Christmas of Destiny
Sora and Riku sat side-by-side on the steps to Yen Sid's Mysterious Tower, staring up at the dark sky longingly. "Do you wonder what they're doing right now?" Sora suddenly asked, Riku nearly gasping in surprise. Since they returned from their Mark of Master exams, as well as the previous adventure to find Xehanort and the newer Organization XIII, they had yet to return to their homeworld, the Destiny Islands. Sora smiled at the thought of seeing everyone again. Although he loved traveling from world-to-world more than anything else in the world, he hated himself for not stopping by to his mom, or the other three of his friends on the Islands, or anyone else that brought joy to his heart.
"You mean the ones on the Islands?" Riku asked sadly, looking to the ground as he clutched a fist. "Look at how easy it took the Organization to track you, Sora. Imagine if they tracked us straight to the Destiny Islands…who knows what they'd do."
"You and I, Mickey, Lea…and Kairi too—" Sora started, slowly getting to his feet and brushing off the seat of his pants, "—we'll be ready for anything. We can take Xehanort down if he comes for us." Riku chuckled at Sora's optimism. There wasn't another boy in the world that made Riku as happy as Sora did. Their whole life before they left their little island home, the two of them always competed to see who was better. Riku always felt jealous of the brunette…he never felt as happy-go-lucky as Sora did. He was always stressed, worrying about Sora and Kairi all the time.
"What made you think about the Islanders?" Riku asked, causing Sora's smile to slowly falter.
"It's…it's almost Christmas, isn't it?" Sora asked, causing Riku to drop his sad smile. They've been on this journey for over a year and a half, and yet they had never spent Christmas together as a family since. Riku slowly gasped as Sora shed a single tear, dripping down his cheek and onto his quivering lip that was still in a sad smile. "Tomorrow, right?"
"You kept count," Riku noticed, putting a hand on Sora's shoulder. "I remember when we were little, every morning you'd always wake up bright and early and rush to my house, banging your fist into my door and having my dad yell at you. You'd always wait for me to open my presents first, and then we'd head to Kairi's to watch her open hers, and then you'd save yourself for last." Sora chuckled, smiling at the fond memory that he remembered all too well.
"I remember that," Kairi's voice said from behind the boys, and standing in the doorway to the tower was Kairi, looking down at the two and chuckling. "Watching Sora open his presents always brightened up my day. His cute little laugh and the look on his face whenever he saw a present from Santa…"
"Kinda wish I hadn't told you he wasn't real," Riku said, scratching the back of his head in guilt.
"But that doesn't matter because now I know he does exist," Sora replied, pumping his fist out in the air as if that were a major accomplishment. "Remember I told you how I saw him back in Christmas Town? Yeah, Riku, you were dead wrong in saying he wasn't real. Who would've thought that I'd actually meet the guy?"
"Fair enough," Riku chuckled, standing up himself. "Kairi? You're all done training for now?"
"Yeah, I'm really exhausted," Kairi muttered, hanging her head down and panting as if she had just finished a marathon. "Plus, between you me, Lea is the laziest training partner I've ever seen."
"And you're not much better, Kai," a voice echoed throughout the world. Appearing in front of the trio was a corridor of darkness, and out of it walked Lea, who lowered his hand to make the portal disappear. "I couldn't help but overhear the reminiscing of the old times when we used to care about Christmas. Isa and I would always have these competitions on who could give who the worse gift, and wouldn't you know it, yours truly won every time."
"Sounds like something Sora and I would do," Riku chuckled.
"How about we surprise everyone back at the Islands?" Sora yelled, his sudden outburst making Riku and Kairi back away from me. "We can go there, say hi to our parents and our old pals, and have one last Christmas before our final battle with Xehanort!"
"Ooh, can we!?" Kairi yelled like a preschooler, jumping over to Sora and wrapping her arms around him. "The gang would love to have you guys back on the Islands!" She looked to Lea. "How could I forget about you, Lea!? We can introduce you to everybody and have you as an official member of our gang!"
"Uh, sorry, Kai, I don't do gangs," Lea said, turning his back to the trio. "The last one I was in didn't exactly turn out all that great. But I guess, if you beg hard enough, just maybe I'd go along." Kairi then wrapped her arms around Lea. "No touchy, no touchy!" Kairi backed away from the redhead while laughing. "I'll go tell Master Yen Sid. Don't move." Lea ran inside.
"This'll be awesome!" Sora yelled out, pumping his fist into the air.
Riku sighed, crossing his arms as he said, "Sora, don't explode from all that happiness."
Sora smiled from ear to ear and put his arm around Riku, pointing to the sky. "Destiny Islands…we're coming home!"
.
