Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Arc would keep her body stationary until he commanded otherwise. Before he would send her elsewhere, there was an itch he needed to scratch. A theory he knew was true, but had to test out anyway. So what if Radiant Garden was set to fall into darkness days from now? This would be his only chance to further any future plans.

How does a heart respond when it travels solely without its body, or a vessel to await it? Xehanort could not wait to find out.

. . .

Kairi was tired. The ground she was on was sterile and cold. Did she fall asleep in the castle’s corridors again? That didn’t seem right. She could have sworn that she was picking flowers in the garden instead. At least the lights in this new room were nice and warm. It helped when she was finally able to open her eyes.

“Oh!” young Kairi marveled as she got better bearings on where she was. The room was simple- the only thing of real note was a large orb hanging from the ceiling. It was mostly white with blue and green etchings that resembled the face of a woman. Just above the face was a beautiful blue jewel- place so like a diadem. On each side of the orb were wing-like cylinders made of gold and green.

“Well, this is certainly different,” a new voice softly spoke. The face on the orb started to disappear as sparkles started to appear in front of Kairi.

The sparkles took their time to rearrange themselves into a certain form. Pieces of the form started to solidify into a clear image of a woman much older than Kairi, but far younger than her grandmother. When the form finished taking its final shape, Kairi found her eyes widening. This lady was the most beautiful person she had ever seen. She had a face similar to what had been on the orb, and her long white dress flowed into the ground with dissipating sparkles. The green and blue accents from the orb made its way into the stitching and decoration of the dress.

“Hello sweetie.” the woman greeted, having the same voice Kairi had heard before. “You must be a bit lost.”

Kairi suddenly felt very bashful in this lady’s presence. She gave her a small nod of agreement.

“My name is Kairi, ma’am.” she greeted in a timid voice.

“A pleasure.” the lady smiled. “I am the Mother Elf.”

“Mother… elf?” young Kairi repeated with a tilt of her head.

“Indeed. Once upon a time, not too long ago, I was created to help get rid of a very dangerous illness. However, a mean man decided to use my abilities for evil. It led to a dear friend of mine using his whole strength to keep me contained here. Now the mean man is gone, and my only visitors are my friend’s copy and his children.”

Kairi shrunk a little. The story had a lot of weight to it, that much she knew, but she couldn’t quite grasp the full extent of it yet. Instead, she let out a small, “That’s so sad…” in secondhand mourning.

The Mother Elf offered her a small smile.

“To some, it might be,” she agreed. “But they are my friends- my family. I trust them.”

Kairi let out a small hum as she thought the idea over.

“I trust my friends!” the girl soon decided- a broad grin etched across her face.

“That’s good to hear.” the Mother Elf calmly replied.

Kairi beamed even brighter. It was in that moment the Mother Elf realized the child was truly someone special. There was a light inside of her that needed to be protected. No one was going to harm this child with the Mother Elf in charge. Absolutely no one.

“Mother!” a stern voice shouted from the door.

But alas, the Mother Elf mused to herself, not all things are meant to be kept in secret.

Both the Mother Elf and Kairi turned to the main door. Coming through it with urgency was Sage Harpuia. He didn’t look pleased. The tiniest corner of his eye betrayed his sense of worry.

“Mother, we received a distress call from your chamber.” Harpuia informed her. “It indicated that an unauthorized force had-”

Harpuia stopped dead in his tracks when he finally noticed Kairi. The little girl’s eyes expanded at this new entity. This new person wore a green and white armor, and had a weird helmet with wings coming out the sides. It was hard to tell if he was human or not. A gut feeling told Kairi that he wasn’t, although she had little point of reference to decide otherwise.

“What-” Harpuia started to say before quickly changing his mind. “Who is this child?”

“Her name is Kairi.” the Mother Elf told him, quite calmly. “And she is not an intruder. In fact, I'd like her to stay for awhile.”

Harpuia gave the Mother Elf a rather dark glare. “You can’t be serious.”

“As serious as a Reploid about to be retired.”

“What’s a Reploid?” Kairi piped up. Harpuia and the Mother Elf looked at her with various degrees of amusement.

“A Reploid is a very special being. They are a robot that is able to think and feel for itself. Some people think that they are humans before being told otherwise. Harpuia is a Reploid. Can you tell?”

Kairi looked up at Harpuia with a sharp eye. The gaze was intense enough that Harpuia could feel a part of him squirm while under it.

“I don’t think so.” Kairi soon decided, her voice more than a bit thoughtful. “Not very well, I think.”

“Good.” Harpuia decided as he stood a bit taller. Something about it made Kairi laugh at it a little. Hearing it made the Mother Elf sure of what she wanted to do next.

“Harpuia, while you’re here,” she said, “Can you contact the other Four Guardians? I’d like them to meet Kairi as well.”

To this, the green Reploid look appalled.

