Chapter 126: Destiny Islands
The sun shone brightly for the typical spring, regaining the heat from the rainy season a couple of weeks back. The waves moved softly as they drew into the land, only to draw back seconds later. Seagulls carried on their daily duties within the palm coconut, curiosity took over them as they watched a huge yellow chick exploring the sandy beach, as well as freaking out as they watched an orb of light, blinding them. The sight of familiar faces calmed them down for a bit, only for the blinding light to finally make them leave their nests, squawking in annoyance and they flew away to a more peaceful area of the Islands.
The three Islanders had to smile when they took the sight in of their old playground, wrapping their arms around each other as they took in the sight, Kairi breaking the silence. "We're home." She smiled.
"Yeah." Sora said breathlessly, the sight of his home taking his breathe away. The wind blowing calming through his hair, the salty sea air breathing into him, the calming sounds of the birds and the waves bring a smile to his face. He was home, if only to stay.
"Right." Riku collapsed himself, resting on the sand as he looked up at the two. "What's the plan?"
"I'll head to town and meet up with Selphie and the others before checking on my father." Kairi told them. "You guys show them around and maybe check on the keyhole."
As if from the mention of the keyhole, Riku bounced back up from the sand with urgency as he looked back at her. "Take Sora with you." He said to her. "I'll stick round here and show Hikari and Brian around."
Sora raised his eyebrow to question the behaviour, only to shrug the thought away. "Okay, only if Kairi wants me to come." He turned to face Kairi. "If you want to face your father alone…just say." He chuckled sheepishly.
"Thanks and you're more than welcome." She smiled gratefully, taking a place next to Riku on the sand, along with Sora.
The three friends began to enjoy the scenery, watching the yellow chocobo wander around the island as well as watching their friends' reactions as they took in the beach as they walked over. Sora smiled at them as he laid on the sand. "What'd you guys think?"
"What do I think?" Hikari repeated in shock. "How does Kairi not have a tan? This Island is amazing!" She said with awe. "I mean, sure, it looks kinda small but so does Little Devon. This place is paradise!" She cheered as she joined the others on the sand, sighing in comfort as she added. "This place is defiantly my first place of visit once all of this is over."
The Princess of Heart smiled at this. "We'll give you and your brother a properly Destiny Islands welcome." She smiled. Her eyes turned to Brian, who simply just sat himself on the sand. "What do you think, Brian?" She asked.
Brian jumped at the sound of his name, facing the group in confusion. "Huh?"
"Destiny Island." Kairi repeated. "What do you think of it?"
Brian continued to looked around, his sights on the main island in the distance. "This place…" He sounded zoned out. "Seems very familiar."
"Familiar how?" Riku sat up once more.
"I don't know." Brian shook his head. "The landscape just looks the same as this world I knew. Just with less nature and more cites." He leaned back, only to sit back up, his eyes caught on something. "What's that thing?"
Sora quickly looked up from where Brian was pointing, seeing that the red head was looking at their usual sitting area. The same curved palm tree along with the same yellow star fruit, the sight of the fruit made the teen smile as he replied, "It's a Paupo Fruit."
"A what?" Brian only looked more confused.
"A Paupo Fruit." Kairi stepped in, beginning to explain. "There's a legend that goes with the fruit too. If two people share one, they will remain a part of each other's lives no matter what."
"Their destinies intertwined with each other." Riku added.
"Really?" Brian said in disbelief. "Like a fruit could do that."
Riku could only shrug. "Like Kairi said, it's just a legend." He turned his sights to Sora, seeing that his sights were somewhere else, as well as himself. "Sora?" He called him.
His sights remained on the Paupo Fruit, which eventually turned to where the waterfall was, his memory kicking in to the last time he had returned home with Riku. He remembered coming to the Islands on his own, wanting to take in the sight of the home he was glad to return to. Remembering about the Paupo drawing he had done on his and Kairi's drawing when they were just kids. Seeing that he wanted to look at all of the pictures they done when they were little, he crawled into the secret place, until he was able to walk within the cave. All the drawings brought a smile to his face but the one that made him stop in his tracks was the one that he had added to the year before…the one with two paupo fruits.
"SORA!"
Sora jumped up at his name, turning to the others. "Yeah?"
Hikari only shook her head. "What is it with you two?" She looked at him and Brian. "The two of your seem out of it today."
Sora jumped up from his feet, his arms as he said, "Just remembering." He said with a smile, walking towards Kairi as he offered her a hand. "We should meet Selphie and the others."
