Kingdom Hearts fic: All That You Are Heir To

[mistressofmuses]

Summary: The darkness is coming to swallow the islands, but Kairi hears the voice in her dreams: You lost a world when it fell. Will you let your second home fall as well? Seize the power that belongs to you! If you control the darkness, you can spare the Islands. You can save your friends.

Day 15 of AU-gust: Role Reversal
I know that Role Reversal AUs are a dime a dozen in this fandom, haha. But hey, it's the prompt! Basically, here's a fic that roughly follows some key moments from the first game if the destiny trio's roles were all shifted to the side. I tried not to just totally rehash the canon scenes, but to change them based on the changes to the characters, so I hope that succeeded. And yes, I know that this is playing a bit loose with some of the mythology of the series; that's why it's an AU. ;)

---

There is a power that you are heir to. A home that you have lost. You must find it.

The voice followed Kairi into wakefulness, leaving her uneasy.

Later, on the island with her friends, she no longer remembered exactly what the voice had told her, but something was still bothering her, clawing around the edge of her thoughts.

“I want to know where I came from,” she said, staring out over the water. “I know it wasn’t here.”

Riku nodded. “Then we’ll find it. We’ll find your home.”

“We could build a raft!” said Sora. “We can sail out past the Islands. We have to find your home eventually, right?”

She smiled, heart warmed by the people she loved most. She didn’t know if her home was actually across the ocean, but at least it was a direction. Where else could it have been?

Then all three were absorbed in plans for their raft, the supplies they would need, and how to build it. She pushed any lingering discomfort from her dream; they would help her find the place she was missing.

---

The raft was built, and their plans to sail away set for the next day.

She didn’t know if it was excitement that was keeping her awake, but it felt like something restless was humming under her skin. The smell of incoming rain soothed her until she fell into fitful sleep.

---

You lost a world when it fell. Will you let your second home fall as well? Seize the power that belongs to you! If you control the darkness, you can spare the Islands. You can save your friends.

Kairi woke in a panic, unsure why she’d woken up, until she heard a crack of thunder. A glance out the window showed the thunderheads building over the ocean, out toward the play island.

“The raft,” she gasped to herself. And then she was out the window, climbing down the railing of her balcony and dropping to the lawn before taking off at a run.

Something was wrong, something more than the storm that had not been forecast. More of that humming feeling inside of her, something she felt like she should know.

Spare the Islands. Save your friends. The words from her dream came back to her, and her heart leapt.

“How?” she asked, rowing her boat to the island.

Seize the power that belongs to you.

Her boat was the third at the small dock. Riku and Sora must already be here.

The shadows were too dark, seeming to spread like oil across the sand. She ignored them and kept running.

Control the darkness. Will you let your home fall?

The darkness pooled around her feet. She turned. Sora was on the beach, paces away.

“Sora!” she called.

“Kairi?”

She reached for him, and his fingertips brushed hers. Then he turned, rushing toward the cave by the waterfall. It felt like something in her followed him, some spark of light she hadn’t recognized until it was gone.

He’s going toward the door, she thought, but she didn’t know what that meant. He would be back.

More darkness was gathering around her now. It did not frighten her.

Control the darkness, she remembered again. If it was hers to control, then there was nothing to be afraid of. This was what would let her save them. Let them find new worlds.

“Kairi!” she heard again, and she turned back to the shore.

This time it was Riku standing there. “Kairi! Where’s Sora?”

“Sora will come with us, Riku. Just take my hand, and we’ll all go together.” She reached for him, palm up, an offering. “We can all go. We can find the other worlds.”

“What do you mean?” he asked. “What other worlds?”

“Where I came from. And others we’ve never seen. You promised me, we would find my home. So come with me.”

He reached for her, but their fingers couldn’t connect. The shadows were pulling her away. She felt something from the direction of the door, and then Riku was running for it, too.

The shadows wrapped around her, and pulled her away.

