Sora's eyes shot open, the teen expecting to see darkness enveloping his body. Instead, he saw the clear blue skies he had known all his life. The sun was shining warmly as Sora realized he was on the shores of Destiny Islands and not some unusual platform. That's right, on that platform he was fighting…mmm…fighting…
…What had he been fighting again?
As quickly as Sora had awoken, the images from his dream started to slip away. He had a sword, there was a voice talking to him, and there were some sort of creatures…at least he thought so. Already, trying to recall the details of his nightmare was as easy as grabbing a handful of fog.
Within a minute of staring up at the lovely blue sky, Sora had forgotten most of the dream and the emotions he felt during it. Sitting up, he looked to the calm ocean, the sunlight dancing off of it as it always did. Since he was awake, he should probably help with the raft, but…he was still tired.
It seemed like no matter how much sleep Sora got, he was always tired. His friends called him lazy, but it felt like it was more than that. It was the type of tired that sleep didn't seem to help at all, and it made him feel like some sort of outsider. Still, his friends did accept him, so he was satisfied with that, for the time being.
Letting out a yawn, Sora lied back down, only to see Kairi smiling down at him.
"Whoah!" The teen exclaimed, abruptly sitting up as his friend laughed good-naturedly. "Gimme a break, Kairi, you really startled me!" Sora complained as he turned around to face his friend, kneeling up.
Kairi shook her head a bit. "Sora, you lazy bum. I knew that I'd find you snoozing here!" The girl teased, hands folding behind her back.
"No, I had this weird dream!" The boy replied, really trying to clutch at the last remnants of what his nightmare had been about. "There was some black thing and I got swallowed into the floor and…" Even as he spoke, the last details were fading away and were soon gone.
"What, are you still dreaming, Sora?" Kairi asked with an amused look. "That's what you get for slacking!" She teased.
Sora frowned a bit, brows furrowing in thought. It didn't feel entirely like a dream, but…what else could it be then? "So weird…" He murmured. Deciding to brush it off since it wasn't like he could remember most of it. Wanting to change the subject, he looked back to Kairi. "Hey, what was your hometown like?"
The young girl looked off at the ocean, far into the horizon ahead. "I've told you before, I don't remember." She replied patiently. "I only remember being here on the islands."
"Nothing at all?" Sora lightly pressed. He found it fascinating and maybe even a bit scary to not be able to remember something so important. Honestly he wasn't sure what he asked Kairi the question, he had asked it many times over the last decade since she arrived.
"Nothing." Kairi echoed, patience still in her voice. She never seemed to mind it when Sora or anyone else asked about her hometown. Of course, no matter how many times they asked, she insisted she had no memories of it.
Nodding in understanding, Sora sat down properly on the sand. "You ever want to back there? See where you grew up?" Maybe she'd even meet an old friend she had forgotten.
"Well, I'm happy here." Kairi replied without hesitation. "But I'd love to go and visit one day. I'm curious about it." She explained, looking back over to Sora.
Smiling a bit, Sora looked off towards the horizon. "I'd like to see it too, and any other worlds out there. I wanna see 'em all!" He boasted, staring off to the ocean, as though if he squinted, he could see part of one of those worlds.
It wasn't that he hated Destiny Islands or anything, but he craved to see more! The islands were pretty isolated, the only taste of the outside world came from things he saw on television or heard on the family radio. Aside from that, traders from elsewhere came every so often, but they only stuck around for a bit before leaving again. Sora wanted to experience the outside world, among other worlds, for himself!
Kairi grinned wide, beaming at Sora. "Well, we'll just have to go and see them, huh?" She replied, excitement in her tone.
"Hey! You two forgetting about me?" A voice called, prompting Sora and Kairi to turn to the source. Strolling up to them, a log under one arm, was Riku. The fifteen year-old strutted towards the pair, tossing the log to Sora who fumbled and fell backwards as it hit his chest. "I guess I'm going to be the only one working on the raft, then?" He asked, speaking in a faux annoyed tone. "And you're down here lazing about like Sora is." Riku said to Kairi as he reached her.
Laughing lightly at her friend, Kairi nodded. "Guilty as charged, didn't think you'd notice!" As she watched Riku sit next to a Sora, who got the log off of him, she grinned. "Come on, we'll finish it together! Let's race!" She declared, pointing towards the area where the unfinished raft was.
"What? For real? I just sat down." Riku replied with a roll of his eyes.
"Ready…" Kairi called, a mischievous look on her face. "…Go!"
