- The Star Falling -
"On your mark… Get set… GO!"
The excited cheers of the crowd immediately drowned the echo of the gun shot. A dozen pairs of racers, legs bound, broke from the starting line and made a mad dash across the beach. Hundreds of attendees traveled from all over the planet to partake in Destiny Island's annual Stargazing Festival, and this year was no exception. All along the endless beach, picnics blankets were laid out, volleyball nets were pitched, and star themed banners hung from every streetlamp and storefront.
Mayor Krumpton stood upon his small wooden stage with a beaming smile on his round, red face, watching the race with the same excitement as the crowd. His pride was evident from the puff in his chest after firing the start gun, and he took a large swig of beer before he let out a booming wave of support to the racers.
Up a small sandbank, above the beach, was the town's main street. Merchants, chefs, and entertainers sprung up over night lining the cobblestone streets and pitching their wares for the week long festival. The humid air was thick with the smell of roasted meat and salt water. While most of the local sellers carried the offerings of Destiny Island; Paopu Juice pitched as a potion for lovers, purified healing water from their springs, beautiful glass ornaments blown from their fine, white sand, some had brought exotic merchandise from other worlds. These stands were by far the most popular. Groups of marveled spectators gathered around to watch demonstrations, ranging from magic tricks to fire dancing. The crowds became so large, they were pressed together in the streets like sardines.
"This doesn't taste very authentic." Sora whined, letting the crowd move him forward.
Him, Riku, and Kairi shuffled down the street pushed together. Sora, elbows pressed at his sides, held up his fork; a small piece of fruit on it, and let it fall into the black, plastic bowl. "They don't even have mangoes in Agrabah."
From either side, Kairi and Riku giggled. "I don't know what you expected," Riku quipped, "most people here don't even know what Agrabah is."
Sora sighed. "I guess you're right." He dug his fork into the wild rice and took a huge bite.
"You're still gonna eat it?" Kairi laughed.
Sora looked at her, puzzled. "I didn't say it was bad." He muttered, mouth full.
"I heard there was a stand with Sea Salt ice cream." Kairi sang. "If you're looking for authenticity, may-"
From the crowd, a hand locked around Kairi's wrist.
Kairi gasped, but before she could retch herself free, both boys abandoned their food, ready to summon their weapons.
"Good day!" An old voice said.
Attached to Kairi, a hunched old man with a twisted smile broke through a layer of oblivious shoppers. His hair was a faded grey, having lost the sheen of silver years before. There was a sort of wild excitement in his eyes that Sora found both disturbing and intriguing.
Kairi snatched her hand back, but the old man kept smiling. "May I offer the girl a beautiful one of a kind necklace? It comes all the way from a planet made entirely of treasure!"
Sora, Riku, and Kairi exchanged looks.
"No, thank you." Riku said sternly as he stood behind Kairi and pushed her on.
Sora followed and gave the old man a suspicious look. The man's gaze immediately snapped to him.
"You." The man said, his eyes widening in disbelief. "I have something for you."
Sora looked around, but there was no mistake. The man was addressing him.
"He's good." Riku muttered, and grabbed the sleeve of Sora's shirt with his other hand. "Let's go."
"Wait!" The man cried. His body shook in anticipation. "Take this! No charge!"
From his ill-fitting cloak, the man withdrew a small, round piece of glass and shoved it into Sora's hands. "No charge." He said again, this time with more urgency.
Sora looked down. In his hand he found a small piece of blue glass. It looked like a lens; thin, round, and transparent. He turned it over and looked up. "I really don't want-"
But the man was gone.
-x-
"Am I the only one that thought that man was EXTREMELY suspicious?" Kairi asked.
Once they untangled themselves from the crowd, the three friends made their way to the beach. It took a while to find a spot to sit, but they settled on a small patch of sand beneath a Paopu tree where they could speak privately.
Riku shrugged and rested against the tree. "The festival always brings out the weirdos."
Kairi sighed. "But what about the glass? Why did he want Sora to have it so badly?"
Both Kairi and Riku looked to Sora, but he was busy examining the glass.
It was light on his palm, but didn't feel fragile, and it was hardly flawless. Small bubbles clouded it's clarity and the texture obstructed the picture on the other side. Still, why had the man been so insistent on giving it to him?
"Sora!" Riku called, snapping the younger boy from his thoughts. "You okay?"
Sora smiled and nodded. "Of course!" He held up the glass lens to the sun for one last look. "Just strange is all."
