Paradise

The Destiny Islands or Destiny Island as it was called by its inhabitants was having a lovely afternoon during the summer. Most of the kids were off from school and that meant that smaller play Island was abuzz with all sorts of activity. Sports on the beach, sandcastles being built, surfing the waves. Children running around having a merry day without a care in the world .With the warm sun beaming down and a nice breeze blowing up against the trees, truly this place was paradise. A place were nothing of significance every happened, were it's people were known for two things, it's fishing and sailing. Either than that it was not a place of any importance and that's the way people liked it.

Sora, young boy of fourteen, with spiky brown hair, big red pants and yellow shows wearing a black and white jacket lied down on the beach by his lonesome, grains of sands getting into his large spikes of brown hair and jacket as he closed his eyes, his face directly facing the sun tanning his already tanned skin.

Slowly he poked a eye open as he saw a shadow form over him. His eyes widened as he felt his heart rate take a beat as he leapt forward out of fear, only to hear a high pitch giggle coming from behind him.

"I thought I'd find you here napping." Kairi snickered leaning over him now her blue eyes gazing back at his.

Sora turned around and got up to see the sun beaming on her already short red hair making it more fiery than before. Something about the way the light reflected against her made her quite stunning, more so than carefully stood up and felt the grains of the sand press up against his yellow boots as he stood up. For a few seconds he felt a bit nervous before quickly coming too feeling a wave of exhaustion wash over him.

Sora yawned, rubbing his eyes his mind going back and forth between the here and now and the dream from before. "Give me a break Kairi, I was having strange dreams."

"Sora you lazy bum." Kair laughed rolling her eyes giving him a light punch to the arm. "Well was at least a good dream?"

"No, not really." Sora sighed. "There was this big monster thing and it gobbled me up and I fought with a sword and…."

He stopped.

The more he talked about the dream the more he began to wonder just what it was all about. The voice, the questions, seeing his friends getting washed away. What did it all mean and why was he having them, it wasn't the first time. Strange dreams like this were happening to him for the last few weeks, this one though, this one was the most vivid.

"You're dreams are getting stranger Sora." Kairi said with concerned expression. "Think you need to talk about them?"

Soar shook his head, "No, no I'm fine, guess I'm just a weird dreamer."

It was true though, this wasn't the first time Sora had been having these strange dreams. He wasn't sure when they started but they had been getting more and more intense as time passes on. So far only Riku and Kairi new about them, not even his mother knew, if she'd did he worried he'd have to go a doctor and be made to feel something was wrong with him. Thus he made his friend swear not to tell anyone.

I'm silence Kairi took a few steps forward and looked out on the beach. It seems she had a few thighs on her mind as well at the moment.

"So why did you wake me up in the first place?" Sora asked continuing to lean down.

"Oh-uh Riku wanted me to get you so we can work on the raft." Sora noticed a nervous tone in Kairi's voice. "He's said we need to work twice as hard on it this week if we're going to get it done."

"Really? We're that close?"

The raft, Riku pet passion project for the last few weeks. It was a dream that with it, they would set sail from their Island home and see the worlds that lied beyond. In a way it was because of Kairi that they wanted to do this for she was originally part of the Island.

As he looked up at her, he couldn't help but notice just how lovely she looked looking out onto the ocean. He eyes glittering in the sunlight. Something inside him twisted as he blushed a heavy read. He felt his mouth becoming try and found it difficult to speak. Sora had been getting these moments regularly for the last few months.

One thing he wondered though, if how this would affect Kairi, for she herself was not a native to this Island.

"Do you ever miss it?" Sora asked trying not to mumble.

Kairi bit her lip looking down. "No, not really, I'm happy here. Though I guess I wouldn't mind seeing it" She turned around to look at Sora, hands behind her back as she smiled.

Sora smiled back, it was intoxicating.

"Do you ever have dreams about it?" He asked.

"No, remember Sora I was little when I came here, you should know that."

"How can I forget."

