The last school bell rings out, and all the students got up from their creaky desks and rushed out of the classroom. They chattered with each other, talking about plans about the weekend to the homework project they're going to procrastinate. They emptied out of the classroom, chatting and laughing, all except for one.
Still sitting in her seat, Kairi glanced out into the window, gazing upon the ocean that was so far off. It glittered as the sun shined above it, like a sea full of diamonds. But as she stared out into the ocean, Kairi let out a melancholy sigh. The view only brought back memories of her childhood. A childhood filled with play fights, tag, and races across the island. But more importantly, it reminded her of the days with her best friends: Selphie, Tidus, Wakka, Riku and, and...
Who again?
Kairi bit her lip. She tried to recall to the best of her ability on just who was it that she forgot. Did she even forget anyone? But she tried again and again, but as she tried to remember, the more everything felt fuzzy and unclear. Only a few things popped up as tried: random fragments of sentences.
"..., You lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you here."
"Dont ever change..."
"..., Is that you?"
"I didn't want to just forget about you,..., I couldn't."
"Take this. It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me."
"Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."
"I'll come back to you, I promise!"
"Kaiiirriii! Yoohoo! Are you in there?!"
She flinched for a moment, taken aback to the real world to find her best friend standing right in front of her. "Class was over a few minutes ago. Are you okay? You've spaced out left and right recently."
Kairi simply shakes her head, and stands up from her chair. "I'm fine. I've just been thinking about things. Hey, you wanna head out to that new pastry shop down the street? I hear they got this special cake with paopu fruit in it, and I know you've been dying to try that."
Giddy as always, Selphie squealed in excitement and immediately forgot about her worries. "Ohh, you know me so well!"
They picked up their schoolbags and left the classroom, chatting about with each other.
"Uggghh, that history test was suuuupperrrr harrrd!" Selphie groaned out into the sky. "I mean seriously, why does Meanie Miss Farron keep making hard tests?!"
"I didn't think it was that hard," Kairi shrugged. "I think it was just you who didn't study hard enough."
Selphie simply stood in shock from her friends words, dramatically flailing about in despair. "What?! You wound me, madam! You're so mean, Kai! Meanie Miss Kairi! Meanie Miss Kairi!"
Kairi laughed off Selphie's pointing and whining, and the both of them were eventually in hysterics. Soon the two of them reached the end of the street, where the two of them had to part ways towards their homes. They waved their goodbyes, and headed out their separate ways for the day. Except Kairi was going anywhere but her home.
Kairi walked across the warm colored streets, and headed towards the beach. By the time she reached the sandy ground, the sun drooped down against the sea, with beautiful red and pink colors swimming across the sky. She stopped at the edge of the water, the cool waves barely licked her black shoes. She placed her bag on the soft sand and sat down. Gazing across the ocean, she glanced at the other island.
It brought back so many memories. Those days of laughter and smiles echoed in her head in nostalgia. But as she looked back at those days, she became more and more frustrated. Because no matter how many times she tried to recall, she couldn't remember him. Even looking at the island gave her sigh in frustration. That's why she vowed to herself to never set foot there again, until she can remember him.
But it didn't help. Just looking at the island made her eyes furrow. Just what was she missing? What is it that she was forgetting? She kept thinking about it. Thinking and thinking, remembering and remembering again. Anything that that might help her remember just what was missing. And that's when something hit her.
More specifically, that's when a large tuna fish slapped her right in the face.
She recoiled in disgust and fell right on her back with an oomph. Kairi grabbed the flailing fish off her face, and noticed there was a hook attached to it.
"A hook? What the heck?" She muttered.
"Oi there, lassie!" A voice cried out.
She turned around to the source of the noise, and found a breathless rugged fisherman covered in grey hair running towards her. Although a bit startled, she looked at the fish and back at him. "Uhhm, is this yours?"
"Sorry about that, lassie, I didn't think the line would've snapped."
The portable grill popped and crackled, with the fish frying into a golden brown as it hovered over the fire. Kairi simply stared into the small fire as she listened to the fisherman gave out his apology. "To make things worse, it was the mayor's daughter that I hit! Oh, I've really done it now, haven't I?"
"It's fine, really. Please, don't treat me like I'm special because of that." Kairi easily pardoned him. "Just treat me like I'm an ordinary teenager, alright?"
