Author's Note: :rising from the grave: Howdy folks! This fic isn't dead, I promise. See? It's still moving when I shake it! I have a lot of determination to finish this story, even though my original goal back in 2016 was to finish it before KH3 came out. Lol to that! That seemed so doable back then... ah, the good ol' days. In any case, I'm very glad to be back, again! I've written a lot since my last update, but sadly not so much in this fic. I don't plan on ever throwing this baby away, though. I will finish this fic, God willing!

But please, from me to you, accept this apology for such a long waiting period. I am sorry it took me so long, and I hope to get chapter 8 out pretty soon... (of course, I said I'd be getting chapter 7 out soon, then it took me 19 months... you cannot trust me).

Also, one last thing: For the sake of anyone who has not been keeping up with KH3 news and wants to stay "blind" to it before playing the game, I politely ask that you not put ANY reveals about KH3 worlds, plot, news, etc. in the reviews until after the game comes out. Thanks!

—

Your Programming Has Not Changed

Kairi yawned, stretched, and scratched a hand through her messy bed hair. She hummed a sigh and looked out the window, letting the morning sun warm her cheeks. The moment of calm was different from the calm she felt back home on the islands, and right now it was perhaps even more comforting, in a way. It reminded her that Sora was okay after all. The corners of her lips curled into a tiny smile, and she snorted lightly with amusement. A little... different, but okay.

She stretched again and then kicked herself free of the covers. It was a quaint little inn, old fashioned and cute like much of what she was familiar with on the islands already. The intrusive but not unwelcome thought returned to her, as it had so many times before—that this was her original home, where she'd come from—and she found herself tracing fingers lightly over the wood, looking at the stylized carvings in the dresser drawer. None of it seemed familiar, but perhaps this wasn't the part of Radiant Garden she'd once known.

She shrugged, and the tug dispersed away to wherever it normally sat. Thoughts continued to occupy her as she dressed for the day and brushed her hair out. The Destiny Islands were her home. Perhaps more than that, Sora and Riku were her home. She would happily inhabit the Nobodies' bleak castle if it meant being with her two best friends. It would take some sprucing, but she was sure there would be ways to grow flowers and find shells no matter where she ended up.

When she stepped out of the room, she glanced over to the three doors along the hallway. Directly next to her room was Riku's, then Sora's, and then Donald and Goofy's on the end, right before the stairwell. But her eyes did not trail far. Riku's door was leaned open, and some of the morning sun spilled into the hallway through the crack.

"Morning, Riku," she said, tapping a knuckle on his open door.

"Morning," he answered from inside. Then: "Come on in."

She stepped into the room and found him looking ready to go for the day, other than the fact that he was sitting on his bed with a mug of some warm drink in hand. One foot hung off the side of the mattress, and he kicked it absently as he stared out the window.

"How does it feel being here?" he asked, taking her a bit by surprise. He looked up a moment after asking, genuine curiosity on his features.

"Not... too out of the ordinary. I was wondering earlier if it used to look like this before the rebuild or not. It doesn't really bring back any memories, good or bad," she shrugged and stepped in, stopping only when her knees hit his mattress and she could look out the window over the town.

He dipped his head in a small nod and backed up as though to offer her a seat on the bed next to him. She gave a little smile of thanks and climbed on, mainly so she could get closer to the window. Her fingertips rested on the glass, and she watched as people bustled around the square below. A few familiar faces cropped up—Aerith, Leon walking together and Cid animatedly talking to them from several paces away, his face split into a big grin.

"Is Sora up?" she asked, and he shrugged even as she finished the question, which made her think he'd been waiting for her to ask.

"Maybe, but I doubt it. He's probably completely out," he said with an appraising shake of his head. "Or staring wistfully out the window or something," he added with a smirk.

"You are so mean to him," Kairi snorted out a laugh with her response, shoving Riku's shoulder.

"I really am." He threaded a hand through his hair, grinning. She watched him do it, her expression shifting. "What?" he asked.

"It really is too short," she said.

"Not this again," he ground out, rolling his eyes.

"It is," she insisted.

"Like I don't know that. Especially after you've told me twelve times. I get it." he stood and drained the last of his drink, shaking his head. "And anyway, it'll grow," he added with a frown. Kairi was grinning, unable to contain her amusement. When he turned back toward her, his scowl grew even deeper. He turned away again just as quickly. "You know," he said, and she watched as he inspected the inside of the mug for a moment. "I think I'll cut yours for you the next time you need a trim," he said. The sideways glance he gave her was so sly that it almost sent a chill up her spine.

