the cat stash

pt. 1: mend the chains (undo the hurt)

current chapter count: 3/14

current word count: 15,911

A letter from a dear friend finds its way to Sora and Riku in the realm of darkness. But when the door appears and the two walk through it, it’s not the Islands they see on the other side.

At the end of KH2, the door of light takes the boys to Castle Oblivion instead of Destiny Islands.

relationships & dynamics:

Soriku (best friends to lovers)

implied Namixi (eventual QPR)

background Destiny Trio (close, lifelong friendship) (I only label it as background here because Kairi isn't with Sora and Riku for most of this fic. the focus is primarily on Sora and Riku, just with a lot of mentions of Kairi throughout the fic.)

Sora & Riku & Naminé (developing friendship)

Naminé & Castle Oblivion (old friends but also developing friendship)

Naminé & Chirithy (developing friendship)

Naminé & Roxas & Ven (siblings)

Repliku & Xion (siblings)

Sora & all of his heart roommates (I don't think any single word can properly encapsulate this group's dynamic in my fic lol)

Vanitas vs. literally everyone else (he has one goal and he will fight every single person he runs into just to reach it)

content warnings:

panic attacks & meltdowns (esp. in the first few chapters; they become less prominent as the story goes on for reasons I can't explain yet without spoiling a lot.)

implied suicidal ideation

canon-typical death/fading from existence

implied mental/verbal abuse (probably physical too)

implied child neglect (very easy to miss as it's not a major plot point)

dysphoria & dysmorphia (some of it is very transgender, some of it is from prior possession/unwanted transformation)

self esteem issues & self hatred

implied transphobia and/or dehumanization (can be read as either)

the members of Organization XIII are their own content warning

general information:

post-game: KH2 (starts right at the end of the game)

references to the manga & light novels

the language of flowers is very important to Naminé's side of the story & general lore for my version of the KH universe (I will make a longer post about how I use flowers in my story another time!)

POV alternating (it's entirely based on vibes, idk what to tell you.)

lots of talking about Things™️

very introspective

memory loss/recovery

canon-typical memory issues

fluff & angst

lots of emotional hurt/comfort

everyone needs a hug BADLY (and I do mean everyone lol)

Kairi appreciation :)

Riku is embarrassingly gay for Sora (and vice versa, but this fic's focus is on Riku's queerness for the most part)

the plot of Dream Drop Distance happens in this fic but the Mark of Mastery exam & all of the Xehanort shenanigans are absent. I can't say anything else rn sadly because I'd be spoiling my favorite chapters in the fic, and I really want those to be a surprise...

Castle Oblivion is a character for plot reasons (it wanted to be a character and. well. here we are)

Xehanort doesn't exist until I say so

Xion and Repliku are trans girls. Xion is already out of the closet by the time she returns in this fic (obviously), but Repliku has a long way to go before her egg gets cracked. but dw, it'll happen in this fic.

Naminé is very autistic coded in this fic. I projected too hard, my bad

Castle Oblivion has a lot of lore. most of it is my explanation for the castle's weirdness. some of it I literally just made up because I thought it was interesting & that the plot would benefit from it. (more on this in another post. the lore is not really focused on in my story so I have to yap about it on here instead.)

the core idea for this fic was heavily inspired by Re:Coded. I'm sure you can see how lol.

playlists:

main

Soriku

Sora

Riku

Naminé

Repliku/Rikomi

[more TBA soon]

pt. 2: another side (another destiny)

current chapter count: 1/7

current word count: 10,945

The dark corridor closed too soon, and Kairi finds herself separated from her best friends all over again. But she's not going to wait another year for them to come home. There's no room for fear or doubt; Sora and Riku are out there somewhere, and Kairi won't rest until the three of them are together again.

Post-KH2 canon divergence fic; in which the door of light doesn't take Sora and Riku to Destiny Islands, and Kairi is left to pick up the pieces on her own.

relationships & dynamics:

Destiny Trio (close, lifelong friendship; they are not normal about each other at all ever) (also Sora and Riku aren't present, but I won't let that stop me from making this a Destiny Trio relationship study fic!)

one-sided Sokai (kind of; Kairi thinks she loves Sora romantically, but she doesn't.)

background Soriku (childhood friends to rivals to kind of enemies to best friends to lovers; at least that's how Kairi sees their relationship)

Kairi & Mickey & Donald & Goofy (developing friendship, mentors & mentee, or the Disney Dads and their newly adopted daughter; all three are valid interpretations)

Kairi & a bunch of Disney characters (she makes many new friends on her adventures!!)

