Destiny Island
Back on the Island

Three teens strolled along a beach. The afternoon sun rays glimmered off the waves.

"The King sure knows how to throw a party," exclaimed the brown-haired boy.

"You said it, Sora!" agreed the girl with a giggle.

"Can you imagine, Kairi?" Sora exclaimed, "Soon there will be a travel system between the worlds. Then we'll be able to visit all our friends whenever we want to!"

"You mean a transit system," the taller boy corrected with a chuckle, "I think you've been with your other friends too long, you're starting to sound like them."

Sora put his hands behind his head, "Aw come on, Riku."

"It's only the truth," the boy replied.

The trio crossed a bridge to arrive at the crooked paopu fruit tree. It was their favorite spot to watch sunsets together. Sora and Kairi sat up on the bent tree while Riku stood and leaned against the trunk. They gazed out across the waves. Waves that they use to wonder what was beyond them, but now they knew.

Breathing in the sea air, they reminised about times from before they learned about the other worlds out there. It wasn't that long ago since they had been separated and thrown across the universe, but after all they went through it was hard to recall what there former lives were like.

"Remember when we were trying to build that dinky little raft?" Sora asked.

"Who built it? You guys were frolicking in the sand while I did all the work," Riku reminded.

The other two looked sheepish, knowing his accuasation was accurate.

Kairi finally spoke up, "I'll never forget that, it was right before our world dissapeared."

"That's just the thing," Sora explained, "we built that raft so we could find the place in your memories from before you came here. I just realized, in all our adventures, we found your original home, Kairi."

"I suppose that is true," Kairi agreed.

Having gathered the Ansem Reports and Secret Ansem Reports on their journey, they had learned that Kairi came from another world called Radiant Garden. She was one of the seven Princesses of Heart and as an experiment was sent to Destiny Islands to see the interaction with one who could wield the Keyblade.

"Aerith said that Radiant Garden was looking better than ever now, we'll have to go back so you can see it, Kairi," Sora offered.

"You know? It is nice to know where I came from, but now that I know that, I don't mind staying here with you guys."

They all looked out at the sun. Riku crossed his arms with a slight frown.

"Do you really think all this will last?" Riku pondered.

Sora forced a look of pain on his face, "Oh no, look who's being philosophical again!"

Kairi giggled at Sora's antics. She almost fell off the bent trunk, but he caught her hand and pulled her back up.

"Laugh all you guys want," Riku said with little amusement, "but we haven't really tried to live here since our adventures. It may not be as easy as we think it will be."

"Still worried about facing everyone after what you did?" Sora chided.

Riku looked away from his friends. Before, he had let the darkness overtake him and his heart. It was essentially his fault that their world was destroyed in the first place. Then to add to it, he was possessed by a man claiming to be Ansem. This was really the Heartless of the real Ansem's apprentice, Xehanort. In the end, Riku was able to overpower the Heartless's control, but he still held regrets over what happened through him.

Sora thought about something that could cheer his friend up. He leaned towards Riku when an idea struck.

"What if we catch up with Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie tomorrow and have an ultimate showdown?"

"What did you say?" Riku looked up at Sora.

"Let's have a match with our old friends. That will bring back the good old times."

"Heh, you just made yourself sound like an old fogy!" Riku smirked, waving his hand.

Kairi smiled and placed a hand on Riku's shoulder.

"Don't worry. I came back here when this world was first restored and was able to get along fine. We'll be alright," Kairi soothed, "as long as we're together."

What if?

The next evening, the trio returned to their favorite place. Their faces resembled disappointment as they sat on the crooked paopu fruit tree. The island may have stayed the same from their childhood, but things had changed back on the main island.

At first their friends were happy to see them again. They asked about where they were and how they were doing. Still, it was odd to see how people looked different, they were all growing up. They had developed new interests and did not want to be bothered with traveling out to their play land for a friendly brawl. Everyone's schedules had become too busy to spare more than a friendly hello.

Returning to school, Kairi seemed to fair pretty well, but Sora and Riku struggled to understand what the teachers were teaching. Kairi had only missed a bit of school when she was kidnapped by the infamous Organization XIII so some of the lessons flew by her, but Riku and Sora had not had any formal schooling for a few years, so the instructions might as well had been in a foreign language to them. By the end of the day, their minds were so over stimulated with stuff they couldn't grasp that even something simple like rowing out to the smaller island was a chore.

