The First Journey.
Chapter Four: Last Day at Destiny Islands.
(Twenty Minutes Later; With Sora)
"Okay, I almost got everything Kairi instructed me to get on this list," Sora muttered, holding a piece of paper in one hand and a pen in the other, which the latter was used to cross out one of the things she needed to collect for the departure. She was currently sitting at the edge of the raised platform where she and Riku departed, taking a small break from scourging around the play-island. "But why do I have to do this all by myself? It would take a few minutes to collect the supplies we need and all of us can spend the rest of time recollecting memories of the play-island before we depart the next morning."
For the last twenty minutes since she went to talk to Kairi, Sora had been walking around the play-island to collect the supplies she was tasked to get and it was going surprising well, except for catching fish. Those little things were fast as hell! She gave up trying to catch one after the fifth attempt and was left in a bad mood as she walked out of the ocean. Sora didn't take the piece of paper Kairi gave her into the water but left it near her shoes.
Sora's bad mood increased when some of the kids on the play-island laughed at the sight of her being drenched in sea water. Oh, how she so wanted to grab a wooden sword and beat the hell out of them for laughing at her; doing so would release the great deal of frustration she had from trying to catch fist, but she decided against it since beating the kids up wouldn't satisfy her. So, instead of doing she wanted to do, the brunette just walked away, not before giving the kids a piercing look that made them freeze in fear.
Luckily, Sora was almost done with collecting the things she needed to get so that she can leave the play-island. She needed to collect three mushrooms and drinking water that's not from the ocean. Drinking water from the ocean is not the best thing to drink. It was easy to do the last one since there was a few waterfalls on the island, producing clean water to drink, but it was hard to do the first one. Mushrooms rarely grow on islands and Sora really wasn't interested of eating them. They could be poisonous, for god's sake!
Unfortunately, the brunette had no choice but to find three mushrooms since Kairi wouldn't change her mind about it, though it's more of a 'do what I say or die' sort of thing. The red-hair woman can be scary if anyone disobeyed her, and Sora learned the hard way when she last disobeyed her. Trying not think about those memories since it still scared her, Sora set off to find the three mushrooms.
A stroke of pure luck seemed to shine upon Sora because she was able to find two mushrooms on the play-island. One was hidden in a small cave by the raft, which she had to push a huge boulder out of the way in order to get to it, and the other was next to the wooden watch tower in a pile of bushes. The last mushroom was difficult to find because she had searched everywhere on the island and by everywhere, she meant everywhere, including places she never thought she had to look in.
But no matter how hard she looked, Sora couldn't find the last mushroom and she was starting to get angry, which was causing her to let out this reaction.
"Ugh! I'm getting pissed from trying to find that last mushroom!" Sora exclaimed, releasing a heavy sigh of frustration and annoyance. "How hard can it be to find the last mushroom? Apparently, that hard!" She released another sigh before collapsing backwards so that she can stare at the blue sky with a half tired, half annoyed look on her face. "I'm just going have to face defeat and tell Kairi I can't find the last mushroom. Two mushrooms are enough, but I don't want to see the look of disappointment on her face."
The thought of disappointing Kairi almost made Sora cringed in shame. She didn't want to disappoint her; she just wanted to make the red-hair woman understand that she couldn't find the last mushroom. But the buxom brunette can tell her words would just make Kairi upset, so she decided to think of a place where the last mushroom would be. After a few moments of thinking, the place where the mushroom could be popped into Sora's head, a place she hadn't decided to look when walking around the play-island: The Secret Place.
'Why would the last mushroom I'm looking for be in the Secret Place?' Sora thought with a frown on her face, rising her upper body off the ground so that she can be in a sitting position. 'Even though mushrooms grow in dark places, I was planning to visit the Secret Place last when I was done collecting my memories of the play-island. But since I don't want to disappoint Kairi, there will be a slight change of plans, so I better start heading towards the Secret Place.' Releasing another sigh, Sora stood up and began heading towards the Secret Place.
