Hello, and welcome to our obligatory Sora's sister fic! Also the obligatory Axel/OC because... Come on. It's Axel.
But really, welcome. So, things you need to know for this fic: clearly it's some kind of AU since Sora has an older sister here. Yes, it's a Mary-Sue cliché at this point since OC sister fics tend to fall in that category. All the same, we hope you read on, and decide for yourself after giving this a try past the initial chapters if the OC and/or the story is for you. We'd love to explain more on her character, but we should probably leave that to the story.
If you're not familiar with our other work, you should probably skip ahead and read the chapter now!
If you are familiar with our other stories, you know we love fics about characters' OC sisters, and that there are 2 of us on this account: Senna and Elis, with Elis being the one who manages the account. Well, now we're 3! Our friend, Nit, finally got around to writing her own! This is still Elis typing, though. Just letting you know because The Province of Men readers might be wondering 'why are they posting this when PoM hasn't updated yet!?' Again, the answer is that this is Nit's work, sorta proofread by Elis. Like, honestly, I didn't finish because I'm so busy with work. Senna, the main writer for PoM, is swamped with school. Seriously, she counts her ETD at this point as the time she decided to go to med school.
That's all. Again, enjoy! We do not own Kingdom Hearts or any Disney- or Square Enix-owned character here, obviously. This is just for fun.
burgeoning replacements
1 - memories
"I'll pick first! I'm the eldest."
"Whaaat? Okay..."
Beneath a vast ocean of twinkling stars, two children sat together against a wide windowsill in a house on a great island. They shared true blue eyes and an inordinate amount of caramel brown hair, but one was nine with all the brazen confidence of an older sister, and the other was a boy of five whose heart was filled with light*. The room was a complete mess, littered with childhood baubles, wooden swords, and plastic doctor's kits, but to them, despite the darkness that filled the room, it was another world safe from a wretched curse called "curfew."
The boy watched his sister with wide eyes, trying not to show his impatience. "Tai, pick already!"
"Shh!" Tai clicked her tongue, glancing nervously at the door. "Sora, didn't you listen to what I said earlier? My friends said you have to be careful picking out a star for yourself! The one whose light you choose will lead you to your destiny. Its destiny is connected to yours forever."
"But Riku said—"
"My friends and I are older than Riku," announced the girl, indignant not for the game but for the pride she felt as an older child. "Wouldn't we know better?"
Lips pursed, Sora looked doubtful, but murmured, "I guess..."
Tai sighed, closing her eyes. When she regained her composure, she opened them again to seek each light in the sky. There were so many of them, but her friends said only one. Even if it was just a game, she had to pick a good one. "All right..." She raised a hand out the open window, pointing to the brightest one she could spot. "That one."
As soon as she uttered the words, the star winked and disappeared.
Sora's hand squeezed her shoulder in alarm. "Your light!"
"Tai? Sora?" a groggy, muffled voice called from the hallway.
The two turned to each other in alarm and leapt noisily into the shared blanket, only for the older one to realize that there was still a rapping at the door. Tai slipped out from under the sheets, looking over her shoulder to shush at the wide eyes staring at her from the sheets. Opening the door slightly, she craned her neck up to look at a man who shared their straight hair and complexion. Tai wore a clearly feigned smile—gritted teeth and all—as she greeted, "...Hi, dad."
Their young father crossed his arms above her, levelling at her the same reproachful look she would give her brother. "Tai, was that Sora your mom and I heard? It's ten o' clock already."
"N-No," she answered, pulling the door open to show him the lump under the blanket. "He's asleep. That was...me! I saw a...bug...and...I'm sorry...?"
"Oh, good," he said, voice louder as his eyes darted to the bed, "because you know what they say. Children who sleep late have an awfully hard time growing taller."
Not another moment passed when Sora leapt up on the bed, sheets thrown to the floor, hair as wild as the look in his eye. He cried out, "They do!?"
"Tai," their father sighed.
Tai groaned, glaring at the boy. "Sora!"
"Oh!" He looked over himself and realized his mistake with a sheepish grin. Slowly, he faced the man, shoulders shrugging. "Sorry, dad..."
"Go to sleep," insisted their father, though he couldn't help his own amused chuckle. "Both of you. You have all summer to play, you know."
"Okay, dad," said Sora, guileless as always, "Good night!"