Sora remembered that day as if it was yesterday. It was nine years ago and He and Riku had been taken to the play Island by his father to play around. Both of them were running on the beach sparing with tiny wooden swords. Sora was of course losing, and in his frustration decided to take a walk by himself to cool his head. Everything was going fine, until he tripped and fell on his forehead hitting the sand.

He remembered getting up thinking he had tripped on a sea shell or perhaps a fish that had washed ashore. Instead he found something quite more fantastical.

As young girl, red haired, blue eyes, it was Kairi, who, dressed in a white skirt with tiny pink shoes washed up ashore. Sora had never seen anyone like this before. He remembered gazing upon her for the better part of a few minutes, we'd by just how beautiful she was. He remembered how he felt his heart skip a beat completely unable to move. Eventually the adults found her and they all huddled trying to help her up and the rest was history.

Kairi was later adopted by the mayor and his husband and she and Sora would meet again at school. Over time they would become great friends, with Riku, the trio alway stuck together. Even if it did take Riku a few years to except her into the group of two he had made for them.

"Isn't it going to be cool." Sora grin widened as he looked at the sky. "Seeing all the world's, seeing what's out there. I wanna see it all."

"So what are we waiting for?" Kairi asked

"Hey!" A third older voice called out in the distance. Sora saw a tall white spiky haired boy wearing a yellow jumpsuit and blue pants, carrying over his shoulder a large wooden plank.

"Riku!" Sora waved him down.

Riku smirked and tossed the log aside causing it to hit Sora. "I thought I'd find you here, and your just as lazy as he is."

"So you noticed." Kairi smirked back.

Sora groaned trying to get the log out feeling the wood press up against his ribcage. "A little help."

"Oh, whoops…" Riku pushed the log aside and helped Sora back up. "There we go, sorry."

"You did that on purpose." Sora sneered eyeing Riku with annoyed grunt.

"I said sorry."

Sora rolled his eyes and smiled to show he wasn't that mad. "Whatever."

Gently Riku ruffled his hair and laughed. "Come on, I was just joking, lighten up a bit."

Sora sighed, "Alright, alright...Sorry."

All three of them took a moment to lay down on the sand and look out into the water. Sora took that moment to calm down and realized that it was just Riku joking around, even if it was a bit painful on his ribs. Deep down he knew he that his friend cared and loved him. They had practically been friends since they were babies. Though over the past few months it had seemed that Riku had been growing a bit more distance, his jokes a bit dark and his attitude more cynical than usual.

Again Riku rubbed his hair giving him a more genuine smile before noticing Sora looking out on the ocean, almost distracted by something in his mind.

"Hey you okay?" Riku asked scooching a bit to his friend looking worried. "You look tired."

Sora nodded speaking in almost a husky voice. "Yeah, didn't sleep much this morning, or this afternoon...or last night."

"Sora said he had a strange dream on the beach." Kairi blurted out causing Sora to give her a annoyed glare.

Riku grew a concerned look putting a hand on Sora's knee. "What happened?"

Sora sighed, "….Giant monster….sinking into a pool of darkness." Sora voice grew into a whisper as he kept talking, looking down in embarrassment.

Riku sighed. "Have these been happening recently?"

"What no?" Sora lied.

"Are you sure." Riku pressed in a bit further now.

"Yeah I'm fine, really." Sora said blushing, hating it when Riku started to get protective over him just because he had a few nightmares. He was a teen after all no longer a baby that needed a hug when he had a nightmare. "It was just a bad dream, nothing to worry about, bad dreams happen all the time. Probably just stress."

"So it's the middle of summer, what's there to be stressed about." Kairi argued.

Sora rolled his eyes looking aggravated. "Guys, please, can we drop it."

"Okay," Riku said sounding unsure. "Well if you want to talk you know I'll always listen right?"

"I know."

Riku put a arm around Sora pulling him in for a bit of a hug. "You know you can talk to me right?" He emphasized his wording a bit.

"Yeah," Sora sighed cheeks blushed causing him to be a bit embarrassed looking down, he didn't like feeling this way, so small and needing to be coddled. He wasn't the baby of the group anymore he was growing up, about to go on adventure. He didn't need someone looking over him every day.

