A Door Unopened, A Raft Set Sail

A KH1 AU Oneshot

"We're out of fish." Kairi announced as she finished the last bite. The reflected light from the water around them cast strange shadows on her face. In the darkness, none of her friends could see the strain in her features.

"It's ok, Kairi." Riku said, as if he hadn't just been the one to insist that she and Sora share the last of their rations. She couldn't remember the last time he actually ate. Probably sometime before he went into super protector mode. She and Sora were both getting pretty sick of it.

"Sora, could you maybe catch more fish? I mean this is the ocean." For years he'd astounded everyone with his skill of fishing barehanded. His talent was one of the reasons they'd been stupid enough to not being more food.

She couldn't make out Sora's expression but she guessed he was making his nervous smile. He fidgeted. "I haven't seen anything but those weird shadow creatures for hours." Kairi groaned and Sora put out his hands, "but I'm sure if I dive down I'll find something!"

"What you'd find is more monsters." Riku crossed his arms.

"I could borrow your keyclub?"

"Keyblade." Riku corrected, tapping his weapon. "And no, then how would I keep Kairi safe?"

"Too bad you can't break it into thirds." She looked at the oversized key speculatively. Riku hugged it to his chest, guarding his beloved keyblade.

"No!"

"Well it's not fair. We need to be able to fight too. And not just when you're asleep. Trade off more."

"Kairi," Sora stepped in between her and Riku, "it's ok. I have a plan!"

Riku dismissed his keyblade and put a hand on his hip, "really, let's hear it then."

Sora nodded officially and paced stiffly back and forth on the raft. He gestured grandly to the sea in front of them. He cleared his throat.

"I say we land on that beach."

"Beach?!" Both Kairi and Riku scrambled over to the edge to look. If they squinted they could in fact make out land.

Was this another world? Had the finally made it? This sure didn't look like the Destiny Islands. Kairi tried to think back to when she was very little. Did she come from this land of darkness across the sea? Nothing looked familiar but that wasn't a definite answer either.

"That smell just keeps getting stronger." Riku complained again.

"I still don't smell anything." Sora sniffed loudly.

"Maybe we could know what you're talking about if you could describe it better than 'it smells dark'. That's not a smell! That is something you see with your eyes." Kairi huffed. Riku turned his head away disdainfully.

Sora grabbed the paddle and began to increase the rafts speed. Kairi offered to get in the water and help propel them by kicking but Riku bribed her by giving her a turn with his keyblade to stay onboard. He kept shooting his keyblade looks, his fingers twitching nervously.

A strange wavery sound popped into existence. Skittering. Claws against wood. The monsters were back.

Sora brained one with his paddle and Kairi swung the keyblade into another face. The space right in-between the things eyes flattened, melting into itself. She swung four more times, hitting it squarely with firm blows. It exploded into darkness.

"Kairi!" Riku kicked one of the shadow creatures back when it tried to leap at him. She tossed him the keyblade so he could stab at it. He dropped one into the ocean and smacked the other until it died.

"Riku, switch!" Sora tossed the paddle and by some miracle Riku caught it without fumbling. He looked like he wanted to argue but the keyblade vanished and popped into existence with a flash of light into Sora's hands. He crouched low in his preferred fighting stance and dealt a few finishing blows of the paddled monsters. Meanwhile Riku made use of the length of the paddle and he tried to focus on crowd control. By now, Kairi dual wielded her friends wooden practice swords. They weren't the most effective, having neither reach or the power to kill the creatures, but she did her best to soften them up. For some reason the monsters attacked Riku as their main priority, or whoever wielded the keyblade at the time. Kairi used their lack of interest in her to her advantage. With her and Riku working together, Sora was able to take out the damaged monsters with single hits.

"Is it just me or are they getting stronger?" Kairi growled as one almost scratched her knees.

"I don't," Sora gasped in a deep breath, "know what you're talking about."

"Seriously, Sora?" Riku swung the paddle and cleared the raft around Sora. He put the oar in Sora's hand and the keyblade shimmered into Riku's. "I thought you were stronger than this?"

