Chapter One: Years Later

Sora woke up.

And for a moment, he really, really wished he hadn't. He looked around at his one-bedroom apartment and sat up. The window was closed, and he didn't quite have the mental energy to open it. But, Sora had a job to do, and he had to open the door and window sooner or later.

So Sora sat up.

And then he began to get dressed, feeling fairly miserable as he did. His clothes slid up over his legs, his shirt over his chest. At the very least, he wasn't overweight from all his errand running. Which was more than could be said for a lot of people; obesity was on the rise.

"...Another day," said Sora. "Another job I hate. Time to start deliveries." Then he noticed something which almost brightened his spirits. The mail had been teleported to his box. Standing up, he sorted through it, wondering if someone he knew would call. "Hang on, I've got some mail. Maybe, someone, I can...

"Bills.

"Bills.

"Bills.

"Coupons. I'm going to need these; I spent too much earlier."

The coupons were nice. When you lived paycheck to paycheck, you had to save what you could. Otherwise, you wouldn't have any savings. Sora combed his spiky brown hair as much as possible and eventually got it looking okay. Still spiky and messy, but it was always like that.

Then he headed out, grabbing his skateboard as he did and walking the streets of Twilight Town. Sora was seventeen now and was still living in Twilight Town. It was a nice enough place, really, though the jobs had been leaving it lately. At the very least, it had a beach within the distance of the train.

Not that Sora got to hang out there ever.

Either way, Sora got to the delivery service on time and was immediately seen by Hayner. The guy glanced up and tossed him a package before he could say anything. "Oh, Sora, you're here. Good, I've got a long-distance delivery for you at this location."

"What?" asked Sora. "But... aren't I supposed to get an advance warning for this?"

"Yeah, I forgot to mention it," said Hayner. "Is it a problem?"

"No, no, not at all," said Sora, looking at the address he was supposed to be taking it to. "I'll uh... I'll just travel to the ends of the earth then."

"Don't get smart with me; you drew the short straw," said Hayner. "So you've got to do it."

"I don't remember drawing a straw," said Sora.

"We kind of did it for you," said Hayner. "But nobody cheated."

"Well, why are they even using us anyway?" asked Sora.

"I don't know," said Hayner. "It was a giant mouse or something. Now get going; we're on the clock."

Sora sighed. "Yeah, yeah, okay."

And Sora moved off.

Moving quickly through this town was something he had gotten very good at over the years. Letters could be teleported very quickly, but they didn't always get through. Well, not unless you hand wrote them anyway. Meanwhile, larger objects had to be moved directly.

Sora had never been able to figure out why that was.

Something to do with letters having a connection to your heart. Whereas typing it out or sending a package didn't have the same effect. Either way, Sora had been doing this job for years since Mom died. He was constantly on call, didn't really know anyone all that well, and took a lot of work.

But office work didn't really appeal.

"I need to find another job," said Sora. "I mean, it was good work before, but... I think I'm outgrowing this. But where am I supposed to find another job in this economy?

"Whatever."

Feeling more downcast than ever, Sora had it worse when he came to the outskirts. From the looks of things, whoever lived out here had recently had a road installed. They wound through the forest without running into trees on either side. Someone had paid a premium to keep the woods intact.

Sora could respect that.

Especially since it meant he could travel with a view.

The journey took him deeper and deeper, and he looked around at the trees, hearing the birds chirp. There wasn't much underbrush in this forest, and as Sora moved, he wondered who lived in this place. As a kid, he'd have liked the idea, but it all seemed very far away from civilization.

And then he came to the mansion.

It was the sort of place every kid dreamed about exploring at some point. It had stone and wood walls, surrounded by a great wall. He took a moment to admire the place as he checked the gate. Unlocked. "Geeze, this place is nice. I haven't seen anything like this since, well, ever. Just walking through this neighborhood makes me feel like a peasant.

"Uh... here it is." Sora paused as he walked forward through the gate toward the door. There was a modern doorbell there on it, and he wondered what sort of person lived here. Coming up to it, he felt a bit insecure. "Okay, just ring the doorbell, set the package down, and run."