Once the door was shut, Tai leapt back onto the bed in a hurried bid for the window. She followed her brother's gaze and couldn't help the sudden sadness that enveloped her. She knew it was just a game—Quistis said it was just a legend and probably wasn't true—but for some reason, it was like her heart had dropped into her stomach. Like she'd just seen something terrible, or just found out that something just as awful was about to happen again and she couldn't do a thing about it.
"My star..." she murmured, trying to keep her eyes from welling with tears. She didn't believe in the game at all, so why did she feel this way? "It disappeared... Is that why... Does that mean..."
Sora glanced in alarm at the sight of her quivering lip. Tai wasn't the kind of person who cried a lot, if at all. He didn't think he'd ever seen her like that. "D-Don't be sad!" said the boy, grabbing her hands. "Tai, you can have my star!"
The girl had begun to sniff, ears ringing from holding back inexplicable tears, but she controlled herself and turned to her brother. "...What?"
"You can have the light from my star," he grinned. "We can share it."
"...Do you think that's allowed?"
"It should be," he decided. "You're my sister and I'm your brother! We're always going to be connected anyway, right?"
"I guess that makes sense..." She took a deep breath and nodded, squeezing the boy's hands. He could be such a baby sometimes, but there were moments like this, too, when it almost seemed like he was the one taking care of her instead. "All right. Go ahead, Sora."
"Okay! I pick—whoa! Tai, look!"
Before the boy could choose, the sky seemed to fall—or at least, the stars did, bright lights hurtling into nothingness across the dark chasm above and into the abyss below. "I pick that one!" Sora jumped again, tugging at his sister's arm. "I pick them!"
"You can't pick a meteor shower!" Tai protested, shoving him off of her, but Sora was too busy gaping at the falling stars to care.
For a split second, Tai saw the light reflect in his eyes and thought the game might actually be true for him—but it couldn't be. That horrid sensation from her chest was gone, and all that was left was the need to roll her eyes at the five year-old next to her.
No way in the world could he ever take care of her—it would always have to be the other way around. He couldn't even take a little game seriously.
Twenty more pages.
Lying on her stomach on her twin-sized bed was a girl, four years older now, the wide windows to her right shut tightly to avoid the night breeze. With a small flashlight in one hand, she flipped through the pink paperback she held in the other. Her swinging legs paused as she hissed at a papercut. And then, finally, she found the end of the chapter. Twenty-eight more pages. Once she finished this chapter, it was nighty-night for her.
Tai glanced at the clock face-down on her desk and giggled triumphantly. It was probably about two in the morning. Oh, well. She was so sure they were going to kiss by tonight! They had to. All that sexual tension had to go somewhere, and she wasn't going to sleep until one of them acknowledged their feelings. Or until she passed out.
"Stop lying!" said a still tiny voice from the adjoining room, "Why are you lying?"
"I'm not lying," answered a calmer inflection.
Tai paused, lips pursed in annoyance, but tried to move on with her reading.
"Yes, you are! That can't be true."
"It's the only truth. Everyone knows it, too. Except you, I guess."
Tai grumbled, shutting her book and rolling off the bed. When she'd turned twelve last year, her parents had set up the empty room next door as Sora's to "give her some privacy." Some privacy this was. Every time Riku came to sleep over, they were just so noisy. She didn't mind babysitting them in the day, but this was clearly cordoned off as Tai time. She was supposed to be allowed to read her romance novels without having their voices take her out of the wonderful world of men and sweet nothings Relm had introduced her to, so what were they doing?
Prepared to give the two a piece of her mind, the teenager stalked toward the door—only for it to swing open and knock her on her tailbone.
"Tai!"
She groaned, reaching for where it ached, and glared up at the two boys standing expectantly in front of her. "What?"
Sora gave an innocent glance around the room they once shared. "Did we wake you up?"
"Nah," grinned Riku, motioning to the book on the bed. "Look, Tai was reading a love book!"
"Gross!"
Snatching the novel, Tai threw it under the blanket and glared at them both. "What do you want? You two are lucky mom and dad are dead asleep by midnight."
"Oh, right," Sora murmured, face falling again. "Tai, Riku said Santa doesn't exist!"
"He doesn't," said the silver-haired boy, smiling triumphantly at Sora. "Tai would know. She's older. She probably helps your parents buy fake Santa gifts, you know."