It took Sora less than a minute to get to the Secret Place's entrance, which wasn't much of a distance walking. It was in-between the wooden treehouse and a water pod with two waterfalls. The entrance of the Secret Place was a small cave that leads into a dark tunnel and at the end of the tunnel was the Secret Place itself. Due to her height, Sora had to get on all fours to crawl through the tunnel, which gave a wonderous view of her ass if anyone was looking in her direction and no one noticed, much to her great relief.
"Even though I come in here all the time and not being afraid of the dark anymore, I still can't get over the fact how scary it is," Sora mused to herself with a slight shiver, as she continued to crawl through the dark tunnel on all fours. "And instead of adding lights to the place, me, Riku and Kairi kept it dark. I think it was because I noticed the cave first when I was a little girl and made sure no one else knew about it. Either way, it's still scary."
When Sora reached the end of the dark tunnel and entered the large cave, she stood up from the ground to wipe the dirt off her hands and legs before looking around with a soft smile on her face. She can see all the doodles and drawings the Destiny Trio made when they were kids, with some of them being shape like birds or monsters. Some drawings were hidden behind tree roots that she had to move around to see. A chuckle left Sora's mouth when she saw a particular drawing of a knight saving a princess from a dragon. She was sure Kairi made that drawing since she wasn't into fairy tales. She was into them at one time, but she wasn't into no more.
As Sora continued to look at the doodles and drawings, something caught her attention at the corner of her eye and when she looked over to see what it was, her soft smile changed into a suspicious frown. One of the strangest things about the Secret Place was the wooden door, shape like an arch, that was on the opposite side. There was no handle on it, indicate no one can open the door, and no hinges for support. Yet, it was standing straight up with no hinges.
Sora didn't like the wooden door at all since there was something about it that makes her very wary, almost to the point she made sure to never go near the door without carrying a wooden sword to protect herself. There was a sense of sinister and evil aura radiating off the door and she did not want to know what's behind it; she wanted to be as far away as possible. Just looking at the wooden door gives Sora a dark sense of foreboding.
'Keep calm, Sora, keep calm,' Sora thought to herself, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself and wiping the cold sweat that appeared on her face. 'This will be the last time you see the wooden door, probably for good. You came in here to not only recollect memories but find the last mushroom. Look for the mushroom first.' Sora gave the large cave a single swept of her sharp eyes and let out a triumph laugh when she spotted the mushroom. It was standing next to a large tree root. 'Ha! Found ya!'
Sora walked over to the mushroom, got down on one knee, gently picked up the mushroom and put it in her pocket. She was about to stand up and take another look around at the doodles and drawings in the cave when she looked up to see a drawing that made her paused. The drawing in front of her consisted of two faces facing each other with smiles. The face on the right with spiky hair was a boy and the face on the left with long hair was a girl.
Sora instantly recognized what this drawing was and couldn't help but smile tearfully at it. This drawing was very special to her, and she would always cherish it in her heart forever. It was not only the very first drawing in the Special Place, but the drawing of Sora's and Riku's feelings to each other. Of course, it was a simple like you each other at first because they were kids, but as years passed and puberty hit, the feelings became love and passionate.
'I will never forget this drawing at all, not even when I die or lose my memories,' Sora thought, as she gently placed a hand on the drawing, as if she was going to caressed it like petting a little kitten. She was closed to her breaking point of letting the tears in her eyes fall. 'This will always be in my heart forever, and I will never forget the day when we confessed our feelings to each other, nor even when we drew this drawing. As I thought before, me and Riku will always be together, even if we get lost or separated…and I would make sure I'll never let him go down a dark path. No matter what happens to us, Riku, I will always love you.'
