#post-khv fic

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Building Home - A Destiny Trio Fic for Kairi Day

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62454826

Summary: So, either when we saw young Xehanort on Destiny Islands at the end of KHUX or beginning of Dark Road (I forget which it was), they showed the paopu tree, but it somehow looked like the tree was backwards to me and maybe a few others on Tumblr when I brought it up. BlueRosesBurnBlue was able to show me that that wasn't the case, but I decided to write a story about that whole thing here for Kairi Day.

What if Sora got a picture of Destiny Islands' past--through the phones from TWEWY that can take pictures of the past, via one Sanae Hanekoma--and he became convinced that Xehanort had flipped their beloved paopu tree for nefarious reasons, and that they needed to figure this out? And what if there was more to Sora becoming so adamant about this than just in need of figuring out that question?

@bluerosesburnblue

Kairi's PoV

"I don't know about this theory of yours…" Riku was the first to bring up the obvious, as the three of them stood standing in the secret place and he stared at a strange picture of their beloved paopu tree that somehow seemed to be flipped (Kairi still wasn't sure how Sora had gotten his hands on this photo).

And a part of her was definitely glad that Riku had said what he had, because ninety percent of her thought that there was nothing to Sora's theory, while maybe a ten percent did because of Sora's far too good convincing story skills (even if most of it was silly). That was why she hadn't spoken up herself yet.

"Riku, the paopu tree, from years ago, somehow looks like it's going in the opposite direction!" exclaimed Sora.

"Yeah, I'm seeing that," deadpanned Riku, clearly not impressed (though Kairi sympathized with Sora here. It was hard whenever Riku used that tone with someone), though to his credit, he was still very much examining the evidence. "So?"

"'So?' Who do we know who lived here before and messed with our destinies?! Xehanort! He must have altered the tree to somehow change stuff about us… or at least our Play Island. For some reason. We know he time traveled!"

"Yeah, but how would changing the tree on the island—and I'm not even sure that's possible—affect us?" Kairi finally spoke up. "Could-could the picture be wrong somehow?" Kairi had to ponder, though she hated that she felt like she was betraying Sora in doing so. But Riku mouthed a small "thank you" her way as soon as she had done so.

"Oh, c'mon, guys," Sora said with a roll of his eyes. "Master Yen Sid said Xehanort was one of the best Keyblade Masters in the world: one who clearly knew way too much magic—including time travel!—who loved messing with our fates! How wouldn't he find a way to use changing the palm tree against us?"

"What, do you think him swapping the island might have swapped who we are?" inquired Kairi.

"Yeah!" Sora nodded enthusiastically, even going as far as to grab both of Kairi's hands in his own, now that she seemed to be humoring him a bit now. She could just imagine Riku rolling his eyes in the background. "Like, maybe instead of you hitting really hard like you do—and somewhat recklessly throwing yourself into things. Ehehe—you were originally more of a glass cannon like Aqua. And I… well, I guess maybe I could have held the Keyblade differently, than like a baseball bat? Maybe I even used a shield like Goofy. And Riku-"

"Wasn't so graceful, but the tank of our group?" Riku finished Sora's thought—as the trio took that moment to all take a seat in the secret place, upon realizing that this wasn't going to be the short conversation they had maybe assumed it would be when Sora had flagged them down in the hot heat, and that they had better sit down and hash this all out. "Those are some… pretty detailed and specific guesses, Sora. And again, with no proof. I mean, hey. Don't get me wrong. If Xehanort actually did some wrongdoing here and we can correct it without radically changing our lives, I'm all for it. But Sora, until you can prove that… I feel like you're on a crazy ride with this, my guy."

"Are there any spells we could use to try and figure any of this out?" Kairi suggested, because as amazing as her training with Aqua, and recent journeys, had been, she knew that there were still things in certain worlds that Sora and Riku had seen that she hadn't.

"Yeah, there's an unveil spell that Sora and I have both learned," Riku finally relented. "But why don't we go see Master Yen Sid and see if there are any stronger variations of it that he knows of. Or, if nothing else, if he can do the spell for us, so we don't mess it up."

"Yes, sir!" Sora grinned. And both Kairi and Riku had to chuckle at his cute reaction.

And so, with their plans set, they all three headed towards Sora's gummi ship to make their way to the Mysterious Tower.

…

It was when Kairi was writing in her diary, as she waited for the gummi ship to hopefully get all three of them to the Tower on autopilot (as Sora seemed very keen on chatting), that Kairi found herself very curious about why Sora was so gung-ho about all of this. "But why do you want to know so badly about this, Sora? I hate to say it… but isn't sometimes a “no” answer the better one? What if we find out something we can never forget? Like without Xehanort's meddling, that the three of us would have never been friends. And that if we had met at all in such a scenario, we wouldn't have even liked each other?"