Sora pressed the bell.

Silence.

The door opened, and Sora spoke. "Hello, I've got a package for you here-" Sora stopped dead as he saw who it was.

Riku was on the other side, older and with long silver hair but still Riku. He was clad in yellow and blue and looking at the package. "Right, so where do I s-" Riku stopped too. "Dear God."

"Riku?" asked Sora.

"Sora?" asked Riku. "Sora, is that you? I haven't seen you since we were kids! Where have you been?"

"Uh, the same place mostly," said Sora. "I tried calling you and Kairi a bunch of times, but uh... you stopped answering."

"Oh that," said Riku. "That's my fault, really. We ended up switching cell phones, and we lost your number. I tried calling your house, but you didn't live there anymore."

Sora decided not to bring up Mom's death. Riku had never gotten on well with his parents, even before the move. He wouldn't understand. "Well, this is... weird."

"Yeah, you can say that again," said Riku. "I never thought I'd see you again; I figured you were on the opposite side of the country."

"Well, uh... here I am," said Sora. "You want to sign this?" And he offered a pen.

"Oh sure," said Riku, signing the package. "So, any idea what this is?"

"No idea," said Sora. "We don't check what's inside; we just deliver it."

Silence.

Riku paused. "You want to come in and have a drink or something?"

"Well, I... this was the only package I was supposed to deliver, and it'll be a long way back," said Sora, looking up to see the sun sinking. How long had he been journeying? It shouldn't have taken that long. "I've pretty much got the day off tomorrow anyway."

"Great, come on in," said Riku. "Set your coat... anywhere."

"So uh... you ever hear from Kairi?" asked Sora, following Riku into his living room. The place looked like it had been custom-designed to look mysterious.

"As a matter of fact, Kairi and I have been keeping in very close contact," said Riku.

"Oh, really," said Sora. He remembered when she'd moved out as well. Everything had gotten... dark after that. "So what's this package you ordered anyway? It's pretty light."

"I asked you the same question, didn't I?" asked Riku, sitting down. "I have no idea.

"Sometimes I get gifts from people who want something from me. It kind of comes with the territory of being well off."

At that moment, Kairi came down the stairs. She looked radiantly beautiful; her red hair had grown longer. And she'd gotten um... curvaceous in a very appealing way since last they met, but that wasn't important at a...

"Riku, who's our guest and..." Kairi paused. "Sora! Sora, is that you!

"Yeah, I'm uh..." Sora held the package up awkwardly. "I'm the delivery boy."

"Kairi and I have been dating for a while," said Riku. "Kind of hasn't been the same without you, though."

"Oh, that's great. Real great," said Sora, deciding not to remark on the commentary. "So you want to open this?"

"Hang on, let me get a knife," said Riku before pausing. "Hang on a sec." Grabbing what looks to be a black sword off the wall, he snatched the box and tossed it into the air. As it fell, he slashed it with one blow before catching the box in one hand. It opened, and Riku drew out a huge key.

"It's uh... it's a key," said Sora. "You ever seen anything like this, Kairi?"

"Nope," said Kairi, taking it from Riku and testing it out. "It looks like pretty good make, though."

"Is this gold?" asked Riku, eyeing the handle. It was pure gold.

Sora tried it and shook his head. "Way too light. Gold is really heavy."

"Okay, now I'm confused," said Riku. "No way is this thing a mass-produced weapon. It's gotta be some kind of custom-made thing."

"Well then, why would somebody send this out to you?" asked Kairi, handing it back.

"Believe me, I wish I knew," said Riku, testing the weight. "Still, there's something.. odd about it."

"What does it say about who sent it?" asked Sora.

"It says..." Riku paused. "Thank the King."

"The King?" asked Riku. "Well, that's not vague at all. Which King? King Triton? Zeus, the King of the Gods? King Mickey? The Sultan of Agrabah? The King of England?"

"What about the Emperor of China?" asked Kairi.

