he felt some remnant of guilt for betraying the world and people he'd sworn to protect.”

“For now, we use this information and we plan,” Cloud said, standing to reclaim control of the conversation. “We now have a face to our enemy, which gives us an advantage, however slim. Zexion, if you remember their individual skills, that would be invaluable to our training.”

Zexion nodded. “I'll compile what I have and get it to you as soon as I can.”

“Good,” Cloud said. “In that case, all that's left for today is new assignments. Since Demyx has found our prince and brought him back to us, that's not something we have to worry about anymore.”

Yuffie whipped her hand into the air, narrowly smacking Zidane in the face. “Does this mean I finally get to do something? Like fight monsters and go on cool missions?”

Cloud sighed audibly, but whatever response he was about to make was interrupted as the main screen behind him beeped and flashed red as it changed to a gridded overhead map of the island. One of the squares lit up white.

“Isn't that near Seventh Heaven?” Zidane asked, recognizing the area.

“I need a team of three to go back up Tifa,” Cloud instructed. He turned to face the screen and tapped a few keys to zoom in on the map and collect more information. “Two Sorcerers, three Berserkers, and five Dusks... Kairi, Yuffie, Zidane, the three of you are going.”

“Us too!” Demyx volunteered, gesturing to himself an Zexion. “It wouldn't hurt to send a few more than you think is needed, right? Besides, we haven't had a chance to fight anything yet!”

Cloud hesitated and then gave his consent. “Okay. I'll let Tifa know that the five of you are on the way. The rest of you can stay for assignments.”

Yuffie was on her feet in a hurry, urging along her comrades. Not that they needed it. Even Zexion seemed eager to get out of the room.

As they left, Cloud could hear Zexion ask: “So who is Tifa?”

.

.

They waited until they were near Seventh Heaven before transforming, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention as they ran through town. Yuffie led them into a sheltered alley once they were sure there was no one around to see them. There was no time to stop and get a look at everyone's transformations. It was something Heart had to do as they all jumped up to the rooftops and resumed running.

Next to her, Melodious Nocturne was dressed in blues and silvers, which rippled and flowed as he moved, much like the water he commanded. Despite the shiny nature of the fabric, his clothes were surprisingly plain and uncomplicated. His shirt was tied at the waist, revealing a slim stretch of his stomach, and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. The only thing interesting about the pants was the long sash tied to one side.

Nearby, Wisdom Soldier looked as regal as ever in his decorated, navy blue, high-collared coat and matching underclothes. He wore a thin, white mask, but half of it was covered by his slate-blue hair.

Wild Thief and White Rose led the way, both looking better dressed for combat than the rest of the group. Aside from Wisdom, Wild Thief wore the most clothes of any of the warrior's Heart could remember. Only his face and arms were open to the air. White Rose, though dressed for a fight, wore a purple, midriff-bearing top and a pair of shorts. The gloves she wore did little for protection.

“I've got eyes on Courage!” White Rose called out, spotting the dark-haired Soldier. “She's fighting a Berserker right now. No sigh of- no, wait. There's a Sorcerer!”

“I got it!” Wild Thief announced, leaping from the rooftop. A pair of daggers shimmered into his hands as he landed and engaged the white creature.

Heart found herself issuing orders without a second though. “Wisdom! Nocturne! Go back up Courage! White Rose and I will help Wild Thief!”

The two listened, racing past to go join the female Soldier dressed in black and white. While their magic wouldn't do much good against the Sorcerers, who were resistant to elemental spells, they could both do some damage to the three Berserkers lurking in the area.

As Knights, both White Rose and Wild Thief relied largely on their physical weapons rather than elemental powers. And while Heart, as a Soldier, had her non-elemental light abilities, it wasn't something the Sorcerers had a strong resistance to. She wouldn't do much damage to it, but she could distract the creatures or take care of any Dusks that dared to approach.

“Ready?” White Rose asked, pausing at the edge of the roof to look back at Heart with a hopeful expression.

“Lets do this,” Heart said.

White Rose smiled and leaped down to join her friend.

Heart followed closely behind.

Chapter Text

Sorry to anyone who's still waiting for an update on this fic, but I will not be continuing it. I know it's been 3 years since the last update and that's usually a pretty clear sign of fic abandonment, but I figure it deserves proper closure considering how excited I was about writing it at the beginning.

Kingdom Hearts as a whole has meant so much to me for so long, but I've found trying to write anything for it recently is just too difficult. Maybe one day I'll revisit it in my writing, but I don't see it happening any time soon. So this is it. This is the end.

