Danari dangled her feet over the edge, leaned back, and closed her eyes. The music of the endless sea flowed through her ears and nested in her heart. She let the salty wind buffet her hair and it tickled her back.
"I never enjoyed how peaceful our island is when we were kids," she said, and looked up at Tidus. He smiled and sat next to her on the bridge.
"Yeah, we were all too busy sword fighting and pretending this place was some kind of new world."
When Danari looked at the small beach, scattered coconut trees, and empty wooden shacks, she thought of everything her friends, Tidus and Selphie, reminisced about. They would race from one end of the island to the other, and pretend they were adventurers from far off lands. They always said they loved those days. Tidus and Selphie swore she was there, but Danari never really remembered any of it.
"Did we even spend any time on the main island?" Danari said with a giggle.
"Only to eat, sleep, and go to school," Tidus said. "And now we're supposed to be 'too old' for that kinda stuff."
"We were too old for that stuff when we were fourteen, but that never stopped us."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Tidus said, springing to his feet.
"I don't know… I don't think—"
"A duel!" Tidus threw his fist in the air and ran into the shack at the end of the bridge.
Danari stood up and called after him, "Tidus no! I'm in a dress!" But, Danari did miss holding the hilt of her wooden sword. She didn't recall the fights, but she remembered the feeling.
She sighed, then heard the knocking of wood against wood. Danari turned her head and saw a girl in a yellow sundress stepping out of a wooden, motorized, dinghy and onto the shallow, rotting dock.
"Selphie!" Danari called to her, and waved. She waved back, and headed toward the bridge.
"You decided to come after all," Tidus said as he emerged from the shack with two, beaten up, wooden swords.
Danari and Tidus jumped from the bridge and onto the sand beneath it. Selphie's hair curled up on the ends, so it bounced around her face when she shook her head.
"Not to stay," Selphie said. "I figured I had to come out here and tell you, since you always leave your phones at home."
"Did something happen?" Danari said. "Did someone get hurt? Not Mrs. Elly, is it? I know she's been getting worse."
"Mrs. Elly is great, actually. Her son came home."
"Sora?" Tidus said, and his eyes lit up. "What about Riku? And Kairi?"
"I don't know," Selphie said, but cracked a smile. "I bet, though."
"When? Did they say where they've been?"
"I don't know, I thought you should know before I went to see them." Selphie stepped back toward the dock. "They probably won't talk about it, though. Just like last time."
The last time anyone from Destiny Islands had seen or heard of Riku, Sora, and Kairi was two years ago. They all first went missing when they were fourteen. Kairi came home for half a year, but then she disappeared again. A year later, all three showed up again on this little offshore island. After they came home, they wouldn't talk about what happened to them, and the police couldn't figure it out either. Then, two months later Sora left. Then, out of the blue, they were all gone again. Everyone just figured they'd turn up again, like they eventually do, but their poor parents. They could hardly manage. Especially Mrs. Elly.
Tidus raced ahead and hopped onto the Jet Ski he and Danari took on the way over, and revved the engine.
"I'll ride with Selphie," Danari shouted. He nodded and sped off to the not-so-distant main island. From where Danari was, she could barely see the little houses that littered the edge of the vast shore.
Once Selphie and Danari scrambled into the little boat, the motor puttered to life, the wind blew in their faces, and the dinghy bounced on the wake left by Tidus's Jet Ski. Danari felt her stomach lurch and twist just when she began to salivate.
"I think I'm gonna be sick!" Danari said over the wind whipping against her ears. Selphie shut the motor off, and pulled the rudder straight.
"Lean over the side. I got your hair." She gathered Danari's hair into one hand, and rubbed her shoulder with the other.
Danari's eyes watered and her breath hastened, but the contents of her stomach stayed where they belonged.
"Let's just go slow," Danari said.
"I've never seen you seasick before," Selphie said, turning the motor on to a low hum.
"Maybe it's not seasickness," Danari mumbled. "I actually feel kinda nervous."
"Why? 'Cause Sora's back?"
"I guess so." Danari paused for a moment, and tried assembling her thoughts. She hardly remembered anything about them. Not even what they looked like. "It's just, I don't know what I'd say to him. Or Riku and Kairi either."
"They'll probably want us to act like normal. You know, like the old days."
"I don't remember what normal is."