Chapter 1

"You wanted one, didn't you?"

"A paopu fruit...?"

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what. C'mon, I know you want to try it."

"What are you talking...?"

Riku was about half way to the docks when a sudden insanely loud crack split through the air, followed by a humongous boom that echoed through out the islands. He fell to one knee from the sheer sensory overload of the noise and clamped his hands over his ears, trying to block out the explosive sound. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sora let out a yell, though he couldn't hear it, the brunette's hands flying to his head as he fell to his knees like Riku had, shaking violently. Immediately, fear for the other boy hit, and he managed to crawl over the few feet despite the fact that his head was pounding like he had been smashed over the head with a baseball bat. And it wasn't just the sound- it was like something in the very air had changed, been electrified, like that tension there always was before a tropical storm. ...A change of pressure, one that bore down on them and squeezed the air out of them, a hot, heavy over-bearing feeling of denseness.

"Sora...!?"

God, his head hurt; but it was lessening, almost surprisingly quickly, as the boom faded, a strange high-pitched noise he didn't recognize taking its place. His vision was a little blurry, and his hearing messed up, but as Sora reached out a hand and clasped his, the brunette falling to the sand, just barely managing to prop himself up with his hand with a grimace on his face, he forced himself to be stronger-- he didn't care what happened to him nearly as much as the other boy. He watched as Sora's lips moved, almost hearing it after he said it, like a delayed reaction.

"Riku!! Look!!!"

He blinked as Sora pointed to the sky, his gaze following where the brunette had pointed. And then, his eyes opened impossibly wide, utter shock and amazement present in his nearly luminescent sea-green orbs. What appeared to be a glowing blue meteor was speeding towards the ocean, streaks of silvery-turquoise light trailing behind it as it fell impossibly fast, streaking towards them from the sky. His eyes narrowed though, as he realized it wasn't moving fast enough - whatever it was, it definitely wasn't a meteor... And to be honest, that really, really, really bothered him.

"What the heck is it...?" He breathed, Sora having moved over closer to him as they stared up, spellbound as if fell. Logically, he knew they should run - but he couldn't bring himself to move, it was just so... so amazing-looking, no matter how scary it was. Not that he would ever admit that it frightened him in the first place, but... something about it was just so... amazing. It captured his mind and forced him to watch, as if there was some sort divine song silently playing, gently brushing against his heart and saying "Look...", a music that he couldn't ever refuse... A haunting melody that was strangely familiar... There was a loud splash as it crashed through the water's surface, sea water and steam spraying everywhere as the intense heat almost instantly evaporated the water that it came in contact with, a drawn-out hissing noise issuing from the strangely undisturbed waves.

Sora let out a yell of surprise as a head suddenly broke the water's surface, the person gasping for air before sinking, then struggling back up amongst the shallow waves, normally not a problem for anyone to swim through, but...

Riku didn't even think about it - he immediately yanked off his shoes and ran into the water, swimming towards the person as fast as he could, Sora struggling to get his own shoes off back on the beach, before jumping in after him. He had been taught how to deal with this years ago - back when he could barely even remember. Every child on the Destiny Islands knew how to swim, and how to rescue another. So, this boy was lucky then, that he had ended up somewhere where essentially anyone could save him, even a small child. And he was even more lucky that it was Riku who was coming for him, one of the best swimmers on the islands, and someone who had done this before...

The person was gone, head sunk below the gentle waves. Eyes wide and panicked, heart beating a mile a minute, Riku took a deep breath and dived, eyes searching desperately through the almost mockingly calm water for any sign of him. Then-- there! He was about 10 feet away, unconscious from the looks of it, floating listlessly in the water as he slowly sank. Riku swam over and grabbed the unconscious boy by the arm, trying desperately to pull him to the surface. But the boy was his size, if not taller - he struggled without any progress, eyes showing intense relief as Sora swam over, grabbing the boy's other arm. Riku nodded, and together they kicked at the same time. A few moments later, they broke the surface, towing up the unconscious boy with them, Sora struggling to keep the unresponsive boy's head up above the water as they started swimming back to the island.

It wasn't easy, but they managed to pull the other boy back to shore, practically collapsing from exhaustion from towing the dead weight. But adrenaline kept them going, Riku hurriedly placing his head on the boy's chest; thank god, there was still a heartbeat; very faint, but there. But he wasn't breathing. The memories of how to deal with situations like this, engrained in his mind sense childhood, ran through him like lightning as he started to try and pump the water out of the boy's lungs, Sora watching anxiously off to the side.

After a few nerve-wracking moments the boy started coughing up water, eyes shooting open as he rolled onto his hands and knees, immediately hacking up disturbingly large amounts of sea water. Sora ran his hand soothingly down his back, whispering encouragement and reassurance as Riku kneeled next across from him, eyes alert and worried, but relived.