"Sure." She smiled, accepting his hand before looking back at Riku. "We'll meet you guys back here."
"I'm coming too!" Brian jumped up, only for Riku to grab his bag and place him back to the sandy ground. "Hey!"
"Good luck."Riku called to them as he watched the two head over to the wooden raft, seeing their rafts being kept in good condition since they left. As soon as the two were on the raft, rowing their way to the main Islands, Riku jumped up at a fast rate, catching Brian and Hikari by surprise. "Brian! Get your chocobo!"
"Why?" Brian only looked at him in confusion.
Riku only smirked as he replied, "We're going to Sora and Kairi's secret place."
BOWBOWBOW
The silence took the two of them, the sounds of waves splashing against the boat was only heard. It wasn't awkward though; the two enjoyed the peace that they were having, the sight of their home relaxing them, enjoying the sight while they still can, before heading back to their adventure to save King Mickey. Sora continued to row the boat, concentrating to moving the boat across the water while Kairi gasped at the main islands ahead before relaxing once more. The Keyblade Master smiled, he knew that Kairi had been feeling homesick; she had said it to him a couple of times. I guess everyone had been a little homesick too, he was pretty sure that Riku was glad to be back for a quick visit too, even if he won't admit to it. "You miss this place..." He said.
The Princess of Heart nodded, keeping her sights on the Island. "I do." She admitted. "Even though we've changed, the Islands haven't."
"We've changed?" Sora halted his rowing, grabbing Kairi's attention as the boat stopped to a halt.
"For the better, like Brian said back at the ship." She explained before explaining. "We've been through so much these last couple of years, from keyblades to fighting the darkness and even our adventure now. Those experiences have made us who we are; our memories are the chains to what we believe in, what makes our hearts." She turned away from the islands to look back at Sora. "In a way, we haven't changed but we have."
Sora chuckled. "Does this mean I broke another promise?" He asked sadly.
"No." Kairi shook her head. "No matter what happens to you. You're always Sora."
Sora smiled at the comment. "Thank you, Kairi."
"For what?"
"For being you all this time."
This caught the Princess of Heart by surprised, her cheeks burning up to a blush as she took the sight of his grateful smile, watching as he slowly took grasp of her hand and held it tight. She could only smile at the thought that the simple hand in hand gesture meant to them. A sense of warmth flew into her hand, making her heart beat twice when looking straight at him. His eyes shined just as bright but seem a little duller then before. With her free hand, she reached up to his face, feeling his soft white hair, seeing it spring back to place just like it normally does. Her hand begun to trail down his face before reaching his armoured infected claw. She grabbed hold of his white shadowed claw and holding it tight, watching it dull in brightness. "I hope the cure works…" She says, holding his hands tightly.
"I do too." He should only reply in distance before looking back, seeing Kairi's expression. "Hey! Don't you worry, Kairi." He pulled her into a deep embrace, feeling her arms wrap around him. "No matter what, I will beat this thing." He made him look up at him, wiping her odd fallen tear away. "We're almost done."
"I just don't want to lose you again." Kairi breathed, finding herself close to Sora once more. She remembered the agreement they made back at Christmas Town but the moment they were in was very tempting. With willpower, they both pulled back, much to their dismay, as Sora continued on rowing to the Islands. Kairi looked in the distance to see the main islands shore but her mind was clear. She had one thought; when they return, she'll tell him.
"Sora! Kairi!"
The two teens looked down the pathway to the beach as they jumped out of the raft, and tied the boat to the dock. The two nodded to each other before running up to their friend, "What's going on, Tidus?" Sora asked.
"What did my father do?" Kairi asked in a more upfront way.
"It's more of a thing to see, c'mon!" Tidus hushed them to follow him, their minds wondering what is going on and what is the mayor up to? With their minds focused on the task ahead, they didn't catch the sight of glowing green eyes, staring at them in the shadows.
BOWBOWBOW
Following Tidus to the town, Sora and Kairi found Selphie and Wakka waiting for them by one of the shops. Selphie was waiting impatiently, sitting on the bench, while Wakka was simply practising with his blitzball. As soon as the three are spotted, Selphie is on her feet, knocking Wakka down in her path to glomp Kairi into a tight embrace. "Oh my god, Kairi! I've missed you!" She released her friend before jumping towards Sora, glomping him in the same embrace. "Sora! I've missed you too."
"We've missed you, Selphie." He grinned.
"Selphie." Kairi looked at her with concern. "What's happening with my father?"
