Chasing Destiny

The Jungle

The sound of chirping crickets is all you can hear as your eyes flutter open. Your head is pounding, and you shakily raise a hand to your temple. Pulling your fingers back, you grimace; they're stained with ruby-red blood. Groan a little, your head lolls to the side. It was too much effort to hold your head up, and your vision was still blurred.

Where are you, anyway?

Frowning, you rack your brain as you search for clues.

With your head still lying limp, you glance around your surroundings. It looks like you're inside of a small, wooden boat, floating in the middle of the sky. You shake your head a little and blink rapidly, willing yourself to snap out of it and wake up. Finally, once your vision is almost normal and the pounding in your head has lessened to a faint thud, you push yourself off of the wooden boards of the boat and onto your feet.

"Holy..."

You trail off as you peer over the edge of the handmade boat. Thick ropes are securely holding the boat in the sky, hanging from a gigantic tree. A few feet away is a house, resting in a clearing of trees.

A Treehouse.

On one side of you is a large body of water, and on the other is a vast and expansive jungle. Your eyes widen, memories suddenly flowing back. You, Reno, Cloud, Noctis, and Zack had taken off for some world called "Deep Jungle", after receiving a report of Heartless and Nobodies joining forces to cause problems. Reno and Zack had been bickering over a plan of action, and Reno ending up losing control of the Gummi Ship. It's the last thing you remember, and you deduce that you must have crashed and separated.

"Stupid boys," you mutter, resting your hands on the side of the boat.

It's a long jump from the boat to the Treehouse, and you're not quite sure if you can make it. You glance back down, gulping loudly. If you were to fall, it's a sure death. What else could you do though, sit in the boat and pray for help? For all you know the other four are still together, marching on their merry way.

"I can do this, I can do this, I can do this..." you whisper to yourself, hopping up and down a bit.

You back up, bouncing on your heels as you warm yourself up. You aren't the best jumper, but you should be able to push yourself far enough that you're able to just barely land on a wooden walkway of the house. With a deep breath, you take off in a sprint, jumping into the air and pushing yourself towards the waiting house. You give out a little squeak as you land, the momentum pushing you forward. Stumbling a bit, you grab onto the huge trunk, panting slightly as your heart beats out of your chest. You did it, though! With a smile you stand up straight, glancing around your new surroundings. The Treehouse is surprisingly sturdy in the air, and you cautiously start to walk away from the boat and towards the actual house.

You take out your phone as you walk down the wooden path, hopelessly pressing the buttons. It's dead, you realize with a frown.

"Knew I should've charged it..."

Damn it, once again Riku had been right. He was always harping about how you never charged your phone. You'd never tell him about this, though; the smugness would be almost unbearable.