They had battled armies of Heartless and Nobodies and taken down their leaders and came out okay, but after the long and tedious day they just went through, they were wiped out. The boys claimed they did not want to go back to school again, but Kairi urged them to keep trying and that she would do her best to help them learn the materials, even though she knew she would have to work hard to catch up herself.

"Gah!" Sora cried, "This is all Xehanort's fault! Exploring the heart, creating the Heartless, plunging all the worlds into chaos! Things would have been so much simpler if we could have just stayed here and not miss so much!"

"Heh, I don't think the extra few years in school would have helped you learn anything," Riku sniggered, "You would have been just as lost in class today as you were."

Sora frowned and stretched across the paopu tree, one foot dangling off the side.

"You don't know that for sure," Sora huffed, "What if we had been here all this time? Maybe I would have gotten smarter and you still would have been lost? Our friends wouldn't have treated us like little kids when we asked them to play! What if there were no Heartless? What if there were no Nobodies? What if there were no Keyblades?"

Riku looked as if he just remembered something and whispered, "What if!"

A playful feminine voice called out, "You-hoo!"

Riku turned to see a young lady with auburn hair standing on top of the bridge.

"What is it Riku?" Sora asked, sitting up. He and Kairi turned to see where their friend was staring.

Riku shook it off and turned back, "Oh, nothing."

"Nothing?" shrieked the young lady as she ran towards the group, "Nothing? Nothing! Tra-la-la?"

Riku turned again to see the young lady right in front of him.

She continued, "That really hurts, you know?"

"You know her? Why don't you introduce us?" Sora asked.

Riku turned his puzzled gaze to Sora, "You mean you can see her?"

The young lady raised her arm in a showoff stance exclaiming, "Yep! I'm all real now!"

Riku muttered, "Great, when I talk to you, people don't see you so they think I'm crazy; when I don't talk to you, they can see you so they think I'm crazy."

Sora hopped off the tree and landed in the sand. He extended a hand to the newcomer.

"Well nice to meet you, I'm Sora!"

"I'm Zefferia!" she extended her hand in a similar fashion, but her hand went right through Sora's. Her eyes looked away as she kept her hand going up and down through his, "Well, almost all real."

Sora drew his hand back from the eerie spectacle and uttered, "What are you?"

Zefferia closed her eyes and smiled at him, "Oh, I'm a figment of Riku's very creative imagination." She cupped her hands together as she leaned towards Sora, opening up her sea-blue eyes as she continued, "He really must have wanted to share me with you guys if you can see me!"

"What's all this about, Riku?!" said the perplexed Kairi.

Riku sighed, knowing that a real imaginary person would not be so easy to explain, "She came to me while I was struggling in the darkness. I had many doubts and fears during that time, and a lot I needed to overcome. Many questions swarmed through my mind about how I would survive and wondering how things might have played out differently. As I convinced myself of an alternate reality, she became more real."

Sora and Kairi still looked a bit lost, since Riku seldom mentioned what he had gone through when the worlds were opened up and darkness sought to take over his heart.

To help, Zefferia lowered her voice to a more serious tone, "To put it simply, I am a What-if. What-if's are formed when people consider alternate scenarios. Riku's torment in the darkness was so great that his desire for things to be different was strong enough to manifest me in the form of a being. In turn, I alleviate current pains with images of the desired differences. As long as Riku thinks, 'What if?' I will remain in existence. I, myself, would like to be a completely real human being though. He agreed to help me with that, but it took him long enough to remember!"

Sora ran a hand through his hair, "So us seeing you is a step in what you want to achieve? In other words, only we can see you right now, meaning others will look and see we are conversing with no one? Riku, you've pulled us into your insanity!"

"Don't blame me!" exclaimed Riku.

"Well it is your fault, you created me," Zefferia nodded her head, "But guys, don't hate him for it. I am very grateful to exist."

"So, Zefferia?" Kairi stepped in, "How do you plan to become fully real?"

"It's a simple mind over matter. If you believe in me I will be real."