"Yeah... I think I'll go ahead and let it grow," she mumbled, looking at her hands as she rubbed them in her lap. "Like maybe forever?" she added with a laugh.

"That's what I thought," he said, smirking back. "I'm gonna check on sleeping beauty over there," he added, tilting his chin toward the north side of his room.

"Let's wake him up!" she said, hopping out of bed and stretching yet again with her fingers laced high above her head.

There was no answer when Kairi knocked, so Riku took the liberty to knock a little louder. It was probably more of a banging than a knocking, but it certainly woke Donald up, who came squabbling at the door and sending Kairi into yet another fit of laughter.

"Sorry," Riku offered genuinely, but that didn't seem to help anything.

"Have you seen Sora?" Kairi asked, which helped to calm Donald a little. He shook his head and looked over at Sora's closed door.

"Hmm... maybe he's..." Donald trailed off, his expression sinking into thoughtfulness, then into worry. Yuffie had implied that Sora had had a long and troublesome time the day before. She and Riku shared a worried glance. "Can we open it?" he asked after his moment of thought.

"The innkeeper has a key," Donald said, but Riku simply tried the handle and it turned.

The room was empty. Sora had left the bed the way it must have looked when she got up because the covers were pulled back and sagging down to the floor where her pajamas also laid in a messy bunched up pile.

"Well that's Sora for you," Donald muttered. "Guess he's already up." He paused, expression souring. "He's not supposed to be alone."

"Gawrsh, what's ev'rybody doin' up so early for?" Goofy's voice floated to them from the hallway, and Kairi peeked out to see him rubbing his eyes.

"Looking for Sora," she answered with a helpless shrug.

—

Their search took them to Merlin's first, where Yuffie pulled the door open before Kairi could even get a third knock in, hushing the two.

"Merlin's working," she whispered loudly, gesturing behind herself.

Merlin sat on a stool on one end of the room, his nose in a floating book and his hand hovering over a floating beaker with some kind of red liquid inside.

"Have you seen Sora?" Kairi asked. Yuffie shook her head.

Riku and Kairi had already split up from Donald and Goofy. There was a kind of tension in the air, but mostly the four had been casual, calm, refusing to think that there was anything wrong. Sora had just gotten up and was probably with Cid or Leon or someone else.

That was what Kairi was telling herself, at least. There wasn't anything to worry about.

"I saw Cid, Aerith, and Leon headed that way this morning," she said, pointing toward the market.

"You stay in town. I'm gonna check out the outskirts in case he's out at the cliffs or something," Riku told Kairi.

"Alright," Kairi agreed.

She watched him head off at a trot and then turned toward the marketplace. Cid was leaned against a table talking to some boys that were probably related to Donald.

"Cid," she called, waving. "Sorry to interrupt, but have you seen Sora?" she asked.

"Mornin', little lady. I jes' saw him a coupl'a minutes ago. Sent'm up to Tron to deliver a disk—he was all kinda antsy."

Even with instructions for how to get there (and reassurances that she would be fine on her own), it was a quick enough interaction. She thanked him and waved goodbye without ever getting a chance to ask if the three ducklings were related to Donald. Cid was clearly not particularly worried about Sora being alone, so she shouldn't have been either, but it was difficult to let go of the nerves that had gripped her for so much of the day before.

He was fine.

—

Sora slammed her Keyblade into the last of the Heartless and trotted into the lab. It was empty, which was fairly unusual these days, but that served her just fine. She slipped a disk into the computer's input. Then, with a few well-practiced keystrokes, she was being parsed into data and transferred into Tron's world.

"Sora," Tron's voice seemed to come from all around, but he was nowhere in sight. "Welcome back."

"Hey, Tron," she responded. With a quick glance about, she added: "Where are you?"

"Doing some clean-up. I can meet you at the canyon," the voice replied. Sora didn't have to be told twice. She gave a swift nod and headed out of the I/O Tower room, making her way toward the canyon. Tron was quite literally cleaning up when she arrived, directing some programs—or whatever they were—as they lifted large chunks of something-or-other and moved them about the large room.

"Still not back to your old self, I see," Tron commented as she approached, and she sighed with frustration, scuffing the floor with the toe of her shoe.

"Merlin's still working on it," she muttered.

"You don't seem very confident," Tron tilted his head. Under normal circumstances Sora would likely have called him out for using a gesture that was so clearly borrowed from so-called Users. Instead, she shrugged and sat down on the ledge of the canyon, her legs dangling. Tron followed suit, and they sat in silence for some moments.