“Mother, I know that it can be lonely here, but show some restraint. The other Guardians and I have duties to complete. I only came because I was already training my army close to the area. I plan on returning to them when I am done here. Pulling the other Guardians just to meet a misplaced child is-”

Harpuia didn’t get to finish his thought. The Mother Elf had stepped close to him. Her holographic form had the oddest of effects on Reploids- just mere decimeters away and you could feel the static come off of her. Physical contact was even worse. Having her so close, and having her give him a rather desperate look, stopped any line of thought Harpuia could even consider.

“Look at her.” the Mother Elf requested. Her voice was low and desperate. “Look at her and tell me who you see.”

Harpuia raised an eyebrow at the entity. He partially looked around her form to get a better look at Kairi. The child had noticed the details within the chamber. The lights were fluctuating slightly at the Mother Elf’s distress. It was more of a soft lightshow to the child than an indication of warning.

Her appearance overall was nothing too impressive. Her white dress with purple trim was made for a middle class budget, perhaps a bit lower than that. Her purple-blue eyes glittered in wonder at the odd things around her. Such a thing was typical for a child her age. It wouldn’t take much to be impressed. Her hair was well kept as well. Short and a very dark shade of red, Harpuia soon understood what the Mother Elf was seeing.

She used to have hair like that- short, red, and well cared for. After that small observation, everything else seemed to make sense. The child’s face shape as well, round and youthful, was a bit like hers. It wasn’t a complete mirror image, but it was enough to feel a punch to the gut.

“I will gather the Four Guardians.” Harpuia then told the Mother Elf, in a low voice so the child couldn’t hear. “But don’t do anything reckless. If Master X sees her…”

“I know the consequences, just go.”

“Yes Mother.” Harpuia agreed. He gave her a bow before heading out. His steps were quick and anxious. It wasn’t until he shut the door behind him that Kairi noticed he had left.

“Where did Mr. Reploid go?” Kairi innocently asked.

“He’ll be back shortly.” the Mother Elf told her. “I’ve asked him to bring some more friends over. I’d like you to meet them.”

“Oh?” Kairi wondered with a tilt of her head. “Who?”

For this the Mother Elf smiled.

“Children to a dear friend of mine.”

Chapter Text

The other Guardians looked just as silly as Harpuia. Another curious thought, and Kairi wondered just what the Mother Elf’s friend had originally looked like. Despite very similar armors (albeit in different colors), none of these Reploids really looked the same. One was even a girl!

“I don’t see what the fuss is.” said girl objected as she looked Kairi over. “She doesn’t look anything like- Well, no. I take that back. They both have short red hair, but there’s several citizens in Neo Arcadia that do too. I just don’t see it.”

“It’s not her appearance.” the Guardian in grey armor quietly told his sister. He was the only one who dared to get within arm’s length of Kairi. “It’s the spirit.”

“Yeah, okay, fine.” the girl scoffed. “I can see that part, but the rest? Nope. Not at all.”

Kairi looked curiously at the female Reploid.

“Who do you keep comparing me to?” she asked in sincerity.

The room went deathly silent.

“The Mother Elf herself.” the Reploid in gray finally said.

“Ah.” Kairi nodded. “Gotcha.”

It was a good thing that she was still too young to completely read a room, otherwise she might have had more questions.

“Have any of us questioned why she's even HERE yet?” the Reploid in red questioned. His voice made it seem more like a command, however.

“It's simple, my lycan.” the Mother Elf soothed. “For us, this is reality. But for her? This is nothing more than a dream. Isn’t it, darling?”

Kairi happily nodded while the Reploid in red gave a groan.

“Mother, don’t give me existential dread. Defrag does that enough already.”

The Mother Elf gave a snort- a sad one, but a snort nonetheless.

“I know.” she mused. “But it is the truth. Kairi is dreaming in a world beyond ours. While she is here, she will be our guest. I want all of you to treat her the way you would treat me, understood?”

The Four Guardians agreed with various declarations of “Yes, Mother.” indicative of their true thoughts. It was enough to satisfy the Mother Elf for now.

“Good.” she nodded. To Kairi she said, “Oh, sweetie, while we were talking about you, we never got to introduce the Guardians! I'm so sorry.”

“It's okay.” Kairi grinned. “I now know that I reminded them of you- and you're very pretty.”

The Mother Elf smiled. “Why, thank you.” she gratefully replied. “Now, where were we? Ah yes. You already know Harpuia, the one in green. After him, the Reploid in red, is Fefnir. He's a little rough, but he's got a good heart.”

“Don't talk about me like that, Mother.” Fefnir huffed. The Mother Elf laughed at him.

“Next is Leviathan. My only siren, but she can be no joke when she desires.”

Leviathan snorted. She would have gladly boasted about how she was the only female in her army, while also being its commander -of course-, but knew the conversation would likely go over young Kairi's head.

