Chapter 2 - Rift of Remembrance

Kairi pounded a fist on the door, but to no avail.
"Why does this always happen!"
She rotated to face Arona and Ichigo, who both shrugged.
"Well," started Ichigo, "Now what are we supposed to do?"
Kairi slid her back down the face of the door and sat at it's base. She closed her eyes, resting her hand on the cool marble floor.
Why must we always be seperated?
She felt a small tremor vibrate from the floor to her hand, and waited s it grew in intensity to a dull roar.
"What's going on?" asked Arona.
As the rumbling grew in intensity, Kairi felt a strange sensation on her back. She stood up and face the wall. Where she had been sitting, a small crack began to extend from the bottom of the wall upward.
"Kairi! Get away from the wall!"
She ran back from the wall to her friends. As she did so the wall began to cave inward, the floor crumbling behind her. Kairi ran hard but tripped on rock that jutted from the ground. She fell to the ground extending an arm. Arona lunged forward.
"Kairi!"
Kairi clung desperately to the edge of the floor, which had ceased it's disintegration. Piles of Keyblades toppled into the yawning abyss of darkness as Kairi tried to pull herself up. Arona grabbed at her hand and tried to pull but it began to slip. Ichigo caught up with them and began to help. Slowly, they towed Kairi up, millimeter by millimeter, their shoes sometimes sliding forward frightfully. Suddenly, a section of the floor that Ichigo was standing on began to crumble, and she slid downward, luckily managing to get hold of the edge to avoid falling into the gaping crevasse.
"NO!" she yelped.
Arona's hands began to sweat from the effort of trying to pull Kairi up alone. She could feel herself grow weak, her grip loosen.
"I...I... can't..."
Suddenly a strong arm reached past her and gripped Kairi's wrist. Together, she and the mysterious stranger slowly hauled Kairi over the ledge and onto the ground. Arona collapsed next to her, and hugged her tightly.

Ichigo struggled to find a foothold and heave herself onto the cool marble, but no footholds seemed sturdy enough to hold her weight. She grimaced with the effort and looked over to see Xurik approaching Arona to help. She strained with intense effort, but her arms began to weaken greatly, one arm losing it's grip completely and falling to her side while she hung for dear life with her other.
"...please...help..."
When she could hold on no longer she closed her eyes and loosened her fingers.
Abruptly someone seized her arm with a firm grip and began to bring her up.
A tear slid down her cheek.
"Thank you...Xurik."
As she was raised onto the stone floor, a woman's voice spoke.
"Who's Xurik? Don't you remember who I am?"
Recognizing the voice, Ichigo's eyes shot open and focused on her rescuer.
"Larxene!? What are you doing...? How did you find us!?"
Sure enough standing before her in long black robes, was a tall slender woman with short blonde hair and emerald green eyes. She crouched down close to Ichigo, smiling.
"Did you miss me?"
Ichigo cried out in joy and embraced her friend, who awkwardly hugged her back.
After a second or two of this happy reunion, Ichigo got to her feet and brushed herself off. Looking over she saw Kairi with her Keyblade drawn. Xurik and Arona stood behind her
"Kairi? Whats wrong?"
"What's Organization 13 doing here? Aren't you supposed to be dead?"
Ichigo Stepped in front of Larxene, facing Kairi.
"She's not that way anymore! When she-"
Larxene put a hand on her shoulder.
"Allow me, I know that I have some explaining to do."
Ichigo hesitated, then nodded and moved aside.
Larxene stepped forward watching Kairi who was still holding her weapon.
"Several years ago I worked for Organization 13. I didn't know who I was, or where I had come from, because all the memories of my past life were tron away when I became a Nobody." she paused and began to pace, taking a deep breath,"I was put in charge of several missions, and on one of these, I was introduced to Ichigo." She paused again, gesturing to the black haired girl. "It was durng that same visit that I found out that my other half had been Ichigo's best friend, but their world was overrun by Heartless and I was killed and born as a Nobody. I was angry and confused, I wanted revenge. But for some reason I couldn't let myself hurt the girl..."
She looked at the ground morosely.
I travelled back to our base, and was given different orders. We were to set a trap for your friends, Sora and Riku. Namine, your Nobody, was under our control at the time, and was told to break apart Sora and Riku's memories."
Kairi lowered the Keyblade, intrigued at what Larxene had to say.
"Well when she did, they forgot everything that they knew. She then began to implant new, different memories into their hearts. We had to make sure it went as planned of course, but it couldn't work out. Namine began to trick us and slip bits and pieces of information to Sora and Riku, pieces that didn't seem to fit in with his other memories, and he began to doubt. During this time Sora had defeated about half of us in the castle, and we began to worry that our plan wouldn't work out. When I fought Sora, I made the decision to fake my death, for I knew that I had things that I still needed to do. After that, I once again found Ichigo and apologized for my outrage drng our previous meeting. I vowed that I would always be there watching silently, protecting her if needed. We've been friends ever since. I had requested that she not tell you, Sora, or Riku about me, but it's about time you found out. I want to apologize for my actions against Sora and Riku, I was only doing what I was told."
Kairi dismissed her Keybade and approached Larxene silently. She stopped in front of her.
"I accept your apology. I'm sorry for criticising you."
Larxene gazed at Kairi.
"It's undestandable why you did so."
Ichigo turned to look across the abyss where she almost met her fate. The wall had moved thirty or so feet from the edge and was partially destroyed.
"Larxene, could you do us a favor? My brother and Riku might be in trouble, could you help them?"
Larxene turned to her.
"Yeah I'll be back in a bit."
She nodded at Ichigo then created a portal of darkness. Larxene began to step through but hesitated.
"Kairi... I want you to know that you can trust me, I am somewhat in debt to Sora for my wrongdoings to him. I wish to repay it. He and Riku will be safe with me."
With that she covered her face with her hood and marched through the portal.

You are not authorized to comment here. Your must be registered and logged in to comment