Chapter Text
Destiny Islands was sunny and warm. The sunlight never seemed to fade away, and the sound of the waves crashing against the sand was a reminder to you that it was home.
However, home meant many things to different people- and to your “siblings”, Riku, Kairi, and Sora, Destiny Islands was not a “home” but a prison. You knew very well of how the trio desired exploring the outside world, but you couldn't help but feel as if it was merely a false hope.
What other worlds would they find anyways? What if they found none? After all, is adventure really worth sacrificing your life for? You didn’t see much of a point in it, especially since Destiny Islands offered so much.
It wasn’t your place to argue, though. You had assumed that maybe it would fade with time, after all, it was a silly dream that children had. It was one that you too had when you were young and alone, but you grew out of it. What use was there to traveling and exploring adventure when you had no experience and a life at home?
You were broken out of your thoughts when Sora came barging into you about playing “Knights”. Sora always asked you to pretend to be a captured royal while him, Riku, and Kairi would save you from the evil bad guy. You agreed, nodding while you sat on the highest rock formation that was your “tower”. Sora and Kairi waved their hands wildly at you and you waved back, before Riku yelled that you were captured, and they had to be serious.
“Sorry, Riku! Okay, serious face!” Sora yelled, holding the wooden sword they had crafted for themselves.
“Alright team, let’s go!” Kairi nodded, pointing her sword up to where you were.
Riku and Sora charged ahead, seeming to race each other while Kairi was behind and trying to keep up.
“Guys, we’re a team, you remember that right?” She pouted while she ran faster, all while Sora laughed.
“But I’m gonna save, (Y/n) first!” Sora cheered.
“In your dreams.” Riku retorted with a smirk. The two ran up faster and you sighed at how petty they could be. As the two boys reached the top, they weakly paused and tried to catch their breath.
“Timeout, I gotta…” Sora heaved.
“Hah… weak…” Riku forced out, just as tired as him.
You covered your mouth as Kairi saw the two trying to regain themselves, and she covered her mouth too before walking to you.
Kairi tapped her sword against your shoulder and smirked.
“Hah! Guess I won!” Kairi jeered.
“What?!” The two boys looked up and saw Kairi smugly looking at them while you shrugged. “No, that’s not fair!”
“Seems fair to me!” You replied, high-fiving Kairi.
“But we’re a team! So we all won!” Sora cried.
“You guys didn’t seem like a team. Not with how you left Kairi like that.” You pointed out. The two boys slumped their shoulders before they apologized to her.
You got up from your imaginary prison and walked to them, ruffling their hairs and smiling at them.
“Just remember to play fair.” You said. “Come on, I’ll make you guys lunch.”
The three erupted in cheers as you led them home.
After the walk home and creating the sandwiches they craved so bad, they hungrily gobbled them up before talking more about their dreams.
“We have to prepare the boat soon, I wanna explore!” Sora said.
“Sora, we need more food and water before we go.” Kairi sighed.
“But there’s water all around us, it’s not hard.”
“Yeah, sure, let’s see how long you’ll last drinking salt water.”
“Riku, you don’t need to be so mean to him!”
“Yeah! You don’t need to be mean to me!”
You sat there quietly. They were really serious about this.
“Guys… are you sure you want to do that?” You asked, almost hoping they’d give up.
“Of course we are! It’s gonna be so fun!”
“But… you know… it’s not really a safe-”
“We know, (Y/n), but we’re all prepared, we’re taking extra supplies-”
“Riku that’s not what I mean.” You cut the silver haired boy off.
“Then what do you mean?” Kairi asked.
“I’m just saying, you guys are young and the world is dangerous. Do you think a raft is gonna take you anywhere?” You questioned.
“Well of course it will. We planned it all out.”
“Plans don’t work out always. You’re just kids-”
“We’re not kids anymore, (Y/n)!” Sora yelled. “We’re big enough to explore!”
You felt your blood boil. Why were they not understanding what they were saying?
“You’re fourteen, you’re old enough to recognize there are no other worlds! Come on, guys, are you really serious about going on this stupid raft? You’ll never survive!”
