Black sneakers pounded on the sand as the girl ran along the beach. The wind howled around her, pulling at her clothes and whipping her hair about. She tried to call out but the storm tore her words from her lips and they went unheard. Lightning flashed and thunder cracked and the girl poured on a desperate burst of speed - even as she ran, she knew that she would be too late.
Taika gasped as she woke abruptly, she hadn't even realized that she'd dozed off while waiting for her friends. She rubbed at her eyes as she sat up; she didn't really remember it, but her dream had left her feeling a little lost, and lonely. Sighing, Taika flopped back down, her black hair flaring out around her slightly and played idly with the red streak in her hair.
"Tai." Taika looked up at the voice and grinned at the silver haired boy standing above her. "Don't tell me you've been slacking off, Sora and Kairi do that enough as it is."
Taika halfheartedly tossed a handful of sand at him as she sat up again. "You're the one that's late, Riku."
He batted the few grains of sand that made it to him away with the back of his hand, "I am not late, you just got here early."
"Sure I did." Taika teased, standing and brushing the sand off her dark grey capris. "I'll go find Kairi and Sora and then meet you at the raft, 'kay?"
"Sounds good to me." Riku agreed, "But if I find out that you just joined them in their slacking then I'll just have to go on the raft all by myself."
"You say that now, but you'd miss us if we weren't around." Riku rolled his eyes a little bit, but didn't respond otherwise, and headed off with Taika on his heels.
They found Sora and Kairi on the beach, the two teasing each other slightly. "Then what are we waiting for?" The two heard, catching the tail end of Kairi's question.
"Hey!" Riku called. "Aren't you guys forgetting about us?" Taika grinned at the almost sheepish expressions on their friends' faces.
"I guess we're the only ones working on the raft." Taika was going to say more, but she was cut off by Sora's yelp as Riku tossed the log he had been carrying at the boy, sending him sprawling.
"And you're just as lazy as he is!" He accused Kairi, shaking his finger at the laughing girl.
"So you noticed." Kairi giggled, her sapphire eyes bright. "Okay, we'll finish it together!" Riku sat down next to Sora, which made Taika roll her eyes - since apparently she was the only one who noticed the way the redhead was bouncing from foot to foot. "Race you!"
"Huh? - What, are you kidding?" Sora and Riku's exclamations overlapped each other.
Kairi laughed and Taika couldn't contain her own snicker. "Ready? Go!" Sora and Riku glanced at each other quickly, then jumped to their feet and raced off down the Beach, Kairi following them and Taika laughing at all of them, even as she caught up with Sora.
Taika split her time between her three friends; Riku finishing up the raft, Kairi cataloging supplies, and Sora running around gathering the things they still needed. They even had a race to decide what the raft would be called - Riku won, earning the name Highwind for their raft.
The setting sun found the four of them at their Paopu Tree; Kairi, Sora, and Taika sitting on the curved trunk, while Riku leaned against it next to Taika. "So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?" Sora broke the comfortable silence, leaning forward to see around Taika and looking at Riku; Kairi leaned forward a bit as well on Sora's other side.
"Could be. We'll never know by staying here." The silver haired boy responded with a shrug.
"But how far could a raft take us?" Taika asked, staring out at the horizon, the limit of their World. She knew that other Worlds existed… but could they really be reached on a little raft? Were they connected like that? Or were the Worlds more separate?
"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else."
"So, suppose we get to another world." Kairi giggled "What would you do there?"
Riku looked up at the sky, "Well, I haven't really thought about it. 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've just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"
"I don't know." Taika shrugged. "But I also don't think anyone's life is so purposeless that they were just randomly thrown onto a random World."
"Exactly." Riku nodded. "That's why we need to go out there; to find out. Just
sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."
"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi commented, pressing her hands to her knees as she leaned forward.
"It's thanks to you, Kairi. If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never
thought of any of this." Taika grinned at Riku's words, remembering vaguely the time when the boy had first mentioned wanting to travel the Worlds - it was shortly before Kairi had come to the Islands. Kairi's presence may have made him more determined, but it was by no means the source of his interest with the other Worlds.
Kairi laughed and jumped off the tree. "It's getting late, we should head back." Taika joined her and the girls walked off down the boardwalk, leaving Sora and Riku behind after bidding them farewell.
The next evening Taika lay on her bed, staring at the constellations painted on her ceiling. The day had been fun; they finished up preparations on the raft, Sora had come back from a supply run a little subdued, though, and for some reason Taika herself was feeling apprehensive.
Maybe it was just nerves - they were planning on setting off tomorrow, after all.
A crash of thunder made the black haired girl jump - a storm had come up out of nowhere and rain lashed against the window. Taika sat up, her eyes wide. "Oh no…" She jumped off the bed and went over to a locked wooden box sitting on her desk; unlocking the box with the silver key that hung on a chain around her neck, Taika gently pulled a stained glass star from the box and slipped it into the pouch on her belt before running out of her room and down the stairs. She stopped only long enough to pull her black sneakers on and give her mom a tight hug, then she went out into the storm, her mother's questions lost to the wind.
She met Sora at the Dock of the Play Island and the two of them noticed the other two boats already tied to the shore; Riku and Kairi were already here. A dark orb seemed to be the source of the storm, floating low in the sky just off the beach. The two glanced at each other, then started running, hoping to find their friends.
Yellow eyes blinked from everywhere, shadows rising up to create the bodies of small monsters; Taika shivered slightly, but not from the cold. Sora's wooden sword did nothing against the monsters, and Taika didn't have a weapon of her own, so their only option was to keep on running and hope to avoid the solid shadows.
Sora broke off to look for Kairi and Taika continued towards the beach, her feet sinking into the sand and slowing her down. Lightning flashed and thunder followed inseparable from it. "Riku?!" She screamed, the wind tearing her words away. She slowed as she reached the beach; the silver-haired boy was standing knee deep in the water, watching the storm rage impassively.
"Once we set through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again." Riku turned to face her. "There's no turning back. But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the Darkness!" he held out a hand. "Come with me Tai."
Something black started bubbling up around Riku's feet and a chill of fear stole over Taika. "No!" She lunged forward, reaching for her friend's hand. "Riku!" A split second before she reached him, a bolt of black lightning shot down and hit Taika; her last sight was Riku's eyes widening minutely as the ground gave out from underneath her and she fell with a scream.