As Riku entered the kitchen, he saw his mom scrambling some eggs while his adoptive brother Sora sat at the table, still in his pajamas. He was twirling his fork in one hand and running his fingers through his long spiky brown hair with the other, all while impatiently waiting breakfast.

"Morning Riku, what was with all the shouting this morning? I would've gotten up to see what was wrong, but my bed was just too comfy." Sora said with a smug look on his face. They were only one year apart, with Riku being seventeen and Sora sixteen, but Sora was much less mature, or at least in Riku's eyes. Never the less, they were best friends, and brothers in nearly everything but blood.

It all started ten years ago, when both of their dads, who were fishermen, drowned at sea in a vicious storm. Riku's mom was able to get a job at a local elementary school as a teacher and keep her family from going broke, but Sora's mother died giving birth to him, so he was all alone. Riku's mom felt sorry for him, so she adopted him, and the two boys were best friends ever since. It was strange; Sora had gone through so much pain and loss at such a young age, but you could never tell. He always seemed to have a smile on his face, even in the bleakest of circumstances.

"It was nothing, just a bad dream." Riku finally said. "So, what are you and the others doing today?"

"Nothing much, Kiari, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, and I are just going down to the beach. I wish you could come."

"You know I can't do that, I have work."

"Yeah, but I mean come on, this is the first day of summer vacation! Sounds like a drag."

"You keep forgetting Sora, I want to do this. I'm a senior in high school now. Pretty soon, I'll have to face the real world, so I might as well be ready. Being a gumi ship mechanic is a good occupation, and learning under Cid this summer will definitely help me out in the long run. Besides, if I save the money I earn now, I can use it later to help me get started in life."

"Well, I guess you have a point, but that doesn't mean I'm doing the same thing next summer."

It was then that Riku's mom came over to the table with two plates of scrambled eggs and toast. "I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you dear. Now eat up you two, you both have a big day ahead of you."

After polishing off his breakfast, Riku got up and was making his way to the door, when his mom called out from the kitchen, "Have a great day of work dear, and don't forget to grab your lunch next to the door on your way out."

"All right mom, I will." Riku said as he took his lunch and opened the door.

"Good luck Riku. You'll need it if you're working for that old fruit cake." Sora said before slurping down the rest of his orange juice.

"Cid's no fruit cake, he's just a little… different, is all, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing. See you both tonight."

As Riku crossed through his front door, a faint smile crossed his lips. The temperature was perfect, the sky was nearly cloudless, and there was a gentle breeze in the air. Even the squawking of seagulls, which would annoy most people, was to him a calming, familiar sound that was a constant in his ever changing life. He lived on the small island world of Destiny Island, and although things got a little dull sometimes, his life was a good one, and he knew it.

After walking across town for about fifteen minutes, Riku finally made it to Cid's Garage, a gumi ship repair shop owned by Cid, a strange old man who had spent most of his life traveling between worlds. He had traveled to more worlds and had seen more sights than anyone Riku had ever known. Eventually he settled down in the small world of Destiny Island just over eleven years ago and made a living repairing gumi ships, vessels used to travel between worlds. He often spent his free time telling the local children stories of other worlds. Thus he became pretty popular with the town's children, but not their parents.

On Destiny Island, it was widely accepted that the outside world was just too dangerous and that it was a much better idea simply to remain on their peaceful and quiet little island world. Parents believed that, were their children to move to another world, or even worse, travel the worlds in search of excitement and adventure, they would be swallowed up by danger and they would never see them again. So in their mind, Cid and his incredible stories were a threat to their children's safety.

Thus, Cid was treated as an outcast by many of his fellow islanders. But despite listening to the old man's stories of a life far different than their own, most of the local children, including Sora, were perfectly content living their live in much the same way that their fathers did, mostly by fishing for a living, But Riku wasn't one of them. Ever since he first heard Cid's tales of worlds filled with wonder and amazement, he dreamed of seeing them for himself. After his dad died in that horrible storm ten years ago, Cid became something of a father figure to him, and to Cid, he became the son he never had. Riku's mom didn't really like the old man much, but allowed Riku to talk to him because Cid and his father were close friends.

Cid's Garage was one of the biggest buildings in town, despite being small compared to the repair shops in other worlds. Inside were several gumi ships of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Most of them were small transports fishermen used to take their fish to markets in other worlds. Riku had spent countless hours watching Cid word on ships like these, and now he was finally able to start working on them himself. Sitting in front of a desk in the corner of the garage was Cid himself.

Cid was in his early sixties, but was in very good shape for his age. He had gray hair that still had traces of blond in it. He also had light skin, blue eyes, and beard stubble all over his face. He wore a pair of dirty work boots, an old pair of jeans, a stain covered white t-shirt, and his lucky blue jacket. Between his teeth was clenched a single toothpick. Cid once told Riku that when he was still a young man, he was a heavy smoker, but was eventually able to ditch the nasty habit. However, he still had the desire to have something sticking out of his mouth all the time, so he started chewing on toothpicks.

"Morning champ, I see you're as punctual as always. Ready for work?" Cid asked.

"Yeah, thanks for giving me the job, by the way."Riku replied.

"Anytime. Now go grab a wrench and we'll start working on the blue and yellow ship over there."

Over the next few weeks, a pattern began to form. Sora and his friends would go to the beach and surf, while Riku went off to work at Cid's Garage. There he would learn the inner workings of gumi ships, and learn how to repair them.

But seven weeks after Riku started his new job, this pattern, along with life as he and his friends knew it, would forever change.