Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ The Keyblade Master's Daughter ❯ “You’re Talking in Fantasies” ( Chapter 1 )

Author's Disclaimer:

 

First, I will start off saying that I did not create Kingdom Hearts or any of the worlds in the game (as much as I wish I had). All references to the game and characters (original and Disney) within it are the property of Square Enix and Disney Interactive (now Buena Vista Games). Any reference to the Final Fantasy series is property of Square Enix.

 

For reference: ( :0 ) means a flashback or a dream.

 

SPOILER WARNING!!! This fanfic contains spoilers from Kingdom Hearts II. Read at your own risk.

 

Chapter One: “You're Talking in Fantasies”

 

If I could damn the man who made the darkness, I would.

 

Because of him, I can't be with my mother.

 

She stares at me through blank eyes of emptiness. She breathes, yes, but it is for nothing.

 

She doesn't live... She is a shell.

 

No-one can save her, and they say eventually she will die from the darkness.

 

I cannot let that happen.

 

My father has given up hope for her. I have been alone for too long to give up. Her silence empowers me to destroy the darkness.

 

Yet Daddy has given up.

 

Why? Why not me?

 

Eleven years. Eleven years she has been in darkness.

 

That mighty blade could save her...

 

But he won't use it.

 

Eleven years since they invaded and left.

 

Damn them.

 

If I had that mighty blade, I would save her.

 

But I can't.

 

I hear him say, “My love is gone. My voice can't reach her where she is.”

 

And I want to say, “No, she can still be saved!”

 

I can't.

 

I can't...

 

Damn you.

 

“Kagiana! Kagiana! Damn it, I'm calling you! Kagi!”

 

Don't wanna hear you.

 

Because you gave up on Mama.

 

“Kagiana!”

 

Go to hell, darkness.

 

Go away.

 

You took my mama's heart.

 

I hate you.

 

I have no-one except Daddy now, and he never is around for me when I need him to comfort the pain.

 

So I have no-one.

 

“Where the hell are you?”

 

Not near you. Or anyone else for that matter.

 

Only the blade will save her.

 

That powerful blade.

 

That Daddy has.

 

And will not use.

 

Some Master he is, then.

 

Riku was always right...

 

“Kagiana!”

 

Quit calling me.

 

You won't find me.

 

Give me the blade, Daddy.

 

And I will save her.

 

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The girl finally left her angst-filled thoughts to look at the remaining glowing beams of sunlight that was thrown onto the walls and through their windows. She lay on her bed, in such a brown study that she was oblivious to her father calling her. She surveyed her clothes next. Dark blue armored outfit, same design as her father's (his outfit, however, was black), same colour as her eyes. Her hair was dark brownish-red in colour. Her name was as colourful as she was: Kagiana Kairi Nomura.

 

But her life was not easy. Being Kagiana, being the daughter of Sora, he being the Keyblade Master, was definitely not easy. She did not have many friends; only her protector, an entity called Heart Riku and three servants, Akaitou Chishouki, Kaorin Raime, and Mukohime Korikagi, she could consider her true friends. The Keyblade required so much power that everyone thought she could never wield it. Here she was, fifteen years old, and still everyone thought her incompetent.

 

And they wondered why she was so cold-hearted.

 

Yet some could not blame her for her coldness. When she was just four years old, the evil beings of darkness, Heartless, assaulted their home, led by their creator Xehanort and his right-hand man, Heartless Riku. While Kagiana was whisked by her guardian Heart Riku to a safe place, her father fought off the Heartless with two Keyblades and defeated almost all of them. During the fighting, her mother, Kairi, a Princess of Heart, had lost her heart to a Shadow Heartless. No-one could find the heart; not even her father, even though he himself had nearly lost his heart to darkness. For eleven years to this day, Kairi had lain on a separate bed, surrounded by servants in case she stirred, staring at them out of half-closed eyes (and sometimes she closed her eyes. At this time, Kairi has not opened her eyes in nearly a month), not understanding the words her servants, husband, and daughter spoke to her and in return not speaking to them. Kagiana remembered crying that her mother would never recognize her, and, she believed, never would love her, either. She grew up under her father's rules, causing her to become a tomboy. One day she knew she was going to wield the Keyblade and vanquish the darkness that had taken her mother's heart.

