Kairi left me next to a tree to lean against, as otherwise I would probably have fallen. Sucking in a breath, I glanced over at her. The little bit of fur she had was like dull flame, her eyes a sky blue that seemed to shimmer with light, even when there was none. Those eyes were focused on something.

I turned, seeing that she was looking at another figure, atrociously large feet stuck in the surf, arms behind its head. Brown fur spiked from his forehead like you wouldn't believe, creating large spikes that gave his head the impression that, if hardened, it would make a decent weapon. I had the thought of a dragon with horns spiking all over like that, and barely held in my laugh.

Looking at him, Kairi smirked, and put a finger to her maw—finally something I did recognize! It reminded me of when Sparx and I used to play pranks on everyone around the village; they never figured out the culprits either. I cocked an eye ridge, looking at the sparkling mischief in her eyes, before she turned and trotted up to the sleeping one.

It jerked awake, eyes widened, before it simply dropped back and seemed to decide to go back to sleep. He yawned on the way, and by the tone I assumed it was male.

More sleep wasn't going to happen however, as the girl popped into his line of sight. He jumped, "Whoa!" Definitely male.

He got to his knees to face her, so much more fluent than I was right now, as she giggled hopelessly at him, not even trying to hide it.

"Give me a break, Kairi," He grumbled.

"Sora, you lazy bum! I knew I'd find you snoozing down here!" She teased lightly.

"No!" He blinked confusedly, "This huge black thing swallowed me up! I-I couldn't breathe, I couldn't— ow!"

I stepped up, slowly so I didn't fall over again, "Sounds like quite the nightmare."

"It wasn't a dream, or was it? I dunno…." he was so frantic he didn't realize it was me who'd spoken.

"What was that place?" He murmured, more to himself, "So bizarre…"

He looked up, and noticed two girls where there should be one. "Who're you?"

"Sora, meet Cynder!" Kairi said happily, "She was asleep on the beach; I think she's from another world!"

Sora looked at me, "Are you?"

I shrugged, "I dunno about this other world stuff, but this is certainly not anywhere I've seen before. Even I don't look like I'm s'pposed to…"

He blinked, looking at Kairi in confusion, "Well, what's your world like?"

I shrugged, "Nothing like here…"

Sensing I wasn't in the mood to say more, he turned to Kairi, "Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? Y'know, where you grew up?"

She sighed like she'd heard this a million times, and turned to the surf, "I've told you before, I don't remember…"

I edged backwards somewhat—it seemed like more of a private conversation—and sank down to sit on a ridge of earth. Not that I couldn't hear them, but at least they had some space.

"Nothing at all?" Sora prodded gently.

She sighed again, "Nothing…"

"Ever wanna go back?"

She stared into the distance, "Mnnn… Well, I'm happy here!"

"Really?" Sora said, sounding almost relieved.

"But, you know… I wouldn't mind going to see it!"

He shifted in his position, smiling, "I'd like to see it, too! Along with any other worlds out there! I wanna see 'em all! "

She grinned, "So, what we waiting for?"

"Hey!" Another boy stepped up, grumbling, "Aren't you forgetting about me?"

He blinked at them, smirking, "I guess I'm the only one working on the raft?" White fur flowed like a waterfall to his well-muscled shoulders and, like the other two, his eyes were blue—yet his gave me the chill of ice, rather than the beauty of endless skies.

As I got up and slowly made my way towards them, he tossed a large log to Sora, who fumbled to catch it, the weight bowling him over. He loped past and stopped in front of Kairi, putting his hands on his hips like mom used to do. "And you're just as lazy as he is!"

"So you noticed," she grinned, and then noticed me behind him, "Oh, Riku, this is Cynder! We think she's from another world!"

He eyed me skeptically, "Is that so?" His cold, cerulean eyes glared into mine, almost as bright, and I cocked an eyebrow. A glaring contest ensued for a few seconds before he had to look away as Kairi addressed him and Sora.

"She just woke up on the beach. I thought she could come with us and we could help her find her home again!"

Sora seemed fine enough with this, but Riku's eyes hardened, decidedly displeased, "You don't say."

The side of my mouth poked up in the slightest smirk. He could at least give me a chance. Not that I cared.

~Riku~

There was something he didn't like about those eyes of hers, something strange and almost sad. But they also had an inhuman gleam to them, something he didn't trust. The hard glare that met his own seemed decidedly unimpressed, something that wasn't right for someone so obviously weak and clumsy. She'd almost fallen at least five times on the way over, yet still had the nerve to look at him like she'd seen ten of his lifetimes.