"What!? Is that true, Tai?"
"That's enough!" Tai ignored Riku for the moment. She guessed it was natural to brag about knowing something over a friend at that age, but nobody spoiled things for her brother. Except her. And this hadn't even crossed her mind! She had half a mind to agree with the smug, silver-haired brat next to her, but Sora had the saddest expression—as if... well, as if she'd told him Santa didn't exist! As much as she enjoyed pushing and teasing him, she just couldn't stand that look on his face.
"Don't be gullible, Sora," she snapped. "Of course Santa exists. Get over here." She unhooked the window latches and opened them to reveal stars strewn across a clear midnight sky. The breeze felt cold, but a tiny warmth naturally wrapped itself around her arm – Sora. And Riku next to him. "Remember how Kairi came here after that meteor shower?"
"Yeah..."
"Obviously," Tai said, trying to sound as sagely as possible, "she came from another world. Where else? And if she can come from one world from out there, imagine how many other worlds there are!" She looked to Sora, staring above intently, only to catch Riku watching her with what appeared to be a careful eye. "What do you think, Riku?"
"I don't know," he shrugged coolly. "What do you think?"
"Hmph. Probably as many as there are stars in the sky. And if we're going by that, then one of those worlds has to have Santa in it. How can it not?"
"I guess..." Sora murmured, turning away from the window to seek Riku's approval. The boy shrugged.
Tai resisted the urge not to roll her eyes. He believed Riku over her? She wanted to get angry and remind him which of them was the eldest in the room, but that would probably scare Sora off. Nothing made Sora more combative than a negative reaction. So she just sighed.
"Believe what you want."
Some days, Tai woke up past midnight, right before dawn, and shivered under her blanket despite the closed windows. It was probably just the dark and that one time Relm, Gau and Quistis were telling scary stories about things happening at the odd hours of the night, but a peculiar feeling of dread would wash over her that she couldn't quite shake off until she walked around the house and made sure everything was fine.
This night was different, though. From bed, she could see the twinkling Christmas lights hanging off the roof and the full moon right outside her window, and knew she was happy. All the same, walking around at nighttime had come to be a relaxing pastime for her when she couldn't sleep. She rolled out of bed—narrowly avoiding falling flat on the floor—and left her room. Tai was headed downstairs in silence, trying not to freeze to death when a loud, sudden noise made her yelp and cling to the mahogany railing. She froze in fear at the house's renewed silence, even as holiday lights illuminated home, and took a few seconds to calm down and start giggling in relief.
It was Sora's snoring! But what was he doing down there?
The living room was set up so that the large Christmas tree stood next to the window, across the door, with a full view of the ara. The velvet, L-shaped couch wasn't far from it, with a low table in between, while gifts from friends all over town were neatly segregated in the room. That would be her doing. She'd arranged them all by the receiver, then by size. Hers and Sora's were nearest the tree, of course—which was naturally where the noise was coming from.
Sora lay sprawled over the rug, probably having rolled off the pillow earlier that night. Yawning, Tai crouched in front of him and turned his face over.
"Ew!" She wiped her cold, wet hand against her pajamas and gingerly moved him to the pillow by pushing at his temple and shoulder instead. "Hey, Sora, get up. Go to bed before mom and dad catch you down here."
"Gonna..." the boy said incoherently, head falling back against the floor as soon as she let go, "fall asleep soon..."
"You're already asleep. Sora, wake up!"
"I'm awake," he mumbled, eyes fluttering for a moment.
"What are you doing down here?" she insisted, poking at his foot with hers. "Come on, already. Go upstairs."
"I'm gonna prove that Santa..."
"That Santa what?" Tai frowned. After that one night a few months ago, he'd gone around telling all his friends he didn't believe in Santa, completely ignoring her theory about the stars and the worlds. She'd been pretty bitter about it for a week or so until Quistis reminded her that she was getting angry about an eight year-old's attention span. It wasn't like she even believed in the old man, either. It was just irritating that he'd chosen to value Riku's opinion over hers. "I thought you said—"
"I mean...!" Sora rolled over next to her, sluggishly but violently slapping his arm against her stomach by accident. He didn't seem to notice as he tried to talk over a tongue that wouldn't obey him in his half-sleep. "I mean, I'm...I'm gonna prove Santa doesn't exist... Doesn't...!"