 

She came out of her reverie when her father, Sora Nomura, came in. She could only see a black shoulder plate and she knew he was there. He had aged much, a man of thirty-eight. Yet his skill with the Keyblade was unrivaled, not even by his own daughter. His brown hair had begun to thin a small bit around his temples but was thick everywhere else. Rough stubble lined his chin. His eyes were dark blue, like Kagiana's. His outfit was black, and he was twirling the Keyblade in his right hand. With a gold hilt and a silver blade, shaped like a huge key, Kagiana immediately recognized the keychain: Kingdom Key.

 

That mighty blade, she thought.

 

“Daddy,” she said, holding out her hands so he could toss it to her. He threw it to her and she caught it deftly.

 

“I've been calling you,” he said.

 

“I was thinking. I couldn't hear you.”

 

“You seem to be doing a lot of `thinking' lately.”

 

“I dunno why, just...the usual. Thinking about Mama. You think her heart will come back?”

 

“I don't know, sweetheart,” he said. “I just don't know.”

 

Kagiana twirled the blade, trying to ignore her irritation. “Exactly how many of these are out there?”

 

“Many. King Mickey has one and I have two.”

 

“And which one will I get?”

 

“This one.”

 

“And which one will you have?”

 

“Gold blade and silver hilt.”

 

“And which one does King Mickey have?”

 

“You're full of questions today, aren't you? But since you asked, he has a copy of the golden Keyblade.”

 

“Well, I told you I was thinking, and that's one of the things I thought about.”

 

“I guess so,” he said, sitting on her bed.

 

Kagiana's brow furrowed once again in thought. “Does Heart Riku still have Way to the Dawn?”

 

Sora nodded. “Heartless Riku has a Black Key.”

 

“Black Key?”

 

“Yeah. Black Keys are Keyblades used for the purposes of darkness. While normal Keyblades seal hearts, Black Keys unlock them.”

 

“You've never told me about that.”

 

“I know. I think that when I was about to tell you I thought you were too young.”

 

Always too young, she thought angrily.

 

She stood up. “Mind if I practice?”

 

“Well, I will need that one back, but yes.”

 

“Fine, then.”

 

Kagiana walked out of her room, twirling the Keyblade.

 

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As she entered the practice hall and sat down to prepare for a fight, a bright light shone in her eyes.

 

“Hello, Riku,” she said.

 

The person standing before her, glowing with a soft yellow light, smiled. His eyes were bright dark turquoise and his hair silver and shoulder-length. He wore a yellow sleeveless shirt and large pants that made his legs look twice as big as they were. He adjusted his glove. Although he looked sixteen, he was really older than Sora (thirty-nine, in fact).

 

Riku Kurayami had been Sora's best friend when they were younger. When their home was destroyed by the Heartless, Sora and Riku were separated. While Sora attained the Keyblade and sealed worlds, Riku gave his heart to darkness to save Kairi. The creator of the Heartless, Xehanort, possessed Riku to have a physical presence (since Xehanort had given up his own body for ultimate power). It was when Sora was nineteen, two years before Sora and Kairi married and four years before Kagiana was born, that he defeated Riku for the final time. Riku then split into three entities: Heart Riku, Riku's soul and who became Kagiana's guardian; Heartless Riku, Riku's heart and who now worked for Xehanort and the Heartless, and a Nobody, which no-one could find. Sora was surprised at the split; normally there was two splits when someone lost their heart. Over time, it seemed, light began to return, and once Riku was defeated, Heart Riku was freed.

 

“How'd you know it was me?”

 

“Who can miss that light you give off?”

 

“True...”

 

“You still have Way to the Dawn, right?”

 

Heart Riku produced a very odd-looking sword, a Keyblade. He twirled it a bit. “Yep.”

 

“I don't get why you're made up of light and yet your blade looks like it is from the darkness.”

 

“I'm immune to it. The only darkness I can't stand is the kind Heartless Riku gives off.”

 

“Who can blame you? Daddy really did you a favor separating you and Heartless Riku. The darkness was probably killing you.”

 

“Yeah...”

 

Kagiana lifted the Keyblade. “You wanna fight?”

 

Heart Riku gave her a sly look. “Why not?”

 

“Prepare yourself,” she said with a grin.

 

“Touché,” he said as he posed for battle.

 

Watch him make the first move, the idiot... Kagiana thought to herself. Her knowledge of fighting was enforced by Sora in her fifteen years of life (or at least the eleven she had without her mother).

 

Heart Riku lunged at her with all his might, while she easily dodged and smacked his back with the Keyblade, propelling him forward into the wall. He lost his balance and hit the wall head-on.

 

“C'mon, you gotta do better than that!” Kagiana called to him as he peeled himself off the wall.