"It might be King Mickey," said Sora. "I mean, Hayner said a mouse delivered it."

"Oh, I see," said Riku. "So no one with the title of 'King' could possibly employ a courier other than King Mickey? And therefore, it can't be anyone else?"

"...Good point," said Sora. "I mean, I doubt he'd deliver the thing personally."

"And it isn't even necessarily a real King," noted Kairi. "It could just be someone who uses king as a title. Like a club."

"Why don't we call this thing a bust and move on," said Riku. "It's probably not important."

"I'll get us some sodas," said Kairi.

And just like that, the three of them were sitting together as if the years had never passed. Back then, they'd almost never gone over to one another's houses. Riku's parents hadn't liked him associating with Sora. Kairi had a semi-celebrity status because of how she arrived and being raised by the Mayor. But Sora had always just been Sora, just like the other three.

That was why they'd always gone to Destiny Island.

It was a neutral ground of a sort, and they and the other kids could hang out on their own.

So sitting here was sort of weird.

"So, what have you been up to?" asked Riku.

"Oh well, I've mostly been doing delivery work, to be honest," said Sora. "I send packages all over the place and help people stay in touch."

"That's a bit ironic, seeing as Riku lost your number," said Kairi.

"Don't rub it in," said Riku.

"It's not bad work," said Sora quickly. "I mean, not glorious, but people have to send letters somehow. And if I don't deliver the packages, maybe the person who takes my place will mess it up. You gotta be careful not to break stuff."

"Well, that sounds soul-destroying," said Riku. "Doing whatever you're told."

"Well, what have you been up to?" asked Sora, a bit annoyed at Riku's dismissal.

"Investing mostly," said Kairi. "Riku managed to get in on several major stocks right before they went right up. He didn't hire any analysts or anything, just took a wild guess."

"That wasn't guesswork," said Riku. "Those companies were engaging in self-destructive business practices. They were undermining their long-term future for a quick payday now. It was only a matter of time before it all collapsed, and I bet on it.

"Plus, I was already super-rich."

"You remember back when we used to fight with wooden swords on that island?" asked Sora, who didn't like this conversation.

"You mean Destiny Island," said Riku. "That's what we called it, right?"

"Yuh-huh," said Kairi. "Remember we were building that raft?"

"Mmm, and if I recall, somebody decided to get a part-time job doing delivery," said Riku.

"I wanted to buy one of those words you can get online," said Sora. "And anyway, it was really after we abandoned the raft that things went back. For some reason, we just stopped going there nearly as much."

"Why did we never finish the raft?" asked Kairi.

"I uh... kind of lost motivation," said Riku. Then he tossed the key to Sora. "Congratulations, wish granted."

"You sure you want to hand me this, Riku? I mean-" said Sora.

"Please, Sora, I've got more than enough stuff lying around here anyway," said Riku.

"We haven't exactly had a lot to do," said Kairi. "I mean, I've mostly been doing volunteer work and stuff. I mean, the two of us are set for life."

"It's overrated," said Riku. "Back when we were in the workforce, we wanted to strike it rich. Then you strike it rich, and it's just...

"You have this mental image of a palace of dreams, right. With golden walls, a harem of scantily clad women, and all that. Then you actually get rich, and it's all impractical. Gold's tacky, and as for the scantily clad harem..."

"Oh, come on, Riku," said Kairi, leaning in. "I'm all the harem you ever need?"

"Well, it's not all bad," said Riku, kissing her. "...I wish we'd finished that raft."

"Huh? What do you mean?" asked Sora.

"The raft, the one we'd been planning to sail to other worlds on," said Riku. "We'd gotten all trained up for it, and then... we just sort of stopped. We let it sit for a decade."

"Well, it's too late to finish it now, isn't it?" asked Sora.

"Oh really?" asked Riku. "We could finish it."

"You're kidding?" asked Kairi. "You want to head back to the Destiny Island?"

"Are we sure it's even in one piece?" asked Sora.

"I own the island, Sora," said Riku. "I bought it to make sure the place didn't get turned into a fast-food restaurant. Never went back there, though. Didn't seem like the right time.

