After so long of travelling, it seemed like their journey had finally come to an end. Kairi had left the last memory behind her, it was just a little longer until they could find Sora. Until they could bring him back and have him with them once more, and their trio would be complete.
"We should report back to Naminé. She'll be able to tell us what we can do now that we reclaimed all of them." Riku looked to Kairi for her confirmation, and she nodded. Her part of the mission was complete. "I'll go tell Ienzo to wake you up."
Kairi smiled at that. "Right, I'll-" Her voice faltered at the sight of the cloaked figure in front of them. Riku, having not quite left yet to go let the others know, tensed.
"Xehanort." Despite Riku coming to the most obvious conclusion, Kairi couldn't help but shake the feeling that he was wrong. Something about this figure…
"Incorrect, good try though." The cloaked figure waved their finger in disappointment. There was something about their voice that Kairi couldn't place, but that called to her in a way that felt familiar. "No, I'm afraid I'm something much nastier than Xehanort. You're going to need to stop what you're doing. I need Sora off the field for a while longer. Wouldn't have organized this in the first place otherwise." As the figure kept talking, they had crossed their arms, almost in disappointment at Riku and Kairi for trying to help the worlds.
"What do you want?" Riku raised his Keyblade, and Kairi summoned hers.
"I need you out of the picture, at least for now." And with a wave of their hand, the cloaked figure put Riku to sleep. They then turned to Kairi, and although she couldn't see their face, she couldn't shake the fact that it felt like their eyes were solely focused on her.
"You, my dear, I believe we have unfinished business."
"We do." Kairi turned lowered herself down into a fighting stance, emulating the one she had seen Sora use so many times. "Because of you, you changed my destiny. Because I wasn't strong enough, everyone was hurt. Sora…" No, they were here to save Sora, and she couldn't think about that right now. She couldn't. "Now you're right here in front of me, and whether you're a memory or an illusion…"
"I will never forgive you!" Kairi charged, running for the figure, she raised her Keyblade as the figure went to lower their hood, to reveal to her their face. Who was behind all of it…
"Come now, dear, do you really want to fight me now." The hood fell, and Kairi froze as she realized what was going on. The figure...they weren't just an enemy, somebody who had ruined everything in the Keyblade Graveyard...ruined everything for her.
The figure was a face she held fondly in her memories, who had raised her when she was a little girl on Radiant Garden, her gray hair and wrinkled face still as memorable as they had been the day that Radiant Garden was destroyed, as recognizable as they had been when they told her all the stories of the Keyblade, of the old masters, of light and darkness.
The hooded figure who had caused her so much suffering...was her grandmother?
"No, this...this can't be right, it has to be a trick, you can't be!" Kairi took a step back as her grandmoth...no, as the figure took a step towards her, a kindly smile on her face. "This is wrong! You're not really here!"
"Search your heart, Kairi. You know it to be true." Kairi's Grandmother took another step towards her, ignoring Kairi's shake of the head and whispered nos of denial. "I am your grandmother."
"How..."
"Fifteen years ago, an old woman went into Radiant Garden, looking for her daughter. She had been missing for three days and had been seen at the outskirts of town. What she found was a man, about to put his heart into that of her daughter. She wouldn't let him take her daughter away, so she did what she could. She offered her body to be that man's vessel. The man, knowing she had been a powerful Keyblade Wielder in the past took her up on that offer, and became her.
"Imagine his surprise when the granddaughter who had been left at home also had a strong heart full of potential, a heart brighter than any light. Of course you would need to know your heritage and research would need to be done, so after I told you all my stories of the Keyblade War, I led that one apprentice, Xehanort right to you." Kairi couldn't believe her ears. Those experiments...her grandmother had been why she'd had to endure them. Had been the one to tell Xehanort about her light? "It was so perfect. Except this body is still old and failing, and has since run out of use."
It was all so much, almost too much for Kairi to comprehend. "Is that why you're stopping me, so you can take my body?"
"Yours, oh no. Your heart is much too important for that." Kairi's Grandmother laughed. "I'm after a much more...important target. One who's weapon and experience is much more up to what I need, and one who's body without his memory and hearts is all the more vulnerable."
Kairi's eyes widened. After everything they'd been through to rescue Sora, this thing that wore her grandmother's face couldn't. "I won't let you." She had to fight through her shock and fear, gripping her Keyblade before immediately storming at her grandmother, who merely smiled.
"Exactly what I'd hoped you would say."