Lanri looked up at her boyfriend, "Hey, have you seen Sora lately?"
Riku shrugged and continued his task of roping logs into a raft. Herself, Riku, Sora, and their friend Kairi had all had the brilliant idea to make a raft to take them to other worlds. While the Destiny Islands were beautiful and would always be their home, they were ready to see something new! Enough of the same old beaches and the same old sky. They wanted something different; to see unique places and to meet extraordinary people. And how was that ever going to happen if they just sat and played on the Destiny Islands all day?! No, they had to get out of this place. Adventure was calling their names.
"I don't know. He was taking a nap the last I saw of him."
Lanri groaned and picked herself up off of the sand from where she had been gathering Thalassa shells per the request of Kairi and began muttering to herself about no good lazy little brothers. Lanri walked down the beach, and sure enough there he was. Passed out in the sand twitching in his sleep. She rolled her eyes, stepping down to the gentle waves lapping at the shore to cup water in her hands before tossing it over her brother's face.
Sora yelped as he was ungracefully awoken from his slumber. "Hey! Give me a break Lanri!" He huffed and tried to shake the water out of his hair like a dog.
"Get up you lazy bum!" Lanri shouted. "We've got work to do."
Kairi walked down to the shore when she heard the commotion between the two siblings, and giggled into her hand as a wet Sora glared at his sister. "You knew that he would be snoozing down here!"
"No guys, you have to listen to me! There was this big black thing that swallowed me up! And there was this girl there! And she could shoot magic fire out of her hands!"
Lanri laughed, "Are you sure you're not still dreaming?"
"No really!"
Sora began to enigmatically recount his dream to Kair again, but Lanri tuned the two of them out content once again to start picking up her seashells.
Riku chuckled as walked over to the three, a log in his hand. "You're not going to forget about me, are you?" He tossed the log over to Sora, who was knocked down in his attempt to catch it. "You're all just as lazy as he is."
"Hey!" Lanri exclaimed. "I was helping."
Riku smirked, "Picking up seashells is not helping."
"Whatever you saaaaaay."
Kairi giggled, "C'mon let's go work on the raft! I'll race you!"
Lanri babbled, "Wha- no I am not-"
"Three, two, one, GO!"
All at once, the four of them took off to the other side of the island, laughing as they thought of all the fun and happy memories they would make on their adventures once they completed their raft.
*3*
"What do you mean he left?!"
Yué huffed and paced the length of the library. Oh, Mickey. This was just like him. His sense of urgency was baffling. Yes, she understood his reasoning. They had in fact discussed the current cosmic dilemma at length as it affected her more than anyone else. Her connection to the lights of the worlds had her silver eyes glowing with tears every night. She could feel them. The night sky had been a place of comfort for her since she was a little girl. She would look up at all of the lights twinkling in the distance and revel in them, letting the lights of all those worlds, all those people, wash over her. And now all those people were disappearing into the darkness and each fading star stabbed at her heart harder than the last.
She wanted more than anything to help, but how was she supposed to do anything sitting here in this castle left behind by the one person (mouse) that could make a difference!
"Oh, gawrsh, Yué. Please don't get upset."
The voice of Goofy, the captain of the castle guard and Max's dad, made her pause in her pacing and silent musings to see Goofy, the court mage Donald, Queen Minnie, Max, and Minnie's Lady Daisy all looking at her in concern. She felt the wetness on her cheeks, wondering when they that had gotten there and wiped it away with the back of her hand. There was no way she was going to let them see her cry, not at a time like this. She had to be a pillar of strength. The King was gone. Everyone needed her to be strong. She would do it for them.
"What does this letter say?" In answer to her question, Pluto padded over to her, the letter gripped gently in his mouth. She knelt down and took it from him, patting him on the top of his head in thanks.
Donald,
Sorry to rush off without sayin' goodbye, but there's big trouble brewin'.
Not sure why, but the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. And that means disaster can't be far behind. I hate to leave you all but I've gotta go check into it.
There's someone with a "key"—the key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him, and stick with him. Got it?
We need that key or we're doomed! So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He'll point you in the right direction.
P.S. Would ya apologize to Yué and Minnie for me? Thanks, pal.
