Thinking of you, wherever you are,

We pray for our sorrows to end,
and hope that our hearts will blend.
Now I will step forward to realize this wish.

And who knows:
starting a new journey may not be so hard
or maybe it has already begun.

There are many worlds,
but they share the same sky-
one sky, one destiny.

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It was just another day on the island. Another sunrise to keep the sands of the beach glistening as the waves of the ocean swept onto shore. The paopu tree hanging over the Cliffside near the edge of the island, its fruit ripe and plump for the taking. Tree-houses and other hangouts could be seen all around the island as a few kids were playing around in various spots. And with the start of that average day on the island, I never knew of what adventure I was heading for beyond this world . . .

»»»»»»»» ««««««««

"Hey, Hotaru! Help me with these logs!"

Barely paying Riku any mind, I was lucky enough to catch one that he tossed to me.

"Ow! Jeez Riku, could you be any harsher?"

He just laughed as I followed him along the coastline of Destiny Islands. We were both the oldest of our quartet of friends: Me (Hotaru), Riku, Sora and Kairi; it might've been either his usual teasing or his cocky attitude that had never stopped him from treating me like "one of the guys." Personally, I thought it was his cockiness.

"Ah, you're fine. Besides, I can't really rely on Sora or Kairi to help me with their lazy selves."

I had little to no trouble keeping up as I walked alongside him; I was used to doing the more hard labor stuff with him since . . . well, I was always stuck working with him.

"True. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm still a girl, you know. You gotta treat me a little more . . . I don't know, fragile."

"Fragile? You? Don't make me laugh! You're the toughest girl I know around here! No way could I ever treat you like . . . like –."

"Like Kairi? Or Selphie?"

"Yeah, like them! Besides, it's better for you toughen up. Not like over-the-top macho or anything like that but-."

"I get it. I get it. You like me better as a tomboy. I'm just saying; don't forget that I'm a girl too."

"Yeah, yeah." Waving me off, I followed him over to where Kairi and Sora were, and they looked to be enjoying each other's company, as usual. They were mentioning something about traveling to other worlds when Riku spoke out, "Hey! Aren't you guys forgetting about us?"

I waved to the both of them as I heard Riku taunting them about only us two being the ones working on the raft. Being the jerk that he is, he tossed his log over to Sora and stood before Kairi, scrutinizing her for being as lazy as Sora.

Kairi giggled, finding it all funny as she replied, "So you noticed."

Setting the log piece down, I shifted the log piece off of Sora as he smiled back in appreciation. "Well, as much as I'd like to just stand here and chat the day away, I'd like to actually get this raft finished myself."

"Okay, we'll finish it together! I'll race you!" Kairi exclaimed.

"Huh?" Both Sora and I questioned. Was she serious?

"What? Are you kidding?" Riku said exasperated as he sat down next to Sora.

Seeing her smirk at me with that knowing glint in her eyes, I smiled as I shook my head. She was dead serious.

"Ready? Go!"

It didn't take long before both Sora and Riku sprung up from the ground and took off across the beach as Kairi and I raced to catch up.

Yup, just another ordinary day at the island . . .

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It was near the end of the day and we were at our usual spot at the paopu tree, watching the sunset over the horizon. Nobody had really said anything that day since we were all pretty tired from gathering supplies for the raft and whatever else we may have needed for the trip. Just when I thought I was gonna nod off at the base of the tree between Kairi and Riku, Sora spoke up.

"So, Kairi and Hotaru's home is out there somewhere, right?"

Riku replied, "Could be. We'll never know by staying here."

"But how far could a raft take us?" I asked. It wasn't like me or Kairi could navigate the way there. We don't even remember where we came from!

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else."

"So, suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?" Kairi asked, her giggles intermixing with the question.

"Hm . . . Well, I haven't really thought about it."

"Ah. So the All-Mighty Riku admits to not having thought it all through, huh."

Giving me a playful push to the shoulder, Riku looked back out onto the horizons.

"It's just . . . I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds . . . Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

"I don't know," Sora huffed, exhausted with Riku's deep thoughts as he lay across the tree trunk.

"Exactly. That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."

"Wow, Riku. I didn't know you were thinking about this so . . . strongly." I was honestly amazed with how much thought he put into this. He never really expressed any of these thoughts to me before, so it was definitely a surprise to her them now.

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked, sounding just as impressed as I was.

"Thanks to you and Hotaru. If you both hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi, Hotaru, thanks."

"Heh. You're welcome." Kairi sounding a little confused about the thanks but accepted anyways.

"You're welcome. Just . . . don't think too hard like that in the future. It kind of scares me to know that you're actually able to think that hard."

"What? In that case, I take it back. All thanks to Kairi instead!" Riku boasted, hoping to get a rise out of me. And unfortunately, it did.

"Hey! Wait a minute! You can't take it back!"

"Too late. Should've thought of that earlier."

I crossed my arms in a huff, jealous that Riku had gotten the last word but at least our little petty argument had Kairi and Sora laughing. And Riku. And soon enough . . . I was laughing along with them.

Soon enough, the night was starting to set in and Kairi and I walked ahead of the boys as we climbed into our boats. I was ready to start paddling out as Kairi looked over at the boys still talking on the pier.

"Don't you think we should at least wait for Sora and Riku to catch up?"

Casting a glance over at the boys, I shrugged my shoulders as I untied my rope from the dock. "It doesn't really matter since they always catch up. But if it makes you feel better, I'll wait."

I kept my paddle in the water to keep my boat still as we waited for the boys. They didn't take too long as they boarded their boats and we all paddled towards the mainland. But for some reason, Riku was lagging behind and signaled for me to come over to him. I almost denied it but saw Kairi chatting with Sora as they paddled, paying me no mind as Sora was there to watch her.

'Well, I guess Sora can watch her.' My thoughts were convinced as I slowed down to Riku's boat.

"Is something wrong?"

He shook his head as he kept a steady pattern with me. "No. It's just . . . I don't wanna seem like I'm the only one having these thoughts. Haven't you wandered about where you and Kairi come from? Where you lived? How you got here?"

My eyebrows knitted together in frustration as I contemplated his words.

"Well . . . I mean, of course I've wondered about those things. I've even wondered if Kairi and I are even related."

"You're not related?" Riku asked, shocked.

"It's not hard to notice, Riku: her hair's red, mine's blonde; her eyes are blue while mine are yellow; her skin's pale and mine is tanner than the beach. The differences between us are pretty obvious."

"Well, yeah. But we just figured you guys were since you both came here together and you both already knew who you were."

"Yeah. I just wish I knew how we knew each other."

Riku must've noticed my frustration with the topic, so he touched my shoulder and offered me a smile with a thumbs-up. "Hey. It doesn't matter now, right? You're both here and you got me and Sora. And we'll be here for the both of you. No matter what."

I couldn't stop my smile from spreading across my lips as I started laughing. As touching as Riku's words were, it was something else to see him doing something so . . . so . . . Sora!

"Hahaha! Riku, you're so mean! Don't imitate Sora!"

"Heh. But it got you to cheer up."

"Yeah . . . Thanks."

"Anytime."

Yup. Just another ordinary day . . .