A/N: Just to recap in case anyone's lost track of who has what spheres, everyone has two spheres right now. Takuya has fire and earth, Kouichi has wind and water and Kouji has earth and wind.

And now it's time to go for the third sphere!

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Wish Journeys 1.1
Three Brothers

Chapter 8/Kouji

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His next target sphere was in a whirlpool.

The train dropped him off on the shore and then departed. He watched it go, then turned to stare at the water.

It would be difficult getting there.

But he'd make it there, somehow.

He looked around. There were palm trees. Lots of them.

But a raft wouldn't hold out against those waves.

He looked at the sky. The sun shone brightly from above but there was a slight wind.

Maybe he could fly. Make a kite.

But that wouldn't help him get the sphere he knew was under the water.

That left one option. Finding a ride. A creature who lived near the whirlpools that would go.

Which meant he needed a raft after all. Because the kite really was too risky.

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'No no no.' The seal-like things shook their heads. 'We don't go near the whirlpool. We're too weak to swim against it.'

He sighed in disappointment.

The next one he found, a whale, frowned at him. Then said 'no'.

He changed it quickly to yes and Kouji shrugged and accepted the turn of events.

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'Would you use force to get your way?' the whale asked. They'd been travelling quietly for a bit, but now it spoke.

Kouji frowned, part in wondering why the question, and part in thought. 'Maybe,' he said, finally. 'If what I wanted was important enough.' Then, because his curiosity had been pipqued, he asked: 'Why?'

There was a sound of surprise. 'Didn't you notice you'd almost drawn your sword when I first refused you?'

He hadn't. He fingered it now. Sharp hilt, steel sword, and two of five spheres that would grant his wish to him.

'I've spent my whole life wishing for this wish,' he said finally. 'And this is a dream leading to the fulfilment of that wish.'

The whale said nothing more until they found their destination under the whirlpools. A cavern in a pocket of air.

The whale opened his mouth and Kouji climbed out. 'Thanks,' he said shortly.

'I didn't think you'd thank me,' the whale confessed. 'You looked at the kind who pushed on to their goals, not looking at the holes they've ripped in the world behind.' He paused, considering the Chosen. 'Perhaps more metaphorical in your sense. You can't make a hole as big as a whale can.'

Kouji ignored the chatter. 'Wait here,' he said curtly. 'I'll be back in a bit.'

The whale sighed, but his eyes watched the sword being drawn.

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Kouji had no reason to believe the whale would stay, but he thought he would. Particularly after he drew the sword.

His presence was only a slight reason, but truthfully, he had considered it. It was the whale's own fault, the whale's suggestion.

Otherwise it would have been all instinct: all not wanting to plunge into potential animal territory without a weapon on hand.

He set off quietly, sword ready.

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There were little creatures digging holes but he ignored them and they him. He just walked on.

He found the sphere soon enough, and the guardian. It was a mole of some sort, and the sphere behind him. He could try and distract the other, but that was a risky strategy. Or he could kill the creature as well.

The head turned to him when he stepped closer.

If the other attacked, he would do that.

Otherwise he'd just walk past and take the sphere.

The mole growled. And the drill aimed at his heart when he approached.

A fight it was then.

He parried with his sword, shoes dragging in the cavern floor to ground him.

The sword burned and the mole reared back in pain.

Seeing it was going to hit the ceiling like that, he slashed at the feet to make him stumble and fall.

The cavern walls shook, but at least the cavern didn't come down on them.

And the fur was singed, as though burnt.

He'd been paying more attention to his sword this time because it hadn't made any sense how a small bushfire that should have been trampled out with all that lumbering around had burned down a good portion of forest.

And now he knew. The sword was somehow producing heat and burning things. It had set the trees around them on fire that time.

At least in a dry cavern there was nothing except that mole's fur to catch.

He swung again when the drill came at him, and cleaved the drill and the neck as well.

And then he took his prize.

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He saw nothing on his way back except the whale who wordlessly opened his mouth. He looked nervous. He didn't say why until they were up on the surface again.

'What did you do to make the cavern shake like that?' he asked.

'Got rid of a mole,' Kouji replied. He fitted the water sphere into the hilt. There were only two empty spaces now. Fire and either light or darkness.

There was silence, and then: 'why don't you try explaining?'

'It might have worked. It might have made things harder.'

It usually made things harder, trying to explain his feelings. He'd given up doing that by now.

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There were only two left to find. There was a place called the land of fire and he headed there for his fourth. He found the place easily enough, and, like expected, they were guarded. This time, it was flaming zombies or something to that end.

'Move aside,' he said curtly. He couldn't see the sphere, but he imagined it was in the mountain. Or volcano, perhaps. Having a mountain in a lava pit didn't make a whole lot of intuitive sense.

They just growled at him.

He wondered if it was a common theme, that the guardians of the spheres couldn't speak.

Or, maybe, guardian was the wrong term as well. They didn't seem to guard. They just seemed to be in the same place. Born from it perhaps? Who knew? Who really cared? None of this made sense beyond its limitations. Dreams were supposed to be like that, though it was somewhat unfortunate.

What mattered were those molten zombies were going to stand in his way. Just like the devil like thing from the mountain, the creature from the woods and the mole from the undersea cavern.

He drew his sword and struck. It lit up as it had been doing and cut cleanly through. The monster stumbled back –

But kept its form.

Kouji narrowed his eyes and revised his strategy.

If he couldn't cut them down, he'd push them back.

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It took some patience, but he managed to knock the first one off the side.

To his surprise, something caught it and set it back on ground.

He looked up. There was a boy in a black cloak there – with a chocolate plush toy.

No. He squinted. That rabbit thing was moving.

Must have been one of the inhabitants of this world.

And the boy must be a mage. He was holding a staff. And it had two spheres on it. Green and blue. Wind and water.

'Stay out of my way,' he called up to the other. 'I found this sphere first.'

The boy didn't say anything, but when Kouji parried against the next zombie that blocked his way, the other raised his staff and created an icy prison that locked the zombies inside.

And then he landed on the other side.

That annoyed Kouji, but when he tried to cut through the ice, it resisted. And it was slow to melt with the heat of his sword. Quicker was melting from the inside, from the lava those zombies exhumed.

So that boy had come for the fire sphere as well, and he'd taken the non-fighting way that was only available to a mage.

Kouji had no choice but to give it up for a loss, but he wasn't happy about it. He could get to the other side of the impromptu glacier, but he wouldn't get the fire sphere from the mountain first.

But it was, by rights, his. He could meet the other at the mountain's base.

He wasn't going to be pushed around – or patronised.