chapter 002 - island days ahead
I remember when we were little. When we would go into the Secret Place and try to find out what that noise was. Eventually, Riku helped me realize that it was just the wind blowing from inside the cave, not a monster's growl! We always wished to go on adventures after that, and we got our wish.
Yet, after that wish came true, going back to this place was rather nostalgic. From the sketches from rocks on the memories hidden within these walls. It was a mysterious place, and we were the curious ones to run inside to see what awaited us inside.
I was one of those curious ones again today. I stepped into this cave, being that same curious kid I was so many years ago.
It looked just like it had when I was last inside: dark, foreboding outside and in. It grew darker as I stepped forwards through the compact, arcane passage. It was pitch-black inside! My black shoes disappeared from sight as I escaped the outside world, the two zippers glimmering only slightly as I pressed on.
Light flooded into the main recess, revealing hundreds of white drawings on rock and a mysterious sight: a door without a handle or a keyhole. The thing that interested me the most in this irregular room was one of the many drawings. It was nestled in the back corner, alone and insignificant like many others. Yet, to me, it meant so many things. I had to wonder something, though...
Did she reply back?
As strange as that sounds, that's what I meant. Last year, I found the same drawing that we drew when we were little. It was of Kairi and I. She drew me and I drew her. Sure, mine wasn't nearly as good as her's, but that picture was still precious to me. I couldn't find words at the time when we were building the raft, so I made a note of sorts. Or maybe it could've been a letter. A letter to Kairi.
It was a wordless letter; it just had ideas attached to it. To one person, it was meaningless and incomprehensible. To me, it said that I cared about Kairi so much...
Apprehension and excitement built up inside me as I stepped closer and closer to the drawing. Did she see it? Did she even know it existed? Did she even care?
I was speechless when I sat on my knees and leaned close to the wall, my hand pressed against the rocky surface.
Yes. She replied. With that same star and hand to her drawing of me.
I only smiled at the sight.
-------
The sun beamed down on the small, sand-covered isle below it. The sky reflected off of the boy's deep blue eyes as he glanced upwards into the clouds.
Well, they would've if he were actually outside.
"SORA!!" a feminine voice screamed, belonging to a red-headed teen girl named Kairi. Her indigo orbs glared as she thrust the side of her fist against the door repeatedly, resulting in a loud bang that would've scared the crap out of anyone who was standing by innocently.
"Get out here, NOW!! It's not that bad!"
"Yes it is!" a muffled voice growled outside, the sound of some sort of cloth rustling as a boy's voice growled continuously, "They're too...!"
"They look fine, Sora! Just get out here!"
"You'll have to break down the door first!"
Another groan, this time from Kairi. "RIKU! CAN YOU BREAK DOWN A DOOR FOR ME?"
"NO!!" Sora screamed, launching for the handle to the door, "I'M COMING!"
The wooden shack door burst open as the teenaged boy stepped out of the seaside shack. His face was red. Bright, blushing red. He looked beyond embarrassed, perhaps mortified. It only grew worse as Kairi let out a giggle.
He knew exactly why she was laughing: his shorts, the same colour as his face, were way too short. It was one thing having his outfit shrink from a year inside some pod, but this was a bit shorter than that and much more embarrassing.
"Cute!" the girl giggled.
Sora shot a glare at the red head, "Is not!! They don't even look like swim trunks anymore..."
"Well, if you actually got out of bed..."
"Well, if you actually gave me a notice before I got here, I would've gotten a new pair! But, noooooo!"
Kairi's face begun to turn red as well, though it was the most fuming, angry red. Sora instantly froze up when he saw Kairi that angry. It was a rule of thumb to not anger Kairi; she might've been shorter before, but her anger could be fierce even then.
The brown haired boy instantly let out a small yelp, becoming motionless and rigid. Kairi perked up, giving a radiant smile.
"Alright, today we're swimming..." Kairi begun, soon going onto a list, or schedule, of things to do on the first day of their summer vacation. The fifteen-year-old boy merely blinked as Kairi dragged on into her schedule, making him realize that, even though he never saw any of that, she was definitely acting like Olette...
Yet, as she spoke and Sora watched the red head, his palms seemed to get sweaty... His heart raced along with the motion of her purple-hued eyes. He held his breath, trying to keep the phrase in. It was like a bunch of really obnoxious hiccups: he could keep them quiet, until he opened his mouth.
If she realized how nervous he looked, she would've known exactly why: Sora had never, ever seen her in a bikini.