"Didn't seem like there was enough time."

"So you want to just drop everything and go back?" asked Sora, the idea appealing.

"What am I going to drop?" asked Riku. "I don't work for a living. Can you take time off, Sora?"

"For a couple days, sure," said Sora. "I've been building up vacation days for a while anyway. Never seemed a reason to use them."

"Great, we'll wait until you can get some time off, and then we'll finish that raft," said Riku.

"You don't really think we'll be able to go to other worlds, do you?" asked Kairi.

"Who cares?" asked Riku. "What have we got to keep us here? It's just the same old stuff."

"Fair enough," said Sora.

Then silence fell.

Somehow, Sora realized that if he walked out of this room, they'd never go to Destiny Island. He had a vision of them visiting now and then and getting one well. Maybe living together but...

To go to other worlds.

Fantastic concepts Sora had long forgotten awoke inside him. And he wanted to travel to vast palaces, to fight monsters, to have a harem. He wanted all those things that he had never let himself want until now.

"...Sora, Riku, let's just go," said Kairi, suddenly.

"What? Right now?" asked Sora.

"Why not?" asked Kairi. "Why wait for even a second more? Let's just get in the car and go. What's tying us down?"

"Fine, fine, I've got nothing better to do," said Riku. "Oh, Sora, don't forget the key."

"Right, right," said Sora. Together they made their way through a side door. "So, uh... where'd you get the mansion?"

"Oh, they were gonna knock the place down," said Riku. "I was in here as a tourist and figured I didn't want the place replaced by a subway. So, I bought it and we fixed it up. Did it all ourselves too."

"Couldn't you have hired someone?" asked Sora.

"Sure, but then I'd have literally nothing to do," said Riku. "I mean, I was born rich, I got richer, the only thing I'm learning by hiring servants is how to slack off. Besides, I like working with my hands.

"Unlike Kairi."

"I supervise," said Kairi.

"Sure you do," said Riku.

They got into a garage, and Sora saw a very nice, beautiful sports car. Riku moved toward it with a frown. "Huh, that's uh... that's a really nice car," said Sora. He imagined the price tag if it smashed into something.

"Yeah," said Riku. "I've uh... never used it. Ever. Mostly I use the one over there." And he motioned to a much less glamourous, much more practical car.

"So uh... you gonna try using it now?" asked Sora.

Riku paused. "...You know what, forget the car. Let's take mass transit. You know any bus stops near here, Sora?"

"Several," said Sora. "Let me just make a call; I gotta tell my boss. If he decides not to give me the day off-"

"Quit," said Riku. "I can get you a different job."

"Uh, let's call that a distant Plan C," said Sora. Then he nodded and moved away. He suppressed irritation at the dismissive way Riku regarded his own career. Instead, he made the call.

"Hey, uh Hayner?" asked Sora.

"Yes, what is it?" asked Hayner. "You deliver that package yet?"

"Hey man, I uh... I delivered that package as you wanted," said Sora.

"So why are you calling me? Shouldn't you be back here telling me that in person?" asked Hayner,

"Well, it turned out the package was being sent by my long-lost best friend," said Sora. "And he ended up becoming a millionaire and was dating my other childhood. And we got talking, and he asked me to go back to an island we used to hang out on and... build a raft."

Hayner blinked. "...And this is really the best story you could come up with?"

"It's not a story! He's standing right over here-" Sora halted and looked. Riku and Kairi were nowhere to be seen.

"Look, just take the week off, Sora," said Hayner. "We've had a slow few months anyway.

"Good luck with your raging insanity."

"What! I'm not insane!" said Sora. "Hayner.

"Hayner?"

He'd hung up.

Sora sighed. "Riku, Kairi, you there?"

A hand grabbed him from behind, and Sora whirled around with an unintentional cry. Riku waved. "Hey."

"Riku, where did you disappear to?" asked Sora.

"Sorry, I was just screwing with you," said Riku. "Let's get to the bus stop."

This was going to be... weird.