#rip kairi you will be missed

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

PROPAGANDA

Rose Propaganda

"We saw her character arc in reverse!! We first saw all the good she did and then learned of her terrible actions in the past. If her story was told the other way around, it would have been a great redemption arc. Yes, she did some terrible things, but she had no choice. She did everything she could to stop the colonization of earth peacefully buy nothing worked. Blue and yellow diamond just didn't listen to her and when they did, THEY were the ones who made the zoo and shit. Rose wanted to free them but couldn't get to them after the war! And with the corruption, there's no way she could have known that'd happen. There's so many things she wanted to do but just couldn't. And with spinel, yes it was shitty to leave her alone for so long, but again, between running her court, running the rebellion, dealing with earth, she likely wasn't a very high priority and like with the zoo, there was no way to get to her after the war since the galaxy warp was destroyed. And don't forget, she was practically a child around this time. You're saying you didn't do any stupid, selfish, or harmful things as a kid? She learned from her experiences and grew, we just saw that growth in reverse, leaving us as viewers with a poor perception of her."

"Rose Quartz is Steven Universe’s dead mom. Initially, she’s set up as sort of an ethereal perfect figure who everyone misses and compares him to. Later we get to see more of her backstory and discover that she’s actually like, a person, with flaws, who has done some bad things, but she did those bad things largely in the course of trying to escape an abusive home life and save the people and planet that she fell in love with. It’s very clear that despite her flaws she was trying to do the right thing and that she deeply cared about others. Unfortunately, a woman who was not a Perfect Martyr was way too much for the Steven Universe fandom to handle. She pretty much set off the wave of SU crit blogs because these people were furious either that she had taken violent measures to solve her problems, that she hadn’t taken violent enough measures to solve her problems, or both somehow. Lots of “Why didn’t she just murder her abusive parental figures?” Lots of “She was evil for having a baby even though she knew she’d die in childbirth!” Lots of “She should’ve been able to protect everyone from a magic nuclear weapon with the power of love somehow.” Lots of “She shouldn’t have rebelled (even though not rebelling would’ve meant the destruction of Earth) because her abusers retaliated and that’s her fault.” LOTS of people drawing her as stick thin even though she was fat in the show. People treated her like she was on the same level or even worse than her abusive parental figures who were also the main villains of the show. It was unbearable to witness."

Kairi Propaganda

"The Kingdom Hearts game series is about Mickey Mouse battling the forces of Darkness with an alliance of fashionable anime boys. Kairi is a major character, and one of the few female characters. She is part of a trio of childhood best friends, with the protagonist Sora and their other friend Riku (who had a villain arc and then a redemption arc). Though Kairi is constantly and clumsily sidelined by the canon narrative, she arguably has more backstory going on than any other major characters. She is a refugee from another planet. She implicitly lost her beloved grandma at five years old in the traumatic destruction of their hometown. She was kidnapped and experimented on by an evil wizard-scientist—she escaped thanks to having a magic charm that basically teleported her to her soulmate(s). Then she had to adjust to living on a new planet and being adopted by a new family. In the very first game, when she's 14, she turns out her pure heart is one of 7 in the entire universe to be free of Darkness—she shows a full emotional spectrum of fear, sadness, frustration, defeat, but she isn't vulnerable to corruption. In KH2, she becomes one of the Chosen Ones who wield a magical weapon called a Keyblade. She loves her friends very much, and she has the unique talent to instantly recognize them even when they've been transformed into monsters. She has saved them several times with nothing but the Power Of Love in her heart randomly manifesting in, like, telepathy and teleportation and resurrection—she doesn't even consciously know that she has powers, her love is just so great that it's accepted as a tangible force of nature. She is frustrated and ashamed by her role as a damsel in distress, and she wishes to be stronger and combat-capable so that she join her male friends on their adventures instead of waiting around where it's safe. Also she was kidnapped by an evil assassin clown who's ten years older than her, and then they became friends. NOT ONLY does the fandom plug its ears and claim there is nothing interesting about this character and no potential in her story—Kairi has been demonized by the fandom for about 20 years. Somehow Kairi is useless and boring while also being a Mary Sue at the same time. She was called a bitch and a slut and a whore. She was hated for wearing too much pink and wielding a girly weapon with a floral design. She was criticized as a slut for wearing a short skirt, and for THE PLAYER being able to manipulate the camera into a contrived angle to look up her skirt to see her panties in the first edition of KH2. You can find nearly 20-year-old fanfiction and fanart of her being twisted into an evil schemer driving her friends apart, and of her being gleefully brutalized and insulted. Haters STILL comb for every crumb to make elaborate anti-canon theories about why she's an agent of evil, even though canon has FIRMLY ESTABLISHED for TWENTY YEARS since the very beginning that she's THE ONE CHARACTER incapable of growing Darkness in her heart. The theory is that she exists only as a puppet sent by the main villain to sabotage her friends (the plot for two out of the four main female characters) for all ten years of their friendship. The theory is that she's been using her powers to force her friends to love her—and their Power Of Friendship that is the EMOTIONAL BACKBONE OF THE STORY, and THE MAJOR FORCE OF GOOD IN THEIR UNIVERSE, and THE MOST CONSISTENT MOTIVATION FOR THE HEROES is all Just Misdirection LOL building up to a shitty Plot Twist. The theory is that she's secretly a custom-manufactured Chirithy (a cute talking animal companion that serves and guides humans)—and not a human girl with her own natural feelings and aspirations. AND THEN after stripping her of every important trait and role, these fans claim they're making Kairi more important and interesting than she is in canon. I don't know what causes the fandom to so desperately hate a sweet 14-year-old girl who literally canonically never did anything wrong."

Round 3 Propaganda:

"'m sorry that so many KH fans have missed the theme of "trio" always being the heart of the series for over twenty years since the very beginning. Yes, the girl character is friends with the two boy characters, and they all cherish each other deeply. I know, this is completely outrageous and shocking. People are like: "Sora cares about Kairi, but he never said it was romantic. Kairi is the one forcing her romantic intentions on Sora." Yet Kairi never explicitly said that her feelings for Sora are romantic! So by this logic, Sora and Kairi express the same amount of romantic feelings: none! They could both have friendly feelings for each other, without any romance! But some anti-Kairi people just go out of their way to believe that Sora is a pure angelic being without yucky mushy love-dovey feelings for Kairi, whereas Kairi is the pushy incel harlot forcing her squishy womanly marriage scheme on poor innocent Sora. Even though neither of them shows more or less romantic interest than the other! Don't even get me started on how many Sora/not-Kairi shippers will claim that Sora's canonically reality-warping love for Kairi could be friendly love without romantic love! BUT THEN they'll turn around and claim that Sora doesn't have romantic feelings for Kairi therefore Sora must have stronger and more important love for His One True Romantic Partner. So which is it?? Friendly love is lesser than romantic love? You want to break stereotypes about love, while also following the stereotype that glorifies one true romantic partner above all other love? No force of love exceeds Sora and Kairi's love in the entire series—friends or romance, it's just facts that their connection is equally strong or stronger compared to all bonds between other characters. You can say that Sora and Kairi don't have confirmed romantic feelings—but any claim that someone else is above Kairi in Sora's heart is a lie. (Riku could be on the same tier, but not above.) The girl character is important, and her feelings are powerful and beautiful—DEAL WITH IT, FANDOM!"

[z3rinn]

# #. KINGDOM CALLING !!

Being a Keyblade Wielder you thought you'd have seen everything by now. But you never expected to end up in a world where the villains you defeated were worshipped.

more twst x kh content because i’ve been hyper fixated on it for the past few months T_T speaking of, the reason I've been gone for so long is because I’ve now got a fic in the makings- using this exact concept! it’s posted on my wattpad and quotev, but I’m also debating if I should put it on this site… it’s quite long though! lmk if you guys think I should :]

Twisted Wonderland was weird.

You thought you’d have seen everything by now. Being a Keyblade Wielder, your job was to travel across worlds, defeating the darkness and hate spread by those willing to conquer.

You’d experienced stories and magic you could barely comprehend, standing on the sidelines as you watched fairytales play right before your eyes.

Creatures and supernaturals were considered friends, being far different from the monsters you imagined them to be. Even talking animals were a common thing now, having traveled with Donald Duck and Goofy for a better part of three years now.

You never thought you'd miss them.

Your life back on Destiny Islands was simple. Back there, you had a home; with small rowing boats and hammocks on the tiny island a quick swim away. You had proper food, with star shaped fruits said to bind your soul with your loved ones. Most importantly- you had your best friends; Sora, Riku, and Kairi— all eccentric yet lovable characters that held your heart. You would do anything for them.

The island was a sanctuary, a place for comfort and familiarity. If you had known what you did now, you would've trapped yourself there, basking in the warm sand and cool water brushing across your body. But then, being young and immature, you just wanted to leave.

Three years have passed since then. Years full of mystery and surprise.

You had undergone many things on your journey; battling against Heartless and monsters. Falling down rabbit holes and encountering princesses every which way you turned. Meeting leaders of all kinds of worlds, binding your hearts to create everlasting friendships. You had even sided with villians, willing to set aside your differences to accomplish your goals.

It was odd… working with Maleficent.

At one point you even had your heart stolen. Ripped away from you to create a husk. And that was just the surface.

You thought you had seen everything by now....

But Twisted Wonderland was weird.

Everything happened so suddenly; kicking open an overly fancy coffin ( far different from the ones Jack Skellington used ) only to be met by a creature that looked oddly like Stitch. But before you could ask anything, he gave chase, demanding you give him your robes— how did you even get these on?

Panic stricken, you ran. Running across classrooms, hallways, and courtyards- all while trying to get away from the cat.

Questions and concerns began to gush through your mind. How could you have gotten here? Where was everyone?

And where were you?

The next thing you knew, you were in a regal library, cornered by the monster. Floating books and dancing lanterns surrounded you, all approaching with intrigue. They all seemed to be observing you, like they were anticiping something.

Blue fire brushed across your skin, the flames flickering against your robes. You realized they were waiting for a spell, like they knew you would cast it before the thought could even pop into your mind.

Just as you raised your hand, getting ready to summon your Keyblade, a whip wrapped around the cat.

Both of you jumped, eyes darting to the double doors, finding a crow-looking man standing there. He looked oddly disappointed. Your eyes immediately narrowed, hands tensing.

Just looking at him made you feel on edge.

He was radiating darkness.

His golden eyes seemed to be staring right into your soul, gazing deep and pulling you apart from the seams. They pierced through your own. Entrancing. Like they were studying and discerning your moves. You didn't like them.

They looked like a villians.

You were wary of the man, raising a brow when he introduced himself. Crowley was his name; Descendant of a Hero. An odd name for someone whose heart seemed so full of darkness. He led you to a chamber room, surrounded by floating coffins and magic. Dark energy overfilled the room, whispers and cackles echoing from robed figures as they eyed your form.

You thought back to Organization XIII.

You didn't like robes all that much anymore.

They were traumatizing.

Crowley huffed, pushing you in front of— the magic mirror? Was that the one The Evil Queen used?

The mask in the mirror spoke, blank eyes narrowing at you as if you'd attack it at any second. Of course, it had every right to be afraid. Your friend literally threw a giant key at it once. Hopefully it could get passed that though, and you could ask it how you got here?

It bullshitted something about you not having a soul, ( you had a strange inkling it was being petty but whatever ) but before it could finish, the cat broke free.

He yelled, claiming he was strong enough to be at this school, and that he deserved your spot. You tilted your head at his outburst. Was that all he wanted? You gladly would've given your spot to him. You weren’t meant to be in this world in the first place. Hopefully you’d be out of here soon.

You had Heartless to go fight.

You had to go find Sora.

A quick mishap occurred, with Grim ( you remembered his name ) setting the room on fire. Apparently he was trying to show off his magic; an odd way to do so but you digress. A red haired boy chased after him, along with a boy with glasses.

Their magic was strange, coming out of a jeweled pen of all things.

Wind magic was casted, similar to your own Aero spells. Water attacks were aimed at it, easily dousing the blue flames. It was honestly amazing, watching so much magic come out of a tiny pen.

The redhead stopped in front of the cat, pointing his pen at him with narrowed eyes. Your own widened as he shouted a curse.

Off with your head.

That sounded awfully familiar.

…

Crowley was going to kick you out.

The magic mirror- or rather the dark mirror- explained that you didn't have a home to go to. You guessed it was because Destiny Islands was a whole other world, and simple mirror travel wouldn't be able to reach that far.

No matter, you could simply contact Donald or Riku on your Gummi phone and go home.

But of course, the first time a phone specifically made to communicate between worlds doesn't work is when you need it most.

So you did the only thing you could.

And showed him your Keyblade.

He muttered something to himself, widened eyes never leaving the blade in your hand. His feathers ruffled in surprise and intrigue, the slight curl of them being… strange. 

It was as if they were smiling.

Your eyes flickered to his own- noticing his scary… intense gaze.

You didn’t dare break contact, being far too focused on those piercings eyes. 

Those haunting, golden eyes. 

Eyes that looked just like Xehanorts.

The Headmage led you to a rundown cabin, home to a variety of ghosts and cobwebs. The building reminded you of the ones in Halloween Town; rundown with mischievous creatures inhabiting the spaces. These ghosts just looked like marshmallows.

You let out a low sigh, allowing yourself to fall on the dusted couch in the lounge. Debris flew up under your weight, flying into the air before dissapting. Your gaze was focused on the ceiling above, dazed as rain droplets fell to your cheeks and the wooden floors below.

The building was silent, aside from the rain. Wind blew against cobwebs, flying past your face and sticking to the rotting wood. Splinters and jagged pieces spiked up, parts of the walls ripped apart from age and student endeavors.

It was lonely here.

You didn't have anyone in this world.

Not even Jiminy fucking Cricket.

You hadn’t been alone in a long time.

The door creaked open, "Myah- it's really pouring out there!"

...

Twisted Wonderland.

That's what this place was called.

A world very befitting for its name.

Everything about this world was off— or at least— Night Raven College was.

Students seemed to love and adore the beings you had tried so desperately to keep away. They had dorms dedicated to them, embracing their darkness and allowing themselves to fall under its curse. Darkness that you had to get rid of.

Of course, they didn't actually know about the dangers you faced, finding these villians to be great and kind. They didn't know of the death and tragedy caused- the mistakes you had to fix.

It was strange though. Worlds weren't supposed to know of one another, otherwise chaos could ensue.

So why was Twisted Wonderland a combination of them all?

You suppose that's how this place got its name.

Everything in this world was twisted. Villians were considered heroic; great and all mighty beings that you and Sora definitely didn't beat.

While in the botanical gardens you sometimes laugh, imagining Leona's face if you told him you helped kill Scar. He gives you weird looks, telling you to shut up and go back to sleep. You try. It doesn’t work.

It wasn't until the Riddle incident did you realize why you were sent to this world. Darkness and hatred had been accumulating in the corners of this realm, seeping into the depths of people's hearts.

It was at times like this that made you miss Sora.

You turned over on your bed, eyes focused on the ceiling above. Moonlight seeped in through the wooden cracks, bits of the glowing celestial body peeking in. It was almost speaking to you, luring you towards it with the promise of comfort.

Kingdom Hearts.

Your eyes shut, turning away from the beckoning moon.

Well whatever. You had another long day ahead of you.

…

Thoughts? This was just a quick wip that I made in like an hour lolll. I’m thinking of doing another part tho, where we dive into character interactions and such. Rlly wanna write for Silver and a KH! MC!

[evenmorebeetles]

KH is my newest interest, so I wrote a short thing about Riku being sleepy and sappy over his partners xoxo

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (no spoilers for any specific game)

Relationship: Sora/Riku/Kairi

Additional Tags: Domestic fluff, Riku POV

Rating: General Audiences

Wordcount: 585

Sora was probably the deepest sleeper Riku had ever met.  Once his head hit the pillow, everything around him ceased to matter, and he was out like a light.  From there, it was near impossible to wake him without liberal use of pots and pans or, on one occasion, a trumpet.  On days where they had somewhere to be, this was exasperating at best and at worst made Riku want to rip his and/or Sora's hair out.

But that morning, there was nowhere for them to be.  Of course, that didn't stop Kairi from abandoning them in favor of finding something to eat, but it left Riku and Sora in bed for the time being.  Riku had been awake for a decent while, not quite one to rise with the sun but leagues ahead of Sora, who was still drooling on Riku's arm.  Riku wouldn't miss the chance to mock him for it later, but in the moment, it just made his heart clench with an impossible fondness.

How could it not, when the sunlight filtering in through the curtains turned Sora's already tanned skin golden?  When his face was slack and peaceful in rest?  When, despite how utterly conked out he was, he still occasionally nuzzled into Riku's embrace?  Riku really never had a chance.

He lifted his arm from around Sora's waist to swipe the pad of his thumb across Sora's cheek, the movement steeped in reverence.  From there, he cupped his palm around the side of Sora's neck, feeling Sora's hair between his fingers and his steady pulse under his skin.  Riku dipped into the pool of his collar bone, caressed the ridge of it, trailed over the freckles on Sora's bare shoulder and arm.  When his hand caught the edge of the blanket, fallen to Sora's elbow, he pulled it up to protect Sora from the slight morning chill.

"You're still in bed?" Kairi asked from the doorway.  She clicked her tongue teasingly as she entered their bedroom and took a seat behind Riku on the bed.  "And you call us lazy."

Riku elbowed her gently, causing her to fold in on herself with giggles.  "Shut up," he muttered and scooted closer to Sora in an attempt to hide his smile.

Kairi took the opportunity to fill in his voided space, stretching herself along the line of his back and surrounding him in blissful warmth and the fruity scent of her soap.  She propped herself up on one arm so that she could lean over Riku's shoulder and rest her cheek on his.  "He's so pretty, isn't he?" she asked dreamily as she reached out with her free hand to brush back a lock of hair that had fallen over Sora's nose.

Maybe a little, if I squint, Riku would have said if Sora could hear him, just to be able to laugh at whatever insult got thrown back at him.  It was just him and Kairi, however, and maybe Riku could be a bit of a sap when he himself was still decently sleepy, so all he said was "Yeah," in the same tone that she'd asked the question in before grabbing Kairi's wrist and drawing it to his chest to hoard more of her touch to himself.  He felt the edge of her smile press into his face, but she made no comment as she indulged him and they both pretended, just for the moment, that she wouldn't snitch the entire gooey-sweet interaction to Sora when he woke up.

[kittyt-hexxed]

Love Will Remember

Valkyrie | Kairi Imahara x Wraith | Renee Blasey

Word Count: 30k

Tags: Season 9 "Legacy" Medusa Vine Crisis, Retrograde Amnesia Recovery, Recovered Memories, Lost Love, Yearning, They Were Married But Wraith Doesn't Remember, Flashbacks, Blood and Injury, Falling to death, Near Death Experience, Past Brutal Murder, Medical Procedures, Wraith Preforms a Cesarean Section, Brain Surgery on a Child, Canonical Asshole Anita Behavior, Wraith | Renee Blasey-specific PTSD Triggers, Valkyrie | Kairi Imahara is a ride-or-die

Summary: Falling blindly to her death from Olympus with no jump kit is not the way Wraith expected to die. At least, until she’s saved by the new Legend, Valkyrie, and her whole life is changed.

“Kairi?” Her mother’s voice sounds through the house, “Kairi, for the love of God, where are- Oh… Honey, what’s wrong?” She hears her behind her, but Kairi can’t look away from the picture in her hands.

Her wedding picture.

It’s funny how the world works. The copy she kept on her ship got lost during an escort trip and she couldn’t find it. She tore her ship apart searching for it when she noticed that it was missing and broke down when she couldn’t. That had been months ago. Months ago. With the amount of times she’s washed her clothes since then she would have found it. But what’s the chance the same photo falls out of her jacket pocket after she gets contacted by none other than General Williams? It was like a sucker punch to the gut as her eyes followed it fluttering to the floor. Her two worlds collided as the date on the calendar made her stomach twist uncomfortably. 

So now here she is sitting on the floor of her bedroom, finally having the courage to go through the box she kept tucked away in her closet. The box contained things that made her heart constrict so painfully she wanted to rip it out and stomp on it until it stopped beating—her wife’s wedding dress which she took out and draped across her lap, breakable gifts her wife had given her, other photos and documents she didn’t want to lose, her wedding certificate, a gun her wife had specially made for her as a wedding gift and her wife’s wedding ring.

Memories of her new family.

Her family.

She sighs heavily as her fingers brush over the waxy paper. There was no way she couldn’t have found it if it was in her jacket pocket. How’d she miss it? She’d never know, but she was grateful. It was like her Dad was telling her not to give up hope. That her wife is still out there. What other sign could it be? Her wife’s old superior has contacted her out of nowhere and today of all days?

“It’s today, you know?” She sniffles, raising her arm and wiping her eyes, “Our anniversary.”

“How could I forget?” Her mother’s voice is soft and gentle as she kneels beside her, “It was the happiest day of your life since he died. Mine, too.”

“Are you sure it’s not because you finally got me to wear that kimono?” Kairi jokes, tears running down her cheeks as she finally looks at her mom. She laughs softly, a smile spreading across her lips.

“That was a plus. I spent weeks making it. A beautiful kimono for my beautiful daughter.” She looks at the photo and then sighs, “I miss her, too. I couldn’t think of a more perfect daughter to add to the family. Your father would have loved her.”

“Once I get to Blisk, I’m going to find her.” Kairi says firmly, her gaze going back down, “There’s no way my wife is dead. She could beat Dad in combat if he were still alive! I just… I don’t believe it, Mom.” That phone call will forever be embedded in her mind. The terror she felt, the hopelessness, the grief that swallowed her as the man on the other end of the line said her wife didn’t exist in their system. That she never worked with them. Kairi knew it was bullshit. She has copies of all the paperwork and a photo of her wife’s ID. Call it paranoia after her father’s death, but her wife indulged her and she had come straight home to read them just to soothe her mind. She knew she wasn’t crazy, but the confirmation was something she needed. That started her desperate quest to find out where her wife disappeared to. 

Kairi stares at the happy picture, studying that captured moment in time as if it weren’t her own memory. It had been a sunny day on the farm and everyone came to celebrate. They were eager to celebrate a happy moment. She was so nervous that for once, food was the last thing on her mind and she sipped on a cup of ginger tea to soothe her nerves. But the day had gone smoothly and she had everyone in the community to thank for it. Especially when she saw the pictures they took. This picture is of their first kiss as newlyweds. Underneath an archway of flowers, Kairi stood in her embroidered kimono embracing her wife who was stunning in her beautiful white and lavender dress with her hair—long and blowing free in the breeze. Her gorgeous, long, silky black hair that Kairi spent many nights running her hands through. 

Funnily enough, she had cut her hair after that day. With her graduation coming up and her area placement tests shortly after, her wife had reached her goal. So, Kairi watched her the next morning as she took a pair of scissors and cut her hair.

Then, a week later Kairi sat front row as she graduated with the highest honors a Science Pilot could get. It was the happiest she had been in years.

The picture in her hand is so bright and filled with warmth. You can tell that the kiss they share is not lacking in love. Kairi cradles her wife in her arms like she might blow away in the wind and her wife lovingly caresses her face as if she’s made of porcelain. It makes her heart clench in her chest. She’s going another year without her. 

Kairi subconsciously rubs the ring on her finger. It feels like it’s freezing against her skin. Her eyes drift over to it and she feels tears sting her eyes once again. The ring was a custom job by someone she was owed a favor by. Her ring was a pair of wings with a purple sapphire in the center of a V. Her wife’s ring was another set of wings with a dagger in the middle and a purple sapphire in the center. If she took her wife’s ring and stacked it onto hers, they would fit into each other perfectly. Her wife had cried when she saw them.

After all, purple sapphires were only found on Typhon.

Kairi never told her what she did to get her hands on those, but it was worth it. And she’ll do anything to get her wife in her arms again. A tear escapes her eye and lands on the photo as she leans over and picks up the small ring box, opening it with bated breath. Her wife’s ring glitters in the light, and a choked sob forces its way out of her lips.

“Kairi.” Her mother whispers, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. She falls apart in her arms, sobbing as the grief returns full force as if she had just heard those words all over again. Those damn words that ruined the life she so carefully created.

Her mother pulls away once she calms down enough and gets up to make her some tea. Kairi lets out a long breath, running one hand over the dress, and stares back down at the picture. She’s not going to let the same thing that happened to her father happen to her wife.

“I’m going to find you, Renee.” Kairi promises through her tears, wiping away the teardrop that landed on the photo, “I promise.”

The wind blowing against her face and through her hair feels relaxing to Wraith. There’s never a moment where she dislikes being outside, even now with the situation they’re in. One moment they were celebrating Pathfinder and the next they had been called in to check out some kind of issue that appeared out of nowhere. Gigantic, thick, crawling vines started sprouting out of a ship and a woman who was involved with it is now dead.

Now, Wraith didn’t voice her complaints like some of the others. But, she didn’t understand why she had to be here. She understood calling for Dr.Somers or Natalie. Even Caustic. Shit, Anita is a smart choice since she’s the one leading them all out to this ship. But her? What’s her purpose? Dr.Somers and Anita nearly fist-fought each other over her, and she couldn’t understand why. There was no reason to. Yet they couldn’t come to an agreement and had her choose where to go in the end. So, she chose Anita’s team. It seemed like the most logical choice.

After all, what benefit would she be to Dr.Somers? Maybe another mind to add to the pile, but she’d just hold them back. She’d do much better out in the field, watching their backs as they dealt with… whatever this situation is. It makes her feel uneasy as she looks at the vines. Something about them seems familiar, but she can’t put her finger on it.

“Not without your jump kit, you won’t…” Anita dismisses, crossing her arms with a stern look on her face. Wraith looks to Loba and sighs. She knows that she relies too much on her bracelet, but that is not something she should be doing while they are on Olympus. Especially not when they’re so close to the edge and anything can happen. Wraith takes a moment to think it over and then begins unbuckling her jump kit.

‘I shouldn’t be doing this, but I feel like I shouldn’t be here either.’

‘You chose to be here. It was your decision.’ One of the Wraiths responds.

‘I think I should have chosen to stay in bed instead.’

“Sweet, Anita, but let a girl buy you dinner before going Mama Bear on her.” Loba teases Anita who looks unamused.

“Follow protocol and I might let you.” She replies as Wraith gets her jump kit off.

“Careful, Sergeant. I think you just agreed to a date—”

“Woah, mate!” Ramya notices Wraith walk past with her kit clutched in her arms, “What are you doing? Sarge is already irritated about one of us without our jump kit!”

“Relax, Ram.” Wraith gives her a small smile as all the attention turns to her, “It’s for Loba. I wouldn’t want her to miss out on a date with the Sarge if she plummets to her death.”

“Oh, Wraith, you’re too kind.” Loba coos as she comes up beside her, “But I have my bracelet, I don’t need one.”

“Nope.” Wraith shakes her head, starting to strap the jump kit onto her, “Not taking that chance. Besides, I can sit out here while you guys go in. If I need to portal in and evac you, then I’ll come in but you need this more than I do.”

“Thanks, Wraith.” Anita exhales, looking relieved as the jump kit is secured. Wraith straightens up and shrugs. It was no big deal. Unlike the rest of them, she was the only one who likely could save herself from falling to her death. Her portals were only limited within the Apex Games when the limiter device was strapped to her arm. Other than that, she was free to go wherever she wanted. No one had expected her to be able to portal onto that ship while it was flying, but she surprised them.

Would she try something wild like that because she’s confident she can? No. Would she do it because her life is on the line and she has no other option? Yes. But for now, she was going to find a bench and lay down until they needed her.

“No problem, Anita.” She flashes a smile and takes a step to the side, glancing at Loba to make sure she’s good before she moves away. She gets a nod in confirmation so she feels secure enough to walk away from her.

“Now that that’s out of the way. Let’s get in there—”

‘BEHIND YOU!’ A voice screams in warning. Wraith instinctually phases and feels something pass through where she had been just seconds before. She whirls around to see two vines switching directions and making a beeline for Loba who has no idea they’re approaching her. ‘That’s not just going to knock her over. That’s really going to hurt her if they hit her!’ She thinks in horror.

“ANDRADE! YOUR SIX!” Anita screams from behind her as she exits the void and shoves Loba out of the way of the vines. Wraith dodges one of them, jumps over another, and as she whirls around in the air she gets a glimpse of a group of them coming her way. Her eyes widen as she realizes she can’t do anything to stop them from hitting her, so she braces herself for the impact.

“Shit!” Wraith grunts as she’s hit in the chest, knocking the air out of her lungs with the impact. She goes flying and feels herself hit the ground, crying out as a sharp pain radiates from the back of her skull and her vision goes white. The next thing she knows, she feels the wind whipping around her body and that familiar pit in her stomach she gets when she’s dropping from Dropship. Except she’s not doing a controlled drop where she’s able to see where she’s going and she doesn’t have her jump kit. 

She’s falling blindly through the open sky.

“WRAAAIITH!” She hears her name distantly above her.

‘I gave my jump kit to her only to plummet to my death.’ Wraith chuckles to herself, staring above her with unseeing eyes. ‘I can’t even see to try to portal out of this. Is this really the way I go?’ She doesn’t feel panicked about dying, but she feels a sense of loss. There’s so much more she wants to do. There are so many more questions she has about herself that’ll go unanswered. That’s what pains her—knowing that she’ll be leaving all of that behind. That and the friends she’s made.

The sound of the wind whipping around her makes it a little hard to pick up the sound of jets until they’re close to her. Her vision also begins to clear up as they get louder, sounding as if they’re approaching her.

“Woah!” An unfamiliar voice exclaims as she’s caught in someone’s arms, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you!” Wraith turns her head in the direction of the voice and can make out a very blurry figure. Instinctually, she brings her arms up and clutches onto the woman holding her. Her only lifeline. The only thing keeping her from falling to her death. What are the chances she falls off Olympus into a woman’s arms? The statistics on that have to be like 0.001% or something, right? This is nothing short of a fucking miracle.

“You saved me…” Wraith breathes out, trying to see her better through the blurry colors that make up her face.

“I’m glad I did.” The woman responds, “It’d be a shame if I missed the chance to meet a beautiful woman like you.”

“Well, you didn’t… miss your chance.” Wraith feels her face warm and her vision clears up enough that the face in front of her is no longer just colorful blobs.

 “Oh.” She mutters as they merge into a cohesive image. The woman’s eyes move down to her, beautiful deep brown eyes showing concern for her before she looks back up to see where she’s going. ‘She’s… gorgeous.’ Wraith thinks, blinking a few times as her vision blurs in and out.

“Are you okay?” She asks in concern, slowing down and coming to a hover as her eyes move back over to Wraith.

“Um… yeah. I-I just need a minute- to- to sit down, I-I think.” Wraith stutters, her mind feeling foggy now that she’s not falling through the sky, and has to put in the effort to think about herself.

“You should get looked at by a medic. You don’t look too good.” Her gaze softens and Wraith is lucky enough to see it before her vision blurs once more.

“Valk?!” Ramya’s voice sounds.

“Ram!” The woman holding her exclaims happily.

“You two know each other?” Anita joins in, sounding more accusatory than curious, Wraith notes.

“Know her? I gave her wings!” Ramya says proudly.

 Valk – Wraith now has something to call the woman holding her – carefully puts her down and the moment Wraith’s feet touch the dock, she stumbles as if she’s a baby learning to walk for the first time.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Valk grabs her by her shoulders and Ramya puts a hand on her back to stabilize her, “Yeah, no, you’re not walking anywhere.”

“Fuck…” Wraith groans, holding her head as the pain increases, “Not fighting you there.”

“Lemme take a look at ’cha!” Ajay walks over.

“As much as I would love that.” Valk bends down and picks Wraith back up, making her gasp and grab for her again, “We have to get everyone away from these vines. STAT!”

“Wait a damn sec–” Anita protests.