The brown haired only sighed before looking back at Wakka, who handed over a piece of folded paper. "Take a look at this."
Sora took the piece of paper, slowly unfolding it before seeing the content that it held. The picture held a decent profile shot of both Riku and Sora, with wanted written above. He widened his eyes in shock as he looked at the description. "20'000 mummy for kidnapping?" He said in disbelief.
"What?" Kairi quickly looked at the piece of paper before taking it out of Sora's hands. "Selphie, has this been going on since we left?" She questioned.
"They went up a couple of weeks after you left." Selphie told her. "So much for the letter."
"It was a good idea at the time." Kairi sighed.
"What letter?" Tidus asked, the other guys looking at the girls with the same confusion.
Kairi groaned, the feeling of her plan going wrong rushing through her, as she explained. "Before we left, I didn't want to confront my father about leaving, mainly because he wouldn't let me hang out with you guys let alone going on a dangerous mission with you guys. I thought the note would clear up that I'm not a little girl anymore and that you guys are by my side. Oblivious, he took it in as kidnapping."
Sora stepped forward and placed a hand on Kairi's shoulder, grinning as he said. "We should confront him now!" he grinned.
"Confront him? We can't do that." Kairi looked at him in disbelief.
"C'mon Kairi, if you can take on Order members then I think you can take on your father. Just show him that you can look after yourself." Sora smiled softly at her. "You showed me."
"Yeah but I don't want to have a duel with him." Kairi placed her head on his shoulder, sighing. "I know you're right. What do you guys think?" She looked over to Selphie and the others, only to see Tidus and Wakka snickering while Selphie was aweing at the two of them. The Princess of Heart could only look at them in confusion. "What?"
"You guys have proper hooked up, ya." Wakka pointed out.
"Huh?" Sora and Kairi looked at each other, seeing that they were basically attracted to each other as Kairi was wrapped around his arm while Sora had been leaning in slightly when she was resting her head on his shoulder. Sora quickly winked at her before facing back to Wakka, "I'm just comforting her." He said
Tidus shook his head. "Dude's in denial."
"SO IN DENIAL!" Selphie began to squeal like a schoolgirl before jumping over to Kairi. "Why didn't you tell me? Are you together? Have you kissed yet? When's the wedding? When you get married, can I be the maid of honor—"
"Sora! Help!" Kairi gasped, continuing to get bombarded by Selphie's millions of questions.
Sora laughed as he smirked, hatching an idea in his mind. "It's a shame that Riku couldn't make it." He said with a sense of sadness. "I guess we couldn't pull him away from his new love."
Selphie immediately halted her verbal attacks on Kairi and turned straight to Sora. "Riku has a love interest?" She said in disbelief.
"Why do you think he's back at the Islands?" Sora shrugged.
Selphie began to jump up and down in joy before screaming. This wasn't due to excitement. As she was jumping up and down, a net had covered her, Tidus and Wakka, leaving the three trapped underneath. It wasn't long before the Destiny Islands enforcers appeared out of nowhere and surrounded the keybearers, guns ready. "We have you surrounded. Give up the girl."
The Keyblade Master blinked in confusion. Surely they would have jumped him if he and Riku are wanted men. It was only after a bit of his white hair flickered in front of his eyes did his mind click. "They don't recognise me..." He whispered to Kairi, having his arms wrapped around her protectively.
"Then you can escape and get the others." She simple said, unwrapping herself from Sora's arms, quickly giving him a peck on the cheek before stepping towards the enforcers. "I will come at will. Leave this boy be."
"Kairi? What are you doing?" Sora called to her.
"Thank you for bringing me back home, Sky." Kairi said out loud, leaving the infected Sora speechless. "I am forever in your favour." She looked back at him, giving him a smile before walking to the enforcers. "Take me to my father."
"Follow us, ma'am." The leader of the troops nodded, his soldiers surrounding her as they walked on, out of the square.
Sora quickly ran over to the others and removed the net that was holding them down, watching Kairi being taken away…he never felt so useless.
BOWBOWBOW
"This is it." Riku smirked as he straightened himself up, walking into the cave, the sun shining bright within the cave, placing his hand on the drawings of the past.
Hi kari looked at the pictures in awe, giggling slightly at the pictures of Riku in the corner. "Nice picture, Silver." She smiled before looking back at him. "If there are drawings by you, why is this only Sora and Kairi's secret place?" she asked.