Kairi & Lea (enemies to allies & good friends)

Kairi & Terra (developing friendship; technically master & apprentice but Terra only ever treats Kairi as an equal.)

background Wayfinder Trio (adopted family, lifelong friendship) (same as Destiny Trio; they don't have to be together for me to make this fic about their relationship!)

content warnings:

somewhat excessive self-blame, low self-esteem

deep loneliness & isolation (especially in chapter 1)

implied suicidal ideation (but it's only once at the end of chapter 1)

implied internalized aphobia

canon-typical death/fading from existence (only in one chapter though)

canon-typical possession

parental trauma (Eraqus was trying, but he was not a good father. the Wayfinder Trio are not okay.)

Xehanort and the Nort Court are their own content warning

general information:

end of game: KH2 (starts right when Kairi gets separated from Sora and Riku before the final battle with Xemnas)

references to the manga & light novels

language of flowers (not as much as part 1 though)

very introspective

emotional hurt/comfort

Kairi is dealing with a lot of compulsory heterosexuality

POV Kairi (but switches sometimes to other characters)

Kairi goes on adventures!!!

spite-fuelled defiance of destiny (the only destiny she's going to embrace is with the two dorks she calls her best friends!!!)

mostly inspired by KH3 (the worlds Kairi visits are all ones Sora visited in KH3)

Mickey Mouse and his canon-typical concerned dad energy

includes many headcanons about the history & culture of Destiny Islands

Kairi's foster parents are Raine Whispers and Eda Clawthorne from The Owl House (yes there is lore here, not sure if I want to do anything big with it yet though)

Kairi's Radiant Garden origins go almost completely unmentioned in this fic

the Datascape from Re:Coded makes an appearance in this fic as one of the worlds Kairi visits! no spoilers though :)

Lea and Terra don't show up immediately; Kairi meets each of them later on in the fic

playlists:

main

Kairi

[more TBA soon]

additional links

character design infodump #1

flower lore introduction post!

heart-flowers #1

excerpt from part 3: elegy of memory

part 3 scene playlists

infodump about CoM ideas for part 1

aromantic Kairi thoughts

final notes

when I decided to make Kairi aromantic in the strength of our hearts, it was partially just because I thought that the idea of a Princess of Heart being aromantic was absolutely fascinating. most of the Princesses in KH1 have a romantic partner (with the exception of Alice, because she's so young). so next to them, an aromantic Kairi would stand out a lot. she holds so much light and love in her heart, but rather than it being for one person, I've made it so it's for two people. her love for Sora and Riku is her power. in fact, her love is what saved the two of them from the realm of darkness in the prologue of mend the chains (undo the hurt). (of course, there's more to it than that, but Kairi's love still plays a huge role in opening the door of light.)

and another thing: this series loves its parallels. Sora and Riku are constantly compared to Disney couples like Belle and Beast, Ariel and Eric, Aurora and Philip, and so on. I love these parallels, but I also want to include Kairi in this somehow. so my thought was, what if I also used those parallels to show Kairi's love for her best friends in my fic?

for this reason, I've decided that Kairi will figure out she's aromantic through meeting several Disney couples. like I've said, the obvious choice with the Disney worlds in my fic is to use the couples as Soriku parallels for Kairi to notice. that is interesting, and I will still be doing that, but it comes with the problem of making everything about Sora and Riku rather than Kairi. that's why I find it so much more interesting to also use the Disney worlds to show Kairi that love doesn't need to be romantic to be powerful. love is love, and her light comes from her love. so as she meets all of these Disney characters, she'll compare them to herself and her best friends, and that's how she figures out a few things about the three of them. first, that Sora and Riku's love for each other is romantic, and second, that Kairi's love for them is just as powerful, even though it's platonic.

in the first chapter of part 2, Kairi's low self esteem and complicated feelings about the events of KH1 are the focus. she spends a lot of time subconsciously comparing herself to Riku and wondering why she wasn't good enough to be the one Sora chose. she eventually forces herself to focus on finding a way to see them again, setting her own feelings aside in favor of her desire to join them on their adventures. she's still hurting from how Sora and Riku treated her and how their friendship fell apart, but she knows she can't dwell on that forever if she wants to be with them again.

but even though Kairi chooses to set all of that aside for now, she'll still need to work through those feelings if she wants to rebuild her connection with them. and the way she does this is through meeting all of these different Disney characters and seeing how love brings them together in different ways. with the help of her new friends across the worlds, she grows to recognize that she's allowed to be hurt about Riku's actions and Sora's obliviousness. she can be upset and still love them. she doesn't need to set her own feelings aside just to be with her best friends.

