The Ocean's Silver Light-A Kingdom Hearts fic by Malachite Circle. Originally written: August 29, 2006
A/N: Okay! Here we go with my first Kingdom Hearts fic! Reviews and comments greatly appreciated, but be nice, onegaeshimasu. :) Honestly, I'm still not totally happy with this chapter yet…but if I don't put it up now, I'll get sucked into that vicious downward spiral of "Agh! Just a little bit more tweaking and it'll be perfect!" And that's just…annoying and unproductive.
Spoiler warning: Umm…unless you never got off Destiny Island in Kingdom Hearts I…there aren't any, I guess. ;)
Standard disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and its respective characters are the property of those geniuses at Square-Enix (bows) and Disney. They made it, not me…which is really good, cause if it was my idea…it would prob'ly never get finished, and we wouldn't all be the happy fangirls/boys we are today!
Chapter 1: One Last Time
I have been here for as long as I can remember, yet I cannot shake the feeling that the time spent here is only temporary. Certainly this island has a timeless quality to it-the days drift by on balmy breezes, one into the other, ceaseless and predictable as the tide. The past is a meaningless memory, the future doesn't exist yet, so I sit here on this shining island, amid the shining sea, suspended breathlessly between that which was and that which is yet to be-
"Riku! Hey, Riku!"
My eyes fly open and immediately squint against the sudden brightness. I glimpse the shadow flashing toward me, however, and instinct sends me leaping backwards. Twin fountains of white sand bloom briefly, one from beneath my feet, the other from the tip of the wooden sword Sora had swung.
"Hah! Almost got you this time!" he says with a wide grin, swishing the toy sword around to rest it on his shoulder, a movement that sent more sand whisking through the air.
"Almost," I reply pointedly, crossing my arms over my chest. "And it'll stay that way if you keep warning me beforehand."
Sora grins at me for a moment, his blue eyes almost unnaturally intense under the brilliant tropical sky. The next moment, he surges forward, wooden sword swiping down again. I sidestep the blow easily enough, but grab my own sword that is leaning against a crooked palm tree nearby and whip it around to block an unexpectedly quick follow-through. The ensuing crack reverberates through the air around us.
"I see all that practice with Tidus is finally showing some results," I cannot help but add a slightly sarcastic curl to the words. It's worth it just to see Sora's bristled expression of indignation. He really is too easy sometimes-well, most of the time. His answer comes as a violent push against my sword, undoubtedly with the aim of knocking me off balance. I take an abrupt step backwards and he stumbles a bit, but follows me, slashing in short bursts, back and forth. I let my momentum carry me backwards, keeping the sword tip whistling through empty air each time.
He really has improved, I find myself reflecting, impressed in spite of myself. However…
My sword cracks once, twice, against his and it is sent flying out of his grasp. It lands with a thump in a patch of tall grass waving nearby, while he stares in what could only be termed bewilderment at his empty hands.
"What does that make the score now?" I ask with a grin. I don't really expect an answer, of course.
The surprise on Sora's face vanishes, predictably replaced by a defiant glare.
"You would know, wouldn't you," he grouches as he fishes his sword out of the grass.
"I don't know-you've lost to me so many times now…" I am still grinning, resting my own sword on my shoulder. "But I think it was somewhere around 487 to zero…"
Sora's jaw drops.
"Eh-? No way! It can't be that much!" he sputters, then brandishes his toy sword at me again with a slightly wild grin. "Then you'd better watch out, 'cause 488 is my lucky number!"
"What about your other 487 'lucky numbers'?" I chide, bringing my own sword up again.
"Those were just practice," Sora retorts without missing a beat.
Sometimes I wonder if he really listens to what comes out of his mouth…
"Oh-I almost forgot-Kairi says dinner is almost ready, so hurry up," he continues, whooshing his sword through the grass he had pulled it from.
"I though Tidus was cooking tonight?" I ask; Sora shakes his head.
"Kairi convinced him to let her do it, thank goodness," he says with a slight shudder.
"This is what, the fifth time she's traded places with him?" I can't help but laugh a little bit. "You'd think he'd have learned by now that nobody wants to eat jellyfish flambé…"
"Except him, I guess, since he ate everyone's share that-hey, you comin'?" Sora had already started walking towards the short wooden bridge connecting this islet to the rest of the island. He looks back over his shoulder at me now.
"Go on-I'll catch up," I dismiss him with a wave.
"Well, okay…just don't expect me to save you any!" he calls and breaks into a run.
"Don't eat too much-you're slow enough as it is!" I shout after him-I don't think he hears me, because he doesn't respond as he disappears over the top of the dunes. Just beyond I can see a curl of smoke rising against the deepening blue sky; I catch a whiff of something warm and savory. It smells good.
