Hand in Hand
Disclaimer: KH ain't mine! You should know that by now!
Pre-story note: I hope a few people are still reading this. *sobs*
Chapter V: Destiny Islands
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"Hey, you lazy bum, wake UP!"
What? Sora thought, confused. I thought this scene was already over.
He felt somebody poking him on the shoulder again. When he opened his eyes, huge blue eyes looked back at him.
"AH!" he screamed in surprise. "Kairi?!"
It was Kairi, all right. In full costume. In her purple skirt, her black shirt, her white-and-purple tank top and purple clogs again.
"Yeah, it's me, you lazy bum. Who else?" she said, still giggling. "I knew I'd find you snoozing down here."
Snoozing… where? Sora took one look around… and saw that he wasn't in his hotel room, like he was expecting when he'd wake up. He was on
"The Island? Destiny Island?! What am I doing… home?" he thought, confused. "Wait… I'm wearing the huge yellow shoes again… Uh-oh…"
"Hey, are you still dreaming? You look a bit confused."
Sora shook his head. "Oh, uh…" At that point, he knew he was in the movie again. "This huge, black thing swallowed me up, and—"
"Yeah, sure," Kairi said, cutting him off.
Sora tried to test his theory. "Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up?"
"I've told you before, I don't remember." Exact same lines on the script.
"Nothing at all?"
"Nothing." Definitely.
"You… ever wanna go back?"
"Well, I'm happy here. But you know, I wouldn't mind going to see it!" Kairi replied, beaming.
At that point, Sora was too dumbfounded with what's happening around him that he didn't say anything else to Kairi. She looked at him weirdly.
"You know what Sora, you're acting strangely today. C'mon! The other worlds are waiting! Let's go see them all!" She took his hand to help him stand up.
"Hey, aren't you guys forgetting about me?"
Sora closed his eyes and mumbled, "Oh, don't tell me, it's Riku carrying a log, right?"
Riku, who was indeed carrying a log, heard this and was surprised. "Hm, how'd you know? So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft," he told them with a ridiculous tone.
He threw the log at Sora. Sora did catch it… but it was really heavy so he fell. "And you're just as lazy as he is!"
"Oh, so you noticed," Kairi said, smiling sheepishly. "Okay, so we'll finish it together. I'll race you!"
"Huh?" Oh no, he's supposed to run now. Not when he's just been knocked out by a bunch of thugs. But, feeling his forehead, he noted that the bump he's supposed to have wasn't there…
"What, are you kidding?" Riku said.
"Ready? Go!"
Riku looked at Sora, challenging him within a quick second. Thinking that he had no other choice, Sora instantly stood up and ran alongside Riku, with Kairi running right behind them both.
Of course, Riku won. But only because Sora wasn't in the competitive mood that he's really supposed to be in. And oh, because he was wearing those big yellow shoes again.
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I'm in this dream world again! I don't believe it! And just when Riku had me convinced that all this was a harmless dream…
After Kairi told me to pick up the things for the raft (Logs, cloth and rope…) I kept pinching myself as I walked. But, I didn't wake up, even though my arms started to hurt pretty badly.
This was Destiny Island all right, but not the one I belong to. This was Riku's Destiny Island, in a sense that everything was as he had written it (and as I remembered from the script...). Tidus was 'swatting at flies' in his hangout, Wakka was standing by the beach, and Selphie was sitting on the dock and staring at the waves. I even challenged the three of them to fight me, and I let myself get hit by Tidus repeatedly on the head with his toy sword, but still, I didn't wake up. I eventually had to give up because the pain didn't get me anywhere. I just gathered all the things Kairi needed, and she gave me a Hi-Potion in return. (It was a fascinating thing to look at, actually.)
"So, are you tired? Wanna call it a day?" she asked me. I just nodded. Wakka's posse had beaten me up pretty badly.
"Ok. It's getting late. We'll finish up tomorrow."
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Later on, Kairi, Riku and Sora were sitting by the Paopu Tree, watching the sunset. Sora looked at them and concluded that this was a thing that the three of them do everyday.
"So, Kairi's home… is out there somewhere, right?" I bet he's gonna say something like, 'we'll never know by staying here.'
"Could be. We'll never know by staying here."
"But how far could a raft take us?" Creepy. It's like I can read his mind or something.
"Who knows. If we have to, we'll think of something else," Riku replied, shrugging.
"So, suppose we get to another world. What would you do there?" Hmm…
"Well, I haven't really thought about it. It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds... Then ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?" Riku's still a big thinker.
Sora tried not to say, "I don't know," because it was getting creepy that he knew what the others were going to say. Maybe if he said something else? "Uh… I think that… uh… If there are other worlds out there… there'd be other people there, right? Then we'd look different, like we'd be… uh… merpeople or zombies!" Damn, that sounded dumb. But as far as I can remember, it's true for this universe I'm in.
Kairi and Riku looked at him strangely. But, Riku, as usual, shrugged. "That's why we need to go out there and find out. Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff," He looked at them directly. I guess I can't change anything at this point.
"So… let's go." I guess I can't change anything at this point.
"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked. This must be where he starts conspiring for something.
"Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here, I probably would have never thought of any of this." Hey… I didn't notice how intense he looks at Kairi.
"Kairi, thanks." I don't like it one bit.
Kairi giggled uneasily. "You're welcome…"
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A few more minutes of staring at the sinking sun, and then we started heading for our own houses. I hope my house in THIS Destiny Island is the same as my own back in MY Destiny Island.
"Sora," called Riku. He tossed a star-shaped thingy at me. I only recognized it after I barely caught it. "You wanted one, didn't you?"
"A Paopu fruit…" What else could I say? Up to know, I still couldn't figure out why Riku (whichever Riku, that is) would think that I had wanted one.
"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives, no matter what." And after hearing that line so many times, I still didn't get how sharing one tiny fruit would intertwine destinies and whatever else.
He saw me looking awkwardly at the fruit. He smiled. "C'mon, I know you want to try it."
"Naw," I just said. He laughed and ran ahead.
I also never figured out why Riku would just challenge me to share Paopu with someone else… What, did he want to see me gather up the guts to ask Kairi or Selphie to share this with me? Or did he want to share this with me?! (Eeew!) Oh well.
I thought about throwing the fruit away, like I was supposed to do… but, I pocketed it when Riku was out of sight.
Maybe then I'll answer the age-old question: If Paopu fruit tastes like banana, watermelon or mango. Since none of us at home had the guts to eat Paopu before, we've always fought about it… Now I have a chance to know. Problem is, I don't know who to share this with…
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Baaaah! Is anyone still reading this?! Oh well… I'll still continue this… despite being unappreciated… *sobs dramatically… or something like that* Just kidding! Don't review if you don't want to, I just wanna know if anyone's reading this at all, so I'll know if all my efforts are seen.
Oh yeah, sorry if this chapter is rushed. I was supposed to finish and revise this today, but there was no power for the whole day! And, I'm in a hurry to finish at least half of this story before the month ends, because once graduation comes, it's all the college-y stuff from there. (Urgh!) I'll edit this someday if it needs editing… Oi…
Preview of next chapter: Still on Destiny Islands, the Heartless comes, and our friend Darkside makes another cameo! I'd like to think that it's gunna be a good chappy because, well, Sora and Riku would have a 'moment' there… (AIE! Slash! No, people, whether you like it or not, no slash is gonna plague my fic!) Okay, buh-bye! Til next I update, and we shall meet again! And again! And again…