I put a new note at the beginning of chapter one, and I'll repeat it here:

This fic has been sitting here for so long that it's far past time for me to go ahead and say that I won't be continuing it. I have summaries for all of the remaining chapters, if anyone is interested in reading that. Or if anyone would like my notes to take over this fic themselves, I'd be happy to do that as well.

Chapter Text

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Fragmented Memories

Chapter Notes

Chapter 19: Time Drags Slowly On

Tuesday 3 (May 19) - Friday 4 (May 22)

Between school and training, Kairi stays busy. Still it feels like time is crawling to a stop. There should be more she's doing, but there isn't. There've been no attacks and still no news from Centra. She and Roxas finish their project.

Her parents notice her gloomy mood and try to talk to her, but she puts on a smile and assures them that everything's okay before rushing out the door. She has nowhere to really go and ends up wandering around until she meets a young woman with long brown hair in a pretty dress and heels looking extremely lost as she looks around at street and shop names, comparing them to what's on her piece of paper. She's lugging a suitcase and a few bags. She introduces herself as Dagger. Kairi helps her find her way to a bar called Seventh Heaven. It's closed, but upon seeing Zidane sitting at a table, Dagger pushes open the door and goes in anyway, pulling Kairi with her. Zidane is surprised, but happy to see her and picks her up and happily spins her around. Tifa and Yuffie invite the girls to join them. Yuffie reveals that Tifa and Dagger are both Soldiers, like Kairi. The four of them are so lively that Kairi feels her gloom wash away and finds herself laughing and smiling for the first time in days.

Yuffie's determination is renewed. She starts waiting for Kairi after school, just to talk for a few minutes or join her for training. Tidus joins them a time or two, but mostly he just winks and gives Kairi a thumbs up before making up a crazy excuse to leave them alone.

Namine drags them to the Art Show the department puts on every year, making sure Tidus and Kairi see the painting she spent so much time on. Pence also has a photo collage to show off. Everyone congratulates the two, who win top slot in their categories.

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INTERLUDE 2: Just a Little Practice

Tidus practices with a wooden sword, wondering if he's strong enough to fight alongside his friends. Cloud happens upon him and decides to help out.

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Chapter 20: A Friend is Lost

Saturday 4 (May 23)

Kairi wakes up to a frantic phone call from Sora. All she can make out is that Selphie and Irvine are back and something bad has happened. She gets dressed in a hurry, collects Axel, and rushes over to the Strife's house where she finds an unfamiliar brunet sitting on the couch with Selphie and Irvine, looking like he's rather be anywhere else. Cloud is quietly talking to him, but nothing works. Selphie introduces him as Squall - Brave Soldier and pulls Kairi and Axel away to explain what went down in Centra during their fight against the Sorceress Ultemecia and how Squall lost his Knight. They agree to leave it up to Cloud to try and help. Axel goes upstairs to cuddle with Roxas while Kairi invites Selphie to join her in meeting up with Namine and Olette at Tifa's. When they arrive, they find Elena there with Reno and his friend Rude. Kairi walks over and asks Elena if she'd like to join them, Reno complains about her trying to steal his friends away, but Elena is pleased and agrees, citing Soldier business. Kairi stammers and tries to cover it up, but Reno rolls his eyes and tells her he's known even before Axel and Demyx's display of their powers. Kairi tries to question him, but he and Rude slip away, leaving Tifa a generous tip. Back at the table, Olette and Namine welcome Selphie back, but wisely don't ask too many questions. Elena mentions Reno's work as a Turk for Rufus Shinra. Kairi texts Axel, but he already knows.

Yuffie shows up to talk to Tifa and ends up asking Kairi out instead. Kairi rambles a bit about the past and her life now, making Yuffie think she's saying no, but then she asks Yuffie if she likes movies, agreeing to go on a date.

Becomes a strange girls night out for the original 5, with them going on an impromptu shopping trip/fashion show because Olette wants to prepare for Prom. They have fun though, and split up in high spirits to return home.

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INTERLUDE 3: Reminiscence Between Old Friends

Zidane spots a certain good-luck charm sticking out of Squall's pocket after a training session and, after confronting the stoic man about it, gets lost in a memory of the past - back when he, Bartz, and Squall (and Seifer too) were a pretty common team.