---

She awoke in a castle, a tall woman in black standing over her. “You’re awake,” the woman said. “Good. I only like my princesses asleep when I put them there.” Her voice was… familiar, somehow.

Seize the power that belongs to you. It was the voice Kairi had heard before in dreams.

Kairi sat up slowly. Things felt… strange. “Where am I?”

“Hollow Bastion. The shadows brought you here when your Islands fell.”

“Fell?” she shook her head, trying to remember. Then, “Riku? Sora? Where are they?”

“You were the only one who was brought here,” the woman said, tone almost regretful. “I can help you try to find them, but I will ask you to help me with something, as well.”

---

Maleficent was searching for people of her own. “Princesses of Heart,” she called them. Women with hearts so pure and full of light that they were their own kind of magic. If seven of them were gathered together, their power would unlock the door to Kingdom Hearts.

Unlocking that door would give them understanding and insight into all Hearts. That was the key to controlling the darkness. Controlling Kingdom Hearts meant controlling the passages between worlds, controlling the Hearts of the worlds themselves. It would let her direct the Heartless, those shadows that had made Destiny Islands fall. She could control them and make sure they left her worlds and her friends alone. This was the best way to protect them.

She just needed to find them.

---

Kairi didn’t know how much time passed, as days began to blend together. She went where Maleficent sent her, finding the Princesses of Heart and bringing them back to the castle with her.

She reminded herself constantly that they simply didn’t understand what was at stake; if they did not help to unlock Kingdom Hearts, then their worlds would be in just as much danger in the end. Surely it wasn’t kidnapping, when it was the only way to save everything.

And doing as Maleficent asked meant the Dark Fairy would also help Kairi find the people important to her.

Finally, Maleficent pointed her at Traverse Town, one of the “crossroads” worlds, where people from many of the fallen worlds had found themselves. “I believe one of the boys you’ve been looking for will be there. Shall we go to meet him?”

---

When Maleficent’s dark portal opened onto the cobblestone streets of Traverse Town, she politely stayed back, assuring Kairi that she would simply keep the portal open.

Kairi hoped she was about to find both Riku and Sora, though she wasn’t sure she could be quite that lucky.

“Riku!” she called, when she caught sight of his silver hair farther down the street.

He turned, and she saw his face light up when he recognized her. “Kairi!”

The two rushed to each other, grasping hands like they’d failed to on the Islands.

“You’re safe!” she said. “I’m so glad.”

“You too. What about Sora, is he with you?”

The giddy smile faded from her face, and she shook her head. “No. I haven’t found him. I’d hoped he was with you.”

“I haven’t seen him,” Riku said. “We’ve been… busy.” He glanced to the side, evasive.

She pulled her hands away and took a step back. “Busy?”

He just nodded.

“Too busy to try and find me? Are you even looking for Sora?”

“Of course I am. But there are so many worlds, Kairi. And they’re in just as much danger as Destiny Islands. I can’t let them be destroyed when I have the power to stop it.”

“I know who has the power to stop it. We’re going to control it. Riku, come with me.”

The offer sounded nearly desperate. But she knew Maleficent would welcome him. With Riku helping her, she was sure they’d find the Princesses of Heart in no time.

“I can’t go. But listen, let me talk to my friends. I’m sure I can make them understand, and then you can come with us.”

She frowned. She hated the betrayal in her voice when she said, “Sora and I were your friends.” Why would he need to ask permission for Kairi to come with him? If his new friends said they didn’t want her, would he really just leave her behind?

“You are, just… wait here.” He set off at a jog in the direction he’d been heading before.

Kairi blinked back tears. He would leave her behind so easily? And what about Sora? He hardly seemed to care that he was still gone.

Maleficent stepped out from behind one of the neighboring buildings. She placed a gentle hand on Kairi’s shoulder.

“You heard?” Kairi asked.

“I’m sorry, my dear. While you’ve been working all this time, struggling to find him and the other boy, he did not have the same loyalty. It sounds like he’s replaced the two of you with new friends. Apparently he values them to a greater degree now. Unfortunate. But you don’t need him. Your goal is to claim your power, to control the darkness. I will do all I can to help you with that goal. Now put him from your mind.”