And, after waiting to pop out as Kairi continued on, Sora finally blurted it out.
"Kairi, you look hot!!" he screamed, right in her face.
There was no reply, at all. The only thing he got was the screech of a seagull flying over by that stupid palm tree.
Kairi blankly stared at the boy, at loss of what to say. She said nothing, but her nervous stare explained her shock.
"...Oh... kay..."
Nothing else was said. Yet, Riku heard everything.
"Shut up, Riku!" Sora snapped when the silver haired boy said a single word to him.
Great, this day already turned awkward!
-------
The water felt much calmer than it had been just a day before. It wasn't just some random slash into the cold depths, but steps taken there. Though, Sora was instantly running into the water at a moments notice.
He seemed pretty excited to be back in his home's ocean. The cool, refreshing sea water splashing onto his face. Yesterday was too abrupt to enjoy it. This, however, could last all day...
Well, on Kairi's 'schedule', it only lasted an hour. Why, oh why, did she have to meet Olette in the first place? It was just fun! Fun needs no schedule! Besides, she was just going to sit on the beach anyways! Why butt into their business?
"Stop splashing everywhere, Sora!" a voice snapped. Sora expected it to be Kairi, yet it was nowhere near that.
Riku. He forgot how much he disliked water sometimes. He seemed like the complete opposite of them: normally, both Sora and Kairi loved the ocean, like they were exactly the same on that matter. Riku, on the other hand, was like land. Land doesn't really get along with the sea. Sea and sky are freeflowing, right? Land isn't; it's stationary. That must've been why he didn't like it so much...
"Why're we doing this again?" Riku growled, already shivering from the supposedly 'icy cold' water as he had a really ticked off look on his face.
"C'mon, Riku!" the fifteen-year-old boy rushed through the water and latched onto the silver-haired teen's hand. He gave a bright smile, "It's fine!"
Riku's teal eyes gave a twitch, "...Stop smiling."
Curiosity. Sora blinked, "Why?"
"...Bishie... sparkles..."
"OH!" the carefree teen gave a laugh, flashing that same grin for only a moment, "Just come on! It's fine!"
"Well, coming from you, I doubt it..." the sixteen-year-old gave a snicker, receiving a quick glare from Sora, as he was dragged out into the ocean tenaciously.
The water continued to grow deeper and deeper. It had reached the level of his abdomen now, his feet sinking further and further down into the sand. Sora, though, already had water up to his chest; it made sense, with him being shorter.
Being dragged out into the ocean by a friend nearly terrified Riku. He knew very well Sora would never hurt the silver-haired boy, but this was just an anxiety that spawned up. Fear of the ocean wasn't strange for an islander, right?
Then, Sora vanished.
No longer was his hand grasped in the boy's own. No longer was his spiked brown hair present. There was nothing but sea.
"Sora!?" Riku protectively cried. His search for the vanishing boy begun. He became so worried so quickly. Anxiety, fear, guilt... They all came rumbling in as an earthquake.
"SORA?!"
No sound. Nothing! What happened to the boy?
"Ah!!"
Face first, into the water. A pair of hands had pushed against the teen's back. He met apprehension in a moment's notice. Yet, when he turned about in the water and sat upon the sea.
Sora was laughing his head off. Riku's face was bright red.
"What was that for!?"
"You're scared of the water!" Sora chuckled in between laughs.
"I AM NOT!!"
Sora's head soon was thrown into the water, as Riku tried to do the same to Sora as he had done to him; not very nice payback, huh?
When Sora wriggled his head out of the water to gasp for air, he instantly went off screaming:
"KAIRI! HE'S GONNA DROWN ME--!!" His voice was muffled as a gurgle.
"RIKUUUU!!" a powerful, female voice screamed into the void.
"What!? HE DESERVES IT!"
"Stop being so childish!"
Sora managed to make it to the surface once again, sitting upon the water with his legs crossed. Several shakes of his head, bits of water flying everywhere, and he gave a sigh. And a pout.
"That wasn't very nice, Rikuuuu."
"Shut up."
Riku was horribly mad at him. Sora could tell by his folded arms and his sour scowl. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea...
"...Sorry," Sora said, his arms aimlessly floating on the surface.
"I guess I have more than one fear," Riku gave a slightly less stressed frown. He almost looked... forlorn. Riku never looked forlorn. But, after all, he never acted so scared. What was he scared of the most, though?
"Let's go back."
