Notes: Editing completed on 05/06/07.
Chapter One: Enter/Reset
A soft breeze fills the island air, water laps gently at the shoreline. Hot sweat glistens against milky flesh and bronze skin.
"Okay, we'll finish it together! I'll race you!" a cheery voice strings out through the air.
"Huh?"
"What, are you kidding?"
An innocent giggle, "Ready?"
Hearts quicken at the word. Ready?
"GO!"
A look is exchanged between green and blue, and with a nod, they take off.
"Sora?"
A soft whisper breaks the silence through the air.
"Sora?"
I hear a faint sniffle as I wake up to see a familiar bobbing brown haired head. Selphie hovers over me, sniffling back tears.
"Sora… Sor—"
"Selphie. I hear you, what's wrong?" I ask in a soothing voice, my eyes skimming the area of anyone else stirring.
"I-I can't sleep." She says in an almost inaudible voice. I sigh and smile, although she can't see it.
"Well, that's nothing new," I joke. "Come here."
She complies with a small nod and sits next to me on my cot, a soft whimper escapes as the bed groans in protest. In her arms she has her teddy bear, Mr. Wiggles, don't ask.
We sit in silence as she continues to even out her breathing, as soon as she calms down Selphie turns to look at me, "Sora, can… can you hold me?"
I can't help but smile; she's so innocent, just how I used to be. This girl is so small and fragile; one bad thing could result to her crashing down.
"Sure."
I have no love interest towards Selphie. But I feel my role towards her is as a big brother. It feels good to look out for someone, rather than them mothering you. But sometimes… I wonder, how would it feel? How would it feel to have someone always watching over you, protecting you, and loving you? And why… why can't I---
"Sora?"
I snap out of my thoughts as Selphie looks up at me, eyes full of curiosity. I pat her head in reassurance and smile genuinely.
"Tell me…" she whispers while Mr. Wiggles comes closer to her small frame. "Tell me again."
I feel those questions come back into my mind as a faint smell of salt hazes through my mind… that bright sunlight… the green… How would it feel to have someone always watching over you, protecting you, and loving you?
I am on the verge of holding tears when Selphie grips my shirt and snuggles closer, her way of encouragement, a way of comfort that just seems to convince me to tell it again. Tell her about where I came from… where we came from.
She doesn't and wouldn't remember.
"Please?"
Warm water brims my eyes as I fight them back, showing a weakness to Selphie could traumatize her, letting her see I'm not as brave as she thinks. I hold back.
"Okay." I whisper through the darkness. No matter how many nightlights illuminate the room, I still see darkness.
She perks up a bit as I wrap my arms around her affectionately. A deep breath and I begin to tell my story, a story about happiness, laughter and love. The day back on Destiny Islands, before he took us all and erased our memories, flushed as I call it, and how I managed to just remember some of it. Of course, no one knows… no one knows I remember a lot of it.
The screams, those black bodies and fierce yellow eyes. The constant shrieks those creatures made, the cold sinister laugh that man made when he killed anyone who protested, anyone. I almost cried aloud, remembering how he dragged away Selphie. This girl before me, how that man hurt her…
Of course she doesn't remember.
And sometimes, I wish I didn't either.
But why? Why couldn't I fight back then? I can't think back that far.
"The Island of Light as some of us called it," I began, "A place where warmth was everywhere, no matter how far the sun seemed to shine—"
"What's the sun again?" She asked me tilting her head to the side.
Oh yeah, the sun. It's sad knowing that we are all kept locked away in this basement to do work for eternity. We were all erased of everything, every memory, and every sound… whether it was a bird or our parent's voices… even what the sun, moon, and stars are. No windows are here for us to gaze out at, for seeing the outside world could make us dream. He tells us, " We shouldn't dream of things not worth fighting for."
"Ah, the sun, yeah…" I pause trying to remember what I told her before… it seems she likes to know everything for comfort. "Eh, basically Selph, a big yellow glowing ball of energy…." I smile remembering how I used to look at her like that. "It is what kept everything naturally lit, when it came up, it was day, when it faded, it is called night."
She smiles and sighs, a sign letting me to know to continue.
"Everyone from the island would always gather and plan out what to do. For fun we'd go and swim in the vast ocean… a very large bathtub really." No doubt in my mind Selphie and her creative little imagination are working frantically trying to piece out what an ocean was. Oh how I wish she could just remember it. Remember how she used to sit on the dock and dangle her feet looking out at the horizon, such a sap for romance.