"Good." Riku patted his back. "Good."

A brief moment of awkward silence Kairi looking at both boys as if waiting for the other to speak before standing up with a determined expression on her face.

"Hey, let's race to the raft."

Riku scoffed letting Sora go. "What are you serious."

"Nope." Kairi ran off leaving Sora and Riku in the dust. "Catch me if you can."

Sora laughed feeling his spirits lift. "Hey wait up."

Now it was Riku turn.

Within a moments notice all three of them were now running down the beach as they headed towards the raft. Sora doing his best to keep up with the two of them managing to beat our Kairi and keep a steady pace with Riku who was just a few inches ahead of him. As the race progressed they passed by the various children playing with wooden swords or a game of soccer on the beach, passing the trees and the waterfall by the mountain. The Island was considered by many a paradise and right now it truly was.

-000-

"Woo! I win! Riku is still the best." Sora groaned as he got up seeing Riku's smug grin looking back at him. "You two better do better if you have any chance of surviving the outside world."

"What don't think we can take care of ourselves." Kairi said putting her hands on her hips.

Riku shrugged. "I'm not saying anything."

"I think you are."

"Okay, okay-" Sora interjected. "That's enough, come on, this raft isn't going to built itself."

"Hey I did most of the work so far." Riku accused.

"Yeah, but I gave moral support." Sora said giving him a wily grin.

Riku could just roll his eyes as he started to get to work. Sora and Kairi soon followed suit as all three of them lied down to get to work on the raft.

Despite being a 'team effort' Riku took the lead in most of the decisions. He made sure the logs were tied together, the mantel was steady and the nails were hammered in deep. Whenever Sora or Kairi tried to accomplish something Riku would be the first criticize it and take over from them. It got to the point were they weren't even bothering to do anything and just let him handle all the work.

Kairi wanted to call him out but Sora held her back each time. He'd known him longer and always had the better relationship. Both boys knowing each other since they were four years old.

For years Riku had always been a bit of a loner even when he hung out with friends. Always getting into trouble, once sneaking into his dad's personal study and managing to turn a model gun into a real one just by putting together a few mechanics with paper clips and some string. When both boys got caught Sora's mother was mortified. Still the two boys had been friends for long enough to understand where the other was coming from. So it made sense that Riku was better and tooling things together than both of them and why he wanted it done as efficiently as possible.

Though both Sora and Kairi hated sometimes how dismissive he can be about it.

"So, when do you think will be finished with this?" Sora asked testing the rafts steadiness.

Riku stood up to get a good look at the boat. "I'd say, less than a week, maybe sooner if I go at it alone."

"Have you thought about what you're going to tell your parents?" Kairi asked looking worried.

Riku stopped, his eyes narrowing as he formed a light scowl before responding in a cool voice. "Nothing."

"What?" Kairi looked taken aback. "You can't be serious."

"I am." His tone and expression darkened now before he headed back off leaving Kairi just standing there mouth agasp.

Riku got back down to work on the raft and ignore them. He looked back at both of them, his face stoic before again turning back to the raft, nailing a bolt to the ground. His movement sharp and harsh as if letting out well seeded anger.

Sora grimace. "Uh, Riku. I don't think mom is going to appreciate my just packing off and leaving without any heads up."

"Or my dads for that matter." Kairi added.

Riku let out a annoyed grunt. "Then tell them and make your peace with it."

"What if they say no?" Sora asked sounding nervous. "I mean, I don't wanna upset mom."

"Then go anyway, we aren't going to get another chance of this if we don't take a risk and go out there. Come on guys, don't chicken out on me, not when we're so close. Besides...We can't let family hold us back."

"I don't think my mom would like that." Sora added

"Come on Sora, don't tell me you get the call to go out there, wasn't you're dad a sailor."

"Riku," Kairi looked incensed.

"What I'm just bringing it up!"

Sora sighed. "It's okay, I get it."

"Well what about my parents." She said angrily. "How would they feel about their ADOPTED daughter just packs up and goes."