more importantly, Kairi learns that love is what she makes of it. the expectations she grew up with don't need to be her only source of understanding for how love should look. if all of these people she meets can have so many different kinds of relationships and still love each other, she can, too.

it's more than that though. in chapter 1, Kairi labels her love for Sora as romantic, while she calls her love for Riku platonic. she has yet to learn that love as deep as hers isn't necessarily romantic; there's a difference between being in love with someone, and just loving someone. that's why Kairi also meets characters that aren't in romantic relationships. she observes friendships that remind her of how she feels about Sora and Riku, and realizes that she loves them equally. she isn't in love with them, but they are the two most important people in her life, and that's okay. she doesn't need to be in a romantic relationship with someone to love them deeply, contrary to what the adults on the Islands told her.

thus, by the end of chapter 4, Kairi no longer grieves for the relationship she wanted to have with Sora. she understands that Sora and Riku love each other, and she loves them just as much. but that doesn't make her love romantic, nor is it lesser for being platonic. they love her, she loves them, and that's all she needs.

after all of this growth, when Kairi reunites with Sora and Riku in chapter 14 of mend the chains (undo the hurt), the only thing that matters to her is that they're together again. she doesn't need to push any of the past aside this time, because who she is now is different from who she was back in chapter 1 of as(ad). she can just be happy that she's there with them. they're alive and she's strong enough to stand beside them, and they're just as happy to see her as she is to see them. it's exactly how Kairi wanted their reunion in KH2 to be; nothing matters except that they're together again.

now to talk about literary devices. one of the things I wrote into chapter 1 to set up the rest of Kairi's arc in the series is the drawing she made in the secret place. it represents everything she wants, though she won't recognize the full extent of what the drawing means to her until later. the drawing is also foreshadowing for a certain scene in part 3, that being the paopu fruit scene from KH3. I won't say how, of course, but it's important that you remember the drawing when part 3 comes out. I made some changes to how that scene plays out that I think all of you will love. no spoilers though :)

the other thing I wrote in chapter 1 that I'd like to point out is the wayfinder charms Kairi wanted to make back in KH1. the reason why she gave up on making those was that she felt upset with how Riku treated her. she sets that anger aside in the first chapter, but like I said, she still needs to work through those emotions before she can have the reunion she wants. like with the drawing, I won't reveal how this will be used in my story yet. just pay attention to when she works on them and what order each charm is completed in. that will tell you everything you need to know about where she is in her arc! (if you've read the excerpt I posted from part 3's Keyblade Graveyard arc, you may already know where this is going. wink wink.)

the best idea I had is, of course, all about Kairi. I've never fully bought the idea that Sora's memories of Kairi are the most important to him— that just seems like a red herring, especially considering how much evidence there is for the necklace theory. not just that, but the way Sora acts around Kairi in KH2 is so strange if his memory of her really is back to normal. so I think that, because of how Naminé replaced Kairi and (to a lesser extent) Riku in Sora's memories, his heart has become a bit confused when it comes to the real Kairi.

to explain what I mean, take a look at how Sora remembers Kairi in KH2. when he thinks of her in Halloween Town, he pictures the Kairi he knew a year ago dancing with him as he is now. so what's all that about?

here's my theory. when Naminé replaced Kairi in Sora's memories, she wasn't just changing the girl he saw when he remembered Kairi— she fully inserted herself, personality and all. that's already canon, obviously. but I think that when Naminé undid the changes, she wasn't able to fully return Sora's image of Kairi to how it was before, because Sora had new memories of Naminé that weren't created from his old memories. so the Kairi he thinks of in KH2 is more like Sally than KH1 Kairi: shy, anxious, and mostly nonconfrontational, just like Naminé. essentially, all of Sora's memories of Naminé (both real and fabricated) merged with Sora's image of Kairi.

that's why the game showed Kairi as her KH1 self rather than her current self, when the same thing didn't happen with the version of himself that Sora pictured dancing with her. this was the game's way of showing us that Sora's memories of Kairi are not fully accurate. this is shown to us again when Sora reunites with Kairi and seems confused by the person she is now. he's having a hard time reconciling the version of Kairi in his memories with the version he meets in KH2.

just to cover my bases: we know this confusion isn't because Kairi's personality has changed since KH1. Kairi has always been eager to stay by Sora and Riku's side. in KH1, she's sassy, stubborn, and cares a ton about her friends. sure, she doesn't know how to fight yet, and she can't do much when she awakens in Hollow Bastion, but that doesn't stop her from asking to come with Sora when he leaves to save Riku. also, she is afraid of change (and has a complicated relationship with Riku), but that has clearly changed since KH1. she isn't like Naminé at all, and that's the point. that's why the version of Kairi that Sora remembers is implied to be so different, and that's why Sora acts so strangely when he's with Kairi again.