"Oh yeah?" Sora pouted as he hit some dark goo trying to slime its way back onto the the edge of the raft. "Well then why are you breathing hard too?"

Then Riku did a backflip like that solved everything. It rocked the raft dangerously as he came down hard. Sure, it was a stylish monster finisher but Kairi really didn't want to end up in the water because of her friends' never ending competition. It was time to distract them before Sora tried to outdo him.

"I think they're weak to water when they're puddles." Kairi pointed to monster slime caught in the watery crack between logs. It seemed to be dissolving slightly and unable to regain its form. With Sora's sword she pushed it out into the ocean and watched as the dark goo popped out of existence.

"Aww come on!" Sora whined as another group appeared. "Just go away!"

"Splash them!" Kairi ordered. He groaned but used the paddle to dutifully dump water on any puddles. She'd then try to separate the goo or push it off the raft while Riku took care of the solid creatures.

"Look, we're almost to the beach." Riku shook his hair out of his eyes. It hung around his face in silver damp hunks. "It'll be easier to fight when we have more room."

"At least we'd have somewhere to run." Kairi considered the shore. "Let's go. Sora?"

"I'm on it!" He returned to paddling the raft while Riku and Kairi guarded him. It was taking Riku more combos to dispatch the monsters and it was all she could do to make sure they didn't overwhelm him. It was getting dicey.

"I will protect you." Riku bit out. Another monster exploded. "I have the strength-" Was Riku glowing with purple or was it just her imagination? The monsters twitched their claws at him hungrily. She cut off what she was sure would be some very determined speech.

"Get ready to run." They were so close to the beach now that they'd reached the shallows. Sora had to be careful not to hit the rocks at the bottom. Riku looked at her quizzically before glancing at the land in front of them and understanding.

"We're not abandoning the Highwind!"
"I'm fine with running." Sora kept up his furious paddling pace.

"We need to tie her off incase we need to leave." Riku's voice sounded surprisingly strangled.

"Ok but then do that fast, because we need to go." She gestured at an approaching rock, "Tie it off there but let me borrow the keyblade. You'll have your hands full."

He grumbled and took out a few more monsters but he handed her the giant key so he could go for a rope. Kairi took a moment to slip the wooden swords into her belt and got into a fighting stance similar to Sora's. She got in the space between her friends and made sure the shadows couldn't get close to either. She prioritized distance over kills and took to punting the creatures off the raft if possible. It wasn't perfect, one managed to give Sora a nasty scratch while she was focused on three that had decided to target Riku, but they made it to the beach.

"Go!" Riku bellowed. Kairi threw the keyblade to clear the path in front of them and it reappeared in Sora's hand. The three of them ran, stopping only to let Riku throw a knotted loop of rope around a rock to dock the raft.

She could hear the monsters behind them, slither and slink, but they apparently weren't used to island outsped the monsters even as tired as they were. What a weird beach. The rock was black which the occasional blue sparkly outcropping. It was a far cry from the white sand beaches she'd grown up on.

"Are we safe?" Sora turned his head to check and then stopped. He hunched over, hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. "Whew, they just didn't give up."

Riku's keyblade had jumped back to him at some point and he held it ready, his eyes watching, not ready to relax yet. He also looked as exhausted as Kairi felt. She trusted him though and plopped hard on the ground to rest.

"So this is another world." Riku said after he too caught his breath. He smiled like the sun. They had done it.

"Yup!" Sora recovered enough to strike his classic pose. "Anything look familiar, Kairi?"

She gave him a nasty look. "I didn't come from monster world, Sora."

"Well maybe the monsters weren't from here either, maybe you left to get away from them." He backpedaled, "oooor it's just a monster sea. Maybe they're the reason people don't travel a lot."

"Sora, are you ok?" Riku tilted his chin.

"Yeah?"

"Really? All that thinking must have hurt. You don't need to pretend to be tough for my sake." Riku chuckled when Sora chucked a pebble at his shoe.

"You're not fooling us, Sora." Kairi giggled.