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Chapter 21: Clearing Up the Past

Sunday 4 (May 24)

Kairi confronts her brothers in the morning, clearing some things up about Reno's work. Reno assures her that what he does has nothing to do with the monsters that have been appearing, but that he can handle himself if any show up. Kairi is too tired to argue with him. She does, however, tell Cloud about it. (He's already aware.)

There's an informal gathering in Cloud's basement when Kairi arrives. Riku is there, looking more exhausted than Kairi can ever remember, barely listening to what Yuffie is rambling about. Olette and Namine were on the couch with Elena, who was reading exam questions from a packet of paper for the two to answer. Zexion is using Cloud's old computer, trying to figure something out (the enemy's location), while Demyx unhelpfully gives advice. The doorbell rings and then Sora stumbles down the stairs yelling for Cloud and Riku. He tries to give them a warning, but the silver-haired man behind him doesn't give him a chance. Sephiroth calmly regards everyone in the room before stepping over to Cloud. He doesn't give him a chance to resist before kissing him. Sora hurries to Riku's side. Questions are brought up and Sephiroth reveals something that's been hidden from Heart and the others for some time - the fact that Sora and Cloud are Knights and Roxas and Riku are Soldiers - among other things that haven't been properly explained. Sephiroth demands they set up a training regime, which everyone will participate in, and that he will oversee it.

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Chapter 22: The Legacy is Reborn

Monday 4 - Friday 5 (May 25 - 29)

Beginning of school project presentations. Also last minute prep for finals, as they begin for Seniors.

Zexion gets the computer working somewhat properly and is able to pinpoint possible locations of dark energy. He can't zero in on the exact location. While the largest covers Destiny Island, there are several others in Twilight Town and Traverse Town. Finals put a damper on any plans to infiltrate. Olette begins to stress, wanting to head out to Twilight immediately, but knowing that finals come first. Zexion promises to keep an eye on the locations and let them know if things get worse. Meanwhile, the non-high schoolers stake out various points around Destiny Island and several of them are sent to Skyline City to check out the only point of dark energy. (Zidane, Dagger, Tifa, Selphie, and Squall.)

Yuffie and Kairi go on a double date with Zidane and Dagger and then another with Selphie and Irvine. Kairi is surprised by how comfortable and calm Yuffie makes her feel. When she mentions it to Selphie, the brunette just smiles and says it's part of the Soldier-Knight bond. Maybe a comparison to the Sorceress-Knight bond on Centra.

Sephiroth finds out about Cloud training Tidus and decides to test the blond himself. After denying that he needs to transform every day since Sephiroth's return, it's Cloud's first reaction when he jumps in to help Tidus.

Selphie throws a party on Friday so all of the Seniors can celebrate the end of exams.

Squall becomes more and more reclusive, only venturing out when Selphie or Irvine force him to.

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INTERLUDE 4: Running from the Past

- Selphie reflects on her recovery of her memories and how she came to be reunited with Squall and Seifer, and later Irvine. (OR, Kairi thinks about how she was in the past vs the present and how much she's been trying not to be like her past self. But maybe there are a few things she can learn from who she once was...)

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Chapter 23: Always Travel in Pairs

Saturday 5 - Sunday 5 (May 30-31)

Not wanting to waste more time, Cloud organizes teams to head out to Twilight Town and Traverse Town. Olette and Roxas lead the one to Twilight Town, while Sora, Riku, and Namine are in charge of Traverse (which is bigger and more confusing than Twilight). He also makes sure enough Soldiers and Knights remain behind in Destiny just in case. Cloud stresses the importance of keeping cell phone fully charged and turned on at all times and that he expects a call at least once a day from each team.

Olette takes Elena and Tifa to Sunset Terrace, where they investigate odd occurrences and wipe out the Nobodies plaguing the town. Meanwhile, Roxas leads Zidane and Axel on a quest through the rest of town, eventually ended at the old mansion, which is overrun by Nobodies and also houses a strangely advanced computer system in the basement. He collects data from it using a device given to him by Zexion.

Over in Traverse, Riku reluctantly leads Larxene and Marluxia on a patrol of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd districts, leaving the confusing labyrinth beyond to Namine and Sora, who are more familiar with the streets. Namine chooses Tidus and Garnet as her companions. Sora picks Yuffie and Kairi as his.

Back on Destiny, Squall mysteriously vanishes from his chosen room, leading Selphie and Irvine on a crazy hunt to find him. They eventually track his phone, which leads them to the airship docks just in time to see Ragnarok fly overhead and settle at a docking station. Rinoa and Ellone are the first to appear, cheerfully yelling their greetings. And then Seifer struts down the hangar door. Laguna, Fuu, and Rai follow after him.

