Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

For you, the day two outsiders visit the island is a confirmation.

There are other worlds out there. And if there’s a way to get here, there must be a way to leave. Like the guy from that story.

The young man tells you to keep a secret. The young woman makes Sora promise to look out for you.

(You promise yourself to do the same for Sora.)

Neither visitor is seen again.

That same year, a girl with no memories washes up on the beach.

Ten years later —

“Ugh, school today was the worst,” Sora groans. “Whose idea was it to pack all the big tests into the week before vacation?”

“Sucks to suck,” Kairi says cheerfully. She can't stop the corner of her mouth from tilting up in a smug grin.

Sora bumps her with his shoulder. “Yeah, yeah. Rub it in.” Kairi shoves him back, and soon both of them are tussling playfully. Well, "tussling" might be a strong word for what is essentially shoulder-tackling each other over and over. Their smiles are infectious.

“At least it’s over now?” you offer sheepishly. While both you and Kairi are academically inclined, Sora is…not. He has trouble sitting still long enough to learn anything, let alone pay attention to lectures. “And you won’t even have to think about math for like, the next month. Until we have to start homework.”

Sora lets out a big sigh. “I guess. Hey, whose turn is it this year?"

"Mine," says Kairi. "Though mom's too busy with work to come."

"And my parents are still out of town," you add. "On that big trading expedition. It's just us and your family."

The tradition had started after Kairi arrived on the islands. You and Sora were already friends, and quickly expanded that circle to include her on your parents' request. The three of you were basically siblings. After your first year of school, your parents threw a party to celebrate...and so did Kairi's parents, and Sora's mom. Three parties in a day was a bit ridiculous, even for someone as full of energy as Sora, so the adults had collectively decided to throw one big party every year. This time, it's at Kairi's house. You resign yourself to slipping on the polished floor for the rest of the night.

Your spiky-haired friend perks up instantly. "Did you-"

Kairi sighs in fond exasperation. "Yes, we got your mushroom barbecue pizza." You roll your eyes. Of course.

"Yes!" Sora pumps his fist and does a little dance. "Pizza, pizza..." This time you push him over. He makes an exaggerated sad face — pouting, eyes wide and tearing up, the works. "So mean, Riku! Kairi, he's bullying me!"

"Then perish." Her face holds absolutely no sympathy. Sora dramatically pretends to faint, clutching his heart in betrayal.

"Et tu, Kairi?!"

The three of you are watching a movie on the couch when the sky breaks open. The island starts shaking like it's being rocked by an earthquake.

Kairi runs to the window, peeking out before swearing loudly. "What the fuck is that?!" You and Sora join her.

She wasn't kidding. The islands are crumbling, being sucked into a huge...thing. A black hole is the closest comparison, you think, except much less deadly and- now's not the time!

Bursts of shadow fly from the "black hole", landing on the ground and forming into monsters of living shadow with piercing yellow eyes. You shoot a panicked glance at your two friends, only to see they're freaking out just as badly. 

Alright. Focus. What can we do about this situation?

Doing anything about the "black hole" is probably out of the question, considering anything that touches it vanishes to who-knows-where. In that case... "Kairi! Weapons stash!"

She nods, pale. "Follow me." You three clear the stairs in record time, leaping up two or three steps at once. Kairi smashes a glass case open. Inside are an impressive (and slightly frightening) array of swords. Thank the gods for her dad's obsessive hobby. She hands you and Sora a weapon each before taking one for herself. 

"Usual positions?" Sora asks. His sword is held at the ready in his preferred stance — both hands on the hilt, one foot in front, body low to the ground. With his confident grin, he looks ready to take on the world.

(You pretend you don't see his hands shaking.)

You don't get a chance to answer him before the house (and presumably the ground) rises into the air. "Change of plans! Hold on and don't let go!" You huddle together like blitzball players preparing for a match. The wind gets stronger, and you spare a thought for how exactly that works before the black hole swallows your group.

Everything is a dizzying whirl of motion. The only thing that remains constant is the feeling of Sora and Kairi holding on for dear life, before a powerful force rips you away, and you're falling.

Falling...

Falling...

Your vision goes black as you pass out.

Chapter Text

You open your eyes, and immediately regret it. A sharp pain lances through your head at the sudden influx of light. If this is what a hangover feels like, you're never touching alcohol.

Wait.

Sora! Kairi!

You ignore the pounding in your skull and sit up. The other two are nowhere to be found. Of course.

Panicking won't help, you tell yourself. First order of business: take stock of your surroundings. Now that you're not laser-focused on finding your friends, you can look around properly. What you see is breathtaking.

Is this another world? We finally made it...though not in the way we'd planned.

Maybe you shouldn't have talked them out of the raft plan. At least then you'd have Sora and Kairi...and more stuff than the clothes you're wearing. 

You're sitting on a floating platform. Waterfalls that flow up instead of down form a vague circle around it. There are more floating platforms, forming a path that leads up to...

A castle looms over you. It appears to be part of some giant mechanism, with pulleys, cranes, and smokestacks jutting out at odd angles. Towers of all styles and sizes point to the sky, casting an imposing shadow over your platform. A large crest that resembles a stylized heart crossed with thorns is emblazoned on the front. You stare at it in awe for a few moments. All the buildings on the island could fit into the castle with space left over. It's huge.