She clearly knew that was all she had to do in order to get the boys up and moving. Sora and Riku had been competitive ever since they were four and five. Anything from a meal to getting to class first could be turned into a challenge between them. This clearly was no different, because as soon as Kairi spoke up, they quickly got ready, and when she yelled out, they bolted towards the raft. Kairi herself tried to keep up, but the boys were too fast for her…
Naturally, it was Riku who won the race. In most instances of these small competitions, he came out on top. Every so often, Sora would get in a victory, but he often found himself at the end of some friendly ribbing from his best friend. After that, Riku went off to practice a bit, basically telling Sora and Kairi to pick up on some of the slack.
"I guess that's fair…" Sora murmured to Kairi as the two watched their older friend head to the mini-island where he liked to practice his swordplay. "So…what needs to be done again?" He asked Kairi, the two hanging by the door leading to the more secluded beach where their raft was.
"You really weren't paying attention?" Kairi lightly scolded with a roll of the eyes. "We need materials and food too. How about you just get the materials for today. We need…a few logs, some cloth, and a rope…that should be it…"
That all seemed easy enough. Sora was starting to feel a bit bad since Riku had been doing a majority of the work on the raft so far. Then a thought hit him. "What will you be doing then?"
Kairi flashed a mischievous grin. "I'm going to make sure you do your job, of course!" She declared, folding her hands behind her back. "That's pretty tough on its own!"
Rolling his eyes, Sora couldn't help but smile back. "Gee, thanks Kairi. Don't strain yourself, alright?" He joked, getting a small laugh from his friend. With that, he went off to look for supplies, going along the shore of the island to try and find logs. Every so often some driftwood would wash up from somewhere else, some part of the outside world far away.
The three actually had the idea to cut down a tree or two instead, but Riku quickly decided it was a bad choice. If something went wrong and one of them got hurt, the whole plan would be blown. This was meant to be a secret not just from their parents, but other friends too. Yeah, the three got along with Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie…but it just wasn't the same sort of bond. Besides, trying to fit six people on that raft wasn't going to happen.
It didn't take long for Sora to find a piece of good driftwood, carrying it under his arm as he kept going. Recently, the teens' head was filled with the ideas of what other worlds could be out there. He wanted to see things he had never dreamed of…things that were even beyond the movies he watched, the books he had read, or the radio broadcasts he had heard. And he also wondered just how many worlds were out there…maybe as many as there stars in the sky. It'd be a long journey, that much was clear, but he, Kairi, and Riku agreed to it and there was no turning back.
Before long, Sora found another log washed up on the beach. Hoisting that under his free arm, he carried his haul back to Kairi. She looked them over and flashed Sora a grin. "These will work great! Just get a cloth and rope and we'll be set!" She lightly ordered.
Sora nodded, but before he went off, he paused. "Hey, Kairi. Will you miss this place? When we head out?" The trip was only a few days away at this point. Not a lot of time for farewells or anything like that. Especially since this was all meant to be a secret trip.
"Of course I will." Kairi replied, lifting her chin just a bit as the sea breeze blew, the girl closing her eyes as she enjoyed it. "But we'll be back. We can even make small visits here before leaving again." The girl suggested, opening her eyes again. "It'll make our parents feel better, right?"
That was true…Sora felt really bad about leaving his parents without saying anything. He just convinced himself that they'd be fine without him. The boy also felt like there might not be a return trip, in a way…if only because of Riku. The way Riku talked about this expedition made it seem like it was something permanent, that they'd go exploring and never return. Though even when he was a kid, Riku said some odd things, so Sora wasn't sure how seriously to take it…
"Yeah, we can probably visit whenever we want!" Sora agreed, making himself more chipper. "But alright, I guess I'll get the last few things." He said, going off towards the treehouse on the island. All the structures on this 'play island' had been there for as long as Sora could remember, probably made his parents and their friends, or maybe their parents and their friends. He never thought to question it, it was always just a part of his life.
Sora supposed he could understand why Riku would feel so antsy to stretch out his legs more than anyone else. Things on the islands hardly ever seemed to change, after all. As he approached the treehouse, Sora came across Wakka. The fifteen year-old was leaning against one of the wooden walls built on the island.
When he saw Sora, he gave an upward nod. "Hey, what's happening, man?" Wakka asked, his voice casual as always. The guy never seemed to have a care in the world.
"Have you seen a cloth or something around here? I need it for something." Sora asked, being purposefully vague. It made him feel bad not to include Selphie, Wakka, or Tidus…but he, Kairi, and Riku already agreed to keep it all a secret. Besides, the other trio of friends seemed pretty content on the island, never seeming to want to explore the outside world.