"I don't think your parents would think any less of you because your adopted Kairi." Sora said. "They love you, and you love them."

Kairi sighed. "I know but, it still might come up in the back of their heads."

Sora on the other hand understood. Riku had never had the best relationship with his family. Both of his parent's were always quite distant with him. Coming from a well off family, both mother and father were always busy with work, mostly leaving Riku alone back home. Over the years anger and bitterness festered in him. Made worse by the idea of Riku being pressured by his parents to excel at everything. School, physical activities, he was always pushed to be the best and thus he had the mentality to be the best. A mentality that Sora worried would get to him one day if he wasn't careful.

He also understood Kairi's position as well, she was adopted and even she loved her parents and they loved her in return, that fear of feeling ungrateful was something to struggle with. Though Sora was curious how much Kairi had been thinking about this since she agreed to help.

"Look, Riku-" Sora said choosing his words carefully. "We don't want to not go without you but-"

"HEADS UP!"

Sora tried to look up but it was to late, everything went dark as he felt the back of his head hit the sand as something hard hit the front of his face.

"Hey careful!" He could here Riku say as his vision began to return.

Sora saw Riku standing over him getting to his knees as he gently held him back up. A sharp pain began to emerge He saw Kairi standing over him looking worried as the sound of feet shuffling grew closer.

Standing up Sora saw three of his fellow Islanders, Waaka, Selphie and Tidus running up to them. It was strange seeing all three after his experience in the dream, something he thought he'd keep to himself.

"Oops sorry." Tidus ran up to Sora to pick up the soccer ball. "Must be a better kicker than I thought."

"Yeah, be a better shot next time." Riku grumbled, checking Sora's forehead for bruises. "You okay?"

"Yeah." Sora gently pushed him aside to stand up, still a bit woozy.

"Are you three still working on that thing?" Selphie asked looking at the raft. "Do you really think you are going to leave the Island."

"It has to." Riku said forcefully. "I've studied up sea travel, I know it can work."

"Pfft, what gonna happen you magically just go into the sky and go to another world." Tidus snickered. "How do you even know there are other worlds."

"Kairi is from another world." Sora reminded him.

Tidus grimaced. "Oh right, sorry."

"It's ok, easy to forget." Kairi assured him.

"So, still trying to be like the boy in the legend eh Riku," Tidus grinned.

Riku gave him a deathly glare causing him to step back and scowled.

"Unlike him I'll come back to tell you about it."

The boy in the legend was old sailors tale, one Sora's father, a sailor himself, would tell. It was fairly simple, one day a fellow Islander wanted to leave the Island so badly that he summoned a powerful magic that sucked him through a portal and he was never seen again. Riku was always taken in by this tale for he too wanted to leave his Island home by any means possible.

"I don't know why you wanna leave," Selphie asked. "This place is paradise, why would you wanna leave paradise.."

Waaka nodded. "Aye, sometimes I think you should just be happy for what you have. It's easy to get caught up in things. But once you lose them man, you'll live sometimes to regret it."

"Not me." Riku said darkly. "I'm more than happy to be rid of this place and see what's out there. Unlike you I'm not going to sit around and just allow myself to rot in here in this prison surrounded by water."

"A bit dramatic don't you think Riku." Kairi muttered.

Riku ignored her instead deciding to get back to working on the raft.

"Well you do you, no matter how weird it is." Tidus said running off. "Sorry Sora."

"Bye Kairi." Selphie waved

Kairi and Sora waved back before looking at Riku who just ignored everyone at the moment.

"Well!" Kairi blurted out.

"Well what?" Riku muttered.

"Well what was that all about, you didn't have to be so rude to our friends just because they didn't agree with you."

"They were making fun of my vision."

"Yes this well thought out vision of leaving the Island with just a raft, no supplies, no food no nothing." Kairi said sarcastically.

"Will get some, that's what tomorrow and the next day is for."

"And our parents."

Riku sighed. "Look, you handle your parents the way you want too okay, but I'm going, no matter what happens, I'm getting off this Island. Now come on, let's get back to work."