Signed - Mickey
What was with this talk of keys? There hadn't been another Keyblade wielder in ten years, and the only one they were currently aware of ran off in the middle of the night to go who-knows-where on his quest to stop the worlds from dying. She gasped, thinking of the boy from her dreams, of Sora. That place they had been, and the call to protect others from the dark. Could he be...?
Yué placed the letter on the desk, resolve ever-present in her expression. "I'm coming with you."
Donald squawked, "No! It's too dangerous!"
"Don't worry, Princess. I'll make sure they don't get into any trouble," piped up Jiminy, a little cricket who was one of the many souls who had lost his world to the darkness. He had promised to come with Donald and Goofy to chronicle their journey.
Goofy nodded, "He's right Yué. You don't need to go out puttin' yourself in harm's way. Why, me an' Donald can handle it! Right, Donald?"
"Right! You and the Queen need to stay here where it's safe!"
"And Max here will keep watch over you!" Goofy declared, wrapping an arm around his son in pride. "Right, Maxy?"
Max nodded, "Right." But one look at Yué told Max all he needed to know. She would be going on this journey whether any of them liked it or not.
*3*
Lanri and Riku had decided to take a well-deserved break. Okay maybe it wasn't well-deserved, and maybe they had kept sending each other little looks all throughout the day that would have made her brother gag at how sickly sweet they were being, but if they wanted to run off to go goof around the paopu tree then no one was going to stop them.
Well, no one was going to stop them that is until Sora happened to look up and find them.
"Hey, no fair!" he yelled, dropping the logs he had been dragging back to the raft. "I'm doing all the work, and you two are just sitting around making kissy faces at each other all day. Gross!" Sora then pretended to get sick in the sand, which prompted his sister to pick up a coconut and throw it at his head.
"Ow!"
She didn't miss.
Sora left the logs in the sand, coming around to climb up the later towards the front of the jetty that the paopu tree grew on. He picked up his sword that he had left laying on the ground and pointed it at his sister. "Spar with me!"
Lanri rolled her eyes but relented, sliding off of the tree trunk and grabbing the sturdy stick she used as a staff.
"When was the last time you beat me, Sora?"
"Uh..."
"Yeah, never." Lanri twirled her staff so that the tip was hooked at the back of her brother's ankle. She used the staff to kick his foot out from under him, causing him to lose balance. While he tried to steady himself, she placed the end on his chest and lightly bumped him. He fell back into the water with a loud splash.
Lanri looked down into the water to make sure that she hadn't seriously injured him. "Are you okay?"
Sora groaned, but she knew that it was more of a groan of defeat rather than one of pain. He picked himself out of the water. "I'll beat you someday, Lanri!" he shouted and dragged his soaking wet self back to the shore to continue his raft supplies collection duties.
Lanri turned around to Riku at the sound of his slight laughter.
"What?"
He just grinned, "The love between siblings is such a beautiful thing."
She rolled her eyes and punched him playfully on the shoulder as she hoisted herself back up onto the trunk of the tree.
The rest of the day quickly passed by, the sun slowly setting over the islands as they watched from their perch on the tree.
"So.. Kairi's home is out there somewhere right?" Sora wondered aloud.
The talk turned once again to the thought of other worlds. How would they get there on their raft? What would they do once they got there? How many worlds are even out there, and why did they end up on this one?
"Lanri... Lanri, are you even listening?"
"Huh, sorry, what were you saying?" She shook herself from her musing, thinking of all of the outcomes that could happen once they got on that raft. All of the things that could wrong.
Riku looked up at her in concern, "Are you okay?"
She smiled and looked at all of her friends who were looking at her expectantly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I just got lost in thought."
Riku turned to Sora and Kairi, "You two go on ahead. We'll catch up."
Sora started, "But what about-"
"Hey, don't worry about it. I'll bring her home. Tell your mom where we are so that she doesn't worry."
Sora nodded, and he and Kairi made their way to the dock so that they could paddle home the main island.
Riku hoisted himself up onto the tree and wrapped his arm around her. He felt he felt her relax into his warmth and breathe out a sigh as she calmed herself down. Out of the four of them, Lanri was the most mature. Sure, she teased her brother relentlessly, and she still had a playful heart, but under all of that was a very caring personality. She cared about all of them deeply, and it was her wish that no matter what stupid things they put themselves through they stay safe.