By use of Yen Sid's magic, the four of them were able to be safely transported to the Destiny Islands. When they would be ready to go, Lea would use his corridor of darkness to go back and tell Yen Sid so the other three could return. The Islands were just as they left them weeks ago. A bright sun, crystal blue sea and sky, pure white clouds and white, sandy beaches.
Instead of heading to the main island, they had been transported to their small play-island that Sora, Riku, and Kairi had always gone to when they were younger. It was as vacant as always. The air didn't feel as warm as Sora remembered. It was quite chilly, to the point where Sora was glad he always wore that black jacket over his shirt.
"Ah, it's great to be back!" Sora yelled, extending his arms out to either side of him and embracing the cold wind. Then he had noticed something off about this Island. There were Christmas lights hanging off of all the trees and the treehouses. The shack in the corner had a sign that read Merry Christmas. "Look, someone decorated."
"Oh, and I know who," Kairi said with a smile. She turned around to be greeted by the smiling face of one of her other best friends, Selphie. "Selphie!"
"Kairi!" her friend yelled back, smiling as she saw Sora and Riku as well. "Sora, Riku, you're back!"
"Hey, Selphie," Riku said back to her.
"And you're just in time, too," Selphie replied. "Christmas is only tomorrow."
"Where are the other two?" Sora asked.
Almost on cue, a blue and white ball flew right passed Sora's face, nearly hitting his nose. It hit the ground and bounced away. "I got it!" a voice yelled. Sora jumped back when another of their friends, Tidus, ran passed him as well and scooped the ball off of the ground. He squinted his eyes to make sure he was seeing things right, and he ran to Sora, taking both of Sora's hands in his and shaking them up and down in greeting. "Sora! Riku, and Kairi as well! I was wondering when we'd see you three again."
"Oh ya, let me tell ya," their other friend, Wakka, said, stepping up to the group as well. "Tidus never shuts up about seeing you guys. He says hanging out with me is too boring."
"Not true!" Tidus yelled back.
"Is anyone gonna notice me?" Lea said, finally. Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus all looked at Lea as if he had just appeared. "Fine. Hello, friends of Sora, Riku, and Kairi. The name's Axel, got it memorized?"
"Um…" Riku muttered, putting a hand under his chin as if deep in thought. He looked to Sora, who just chuckled. "Uh, who are you again?"
"I said my name's Axe—" Lea's eyes widened with surprise. "Oh come on!" He hung his head down. "I mean…my name's Lea. Got it memorized?"
"Uh…sure," Tidus muttered, putting his hands behind his head in confusion. "Anyway, you four are all invited to our Christmas party! Selphie set up everything here on this island, just in case the three of you would show up again." The sun began to lower, casting shadows upon the tranquil place. "It's in the old shack…doesn't look so old now from the inside."
"Did you really do it just in case we would return?" Kairi asked.
Selphie shook her head. "I planned it out so Tidus, Wakka, and I could spend Christmas together like we do every year. But I always had hope that you guys would return at such a great time like this. I think the party should be earlier. Let's head inside now. You'll never believe your eyes."
Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Lea followed Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie to the old shack that was next to the bridge. Selphie opened the door and lead the rest of them inside. Christmas wallpaper was spread along the walls to make the place look brand new and Christmas-like. In the back left corner was a Paoupu tree planted into the ground through a hole in the floorboards. It was just big enough to touch the ceiling. Wrapped around the tree were Christmas lights and an assortment of decorations. The rest of the floor was covered by a red and green carpet. In the center of the shack was a table, with six chairs lined around it.
Selphie awkwardly looked at Lea and muttered, "Uh…I could go get you another chair if you'd like."
"Nah, I'm good," Lea replied, dismissing the girl with the wave of his hand.
"This place looks amazing," Sora said in awe.
"How long did it take you to do this?" Riku asked.
"A couple of weeks," Tidus answered. "Since the day before Kairi left again. It took a lot of hard work, but I think this place came out okay."
On the table was an assortment of foods. A bowl filled with different kinds of chocolate, a cake, a plate filled with juicy and delectable looking fruits that are only grown on the Destiny Islands including the Paoupu fruit, what looked like a turkey, and several other delicious looking foods. On the table in front of every chair was a glass of sparkling, purplish-golden liquid.
"What's that?" Lea asked, pointing his finger at the drinks.
"Paoupu juice," Selphie answered. "It's so delicious. It's like liquid happiness in a glass!"
Selphie immediately went to work, getting everybody a Styrofoam plate. Tidus cut up bits and pieces of the turkey, fruits, and cake and gave every plate the same amount of food. Sitting on one side of the table were Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus, and on the other sat Sora, Riku, and Kairi.
"You sure you don't want to sit?" Selphie asked as she handed a plate of food and a glass of Paoupu juice to Lea. Lea took the offerings and shook his head, taking the glass to his mouth and gulping down every last drop of the succulent juice. "How is it?"