"We all would play in Fate's Lagoon and have those warm droplets of water fall across our backs. We would play tag in the water and as it got colder and faded into night, we'd go towards the dock and light a fire on the beach. All of us would gather around and tell ghost stories. And as always, my friend Sophie would be scared the most… but not to worry, her strong boyfriend Thai would protect her." It hurt to have to replace their names with ones I made up. But if she only found out, it'd be horrible.
"And when it was really just the perfect weather, we'd knock down a few of those foods from the trees and drink the juice. Only then it would taste best." I smirked thinking back on how he could never get enough of those coconuts… I'm pretty sure that's what they were called.
Selphie gasped and looked up at me, "Tell me about the other one!" she whispered a little too loud. I brought a finger to my lips and one to her mouth letting her know to calm down. It's a shame seeing her this happy about my own vision and yet she can't remember for herself. But it has to be this way.
"Sorry…" she murmured, I could feel the heat radiate from her cheeks knowing that she was blushing. I shook my head and patted her soft chocolate hair. She continued, more hushed this time, "The other one… The one you said that was yellow and had five points." Selphie held up five fingers and smiled. She pulled an arm from Mr. Wiggles and held it up too.
Oh Gods.
She looked up at my face as I felt a wave of emotions surge through my body.
"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what."
Damnit! Not now… not a…
"Sora…"
Riku…
"C'mon, I know you want to try it."
Riku…
"Riku…"
My hand comes up to my lips as I muttered the name aloud, Selphie still looking up at me worried.
"Selphie, I think that's enough stories for tonight." I say blankly, staring straight out before me at the darkness. I hear a soft whimper and she shakes her head understanding that it's late.
"Okay…" Selphie crawls out from my arms and gets off the bed. The brunette looks at me and nods, "Thank you Sora."
I nod in return and she sinks off out of the room quietly to her own.
"C'mon, I know you want to try it."
My head hits the soft pillow under me as I let my emotions flow out through my eyes, my tears of memories and pain, no matter how much I try to cry them out, they refuse to leave my mind.
This isn't the first time I've cried over this, and it sure as hell won't be the last.
I'm damned here for life, serving him until I die. Xavian is now my home, no more Destiny Islands, no more coconut juice or swims in the Fate's Lagoon. And surely…
No more Riku.
I cry quietly, now cursing these memories of my past life. I raise my weary head and look at the clock, 2:00am… in 3 more hours I am going to have to wake up and start working for that man again. Make this fucking place run, do his bidding.
I weep, not for myself, but for all my friends who were flushed and brought here.
Riku…
"RISE AND SHINE YOU BRATS!"
I sit up straight from my bed and look out my door. I jump as I see Mr. Barett walk down the hallway, bell ringing in one hand and… shit, he brought the cat.
"GET UP! UP SQUAD D! Don't you dare make me send Red after each and every one of you!" he shouted. As if to emphasize the threat, the beast gave a low growl.
I jump out my cot and line up outside my room. Upon stumbling out of my room I hear a definite scream coming down the hall.
"NO! I'm SORRY! I won't do it again!"
A roar escapes from the cat in the distance and another shrill scream echoes down the hall.
"SHUT UP!" Mr. Barett screams. I can hear the defying sound of a slap and the crumple of a body. "Char! Take care of this mess, would ya?!" the burly man shouts to his assistant. I see Barett's assistant run down the hallway and seconds later, he drags away a boy's body.
Damn.
I see my friend Maz getting towed away by the feet, tears streaming down his face and blue hair disheveled. He sees me looking at him and screams, "SORA! Help me! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to have my sister in my room! You know her! Sora! She was scared! What was I supposed to do!?!" he's wailing and sobbing as people look at him, horrified. But I can only stare helplessly, knowing that if I dare to make a move, I'd earn myself severe punishment.
"Maz…" I whisper not knowing everyone gasps from my word. Barett stalks to me, eyes flaming red and fists clenched. Oh shit.
"YOU! What did you say!?" he points a metal finger at me maliciously. The black man grabs the front my shirt and slams me against the wall. I hold back a cringe when I feel my bones crack. If I dare to ever show emotion in this place, I'd be thrown into the dungeon.
"WELL!? Care to say what's on your mind!?" he barks at me in my face. I can smell the putrid scent of stale cigarettes on his breath. His vise like grip tightens even more if not possible and he grins evilly. "That's what I thought." he drops me to the floor as I crumble to the hard discolored carpet. Barett spits besides me and cracks his knuckles, "That's right, you worthless piles of Grat shit ain't nothin. The only thing Squad D is worth of is labor." he huffs and storms out of the room. I get up to dust myself off when a red orange figure trots down the hall and stops in front of me. I meet its eyes and swallow hard. It stares back at me and shows it's teeth emitting a low growl of caution.