"Do you think that we're absolute idiots for building a raft and trying to cross into different worlds?" she asked, her tone light but Riku had known her his entire life and could hear the hint of apprehension.
He shrugged, "Yeah, probably."
She snorted, "Wow. You really know how to make a girl feel better, don't you?"
Riku hopped off of the tree, taking her hands into his and looking up at her to meet her sea-blue eyes. "I know you're scared, not for yourself but for us so no matter what I'm going to promise you this. I will go to whatever means necessary to protect you and keep you safe, okay?"
"Okay."
Lanri slid down onto the sand and held onto Riku's hand as they started across the bridge on their way down to the dock, sending him a small smile. He grinned in return and pulled her into his side as they walked together towards Riku's boat.
"Thank you."
Riku hummed. "For what?"
"For always understanding me."
"Always have. Always will."
The waves were gentle, and all was peaceful as they rowed towards home.
*3*
"Ow ow ow! Your foot is on my nose!"
"Shush! They'll hear us! Just keep me steady!"
Max grumbled as he continued helping his best friend onto the Gummi Ship, functioning as a ladder as Yué attempted to hoist herself into the cockpit. She was gonna owe him one after this. Thankfully for them, Chip and Dale seemed to be absent from the Gummi hangar, so they hadn't had to worry about the two chipmunks ruining their plans and alerting Donald and Goofy that Yué was planning on stowing away in the hold until they arrived in Traverse Town. Max wasn't too thrilled with this dad. He agreed that as the Princess she should stay here in the castle where it was safe, but Yué wasn't having any of it. She was too stubborn for her own good sometimes. When she got an idea in her head, you had better move out of her way or she was going to run you over to achieve her goals. And she was very loyal to the King. Max remembered the day that she had first arrived at Disney Castle. A tiny raven-haired girl who was barely five grasping tightly to King Mickey's hand. She had rarely left the King's side since, and so while he didn't want her to go he understood how important it was for her to do this.
"Max, what're you doin' down here?"
Max, in his panic, hurriedly grabbed onto his friend's legs and shoved her up as high as he could. Yué let out a soft gasp when she felt herself being pushed the rest of the way into the Gummi Ship, but thankfully didn't make much noise to alert the castle mage and captain. She opened the tiny hatch that led into the hold and squeezed herself inside, attempting to be as quiet as possible so that Donald and Goofy would be none the wiser to her presence.
Max turned and gave his father an innocent grin. "H-hey, Dad! I just came by to see you off."
Goofy smiled brightly, "Gaw, well that was awful kind of ya, son."
"Heh, it was no problem. Besides, I'm probably not going to see you for a while, and I didn't want to let you go without saying goodbye." Max chanced a look a Donald who was tapping his foot with a suspicious look on his face, but thankfully the duck didn't pry any further.
"Well don't worry too much out that now, kiddo. Why I'm sure we'll be back before you know it!"
Max smiled, "Yeah, I'm sure, Dad."
Goofy placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "Now while I'm gone, I want you to take care of the guard."
"Mhmm, yeah, alright."
"And look after Yué! I know you'd do anything for your friend, so I expect you to take special care of the princess as acting Captain of the Royal Guard."
"Of course." The only thing is, is that the princess wasn't going to be in the castle because she was currently stowing herself away on the Gummi Ship.
"Well, I guess I should let you two get going," Max said, beginning to back away from the ship as they prepared everything they would need for their journey. "I've got responsibilities now. Y'know, as Captain of the Guard and all. And I'm sure Yué is probably looking for me so I should go and find her. So uh, bye!" Max ran up the stairs and out into the gardens above the hangar.
Donald continued to tap his foot, watching as Max ran out of sight. "Does something seem fishy to you?"
Goofy chuffed, "Nope! Hyuck!" And the two boarded the Gummi Ship.
As Max stood in the garden watching the ship fly into the worlds between, he hoped that Yué was doing the right thing.
