The Songs in Our Hearts Book One: Reaching Out

Chapter One: Island Days

As the large, shadowy creature slammed its fist to the ground, Sora jumped onto its arm and ran up to the face. Sora had no idea what this thing was, but he was sure of one thing: it was ugly. The creature's face was hidden behind hair-like tentacles, and from within those tentacles, beady, yellow eyes seemed to glow.

Sword in hand, Sora slashed at the face, and the creature stepped back in pain. The violent movements from the monster caused Sora to fall onto the ground.

"Hah! That's what you get!" Sora teased the creature as it stumbled back. Putting a hand on his hip, Sora spun the blade he had gotten earlier and positioned it behind his head.

Then the sword disappeared.

As the sword dissipated into thin air, the monster recovered. Shocked, Sora jumped further away, but the beast only slammed both its fists into the floor, violently shaking the platform beneath them. Sora's gaze was fixated on the creature and the darkness that began spreading from it. He failed to notice the shadows form on the floor beneath him until he started to sink into the ground.

— But don't be afraid, Sora heard a distant voice say. How was he not suppose to be scared when the darkness surrounding him was pulling him in? The boy struggled to free himself from the shadows, but they kept dragging him deeper and deeper. The voice came again, You hold the mightiest weapon of all, it spoke in a soothing tone, and Sora reached a hand up to where it sounded like the voice was coming from.

More shadows swarmed Sora now; the scenery was being obscured. Sora could not move his limbs anymore as the darkness had them pinned down. Unsure of what to do, the brunette looked up for a sign. The shadows covered his face, and he found himself being unable to breath.

So don't forget: You are the one who will open the door.

The first thing Sora heard was the waves from the island move up and down the shore. Blinking rapidly against the light of the afternoon sun, the teen sat up and looked at the blue-green ocean before him. When did I get here? he thought, trying to recall the last thing he did. After a few seconds, Sora came up blank— he couldn't remember anything besides the dream.

Yawning, he attempted to lay back down on the warm, white sand, only to be met with a girl's face out of nowhere.

"Whoa!" Sora shouted, sitting up immediately. He turned to face his friend. A bright smile formed on the girl's face as she laughed, causing Sora's cheeks to heat up. "Gimme a break, Kairi," he muttered, both embarrassed and relieved that it was only her and not Riku who found him.

"Sora, you lazy bum," she joked, putting her hands behind her back. Kairi had a mischevious smirk on her face. "I knew I'd find you snoozing down here." Sora frowned at her statement.

"No! This huge black thing swallowed me up!" he started explaining, trying to make sense of the events from before he woke up. "I couldn't breath, I couldn't— OW!" Looking back up at Kairi, Sora rubbed the spot where she had hit him.

The girl bent down to his level and asked, "Are you still dreaming?" Her voice sounded like a mixture of disappointment and disbelief.

"It wasn't a dream!" he pouted, but then he thought for a moment. "Or was it? I don't know," the boy murmured, his blue gaze staring at the white sand. Maybe it was a dream. It's not like shadows come to life and pull you into the ground, he reasoned. "What was that place? So bizarre..." Sora said to himself in a quiet voice so that Kairi would not hear him and think he lost his mind.

"Yeah, sure," he heard the girl say. Sora watched as the red-head walked to the shore. The gentle waves lapped lazily at her shoes.

As an attempt to change the subject and hide his embarrassment, Sora asked, "Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up." Kairi ceased her steps once she reached the water.

"I've told you before, I don't remember," she answered, her pale-blue eyes fixated on the horizon. Sora tilted his head at her response.

"Nothing at all?" he tried again.

"Nothing," Kairi reiterated with an apparent drop in tone.

"Do you ever wanna go back?" Sora inquired, wondering if Kairi really wanted to leave the islands.

Kairi hummed as she thought about Sora's question before replying, "Well, I'm happy here." Her cheery attitude was back.

"Really..." the spiky-haired boy murmured, relieved to hear that Kairi was happy on the islands.

"But you know..." Kairi started to say. "I wouldn't mind going to see it," she dreamed out loud, her head tilted up towards the sky. Sora smiled at this.

"I'd like to see it too," Sora added, shifting his sitting position. Thinking about seeing Kairi explore the world she a had lived in before she came to the Destiny Islands made Sora bubble with excitement. Soon, he would be out there having new adventures and meeting new faces. "Along with any other worlds out there! I want to see 'em all!" he exclaimed in wonder, trying to imagine places that were unlike the islands.

Kairi turned to him with a brilliant smile on her delicate face, "So what're we waiting for?"

"For the raft to be done," a new voice answered. Sora and Kairi immediately turned to see their other friend: Riku. "Aren't you guys forgetting about me? So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft." Under one of his strong arms, Riku was carrying a large piece of driftwood. The silver-haired teen rolled his eyes and threw the driftwood to Sora before walking up to Kairi.

"Whoa!" Sora shouted, trying to catch it.

Putting his gloved hands on his hips, Riku joked, "And you're just as lazy as he is!" to Kairi. The red-head let out a giggle.

"So you noticed," Kairi laughed while hiding her face. Sora noticed this and looked in a different direction. "Okay, we'll finish it together!" she exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Sora heard Riku let out a noise of disbelief as the older boy sat next to him. The brunette laughed at this, knowing that Riku didn't believe Sora and Kairi could get anything done. Kairi seemed to know as well because she pouted at Riku's actions. "Come on— I'll race you!" she challenged the boys.

"I literally just sat down," Riku muttered.

"Look who's lazy now!" Sora taunted the other boy, wearing a mischevious smirk. Riku shot a fake glare at him in response.

"Ready? Go!" the girl shouted. The boys immediately sprang to their feet and started running. Despite running as fast as he could, Sora still couldn't keep up with Riku.

At least I'm not last, Sora thought to himself as Kairi usually fell behind the boys. Riku crossed under the wooden bridge first; followed by Sora and at last, Kairi.

"Looks like I win again," Riku gloated in a confident tone, catching his breath.

"Yeah, I'll be sure to get you next time!" Sora exclaimed, pointing a finger at the silver-haired teen.

"We should be able to finish the raft by this evening," Kairi started to explain. "Just a few more supplies and some finishing touches and then... we'll be off...," she trailed off a little bit.

Nodding at Kairi's words, Riku turned to Sora and asked, "Speaking of supplies, where's that driftwood I gave you?" After a few seconds of thinking, Sora let out a long groan.

"I left it all the way over there," he complained, gesturing to the place they had just run from.

"Then go get it, you lazy bum!" Kairi sang, giving Sora a light nudge and a grin. Sora returned the expression and ran back to get the driftwood.

(A/N): So, some of you might have noticed some slight changes in the dialogue along with some other differences. I'm only doing that so you can get a better visualization at times or because I think a certain character should have said something else. For the most part, this fanfiction will strictly follow game dialogue, but you can expect some scenes that seem like they would be from the manga.