After a minute or so, Tron resumed silently directing the programs below, tapping into a control panel hidden in his forearm. Sora heaved another sigh before finally resuming the conversation.

"I dreamed that Kairi was marrying Riku, and I was her maid-of-honor." Sora raised her lip as she spoke, pronouncing the words with as much disdain as she could manage.

Tron listened to her carefully. He didn't respond for a moment, though, instead closing his eyes and donning a look of concentration. Sora waited patiently as he sorted through files and did a few searches—she hadn't expected him to know much about weddings.

After finding the information he needed, he opened his eyes again and laughed. "Users parse data in very strange ways. I'm sure your genetic programming will be repaired, just like you and the other Users restored my programming. And your Kairi—would she really rather interface with Riku than you?"

"Inter—what? Tron, you really need to pick up new words faster," Sora groaned, clapping a hand to the side of her helmet.

"Marry," he corrected with amusement. Whether he noticed Sora's attempt to avoid the question or was oblivious, he asked again. "Do you really think she would rather marry Riku than you?" Sora stared at her shoes and worried at her lip in silence for a pregnant pause before responding.

"I dunno." She shrugged. "I haven't really thought about it," she added, her voice growing small. With a sigh, she laid back and stared at the ceiling, kicking her feet as they hung over the ledge.

Tron watched her for quite a long moment before gazing out over the canyon again. He pursed his lips, then spoke.

"When you and Donald and Goofy came to help me recover the system from the MCP, you taught me a lot of things. One of them was that what matters about us is what's in our deepest programming." He gestured to his chest, his hand resting over his heart, and Sora sat up, her eyes widening a fraction—she'd never really mentioned hearts to Tron. He only smiled warmly at her. "I don't think it would matter to Kairi if your aesthetic programming changed, so long as you are the same."

"But it's not just looks," Sora muttered in response. "It's—it's just not."

"I don't detect any difference in your behavior or values. You are still the same Sora," Tron gave a firm nod, and Sora couldn't help but smile in response to his confidence.

"Well... thanks Tron," she said, "I was starting to feel a little doubtful." She rubbed the back of her head and grinned.

—

Kairi left the Bailey and looked out toward the cliffs. Riku had said he'd head that way. He hadn't realized he'd been on the right track. She continued on, taking a right where he'd taken a left, and meandered through the piles of rubble toward the castle.

When she stepped onto the Postern, she felt a wave of reminiscence hit her. She touched the railing and stared out over the broken earth. Somewhere, hidden deep in her mind, a fuzzy memory pressed urgently. She could almost see it—something, she didn't know what, but she remembered something about this spot, or standing here, or this view. Shaking her head, she took a shuddering breath. The moment brought an odd twang to her heart.

Forcing herself to walk on, she entered the maze-like interior of the castle here, pausing briefly to inspect the halls. She continued on through the maze carefully, through a strange, dusty office with a massive portrait of someone she'd much rather forget, and past the most massive hall she'd ever seen, filled with strange... pod-like things.

After gazing in awe for a moment, she wandered quietly along the glass pathway and into the next door, where a camera lens seemed to stare right at her. The room lead to yet another empty chamber, so she turned around and headed past the console again, sighing.

Her eyes flicked to the screen when a new window flashed onto it, and she froze in shock when she saw the words HELLO KAIRI displayed plainly in boxy capital letters.

"Who's there?" she asked, whipping around to stare at the camera. "Where's Sora?" she demanded. Her Keyblade flashed into her hand. Behind the lens, the camera dilated. Was it zooming in? Her heartbeat sped up, and she turned back to glance at the console as she backed away toward the door. She paused. Now, there was new text scrawled across the screen.

SORA IS HERE

"Where?" she asked, looking around again. This time, she watched as new text began to type across the screen right before her eyes.

IN THE SYSTEM

"What do you mean in the system?" she asked, fear rising in her voice again.

SORA IS VISITING ME

"Who are you?" she clenched her fists in frustration. The conversation felt so one-sided and slow—and the whole thing felt so ominous, being in this small room so far away from town. Her nerves were beginning to fray.

TRON

"Oh," she said after a pause. Kairi felt her face grow hot. Sora had mentioned Tron many times before, describing him simply as one of his friends. He'd even mentioned that Tron kind of 'lived' in a computer-like world, although he'd had the hardest time explaining it and nothing he'd said made much sense. "I'm sorry, Tron," she added, scratching a hand through her hair with embarrassment.

IT IS OK

She smiled. "It... it's nice to meet you," she said, giving a little bow with her head.