*3*
The following day on the Destiny Islands progressed very similarly to the previous one. The raft was nearly complete, so the majority of their day was spent collecting food. Lanri went about collecting the various tropical fruits that grew on the island. Sora could be found climbing trees and getting attacked by the seagulls when he tried to steal their eggs from their nest. Riku went fishing with a stick he had turned into a spear. Lastly left Kairi, who had tasked herself with the job of taking all of the supplies they had gathered and organizing them.
Around midday, Sora and Riku were itching to race, the prize being that the winner got the name the raft.
"I know you always win, but I know I've got it this time! I can feel it!" Sora exclaimed, readying himself to run as fast as he could.
Riku smirked, "Whatever you say, Sora."
Kairi and Lanri gave them the sound off, and the two boys took off towards their goal, a tree whose branches formed into the shape of a star. They started off a fairly similar pace, both running across a ramshackle little bridge that had been falling apart for as long as any of them could remember. Sora jumped over a group of planks that looked particularly unsteady while Riku chanced it and decided that they should be able to hold his weight. This turned out to be the wrong decision, as as soon as he stepped foot on them they collapsed and sent him tumbling into the shallow water underneath. Sora kept running and was soon out of sight over the sandbank while Riku still trudged out of the water.
A few minutes later, a shout of excitement was heard and Sora came sauntering back with a look of pride on his face.
"Well, a deals a deal. What're we naming the raft, Sora?" Riku asked, ringing out his silver hair over Lanri who gasped and lightly pushed him when she felt the droplets of water fall on her.
Sora grinned, "I want to call it Excalibur!"
"Isn't that the name of a sword?"
"Don't care. It's cool. My win, my rules."
Sora and Kairi ran off to go play elsewhere, leaving Lanri and Riku, who was still dripping all over his girlfriend.
"You let him win, didn't you?" Lanri asked, catching the water droplets on her fingers and flicking them back into his face.
"Maaaaaybe."
She hummed, "Well, how awfully sweet of you."
"Now can I have a prize?"
She giggled and pecked his cheek, "We'll see."
The rest of the day passed by without incident. The sun began to set, coming down to kiss the ocean in a beautiful orange hue. Lanri and Riku headed back before Kairi and Sora, who were content to sit on the dock and watch the day disappear.
"Don't out too long you two!" Lanri yelled, climbing into Riku's rowboat. He handed her an oar once she was settled and they worked in tandem to row back to the main island.
"We won't!" she heard them reply, and she watch as they waved her and Riku off.
Lanri relaxed in her room for a while, swinging on a hammock swing she had in the corner. She heard Sora come in, listening to the distorted voices as he talked to their mom. She was probably telling him that dinner would be ready soon, just like she had told Lanri when she had walked in the door. He didn't come to see her, and the door next to her own opened and she heard her brother wandering around inside. She smiled and relaxed, content to spend the rest of her time watching the streetlights slowly flicker to life outside her window.
Her time for relaxing was all too short, as soon she saw a storm brewing in the distance right over their island.
"The raft!" she exclaimed, quickly hopping out of her window and running towards the dock where she and her brother kept their boat. However; she was not as alone as she thought she would be as she watched Sora untie the rope that kept their boat from floating off.
"And just where do you think you're going?!" Lanri demanded, watching as her brother's eyes widened as he realized that he had been caught.
"Lanri! I was- The raft!"
"Not without me you're not!" she declared and quickly hopped into the boat. As Sora finished untieing them, she grabbed an oar and push them off of the shore and out into the water. Her brother grabbed ahold of the other oar, and they took off in the direction of the storm.
As soon as they reached the island, Lanri could tell that this was no ordinary storm. There was something altogether evil about it, and it all coalesced into a great dark ball in the sky. It sent a chill up her spine. They docked their boat, seeing that Riku and Kairi had also made it out to the island, and went off in search of their friends.
As soon as they set foot on the dock, the darkness manifested itself into small twitchy creatures with big glowing yellow eyes. Sora and Lanri were armed with nothing but their wooden sword and staff, which seemed to do no damage to these creatures when they would swing out at them to protect themselves.
"We have to find the others!" Lanri yelled, grabbing her brother's arm as they ran through the swarm and darkness. She chanced a glance in the direction of the paopu island and saw a figure standing there staring up in the darkness. Is that...? "Riku!" She dragged her brother along behind her as they ran for the bridge that connected to the smaller island, whacking her staff out in front of her to make a path through the sea of dark creatures.