“We will! And we will show you that there are so many other worlds out there! And then you’ll stop seeing us as children!” Riku grit his teeth and clenched his fists, and you shook your head.
“You are children, and you should know better! Children shouldn’t be on rafts trying to find imaginary worlds that don’t exist! I thought you guys would get over this obsession, but it seems it’s only gotten worse.”
“It’s not an obsession, it’s true-”
“True based on what? Those stupid fairytales we read when you were younger? Those are just kids stories! Come on! They don’t exist! Just grow up already and stop thinking of that raft!” You shouted, the objects in your home shaking at the gravity of your voice.
The three stared in shock at your voice, and you covered your mouth in embarrassment.
“W-wait, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-” You tried to apologize, but the damage had been done. Their eyes were watering as they stood up.
“Jerk! They’re not stupid stories! They were so much fun with you!” Sora tried to muster out, the tears leaking down his bright blue eyes.
“Sora, I’m sorry-”
“Forget it,” Riku spat, “You’re just another boring adult. Come on guys, let’s get the raft ready.”
Kairi didn’t bother looking at you as she tearfully covered her eyes and followed behind.
The door slammed shut behind them as you now realized the gravity of the situation. You messed up. You covered your face in your hands and felt the tears in your eyes threaten to fall down.
You didn’t mean to yell, you just didn’t want them to get hurt. Maybe you were just really too arrogant for your own good. But now they were even more determined to leave, and the thought terrified you. What if they never came back? What if they got hurt or lost and-
A million thoughts raced in your head as you tried to chase the kids outside. You called for them but they ignored you. You ran faster and grabbed Riku’s shoulder but he swatted your hand away.
“Go away! You’re not gonna stop us! Just leave us alone!” Riku yelled.
“But I-”
“We’re going! Whether you like it or not! You’re not our parents! You’re not our (Y/n), just a lame babysitter!”
You stood, frozen at the spot as you bit your lip. He sneered and caught up with the other two kids, leaving you alone.
“I deserved that… just… be safe…” You murmured as you walked back to your house.
How you wish you never said those things that day.
The sun was setting as you sat in your empty kitchen, the empty and dirty plates from today’s lunch staring back at your guilty face. You didn’t have the stomach to eat after the way you lost your temper. It was unlike you, but you couldn’t deny the pit in your stomach that something bad was going to happen.
You sighed and began washing the four plates and cups of juice, the water rushing from the sink and the stars shining outside being your only company.
It felt empty not having the kids with you. There was no laughter or silly noises, no pointless arguments between Sora and Riku, no Kairi laughing at their behavior while she beat them at cards, no asking for you to join while you were reading on the sofa. No begging to sleepover at your house and have you read them a bedtime story with the children’s books you read them when they were kids.
When they were kids… you wished you could go back to that, when they were young and the world seemed so small. But you knew better, your siblings were getting older and they had their own dreams. And you were just scared of being a lonely adult.
You looked at the calendar hanging on the dreary wall and saw there was a big red circle with poorly written handwriting. (Y/n)’s Birthday- obviously written by Sora. Oh, right. Today was your birthday.
As you were now older, you poured yourself a cup of juice and raised your glass to the sky.
“Yeah, happy birthday to me, I guess.” You said bitterly, before you drank it.
You had no energy to bother, and you instead threw yourself on your couch and grabbed the thin blanket to cover your body.
You stared at your ceiling fan boredly before your eyes drifted to your bookshelf. A book about silly fairytales you had read to the kids before.
Maybe they were right. Maybe you were boring. And you had just been selfish to not want them to achieve their dreams- after all, they were most definitely more determined than you. You would never have had the guts to leave the island, and you knew better than to leave what was already safe.
You began flipping through its pages and reminiscing on your past when you heard the wind pick up. It rattled your house and you were surprised at how it appeared so quickly. Were you guys having a storm? But nothing even warned of a storm today!
You put the book down and peeked out your window, when you saw your world crash before your very eyes. Black portals and the wind raging outside had swallowed the objects around the island, and your first thought went to your three siblings.