That was the last straw for Sora to keep the tears in bay. As soon as she thought of that last part, the tears in her eyes began flowing down her face like a river and onto the ground, but these weren't sad tears. They were happy tears. She was crying from achieving what she always wanted when growing up: Becoming Riku's girlfriend. The silver-hair man was everything to Sora and she was not going to lose him to another woman. She'd be damned if that happened.
Sora may not know long she was crying but she didn't care since she was having a private moment to herself. What she was doing before was put on hold when she entered the Secret Place; this place was special to her and she was not going to let Kairi scold her of being late than usual. If that happened, Sora was going to shove every supply she found on the play-island up Kairi's as-
Sora's thought was interrupted when she sensed something behind her, forcing her to quickly wipe her tear-stained face with her hands before schooling her features into a sharp look and swiftly turning around while standing up.
"Who's there?" Sora demanded, her voice harsh and cold. "Show yourself!"
For a moment, Sora thought her senses were playing on her, making a fool of herself, but that was proven false when a figure stepped out of shadows. She couldn't tell if the figure was a man or woman since it was wearing a long brown robe with a hood concealing its face, but that didn't mean she was dropping her guard. "Who are you?"
"I have come to see the door to this world." The figure spoke in a deep voice, indicating it was a male. He had ignored Sora's question.
'The door to this world?' Sora repeated what the hooded figure said in her mind with a confused frown, while not taking her eyes off him. 'What does that mean?'
"This world has been connected." The hooded figure continued talking.
"Connected to what?"
"Tied to the darkness…soon to be completely eclipsed."
Sora doesn't understand what the hooded figure was talking about. Tied to the darkness? About to be eclipsed? What did those mean?
"Well, whoever you are, buddy, you're sure picking the wrong person to mess with. I do not tolerate people sneaking up on me, especially perverts! Are you a pervert?!" Sora demanded, getting into a fighting stance.
"I am not a pervert, you foolish girl!" The hooded figure hissed, his deep voice filled with dark rage that caused Sora's pale-white skin to pale dramatically and back up against the rock wall, losing her fighting stance along the way. Whoever this stranger was, he was definitely not a person to mess with at all. The hooded figure took a breath to calm himself. "You may not know what lies beyond the door but you're starting to sense the aura."
"S-s-so, you're from a-another world?" Sora asked with a bit of stutter in her voice, wanting anything in the world to make this stranger disappeared. The cold sweat from before was appearing on her forehead, her heart was beating faster, and she was shaking from fear. She hated being seen as a weak person; she was supposed to be a strong person with confidence. Yet, how can she be a strong person if this stranger before her was reducing her to such a weak state?
The hooded figure ignores Sora's question. "There is so much for you to learn, little girl. You understand so little about worlds and the dangers in them."
"Are you saying I'm not good enough to travel to other worlds?" Sora demanded, losing her fear and sending a death glare at the hooded figure. "Because if you are, then I'm going prove you wrong that I'm good enough to travel to worlds! I'm going to go and learned about them with my best friend and boyfriend! And my name is Sora!"
"A meaningless effort for someone who has selfish desires."
"Selfish?! I do not have selfish desires! I have reasons why I want to see other worlds!" Sora shrieked, getting angrier from what the hooded figure was saying. She did not have selfish desires! She had reasons of leaving the islands! With some of them being personal to her.
"I find that hard to believe, little girl."
"It's Sora!"
"One knows nothing about worlds can not understand nothing, even ones who do know about worlds," The hooded figure said, ignoring Sora's retort of her name. "If you do manage to get to another world, can you handle the dangers in them? Can you learn about the differences between worlds and this world you live in? Can you protect your friends? Can you even protect yourself? If you can't, then you are nothing but a weak girl."
That weak girl comment was the last straw for Sora's anger. She didn't know who this stranger was, but there was no way in hell she was going let him talk to her like that. She would not permit it. Letting out a scream of anger, Sora rushed towards the hooded figure with a fist cocked back to punch him, But when she got closed enough and sent her fist out, the stranger took a single step back and vanished into the shadows, much to her great shock. The brunette tried to pull her hand back but it collided painfully against the rock wall, making her released a cry of pain.
