DUSTIE: Welp, nobody (except Chelea :P) has reviewed, but I'll post another chapter anyway! Hopefully I'll get lucky!

KINGDOM COME Chapter Three

The three of them sat in silence for a moment, thinking.

Rina was sure it was a sign of something to come. That dream was trying to tell them something. If only Jo could see what she meant. The three of them wouldn't just have the same weird dream on the same night if it weren't important. And somehow they'd all wound up in Tidus' room at them exact same time, wide-awake and frightened. Rina looked back on the dream; what the curious voice had told her, piecing it all together. She thought it was the sign of some dangerous adventure to come.

Tidus was thinking along the same lines. His sister could be so stubborn; she couldn't believe things unless she could see them; reach out and touch them. Yes, he admitted, it was strange and it could just be a coincidence, but he honestly didn't think it was. It was too weird. Falling through fire? Why had he fallen through fire, Rina through water, and Jo through darkness? Each element represented them in a way; he had an internal flame, a passion for life. And Rina? She was like the water in so many ways; she was peaceful, unpredictable, cool. But Jo. Darkness…?

Jo yawned. She was tired and wanted to go back to sleep, but that dream kept her thinking. Thinking hard. Her brother and best friend had a point, but she didn't want to believe it. It was just a stupid little dream. She yawned again and turned to face Rina and Tidus.

"Guys, I think we should just get some sleep," she mumbled. "I'm dead tired and I wanna go to bed. Maybe if we cool off and calm ourselves down, this will make more sense to us in the morning."

Rina nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But, can you please think about what we're saying?"

"Will do," Jo replied. "Now, go get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Rina waved goodbye and climbed out the window, swiftly climbing down the rope ladder that hung from Tidus' window.

"I don't know why she just doesn't use the door," Tidus muttered, lying back down and pulling the covers up over his head. "Night, Jo."

"Night." She yawned and headed back to her room, shutting the door behind her and flipping on her lamp. She didn't sleep in the light well, but she didn't want to see those shadows; lurking in the corner, waiting. So maybe the dream scared her more than she led on…

Rina walked back to her house and jumped in her bedroom window. Her parents always told her to use the door, but she liked climbing better. Jo had a point; she too was tired. Then again, it was midnight. Almost 1:00 now, she realized, glancing at the clock on her end table before snuggling down under the covers. She stared at the little red numbers as they burned themselves in her brain. They went blurry, and before she knew it her eyes snapped shut and she was dreaming again.

She was having a fantasy that the numbers 12, 5, and 7 were dancing and singing a song with her sitting in the audience, clapping and laughing. Then, suddenly, a veil of light slipped over that dream as it lead into another. She was standing on the platform above the ocean Jo had leapt off earlier that day, the bright sun making her shade her eyes. Looking around, she found that Tidus and Jo stood before her. Rina walked up to Tidus first.

"What are you so afraid of?" he asked. "Getting old, being different, or being indecisive?"

Rina thought about this. Tough question. "Getting old," she replied after a moment, then headed over to Jo.

"What do you want outta life?" she said, leaning against the wooden railing. "To broaden your horizons, to see rare sights, or to be strong?"

Another hard question. "To see new places," she told her.

Tidus spoke again. "What's most important to you? Friendship, your prized possessions, or being number one?"

"Friendship," Rina replied almost immediately.

Jo nodded. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," she answered confidently.

The sound of the waves lapping up on the shore and the seagulls squawking was drowned out by that same voice in her head from her earlier dream. "THE DAY YOU OPEN THE DOOR IS BOTH FAR OFF AND VERY NEAR," It told her…

Suddenly, Rina snapped awake. She stretched and looked toward her clock that read 6:08. Wondering if Tidus and Jo had had the same dream, she got out of bed and got dressed. When she'd pulled on a bright pink halter-top, pretty aqua blue and white arm bands and wrist cuffs, a white skirt, and a pair of pink backless sneakers, she sat down at her desk and took out a tablet and pencil.

She was going to make a note of everything. In her neat handwriting she wrote:

What are you so afraid of?
-getting old

What do you want out of life?
- to see rare sights

What's most important to you?
-friendship

Rina ripped the page out from the tablet and folded it up, putting it in her pocket. She left a note to her parents, telling them she'd gone to Tidus and Jo's house, and climbed out the window. When she arrived, just as she'd guessed, the two sat wide-awake, swinging on the porch swing, both looking quite tired.

