Chapter 37 of SOS. This is part of the Homeworld Series of worlds, following Kaida as she goes through her memories of her homeworld.
Story[]
Paradise[]
When Kaida passed through the door she found herself on the surface of her home world, her body many years younger than normal. It was here that she realized that she had been working with her former teacher, Seiza, in creating a large machine. While Kaida seemed concern for the man's health at first, she merely pushed the thoughts away to go back to her work. While wondering what she was supposed to be doing, she soon greeted with Max Goof, who reminded the girl of the trial she was to face.
After she had finished her work with Seiza for the day, she then had gone back to her home. There she was met with an official looking man. Kaida and then man then started to discuss how her working with Seiza was likely not for the best of their people, as her skill set was not put best use with him and he didn't need much of an assistant to begin with. While it was met with resistance at first, she eventually decided to go work under a different teacher for a trial period. During this time, the new mentor she was under made note of her remarkable craftsmanship skills, stating that she should stay with him instead of going back to Seiza. While Kaida was resistant to this idea, the mentor told her that she should likely cut ties with him, as Seiza was mostly a weight down on society, who no longer worked in the best interest of their paradise. Angered and depressed by this, Kaida ran away, looking to be alone.
Soon, Kaida was eventually found by Seiza who was concerned for her well being. After telling Seiza what had happened, she then pressed him to go and leave their world now. So, the duo got on board the space ship that Seiza had been working on and went on their maiden voyage. While traveling through space, due to their hasty and unfinished departure, they had run out of fuel and begun simply drifting. In an attempt to help, despite several of Seiza's warnings and requests, the young Kaida eventually pressed a button causing the engine to flair up and let out a backlash of energy. Pushing her out of the way, Seiza took the blast in her place, getting a large wound in his chest.
Give Up[]
When next Kaida awoke she was in Central Haven, talking with Hikaru. The two had been speaking about a new candidate being selected for the Order. On their way, they started to speak with each other about their friendship with each other and Aux. In a moment, detached from her memory self, she spoke to Max about the trail she was facing. While she was able to figure out that she wanted to establish her own sense of self, she couldn't figure out the next question. When Max asked if it had anything to do with her friends, she stated she didn't have any to which Max tried to make her come to a different conclusion about the people she was traveling with.
Kaida was then put in a later memory. Meeting with Aux, the girl spoke to him, worried about Hikaru. It was apparent that Hikaru was in a critical condition at the moment, and she wanted to see what she could do to help. However, the memory started to skew as Aux started to berate Kaida, telling her she was only ever full of excuses as to why she could never look out for or help her friends. While Kaida tried to protest against this, she was then greeted with a specter of Seiza and Hikaru. In addition to Aux, the two started to berate her, telling her not only how powerless she was, but how all Kaida's actions were able to do was hurt those she cared about.
She was then met with a shadowed version of herself. The mimic started to tell her all the harm she had done to others, all she couldn't do, how worthless she was in comparison to others and how she couldn't change any of this. As the mimic continued to tell her to give up, Kaida started to believe it, nearly submitting to the urge. However, before she could, Max stepped back in and saved Kaida. While he started to encourage her, he then began to fight against the mimic, though was pushed back quite handily. Before Max was struck down, though, Kaida stepped in the way of the attack, being consumed by light before it connected.
Rise Up[]
Kaida awoke to being in a completely new area, accompanied by someone else. Revealing himself to be her former master, the two began to talk about Kaida's struggles and her friends. However, after continuing to speak with each other, Kaida had come to the answer she needed and came to accept the people she had been traveling with as true friends to have. With this new resolve in mind, the girl then said goodbye to her master and went back.
Appearing before the mimic of herself and Max, Kaida had decided to not run away from herself any longer. Bringing out her keyblade, she and the mimic fought, only for Kaida to eventually overcome it and defeat it. Her trial having been completed and her resolve having been found, the world around her started to fade away as Kaida went back to the Castle of Illusions.