Tron responded immediately, the text appearing quickly: IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU AS WELL, KAIRI

Before she could say anything more, letters began ticking onto the screen once again.

DO YOU WANT TO MARRY RIKU ?

Kairi's Keyblade dropped to the floor with a clang. She was so shocked that she couldn't move for a second, couldn't even breathe. Then, with an incredulous bluster, she said: "What!? No!" She shook her head forcefully. "What?"

OK SORA WAS WORRIED the text scrawled now.

BECAUSE HE IS A FEMALE, Tron added below.

Kairi was still mostly speechless, making only a small sound of indignation and shock. She couldn't understand what was going on here. Was Sora feeding Tron things to say? Was this some kind of weird prank? It just made no sense to her whatsoever.

SORA'S PROGRAMMING HAS NOT CHANGED Tron said now, the text scrolling over the screen quickly. Kairi shook her head softly, confusion clouding her features even more.

"I don't..." she started quietly. But she wasn't even able to finish speaking before the next words appeared.

SORA IS THE SAME

Oh. She felt her heart clench in her chest. Raising her hand to brush her hair back, she lowered it back down to rest over her heart. Of course Sora was worried. Her mind floated back to how mortified he had looked when they'd all met up. He'd always been more sensitive than he let on... It looked like maybe this conversation didn't involve Sora at all. Maybe Tron was just being a good friend.

"I know," she answered finally. "And I still feel the same about him," her eyes shimmered. She turned around now, gazing up at the camera again. "Can I... talk to him?" she asked, voice soft but resolute.

—

Sora had laid back again and was kicking her feet idly. Tron had gone quiet for some time, and the programs below still worked on moving debris out of the canyon.

"So, anything new in here?" she asked after a moment. Uncharacteristically, Tron did not respond. Sora sat up, frowning. He seemed to be staring off into space. She waved a hand before his eyes. "Hello? Are you in there, Tron?" she asked.

Tron blinked awake, turning to face Sora with something akin to surprise on his features. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said. Then, with an oddly human smile on his face—a suspicious one—he added: "You have to go now."

Sora barely squeaked out a "Wha?" before her form was beamed into data, disappearing from the digital landscape.

—

Kairi leapt back with a cry when a loud sound burst out in the room. It didn't sound like anything she'd ever heard before, mechanical and bizarre. She spun around and almost fell against the computer console. In front of her, in an odd flash of light, Sora suddenly materialized.

"What the—" she asked. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the redhead. "Kairi!" she said. Then, with a thoughtful look: "huh, so that's why Tron kicked me out."

"You were really inside the computer?" Kairi sputtered, a hand over her chest. "Like—like—data?"

"Huh? Yeah. Didn't I tell you guys about that before?"

"You said it was a world with laser motorcycles and robots!" she threw back, still in shock. Sora scratched her temple with a finger.

"Well, it's that too," she offered with a shrug.

Finally calming, Kairi smoothed her dress down and stood up straight. Sora was still grinning when she glanced back up, and relief washed over her. Maybe even computer programs could get worried and exaggerate a little.

"Hey, I have an idea! You can talk to Tron too," she said, the pitch of her voice growing high with excitement. Kairi could only laugh. Tron was right. Despite being a 'female', Sora was the same. "Hey Tron, you can still hear me, right?" Sora asked, spinning to face the camera. In almost the same movement, she spun around again to the screen, her skirt whirling. The redhead could only feel a little gratitude that Sora was completely unaware of Tron's strange conversation with her just moments earlier.

On the screen, some words appeared.

HELLO SORA

HELLO KAIRI

"See! He already knows you're here. And if you want, you can probably go in and meet him—at least I think so. Could she, Tron?" Sora looked over her shoulder at the camera this time.

THAT WOULD BE NICE

"Um," Kairi started as Sora grinned with delight at the message. She placed a hand on the brunette's shoulder. "I would love to do that, really, but I wanted to talk to you first," she said. Sora glanced up with raised eyebrows, blinking.

"Yeah. Of course. Are you okay?" she asked, rising to her full height again—which was still more than an inch shorter than Kairi.

"Oh, yeah, no, everything's fine," Kairi said, giving her hands a dismissive little wave in the air. "I just wanted to maybe take a walk," she added. Sora nodded.

"Hey Tron, we—" she paused when her eyes met the screen. Tron had obviously been listening.

HAVE FUN YOU TWO

Sora grinned, gave a salute to the camera, and headed out with Kairi.