 

Once he did, he bounced off the wall and raised Way to the Dawn above his head. She stood her ground and countered as he came down on her.

 

“Your aerial attack sucks,” Kagiana said. “Let me give you a good example!”

 

She broke her counter from Way to the Dawn and leapt into the air. While Heart Riku reeled, trying to regain his balance, Kagiana came down on him, knocking him into a nearby shelf.

 

She ran up behind him and put the edge of the Keyblade on the small of his back. “Cry uncle.”

 

“No.”

 

“Cry uncle,” she said, this time grinning.

 

“Nev-ah!” Heart Riku shouted, trying to hold back laughter.

 

“You leave me no choice,” she said in jest.

 

She was about to publicly humiliate him when a servant, Akaitou, walked in.

 

Akaitou Chishouki was one of Kagiana's best friends. Despite that he was a servant, that did not matter to her. Akaitou had long red hair and eyes of bright green. He was seventeen years old, two years older than she. Like most of the servants, he wore a long black cloak with a hood. He pushed it back a ways so his face could be seen. Unlike the cloaks the former members of Organization XIII had, these were emblazoned with the insignia of a golden key: Sora's insignia. Sora and Kagiana lived in Radiant Garden (formerly Hollow Bastion), and had helped rebuild it since it was destroyed by the Heartless. Sora had his own organization that helped those who had suffered when the Heartless were around. Akaitou was one of them. He helped Sora with projects around Radiant Garden, to once again return it to its former glory.

 

“Miss Nomura?” he said rather suavely.

 

Both Kagiana and Heart Riku looked up.

 

“What?”

 

“It's urgent. It's about your mother.”

 

Kagiana released both Heart Riku and the Keyblade. “What?! What about her?!”

 

“It's best you come. Mister Kurayami, if you don't mind...?”

 

“No. Go on.”

 

Kagiana picked up the Keyblade. “Show me!”

 

Both Akaitou and Kagiana ran off.

 

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When they walked into the room where Kairi lay, Sora was sitting beside her as servants surrounded her and Akaitou returned to his spot among them. Kagiana could see her other two friends, Mukohime and Kaorin, among some of the servants. They nodded to her, and she nodded back.

 

Kairi Kyouri-Nomura, Sora's wife and Kagiana's mother, had reddish hair of shoulder-length and blue eyes nearly identical to Sora's. Despite her condition, she was incredibly beautiful. She was the same age as Sora, yet she seemed younger. She wore a gown of white. She breathed gently, still with her eyes partially closed, as though she was locked in a far away dream.

 

“Well?”

 

“She...opened her eyes,” Akaitou said.

 

Kagiana ran over to her mother. “She did?”

 

“First time in a month,” Sora said.

 

Kagiana sat at the foot of the bed. Maybe now she can hear me, after all this time of waiting and hoping...

 

“Mama...can you hear me? It's me, Kagiana, your daughter...”

 

She did not make any sign that she understood. There was nothing but emptiness in her eyes.

 

Kagiana attempted to force back tears. Nothing. Nothing for eleven years. No more, no less.

 

“Damn...them...” She said, her voice shaking.

 

Everyone knew that she was talking about the Heartless.

 

They bowed their heads in grief over the fact that there were no new developments about her state.

 

Kagiana stood. “Anything else?”

 

“Afraid not, Miss Nomura,” Akaitou said.

 

“Then I go.”

 

She walked out with the Keyblade in her hand. Her hand was shaking very hard from squeezing the Keyblade's hilt.

 

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“You okay, Kagi?”

 

Mukohime and Kaorin caught up with her after the episode with her mother. They too wore the cloaks with the gold key. Mukohime had very long black hair and bright brown eyes. She was fourteen, a year younger than Kagiana. Her hair was in constant disarray, and she was very laid-back. Kaorin, on the other hand, was more down-to-earth and serious. Her hair was silver, like Heart Riku's, but they were not related. Her eyes were different, as they were sea foam green. She was a year older than Kagiana; she was sixteen.

 

“To be honest, no, I'm not. I never have been.”

 

“C'mon, lighten up! At least she did something. It's better than nothing,” Mukohime said.

 

“It is nothing, as far as I'm concerned. She's done nothing for eleven years. I mean...Akaitou shouldn't have wasted his time when all she did was open her eyes.”

 

“But I did waste my time because it's important to you,” Akaitou had caught up with the three of them.

 

“But she's done nothing. Nothing! Nothing for eleven years!”

 

“But you still have hope,” Kaorin said. “Doesn't that mean something?”

 

Kagiana went silent. “I'm beginning to lose hope.”

