World 1-1: Chain of Memories

5 Days Remaining

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"

A shooting star cut across the night sky. Arc didn't remember going outside. In fact, he didn't remember where he was before now. Main Street, he realized, I'm on Main Street. How did I get here? Nothing seemed out of place, but something was wrong. Every shop was closed, all was silent, and nothing moved. It was as if the town had been abandoned overnight. His footsteps sounded like gavels in the emptiness, and the only light keeping the shadows at bay were streetlamps and the face of the clock tower. The tower stood as a one-eyed guardian, black against the starry sky.

"Go on, have a look," said a voice. It neither sounded like a man's voice nor a woman's. What's more, it was coming from the clock tower. Against his better judgment, Arc followed. Anything was better than staying out in the quiet night. Even in the stillness, he felt eyes on the back of his neck.

The tower echoed with the churning of pulleys and the clanking of gears. The tower seemed empty. The lights were off, but a series of stained glass windows glowed faintly all the way up the spiraling stairs to the top.

"Hello?" Arc called up into the dark. The voice did not respond. He began his ascent. The stained glass windows ran alongside the stairs so that those climbing could look out at the town below. They were taller than he was, and each displayed a different picture, though he could have sworn they were different before. Before, they depicted historical figures and important scenes from the town's past. Now, they were more. Too familiar. Instead of armored warriors and saints, he saw his own cowlicked hair and dull blue eyes recreated in glass. The first window depicted his earliest memory, the day his sister was born. He was three at the time. A little farther up was the first time he met Sophia. He was five and she was six. He saw the day his father left, his seventh birthday, and the first time he hung out with the cool older kids Ubi and Taito. The day Ubi's mother died was there, the time Taito didn't make the track team and was depressed for a week, even the time that Sophia broke her ankle. There were trips to the beach, school days, birthdays, and long afternoons spent hanging out atop the Clock Tower. All of his memories, the good times and the bad were there, immortalized in glass with religious reverence.

"What is life but a finite chain of memories?" The voice had no source. It was as if the darkness itself were speaking.

"Am I dreaming?" said Arc. He stopped to feel one of the windows, his first day of high school, exactly the way he remembered it.

"Technically, no. It's complicated and we're short on time. Now behold as I appear before your very eyes!"

Nothing happened.

"Well, that was embarrassing," said the voice, "These Twilight Gates are tricky. You never know what won't work."

"Who are you?"

"I'm a messenger. I came here as a courtesy, to warn you about what's coming."

"Why should I trust you? I haven't even seen your face."

"Oh, shush and listen. That light you saw wasn't a shooting star."

"Then what was it?"

"I don't know. But it's called a Triforce Shard. Wherever it ends up, tragedy follows. You and your friends are in danger."

"What are you talking about? What danger?"

"Please, just hear me. We're almost out of time. When the man in black finds it, it'll be too late. You have to protect the shard."

"Why me?"

"Because you're the only one asleep. I couldn't reach your friend Ubi in time."

"What's Ubi got to do with this?" Arc touched a picture of a red-headed girl. He noticed that Taito, Sophia, and Ubi all but stopped appearing less and less in the pictures as he went higher. Their absence left him feeling cold.

"Don't be sad, Arc," said the voice, "Your adventure is just beginning."

BZZZT!

Arc's phone rumbled against his desk. He'd fallen asleep in detention for the second time that week. Afternoon light poured into the room in white shafts and in the distance, a crowd thumped and roared. A Strikeball game was going on. He checked his phone, one message from Sophia: "Taito's hurt. Boys' locker room. Hurry! - Sophia"

The teacher was nowhere in sight. Perhaps she got bored of guarding a sleeping teenager. Arc leapt up, threw on his uniform jacket, and ran out of the room, dragging his book bag behind him. How could Taito be hurt? He was the best player in town. Things like that just didn't happen.

"It's Arc the lad!" said a handsome mass of sweat and muscle. Taito sat on a bench while Professor Raine Sage attended to his wounds, "Don't look at me like that. It's not bad, some guy wasn't looking where he was swinging his bat and barfed me something fierce, like they say in River City." In the game of strikeball, to barf was to get utterly creamed.

Professor Sage brushed a silver lock out of her eye, "Good afternoon, Arc. Can you help keep Taito still?"

Sophia was leaning with arms crossed against a locker, "I didn't mean to freak you out, Arc. Hedgehog here was being a crybaby."

Taito felt his spiky, navy blue hair as if it had been offended, "Hedgehogs aren't blue – ow! Watch it with that ice pack, Professor."

"Mister Taito, can you kindly ask your friends to wait outside?"

"You can try. I can't ever shake 'em."

Without warning, Sophia turned around and stormed off, her violet eyes flashing.

"What did I say? Sophia, wait!"

"I'll go talk to her," said Arc, taking off down the hall.

"No, Arc!" Taito called out, but Arc didn't stop. Something kept him going, a need to patch up any crack in their friendship.