The smile fades quickly from my face as I shake my head slowly, returning my sword to its resting place on the palm tree and leaning back against it. The endless sea stretches out before me, sparkling with a thousand tiny reflections of the sun that was creeping westward.
As long as I have been here, this island has never really changed. Bright, breezy days fade softly into warm, lingering twilight with the moon glowing high overhead. On occasion, storms sweep through, whipping the sea into a gray-green froth beneath the angry black sky. Twice lightning has struck palm trees near the sprawling wooden structure that was our home away from home, but thanks to the soaking rain, nothing caught fire.
As long as I have known him, Sora has never really changed-always friendly and bright and cheerful. The stormy moments are few and far between and like this island, the mood after somehow always manages to be even sunnier than before. I imagine that even now he's joking with Tidus or "helping" Wakka fish or, most likely, talking with Kairi. And the next time we meet, he'll have forgotten all about the frustration of his latest defeat. He'll be the same Sora I've always known and will likely continue to be for as long as-well, for as long as we're together. However long that is…
Because I can't shake the feeling that my time here is only temporary.
That thought floats back into my mind unbidden and I sigh again. It is true, after all-what is there here for me? Sora and this island are perfectly suited for each other, even Kairi, who came to our shore seemingly by the whim of the ocean, is perfectly at home, her laughter rivaling the warmth of the sun itself. Yet I feel no connection to this place, merely-suspended breathlessly between that which was and that which is yet to be-
-Destiny.
The word hits my consciousness like a stone tossed into a still pond.
The name of this place. Destiny Island. Not the place I am meant to be, but the place where everything begins.
The broad fronds of the ring of palm trees surrounding me rustle and scrape against each other in the ever-present breeze. It is a mundane sound-it should have been a mundane sound, but this time it grates against my ears like a scream in the dead of night. The setting sun casts a soft golden glow over the ocean, but here beneath the trees…the shadows writhe like snakes. Of its own accord, my hand closes over my sword again, but I hold it at my side, a small part of my mind chiding me for being too jumpy.
Fine white sand caught in the wind swirls round my legs as my gaze darts among the trees before me. What am I looking for? There's nothing-
No-there is something. I can feel my insides knotting up-the back of my neck prickles uncomfortably. My grip on the wooden hilt of my sword tightens as I slowly bring it up before me. My gaze flickers up, left, right-nothing-
No, there is something! The tight, clenched feeling in my stomach moves upward to my chest and my breath comes shorter. I can feel sweat prickling on my forehead even as the wind blows harder and suddenly cold, whipping my hair against my face. It whistles through the palm trees now, high and shrill, like the predatory cry of the vast black presence I can feel looming around me-around this whole island-maybe even the whole world-
I don't know what it is that makes me look up-perhaps a flash of movement or a sound sensed more than heard-but the instant I do, I see it hurtling down from the flailing palm leaves-the evening shade is thick around me, but this thing is blacker still than even that, save for twin gleams of sickly yellow light that flash toward me like shooting stars.
I never even truly see the thing. In the span of less than a heartbeat, my wooden sword snaps up and connects with-something. Whatever it is is sent flying over the short cliff to my left and disappears. The wind gusts bitterly cold now, sweeping the shadows along, staining the sea black and engulfing the beach around me-I can feel them clinging to my skin like oil, clogging my throat until I choke.
But after one last, vicious gust, the wind fades away, taking the shadows with it; the sun's late warmth seeps back through the trees in thick golden rays. All is as it would be on a normal evening here. They scent of open water and growing things is everywhere, warm sand and faintly, smoke from our cooking fire. From farther inland comes lonely whistling of a bird singing the sun to sleep. Gentle. Peaceful.
So why won't my heart stop pounding? Why am I breathing like I've run the circumference of the island a dozen times? My right hand aches fiercely and I realize it is clenched white-knuckled around the wooden hilt of my sword. With effort, I slowly relax my grip and take the sword in my left hand, slowly flexing the fingers of my right. I cannot help but notice them shaking. The island seems eerily quiet now-
"Riku?"
Thinking back on it, if it had been anybody other than the person who possessed that endlessly gentle voice, they probably would have received a nasty bruise to the side of their face. Even so, my sword still swishes close enough to Kairi that she flinches and steps back.
"Are you…okay?" she asks predictably, concern clearly warring with shock in her expression.
Honestly, the second I had seen her face, the words, "It's okay-I'm fine-nothing to worry about-" had rushed to the tip of my tongue. But when the moment comes…the untruth of those words rings profoundly hollow. As I stare at her, my voice frozen, I see the worry in her eyes deepen. She starts to take a step forward, but hesitates, her gaze flickering down toward the sword tip still hovering before her. I withdraw it quickly, but cannot bring myself to put it down completely.