"...Okay." Tai grabbed his arm and prepared to tug in vain. "Can't you do that in your room? Your back is gonna kill you tomorrow."
"No," he insisted, tugging back as his eyes closed again. His words began to slur to the point of complete incoherence. "Just stay... Tai. Don't...wanna see him too?"
Tai watched him curiously until he was snoring again. There was no way she was carrying him upstairs, and she didn't want to bother mom and dad. Besides—his words had her thinking. Was it a peer pressure thing all this time?
"Gullible as ever, Sora," she couldn't help but smile. She guessed she could deal with their parents getting angry in the morning, but this idiot wasn't staying here alone. Getting another pillow from the couch and one of their Christmas quilts from the closet, she took her place on the rug and tucked him under the makeshift blanket with her.
By the time an old, white-bearded man in red dropped by bearing gifts, the whole house was finally asleep.
Eyes closed, Tai stood under the shower and took a deep breath. Cold droplets pelted at her skin, waking her along with the sun shining through the high window.
Big day today. She was going for an interview at the Town Clinic where, fates willing, she would work for the rest of summer to figure out if it was what she wanted to study and do for the rest of her life. Sora was certain it was in the bag, what with Kairi's father's recommendation, but she didn't think babysitting them as children and washing their wounds over at the play island was something she could put on her résumé. All the same, she secretly hoped it would help. There was nothing else she could really imagine doing at the island. Nothing else she could really do, anyway.
Just as soon as she rinsed off, Tai heard her lampstand shudder against the door as it slammed open. "Tai!" someone called outside. "Huh? Tai?"
Hurriedly dressing into a stuffy blouse and skirt, she squeezed the water from her hair with her towel and opened the door into her room. "Sora," she said, quirking a brow, "It's...not yet lunch time. Why are you up?"
"There you are!" he grinned, reaching for her wrist and pulling her outside. "Let's go, today's the day!"
"What day?"
"Don't you remember?"
Nearly stumbling down the stairs in Sora's haste, she barely noticed the two teenagers waiting by the living room: a redhead with a bright smile sat by the couch, while a silver-haired boy with a self-possessed stance leaned comfortably against the door. "Hey, everyone," Tai waved, still in the process of drying her hair. "What day?"
Greeting her with a familiar smile, Riku shot her brother an irritated glance. Kairi could only giggle at Sora's excitement and said, "We're just going to the play island."
"Oh." Tai was pretty sure they'd been at the play island every day since school was out, so why was this day any different? "So what's going on?" she laughed. "Still need a chaperone after all this time?"
"No, but we do need help to build a raft and see those other worlds!" Sora answered, haughty tone like it was the most obvious thing on the islands. "Tai, you said you'd help us build the raft when the time came! Didn't you say you wanted to go, too?"
"...Other worlds," she repeated slowly after her brother. It was only when Riku shook his head and Kairi looked on innocently that she realized what he was going on about. "Oh, right! Of course!"
She couldn't remember how old they were when it happened, but some years ago, the three of them had begun to entertain hopes of getting off the island—what with there being nothing to do but school and all. They shared that with Tai, always left to babysit them even as they grew older. And it was a fun pastime, imagining what kind of worlds beyond their island could be out there. As many as there are stars in the sky, Sora would remind her sometimes. The truth was, everyone at the island went through that phase at one point. But then, they would realized as they grew up, no one had ever gone—who came back, anyway. There was the story of that one guy everyone knew about...but either he didn't survive that trip out to the horizon, or things were so good outside that the islands weren't worth coming back to.
But Tai liked the islands now. It could get monotonous, sure, but the idea of working at the Clinic was…nice. It was a good choice for the future, her dad agreed. How else could she support them when the time came and that rested on her shoulders? Still, for as long as Sora didn't have to face the real world, she would continue to humor him. Besides, there was no way Riku thought they could actually get out that way, was there? Kairi, she could see as entertaining such notions, but Riku had always been the more practical one.
"Right!" she repeated, putting on a wide smile. "But I can't today, Sora. It's my interview for the Clinic, remember? Please thank your dad again for me, by the way, Kairi."
"Sure thing, Tai," Kairi nodded. "I'm sure you'll do great at the interview, though!"
