Butterfly Wings

The Second Day

(Exactly what you're thinking, flipped over and viewed through a cracked mirror)

They'd finally finished preparations for the raft, and Sora wasn't thinking about his dream any longer, not with the excitement of leaving and the twisting confusion over Kairi's words - let's take the raft and go – just the two of us!

Riku was waiting further up beyond the pier. Sora broke into a jog to catch up with him. The sun was setting and they started heading home.

It was Riku who noticed – it was always Riku who saw something first. "Hey," he said, pointing up into the sky. "Look."

Sora tried to follow the gesture back up to the clouds. After a second of searching his eyes caught on something small and dark with the setting sun behind it, high up and falling.

Beside him Kairi whispered, "What is that? It doesn't look like a bird."

Blueish comets streaked across the darkening sky. The falling shape was closer now. It resolved itself suddenly into a person, and Sora could only gape upwards, his dream from yesterday vivid in his mind. He'd been falling and then he'd seen himself falling toward himself and then he was falling again -

"Hey, come on!" someone shouted. Sora was jerked out of his trance by Riku grabbing his arm and pulling him across the beach back toward the cove, where the figure seemed to be headed.

Sora half-shook his head to clear it and ran along with his friends. Riku reached the door first and pulled it open, so Sora, right behind, ended up first through it.

The figure had fallen in the water just beyond the beach and was laying there. Sora ran up to the edge and then froze as the tide pulled back. For a second he expected the dark reddish water to keep going until it drew itself up in a massive wave, and by the time he registered that it was heading in again, just the normal lapping motion, Riku had already stepped into the water and was offering his hand to the boy, who was sitting up and looking confused.

When he saw Riku, his eyes widened and his expression became almost worshipful. "Riku!" he squealed in an oddly high voice, ignoring the offered hand and instead jumping up to hug the boy. The two of them toppled over again as Riku failed to keep his balance under the sudden weight, something that didn't seem to upset the boy, who simply shouted, "Oh my god, Riku!"

The boy, Sora noted with a sense of confusion, seemed to be wearing an outfit identical to his own. And knew Riku.

"Um," he said, stepping forward as Riku managed to stand up again, half-dragging the boy upright too in the process. Before he could ask anything the boy turned to him, expression lighting up further, if that were possible.

"Sora!" he shouted, as if they were long-lost friends. "I can't believe this! I'm really here!"

"You know him?" Kairi asked, sounding as confused as Sora felt.

The boy's eyes narrowed into a glare, looking almost hateful. Sora recoiled as the boy said, "Oh, it's you," in a disgusted tone.

"No, I've never seen him before," said Riku, now sounding put-off. He disentangled himself from the boy.

"Of course you haven't, but I know – wait, him?" said the boy. "I'm a girl."

Riku gave him an appraising look. "Are you sure?"

The boy stared at them in bafflement, then looked down. His expression changed to horror. "What? This can't-" He started tugging his shirt off, fingers fumbling as if the garment was unfamiliar to him. After a second he pulled it half over his head.