The Songs in Our Hearts Book One: Reaching Out

Chapter Twenty: Landing in Neverland

After about three hours at sea with Hook, Riku was glad to have finally landed. While the ship itself was quite cozy with its reddish, wooden structure and orange lanterns, having Hook around had gotten tiresome since the pirate constantly rambled on about how much he would've enjoyed killing of a boy named Peter Pan. His plans were messy and full of unnecessary details. Glancing at Harmonia, she seemed to be relieved too. Her face was a little pale, and she wore an uncomfortable expression.

"Sea sick much?" he joked, nudging her playfully. She flinched, at this, and Riku muttered a quick apology. He had forgotten how shy she could be.

"A little," she lightly laughed after recovering from her slight shock. Riku smiled and let his eyes wander to the isle they landed on. The ground was black and rocky, and a large center pool was formed from a small channel leading into the ocean. Across the island they landed on was another one with a massive, skull-shaped rock. Hook had told the two that the island was fittingly named Skull Rock.

"Maleficent said we're suppose to be looking for hearts of pure light," he reminded the girl of their mission.

Harmonia huffed and said, "I doubt there'd be any in this area," while gesturing to the bleak scenery.

"You're probably right," Riku laughed. His expression suddenly changed. "But we might find our friends," he pointed out, letting his aquamarine eyes drop to the ground. While he had agreed to help the fairy with her plans, Riku would much rather look for Sora and Kairi and not waste anymore time. He could only imagine what they might be going through, stranded in unfamiliar worlds.

"All right, Maleficent and I have finished discussing where to search," Hook announced as he stepped out of his quarters. Riku and Harmonia turned to the captain. "Skull Rock has already been searched, and there was nothing to be found. So you'll be searching around the Mermaid Lagoon and the Gully for a girl of the name Wendy, while I go look for that wretched Peter Pan," he explained before pointing a finger to the other end of the cove. "You can reach them from there." They looked and noticed an uphill path. Riku glanced at Harmonia, and the girl gave him a nod.

As they descended from the ship, the silver-haired boy wondered how they would get to the other side of the cove without getting wet. There wasn't any bridge, and the water looked too deep to walk through. Riku turned to Harmonia.

"Are you okay with swimming?" he asked. She looked down at her clothes.

"Guess I'll just use a fire spell to dry off then," she muttered.

Remembering that Harmonia carried her instrument on her, he asked, "What about your flute?"

"Oh, all instruments back at Northpointe are enchanted to be waterproofed so they don't take water damage while submerged or in the rain," Harmonia explained.

"Good to know." Riku stepped into the water first, expecting it to be cold, but it was actually fairly warm. Looking ahead, he saw a center island in the water and decided it would be faster to climb out on the platform and walk a little bit instead of swimming the whole way. The teen glanced at his new friend and pointed to the center island, and she gave him another nod.

As they swam, Riku thought about how they would go about searching for their friends. Obviously, they had to tend to Maleficent's orders first or else they would be facing fairly serious consequences. But then there was the matter of time. If searching for the fairy's targets took the span of a whole day, there would be no time left to look for Sora, Kairi, and Coda. And it wasn't like they could just visit any world they wanted. Maleficent had to be the one to take them there. Riku pulled himself onto the platform and extended a hand for Harmonia. She gladly took it and climbed up as well.