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INTERLUDE 5: Reclaiming a Lost Friend

After Selphie and Irvine return to DI with Squall in tow, Rinoa and the others set out to try and recover Seifer from where he was blasted to - a labyrinth-like cave that would be near impossible to navigate smoothly without the help of Rinoa's powers.

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Chapter 24: Pieces Fall into Place

Monday 5 (June 1)

The Traverse and Twilight groups return to Destiny to find things kind of crazy with their new additions. Sephiroth is annoyed by the lack of control. Demyx is stir-crazy, as he refuses to leave Zexions side for long periods of time, but also wants to go out and fight. Olette tries to distract them with reminders that Prom is quickly approaching and does everyone have a date? Kairi considers asking Yuffie, but after reading up on the extensive list of rules and regulations, she explains and apologizes to her sort-of girlfriend. Tidus asks her instead, promising Yuffie that he "won't make any moves on her girl". Olette is asked by Hayner. Namine is flattered when asked by Pence. Roxas tells Axel that under no circumstances is he getting away without one dance. All Sora has to do is turn pleading eyes to Riku, who can never say no to his boyfriend.

Laguna proves himself invaluable in cooking enough food to feed the small army which is occupying Cloud's house. Ellone single-handedly sets up a cleaning schedule, which everyone will have a hand in. Cloud gets fed up with the overcrowding of his living space and demands Riku opens his home to their guests. Riku agrees, taking the less energetic of the group with him. Seifer takes a strange liking to Tidus, stepping in to take Cloud's place in training him alongside Kairi.

Zexion is busy going through the data Roxas found, but Demyx finally gets him to take a break and they go on a date. While out, they have an encounter with a strange man named Xigbar, who reveals himself as one of their enemies and unleases a small hoard of Nobodies to attack them after some cryptic words. (Mention of Xemnas.) Zexion and Demyx quickly dispatch the enemies with a little help from Marluxia and Larxene, who were in the area.

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INTERLUDE 6: Back to the Beginning

Cloud remembers growing up in Nibelheim. And then the fateful day he dared to climb up the mountain wanting to see for himself if the strange rumors about a man with silver hair were true.

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Chapter 25: With Heads Held High

Tuesday 5 - Friday 6 (June 2-5)

Zexion reveals he has an idea as to who and what the enemy is, thanks to Xigbar's interruption of his date with Demyx, which he assumes is the point. Regardless, Cloud and Sephiroth jump right into making battle plans, with help from the SeeD crew and Laguna. Even when Zidane points out that they have no idea where the enemy is hiding, they continue to prepare. Sephiroth's training schedule becomes stricter, especially with the high schoolers having finally finished classes. With the growing tension on the play island and knowledge that their non-powered friends spend a lot of time there, they change their training location to a secluded private beach owned by the Crescent family. Olette demands one afternoon to spend with their non-powered friends, which is granted. Strangely, they all avoid the play island, not feeling comfortable going there.

Sora bursts into a meeting one day announcing he knows where the enemy is hiding - it's the play island. More specifically, the door in his and Riku's secret spot is the doorway between their world and another. Finally given direction, a date to "storm the castle" is set.

The day/night of Prom arrives with mixed feelings. They're all too nervous to really enjoy themselves, but make a good try of it. Afterwards Hayner remarks that it feels more like a funeral than a great party and demands to know what everyone else seems to know and is hiding from him. Roxas and Olette promise to explain later. Pence wishes Namine good luck and kisses her on the cheek before they part ways.

(At some point, mention the impending arrival of Quistis and Zell, flying in from Centra to help with whatever they can.)

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INTERLUDE 7: The Bonds Between Us

Kairi wonders about something Selphie mentioned about the bond between Sorceresses and their Knights and wonders how it's related to the bond between Soldiers and Knights. After hearing that Laguna was around for the first Sorceress War on Centra and was also active in the second, she goes to him for advice. He proves surprisingly knowledgable about both subjects.

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Chapter 26: Battle on the Horizon

Saturday 6 (June 6)

Final battle part 1.

Kairi awakens on her own, staring at the ceiling and pulling herself out of bed in a dreamlike state. She dresses for the day and has breakfast with her family like always. Axel is also surprisingly quiet. Reno distracts their parents for them. The two set off to the docks to meet up with the others. Everyone is sullen as they boat across to the play island and one by one file into the Secret Spot, where Sora opens the door and they're pulled into a stange world of dark skies and empty, white/gray skyscrapers. They head for the tallest tower, battling all sorts of Nobodies along the way. (Tidus, Reno, Laguna, Irvine, Quistis, and Zell stay behind to hold the beach and make sure nothing could leave the island.)