“And then we have Phantom.” the Mother Elf said, gesturing to the Reploid in gray that was still rather close to Kairi. “My tulpa- someone who exists even when they don't.”

Phantom smirked. He and the Mother Elf did not always share the same ideals, but in the end they knew each other inside and out.

“Now that we’ve all met, we need to get back to work.” Harpuia spoke up. “Especially before Master X realizes that we’ve left our posts to begin with. He’ll come here first. You know he will, Mother.”

The Mother Elf sighed. “Of course he would.”

“Who is Master X?” Kairi asked. “Is he a Reploid too?”

“Yes dear,” the Mother Elf affirmed, “But his story is a bit more complicated to explain at the moment."

Kairi nodded. She could understand that for now.

With their business done here, Harpuia, Fefnir, and Leviathan left the Mother Elf's chambers to return to their duties. Phantom stayed behind. He was done looking over Kairi, but he still had several questions that needed to be answered.

“How long do you plan on keeping her here?” Phantom inquired, giving the Mother Elf a hard look.

For this, the Mother Elf shrugged, knowing that it was not an answer he was looking for.

“Is she really in that much danger?” Phantom then asked.

“Danger?” Kairi immediately questioned. “Who is in danger? Me? Am I in danger?”

The Mother Elf pursed her lips into a tight line. She looked to the girl, then to Phantom. There was a small sense of hatred coming from her eyes. 'You did this' those eyes said, 'You created a complication where one didn't need to occur.'

Phantom did not back down from the glare. He did fear the Mother Elf, make no mistake about it, but could she not see that she was kidnapping a child's will?

“You'll be safe with the Mother Elf, Kairi.” Phantom finally said, not looking to her at first. “Our Mother is the strongest being alive in this generation. Nothing is going to hurt you.”

Kairi gave a slow nod. She looked from Phantom, to the Mother Elf, and back again with wariness. Did she do something wrong?

“I have duties to return to.” Phantom then addressed. “If you'll excuse me.”

He gave the Mother Elf a bow before starting to head out. The lights flickered in the Mother Elf's chamber for a moment as he closed the door behind him.

Silence filled the air until Kairi idly noted, “I like them.” She looked at the Mother Elf. “Will they be coming back again?”

Another flicker of the lights. The Mother Elf looked at Kairi and put on a light smile. She got down to the child's height, simply admiring her for a moment.

“We can call them back whenever we want.” the Mother Elf promised. “But they have work, so we can't always pull them away. Do you understand?”

Kairi nodded. Of course she could. All grown ups had to work and not be disturbed for long periods of time. That didn't mean that they didn't want to visit, they just couldn't right away.

Then, in that moment, Kairi started to feel dizzy. Her balance skewed just enough that she gave a little wobble. The Mother Elf frowned.

“Kairi, dear, can I ask of a favor?”

The girl nodded. The Mother Elf gave her a soft smile in return. Then she brought her hand up to gently pressed a finger to the girl’s forehead. Kairi’s eyes immediately fluttered to the top of her skull before her tiny body collapsed from exhaustion.

“I won’t let you interrupt her dream, you bastard.” the Mother Elf darkly said to the air.

. . .

Xehanort cursed. The Arc wasn’t responding to his commands. Did he lose her? Was she dead?

No. The readings could still sense her breathing and heart rhythms. The heart of pure light was still residing in its vessel. But then... what was going on? A possibility he considered was that someone else was interfering with the Arc. But no one else had authorization to this area. He was one of the three to even know it existed to begin with. Even the idea of someone taking control remotely crossed his mind for a moment. Again, that brought up the question of just who it could be.

Xehanort scowled. He hoped that, for the interloper’s sake, he never found them. There was a punishment to be made for getting in his way, and in a project like this, every drop of blood mattered.

. . .

The Mother Elf gave a pleased snort. Oh, this instigator really thought he had the power to overwhelm her. What a sweet fool. It reminded her of the copy X. You always underestimate the ones who appear frail at first. Especially if you never saw them in person. Or as a person, for that matter.

Kairi's mirage of a body laid against the cold floor once more as she appeared to sleep. The Guardians may have decided that there was a lot to be desired between the young girl and Her, but the smaller marks... The Mother Elf saw more of herself in this little girl than she could in any other person in Neo Arcadia.

Hide and seek was a game for children. It was a test of object permanence and deductive reasoning. Playing cat and mouse had a very similar precedent. Both her and the interloper knew just how important Kairi was. Her heart was strong- her will to appear even stronger. But she was dreaming. Dreamers had to wake up eventually. The interloper would win this game of hide and seek, cat and mouse. It was a fact that could be felt between realities.

“I can't let you have her.” the Mother Elf vowed under her breath. “I can't let you have her like he did with Her. Not again. Never again.”