Oh god, you hoped they weren’t on the raft. Without thinking, you ran outside into the dangerous storm, adrenaline surging through you as you called their names. You ran to the beach where you saw a familiar shade of silver jump through the portal, and you screamed. You noticed Sora run into the cave and you yelled for him- but in all the commotion, he couldn’t hear you. Your legs collapsed under you, leaving you weakly gasping for air as the world darkened.
What a cruel joke. Maybe this was just a bad nightmare. Or maybe this was real. In which case, what would you even be able to do? You had no power. You had nothing to stop this calamity.
You flipped yourself on your back, heaving as you stared at the stars one last time. You accepted your fate as your last apology to your siblings went unheard, and the darkness swallowed you whole.
It was cold, as if your body was freezing from the inside out. At the very last moment, though, you felt a surge of light and warmth, and you flung your body up, gasping for air.
You had expected this to be a bad nightmare, a silly dream you could laugh about later with your siblings. But instead of your uncomfortable couch, you woke up on cement, rubbing your neck in pain. You had no idea where you were. This was definitely not Destiny Islands.
Tall buildings towered over you, almost mocking how tiny and insignificant you were. Bright neon lights glowed and you closed your eyes in pain. Where the hell were you? Was anyone even here?
There were no lights besides those from the neon signs, and you called out to anyone for help. You received nothing but echoes of your voice reverberating back to you. You wrapped your arms around yourself, shivering and feeling even more anxious and alone.
Oh god. Where the hell were you? Where the hell was this? What even were you supposed to do? Where was Sora, Riku, and Kairi?
You saw a large white castle almost floating in the sky, and finding no other option, you decided that it was where you could seek refuge.
You weakly dragged your exhausted and hurting body towards the castle, weaving through alleys and streets before you managed upon a tall skyscraper in a large clearing. It was bright and you couldn’t help but stare.
The island didn’t have anything like this. You thought the treehouse was tall, but it barely could compare to the structure of this building. It seemed to go far beyond into the sky, and you couldn't’ make out the top of it.
As you were thinking, you felt you were being watched. You turned over your shoulder, when you came face to face with a small creature. It was black, twitching, with yellow glowing eyes. It reminded you of a bug.
You nervously stepped backwards, and the creature seemed to know how fearful you were. It staggered to you and you fell backwards.
Oh dear. Oh no. Not like this.
You picked yourself up and began running to the castle. It hurt. It burned. Every part of your body was screaming for you to stop, but you couldn’t even fathom the idea of giving up.
You didn’t want to die. Not here. Not by that thing.
You looked behind you again and found that not only was the creature chasing, but many more of them were following you. You screamed and ran faster, your bare feet pounding against the cement. It hurt. It hurt so bad, but you couldn’t stop.
The castle grew larger as you got closer. Soon. Soon you could rest and escape those things. Your hope was short lived when you turned a corner to the castle and met face to face with more of those creatures. Your heart pounded in your head as you recognized how screwed you were.
This was it. This was how you were going to go. All that pain, for nothing.
And yet your hand gripped a lose plank of wood on the street. Your heart was determined, and it wouldn’t waver. You couldn’t give up.
You hit one of the creatures that jumped onto you, sending it flying backwards. However, to your horror, it melted to the ground and moved back to you, as if it wasn’t even fazed. You continued trying to hit them to make a path to the castle, and just as you saw the white marble of the castle, you felt yourself being dragged back.
Not fair… I’m right here… it’s not fair…
You didn’t want to give in. It wasn’t fair. Tears streamed down your face as you let out a loud scream. A bright light blinded your vision. Your body ached, and you couldn’t help but lay down on the cement. Your eyes fluttered open and you noticed there was no more black creatures. You let yourself lay there before you heard a loud wind and opened your eyes to find someone in a black hood leaning over you.
You couldn’t move anymore. You couldn’t fight or muster the words to ask what was going on. You succumbed to the pain you felt and closed your eyes, letting yourself rest. You would figure out what happened later.
Before you could fully knock out, you heard a muffled word.
“Heart.”