Hey, guys! This is the touched up version of chapter 1. To be honest I went back and read over chapters 1 through 5 and I decided that they needed redone. This one is the one that got revamped the most, and really it's not much different than the original, but I would suggest reading it because it goes more into depth on things and I also fixed up some grammatical errors. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

The cover art was done by a totally awesome friend of mine!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot of this story.

It was a warm Saturday evening in late August on Destiny Island. I was sitting out at the far end of the mainland's dock, my thin legs kicking involuntarily as they dangled over the edge. My sketchbook sat in my lap as I tried to capture the beautiful setting sun within its pages. My box of pastels and bag were at my side. Brushing a stray strand of my light blonde hair out of my baby blue eyes, I took in the horizon once more. With a pastel—an orange one—in my pale hand, I added more bright streaks of color to the once white page, being careful not to ruin my white sundress.

And my work was almost done. The page was vibrant with many bright and beautiful colors. It just needed one more splash of pink.

As I reached for the desired pastel, I heard of "Mousou Sketch" by Miku Hatsune, my ringtone. I reached into my bag and pulled out my small white phone that had a full QWERTY keyboard. I looked at the caller ID. It was my older brother, Demyx Strife.

Demyx used to be the sitar-playing band teacher at Destiny Island High, and everyone he had ever taught said he could only be described in two words. Extremely crazy. That was part of the reason why all of his students had liked him. He had made class fun.

Unfortunately, a few months back he had lost his job as band teacher because of the condition some of the band students had left the school in after the band's annual lock-in. The band students had begged and pleaded with the principal and superintendent to give Demyx back his job, saying they would take full responsibility for their actions. But they wouldn't hear it, and refused to give Demyx his job back, completely forgetting that he was single and the legal guardian of a dependent. Me.

Trying to make ends meet with putting food on the table and paying the rent for our home, Demyx had gotten a job working at the aquarium downtown. He was trying his hardest to look for work, but he was not having much luck. How he still managed to stay the same happy-go-lucky guy that was my dear brother baffled me to no end.

With a sad smile, I answered my phone. "Hey, Dem. What's up?" I asked.

"Dinner's ready, Nami! Hurry home before I decide to eat it all without you," he said in a teasing tone.

"Okay. I'll be right there," I said. I hung up and looked down at my rendition of the sunset. Guess I'll have to finish my sunset later, I thought as I packed up and left the dock.

Destiny Island was a resort town and wasn't actually on an island. It was simply given the name to attract vacationers, which were never in short supply during the on-season. Most citizens ran or worked for businesses around town, and business was always booming during the summer and on holidays. And while vacationers stayed at hotels in downtown, citizens, like Demyx and me, lived in homes near the beach.

My house was like many of the other residential homes (in fact, if you were new in town you were more than likely to get lost). It was a white two-story house with a brown shingled roof. It had a small garage, which housed my brother's blue van. The furniture and amenities in the house didn't belong to us; they were included as part of our rent. And that was about it. It was nothing special, really.

I reached my front door and went inside. As I walked into the small living room I was met by a delicious aroma coming from the kitchen. It smelled like an alfredo sauce, which when coupled with pasta became one of my favorites.

Okay, I thought, something is up. Now, Demyx was a really good cook and all, but something was terribly off. He usually saved making my favorites for times when he had bad news to tell me and thought that maybe if he told me while I was eating something I liked, I'd have an easier time taking the news (it never worked, but I was not about to tell Demyx that, because I knew he meant well and was just trying to be a good brother). Like the day he had gotten fired.

Or like the day when Mom and Dad had passed on a few years ago.

That day had been just like any other. I had been in middle school at the time. I had gotten home around seven in the evening after hanging out at the movies with my friends—Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. I had walked into the kitchen and there Demyx was. He had worn the most woeful expression I had ever seen on his face. His eyes had been red and puffy and he'd kept sniffling. And there on the table had been one of my favorite dishes. We had been midway through dinner when he broke the news to me. Our parents, Cloud and Aerith, had been killed in a car accident on their way home from visiting some old friends of theirs. Our lives have not been the same since.

Preparing myself for the worst, I walked through the living room and peered into the kitchen. I was surprised, much to my relief, to find Demyx smiling almost idiotically as he finished pouring fettuccine alfredo onto our plates. He was even dancing (which, considering how idiotically he dances around the house normally, really was not all that unusual for him)! He turned to me and immediately his smile grew tenfold.

"Hey, Nami!" he shouted as he sat down at the table.

"Hey, Dem," I said as I set my bag on one of the posts of my chair and took my seat across the table from him. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"I have awesome news!"

"Well, let's hear it," I said and put a forkful of food into my mouth.

"I…" he said with a pause for dramatic effect, "got a new teaching job!"

"That's great, Dem!" Of course it was great. It was beyond great! My brother had a new job. He could go back to doing what he loved most, conducting and teaching a band of high school kids. I couldn't have been happier for him.

"However…" Demyx trailed off, his smile fading a little.

"What?"

"Well, you are probably not going to like this next part, Naminé," he said.

"What is it?" I asked. It was not like Demyx to try and keep things from me. He usually just came right out with whatever he had to say. Why was he holding back?

Wait…he said he got a new teaching job. But Destiny Island High was the only high school around these parts. And I highly doubted the school district would hire him again. That meant…

"Nami," Demyx said, "we're moving."