"I get the feeling this might be tied to how you, apparently, so angrily told Xehanort off for messing with your fate, Kai: which lover boy saw through the power of the paopu fruits you shared," Riku snorted.

Kairi had thought that Sora would deny that answer—because as far as she was concerned, there was no way that that could be any part of the truth—but he surprised her when he looked at her and Riku in turn and admitted, "That is some of it. The way you reacted then, Kairi… you were so upset. And you had every right to be. So now that I've discovered this photo from Joshua of all people… well, how can we not look into it?"

"As much as I appreciate things Joshua has done for us, according to Neku, Josh isn't always the most trustworthy person," Riku protested, with his arms crossed over his chest. "…But," he allowed, with a small smile starting to spread out across his face—as he lifted Sora's face up, that had just fallen down with what he thought was discouragement. "You do make a good point with all of this, Sora, so we'll check it out. And even go to Shibuya, if we have to."

"And we may have to," Kairi found herself agreeing. "Because isn't that where you got the new app for your gummi pho—no, just phone—that takes pictures of the past? We may need to get these phones and apps ourselves. Especially if it turns out we need to go back to the Island and take more pictures."

"Definitely a thought," Sora agreed with a nod.

But before any more could be said by the trio on the subject, the gummi ship had lurched to a stop at their destination, causing Sora who had not been sitting in his seat to crash into Kairi, to which Riku tsked.

Under other circumstances, this could have been a romantic moment, like some books Kairi read made such an instance out to be, Kairi thought. But this was not that. The left side of Sora's body had crashed roughly into Kairi's right, and his jaw in particular had smacked into her cheek. It was painful for her, but she imagined it had particularly hurt Sora as she heard his teeth grind.

"Riku? Some help here, please?" Kairi ground out.

"I've got it," Riku promised, with what sounded like the air of an amused older brother in his voice. And not long after that. Kairi saw the glow of a green "cure spell," and instantly felt her muscles feeling better with it, and Riku helping Sora off of her.

Then, without much more preamble, the three of them left the gummi ship and began their march towards the tower.

…

"Hmm," Master Yen Sid said, stroking his beard as he examined the picture Sora had laid out in front of him on his desk. "It's true that Master Xehanort was far too crafty for his own good—and we now know time travel is one of the ways in which he managed this—but if he had planned something by changing your island, I would hope that those plans have dissipated when he was finally defeated."

Kairi had imagined that Sora would counter Yen Sid's argument like he had with her and Riku, but instead he seemed to shut down right away, which took her aback.

"So… does that mean that you won't give us a spell to even check this out, then? Or even look into it yourself?" Sora asked, with his head down, not even deigning to look at the aged Master, it seemed.

After Sora asked the question, there was a pregnant pause. And Kairi knew they all could have heard a pen drop, if any of them had had one on hand. Finally, Master Yen Sid said, "No, Sora. I will not. You see-"

But Sora did not wait for what was to be seen, because before Kairi could even blink, Sora held out his hand and summoned what looked like all of the junk in Master Yen Sid's room to hand and used it to make a motor bike! (1) Then, he called forth his Keyblade, unlocked the Lanes Between, and suddenly he was gone.

"You couldn't have been nicer?" Riku demanded whirling around on Master Yen Sid.

"You will find, Riku, that I think the issue is Sora is the one who isn't being 'nice' here, as you put it. There's much he hasn't let go of."

Kairi thought maybe she understood what Master Yen Sid was talking about… both Riku and her had had a version of Xehanort living in their hearts. And as horrible as those situations had been, it had strangely allowed them to make peace with certain things. Sora had never had that chance.

"Why do I feel like all of this is my fault?" Kairi despaired, remembering what Sora had said about partly being inspired in this whole endeavor by seeing her bawl Master Xehanort out while she'd been dreaming. He'd seen that… but he'd never seen her reluctantly forgive him within her heart.

"It's not," Riku was quick to assure her. "But if Master Yen Sid is right here… you may be the one person who can reach Sora now. Go to him, Kairi."

Kairi was about to protest that surely Riku could, too, because he'd dealt with Xehanort in his own heart, and had somewhat let their past go at the Keyblade Graveyard, she had heard. But just as she was about to say it, she knew that Riku was right, and it really had to be her.

She was the one who had dealt with all of this the most recently, after all. And according to Sora's own words, it was in protecting her own honor that his feeling of outrage at the picture had been doubled.

She also wondered if, deep down, Riku would always somewhat resent Ansem—and who could blame him?—whereas she could now look at Xehanort with pity for the youth who had lost himself.

"Alright," Kairi relented. "But know that I'm bringing our boy back before you even know it." And Kairi snuggled up in Riku's embrace in a quick hug, before summoning her Keyblade, armor, glider, and heading off to Shibuya.