Wakka tilted his head a bit in thought. "A cloth? Uh…" He stopped to think, humming lightly. "…I think I saw one in the treehouse the other day." The teen informed after a few moments. "Try there."
"Thanks! Will do!" Sora exclaimed, quickly rushing to the treehouse before Wakka could ask why he wanted one. After climbing up to the treehouse, the teen looed around and quickly saw a cloth in good condition hanging on the wall. Perfect! After dropping it off to Kairi, he went back to the dock to look for some rope. He didn't see any, but Selphie was siting at the dock's edge, looking out at the ocean.
The thirteen year-old looked up to Sora, beaming at him. "Hey, Sora. Doesn't that breeze feel great?" She asked, turning back to the sea with a wide grin on her face.
"It sure does." Sora said, taking a moment himself to appreciate it. To him, it never got old, the smell of the sea, the feeling of wand, the tumbling of the waves. Still, new experiences would be great too. "Say, Selphie, you seen any rope? I thought there'd be some…"
"Hm? Oh, I think I saw Tidus with some." The girl informed, pointing to the large wooden structure jutting out from the island itself. "I dunno why, but he needed it for something."
Nodding, Sora started to run over. "Appreciate it!" He called behind his back as he made his way to the structure. When he got there, he indeed saw Tidus. The thirteen year-old boy was using a rope to set up some sort of practice dummy, his red wooden pole resting nearby.
"Hey, Tidus, what are you doing with that?" Sora asked, though it was pretty obvious what his friend had in mind. Between Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus, it was the latter that liked to roughhouse and fight the most. He also saw Riku as a sort of rival, but not to the extent Sora did.
Turning to Sora, Tidus gave him a little wave. "I'm just setting up a practice dummy. This will help me get stronger. Maybe I'll be able to beat Riku in a fight soon with its help!"
Well, that wasn't good, he needed that rope! "Hey, could I use that rope instead? It's pretty important…" Sora asked, not sure what to do if Tidus refused.
The younger boy pondered for a moment before grinning a bit. "Sora, you feeling lucky today? I'll give you the rope…but you have to beat me in a fight…along with Selphie and Wakka."
"At once?!" Sora exclaimed, not expecting that at all. "How am I supposed to do that?" Three on one was pretty unfair…
Tidus shrugged a bit. "Riku did it. We all went at him at once and he wiped he floor with us." The teen informed. "So, it's totally possible. Wanna try it? Otherwise, I'm keeping this rope!"
The first point was that Sora didn't have much choice. They needed that rope, and he wasn't sure where to find more on such short notice. The second point…the mention of Riku beating all three of them at once made Sora really want to try. He'd be a pretty lousy rival if he couldn't do the things Riku could!
"Okay, it's a deal. We'll do it right now." Sora agreed, hoping he was ready for this. He hadn't been practicing as much recently, feeling strangely exhausted more and more without much reason. With a grin, Tidus shook hands on it. The four gathered at the beach, Sora having fetched his wooden sword. Selphie had a jump rope, Wakka his ball, and Tidus his wooden pole.
The trio went after Sora all at once, coming at him from different sides. At the last second, Sora rolled away as Tidus and Selphie struck while Wakka threw his ball with all his might. As Sora got up from his roll, he spun around and swung at Tidus. The younger teen whipped around and blocked the attack as Selphie's jump rope smacked Sora across the arm.
Yelping a bit, Sora jumped back. That jump rope really hurt! As he did this, Wakka threw his ball which hit the outnumbered fighter square in the face, really making his nose hurt! Staggering back a bit, Sora felt a nasty pain in his stomach as Tidus jabbed him with the end of his staff.
Sora retaliated by swinging at the younger teen with a horizontal swing, Tidus ducking under it and sweeping the brunette's feet from under him. With a startled noise, Sora found himself on his butt as his three opponents waited for him to get up. At the very least, they didn't attack him while he was down!
Leaping to his feet, Sora quickly backpedaled from the trio, knocking another long-ranged attack from Wakka out of the air. Selphie sprinted at her opponent, maneuvering her weapon so one end of it came hurdling towards him. Like with Wakka's attack, Sora knocked it back, but in this instance the deflection worked a lot better.
The end of the jump rope went back to Selphie and nailed her right in the forehead, eliciting a cry from the girl. Seeing his opening, Sora smacked her on the side with his wooden sword, eliciting another exclamation of pain from her. "Ow! I give! I give!" She called, never having been able to handle much roughhousing as everyone else.