---

Kairi did as Maleficent suggested. She might miss him, but if he wasn’t willing to help her, then she didn’t need him. She’d save him, whether he wanted her to or not.

Maleficent showed her the rest of the castle, Hollow Bastion. Hints of fragmentary memory came back to her, as she remembered running through the hallways, listening to someone read to her in the library… She truly had found the world she’d come from.

She continued to help Maleficent take the Princesses, when she identified them.

She felt an odd kinship with the Princesses of Heart. She wasn’t sure how to describe it. As if, perhaps, she could have been one of them, if she weren’t going to be the one to control the darkness. But all things needed balance; their light would be the key to the dark.

---

Maleficent found Sora, but something was wrong. It was like he was asleep, though his eyes were open.

“When you claim your power, you will be able to awaken him,” Maleficent assured her. “In the meantime, you must protect him. And defend our Princesses. Your old friend, Riku is coming to free them.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Perhaps his replacement companions convinced him to take them for their own use. But you must defend them, or we will lose our only chance to save Sora, and your Island.”

Kairi settled into the throne room of Hollow Bastion. This was her world. She remembered it now, and nothing was going to pull it away from her.

---

Riku defeated her.

She retreated, trying to return to Maleficent.

The hooded figure ahead of her was not Maleficent. “They forced you away?” it—he—asked.

“I don’t understand why he doesn’t realize what needs to be done! If we don’t control Kingdom Hearts, we can’t save the Islands! We can’t return Sora’s heart! It’s like Riku doesn’t even care anymore.”

“You could make him care. Unlock the true feelings in his heart.”

“How?” she asked.

“I have been of this world for… a long time. I have studied the Heartless, Kingdom Hearts, the Keyblade… I can grant you all of this knowledge, if you join with me.”

“Join with you?”

“Take my hand. I will show you.”

---

After she took his hand, he vanished, but power flooded through her. His name was “Ansem,” he told her, and he had been king of this world. He understood Kingdom Hearts, even more so than Maleficent. He would help her to find the seventh heart needed to open the way. “I will help you claim the power you are heir to.”

She focused, and a keyblade materialized in her hand. It shifted shape, and she knew that it was seeking its form to compliment her. Vines twined the shaft of the blade, bristling with wicked thorns so like Maleficent’s. And then dark flowers bloomed, deep purples and greens and blacks. It gave the impression of softening the points of the thorns, though she knew it remained just as dangerous.

The keyblade settled into her hand like it had always been meant to.

Now she needed to find her “friends.”

---

Riku held Sora’s limp form, trying to wake him up. His new friends stood behind him, like they had no idea what to do.

“His heart is gone,” Kairi said. “You can’t wake him up.”

Riku spun toward her. “Kairi? What do you mean?”

She meant to explain that she would call his heart back to him once she had access to Kingdom Hearts, but no words came out.

And then she was speaking, the words coming out in her voice, but she was not the one speaking them. Ansem was. “What a burden for you, to carry more than one heart. More than two, really.”

Riku gritted his teeth, calling his keyblade to his hand. “You aren’t Kairi.”

“We need one more light in order to open the keyhole. Once it would have been my host, until it retreated into that boy. And then you took it, leaving him a shell.”

“One more light? You mean Sora?”

“An unconventional Princess, perhaps. But the light knew he would protect it. But then his heart went to you for protection. How heavy that must be.”

“You need to let Kairi go. Give her back her heart.”

“Will you return it? How selfish to keep so many hearts, when you begrudge me even this one.”

Riku collapsed, clutching at his chest.

Kairi wanted to rush forward, to help him, but there was no part of her body she was in control of.

“You see? The hearts within you hear me. They long to return to their proper body.”

“Proper body?” Riku was gasping, the words coming out in harried bursts. “Sora’s heart is inside of mine?”

“Indeed. Isn’t it time for you to release it?”