"Kairi!!"
Riku gave a roll of his eyes. He was energetic once again...
"Sora, she's not--"
The boy was in his own world now. As soon as he spot Kairi making her way into the water, he instantly perked up with a buoyant glow.
"You're not scared of the water, right?" the boy questioned as he latched onto the girl's hand.
She gave him a simplistic smile, "Of course not! You were just screaming about Riku drowning you and stuff--"
"NO I WASN'T!" the adolescent's face was bright red now. Kairi just giggled.
"...Sora," Riku's voice chimed in. It didn't seem to reach the boy's ears as he fumed and ranted about his weak cries to his friend.
"Sora."
Again, no connection.
"SORA!"
The silver-haired boy instantly latched onto the boy's shoulders, jerking him away from red-haired girl.
"What are you doing?"
"Talking to Kairi! What else does it look lik--"
"Funny, Sora. There's just one little problem..."
That problem, though, didn't have a thing to do with Sora's anxiety, though.
It came with a flash. It came from nowhere. No one saw it grew into the monster it became. It was only seen when it came crashing onto their heads.
It was a tidal wave. A gigantic one. It was several stories high, at least.
Sora was captured into the wave, helpless. He gasped for air beneath the water, feeling a small bit of air to breathe. Everlasting sea foam from the crash made it seemingly impossible to draw a breath, even if you broke the surface.
It was true: Sora was trapped. He was going to drown. Yet, it wasn't some payback by Riku. No, this was a far worse torment.
He felt helpless. Adrift. Confound. Isolated. What was he to do now?
A spark lit the boy's fire. Once feeling helpless, was now determined.
Kairi. Kairi was lost in this ocean as well.
He would've scream her name if he could speak underwater; how he wished Donald was there to at least give him a fin or some sort of gills! Despite the fact he was hanging onto his last available breath, unable to breath another at that moment, he was more than determined to swim far to save the person he cared about the most...
She was unconscious. She was laying in the midst of the sea, her eyes closed as chunks of red hair swayed aimlessly in front of her face. He couldn't bare to see her powerless...
One stroke. Another. He kicked his feet, using his arms to make long strides towards the girl. Almost there...
Sora jolted to a stop as a small laser pointed right as his forehead. A small crystal-like blast came flying straight at the boy and smashed into his stomach, rather than hitting his forehead. Another blast... And another!
These things were more than familiar. They were Snipers. Silver, swift, sleek. They carried archer-like weapons, but had much more skill than any archer could ever hold. But, what were they doing on Destiny Island? All of them had been destroyed, right?
He knew why they were there at that moment: to stop him. To keep Kairi helpless. He tried to scream, opening his mouth wide, but realized his horrid mistake. Water came rushing into the boy's lungs. He let out a non-existant choke.
That's when they came swarming. They knew they hit his weak point.
Thousands and thousands of them. All different kinds! Sora stared, wide-eyed, at the mass before him. Dusks, Snipers, Creepers... They all eclipsed the boy, before their stretchy appendages wrapped themselves around him like rope. One by one, they all came. The sleek creatures were swimming in and wrapping themselves around the boy like a twisted, stomach-churning, sliver cocoon. It only became more sickening when he realized their task: they were dragging him straight towards the bottom! They were trying to drown him!
He was truly hopeless now. He gave a final jerk, tempting to break free from his bonds, as everything begun to draw dark...
-------
"He awake yet?" a concerned voice queried.
A loud cough escaped from this mouth, more sea water jumping to the sand beside him.
"...Sora?" a hand placed itself behind the boy's head. It was soft and smooth, caring and worried. His head tilted back slightly as the hand slid behind his neck.
When those blue orbs opened, they didn't flinch. After all, he wanted to see the girl's face. She had so much concern plastered onto it...
He could say nothing. She wrapped her arms around him, leaning her head on his shoulder as she gave a sniffle.
That's when the guilt became rising up again. Now he had frightened her so much; that seemed to go hand-in-hand with leaving her on the island alone for a whole year. But, she always forgave him easily.
It was timorous of him at first. He was cautious about returning her hug. Yet, finally, he wrapped his arms around her. He couldn't help but ask a question, though...
He whispered in her ear, "Why did you go out there?"
"...What?" Kairi lifted her head, her eyes rather red now, "I never left the beach..."
Sora's blue eyes became wide.
"You... didn't?"
"No..."
He had to wonder. Kairi wasn't in the water...
Were all of those Nobodies an illusion, too?