Just before he left earshot, Arc heart Professor Sage mutter, "It's okay, she told me everything." He wondered what that could have meant.

He caught up to her on the front steps. She was sitting on the handrail, staring at her feet.

"I guess that was a little dramatic," she said.

"A little."

Sophia was pretty even when she was mad. The gold sunlight played in her violet hair, setting it to shimmer like a sunset. "He just never thinks before he speaks, you know?"

"I don't think at all and you don't get mad at me."

She chuckled at that, "You'll understand one day."

All of a sudden, Arc felt like he was missing something. He searched his head for a question until the doors flew open and Taito emerged from the school, wearing his yellow and blue strikeball uniform the way a knight wears armor. A long, flat bat was slung over his shoulder.

"You're not going to stay and watch the rest of the game?" said Sophia as if nothing had happened.

"Nah, I can't stand to see those guys bumble around without me. Where's Ubi?"

"Don't know. She keeps texting me about something."

"You too?" said Taito, "She keeps saying 'Can't wait to show you guys. Super cool!' And stuff like that."

Arc swallowed a pang of sadness. She hadn't sent him a word all day.

"Well, let's get going," said Sophia, "I don't want to see you try to explain why the captain couldn't go down with the ship."

"The crew's gotta learn to fend for themselves," said Taito with a shrug. With that, they set off down the steps and into town.

The little ice cream colored shops of downtown Journées rolled by, their swinging wooden signs and their big glass windows offering everything from antiques to art supplies to dance classes. The Clock Tower rose above it all. Its many hands and dials turned towards 5 o'clock, Day 245, Saturday, Afternoon, Summer.

Without the Clock Tower, there was no day and night. By some mysterious power, the clock allowed the moon to rise, the sun to set and the seasons to change. All the towns looked upon it like a protector, but in moments like these, it was like an artist. Just as a painter colors his canvas, the Clock Tower was the mechanism that turned the sky gold and the clouds pink. The first autumn leaves drifted along Main Street with an early night breeze.

"Guys, wait!" When Ubi caught up, her face was almost as red as girl her wild curls. Her band uniform was all wrinkled from running.

"Everyone's skipping something today," said Sophia.

"I know, but I left a note. Mr. Uematsu won't mind."

Taito smirked, crossed his big bronze arms, "So, what's this thing you wanted to show us?"

"Yeah, it's pretty cool, look."

Ubi reached into an interior pocket and pulled out a gold triangle, about two inches in diameter.

"It's a thing!" Taito announced, "Well, that was anticlimactic."

"What is it?" said Sophia as Ubi handed it to her.

"It's a piece of a shooting star."

Arc felt something drop in the pit of his stomach, "A what?"

"Yeah, it came off a star. It happened last night."

Sophia handed the piece to Taito. "I think you should start from the beginning," he said.

"Well, I was up last night, when I heard something go "NEEEEOW!" right over my head, so I looked out the window and this big gold shooting star is streaking across the sky. A piece chipped off and fell really close by. So, I got up and followed it. It was in a crater in the woods near the school. The thing was so hot I had to pick it up with my sleeve."

"I think you found someone's lost jewelry," said Taito.

"It's perfectly symmetrical," Sophia said, "This couldn't have fallen off a meteorite. I think Taito might be right for once."

Taito shrugged, "I'll take it where I can get it."

"Maybe it's dangerous!" Arc blurted out. All eyes turned to him. Suddenly, he felt smaller.

"You're so weird sometimes, I swear," Sophia said, then turned to Ubi, "Are you going to keep it?"

"Of course. It'll be my lucky, uh, thing."

"Shard," said Arc.

"Yeah, shard!" Ubi tucked away her now-lucky shard in a jacket pocket and all four of them strode along on their way home.

As the shops turned to houses and the clouds turned to cotton candy, Ubi and Taito went their separate ways. Only Sophia and Arc were left walking home. Sophia didn't dislike Arc, but of the four of them, they tended to get along the least. He was like a little brother: immature, odd, not very bright, but easy to forgive, even when he was being strange.

"Hey, wait!"

Sophia stopped, startled, "What is it?"

"You didn't see him?"

She held her knuckles on her hips, "See whom?"

"That guy, or that kid, or I don't know. He was pretty short."

"What are you even talking about?"

"The kid in the mask. He was like this tall," he raised his hand up to his stomach, "And he was wearing all red, like robes or a hoodie or somehting."

Sophia continued on her way, "I'm not falling for it."

Arc copied her pace, "No, really, he was right there!"

"Yeah? Doing what?"

"I don't know. Just kinda staring at you."

Sophia felt a cold finger travel down her back, but she didn't let it show, "You're seeing things."

"Probably," Arc's lips smiled, but his eyes were still. When they split, Sophia walked home a little faster that evening.

"Mom, Arc's late again! He was in detention!"

"Atari!" Arc protested, "Was not. Taito got hurt."

"I know," Mom said from her bedroom, "After detention. Professor Sage called me at the office."

"When did she start calling you at work?"