The world was given a beautiful blue hue as Sora looked through it. The ocean and sky looked more beautiful through the lens than they usually did. The glass exaggerated every shade of color so it looked like a rainbow of blue.
With one eye closed, he turned the to the crowd. He looked up and down the blue beach, but nothing seemed out of place. Children swam in the water, tanners lay open to the sun, but for a split second, Sora could swear he saw a shadow move among them. He gasped and dropped the lens.
"What is it?" Kairi asked, concerned.
Sora scanned the beach. "It's nothing… I… I just thought I saw…"
He turned to Kairi and Riku, who both looked worried. Sora felt a drop in his stomach. "It's nothing."
He assured them. "Just a trick of light."
-x-
When the sun went down the crowd from the town thinned and filtered to the beach for the show. Every year at this time, thousands of shooting stars littered the night sky with celestial light. While it could be seen from all over the planet, only the waters of Destiny Island could reflect the sky so clearly that the town became a star itself.
Riku and Kairi began the walk home, too full and tired to continue in the heat. Sora was anxious to look through the glass again, but didn't want Kairi and Riku to know; it would just upset them. It felt like while he searched for any sign that his time away had actually happened, Riku and Kairi found any excuse to act like it hadn't. So he kept it in his pocket, rubbing it between his fingers to assure himself that it was still there.
Kairi's house was the first stop, and after an affectionate goodbye she ran into her house, smiling with a wave over her shoulder. The two boys walked the rest of the way home in silence, Sora too distracted to come up with conversation. Riku didn't seem to mind. His hands were behind his head and he seemed utterly relaxed.
By the time they turned on Sora's street, the sun was half consumed by the ocean and a warm, red light filled the sky. The usually pristine neighborhood now looked like a ghost town. Garbage, abandoned beach amenities, and broken toys were the last inhabitants of the day as even the locals had gone to the town beach.
Sora felt a bubbling sensation in his stomach as they reached his house. "Do you think that man was sent by the King?" Sora asked. He hoped Riku didn't detect the desperation in his voice.
"Wouldn't he tell us if he was?" Riku replied, eyes still closed.
Sora had come to the same conclusion, but hoped Riku thought differently. "But if it wasn't safe? If something new was coming?"
Riku sighed. They had this conversation multiple times. "Is that what this is about?"
Sora thought for a moment. He had become restless over the last year, there was no denying that. On more than one occasion he thought he had seen a heartless, only to find out it was a stray cat. But it didn't stop the voice in the back of his head that told him he didn't belong on Destiny Island anymore. That coming home had been a mistake.
"Maybe." Sora confessed. "But is it really that crazy? We got that letter over a year ago… Maybe… maybe we're finally needed again…" His stomach dropped at his own words. He tried so hard to push out the idea that his time was over, but there it was. Would he ever be needed again?
Riku sighed and clasped his arm around Sora. Sora's stomach sank as they opened the fences latch. "They promised to let us know if there was anything they needed."
"I know…" Sora muttered, looking around the yard. The wave of tourists had somehow managed to trample even his mother's flowers surrounding the house. She wouldn't be happy, but Sora thought the aesthetic was fitting. "But, what if it's something we need? I…" he took a deep breath. "I guess I didn't realize that once the adventure was over… the adventure would be over."
They stopped in front of the door and turned to one another. "So, you want to go on another adventure?" Riku prodded.
"I guess." Sora said, still uneasy. "Or maybe I just don't fit here anymore."
Riku smiled. "Well, you fit with me and Kairi." He reassured. "And, we're always going to need you."
-x-
Sora glanced at his clock.
11:56. He should be asleep.
He sighed and rolled onto his back. Once he arrived home from the festival, Sora immediately went into his room, looked through the blue lens, and held it up to the last bit of sun that danced through his window. But, it hadn't done anything other than paint Destiny Island blue; and Sora wasn't totally sure he hadn't seen it that way to begin with. Once nighttime fell, Sora climbed into bed, hoping his suspicions would fade.
But he just lay there. His mind raced as he watched the unforgiving clock drag him closer to dawn, and with each passing minute, the blue lens seemed to call to him. And it was getting louder.
-x-
Kairi only meant to sit for a moment, but the warmth of the early evening, along with the excitement of the fair, lulled her to sleep in seconds. She awoke hours later in the dead of night, fully dressed, hair matted. She groaned, and with groggy vision, checked her phone. It was 11:57, she had napped for hours.