…

When Kairi had ended up in Shibuya, she hadn't known where to go. She'd never been to the world, after all. Because of their connected hearts, she could somewhat sense Sora--so she somewhat followed that trail—but she also asked some kind locals for advice, and a lot of them told her that people liked to hangout at the café on Cat Street, so that's where she headed.

And the moment she entered the comfy looking place, that at once looked like it could fit in on her more rural home of Destiny Islands, but also as though it were a few decades ahead of it, she was at once met with a very repentant angel. "Miss Kairi, I'm so sorry I gave Josh that phone to give to Sora. Usually, my apps are spot on, but that one made a mistake. You guys' paopu tree roots were all twisted when it was first planted—but it grew out of it—nothing happened with it when it was fully grown. It's honestly an easy mistake to make... And I wasn't in my right mind when I installed the app, so…"

Ignoring for the moment that this tall brunet, with a serious case of five 'o clock shadow and hipster glasses seemed to somehow know who she was, Kairi zeroed in on the relevant bits of news here. "So, you're the one who invented the phone. Who are you?"

"Sanae Hanekoma, angel barista extraordinaire. If you're looking for some serious tasty beans, kid, then you-"

"Wait. You say the picture Sora took was wrong! Then that means-"

"Uhh, yeah,” this Sanae Hanekoma said scratching the back of his neck now, as he avoided looking at her. “That's kind of the main issue here. The Keyblade's chosen one doesn't seem to be taking that knowledge very well. If I were you, I'd-"

"Where is he?!" Kairi demanded, having to use sheer will to keep her Keyblade from appearing in her hand, as it reacted to her emotions. But Mr. Hanekoma seemed like a nice guy, if not just a little over stressed after whatever had apparently happened to him.

"I think he's heading towards the Shibuya River to chew J out for giving him the phone. It's a sewer not far from her- Hey!"

"Shibuya River, got it. Nice meeting you!" And thus, Kairi was running all over Shibuya again, but this time she was hoping Sora wouldn't do anything stupid.

…

Thankfully, it didn't take her too long to find him. He was sitting slumped down in front of the entrance to the stinky sewer as it rained, holding the picture just in front of him.

But as Kairi got closer to Sora now, she could tell that at some point since she had seen him last, he had in pencil tried to draw a young Xehanort sitting on their tree—even if the rain was trying to erase it.

"It's hard to believe, isn't it?" Kairi asked as she kneeled beside Sora now. "But once upon a time, Xehanort was just a boy who lived on our island—who probably did sit on our tree, just like that—and had a destiny not too different from ours."

"And I… hate him," Sora finally admitted now, with a grimace on his face, as well as rain sliding down it that made it look like he was crying. "Though I- I'm trying not to now. But the fact that I do- Kairi, what does that make me?" Sora asked his girlfriend, as he looked up at her with real fear in his eyes.

But Kairi could only see the same boy with an open heart, who she had told not to change all those years ago (a boy who hadn’t)—as she pushed his bangs back from his face and sat down beside him. "Someone who's honest, and doesn't let his fears define him, but rather faces them. And someone who is still willing to give chance after chance to someone even like Xehanort.

"And you know… we’re now aware that reincarnation is possible through Kingdom Hearts… maybe one day in facing your fears like you are now, you're overcoming them. And maybe one day, you'll meet Xehanort again. A new Xehanort. But now you won't see him as someone worthy of hate, but of friendship. If anyone could do that, it would be you, Sora."

"Heh. Thanks, Kairi," the Keyblade's chosen said blushing, as he stood up now and pulled Kairi up with him. And then she was taken aback once more for the day as he took the moment to peck her on her cheek.

It seemed that she might have her romantic moment, after all.

“Sora, what was that fo-” Kairi started, with her hand covering up where Sora’s lips had touched.

But before she could dwell on it too much, Sora was swiftly changing the subject. And as Kairi smiled softly, she decided that that was probably the best. For now. "Let's meet up with Riku and go home… but let's use your way, with the armor and everything. I'm done with things being broken today. I want to build." (2)

Now it was Kairi's turn to flush as she took Sora's hand, while she prepared to summon her Glider.

What she said now was something she had said about two years ago, but that time it hadn't stuck. This time, in her heart of hearts, she knew that it would and she and Sora and Riku would never be separated again, no matter what they faced together. "Yes, let's go home."

Author's Note: (1) Sora is using his “Scrap and Build” technique here, as seen from the KHIV trailer.

(2) Though there is, of course, a “build” part of Sora’s “Scrap and Build” power, here he’s saying he wants Kairi to take them back to Riku with her glider (which I’m guessing in this story, Sora never learned how to make), because he’s basically recognizing how Kairi is one who always builds and fixes things here (as she just helped him to do, in repairing his view of Xehanort), as a Princess of Heart and who he always views as home, to be honest. I hope you all enjoyed it. Happy Kairi Day!

Edit: Mr. H has recently gone through Neo TWEWY. That’s his deal.