"Give me a break! It's no fair when you team up on me." He stuck his bottom lip out in an exaggerated fashion while his friends laughed. They stayed there for a while, just catching their breath and breathing in this new wild world. It may have been dark but their smiles were bright.

"Should we make camp?" Kairi asked, "I know we're kinda out of food unless we count Riku's potions- though, speaking of which, how many do you have again?"

"Some." Riku shrugged.

"A lot." Sora corrected. He would know. Apparently before they left Riku had given him a potion for each sparring match he'd won which had summed up to quite the amount.

"So I guess we won't starve for now, but real food needs to be a priority. Potions can't do everything."

"Mmm…" Riku got that bitter look on his face he had sometimes. Kairi didn't comment, knowing that if Sora's mom hadn't packed two lunches with her son Riku would have had a potion every day during school. Time to move on! They were away from all that after all. She struggled coming up with another subject but Sora had her back.

"I can't wait to get some sleep!"

"Only you, Sora." Riku chuckled as if he didn't have dark circles under his own eyes. "We're gonna have to set up a watch system. I don't know what time it is, but it's night and we should have a few hours before the sun comes up. We're gonna need some sort of tell so we can switch off."

Kairi looked around. If they had a fire they could time it by how long it took for it to burn but she couldn't see anything flammable- just darkness and rocks. She looked in the sky. "Aha!" She pointed at what she assumed was the moon, off in the distance reflecting over the ocean they'd come from. "Let's switch off when that moves to about there," she pointed again. That should be a few hours if it was like the moon they were used to.

Riku took a minute thinking it over before nodding.

"Let's go over to those rocks," Riku gestured, "They offer a bit more cover."

The group moseyed on over. Kairi picked up a few particularly shiny rocks. Potentially they were the right shape to make another wayfinder. It could be cool to make one for every world they visited.

"Is anyone hungry? 'Cause I'm not. It's weird."

"Maybe you're just too excited, Sora." Kairi said even if when she thought about it, she wasn't hungry either. "Who knew that all it took was another world to fill your bottomless pit you call a stomach?"

"Hey!"

"Uh." Riku froze. His hand holding his keyblade shook. "Guys."

"I don't eat that much," Sora continued blithely. Riku waved his keyblade to their left.

"Sora! Look!"

He looked. Kairi looked. They all looked at each other.

"So that wasn't just a monster sea." Sora said, surprisingly lowkey. He then grabbed on to both of his friends. "We have a monster tornado." He started running, yanking Kairi and Riku along with him.

"What is that?" Kairi shrieked. "Did you know they did that? Did anyone know they did that?"

"I don't know!"

"It's huge!"

"I noticed!"

A swarm of inky black monsters, twisting and churning within themselves followed behind. It wasn't just a couple with claws, but an innumerable mass. Screaming was perfectly understandable.

"I could distract it." Riku offered, his keyblade at ready. Sora refused to release him.

"How would you even?"

"The keyblade can-"

"Riku!" Kairi's voice went up an octave or two, "That is one sword against a force of demonic nature."

"It's not that bad." Riku lied, sneaking a glance behind them as he ran. "It's just like a giant worm or something."

"You are not leaving us and that's final!"

Kairi regretted not joining in the boys' races. Her legs were burning. For years she'd thought their competitions were silly- fun to judge but ridiculous. Dang it. She never imagined traveling to other worlds would be so physically intensive. Rafts didn't take leg strength!

Destiny Islands was a blessing of a world and if she ever got somewhere without monster again she would appreciate it this time.

"What if we had some other weapon?" Sora yelled. "I don't think we can run forever."

"Speak for yourself." Kairi was wobbly jelly at this point moving from nothing more than determination. Don't Sora dare suggest they stop. She didn't know if she'd be able to stand if they did.

"Where would we even find another weapon, Sora? It's not like they grow on-" Riku's keyblade suddenly glowed and a light emerged from it, pointing at a cliff, "trees."

"Ok, Riku's keyblade we'll follow your great wisdom." Sora dragged them to follow the light.

"Sora!" Riku yelped.

