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phoenix-downer · 1 year

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Where I Belong Chapter 1

The Big Olive. ~1700 words. Sora/Kairi. Starts during the end of KH3/during ReMind and moves into KH4. Kairi POV. Angst, Romance, Fluff.

Chapter Summary: During their world tour, Sora takes Kairi to Thebes to visit some old friends. Meg insists the two of them take a break from cleanup duty to play hooky, and Hercules asks Pegasus to give them a ride to his villa.

Story Summary: Kairi and Sora spend his final hours at Hercules' villa, trying to enjoy the time he has left while mourning the future they'll never have. After his disappearance, Kairi struggles to cope and throws herself into her training. But when she's sent on a mission with Donald and Goofy to investigate Olympus for clues, a run-in with the Lord of the Dead just might hold the key to finding Sora.

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5

Seeing the worlds with Sora was better than Kairi ever could have imagined. She’d dreamed of this for so long that it didn’t seem real, like any minute she might wake up and it would all be over. Of course, any minute it would be over. That was why it was so important to treasure things while they lasted. And their latest destination was just as magical as everything that had come before it.

Thebes was a beautiful, bustling city, filled with larger-than-life statues, soaring columns, lush gardens, and paved streets lined with classical buildings. Its citizens were hard at work restoring their home from the recent fires and destruction, and Kairi enjoyed meeting the people here and learning more about their culture and daily lives as she and Sora helped Hercules and his fiancée Meg rebuild the city.

They were currently working on clearing a small temple dedicated to Aphrodite. Kairi and Meg swept the floors of small pieces of debris (as Pegasus assisted with his wings) while Hercules and Sora tackled the bigger obstacles. Phil barked out instructions that made everyone laugh, his knack for miscounting words a running joke with the whole group. Bit by bit, the beautiful mosaics on the floor were becoming visible again.

“So, Sora, I can tell you’re stronger than ever,” Hercules said. He lifted and set down an entire pillar like he was rearranging a wooden block, and it felt into place with a satisfying thud. “I’m guessing you found the answer to your question?”

“It’s all my trainin’, it’s finally paying off,” Phil insisted. He was lounging in the corner on a plush Hercules pillow, eating grapes.

“Actually, Phil, I did find the answer to my question,” Sora said with a chuckle. “Though not so much an answer as an entire shift in my perspective.” He glanced at Kairi and smiled. She couldn’t help but smile back, a blush dusting her cheeks because she would never get used to how her heart fluttered when he looked at her. “I know where I belong now.”

“Glad to hear that,” Hercules said, dusting his hands off. “You’ve gotta make sure you don’t take that for granted.”

“I never will,” Sora said, his voice soft and low. His hand flickered in and out of existence, and he quickly shoved it into his pocket. Kairi felt like someone had stabbed her in the gut but pretended not to see what had happened. He still hadn’t admitted he was fading away, and she wanted him to tell her on his terms.

Meg frowned and took the broom away from Kairi’s hands. “Enough cleaning for now, we can handle things from here. You two need to play hooky for the rest of the day.” She looked at Hercules, and Kairi noticed the way his pupils dilated and how his entire attention was focused on her. “Wonderboy, whaddya say we let them romp around the villa? I think they could really use a break from all this boring cleanup duty.”

“Oh! Um, that’s fine, yeah, that’s totally fine. Please, make yourselves at home. I’ll have Pegasus take you there.”

Kairi gave Meg a grateful look. She was happy to help their new friends, but her time with Sora was running out, and she wasn’t sure how much longer they’d have together. Meg smiled and winked, then tossed Kairi’s former broom to Phil.

“Goat-man, get up and make yourself useful,” she said. Phil complained loudly and stomped his hooves, making them all laugh, but he did as Meg asked.

Pegasus dutifully clopped into position and used his head to gesture at his back. Kairi gulped. She’d ridden a horse with a saddle before, but Pegasus didn’t have a saddle or reins, plus he had those big old wings. How was she supposed to get on his back?

Sora smiled softly. “Here, I’ll help.” He put his hand over hers and moved it to Pegasus’s mane. “Grab a tuft of his mane like this, then skip to get a little momentum. You’ll throw your right leg up and use that momentum to get the lower half of your body up. Then you’ll grab his withers to help you pull the top half of your body up too.”

“If I fall, you’ll catch me, right?” she asked, gripping onto Pegasus’s mane for dear life.

“Always.”

She looked at him, her heart racing, then took a few deep breaths. “I can do this.”

“You can do this. I believe in you.”

She nodded, his faith giving her courage. She did what he said, skipping and then throwing her right leg up. Pegasus dutifully shifted position when she under-calculated her momentum and overshot how far she needed to go, but between his help and Sora’s help, she managed to mount successfully.

“See?” Sora said, smiling proudly as she straightened. “That wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

She shook her head. “I’m always learning new things when I’m with you.”

He looked at her in a way that made her so flustered she had to look away, her face as red as her hair. He kept looking at her like that, and it was so much that her heart couldn’t handle it.

Hercules looked at Meg like that, too.

“Hang on, I’ll join you,” Sora said. “Scoot back a little, okay?” She did what he said, and a moment later, he gracefully mounted Pegasus and settled in front of her, grabbing tufts of Pegasus’s mane.

