One Change - A KH "What If?" (DISCONTINUED/MOVED)

CoM(11)

Kairi swallowed back her fear as she stared up. In front of them stood a huge castle.

"How's Sora?" Riku asked.

Kairi opened the connection, her eyes snapping open.

"Burning still. And he's in there." Kairi confirmed.

"Well, this would be the only logical place to keep him. Unless they're that insane to put him down here in the city, where he'd go crazy out of everything looking alike."

"Riku, what was that about? If they're listening, they could easily move Sora." Kairi huffed.

"Sorry, it was just an idea." Riku mumbled.

"I was just kidding." Kairi giggled. "Anyway, shall we?"

Riku nodded, holding out his hand, his Soul Eater appearing. "We shall."

"What's with the weapon? We should be okay, right?"

"We never know what we may have to face in there. Better to be safe than sorry, right?"

Kairi shrugged, waving her hand so her keyblade appeared.

As Kairi stepped forward, taking the lead, she noticed that there wasn't a path.

She tested the air, wondering if she should glide up.

"Well, we have two options."

"Don't you mean three?"

"No, I mean two. I've tried to open a Corridor, but it's useless. It's blocked by magic."

"Hm. That's strange. Maybe that's why you couldn't get straight to Sora."

Kairi set her foot down, surprised to see a walkway shimmer into view.

"Guess I found the way." Kairi murmured. She turned around, pulling Riku up.

They shared a glance, and then climbed up.

As the duo passed the first room, and entered the second, which appeared to be a dead end.

"Did we make a wrong turn?" Kairi asked.

"Dunno. But maybe there's something at the end of the room?"

Kairi and Riku crossed the room, only to feel it start moving.

"It's an elevator!" Riku exclaimed.

"I don't really see how, besides the fact that it feels like it's moving." Kairi told him. "And we don't exactly know if it is moving, it could just be an illusion."

"I guess."

The room seemed to move for a long while.

Too bad we can't just leave. Kairi thought. But Sora was still trapped. They couldn't leave until he was out of the castle.

Luckily, the feeling of falling stopped after a while, and where the wall once was, a door appeared.

With a pleased sigh, Kairi and Riku continued into the next room.

As her eyes wandered, she saw staircases up ahead, and a very high drop.

"Well. We obviously have to keep going up. This castle sure is something." Riku sighed, but Kairi couldn't tell why.

She took note of his comment, and started up the staircase.

It didn't take them very long to reach the top. Since they ran.

Kairi slumped to the ground out of breath, while Riku leaned agains the wall above her.

"Perhaps we should stop pushing ourselves." Riku said between breaths.

We can't, because Sora is still here. Kairi bit back the words. "If you want."

After catching their breaths, they continued into the next room.

Just as Kairi was about to say something, a hand covered her mouth, and she was dragged to the side.

Before she could protest, the hand let go, and her eyes adjusted to the dark.

"Relax. It was just me." The soft whisper of Riku told Kairi that he was standing directly in front of her.

"Where..?"

"I dragged us into the wall. I merely opened a Corridor and kept it there without thinking. So, new trick."

Kairi chuckled. "But why?"

"There were people in the room, and I didn't want to get caught."

Kairi nodded, and looked out of the Corridor, to see two men talking. And with a bit of focusing, heard what they were saying.

"Please. I doubt the plan would work." One of them said. "It would require Larxene to stop abusing the prisoner."

Abusing? Kairi had to hold herself back from running out of the wall.

"Demyx. I doubt that you know how the plan is supposed to work." The other said.

Demyx scoffed. "I do to know what the plan is!"

"Oh yeah? Then explain it to me."

Demyx looked up, a look of thought on his face.

But as he started talking, the Corridor shut.

"Wha- Riku?" Kairi whisper-shouted.

Riku blew his bangs out of his face. "I told you before. This castle is protected by some force that's messing with my powers. It took a lot of energy to do that."

Kairi sighed sympathetically, her hand falling near Riku's. "Rest for a little, okay?"

But Riku shook his head. "We have to keep moving. I'll be fine, I promise."

"If you say so. Can you get us past this room?" Kairi asked gently.

"I should be able to."

Riku opened one in the same spot, but as it appeared, it didn't show the room, instead it showed a rounding staircase.

Kairi rushed through it, staring up at the sky. The heart wasn't in view, but she could tell it was near because of the amount of light coming from the platform above.

Behind her, where the Corridor was, was also a staircase down. So, Kairi assumed that they had reached the top.

Hopefully Sora is up here. Or else we'll have to go through the rooms we skipped. Kairi ran her fingers over her bracelet in silent hope that Sora was near.

"Kairi." Riku placed a hand on her shoulder. "Feel for Sora."

Kairi was confused for a moment. Riku could do it too, so why was he telling her to do it?

Nonetheless, she felt for Sora, surprised to feel it burning hot. As if she was next to a fire.