Wraith rests her head against Valk’s chest and feels her eyes get heavy. The world fades away, and she can only focus on the heat radiating from the body against her. She can feel the vibrations coming from Valk’s chest, feel her talking, and then she’s in the air. The wind is brushing against her face and she turns her head and closes her eyes to keep the wind out of them. Sleep tugs at the edge of her mind and her chest burns.

‘Don’t fall asleep.’

‘Easy for you to say.’

‘Stay awake.’

“Hey. Hey, Wraith!” Valk calls her name, and she opens her eyes with some difficulty. She feels herself lowered to the ground, her back rested against something, and she looks up at Valk. The way the light beams down on her and shines through the gaps in her wings, makes her appear to Wraith like one of the angels she read about. Fitting, considering she saved her life.

“There she is.” She says with a smile and Wraith feels her heart flutter, “I’m going to get Ajay. She asked me to grab her and bring her over to you. I’ll be right back, okay?”

Wraith nods slowly, feeling unable to respond verbally. Valk hovers by her for a moment, examining her before nodding in return. She walks a good distance away before Wraith watches her engage the jets and take off to her amazement. She’s never seen anything like it before. It’s nothing like their jump kits. She’s actually flying and not just hovering or getting boosted. She’s genuinely flying. ‘She’s so cool.’ Wraith rests her head behind her, feeling completely sapped of energy. ‘Ramya said she made those. I should ask her how she did it.’ She stares in the direction Valk disappears, wondering what’s going on with the others. She didn’t hear any of the conversation after they brought up the evac, but she wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what they were doing right now.

‘Wake up!’

“Ohhh no ya don’t!” Ajay’s familiar accent greets her as she feels something pinch her chest, “Come on, Wraith. I need ya tuh open ya eyes for me.”

“Good to know I’m not greeting the angels yet.” Wraith jokes weakly, looking up to see Ajay, Makoa, and Loba gazing back at her with concern.

“Glad to see that you’re not a goner, beautiful.” Loba says to her, sounding relieved, “I wouldn’t be able to repay my debt.”

“But you don’t look good, sistah. You’re paler than you usually are!”

“Definitely a concussion, I’m afraid.” Ajay frowns, “D.O.C and I can get you back on your feet, but we gotta get ya back to the hospital an’ get you scanned. Make sure there’s no damage to your head.”

“Oh, good.” Wraith can’t help but mutter bitterly to herself, “More of a reason to call me brain damaged.” However, the sad looks she gets from the two medics show that they heard her.

Movement behind the two in front of her catches her attention. She sees Valk hovering behind the two of them and looking her way. Wraith’s eyes widen slightly as she sees her, taking in the way her body is clearly off the ground, and how effortlessly she seems to be doing that. Valk lifts a hand and gives her a small wave and Wraith returns it. Then she sees Anita approaching with a determined look on her face and tries to pay attention as Ajay fiddles around.

“Hey! We need to talk!” Anita calls out and grabs everyone’s attention, “Like who the hell are you and why are you here?” She demands, staring down Valk like she’s some kind of intruder.

“Name’s Kairi Imahara. Callsign: Valkyrie.” She introduces herself and Wraith shivers hearing her name. Something tingles in the back of her mind with that sentence. She stares at the flying woman, trying to understand why she all of sudden feels… off about her. But her mind isn’t clear enough and her vision still blurs as she tries to focus. ‘I really hit my head that hard.’ She sighs. ‘I’ve had worse head injuries. I’ve cracked my skull open for fuck sakes, but I can’t shake this?’

“You must stay away from the vines. You could have a fatal reaction to them. Starts with bleeding eyes. 72 hours later? You’re in a body bag.” Kairi continues with her warning from earlier. Wraith frowns and looks down at her hands. She was in direct contact with the vines. Does this mean plummeting to her death isn’t the only thing she has to worry about?

“What’s the cure?” Anita questions and Wraith looks up in interest.

“That’s the bad news, Sarge—”

“I didn’t ask for bad news. I asked about the cure.” Anita cuts her off and the look on Kairi’s face makes Wraith feel uneasy, “Cause if you’re right, I got three days to figure out how to survive. So talk fast, New Girl.”

Wraith’s body goes cold and Ajay and Makoa stiffen beside her.

“I…” Kairi trails off and finally lands, her feet touching the ground with a solid thud, “I think it’s better if we have everyone together. That way I don’t have to repeat it. Besides, Wraith needs medical attention.” She points over to her and everyone looks in her direction. Wraith shakily raises a hand.

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fi-” Her lungs burn and she begins coughing. Coughing so hard that her chest constricts and she can’t get any air in. Something hot and wet rises up her throat and forces its way out of her mouth, splattering onto her hand.

Even in the haziness, she can tell it’s blood.

“Oh, shit!” Makoa.

“Dat’s not good!” Ajay.

“We’ve got to go!” Loba.

“Hold on, Wraith!” Kairi. She feels herself getting picked up. When did she close her eyes? It feels like she’s falling. Or… flying?

“Just- Please, hold on!” Kairi begs desperately, her voice cracking and she sounds as if about to cry. ‘She must be a very caring person to get emotional over someone she just met.’ That thought is the last thing on her consciousness as it all fades away.

“I’m assuming you’re my pilot?” Renee asks the teenager hanging out on the dock she was instructed to report to. She’s skeptical, but none of the other ships seem to be ready for takeoff. In fact, the hangar is a ghost town. Likely courtesy of Marder who doesn’t want the base knowing she’s being carted off until she’s gone. 

“Yup. Name’s Kairi Imahara. Callsign: Valkyrie.” The teenager in front of her holds out her hand, “I’m your pilot for this trip. Normally I don’t give my civilian name, but the General insisted. So, call me Kairi. But around others it’s Valkyrie.”

“Renee Hope Blasey. Call me Hope and I’ll kill you.” She shakes her hand and then adjusts the duffel bag on her shoulder, “Aren’t you a little young to be a Carrier-class pilot?”

“Aren’t you a little young to be a grunt?” Kairi raises an eyebrow, crossing her arms as she leans against the doorway. Renee chuckles emotionlessly.

“I’m eighteen. And for your information, I’m not a grunt and I was born into the military.” Renee walks past her, hearing the sound of the door closing.

“Oohh, let me guess. Gridiron legacy?”

“Good one. I’m not like one of those pretentious fucks.” She scoffs and tosses her duffel on the bench next to her, “I’m a base brat. ARES Division. Typhon born and raised.” She turns and smirks at her, relishing in the stunned look Kairi gives her. She’s learned to accept that anyone she mentions that to is going to look at her like she’s a ghost or a saint. So, it became a point of entertainment instead of irritation for her after four years. After all, the number of people born and raised on Typhon can be counted on one hand.

“You’re the Typhon chick?”

“You’ve heard about me?” She raises an eyebrow.

“You’re not the first person I’ve smuggled for Marder.” She shrugs and sits down on the bench, crossing her arms behind her head, “Except they were chatty adults who had a lot to say about the brat Marder was favoriting.”

“Glad to know I’ve got fans.”

“Everyone needs a few.” Kairi grins, “And you are a grunt. I’m escorting you to Gridiron for training.”

“On paper.” Renee rolls her eyes and leans against the wall, “I’ve got more training and experience than my Commanding Officers. We had a training ground on Typhon and the Simulacrum that ran it did her best to make sure almost I died trying to complete the tests. But, Marder wants to do this by the book. So I’m being shipped out.”

“I’d love to hear more about that.”

“Are you going to kiss my ass for it? You and I have a month together until we arrive.”

“Oh, they’re going to hate you at Whitehead.” She laughs and then stands up, “Let me show you where you’ll be sleeping and then we’ll be heading out. I hope you like rations. That’s what we’ll be eating for most of this trip.”

“I love rations.” She grabs her duffle bag and follows her down the hall, “I wish they had prowler ones though. They probably taste better than the beef.”

“You’ve eaten prowler?” Kairi snaps her head in her direction, “What the fuck does that taste like? What possessed you to eat that?”

Renee thinks of her days exploring the Typhon wilderness, “I killed one and wondered what it tasted like. I think you trade your sanity when they make you a genius.” She jokes. 

“Beautiful, a genius, but lacking sanity.” Kairi ticks off on her fingers, “Got it. I’ll keep that in mind. Anything else I should know?”

“I have a horrible temper?”

“Emotional regulation. I’ll file that under the sanity part.” She taps her fingers against her lips, “I figured that with how emotionless your voice sounds. Although, that’s not a bad thing. This sounds like a trip I’ll enjoy.” She grins at her, genuinely sounding happy about it. That makes Renee wonder if this teenager is all there, too.

“I hope you’re getting your money's worth.”

“Well, now that I know you’re the Typhon chick, I’m definitely having him add on a few more zeros!”

Renee smiles to herself, “You know, I think we’re going to get along just fine, Imahara. How old are you anyway?”

“Fifteen.” Kairi stops in front of a door and inputs a code in the keypad, “And before you say I’m too young for this, I was flying my Dad’s Titan at eleven.”

“No. I was going to say that whatever you're after? If you keep up this pace, you’ll reach it eventually.” Wraith leans in the doorway and makes eye contact with her, “You’ve caught Marder’s eye. Keep it. He’s a bastard but he’s got connections.”

Kairi gives her a secretive smile, “No offense, Blasey, but what do you think you are? I get you to Gridiron safe and the sky’s the limit.”

“I guess we’re both using each other then.” Renee smirks and holds her hand out again, “Get me to Gridiron in one piece and I’ll make sure to leave a glowing review.”

“Deal.” Kairi shakes her hand.

“Fuck…” Wraith groans as she comes to. Her body feels like it’s been tumbled through the dryer like a pile of wet clothes. She opens her eyes, hears the steady beeping of her heart monitor, and makes eye contact with Natalie.

“You’re awake!” Natalie smiles happily, “Oh, Wraith, you really scared us!” She grabs her hand and squeezes it.

“Sorry, Nat.” She squeezes her hand back, “I didn’t mean to do that. It was just a concussion. Or, it was supposed to be.”

“You passed out. The new Legend um… Kairi? Said that you were bleeding from your nose and mouth the whole way here. Those aren’t symptoms of the virus, but it freaked her out.” Natalie frowns and Wraith realizes she has been crying from the wet look of her eyelashes, “The doctors said you don’t have the virus, but your concussion is a bad one. You broke your ribs at some point, too, and that is where the blood from the coughing came from.”

“I didn’t notice any of that.” Wraith sighs, leaning back into the pillows, “My pain tolerance is too high.”

“Mm, I do remember you mentioning that.” She nods and then makes a noise as she jumps up, “Oopsies, I forgot about Elliot. One minute! I’ll go and get the Doctor as well!” She scurries from the room and leaves Wraith by herself.

Now that she’s alone, her thoughts immediately drift back to the dream she had before she woke up. It was a strange one. Was it… Was it really a dream? It didn’t feel like one. It felt too real. Too vivid to be a dream. Like when she had nightmares about her time in the facility. She knew those were real memories coming back to haunt her in her sleep. But this? This is a dream about her and Kairi. Teenage Kairi. Why would she dream about that when she only just met the older version of her?

Wraith frowns and plays with the blankets. ‘No. That was a memory. It had to be.’ It feels like it. She balls up the blankets in her hands. ‘Does this mean I know Kairi? That she knows who I am?’ The heart monitor picks up speed and she takes a deep breath. She doesn’t know if she’s getting excited or nervous or both. What if this isn’t a memory? What if it’s some weird concussion fever dream? What if-?

“It’s a relief to see you awake.” Doctor Blaire smiles brightly at her, walking into the room with Natalie, Elliot, and Ajay hot on her heels.

“Hello, Dr.Blaire. I didn’t think you’d be the one treating me.” Wraith greets her, relieved that the one treating her is the same doctor who looks after her during the Games.

“They wouldn’t allow anyone else to care for you, Wraith.” She chuckles, checking over her vitals, “How are you feeling?”

“Like I can’t feel my toes.” Wraith admits.

“That would be the painkillers. They didn’t want me to give you any restorative until you woke up.” She writes something down, “Now, your CT scan came back negative. No cranial bleeding! That’s a good thing. Your chest x-ray showed broken ribs on your mid to lower section. Two managed to puncture your right lung, filling it with blood and collapsing it which is what led to your episode out there.”

“With my condition, shouldn’t I have gone critical much faster?” Wraith furrows her brow and glances at Ajay.

“Makoa and I did what we could to stabilize ya out there.” Ajay chimes in, “It’s t‘anks ta Kairi we got you here in time. She flew you all the way ‘ere.”

“A collapsed lung and filled cavity. You’re lucky to be here.” Doctor Blaire injects something into her IV line, “But, once the restorative gets through you’re cleared. It pays to be a top Legend, hm? Make sure you thank your saviors.”

“I will.” Wraith nods, “Um, so I’m not infected?”

“With the virus? No. All of the bleeding was from the perforation in your lungs. You’re not dying on us anymore, Wraith.”

“What about Anita?”

“Let the restorative take hold and you can head into the conference room.” She gives a sympathetic smile, indicating to the right, “It’s down the hall.” Then she disappears through the doorway and closes it behind her. The lack of information on Anita did not go unnoticed.

“I’m so glad you’re okay!” Elliot bursts out, “They’re getting set up in the conference room right now. But when we heard what happened to you and Anita, everyone freaked out. Dr.Somers started mumbling to herself like she does when she goes into scientist mode and Natalie started-”

“Elliot!” They all chime together, making him stop abruptly.

“Breathe.” Wraith tells him and he takes a deep breath, giving her a worried look.

“What I mean to say is that I was scared I was gonna lose you. What were you thinking?” He crosses his arms.

“I was thinking Loba was definitely going to get herself killed if I didn’t do something, and I was right.” Wraith says dryly, making him wince. “You didn’t see those things. I protected my chest and still got broken bones. If they had hit her, she’d be dead. If I hadn’t given her my jump kit, she’d be dead.”

“Kairi saved you from falling, no?” Natalie tilts her head, sitting on the bed with Ajay.

“And what are the chances of that? What if she hadn’t been there when Loba fell?”

The room is silent. She’s right. The time it took for her to put the jump kit on Loba and everything from there to her falling led to Kairi being in place to catch her. If Wraith had fallen sooner, she might’ve just fallen straight to her death without knowing of the woman’s existence. She didn’t want to think of Loba standing so close, by herself with her back to the unknown, without a jump kit. She wasn’t like Wraith with a sixth sense and her voices as backup. That wouldn’t have gone well.

“Patient: Wraith. You are clear for departure.” An automated voice sounds. She zones back in and realizes that she can feel her body. She flexes her hands, wiggles her toes, and sighs in relief. Ajay is already reaching for her, helping her out of bed while Natalie yanks Elliot out by his ear.

“Ow, ow, ow! Hey!”

“We’ll see you soon!” Natalie winks as they exit. Wraith and Ajay chuckle and they’re quiet as she gets dressed. She feels fine. Maybe a bit hazy still but restoratives don’t help with concussions in the same way they help with other physical injuries. The brain is a completely different matter.

“All good?” Ajay asks once she’s dressed.

“As good as I’ll be.” She shrugs.

“Then, let me take you to the conference room. I’ve got to head out after dat.”

“I appreciate it.”

The walk to the conference room is a quiet one, all because Wraith is caught up with everything going on. Now that she knows she’s okay, her worry for Anita is starting to creep up on her. Out of all of them, she was the one to get the deadly reaction? It’s almost ironic. Anita had been the safest out of all of them. She hadn’t even come into direct contact with the vines like Wraith had, but she’s the one whose life is on the line. Wraith sighs. How is it that she’s always escaping death by the skin of her teeth?

‘Because we don’t fear death.’

‘That’s one way to put it.’ She considers as she reaches the conference room. She says goodbye to Ajay and knocks softly on the door before entering. The tension in the room is so thick if she had her kunai, there’s no doubt in her mind she could cut into it. Her eyes land on Kairi who’s standing at the head of the table with Dr.Somers and Loba. Sitting down in front of her are Elliot and Natalie with an empty chair in between them, likely for her since they both would have wanted to sit next to her. Brooding in the corner is Caustic, looking ever the bit like he wants to be anywhere but here. Wraith silently agrees with him. Not that she doesn’t want to help with saving Anita and these people, but this is the one place she doesn’t think she should be. She’s not a scientist anymore.

“Wraith!” Dr.Somers brightens up when she sees her, “Are ya okay, deary?”

“Nothing a restorative couldn’t fix.” She deflects and takes the empty seat, “What have I missed?” She wanted to get down to it. There was no time to waste.

“Well,” Dr.Somers sighs, “Ya know why yer here. The Legacy Antigen. 203 people have already been admitted with bleeding eyes, and that number is climbing by the minute. If Kairi’s right? We have less than three days to find a cure.”

‘Less than three days. That’s right. We need to make this and distribute it before the clock runs out.’ Wraith zones out. ‘How are we going to do that? We can’t get close to the vines to study them or we’ll risk getting sick.’

“...greatest scientific minds among the Legends, working together to save lives.” Natalie’s cheery voice snaps her out of her thoughts.

“I’m not exactly in touch with my inner scientist these days.” She points out, leaving out the fact that she can’t even remember being a scientist. Wraith looks at Kairi and they make eye contact as she speaks. There’s something in her eyes as she says that—a knowing. A shock goes through Wraith and she finds herself straightening up.

“At least you were one…” Elliot’s voice fades away as they hold eye contact. She can’t look away from her, even as Dr. Somers grabs Kairi’s attention. What was that? Did she see right? She had to… right? Kairi understood what Wraith meant when she said that, but she shouldn’t have. Because she doesn’t know that Wraith lost her memories. Not unless she knew Wraith from before. But even then, sometimes people forget a face when they haven’t seen each other in a long time. How would she know that’s not the case? They would’ve had to be close. Wraith zones out as she stares at Kairi, her vision blurring and the room around her falling away.

“So you’re telling me you remember everything in perfect detail and all you have to do is study it a few times?” Kairi’s voice is filled with curiosity.

“Yes.” Renee lifts her legs and lays across the co-pilot chair, “I really wanted to join my parents in the field as a kid, but I didn’t know the protocol. So, I forced myself to memorize it. The more I practiced, the easier it got.”

“That’s so cool! I’m a fast learner, but not like that. I can only care about things that interest me. Don’t bother asking me about history. Boooring!”

Renee snorts, “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered on that. Any other subject you find boring?”

“Not really.” Kairi looks up at her, lying upside down in her pilot chair, “What area are you planning on enlisting in? You know, since you’re transferring to Whitehead.”

“You’re asking me that knowing Marder is sneaking me out?”

“Yeah, and?” She raises an eyebrow.

Renee sighs, “My personal goal is a Science Pilot, but I'm sticking with the Army. Staying with ARES.”

“The IMC will let you do that? Choose where you want to go?”

“No, but when Marder demands I take up station with him there’s nothing they can do about it. It’s not like I’d tell him no anyway. The Division is my home. My people are there.”

“You have a lot of loyalty to them.”

“I wouldn’t call it loyalty.” Renee denies it, but what would she call it? She grew up in those halls. Knew those people by name. Hell, Marder carried her in his arms as a baby. Her mom and dad lived and died from it. And anyone else would leave and never look back after their home planet explodes. But, not her. If that’s not loyalty, then what is it?

“Love, then?”

“Definitely not.”

Kairi gives her a strange look and then laughs, “You need to think about your emotions more. Because if it’s not loyalty or love, something is keeping you with them. Unless you’re just in denial.”

“I’m not in denial.” She narrows her eyes.

“Dude, I feel like you’re the kind of person to have a crush on someone and go “I really like them but platonically” and misrepresent those feelings.”

“Oh really? Tell me more.”

“Well, I just think you- AH!” Renee kicks her chair and makes her go flying out of it with a loud thud, “Ugh, you could have just told me to shut up.”

“Where’s the fun in that?”

As the teenage Kairi’s voice cuts off, she can hear Natalie and Elliot’s voices going back and forth around her. Her eyebrow twitches and she raises her arm as she tries to reorient herself, knowing that whatever conversation is going on, it’s not the necessary one.

“Enough!” Wraith says firmly, her voice louder than intended and making them jump, “Valkyrie, what are we up against?”

Kairi seems a little startled at being addressed but she collects herself, “I encountered the vines when I found my dad’s Titan… No matter what I tried they wouldn’t come off.” She glances back down at the papers in her hands, “I found research papers in the wreckage and tracked down one of the scientists. They were genetically modifying the vines. Weaponizing them. Called it Project: Legacy. What do you expect from a planet like Typhon?” She looks up and makes eye contact with Wraith as she says it.

Wraith is out of her seat before she stops herself. She grabs a hold of the papers in Kairi’s hands and Kairi doesn’t protest or resist as she takes them. She feels nearly feverish as she scans the page, her grip on the paper tightening as if she’ll die if she lets it go. As if it’ll disintegrate or burst into flames if she so much as lets it slip between her fingertips.

“This thing’s from Typhon?!” She exclaims, the intricate handwriting making her stomach twist, “But those ships aren’t IMC. Or ARES.” Whoever wrote this could have been someone she knew. She can’t look away. She just… can’t. She searches the page for the names of the scientists that were working on the project. She finds it in one of the corners and her eyes hover over a name that makes her brain itch.

“Are you sure you want to join the ARES Division?” Kairi asks, kicking her feet in the sand. She snuck her way to Gridiron to see her, so Renee decided to indulge her.

“I never left. A lot of respectable scientists lost their lives on Typhon. Dr.Kippern was one of them. I looked up to him. He worked closely with my mom and would bring me along to his projects when my mom couldn’t.”

“Doesn’t the Division do inhumane experiments?” She frowns and looks at her.

“How’d you know that?”

“My dad. He was contracted to ARES. I overheard things.”

“Not everyone touches that sector.” Renee picks up some sand in her hand, “You have to have the right credentials for it.”

“Do you?”

“I was born into it.” She responds simply, watching Kairi’s face for her reaction, “That’s my credential. The moment they knew I took an interest in it, I had a scalpel in my hand as soon as I could stomach it. Marder is waiting for me to graduate and return.”

When Kairi doesn’t show a response, she continues, “Does that scare you? That I can be capable of that?”

“No.” Kairi meets her eyes, “My dad was a mercenary. My mom was an assassin before she had me. They were good people but didn’t do good things. You don’t scare me, because I know you’re not a bad person.”

Renee tilts her head, contemplating that, “That’s an intriguing answer.”

Everyone is scared of her. Even here on Whitehead. It’s what she’s used to, being who she is. People are afraid of her mind. Of the fact that she can do things and shove her feelings aside if it means getting the project done. But not Kairi. Those eyes look at her as if she’s the brightest star in the sky. As if she can do no wrong.

“It’s my answer.”

“Do you see anything on there, Wraith? Can you read it?” Kairi asks her, touching her shoulder gently, “I could read some of it, but a lot of it is in scientific terms.” Her voice is deeper than her teenage voice. Wraith nods, feeling a bit startled that she dissociated so suddenly.

“Um, yeah, actually.” She clears her throat, scanning the pages and feeling surprised that she does understand what she’s reading. Sure, someone who isn’t a scientist could pick it up and piece it together, but not very well. She can make sense of it perfectly. From the scientific names of the creatures to the chemical names to the formulas and the compounds they mention. It all makes sense to her.

“They talk in detail about the project, but these first few pages just explain what they’re trying to do.” Wraith tells them, flipping through as she goes along, “I should be able to find out how they mutated the vines in these other pages.”

“Let me hold onto those first ones then.” Kairi holds out her hand.

“Thank you, that helps.” Wraith hands the papers over to her and continues looking over the ones in her hands. There’s an ache in her chest as she does and she gently rubs at her ribs. A soft hiss leaves her lips as a sharp pain radiates from the area, but as fast as it was there it was gone.

“Are you okay?” Natalie walks over and gives her a concerned glance, “Did the restorative not work?”

“It’s likely a wee bit of phantom pain.” Dr.Somers smiles, “She’ll be fine with some rest.”

“What are you up to now?” Natalie asks.

“We’re trying to figure out how they were able to pull this off. It should be here in their notes, but it’s taking a minute to find.” She isn’t really lying about that. These research notes are incredibly detailed, so it’s taking her some time to read through them. It’s just that’s not the only thing. Part of her feels like she recognizes this handwriting. The more she reads it, the more she feels a sense of nostalgia and it kind of freaks her out. Yet, she’s relieved that she’s the one looking at them because it’s typical ARES Division notes. They’re straight to the point and don’t hold anything back.

“They’d need a roadmap. A blueprint. Somethin’ in nature that already has this trait. Find that, dear, and you’ll find your cure.” Dr.Somers chimes in as she reaches the part she’s been looking for. Wraith feels like she wants to celebrate. If there’s one thing she had to hand to ARES it’s how thorough they are. Every detail had to be written down even if it was an accident.

“They had one. A mammoth-class arachnid. Rare, emits a toxic gas from its abdomen.” Wraith says and starts to hear a high-pitched ringing in her ears. She winces, raising a hand to her head as Elliot says something. The lights in the room flare and she squeezes her eyes shut with a whimper.

“What do you want, brat? Calling me on an encrypted line at 2 am will not make me fond of you. I have a presentation in the morning.”

“A Science Pilot? You couldn’t do something cool like Armed Forces?” She jokes. They both knew Renee’s goal was never to be on the front lines. No matter what her COs tried to convince her to do after seeing her scores. Her calling is within the Division.

“I’m hanging up on you.”

“No! No!” There’s the sound of something falling and a soft groan, “What’s your project on? Tell me about it. Maybe it’ll help me sleep.” She continues with a strained voice. Renee has to stop herself from chuckling. That idiot fell out of her bunk.

Renee stops writing and puts her pen down, “You called because you can’t sleep?”

“Yes?” Kairi answers sheepishly.

She sighs and rearranges some papers around, “Are you scared of spiders?”

“What? No. Who’s scared of spiders?” Kairi sounds almost insulted that she asked her that question. Renee smiles as she stares down at her sketch of the creature.

“You might change your mind after I tell you about my area admission project. I won’t go into details of the actual project, but there are these mammoth-class arachnids on Gaea called Carthage spiders. Nasty fuckers. I’m going to be doing my presentation on them.”

“...That’s it?” She whines, “You’re not going to elaborate?”

“Do you want to sleep tonight?”

“Well, yeah! That’s why I called you! The last time you talked about a project, I was out!”

“You won’t sleep if I tell you how it hunts down and kills its prey. Considering they’re big enough to eat a human, I’m saving you from nightmares.”

“You know, sometimes I think you don’t like when I call.”

“What gave that away, Kai?” Renee puts her phone on speaker and picks up her pen, “Is it all the times I’ve hung up on you? Or the times I’ve left you talking to an empty room?”

“Neither. You sound bored when we talk.” Kairi sounds as if she’s pouting, “I can deal with that other stuff. You’re busy, Miss Genius Scientist-in-Training. But, do I bore you?”

“You want a genuine answer?” Renee rests her chin in her hand, feeling amused with the direction of this conversation. Leave it to Kairi to keep her on her toes and she’s not even on the same planet as her. She didn’t expect to end up with such an interesting investment when she shook her hand.

“Can you even lie to me?” There’s amusement in her voice, “Yeah, I do.”

“Most things bore me. You are not one of them. I’m sorry my tone of voice hurts you. I’ll… work on it. I guess.”

“YES! HAHAHA! I knew it! You care about me!” She celebrates on the other side of the phone. Renee can picture her excitedly dancing around her little bedroom on her ship and she shakes her head with a fond smile.

“Goodnight, Kairi.” She says, her finger hovering over the end call button.

“No, don’t hang-!”

“Wraith?” A soft squeeze of her shoulder, “Is the light bothering your eyes?”

“Huh?” She opens her eyes and turns her head to see Kairi looking at her in concern. Those beautiful, brown eyes glimmer in the light. Her breathing catches and she looks around realizing that they’re the only two left in the conference room. How had everyone left without her noticing? There’s nothing anyone can do without her picking up on it.

“I noticed you rubbing your eyes as everyone rushed out to get the things they’ll need for the trip. We’re going to get ready to go and then come back to go over everything one last time. I wanted to check and make sure you’re okay before I go prepare.”

“I…” Wraith doesn’t know what to say. Hey, I think I remember memories of you and me from when you were a teenager. That definitely makes her sound crazy. But, she wants to know if these are real memories. Because if they are then Kairi is a link to her past. Someone who is right in front of her that she can actually talk to and get information from.

“…I’m not feeling very well.” She lies, anxiety suddenly taking over, “I think they didn’t give me the right dose of the restorative. My head hurts and my eyes are still sensitive.” She crosses her arms. 

“You should get some rest when this is all over. You deserve it.” Kairi smiles softly, stroking her shoulder, “I heard what you did for Loba. That was sweet of you.” A warmth rises to Wraith’s cheeks and she flusteredly glances to her feet.

“Yeah, well, if you hadn’t been there to catch me, I’d be dead. So, thank you for saving me.” Wraith hopes she can’t see her blushing, “Not just from the fall, but for carrying me to the hospital, too. You saved my life.” She rests her hand on top of Kairi’s and gives it a small squeeze. Normally she’s not this touchy. Not with people she’s just met. But for some reason, it feels natural to do it with her.

“I’d do it again, without question. Besides, I can’t turn away a damsel in distress.” She jokes, grinning at her, “What kind of hero does that make me?”

“There’s a hero here?” Wraith looks around the room like someone else is going to jump out at them.

“Hey!” Kairi playfully hits her, puffing out her cheeks, “That’s no way to treat your savior!” She gasps dramatically, making them laugh. Wraith gets a good look at her while they do. Admiring the way she looks while her head is tilted back in laughter, her eyes squeezed shut with mirth. There’s this vibrancy the joy brings to her that makes the new Legend glow and it’s something that Wraith finds herself really liking.

“I’ll treat you when you come back then.” Wraith promises, resting a hand on her hip, “You get that cure and I’ll take you out to dinner. How about that?” She smiles, hoping she agrees to it.

“Oh? Dinner?” She perks up with an adorably excited expression, “I can eat. But, I don’t know any good places around here. Think you could show me around?” Kairi asks casually, crossing her arms with a tilt of her head.

“Yeah, I know this great place.” She nods, thinking about this curry place Ramya took her to, “If you can handle level five spices.” She eyes her. The first time Ramya took the Legends to the restaurant, they didn’t know what to expect so they let her order for them. Big mistake. Wraith had no issue with the spices. She enjoyed every second of it but the others who couldn’t handle it had the worst time. After the mechanic had her laugh she ordered them mild dishes but they swore to never return to the restaurant again. Wraith took advantage of that and made it one of her regular spots. The owners and her are close and she’s also picked up their language. An arena coming here only made them more enthusiastic about her learning.

Kairi laughs, “I can handle that. Food is kind of my thing. There isn’t anything I can’t handle when it comes to that.” She brags, winking. That makes Wraith laugh and shake her head.

“You’re something, Kai.” The nickname tumbles from her lips without her realizing it, “I shouldn’t keep you any longer, so let me give you my number before I forget. I can’t contact you if I don’t have it. Unless you’ll catch me if fall from another floating city?” She takes out her phone and unlocks it, quickly navigating to her contacts and pulling it up for her. She flips it around and hands it over to her, their fingers brushing against each other in the exchange.

“If you fall, I’ll be there to catch you.” Her eyes flick up as her lips twitch into a smile, “But, I’d prefer not having to save your life for a second time so soon. So please call me when you’re all dolled up and ready to go.” She saves her number, texts herself, and hands Wraith her phone back.

“Dolled up? I think you’re expecting too much. I’ll be going like this after we’re done here.” She chuckles and then her smile drops and she looks at her shoes, “Anita needs this cure. All these people do. They’ll die without it.” She sighs heavily. Kairi puts a comforting hand on her shoulder and Wraith meets her gaze.

