Kingdom Hearts fic: Clarifying Statements

[mistressofmuses]

Summary: After the dramatic end to the Event that nearly destroyed the entire Superhero team, Kairi (codename: Radiance), Sora (codename: Keyblade), and Riku (codename: Corridor) are enjoying some much-needed peace. They're still Heroes, and things need rebuilding. But past the immediate crisis, it seems inevitable that the media is going to return to the gossip they were so obsessed with before.

Sequel/Epilogue to Potentials, but can be read alone.

Day 8 of AUgust: Superhero/Superpower AU
As soon as I saw this prompt, my thought was... does it count if I already wrote an almost 70k AU of this type? So I stuck with that universe, and wrote a short little epilogue of sorts to that fic. I think it makes sense even if you haven't read "Potentials" though.
This is also Day 6 of SoRiKai week! The prompts for the day are "Reunion" and "Wish." This fic takes place shortly after a reunion? And it could fit the Day 2 prompt of "Peace."

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The following is a recent forum post on one of the many boards dedicated to The Defenders of the Light.

Return to Normalcy?

So, considering everything that happened (collision with an alternate dimension + a team of villains suspiciously similar to our local Hero team+ wide-scale memory manipulation + oh yeah, one of our life-long good-guys was actually evil, need I go on?), how do you think we all get back to normal?

We got all of those initial press conferences, and the talk about how the whole team wants to keep being Heroes, but doing it the right way, and mostly, I think things have kind of mellowed out.

Even so, do you think things can go back to normal? Or should they? I mean, there’s plenty to be said for the fact that “normal” is what got us to this point, right? So we need a “better” normal. But what exactly is that going to look like?

Re: Return to Normalcy?

I think that a lot of the Heroes have been making a good effort. They’ve all been seeming a lot more… human, if that makes sense? Like I had NO idea that the Defenders of the Light had so much control over them. Is it just me, or have their interviews started seeming a lot more genuine now? That doesn’t perfectly answer the question, but I feel like it’s a start. They were playing roles before, and now it feels like they get to be themselves. (Maybe as much as they can from behind a mask anyway, lol)

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“That’s at least a little encouraging,” Kairi said, tilting the screen to show the others. “At least someone thinks that we’re doing all right. Trying to restore faith by being worthy of it and all that.”

Sora nodded as he read the comment. “It is nice not to have our interviews scripted to death.”

“Personally, I kind of wish we could do away with the interviews entirely,” said Riku.

“Did you read the comment?” Kairi said, smacking him lightly on the shoulder. “We’ve ‘all been seeming a lot more human’, which is a good thing. We want to be approachable, not hidden behind twelve layers of secretly-evil bullshit.”

“As awful as it was, I liked it more when it was still focused on everything that had happened. We are rapidly getting back into gossip column fodder.” Riku put on an annoyingly vapid voice, “Oh Corridor, do tell us more about your rivalry with Keyblade. Do you have any thoughts on Bladiance versus DarkLight?”

Sora stifled a laugh. “Oh, do tell us more.”

Riku rolled his eyes, and continued with his impression of the morning talk show hosts: “Okay, so you know that ‘DarkLight’ refers to fans that hope you, with your dark corridors, and Radiance, with her light manipulation, are in a relationship. And ‘Bladiance’ means fans that hope Keyblade and Radiance get together instead. But have you ever heard of ‘KeyCore’? You can probably guess what those fans are rooting for.”

Kairi rolled her eyes too. “That might not be so bad if they didn’t treat that like such a stupid ‘gotcha.’ Like you’re supposed to be scandalized on-camera at the thought that, gasp, there are people who think you and Sora should kiss. Which, for the record, I am perfectly in favor of.” She grinned, then deadpanned, “I’m probably the biggest KeyCore shipper out there.”

Sora snorted, falling sideways on the couch. “Please. I will give you five dollars if you find a way to say that in an interview. They’ll go nuts.”

Even Riku was laughing. “Hey, I suppose we should give our biggest fan what she wants, right?”

He grabbed Sora’s shoulder and pulled him close enough to share a kiss, made clumsy since they were both still laughing.

Kairi whistled before also dissolving into helpless giggles.

Once she’d recovered her breath, she said, “I would absolutely say it, but we did agree that we were completely done with the love triangle angle. I don’t think I want to even jokingly add fuel to it anymore.”

“Cheers to that,” Sora said.

“Did we ever actually take bets on when someone would figure out the truth?” Riku asked. “There was that one caption about Radiance hinting that the three of us live together, but has anyone actually said anything about it since?”

“Not to me, surprisingly,” Kairi answered. “Yet.”

An email alert dinged on the screen of the somewhat forgotten laptop.

Riku hummed as he read the preview. “Well, lucky you, Kairi. An interview invite for Radiance. Maybe this will be the one to ask.”

-

Radiance sat under the slightly too-warm stage lights on the set of the talk show that had invited her for an interview. Sunrise in the City was the show in question. It was heavy on feel-good fluff pieces, though not exclusively.

She tried to push away the memory of watching Corridor on this same show, talking about changing sides away from them. Passing on a coded message to her, the final warning that pushed her into action.

She ignored the memory, and flashed another bright smile at the camera. She did not reach up to adjust her mask. She knew it was firmly in place, and touching it would just make her look nervous.

The interview itself definitely fell under the “fluff” category, but pleasant enough. She did get an opportunity to mention Corridor’s ongoing efforts to expand mental health services, especially for those struggling in the aftermath of the dimensional collision and the memory alterations.

She actually started to think that maybe Riku had been wrong, that they were going to stay away from the gossip-blog type questions. And then…

“So.” The hostess leaned forward, the camera also coming closer. Radiance recognized the move; leaning in, and the frame itself narrowing, it gave an impression of intimacy, despite being intended very much for public consumption. “Back in one of your first interviews after the whole Event, you were asked what you planned to do in the immediate sense. And you answered that ‘all three of you’—meaning you, Keyblade, and Corridor—‘were going home.’ Would you like to elaborate?”

“I’m not sure what more you want me to say about it,” Radiance said. She smiled, and gave an exaggerated shrug. “We wanted to go home. We needed rest after everything we’d been through.”

“I think some fans have taken this to mean that you were all heading to the same home. Do you want to clarify that any?”

She considered a few responses, just as quickly discarding them, before settling on: “I don’t think there’s anything to clarify. It sounds like they understood it perfectly well.”

Radiance had the pleasure of seeing the hostess’ eyes widen a bit.

Her own smile did not waver.