F R A G M E N T S. chapter five: selphie
The brunette hurried, half-falling into the water as she jumped out of her rowboat, tying it up against the dock with nimble fingers. The sky was slowly darkening, afternoon fading away into twilight, and the children on the island were one-by-one scurrying home. Their mothers would want them back in time for dinner. They shot her odd looks as she passed by - older kids weren't supposed to come to the island - but the expressions weren't as sulky as they should have been.
So it was true. Someone else had come this way. Selphie had been buying her groceries on the main island when a murmur had risen up in the other customers, and she turned just in time to see a black-clad figure rush by. There was only one person with silver hair who would ever come to the Destiny Islands, but the prospect of him returning was so... so ludicrous, that she didn't believe her eyes at first.
But still.... the Tilmitt girl had fumbled then, hurriedly paying for her food. The cashier had seemed set on starting up some gossip that day, and she only broke free a few moments later. The sixteen-year-old ran down the street, dropping the groceries outside her parents' apartment - not like anyone would steal them - and down into the neighbourhood, only to see nothing. She loped past Sora's old house, and on instinct headed for Kairi's. She was rewarded then, green eyes catching a man going through the bungalow's backyard.
He was much taller than her, however, and long legs carried him quickly down to the beach. By the time she reached the sands, he was disappearing to the island with Kairi's rowboat.
Selphie had thrown a little fit, dancing around and cursing, before rushing further downshore to find her own boat. By the time she had gotten it dragged out, emptied out the water (with a bit more yelling besides), and lectured herself for not putting the tarpaulin on last night.... By then, she estimated the man was already on the island.
So she hurried.
As she walked along the sands, she looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the stranger again. But the effort seemed more and more futile as she tried. She glanced up at the paopu tree hopefully, only to find it empty. Frustrated, Selphie stopped by the waterfall, slowly swiveling in a circle, wondering where he could have gone.
Her eye landed on the entrance to the secret place. It could have been her imagination, but she fancied the leaves were a bit askew. And... well... no one but the old gang knew about that place. Admittedly, it belonged to Sora, Kairi, and Riku. But it's not like the others hadn't noticed that it existed. They just chose not to intrude, out of politeness.
And none of the kids nowadays had found it. They thought they were so daring and adventurous, but they didn't know half of the secrets of the island. So that left only...
She pushed through the blanket of leaves, and sped her way down the tunnel on her hands and knees. As she rounded the bend and came out into the cavern, she found him.
It was Riku. It had to be. But he was a lot bigger than she remembered - though Selphie had always been small for her age - and wearing that odd black outfit. And, at the moment, he was crumpled in a little pile on the floor. She had never seen him cry before.
"Um.... Riku?" she said hesitantly, fidgeting with the bracelets around her left wrist. Now that she had found him, she was at a loss of what to do.
He choked, slowly unfolding and unwrapping his arms from his knees. He turned to look at her, catlike eyes red-rimmed. It was him.
"... Selphie?"
Riku's voice was rough, as if unused to speaking. She looked him over again, puzzling over his scars, over the nasty cut across his face. Where had he been for so long?
But in the meantime, she smiled. "Yup, s' me. What's up?"
Her old friend shook his head, long hair falling into his eyes. The hair was much longer than she remembered, thick and mane-like now. He had a blindfold tied around his neck, though he seemed to have forgotten about it.
"'What's up'?" he repeated incredulously. "Everything's gone wrong, but all of a sudden, here you are. And you say 'what's up'." His voice faltered occasionally, croaking and rasping over certain words. She felt utterly uncomfortable. She had never really been at her best around Riku. He made her uneasy, even more so when he was like this.
The girl crouched down beside him. "Sorry," she said carefully. "I'm just, uh, kind of... I dunno what to say. Where have you been?"
Riku scrubbed at his eyes with the back of one hand, and she saw anger flash behind his eyes. Humiliated because she caught him crying, or just mad at her in general? No way to tell. Kairi was the one that understood him, not Selphie.
"Where's Sora?" he asked bluntly, ignoring her question. "Where's Kairi?" he demanded again. Selphie did a mental humph at his rudeness, and wondered whether she should answer or not. She looked again at the livid scars across his cheek, and the intensity of his stare, and decided she probably had to answer the question.
"I haven't seen Sora in four years. He never came back, the same as you."
Riku spat out a curse, eyes crushing shut. His hands dug into the earth, and he trembled, before finally recovering. His entire body seemed tense, strung out and rippling with every single emotion that crossed his mind. For the third time, she wondered what had happened to him to cause this.
"His mom packed up three years ago, and moved back to the capital," she continued.
He slowly let out a quivering breath. "And Kairi?"
"Um, like usual. But tonight she went over to the mainland. There's a carnival going over in the town, and she wanted to join the party."
Riku sighed again, but this time he visibly relaxed. A weight seemed to have slid off his shoulders. "So she's safe. But what happened to Sora? Why isn't he here?"
The brunette shrugged, bouncing uneasily on her heels. "I don't know, Riku. She doesn't tell me much about what happened at the end of your great big adventure. But you didn't come back either, so what's so odd about Sora?"
He leaned back, resting his weight on his hands, and looked up at the hole in the ceiling. Dusk was fully settling in now, the clouds turning a dark blue-purple as the sunset neared.
"He promised he would take care of her."