"Riku! What's going on?! Where's Kairi" she yelled as she and Sora came to the edge of the bridge, the wind beginning to whip up around them and the ball of darkness continued to grow even larger.
"The door has opened," he replied, so quiet and somber that she could barely him over the wind.
"What?!"
"We can go now! To the outside world!"
Sora slung out his hand, "What're you talking about? We've got to find Kairi!"
"Kairi's coming with us! We may never see our parents again, but this may be our only chance. I'm not afraid of the darkness." Riku held out his hand and tendrils of darkness began to reach up to encompass him. He looked directly at Lanri, but what she saw frightened her to her very core. "Are you coming with me?"
Sora reached out for him, trying to drag him out of the evil pit, but Lanri grabbed his hand and pulled him back keeping him as far away from the darkness as she could.
"Where you're going is somewhere I won't let us follow," she said, holding her shoulders high as she watched her boyfriend steadily sink further into the abyss.
Riku shrugged, "Have it your way."
And then he was gone, the darkness swallowing him whole and bright light blinding Sora and Lanri as it protected them from the dark. When the light faded, Riku was gone and in Sora's hand was a large key.
"What is this?" she heard him whisper, only to silently answer his own question. "Keyblade." One of the creatures snuck behind him readying for an attack.
"Sora look out!' Lanri yelled, and he turned at her warning slashing through the creature and watching in wonder as the key went right through it. At least now one of them was armed.
"We have to find Kairi! Stay behind me!" Sora shouted, and although she wished she was the one protecting him she agreed that it was better that the one with the weapon lead them through the onslaught of creatures.
They made their way to the secret place, a small cave hidden by a veil of foliage near the spring that resided on the island. Once where there used to be a natural entrance in the rock now stood a door. The siblings opened the door and made their way further into the cave. Their Kairi stood, and when she turned to see them she didn't seem to be herself.
"Kairi!" Sora shouted, reaching out for his friend.
"Sora," muttered the girl, and then the wind blew through the cave sending Kairi right through them and into nonexistence. It then tossed the two siblings back through the door. When they stood, the islands were no longer there, and the only thing that remained was the small bit of land that they stood on, and a great dark monster who seemed to draw power from the sphere of evil above.
"This is just like my dream..." Sora whispered, holding the Keyblade out in front of him to defend his sister. "Don't worry Lanri! I'll protect you!"
The large dark creature attacked, alternating between summoning more of the small ones and shooting orbs of darkness out from its chest as well as holding darkness itself within its spindly fingers. Sora battled valiantly, almost as though he had done this before, attacking at its hands with his new weapon.
Lanri closed her eyes and wished she could be useful. She was the older sibling! She was the one who was supposed to be protecting him! And then she felt it within herself. A light that had always been there, but had never risen to the surface until now in the face of such a powerfully negative.
"Thunder!" she cried, and so lighting appeared, striking the monster just above the absence of its heart.
Sora looked back towards his sister in shock. She herself also seemed to be amazed at her own power. "How did you do that?!"
But there was no time for answering questions. The creature may have been defeated, but what remained of their home finally succumbed to the darkness, sending the siblings falling into the void.
And somewhere out in the worlds between, a princess who stowed herself away on a ship sat crying as she felt that another world had been lost.
*3*
I was in a good mood to write this today because I got to hang out with my brother, and one of the large themes in this series is the love between siblings! Good lord, this is so much longer than I thought it was going to be that I learned that once you reach a certain word count Google docs will no longer display it in the corner of the screen.
AnimeQueen82, you are a dear, and I absolutely love you for sticking it out with me this long
Random fact of the day: Yué's name was definitely stolen from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Yes, I am a thief, but I was 14 and I needed a name that had something to do with the moon because it's plot-relevant.
Thanks for reading! Hopefully, I can get another chapter up sometime this coming weekend. If not I don't know when. I literally sit and play through the game while I write this so it's also just an excuse to play Kingdom Hearts... again.
I hope you all have a wonderful start to your week!
-Boo Xx
Also nonspon, but shoutout to Grammarly for making sure I remember how English works.
Also also, idk whats up with the formatting. I tried to fix it but me.