"Aww!" Sora whined. "But it won't be the same without you!"
Tai lifted her apologetic gaze from her brother and glanced between his friends. "Hmm… I have a feeling Riku can do it."
"Probably all of it," he smirked.
"That's a definite possibility, with these two," Tai chuckled, especially at Sora and Kairi's huffing protests. "But I'll be able to go tomorrow. And are you sure you have all your supplies already? Don't forget: you need food and water, extra material for the raft in case it needs repairs, and a first-aid kit at least. I can assemble that last one by tomorrow, but the others, you'll have to collect yourself."
"Yep, we'll collect all of that stuff at the island after we build the raft! Maybe dad has some rope in the basement…" Sora wondered aloud, forgetting his disappointment already. "Anyway, okay. Tell me how it goes tonight?"
"Until you get tired of me talking about how terribly it went. See you tonight!"
The next day, Tai joined them on the play island. Behind the treehouses that parents of generations past had built for the children of the islands, she stared blankly at a set of logs bundled together and the piece of cloth tied to the mast above them. She didn't have the heart to even call it a raft.
Sora stood next to her, hands clasped behind his head in a proud, easy stance. "What do you think?"
"Uh," she answered, trying to find the words. "Uh... the base looks steady. Here's an idea: why don't we just use the boats?"
"Because we wouldn't be together that way," explained Sora, shaking his head at her in disappointment. "What if a big tide comes along?"
"Right," said Kairi, leaning against the mast and patting it with confidence. "This way, we can't get separated."
Tai tried not to sigh. Only Sora—and Kairi, who was just as thoughtless as he was sometimes—could put a raft and a big tide in a single thought and not come to the conclusion that it was a recipe for disaster. "I guess that makes sense. But you know this is going to be cold, right? As soon as the waves get rocky, the raft will bob up and down and we'll all be wet."
"At least we'll be free," Riku cut in, as Sora drifted from the conversation into being sent off by Kairi to collect more provisions.
"Free?"
"Don't you ever get tired of just sitting around on the island, Tai?" he asked, meeting her incredulous gaze with one of his own—only more intense. "I mean, do you really want to stay here for the rest of your life without knowing what's out there?"
Tai cleared her throat at the question. Everyone had thoughts like that at this age—even Quistis—so she shouldn't have been surprised. But there was a gravity in Riku's voice that almost frightened her. Like he believed that he could actually leave the islands on this thing. Or whatever way. "Sure," she shrugged in reply, managing to keep the boy's gaze. Maybe it was that she'd never seen him this serious, even if he'd always been the type to brood. "But I told you guys that I got the job at the Clinic yesterday. Unless I find something else I can earn munny with, I'm going to need it, too. Why would I leave?"
"Because you're not afraid," Riku insisted. "Or you shouldn't be. Are you?"
"No," she answered at once, almost scoffing. But she didn't pick fights with teens three years her junior, so she kept her voice steady. "You think an adventure would be difficult? Wandering around aimlessly?" Tai chuckled, regaining her self-assurance. "We're islanders, Riku. Foraging and sleeping around nature when we have to is natural to us. Besides—I'm happy here."
"Really? You're not even curious?" he asked, almost like he was taunting her. But she was sure that was all in her head. "Let's get out of here. See other worlds. There's got to be something you can do besides working at the Clinic," he spat. "Besides... Are you really gonna let Sora run around away from home by himself?"
They both glanced over their shoulders. Behind them, Kairi was working on something small in her hands—neither could see—while Sora was attempting to roll a boulder out of the way of one of the greater rock faces dividing the play island in half. Grunting, he pushed his back against it, then his shoulders, to no avail, until he finally found the strength to use his hands instead. And then, sweating into his clothes, he grinned triumphantly the thing. He'd moved it by a few inches, then snaked his hand into the small crevice to grab...
A mushroom.
"...I'll think about it," Tai murmured, doubtfully. Riku had a point, but this was all assuming that they would succeed in getting off the island. Which they couldn't. "But in the likely chance that I stay—will you take care of Sora?"
Riku blinked at that. "...Me?"
"It'll fall on us, right?" she smiled. "You know you've always been the more responsible one out of your trio. You wouldn't lead them astray. I had to ask—and for Kairi, too, of course."
"Of course," Riku spoke, boldly this time.