“Who are you?” he growled.

Kairi felt her face smile, without any input from her. “Ansem. Seeker of darkness, and keeper of knowledge. I will release your captive hearts, and the final light shall open our way forward.”

Kairi’s arm raised her new keyblade, even as she fought against it. The blade swept in an arc toward Riku, and she wished she could at least close her eyes…

Clang. She felt the reverberation as her keyblade struck Riku’s. He lunged upright, forcing her back.

This time when Riku defeated her, all she felt was relief. Her keyblade fell from her hand, the flowers and thorns dissolving into wisps of smoke, leaving only the jagged black thing that it had been before.

---

That relief was short-lived. Ansem merely retreated.

“He will do what he realizes he must. Sora’s heart is within him, and he has been left the key to returning it. The keyblade.” Ansem laughed at his own joke.

“Riku is stronger than you know,” she said.

“A different tune than you were singing before I found you. Shall we go check on him?”

Kairi’s answer did not matter to Ansem, and he returned them to the hall.

Riku was gone, Sora, Donald, and Goofy all looking frantically for him.

“Riku?” Sora whispered.

“Clearly he chose to awaken you. I’m sure it can comfort you that his last choice was to free you and the light you hold. Now the way to Kingdom Hearts is clear. But that means that you’ve served your purpose.”

Sora braced himself, Donald and Goofy along with him.

Kairi summoned every remaining piece of strength she could, even more than when she’d tried to stay Ansem’s hand. And she felt something in the body they were sharing tear. She spread her hands, trying to force her way between Ansem and Sora. Ansem staggered, and suddenly she could speak.

“You will not use me to hurt my friends.”

“Kairi!” Sora called.

“Sora,” she answered. “You need to run. The Heartless are coming. Get out of here!”

Sora and the others ran.

---

That was all the strength that Kairi had been able to summon. Ansem regained control, and she could do nothing. Even her previous level of consciousness within their shared body was fading in and out.

She saw bits and pieces… a world that looked like their Islands, but couldn’t be. Sora and Riku standing together, Donald and Goofy behind them, facing her across the stretch of false beach.

She caught a glimpse of her hand, her hair… and realized she was not even herself anymore. The tan skin, the silver hair… Ansem had taken her over so completely she was becoming him.

They fought, and she could not summon the strength to stop Ansem, or even to slow him, or make him falter. Eventually, she couldn’t do or see or feel anything at all.

---

She awoke on the far side of a door. The door was made of pure light, the shadows behind her all the darker for the comparison. Ansem was gone. She remembered a vague sensation of light flooding into her, destroying Ansem’s pure darkness.

The door was open, just a crack, and she felt the Heartless behind her surge. Somehow she knew if they reached the door before it closed, there would be no stopping them.

She caught a glimpse through the door; Riku, Sora, Donald, and Goofy all struggling to get the door closed.

She ran at the door. It wasn’t open far enough for her to get through, and it wouldn’t be safe to open it any wider. So instead she reached through and pulled.

“Kairi?” Sora asked.

“We can get this door closed,” she said. “Keep pushing!”

Sora and Riku both nodded, throwing all of their weight into the doors. She hauled back on the bit of the door she could grip. They were moving, but not enough.

“The Heartless are too close,” Riku said.

“No, we can’t give up!”

Another figure appeared on Sora and Riku’s side of the door. A… mouse, in the same sense that Donald and Goofy were a duck and a dog respectively.

He protected the others from the Heartless on their side, and turned to help them seal the door.

“But, Kairi-” Sora protested.

“There will always be a door to the light,” the mouse said.

Kairi didn’t know him, but she believed him. They had to seal the door to Kingdom Hearts. She would find her own way home.

“Protect each other,” she said, and the door sealed closed.

With the door shut, it was very dark. She turned toward the massing Heartless, feeling the new-yet-familiar glow of a keyblade in her heart, willing her to summon it to her hand.

If you walk a path through the darkness, you will reclaim your light. And this time, the voice speaking to her was her own.