But as the adrenaline rush finally started to recede, he stared in shock as he finally registered what - or more specifically, who - the boy looked like.

Those eyes he had seen, just for a moment - the hayune-shaded blue orbs, and that hair that was regaining some of it's apparent spikyness as the water dripped off of it, sable-colored... And the necklace hanging around his neck, the silver crown glinting in the sunset. He didn't have to look up to know that it was the same exact one Sora was wearing... That he had been wearing for as long as he could remember. He took a shaky breath as he took in every aspect of the boy's appearance; black, strap and buckle-covered clothing, and taller frame aside, he was... completely... identical... to...

Oh... my... god...

Sora felt the air in his lungs shoot out of him as he slammed into the water, mercifully protected from most of the impact by the magic surrounding and shielding him, but obviously not enough. And then, suddenly, oh my god help me I can't breath! Underwater, the rough currents from his impact dragging him down as he tried to struggle up to the surface. He broke it for just a moment, gasping, before being dragged back under, arms flailing.

It didn't make any sense - he was a great swimmer, he had grown up in the Destiny Islands for god's sake! But whatever the reason, he knew he was drowning, and there wasn't anything he could do about it. His lungs burning, his breath finally gave out, bubbles erupting out of his mouth as he clawed helplessly at his throat. He couldn't help but reflect on the irony that after everything he had gone through, that drowning, of all things, would be what finally did him in.

...It really wasn't all that funny.

He breathed in, choking as water filled his lungs instead of precious air, movements turning from panicked to sluggish as his mind started to slow. As he felt himself go limp and start to sink, he hazily wondered what had happened to Riku... A spike of tired sorrow ran through him as he realized that he would never get to tell the other boy the truth about how he felt now, but...

But just as his eyes shut, he saw a flash of silver coming towards him off in the distance. A slight, sad smile eased on to his face as he registered what it was, a small feeling of tired relief surfacing in him.

Oh good... At least... At least Riku is okay...

He was almost fully unconscious when he felt a hand grab his wrist and pull at him, another, smaller, hand clasping his other wrist a few moments later. He had some vague impression of being dragged through the water, but... that was it.

The next thing he knew, he was on his hands and knees on soft damp sand, coughing and hacking up what felt like at least half of the damn ocean. The minute his lungs were cleared enough, he collapsed on to his side, utterly exhausted, body wracked with the pain of nearly drowning. His breath came in harsh, quick gasps, before slowly dieing down into calmed, tired breaths. The sand felt warm on his cheek, his eyes closed. God, he just wanted to go to sleep right here, wherever 'here' was, though he had a suspicion... He was just so tired...

After what felt like ages later, he finally registered the sound of people talking near him, muted, as if he were hearing them through a wall. With a groan his eyes fluttered open, his vision blurred and hazy, the sun silhouetting the person leaning over him, hair spilling over their shoulders and around their face, light shimmering through the silvery-white strands like something holy and angelic... They made a sound of what sounded like relived surprise as he let out another tired, pain-filled noise, the silhouette leaning in closer to him.

"Hey! I think he's waking up!"

He let out another groan as the words hit his ears, blinking and trying (and failing) to get his vision to clear.

Wait.

He knew that voice...

Eyes half-lidded and unfocused, he weakly lifted a hand out towards the silhouetted person, placing it lightly on their cheek and making them gasp slightly in surprise - or at least, that's what it sounded like.

"Riku...?"

He felt his mind slowly falling back into oblivion, his hand sliding and the falling to the sand with a quiet thump. His eyes closed... and, soon he was no longer able to comprehend the voices that had suddenly turned muted again, that wall of muffled silence raising back up between him and the rest of the world.

Then... nothing.

Riku was jerked out of his stunned thoughts as the boy let out a groan, his eyes fluttering open and again revealing those entrancing azure-colored orbs, hazy and disoriented as Riku leaned over him, his own sea-green eyes wide and relived.

"Hey! I think he's waking up!"

Sora nodded from across the half-conscious boy, kneeled as Riku was, worry fading from his eyes somewhat he watched the boy's chest rising and falling, as if making sure he wasn't going to stop breathing at any moment. But Riku was more concerned with those eyes gazing up at him...

Riku let out a gasp as the Sora-look-alike placed his hand on the silver haired boy's cheek, the soft touch making him want to reach up and cover the hand with his own to keep it there, a strange and slightly unfamiliar feeling of comfort filling him.

"Riku...?"

His breath hitched as he heard his name, some strange emotion making his heart race wildly. And those eyes - gods, he could not get over those eyes... They were Sora's eyes...! And the voice; how he called out to him, saying his name, everything...!

...There was just no way - it couldn't possibly... How could this boy possibly be Sora when Sora himself was sitting right across from him...!?

There's just no way - this... this can't be real.

And then the hand fell. It felt like... and eternity that it had been on his cheek, and now... He felt something inside of himself scream at the loss of contact, a cold horror running up his spin as he watched it thump down on the sand.