“Then, I’ve got to get my ship prepared so we can head out.” Kairi gazes at her softly, caressing her shoulder as if she’ll break if she touches her too hard, “You need to go rest. You may have been given strong medicine but you’re not unbreakable. Stop thinking things will fall apart if you’re not helping. Take a minute, please.”

“I will.” She nods, the atmosphere in the room feeling soft and sweet, “You be careful out there. Carthage spiders are no joke. I want you back in one piece if we’re going out to eat together. I’d hate to lose such a handsome face so fast.” She impulsively runs her fingers under Kairi’s jaw.

“Pfft, I’m not scared of spiders.” Kairi grins, her cheeks a soft hue of pink as she backs away and heads for the door, “I’ll bring you back that cure. I promise… Oh! Do you like flowers?”

“I’ll hold you to that. And, yeah, I do.” Wraith nods, “Why?”

“I was curious about whether or not the mysterious Wraith liked flowers is all.” She grins, shrugging as she pauses in the doorway to wave, “I’ll see you when we return.” Then she’s gone and Wraith finds herself even more curious about this new teammate. 

She stares at the doorway for a moment and realizes that she feels fuzzy but in a good way. Not the “I’m sick and need to lay down” way she’s been feeling since she woke up. That short conversation with Kairi cheered her up faster than she thought possible. It’s strange how she’s feeling so out of character with her. ‘She really is handsome.’ She thinks, remembering how her whole demeanor seemed to brighten as she laughed. Wraith grins down at the dark screen of her phone. When was the last time she’d had a thought like that about someone and it was not simply an observation, but a genuine compliment? ‘Wait.’ Wraith freezes, tightening her grip on her phone. ‘That wasn’t me just thinking she looks good?’ A vibration coming from her hand has her looking at her phone. ‘Ajay?’ She shakes her head to clear it and with a quick swipe, she opens her phone to view the message.

Ajay: T’ink you can grab a contact fa me?

Any distraction is a welcome one. She doesn’t want to think about the visions, flashbacks, hallucinations, or whatever is going on with her right now. Especially not with how they’re starring the newcomer and making her feel… different. So there’s no hesitation on her end to reply.

Wraith: Whose?

Kairi wasn’t sure how she kept herself together until she got onto her ship. It must have something to do with the years she’s had to develop her skills in keeping her composure. But, her legs gave out once the doors closed and she slid down to the floor with an audible thud. The pain in her ass is a minor inconvenience for the thoughts circling through her mind.

Dazed, she stares ahead and slowly looks down at her hands. She rushed up to the ship to warn the group taken out to explore it, but she never imagined catching someone falling to their death in the process. It took her mind a moment to register who was in her arms and once she did, she never wanted to let her go. Kairi lets out a long breath and flexes her fingers. She held her. Her wife.

Renee clutched onto her body desperately as she flew her back up. Kairi could tell that something was wrong with her how she stared unfocused at her and her words came out all slurred. It worried her. She half expected her to start bleeding from her eyes right then and there, but she knew the signs of a concussion. Renee only proved her right when she stumbled after she put her down. Then she was back in her arms and cuddled up to her and Kairi thought she’d melt on the spot. Oh, how she missed her. She had to fight the urge to lean down and bury her face in her hair. They had to get out of there. For once, Kairi was the one supporting her sick wife and she couldn’t help but feel amused. 

That was until she started coughing up blood.

All she could focus on was the blood. It was coming out of her mouth and her nose, and she had fallen unconscious with nothing bringing her back. Kairi had never run faster. She was not about to lose her. Not when she just found her again. Not when she finally got close to her. She pushed her jetpack to its limit to get to the hospital and practically screamed her voice sore to get her help in time. The other Legends in the hospital had looked at her crazy at first until they realized she had Renee in her arms. Kairi had almost knocked out the first person who tried to take her from her arms before she realized it was Mirage. He backed off just as a nurse arrived and she followed after them to pace outside of the emergency room doors.

When Renee actually saw her for the first time, Kairi hoped there’d be something there. She hoped she’d look at her and curse her out, call her a brat, or ask her what took her so long. But, Renee walked into the room and there was no acknowledgment. She knew there was something wrong. From the first Apex Games, she could tell that Wraith was her wife. She was every bit of the brutal, wicked beauty she had come to know and love. The mysterious abilities she displayed made her heart palpate in her chest.

Project: Wraith. She knew all about it. There were no secrets between wives.

To be face-to-face with the woman she loves and has yearned for and grieved over for years, only to be looked at with no recognition made her feel weak. But at the same time, Renee flirted with her back there. She flirted with her even though she didn’t remember her. Kairi feels herself blush as she chuckles, slowly pushing herself up off the ground. ‘Not only that, but she called me by my nickname. So that has to mean something.’ She walks to the controls and picks up the picture of them, carefully tucking it into her pocket. She’ll be putting it into her room so she doesn’t lose it on Gaea or have any of the other Legends see it.

“Okay, Kai. You can’t let her down. She’s waiting for you to come back with her favorite toxic flowers and deadly man-eating spiders in time to save an entire city… in exchange for a dinner date. No pressure.” She says to herself as she messes with the controls, getting them set up for the flight. She pauses as she goes to turn on her solar core and laughs.

“I can’t believe I’m going back there…” She flips the switch and locks it into place, letting out a sigh, “Maybe they won’t be as bad this time. I don’t have Renee to save our asses this time if they’re in breeding season. Not unless Caustic knows how to make a stink bomb out of flowers… Although, I doubt he would.” She mutters.

God, the moment she was able to… she was going to kiss Renee until she couldn’t breathe. She knew the kind of woman she had when she lost her. She knew and she missed her. She missed her more now that she finally found her.

She couldn’t wait to come back and go on that date.

It didn’t take Wraith long to sneak out and get the contact information Ajay was asking her for. Emphasis on sneaking out, because if Dr.Somers knew she left she’d be in for a long scolding. That’s why Ajay asked her to do it in the first place. She’s the only one who can get in and out without being spotted. Coming back inside Wraith didn’t expect to see so many people within the hallway, especially not how many were children: teenagers and younger. It makes her heart ache as she weaves through them, looking for any sign of the medic.

“Che!” She calls out to her when she finally spots her. Ajay doesn’t notice her, so Wraith slips into her portal and makes her way through the crowd.

“Ajay!” Wraith says as soon as she pops out next to her, “I got-!”

“Jeez an ages, Wraith, yuh scared me to death!” Ajay jumps, yanking off her headphones. Wraith sheepishly rubs the back of her neck. She should have realized that she couldn’t hear her calling her because of her headphones. That’s typical Ajay.

“Sorry.” She apologizes, “This place is a zoo!”

“More infections ev’ry hour… but yuh got it?”

“Current contact info for one Chico Sawtelle, right here.” She says smugly, holding up the piece of paper for her to see. She’s pretty proud of herself for getting it. As one of the original Legends, people in the entertainment field tend to make it too easy for her. Most of the time, she didn’t even have to smile. They bent over backward to appease her the moment she asked for something. Nicely or not. They liked it better when she was a bit colder though.

Ajay snatches it from her fingers faster than she can blink, “Gotta go! If you see Silva, tell him tuh call me!”

“What do you want with a trashy gossip vlogger?” Wraith asks, more confused than curious about what Ajay’s got going on. It just didn’t seem like something she’d be interested in. But, she doesn’t get an answer. Ajay scurries away without another word leaving her there even more confused. Today is just… not her day.

“Are you a doctor? I’ve been waiting for three hours…” A young girl’s voice sounds from behind her as a soft tap hits her shoulder. But Wraith feels a chill go down her spine and she stiffens as the world seems to warp around her. This only happens in very specific situations.

“Did you hear me?” The young girl’s voice sounds far away.

Wraith blinks and she can practically feel the other Wraith’s presence next to her as if she was physically there.

  ‘FIRE IN THE HOLE!’ She moves before her mind processes it, grabbing the younger girl and pulling her down to the floor. There are screams from around them as ceiling tiles come crashing down and the hallway fills with dust and debris. She keeps herself positioned over the girl until it stops, carefully checking her over once it is.

“Are you okay?” She asks. The girl nods.

“Was that a bomb? Are we under attack?!” The girl panics and Wraith shakes her head.

“I don’t think so. There’s no heat. No fire.” Wraith lifts her scarf over her mouth, scanning through the dust, “This isn’t the sound of one either. Stay here.” She instructs her and makes her way through the mess. She needs to go check on Anita. That’s what she was going to do before Ajay texted her anyway. With whatever just happened, she needs to do that now. With every step she takes her vision blurs and the panicked voices and the hospital hallway fades away to a warm sandy training ground.

“You're going to be in a lot of trouble, Blasey.” Adams snickers as he looks between her and Kairi who shrinks behind her.

“I’m going to be in trouble? I’m not the one throwing grenades near civilians, Adams.”

“I’m not the one sneaking them on base.” He retorts, eyeing Kairi, “How’d you even get her in here? This whole place is on lock 24/7.”

“Now why would I tell you? You’re just going to whine to Sarge anyway.” She tightens her grip on the girl. More to stabilize herself than to hold her. She’s not a fan of Adams. Because they fell next to each other in line, he took it personally and saw it as competition. Renee didn’t care. He couldn’t keep up with her so he wasn’t worth calling competition, unlike Kroha. She was worth calling competition.

“Maybe I won’t… if you agree to go on a date with me.” He grins and crosses his arms.

“The fuck?” Kairi curses, “Gross, dude! Mhm!” Renee covers her mouth and tucks her into her side. Kairi struggles against her, shouting muffled complaints against her hand. The tight hold she’s using is one she learned from her mom. It takes decent arm strength, and it’s not meant to restrain someone who’s really trying to get away from you.

“Is that all? A date?” She asks, picking up something out of the sand by where she had been sitting, “That’s all you want so you won’t tell Sarge?”

“For now.” He shrugs, “This is a big breach.”

“Alright then. Catch.” She tosses what’s in her hand to him and he catches it. He cradles it in his hands for a moment before holding it up, his brow furrowing. His confused facial expression turns into one of horror as she holds up her hand, the grenade’s pin dangling from her middle finger.

“Sorry, I’m not into men.” Renee shrugs, spinning the ring around.

“BLASEY, YOU’RE INSA-” He screams, trying to drop the grenade but it doesn’t even slip past his fingers when the grenade explodes. Kairi screams, clutching onto Renee out of instinct as the older girl covers her. 

Renee laughs, genuinely laughs, as she sees the mess of blood, guts, and bone fragments splattered all over the entryway. Adams’ body is blasted apart and tossed onto the ground like an unwanted rag doll. They were far enough away that the blast didn’t reach them, but she could feel pieces of bone in her hair and blood on her skin. Kairi is limp against her and she lets her go, grabbing her chin and having her meet her eyes.

“Did you see it?” She asks, searching her eyes for a response.

“…Yeah.” Kairi swallows, nodding her head. The action draws Renee’s eyes to the red splatter mark on her cheek.

“We’ll talk about it later. They’re going to come and investigate what that was because it wasn’t down range. I want you to duck behind those rocks over there until I come to get you. Don’t come out.” She uses her thumb to wipe the blood off her, “I mean it.”

“What are you going to tell them? How do you explain… that?” Kairi looks at the corpse, flinching as she meets Renee’s eyes again, “You’re going to get in trouble.”

“Simple. He was too busy flirting with me to remember he pulled the pin and wouldn’t listen when I tried to tell him. Casualties happen when you’re stupid.” She turns Kairi around and nudges her towards the rocks, “Now go.”

“Why’d you do it?” Kairi glances at her. Renee already knows she’s not going to get her into cover without a proper explanation.

“Let’s say I went on the date to get him off my back. He doesn’t tell Sarge but now he has dirt on me. He can use that to get me to do whatever he wants if I really want to keep my place at Whitehead.” Renee tsks, glaring at the dead body, “Adams is the kind of guy to tell Sarge anyway. He’ll get what he can out of me and then get the reward for telling. My issue with that is it puts you in danger. You’re not IMC. They’ll kill you. I can’t have that.”

“So you killed him.”

“And I’ll do it again to whoever walks through that door if you don’t hide.”

“Okay, sheesh. You have more grenades hiding in there?”

“Don’t make them find out.”

Wraith blinks and finds herself standing with a card in her hand, her picture and information on it. Her eyes widen as she examines it and realizes that it’s a registered practitioner’s ID card. A shiny golden star glitters in the corner and the picture is her with her hair up in a set of scrubs with a doctor's coat on. It’s a picture she doesn’t remember taking. The information on the card consists of her name, her medical ID, the year she obtained her license, and a scannable barcode.

‘You’re thinking about it too hard.’

‘So I should ignore that this card has information I didn’t know about?’

‘You should go find your friend and think about it later.’

Wraith sighs in annoyance, but she’s right. She makes the short trip to the west wing where Anita is being kept. The Syndicate has a section of the hospital reserved for the Legends and it’s the area Wraith had been when she woke up, too. With Loba hiring a security detail for Anita, no one can come in and out unless they’re hospital staff or cleared by her. So, the mysterious ID card in her hand is useful. All it takes is flashing the card to the muscular men outside Anita’s door, along with a few placating words and she’s walking into the room to a stressed-out woman.

“All that time wasted making shivs…” Wraith flashes her ID card at Anita who scowls at her, “Just needed to wave one of these in someone’s face.” She jokes, trying to lower the tense atmosphere in the room. With the way Anita’s face looks, she knows that doesn’t work.

“Yeah, well, knowing is half the battle.” Anita says dismissively, “‘scuse me.” She walks past Wraith who raises an eyebrow and looks at her.

“Going somewhere?” She asks casually, still trying to keep her from getting any more agitated.

“Lo said they’re mapping out a plan. Finding a cure.” Anita pauses and turns to her, “I need to be there.”

“I just came from there. They’ve moved on to preparation. You being there isn’t going to be any help when you’re not a part of the expedition.”

“Wait. You were part of this meeting of the minds?” She scoffs, continuing to the door, “They really were desperate. See ya, head case.”

Wraith slips into a portal, moving in front of the door before Anita can process it, and shifts her out of the way in the void. She always finds it interesting how the others react to her portals. While she has full control of her time inside of them, they travel through them too quickly, appearing on the other side in a blink. It likely has to do with her innate abilities, but she hasn’t had the chance to test it out.

“Sooner than you think, it seems.” Wraith quips as they swap places.

“I don’t have time for this!” She huffs in frustration.

“I know this is frustrating but we don’t know enough about the spores to let you leave-”

“And you get to?!” Anita shouts, throwing her hands to the side, “Just hours ago you were half-dead and bleeding from your mouth, and now you’re standing in front of me like it never happened! You got sucker punched by the vines and yet you’re not in here bleeding from your eyes and on a timer counting down the hours until you die! If anyone should be locked up like some kind of guinea pig, it should be you, Wraith!”

Wraith flinches.

“You need to stop telling me what I need and let me leave the room.” Anita grabs her by her scarf, glaring at her like she’s two seconds from throwing a punch.

“Okay, you’re clearly unhinged.” Wraith remarks, taking note of how hysterical Anita is, “If you think Loba will let you travel across the Outlands like this–”

“I don’t give a damn what Loba wants, I’m not going to lie here, feeling sorry for myself, waiting to die! I don't get off on my own misery…” Anita lets her go and shoves her away, turning around, “I’m not you, Wraith.”

Those words are like a bullet to her heart.

‘You said I wouldn’t regret coming here.’

‘Trust me. You won’t.’

“You’re right, Anita. You’re not like me.” She laughs coldheartedly and lowers her head, her bangs falling in front of her eyes, “You could never do what I’ve done.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Anita’s voice sounds distorted.

“She’s a freak. Why doesn’t Sarge get rid of her?” Someone whispers behind her.

“Sergent Williams isn’t going to get rid of her, Lonnie. They’re using her to keep us in line. If we break the rules, rumor has it we’re going to die just… like… Adams.”

“Ugh, don’t even joke about that. I have nightmares about cleaning up that mess.”

“You don’t really believe Blasey killed him, do you?”

“She’s from Typhon. I heard rumors that they tortured people there. They cut them open and interrogated them while they were still conscious and could feel it. Of course, she killed him. She’s fucking deranged.”

“She… can hear you, Wells.” Renee turns and looks at the group huddled together behind her, “Why don’t you call me crazy a little louder? I don’t think the Militia heard you.”

Wraith looks at them unimpressed. They startle and Wells steps forward to say something when the hangar doors slide open. Sergeant Williams walks out and everyone straightens up, quickly moving into a line against the wall as he eyes them. His eyes linger on Wraith for a moment, taking in her appearance and eyeing her long ponytail before continuing down the line. She took a risk deciding to keep her hair in a ponytail today instead of in a bun, but they were going off-planet.

“Murderer.” Someone whispers behind her as Sarge walks back into the hangar.

She turns as he calls for them to come inside, “If you’re going to call me a murderer, make sure you don’t need my help during this research trip. You might not make it back alive.”

“Wraith!” A snapping sound in front of her has her grabbing the wrist of the person and slamming them into the wall. She wrenches their arm up between their shoulder blades, pinning them down with all her strength as she bares her teeth at them.

“Wraith, what the fuck?!” Anita shouts and she blinks, realizing that the person she’s pinning down is Anita and not… not someone from her vision. She abruptly lets go and puts space between the two of them, crossing her arms and looking away from her.

“Sorry.” She apologizes.

“Sorry?! You’re sorry?!” Anita hisses, rolling her shoulder, “You attacked me out of fucking nowhere after staring off into space. What the fuck is wrong with you? You really are a fucking head case.”

Again, Wraith flinches. This time a wave of anger floods through her and she clenches her fists. She glares at Anita.

“Doctor?! There’s something wrong with a patient and we can’t figure it out! Can you please come take a look?!” Someone begs, knocking urgently at the door. The anger in her evaporates with those words and they exchange a look.

“What are you gonna do? You don’t remember being a doctor.” Anita crosses her arms, “They’re going to know you lied.”

“I used to be one. Who knows. Maybe I can still help.” Wraith offers, but she knows that’s a lie to make them both feel better, “I’ll be back.” She heads for the door against the protests of Anita. If she stays in here any longer, she is going to fight her.

“Show me to the patient.” Wraith says immediately upon opening the door. The nurse nods and guides her through the hallways, having to fill her in on the patient’s status on the way. A little boy that’s infected with the virus, but he’s dying a lot faster than he’s supposed to be. He has all of the normal symptoms but he’s bleeding more than the others. They thought he might have some kind of blood disorder, but nothing turned up on their tests.

“Here he is. His name is Malachi.” The nurse motions into the room and Wraith peeks inside. Laying in the bed is a kid no older than six looking like he might fade away. Wraith’s heart constricts and she watches as his parents try to comfort him. Something has her walking inside against her better judgment.

“Good afternoon, I’m Dr.Blasey.” Wraith says, the words rolling off her tongue, “You must be Malachi!”

The little boy’s eyes widen and dart from her to his parents and back again, “No way. You’re- You’re Wra- Wraith! Mom! Dad! That’s… Wraith!” He struggles to get out.

“She is honey.” His mother agrees, smoothing his hair back.

“You’re one of the lucky ones who know I am a doctor, too.” She winks, grabbing his chart and reading it over, “But it’s a secret, so I’m going to need you to keep it for me, okay? Can you do that?”

“Yes, I can.” He nods and she smiles at him. Something on his chart makes her pause, causing her heartbeat to pick up and make her ears ring. But she doesn’t make it known to the people in the room. She keeps them talking, checks his vitals, gives him a high-five, and walks out to find three nurses anxiously waiting for her in the hallway.

“I need the operating room prepped now.” Wraith says as soon as the door is closed, “He has a ruptured tumor. Don’t ask me how I know, just trust me. He doesn’t have long.” Two of the nurses sprint off down the hall, shouting out for people she doesn’t know.

“We can’t give you anyone to assist with the extraction. We’re so busy all of the nurses and doctors have their hands full.” He frowns, looking distressed.

“I can do it on my own. Get it prepped.” Wraith says confidently, “We don’t have time.” She turns and heads back into the room, the parents looking at her in concern.

“Is everything okay, Dr.Blasey?” Mrs.Rin asks.

“Fortunately ma’am, I know what’s going on with your son and I have them getting the surgical suite prepared.” She says honestly, “There’s a ruptured tumor in his brain. The virus could have exacerbated the condition. It’ll be hard to say until I get in there. But, I need your permission to proceed.”

They gasp and his mother starts crying again while his father wipes his eyes. Malachi looks at them with confusion but grabs his dad’s hand to comfort him.

“Do whatever you need to to save my son.” His father says, “I’ll sign whatever you need me to.”

“Yes. Please. Please, save him.” His mother agrees, holding onto her son as if he’s going to disappear.

“I will.” Wraith promises, feeling assured in herself. She steps out of the way of the nurses as they enter the room and lets Malachi and his parents say bye to each other. She talks to him as they wheel him out of the room, gives him another high-five, promising to make him feel better, and lets one of the nurses take her to the surgical suite. She’s handed a spare set of scrubs and non-slip shoes, giving the nurse who gave them to her a sweet smile, she quickly changes in the bathroom before putting on the rest of her PPE. The gust of air that hits her when she opens the door feels oddly nostalgic. A feeling settles in her chest seeing the preparation room and she feels like she’s on autopilot as she walks to the wash station.

Wraith feels calm and secure as she goes through the process of scrubbing in, methodically cleaning her hands, and listening to the water run. It feels relaxing. Therapeutic, almost.

There’s a knock and her mind processes it to let her know the patient is ready.

She walks out and gets herself into her gown and gloves with practiced ease. And turns her attention to her patient. It’s just the two of them. For anyone else, she’s sure that they would be freaking out about it, but not her. Wraith feels calm. Dead calm. She feels at home as she walks up to the surgical tray and reaches for the first tool she needs. She promised this little boy she’d make him feel better and that’s what she intends to do.

So, she follows her instincts. It’s as if she’s watching herself work yet fully present in her own body. She wonders how someone would react if they saw the way she works. How she calculates the decisions she makes. Like the choice to make an incision in a specific spot or how she uses nothing but her hands and her eyes to find the tumor and remove it. At one point she uses her own hands to pinch off a vein, her facial expression seemingly showing nothing but deep apathy.

The clock in the surgical suite strikes 120 minutes as she finishes up, carefully wrapping up his head. The door opens and three nurses walk in, appalled looks in their eyes and she smiles under her mask. Wraith is sure she must be a sight. But, they take it in stride, taking over the situation and waving her off once the patient is secure so she can go through the degowning process.

Wraith discards her stuff in the biohazard bin, making sure to write down the procedure information on her way out, and walks into one of the dressing rooms to grab her clothes. As she picks up her uniform, a scalpel falls from one of the tables and a jolt goes through her as she watches it bounce against the tile.

“You’re not fooling me! Some of these look horrible but I know you saved their lives, Renee!” Kairi slams the folder onto the growing pile, a glare on her face, “What are you trying to achieve by showing me these experiments?!”

“I want you to leave me alone.”

“Well fuck you, because I’m not going anywhere. I could have done that last year when you blew up Adams in front of my fucking face!”

“Would you prefer to be my next class test subject, Kairi?” Renee questions darkly, the tip of her scalpel pressed to the younger girl’s abdomen, “I can make that happen.” The monotony of her voice makes Kairi shiver. It’s a strange skill to have a voice like that and be able to perfectly convey emotion without it.

“You don’t scare me, Blasey.” Kairi hisses, grabbing Renee’s wrist, “Everyone else may piss themselves when you look in their direction, but I don’t. I don’t. So threaten me all you want, but I’m not leaving your side.” She tightens her grip, making Renee glance down. The way Kairi holds her wrist is a way she taught her to disarm someone. It makes her proud. She may not see her as a threat, but she’s treating her as one anyway. 

“You’re awfully persistent.” She comments idly.

“Says you!” Kairi snaps, slapping Renee’s hand away and sending the scalpel clattering to the ground, “It’s like you actually want to be alone. I swear if I left you you’d have no problem with it, and I don’t know if that scares me or relieves me.”

“You’re bleeding.” Renee sighs like it’s an inconvenience, lifting up Kairi’s shirt and touching her abdomen where the scalpel nicked her, “It’s deep enough for stitches.” The feeling of Renee’s cold hands against her skin sends a chill through Kairi. That makes her pause and look down. Knowing Renee, Kairi being injured is an inconvenience for her.

“I didn’t feel it.” Her eyes widen as she sees it. It’s about two inches long with large beads of blood welling up in the cut that runs down like water drops.

“I keep my personal items sharp because the less pressure I have to apply to get the job done, the better for me and the patient.” Renee points to her bed, a stern look in her eyes, “Lay down. Are you going to make this difficult for me?”

“No.” Kairi sighs, laying down and holding her shirt up so Renee can get to the cut easily. She watches Renee as she grabs her medical equipment, and a towel and kicks her chair over. It rolls from the desk to the bed and she uses her free hand to stop it for her.

“You’re so adamant to stay by my side you wounded yourself.” She tsks, tucking the towel around her so no blood gets on the sheets. That would be fun to explain when they came in the morning for a room check, especially when she has no wounds. Renee works quickly, preferring to let Kairi bleed instead of stemming it, liking the way the bright red liquid mars her pale skin. She takes a deep breath, shoving those feelings down as she draws up the anesthesia. Her blood obsession has no place in this situation.

“They let you keep drugs in your dorm?” Kairi raises an eyebrow, a smirk on her face as she supports her head.

“No.” Renee glances at her as she aspirates the needle, “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“You’re a bit of a problem child, aren’t you, Blasey?” She teases, “How many rules have you broken?”

“I think you should be asking how many of those broken rules revolve around you?” Renee puts the syringe down and gets to cleaning the cut, listening to the way Kairi hisses as she sterilizes it. Once she’s satisfied, she picks up the syringe and waves it in the air as a brief warning. She can feel Kairi tense and she sighs, tapping her body with her pinky as a way to soothe her.

“Relax. Just… relax.” She says, slowly inching the needle into the cut as she feels Kairi’s body unwind, “Good girl. Just like that. Now this might sting or feel cold.” She warns her, but once the anesthesia is applied there’s no issue. Kairi rambles to her as she stitches her up, unbothered by what’s going on, if not curious. She isn’t squeamish and doesn’t turn away from her. She even asks Renee questions as she does it, watching the whole time as she works.

“You have nice, gentle hands.” Kairi mumbles sleepily as Renee cleans her up, “Are you going to kiss it better?” She jokes, making her raise an eyebrow.

“Do you want me to pull these out now?” Renee motions to the freshly done sutures.

“No, no, no!” Kairi immediately shakes her head, looking paler than she was two seconds ago.

“I’m going to get you something to eat and drink. It’s okay if you fall asleep. You’re staying in my dorm tonight and you’ll leave tomorrow night.”

“Renee.” Kairi grabs her wrist as she’s removing her gloves, “I’m sorry for being an idiot. You might get in trouble because of me.” She sounds like she’s about to cry and that makes Renee feel frustrated. There’s no reason for her to get so worked up about the situation.

“You let me worry about the room check, brat.” She flicks her forehead, “Rest.”

Wraith gasps, tightening her grip on her clothes as she stares down at the scalpel. She looks around the empty room and places her clothes back down, leaning down to pick up the fallen surgical equipment. It’s cold in her hand, and the blade at the top looks like it’s going to fall out. ‘It’s not one I prefer. Removable blades never work as well.’ She walks over to the sharps container and drops it in. Whoever it belonged to will just have to get a new one. A hazard like that in the hospital’s changing room is asking for trouble.

She sits down on the bench and lets out a breath. This is the first time she’s had a chance to rest since she woke up in the hospital. She holds her head in her hands as she finally gets to think about what’s going on. Ever since that dream, she’s been drifting off and seeing visions or memories of her and Kairi. Not adult Kairi, the one she met today, but teenage Kairi. One she doesn’t recall meeting at all. That’s where the problem lies.

Not only that but now Wraith seems to be recalling how to function as a scientist and doctor. These were things she had no clue how to do previously. Parts of her that she shouldn’t remember are coming forward, and it suddenly manifested after that dream.

So, what does Kairi have to do with this? These memories show that they were friends. She cared about her a lot to be risking her future so heavily just to hang out with her. Wraith even… killed someone for her. She bites her lip, her eyes darting to the door and then she starts playing with her fingers. She blew up a guy to protect her. So she cared enough for Kairi to matter.

But… why does Kairi act like she doesn’t know her if they were such good friends? She needs to know more. Did something happen between them? Did they stop being friends? Or maybe these aren’t memories at all and she really is hallucinating.

‘You aren’t. They’re real.’

‘They are?’ Wraith’s eyes widen. The sound of footsteps in the hallway has her standing up and looking at the door cautiously. A knock at the door is followed by it opening and a different nurse than the one who had led her to Malachi pokes their head into the room.

“I was hoping you were in here, Doctor.” She gives Wraith a relieved smile, “I need your help with a patient.”

“My help?” Wraith asks.

“Yes, I heard what you did for little Malachi.” She holds the door open and beckons her over, “I have a patient I’m struggling with. They have the virus but out of nowhere end up with another illness. I can’t figure out what it is.”

“What are the symptoms?”

“That’s the problem.” She huffs, “There were none until now. They’re moving aggressively, complaining about a pain in their leg but we can’t find anything there with imaging. We’re so busy I’m nervous we’re overlooking something important.”

“I’ll take a look.” 

“You will?” She perks up.

“Yes.”

“Oh, thank you! Thank you! Their room is this way.” She guides Wraith to another section of the hospital, past the growing crowd of people waiting to be seen. They all catch sight of her, calling out to her feverishly, begging her to take a look at them, to help them.

“I don’t believe it.” Renee’s supervisor stares at her bloody, gloved hands.

“Martinez is stable.” She repeats, folding the soiled gloves off her hands and dumping them into the garbage bag, “If you don’t believe me, you’re more than welcome to see for yourself, Sir.”

“She broke her spine, solider. There is no being stable for her.” He denies it, writing something down on his clipboard. Renee watches as he crosses off Martinez’s name and frowns.

“Sir.” She says firmly, “I insist that you check on her before you mark her as lost. She’ll need a transplant but she’s not dead.”

“Yet.” Her supervisor looks at her, “We’ll use her as bait for the spiders. She can’t feel her legs anyway and we need samples of the web for your group to collect. These spiders are crafty bugs.”

“So you’re saying if she gets the feeling in her legs back, she’s back in?” She tilts her head. Her supervisor gets an uneasy look in his eyes as she does.

“If that miracle happened?” He quickly busies himself with his paperwork, “Absolutely.”

Renee turns and walks back towards the medical tent, already pulling another set of gloves from her pants pocket and tearing them open. If it’s a miracle he wants, then she was going to play fucking God. Martinez is her responsibility and she’s not dying on her. Renee ducks into the tent and Kairi jerks up, hurriedly putting the wet cloth she was using to wipe Martinez down. The girl is still unconscious and hooked up to the heart monitor. 

“So? How’d it- I don’t like that look on your face.” Kairi frowns, her eyes flicking down to her hands which she’s already shoving into the gloves.

“You’re assisting me. Put on some gloves. I’m going to be playing God.” Renee tells her, “I’m not letting this be a stain on my record.” To anyone else, it sounds selfish, but Kairi knows otherwise. That’s just Blasey’s way of showing she cares.

“Yes ma’am.” Kairi nods, not even questioning her. And Renee can’t help the smirk that tugs at her lips. She likes that. She likes Kairi’s unwavering faith. It fuels her and at a time like this, it’s what she needs. She was going to make that supervisor choke on his words. She will not allow anyone to doubt her. Not even Marder.

Wraith finds herself in a unique position after successfully helping out another patient in the hospital. She becomes the “we don’t know what’s happening but it’s an emergency” doctor who gets dragged around the building by her own small team of nurses.

