Work Text:
Prismatic Bonds
“Was a blindfold really necessary?” Naminé asks, tugging on the bottom of the fabric. The fabric is thick enough that she can’t see through it, but the scent of sea spray and crunching of sand beneath her feet are enough of an indicator where Kairi has taken her this afternoon.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Kairi chides, swatting her fingers away. “No peeking. I told you this is a surprise.” She steers Naminé to the left and then stops, putting her hands on Naminé’s shoulders. “Now just stay here for a second...and no peeking.”
Naminé sighs but dutifully crosses her arms behind her back. “I promise I won’t peek.”
“Good,” Kairi says, a smile in her voice as she unties the blindfold. The sound of her footfalls follow a moment later, and Naminé keeps her eyes squeezed shut until she hears Kairi call, “Okay, you can open your eyes!”
Slowly, Naminé’s eyes flutter open; a vibrant blue sky and sea greet her, along with the familiar foliage sprouting between the wooden constructs of the Play Island. Sunlight drizzles down through the leaves and clouds sailing lazily overhead, and it takes her a few seconds to adjust to the sudden brightness of the scenery before she notices Kairi, Xion, Aqua, and Olette standing in front of a long wooden table. It’s adorned with a daintily embroidered cloth that hangs over the edge, and a collection of sweets stacked high on tiered stands.
“Happy Birthday, Naminé!” the four girls exclaim in unison, accompanied by a quartet of glitter-filled party poppers and an eager bark from Pluto. The yellow dog, his tail wagging, slips out from beneath the table and bounds towards Naminé, knocking her to the ground and greeting her with a lick.
Naminé giggles. “Pluto! You’re here too, huh, boy?”
Pluto barks again and offers her another kiss.
“He insisted on coming with,” Xion explains, moving to help Naminé up. “I think he knew it was your birthday too.”
“What a smart boy,” Naminé coos, scratching behind his ears. Content, Pluto closes his eyes and leans against her legs, his tail like a metronome as it continues to wag from side to side. She isn’t exactly sure why the happy-go-lucky hound has taken such a shine to her, but ever since her rebirth, Pluto has made it a habit to shadow her and Xion during their odd jobs and errands around town. Sometimes he even tries to help her paint, often leading to the stray paw print on her canvases. Not that Naminé minds. After a lifetime of solitude, she enjoys the company.
“And as you can see,” Kairi adds, gesturing towards the table, “we have quite a bit planned for you.”
Bending, Aqua reaches for a small box from underneath the table and pulls out a pair of silver heart-shaped tokens. “Including how to make your very own wayfinder.”
“I remembered you mentioning how much you wanted one of your own last time we all visited The Land of Departure, so I texted Aqua and the other girls about it,” Olette explains.
“Everyone thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate your birthday. Along with some sweets of course,” Xion says with a wink.
Without warning, Naminé feels tears prick her eyes and averts her gaze as she rubs them away. She still isn’t used to so much kindness. While her days at Castle Oblivion have mostly faded into distant chains of memory, the gloom and insecurity left behind linger. It’s hard to fathom that she deserves any of it. Remembering her birthday would have been enough, but to think her friends had put so much effort into celebrating…
“Thank you, everyone. I’m so grateful for all of you, but…you really didn’t have to go to so much trouble on my account.”
“Well, you deserve it,” Kairi says, her voice gentle but firm as she puts her hands on her hips.
Sometimes Naminé wonders if Kairi can read her thoughts. She is, after all, Naminé’s other half. Her rebirth may have granted her an opportunity to experience life beyond Kairi’s heart, but the connection between them is irrevocable.
The other girls echo Kairi’s sentiment, and Naminé obliges with an appreciative smile and another murmured ‘thank you’ as everyone settles around the table. Pluto, with a yawn, nestles himself back beneath the table, avoiding the tropical heat as he curls around her feet.