Atari ran off into the kitchen as fast as her little feet would carry her, "Arc's in trouble!"

"Arc's not in trouble until after dinner," Mom called back.

Atari smiled like a happy cat, "What'd you do this time?"

Arc followed her in and dropped into his spot at the table and switched the countertop TV on, "Nothing, they've just got it out for me."

"I'm sure they do," Mom appeared in the kitchen to deal take-out from Super Meatboy. Side by side, she and Atari looked like funhouse mirror reflections of one another. One was short and squishy, one was taller and wore business casual like a champ. Other than that, they shared nearly everything. The only likeness Arc bore with either of them was the color of his eyes, a clear but unremarkable blue.

Television droned in the background. The local reporter Jade droned on about the goings on at Town Hall, local events, and the impending Rebirth Festival. Arc's ears perked up when Taito's strikeball game appeared onscreen, "And just in time for the Rebirth Festival, the strikeball season is upon us. The Journey High Gears faced off against the River City Raccoons this afternoon. The Gears lost three to five after star player Taito suffered a minor injury." Footage played of Taito receiving a rogue bat to the side. The offending River City player knelt next to him along with Sophia and Professor Sage. It was a mistake that would have broken anyone else's ribs into splinters, but Taito was made of will and iron.

"Baaarf!" Atari pounded the table with her soft fists.

Mom rubbed her chin, "Is Taito okay?"

"He's fine," Arc said with a mouth full of noodles, "Walked it off. You know him."

"You should try out for strikeball. You could wear padding and I bet Taito can teach you better than that coach."

He shook his head, "Nah, not my thing."

"You should do something. Your friends are all good at something."

"Ubi's practically a genius and Sophia's not good at anything, she's just too rich to suck."

"Don't be rude,"

Atari laughed until Mom eyed her to obedience.

As if shot with a tranquilizer, Arc suddenly felt sad and tired,"Can I be excused?"

Mom sighed, "Go ahead. I'll be mad at you later."

With that, Arc trudged off and dropped onto his bed. He sent the same text to Ubi, Sophia, and Taito: "What R U up 2?" but only got a reply from Ubi, a passive "Can't talk, composing." He felt small compared to them, not just because they were older and more popular. He was like a leftover piece in a completed puzzle.

As he drifted off, he remembered back to summer break. His feet dangled off the Clock Tower parapet as he watched drips of melting ice cream fall into the open air below. "Hey, Taito?" he said, breaking their silence.

"Yeah?" Taito was in a good mood that day. He'd dodged his swordplay lessons to hang out with Arc, something he hadn't done in weeks.

"Why don't you have a girlfriend?"

Taito's voice wavered for a moment. He scratched his head nervously, "I don't know. Why? Scared someone's gonna take me away?"

Ever since Taito became a star strikeballer, Arc felt the link between them becoming thinner. Taito and Sophia were absent more often than not, and Ubi was always with her band. They were all blocks of ice, melting and drifting apart into the sea. "Are you going to go off to college?"

"Hope so. What, are you gonna follow me?"

"Of course. You and me and Sophia and Ubi – we can all go together." He didn't realize how sad he sounded until he said it.

Taito laughed, ruffled Arc's hair, "Don't worry, little one, I'm not going anywhere yet."

"It's just that you haven't been around much."

"Okay, mom."

"You're right. I sound stupid. Nevermind."

"Hey," Taito met his eyes, "Even when we're doing our own thing, we'll never lose sight of one another. Life is scary, Arc. It's dangerous to go alone."

"Taito,"

Taito laughed again, "You're so mushy, I don't even need a girlfriend."

Arc punched him in the arm. Taito snorted and spat out a chunk of ice cream. They both laughed together, and laughed and laughed long after it wasn't funny anymore.

The shard. The thought appeared in his head, a shock of white light in the darkness. He didin't want to believe that his adventure in the tower wasn't just a dream. He wanted there to be something more. Maybe he was just looking for distractions. No matter what Taito said, the distance between them only became longer and colder. He didn't want to grow up and become an adult without Ubi or Sopia or Taito in his life.

Author's Commentary: With this chapter, the story begins with a whimper. The lack of actual fanservice this early in the fic may not be you Nintendo diehards' cup of tea, but I ask you to check it out, stick with it for a little while, hang out with these kids for a couple more chapters and see how this all ties in with Mario and Link and co.

I've received a couple criticisms that, at nine pages, this chapter is long for a whole fanfic, let alone the first chapter. That's probably true, but I have a story to tell. I wanted to do something relatively new in fanfiction and use OC's not to annoyingly insert the author into the story, but to be the audience's POV in all these strange and wonderful worlds like Hyrule and the titular Mushroom Kingdom. There are countless stories untold with video game characters and my intent with Mushroom Kingdom is to tell them.

Next Chapter: With four days to the apocalypse, Sophia receives a dangerous gift. Arc meets a traveler from another world, and is Taito keeping a secret? Worlds collide in World 1-2: Second Sight.