When the arrive at the tower, Xemnas and his three followers are waiting with an army of Nobodies. After he gives a rambling speech, he gestures for the creatures to attack. Everyone throws themselves into battle, trying to stop the three of them from leaving. Peace manages to snag Xigbar with her chain and Heart darts forward to attack him.

Xigbar fires off one shot, which strikes Heart in the chest. As she falls backwards and her vision turns black, she can hear White Rose screaming her name.

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Chapter 27&28: The Battle Rages On

Parts 2 and 3.

After her "death", Kairi finds herself in a strange, dreamlike world where Dream Soldier is waiting for her. He remarks on his disappointment to find out she's so weak to be taken down by such a simple attack, belittling her until she finally snaps back and attacks him. He lets her nick him once and then floats out of her range and puts up a barrier. He tells her she has the strength to return and heal herself, but she has to unlock it first. An ornate white door appears and Kairi goes through it. She finds herself on top of a stained glass podium facing a figure who looks very familiar.

Back on the battlefield, Diligent and Faith have taken up defensive positions around Heart's still form. Melodious Nocturne cries at her side for a while before his sorrow is swallowed by rage and he storms back into battle, geysers smashing from the ground with short gestures. He summons Leviathan for the first time. The Soldiers and Knights are holding their own, but that's all. No one can get close to Xemnas.

The figure turns around, revealing that it's Kairi's previous self. Her uniform is slightly different. The hood is gone and in its place is a black cloak, blowing in a nonexistant breeze. Her buns are done tightly, with no strands of hair free aside from her bangs. Her eyes cold behind her mask. In her hand is Destiny's Embrace. She tells Kairi she hasn't been at full strength since she awakened; that not accepting the past is holding her back. Kairi refuses to join with her, to loose her new self. The two fight and in the end her past self wins, but she doesn't force a joining. She explains her side and what she thinks will happen to them, convincing Kairi to take her hand and become strong enough to protect her friends.

Kairi awakens. Her clothing morphs as she summons Destiny's Embrace and slowly walks through the battle, straight towards Xemnas. Her friends call out to her, but she ignores them. They're still fighting, so there's nothing they can do. Sora and Riku fight their way toward her, finally breaking through the haze around her as she reaches the empty space around Xemnas's tower. She turns her head and smiles, letting them know everything's okay. The two relax, understanding. Axel breaks through with Roxas. They promise to have her back as they storm the tower. Sora and Roxas break off to fight Xigbar. Then Axel faces off against Saix. Riku is left to take care of Xaldin. Kairi continues and battles Xemnas. She loses badly at first, but then her friends realize what's happening and lend her their strength. She transforms again, her clothing turning white. She summons Oathkeeper to her left hand and charged forward, finally beating Xemnas by combination of keyblade and holy magic. Fighting done, she slowly floats to the ground and falls to her knees as her clothes turn back to pink and Oathkeeper vanishes. The tower crumbles. Yuffie and Sora arrive at her side just in time to pull her away.

Ends with everyone standing together, battered and exhausted, but everyone's alive. A glimmer of a brighter future.

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Chapter 29: Looking to the Future

Takes place months later - August?

Everyone has rested from the final fight. Any rogue Nobodies have been taken care of.

Selphie, Irvine, Squall, Seifer, Rinoa, Quistis, and Zell are back home at Balamb Garden, still working on cleaning up the mess from the Sorceress War. They keep in touch. (Seifer ends up writing letters/messages on Squall's behalf. They know better than believe half of it.)

Zexion has started making plans to rebuild Radient Garden. Demyx supports him 200%. When Kairi and Axel find out, they introduce him to Cid, the owner of Highwind Garage, who once built airships when he lived on Gaia. He's intrigued and agrees to help them. Tifa has contacts in various places, and does her part to get him everything he needs for his plans to succeed. Cloud introduces him to a man named Rufus Shinra, who has somehow (*coughRenoandElena*) found out and has offered to finance the rebuild.

Zexion begins delegating different tasks to his friends and new help. Kairi is put in charge of security (Tidus quickly becomes her 2nd). Reeve Tuesti is the head architect, with help from Namine and Marluxia. He reluctantly hands lawmaking and enforcement over to Larxene, who commonly works with Kairi and Tidus.

