Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. This video game series rightfully belongs to square enix and Tetsuya Nomura!
Prologue
A young girl with long, blue hair and blue eyes wearing only a blue nightgown is staring blankly at the water. She appears deep in thought or in a trance, only reacting when the water reaches her bare feet. She's never stayed up this late, or stayed on the island past her bed time, and her parents might worry.
But ...
Something called her there. She couldn't explain why. She's waiting for something. She needed to be there by that water.
"Yuki!"
Yuki snaps out of her trance, startled by her friends's voice. She whirls around and sees two boys rushing over towards her, one with silver hair and green eyes and the other brunet with blue eyes like the ocean. That was... odd. She frowns, now fully aware of where she was. How did she get there? Wasn't she in her room earlier?
"Riku?" She calls back to the boys, unsure. Both were worried about her. "Sora?"
"See, Riku?" Sora grins brightly. He's always smiling, and cheerful, and it made her feel less anxious about being there. "I told you there was nothing to worry about. She's fine!"
Riku, however, was having none of it. He is Sora's complete opposite,closed off and reserved, and always has that stare like he's in deep thought all the time.
"Sora," Riku sighs heavily, and shakes his head before addressing her. "How did you get here? Were you sleepwalking again?"
Again? She's done this before? Yuki frowns, trying to recall. There was no way she could have sleepwalked the whole time. You needed to take a boat to get to the islands.
"I don't," she stammers, on the verge of crying. "I don't remember."
"Right," Riku is uncertain, and glances at Sora who's unusually quiet and the frown on his face looks wrong. "Seriously though, you shouldn't worry everyone like that. Your parents sent us out to look for you."
"Sorry ..."
Yuki ...
Yuki ... we need your help.
That voice again. It didn't come from either of her friends. It came from the water. She whirls around to stare at the water, the trance coming back to pull her in. She can still hear Riku and Sora arguing under their breaths.
"Someone needs me," Yuki's voice quiets the two boys, who are both frowning at her.
"What? Do you know who?" Riku asks, suddenly tense as if he were bracing himself for an attack, like he does when he trains with Sora.
"Beats me," she shrugs.
"Typical Yuki," Riku scoffs. "I swear you're becoming more like Sora every day."
Hearing that fully snaps her out of her trance. She turns to glare at him.
"Hey!"
"Am not!" She and Sora yell nearly at the same time, and it brings Riku into a fit of laughter.
Yuki ...
She turns around again, stiffening. If they wanted her help, why not show themselves? She is getting cold, and tired of waiting, and just wants to rest.
"Yuki?" she hears the alarm in Riku's voice, and she's about to question him about it, until she realizes she's stepped closer towards the water. The water is almost reaching her knees. She mutters a soft apology, and he brings her back to the shoreline.
"Hey, Yuki," Sora calls to her after an awkward silence washes over the trio. "wanna see a trick me and Riku have been working on?"
"What is it?" she asks, now fully curious.
"This!" Sora crosses his eyes, and sticks out his tongue out her, puffing his cheeks.
"Sora, you're silly," she laughs, now feeling much better than before.
"More like a total bonehead," Riku disagrees.
"It made her laugh, didn't it?" Sora argues.
Yuki smiles. It seems like no matter what, those two found something to compete with each other.
"Sora? Riku?" she calls to the boys, who stop their argument to stare at her. "Thanks."
"You're welcome!" Sora's back to smiling, and nudges Riku who had gone quiet and had a tint of pink to his cheeks, as he avoids her gaze and smile.
"Let's ... let's get back to the other island," Riku says. "Our parents must be worried about us."
"Right!" Both she and Sora answer him at the same time, and the trio of children trudge across the sandy beach towards the docks where the rowboats were tied up.
Yuki ... she stiffens at the voice, soft and motherly, and stops in her tracks. Yuki, come back to us, we need your help.
Leave me alone. I'm with my friends now. She answers back, stubborn. No response. She could cry with relief.
A lone shimmering light catches her attention. She blinks, glances up, and witnesses a star shoot across the sky towards the water.
"Was that-?" she asks.
"A shooting star?!" Sora interrupts her excitedly. "I've never seen one before! My mom says that if you see one you're supposed to make a wish!"
"It's heading for the ocean," Yuki says skeptically. "Are stars supposed to do that?"
"Do you want to see where it went?" Riku asks.
She hesitates.
"Come on, Yuki, it might be the thing you're looking for!" Sora insists.
She doesn't know. She had a bad feeling that whatever it was, it wasn't entirely good. But ... she was there for a reason. She was waiting for a reason.
"Alright," she finally agrees, nodding her head, and keeping a smile on her face for her two friends. "let's go!"
As if sensing her hesitation, Riku stops running to let Sora take the lead. He turns back to her, and her shoulders tense as he stares in her eyes.
"If anything happens," he says, surprising her, "stay close to us."
And just like that, any fear melts away, and she finds herself truly smiling. She nods, and sticks close to him as they both rush after their reckless friend. As they catch up to Sora, back to those sandy shores, to their surprise, there is nothing out of the ordinary on the beach. Just palm trees swaying violently in the wind. Why did that voice lead her there if there isn't anything to wait for?
"Riku!" She did not like how scared Sora sounded. "There's someone in our secret spot!"
"What's wrong?" Yuki asks, noticing the way Riku has tensed when Sora doesn't come back right away. She's about to move forward to check on Sora when Riku stops her with his arm stretched out, blocking her way. "Riku..."
"Ah, ah, ah, no girl's allowed," he teases her, and she puffs out her cheeks.
"That's a silly rule," she scoffs.
Sora comes out of the rabbit like hole, and pushes back leaves that were blocking the way. He seems troubled and spooked.
"Well?" Riku prompts, folding his arms across his chest.
"I guess I must have imagined it," Sora smiles sheepishly, earning an unimpressed scoff from Riku. "But ... there's this weird door that showed up out of nowhere. I tried to open it, but it wouldn't even budge."
"Really?" Riku asks skeptically, and crawls through the hole to check, leaving Sora and Yuki standing there awkwardly.
"The door really hasn't been there before?" Yuki asks, the feeling of dread coming back.
"No," Sora shakes his head, frowning. "It must have showed up right after the shooting star appeared."
Riku appears through the rabbit hole, a thoughtful look in his green eyes.
"Anything?" Sora asks.
"Didn't budge," Riku confirms. "Maybe ... " he turns towards Yuki, and hesitates with what he wants to say because he looks like he didn't even want to. "Do you want to check? Maybe that's what you're looking for!"
She isn't so sure. How could a door need help?
"Guys, look another star!" Sora gets their attention, and indeed, another shooting star falls from the sky onto the beach. "Come on, slowpokes!"
Yuki is about to head after him, but stops as a chill rushes down her spine.
"I have a bad feeling," she says.
"Nothing's going to happen," but even Riku, no matter how brave he always portrays himself as, sounds unsure.
"You promise?" she asks.
"Promise," Riku affirms.
"Pinky swear?"
"Pinky swear?" He asks in disbelief. "Come on, Yuki, that's for babies!"
At her prompting, holding her pinky up, he caves in with a heavy sigh. He mutters a soft "alright" under his breath and , with great reluctance, links his pinky with hers.
"Guys, what are you doing over there?!" Sora yells up at them, waving his arms frantically to get their attention. "You gotta see this!"
She freezes in her tacks, watching as her two friends rush over to whatever had fallen onto the beach.
Lying eerily still on the sand ... was a girl.
A/N: Hello, thank you so much for reading, Lost and Found! Don't forget to leave a review if you can!