Kairi jumped down and extended her hand saying, "So if I believe you then I should be able to feel you?"

Zefferia grabbed Kairi's hand. For a moment it looked like the two hands grasped each other, then Zefferia's hand passed through Kairi's.

"You need to believe I'm real before you can feel me, not feel me to see if I'm real," Zefferia said, a bit saddened, "Perhaps if you were blindfolded and heard my voice long enough."

The group heard thunder rolling in the distance. They gazed out to the horizon to see dark clouds moving in fast.

"We better get back home," Sora urged.

Kairi looked at her male companions, "But what about Zefferia, where will she stay?"

"Oh, pretty much anywhere should be fine," smiled Zefferia, "As you can see in my current state, I can't touch or be touched, so the weather has no effect on me."

Sora, Kairi, and Riku began to feel the drops of the oncoming storm as a chilly wind set their hairs on end.

"Well lets get going, guys," Riku directed to the others.

They took off across the beach. More thunder could be heard at a closer distance as they neared the dock. A flash of lighting hit a nearby tree, splitting a great chunk of it off. The rain fell heavier.

Just as they we're approaching their boats; small, dark creatures emerged from the shadows. Sora and Riku held their hands out for their Keyblades to appear.

"Heartless!" exclaimed Riku.

"What are they doing here?" demanded Sora.

The boys fended of the small army with skill and prowess. One slipped past them and jumped to Kairi. She closed her eyes and raised her arms to keep it off. Bracing for the impact she peeked to find that her own flowery Keyblade also appeared in her hand and had destroyed the oncoming Heartless.

Able to join in the fight, Kairi began to swing her blade against the opponents. The number of dark shadows kept increasing as they fought on. Kairi noticed that the small creatures seemed to be trying to surround them. She turned to see one sneaking up on Zefferia.

"Look out!" Kairi warned.

Zefferia turned to see the heartless jump at her. But the Heartless flew right through her and landed to its doom on Kairi's Keyblade. Kairi chuckled a bit to herself remembering that Zefferia couldn't be hurt.

The enemies kept coming as the teens raged on. Soon the entire beach was covered in heartless. Sora, Riku, and Kairi stood back to back, ready to strike down any heartless that would come forward.

"There's no end to them," stated Sora.

"Quite annoying," Riku nodded.

Kairi smirked, "It may take some time, but we can still take them."

The two boys smirked, recalling similar encounters that they had faced in the past.

"Fascinating," a low voice rumbled like thunder from above.

The kids looked up to see a man in dark robes floating above them.

"What's so fascinating?" Sora demanded.

The voice from under the robed hood chuckled, "I came to this obscure place on my own agenda and I find not one but three wielders of the Keyblade. Fortune has smiled upon me today, indeed."

The three teens glared up at the mysterious figure, refusing to blink in the pouring rain. The floating man held his hand in front of himself.

"No need to distract the Heartless, I'll have some of my pets come to take care of you three," the man explained, "They should be gentle enough so I can at keep at least one of you as a souvenir!"

The man opened a portal on the beach and three rusty pink blobs emerged. They sprang on the Keyblades and stretched themselves over them, completely covering them. While the trio tried to shake the creatures off of their weapons, the heartless appeared to have lost interest in them and started crawling towards the center of the island.

"Oh no, they're headed for the Heart of the World!" Sora exclaimed, "We can't loose it again!"

He let go of his Keyblade and ran after the Heartless. As he gained on them his Keyblade again appeared in his hand, unharmed. Just as he was about to start attacking again, darkness blinded his vision.

"Sora! No!" Riku shouted, seeing Sora run into a portal of darkness that the mysterious man made appear directly in front of him.

He let go of his Keyblade as well to run after Sora. Kairi grabbed the edge of Riku's jacket as he past her, using all her strength to keep up with him. The blobs that were on Riku's and Kairi's Keyblades hit the ground and aimlessly inched around.

The man above watched the friends carefully. His had clenched into a fist the moment they all had passed through his portal, closing the door. He then used another one to swallow up his pink minions.

"I shall deal with you three soon enough," he leered, "after I have the data of this world."

Return to Darkness

Inside the darkness, Riku and Kairi called out for Sora. The darkness was so thick that they couldn't even see each other and felt that their calls were not penetrating the shadows that surrounded them. Kairi pulled herself closer to Riku and he put his arm around her so they wouldn't loose each other.