"I'm gonna trust it."

"Hey guys, why does that look like the secret place?" Kairi huffed and puffed, just focusing on putting one foot in front of the other. She could have been hallucinating it. After all, they were now trusting a sword to guide them. It was that kind of day.

But the boys seemed to agree and the keyblade hadn't directed them anywhere else.

"Too bad it couldn't get us some help. Aren't there any people here?"

"Almost… there!"

And so, minutes later, against a full force of monsters, these exhausted teens had two giant keys to fight them with- the new one a flipped recolor of Riku's. Clearly, they were ballin. Or, excuse me, bailing. Even Riku decided that if this new world was a place of death monsters then maybe they should sail elsewhere.

They just had to survive getting back to the Highwind.

The trio formed an awkward triangle so they could watch each others backs. They'd dart forward whenever they saw and opening and start whaling on anything that got close. Unfortunately, the monsters had better reach. They'd surge up from beneath them and send them flying apart to try to corner them individually. Riku had even given his keyblade to Sora just so he could keep dunking his friends with potions as their only sort of counter. It was a painful non-solution to their monster problem that resulted in much screaming.

The swarm got beneath them once more and Kairi braced for the hit. She tried driving down the new keyblade into the ground and goo beneath her but it made no difference. She was pushed out of the way regardless. Wait, pushed? Not flung by endless claws and antennae?

Sparks of light lit the darkness as a new figure cut into the monsters. Kairi starred in utter shock and Sora stilled. The swarm of monsters backed up as it lost members as a new key cut into them without mercy. A chunk of ice froze some, shockingly emerging from the keyblade, and then lightning struck thrice. The trio scooted away to give the fight space.

Somehow, Riku finagled his keyblade back from Sora to hold the weapon at ready. He stood in front of both of his friends, ready to protect them.

The monster swarm was no more.

"Are you kids really here or is this just more visions of this place?" Their savior faced them, her key popping out of existence. She walked slowly, floatility. Perhaps dizzy from her spinning attack. Kairi put a hand on Riku's shoulder.

"Who are you?" Riku asked, his voice tinged with suspicion.

The woman blinked at them. "My name is Aqua." Her voice was croaky as if she had a sore throat.

"What is this place? This world- what is it called?" Riku stepped a half step forward and made a grand gesture with his arms. Kairi got the message and elbowed Sora. They needed to look less like scared children. Riku projected more confidence and competence than should have been possible for someone who'd just been surviving the last few minutes by potion overdosing. They couldn't appear weak.

"You… you don't know where you are?" Aqua took a few seconds to process this. "Wait. You're actually here, aren't you? Now, why would kids be in the Realm of Darkness?" She asked this to herself, tilting her head.

"Don't talk like we aren't here." Riku put on his 'I'm talking to an irritating adult' voice.

"Oh, sorry." She still looked at them with incredulity. "I've just never run into anyone else. I've been here for a long time. And you're keyblade wielders?!" Aqua gasped at their weapons. "Do you know Terra?"

"No." Riku said slowly. "So you said this is 'the Realm of Darkness'?"

"Yes." Aqua nodded. "How did you get here? Won't your master be worried about you?"

"Master?" Riku snorted and shook his head. Like anyone was gonna tell him what to do. "Look, we sailed a raft here."

"A raft."

"We built it." Sora chimed in.

"Like, a wooden raft?" Aqua had trouble with the concept. "You didn't go through any portals or doors."

"Across that sea," Kairi pointed off in the distance, "is a world called Destiny Islands. It doesn't have all these monsters."

Aqua's jaw dropped at the mention of Destiny Islands. She then looked from Sora and Riku with amazement before deflating. "Has it been that long?" She muttered something else under her breath. "You're Riku and Sora, aren't you?"

Riku tightened his grip on his keyblade, "how?"

"I met you both, long ago. I didn't realize… I must have been here for years. That explains why Riku has a keyblade. But… If Terra never came back for you-"

"Aqua." Sora said. Kairi raised an eyebrow at his slightly off tone. "What happened to you?"

