Kingdom Hearts: Warriors of Light
The Dream- Chapter 2
"Sora!" shouted a boy in the distance, running towards the cliff hut that Sora lived in. It was Riku fast approaching to check in on the raft's progress and the list of supplies.
"Riku, what's up?" Sora replied. "I've finished the list of supplies we'll need before we go. Did you bring the sail for the raft?"
"Yeah, I just picked it up. Hurry up and get dressed so we can go meet Kairi," Riku said, as he and Sora prepared to head out for a days work on preparing their raft. The two friends were very close. Kairi had come to the island only a few years back from a world unknown. The three of them were planning to make a raft so that they could sail away from Destiny Island and discover new worlds.
Destiny Island was a small tropical island that was inhabited by the Islanders. Riku, Sora and Kairi were just a few of the residence who found nothing better to do than run through the white sand and swim in the clear blue ocean that surrounded them. The tall cliffs were strong and provided to be a good place for houses. Each a small cozy cubby imbedded in the rock wall that kept the inhabitants safe and dry from the rising tides. Sora had finished dressing and grabbing the list of supplies for the journey, he jumped right out of his bedroom window onto a tree vine and slid down to the sand.
"Come on, you don't want to keep the lady waiting," Riku said jokingly. He was a 15-year-old boy with white hair that made his tan look incredibly dark. His eyes were an electric blue that reflecting his powerful personality. Though one may expect him to be shy, he was quite the outgoing type. He was a true adventurer.
Sora was a 14 years old boy with brown hair that stuck out at every angle and his deep blue eyes where impossible not to notice. He was strong, yet a bit unsure of himself, perhaps just feeling second to his pal Riku. He was fond of Kairi, the pretty island girl, and Riku knew it.
"Hey you two, I've been waiting here awhile," Kairi shouted to the boys as they ran towards her. Kairi was 14 like Sora. She had dark red hair that fell just beyond her chin. Her eyes were the same deep blue as Sora's. It was probably because of Kairi that the trio decided to leave the island in an attempt to search for Kairi's real home. Not even she knew where she came from, but Riku and Sora were more than willing to help her find that world.
"Hey Kairi, how are you?" Sora asked with sweetness in his voice.
"I'm doing alright," Kairi said with a smile.
"Sorry we left you here so long. Sora was having a dream about you and I had to snap him out of it as he didn't realize his alarm had gone off twice already," Riku laughed.
"Riku!" Sora shouted hitting Riku's arm hard. Sora started blushing.
"I was only kidding," Riku explained. He liked to take advantage of this crush that Sora had on Kairi in every practical way. "Lets get busy, tomorrow's the day we cast off, and we've got lots to do."
So the three of them got busy putting the sail on the raft as that was the only thing they had ready to go in front of them. Once the sail was attached, they split up to find the supplies to bring back to the raft before the day was over. Sora and Kairi later met up in the secret cave as Kairi was having trouble spotting mushrooms in the dark, musty cave.
"Oh, I think I see a few over here Kairi," Sora said as his voice echoed around the cave.
"You're really good at this Sora," I guess I'm not as good as spotting things in the dark as I used to be," Kairi explained.
"Hey, look, this is where we drew on the wall when we were littler," Sora said spotting the drawings engraved in the stone. "Sorry I made you look so much like Riku Kairi," Sora said laughing at his old interpretation of Kairi.
"That's alright, you look something like a lion Sora," Kairi laughed seeing her drawing on the wall. It had been so long since they had sat there etching each other into the wall, and somehow it felt like only yesterday. "You know, I'm really going to miss being here on the island with you two. I mean what if I do find my old home, and what if they want me to stay? I'd really miss this place and all the memories."
"Well, we'd see each other again, I'm sure of it," Sora explained. "What kind of friends would we be if we just headed back and never spoke to you again?"
"You're so nice Sora," Kairi said with a sweet little smile on her face. She leaned in close to Sora and kissed him on the cheek. Sora went beat red. He'd never been kissed by Kairi before, or by anyone for that matter. "Come on, we need to get a move on if we want to be ready on time!" Kairi said bringing Sora back to earth.
It was nightfall already and the three had only just finished the preparations for the next day's journey. They all sat looking up at the stars as a last goodbye to Destiny Island. They sat in a row under the Papua fruit tree reminiscing on the days they had spent dreaming of other worlds and realizing that tomorrow their dream would become a reality. Before long, they each realized how tired they were and that it was probably a good idea to get some sleep before dawn. Each of them headed home to their own cubby houses and climbed into bed to drift into the last sleep they would sleep on Destiny Island.
Riku found himself walking towards a light out of the fog. Next he found himself in a room that was quite dim other than a light directly above what looked like a tank of water. But as Riku slowly approached the tank, still trying to figure out where he was, he realized there was a body in the water. A girl with white hair wrapped in a white cloth was strapped to the bottom of the tank. Riku couldn't help but lean in for a closer look. Slowly he examined every angle of the tank. There seemed to be no way that air was getting to the person inside, so he presumed her dead. Riku found himself leaning in over the water to see if he could recognize the girl through the water. He leaned in so close that his nose nearly touched the surface.
And then without warning the girl's eyes shot open. Riku jerked his head back out of shock. He was now staring into a pair of solid black eyes. The girl's eyes were all black where there should have been color or white, or something. It was as though she had no eyes at all, but merely sockets. The girl's head moved as she followed Riku's figure, and Riku realized she knew he was there. The expression on the girl's face was starting to tense as though in seconds she was getting angrier and angrier. Her arms began to tense up as well and she made fists that caused her veins to stick out of her skin. Riku could only back away as he felt she was growing an urge to pop out of the tank and murder him.