"I'm going to go check the other side of the island," Sora announced, clapping off the dirt that had gathered in his hands from picking at the crevice. "Hey, Riku, you should do some work, too!"
"After building the raft by myself yesterday?" the boy turned back, any trace of the weight from moments ago gone from his features. "No way!"
Sora squinted at him, a cheeky smile spreading over his mouth. "Wanna race it?"
"Sure. I'll give you a chance—to get the left in the dust, that is."
"Yeah, right!" Sora laughed, and ran off to the starting line. Crying foul, Riku followed suit.
Kairi pocketed her little project and approached Tai with a shake of her head. "Looks like they're at it again—guess I'll go be the judge! Are you staying here, Tai?"
She was already positioning herself by the shore. "Someone's bound to get hurt, so—I'll wait here."
Kairi giggled. "Just like old times, huh?"
Smiling, Tai nodded and stretched her legs out on the sand, allowing the water to draw up to her thighs and pull her toward the sea, if only by a little. She had a mind to pick through the first-aid kit she'd brought, prepare for the inevitable wounds one or both of them would sustain shoving each other out of the way, but set it down for now. She wasn't sure why she'd even really brought the thing here, or why she'd given Riku that talk about taking care of Sora.
Maybe a part of her believed...
But it was impossible. They were only children who didn't understand anything about the world. Tai turned her eyes to the endless horizon and the clouds past it. The early afternoon sun hung in the sky, the calm water didn't stir, and seagulls continued to squawk over waves that endlessly brushed over the shore, removing all traces of any arrival or departure on its white sands. Just like any other day on the island.
Why had she even been worried? There was no way they were leaving this place, and nothing would ever change.
Something was wrong.
Tai sat by the open window and peered out into—nothing. It was too dark. Which should have been natural, given that it was nighttime and the window faced the sea, but she'd set up torches for herself to use after dinner on the way to the beach. If she hadn't been safe under the house's stark white lights, she might have been afraid.
But she wasn't. It just struck her as odd, the lack of the ocean breeze. It came in whispers, usually, keeping her family company over dinner until it lulled them to sleep, but tonight was different. The cold in the air felt still; like bated breath. And Tai could only hear the waves and her mother's cooking—no animal, no one else in the neighborhood close to the sea—and beyond that, nothing.
"Achoo!"
Meanwhile, lying prone on their home's living room couch, a middle-aged man wrinkled his stuffy nose and sighed. His bleary eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, moving only to follow whoever passed him. A few seconds later, that turned out to be his wife.
Long brown hair brushed over her shoulder, she gave him a pitiful smile. "I told you to go to bed, honey."
"I'm fine," he groaned, though he was hardly coherent to those around him. "Besides, it'll save me time coming down for dinner again. This is for the best."
"It's not for the best, Dad," said Tai, coming around from the window and frowning over him. To her father, she looked like the younger version of her mother. Except the straight hair that somehow managed to find itself messy, of course—that was always his. But the rest, especially that pout, she and her brother certainly shared with his wife. He never failed to remind them of that. "What you need is sleep and water. I already told you that Sora and I could bring the food up!"
"I suppose I should take it from someone who works at the Clinic now," he replied in the most juvenile way possible, rolling his eyes, but chuckled despite himself. "But no, Tai. I'm still all right."
"This is where Sora gets it from," his wife sighed. "You just won't stay in bed until you're nearly passed out, hmm? And even then, you'll drag your feet."
"By then, I wouldn't be able to help it." He wore a lopsided grin that belied his fatigue. "Where is Sora, anyway?"
As if the question triggered something in the air, that waiting Tai had felt seemed to end—a gust blew through the wide window and nearly knocked over the chair she'd taken next to it earlier. It clattered against the floor as she rushed to shut the window latch. And before she managed that, she thought she'd seen the most terrifying thing: a great ball of light in the sky that spritzed out into streaks of flashing lightning.
"What was that?" asked her father, whose blanket had fallen in the commotion. He groaned right with the thunder that seemed to shake the house.
"A storm," decided her mother, returning to the kitchen. "I'd better get these out while the power's still on. Tai, will you call your brother?"
Tai picked up her father's blanket and tossed it at him, then ran across the living room to the kitchen to close the windows there. "Hold on, mom. I'm shutting the rest of these just in case."