"It's perfect," Lea said, hanging his head down. "It needs a little sea-salt, though." Lea wiped away a single tear and smiled. "So…let's eat!"
And so the gang chowed down, finishing off multiple servings of the food. Wakka was trying his best at gathering all the dirty plates, but ended up with one or two smashed plates on the ground. "Isn't this the best?" Sora asked to Riku and Kairi. "Celebrating Christmas, just like the old times."
"Sora, I think you should do the honors," Selphie said, looking into Sora's eyes.
"I haven't done the honors since I was eight," Sora said, chuckling.
"Come on, just do it," Tidus replied forcefully, grabbing Sora by the hand and yanking him up from his seat.
"Uh…what honors?" Lea asked, shrugging in confusion.
"Almost every year, we pick someone new to put the star-shaped fruit, the Paoupu, atop the Christmas tree," Selphie said, stepping towards the Paoupu tree in the corner. "Sora hasn't done this in a while, so it'd only be right to let him do it." She plucked a Paoupu fruit from the tree and handed it to Sora, who walked to the tree. "Come on, Sora."
"Alright," Sora replied with a smile…and put the fruit on the top of the tree, and it seemed to stick to it. Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, and Kairi cheered for him, while Lea and Riku just clapped their hands at the brunette's accomplishment. "Oh…there's something I also need to do. It's almost Christmas, and it's been so long that I still haven't done this." Sora plucked another Paoupu from the tree and walked over to Kairi.
"No way," Tidus and Selphie said in unison.
"When two people share one, they're destines become intertwined," Sora said, approaching Kairi with the Paoupu fruit. "They'll remain a part of each other's lives—" He broke the Paoupu in half, handing one half to Kairi. "—no matter what."
"How romantic!" Selphie squealed out.
Kairi's mouth tried to speak, but she was speechless. Her stomach felt like it was doing summersaults, and she felt her cheeks burning hot. Tears wet her eyes, and she tried to blink them away. She grabbed the half of the Paoupu that Sora offered. Sora looked into the girl's eyes nervously, as he took a nervous bite out of the Paoupu fruit. It tasted sweet…a tad sour, with a delicious tanginess as well. Kairi followed his lead and together they finished the fruit off.
"Merry Christmas, Kai," Sora said softly.
"About time," Riku laughed, crossing his arms and standing up. "You know how long I've tried to get him to do that with you?" Kairi giggled, wrapping her arms around Sora, trying to feel closer to the brunette. "This is like the Christmas of destiny, or something."
"It's Christmas Eve," Lea replied, his back leaning against the wall.
"Not for another twenty minutes," Selphie replied, looking at the clock that they hadn't noticed in the corner of the room. Had they been partying that long? It was 11:42 P.M., a total of eighteen minutes left until Christmas would come.
"I have to see my mother," Sora said starting for the door. You looked back at the others. "I'll be back shortly. Don't worry! I just need to say hello to my mom, and then I'll be right back."
"Tell her I said hey," Riku said, and Sora nodded.
"I'll keep watch over the others here," Lea said with a small smile. "I haven't seen my mother in years...you should see yours, before its too late." Lea remembered that his mother probably died along with the old Radiant Garden that Maleficent took over all that time ago. He wanted to make sure Sora would see his mom once before her time was up.
"Kairi…thank you for being such an amazing person," Sora told her before running out the door into the freezing cold weather. He paddled his raft back to the main island. Stepping out of his raft at 11:53 P.M., he dashed down the street to his house that was right next door to Riku's.
Snow lightly began to fall down from the sky. He got to the door of his house with only a minute to spare until Christmas. He raised a fist to knock on his door, when the door slowly squeaked open. Standing in the doorway was someone Sora hadn't seen in a while; someone he neglected to see since the start of his journey. Rather than looking angry or surprised, the brown haired woman with sparkling blue eyes smiled, saying, "Sora."
12:00 P.M.
"Hey, Mom," Sora said, scratching the back of his head. Tears welled up in his eyes as he returned the smile. "Merry Christmas."
.
I really enjoyed writing this...emotions flowed out of me like a river. I really wanted the original six Islanders to all be reunited, well, with Axel...I mean Lea...as well. He needed some Christmas spirit at least. Notice, I put this story within canon of the series, without changing any story details. I'll try, from now on, to write similar stories for every major holiday that will also take place in canon, so look forward to New Year's one. Well, Merry Christmas to all! I hope you enjoyed this and have a happy holidays!
Although this isn't Thanksgiving, I would like to say I am thankful for Star-Shaped-χ, who has been my biggest supporter on this site and is probably one of my biggest fans. Merry Christmas to you, sir!
I guess that's all I have to say, so Happy Holidays!