That wasn't exactly a useful question in Kairi's opinion so she interrupted before Aqua could answer.

"Do you wanna leave with us? We can take you on our raft off this world if you help protect us from those monsters."

"Kairi!" Riku argued. He didn't trust her. Aqua startled at Kairi's name, looking all too much like recognition, not exactly helping matters. Kairi waved it off.

"Riku, I don't want to drink another potion for a long time."

Riku's eyes widened. His shoulders slumped, no doubt taking it as a personal fault. Kairi tried to squeeze his shoulder to offer some comfort and reassure him that she didn't blame him for anything. But the fact was, they had all nearly died. The monsters would have eaten them.

They needed Aqua.

"I… I trust her." Sora put his hand on his heart. "I don't know why, but I feel that Aqua is someone that we need to help."

Riku rolled his eyes but a small smile snuck on his face. "Of course you would, Sora. You never change."

"Please come with us." Kairi brought out her puppy dog eyes. Clearly, Aqua couldn't say no to that. She had a 82% chance success rating.

Aqua hesitated but nodded. "If there's even a chance that you're real then there's no way I'd abandon you."

"That again? But we are real, Aqua." Sora whined jokingly and struck his signature pose. Kairi and Riku exchanged glances while Aqua looked startled and then laughed.

"Ok, ok. I'm coming with you," Aqua waved her hands. "You remind me a lot of someone, Sora."

"There's only one Sora." Riku muttered defensively, letting Kairi know he still wasn't comfortable enough with the arrangement to joke. Aqua seemed to not have heard him anyways.

The group slowly made their way back to the beach. The occasional monster would appear in their path but Aqua was able to take care of any threats. Riku jumped into the fray as well, strangely foolhardy for him, and tried to show off. Kairi stood back with Sora where they'd help if they could. Sora clearly wanted to charge in with Riku into the thick of the fight, but Kairi wasn't letting go of the second keyblade. Just because Riku had something to prove, didn't mean Sora needed to join him! As it was, when juxtaposed to Aqua's almost dancelike combat even Riku- Riku, the best fighter of all the kids on the islands- clearly had no idea what he was doing. His sharp eyes watched her and he was slowly working in fragments of her style to his movesets but it was a difference between effort and instinct. He was trying his best, so much so it was painful to watch. She moved on muscle memory, so natural it might as well been breathing.

How long had she fought monsters?

A few encounters and a stretch of rock filled landscape later, the raft was in sight. Kairi wasn't sure how to feel about leaving this new world so soon. It was almost anticlimactic. After all this time and effort to get here they were running from monsters. Would they go back home? Surely these waters had to lead to where Kairi was from somehow. In her heart she knew there was no way she'd come from this dark place.

Had they really just come here for a warrior, a key, and some shiny rocks?

Which ok, put that way at least it sounded like a successful quest. Maybe Aqua could actually teach them to use these keyblades, or tell them how to get a third so no one got stuck with a wooden sword. Maybe she just had to look at this as the beginning of the adventure instead of the end of a nightmare.

Aqua climbed on the raft awkwardly, wobbling. It was like she hadn't been on a boat before. How strange. Hopefully she'd get over it soon.

"You made it to the Realm of Darkness on this?" She ran her hands over the mast as Riku worked on casting off. Sora grabbed the paddle and helped when Riku had everything untied. Kairi readjusted the sail, even if there wasn't much wind to work with or against.

"And we'll make it out with it too." Riku swore as they pushed off.

"This time we'll sail away from the monsters." Sora joked as he paddled.

"I… I hope you're right." Aqua said quietly. "But is the Realm of Light really that close?"

"Destiny Islands." Sora corrected.

"Oh no, I mean the Realm of Light. Destiny Islands is part of the Realm of Light, as are all worlds. The Realm of Darkness is like…" She hummed as she made some aborted hand gestures. "The Realm of Light is like a bunch of soap bubbles along the Inbetween. Each bubble is its own world. There are walls in between them but they're on the same plane of existence or- they're all the same Realm, it's just cut up. The Realm of Darkness however is-" All three teenagers stared at her and she stopped, waving it off. "I could let you borrow some books if somehow this raft does get us back to the Light."