"It's fine. Sora, dinner's ready. Come on down!" the older woman shouted, turning off the stove and frowning. "Huh. He's usually running down the stairs before I'm finished calling. Sora?"
"Probably passed out from playing all day," Tai laughed. "I'll get him."
Another clap of thunder, and the lights were out. Her mother muttered under her breath and set to climbing the cupboards for candles to last them the night. Her father groaned a little more in the living room.
"Sora?"
Grabbing a flashlight by the kitchen counter, Tai headed for the stairs. Her heart felt heavy, or maybe it was fear of the storm. They didn't have rains much on the islands, thank goodness, but that meant they hadn't dealt with anything like this since she was younger than Sora.
"Hey, Sora, wake up!"
She could only hope everyone was safely inside their houses before the downpour began. Not that she could piece this together in any way. The weather was fine just this morning and nothing had seemed out of the ordinary...
"Sora?"
Tai nearly kicked his door down in her rising panic. The sight that greeted her wasn't any better: his window was open and there was no one in bed. The covers looked like they'd been kicked off. His room was a mess, which was its natural state, but that only made things worse. Outside, she spotted the play island—wracked with the lightning she hadn't imagined at all, the only light in the sudden dark.
"No—" She bolted, almost propelling herself against the doorframe in her haste to check every other room in the house before she practically flew down the stairs. If she was panting by the end of it, it was because her mind was in a whirl about what to do next. "Mom, Sora's not here!"
"What?"
"His window was open. He must have left when he saw the lightning next to the play island," she gasped, searching the low light for her mother's eyes as the woman grabbed her by the elbows. "He must've gone for the raft. But he couldn't be that stupid. Except he can be. What do we do? He's out there. You know he loves climbing the window down—"
"Sora went where!?" their father gasped hoarsely, getting up on the couch. He squeezed his eyes shut, pained by the sudden activity.
Tai was already packing, rifling through the closet for her jacket and boots and flashlight. "Mom, stay here. I'm going out to look for him—"
"No!" her mother cried, snatching the jacket from her instead. "I'll find him. Stay here with your father—"
The wind howled outside. "You stay here," Tai insisted, returning the woman's tight grip. "Mom, you haven't gone rowing since you taught me to, and if anything goes wrong, I go swimming all the time. I can handle a trip to the play island better than anybody. Maybe even in a storm. You stay here with dad. Okay? I'll find Sora. Maybe—Maybe he's at Riku's or Kairi's or something. Try there if you can," she said, though something told her that wasn't right. "The rain's going to come soon. I'll keep us safe at a treehouse if we can't make it back. Okay? This'll be quick. I promise."
She'd hardly even noticed her mother packing dinner into a little bag and stuffing it in her hands. "For if you can't come back first. You know I'd rather I go—"
"Mom—"
"I know." She pressed her hands against Tai's cheeks, planting a kiss on one of them and holding her arm on her way out the door. "Find Sora, Tai. And protect him."
Another flash of lightning, closer to them this time. Her mother watched her with a fear and worry she would rather never see again.
"Don't worry, mom. I will."
A girl with short, caramel brown hair opened true blue eyes to a new world. She was surrounded by skyscrapers with flashing neon lights, a city more colorful and vivid than the islands she remembered, vaguely, calling home. But for all its splendor, it was empty, and the night sky was hooded with clouds. No breeze brushed past her face. No moon in the sky, and no sign of life. All was still. Even...
A storm. My family. The play island.
This made no sense. Wherever this was, she couldn't belong here. And yet...
Her body refused to move. It felt like lead, like she'd suffered some beating she couldn't quite remember. It was taxing just to lift her hand, and her fingers shook from the exertion. It fell lifelessly to her lap. There seemed only one thing, one person, one word, worth mustering the effort to utter.
"Sora."
*not literally, of course. Just a bit of literary flair. Also, it doesn't say only. I'm pointing this out because it was a bone of contention between me and Senna when she took a peek at Nit's work.
Since you've gone through the first chapter, here's a Mary-Sue hook we'll be dealing with, as fair warning-if you couldn't tell by the summary. She's a Nobody now, and will soon become a member of the Organization XIII.
That's all for now! We hope you tune in for the next update of burgeoning replacements! And please feel free to review! Nit and the rest of us would love to hear feedback on this. :)