With a grunt of exertion, she pushed herself upright, and wound her hair onto the crown of her head, binding it with a tie. The open window permitted a cool breeze to flow through the room and hit her exposed neck. She could never get back to sleep now. She started toward the bathroom, peeling off her wrinkled clothes as she went.
-x-
Riku couldn't get the old man out of his mind. Not because he'd been all that interesting, but because Riku didn't know how to put Sora at ease. The old man was just another example in a long string of similar events, that Sora took to mean it was time to fight again. Not that Riku hadn't been feeling the itch himself, but Sora hadn't paid for their adventures like Riku had. He'd never been to the darkness, never had to doubt what side he was on. And Riku would go through all of it again, if it meant his friends' safety, but what if they did leave for another mission? What were the chances that Sora could keep making it through, unscathed?
"Fuck." Riku muttered. He'd lost the game, yet again. He was too distracted to concentrate, but he craved the distraction. On the corner of the screen, 11:58 was scrawled in small neon letters. Taking a deep breath and shaking his head, Riku pressed retry and tried to push the discontent from his mind.
-x-
At a minute to midnight, Sora kicked off his sheets and sat up. There was no point in trying to sleep; all it did was frustrate him. Sighing, he launched out of bed and, without thinking, scooped up the small glass lens from his desk. With the smooth disk safely between his fingers, Sora slid open his balcony door and entered the cool night air.
While the balcony barely left enough room to move, Sora could see the whole of Destiny Island from here. Across the street and beyond the neighborhood beach was the wide ocean, now pulsing and dark. To his right was the downtown area, where the lights of the festival were stamped out in preparation for the shower of stars. He was glad him and his friends decided to skip going with with the rest of the town this year. The silence was nice; he liked the idea of watching his first Star Falling since being at home from his bedroom.
Inside, his alarmed clock chirped and, as if on cue, a single strand of light fell from the sky. The applause and excitement of the audience was heard for miles around, but it quickly died when more and more fallen stars dripped down, leaving trails of light. Before long, the entire night was illuminated, igniting the ocean, which sent the whole beach glowing.
Sora was reminded of a time when all it took was a dash of magic dust and a happy thought for all his wildest dreams to be within his reach. But now, he was trapped, watching the stars pass him by when he should have been flying amongst them. He shut his eyes tight, holding back… tears? Maybe… amongst other things; just when he felt he might break, he remembered the lens.
Desperate for any chance at something bigger, Sora held the glass up to his eye. He turned to his right and he stared over the downtown and across the beach. Through the lens, sky and ground meant nothing; there was no distance, there was no time. There was just a brilliant blue light, plastered over the world like a cracked mirror that made every metal around shine with the brilliance of a diamond.
Pressed against the rail, Sora slowly turned, following the skyline until he faced the ocean. He lowered the glass for a moment and the planet dimmed. Wishing for one final look of the crystal blue world, Sora closed his left eye and looked through the disk, but there was someone in his way. Floating high above the ground was a mass of black robes, glowing blue. Within them, a decomposing face only inches away from Sora's.
-x-
Kairi turned up the water and sat on the perimeter of the bath. She added a few drops of solution and as the bubbles began to form, her hand skimmed the steaming surface. With a drop of her robe and a few more temperature tests, Kairi lowered herself into the water, fell back, and closed her eyes. She felt the tension leave her muscles and float away with the steam as she relaxed into the water. When she opened her eyes, her body went rigid.
Hovering above her like a dark reflection was a hooded phantom. Where the creature's face should have been, there was nothing but black.
-x-
Thoroughly annoyed, Riku marched into the kitchen and discarded his dirty dishes into the sink. He reached into the fridge, withdrew the milk, and chugged it from the carton. In the corner of his eye, he noticed a bright light from the kitchen window, and remembered the Star Falling. He cast a look skyward and admired the shimmering mass. Destiny Island may be small, but there was nowhere else in the universe that had anything like this.
Leaving the room, Riku shut off the light as he passed. In the dark, the stars' light gave the impression of rain on the inside of the house. But as Riku left the kitchen he stopped, ears peaked, and turned on his heel. He knew Sora had just made him paranoid, but he had something moved? He turned on the light and scanned the kitchen, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. He blamed the outer lights.
Riku clicked the light switch off and turned, and a cold, invisible hand closed around his neck. While no figure resided within, the flowing black robe was definitely alive and it was definitely pissed. Riku tried to find it's arm, or what he hoped were arms, but he froze. His feet were leaving the ground.
-x-
Sora opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out. He stumbled backward and fell, but continued to crawl through the balcony door and across his room, his eyes never leaving the floating black mass moving toward him. He tore his eyes away just as the Phantom breached his bedroom, and pushed himself up, dropping the lenses in the process, which sent it skidding under his bed.