"Son of a bitch, that hurt!" Sora cursed, shaking her hand back and forth to ease the pain. Why did she tried to punch the stranger when she could've just kicked him? Once the pain was gone, she began letting out an angry rant. "Who does that bastard think he is?! Telling me I'm not good enough to travel to other worlds and have selfish desires when I don't?! Well, I'll show him! I'll show him that I'm good enough to travel to other worlds!" She spent the next few minutes ranting out about proving the stranger wrong when she suddenly remembered an important fact, causing her rant to put on hold. "Wait a minute, how does he know about worlds? Is he really from another world?"
The idea of meeting someone from another world excited Sora, but her excitement diminished when she remembered the hooded figure and his monologue. If she was honest with herself, that man proved to be a jerk and a weirdo…yet she couldn't help but think about the words he said.
'I have come to see the door to this world."
"This world has been connected."
"Tied to the darkness…soon to be completely eclipsed."
"You may not know what lies beyond the door but you're starting to sense the aura."
"There is so much for you to learn, little girl. You understand so little about worlds and the dangers in them."
"A meaningless effort for someone who has selfish desires."
"One who knows nothing about worlds can not understand nothing, even ones who do know about worlds. If you do manage to get to another world, can you handle the dangers in them? Can you learn about the differences between worlds and this world you live in? Can you protect your friends? Can you even protect yourself? If you can't, then you are nothing but a weak girl."
'What did all of those words mean?' Sora thought, crossing her arms over her chest and put on a thoughtful look on her face. "They must have a meaning to them because I can slightly understand some of them, but I'm confused as hell for the rest of them. What did he mean about this world being connected to the darkness and soon to be eclipsed? Is it going to vanish?' Despite her wanting to get away from the islands so that she can never come back again, Sora didn't want her home to vanish. She wasn't that much of a cruel person. 'And what did he mean about me sensing the door's aura? Does he know what's behind the door? Is there some kind of evil lurking behind it?'
Sora sent a very suspicious glare at the wooden door that's inside the Secret Place, wondering what it really was while hoping it can never open. Deciding to do something very stupid, the brunette walked over to wooden door, hesitantly placed both her hands in the middle and gave it a light push.
The door did not open.
Frowning a bit, Sora gave the wooden door another light push and it did not opened. It just stood there, looking eerily. Releasing a sigh of annoyance, the brunette took her hands off the door, took a few steps backwards and proceeded to stare at the door with unblinking eyes. But after a few moments, another sigh of annoyance left her mouth.
'You're being stupid and ridiculous, Sora,' Sora thought to herself, shaking her head. 'That guy was probably messing with your head, trying to confuse you. There's nothing bad going to happened when me, Riku and Kairi depart the next morning and the islands won't vanished into darkness. The wooden door will not even open; it will stay shut forever.' Despite what she thought, Sora still gave the wooden door another suspicious look. 'And I'll make sure it stays that way by covering the entrance to the Secret Place. I'm not going to let anyone in here so that they can examine the door. I better go do that now before I hand over the rest of the supplies to Kairi.'
Sora proceeded to crawl out of the large cave to find something to cover the entrance of the Secret Place, not before looking around the doodles and drawings one last time with a very soft, yet sad, look on her face. She was going to miss this place. It means so much to her, Kairi and her boyfriend; they had been in here during most of their childhood and to leave it behind made a sad feeling appeared in Sora's heart. She was going to have no choice but to deal with the sad feelings for a while since she was basically leaving everything she knew behind.
Covering the Secret Place's entrance wasn't hard to do since Sora found a green sailcloth to blend in with the green bushes, but it took some careful timing so that none of the kids can see what she was doing. As she thought before, she was not going to let one of the kids examine the wooden door. Once she was done with covering the entrance, Sora proceeded to head over to where Kairi is and hand her the rest of the supplies she found. Kairi was annoyed that Sora took longer to find the supplies than usual but didn't say anything as she took them and placed them near the storage place where the other supplies are.