Kairi sighed as she sat down.

Sora sat down as well and tried to help out as he could, leaving Riku though to do most of the work.

The rest of the day went on like this, a uneasy tension infected most of the day. Riku worked on the raft while Sora and Kairi kept to themselves mostly remaining silent, every now and then walking along the beach to fend off boredom.

Sora hate tension among his friends, he always wanted to do his best to keep a sense of harmony among the trip. It was difficult because of Riku's stubbornness and Kairi's own fiery nature. Sometimes it felt like he was the glue that held everything together. Even when they were young Riku had a mistrust of Kairi, not as open to the idea of letting someone into his and Sora's fun time together. It took some getting used too but even today there was a sense of uneasiness to the situation.

However right now Sora worried about a new problem, telling his mother. The two were very close, closer than most mothers and sons on the Island. She was especially attached to him ever since the loss of his own father to the seas. If he said that he was going to follow in his path and set sail, he had a feeling it wouldn't be met with the most happy of responses. Still it was something he was going to have to consider, choose between living a grand adventure, or regretting everything while staying at home.

Sora already felt the weight of this decision come over him as he thought about it hard.

Eventually the sun was getting closer to setting and Riku finally took a break and stopped. He walked over to the Sora and Kairi were sitting out on the beach and smiled.

"Hey guys." He said, his voice soft and gentle. "Would uh, wanna watch the sunset?"

Sora turned around looking confused. "Sure?"

"Come on, I know a good spot this time."

Kairi gave Sora a confused look before the two got up and followed Riku down by the docks were they found a large tree bent int a way for them to climb up on and watch the sunset.

The water never looked so beautiful during this time as it twinkled the reflection of the sun. The sky becoming a fresh shade of red and pink, as one by one stars began to appear. All three of them looked at awe as the day began to end. Sora looked at Kairi especially, something about her always looked wonderful as the night sky began to appear.

"So how far do you think the raft will take us." Sora finally said ending the moment silence.

Riku shrugged. "Who knows, if it doesn't will figure something else out, we always do."

"Even if you got to another world, what you actually do there?" Kairi asked.

"Well, I haven't really thought about it." Riku leaned back against the tree closing his eyes. "It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds... Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could've just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?

"I don't know." Sora said leaning on his back to look up at the night sky.

"Exactly! There's a old saying, ever world is a star. That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi said raising a eyebrow.

"Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi, thanks."

Kairi looked taken aback. It was the first time Sora had ever seen Riku be this night to Kairi ever. She looked down and brushed a bit of red hair from eyes and chuckled bitterly.

"Your welcome."

Riku got up and stretched. "Come on, let's get going before your parents kill me."

"Nah, my mom likes you too much." Sora snickered. "Probably wishes you were my older brother."

"I'm more worried about Kairi's dads, "

They had a good laugh as they headed towards the docks.

Riku rowed them back all the way to the main Island before the three of them walked home. Kairi parted way around the midway point as the two boys headed to Sora's house. Eventually they arrived just as it was getting dark.

Before he could walk inside though Riku stopped Sora, taking him by the hand, a sad look growing on his face.

"Look Sora," he sighed. "I uh-I just wanted to say…

"Yeah?" Sora asked

Riku rubbed the back of his head. "Look, no matter what happens I hope you come with me."

Sora blinked unsure what to say.

"Together, like always right?" Riku asked, putting both hands on his shoulder.

Sora smiled. "Together like always."

To his shock Riku embraced him in a hug to which Sora quickly took in. It was the first time in a while that he felt like he he was with his old friend again. The kind, loving Riku who he knew. Sure he was always a bit gruff and rough around the edges, but deep down Sora knew that underneath all the edge was a kind heart.

Saying goodbye Sora headed inside, his mother was still at work. This allowed him to head into his room and get ready for dinner.

Opening up his window Sora looked outside to see Riku heading home, his eye though slowly looked up to see all the stars in the sky. Each one according to Riku was a world that was yearning to be explored.

He looked up at the sky, wondering just what those words were like.