They managed to procure a doctor’s coat for her from somewhere and insist that she put it on so people can tell the difference between her and them. However, Wraith doubted people would mistake her for another nurse by the way they were treating her. She had everything she needed and they listened to her when she told them what was necessary for these procedures. The interesting thing she’s figuring out as she’s going around to all of these different patients is that they’re infected. They arrived at the hospital due to the virus, but they were having issues with other illnesses that they didn’t even know they had. It has her mind spinning as she treats more people, especially as she catalogs the kinds of illnesses or diseases that they have.

‘It’s like the virus is exasperating these conditions and drastically speeding them up.’ Wraith thinks as she writes down some more information in a notepad Nurse Kathleen had been kind enough to give her. ‘That’s ten patients with the virus. Each one of them had a different problem pop up that put their life in danger. It’s not just the virus we have to worry about.’ She chews on her bottom lip and taps her pen against the paper. 

This piqued her curiosity.

What she would give to study someone who had been infected by the virus. Maybe then she could find out exactly how it was killing them. There was no time to properly look when she was treating Malachi, but she saw abnormal variations in his brain while she was there. It’s likely affecting the brain with the only symptom being ocular bleeding before death. If she could just cut someone open and study their brain, Wraith could help figure out a way to develop a cure. Some people have died to the virus that she could study. It wouldn’t be active, but it would show her the end result as well.

“You’re thinking hard.” Nurse Javid holds out a large chocolate chip muffin to her, “A muffin for your thoughts?” He gives her a kind smile. Wraith smiles back, the sight of the muffin making her stomach growl as she tucks the notepad into the pocket of her scrubs.

“Thank you. I didn’t realize how hungry I was.” She unwraps the muffin and takes a bite, relishing in the sweetness on her tongue.

“Hey, us Nurses got to take care of you, Doctors. If it weren’t for us, you wouldn’t remember to tie your shoelaces.” He jokes, making her chuckle.

“I don’t know what I would have done without my lead assistant, Bethany.” Wraith agrees, an intense feeling of nostalgia washing over her, “During those long nights in the lab she made sure I had a cup of coffee and a hot meal before I got too involved in my work.”

“You’re going to give me wrinkles, Dr.Blasey.” Bethany huffs, placing a bowl of stew over the paperwork Renee had been filling out, “You need to eat or that brilliant mind of yours is doomed.”

“Where’d you get this from?” Renee accepts the spoon handed to her, “This isn’t from the cafeteria.”

“Rick made it for you. He said a young woman like you should be eating a homemade meal and not cafeteria food.” She says as she moves the papers from under it, tidying up the desk, “I agree with him. You just graduated. You deserve a little love.”

“I don’t think the other scientist’s assistants are bringing them dinner and staying late with them on their passion projects, Beth.” She mumbles, blowing on the stew before taking a bite. The burst of flavorful spices followed by the tingle of pepper on her tongue makes her hum contentedly as she swallows. Beth watches her with a proud smile as she continues to eat the meal so kindly given to her. She’s been assigned to the reserved scientist for six months and Renee noticed it never fails to bring her joy when she can elicit a little emotion out of her.

“The other scientists don’t work fourteen hours to finish a project and have perfect records after just being assigned to the laboratory.” Bethany says bluntly, picking up her clipboard and looking over the things Renee needs her to do, “My team and I have our work cut out for us to keep your record spotless.”

“I don’t care about my record.” She moves the empty bowl to the side, sliding the paperwork back over, and catches a glimpse of the pressed flower keychain Kairi made her, “I care about the end results of my projects. That ends up with no failures.”

“Should I tell Rick to make more of the stew next time?”

“That would be nice.”

“Bethany sounds like a wonderful woman.” He snaps her out of her reminiscing and Wraith takes a deep breath, taking another bite out of the muffin. She squeezes her eyes shut as they burn, the telltale sign of tears trying to break through as she busies herself with the sweet treat.

“She was.” She nods, shoving the emotions down, “You asked about what I was working on? I was just writing down all of the emergencies I’ve seen so far. I’m trying to figure out what correlation they have with the virus. I can give the information to Dr.Somers when I figure it out.”

“You know… I still can’t believe a woman like you is so brilliant.” Nurse Javid motions to her, “I mean I watched you fight in the Games and I would have never believed you were a Doctor. You don’t talk about it. Not in interviews or anything.”

“I’m a very private person.” Wraith crushes the muffin wrapper in her hand, “Who I am in the Games is not who I am outside of it. There’s no reason for me to tell the public about it.” She isn’t lying. She is a private person. An extremely private person. Everyone she’s treated won’t be able to talk about who saved their life. She’ll fade like a ghost into the background of this chaos. It’s nice to be able to help out beyond checking in on Anita, but being able to do what she’s doing so suddenly feels unsettling. Wraith doesn’t hate it. It feels like she’s whole. Like she’s back home in her body again, but she isn’t sure she’s supposed to be remembering everything that she’s remembering right now. She’s not just getting her memories back but her skills, too.

“That’s understandable.” He nods, “I think that’s smart. Don’t worry, we’ll make sure your privacy stays that way after this is all over and these people go home.”

“Ready to keep going?” Wraith tosses the wrapper into a nearby garbage can and tucks her hands into her coat pockets, “I’m sure I’ll be hearing Patricia shout my name sooner or later.” That gets a laugh out of him as they exit the hallway they had been camping out in.

“She’s got a set of pipes on her. That’s why she’s on the emergency team.”

“DR.BLASEY!” Echoes down from one of the hallways, prompting them to take off running.

“Perfect timing!” He chimes and Wraith lets out a little laugh.

Dealing with her memories and the emergencies in the hospital proved to be a complicated task. Thankfully, her memories seemed to know when not to show up. They would wait behind her eyes as a light pressure until she was no longer focusing on her task. Once she stepped away, the memories overtook her senses.

The more memories she saw she could confirm that they all featured Kairi in some way. Even if she wasn’t physically or audibly present, there was something in the memory to represent her whether it was a gift or a letter. Wraith is vividly aware that they were close at one point. She feels fond of Kairi. More than fond of her. Even though she tried not to let it show that she was beginning to care about her in the past, the affectionate feelings that are forming in her chest with every returned memory prove otherwise.

Wraith feels so warm every time she thinks about Kairi. It grows as time goes on. It’s odd how affectionate she feels toward someone she feels like she shouldn’t know. But in reality, she knows that Kairi has a hard time keeping her anger in check when it comes to her loved ones. That she does this cute little two-fingered salute as her way of being playful. Or, that she once knocked out a guy for asking her out because she felt just saying no wouldn’t get the point across.

It makes this situation feel all the more strange. Why did Kairi not acknowledge their past? Did they end their friendship on bad terms? Has she not reached the parts of her memories where it all goes wrong? That part makes her feel sad. She gets to learn more about her life with someone else and if it ended on bad terms, she wasn’t sure how she’d go about navigating that. Especially with how happy Kairi makes her feel without even being there.

There’s this happy buzz Wraith feels and she finds herself looking forward to these memories as she works. She can’t wait to know more. To remember more about the past she shares with the new Legend and that excitement follows her as she continues to run around the hospital.

“HELP! HELP! BLASEY! BLASEY, PLEASE!” The girl—Collins, Renee had called her, screams as she runs for her life, her mask cracked and the spores thick in the air. Renee remains perched next to her on the tree branch, a hand gripping onto Kairi’s vest so she doesn’t slip off. The branch is sticky with sap, but it’s the only safe place away from the mess on the ground. They need those ferns and they’d lose them running from the prowler.

“Is there a way to save her?” Kairi whispers, watching as she narrowly dodges the prowler, “I know her mask is cracked and we were told not to breathe in the Harpy Claw spores but...” Her voice is warped by her mask, and Kairi is glad Renee told her to wear it before they found the plants. All it took was improper handling, Collins falling into the bushel of ferns and they ended up in this mess. She never wanted to curse out Renee’s superiors more than in that moment. She wasn’t stupid. She knew they switched her assignment to Collins because of what happened with Martinez. 

“Harpy Claw got its name from the way it grows. It nests inside your lungs and grows until you eventually suffocate to death. Gia is a lost cause.” Renee pulls out her Wingman and points it at her, the woman on the ground unaware of her classmate’s intentions, “The only help I can give her is a quick death.”

“You can make that shot from here?” Kairi stares at her in awe. Her Renee is so cool.

“What part of base brat do you not remember? It hasn’t been that long since we met, has it? Are you experiencing memory loss? Do I need to check you?” She looks at Kairi intently, removing her hand from her shirt to feel her temple. Kairi feels a heat rush up to her face.

“Renee.” Kairi says flusteredly, grabbing her wrist, “Help her go peacefully before that prowler takes a chunk out of her.”

“Peacefully?” Renee sighs in displeasure, “You like asking a lot out of me.”

“Take the shot, asshole.” She grumbles, feeling the emptiness gnawing at her stomach, “I’m getting hungry.”

“You want her to die just because you’re hungry?” She can hear the smirk under her mask as Renee cocks back the hammer and lines up the shot, “I’ve desensitized you to murder that badly?”

“You know that’s not true!” Kairi gasps, wanting to reach out and smack that smirk off her face, “I was just saying that I’m hungry-!” Renee takes the shot while she tries to explain herself.

Kairi stares at a patch of Harpy Claw. Well, more like the bullet hole in the rock above it. The bullet went clean through Collins’ head. Kairi can’t believe it, but this is a sign that she’s right where it happened. Now, she doesn’t believe in that superstitious stuff like her mother, but if she did, she’d be cursing it right now. What are the chances she’s back in the exact same fucking area she and Renee were all of those years ago? She can picture Collins’ bleeding body in the spore cloud as they walk past the Harpy Claws–thankfully not in season.

She can’t believe her luck in life. Her mother likes to say it’s because of when she was born. If she doesn’t count her father’s death and her wife going missing, her life has been very lucky even if it tends to flip to the other side from time to time. Everyone needs a healthy dose of Karma, and with her luck, that means she gets the more devastating side of it. She joins the Apex Games and gets to see her wife again? Here’s a deadly virus!

Talk about extremes. 

She’d been trying to make this trip bearable by getting closer to Loba, but the older woman had been making that difficult. So, they had been walking for the past fifteen minutes in complete silence and Kairi couldn’t help but hate it. Being here only reminds her of Renee. She feels like if she looks hard enough, she’ll see her crouched in the trees and smirking down at her with her Wingman trained on her.

“Looking for me, brat? Time for your shooting lessons.” She’d tease, firing and making Kairi run for cover.   

God, she gave her hell when they were out here and it was the time Kairi fell for her. She had been crushing on her since she met her, but it wasn’t until then that the deal had been sealed. Coming back here of all places would have her mother rambling about how it’s fate and that she needs to go for it with Wraith. ‘That feels a lot easier said than done.’ Kairi sighs and stops walking when a glint in the bushes catches her eyes. Curiously, she walks over to it and crouches down, shifting the fallen leaves aside to reveal a rusted keychain.

Her breathing catches and she picks it up, exhaling shakily as she rubs off some dirt. Even rusted, she can tell it was once a beautifully made flame with the name ‘Hope’ dangling in front of it. Kairi lets out a small whimper, continuing to rub her fingers over the small charm.

“I… I lost it. The charm my mom made me. I can’t find it.” Renee’s hands tremble aggressively as she searches her bag, “It’s meant to stay on my gun. It was a gift for passing my Pilot exam.”

“Hey, we’ll look for it. It couldn’t have fallen off far.” Kairi grabs her hands and holds them tightly, causing Renee to meet her eyes, “Let’s go look.”

Kairi clutches the charm in her hand. ‘I found it, baby.’ She closes her eyes, feeling a tear slip through. With one last exhale, she stands up and startles when she sees Loba staring at her. They don’t say anything, Loba just turns and continues walking through the jungle, and this time she prefers that. She doesn’t want to explain what she was just doing. That’s not something she wants to discuss with any of the other Legends. Her past with Wraith is too fragile with her not even remembering that it exists. This trip could be going so much faster if she had come along. A cure could even have been made by now.

Ah, she really has so much faith in her wife, doesn’t she?

“You were so talkative on the ship.” Loba speaks up, “Why are you quiet now that we’re out here? Are you afraid of spiders?”

“I’m not afraid of spiders.” She scoffs, looking at Loba with irritation, “I’ve got a lot on my mind, that’s all.” She tucks the charm into her pocket. There’s no way she’s going to leave it behind.

“Get in line.” Loba huffs and they stop at the edge of a slope, “So, are we going down?”

“Yup.” Kairi says, immediately sliding down, knowing that there’s a lake at the bottom of it. There are two reasons she needs to go there: for the spiders and the flowers. At this time of the year, she might be pushing it for the flowers, but she has to try.

The canopy clears and gives her a view of the waterfall. A smile crosses her lips as she takes it all in, turning off the light in her hand and walking out into the clearing. She can hear Loba sliding down behind her, but she doesn’t care about that. Her eyes land on a patch of red by the lakeside and she lets out a disbelieving laugh. Kairi’s sprinting over to the flower patch before she can really register that she’s moving. She drops to her knees, sliding in the dirt, and skids to a stop beside them.

“Holy shit, I can’t believe this!” She laughs, resting her hands on her lap as she stares at them. Her heart beats harder in her chest as she reaches out and caresses the red petals against her better judgment. She puts her hand into the water and rinses it off, not wanting to rub her eyes on accident with the contaminated fingers.

“What’s got you so excited?” Loba asks, walking up next to her, “A flower?”

“Red Spider Lilies.” Kairi grins at her, holding her hand out for their shared bag, “They’re someone’s favorite flower and I wasn’t sure I’d find any.”

“Oh? A special someone?” She asks, handing the bag over. Kairi pulls out a pair of gloves, her karambit, and a special container she carries on her ship specifically for flowers. She had made it years ago when she wanted to keep real ones on her ship but didn’t want to worry about breaking a vase.

“Ha, funny. They’re Wraith’s.” Kairi responds, putting the gloves on and carefully digging up the flowers, “I wanted to bring her some to cheer her up.” She wanted to make sure she didn’t harm the rest of the flowerbed. If they managed to stay here after all these years, she didn’t want to be the one to ruin it. ‘Wraith is going to freak out when she sees these.’ She smiles excitedly, collecting the flowers she picked and placing them in the container. It glows softly as she locks it, confirming that the stasis on it is working the way it should be and that makes her happier.

“You always do things without me asking.” Renee smiles.

“It wouldn’t be a very thoughtful gift if you ask for it.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you.” Loba looks around the clearing, “A girl would be lucky to be pursued by you if your first thought is to give someone flowers to cheer them up.”

“There should never be a condition to giving someone flowers.” Kairi stands up and dusts off her legs, then tucks the container into her bag, “It could be their first time getting them from someone and you make their whole day. You never know. I like making people smile.” It’s true. It’s something she enjoys, but these flowers are specifically so she can see the remnants of her wife’s smile. Kairi knows it might be a little dishonest, but her intentions are in the right place. She wants to see Wraith smile and hear her laugh… but she wants to hear Renee smile and laugh.

“Well, we’re in the right place. Bloodhound said the spiders like moisture, so we’ll set up camp here.” Loba moves over to a collection of rocks that are shaded and sits down. Kairi looks up at the edge of the rock wall and frowns, a shiver going through her body as an image of the spiders flashes into her mind. She doesn’t like the idea of waiting for them, but this is the best area for them.

“Try not to fall asleep on me.” She teases her, “I might just throw you into the lake.”

Loba scoffs and turns away from her.

‘Well, there goes the friendly conversation.’ Kairi rolls her eyes and sits down, taking out her gun and using the time that she has to do maintenance on it. If she’s going to be shooting at giant spiders, she rather know her gun is working. So she takes her time, going through the motions and carefully looking after it. Ramya had told her she should name it, but it didn’t feel right. The gun wasn’t anything special. It’s not like it’s the one her dad had gifted her.

“Here.” Renee hands her a pistol, “Your Dad taught you how to shoot, right?”

“I’m a mercenary’s daughter.” Kairi grips it, holding the gun out the way her Dad taught her all those years ago, “I have a custom P16 back at home.”

Renee’s lips twitch, “It’s blue, it’s it?”

“Sky blue, thank you.”

Kairi chuckles, resting her gun on her thigh and looking up at the sky. She got Renee of all people to warm up to her. It wasn’t like she couldn’t hear the whispers about her outside of Gridiron. People talked, rumors spread and Renee quickly became someone people feared even outside of the IMC headquarters. She was the promising recruit that they couldn’t get to fall in line. She had heard whispers of how coldhearted and cruel she was, how even her superiors were weary of her and her indifference to human life. Yet, Renee looked at her with love and adoration. She kissed her with passion even if those emotions were only felt for her. She married the onryō of the IMC and lived to tell the tale.

So why the fuck can’t she get Loba to talk to her?! This woman has sat here brooding next to her this whole time. Has she lost her touch? Kairi shakes her head. ‘What am I thinking? No, I haven’t lost my touch. I just haven’t brought up the right conversation. I’ve been trying to avoid personal topics, but that’s what Loba needs right now.’

“So that bodyguard detail you sent to Bangalore… what’s the deal with that?” Kairi looks over to Loba who whips around to her, “I’m assuming it has to do that simulacrum.”

“That simulacrum murdered my parents when I was nine years old.” Loba stands up and puts a hand on her hip, “He dropped my father’s body down an elevator shaft to me where I vowed to get my revenge. But now, he’s unkillable thanks to me…” She laughs bitterly.

Kairi stares up at her and frowns slightly. An unkillable simulacrum? Having your mind consumed by revenge towards something that you can’t even kill and then having to protect the people you love from them sounds exhausting. ‘I dragged my mom away from home to get revenge on Blisk and didn’t even go through with it. Two whole years wasted on nothing… Well, not nothing.’ She makes eye contact with Loba. She can understand the pain she must be going through, but maybe she can get her to focus on something else?

“You seem to be really interested in Bangalore. Why don’t you just stop worrying about Revenant?” Kairi asks.

“Behind you, brat.” Renee mutters.

“Behind me?” Kairi jumps up, whipping around and raising her gun as goosebumps prickle her arms. That’s an omen if she’s ever felt one.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Loba snaps, looking at her like she’s crazy, “There’s nothing behind you. It’s just a bunch of rocks.”

“No...” She frowns, staring intently at the large mound that blends in too well with the dirt, “That’s one of them.” She points her gun at it, mentally mapping out its body in her head. ‘If I’m right, I need to shoot it… here!’ She shoots and the spider shrieks, revealing itself as Loba shouts in alarm. Her bullets tear through it and forces it to curl in on itself, the hemolymph splattering out onto the grass as she switches to shooting its legs. Kairi stops shooting once it stops moving and nods to herself. She approaches it and checks it over to make sure that it’s still alive, wrinkling her nose at the smell of the hemolymph.

“Nice shooting. How’d you know it was there?” Loba stands next to her, watching her inspect and bag up the arachnid.

“I’ve spent the last fifteen years of my life flying and hanging around people you could only dream of.” Kairi stands up, flicking the gross residue off her hand, “I’ve got eagle eyes.”

“Well, Ms.Eagle Eyes… how are we going to get out of this one?” She calls from behind Kairi who turns around and swears. At least six Carthage spiders are descending into the clearing and they’re all focused on them.

“Oh, great! It is fucking mating season!” Kairi lifts her gun and starts shooting at the spider closest to her, “Loba, bag the one I just killed! I’ll buy you some time!” The click of her gun makes her curse. She didn’t have time to reload after shooting the first one, even with an extended mag.

“How are you going to do that?!” She shouts, shooting at one trying to jump on her.

“By being incredibly stupid!” Kairi sprints for the Spider Lilies with only one thought on her mind. There’s only one thing that worked last time, except they don’t have gas masks this time. Strangely, she doesn’t feel as panicked as she should. She feels weirdly in control of her emotions. Maybe it’s because she can feel her wife’s ghost here. That she has her watching her back. She’s sure Loba can do that, but she feels more than secure with the echoes of her onryō here. She’ll be back on Psamathe soon. She’s sure of it.

“VALKYRIE!”

The screeching of the spiders only pushes her harder. The lilies brush against her fingertips and she’s slicing through their stems, hissing as her skin burns where she touches it. ‘I’m not like you, babe. So, let’s hope this works.’ She holds the flowers underneath the jets and flares them, catching the petals on fire.

“HOLD YOUR BREATH!” She screams quickly, covering her mouth before the fumes reach her. She runs back over to Loba with the flowers in her hands, dodging the sticky webbing, and drops the flowers onto the ground. The spiders freak out, scrambling back as the fumes waft into the air, but she doesn’t wait around to find out how long it’ll keep them back. Kairi grabs Loba’s hand and drags her towards a gap in the rock wall big enough for them. It won’t be long until she gets to see her wife again. She just has to make it through this, but now she knows they’re the ones being hunted. Not the other way around. ‘I wonder what she’s up to.’ Kairi tilts her head back and looks up at the darkening sky. The sound of angry, screeching spiders echo around them and she sighs. ‘Hopefully, she’s resting and not fighting for her life like I am.’ 

Kairi laughs.

“I’m glad you find this funny!” Loba huffs, “We’re hiding from giant spiders that are trying to eat us!”

“S-Sorry!” She struggles to stop, pressing the heel of her palm to her lips, “It’s just… Wraith and I traded places!”

“The baby is coming out!” Wraith calls, firmly guiding the small body out of the incision site. A nurse is immediately at her side ready to clean off the baby as she carefully unwinds the umbilical cord. They work quickly, moving together as a cohesive team and it’s not long before a soft cry fills the air. Wraith is quick to clamp the umbilical cord and slice through it, handing off the baby to a nurse to be looked after. She can practically feel everyone exhale around her, but she’s moving back to her other patient.

“We've got to get momma sealed up before we can breathe.” She says, reaching back inside to remove the placenta, “How are you feeling, Harper? Can you give me a response?”

“I’m okay!” Comes her response, but Wraith notes that it sounds weaker than she’d like.

“Someone get another blood bag.” Wraith demands, “She insists on nursing and I need her stable for that.”

“Yes ma’am.” Someone off to her left responds.

Wraith spends the next fifteen minutes deftly closing up each layer, making sure to have her patient say something to gauge her awareness. She can feel the tension in the air, the exhaustion wearing down on the nurses as they steadily approach the third day of this mess. Everyone in this room is running on nothing but coffee and spite. Wraith is the only one who likely had any rest before working, and she’s used to going extended periods of time without any. The facility was useful for some things. So while this isn’t ideal for her, it’s not something she can’t keep up with.

It takes some time to really get through the post-procedure process, but she makes sure that Harper has everything she needs. She doesn’t want to leave her after such a stressful procedure without the proper necessities, especially since this might be her last day. While she doesn’t want to doubt that Kairi and the others will make it back in time, the people in the hospital have been very in-between on that. Some are completely faithful in them while others are preparing themselves for their deaths. She’s had to help direct a few older patients to the right documents when she was passing by their rooms. It’s been so hectic in the hospital that she hasn’t run into any of the other Legends since she left Anita.

Dr.Somers has been keeping them updated, letting them know that the vines are burrowing into Olympus and are what’s causing the power surges. As she’s washing her hands the lights in the bathroom flicker and she sighs. ‘If it’s not the virus, then the city falling from the sky will surely kill us.’ She thinks while drying off her hands. ‘Maybe Kairi will catch me before I actually end up going splat.’ She giggles to herself in grim amusement. This whole situation has really made her realize how dark her humor is. It’s no surprise to her considering everything she’s been through, and her memories have been very insightful to her personality before she woke up on that gurney.

Wraith walks out of the bathroom and steps out of the way of a nurse who mutters an apology as she disappears around the corner. She lets out a small laugh and shakes her head, walking back toward the main hallway when her phone buzzes. She reaches into her pocket and pulls it out, feeling a little eager when she sees that it’s Dr.Somers. After operating on so many patients, Wraith had more than enough data to send to the Astrophysicist before telling her to keep it between the two of them.

Dr.M Somers: You’re right. The virus is causing these conditions to happen faster than they’re supposed to.

“Of course, I’m right.” Wraith mutters to herself, “I wouldn’t have sent it if it was wrong.”

Wraith: That’s great to have confirmation on. We’re doing our best to keep them alive while we wait for Team Antigen. Dr.M Somers: I’ll keep seeing what I can do to get the power back over here.

She shuts the screen off and tucks her phone back into her pocket. One of the nurses had begged her to go sit down in the lounge after performing that emergency C-section. They’re concerned that she’ll keel over if she continues to be on her feet any longer. Wraith finds their concern to be quite sweet and she doesn’t want to be another stress on their mind so she agrees. They’ll know where to find her if they need her, so she has no issue with it.

Once she’s in the lounge, she notices that it’s nice and neat. Someone has been taking the time to keep it clean amongst the chaos and she appreciates it. The tables are covered in trays of pastries and desserts, and a note on the counter mentions that the fridge is stocked with sandwiches and water bottles for anyone to take. A note with her name on it in red marker catches her eye and she picks it up, letting out a laugh as she reads it. ‘They really want to make sure I rest.’ She sighs with mirth, tucking the note into one of her pockets.

Following the note’s instructions, she grabs a muffin, a sandwich, and water and curls up in one of the chairs. She props her phone up on the water bottle and pulls up one of her favorite mangas. If she is going to take this time to rest, she might as well do something she finds relaxing. Besides, she was left on a cliffhanger after Elliot rudely interrupted her. The main character’s lover was about to find out that she was the murderer all along.

Wraith sits there and gets engrossed in her manga, scrolling through it as she eats. She feels at peace sitting in the lounge by herself, letting out a yawn as exhaustion hits her. For some reason, this reminds her of Kairi. Reading has always been something that she’s enjoyed, but doing this makes her long for the woman.

She sighs, resting her chin on her arm as she brings her leg up into the chair. It takes a bit of moving around, but she gets into a comfortable position. Her eyes slowly slip shut and she allows herself to fall asleep.

“Soooo, you like reading, right?” Kairi asks suspiciously, giving her a cheeky smile.

“Why are you asking when you’ve seen me read?” Renee raises an eyebrow.

“There are these books I like… they’re called manga but they’re in Japanese.” She pulls something out of her bag and plops herself onto Renee’s lap, making the older girl suck in a breath, “Will you let me read it to you?” She looks into her face with a hopeful expression.

“I thought you weren’t confident in your ability to speak Japanese?” Renee wraps her arms around her waist.

“If I can practice speaking it to someone…”

“Are you trying to manipulate me into letting you read to me, you brat?” She scoffs, pulling Kairi’s ear and making her yelp.

“Hey! Ow! Ow! Ow!” Kairi grabs her wrist, “Renee! Please! What if I just want to read to my favorite person?!”

“I’m not your favorite person.” She lets her go, feeling flustered by that exclamation.

“You are.” Kairi turns and grabs her face, smooshing her cheeks, “You’re my favorite person, grumps.”

“Shut up.” Renee fights a smile, grabbing her wrists and pulling her hands away from her face. “Do that again and I’ll bite your hands off.”

“You’re smiling!” Kairi gasps and then shrieks as she’s picked up and tossed onto the bed. Laughter fills the air as Renee tickles her, her cold hands gliding along her warm skin and making the sensation worse.

“You can’t help but be annoying, can you?” Renee teases her, using her weight to keep Kairi’s legs pinned, “Always getting on my nerves.”

“Renee, no! Please!” She gasps out between laughs, “You know I- Nooooo!” She squeals, squirming as she tries to get away to no avail. Renee laughs, stopping once she notices that Kairi is having a hard time catching her breath.

“You’re… cruel…” Kairi pants, lying under her with a grin.

“I know.” Renee shrugs and gets off of her, picking up the book and opening it to the first page, “Now come here. I want to know what they’re saying.”

Kairi is sitting in her lap before she can call to her again. She grabs her arms and wraps them around her waist, making Renee snort, but she complies and pulls her against her. They cuddle up with each other and Renee sits there as Kairi reads to her—first in Japanese, and then in English. This moment is the one where those fuzzy feelings Renee had began to turn breathless.

“Doctor! Dr.Blasey!” The lounge room door bursts open and one of the nurses from earlier staggers in, out of breath and panicked.

“Nurse Patricia?! What is it?!” Wraith shoots up out of her sleep, alert and no longer tired. She rushes over to her and her hand is grabbed.

“There’s- another patient that needs you!” The nurse drags her out of the room before she can protest and they sprint down the hallway together, “We thought it was just a cardiac arrest but it isn’t! That’s all we have to go off of! She’s critical! We’ve had to resuscitate her three times!”

“Is she one of the patients currently admitted with the virus?” Wraith questions, “What about her medical history?” Various things can have those symptoms, and if she’s right this virus might be exasperating pre-existing conditions. She only has one case to go off of, but if that starts climbing she’ll know soon enough.

“She is one of the infected. She was in perfect health before this but she’s an older woman. We had her hooked up to a ventilator because she wasn’t doing well.”

“Over here!” Nurse Javid directs them and Wraith is practically shoved into the small room, “We managed to resuscitate her, but if we don’t figure out what happened it can happen again. The young lady with her said they were speaking fine for one second and then she dropped.” She motions to a person standing in the corner of the room. Wraith is surprised to see Natalie standing there wide-eyed and nervously fiddling with her fingers, but she doesn’t have a moment to spare for her.

Wraith accepts the stethoscope handed to her and listens to the patient’s heart. The palpitations have her going straight for the lungs and listening intently. She can feel the nervous energy in the room, but it doesn’t affect her. The same as she was in the surgical suite and for every patient she’s looked after, she’s calm. Dead calm. Allowing her to take stock of the situation without her emotions in the way.

“We don’t have time to move her to the surgical suite before she goes into cardiac arrest. I need the sterilization kit, a surgical pack, and PPE now!” Wraith demands, glancing at the nurses as she starts going through the process in her head, “I’m doing the surgery here. GO!” She shouts, not giving them space to question her as she starts removing items from the countertops and putting them in the drawers and cabinets.

“Natalie, help me remove the stuff off the countertops. I need to make this environment as sterile as possible.” She looks at her friend who’s looking at her as if she’s grown another head. Natalie blinks but then nods and hurries to help her. They rush around the room and strip it bare in time for the nurses to arrive with the stuff Wraith needs for the procedure.

“You can do this, right?!” Natalie pleads as the nurses guide her out, “That’s their mother! The reason they’re working together!” It’s not hard for her to know who she’s talking about. There are only two people she’d be concerned about working together.

“Trust me.” Wraith reassures her, “I’ve got this.” The door closes and she ducks into the bathroom to wash her hands once again. This is a risky procedure in the hospital’s eyes, but they have no other choice. There are too many patients and not enough staff. The rooms are given to people who need them and with more people coming in as the three days are almost at an end, they’re all filled up. The lights flicker around her. She’ll be working in the dark if she doesn’t do this now. Wraith clicks her tongue.

‘I can use my void lights if the power goes out.’ She lifts her hands up and lets the water drip off, walking out to get into her surgical gown. ‘I have an important life to save.’ Wraith gets into her gown and in position much faster than she had with Malachi. After everyone she’s helped these past few days, she’s gotten faster with her movement and sharper with her cognitive skills. She feels more like herself, yet farther from herself at the same time.

“Don’t worry Ms.Ticacek.” Wraith mutters behind her mask, carefully cutting into the older woman’s sternum, “You’re not dying here. I’ve never lost a patient and Natalie deserves more time with her future mother-in-law.” She jokes, a pressure forming behind her eyes as she says it.

Wraith listens to the sound of the forceps’ clamp clicking in place and letting her know it’s secure. That allows her to move her hand and get to where she needs to be. The irregular beeping of the heart monitor doesn’t bother her. Neither does the shaking of the building and the flickering lights. She’s had to do risky operations in worse situations. Not that she remembers them, but she can feel it. She can feel that this isn’t anything worth freaking out over. She’s confident in her ability.

As she cuts into the artery, she finds what she has been looking for. A blood clot. Quite a large one lodged in the entryway to one of her chambers.

“I’ll take that.” Wraith murmurs, carefully extracting the blood clot. They’d have to give her blood thinners to keep this from happening but it’s better than dying. She’d have to find Dr.Somers and let her know about her findings—that the Legacy Virus is reacting with pre-existing conditions and exasperating them. It’s no wonder the hospital staff can’t get back on their feet, even with the power issue.