Soon, the sun began setting down in the horizon and every kid that was on the play-island began heading home, except for Sora and Kairi. Both women were sitting at the edge of the wooden docks, staring at the sunset with their legs swinging back and forth. Silence reigned over them as they were lost in their own thoughts.
Kairi was thinking about the big day that was about to happened tomorrow and couldn't help but feel giddy about it. She was leaving the islands with her best friends to go see if her real home was out there, along with other worlds. She was going see all the worlds!
Sora, on the other hand, was thinking about the encounter she had in the Secret Place and couldn't help but shuddered a bit. That stranger was terrifying as hell, but she was still thinking about the words he said. There was no way Destiny Islands would fall to darkness, right? It was absurd, laughable, a horrible joke for a terrible prank…but why did she get the feeling that the stranger was telling the truth?
"You want to know something strange, Sora?" Kairi suddenly asked, breaking the silence and Sora's thoughts.
"What is it, Kairi?" Sora asked, turning towards the red-hair woman.
"Riku has changed over the years."
Sora was confused from what Kairi said. How had Riku changed over the years? He was still the same as both she and Kairi know. "Change how?"
"Have you ever seen him that determined to leave the islands? I may not know Riku as long as you have, Sora, but I've never seen him having much determination to build the raft, even coming up with ideas of what to do if we get to a new world. Do you have any idea or reason what inspired him to go with this idea?"
Sora didn't reply to Kairi's question but gazed at the sunset with an unreadable look on her face, which was hiding the surprised look she wanted to show.
As a matter of fact, Sora does know the reason why Riku wanted to build the raft and see other worlds. It was because of a promise he made to a male visitor on the play-island when they were little kids. Riku thought he was doing a good job of hiding the promise, but Sora had been listening into the conversation and kept it to herself since she wasn't going to blab the information around. She respected Riku's privacy. However, just because she knows about the promise, it didn't mean she was going to tell Kairi about it, so she would have to lay her words out in a gentle tone, while hoping she wasn't offending the red-hair woman.
"You could say I know the reason why Riku came up with the raft idea, Kairi," Sora finally said, not taking her eyes off the sunset. "But I'm afraid it's not my place to say. It's kind of a personal thing to him and he doesn't know that I also know about it. If you want to know, you're going have to ask Riku about it."
"Oh," Kairi looked disappointed of Sora's answer.
"I'm sorry, Kairi, I didn't mean to offend you," Sora said, turning her head to look at Kairi and placing a hand on her shoulder. "Riku doesn't want anyone to know about the reason why he's building the raft and he's been working hard lately. When the time is right, he will tell us about it."
"I can understand Riku not telling me about his determination of building the raft, but not you, Sora," Kairi stated, feeling small tears appearing at the corner of her blue-violet eyes. "Why can't you tell me about it? Is it because I'm new to this group? Am I not trustworthy enough to keep a secret? Am I just a stupid girl?"
"No, Kairi, that's not what I'm saying about you!" Sora hastily said, pulling the red-hair woman into a hug. "You are trustworthy to keep a secret, a great friend to me and Riku and definitely not a stupid girl. I just don't want anyone to know about the reason. I have to respect Riku's privacy." The brunette broke the embrace and gently cup Kairi's face with both hands. "If our positions were different, would you tell me Riku's secret?"
Kairi took a moment to think about Sora's question and realized that she was right. She would never tell Sora about the reason why Riku made the raft if he told her. She would've respect Riku's privacy. "No, I wouldn't tell you, Sora, not if I knew about it."
Sora smiled and gave Kairi another hug. "I'm glad you see my point of view, Kairi."
Kairi also smiled and hugged Sora back. "Yeah…"
Another silence reigned over the two women as they stopped embracing each other and stared at the sunset again with smiles on their faces.