~Cynder~

Just what I need, an egomaniac monkey. I'd hate to be anywhere near this guy for an extended period. He's obviously a great friend to them, but the way he's looking at me is just idiotic. I may not be the best judge of character, but I know a stubborn pain in the backside when I see one, hell knows I've had to deal with plenty. Not to say he's completely bad, he's obviously close to them, but the way he seems almost jealous of the person who met his friends about two seconds ago is truly pathetic.

What a fool. Part of exploring is meeting new people and making new friends. He wants everything to stay the same, and yet there is fire in his eyes—hungry to see new places? He's completely contradicting himself! Not one of them knows anything about the bigger world, that's evident enough. They don't realize the danger, or the joy of leaving home. For all they know, the adventure could take them through hell and back, and I know deep within my heart—very few real adventures ever return you as you once were.

I had to remind myself I'd been just as naive once in order not to tell them what they could be getting themselves into. Perhaps it was a journey they had to take…

He kept shooting glances at me with a stare harder than the gems his eyes resembled, and I doubt the scorn for such idiocy wasn't evident in my eyes. I don't hide what I'm feeling unless necessary.

"Well then," he grumbled, "we best get to working on the raft."

Kairi smiled, brighter than the sun, and leapt up, "Yeah! We'll finish it together!"

My heart warmed. Something about her reminded me of Myst… The purity and the innocence, the way her eyes sparkled when she was happy… Still, Myst was older than her in all ways but years, and that made my chest flare with pain.

"Come on!" Kairi's eyes twinkled again, "I'll race you!"

"What?" Riku grumbled. Sora just 'huh'ed.

But the minute she trotted away, they were off like rockets.

Riku glanced back at me, smirking.

And, with a barely perceptible growl, I too was off. Something just snapped, and I bounded forward, 'arms' swinging at my sides, the black armor-things on my feet splaying up dirt behind me. It wasn't anywhere near how fast I could truly run, but it rivaled any ape I'd ever encountered, and certainly put me up to their speed. I caught up to Riku, and was fighting to get in front when we reached our apparent destination. Even I don't know if I won or lost that one.

The boys left to gather who knows what, and Kairi and I sat down. She was giving me odd looks because of the sudden burst of agility, but I was just as confused about it myself. When she asked, I could only offer a shrug and a "dunno."

I spent most of the time the boys were gone staring at nothing and doing everything I could to lock my trepidation in the back of my mind. I had to be strong now; I could mentally rant about the hell that is my life later. After I found Spyro, Sparx and Myst. I had to go with them. Who knows? I might find my world on the way, but what if the others weren't there? Sitting here won't change a thing. It's not the where that makes 'home,' it's the who.

Kairi looked at me seriously, her voice snapping me from my silent reverie, "Cynder, you speak of people like you're not one."

I stared at my hands again, marveling at how set and steady they'd suddenly become, and sighed, "That obvious, huh?"

She nodded, looking at me, "It's even in how you look… Your eyes are brighter than any person's I've ever seen."

I shrugged, "Sounds like they look the same, then. Pity I don't have something reflective."

She blinked, "Like a mirror?"

"Mere-roar?"

She fished in her pocket and pulled out a tiny thing, flipped part of it open, and then handed it to me.

I looked it over curiously. It was some sort of hard, green substance with bristles on one side and a flat piece of what seemed like ice on the other. But why it didn't show through to the green behind it, and was still frozen despite the heat, made no sense to me whatsoever. At least it was reflective.

I had to put it at the end of my arm's length to see my whole face—flat, a small nose, long black fur on my forehead. The only familiar thing was the jade eyes that looked out at me, as lost as I was. I blinked, as did the girl in the mirror. With a crack as it hit the log Sora had brought, it fell into the sand. Kairi picked it up, but the shards of ice remained in the sand. I just stared at where the reflection had been, so terrifyingly real…

I'm not one to fool myself into believing reality is a dream, but somewhere I had, somewhere the tiniest bit of me had hoped…

Gone, shattered, like glass…

I was crying again, my forehead resting in my new hands, my whole body quivering with the reality of it all.

Who am I? If I'm not me, who am I?

What am I?

I was running again, wind whipping my face, fur blowing behind me, flaring and waving like wildfire. I found somewhere to hide, curling up as much as I could—like I once had been able to—a cranny in a reasonably large cave, the grey walls white under the surface. Lichen covered a small part of it, and so I curled up and cried.