While this happened, Wakka stood by the shore and threw his ball at Sora again, who deployed the same strategy a second time. Sora hit the ball right back at him, nailing him in the stomach. While Wakka was stunned, Sora took a move from Tidus' as he sprinted to his stunned opponent and swept his legs from under him, making him fall flat on his back into the water.
With that, it was just Sora and Tidus, the latter being surprised at how quickly the tide turned. The two rushed at each other, swinging at each other only for their attacks to get blocked or parried by the other. Selphie and Wakka, sitting up from the water, watched on. It seemed that the two were evenly matched for a minute or so, but then Sora got a lucky hit, hitting Tidus on the top of the head.
As he yelped in pain, Tidus tried for a horizontal swing at Sora. The older teen swung back, knocking Tidus' weapon from his hand, and sending it flying away. Startled, Tidus turned to look at it, then back at Sora. Raising his hands in surrender, he grinned. "Alright, you win! That was a really hard hit there…!" He said in a good natured way, rubbing the top of his head.
Sora, panting a bit, tossed his wooden sword to the side. He was surprised he actually managed to win! And apparently Riku had done it much more easily! Tomorrow, maybe Sora would challenge Riku to a proper fight. It had been a few months, and this victory made him feel a bit more hopeful. "Yeah, I guess I did…" He said, a bit shocked. "A deal's a deal though, right? I get that rope!"
Tidus seemed bit disappointed, but quickly shrugged it off. "That's right! A deal's a deal. Come on, help me take that dummy down and it's yours." The younger teen said, walking with Sora to his prize.
With the rope in hand, that was the last item on the list. Thanking Tidus, Sora went to get the prize to Kairi, knowing that the hard part of working on the raft properly was the next step. Hopefully she'd at least help him with that!
Far, far from Destiny Islands, in another world altogether, stood Disney Castle. The day was bright and cheerful, the hallways clean as the enchanted brooms performed their duties. Donald Duck, Royal Magician to the King, walked down one of these hallways as he hummed to himself.
He approached a massive door, one that he had no chance of ever opening. Clearing his throat, he knocked on a section of it a few times, opening up a small section of it as he entered King Mickey's throne room. The room itself was massive, a red and gold carpet leading towards the throne.
"Good morning, Your Majesty!" Donald greeted, bowing lightly as he made the long walk towards the throne. As he approached however, he noticed something amiss. The throne was…empty! "What?!" He exclaimed, looking about, his eyes drawn back to the throne as he saw something come from behind it. That something was Pluto, a letter in his mouth! Quickly taking it, Donald read over its contents, eyes growing wider with every sentence.
Moments later, the magician was squawking in a wild panic, sprinting from the throne room and towards the gardens. There, as expecting, Goofy was taking a nap. Sure, that wasn't befitting of the King's Royal Knight, but with how peaceful the world was…he could afford it. "Turkey…lobster…" Goofy murmured in his sleep. "Sweet potater pie…"
As Donald approached his sleeping friend, he got mad. "Goofy! Wake up! This is serious!" He yelled…but Goofy remained asleep. Frustrated, the magician raised his hand up with a yell, a single bolt of Thunder striking Goofy and jostling him awake.
Not seriously harmed despite the attack, Goofy yawned as he sat up. Looking to Donald, he offered a smile. "Good mornin' Donald!" He greeted with a small wave as he yawned.
"This isn't a good morning! Something serious is going on! But you can't tell anyone!" Donald warned, shaking his head to add to his statement.
Goofy paused. "Queen Minnie?" He asked, looking a bit past Donald as he spoke.
"Not even the Queen! This is very top secret, okay?!" Donald emphasized with a noise of frustration at his friend's question.
Once more, Goofy paused, again looking a bit passed Donald as though not paying much attention. "Daisy?"
Not noticing where his friend's eyes were, Donald shook his head viciously. "No! Not the Queen! Not Daisy! Not anyone, you understand?!"
Leaning to properly look behind Donald, Goofy waved again. "Mornin' ladies!" He greeted, very chipper despite the news he was getting.
Freezing in place for a moment, Donald turned around and saw Queen Minnie and her lady-in-waiting, Daisy Duck. The two were standing there, the former confused with the latter clearing her throat expectantly with her hands on her hips. "Oh, boy…" Donald murmured to himself.
The sun was setting on Destiny Islands, the work on the raft was done. All that was needed were previsions, a task that could wait until tomorrow. Kairi had been surprised at the bruises Sora got, but the boy just waved them off. With the day's work finished, Sora, Kairi, and Riku rested on the miniature island where the Paopu Fruit trees resided. It was a bit of an export from the island, other areas of the world paying good money for the exotic items.