“But what will I hold on to?” she squeaked, realizing there was no easy way for her to grab onto Pegasus’s mane from her current position.

Sora turned his head and grinned. “Me.”

Gulping, she wrapped her arms around Sora as Pegasus broke into a trot, then a lope, then a gallop. She’d be more flustered by how close she was to Sora, by how her chest was pressed into his back, if she weren’t scared witless and holding on for dear life.

Then they weren’t on the ground anymore, and her stomach lurched as they rapidly ascended. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to fight the waves of nausea descending on her as the wind whistled past them.

“Kairi, open your eyes,” Sora called back to her.

“Ungh, I’m gonna be sick,” she moaned.

“Trust me, it’s worth it.”

She took a deep breath, then peeked at their surroundings. The steady thump, thump, thump of Pegasus’s wings was soothing, and Sora was right. The view was absolutely worth it. All of Thebes plus the surrounding countryside unfolded beneath them, brilliant greens and lush fields and mysterious forests and winding rivers. In the distance was Mount Olympus, and Kairi marveled at how beautiful this world was, how different it was from Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden.

And best of all, she was getting to experience this with Sora. Now that she was feeling more comfortable, she rested her head on his shoulder and sighed happily. They were so close to each other and it felt really, really nice. She felt him stiffen a little at the increased contact and then melt under her touch.

She wished she could see his face, see how he felt about this, but then again, it might make her so flustered she had to look away again. Maybe touching him like this at first would help them feel more comfortable doing more later.

No, what was she thinking. There would be no later. All they had was now.

Presently, they began to descend. Below them was a sprawling villa with verdant walled gardens, elegant buildings with tiled red roofs supported by sprawling columns, and fountains and pools filled with beautiful blue water. This must be Hercules and Meg’s home. It was right by the ocean, and the sparkling sea glittered up at them. The villa got bigger and bigger till at last Pegasus glided to a smooth, easy landing by the foot of a tall stone staircase. They were on a paved garden path near a rounded seating area, and one of the fountains enticed them with its cool waters.

She, Sora, and Pegasus were all panting, Pegasus from carrying two people on the journey, Sora from doing all the difficult parts of riding him, and Kairi from the thrill of it all.

“Kairi?” Sora asked. “Mind if I dismount?”

“I wish I didn’t have to let go of you,” she murmured, her face red. She was sad their wonderful flight was already over. Yet another ending on the path to their final separation.

“It’s only temporary,” he promised, and she relented and released her grip. He dismounted and then helped her down, his touch gentle and strong at the same time.

She wobbled a little when her feet made contact with the ground, and he was quick to wrap his arms around her to steady her.

“Thank you,” she said, resting her hand over his heart. They were both breathing heavily, and Sora licked his lips. Their faces were so close that he could lean forward just a little further and kiss her. Her heart hammered in her chest. He had this look in his eyes that she’d never seen before, and a thrill went through her. She closed her eyes and tilted her head, imagining what it would feel like to kiss him at long last—

Pegasus neighed loudly, startling them apart.

“Sorry, thanks for the ride, Pegasus!” Sora said, his face bright red as he rubbed the back of his neck. An overly cheerful smile was plastered on his face, like he was really embarrassed and was trying to hide it.

“Yes, thank you,” Kairi quickly added. Maybe she’d just imagined Sora had wanted to kiss her. She’d caught him by surprise, that was all.

Pegasus whinnied appreciatively, then took flight again. Kairi and Sora watched until he became just a small figure in the sky, no bigger than a toy horse. Sora turned to her, a soft smile on his face. He put his hands behind his back in that delightfully charming Sora way of his and tilted his head.

“Well Kairi? We have this entire villa to ourselves for the rest of the day. What do you wanna do?”

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A/N: The prompt for this fic was provided by Aquafolia, who requested a story based on the following quote from Hercules during KH3 in regards to why he gave up immortality to be with Meg: “I’d have to be apart from the person I love most, and that life would be empty.” She also suggested Sora and Kairi explore Thebes together as well as a few later plot points 👀 ✨ Thank you for providing the prompt and a basic framework for the story 🙏

Thank you also to Liv for reading through the story, providing suggestions, helping me stay motivated, and providing helpful feedback as always ❤️ I really enjoyed bouncing ideas off of you and hearing your thoughts. Thank you for always being so supportive of my writing, it really means a lot 🥺 ❤️

Also, the instructions for mounting a horse bareback are from this YouTube video. I just thought it would be really fun for Sora and Kairi to get to ride Pegasus together, but he doesn’t have a saddle or reins, so reality ensued and I had to do a little additional research. And I also rewatched the actual Hercules movie, pausing to take screenshots and make notes about character dialogue and world details to incorporate. It was a lot of fun and gave me a deeper appreciation for the movie and for how Kingdom Hearts has incorporated various details from the movie over the years. As I was watching the movie too I was like “wait a second, I don’t know that Hercules’ villa has really appeared in Kingdom Hearts yet at all (unless the garden-y areas in KH3 count), it’s so beautiful and I’d really like to feature it,” and thus the end of this chapter (and the next chapter) was born.

Also, the title is taken from one of the lyrics in Hercules’ song, “Go the Distance,” since his search for belonging is such a core part of his character arc, and he finds that place of belonging with Meg. Wink wink nudge nudge I wonder how that will apply to this story 🧐 😉

As always, thank you for reading!

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