"RED!" a loud voice booms up ahead.
The cat whips its head around and runs off to its master. Before it left, I could have sworn it laughed in my face.
With an earsplitting shrill, the buzzer to alert us that we have 30 minutes to get dressed and rush to the cafeteria, scares us all as we rush back into our rooms to prepare.
I get up from the floor and rub my back, glancing around seeing the onlookers stare at me. I wipe the sweat from my forehead and sulk back into my room.
This isn't turning out to be a good day.
Gently I slip off my shirt and put on my work clothes, no different from my sleeping wear really. I put on a black sleeveless top and beige baggy pants. I bend over to put on my boots as a familiar feel of cool metal falls out of my shirt, dangling in front of my eyes, its silver glint winking its good morning to me.
"Good morning to you too." I whisper to the silver crown piece that waves in front of me. I wince as I bend over more, feeling the soreness in my back from being slammed against the wall. After slipping into my shoes, I make my bed quickly and smile. I look behind me to see if anyone is looking as I slip off the silver necklace. I close my eyes and bring the crown to my lips, kissing it for luck. I can almost feel the love radiate off from it, funny coming from a piece of jewelry. Not once do I not forget, it means everything to me. Softly, I lift the pillow up and slide it under.
"Sora?" A soft voice calls from behind. I turn around to see Selphie and another familiar face. I grin as I stare at my other flushed friend… Wakka.
"Hey, you alright man?" he asks worried. Wakka brings his hand behind his head and scratches that bright orange hair.
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks." I say though, it's not exactly all the way true. "Ready to go?"
Both nod and I walk out the room, I reach behind me shut out the light. Wakka yawns and brings his head up to tie a blue cloth around his hair. We walk to the end of the corridor where Maz was dragged out and see his sister sulk out of the room.
"Marey!" Selphie calls towards the blue haired girl. Marey simply ignores us and walks ahead quickly, soon joined by her other friends as they walk down the steps to the cafeteria.
"Marey!" Selphie calls after her again, but Wakka places his hand on her shoulder and shakes his head.
"Selphie, don't. I'm sure she'll be okay." I say reassuringly. I truly meant it. I've talked around with both Maz and his sister, Marey. They're a strong team, very close too. I silently wish to the Gods that they are watching over Maz and Marey, it's rare to see two siblings in Xavian.
"Okay." Selphie says quietly as we head down to eat.
I look behind me seeing the bars of the steel rusted door from where Maz was hauled. If only I could break through the door, that way I'd be able to save Maz and get everyone away form here. A foolish dream, but one definitely worth fighting for.
"Sora, man!" Wakka called. I turn around to see both him and Selphie waiting at the steps for me to come down. "You coming or staying, ya!?"
I call back a yes and hurry to them.
As soon as I get there Wakka chuckles, "What, you thinking of breakin down that door?"
I shrug.
He wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me to the cafeteria. "Yeah, I know… it's a foolish dream…" I say with a roll of my eyes.
Selphie brings her arm up to wrap around my shoulder and beams, "But it's definitely-"
"-worth fighting for." Wakka says finishing off her sentence.
"Read my mind." I snicker.
"Of course, where else would I have found out that you turn 16 soon, ya?" he says in a matter of fact voice. My eyes widen at the realization.
"Hey! How'd you know?" I said surprised that someone knew, or remembered…
"Like I said Sora, I read your mind." Wakka grins and drags me down towards the steps. They drop their arms while we walk down.
Selphie giggles, "I remember you talking about it a couple of weeks ago so I decided to spread the word!"
I was taken back. Why would she want to spread the word that I am turning 16?
"Look, Sora you may not realize it," Selphie said under her breath as we walked into the line for food. "But a lot of people look up to you." She says while grabbing 3 trays and passing two down.
I blush at the thought; people look up to me?
"Yes Sora, people do. You've like taken blame for a bunch of people and stood up for people when they were being picked on by Squad B and such." Selphie rubbed my back to remind me on how much I took up for people. Not only was I thrown around a couple of times by Barett and others… but not to mention the lashings I got for taking the blame of my friends and fellow Squad mates.
"See man?" Wakka says grabbing two milks from the stand. He put one on my tray as I thanked him. "I remember the time we were workin lunch for Squad B and how ya stopped… what's that girl's name from Squad B Selph? The one who—"
"Poured orange juice down the front of you cause it matched your hair… I remember that, I'll never forget her, or her hair. Eiko was her name." Selphie finished for Wakka.