"Well." Riku chuckled. "Back when we became friends with Kairi, it was mine and Sora's secret base and Sora had basically begged that Kairi join in for the secret base. Me being a kid, I didn't see that much harm in it. It wasn't until a couple of months later did I get banned from my own base."
"Talk about harsh." Hikari smirked as she shook her head. "Must have made you jealous."
"I was annoyed that I was pushed away just like that." He told, shaking his head at the past. "I tried to see what was so cool about Kairi that it could grab spiky head's attention. "He sighed at this. "Hence our rivalry began. All because of this." He pointed over to the picture near the blank wooden door. The drawing of Sora and Kairi, handing over Paupo fruit to each other.
Hikari could only smile at the sight. "That explains why Sora was so distant earlier." She giggled, holding her grin. "This is there first sign of affection."
"This is the first time I've seen it with two Paupo fruits." The Wielder of Dawn admitted, summoning his keyblade. "It's a good thing that Sora didn't know about the keyhole here…..well either that or has forgotten that it was here." He pointed his keyblade at the blank wooden door only to halt in realisation. "Where's Brian?"
"I think he's still getting Steve." Hikari stepped towards where the entrance was, only to see a chocobo racing in the cave.
"AH HA!" Brian brust in, breathing heavily, his sights of the chocobo before halting in place, shock taking over. "This place…" His eyes wondered around the cave, not acknowledging Riku or Hikari. "It can't be…" He had been freaked out enough when he arrived here, the sight of the sky being dark, a city being sighted in the distance, the waves and winds moving rapidly against the winds. Now he stood within the darkened, wet cave; as he looks at a picture, it is quickly smudged or clawed out. An image of a sleeping bag and provisional items lying next to the blank wooden door, a hooded figure placed his claw on the picture next to the door, half the picture being scratched out. "Sora…" He gasped in realisation.
"Brian. Are you alright?" Hikari looked at him in confusion and worry. The sight of him dropping to the floor made her run to his side. "Brian!" she kneeled by his side, watching him grab his head in pain. "His memories…" she muttered, looking back at Riku. "That's why he was off earlier. The Islands. I knows them."
"He can't be from here. I haven't seen him here before." Riku shook his head in confusion, feeling helpless to aid his friend.
"Help me…" Brian kept his eyes shut, his memories rushing through him so suddenly…
"I'm Haru! Haru Devon. At least tell me who you are."
"Sky."
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"Welcome to Shadow's Cove. Before the Order took over, this place was called Destiny Islands. There cities ruining this world."
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"Will you help me to the Resistance?"
"Why would I take an Endless to the resistance?"
"Why did you save me on the beach? There had to be a reason."
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"Why did you lie to me about your name? Your promises? Everything?"
"Because I needed to trust you first. I'm sorry I lied to you. This time, I'll take you to the resistance."
"Will you tell me your name?"
"You know the stories. It starts with an 'S'."
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"Listen to the Captain, he will guild you for now on."
"You're not sticking around?"
"I don't deserve to be here anymore."
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"Unless there is one more support, this Endless will not be granted access to our Cornwall Cresent!"
"I stand for him."
"Well if it isn't the great Keyblade Master….I thought you ran away."
"I'm here to stay."
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"What's the big idea?"
"Not only are you and Endless but you're devil's son. I'm gonna make you feel like you never joined the resistance to the light."
"And who are you?"
"His former family."
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"What happened, Master?"
"The Colonel took her life for being jealous. I couldn't save her. My light was gone."
"Not gone. Just lost."
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"Captain! Where's my Master?"
"Haru…"
"Where is he?"
"He went to fight the Colonel."
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"I don't want to be a keyblade wielder! You're the Keyblade Master! I'm the mage! That's how things are! How am I supposed to know what my oath is? What I'm destined for?
"J-just follow your heart. You're our only hope. You need to warn the Devon brothers. Save us all from the Order….stop me…."
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"The future…" Brian could only gasped in shock, seeing Riku and Hikari look back at him in worry, mostly shock. "I finally get it." He said to himself.
"Get what? Brian! Tell us what's going on?" Riku demanded.
Brian simply looked at him. "Daniel's deadline. The Colonel's 'One for a Thousand', They're….I'm from the close future…" He whispered in realisation. How stupid he had been this entire time.
A/N: YAY! First Destiny Island and I have finally got this fact out. Took time. What do you guys think? I hope that the story hasn't been a waste of your time…also please don't run yet from the sound of 'future', the next chapter will explain a lot of things.
Kingdommad