At this point, all they’re doing now is waiting for Kairi’s team to come back with the final pieces to make the cure. ‘I know they can get this done. Kairi is with them. She won’t let this be a failure.’ Her confidence in her is strong. There’s no doubt in her mind that they’ll bring back the spiders. Her shooting star won’t let her down. She never has. And that unwavering faith in her is what has Wraith continuing on.

Wraith hums to herself as she drops the clot into a container with some preservation fluid, and gets to work closing up the incision site. It’s odd how comfortable she feels doing this. Working alone, navigating a person’s body with ease, and being able to have the freedom to do things her way. It’s a release for her. Her wings.

She bandages up the site and cleans up the mess, watching the heart monitor beat steadily as she does. A smile crosses her lips as she seals the container, knowing that Natalie will be overjoyed when she learns Ms.Ticacek is going to be okay. Meeting the mother of someone you’re into and then they have a health scare must be terrifying. ‘It’ll be nice to be the one to soothe her worries.’ Wraith thinks, placing the sample into a ziplock bag and writing down the patient’s information on it. ‘All I have to do now is tell her.’ She places the sample onto the cart and takes a few steps away when the sign of her memory taking over comes forward.

“I can’t believe I’m meeting your mother.” Renee sighs, fiddling with the end of her braid.

“She insists on it.” Kairi glances at her, continuing to cut up some vegetables, “She said she wanted to meet the young woman her daughter spends so much time with.”

“Shouldn’t she be telling you not to disobey orders and sneak me off of base instead of having you do it?” She leans against the countertop and watches how deftly Kairi chops up the carrots.

“Normal moms, maybe.” Kairi snickers, “You’ll love my mom. She’ll be home soon. She went to help out Mr.Grand. He’s getting old but still insists on keeping those dairy cows. Ma thinks it’s because he likes freshly made cheese too much, but I think it’s because it gives him an excuse to flirt with our other neighbor, Mr.Darrik.”

“Kairi. If you’re going to gossip, my sweet shooting star, at least close the windows, hm?” A soft, sweet motherly voice sounds from behind them. They turn around and a tall, skinny woman with her hair tied back in a bun smiles at Renee as she enters in through the kitchen door. There’s a covered basket hanging from one of her arms and two bottles of milk in her other hand.

“Mama, it’s not like they’re going to hear me.” Kairi chuckles, taking the basket from her, and kisses her cheek, “The chickens might but they’d never tell my secrets.”

“Oh?” Her mother comes around the counter and places the glass bottles down, “I don’t know. Pebbles likes to talk if you give her enough feed.” Her eyes glitter mischievously and Renee can definitely see the resemblance between the two. Kairi looks almost exactly like her mother. ‘She didn’t get much from her father.’ Renee notes with amusement. She can tell where the similarities end, but side by side, they’re definitely mother and daughter. Just like she and her mother had been.

“You named a chicken Pebbles?” She looks at Kairi with a teasing smirk.

“She’s my pet chicken.” Kairi says defensively, a blush blooming across her cheeks, “She’s the first chicken I hatched all by myself.”

“It was so cute! Oh, I wish I could have recorded every moment of it. My little Kairi was so grown up.” Her mother reaches over and pinches her daughter’s cheek, making her whine and smack her hand, “Now, I believe I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Miyuki, Kairi’s mother. You must be Renee Blasey, the young woman my daughter is quite taken with.” She turns to her and holds out her hand, Renee not hesitating to reach out and take it.

“M-Ma!” Kairi sputters, dropping the apples she had been putting away, “I-I’m not- I-”

“I am, ma’am. It’s nice to meet the woman who raised such a wonderful daughter.” Renee gives her a polite smile, “I didn’t know your daughter spoke about me so much.”

“Please, call me Miyuki.” She waves her hand, “My daughter is in love with you. Of course, she talks about you. I was sure she would have told you by now. From the way I’ve heard you care for her, I’ve come to like you, Renee. You have my permission to be with my daughter. I don’t see why you can’t date.”

“MA!”

“What? If she’s going to be my daughter-in-law, she might as well know.” By the look on Miyuki’s face, she seems very confident in her words. Renee, on the other hand, is caught off guard. She blinks and looks to Kairi who’s mouth is wide open. So, she wasn’t expecting her mother to say that either. Miyuki says something and takes the empty basket with her, throwing a wink at Renee as she exits the kitchen. That leaves the two of them alone and the atmosphere in the room feels more intimate than before.

“Is that true?” Renee tilts her head, her lips twitching as Kairi’s blush only gets darker.

“I had planned on saying something after this trip.” Kairi meets her eyes, the sincerity in them taking her breath away, “But, it’s true. I’ve fallen in love with you, Renee.”

“So are you going to ask me…” She walks over to her and takes her hand, gently caressing her fingers, “or am I going to have to make that move?”

“Can you?” Kairi whispers, her voice wavering as she blinks rapidly.

“Will you be my girlfriend, Kairi?” Renee whispers, still caressing her fingers.

“I thought you’d never ask, you bitch.” She laughs and then gasps as Renee pulls her into a kiss. It’s soft and sweet and leaves the both of them breathless as they pull away. Renee closes her eyes and rests her forehead against Kairi’s as her eyes sting and her heart pounds in her chest. Her whole body feels like she fell asleep in the morning sun.

Wraith grabs ahold of the wall, gasping for breath as she clutches her chest. A whimper leaves her trembling lips as she presses them together, tears sliding down her face as she’s overcome with an intense ache in her chest. ‘Girlfriends? Kairi and I had been girlfriends?’ She gasps, leaning against the wall for support as she presses her hand harder into her chest. The pressure eases once she leans over, bracing herself with one hand against her knee but the hollowness doesn’t. ‘Okay, Wraith. Deep breaths.’ She instructs herself. She forces herself to take in a deep breath and slowly let it out, straightening up with every exhale until she’s standing up. She shakes out her hands and tucks one of them in her pocket to play with her pen before continuing her walk to the door.

Nurse Kathleen is the first person she sees and she grabs her shoulders, guiding her out of the doorway as the others dart inside. She asks her if she’s okay, if the procedure went alright, and if she needs anything before she heads inside with the other two. Wraith tells her that she’s fine and that everything went well, so she can head in there without too much to worry about. She advises her to keep a close eye on the area and resterilize it when changing the bandages since the procedure was done in a non-surgical safe area. Nurse Kathleen nods and heads into the room to let the others know what she said.

“Wraith?” Natalie’s timid voice comes from behind her. Wraith turns and sees her hunched in on herself, fiddling with her fingers as she looks at her expectantly.

“How… How is she?” Her eyes dart to the half-opened door, where all she can see are the lights spilling out against the wall.

“Normally I couldn’t tell you…” Wraith wraps an arm around her and guides her away from the room, lowering her voice, “but Ms.Ticacek will live. She had a blood clot in her artery that was throwing off her rhythm. That coupled with the damage being caused by the virus caused her to go into cardiac arrest.” They were going to the part of the hospital for the Legends. No one will bother them there.

“Oh!” Natalie gasps, tears escaping her eyes once more, “That’s just awful. All of these people, Wraith. They don’t deserve this.”

“Hey…” Wraith stops walking and wipes away her tears, “She’s okay. And I heard that you used your electricity to try and stabilize her until the nurses arrived. That was really brave of you. You kept her alive long enough for them to take over.” She speaks softly, caressing her cheek as a way to comfort her and wiping away the tears that continue to fall.

“Crypto and the others will come back with the spiders, and everyone will be okay.” She smiles and then winces, exhaling in pain as that ache in her chest comes back.

“Are you okay?” Natalie grabs her upper arms as she stumbles.

“I- No!” Wraith cries out, doubling over and falling to her knees as she grabs at her shirt. A sob tears its way through her lips, tears blurring her vision as she feels Natalie wrap her arms around her.

“I’m here, Wraith. I’m here!” She reassures her, “Please tell me what’s hurting?”

“Kairi…” Wraith breathes out, struggling to keep herself collected.

“Kairi?” Natalie parrots, confusion lacing her words, “What does she have to do with how you’re feeling right now?”

It’s because her heart yearns for her. She yearns for her to the point that it’s causing her physical pain. It’s funny how emotions work. They can tear you up inside in a way nothing else can. She’s only just remembering that they had something past friendship, but the way she’s feeling is strong enough to bring her to her knees. All she wants to do is pull her phone out and call her. To hear her voice and make sure she’s okay and let her know that she remembers. It’s so strong that it’s choking her. That it’s all she can think about—this longing.

It’s here on the floor of the hospital that she realizes that she can’t keep this in. She can’t keep this to herself. She can’t keep Kairi to herself. She needs to share how she’s feeling or she might explode.

“You can’t tell anyone, Nat. Please.” She whispers, making eye contact with Natalie, “This needs to stay between us.”

“Of course! Anything for you.” Natalie nods, scooting closer.

“I started getting my memories back when I woke up, but Kairi was in them. All of them involve Kairi in some way.” Wraith confesses, playing with her sleeves, “I was confused because she didn’t mention knowing me, so I didn’t say anything. I thought I might’ve been hallucinating at first since that can happen with concussions. But, the emotions started to return and so did my… knowledge.”

“That’s how you performed that surgery on Ms.Ticacek.” She comments, her expression brightening up at the realization.

“Yes. I remember being a scientist.” Wraith looks at her hands, “Apparently, I know how to do a lot of things. All of it has been coming back… including the memory that she was my girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” Natalie gasps, her eyes widening, “Truly?”

Wraith nods, the admission making a wave of longing wash over her.

“I miss her.” She whispers, “I miss her, Nat. I don’t have all of my memories but these feelings. I feel like… something’s missing. Something big. A-and I don’t know what it is but I just need her to come b- ack!” Her voice cracks and she’s sobbing again.

“They’ll be back soon.” Natalie rubs her back, “Until she’s back, I’m here for you. We can sit here as long as you need.” She gives Wraith a bright smile, hugging her tightly, and Wraith sniffles, cuddling closer to her friend. She appreciates that she can just sit here and cry. And that’s what she does. The two of them sit there as Wraith cries, mumbling to Natalie about her memories of Kairi until she feels better.

Natalie tells her to wait there and gets up to get them some coffee. Her phone buzzes and she realizes she hasn’t checked it in a while. The last time she looked at it was before she sat down to eat. Dr.Somers could have said something to her or asked her for more information. Maybe Ajay texted and asked for something new? She turns the screen on and freezes when she sees Kairi’s contact as her most recent text message. ‘That’s what the buzz was.’ She presses it and unlocks her phone, nervously tapping the side as it opens up the chat.

Valkyrie: Newsflash, you can’t go bungee jumping with spider silk! It sticks everywhere!

An incredulous laugh leaves her. Of all the things she could have said to her… Kairi says that? ‘That’s one way to let me know you’re alive.’ She chuckles, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

Wraith: Don’t tell me you actually tried to? [Message did not send. Try again?]

The growl of frustration that leaves her lips is one to rival Revenant’s. She taps try again a few more times, but the message refuses to be sent and she lets out a shout of anger. Wraith shuts her screen off a little more aggressively than she needs to and shoves it back into her pocket with a huff.

“What’s the point of a phone if the messages aren’t going to go through?!” She snaps into the empty hall, glaring at the wall in front of her, and then lets out a sigh. She rakes her fingers through her hair, releasing her hair from its bun with a little wince as some strands get caught on the hair tie and let it fall down her shoulders. ‘It's been so long since I asked her out to when I woke up in the facility. What has happened since then? I can’t shake the feeling that I’m missing something important.’ She taps her fingers against her knee. There’s still so much left to find out.

Her phone buzzes and she pulls it out with a groan, not really in the mood to respond to anyone. She opens it without paying much attention, her eyes flicking up as she hears Natalie’s footsteps echoing in the hallway. When she turns her attention back to the screen, she stops breathing.

Valkyrie: I’m thinking about you right now. Are you thinking of me?

“Here’s your coffee! Milk and as much sugar as it can handle!” Natalie chirps, leaning down to hand Wraith the cup.

“Are you sure that’s not your coffee?” She laughs softly, placing her phone on her thigh to flip the top open, “I don’t mind drinking it sweet, but that sounds like a lot.”

“Trust me, you want that much sugar. Blah!” She wrinkles her nose, sticking out her tongue before bursting out laughing, “Aha! I make myself laugh. It’s mixed with hot chocolate. I thought you could use an extra pick-me-up.”

“You’re the best. You know that?” Wraith mutters, blowing on the steaming liquid.

“Better than Mirage?” She bats her eyes, making her chuckle.

“If I agree, you can’t tell him.” She points accusingly, taking a sip, “I don’t want to be caught in the middle of this.”

“Deal!” Natalie grins happily, making Wraith shake her head with an amused smile.

“Now, what were you looking at, hmmm? You had an interesting look on your face.”

“A text message…”

“Froooom?”

“Kairi.” Wraith takes a long drink from her cup. Natalie squeals and Wraith knows that she’d clap her hands if she didn’t have a cup in them.

“What did it say?”

“I’m not answering that question.”

“Fine. Fine.” She waves her hand, but the grin on her face hasn’t left, “Ah, I bet she can’t wait to see you! Maybe that’s why she didn’t say anything? Maybe she was hiding her feelings because she knows you don’t remember? You can surprise her! Oh, I’m so excited for you, Wraith!”

“Let’s not get too excited.” Wraith puts a hand on her shoulder, feeling a little flustered, “I have to talk to her first. We can be excited after that.”

“Right. Right!” Natalie nods and then sighs, “I’m just… excited for you. Isn’t this what you’ve been looking for this whole time?”

“It is.” Wraith nods, swallowing as her stomach twists, “I just- I- I’m scared. What if it’s not what I think it is?”

“It doesn’t seem that way to me. Not from what I’ve seen.” She shrugs, “I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Wraith’s phone starts vibrating as Natalie’s ringtone fills the air and she looks down at it. Fuse’s ridiculous contact photo lights up the screen and they look at each other. She snatches up her phone and answers it, nearly dropping her phone in her haste to hit the speaker button.

“WE’RE COMING IN FOR A LANDING, MATES! GONNA NEED ALL HANDS ON DECK CAUSE I’M MISSING ONE!” Fuse’s voice blares through the speaker and she snorts as Natalie giggles beside her.

“Oh, that’s amazing news! We’ll meet you at the dock!” Dr.Somers chimes in and the call is over as soon as it starts.

“Well…” Wraith exhales and makes eye contact with Natalie, “They’re here.”

“Let’s go.” She holds out her hand and Wraith takes it. They get up together, throwing away their empty cups, and make their way out of the Legend’s section of the hospital. It goes from the eerie quiet to the chaotic mess that Wraith has been a part of these past couple of days after a few hallways. She guides Natalie through it, needing to stop at the changing room so she can keep her little time as a Doctor in the hospital a secret. It also won’t help having to sneak in and out if she’s still dressed as one. So she ducks inside and is surprised to find a note sitting on top of her clothes from Nurse Kathleen letting her know that she can keep everything. A drawstring bag has been left with her clothes that she puts everything into. It doesn’t take her long to get suited up, and she feels a sense of relief as she laces up her boots. Being back in her uniform is comfortable. Familiar. It makes her feel more confident. ‘I can do this. I can tell Kairi.’ She encourages herself, pulling on the bag and tucking her phone into her pocket. With a deep breath, she leaves the changing room, taking Natalie’s hand once more, and makes her way out of the hospital.

They get there in time to watch the ship dock. Natalie squeezes her hand and Wraith returns the gesture, the knot in her stomach feeling much tighter as she stares at the ship. The woman that she hasn’t been able to get out of her mind is in there. She’s minutes away from seeing her and it makes her feel restless. She shifts from one foot to the other, tapping her fingers against her thigh as she waits for the doors to open. A soft giggle from her left has her turning her head curiously.

“What?” She furrows her brow.

“Oh, nothing.” Natalie giggles, trying to cover her mouth, “You just remind me of Nikola when he sees a butterfly through the window.”

“Did you just call me a cat?” Wraith’s jaw drops and she blushes.

“No, no, no! I said you remind me of a cat!” She clarifies, “Not that you are one.”

“That’s the same thing!”

“The door’s opening!” Natalie shouts, pointing in front of them and effectively distracting Wraith from the cat banter, “Come on!”

“Nat, wait!” Wraith gasps, but she’s being pulled down the dock and towards the disembarking group before she can stop her.

“Hello, everyone!” Natalie shouts, laughing happily as she waves her free hand in the air, “You made it!” She gives Wraith a little shock in her side, making her jolt.

“Hey, Valkyrie! G-Guys! I’m glad you’re back in one piece!” Wraith blurts out, not wanting to get shocked again.

They look their way and give mixed reactions—happy ones from Fuse, Crypto, and Kairi, neutral one from Bloodhound, impatient from Loba, and displeased one from Caustic. Honestly, those reactions are normal for the group but it didn’t mean Wraith didn’t want to punch Loba or Caustic for it at times. She doesn’t have the energy for it right now though, because her attention is drawn by Kairi. Her heart races in her chest as they make eye contact and Wraith’s stomach twists so violently she thinks she might throw up.

“It was a breeze with Bloodhound here!” Fuse motions to the tracker.

“Says you!” Loba scoffs, “You weren’t the one almost eaten!”

“What?!” Natalie gasps and snaps her head in Crypto’s direction.

“I thought we agreed not to say anything!” Crypto shouts at Loba.

“I didn’t agree to anything.” She crosses her arms, “Now where are we bringing these? We don’t have a lot of time left to dawdle around.”

“I’ll take them!” Dr.Somers walks up with a cart, “I’ll get started right away. Thank you for pulling through, everyone.”

“Just get that cure done and we’re even.” Loba huffs and starts walking away.

“Where are you going?!” Fuse calls after her.

“Shopping! I need to relieve some stress after nearly dying!”

“Unbelievable.” Caustic mutters.

“You all should rest. Get something to eat. Your part in this is over now. I’ll see you later!” Dr.Somers says and hurries away, leaving the rest of them behind. Wraith feels something hit her side and she jolts, looking at Natalie in confusion. Natalie tilts her head toward Kairi who’s fiddling with something by the doors of her ship. She nods and walks over to her, taking deep breaths to settle her nerves as she approaches. Kairi mumbles to herself about something, securing the panel back on when Wraith is close enough to be noticed. She takes a breath, preparing herself to say something when Kairi turns and locks eyes with her. All thoughts leave her and she closes her mouth, nervously messing with her fingertips.

“Hey.” Kairi smiles, leaning against her ship, “I didn’t expect to be greeted so enthusiastically by you.”

“Ah, y-you know I was…trying something new. It was Natalie’s plan. She figured a warm welcome might cheer you guys up.” She rubs her left wrist, a soft blush on her cheeks, “Did you like it?”

“Yeah, I did. I thought it was cute that you tried to sound excited with how tired you are.” Her smile gets wider as she observes her, “And hey, I made it back for that dinner you promised me! Although, some spiders nearly made me theirs.” She laughs.

Wraith breathes out a laugh, “I’m glad they didn’t. I would have ended up eating curry by myself, and that would have been lonely.”

“I definitely wouldn’t have wanted the pretty lady to be lonely…” She responds and the conversation trails off as they stare into each other’s eyes. ‘She has such beautiful eyes.’ Wraith bites her lip. Kairi’s eyes flick down and then back up.

“So, we are still on for dinner once this is all over?” Wraith pushes a strand of hair behind her ear, “I just want to make sure. I know you must be exhausted after almost getting eaten alive.”

“I’m not missing out on dinner.” Kairi winks, “Wear something nice.”

“I told you. You’re asking a lot of me.” She chuckles, “I don’t know if I have the energy for that.”

“It’s worth a shot.” She shrugs.

“Wraith! Someone from the hospital is looking for you!” Natalie calls out to her, “Check your phone!”

Wraith reaches into her pocket and sees that she has a text message from one of the Nurses. They had exchanged numbers to keep in contact outside of the hospital.

“I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you… when I see you?” Wraith gives her a hopeful look.

“Absolutely.” Kairi grins, “Let me know when and where. I’ll be waiting.”

Wraith stares at herself on her phone screen as she taps her fingers against her thigh. The cure had been distributed before the sun had set, and everyone was free to relax. The nurses and doctors in the hospital refused to let her leave until they could all thank her properly. That included making sure whoever knew she had been assisting in the hospital signed Non-Disclosure Agreements about it. Wraith had been shocked at the lengths they went to keep her secret, but she appreciated it.

Now, she’s trying to keep herself calm as she waits for Kairi to show up. By the time she got back to her hotel, she had enough time to shower and mess around with what she was wearing. She settled on a black jacket, a simple black tee shirt, and some loose pants. She didn’t want anything too constricting after how long she’s been on her feet. The thought of ordering to go and asking Kairi back to her hotel had been too tempting. Then, she thought about it more and realized she’d give her the wrong idea. A very very wrong idea.

So, here she is… waiting.

“I’ve never seen you this anxious, dear.” Rana comes over with a teasing smile, “Your date still hasn’t shown up?” She refills the juice Wraith had been sipping to keep herself occupied.

“Again, it’s not a date.” Wraith sighs, reaching for the filled glass, “Valkyrie and I are coworkers. I promised to take her out to eat.”

“Aha! So you brought her here?! Wraith, you know what happened when Ramya brought your group here?” She laughs heartily, “Oh, I still get a good laugh over it. I hope she likes my food, hm?”

“I-” Wraith’s eyes get pulled over to the door as the bell rings and in walks Kairi in her signature red jacket and a pair of comfortable-looking pants. Her words get caught in her throat as they make eye contact and Kairi smiles at her.

“Wow, she’s gorgeous.” Rana comments, “I’ll come back when you’re ready to order.”

“Yeah…” Wraith breathes out as Kairi approaches the table. As she gets closer, she notices that she has something in her hands. ‘Flowers.’ Her eyes widen and she feels her heart skip a beat. ‘She got me flowers?’

‘Not just any flower. Look closer.’ Another her murmurs in her ear.

“Hey, you did decide to look nice.” Kairi grins, coming over to her instead of sitting down.

“You asked me so kindly. How could I say no?” Wraith teases her, getting a laugh, “Honestly, if I stayed a minute longer in my uniform, I think I was going to burn it.”

“Me too. I don’t want to see my flight suit until it’s time for the Games.” She groans, and then lifts up the bouquet in her hand so Wraith can see it properly, “These are for you as a I’m-happy-you’re-okay gift. I got them while we were in Gaea. Spider lilies are your favorite, right?” Her lips curve into a sweet smile and Wraith has to remind herself to breathe.

“They’re supposed to be rare.” Wraith takes the bouquet from her, carefully inhaling the soft scent, “You went through the trouble of finding them as a gift for me?” If her heart beats any faster, she’d have to admit herself for a heart attack. Does this mean they didn’t end on bad terms? You don’t get someone their favorite flowers if you did. Especially not when said flowers are toxic. The amount of care she’d have to go through just to pick them speaks volumes.

“You’re worth it.” She says softly. So softly that Wraith is not sure she’s supposed to hear it.

“Thank you.” She smiles at her, and then motions to the menus, “Why don’t we figure out what we want to order?”

Kairi nods and sits down across from her, picking up her menu. It’s silent as Wraith places her flowers on her lap and picks up her menu. She already has an idea of what she’s going to order, but she uses looking over the menu as an excuse to delay speaking. The flowers only answer her suspicions. No one knows her favorite flowers. Not even Elliot.

“Rana!” Wraith calls out, waving her hand in the air, “We’re ready to order!”

“Finally!” The older woman comes out the kitchen door, a grin on her face, “I was getting older, you know!”

“Don’t be so dramatic.” She rolls her eyes, “You’re only fifty-two. You’ve got at least five more years. Ow!” She yelps, rubbing the back of her head. Rana playfully scowls at her, waving her pen in her direction.

“Don’t make me charge you full price.” Rana huffs, “Now, what would you like to order?”

“I’ve got this.” Kairi grins and Wraith raises an eyebrow, “We’ll both have the prowler curry, a side of rice and we’ll share a basket of roti. Did I get that right?”

Wraith blinks, shares an impressed glance with Rana and grins at Kairi, “Yeah, you did. Are you sure you can handle the extra spice?”

“I’ll be fine.” Kairi waves her hand, “Can I get the pineapple-ginger juice?”

“Of course! I’ll make it fresh, so give me a couple of minutes.” Rana smiles, writing something down, “I’ll go give this to the chef. It’ll be out in 20 minutes. Don’t get too hungry until then.” She winks before walking off to another table who waves her down. Wraith bites her lip and turns to Kairi, unable to keep her questions to herself.

“Kairi.”

“Wraith.”

“Sorry!”

“Go ahead and say what you were going to say.” Wraith motions to her.

“No, no.” Kairi shakes her head, “You go first. What I was going to say isn’t important.”

“I was going to ask how you knew I liked spider lilies?” She decides to poke at her, to see what her response will be.

“Oh, well…” Kairi rubs the back of her neck, “I thought about how to say this the whole way back. I knew there’d be no hiding it when I got them. But uh, you told me, Renee. You told me you like them.”

Wraith’s eyes widen as Kairi meets hers.

“Did you just call me Renee?” She asks, a hopeful tone to her voice, “You know my name?” Kairi nods. That’s solid proof. That’s proof that they do have a past together.

“Hi, Renee.” Wraith can see her take a deep breath, “I know you don’t remember me, but we have a history together. I was- I am- We’re-”

“Girlfriends?” She asks softly, making Kairi jolt in her chair. It’s her turn now, to let her know that she remembers.

“Girlfriends?” Kairi laughs in disbelief, leaning forward as she shakes her head, “No, no we’re not girlfriends.”

“Oh.” Wraith’s face falls and she feels crushed.

“Renee. Baby. No, it’s not like that.” Kairi reaches across the table and grabs Wraith’s hand, making her look down at their intertwined fingers, “We’re more than girlfriends. We’re married.” She places a picture on the table and Wraith’s whole body freezes at the sight.

The picture is clearly an old one. Slightly worn and a little creased from being folded every so often, but it’s been taken good care of. Passionately kissing underneath a floral archway are her and Kairi in beautiful dresses. Wraith’s hair is long and flowing free and she absentmindedly runs her hand over her ponytail as she looks at it. ‘I look beautiful. More than that… I look happy.’ She smiles. 

“You’re my wife, Wraith.” Kairi continues as her hand once again places something on the table next to the picture.

“Wife.” She whispers, the word feeling right as warmth fills her chest.

“Technically your full name is Renee Rei Hope Blasey Imahara. You have two first names and two last names. I tried to talk you out of it, but you nearly took my head off.” Kairi opens the box and sitting in a bed of black silk is a gorgeous ring, “My full name is Kairi Blasey Imahara. I took your last name as my middle name. I didn’t mention it when I introduced myself because I didn’t want to freak you out.”

“I appreciate that.” Wraith chuckles, “I definitely wasn’t in the right headspace to hear that.”

“This is your wedding ring. You had me hold onto it when you started your project. It matches mine.” She holds her hand out, and a beautiful ring glitters on her ring finger. Wraith reaches out and takes her hand, gently running her thumb over it as an overwhelming wave of nostalgia and love rises through her.

“Kairi. I do remember you. Us.” She admits, “I remember everything from meeting you until I asked you to be my girlfriend. From the moment I woke up in the hospital, I’ve been seeing memories of you and me. I didn’t realize that’s what they were until I started to feel more like myself.”

“You… remember me?” Kairi exhales shakily, tightening her grip on her hand, “You remember us?”

“I’m still missing so much. I need to know if something happened between us. Did we break up? I mean as far as I’m aware you never came looking for me while I was in the facility. No one did.” She furrows her brow.

“That’s not true. I never stopped looking for you, Renee. Never.” Kairi says passionately, as she looks Wraith in the eyes, “I used to call you after every experiment, and one day, you didn’t respond. I gave you some time but it turned into days so I contacted the main line. They told me you never worked there, which was complete bullshit. It’s not like I wasn’t the one who flew you there or I hadn’t been inside with you!” Her voice raised in volume and her body tensed. Thankfully Wraith’s regular spot in the restaurant was in the back corner. No one pays them any attention over here.

“Hey… Breathe.” Wraith squeezes her hand in an effort to comfort her. She watches as Kairi closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

“I knew they were lying. I’ve spent years searching for any sign of you… I even managed to get ahold of General Williams for a favor. Just to confirm that you were alive. And I didn’t stop looking for you. So imagine my complete disbelief when my wife shows up on my tablet as one of the first Legends in the Apex Games.”

“I can’t imagine how that must have felt.”

“Hm.” Kairi’s lips twitch, a little chuckle leaving her, “No, I’m sure you can’t. It must’ve been torture not being able to remember who you are.”

Wraith looks down at the picture and then over to the ring shining in the box. She exhales and zones out, listening to the cadence of Kairi’s voice as a memory pushes its way forward.

“I can’t believe my Kairi is getting married! And to such a gorgeous and smart woman, hm?” Aunt Himiko proclaims loudly as she comes into the room, grinning as she and Renee lock eyes in the mirror.

“Good morning, Auntie.” Renee bows her head in a quick greeting, “I’m just as surprised as you are, and I’m the one marrying her.” She teases back, getting a joyful laugh from the older woman. Kairi’s aunt is a spirited woman - always wearing bright colors and the first to be heard in a room while her mother is the opposite. The first time she met her, Miyuki warned her that she’d need a cup of tea and a good book after speaking with her. Renee took her up on the offer at the end of the night. Kairi was more than excited to read to her while they all sat in the living room and drank tea.

“Oh, Renee. You look like a swan bride out of Kairi’s storybooks.” She coos, running her hand down the back of her hair, “She’s going to fall over and die.”

“I’m trying to have a wedding, not a funeral.”

“Himiko!” Analese shouts, throwing a makeup brush from across the room at her, “Hands off! You’re going to mess up Renee’s hair with your hands!” An undignified yelp comes from Aunt Himiko as she gets whacked in the face. Renee stifles a laugh at the indignant expression on her face.

“You did not just hit me with a makeup brush!”

“And so what if I did! She does not need you to ruin her image on such an important day!”

“The Gods have blessed your Union, my sweet daughter. There’s no need to fret over your appearance.” Miyuki’s soft cadence interrupts their bickering, as she walks over in a beautiful pink kimono, “The sun shines brightly and there’s not a cloud in the sky. Today is a day of joy. With this ceremony, you’ll officially join the family the new daughter I’ve been blessed with.” She holds her hands out to her.

“I’ll accept this blessing with the utmost gratitude.” Renee smiles, reaching out and holding her hands, “To be welcomed into your family is more than I could ask for.”

“I wanted to see you before we go out there. Kairi is surrounded by her family and friends, but it’s just you here. I hope you know your family is with you in spirit. They wouldn’t miss this for the world, darling.” She reaches up and brushes a strand of Renee’s hair behind her ear, “Your mother is proud of you.”

“I know.” Renee squeezes her hands, “All she ever wanted was for me to be happy, and this is the happiest I’ve been in years.”

“Good. That touches my heart.” She taps her chest with her hand, “Now, I have a gift for you. I’d like to gift you with a Japanese name. A sign that you’re part of our family. If you’ll accept one from me?”

“Of course…” Renee breathes out, shocked that her mother-in-law is offering her one. Kairi had mentioned to her it was a tradition created sometime after people began settling out here. When you married into the family, if the Head-of-House loved you enough, you could be gifted with a Japanese name. Those in the family would refer to you with it as a sign of acceptance. Kairi isn’t a fan of tradition, but it was the one tradition she made sure to mention to her fiancée because she knew her mother might bring it up. Renee had been skeptical, but here she is being proven wrong. ‘Kairi is going to laugh at me.’

“Today, not only do I gift you my family name, but I gift you the name, Rei.” Miyuki takes a sheer, lavender scarf and drapes it over Renee’s shoulders, “When you step into the garden, your name shall be Renee Rei Hope Blasey Imahara. My daughter.”