Without a word, he managed to get the now unconscious boy into his arms, grunting from the strain as he lifted him bridal style, staggering a little.

Crap... he's taller than me... He's so thin... about the same weight, maybe. But god he feels heavy! This is not gonna be easy...

Riku struggled to remain standing upright, the boy in his arms sheer dead weight. As he took several unsteady steps forward, Sora gave him a look as if to say, 'Are you crazy?', but ran over to the dock anyway, getting his and Riku's boats ready as the silver-haired boy slowly edged over to them. The two of them had known each other their whole lives... words weren't really necessary anymore for them to communicate. Finally, after what felt like ages, he gently lowered the boy into his boat, the necklace the look-alike wore making a soft clinking noise, again drawing Riku's attention. He was startled as Sora suddenly spoke, so deep in thought about the boy he and Sora had saved from drowning that he jumped a little.

"Just to make sure I'm not crazy, or anything, but... He does look just like me, doesn't he? I mean, I'm not just seeing things, right?"

Riku nodded, glancing back over at the brunette. Sora was standing on the end of the pier, the sun setting behind him, light glimmering in the shallow water behind him. His eyes were like glowing sapphires in the twilight, his sable hair like a halo, a golden outline surrounding it from the light of the sun going down beyond the horizon. Riku had to force himself to look away... Sora... Sora was just too beautiful. He felt a slight pain in his chest as he reminded himself that they would never be together. Never-- he couldn't keep deluding himself like this, shielding this flickering hope from the cold gale of reality. Sora just... didn't feel that way for him... the Paopu thing more or less proved that Sora had no idea about his feelings for him, let alone returned them. He wasn't stupid. If he ever actually told the younger boy flat-out, it would ruin everything - and losing Sora wasn't worth anything. No matter what, he wouldn't risk scaring him away.

And it killed him. Killed him knowing that his feelings would never, never be returned let alone acknowledged... That Sora would probably end up dating Kairi someday, and maybe even marrying her eventually. That he would never be his. He wanted to cry - but of course, he didn't. He never cried. ...At least, not where anyone could see him. Now hesitantly composed, he looked back at Sora, trying not to stare at the younger boy.

"Yeah... he looks just like you..."

He glanced back down at the look-alike, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Only... older. Like two or three years, maybe."

He looks so... mature. Like he's older than he looks, or something. But at the same time, such a kid...

Riku felt a tinge of concern touch him, followed by curiosity as he realized that the boy didn't have a peaceful expression on his face, the one that Sora normally had when sleeping. He seemed... strangely lifeless. Riku resisted the urge to check his pulse again, seeing the gentle rising and falling of the boy's chest. Still... it was... very odd.

"Sora, do you... have any long-lost relative's you've never mentioned, or anything like that?"

Sora gave him a look, before shaking his head no.

"...So then you have no idea who this guy is?"

"Nope - I've never seen him before, Riku. Except maybe in the mirror..."

Sora crouched down next to the boy, looking at him critically, his face scrunched up cutely in concentration, unknowingly making Riku have to resist the urge to laugh and ruffle the adorable boy's hair. He poked the older-looking boy, frowning when he didn't respond. He poked him again. Then, again. After several more rounds of poking, Riku gently took his wrist in his hand, stopping him and making Sora pout up at him.

"Sora, I really don't think that's going to help..."

The brunette stuck out his tongue in response, before the humor left his face, looking back down again at the unconscious boy.

"Riku... do you think that..."

He trailed off uncertainly, hand unconsciously rising up to fiddle with his crown pendent as he glanced down at the identical one hanging around the other boy's neck. Riku shrugged, falling to temptation and running a hand through Sora's hair, ruffling it.

"I don't know. I guess all we can do now is take him back home and wait for him to wake up..."

He hated the helpless tone in his voice. Hated it. Because he knew that what he said really was all they could do - but that didn't mean he liked it. Part of him - the one that was obsessed with getting the hell of the Destiny Islands -was thrilled by this boy having shown up, and in such a weird way. There was no doubt in his mind whatsoever that he had come from another world... or... time. But no matter where he came from, the point was that it wasn't from here. And that was good enough for him. ...But the part of him that was in love with Sora was pissed. He didn't like it at all - it was like he was being mocked, shown a future that he could never have. Or maybe...

...maybe.

He shook his head, as if to stop the wave of thoughts that threatened to overtake him, gently shoving his boat out into the water so it floated gently, a few inches from touching the bottom. As he sat down across from the boy, taking his paddle in hand, Sora did the same in his own boat, silently (which was odd in itself) dipping it in the water and moving forward a few feet, giving Riku room to move. With the extra weight it wasn't going to be all that easy, but he knew he could handle it.

...What he wasn't sure he could handle was what he might find out when the boy woke up.