"Hey, Sora?" Kairi asked, breaking the silence once again.
"Hmm?" Sora hummed, indicating she was listening.
"Let's take the raft and head to the other worlds without Riku, just you and me. Us girls need to stick together."
"What?" Sora asked, startled from what Kairi just said. Take the raft and head to other worlds without Riku? That's a terrible idea!
"Hehe, just kidding!"
"What's gotten into you, Kairi? You're the one who's changing like Riku."
"Maybe…" Kairi replied, her smile faltering a bit. She probably won't admit it, but she totally felt out of place in the Destiny Trio group. Sora and Riku had been friends when they were kids, and she came into the picture later. As the years passed on, her view of them had changed from friends to older siblings she never had before. They were always there for her, something that made Kairi happy, but she could see the affection they had for each other, which made her a third wheel. She was wondering if there was someone out there for her.
"You okay, Kairi?" Sora asked with concerned in her voice.
"I'm fine, I was just thinking about the big day tomorrow." Kairi lied, not planning to tell Sora about what she was thinking.
Sora brought the lie, much to Kairi's relief. "I was thinking about that as well. Tomorrow will be the day we depart from islands and go see other worlds. I can't wait to see them all!"
"I will admit that I was scared of leaving the islands at first," Kairi said, remembering the time she was afraid of leaving the islands when Riku told her and Sora about making a raft to travel to other worlds. "But now…I'm ready. I'm ready to leave the islands and set off to see other worlds. No matter where I am, what I see or what I do, I can always come back here to the islands, right?" She turned her head to face Sora for confirmation.
"Of course," Sora replied with a nod of her head, even though she had a slight strain smile on her face. Why is Kairi seriously insisted of seeing the islands as her home? She was about to set off tomorrow to find her real home with her friends.
"That's great," Kairi nodded and turn back towards the sunset. "Sora, whatever happens in the worlds we visit, don't ever changed from what you are. Promise me that you will always be yourself."
"Don't worry, I will never change, Kairi," Sora assured the red-hair woman. "I will always be myself."
'I hope it stays that way,' Kairi thought, as she stood up and placed her hands behind her back, while not taking her eyes off the sunset. 'I can't bear to see Sora acting like a different person.'
"I just can't wait until tomorrow morning, Sora," Kairi said quietly. "Once we set sail, it will be great…"
"Yeah…and it will be the start of our journey," Sora also said quietly, reaching a hand out towards the sunset, as if to grab it. "I can't wait until we set sail tomorrow. No matter what happens to us, we three will always be a part of each other because of our friendship bond…" She closed her fist around the sun and pulled it back to examine it. "And nothing can break that bond."
If only Sora and Kairi knew that they would never have the chance to set sail tomorrow.
Alright, the Last Day at Destiny Islands finale part chapter is done. I will be combining the two part chapter in just a few weeks. I hope this makes up for the long wait.
I have something I want to say, and it involves with the Destiny Trio's heights. I didn't like the heights I made in the beginning because I just realized, after doing a bit of research, the heights they have are exactly the same as the game canon. I didn't like that, so I decided to change the heights. Sora's height will be 5'7, Riku's height will be 5'9 and Kairi's height will be 5'5. I did come up with Sora's and Kairi's height and edited the second chapter because of it, but not Riku's since I wasn't sure what height he should be. But now, I gotten the height idea.
Also, another I want to say is about the promise Sora was talking about with Kairi. Normally, she wouldn't remember what the promise was because some kids tend to forget childhood memories, but since I'm making a story where Sora is more intelligent instead of being dense and naive, she would remember what the promise was, including meeting Aqua and making a promise to her. It may sound dumb at first, but when I create more chapters and explain more, you'll understand.
Anyway, that's all what I wanted to say. I'm sorry for the long wait and hope you guys enjoy the chapter.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: The Storm.