“Renee? Baby?” Kairi’s concerned voice and the feel of her hand against her face are a welcome return to the present.

“I’m here.” She whispers, blinking as she reorients herself. She notes that she’s still holding one of Kairi’s hands but the other is cupping her cheek. Concerned brown irises meet her turquoise ones and make her heart flutter.

“Was that a memory?” She tilts her head.

“Yeah. I was remembering the time before the wedding when Miyuki gifted me with my name.” Wraith smiles happily, a warm feeling in her chest, “Your mother is wonderful.”

“She misses you, you know.” Kairi caresses her cheek, “She’s been nothing but supportive in trying to find you.”

“I’m sorry for everything I put you through.” Wraith looks down, feeling tears sting her eyes, “I can’t imagine how much pain you felt when I disappeared.”

“I grieved you.” She says honestly, “But, I can’t imagine how you must have felt… not even knowing I was out there looking for you. I at least had things to remind me of you. Like your ring and our wedding pictures.” She motions to the items on the table.

“Will you… will you put it on me?” Wraith picks up the ring box.

“It’d be my honor.” Kairi smiles, taking the ring out and holding out her hand. Wraith gives her hand over and watches with bated breath as Kairi slips the ring onto her finger. It fits perfectly, sparkling in the light as if it was always there. Her wife leans down and presses her lips to the ring, making her giggle. Kairi looks up at her and she finds herself getting lost in her eyes. Too lost.

The sunlight makes Kairi’s eyes turn a beautiful amber gold. It’s a shade that always reminds Renee of the sun, and at this moment, it couldn’t be more fitting. Kairi is the light of her life. The person who brought her happiness when her world was dark. 

“Underneath the shining rays of the sun, witnessed by those who have nothing but love for you in their hearts, we declare these two young women as wives!” The priest calls out, grinning wildly, “You may seal your declaration with a kiss.” He says to them.

“Finally.” Renee mutters under her breath. They had been warned it would take a while, especially since Kairi caved on doing it the traditional way. 

“And I’m the impatient one.” Kairi says with a teasing smile on her face.

“So I shouldn’t kiss you?” She raises an eyebrow, returning the smile as she moves closer.

“Let’s not be so rash now…” Kairi laughs nervously, a soft blush on her cheeks.

“Come here!” She laughs, throwing herself into Kairi’s arms as she grabs her face. Renee leans in and kisses her, the crowd cheering as a strong wind kicks in and she can feel it whipping her hair and dress around. But, her focus is on her wife.

Her wife. She can say that now. 

This is their first kiss as wives, and it’s complete bliss. She’s not one to be overly emotional, but this feels similar to the first time they kissed. It’s a sweet moment, filled with nothing but the love and care they have for each other. And as they pull away, Renee can see that there is no regret in Kairi's eyes. Nothing but love and affection.

All for her.

“Mrs and Mrs.Imahara. I can get used to that.” Kairi grins at her, a sparkle in her eyes as the wind rustles her hair.

“It’s Blasey Imahara. And nothing will change professionally, so everyone will continue to know me as Blasey.” Renee reminds her, a slight smirk on her face.

“Baby, let me imagine for two seconds!” She whines, burying her face in her neck, “We just got married!”

Renee laughs, running her fingers through her wife’s hair, “You can imagine all you want tonight, Mrs.Imahara.” She whispers seductively, feeling her wife’s body tense against hers. 

“I won’t need to imagine.” Kairi whispers back, “You’re mine now, even in death.”

“I thought I was the possessive one?”

“Ha, ha, funny.”

Wraith smiles as Kairi lovingly gazes into her eyes, matching the look from her memories. She strokes the ring on her finger, lifting her lover's hand up to her mouth and placing a kiss on her knuckles. To think that after all this time she spent searching for answers, she really was married and to someone so loyal to her.

She doesn’t want to leave Kairi after remembering this. How can she go back to her hotel room and sleep in her bed alone? How can she let her wife go back to hers? She wants to feel her body against hers. To kiss her. To taste her. They’ve been apart for years and she wants nothing more than to sink her teeth into her. To make love to her. 

“So, Mrs.Imahara… you’ll be coming back to my hotel room after this?” Wraith rests her chin on her hand, a smirk on her lips as she caresses the inside of Kairi’s wrist. Kairi’s eyes dart to her hand and back to her face, a grin appearing on her lips. She can, without a doubt, tell what her wife is thinking.

Kairi leans in close, “I’m not strapped up for nothing, baby.”

“Things have changed while I’ve been gone?” Wraith’s eyebrows go up, interest simmering in her chest.

“It’s my turn to take you for a ride.” Kairi purrs.

“I’d like to see you try, brat.” Wraith smirks.

[multiversal-pig-outing]

One stormy night at Gotham City, Gotham’s Pizzeria, an 5’6” woman named, Harleen Quinnzel Aka Harley Quinn, Harley sitting on her booth, Harley had changed since been doing crime stuff, let herself go at BatBurgers and MCBats Restaurants and her Ivy invited her to Dinner and Dessert from last 89 weeks ago, Harley had skinny Gymnastic body before but now Harley’s body type had changed, Harley had fairly large doughy sloshing double belly with the standard indent towards the bottom that makes it look like a butt, her bottom belly pass half of her knees and sitting her lap. She weighs 687lbs, Her breasts was medium before but now it’s now DD's like sacks of flour and were struggling to stay. Her VERY thick legs with frolls like one you saw an fattest woman on old tabloid magazines, a pair of ass cheeks bigger than bowling balls and it sags low, very hammy lower arms but upperarms fattening like fatten hams, and a decent shelf of backfat and Her back was QUITE fat, littered with 30 rolls to potentially hide snacks and others in. Harley had heavy double chins with fatter cheeks on her still adorable face, Harley had few rip holes on her butt side, her chest and large one at her stomach where you can see her bellybutton. Harley heard door open and close as Harley looks at someone who’s visiting Gotham (Sora)

*Sora Enter the Restaurant hoping to eat something after traveling. Doesn't help that she rush off to this world before getting breakfast. Of course the first thing she notice is how big is everyone. Of course she wasn't exactly skinny herself thanks to Kairi asking her to taste test her cooking when training with Remy. But some of these ladies were BIG like that clown girl who probably weigh more than double her own weight. Which was only 290lbs. But it was still big enough to cause her once loose fitting clothes to be form tight with her shirt riding up a bit. Her behind now looks like she stuff decently size hams in them with thighs that look oversize chicken legs. Her arms now have enough fat on them to jiggle like Jelllo. Her face that all ready was chubby is now decently fat with cheeks that made her look like a squirrel that bend stuffing them self with nuts. Her breast now is at decent medium size which she like but the biggest thing on her had to be her stomach which jiggles at a slight movement. She went to cashier and order her food, 7 large burgers with fries and a large chocolate milkshake. Has she gotten her food and paid for(thank goodness for the munny exchange) she look for a seat and spot a empty one next to that clown girl. So she went to her to see if she wants a seat mate.* "Excuse me miss is it ok to sit next you being there aren't really any empty seats beside this one."

[loregoddess]

actually now that uve finshed kh (i think) whos ur fave

All of them?

Okay, it's Aqua, I really love Aqua, her story just gets me and she's so sweet and strong.

But no I really do love most of the characters, and I haven't really had enough time to rank how much I love them all, but I know like, Riku's up there for me too bc Riku, buddy, what an arc. I was also surprised by how much I loved Sora bc it's usually hit or miss for me with protagonists, but Sora's just so...different from the typical protagonist.

I was not immune to Axel/Lea either, he gets the exact character arc that I love basically every time. I love Kairi out of spite for how little writing she gets, but I also love Namine and Xion a lot. Roxas too. And Terra and Ven, even though the more I learn about Ven the more I'm like buddy what the fresh heck is going on in your life.

I know you haven't seen a lot of the Union Cross stuff, but if you do I'm very partial to all the Union leaders (but esp. Ava, Invi, Gula from the first gen, and literally all the second gen of Ephemer, Skuld, Brain (though rip for that name), L...Lauriam or however the fuck his name is spelled, and I did like Strelitzia despite getting the Kairi treatment of 20 lines of dialogue and then getting murdered, rip girl you could have had everything).

Hell, I don't even particularly hate any of the antagonists, bc even though I'd drop several of them off a cliff I think their writing is really interesting. I joke about wanting to fight every old man who isn't Merlin, and I stand by that a bit, but I'm also really enjoying Young Eraqus in Dark Road so far, even though I still think he makes some Life Decisions at dad-age.

So yeah, I love....lots and lots and lots of characters. I dunno if it's just that I enjoyed the writing that much or if I just see a character and I'm like holy shit I love you, but KH has so many good characters.

But if I'm only allowed to choose one then Aqua bc Aqua, my girl, love of my life and light of my heart, she's wonderful.

[demigodforfend]

Twilight of the Demigods: Forfend Edition - Session 22

A second massive arrow whirled down the hallway and slammed into Kairi's leg.

Kairi fell with a yelp, clutching her thigh.

She gripped the arrow and ripped it free.

Blood spilled, but she staggered upright anyway and cut into the large alcove to their left. That was smart. She couldn't be seen or shot again.

Kagoshi followed after her, but he was lacking his usual speed. He was still drained from their last fight with the bowman.

Melzaryn ducked into the alcove to the right.

Forfend followed Kairi and Kagoshi into the right-hand alcove. It pulled a potion off its belt and dumped the contents directly into its chest wound.

Steam rushed through Forfend's chest in a rapid, startled gasp as the cold liquid contacted its core.

Golden steam rose from the spilling ichor.

Stone cracked and groaned as it reformed from the center outward. Forfend's body didn't regenerate fully. The chunk of missing marble in its chest was still very deep, but at least its core was covered again.

Another arrow whizzed through the darkness and crashed into the wall just to Kagoshi's right.

"You fucking missed, stupid!" Kagoshi shouted.

"That was a warning shot," the bowman replied evenly. "The next one goes between your eyes."

"I doubt it," Kagoshi scoffed.

Forfend didn't think now was the time for talking tough. They were at a severe disadvantage and in a great deal of danger.

That said, it also thought the bowman was lying. He didn't seem the type to do warning shots. He shot to kill every single time. He'd just missed due to distance and moving targets, whether he was willing to admit that or not.

Forfend hoped he'd miss a few more shots. Or all of them. All of them would be nice.

The group pressed themselves to the wall. There was another smaller alcove about sixty feet up. If they could get there, they'd be safe again for a moment. After that though, the stretch to reach the bowman was so lengthy Forfend couldn't see the end of it through the inky black shadows.

From what little it remembered about Mortal Bulwarks, it didn't think the hallway would have another alcove until they'd nearly reached the end. They were in for a long and dangerous dash.

"Don't you lose your temper with me," Kagoshi growled at himself.

Forfend glanced him over. He still seemed to be in control of himself.

He dashed out into the open before it could ask what was happening to him.

Kairi whipped around the corner and quickly surpassed Kagoshi.

An arrow crashed into the ground just a little way past the second alcoves.

Forfend hummed nervously. If the bowman wasn't aiming for them, what was he doing?

"Missed again!" Kagoshi heckled.

Melzaryn dashed out into the open and slid into the second right-hand alcove before the bowman got a chance to take aim.

Not to be left behind, Forfend made its way into the exposed hallway. It passed Kagoshi and ducked into the second alcove with Kairi.

Kagoshi growled as it moved past him. He was already flagging. He shouldn't be fighting. He was still well past exhausted.

Forfend touched the medallion on its chest. "Protect him," it requested.

Magic burst into being around Kagoshi and swarmed into a glowing symbol of Fornax over his chest.

An oversize arrow surged out of the darkness and slammed into the symbol on Kagoshi's chest.

The Shield of Faith held, but the raw force pushed Kagoshi back and knocked him to the floor.

The arrow clattered off across the stone floor.

"Fuck you," Kagoshi growled anyway.

"Are you okay?" Kairi called.

"Yeah, it's barely a scratch."

Kairi nodded and sprinted forward. She pressed her back to the far wall of the alcove and surreptitiously peeked from around it.

The javelin-sized arrow the bowman had placed above this alcove suddenly hummed. It burst from the ground, whipped itself in Kairi's direction, and fired.

Kairi pinned herself to the wall causing the arrow to narrowly miss her. It careened into the stone and disappeared in a breath of green magic.

"With the size of these things, I have to wonder what you're compensating for," Kairi yelled up the endless hallway.

Melzaryn darted from his own alcove into the expanse of unprotected space. Silvery blue magic rippled from his staff down around his feet, but didn't seem to have any effect on his speed or provide him any protection. The arcana just looked pent up, hanging on the verge of use.

Kagoshi hauled himself off the floor and ran full tilt forward. He chugged along much slower than normal, but he was bound and determined to keep moving.

He didn't duck into the alcove as Forfend and Kairi had done. He just kept running out in the exposed open.

Between the mystery of whatever Melzaryn was doing and Kagoshi's haggard form, the bowman's next target was a clear choice.

Forfend slid out in front of Kagoshi and planted its shield into the stone floor.

"Godsdammit!" Kagoshi screamed, plowing straight into Forfend's back. "Why?!"

"To protect you from your own mouth and the rest of your bad decisions," it answered.

"I'm going to shit talk this man forever!" Kagoshi argued.

"Then do it from behind a shield!" Forfend insisted.

"That's just as cowardly as his bitch ass!" he snapped, gesturing into the darkness of the path ahead.

"I do not think it is!"

A heavy thwip reverberated through the hall.

A massive arrow burst out of the shadows, gleaming murderously as it arced toward Melzaryn.

The magic around Melzaryn flared. He disappeared into a storm of silver wind just before the arrow hit and reappeared thirty feet up from where he'd started.

"Shit!" came the bowman's frustrated echo.

"Yeah, you missed because you're a bitch!" Kagoshi hollered.

"I've seen drunks with better accuracy than that, shithead!" Kairi followed suit.

"Fuck you!" the bowman roared.

Kairi snickered.

"Learn to hit the broad side of a barn!" Kagoshi yelled.

Kairi followed Melzaryn's lead and rushed into the open.

Kagoshi weaved out from behind Forfend to follow.

Melzaryn sparked his staff with a new round of magic and kept surging forward.

Forfend ripped its shield from the ground and trailed behind them. The other two would outpace it quickly, but Kagoshi was slow enough right now for it to keep up.

Four arrows whizzed from the darkness and scattered themselves across the middle of the hallway a hundred feet or more ahead of the group. Each one glowed an ominous incendiary orange.

Still, there was little choice but to keep moving forward anyway.

"I'm coming to beat your whole ass, motherfucker!" Kagoshi threatened. "And there's nothing you can do about it when I get close either because you're a ranged bitch!"

Melzaryn approached the field of glowing arrows. He tossed his hand out.

A tiny spectral snake of polished silver appeared curled up on the ground on the opposite side of the strange arrows. Its eyes lit up blue.

Melzaryn disappeared with a swirling pop and reappeared so far up the hallway Forfend lost track of him.

The little silver snake promptly followed suit.

The bowman roared, "Godsdammit!"

A hail of orange glowing arrows arced from the darkness and struck the ground ahead of them, seemingly at random.

"You got no bitches!" Kagoshi called out.

"No bitches, no boytoys, not even any friends!" Kairi joined in.

Forfend didn't waste time being confused by their statements. It just kept running.

Even more massive arrows littered the ground, all of them glimmering orange.

Melzaryn had made it past the growing field of arrows, but Forfend, Kairi, and Kagoshi were now in the thick of it.

"I think your aim is getting worse!" Kagoshi heckled, despite being nearly breathless with exertion. "Think you can hit anything before our scrawny little snake man kicks your whole ass?!"

"This is why your mother never loved you!" Kairi shouted.

"Where did he go?" the bowman's voice echoed much more quietly.

Melzaryn gave a sinister chuckle.

"I'll deal with the others first," the bowman said even more quietly, almost sounding unnerved.

A new arc of glowing arrows unveiled from the darkness in a perfect row and blocked the path ahead almost entirely.

Still, they had to keep moving forward. There was nowhere else to go.

They'd soon have no choice but to find out what the arrows would do if they got too close or bumped one.

"Shit!" the bowman suddenly yelled, followed by a bright flash at the end of the hall and an explosion that shook the entire structure.

Dust rained from the ceiling.

Melzaryn giggled, the sound reverberating hauntingly off the walls.

"Fuck him up!" Kairi screamed.

"Get him, kill him!" Kagoshi encouraged.

Forfend was certain Melzaryn could hold his own for a while, but it didn't want to leave him without allies for long. The bowman was not a common archer.

It noticed the far edge of the row of glowing arrows didn't quite meet the wall. There was enough space to skirt through without touching them.

Forfend pivoted to take that route.

"You scared to fire another shot?!" Kagoshi called as he continued straight toward the line of oversize arrows.

A new glowing arrow spun out of the darkness and struck one of the scattered arrows beyond the line.

Orange light flared and ricocheted to the next arrow at lightning speed, and the next after that, and the next, and all the way along the line of them, and then past it into the field of arrows on Forfend's side.

Light zipped until it had touched every single one.

All of the arrows lifted themselves from the ground, selected a target, and launched themselves.

Forfend pulled up its shield, but projectiles struck it from every direction.

Golden ichor trickled from beneath the embedded arrows.

Kagoshi roared.

Forfend lowered its shield to catch a glimpse of him and Kairi.

Kairi had a few arrows that had knicked or pierced her flesh.

Kagoshi, on the other hand, was a pincushion.

The majority of the arrows had aimed at him. Blood poured from head to toe, coating him in grisly red.

He shouldn't be standing. He shouldn't even be alive.

Kagoshi's hair burst into flames and so did every single arrow.

His muscles bulged until they threatened to burst through his suddenly ashen skin. The arrows were forced out of his flesh by the unbelievable growth.

Not-Kagoshi roared a second time, this one causing the very earth to tremble, and sprinted forward with murderous intent.

His heels scorched red, propelling him forward in a ball of crimson fire.

At the end of the hall, a small silvery flash shot cracks through the ceiling and briefly revealed the bowman beneath.

Thunderous rumbling sounded as the ceiling collapsed on top of him.

"Fuck!" the bowman yelled, diving off his pedestal.

Melzaryn's strange new snake assistant launched two consecutive balls of fire at the fallen man.

The bowman hollered out.

Forfend took in the absolute chaos happening around it and did the only thing it could do. It kept moving forward.

It was finally close enough to see the fight, though not quite close enough to get involved.

"There you are," the bowman's now haggard voice called. He drew back his bow and unleashed an arrow at Melzaryn.

Melzaryn ducked out of the way.

The bowman growled, "Fine!"

He tossed his bow onto his back and pulled two shortswords from scabbards somewhere beneath his voluminous brown robes.

He stalked toward Melzaryn and slashed wildly.

The blades tinged off Melzaryn's faint magical Shield.

Kairi's glimmering wings carried her into the air. Her eyes trailed pink as she soared onward despite her bleeding wounds.

Not-Kagoshi's bulky, thundering form dashed right into an obvious trap laid out just before the Bulwark's final opening.

Massive arrows had been lined up in a perfect pattern probably hours before they'd arrived.

Every single one lifted from the ground and spiraled toward Not-Kagoshi.

Not-Kagoshi tensed his body, lightning arcing across his taut muscles.

The static barrier somehow seemed to repel the arrows. They hovered, struggling in the air just shy of touching Not-Kagoshi's flesh. When they'd finally lost all their spinning momentum, they clattered to the floor.

Not-Kagoshi just kept running.

"Oh, shit," the bowman swore, backing away from Not-Kagoshi's rapid approach.

"Oh, hey, are you here to help me bury this guy and whatever that is?" Melzaryn casually asked, pointing at something Forfend couldn't see.

The bowman grabbed for his cloak.

Melzaryn gripped his arm, lightning coursing from his hand into the bowman's body.

Melzaryn's strange little snake launched two more fireballs.

The bowman jerked his twitching, electrified arm away from Melzaryn and tried to dodge away. He wasn't quite fast enough.

Fire whooshed as it struck him.

He cried out.

Not-Kagoshi barreled into the bowman and lifted him up by wrapping one massive hand around his head. He roared in the struggling man's face and launched him into the nearest pillar.

Blood dripped from beneath the billowing robes as he fell. The bowman's chest lit up so brightly orange it glowed beneath the fabric.

Forfend turned away before he could explode.

The blast didn't come.

The bowman's single visible eye was contorted in pain and concentration, apparently willing the runic light to dim until it finally petered out.

He forced himself upright and ran on faltering legs. He snagged his cloak again and started to call upon its magics.

A new figure swept from behind a pillar at the back of the room and gouged a scimitar straight through the bowman's chest.

Blood poured from the bowman's wound, staining his cloak deep red. He choked and groaned before collapsing to the ground.

Forfend's body went rigid. What had happened? Who was this new assailant? Could it get to the bowman in time to revive him?

Not-Kagoshi's cackling laughter reverberated through the Mortal Bulwark.

"You?!" he yelled.

"Yes, me," the murderer answered, stepping over the corpse. "Hello again."

He strode into the central circle of pillars and inspected a rune carved into the floor.

"After the last we met, some things have changed."

Forfend finally got a good look at the intruding stranger.

He bore dark, burnt robes and malovent eyes. He looked remarkably similar to the cultist beneath Brightcrossing.

No, Forfend realized, he was the cultist from beneath Brightcrossing.

His face was burnt nearly beyond recognition, but his rusty weapon and the murderous twist of his mouth were unmistakable.

The cultist flipped his bloody scimitar in his hand. "Do you know what you stand upon?"

He didn't wait for an answer before driving his blade into the ground.

The stone began to glow an ominous red.

Not-Kagoshi stalked slowly into the middle of the room as though he was guarding the glowing rune. He turned to watch Melzaryn.

Melzaryn warily eyed Not-Kagoshi, but the hulking monster didn't move.

Slowly, Melzaryn brought his staff up and pointed it toward something off in the far corner.

The distinct vwoop of Melzaryn's Vortex Warp sounded.

Duncan, tied and gagged and panicked, popped into existence right in front of Forfend.

"Duncan!" Forfend exclaimed, immediately kneeling to tend to him.

It untied him, pulled the gag from his mouth, and checked him over for injuries or newly bestowed spells.

Everything looked to be in order.

"W-what's going on?!" Duncan sputtered.

"I have you. You will be alright," Forfend promised. "What happened?"

"I was kidnapped! I don't know! I don't know what's happening! I just want to go home!" Duncan clung to Forfend.

"We will get you home. I promise." Forfend placed a gentle hand on Duncan's head. "Stay. Right. Here."

Duncan nodded. "I can do that."

Forfend nodded once and stood, carefully approaching the tense situation ahead.

"So, what's the deal here?" Melzaryn asked. "Who are you attacking? Him? Me?"

Not-Kagoshi didn't respond. He locked gazes with Forfend the second it got close.

"What is happening here?" Forfend haltingly questioned.

Something wasn't right.

Not-Kagoshi was wildly violent. He was cocky and loud. If he wasn't swinging fists, he was gloating or laughing or roaring.

But right now, he was dead silent. He stood like a sentinel.

"Give it a bit," the cultist droned. "It'll be quite the spectacle."

Forfend hummed uncomfortably. "I feel we have had enough spectacles for today."

"Oh, but trust me, this one will be quite fantastic."

Forfend's core spun in dizzying, anxious circles.

The cultist paced around the glowing rune, dragging his scimitar through the stone floor as easily as if it were sand.

Red smoke billowed out of the destroyed statue to the left.

"This, after all, is a Mortal Bulwark," he explained as he continued to trace out the engraved rune. "A gateway between realms, and yet, a barrier."

Red smoke burst from the statue to the right.

"It's meant to protect this realm, but what is it protecting us from?"

Kairi fluttered in and hovered close by, as uncertain as anyone else what to do.

Not-Kagoshi folded his arms and waited.

Melzaryn scooped stones up from the floor and imbued them with magic until they glowed a faint silvery blue.

Forfend stepped up in front of Not-Kagoshi.

It wasn't planning on dealing with him though.

It raised its hand and felt the angry, twisting magic surging from the rune.

Forfend closed its fist.

The magic stuttered.

The cultist snarled. A new blast of magic revitalized the spell as Forfend tried desperately to Dispel it.

They struggled against each other, the arcana stuttering as it was caught between.

The cultist's eyes flashed red.

Forfend's hand was forced open and pushed backwards. It lost its grip on the magic.

The spell continued.

Not-Kagoshi glared down at Forfend and uncrossed his arms. He cracked his knuckles.

"What do you think this Bulwark in particular was defending against?" the cultist asked as he continued tracing out the rune, his sickle gliding impossibly smoothly through stone. "There are many like it all across Rozdarta. All of them blessed by the gods."

He finished his rounds and pulled his sickle from the ground, swirling it in his hands. "After I entered into the Abyss, I saw things."

Red smoke hissed from the statue behind Forfend. The crimson mist was beginning to spread its seeking tendrils out across the ground.

"I saw the truth of the matter," the cultist continued. "Honestly, I'm surprised you don't recognize this place, Forfend, the first demigod of Fornax."

Forfend straightened as much as it was able.

It knew what this place was, but how much more was it supposed to recognize? Had it been here? It didn't know. It couldn't remember.

More blood-colored smoke began to spill from the destroyed statue the bowman had been using as a perch.

"This was made to imprison a particularly potent demon. One I'm surprised you don't recognize, nor sense." The cultist watched Forfend's blank face. "Tell me, Forfend, does this all look familiar?"

Forfend couldn't say that it did. It wasn't sure what the cultist could know that it didn't though. It simply didn't respond.

Kairi flew up into the air and pulled back her bow, unleashing a glittering Guiding Bolt.

The cultist roared as the radiant light struck him, but he still held tight to his ongoing spell.

"You," he spat. "I recognize you. You may try all you wish, Kairi Camilla, but you cannot stop what is coming. Let me ask you: are we all even supposed to be here?"

"You're just a bitch ass whore taking orders from a crazy bastard," Kairi swore. "Fuck off!"

"Vulgar words for a vulgar woman," the cultist sneered.

His eyes suddenly widened. He jerked his head to Kagoshi.

Kagoshi's form shuddered. The flames on his head crystallized and cracked as green strips of grass-like hair replaced them. Tangled branches replaced the crumbling flames wreathing Kagoshi's collar. His skin tone morphed from ashy black to clay brown. His eyes stopped glowing burgandy and dulled to a gentle green.

A familiar snarl replaced his previous impassive hostility. He turned to face the cultist.

"Excellent timing," Forfend praised him. "We are in a great deal of trouble."

The cultist growled. "Persistent and unwilling to see the truth, I see."

"I was always told I'm a stubborn bastard." Kagoshi flexed his hands.

"It is no matter. The question remains: are we all even supposed to be here? Are any of us supposed to be here?"

Forfend had no clue what the man could mean by that. Here as is this Mortal Bulwark? Here as in this plane of existence? Here as in alive?

"Who cares? I'm gonna rip your spine out," Kagoshi astutely answered.

The cultist growled. He tossed his hood back. His robes caught alight and dark magic coursed through his scimitar.

Forfend nudged its way past Kagoshi to get a better vantage point and touched the medallion on its chest.

The scimitar in the cultist's hand began to heat up until the metal was molten red.

The cultist hissed through his teeth at his blistering hands, but he refused to let go.

He brought the scimitar up and slammed it down into the earth.

A deep reverberating tone like the gong of a great bell cascaded through the Bulwark.

Forfend could feel magic, a sickening combination of malignant and misused divine, sweeping over it in waves.

Every wisp of red smoke rushed inward to the center of the circle.

Forfend nearly stumbled at the force of the wind.

The blood-colored smoke rushed headlong into the crack in the center of the runic circle until it was gone.

As the last tendril disappeared, a memory sharp as a knife embedded into Forfend's mind. Its vision flickered red.

It found itself back in the distant past, its body again metal and strong.

It stood on the edge of the village, splitting its attention between its mortal family hard at work and the distant battle clashing across the stormy red sky like lightning where Fornax undoubtedly fought for his life.

Red and black smoke obscured the Sunderer's form, but the horrid monster wasn't dark enough to hide the brilliant holy light of Cassis's spear or the pale moonlight of Decessus's crescent blade.

Light flashed with every desperate strike. It remembered hoping this would be the final battle, but it couldn't have been. Forfend hadn't survived to see the Sunderer's defeat.

Forfend lost track of time as it stood guard. It didn't know how long it watched the battle with rapt attention.

"Oh, aren't you curious? You're new," a voice startled Forfend from its concentration.

It turned to look down at the speaker.

What it found startled it a second time.

The young human standing before it was so severely emaciated Forfend couldn't understand how he was still standing.

Every single rib shown clearly through his skin. His hips jutted out from an impossibly narrow midsection. His limbs were barely more than skin stretched taut over bone. His face was so sunken the outline of his teeth pressed visibly against his cheeks.

All he wore was a loincloth that dangled from his hips.

He was by far the single most unwell mortal Forfend had ever seen.

It knelt but its words momentarily escaped it in its shock.

The man stepped forward, touching its smooth metal chest. "You're warm. And alive," he marveled.

Forfend found its voice and opened its arms. "You are starving. We have food in the village here. Food and shelter and healers. We will help you."

"You're too kind, Forfend," the stranger grinned. "Too, too kind."

Forfend cocked its head. It didn't know this stranger. How did he know its name?

"Honestly, I had a thought," the man said. "The only thing that satiated me was the flesh of a god. I wonder if yours would be similar."

Forfend hummed its concern, but it didn't want to leave this man. Delusions were common with illness and starvation. He needed help.

Pain suddenly wrenched through Forfend's chest.

It looked down to see the stranger's hand deep in its chest. It hadn't even seen him move.

His fingers tipped at Forfend's core, sending jolts of twisting lightning through its body.

He hadn't plunged quite deep enough or quite centered enough to wrap his hand around the core. Frustrated, he clenched his fist and ripped all the molten stone and metal free.

His jaw split open like a snake's. A rattling inhale pulled the debris of Forfend's body to his mouth, compacting it down with violent metallic grinding until it easily fit within his jaw. He crunched once and swallowed.

Forfend wavered and nearly toppled over. Its other knee hit the dirt and it caught itself on one hand. Golden ichor poured thickly from the gaping wound cut out of the side of its chest.

Fear seized it as the senseless reality of what had just happened tried and failed to sink in.

"Wow, that does taste good," the stranger mused.

He knelt down and cupped Forfend's runic face. "Oh, I know this will hurt," he pouted, false sympathy dripping from his voice.

Forfend wanted to stand, wanted to fight or run or anything.

It couldn't move.

"You're an odd one. Unique, bearing a soul," the stranger considered. "But you are still a Fornaxian and I hear they have fantastic crispy skin."

He dug his thin, bony figures into Forfend's face.

Metal screeched.

Blinding pain wracked through Forfend.

This man, this monster, peeled away its metal covering in one long strip. He devoured as he rended, his impossible jaw puncturing iron with ease.

Forfend felt as though it had been thrown in acid. Its entire body burned and screamed in abject agony.

It could see nothing but burning darkness.

"Delicious," the monster praised, announcing he'd finished. He smacked his lips together.

Forfend's vision came spinning back to it.

Its trembling hands were nothing but molten rock and dripping ichor. Its chest, its legs, its entire body were all just the same. Molten rock and dripping ichor. All its metal was gone.

Ichor pooled beneath its feet faster than it could evaporate away. Its magma musculature drooped, struggling to hold its form. The magic in its core surged in a desperate effort to keep it together.

Forfend stood so much as it was able and staggered backwards. It needed to get away from the village. If this monster could shred it with such ease, he could devour the town in minutes.

Acras.

The monster's name struck Forfend. It couldn't tell if it had known that then, or if it only knew in hindsight.

This was Accipo's brother. This was the god of hunger and rot and decay.

