Author's Note: Okay, let's try this again. For those unaware, I uploaded a rather large version of this story by total accident from my inexperience with publishing stories with Document Manager items. That being said, I have a big Thank You to make towards the person that inspired this story. That person is Surfingpichu, whose original story and her character Shane can be found here: s/3059468/1/Less-Than-Perfect

This story is a sort of follow-up to said (in-progress at the moment) story, so it would explain some vague details regarding Shane's appearance. With that said, enjoy the story!

Chapter 1: Destiny Islands

Present Day

Brianna, now 19 years old, was trying to rouse her brother from his sleep yet again in the middle of the night. "C'mon, Brandon! Sheesh, can the fate of the world rest on such a lazy boy?" She whispered to him.

"Speak for yourself…" Brandon muttered, groaning awake. "You do that every morning."

"And you do it every night. Let's go!" Brianna replied.

The two quietly left the house, carefully making their way to the center of the village once more.

"Tell me again why I'm the one taking the Crystals?" Brandon asked.

"Jordan's got our equipment and I'm setting up the raft with her. That leaves you with them!" Brianna retold the plan.

"Fine…I just wonder why we're not taking a fourth person." Brandon mused, being given a small, cloth bag.

"We tested it on every kid in town way back when, pretending it was a 'sword in the stone' kind of game." Brianna reminded him.

"Right, I remember. Even when that nearly backfired with you touching your Crystal, you made some excuse along the lines of Twili's magic going haywire." Brandon told her. "Pretty clever since young mages have that happen to them anyway."

"Damn right it was. Anyway, meet us at the shoreline. Oh, and if you get caught, feel free to run like hell, we can speed up the tempo if need be." Brianna said, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, it's just the fate of the world at stake here. No pressure."

"None at all." Brandon rolled his eyes as Brianna left. "Gods help me…"

"Wait a second, who the hell is Twili?" Brianna asked as she loaded the oars and got the sail ready.

"Me." Jordan replied. "I figured I could use an alias when we leave, so I based it off my enjoyment of watching the sun set."

"Er…that's cool and all, but I don't think we need to worry about being identified." Brianna replied.

"Brandon quite liked the name, so I'm sticking with it." Jordan (furthermore known as Twili) simply stated.

"You would if he liked it, wouldn't you?" Brianna chuckled as the weapons and armor were loaded onto the raft.

Twili stood back on the beach and watched Brianna stand on the raft next to the sail. "You're certain it'll hold with all three of us?"

"It'll be fine! It'd be even better if there were a spell to make someone lighter, though." Brianna confidently said back. "But, there isn't."

"Actually, one book I read tells of such a spell. It's called-"

"-Okay, I was proven wrong, I got it." Brianna interrupted. "Still, it's not here, so we'll just have to find it. Ooh, speaking of proving me wrong…" She trailed off, waving to Brandon emerging from the forest behind the beach.

"Hah…hah…" Brandon panted, holding the bag of Crystals. "Didn't get caught…but DAMN, was that stressful."

"That'll be 10 Gil, Brianna." Twili grinned, holding a hand out.

"Hey, we share the money on this journey!" Brianna pointed out.

"Now now, no bringing up unrelated technicalities just because you lost." Twili said with a giggle.

"Fine…" Brianna muttered, handing over the small coins.

"Did you two bet on whether I'd get caught or not?" Brandon asked, crossing his arms.

"Think of it this way; you basically had two girls arguing over you. Be proud." Brianna told him, quickly cheering up.

"When one of them is my sister, they don't count for a thought like that." Brandon said, avoiding any potential implications of her statement.

"Well, whatever! Get on!" Brianna told the two.

The raft was able to hold the trio quite well as they stood on the beached edge.

"Hey guys…before we do this…" Brianna told them, in a softer and serious tone than just a minute ago. "Once we set sail, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our family and friends again…there's no turning back. But, this may be our only chance and I'm not letting fear stop me. I'm not afraid of my destiny." She said, turning to both Brandon and Twili. "I know part of this is just my dream to go out there, but if you guys want to back out now, I won't blame you. We don't know for sure if that light showed us our destiny, so…"

"Brianna, you and Brandon are my best friends in the whole world." Twili said, as she and Brandon held her shoulders. "I'll do anything to support you and I'll be right by your side to do it. Cheesy as that may sound, it's true. You're going to need someone to patch up your wounds with efficiency, so I'll be the one to do it."

"Don't you even try to imply you can survive without me, because you'd be lying." Brandon said to her with a grin. "The two of us are inseparable, and we always will be. We've been together since we were born; worrying how some destiny is going to affect our lives isn't going to change that. You need me as much as I need you, sis."

"Thanks, bro. Thanks…Twili." Brianna said, wiping her eyes before focusing on the beach.

"Hey, were those tears?" Brandon chuckled.

"No, not tears. Just, er…liquid pride, that's all." Brianna replied. "Now then, let's shove off!"

On her orders, the three gave a combined mighty shove off the shoreline, propelling the raft into the ocean ahead. Brianna tossed Brandon a second oar as the two got to rowing. Twili would keep lookout for now until one would eventually switch out for a break.

"Um, guys?" Twili called when she noticed a thin beam of light shooting out from the middle of the island. "I don't think I read about something like that at the Crystals' resting place…"

Brianna's eyes widened with the implications. "Shit, that could have been a signal that they were taken! The whole village might know by now!" Brianna swore, turning to her brother. "Bro, row faster! Get away from the mainland ASAP! We have to let the wind take over before they spot us!"

"On it!" Brandon yelled as they rowed twice as hard.

"Why was it delayed so much…?" Twili quietly asked herself as the island started to shrink in her vision.