After a while, they gave up walking and just stood in the darkness, holding each other. Their sight and sound were cut off, but at least they could still feel each other and know they weren't alone.

Still, Kairi had never been in such a deep darkness and began to tremble. Riku wrapped his other arm around Kairi, squeezing her close to his body and prayed that Zefferia would be able to find Sora in this darkness like she had found him before. He recalled what it was like for him the first time he had been in such a place and could empathize with how Kairi was feeling as well as imagine how Sora would be struggling.

Kairi tightened her grip on Riku. The atmosphere was cold, but they still radiated their own heat. She planted her face into his chest then felt him stroking her back in a gentle manner. She told herself that things would be okay and tried to be brave like Riku. She worried about Sora and wondered how they were going to find him again. They had only been reunited for a while and now he was gone again.

Riku felt his shirt moisten where here eyes were pressed against him. He moved one hand up to hold the back of her head, bowing his own to rest his face on top of hers. With his nose in her hair, he could still smell the sand and coconuts from Destiny Island.

When eyes can't see, they might as well be closed, but Riku's eyes blinked open while he kept them shut. As they fluttered open, he thought he could partially see Kairi in his arms. Now he tried to keep his eyes open as his vision became clearer. In a few seconds, he realized that they were being illuminated and looked up to the source of light.

Kairi was startled as Riku eased his grip on her While her eyes were blinking open, she realized she could see again as well. She placed a hand on Riku's chest to confirm that she wasn't imagining this opposition to the blackness then turned to see where this light was coming from.

The two saw a circle of light approaching them. As it got closer, they could see shadows of a person walking alongside the light. They squinted to make out a spiky-haired silhouette and soon see the black and red outfit and big yellow shoes he wore. It was Sora, and the light was coming from Zefferia, who was beside him.

"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed, as her voice could now be heard through the dissolved shadows.

She jumped up and ran to him, hugging him tightly. At first Sora was taken aback, but hugged her back. They then turned to smile at Riku. Riku's head was bowed, with his hand across his chest, placed where Kairi's hand was a moment before. Slowly, he got up to join the others.

"What's with that shady guy? Did Organization XIII come back or something?" Sora asked.

"No," Riku answered, "his robes were scarlet. Although he might still be a Nobody."

"Scarlet? You could tell the color of his robes in the dark?" inquired Sora.

Riku ruffled Sora's hair and joked, "Maybe you should get your eyes checked as well as your brain."

"Hey!" Sora shouted, pushing Riku's hand away.

"Well, they were scarlet, trimmed and lined with violet silk," explained Zefferia.

The others turned to her with a puzzled look.

"What?" she defended, "Well what do you think I was doing while you were fighting Heartless? I'm not completely useless!"

Kairi grimaced, "What his clothes were lined with isn't exactly information that we need to know."

"Do you know what those pink things that looked like chewed up bubble gum were?" Sora questioned.

Zefferia shook her head with a shrug.

Sora went on, "I guess the next question is how we get out of here? And depending where we end up, how will we get back home without a Gummi Ship?"

"Well, you can use the Keyblade to open pathways between the worlds. Before, the Organization would link the Corridors of Darkness to them, so with Roxas and Naminé being a part of you guys, we can travel that way; unless you can get the doorway of light to work," Riku theorized.

Sora and Kairi looked at each other as they recalled their exceptional Nobody counterparts that had rejoined with them in their previous adventure.

"Any idea how we get in touch with them?" Sora asked.

"If we call out to them, maybe they'll respond?" Kairi guessed.

They stood side to side and closed their eyes, trying to mentally communicate with the Nobodies inside them. They called them by name and asked for help on opening a doorway out of the darkness.

Their countenances changed with both of their heads turning blond. As Roxas and Naminé became visible over their original selves they looked like different people and yet still the same. The two opened their eyes and lifted their hands to open a portal.

Sora and Kairi regained control of themselves. Beaming, they looked back at Riku and Zefferia, who looked content that the theory worked.

"I don't know where it goes, but anywhere has got to be better than here!" Sora expressed.

He led the way through the portal into a new world.