Disclaimer: Don't Own 'em, Squaresoft, Disney, and Buena Vista do. I just borrow them and make Wakka philosophize. Yay!
…
When You Wish Upon A Star
…
She never saw him.
Every day, Kairi would go out to the beach, paopu in hand, and would watch the tides come in. She would watch for him. For Sora.
But she never saw him.
He promised. He promised. He was coming back. He'd be back and then everything would be as it once was. Maybe he'd find Riku, too, although with all that had happened, Kairi couldn't see how the three of them could ever mend their friendship. In any case, Sora was coming home to her, he had to.
But what if he didn't?
Kairi sighed. That niggling little voice in her mind was her most constant companion these days. Wakka, Selphie, and Tidus were far too busy dealing with their newfound hormones to spend their time sitting on a beach with a moody girl with a tendency to talk to herself. It seemed that Tidus had become infatuated with Selphie, but she had eyes for Wakka, and was making no attempts to hide that fact from either of them. Wakka was put in the uncomfortable position where he would hurt one of his friends regardless of what he did.
The same position Sora must have been in.
Kairi smiled; it was funny how the spiky-haired boy seemed to sneak his way into her thoughts even when she didn't want him to. She couldn't wait until he got back as she thought he'd get a real kick out of Wakka's predicament.
Couldn't wait until he got back.
Why was she just waiting?
Kairi knew the answer to that question. She couldn't go after Sora; she had no way of leaving the island. Even if she did, where would she begin to look? Not to mention the dangers that still existed on the unconnected worlds.
So that's it, huh? You're afraid?
She was not afraid. She was just being realistic. There were just too many obstacles in between Sora and herself.
Hmph. Never stopped you before…
Kairi felt a strong urge to hit herself in the head with the pointy end of the paopu she held in her hand. Shuttup shuttup shuttup, she told herself firmly. Sane people don't have arguments with themselves.
And yet here you are…came the little voice. Kairi rolled her eyes and took a bite of her paopu. The sweet taste made her eyes fill up with tears.
"Sora," she murmured, looking at the horizon, as if staring hard enough to give herself a headache would suddenly make him appear. He couldn't be here to share the fruit with her, so she'd just have to eat his share and wish he were beside her, goofing off.
Her train of thought was interrupted when she was suddenly hit by a blitzball, hard enough to make her fall over.
"Kairi!" hollered Wakka, running to her side and helping her up. "I'm so sorry! You not hurt or anything? You okay, yah?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Kairi responded. "No harm done."
Wakka looked relieved. "That's good. Guess my aim needs a little bit more work, yah?"
Kairi giggled. "No no, I think it's perfect!"
He chuckled along with her, and soon they were both laughing, neither really knowing why. Kairi liked Wakka. He was the only one on the island who could act as if nothing had happened when their island had collapsed.
Wakka grew more serious. "Ya still lookin' for him?"
Kairi sighed. "Mmm-hmmm."
There was silence between the two. "You know, he's going to come back one day," Kairi said, finally breaking the silence.
Wakka nodded sagely. "And when he do, you gonna be the first one ta' see him, yah?"
Kairi grinned. She had known Wakka would understand. Wakka stared at Kairi for a few minutes before broaching a delicate subject.
"Or, ya could try goin' after him yourself," he said, rather tentatively. As much as Wakka valued Kairi's friendship and would miss her if she left, he also knew she'd never be happy until she was with Sora, whether he came to her or she came to him.
"You know that's impossible, Wakka."
"What is it they say? 'Where there's a will, there's a way'? Ya know, Kairi, this universe is a funny place. Seems like whoever got the strongest heart pretty much can do anyt'ing. Works for Sora, yah? Well, lemme tell ya, you got a pretty strong heart too, Kairi. So, if you wanna see Sora, then do it. And don't let anybody tell ya that ya can't."
Kairi looked up at the sky, up at Sora, she liked to think. "You really- you really think it's possible?"
"Only if you want it bad enough."
Kairi blinked back tears, putting on a rather watery smile. "Oh, I do, believe me, I do. Thanks Wakka, I really needed the pep talk."
"Anytime, kiddo. Anytime."
They sat in companionable silence, each lost in his or her own thoughts. After a few minutes, Kairi turned to the boy. "Wakka?"
"Yah?"
"When did you get so smart?"
Wakka flashed her his trademark lazy grin, the one that made Selphie blush and giggle when it was directed her way, and said, "You're not the only one who needs to sit and think sometimes, ya know."
Kairi accepted that answer. Suddenly the two of them heard a loud "Hmph!". Kairi turned around to see a pouting Selphie, obviously wondering what Kairi was doing with her "boyfriend". The red-haired girl turned to Wakka.
"You should go. You don't want her to get mad at us."
Wakka looked up at the disgruntled girl, still holding her jumprope, nose in the air.
"Ya know," he grumbled, "she keep doing that, her face is gonna freeze like that."
Kairi smirked as her friend got up and dusted off his blitzball. He took one last look at her.
"Think about what I said, Kairi," he said with a serious look in his eye. "You can do that, yah?"
Kairi gave him a thumbs-up. "Yah," she said, imitating the older boy's accent. He grinned and ran off, no doubt to appease the tiny ball of fury that was Selphie.
Kairi picked the half-eaten paopu up off the sand. She looked at Sora's half of the fruit and suddenly wished that she could go and find him.
She wished, and she wised, and her eyes picked out a star. A special star. She wished with all her might on that star for the chance to go to Sora.
Suddenly there was a bright light, and Kairi saw her island dissolve around her.
The islanders saw a bright light surround Kairi before she faded away. Selphie shrieked. The girl pulled on Wakka's arm. "C'mon Wakka, we gotta help her!"
But Wakka just smiled and said, "She'll be all right." At least, I pray she will. Good luck, Kairi.
All Kairi could see was bright, searing light. Then her eyes began to make out a form. It was a woman, with…wings? She was wearing a flowing blue dress, and her eyes were as old as the sky. She smiled at Kairi.
"I will grant your wish," the strange woman said kindly, "But it will not be easy for you. You must prove that you are brave, truthful, and of a loving heart before you can be reunited with the one you seek."
Wait, Kairi's mind said, Brave? Truthful? Loving? How the heck am I supposed to prove that?
"Do you accept this challenge?"
Kairi took a deep breath and thought of Sora. "I do," she said, trying not to notice how small and weak her voice sounded.
The woman smiled again, and waved her hand. Then everything went dark.
…
Kairi heard voices, strange voices.
"Do you think she's concussed?" A smooth voice, like an old movie actor's or something.
"I sho' hope not, foo!" A big voice, booming and fierce.
"What do we do if she doesn't wake up?" This voice was female, young and proud.
"Calm down, everyone." Kairi liked that voice. It was female as well, but calm and soothing, like her mother's might have been, if she remembered her mother.
"I think she's coming around." Kairi imagined this speaker would be a boy around Riku's age, or a bit older. He still had some squeakiness in his voice. She opened her eyes.
And found herself face-to-face with a goblin.
Kairi did the only natural thing a girl in her position could do.
She screamed.
…
To be continued…
…
A/N: Hahaaa…just like me to leave you there…just to let you know, Final Fantasy VII fans should be on Cloud 9 here. Get it? Cloud 9? Haha. I kill me. But yeah, it's a madhouse. And Gargoyles fans too. This is a part of a series that includes my other stories Years and A Time Before Nightfall. So read read read.