 

“You can't. Don't be like your dad, Kagi. He's given up,” Kaorin said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “But you can't do that. Your mother is counting on you, Kagiana. Even though she doesn't do anything...she still is waiting for her heart to return. You'll be the one to do that.”

 

Anger and inspiration filled her. “You're right. He has given up. But I won't. I won't rest until every single Heartless and their leaders are destroyed and my mother gets her heart back!”

 

“That's the spirit!” Mukohime said. “Don't give up!”

 

However, those spirits were dampened as she saw her father walk up towards her.

 

“Kagiana, I need to talk to you,” Sora said.

 

“Why?”

 

“About Kairi.”

 

“What about her?”

 

Sora turned to Akaitou, Mukohime, and Kaorin. “If you don't mind, Miss Korikagi, Miss Raime, and Mister Chishouki...? My daughter and I must talk.”

 

They bowed. “As you wish.”

 

They walked back.

 

Sora turned to Kagiana. “Listen...I understand how you feel about your mother. I feel the same way—”

 

“You have no damn clue how I feel!” Kagiana said.

 

“—I feel helpless just like you do—”

 

“Then why don't you do something about it, Daddy?! You have the Keyblade, why don't you go find her heart?!”

 

“Because I don't know where her heart is!” He shouted.

 

“How can you not know?! You're the Keyblade Master!”

 

“Because no-one knows where those sorts of hearts go,” Sora said, lowering his voice. “Your mother was a Princess of Heart, Kagiana. Even though the Heartless took it, darkness can never taint it. It's useless to them for the purposes of tainting it. Her body and her soul are still there, in that room where she is. But her heart is somewhere else.”

 

“Well, why don't you look for where it might be? Surely there's a place where the hearts of the purest people go?”

 

“It has never been found.”

 

“What's happened to you, Daddy?! Heart Riku, he told of when you first became the Keyblade Master! You never gave up for Mama even then! You sacrificed your own heart to save her, Daddy! And now you just give up on her?! Well, I won't! I refuse to give up on her! I'll go and find her heart myself, if I have to!”

 

“You will not do anything of the sort!” Sora yelled, grabbing her arm. “You've fought, yes, but not against Heartless! They are crafty beasts and if you're not careful they'll take your heart too!”

 

“I'm not completely useless, you know!”

 

Sora was on his last nerve, which showed in his voice. “Kagiana...you're talking in fantasies. Kairi's heart will not come back. It's probably gone by now. It's been years since her heart was taken. Give up.”

 

“No. I won't give up, Daddy. I'll go find it myself. I don't need you anymore.”

 

“NO! You will NOT go looking for it!”

 

“I never said I—”

 

“Don't give me that crap!” Sora shouted. “I heard you and your friends talking about that; leaving, going to find Kairi's heart! Well, you won't!”

 

“You listened on my conversation!?” Kagiana was furious. “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

 

“I AM YOUR FATHER!” Sora thundered at the top of his lungs. “And I will punish you if you even think of trying to find Kairi's heart! This conversation is over! You will not go find her heart!”

 

Sora started to walk past his daughter, as tears of anger and pain filled her eyes. He did not seem to even notice her pain, anger, or her tears. She simply would not accept the fact that her father was telling her to give up. That was not like her father to give up so easily, according to what Heart Riku had always told her about when they were young. Anger and pain boiled in her at him, so much that as he walked away, Kagiana shrieked back at him, “I HATE YOU!!!!”

 

Sora stopped dead in his tracks.

 

“What did you say?” He didn't say it demandingly; it was more in a heartbroken voice.

 

“I HATE YOU!”

 

She turned and ran to her room, tears streaming from her eyes. She slammed the door and stumbled to the floor, sobbing as hard as she could. She cried for hours and hours it seemed like, the moon shining on her through her window, until she cried herself to sleep.

 

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Sora was sitting on the upper balcony's railing, where his room was. Silent tears were running down his face. He felt helpless; his wife was constantly away from him, and his daughter, his only child, was slowly slipping from his grasp. He prayed that his daughter would not let darkness enter her heart. He thought of the atrocious transformations Riku underwent, and knew those transformations had nearly cost him his life. Riku gave himself to darkness trying to save Kairi, and Sora feared Kagiana would do the same to save her mother.

 

He heard footsteps behind him and a thin, raspy voice, which said: “Thought I'd find you here.”

 

Sora turned his head.