Without warning the girl went limp again and her eyes closed and she was just as unconscious as when Riku had first arrived. He cautiously made his way back to the tank to observe what had happened. As he placed but one hand upon the side of the tank, the girls eyes opened again, but this time they were normal eyes, pink in color. She suddenly looked as though she couldn't breath and began shaking violently in an attempt to free herself from her bonds. Riku watched, stun struck, unsure of what to do as he watched her struggle for life. The girl continued her fight with the restraints, her eyes now under so much stress they could have popped right out of her face.
Riku couldn't take watching anymore. He reached into the tank as fast as he could and unbuckled the belts that held the girl down. With great difficulty he finally managed to get the restraint over her chest free so that she could sit up. With a huge rush, the girl broke the surface of the water causing a huge wave of water to rise with her. She gasped so loudly for air, it was near the volume of a scream. But as she did this, she also coughed and began to vomit water out of her mouth. Riku stood a safe distance away, not sure what the girl would do next.
As though time was slowing down, the girl had finally caught her breath and stared down at the water while her wet hanging hair hid parts of her face. She very slowly turned her head to look over at Riku standing to the side. Her eyes were the normal pink that looked human, but her stare was highly expressionless. Riku stared back at her without saying a word. As he stared, the scene began to fade out and suddenly Riku sat up in his own bed, back on Destiny Island.
"Hey Riku, you look beat. Didn't you get any sleep?" Sora asked, scurrying to secure all the supplies to the raft.
"Yeah, I just had a weird dream," Riku replied, not even sure of what he was saying. "Just a nightmare, that's all."
"What about?" asked Kairi, always curious about what was troubling someone.
"Well, I'm not even sure," Riku began. "I was in a dark room with a tank. And there was a girl in the tank. I thought she was dead, but it was like watching a monster come to life the way she suddenly was staring at me. And then she started to drown. So I freed her from the tank. It doesn't make sense, I know, but that was my dream."
"You were probably just so excited about traveling to a new world, your thoughts weren't clear, so you had a weird dream," Sora tried to explain, not even sure himself.
"Yeah, but it was so real. I swear my hands were still wet when woke up," Riku said, finding it hard to believe himself.
"Don't worry too much about it," Kairi said, trying to play doctor. "Like Sora said, it's probably nothing. It was pretty hot last night, your hands may have just been sweaty."
"Yeah, whatever," Riku said, not feeling much comforted by his friends thoughts.
They worked together to make the time pass more quickly in securing all the supplies and double-checking to make sure they had everything. "Well I think that's everything," Sora said, feeling a triumph in all they had established. "I'd say it's time to kiss Destiny Island goodbye and set off for the unknown." So the three of them pushed the raft into the water, all feeling a sense of excitement and butterflies in the stomach. "All right, finally!" Sora claimed, acting captain of the raft. "Here we-!"
"Hang on!" Riku said suddenly jumping off the raft and treading through the shallow water back to shore. "We can't leave without a Papua fruit for you two love birds to share on the journey!"
"Riku!" Sora said, starting to blush a bright shade of red. He glanced over at Kairi only to see her giggle at him.
"What the," Riku said spotting something strange on the ground. He shouted back to Sora and Kairi so they could come take a look at what he had found behind the Papua tree. "Hey Sora, Kairi, come here! What is this thing!"
"What now?" Sora said jumping off the raft to drag it back to shore. He reached out for Kairi's hand to help her off the raft without having to step into the water. Kairi took his hand with a smile and a hint of a blush in her cheeks. The two of them hurried over to join Riku to see what it was that was so important. What they saw was hard to believe.
"What is that?" Riku asked again. It appeared to be a swirling black mass. It was so dark, but there was something mesmerizing about it. Every once in a while it would light up with a purple streak of lightening, but just remained to be some mysterious black hole in the ground.
"I don't know, but it kind of reminds me of a portal," Kairi said, sharing the only idea she had of what it could be. Riku started to lean in towards it and reached out his hand to touch it.
"Riku! What are you thinking? You don't know what it is," Sora said, sounding like a real mother.
"Well someone's going to find it sooner or later, might as well figure out what it does, or if it's even safe," Riku reasoned as he was far too brave to take Sora's words of advice seriously.
"Careful Riku," Kairi said, sounding as though she was scared of what may happen.
Riku reached out his hand again to touch the black mass that was so unexplainable. As soon as his fingers came in contact with it, the darkness began to spread up his arm quickly. Sora and Kairi stepped back as the dark substance started to consume Riku from head to toe.
"Riku!" Sora shouted, pushing Kairi back a safe distance as he went to grab Riku by the arm. But the darkness only began to spread across his body as well. "Riku, come on! Fight it off!" But Sora was finding this difficult himself as the darkness swirled around and around gluing itself to his skin.
Kairi was crying now as she watched her two best friends get eaten by an unknown dark mass. "Sora! Riku!" She screamed hopelessly. But not even she was safe as the mass began to expand on the spot. It spread across the ground consuming everything it came in contact with.
"Run Kairi!" Sora shouted, still hanging onto Riku tightly. Kairi turned to run, but the darkness was spreading too fast and it caught her, knocked her down and swallowed her whole. "NOOO!" Sora shouted watching Kairi disappear. When he turned back to Riku to tighten his grip, he noticed Riku too had disappeared into nothingness. When he looked up, he noticed that everything around him was gone. There was nothing but black in sight. The land, the sky, all of Destiny Island was gone. Sora felt as though he were falling into a dark abyss. His eyes closed as he fell deeper and deeper into darkness.