InsaneJournal

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thoughtful

Title: Clockwork Princess
Author: Rubyfruit Pixie
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Characters: Kairi, mentions of others
Rating: PG
Warnings: Hints of yaoi and het, some things that can lean toward mind control
Pairings: If any, Riku Replica/Kairi at the end. Implied Sora/Riku.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor any characters within. I do, however, lay claim to this crappy story.
A/N: Another "It Came From Ali Project" kind of fic.



Turn the key, wind the spring. Tick, tick, tick, tick...

Kairi was the Clockwork Princess. Turn the key, wind the spring, watch her go and do whatever people ask, say what people want to hear. After all, that's what a Princess of Heart is and does, right? Purest of the pure, no darkness, no cruelty? Obedient to the end, always sweet, willing to do and say whatever was asked?

Or maybe, it's just me...

Two years ago, she found out that she was the prized and precious seventh Princess of Heart, not knowing the signifigance of such a lofty title. Parts of her personality--the unswaying kindness, the fact that she always had something nice to say about anyone--anyone--those were programmed in. All of the human parts of Kairi were simply pushed so far back, they may as well have been erased, or worse--they may as well have not existed.

If all the others could stay human, why not me?

Two weeks ago, Kairi found out that her life, her position--all of it was a carefully-constructed illusion sixteen years in the making. She knew of the Darkness Filters, what they did, and why the system existed. She didn't know how personal it was. She didn't know that she was "Chosen" in more ways than one.

Sixteen years were all undone in a matter of sixteen seconds.

"Is that why...?"

It explained why Sora's world closed to her, to the point that all that remained was Land and Sky. It explained why Riku, dear and loving as he once was, quickly turned violent. It explained why, one day, Kairi fought back.

Overriding her basic "programming", Kairi fought back. Against Riku's words, Sora's seeming obliviousness, against fate itself. It was a doomed battle in which winning meant losing everything.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick....

Kairi sat on her bed, several books and notebooks scattered on both bed and floor as she wrote in another one. She may have been a Princess of Heart--or was she the Darkness Container?--but she was still obligated to do her math homework like everybody else, even if she wished she could make it disappear.

"Kairi, don't you worry. It will all be over soon."

Kairi looked up. There it was again. It was so frustrating, those whispers, then nothing. She ignored it six days before this. She turned her attentions back to her studies. This particular equation was difficult. Maybe if she concentrated on this final math problem, she can push any thoughts of following any disembodied voices out of her mind.

"Kairi, come to me. I am waiting."

Kairi got up and started walking, leaving her homework unfinished and her books unshelved. It should have registered in her mind that her feet were leading her to the full-length mirror on the other side of the room. Alarms should have gone off in her head. Kairi should have at least found it weird that she was following voices to her mirror.

None of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was how good she felt with every step.

Tick, tick, tick, tick...then silence.

Kairi stopped about two feet in front of her mirror, her mind in such a haze that she didn't mind the fact that her mirror was glowing, nor did she mind that a person was stepping out of it.

"...Riku," Kairi said.

But it wasn't Riku as he is, but Riku as he was--no, this was a different person altogether.

All it took was five little words and a gentle pull toward the mirror, and the Clockwork Princess was no more.

"I've come to take you."

~End~