 

A creature walked up to him. He sat down. A mane like a lion, a face like a dog…Red XIII. Red XIII was once a human, but unfortunately, he had been hideously transformed by years of experiments. Red XIII was the name christened to him by the person who experimented on him, but he preferred Red more than Red XIII.

 

“Why were you looking for me?”

 

“We heard about your daughter, Sora.”

 

Sora sighed. “Who hasn't?”

 

Red XIII was dispassionate as he said, “Gossip spreads quickly here.”

 

“It sure does.”

 

He was silent until he said, “Have you ever considered...listening to your daughter?”

 

“I listen to her.”

 

“She must not feel you do if she yelled what she did at you. Sora, you are her only parent. She does not have a mother. You must listen to her.”

 

“All she talks about is finding Kairi's heart! It's gone. My voice can't reach her or her mother.”

 

“Have you tried listening? They are trying to tell you something, but you must be willing to listen, Sora Nomura.”

 

“What will they say? That they hate me? My own daughter screamed that she hated me! You know what? I give up. I don't give a damn anymore.” Sora turned his back to Red XIII. “I've lost everything.”

 

Sora could tell that Red XIII was getting frustrated. “Were you or were you not the one who, when the worlds were once again reunited, took Kairi with you from her island? Were you not the one who saved me from Xehanort?”

 

“Yes, but—”

 

“You do not act like the one who did.”

 

“I was fifteen.”

 

“That does not matter. Before Kairi lost her heart, you acted just as you did when you were fifteen. You have aged prematurely, Sora. And because of that, you have closed your mind and given up.”

 

“It's not like I can do anything. Kagiana's maturing now and she wants to be independent. But I won't let her leave. Never. It's she that won't accept, not me!”

 

Red XIII fell silent.

 

Tears once again ran down Sora's face. His wife and his daughter, and the agony of separation from them...it was so much to bear. Sora was silent as the creature finished: “Perhaps it is you that needs to open your mind.”

 

He walked off without another word.

 

Sora climbed down from the balcony, trying to digest what Red XIII had said to him. He looked at the moon and stars, and said as he choked back tears, “Kairi...if you can hear me, wherever you are...I love you. And I'm sorry for everything I've ever done.”

 

He walked inside, childishly wiping his eyes on his glove.

 

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Kagiana was asleep on her floor, but slowly, her dreams were forming into one thought: leaving. Running away. Finding her mother's heart by herself.

 

Doing something her father wouldn't do.

 

Sora came in and saw his daughter sleeping on the floor. He picked her up (for she was very light) and put her on her bed. He was about to leave, but thought again and sat down next to her.

 

“You dream so much, Kagiana...maybe I should listen to those dreams. I love you and your mother very much, Kagi. It's...hard for me to keep going, because I think of your mother and I despair, but...then I think...I have you. My daughter. I hope that one day, the Keyblade will choose you. I never thought I was the Keyblade Master until I found out about Riku...I pray every day that you keep the darkness out of your own heart, Kagiana Kairi. I do not want you to suffer like Heart Riku has done under Heartless Riku's darkness. I love you, Kagiana Nomura.”

 

As he kissed her forehead and left, Kagiana's thoughts still strayed to one thought. Kagiana Kairi Nomura, the daughter of Sora Nomura and Kairi Kyouri-Nomura, had one thought in her mind:

 

I'll do it myself.

 

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Kagiana: Keyhole

Nomura (Sora's last name): The last name of the creator of Kingdom Hearts (I thinks it fits, don't you?)

Kyouri (Kairi's maiden name): One's heart/mind

Kurayami: Darkness (Riku's Last Name)

Akaitou: Red Sharp Sword (Akai: Red, Kaitou: Sharp Sword)

Chishouki: Blood Miasma (Chi: Blood, Shouki: Miasma)

Kaorin: Variation of the Japanese girl name Kaori, “Strong” (I found this name in Azumanga Daioh.)

Raime: Thunder Eye (Rai: Thunder, Me: Eye) (I know it doesn't make much sense…)

Mukohime: Innocent Princess (Muko: Innocent, Hime: Princess)

Korikagi: Ice Key (Kori: Ice, Kagi: Key)

Red XIII: Character from Final Fantasy VII

Way to the Dawn: Riku's Keyblade (KH2)

 

 

Kathryne DeTamble's Current Thoughts:

 

I had the worst writer's block ever. It was BAD. I decided to rewrite this fanfic because of it. Ah well. It also goes along with Kingdom Hearts II, so that's mostly the reason I rewrote it. I finally beat Chain of Memories (both versions) and have almost beaten KH2.

 

Well, I've wasted my thoughts. Sayonara!