Sora summoned his keyblade and it appeared in a series of lights and codes. He took aim, ready to fire; where should have been a glowing orb within the creature's robe, was nothing but more flowing black fabric.
Sora turned and fled from his room, as fast as his feet would carry him, and threw himself against the front door and darted into the street.
-x-
If Kairi's parents were home, they would have heard a blood-curdling scream from their daughter's bathroom. But, with the festival still in full swing, nobody was around for blocks to hear.
The Phantom had begun to fall toward Kairi, who tried to gain footing in the full tub. Just before he blanketed her, Kairi grabbed the rim and pulled herself up and over, rolling onto the floor. With the slick of the bubbles, Kairi pressed her foot on the outside of the tub and pushed, sliding herself to the other side of the bathroom.
The creature turned its head to the side, surprised, but Kairi summoned her keyblade.
"LIGHTENING!" She screamed.
A bolt of lightening shot from her ceiling, through the phantom, and into the water, electrocuting them both. Kairi didn't stay to watch. She pulled a towel from the rack and flew to her bedroom.
-x-
"Get- OFF- mother- fucker-" Riku chocked. He was starting to see spots.
He clenched his hand, and with a final push, summoned Way to Dawn. He brought the fine point through the creature's hood, and its scream was like a knife on chalkboard. In the creature's hysteria, Riku struggled free and fell into a heap on the floor. The phantom writhed above him, wailing in agony, but it wasn't dead.
When he tried to stand, Riku nearly fell again from the lack of oxygen. His head was swimming and the world was in a thick fog, but he pushed forward until he sucked in the evening air, hands on in his knees, desperate to fill his lungs. The wails inside the house began to turn to screams of rage, and Riku commanded himself to move.
-x-
By the time Riku reached the end of his street, he could almost see straight. And, when he turned onto Sora's, he was ready to fight. He ran past the neighboring houses and noticed Kairi running towards him in the distance. Her hair was wet, and her sweats and tank top looked hastily thrown on. From Riku's left, Sora darted from his house, and the three met in the center of the street.
"What's going on?!" Kairi yelled as she jogged the final feet between them.
"Phantoms." Sora said sternly, turning back to his house. "You guys too?"
Kairi nodded, Riku looked down in thought. "Phantoms!" He exclaimed loudly. "I know this one! We just have to do the spell that correlates with the orb!"
"These ones don't have orbs!" shrieked Kairi. "They-"
"-They're here." Sora pointed to the far end of the street. The three Phantoms hovered a few feet above the ground, and were quickly coming toward them.
"When did they all meet up?" Riku questioned.
Above them, the Star Falling reached its climax. Millions of stars launched in every direction like cosmic fireworks. The crowd was whipped into a frenzy, and the screams of astonishment were thunderous. Riku could see each fold of their robes by the light of the night sky.
"What are we going to do?!" Kairi planted her feet into the ground, bracing herself for the inevitable collision.
From behind them came the sound of cracking, followed by a huge gust of wind. The Phantoms stopped, and without thinking, the trio turned and all three of their mouths fell open.
In an enormous swirl of grey and white was a five story tall tornado. Its tail connected to the ground and left a trail of broken pavement in its path as it decimated the neighborhood. The Phantoms, undeterred by the massive cyclone, once again resumed their pursuit.
"Well, we're fucked." Riku stated. He dropped his arms.
Sora glanced about wildly, then turned inward, Kairi and Riku following suit.
The finale of The Falling began, and it seemed every star in the universe turned out for the crescendo. Nobody would look down from the sky now, even if a giant tornado was passing only a few blocks away.
"If we survive this-" Sora called over the wind and cheers, "-go to Disney Castle, and don't trust anyone but the king!"
Riku looked to the ground, and nodded. Kairi drew a frown, but gave a nod and a small smile of understanding. None of them wanted to admit the end could have come this quickly.
The night sky exploded in a final burst of light, and the town went silent in astonishment. The Phantoms and the tornado were only a few feet away now, and in a moment of calm, the three friends grasped hands in a final goodbye.
They were gone in an instant, sucked into the sky; the Phantoms right beneath them. The tornado started to slow and release the wind. Cars, trees, and bits of the road fell back to the ground, but Sora, Riku, Kairi, and the Phantoms were nowhere to be found. The night sky returned to black as the last of the stars' light were extinguished, and Destiny Island became a quiet town once again.