They exited and walked quietly, Sora leading the way and ensuring they did not run into any Heartless. Their gait slowed as they reached the balcony of the Postern. Side by side, the two gazed out over the scenery. Odd, Kairi thought, that it didn't feel empty and painful anymore. It wasn't a pressing old memory. Now it felt like new memories to make instead. It was as though Sora's touch had the same effect here that it'd had in every other aspect of her life. Warming. Calming. Brushing away the sadness and the pain and the loss like a breeze might blow leaves gently away.

Sora sighed quietly as she gazed out over the ruins of the old Radiant Garden.

"Do you remember anything? From here, I mean." She turned to rest her eyes on Kairi only when the girl did not respond for a moment.

Kairi was staring out over the barren land as well. "Sometimes," she started, "like even just earlier, I stand somewhere, and I just..." she paused. "I feel like some memory is trying to dig its way out of the back of my mind. It's unnerving. A little scary," she admitted. Finally, she glanced back at Sora with a weak smile.

"I'm sorry." Sora's eyes were filled with an incredible amount of sympathy. "Do you think they're bad memories?" she asked softly.

"I dunno," Kairi murmured. "I've remembered a few things pretty clearly, but they're just tiny moments. And it's like—like they're not my memories at all." She frowned here, worrying at her lip. "Like I'm watching someone else's memories, not mine. But I know they're mine," she added the last part quickly.

"Yeah..." Sora murmured. "I know exactly what you mean." Her gaze swept away, and Kairi watched as her expression held something somber, different, hard to place. When Namine had joined her, flashes of memories and feelings had welled inside of her but remained just out of her reach. She wondered if it was the same for Sora and Roxas. Truthfully, she had her suspicions that Roxas was a bit different for him than Namine was for her. Sora had made some strange, offhanded comments occasionally after the events finally closed.

"Hm," Sora hummed quietly, drawing Kairi out of her deep thoughts. "Do you think you're gonna have to come back one day? I mean... I guess since you're a princess and all." It was such a heavy question that Kairi expected Sora's expression to be hurt or anxious, but instead she looked serene as she gazed out over the canyon.

"I'm not really sure." She had a thousand questions to ask, things to say in regard to that topic—this wasn't the first time she'd thought it over herself. But now wasn't the time. It was just like Sora to focus on her when he was the one who needed support and help.

Kairi had made her silent vow to be as supportive of Sora as he was of her, and she wasn't going to pass it up here. "I guess we'll find out eventually. But actually, there was something I wanted to talk to you about..."

She turned. Sora was turning too.

"You're still the same," she said softly. "You're Sora." There was a deep willingness in her eyes for him to understand. Sora swallowed.

"I know," she said with a quirk of a smile, hinting at a touch of confusion at the topic. "I mean..." she looked down at her hand, still on the railing. "Mostly."

"You're the same in all the ways that matter," Kairi insisted. For a moment she thought to put her hand on Sora's, but her heart thudded in her ears and she imagined the two of them stuttering nonsense instead of having a conversation. She flexed her hand instead, then let it drop to her side, out of sight. Breathing out resolutely, she leveled Sora with a pointed stare and a raised eyebrow and said: "You are definitely not a girl, Sora."

Sora laughed, clear as bell, in response. It was high pitched, but it was still that same laugh she'd loved since she had first met her best friend. It was Sora's laugh. "I know I'm not a girl," she said. "You're the girl, Kairi."

"I know I'm a girl," she sniffed. Then she gave Sora a warm smile again—but whatever thought she had was popped like a bubble because Sora suddenly closed the distance between them in such a quick movement that it was almost instantaneous. She wrapped her arms around Kairi and squeezed her into a tight hug.

"You've always waited for me," she said, pulling back to look at Kairi. "Can you wait just a little longer?"

Without thinking, Kairi's response came out of her mouth. "Of course," she breathed. Now she lifted her arms and embraced back.

—

As a note, I also made some minor updates to the other chapters. Most of the updates were just fixes of formatting and errors, but there were a few tiny rewords, one sentence added to the end of chapter 5, and two chapter title changes. You probably didn't notice since it's been so long, but if you did: yippee! (If you're curious, I changed 5 from This Remains, at Least and 6 from No Lack of Effort. I just felt like it, haha.)

As always, I heavily appreciate reviews. Special thank you to the person who recently reviewed another fic of mine asking for an update on this one. You know who you are.

I believe chapter 8 will be out within the next few weeks or, at the very latest, sometime in February. I'll do my best!

PS Anyone else laugh at Riku's DDD helmet hair? I was so delighted to write about Kairi making fun of it in this chapter.

PPS Once more, please do not discuss anything KH3 related in the reviews until after the game's release. Thanks and see you guys next update!