The sands were bleached a sparkling, golden white from countless days under a saffron sun. They seemed to have soaked in every ray of light that had touched their surface since the dawn of time, and were permanently warm to the touch, day and night. The tide, ebbing and flowing under innumerable moons, had at one time or another touched almost every grain of sand, and had rounded them into fine, soft specks that blanketed the beach and cushioned every footfall.

And on the sun-bathed shore of Destiny Islands, the children laughed and played with the carefree abandon of youth - splashing in the sea, jumping to and fro, running a race that seemed as never-ending as the days they might spend together. It could be said that they wanted nothing more in the world than what splendor they had before them.

But years passed by, and, while they were surrounded in nature's humble majesty on the island chain, the children still began to question it all. Even the most beautiful desert island can feel like a cage to the wanderlust of youth, and Sora began more and more to view the horizon as a fence that hid worlds from his eyes.

He and his friends, Riku and Kairi, had long been at work on their clandestine sight-seeing plan and, moreover, the means of achieving it – a raft. It was almost complete, and the following day, they would set sail to great adventure. As he lied in bed, unable to sleep as the thoughts percolated loudly in his mind, he was the most excited he had been in his whole life. He closed his eyes as a great, toothy grin spread across his face. Who knew what awaited them on the horizon?

Sora thought to himself about something else, too, his smile fading. He reached over to his messy dresser and patted a searching hand over its surface, his touch not blinded by the night as much as his sight. Where did it go? It had taken him long enough to simply find it the first time, after he had discarded it over his shoulder on the palm tree-spotted, rocky outcropping of the main island, where he and his two best friends had spent their last night on land pondering the trek ahead of them. As Riku taunted him with a legend of the island, it had been a face-saving gesture to show his incredulity, but in reality, he wanted nothing more than to believe.

Finally, his fingers settled upon it, gliding smoothly over the waxy surface that was still moist despite its resting spot in the sand. He grasped a hold of the object and held it aloft, the sweet, tantalizing smell rousing his appetite. He could make out the edges as they glistened in the moonlight – three points of a star-shaped fruit that seemed to glow of their own accord.

The Paopu fruit.

The legends told that should two people share in the eating of one of these fruits, their destinies would become intertwined across time and space, forever and ever. The half he held in his hands, he had been too embarrassed to eat earlier, as he watched Kairi break off two points of the sugary star and hungrily chow down. Having arrived on the island during a meteor shower a short time ago, Kairi still hadn't learned all the folklore that pervaded Destiny Islands, and Sora was too embarrassed to tell her why he refrained from eating the delicious food. It wasn't that he disliked her – quite the opposite. And it was his fondness for her that made it all the more difficult, because he actually believed the silly stories about a magical fruit.

But now, as he sat up in his bed, staring at the twinkling seeds deep inside the Paopu, wondering at the mystical power of every action taken and choice made in life, thinking of Kairi and the voyage to come, he knew in his heart what he must do. As the taste of the star fruit hit his tongue for the first time, he knew that wherever he may roam, he would never be alone again.