As Aqua begins her instruction, Naminé nibbles on one of the tea cakes, powdered sugar dusting her fingertips. It’s filled with a fresh strawberry jam that she can’t get enough of. I’ll have to ask Aqua for the recipe later. Baking isn’t her strong suit, but she likes to think that her lessons with Sora at the Bistro have been paying off. At least enough for her to duplicate a recipe.
“Once you pick the glass shards you want to use, you’ll want to slip them into each frame.” Aqua holds out a blue shard and inserts it into one of the thassala-shaped frames, gesturing for the other girls to follow suit.
Naminé eyes the array of shards. It’s like a kaleidoscopic mosaic of colors—red, pink, blue, purple, yellow, green, orange. A splash of indigo.
And pearlescent white.
Funny…white really is my color, isn’t it?
White like her dress. White like Castle Oblivion. White like her room. For a while, she had considered avoiding the color altogether, seeing her new lease on life as a chance to embrace a world full of color and paint over an empty canvas.
But still, it finds her like a specter whispering behind a curtain, reminding her of the girl she used to be. A girl trapped in a lonely melancholy.
Tentatively, she picks up one of the pearlescent petals and turns it over in her fingers. The smooth surface refracts the sunlight, prismatic rainbows shimmering with endless potential.
It’s beautiful.
She slides each petal into place, thinking of the white light that had guided her heart home, of the white flowers wafting through the air as she had boarded the Gummi Ship, and the white pages of her sketchbook she now fills with her own memories.
“Oh, I love the color you picked for yours, Naminé,” Olette chirps, fiddling with one last orange shard until it slips into place. It matches her tank to a T.
Naminé smiles. “Thank you.”
The heart-shaped tokens follow next with Aqua carefully arranging the completed petals around it in a star-shaped pattern. “This part is a little tricky, but you’ll want to take some brown cord and use it to stitch all the pieces together.”
Naminé watches as Aqua threads the cord through each petal, securing them together with nimble fingers before tying another cord at the very top. She adds one final touch—a small star composed of a colorful mosaic of shards—at its tail. It glitters when Aqua dangles it between her fingertips. “You can add a little accessory at the end too if you want, but it’s not mandatory.”
“Like this?” Xion asks, presenting her own wayfinder. It’s violet with a tiny seashell, rimmed with indigo, acting as a charm.
Aqua beams. “Exactly like that.”
Carefully, Naminé follows suit, though deciding which charm to use at the end is more difficult than she expects until Xion offers her another shell, this one white with the same pearlescent appearance on the inside as her shards. “Oh, this is lovely,” Naminé says. Using a needle from Aqua’s box of supplies, she punctures a small hole at the top to weave the cord through and marvels at how well the shell pairs with the rest of the wayfinder.
Xion grins proudly. “I collected them this morning while Kairi was on her way to get you.”
“So, that’s why you left home so early,” Naminé says, thinking of her friend’s oddly-timed departure from the Old Mansion.
Xion hums in response, snatching a pair of Kairi’s freshly made Paopu Tartlets from one of the bottom tiers of a serving tray. “Want one?” she asks.
Naminé nods, accepting the pastry with her other hand, and the paopu jam makes her tastebuds sing as she takes a bite. I’ll need this recipe too.
From the other side of the table, Kairi leans over and appraises her work with visible awe. “Yours looks amazing, Naminé! Look at all of those little rainbows, and you even found a seashell to match. I used one of Aqua’s stars for mine,” Kairi says, raising her own wayfinder, pink like a lotus flower, for comparison.
“Yours is amazing too, Kairi,” Naminé returns, a warmth budding in her heart as she admires her friend’s handiwork. She had seen the lasting bonds forged from these charms again and again through the memories of others. Once, she had even tried to take it for herself, gifting forgeries instead of something crafted with her own two hands.
But…
“Now the five of us will always be connected,” Aqua declares as if in answer to her thoughts.
That’s right, Naminé thinks, and nothing will ever break us apart.
Not Heartless. Not Nobodies. Not even the Darkness itself.