the second part of this theory involves the meteor shower promise. my personal theory is that Namine used two memories to create it: the actual meteor shower promise Sora and Riku exchanged as children, and the promise Sora made to Kairi in Traverse Town before he left to save Riku. remember, Naminé can't create memories from nothing; she just uses what's already there and adds herself to the equation when necessary. also, when Naminé replaced Kairi in Sora's memories, it was necessary to use Kairi's wayfinder charm to create the false good luck charm to keep Sora from discovering the truth on his own. meanwhile, Naminé used the actual meteor shower memory to build the rest of the false memory. the novel even implies that Naminé used Riku's version of the memory to make the new one.

so what do I plan on doing with this theory? well, in the CoM chapters of my fic, when Sora and Riku explore Sora's memories of Castle Oblivion, he'll get to see what happened to his memory before the year of sleep. he'll start to realize that his memory may not be fully back to normal even now, and he'll regain his true memories as a result (just as Halloween Town in CoM foreshadowed). by the end, he'll have recovered both of his promises with his best friends. that's how he'll finally remember the meteor shower promise and the Traverse Town promise.

obviously this has a ton of angst potential. a huge part of the meteor shower memory is going to involve Sora realizing that the person he loves most isn't Kairi, that's just what his brain landed on after Naminé's meddling. by replacing Kairi and Riku in Sora's memories and combining both of the promises to make the new meteor shower memory, Naminé accidentally set up Sora to remember Kairi as his beloved person instead of Riku. it's not her fault, because as we learned in Wonderland in CoM, if you force yourself to remember something you'll likely end up accidentally changing your own memories. the purpose of the CoM chapters in my fic is to undo this mistake, so Sora's relationship with Kairi can develop past the comphet that CoM gave him.

after Sora remembers his promise to Kairi, he'll start using Oathkeeper more. he's afraid to lose his true memories of her, so he keeps the reminder of who she is to him close so he won't forget again. he'll do the same with Oblivion of course; whenever he dual wields, he'll always use Oblivion as his second Keyblade. no more forgetting what matters to him, he'll never lose his best friends again.

later on, when Sora and Riku recover Roxas's heart through Naminé's card worlds, Sora will give the Oathkeeper and Oblivion keychains to Roxas for safekeeping. it's both a show of trust and a choice born of his fear. if he ever forgets again, Roxas can remember his most precious memories for him. of course, this is also just because Sora wants Roxas to have his usual Keyblades back. what better way to start their new friendship and coexistence than to trust Roxas with the representation of what matters most to Sora? :)

in the 14th chapter, when the storylines of mtc(uth) and another side (another destiny) finally merge, Kairi will be reunited with Sora and Riku. I intend on paralleling this scene to the reunion scene in KH2, but with Sora being just as happy to be with Kairi as she is to see him again. because Sora's been able to work through the complex emotions and memories he has about Kairi, he'll also be able to have a real friendship with her again, without all of the awkwardness and confusion from before.

think of it this way: in Stranger Things (I know it's stupid, just bear with me lol), Mike is never able to honestly tell El he loves her, presumably because he doesn't— at least, not romantically. but if he'd ever gotten the chance to acknowledge that his feelings for El are platonic, I guarantee he would've been able to tell her he loved her then, and it wouldn't be a lie. after all, friends don't lie. (can you tell I'm bitter about the finale lmao)

my idea with Sora and Kairi is similar. because Sora has faced his memories and emotions, he's finally able to just be close with Kairi, just as they were before KH1. their friendship is able to grow because Sora and Kairi know how they love each other, as well as how to love each other. (if it wasn't clear, Kairi's figured out she's aromantic by the end of part 2. Sora doesn't know he's in love with Riku yet for reasons I can't reveal rn because spoilers; he just knows that his love for Kairi is platonic, and that Riku is very important to him. wink wink.)

isn't that beautiful? that's why I'm so excited to write this series. the idea of Sora working through his comphet and Kairi working through her compallo so they can be best friends again is everything to me. their relationship becomes so much more interesting with a deep exploration of their feelings for one another. and of course, this is all for the purpose of making the Destiny Trio a trio again so they can team up for most of elegy of memory. and also so certain events in that fic will be even more devastating. ;)

anyways. that's all for now. feel free to tell me what you think about all of this. if you have any ideas for how I can make all of this even more interesting, feel free to throw those at me, too. thank you for reading!!