"If you don't believe us, why did you come with us?" Riku crossed his arms and raised his chin.

"Well," Aqua smiled, "I wouldn't be much of a keyblade master if I abandoned you. The monsters here are tough."

"We can take care of ourselves."

"Hey," Sora thrust the paddle at Riku and summoned Riku's keyblade in a shimmer of light. Aqua's eyes widened at the switch off. "Can you teach us how to do that magic?"

Even Riku looked interested in that.

…

In the Realm of Light, within a castle of heartless stamped with emblems, an evil fairy sneered at her so-called compatriots.

"This last girl has to be somewhere," Maleficent huffed.

"I still say that Wendy was our seventh."

"Quiet fool," Maleficent glowered at Hook. "Her heart is not nearly so pure."

"Well if we can't find little miss seven soon we're all gonna be in trouble." Hades raised an eyebrow, "those little buggers are taking out worlds faster than I can say 'Cerberus sic em.' What if your little heartless there have already eaten her whole? What's stopping the small fry from going after our worlds in the meantime?"

"Don't tell me you're scared, Hades."

"Of course not, Mal. Who do you think I am? I'm a businessman, and quid pro quo if we can't find the princess then all of this has being for nada- zip- zilch. I don't appreciate my time wasted."

"Neither do I." Her eyes flashed and a few like Captain Hook recoiled. "The final princess will be found."

…

Kairi yawned and stretched out on the raft deck. It was a little cramped with four people but she'd managed to secure enough space for a nap. Aqua sat at an edge, looking at the ocean and Sora dozed like the lazy bum he was. Riku had control and watched the brightening horizon.

"Thanks Riku." Kairi lightly kicked him to get his attention.

"What for?"

"For taking us off world. This wasn't what I expected but I can't regret it."

"Really?" He turned his head away from her. "Are you sure you don't wish it was just you and Sora?"

"What?"

She saw his hand grip the mast hard and he still refused to face her. "I heard you. How you wanted to take the raft."

Kairi gasped and jumped to her feet. "I wasn't serious, Riku!"

"I know." He finally met her eyes and smiled sadly. "I know. That's why I made sure we could take this raft, all of us together." She caught him in a side hug and shook her head.

"You've changed Riku and I'm worried that we'll lose you."

"You'll lose me?" Riku blinked at her and then looked at Sora. "Never."

"Ok." She suddenly grinned. "I thought Sora was the sap?"

"Oh shut up!" He playfully shoved her off as she giggled. It was loud enough to wake Sora.

"Huh?" He raised his head slowly, looking absolutely pathetic.

"Don't worry about it. Unless you want to take over, Sir Sleepypants." Riku gestured to the mast with overdramatic formality.

"I don't know," Kairi walked over to the edge of the raft to peer into the water. "Think there's any fish down there yet?"

"Kairi!"

A/N: -Even though Riku's keyblade doesn't abandon him in this AU since Riku doesn't choose darkness, it still really likes Sora. That's why Sora can still summon it.
-Riku's endless potions are a comment on just how many you can grind off of him on Destiny Islands. I know someone who never had to buy any potions that play through because he clobbered Riku 100 times. Maybe he was carrying that many as a sort of provision? I mean, it's not like Kairi's list would have lasted 3 teenagers long.
-Writing KH1 versions of these characters was weird. It really makes me happy to see how much all these kids have grown.
-Yes, this AU just completely messed up KH1. There haven't been any keybearers to lock up the hearts of worlds so some have probably been lost from canon, and Mickey's in for a surprise when he finds that the Kingdom Key D is nowhere to be found. Also, unless Ansem somehow convinces Wakka to open the door on Destiny Islands, his plans not getting off the ground. And of course, Kairi being unfindable definitely puts a stop in Maleficent's plots. Unfortunately, the worlds can't be restored without re-closing the Door to Darkness, so that's not great either for them.
-Sora can canonically catch fish in his bare hands while swimming. It's great.