You consider it before turning away. Not touching that with a ten-foot pole. It's likely you'll find people there, but judging by the general spookiness, they won't be friendly.

Instead, you hop along the platforms in the opposite direction. Buildings are visible down below. Hopefully the locals are less menacing than the castle's (presumed) inhabitants.

Well, so much for that plan.

The town is completely devoid of people. Every building is covered in at least a few years of plant growth. The only movement you can see comes from birds and various other wildlife. The effect is incredibly eerie, like a ghost town. Whoever was here, they left a long time ago.

You peek inside one of the houses. It's covered in a thick layer of dust that makes you sneeze as soon as you step inside. Plates, cups, and utensils are set out on the table, as if the occupants had disappeared in the middle of a meal. A leg is missing from a chair, and several of the cabinet doors are broken. There was clearly some sort of altercation here. Upon closer inspection, the surrounding area is spattered with bloodstains. No bodies, though.

(You don't want to think about what that means.)

You go through the houses, salvaging anything that seems even slightly useful. So far you've gathered several cans of food, a bunch of kitchen utensils, and two pairs of pants. Not the most exciting haul, but at least you don't have to hunt for food or run around in your pajamas. You found a large plastic bag to carry all the stuff in (guess all the scientists were right about it lasting freaking forever) so all in all, you'd say you're doing pretty well for someone stranded on a different world with nothing to their name. 

You even find a few intact books that explain the theory behind magic. Maybe you can use them to find a way off this world, considering the method you used to get here is...not very replicable. And by "not very" you mean "at all". Ending the world seems like a terrible idea even if you could.

It only takes a couple of days for the first monsters to show up. The most common are the ones you saw before, the living shadows with glowing eyes. But there are other kinds too. Some have armor, some are large and round, some float in the air... 

A lot of the monsters sport a bright red symbol that matches the one on the castle. You wonder, did they come from the castle, or was the castle made by them? 

Whatever the case, the monsters aren't friendly. They'll attack you on sight, and if one sees you, the others somehow know where you are too. You can't hurt them either — anything you try to hit them with just passes through, up to and including your bare hands. Avoiding them becomes second nature after a few close calls, until you come up with what is probably the craziest idea of your life, even crazier than Sora's plan of trying to sail a raft to other worlds.

Your thought process is as follows: it's getting colder during the night, and you need to start a fire. Any lighters in the houses have long since degraded to unusability. When you tried to create a spark by rubbing sticks against each other, all you got were blisters for your trouble.

So, you've seen the floating red lantern monsters. You know they shoot fireballs when they see you.

You blame the stress for your incredibly foolproof conclusion, which is to grab a monster and use it as a lighter like any sane person would.

Yeah.

Even worse? It works. You ambush a red lantern that's by itself, making sure to keep a tight hold and point it away from you so it doesn't burn you to a crisp. Then you lug the thing all the way back to your campsite, point it at your pile of wood, and voila. Fire.

As soon as you let it go, it floats away far faster than monsters of its type normally move. You have no idea how a monster can look that traumatized without a mouth...or a face...or even limbs.

Your warm dinner tastes like victory.

Chapter Text

You settle into a routine pretty quickly. Search through houses, sleep, repeat.

The monsters have started avoiding you. Word seems to have gotten around that you kidnap them (and isn't that interesting, because it implies they can communicate well enough to avoid a common threat). Regardless, it's left you without a fire for the past few weeks, and you're wholeheartedly sick of canned beans. Now that you don't have to sneak around them, you end up with quite a bit of free time. Part of it goes toward gathering supplies, of course, and then there's the time you spend on regular upkeep, like eating or bathing. The rest of your time is spent on reading the books you'd gathered.

It's about two months until you successfully cast your first spell. After several times "convincing" the red lanterns to light your fires for you, you'd started to pick up on how they did it, and figured out how to do it yourself. (There were explosions before you got the hang of it. So many explosions.) To make a fireball, you draw energy from somewhere inside you, visualize what you want clearly, and push-

A small burst of fire flies from your hand and sets your pile of wood alight. Yes! You allow yourself a few seconds to celebrate before resuming practice.

Magic becomes easier the more you do it. A few weeks later, you can now change the size and shape of the fire as well as its temperature. You haven't figured out how to change the color yet, though, which is a shame. Regular fire is much brighter. It's getting dark earlier with the change of the seasons, so being able to read at night would be great.

You can do other spells, too. Of the types you've seen, wind magic is by far the easiest. Fire is okay, ice and water are harder, and you haven't tried lightning yet because that might as well be flashing a neon sign saying "TASTY HUMAN NEARBY". You'd prefer not to fight any more monsters than you have to. Not helping is your reluctance to destroy buildings, while the monsters have no such compunctions. Even if they're long abandoned, it still feels rude somehow. Like digging up a grave.

One morning — how many months has it been? — you jolt awake in a panic. Did you have a nightmare? You take a few deep breaths, trying to calm your racing pulse. 

Time seems to freeze as something moves out of the corner of your eye.

Well. That's...weird.

Purple-black wisps rise from your skin, disappearing into the air without a trace.