"Hi," she said, sitting down between them. "I had another dream."

Jo made a low grumbling sound and took a sip from the cup she held in her shaking hand. "Join the club."

"What did you answer?"

Tidus looked up toward the sky as if the answer were floating up near the clouds somewhere. But when he found it wasn't, he looked back at the ground. "Umm… I said that friendship was most important to me, I wanted to get strength out of life, and that I was afraid of getting old."

Jo nodded sleepily and mumbled something that sounded like, "Same here."

Rina pulled out her paper and read her answers off the list. "So… when did you guys wake up?" she asked, tucking the piece of notebook paper back in her pocket.

"6:08," Tidus replied with a yawn, leaning back in the porch swing and staring up at the sky again. "You?"

"6:08," she repeated. "This is just so... strange."

He nodded and thrummed his fingers on the arm of the swing. "I know. It just keeps getting weirder and weirder."

Rina studied them for a moment and realized that they, like her, were already dressed, and, though Jo looked tired, she thought it would be good for all of them to go to the Big Island.

"Do you guys want to go for a paddle to the island?" she suggested, standing up.

"Sure," Tidus shrugged.

Jo just grumbled. She remembered waking up after that second dream, eyes wide and hands shaking, just like the last one. The thought that maybe these dreams did actually mean something pulsed through her head, making her temples throb. Almost immediately, she'd thrown on a pair of baggy black capris, a bright yellow vest over a white tank top, as well as black and yellow arm bands, a pair of black fingerless gloves, and her favorite comfy yellow sneakers. She had run into Tidus' room to find him awake as well, getting dressed. He pulled on a blue T-shirt that perfectly matched his eyes and followed her to the kitchen to eat some breakfast and discuss another stupid dream. "More like a nightmare," she thought to herself, kicking a pebble up the beach and falling in step behind Tidus and Rina.

The three of them jumped into their canoes that were docked in a small bay and paddled all the way over the Big Island of Destiny Islands. There was no other way to get from island to island, like a bridge or a ship, so everyone that lived there had their own little wooden boat. Once, when they were younger, the three of them had had a creative streak and took to painting their canoes, which was mainly Rina's idea. Tidus had made his boat bright red with shining yellow stars starting in a cluster near the front and becoming more scattered toward the back; Rina's was a beautiful painting of the ocean on a bright day; and Jo's was sunshine yellow with a white and black checkered flag design along the bottom. The paints had worn from time, but they loved them nonetheless.

After only a few minutes, the three of them reached the shore of the Big Island. Tidus jumped out of his canoe and onto the dock, then grabbed the fronts of the girls' boats, pulling them closer so they could get out. He offered a hand to Rina before grabbing Jo around the waist and hoisting her over his shoulder, Rina tying the canoes safely to the dock.

It was barely an hour or so before Riku jumped onto the dock from his own canoe. Strange, Rina thought, for him to be up so early. It was only 8:30. She, Jo, and Tidus waved and ran over to him.

"Morning," Riku said, trying to stifle a yawn. "What are you 3 doing up so early?"

"Exactly what we were going to ask you." Jo leaned against the side of the dock and crossed her arms. "A bad dream scare you or something?"

Riku chuckled. "No."

She looked down at the water that was splashing up the sides of her yellow tennis shoes, then at her brother, then Rina, and finally Riku. They all had circles under their eyes from lack of sleep. But, she still couldn't figure out why Riku was awake. He'd answered 'no' so confidently, it couldn't be a lie. Then again, everything he did seemed confident.

"So… what do you want to do?" Rina asked, staring dreamily out to sea.

Part of her knew something was strange. Nobody ever really arrived at the Destiny Islands until at least 9:30. There was no school, so it was best to sleep in, and there was no reason to be up early - they had a whole day ahead of them. She looked at Riku questioningly. Had he been awake before they'd even gotten up?

Only a few minutes later, Sora and Kairi came strolling casually up the beach, laughing, though both looked a little tired. The six sat together under the sun, Tidus, Jo, and Rina not daring to mention the dreams of the previous night.