The fisherman gave out a hearty laugh. "Alright then, lassie. Your wish is my command! Say though, I think the fish is just about ready. Why don't you give it a taste? That'll act as my apology to you."
Kairi grabbed a sharp stick from the box below the grill, and took the crispy fish that smacked her in the face. Though a bit hesitant, she took a small bite. It was delicious! True, it was a bit more charred than it needed to be, and a bit too salty, but it was a pretty good fish.
The fisherman chortled again. "You like it, lassie? It really was a good catch. Though, it was probably the only normal catch I ever had this season."
Hearing his words, Kairi paused for a moment. "Normal? What do you mean?"
"Well, how about I just show you." He got up on his two feet and off of the blue cooler he was sitting on. Opening it, his burly arms rummaged around the chilly box, and pulled out two strange specimen. The one in his right hand was brightly colored with green hues, and had multiple glowing blue eyes scattered across its body. The one in his left was monochromatic, and for some reason looked bizarrely cartoonish, if Kairi would've described it.
"Quite the odd spectacle, eh? In all my 25 years of fishing, never have seen any of these kinds of fish. They look like they're from another world!"
Kairi almost choked on a piece of charred fish when he said the words another world. He doesn't think that there are other worlds, does he? No, no other person besides her friends knew about other worlds. Still, she asked him anyway. "Hey, just wondering, do you think that there might be, Ohhh, I don't know, other worlds out there?"
The fisherman blinked at her odd question, and shook his head. "Nah, I don't know about that, lass. I'm nothing but a simple man, and only capable of simple thoughts. the entire thought of other worlds or something like that is out of my alley."
"Oh." Kairi's shoulders sagged in disappointment. She knew that would be the answer, but even then she had some hope that maybe he did know about that. Because then he might help her find the boy she couldn't remember.
"But," The fisherman quickly interjected, seeing her face turn glum "This does remind me of an old fisherman's tale. Do you want to hear it?"
Kairi's ears perked up, and the fisherman let out a little laugh. He put away the strange fish in the cooler, sat down, and cleared his throat.
"Now then, I believe it went something like this:
Long ago during the age of fairy tales, destiny island was ruled by a powerful queen.
The queen was noble and fair, treated all her subjects with care and respect. by her side, she had to knights that protected her and her kingdom.
one was bursting with life and energy, ready to help anyone and everyone. the other allied with darkness, but was loyal and kind all the same.
One day, a terrible war struck out in the distant lands, threatening to wipe out all light in the known worlds. To stop this, she sent out all of her army, including her loyal knights. When the war ended, however, when the soldiers returned from battle, only her knights were missing.
This horrified the queen, she was worried sick for weeks on end until one day she had an idea.
In the middle of the night, when the sea was calm and quiet, she would send letters in a bottle, hoping the waves would carry the message to her wearied knights. She continued this for days, days into weeks, weeks into months. there was no sign of their return. When she was about to lose all hope, suddenly, when she was going to send her last message, she found two people washed up at the shore.
It was her knights! In happy refrain, she embraced her knights, discovering they found their way home by her messages in a bottle. In honor to bestow their return, she had a major feast for her entire kingdom to recognize their faithful return and their strong bonds.
Kairi listened to the fairy tale to the letter, amazed by his story. "So, did this really happen? Or was based on some true event?"
"I don't know lass. It is only a fairy tale. Just like unicorns and democracy!" The fisherman slapped his knee to his own joke.
Kairi winced a bit. "Please don't make lame jokes like that."
"Ok, Ok. I won't do it again." He promised. "But you know, just because it's a fairy tale, doesn't mean it doesn't have a grain of truth in it. Kind of like although the Sky and Land are infinite, it's the Sea that brings them together and completes them."
Not knowing why, Kairi smiled at that anecdote, and looked towards the ocean. The sun had finally dipped down into the ocean, with the sky turning into a dusky blue. The fisherman puts off the fire in the grill and closes it shut. "Welp, I think it's time for me to go. It was nice talking with you, lassie!"
As he finished packing up all his belongings and waving goodbye to the girl, Kairi looked back at the island again. This time, she was not full of frustration, but with inspiration.
"A letter, huh?"
AN: This was a simple little oneshot I thought up for a while now. I wanted to draw it out originally, but I didn't have the time haha. This was done kind of quickly so it might be a bit messy haha
Anyway, thanks for reading!