This was something far more powerful than Forfend could hope to handle. The best it could do was try to make certain the village survived.

It backed away, trying to bait Acras towards it.

"Oh, are you running?" Acras tutted and shook his head. He didn't move from where he crouched. "I don't want you to die tired. Look at you, you're bleeding everywhere."

Drool cascaded from his teeth and muddled with the pool of ichor at his feet. He swiped a hand through the golden substance and tasted it.

"Well, fine," Acras decided. If you want to leave, go ahead."

He pointed at his emaciated ribs.

The flesh knotted up and the ribs twisted out of the skin. They took the shape of a snarling hound. It gnashed its teeth.

"If I can't eat you now, I'll settle for them," Acras threatened. "Go!"

The beast developed clawing paws and hauled itself free of Acras's body with the sounds of splitting flesh and cracking bone.

"Satiate my hunger, however temporarily!" he ordered the demon.

The hound grew, its emaciated body bulging and popping until it was nearly twice Forfend's height.

Shaggy white fur sparsely coated its taut flesh. Spines jutted like rocks from its back. Its tail curved up high, the fur giving way to dry skin covered in sores that culminated jarringly into a scorpion's stinger.

Its eyes glowed murderous red.

Sickly yellow-green light emanated from its salivating jowls and through the thin, sunken skin clinging between its stark ribs.

"Come, Forfend, you know you can't run forever," Acras taunted. "You're bleeding."

Forfend lifted a shaky molten arm and channeled its magic.

Its core protested. Nearly every ounce of power it could access was already in use just to keep its body from turning to little more than slag.

Forfend drew on the magic anyway.

Its head dizzied as the world seemed to tilt.

A Wall of Fire burst from its palm and arced out to cut the hound off from the village.

Acras's jaw split. The flames twisted in the air and surged toward him instead. He devoured them effortlessly.

"Delicious!" Acras exclaimed. "Do more, please."

The massive beast bounded toward its family.

Forfend touched its melting hand to its melting chest just beside the gaping hole exposing its core.

Was there anything it could do?

It tugged at the magic dwelling within it.

Pain answered.

The battle at Forfend's back faltered.

A great flash split the horizon.

A silver gleam soared across the sky and crashed into the ground with earthquaking force.

Forfend nearly lost its footing as a shockwave blasted from the crater now at its side.

Acras perked up.

Fornax lifted himself from the earth. A massive dent caved in his chest piece. He looked much worse for wear.

"Now why'd you have to go and ruin the fun?" Acras growled.

Acras's mouth ripped open. He bit into his own flesh, his jaw inverting until it had consumed every piece of his human form.

Nothing but the gaping maw remained. Its fanged teeth crashed together.

A skeletal body sprouted forth, taking towering shape. Acras, now in his massive godly form, hissed.

He was more jaw than anything. His starving body looked and smelled like a rotting corpse. Mold and sores marred every peeling inch of flayed skin hanging off his bones.

"I wasn't done with my appetizer," Acras complained, his voice taking on a new sharp, wheezing undertone.

Fornax turned. He took in Acras's visage and the horrid hound demon dashing for the town. His eyes caught on Forfend.

He froze.

"No, Forfend!" His attention snapped to Acras, rage shaking his body. "What did you do?!"

Fornax slammed his hammer into the ground. Adamantine spikes rivaling the size of mountains lashed out of the earth and impaled Acras, lifting him high into the air.

Fornax roared.

He raised his hand. An adamantine spear formed in the air and dropped into Fornax's hand. He launched it.

The spear slashed through Acras's gaping maw.

Acras grunted. "Good!" he yelled despite his wounded mouth.

He chomped down on the spear and swallowed it.

"Forfend, go! I'll deal with this!" Fornax ordered.

Forfend ran without a second though. It had to catch the hound.

Puddles of lava were left in its wake from each strike of its exposed molten feet.

Its core spun, sparking painfully in its chest.

It wasn't sure if it could call on enough magic to cast a single spell, but it would have to try. It had to help the village.

The memory suddenly stuttered.

Forfend dropped so gracelessly back into its body that it staggered.

"One of many things that should be considered is why the gods perform such actions," the cultist was saying.

The crack in the earth where the smoke had disappeared split, creating an expanding rift.

"An example would be why they would betray creation. After all, the gods are embodiments of all things in reality. Which means that the truth of the matter is that we were never supposed to exist," the cultist asserted.

The rift grew to a fissure.

Two massive white paws snagged the crumbling edges and dragged up the emaciated form of the very same hound demon Forfend had just seen in its addled memory.

It took a short step back as it looked up at the snarling beast.

Its core dropped low in its center.

Fear took hold.

[lunarsilkscreen]

Kairi's Absence (KH)

Despite being one of three protagonists, Kairi is often completely overlooked in the series. Sora and Riku leave her behind when they leave island, and don't see her again until near the end of KH1, Where she and Sora turn into heartless.

In two, she's forgotten more or less anything about her friends because a piece of her heart was stored inside Sora during the transformation.

She was able to turn him back from being a heartless by repairing his heart with her own. And forgot him because [the organization] ripped him apart in order to salvage Ventus.

This created the Nobody; Roxas. Who maintained Ventus' consciousness, while a 14th member was created from the remainder of Sora.

This created the Nobody/Heartless hybrid known as Xion. Xion, likely an anagrammed "Oni" (possibly Nio,) was created from the that "Repair" of Sora's heart, along with the piece of Kairi that remembered him.

Wait, who is Roxas/Ventus?

Ventus was an old Keyblade student who was split into two by Araquas and Xehanort.

Most of the blame goes on Xehanort, but it's not like Araquas did anything to help his pupil remain in one piece.

This created the Heartless knowns as Venitas.

Venitas occupied the darkness of Ventus' heart, while Ventus was his light.

At the beginning, of Kingdom Hearts, the Sora we see in the prologue is Ventus. The one who fell into the ocean, merged his light-heart with Sora.

While not explicitly stated, it seems possible that Venitas merged with Riku. As Riku/Ansem uses similar movesets and is garbed similarly.

So when Sora became a heartless in KH1--despite the repair done by Kairi; Xehanort/Ansem was able to disassemble him trying to recover the brainwashed Ventus who took residence in Sora's heart.

Now, Venitas had long since been defeated by Sora in KH1, but ended up joining forces with Xehanort again. (Theory; that was Riku/Ansem/Venitas)

And yet, the only thing we hear from Kairi is how she feels uneasy, like something is missing from her life but she can't put her finger on what...

After Sora pieces himself back together with the help of Roxas/Ventus and Axel. We find ourselves in Kingdom Hearts 2. Where Sora again ends up facing off against Ansem/Xemnas/Xehanort.

Xehanort is kind of an asshole and takes apart his former students in order to control them. Ansem is a former pupil as well, a researcher known as Diz. And Xehanort created Xehanort/Ansem and Xemnas by taking him over.

So after defeating Xehanort three times by the end of Kingdom Hearts 2, Sora has seen the contents Kingdom Hearts firsthand, like no other keyblade wielder in history.

But he still houses a part of Ventus in his own heart, and doesn't quite yet stand alone.

And so we get to Kingdom Hearts 3. Kairi is *finally* a Keyblade wielder and finally a part of the actual overarching story, but still kind of a foot note.

I get that she's supposed to represent Sora and Riku's innocence. But Jesus Christ. She's barely a character in this franchise.

Now, technically these 3 are the pseudo-successors of the original three students of Xehanort and Araquas: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus.

(earth, water, air, who fire? I DUNNO)

And Kairi's absence is explained *because* Aqua had gone missing in the world of darkness. Since Aqua was missing, so too was Kairi. Because Kairi didn't have anyone to guide her like Sora and Riku did.

You know, despite them being guided in non-standard ways in the first place.

As much as I love Kingdom Hearts, it's story is a big-time mess. Lol.

[goldensunset]

simple and clean feels like a very sokai song especially from kairi’s perspective

[star-sworn]

1) Which kh trio do you think works out the most? I mean it’s gotta be the wayfinder trio right?

2) which trio is your favorite?

1. What an intriguing question anon…I agree, it’s gotta be Wayfinder as a group, simply because they’re the only ones that actually attend a school with consistent training. You could argue that killing Heartless literally seven days a week in violation of child labor laws as Roxas, Axel, and Xion did during their time in Organzation 13 kind of counts as a workout routine too? But yeah I would go Wayfinder WITH THE ONE CAVEAT that damn, have you seen Riku’s biceps? That boy works out enough for the entire trio. While Sora was taking a ride on the Mountain Coaster, Riku has been all aboard the Gain Train, if you know what I mean. Though as I think about it, I was a state level swimmer growing up, and so I can personally say that Sora’s abs have to be insanely strong to swim like a merman for hours on end, so… maybe this isn’t as clear cut as I once thought, anon. But Terra for sure is a gym bro. He needs those big strong arms to hug his friends real tight. Also look at his Break Time. Literally just flexing on all of us.

2. This one is tough, and if this turns into an actual novel, I cannot be blamed. So my answer is super basic, but it has to be the destiny trio. I absolutely adore Sora: he’s my darling boy, I miss him every day, and he alone would make this trio my favorite. He’s so positive, so kind, so protective of those he cares about, and I think what I love most is that, through and through, he really is just an ordinary kid, with ordinary dreams. I really feel that, while Sora likes going to all these worlds, likes meeting new friends and helping them with their problems, and he understands his role in saving the world and accepts that responsibility, he doesn’t care about being some big hero. He just wants to find his best friend, and go home to the girl he loves, his other best friend. His desires are so small, so simple, so human, I just can’t describe how much I love him for that. Second, because I am a ride or die Sokai shipper, and I could go on about them for literally 358/2 days, but I’ll try to keep it brief. Just look at the cave drawing they made when they were like four years old: even if it wasn’t romantically back then, they’ve literally loved each other almost their entire lives. Sora considers Kairi his home. He’s sacrificed himself twice for her. He spends kh1 and 2 yearning for her, dreaming about her. How he finally puts her first at the end of 3, and says "she's out there, alone... not for one more second." Going against Riku, against Mickey, and saying: i've done everything anyone has ever asked me to do. I've saved the world, I've saved all these people. Now I want to do what I want to do. I want to be with her. I can't stand that she keeps getting ripped away from me. She needs me, and I can't be without her for one more second. Swoon. Also, did you see remind? the gratuitous hand holding? the three dates they went on? One Heart? Just end me now. And the way he reaches across the divide of reality itself to save her in Melody of Memory? That their vow gave him the power to keep her safe like that? I don't care that shit's romantic as hell.

And this isn’t just because of Sora. Little kh1 Kairi, with no weapon, no magic, she’s surrounded by Shadow Heartless, so what does she do? She throws her arms around Sora. Literally shielding his little Shadow form with her own body. What about when Sora is tackled by a mob of Heartless toward the end of kh2? She jumps off a freaking balcony–once again, without a weapon of any kind. In kh2, when she reunites with riku, she's so happy. and when he tries to leave before Sora can recognize him, she pleads "Riku! Don't go!" and grabs onto his sleeve. She would do anything to stay with her boys, both of them. People always talk about how protective sora is of kairi (and I live for it), but Kairi is exactly the same when it comes to Sora. They both make that vow. And then how she holds on to him in kh3, keeping him on the edge of life itself? How he tells her, “I feel strong with you, Kairi!” with this big grin, and she blushes? I will never be over that. They’re both so devoted to one another, it’s just that Sora’s devotion is more prominent. Kairi is also brave and loyal, and she does her best for her friends no matter what, too. She literally gave up a year of her life sleeping to try and find Sora.

And going back to kh2, I also adore Riku. His whole arc, from childhood (and love) rival in kh1, the fall from grace, to his redemption in kh2? Absolutely beautiful. What struck me during my first playthrough of kh2 was Riku in the background. He wants so badly to atone for what he's done, yet he’s so ashamed he doesn’t want anyone to see his face, to know it’s him. It’s such a complete 180, to become so humble after being such a jerk. He creates that portal so Kairi can escape Axel. He teams up with Namine and does just enough to save Kairi, then tries to run away before she can find out it’s him. In his mind, he just wants to get her to Sora. That’s such a shift from “I have to be the one to save her” in kh1. And when Kairi jumps off the balcony, he saves her from the Shadows, then puts a keyblade in her hand(!!!) and literally fights with her, back to back. And do I even have to explain the end of 2, how Sora and Riku reconcile and Riku admits he was jealous of Sora? And then its Kairi’s letter connecting her heart with Sora’s yet again to open a door to the light for then to get home? While they’re playing Sanctuary??? Literally high art. I know Kairi is still kind of a lesser character in kh2, but kh2 still did a great job making it feel like they all love each other to death.

Which brings me to my one and only gripe with kh3: the destiny trio, or lack thereof. Before the paopu scene, Sora and Kairi literally don’t even make eye contact with one another. And before we rescue Aqua and Ven, the whole game is just everyone idolizing Riku and weirdly and not even tacitly bullying and disparaging Sora (which I was not here for). Even Riku is like “lol yeah you’re not good enough to save Aqua and you’re dumb for even trying” and then what does Sora do? He saves BOTH their asses. I digress. Now I know, in an interview Nomura talked about how kh3 was meant to show change. And since the other trios are all in peril, they’re all sort of frozen, static. So this kind of has to be referring to the destiny trio, and I do think we see that in 3 with the paopu scene. There’s a shift, and Sora and Kairi definitely have something they just can’t share with Riku. But as much as I love Sokai, I feel kh3 really needed at least one scene where they were all together, actually being friends like they used to be. Just going from 2 to 3, they seem like barely friends at times. But I do think they tried to show Riku being distressed when Kairi was killed, and sad when she went to sleep during Limitcut, but the execution was a bit poor.

And I have to say, seeing Riku, the guy who put the keyblade in Kairi’s hand’s and fought by her side in kh2 telling her to stay behind for literally no reason while he goes to Quadratum, that stung. It felt like such a betrayal of the love these three have for one another. And honestly, I’m getting a little tired of Riku, only because he’s already had one incredible and complete arc, arguably an arc and a half including DDD, and I just feel like he should take a backseat for a little while. Now, it’s my hope they’re playing the long game with this, that it will be up to Kairi–Master Kairi–to team up with/save her boys down the road, but I’m also way too hesitant to truly believe that’s what they’re planning. So in sum, I absolutely adore all three members of the destiny trio as characters in their own right. But especially in the sequence from 1-2, I love their friendship, how they’re doing everything for each other, that all they really want is to make sure the others are okay, that they grow and change in order to treat each other better, it’s just so beautiful. I think kh3 had so many balls in the air, it was trying to balance so much and tie up so many ends and set up so many new things that the destiny trio just kind of got lost in all of it. So I'm really hoping in the next phase maybe they'll get to team up together. Here's hoping, right anon?

Thank you for letting me gush about kh, anon! I’d love to hear your thoughts, or anyone elses! Happy 20th anniversary, I hope you're having a good day today. :)

[themadauthorshatter]

So... I've been watching KH rewrites.

And while I'm not rewriting ALL of Kingdom Hearts, but I have a few ideas to change 358/2 days:

The organization has an agenda: find and kill Sora, Riku, and Kairi so they can stay out of the way, but with Sora sleeping, Kairi safe on Destiny Islands, and Riku running all over the place, their jobs just got harder.

The change the title to 358/3 days, because Axel's in on this too. This is the sea salt TRIO we're dealing with, not sea salt duo.

We see a majority of Roxas's beginner days, like before, but in between them, we see Xion with Axel, mainly because Xemnas trusts him enough to be able to incapacitate Xion, if she gets too fired up.

Oh yeah, Xion doesn't really look up and smile at Roxas when she first sees him. In game, her mouth just opens in a gasp and she clenches a fist. In her first days, she's strictly in 'attack anything that comes near me' mode because she's scared and confused. We see it happen when Demyx waves a hand in front of her face and she literally jiu jitsu throws him to the ground.

Xion stares at Roxas and Axel and follows them individually. Axel finds it creepy and warns her not to get any ideas while Roxas pretends not to notice.

Xemnas is more proactive, checking on and somewhat favoring Roxas and Xion, Roxas more than Xion at first before fully switching over to team Xion. Everyone notices, especially Larxene, and it's not a good thing. Except for Axel, who's okay to stay out of Xemnas's attention.

Larxene is a bitch. As in she not only tells Roxas to not use his keyblade, but also to hold still so she can kick him.

Lexeaus is a little kinder. He does still hit Roxas within an inch of his life, but he lets Roxas hit back, as hard as he can. Roxas does so, hitting him in the side, like by the abs, but not completely, and it only hurts Roxas more than Lexeaus, the big guy fights a pitied smile and tells him to try again. Roxas does so, hitting harder, and Lexeaus grunts and fakes it to look like Roxas really did hit him hard. Roxie boy apologizes, but Lexeaus brushes it off, complimenting that Roxas is a more than qorthy choice for the keyblade.

Zexion is not a fan of Roxas, because he looks too much like Ventus. He eventually has a silent kinshio with him and acts A LITTLE friendly towards him, but nothing serious.

Vexen has to be kept on a leesh so he doesn't lock Roxas in his lab and scientifically check him out. AT LEAST BEFORE HE GOES ON A MISSION WITH HIM. After that, he wants nothing to do with the kid.

Axel is a little weirded out by Roxas, at first, but warms up to him.

Marluxia is a little creepy in that while he trains with Roxas, like practice missions, he gets face caress-y and Roxas later asks Axel if he can not go on missions with Marluxia.

Xemans does not get like that with either of Roxas or Xion; all he does is ruffle/play with their hair and pat their back and shoulder.

AND XEMNAS ISN'T PORTRAYED AS A VILLAIN UP-FRONT. IN A PERFECT WORLD, THIS IS RELEASED BEFORE KH2!!!!!!

Saïx sees Axel's growing connections with Roxas and Xion, and he gets meaner because of it.

Roxas has his own version of anti-form or rage form, in the form of non-form, where he takes on a look very much like a mix of the samurai and dusk nobodies; he's bendy, fast, and hard as shot to lock onto, target-wise, but get hit and there's next to nothing that's going to save you. Roxas can only use non-form when he has no other optiin, and that's because he hates using it with a burning passion. Whenever he uses it, he has a hard time seeing things, so he relies on his hearing and any bright lights that catch his attention. Game wise, this is his limit break. When his health is low, non-form is activated with a cool looking transformation.

Non-form is the reason why Roxas is Xemnas's favorite, at first.

Xion doesn't talk to Roxas at all when they go on missions together, at least not until Roxas goes into non-form to save her, even though she doesn't really need saving.

Demyx was initially chosen to watch Roxas, but he saw the kid, newborn, scared, and confused, go into non-form and damn near attack him until Xemnas kicked him away. Saïx was the runner uo, but he gave the role to Axel, who successfully calmed Roxas down enough for the newbie to return to normal.

Xion warms up to Roxas, but is cold towards Axel, who returns the feeling, but also makes a deal with her; in front of Roxas, they have to play nice together or else Saïx is going to snitch to Xemans, who will have Xion ripped apart piece by piece until there's no putting her back together. Behind Roxas's back, however, they can fight all they want, as much as they want. Hell, they can even try to kill each other. BUT ONLY BEHIND ROXAS'S BACK SO HE DOESN'T SEE IT HAPPEN.

Roxas is given pretty lenient missions and it's not just because of his connection to Sora and Ven. It's also because of how unstable Non-form is.

Oh, yeah. Roxas hallucinates and hears both Sora AND Ventus, but it's only when things get too quiet. Xemnas has Axel keep an eye on him because he made friends with Ventus as Lea and had contact with Sora. If anything, the redhead can keep Roxas stable enough for them to bring him to Castle Oblivion and find Ven, when he's ready.

And he'll be ready when he dual wields keyblades, which Xemnas KNOWS wil happen because he's Xehanort and Xehanort apparently knows all.

He doesn't know enough because there's another person who can dual wield: Xion.

Xion is still a replica, but this time is made with fractures of Kairi's and Sora's hearts, Kairi being able to wield a keyblade because it got passed down from Aqua to her by accident and Sora because he's Sora.

When Axel is sent to Castle Oblivion and is reported as gone, Roxas's reaction is much more severe. First mission with Xigbar goes fine until the end, where Roxas not only gets hallucinations of Sora and all that, but also because he's experiencing a new emotion: GRIEF. He goes into Non-form and goes insane. Xigbar directs him to a dark corridor, where he's released right into the castle in The World That Never Was and starts destroying anything amd everything that moves before going all aroung the castle.

It soon becomes a really darkly comedic game of Catch The Kid Without Killing Him Or Letting Him Leave To Another World.

No one's fully successful, except for Saïx, who also goes berserk to stop and hold him so Xemnas can collect him. Roxas struggles in Saïx's arms and lets out scream after scream until Xemnas comes to get him and snap him out of it.

Roxas leaves Non-form and is led to his room by Xemnas, who compliments his ability to imitate emotions, despite not remembering how to.

Roxas, already trying to keep it together, breaks down again, and Xemnas holds him close, letting him get it all out, and explains that this is why they fight and need to fight warriors of the light, including Sora, Riku, and Kairi.

After that, Roxas is only allowed on recon missions until he's stable again.

It's fine though, because Axel makes it back a week later, saying he got knocked unconscious by Sora. He escaped and made it out a-okay, leavung out the part where he may have merced Vexen and Zexion.

Roxas is still glad.

Axel reports to Xemnas and Saïx and euns into Xion.

The threat still remains, but he's still playing nice for Roxas's sake.

Over time, Axel and Xion learn to get along and even become friendly enough to be sarcastic and jokey with each other.

It also helps that Xion also deals with hallucinations and her way of dealing with them is by running. Axel and Roxas followed her and came face to face with a GIANT heartless, maybe a more threatening version of the Dark Side.

All three fight it, but it knocks Xion and Axel away, the redhead gets up and is almost smashed into the ground before Xion lunges, going into her armored form. Roxas follows as well, in his Non-form.

The two make quick work of the heartless amd Roxas struggles to turn himself back, where Xion does it perfectly.

Axel compliments the work, but hugs onto Roxas before he can lash out at a frightened Xion, telling him to play nice or they're not having any more playdates and he'll be locked in his room 24/7.

Roxas turns back and he and a surprised Xion pass out, leaving Axel to groan at having all the icky jobs; he got the crap beaten out of him amd wants to pass out with the two children, but instead has to carry them back to the castle so neither die on his watch.

They all recuperate and pat themselves on the back for their victory.

Xemnas congratulates them as well, having let himself in the infirmary because he heard what happened.

Axel reports that they're all fine and the heartless is gone, and Xemnas is more than glad to hear it, at least before her turns to Roxas and asks if he was hurt, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He's fine, just a little dizzy, but fine.

Xemnas is more than glad to hear it, pushing back Roxas's bangs and playing with his hair a little before leaving them all to heal, ignoring Xion entirely.

She doesn't take it personally and instead remarks about how nice it was of Xemans to join them, for once.

Axel agrees with the sentiment and makes Roxas and Xion promise that they're won't be anymore surprise runaways like that again.

They agree, though Xion asks if surprise ice cream can be exempt.

Axel smiles and exempts surprise icecream.

They all become real friends after this point, and it includes them poking fun at each other("Er, I don't know my past so I'm gonna go Saïx berserk on anyone who asks, der, der, der"), sarcasm(Xion: "There really is no hiding from Saïx, is there?" Axel: "Well, there's always under Xigbar's bed, but no one's ever returned, so tell me how it goes."), and light name calling, like hot head, burning britches, and smoke and more smoke for Axel, hoodie and emo band for Roxas, and little miss pissed off for Xion, because she's funny to make annoyed and angry.

And they try more than sea salt icecream, like doughnuts, cakes, and eventually healthier foods that are still sweet.

Roxajs and Xion gonon missions together and eventually start more than a friendship.

Axel keeps an eye on them whenever he can and begins lying to Xemnas, saying neither are really progressing with their powers, but are maintaining, so there's that at least. Xemans is not convinced and asks an old question, considering how Axel has possibly the best memory out of everyone here: What happened to Sora? Axel feigns ignorance, because he TOTALLY helped Sora take out Marluxia.

Okay, but what about Naminé? More ignorance because she up and vanished. Maybe Sora stole her away or something, who knows? Teenagers do weird things.

Xemnas, more than a little fed up, notes that Axel's getting close to Rozas and Xion and admits that as much of a shame as it would be to waste resources, it'd be even more tragic to lose their own numbers, maybe even Saïx as well, despite how cold he's turned toward Axel. If it makes him feel better, he doesn't need to do the 'icky job,' Saïx can do it for him and he can simply watch.

Axel steps down and Xemnas twlls hom to tell the truth next time, if he doesn't want to lose anymore friends.

There will be a part 2 of this

[voidedgear]

The fire splits apart as it rockets toward Kairi, and when she throws herself to the ground, they scream over her head. They’d been tracking her movements, so they'd arched down and crashed into the ground with a loud roar. The grass is momentarily set ablaze before the darkness that holds the spell together disperses, and the magical flames die down.

‘She was lucky,’ Vanitas thinks, ‘with that kind of movement, throwing herself to the side wouldn’t have put enough distance to escape.’

Still, what does it matter? Nothing the princess did would change how this was going to end. She’s the weakest link in the chain that connected the ones born on that light-filled island. Vanitas knows it, and he suspected that Kairi knows it, too.

This thought serves nothing but to increase Vanitas’ aggression. How dare she? How dare she exist as something so important to Sora? How dare she influence Vanitas through his connection to his “brother?”

If Sora ever managed to return, if he heard about this…

Well, Vanitas could easily recall the sheer panic he’d felt through their bond when Xemnas had taken the girl in front of him. He’d undoubtedly seek Vanitas out and fight with him. They would clash and find themselves strengthened in turn—if Ventus doesn’t take matters into his own hands first. Honestly, Vanitas would prefer the second to the first. He’s almost missing him.

If Kairi survives this, Vanitas has no doubt she’ll learn something from their encounter. If she survives.

He’s still one with the ground, speeding toward her when—

     “I’m not letting you hide from me anymore!!” Kairi screams out as her Keyblade blazes with magic.

For a split second, before the light’s intensity ramped up and seared him from the ground, Vanitas suddenly recalls something from before he and Ventus had been ripped apart. He’d been burrowing into his heart only to be surrounded by a vast light, a light that he had discovered to be just as vast as his darkness. Vanitas had never managed to forget that feeling.

A shadow cast onto the ground, surrounded by light, is not threatened when it is held in the grasp of such an even light. It is contained, cradled in warmth, all thoughts of spreading and infection forgotten in the sheer comfort of feeling whole. Surrounded by that sensation, Vanitas wouldn’t have minded an eternity entwined with that boy.

Then, Kairi’s light intensifies, and all is burning and pain. He halts in his approach, faltering and shaking as he tries to keep himself from getting overwhelmed. He’d been almost under her feet, but now he flees backward away from her. It’s not enough.

Vanitas snarls like an animal as he rips himself from the ground, unable to find any refuge from the princess’ light. He raises his hand in front of his face protectively, pupils contracting into narrow slits behind his helmet. Parts of it began to crack, the darkness that clothed him partially eaten away by the display. His bodysuit is eaten away around his shoulders, revealing pale skin that harshly contrasts the darkness he wears.

He'd been almost to her, and now he kneels there on the grass before her, his Keyblade at his side. He’s vulnerable, but he won’t be for long enough. Both his heart and body ache at the reminder Kairi had given him and his pain sharpens his focus.

This wasn’t even close to being enough to stop him. The cracks repair themselves as Kairi’s display of power fades. He’s lucky his helmet is so dark; it keeps his eyes from being blinded.

He lowers his arm and readies his blade again, raising it up with the tip angled downward.

There’s something beautiful about having this fight here, in the Land of Departure. He’d always imagined what it would be like if he’d gotten to come here instead of Ventus. It would have never been permitted, of course. Only Xehanort knew how to turn Vanitas’ pain into power. Eraqus would have eliminated him as soon as he discovered what he was.

Logically, Vanitas had no other place than at the side of his creator, no matter how much Vanitas might have hated him. Logic, however, is a poor substitute for emotion. Just being back here, seeing this beautiful world that is so unlike the empty graveyard he grew up in, just kindles the edges of Vanitas’ envy.

He’s glad he’d decided not to sightsee before picking this fight with Kairi. It would all just be a reminder of what he didn’t have.

“It’s gonna take more than a little light show to stop me, Your Highness.” Vanitas sneers at her, darkness enveloping the parts of his suit that had been eaten away, settling in, and repairing it faster than it takes to blink. “Why don’t I show you a trick of my own?”

The darkness he’d summoned quickly grows, wrapping around him, and he disappears from the girl’s sight. He’s a thousand particles rushing through the air, recreating himself behind the princess faster than she can breathe. Void Gear is already raised aloft by the time he reconfigures himself, and gravity begins to apply again.

“Too slow.”

He lets himself fall, swinging his arms down to let the weight of Void Gear slam down toward Kairi’s unprotected back. Particles of ice concentrate around the tip of his Keyblade, and a spear of ice shoots up from the ground as soon as his blade slams into it.

☄. *. ⋆ ┈┈┈ Kairi isn't entirely sure what she was expecting--maybe a nice long, meandering speech about darkness and its woes just like Xehanort especially loved--but this boy doesn't even pause at Destiny's Embrace shining into her grip--

She had the silly thought there'd be some sort of clue that he'd rush at her like this--his dark Keyblade clashing so horribly with her own, sparks of light and shadow bursting around them the moment of contact, showering over them in an insidiously pretty way--that there'd be some blatant clue to his next action and that's how Sora and Riku were able to so easily sweep away their enemies--

But there's none of that... in fact, it's like she's fighting against a powerful demigod that's throwing a tantrum and it's terrifying and unnerving, he's strong enough that her legs are burning from pushing all her weight into their interlocked blades, just so he doesn't crush her with his darkness all at once--

And she can't predict anything, because she doesn't think she can match his rage or pain.

The way he pours so much effort and hate into their battle despite hardly knowing her should be telling--yet it takes everything in Kairi to simply focus on standing and to not be swept away entirely by the hopeless gulf of experience between them, so she can't figure out why he's here and why she's being punished for something she doesn't know she did.

It's really unfair, she thinks with shockingly watery eyes as she becomes aware of the darkness writhing around the boy's fingers now--this is the sign she'd been looking for before, the telling clue that he's going to strike her hard and she should be getting ready for it--

(But she's fought very few on this nameless boy's level--Xehanort and Xemnas had made quick work of her graceful flailing when she tried before--Xehanort had even killed her by wrenching her away from her friends as easily as a doll pried out of a child's clenched fingers, so when her helmeted assailant bounces away she has no idea what he's capable of...)

The moment he flings himself back, she's left standing there among the silvery grass more than helplessly--trying so hard just to figure out what's coming next, she can't even imagine what she should be doing now....

Then he screams at her as he lashes out a fiery spell composed of shadow and crackling heat both, "Show me what makes you worth this!"

( What makes me worth this...? But I don't even know you!!! )

She doesn't have time to reply to his cry--that roaring fireball is going to reach her in seconds and he's oozed into the grass, seemingly gone all at once--

( Where did he go?! Where did he go?! )

She's panicking, she's aware of this--though she finds this breathless fear sharpens everything around her suddenly, the grass is abruptly crisp and made of a thousand shades of gray, the fireball is slowing in her mind's eye--and she doesn't know it, but this is adrenaline pure and intoxicating... she hasn't felt it pulse through her this powerfully before, because maybe she's aware this time no one is coming to save her.

If she can't save herself this time... it's game over. She knows that... so she has to at least try to fight!!

She throws herself out of the dark spell's way, a bit like she learned in school during all those (what she had once thought) silly little fire drills--

Whenever the fire marshals came to her elementary back then, they always told her and all her classmates STOP DROP AND ROLL and though she thankfully isn't burned by the whizzing flames, she finds the advice is helpful now--even if it forces her to stumble up clumsily, at least she got out of the way.