I grabbed an apple and a can of Phoose, it's a combination of vitamins and such… supposed to improve our ability to work harder. And just like the name, it tastes as bad as is sounds.
"Ya! Her… her." he said looking down a tint of pink on his cheeks.
Selphie reached for a platter of food and smiled, "Yeah, I remember that… how you, Sora stood in front of her and told her off, 'Just cause you're in a higher Squad, doesn't give you a right to push around people like that!'… Wow Sora, I wish I could have done that." she said dreamily.
I thought back to that day… and how many lashings I got too. Wakka reached for a plate of food as well and hurried to check out. "But see man, that was just for me. And I know ya had a time for just about everyone in this Squad, even Selph."
A faint image of the time I saved Selphie from a group of people in Squad C near the laundry hall popped into my mind. They were throwing clothes at her yelling that she wasn't cleaning them right. Even the other Squad who works with us, picked on her because they rank one higher!?
Selphie giggled, "Yeah, and what's cooler is how the other guy from C stood up for me a 'lil." she stated happily, "Oh what was his name again?"
Tidus.
If you only knew Selphie…
She shook her head and moved forward, "Anyway, basically, you deserve to have a good birthday party… well, small one. And besides… a lot of people are looking forward to it."
I smiled and could only dream of what it could be… balloons, games, music, laughter… him.
"But sadly, it's going to have to be small… very small." The brunette sighed.
"Wrist."
We approached the cashier and paid for our food. Selphie held out her wrist to the beefy lunch lady and shut her eyes. A red laser hovered above her flesh as it scanned in the numbers tattooed on her pale skin. A small beep and Selphie closed her eyes tighter when the shock pricked her wrist.
ACCEPTED
"You're fine Selphie." I said in comfort as the cashier ushered Wakka forward.
After Wakka was scanned in and the green letters ACCEPTED appeared on the screen, I held out my wrist.
"So where are we sitting today guys?" I asked as I felt the shock on my wrist, you get used to it after a while. Selphie still hadn't adjusted even though we arrived at the same time. I started to walk away when the lady stopped me.
"Looks like you're going to need to back off on the apple lad. You don't have enough points," she said in a gruff voice. "Get rid of it."
What!?
"What!?" I exclaimed. I just had a new batch added yesterday! "Wait! I just got some in yesterday!"
The woman rolled her eyes and pointed a stubby fat finger to the screen; "Does it look like ya just did?"
Clearly, red letters of DECLINED appeared on the screen saying I didn't. But I did…
"Here, I'll put some of my points in, ya?" Wakka said from behind the woman. The cashier turned to Wakka and raised a brow.
"Hey kid, you know the rules, you can't give out your points!" she said fiercely. Wakka backed down and moved behind Selphie who was currently wide eyed and brimmed with fear.
"Fine." I said as I placed the apple back. The people behind me groaned and waited impatiently for their food.
"Come on!"
"We only have 15 minutes left!"
"Hurry up!"
The woman banged her fist down on the counter. "If ya'll don't shut up, I'll make sure you don't GET a bite!" she glared at the people as they backed off. "Now then, wrist!"
I held my wrist out and sighed. I didn't even notice the jolt until she boomed at me to leave.
As we walked back to a table Selphie whimpered and Wakka cursed under his breath.
"Damnit! I knew ya had points too!" he said sitting down across from me. He cracked open his milk and huffed, "It's not like anyone follows that 'not to share ya points' system anyway. People are generous at times when we get hungry man!"
I smiled knowing I have friends that care.
"Don't worry about it. I'll be fine." I stated. I opened the can of Phoose and dug my spoon in the peach colored goo.
Definitely not a good day.
We ate our food the rest of the breakfast time talking about nothing too important but I kept on thinking how my points got erased. I finally came down to the conclusion that it was from this morning.
When the bell rang for us to go to work I wished them all luck.
We looked at each other as Selphie turned to go to the left, down to B1, laundry. Wakka smiled and gave me thumbs up.
"See ya man!"
I waved good bye as he made his way into the café kitchen to prepare for the next breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
I walked straight ahead and through the doors to my work. Wrapping my arms around me I walked into the darkness, further and further underground to do my work, Boiler Room. I shovel over and over coal into the furnaces to make heat and electricity throughout Xavian. When I'm done there, they send me to work on the repairs of machines and cleaning them.
Why is it that I always get the hardest jobs?
I walk around the halls lit by torches on the wall as I near my work place.
I round the corner when I'm handed a shovel roughly from another one of my fellow co-workers, Seifer.
He glares at me and nods his head over to the pile of coal needing to be shoveled by the furnace.
Oh yeah… this is going to be a very good day.