Smiling, all four girls hold their wayfinders to the sky, and Naminé revels in the moment, savoring every detail of the memory for her canvas and easel.
That is until she feels a wet snout on her leg. Distracted, Naminé looks down to find Pluto staring up at her with pitiful eyes.
Naminé tilts her head. “Pluto?”
“What’s wrong with Pluto?” Olette asks, concerned.
“I’m not sure.” Naminé furrows her brow. “What do you need, boy?”
In response, Pluto paws at the wayfinder in her hand and then whines.
Naminé’s eyes widen in surprise. “Do you want me to make you a wayfinder too?”
Pluto barks and springs himself onto the seat beside her, eagerly licking her hands.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Naminé giggles, and reaches for the pile of shards again.
“Aww, poor, Pluto” Olette coos, petting Pluto on the head affectionately. “Looks like he was feeling a little left out, huh?”
Pluto barks again and snuffles at a bone-shaped cookie hidden behind one of the tiered stands. Laughing, Kairi offers it to the hound and dusts off the crumbs that fall as he chews. “Good thing we baked some dog treats too.”
“And…tada!” Naminé finally exclaims, presenting a finished yellow wayfinder to Pluto. “One wayfinder, as requested.”
Tail wagging furiously, Pluto licks her face and takes the wayfinder in his mouth, showing it to the other girls proudly.
“Now the six of us will always be connected,” Aqua amends with a nod.
“We should take a photo with our wayfinders,” Naminé suggests.
“I’ll send it to the group chat so the boys can see,” Kairi agrees, fishing her Gummiphone from the pocket of her dress and clicking the selfie-mode option on the camera. She gestures for everyone to move in closer, and then snaps the photo with a practiced tap of the finger.
A few seconds later, Naminé’s Gummiphone buzzes in her jacket pocket, and she smiles as she looks at the photo. I’ll have to find a frame for it from one of the shops in Tram Common.
Her phone buzzes again. A text from Sora?
Wow! Those look amazing! 🤩
Make sure to bring them to dinner tonight!
“Is there a reason Sora is asking us to bring our wayfinders to dinner…?”
Kairi, Xion, Olette, and Aqua exchange conspiratorial looks.
“You didn’t think the birthday celebration was over, did you?” Kairi asks, wiggling her eyebrows mischievously.
Naminé blinks. “It’s not?”
“Nope!” Olette beams. “The boys wanted to do something too.”
“Which means our next stop is Le Grande Bistro for part two of your birthday celebration,” Xion chirps.
“I heard there’s even a birthday cake.” Aqua winks and then addresses the other girls. “I’ll clean up here and then meet you all at the restaurant.”
Kairi frowns. “Are you sure?”
“I’m fine. Just get our birthday girl to her party,” Aqua says, gently shooing them all away.
“Alright,” Kairi replies, “Let’s get going then. Riku should be here soon with the Gummiship and—Naminé? What’s wrong?”
Naminé shakes her head, sniffling as she clasps her wayfinder to her heart. “Nothing’s wrong. Nothing at all. Everything has been wonderful. I just…I just can’t believe there’s more and that you did it all…for me.”
Xion nudges her shoulder playfully. “How could we not? You’re our friend, Naminé.”
“That’s right,” Olette agrees with a determined nod. “We want you to have the best birthday possible.”
“And so do the boys. Sora told me Tiny Chef taught them some new recipes, and they’re all really excited for you to try everything, especially Axel,” Kairi jokes, pulling Naminé in for a hug.
Naminé reciprocates, and then pulls away to wipe her eyes. “He actually managed to not burn the kitchen down, then?”
“Well, he had Isa supervising him,” Aqua says with a grin.
“Apparently his flaming a la mode is delicious,” Kairi replies, earning a giggle from Naminé.
“I can’t wait to try it.”
Pluto chimes in with a muffled bark, and Naminé ruffles the top of his head.
These memories are real…and they’re mine.