And then, without looking back, she's running hard, each frenzied footfall slapping the grass with enough force to crush it completely--and she hurries around their arena, skirting the edge of the hill as she scopes out the area--she knows he isn't gone entirely, that'd be way too easy...!

( He disappeared into the ground, like the Heartless do... like those Shadow Heartless do... )

Finally, she gets an idea--maybe she can do more than just react and run, maybe she can draw him out!

She bites her bottom lip nervously, yet even so she pushes on--darting quickly and gripping Destiny's Embrace too hard, then she strikes out the golden blade to her side and takes a deep, rattling breath--

"I'm not afraid of the dark--can you say the same about the Light?!" Kairi cries out suddenly--

She whips around--like an abrupt turn spun out by a dancer, like she learned to do when she was little and her parents signed her up for ballet classes that she hated, because she couldn't play with Sora and Riku as much as she used to and, despite quitting those lessons after a year, she's jarringly graceful in the way she twirls and settles quickly--

( How weird--it's not my lessons with Master Aqua or the training I worked on with Lea that's helping me now... it's my memories! )

Destiny's Embrace starts glowing brightly, encased in the same fiery Light from her heart and she flings its tip at the ground, buries the blade deeply into the grass and dirt and it sinks as if its clasping into a lock--she impossibly spins the elegant handle of her Keyblade and there's a distinct TICK, as if she's about to open a surreal, bright door they can't see--

"I'm not letting you hide from me anymore!!" She screams--

Light BURSTS from her Keyblade planted in the ground--the arena had been just a simple hill speckled with gleaming grass and wildflowers, but now the Light devours all of that... and, yes, the Light does burn and not in a soothing way either...

Kairi is starting to learn--albeit slowly and with great hesitation--the Light can heal, it can breathe hope into the darkest souls... but if it isn't treated kindly and if it isn't respected for all its splendor, then it will readily and without mercy turn its bright whimsy into something angry and scorching and white-hot, something that isn't as easy to carry as love and belief...

Kairi rips out her Keyblade, looking around for her newest enemy among the glittering battlefield they now clash over... the grass is beneath all this Light, like all the natural bits of this hill are now lost to them under a glassy sheen, and it becomes clear to Kairi she might never get to see shooting stars again... not if she can't find a way out of this quickly.

She's getting the sinking feeling summoning forth a wave of Light like this is a bit like poking at a raging, imposing bear and she's still just a little girl at the end of this...

[atomic-taco-muffin]

The Legend of Hana Part 54

Warnings: More angst

Rating: SFW

At the World That Never Was, Axel was walking down the streets toward the castle and Pluto the dog was following him. Pluto walked down an alley, expecting to find Axel but he wasn’t there. Suddenly a dark corridor opened up and Pluto rushed into it, knowing that it was Riku. 

                                                         ☽✧☽✧

Axel had arrived at the castle and walked up the many stairs to the laundry room. 

“No one is here yet...” he said. He looked in the laundry room and found a brand new jacket to replace his ripped one. “Even though I don’t know who it belongs to, I’ll just take it.” 

He put it on and it fit perfectly. 

“Okay. The size after applying heat to it just fits,” he said. He spotted something in the corner of the room and found a camera pointing in his direction. 

“Don’t tell me this is a closed-circuit camera? This place has become an uncomfortable one to live in,” he said. “Oh, is it because of me?” 

The washing machine blew up and the alarms sounded. He panicked and rushed out of the room. 

The camera at 15-7L has received damage. Unfortunately there is an unknown trespasser. Please reinforce the security nearby. 

“Even this old home has these things, and the response is so fast,” Axel said as he ran away. He stopped in his tracks when he saw a group of Nobodies surrounding him. He summoned his chakrams and fought his way through them and made his escape. 

                                                         ☽✧☽✧

In Where Nothing Gathers, Organization XIII and Anti-Roxy were discussing what had happened. 

“My spare clothes went missing!” Demyx said, making Anti-Roxy laugh.

“I say, Axel’s lucky that he didn’t take Xaldin’s clothes instead,” she said. 

“The situation with Axel...shall I take care of it?” Saïx asked. “I know what his next move is.” 

“Okay,” Xemnas said. “I’ll leave this to you, Saïx.” 

                                                         ☽✧☽✧

On the beach of Destiny Islands, Kairi looked at the water, thinking about Sora and of he was okay. 

“Sora. I’m waiting for your reply...still waiting...” she said as the soft waves crashed against the beach. “I...cannot just always wait like this.” 

“You’re right,” someone said. Kairi looked over to see Axel walk out of a dark corridor. “If you’ve got a dream, don’t wait. It’s one of life’s little rules. Got it memorized?” 

“...Who are you?” Kairi asked. 

“I’m Axel. Someone who Sora trusts, Kairi.” Axel held out his hand for her to take and a group of Dusks surrounded Kairi to make sure she didn’t escape. “Return to Sora’s side. We’re quite alike in a way or another. Both of us want to meet an important friend.” 

Kairi fought her way through the Dusks and made her escape, not making Axel happy. 

“Okay? Aren’t they just like friends?” he asked. 

“Friends...?! Friends won’t do this kind of thing!” Kairi said. 

“This kind of thing? Have you mistaken something? Don’t be afraid, they aren’t bad guys. Just that sometimes they might forget things.” Suddenly, Pluto pinned Axel to the ground and nother dark corridor opened behind Kairi. 

“Yikes! What is this?” she asked. Pluto barked and ran inside the corridor. “Eh, do I go in there too? Wait for me.” 

Before she left, she made a funny face at Axel and entered the corridor. She and Pluto walked through the corridor and before Kairi exited it, she spotted a person in a black cloak.

Riku...?

Kairi arrived at the mansion in Twilight Town where Hayner, Pence, and Olette huddled around her. Chia and Nightmare woke Kairi up by giving her multiple kisses. She woke up to see the triplets and was confused. 

“Are you okay?” Hayner asked. Pluto ran over to Kairi and gave her a few kisses. 

“...Huh...where am I?” 

“You’re in our house. I’m Olette.” 

“I’m Pence and this is...” 

“Hayner. Uwah! Stop, that tickles!” Hayner giggled as Pluto was giving him kisses. Chia climbed into Kairi’s lap and she smiled. 

“And who are you?” she asked. 

“This is Chia. She belongs to our sister,” Olette said. 

“And this big guy here is Nightmare. Our guard dog,” Pence said as he gave Nightmare some well deserved belly rubs. 

“My name is Kairi. And I’m looking for my friends.” 

                                                         ☽✧☽✧

Yui stood on her balcony, looking at Kingdom Hearts and thought about the times she ran into Riku. She wanted to deny her feelings for him but found that she couldn’t. Even from that kiss to set her free from Junko, she couldn’t deny her feelings. She sensed someone behind her and found Anti-Roxy walk up to her.

“What do you want?” Yui asked. 

“A little bird told me that you got saved by a kiss. Honestly, it’s so pathetic,” Anti-Roxy said.

“So? Naminé would’ve done the same for you.” 

“Oh please. We’re half Nobodies. We shouldn’t be feeling anything.” 

“I know you don’t mean that. C’mon Roxy. Please fight against the despair that’s controlling you and help me save dad before it’s too late. Think about Naminé.” Roxy summoned her pistoleer and aimed it at Yui. 

“Like I said, we shouldn’t be feeling anything,” Roxy said. Yui snapped and summoned her own pistoleer.

“WE MAY BE TWINS BUT YOU’RE NOT ME! YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT I’VE BEEN FEELING!” she shouted and charged at Roxy. The twins fought with such vigor. Bullets flying everywhere, tears falling down Yui’s face, and Roxy trying to bring Yui back into despair. Yui realized that if she continued fighting Roxy, then she’ll end up back in despair. She backed away and ran for the door but Roxy said something that stung. Stung bad. 

“Are you seriously leaving your sister like this? After all we’ve been through?” she asked. 

“If you’re gonna be like this, then I’m not sure I want you as my sister,” Yui said. Hearing those words leave her mouth, made Roxy question if she’s truly herself or not. Yui rushed out of the room and out of the castle, sobbing. She ran and she ran until she bumped into someone. Someone that she never thought she’d see.

“Riku...” 

[iki-teru]

Title: even closer at heart

Fandom: Kingdom Hearts

Pairing: Riku/Kairi

Word Count: 2151

Synopsis: Riku is a new guard at the palace when he has a fateful run-in with the youngest princess. Something says he knows her better than he should, but it hurts too much to think about. Still, she's off to do something foolish and he can't let her go alone. It's going to be a long night as memories threaten to consume him.

Snippet: He watches, confused, as her whole body deflates slightly. She takes a long moment of stillness before determination settles across her face and she leans into his space; small hands reach up, covering his eyes. He’s shocked by the calloused palms, not what he was expecting from someone so delicate. For a moment he thinks he smells ocean spray, something that makes no sense in this landlocked kingdom. “Ah,” says the princess. “It is you, Riku.” Something clicks inside his heart, a piece he didn’t know was missing. That’s his name, the surprise is that the princess knows it. The surprise is the way it rips a gasp out of him.

He hears the rush of the ocean, the echoes of promises made. The princess wipes at his cheek. He’s crying.

Author's Notes: surprise, I ain't dead! this was originally written for @rikaifanzine Shorelines and Sandcastles and is the unabridged version of the one that got published. I wanted to have this up while the store was still open, like everyone else but in classic me fashion it arrives much later. Please enjoy the shameless schmoop!

[mariposalass]

Sora’s Time to Shine

Summary: Mari is already not putting too much expectations going into watching the Final Smash Presentation when someone close to her besides Kirby and Edelgard’s beloved Professor pops out of nowhere in said Presentation. All hell breaks loose (but in a good way).

Setting: Mari and co.’s house in Daly City, California; October 5, 2021

Notes: I was pretty behind in seeing the reveal since I was pretty tired when it came out and I had to check a friend’s post on Plurk to make sure that it was not all for the jokes before watching it on Gamespot and writing this story down. And yes, the Byleth in my S/I verse is the female version in case anyone is curious. And yes, it took me until around 8 AM to write this up. Featuring Luther Vandross. Here is an ask I made on Sora’ behest during a F/O takeover long before he got confirmed recently. #SakuraiHasReachedtheImpossibleDream #Sora4Smash

Tags: Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Smash Bros., Swift Keyblader, Smash Reveal, Sakurai has reached the impossible dream!, Sora for Smash, #Sora4Smash

“Hurry Mari, you’re about to miss it!” Kairi is dragging me out onto the sofa to see the final Smash Ultimate Presentation on the living room pretty early before plopping ourselves onto the sofa.

“Look, Kairi, guys. I hate to be a party pooper, but I have no clue about who could it be,” I try to be realistic in my views.

“Well, at this point, my beloved, it could be anybody from the video game world,” my dear Philip chimes in while trying to reassure me, “Besides, as soon as it is done, we shall try to reply back to this non Smash invitation that El had found in the mail today.”

“Huh, is that correct, El dear?” I asked my regal adopted daughter for confirmation.

“Why yes of course, Mother,” she replies as she passes me the invitation, “I believe that a friend of yours has sent us one, but I didn’t want to open it immediately since this is addressed to you.”

“Okay then, I will get to read it and reply back once the Presentation is over and see who gets to fight with Kirby and Professor Byleth,” I smiled back at her.

“I couldn’t believe that there was a leak that just came out before this Presentation video and it is about music. Who was that dense enough to do it at a time like this?” Riku mumbles as he gets the video streaming on the Nintendo Direct page in his laptop.

“You know, Riku, sometimes people can act very idiotic at times, so there isn’t much we can do besides ignoring and avoiding that as much as possible,” Harry sighs as he is bottle feeding and gently rocking Serena as she had cried a while ago to be bottle fed.

“Guys, have you guys seen Sora lately?” Issa asks us while carrying Chris in her arms, “I haven’t seen him in the last few days. He didn’t even reply back to either my or Kairi’s texts and calls. Do you think he’s off to visit Jack and Sally in Halloween Town? It’s nearing Halloween soon.”

“That’s really a good question, Issa,” Ahk agrees, “I had given up trying to find him by calling over on the phone since last Thursday. All I have gotten from it were many ‘The subscriber could not be reached’ messages.”

Even Riku and Kairi are in a loss for words as they turn to each other and wonder what is up with our friend lately. Did he just went poof without us knowing? Kirby always informs us through his many Poyos that he would have to head off to Smash whenever a new tourney starts or a newcomer arrives and Edelgard’s class often gets shorter class schedules or early dismissals whenever Professor Blyeth gets to fight in Smash: she is the professor handling the Black Eagles class. Sometimes even El, Petra and Dorothea along with a few others (and yes, that includes the Gatekeeper) would come over to Smash to spectate from the sidelines and support their beloved Professor.

There is a long silence when the Nintendo Switch title card plays in the laptop and Karina directs us all to watch the screen to see many clips featuring many Smashers in the current tournament before it transitions to Sakurai-san in the studio explaining about the video as well as showcasing the Mii Fighter costumes.

“Hey look, Isabelle the Dog’s demon slaying friend from Bethesda is now coming to Smash to rip and tear up the competition!” Moana screams when the Doomguy Mii Gunner costume appears.

“Good for him; I know that many fans really did want him to be in Smash, though the costume is a nice addition,” Issa agrees. “That now makes three Bethesda franchises represented in the costumes.”

“Even the Octolings and Judd the Cat got hats based on them too,” I chime in as well.

“Oh hey, guys! Sakarui’s about to reveal the last fighter for the Second Fighter’s Pass, so keep down it and don’t expect too much,” Karina informs as Sakurai transitions to the main event and we all stay silent and stay glued to our seats.

The screen turns black before the usual Smash logo opening shows up, but instead of the usual zoom in, it then turns into a flaming Smash logo with all the Smashers up until Kazuya Mishima (yeah, the guy who tried to drop Kirby off a cliff) looking at it and covered in the shadows. Did MH decided to get them to show up in there and meet the last fighter in the dark? Probably, I bet that he might be keeping it as a surprise and possibly even conserving electricity at the same time. Then cut to Inkling Girl looking in awe with the Smash logo reflecting onto her pupils as a nice ode to the first reveal trailer for the game/tourney, I honestly love this shot.

Wait a minute, the logo turns into stars and the next scene shows everyone frozen in place as toy-like ambiios?!? How is it even possible? Well, it does certainly confirmed once again that the video game version of the tourney is set in a world of make believe after all. I could swear that a lot of people crying their eyes out as they are watching this. It looks like this is the end of one great video game series about mascots fighting among each other. Or is it? Because the camera is aiming at Mario as if he looks like he’s trying to take a nap while standing up.

Riku then proceeds to mumble some words to me incoherently that something big is coming the moment Mario wakes up to see a glowing light to see the last remaining flame glowing on the floor, which I do agree with him. Suspicious right? Oh God, Mario no! Please don’t touch the fire for everyone’s sanity. Wait, hold on a second: that isn’t not just fire that he just grabbed on and then tossed it into the sky like a boomerang: the mystery object looks like a Keyblade and there’s that Mickey keychain! Yep, that’s a Keyblade alright. Could it be...

I could recognize that beam of light that Keyblades often produce whenever they lock and unlock Keyholes to other worlds, so does everyone in the room. Riku and Kairi hugged onto each other as if we’re about to brace for an emergency (Karina and Moana also did the same), Ahk stares at the screen to see if he’s not imagining things all the sudden, Issa has her mouth drop in shock, Chris and Serena didn’t cry throughout this entire presentation, Harry gasps and nearly drops Serena’s bottle, Philip turns to me for answers while Edelgard begins to sweatdrop in concern.

No words are exchanged as the light grows and shines brighter before it proceeds to shoot itself away from the Keyblade to reveal a Keyhole on another part of the room. It then glows bright within as the camera switches back to the rest of frozen Smashers as the light begins to fill the room and revives Link, Cloud, Incineroar and Mewtwo as they all gawk at it as it reveals something from the World of Light with the orchestral rendition of Simple and Clean playing in the background. And that’s when it hits us right at the gut: the familiar spiky brown hair poking out from that Keyhole.

“What!?!” Kairi shouts as the Keyhole ‘spits’ out Sora from the World of Light.

“H-h-he actually got in, for real?” Riku squeaks up.

“Oh my…” I gasp in pure shock as we watch the whole thing played out.

“Sakarui finally did it?” Issa adds in to the discussion.

“Well, it’s about time that they managed to get his darn behind into the tourney,” Karina seconds in.

Soon enough, Sora finally wakes up from his nappy time and takes notes from Peter Pan and Tinkerbell as he flies around, sprinkling fairy dust all over the other Smashers, before landing on the floor and the Keyblade flying back to his hand.

“Damn it, Sora!” I scream as the splash screen pops in.

“Kai, your boy has finally made it big time!” Moana shakes Kairi in congratulation rather rapidly that it nearly gives my lil sis a dizzying spell.

“Moana, please don’t make Kairi that dizzy,” Harry had to tell her that.

“Whoops! Sorry Kairi,” she apologizes to her which she accepts.

So with that, we switch back to Sakurai going in depth with Sora’s moveset after he discussed about the Kingdom Hearts games and world. And he has gotten 4 costume changes, man Sora, that’s a big wardrobe you’re bringing in, oh wait, he even got the Timeless River costume too. That makes it 5 then.

“Oh gods, Sakurai is making us suffer by watching Sakurai using Sora to beat up everyone,” Ahk tells us as the Sora moveset showcase begins.

“No kidding,” Harry muses as we see Sora beating everyone in Battlefield.

“Whoa, they went for Sealing the Keyhole instead of having Trinity Force with Donald and Goofy? What a bummer,” Karina bemoans in dismay.

“Well, you know modern Disney: too overprotective of their IPs,” Philip reminds her.

“Oh new stage, what could it be?” Riku gleefully chimes in before they reveal Hollow Bastion as the stage, “Whoa, Hollow Bastion. I never thought that you will return again.”

Then the stage changes into Dive to the Heart and it had Riku and Kairi in the stained glass in one, Riku being the main focus of the second one, Roxas in the middle of the third, Xion in the fourth, Terra for the fifth, a sleepy Ven in the sixth, and Aqua’s in the seventh.

“Pretty!” I complimented the look of each stained glass.

“Quite impressive I will admit,” El agrees with me too.

Then Sakurai begins a playthrough with Sora facing Cloud and Sephiroth in Hollow Bastion, for a while, we all thought that he’s going to be a goner with Cloud and Sephiroth beating him up in the Stamina match but then the tides begin to turn in his favor after Sephy lost his full stock and with Sora having to take down Cloud next. When he did, the scene begins to go into a slow white fade out with a Game!

“Alright! Sora did it! He defeated both Cloud and mean old Sephy,” Riku cheers on.

“Woo! Go Sora!” me, Kairi, Moana, and Karina screams aloud.

“That was brilliant!” Harry agrees before he turns to Serena, “Did you hear? Uncle Sora managed to defeat two opponents in a Smash Ultimate playthrough.”

“9 songs is better than nothing at all,” Issa observes, “It would be a licensing nightmare to talk to Disney if they can borrow a couple of songs from them and they straight up refuse to assist, oh well. Oooh, a Dearly Beloved Swing arrangement, nice! I better get that save file on the Switch prompto!”

“And check out that Spirit Board: Aunt Kairi has a Spirit of herself,” Edelgard informs us as the Spirit Board for KH is revealed.

“Oh gee, never thought that it could ever happen, but thanks,” she blushes.

“Hey, I got one as well, same with Axel, Xion, Roxas, Aqua, Terra and Ven,” Riku joins in, “Marina is so going to be happy to see her boyfriend as a Spirit. She will probably try to get him real soon.”

“You bet it right, Riku, you bet it right,” I nod and agree with that last statement.

“Oh hey, he’s going to be ready within a few weeks’ time,” Karina speaks up, “Neat! The roster is now complete.”

“Even Steve and Alex have amiibos of themselves being made, that’s even more wonderful,” Ahk takes note of it, “I’m pretty sure that Sora will have one of his own along with Pyra, Mythra, that jerk who tried to threw Kirby off a cliff, and even Sephiroth soon.”

“WHAT?!? Kingdom Hearts are coming to the Switch too!?!” I am surprised to hear the news as Sakurai reveals this new information, that is so mind-blowing.

When it fades to black then to the Ultimate mural, the camera then goes for the space between Ganondorf and Dark Samus to fill in Sora’s spot before panning back. Man, this Presentation is long and is finally ending, thank God; it must be tiring to sit down and watch a nearly hour long video as Sakurai showcases the screenshots he has made and showed off in Twitter. Man, so many memories and montages. And the achievements, wow, that is a lot of them, it will be a game feat that I don’t think it will be broken for a long time.

Man, I will miss the presentations and Sakurai’s corny jokes for sure. I wish him a nice deserving break from all the game development for sure as he gives thanks to everyone from the devs to the players to the people prompting the game and ends it off with a heartfelt goodbye as it fades to back into the full reveal trailer.

“Oh gee, I’m going to miss the Smash Presentations,” Kairi sighs, “I can’t believe that we’re coming to an end.”

“Man, it’s finally over,” Riku gasps in remark as the full trailer plays out, “I don’t think that there will be a game like Ultimate for a very long time. That’s for certain.”

“I agree, Riku. It’s to going to be a tough act to follow up on,” I add in before I look up at the ceiling and murmur some words, “It’s been a long time coming, Sora. You truly deserve that last spot, you really do. Have fun in the tourney and Smash Mansion, buddy.”

Sora is Finally Here!

The End

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I sort of missed writing KH fics that took place in the KHII era, so I wrote this story where Sora and Kairi confessed their feelings for each other between KHII and DDD, but that then makes it AU. Fluff. Oneshot.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29577108

You Raise Me Up

Kairi’s PoV

Kairi was writing her feelings for Sora in her drawing pad… It was silly, she knew, because she should have been using this gift she’d been given for art. And while she'd meant to, Kairi found that it was the written word that was really where she was at these days. But it would of course be while she was doing this, that Sora would approach her and steal the book from her.

It was an absolutely beautiful day: birds seemed to be having a contest to see which of their wings could turn the most yellow when they flew close to the sun… dogs were barking gleefully, as they played frisbee with their masters nearby… and there was even a street vendor who seemed to be purposefully leaving out their spoiled food, so that even the ants could have something to eat.

All-in-all, everyone was trying to do their best today—Kairi knew that she was—and she had hoped that Sora would be, too. But nope. He had to tease her about something that was so personal, he didn't even know.

"Sora!" Kairi squealed, as she jumped into the air from where she'd been sitting and tried again and again to fetch her book from him, while he danced about her... dangerously close to running into a bicyclist at this point. "Give it back! You can't just steal a lady's art without her permission! Did you learn nothing from when you learned manners and had to bow down to that Princess Jasmine, or whatever it was you said?!"

Sora must not have, because he completely ignored the point that Kairi was trying to make—that he had learned some propriety on his journeys, and thus should have been using it now—but began reading Kairi's carefully crafted words, as she then desperately wanted to take a shovel to her own head... just anything, so she wouldn't have to be privy to this.

"'How he attempts to give everyone lovin', without them realizing his own heart is broken.'"

At first, Sora didn't seem to realize that her words were about him. She saw his mouth starting to form the word "who". And whether he would have thought that “who” was a real person or a fictional character if he’d gotten to finish his first thought, Kairi didn’t know.

But then Sora seemed to finally get that this was art that she was making with blood, sweat, and tears, and settled down and handed her her book back. And a small smile played at his lips as he seemed to speak from the heart: "Kairi, you should really think about becoming a poet... or an author, as one can also sound poetic in novel speak."

And if he was going to play it civil to save their friendship, Kairi could do the same. And she grinned at her friend now, as she put a strand of hair behind her ear and somewhat wanted to hide from the world. “You know what? I’ll really think about that.” And be glad that that is the lead you decided to take, and that you haven’t realized the poem was about you… because I love you.

Then, Kairi and Sora had a wonderful afternoon of being good people and helping the professional fishermen nearby with their jobs. And when they were given some of the best fish as a reward for this, they took it over to the sick Riku’s house to try and cheer him up some.

…

Sora’s PoV

 A Few Days Later

Sora looked out the window—bored in school, as he always was—when he noticed that Kairi was outside.

Kairi was a girl he'd had a crush on, ever since she'd washed up on the islands when she was five. But he figured it was a hopeless case, since Kairi was kind of popular and surely liked his friend Riku... And he wasn’t trying to dwell on it, anyway, since he was generally a happy person…

But he wondered what she was doing outside! It wasn't like Kairi to skip class, or anything like that. Though Sora didn't see her class with her right now, so where could they be? Had they just gone into the greenhouse before she had? And why did she look sad?

Kairi, what's wrong with you? Sora found himself thinking, as he nearly got out of his seat to go to her.

Unfortunately, Sora's teacher noticed his lack of attention and ordered him to stand up and answer a question, whilst his thoughts were all for Kairi. "Homura Sora!” his sensei demanded, “What are the first digits of pi?"

"Oh. Erm... S-sorry!" Sora stammered. "Uhh... I believe they are 3.14159?" And Sora sat down--slightly embarrassed now--but glad that he knew the answer when he was called on, and wasn’t humiliated for once: even if people were still whispering about him for having been a space cadet. Yikes.

But still only feeling for Kairi, Sora looked out the window again and saw that she was for sure crying! He wondered if she'd sensed her grandma die or something…

Raising his hand, Sora decided he was going to ask for a personal day and go check on Kairi.

…

“Kairi, what’s wrong?!” Sora demanded the moment he saw his best friend. And then he took her in his arms to comfort her, the moment he saw that something must have happened since she was crying.

“My mom had a heart-attack, Sora. Thankfully, she’s okay. But I didn’t know she would be when I came into school today—God, now I don’t even know why I came in today—but now that I know she’s alright, I should probably go into class again and not be hiding out here. But I don’t know if I can. My emotions are all spent. Is that crazy?”

“No, Kairi,” Sora promised the girl of her dreams after she’d babbled. He then put his chin atop her head, held her ever tighter to him, and drank in this moment. Sora couldn’t get over how well her scent of strawberries smelled with his of chocolate... “It’s not crazy at all. Emotions aren’t logical. Just take it easy, okay? And if there’s anything you need… know that I’ll be there for you.”

And Sora had thought that Kairi would say “thank you” and just leave it at that, but she surprised him—as it continued to rain around them, wrapping the two of them in a warm blanket on this hot island. “Actually, Sora… I wrote some of my feelings about what happened to Mom down. And I- I wouldn’t mind if you read them. I think it might be therapeutic for me, even, if you’d do that,” Kairi said shyly, stepping away from Sora so she could hand him her sketchbook.

And it was so rare for Kairi to be shy, how could Sora anything but “yes”? He even responded more gently to her here than he normally would, and that was really saying something.

“Of course, Kairi. I’ll read anything that comes from your beautiful heart!” Sora beamed with his eyes closed. He then decided to lay it on a bit thick and be a bit of the flirt that Donald always accused him of being. But he meant every word he was saying here. Because how could he not, when he loved Kairi so much?

And he flipped open the redhead’s sketchbook to find words about the mayor… but instead he found himself seeing ones about himself.

Kairi had written that she liked him, but was afraid that he wouldn’t feel the same since she saw herself as useless?

And Kairi must have realized he’d flipped to the wrong page by accident, because she was already trying to rip the book away from Sora and stammer out explanations. “I swear it’s not what it seems lik-”

But Sora was already cutting off his precious girl, who had jumped off a balcony and fought for the first time to save him. “Kairi, you are notuseless. Don’t ever think that. But as for the rest of it… umm, I have to go. But I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Sora, wait!”

But Sora wasn’t listening. He was already Quick Running away, as he really needed to think here.

Later, he’d realize that he’d left Kairi at the worst time imaginable—and he would berate himself for it—since she had just been through so much already, and he was probably making her think he didn’t like her back.

But at the time, all Sora could think was that Kairi liked him… but probably didn’t love him.

…

A Day Later

Even after thinking on what Kairi had written over and over—as Sora laid in his bed, summoning and dismissing his Keyblade and rinsing and repeating—he couldn’t make out what she meant, exactly, and where they went from here.

It was clear to see that she liked him (she’d written that much, after all). They were at that age where one would start having crushes, after all… but did she love him in the way that he did her?

And if Kairi did have feelings for him... what if she only felt that way because he was a hero, and because of all the things that he'd done for her?

Sora was miserable when he thought that last part. And suddenly, he needed to get out of his house that just felt suffocating at the moment. So, he began peddling away on his bike, cursing the fact that he had his “driver’s license” in other worlds, but not here yet.

And really... maybe he deserved to be miserable, for having accidentally read that part of her journal. But he still had to wonder to the gods of Mount Olympus just why everything had to be so hard…

...It was only when Sora just happened to see Kairi after this—with her hair dyed black?! What? Had she thought she was “dark” for having “hurt his feelings” to make him run off like that, and had thus dyed her hair to match how she thought her heart was?—that he realized he had made a huge mistake in thinking so little of her.

“Kairi!" Sora exclaimed the moment she was over the threshold of the store she’d just been at. And her concerned expression turned into a smile as soon as she saw that he was giving her a thousand-watt smile, Sora thought.

And running up to the love of his life… and taking her hands in his, and just deciding to play it brave here, Sora asked Kairi what he knew he should have yesterday. "Kairi... do you have feelings for me?"

Kairi shrank back at this—something Sora instantly hated himself for, because he knew it was his fault because of how he’d reacted last time—but he couldn't tell why. Was it that she was embarrassed to admit it if she did... or did she still think he couldn’t feel that way for her? If so, Sora promised himself he’d help her to build her confidence up, if it was the last thing he did.

Shockingly, Kairi threw herself into Sora's arms—letting the coconut milk she’d been holding fall to the ground as she did so—and didn't stand there clenching her fists uncertainly, like he had feared she would.

But Sora could tell by how lightly Kairi held him, that this embrace was still of friendship and not romance. But why-

"I- I do, silly… I love you," Kairi replied now, as she chose that moment to look over his shoulder and focus hard on the little dipper that was just beginning to appear in the sky. What as a way of distraction? That would be Sora’s guess. "I'm sure you know that, from the tiny bit you spied from my diary. How- how could I not like you when we've been best friends for so long? But if you don't feel the same way-"

And here, Sora could only begin humming a song he was writing in his head to go with this perfect moment going on. It was very Eric of him, Sora thought, but he wouldn’t complain in the slightest. Because Kairi loving him was monumental in and of itself... but it felt good to know that she loved him for him, and not because she thought she owed him for sacrificing himself for her!

So, Sora stroked Kairi's hair once and even kissed a strand of it, as he leaned his cheek against her own.

“I love you too, Kairi. I always have. …And that’s why I stabbed myself with the Keyblade of People’s Hearts, and will never regret it or anything I do for you. …And I’m sorry I’ve made you think differently by how I’ve reacted lately. I guess we both had our own insecurities to get over, huh? Hehe. But I swear I’m going to show you how special you are to me, Kairi. Starting with telling you that you should bring your red hair back? But, hey. If you’ve decided you want black in it too, that’s also cool.”

Kairi giggled at Sora’s rambling—a sound that was like music to his ears—and his knees buckled at for how he was probably failing here… but Kairi was swift to rise him up again, both figuratively and literally.

“Then let’s be a couple together, Sora. I guess that’s all there is to it. And I also think us helping each other believe in ourselves more is a good idea… Like me believing I don’t have to be Supergirl to keep your attention. In fact… do you think you could carry all the coconut milk I bought home for me? It’s kind of heavy for me, to be honest.”

Now it was Sora’s turn to laugh. And he kissed Kairi’s head before adhering to her request. “Of course, princess!” And he moved to pick up the bags… but soon after, the two of them decided to compromise and each hold one half of the bag as they walked back to Kairi’s home.

Then, Sora and Kairi made cookies (with the coconut milk) for the first time together as boyfriend and girlfriend as a get well present for Kairi’s mother. But they snacked on a few themselves, of course.

All-in-all, it was the perfect everything.