A trip to Radient Garden to assess the damage. They set themselves up in the battered castle and make repairs there and to the wall before moving on to the surrounding town.

Permanent team: Zexion, Demyx, Kairi, Tidus, Sora, Riku, Larxene, Marluxia, Namine, Axel, Roxas, Yuffie,

Frequent visitors: Olette, Selphie, Irvine, Squall, Seifer, Tifa, Zidane, Elena, Rinoa

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Bonus Stories

A Visit From Family - Riku's 3 cousins show up for the weekend, traveling in from Skyline City, expecting him to entertain them. Reluctantly, he recruits Sora and Kairi to help out.

A Little Friendly Assistance - Rufus Shinra volunteers his money and associates to the rebuilding of Radient Garden. Cloud is naturally apprehensive about this, knowing the past of the Shinra company, but Rufus soon proves trustworthy.

Celebrating the Small Victories - When they finally get the castle repaired and running after several months of hard work, it's only natural that they throw a small party to celebrate. Except with the help of certain individuals, it's not exactly a "small" party.

The First Annual Festival - With the rebuilding going so well and the influx of people moving to Neo Radient Garden, Selphie comes to the conclusion that they absolutely have to throw a festival. With Zexion's approval, she spends weeks making plans and getting help from everyone she can get her hands on.

Join the Restoration Committee - Some old friends from Destiny Island arrive to to help out with whatever they can. Reeve is thrilled to show off the different "Volunteer" shirts he helped create.

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Other Notes (aka bonus stuff that never made it in, but I spent so much time on it that I'm going to share it now)

Soldiers

Kairi Sinclair | Heart Soldier - from Destiny Island (Cardinal)/Radiant Garden - non-elemental powers - summon is Bahamut
Namine Snow | Peace Soldier - from Traverse Town (Cardinal)- ice/snow powers - summon is Shiva
Selphie Tilmitt | Passion Soldier - from Trabia (Centra) - fire powers - summon is Ifrit
Olette Pierce | Love Soldier - from Twilight Town (Cardinal)- non-elemental light powers - summon is Valefor
Elena Hawkeye | Strength Soldier - from Midgar (Gaia) - lightning powers - summon is Quetzacoatl

Squall Leonhart | Brave Soldier - from Balamb/Winhill (Centra) - ice powers - summon is Shiva
Zexion Shade | Wisdom Soldier - from Destiny Island (Cardinal)/Radiant Garden - illusion powers - summon is Carbuncle
Marluxia Blade | Floral Soldier - from Fantasia - creates flower petals - summon is Odin
Tifa Lockheart | Courage Soldier - from Nibelheim (Gaia) - mild water powers - summon unknown
Rinoa Heartilly | Faith Soldier - from Galbadia (Centra) - casts holy magic - summon is Sylph

Garnet Alexandros | Diligent Soldier - from Alexandria (Terra) - powers unknown - summon unknown
Sephiroth Crescent | One-Winged Soldier - from Nibelheim (Gaia) - powers unknown - summon is Alexander
Riku Cresent | Dawn Soldier - from Costa Del Sol (Gaia) - powers unknown - summon is Titan
Roxas Strife | Tenacious Soldier - from Nibelheim (Gaia) - powers unknown - summon is Yojimbo
Kuja Tribal | Dream Soldier - location is Memoria - dream infiltration - summon is unknown

Knights

Yuffie Kisaragi | White Rose - from Wutai (Gaia) - no elemental abilities - summon is Leviathan
Seifer Almasy | Fire Cross - from Balamb (Centra) - fire powers - summon is Phoenix
Demyx Harbor | Melodious Nocturne - from Destiny Island (Cardinal)/Radiant Garden - water powers - summon is Leviathan
Larxene Black | Savage Nymph - from Olympus - lightning powers - summon is Ixion
Zidane Tribal | Wild Thief - from Lindblum (Terra) - no elemental abilities - summon is unknown

Cloud Strife | Living Legacy - from Nibelheim (Gaia) - no elemental abilities - summon is Chocobo
Sora Strife | Optimistic Light - from Nibelheim (Gaia) - light abilities - summon is Fenrir
Axel Sinclair | Dancing Flames - from Destiny Island (Cardinal)/Radiant Garden - fire powers - summon is Salamander

Honorable Mention:

Bartz Klauser | Wandering Dawn - from Lix (Planet R) - wind powers - summon is Garuda

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And there were so many sequels involved after this, but those I'll hold onto. Maybe one day I'll revisit this series and write those.