Sora and Kairi sat upon a tree that grew partially sideways, while Riku leaned against it as they watched the gorgeous, orange sunset. "So, Kairi's home is out there, right?" The brunette asked, looking to the horizon.
"I'm sure it is." Riku replied, arms crossed casually as he looked to the horizon as well. "We'll never know if we just stay here, though. We won't know about anything that other worlds hold if we don't leave." He went on, voice full of a steely determination.
Leaning forward to look better at Riku, Sora raised a question. "You really think the raft can take us that far?" It had been something on his mind since Riku first proposed the idea, but he just never spoke up about it until now.
Rather than give the situation more thought, the older teen shrugged it off. "Who knows? If we need to, we'll find some other way."
"So, if we can go to another world, what would we do there?" Kairi asked Riku. A lot of the details of their plan past leaving the island hadn't really been discussed before, as odd as it seemed. The three were just determined to find new places or worlds, and what that would entail had been pretty vague.
This question gave Riku more pause than Sora's. "I…haven't really thought about it. It's just…I've always wondered why we're here on this island. Why not some other world? Why this one? And if there are other worlds, that means this one is just a small piece of something much greater." Clearly the older teen had given this a lot of thought. "We could've easily ended up somewhere else, right?"
"I guess so, I dunno…" Sora said, moving so he was lying on the tree, hands behind his head. He was pretty tired after working all day. Riku was the brains behind all this, he just wanted to see new worlds, new sights, and meet new people. The deeper thinking, he left to his friend.
"Exactly. So, we should go out there and find out." Riku declared, pushing off the tree. "Sitting here won't change anything, life will just be the same thing…so that's why we should go."
Kairi looked to Riku, a bit surprised. "You've really thought a lot about this, huh? More than Sora and I did, that's for sure."
"Well, you're to thank for this." The white-haired boy said as he looked her. "If you hadn't come from outside the islands, I probably never would've thought about this to begin with. So, thank you, Kari."
Tittering lightly, Kairi smiled back to Riku. "You're welcome, I guess!" She said in a chipper tone.
Soon after that, the three decided it was time to go home. Their parents were fine with them being on the play island unsupervised, just as long as they were home by the time the sun fully set. Kairi went off ahead, and as Sora and Riku went across the bridge, the older boy spoke up from behind. "Hey, Sora!"
Turning, Sora was startled as an object was tossed at him. Barely catching it, he looked down to see it was a Paopu Fruit! "What are you…?"
"You wanted one, right? They say if two people share one, their destines are intertwined." Riku said, walking passed Sora, who was still staring at the fruit. "They'll be a part of each other's lives, no matter what."
Sora had heard that legend, of course. Everyone on Destiny Islands knew about it! He remembered when he was little, the older kids would brag about sharing the fruit with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Of course, none of them actually did it when anyone was watching, so they'd usually get called out on lying. Heck, the brunette even remembered his mom saying she and Sora's father shared one back when they were teenagers. Being six, Sora just waved off the 'mushy talk' with complaint.
"Well, yeah, I know, but…" Sora muttered out, brows raised.
"C'mon, I know you want to try it with Kairi!" Riku teased, running off ahead with a smirk on his face.
Sora let out a light noise of annoyance as he tossed the fruit aside. Riku was always teasing him about Kairi! He ran after his friend, the two of them quickly catching up to Kairi as she went to the docks.
The three only had one full day left on Destiny Islands to go. Once the previsions were gathered, they'd leave first thing the next morning. While excited, all of them were anxious, even Riku. There was no telling how well this plan would work and what they'd find out there if it did.
Yet…it was a risk all three of them were willing to take.
A/N: Decided to make this chapter pretty short too. I was going to have all of Destiny Islands be one chapter, but decided against it since it'd be a bit too long probably. Also this is still basically the prologue, so I'm fine with making the chapters shorter than average.
I'll say I always imagined each world in the games as basically smaller parts of an entire Earth-sized planet, which I already showed off in Birth by Sleep. So unlike in the games where it's sort of more vague, here it's not like Destiny Islands is just a small set of islands with ocean around it and nothing else in the entire world. There are other islands and countries and continents.
Also, I decided to make the level of technology on Destiny Islands is around late 1940s or early 1950s America. So, no even color T.V., no cell phones or computers or things like that. It's something I like to imagine being true in the game itself since I don't recall the level of technology there ever being elaborated on in the games. It'd explain why Sora has no idea how computers or the Gummiphone works.