The silence stretches thin between us-the rush of waves breaking gently on the beach nearby sounds as distant as starlight.
"Riku-" she begins again.
"I'm fine." This time, the words leap out before I have time to think about them and once they are said, the rest of the façade falls into place. I relax my posture, leaning back slightly, resting my sword on my shoulder again. "Really-you just startled me is all."
Which, technically, is completely true.
Kairi gazes at me a moment longer, still worried, uneasy, and for that moment I am afraid she doesn't believe me. But then she smiles a little and takes a step toward me.
"Everyone's started eating already, so you should come join us," she says and her smile grows, sets her deep blue eyes gleaming. "I promise it's not jellyfish."
"If you made it, I'm sure it's delicious," I say and she looks surprised again, but a pleased blush creeps onto her cheeks. I don't say things like that very often, so it's a good distraction while I finish calming down-
"Are you sure you're okay?" she asks suddenly. She is looking at me again, very closely, almost searching.
"Kairi! You worry too much!" I laugh a little, shaking my head and hoping it doesn't sound too forced.
"Then you didn't feel that just a few minutes ago?" Her voice quivers slightly and that note of fear jerks the smile off my face. We stare at each other for another long moment and in her eyes I see the same fear, the same shadow I know still lurks in my own.
"What do you think it was?" I ask quietly. Kairi shivers, wrapping her arms around herself though the evening is still warm.
"I don't know…but I don't want to see the sun set," she whispers, staring past me at the brilliant golden globe sinking into the ocean far beyond, where sky and water melt into each other in a rippling mirage of burning color. "I feel like if it does…we'll never see it again."
Her words fade away into the brush of the wind through the palm leaves. The light of the setting sun gleams like flame in the dark red of her hair, shimmers in the lonely tear that creeps slowly down her cheek-and I cannot believe that I didn't realize earlier…how beautiful she is… My hand tightens around the hilt of my wooden sword again.
"I'll always protect you, Kairi," I say in a low voice, speaking for her alone, though I knew no one else was around. I can almost feel the sound of those words humming through the air between us. "If the sun burns out, if I have to fight through all the darkness in the world-I will always protect you."
Kairi's distant eyes blink, then focus on me again. I nearly gasp at the sight of them-clouded with a deep sorrow the likes of which I had never would have thought possible in her.
"I know you will," she says, her face lighting up in a smile again, leaving me to wonder if that flash of sorrow had been my imagination.
"No matter what happens," She shakes her hair away from her face. Her tears are gone now, replaced by a steady calm and what could only be called determination.
"We'll always be together," she finishes firmly. "You, me, and Sora."
I grimace a little. "You mean I'm going to spend the rest of my life with that idiot?"
Kairi laughs.
"Just try not beat him too badly next time," she teases me. "You know he's never going to stop until he beats you even once."
"And if that day comes, I'm never going to hear the end of it." I shake my head, catching Kairi's gaze and grinning. "So I'll just have to make sure he never does."
Her smile, for that moment, is brighter than the sun.
"And to do that," she says, "you need to eat! Come on!"
We walk together across the bridge and onto the stony path leading to the beach where everyone is gathered. Strange-I find the oddest, most mundane things catching my attention as I walk-the crunch of gravel and sand beneath my shoes, the barely-heard squeaks of a group of bats fluttering out in search of fruit, the echo of our friends' laughter over the dunes.
As long as I have lived here, I have dreamed of leaving, of sailing across the ocean's heaving back, chasing down my future through the salty spray. Lately, that dream has wrapped itself ever more tightly around me, until every familiar sensation of living on this island grates on me like sand against my skin.
This will be my last night on this island. I know that somehow, as sure as the sun sets at my back, pushed beneath the rim of the world by the weight of night's heavy velvet shadows. Whatever is coming, for good or for ill, my destiny comes with it and despite the fear I felt earlier, my pulse quickens with the excitement of knowing that I will finally step foot on the path to my future.
But for now…the cooking fire burns merrily on the beach before me, welcome warmth against twilight's gathering chill. Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and Sora are all gathered around it, laughing, joking. Sora looks to be on his third bowl, no surprise there. They wave us over, grinning broadly, teasing us about what took us so long.
I join in wholeheartedly, casting aside the fears of the past, ignoring the beckoning of the future. Living, one last time, in the present.
Thanks for reading! If you liked it, thought it needed improvement in parts, whatever, please let me know! Second chapter should be up by no later then the end of next week-at the absolute latest. Much honest-to-goodness revision was required... Oh, and the meaning of the story's title will be revealed in the last chapter, so don't ask. Ta!