At that moment, I completely stopped everything I was doing—eating, blinking, breathing (well, I almost did). My eyes had grown to the size of the plate in front of me as I gaped at him.

Moving? But I didn't want to. My life was here. My friends were here (and I had very few being the not-so-social butterfly that I was). The start of my junior year of high school was only a few days away. And we had to move?

"Where to?" I asked softly.

I was silently pleading that he would say we were moving to Radiant Garden. If we moved anywhere, I wanted it to be there. It was close by, so I could visit my friends here any time. We also had family there. There was my Aunt Elena, my Uncle Tseng and my cousin Xion. They were the relatives we were closest with (both in good terms and geographically). If we would move there I at least would not be completely surrounded by strangers.

Oh, please say Radiant Garden, I chanted in my head. Please say Radiant Garden…

"Twilight Town," he said.

My heart sank. "Oh…" I said.

Twilight Town was a few hours away from Radiant Garden, and even farther away from Destiny Island. And that place was crawling with ravens! Those stupid birds had scared the living daylights out of me when I was a kid, and, at the age of sixteen, I still hadn't gotten over my fear of them.

Why, of all places, did we have to move there?!

"Now, eat up!" Demyx said with a reassuring smile, and he started to eat.

We sat there in silence as we ate. Well, actually, Demyx was the one eating. After hearing the news, my appetite was completely soiled. I tried to eat, but the once delicious food had lost its taste. So, I settled for playing with my pasta by twirling it around with my fork instead.

"Oh, that reminds me," Demyx said, "when you're done eating, start packing. Twilight Town's new school year starts on Monday and we leave for Great-uncle Ansem's tomorrow morning."

I stopped again. More dreaded words had just spilled out of Demyx's mouth. I put down my fork and stared at him with the most unreadable expression that I could manage.

"Great-uncle Ansem's?" I asked, trying to hide my discontent.

"Yeah, he said that he'd allow us to stay with him as long as I can pay rent for the rooms we'll be using. Isn't that great?"

No. It was far from great. It was terrible! That man was arrogant, grumpy and, for reasons beyond my knowledge, absolutely hated me! He always glared at me and talked down to me like I was lower than dirt. To say that the feeling wasn't mutual would be absurd. He might have been family, but that didn't mean that I liked him in the least.

"I'm not hungry anymore," I said. I was far too upset now to even play with my food.

I got up and grabbed my bag. I stormed out of the kitchen and stomped up the stairs. Demyx called after me, but I was too distraught to even pay attention to what he was trying to say. I strode briskly down the hall to my bedroom and slammed the door shut. I stood there for a moment and stared at the door.

What was I supposed to do? I would have to start all over again from square one. I already had a hard time socializing with people my own age, and that meant making new friends was probably going to be a nightmare.

After a moment I sighed. I thought, Guess I'll just have to suck it up and face facts. There was no point in wallowing in self-pity because of my own selfishness. Demyx had a job; I should have been happy for him. I was such an awful sister.

With another sigh, I turned to look around what was still my room for the moment. On the right side of the room there was a closet. Off to the left side of the room was a small desk, upon which sat my laptop, and a wooden chair. In the far left corner was a four-poster twin bed that was covered with my white comforter and had pillows to match. Next to the bed was a nightstand. On the nightstand was a framed picture of Demyx, my parents and I from when they were still around. In the far right corner was a bookcase with five shelves. Four of the five shelves were occupied by various novels and knick-knacks. The last shelf was entirely dedicated to my art supplies. All four of the beige walls had my sketches taped to them. On the wall opposite of the door was a small window that looked out on the coastline. And in the center of the room on the hardwood floor was a pile of cardboard boxes along with a suitcase and a roll of packing tape.

I guess I should start packing, I thought to myself.

I went and started loading up the boxes and labeling them with a black marker I had grabbed off my art supply shelf as I went. In one box I put my books and in another my art supplies. I loaded my knick-knacks into one box together. I then unmade my bed and folded my comforter, sheets and pillow cases and placed them in a box. I went to my closet and pulled out my clothes. I folded them and packed them into the suitcase neatly. I left two sets of clothes out. They were a white tank top and blue pair of shorts to sleep in for tonight, and a white t-shirt and a pair of comfy shorts for tomorrow while we were in the van on the way to Twilight Town. I also grabbed a pair of sea-salt ice cream blue flip-flops to wear for tomorrow. I then took another one of the boxes and stuffed the rest of my pairs of shoes into it. My sketches were next and I started to take my sketches off the walls. Once they were all peeled off the walls, I took two folders and carefully slipped them into the pockets on the inside. I grabbed my laptop and put it into my bag along with the folders.

I took a glance around the room. I hardly recognized it with the walls being completely void of my sketches. Without the personal touch that they had added, it didn't feel like my room anymore. Then again, by the next day, it wouldn't be.

It was official. I was packed up and all ready to go. Not that I even wanted to.

Taking a seat on the now bare mattress, I took my sketchbook out of my bag and flipped to the page with my sunset. I took out the pink pastel that I had needed earlier. I made a few streaks with the pastel and it was done. My sunset was complete.

I set my sketchbook down on the bed and walked over to my window and gazed out at the shore. The sun was gone. The blue hour had arrived. I sighed and looked back at the sunset in my sketchbook. That would be my last sunset on Destiny Island.

Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to review!