Wings of the Heart
Chapter
One: First Flight
Daylight shone through the curtains without a hint of perfect cheerful reassurances as the sleeping occupant pulled the covers over his head. Today was another day full of nothing but sunshine at Destiny Islands and this only made Riku feel like he was going to fall back to sleep. A wing poked out of the covers, just barely enough for anyone to see. He longed to be able to fly, to be able to see new worlds but he was confined to his island, an island filled with special children who wouldn't be accepted within the worlds surrounding their island. Opening one eye, he peered over groggily at his wing, feeling unashamed of showing off something that no one else had. Each child that lived on Destiny islands were given something that was unexplainable and magical to each other but to Riku, it was just a constant reminder of something he really wanted to do.
The radio beside his bed came to life, blasting out "Slept So Long" by Jay Gordon. It was his favourite song but right now, he had no heart to listen to the heavy rock song. An extremely pale hand pressed down firmly upon the top of the small radio, switching off the music that was slowly beginning to wake everyone else up since it was that loud. Reaching out lazily for his favourite clothing, he quickly changed before his mother or father could call on him for breakfast and leaped out of the window, landing like a sprung cat waiting to launch itself back into the air. The island seemed so peacefully at this time of day, where everyone was still asleep. Walking over to his favourite haunt, the paopu tree, Riku looked outwards the oceans spanning for many horizons. His parents didn't know how to look after him, didn't really know that he was special, just that he had wings.
Why can't I fly away from here? He thought as he continued to gaze out towards the oceans once more, his dreams of each world becoming greater with each thought. Becoming completely lost within his own thoughts, he didn't hear the quiet footsteps behind him until he felt the hairs on his back prick up.
"Quit doing that Sora!" He bellowed grumpily at the brown haired boy. A dark brown scaly tail wrapped around the boys right leg before finally unwrapping itself from his masters leg. Sighing impatiently, Riku stood up. He hated being interrupted from his thoughts by anyone, even if it was his friends. His dreams of flying away from the island flew to the back of his mind as he addressed the boy in a tone that simply said "Hurry-up-I-haven't-got-all-day!"
"Why have you disturbed me, Sora?" Riku was being very impatient and grumpy with the brown haired boy and he knew it.
"I was just wondering what you were thinking about but I can already guess what it was, your thinking about flying away from here aren't you?" If the boy was trying to wind him up, challenge him to another one of his "Skills" challenges then he was certainly putting up a good mask for hiding it. Either that or the boy was feeling really concerned for his friend and that he did actually want to know what was going on inside his mind.
"Yeah…parents don't want me too be what I am anymore. They keep treating me like I am a normal child when you of all people know that I'm not! So I just want to leave, experience life in another world before coming back here!"
He spread his magnificent wings sub-consciously, allowing the silver feathers to catch the sun before folding them behind his back once more. Looking at Sora once more, he moved away from the already bewildered boy. No one understood how he felt and he felt he couldn't trust anyone here anymore. It wasn't just his parents but everyone else as well and he knew he couldn't say that to anyone, not even Sora who did seem to be concerned for his friend. Tonight was the night that he was going to finally take his first flight, see if he could sustain himself and move away from the island he already grew to hate. Chilly air whipped up past his smooth silver hair, blowing it out of proportion as he made his way towards the cove. He had to find somewhere where he could be alone, away from everyone else.
"No one understands…" He mumbled to himself as he sat upon the small cliff that lead to one of the local hangouts, a star shaped tree that glowed when you touched it. Looking up at the tree, he gazed at its marvellous beauty and began to wonder if there were anymore of its kind in another world. Maybe they're all related, he thought as a small, almost unnoticeable smirk appeared on his face. He knew that was a ridiculous notion to think about but he also believed that anything was possible. So many thoughts of this place crossed his mind many times, trying to convince him to stay but he pushed them all aside as if they were just annoying wisps of dust that always gathered in-between his feathers. And then for the first time heard it.
"What the hell was that?" he said to no one in particular as he stood up once more. Something wasn't right. Shouts and screams of children began to grow louder every single second. Making his way back towards the main beach, he was shocked to see all of the children being huddled into small groups of four before being bagged off inside a ship he had never seen before. Masks covered the captor's faces and each and every one of them seemed to be waiting for some. Then it all dawned on him. They had come to collect each and every child off that island because of what they were, special beings with special attributes to each and everyone of them. Unfurling his wings slowly, he noticed Sora, Kairi and Naminé being huddled into a small net along with a small blond boy with scales growing up his body that he knew only by the name of Tidus.
One of the masked captors noticed him and attempted to try and grab hold of him before realizing what a huge mistake he had made. Plunging the palm of his left arm straight into the mans face, Riku felt a slight crack as he completely flattened the nose that was just barely poking outside of the mask. The man reeled over in pain, ignoring the fact that Riku was already spreading his wings as wide as possible. At one last feeble attempt, one of the captors reached out to grab hold of the boy as he made his way towards the paopu tree, getting ready to lift his feet off the ground at any second, and one he finally did, he turned around and kicked the captor squarely in the face before taking off into the brilliant blue skies above the islands.