The day on the islands had been hectic as Sora and Riku began to head back in. Even as things started to wind down, the smile hadn't left Sora's face from the games they'd been playing on the beach to mark the end of the school year and beginning of summer. But as the others had returned home, even Sora's boundless energy had started to fade, and it was time for them to return home for the night.
As they got to the docks, he and Riku paused, noticing a third boat still sitting next to theirs. Sora frowned. "Kairi's still out here?"
"Seems so," Riku said, a frown on his face. He turned to face Sora. "I thought something seemed off when she said she was sick."
"You don't think something happened to her, do you?" Sora asked.
Rather than answer his question immediately, Riku turned around. "I don't know...But we should probably look around and see if we can find her, just to make sure."
Sora nodded. "Right." He followed Riku's gaze to the Secret Place, understanding without words.
If there was anywhere that Kairi would choose to hide, it would be there. In their hideaway from the others, where they played games just the three of them.
Sora led the way, Riku not even a step behind him as they made their way across the beach to find their missing best friend. Whatever was actually wrong with Kairi, Sora would make sure to find out. He had to do whatever he could to make sure she was okay.
The moment they entered the cave, it was obvious they had come to the right place. There was a clattering sound, as though somebody was hitting the walls of the cave with another stone. Once they entered through the corridor, they saw Kairi doing just that. She was etching a new picture on the wall of a bird.
When she heard their footsteps, she stopped. "Sora? Riku?"
Sora smiled and waved. "Hey Kairi."
She gently put the stone down, turning away from her drawing to face them. "I'd have thought you guys would've gone back by now."
"When we saw your boat at the dock, we got worried," Sora explained. "So we went looking."
"Besides, we couldn't leave here without you." Riku extended a hand to her. "You should know us better than that by now, Kairi."
Kairi gave a small smile, though she hid it behind her hands. "Sorry for worrying you. I just needed some time alone." She brushed past both of them, heading for the cave's entrance. "Come on, let's go back!"
"Hang on." Sora grabbed Kairi's wrist before she could continue onward. Despite her insisting she was okay, this wasn't normal. Not for her. "You didn't tell us what was wrong."
Kairi stood still, not saying anything. She remained quiet long enough that Sora wasn't sure that she would tell them what was wrong, but before he could ask again, she spoke. "It was the comment Selphie made."
"The what...?" Sora frowned, trying to think of something she had said that could've upset Kairi.
"The one about your memories?" Riku asked. Kairi nodded. "You seemed a little off after that."
"It wasn't meant to be such a big deal, just..." She trailed off, as though trying to decide how much she wanted to let Sora and Riku know. "Sometimes, I wonder about what my life was like before I came to the islands. About my old homeworld, and about the friends and family I had before I came here." She looked towards them. "I know there isn't anything that can be done about it, and normally I try not to let it bother me. What she said just brought all of it back up."
"Oh." Admittedly, there wasn't a lot that Sora could do to help reassure her. There was no way for Sora to help her access those memories and remind her of what they contained, and so it was a problem with no real solution to be had. "Well, I know we can't really make up for the memories you're missing, but there's all the memories you've made with us. And the home you have now." He grinned, letting go of Kairi's arm to put his hands behind his head.
Kairi nodded. "I know, and I wouldn't trade getting to know you guys for any amount of time on my homeworld, but still..."
"You wonder about the life you used to have out there, and about the world you left behind." Riku filled in the silence Kairi left behind.
"I had to have a family before I was here. They must be so worried about whether or not I'm okay." Kairi rocked on her feet, smiling despite the small amount of hurt in her voice. "But I'll be fine. It's not like I remember them anyways."
"Then that means they're out there looking for you, right?" Sora asked. "They'll have to come across our islands so long as they keep looking."
Riku shook his head. "We don't need to wait for them. Maybe instead of that, we could go to the other worlds. We could find your homeworld, Kairi!"
The idea had merit. The three of them were decent at fighting if they ran into anything dangerous, they were smart, and they were experienced in traveling at least the short distance between the main and play islands. They could handle themselves long enough to make it off the islands and find another world. And then they could keep exploring the worlds as long as it took.
"I'd like to try." Sora nodded, turning to Kairi. "What about you, Kairi?"
"What if it's dangerous? I don't want you getting hurt for me." Kairi bit her lip and frowned, almost as though she held a memory of a threat she wished she could forget. A threat that could put them all in danger.
"We won't." Riku insisted, trying to put her mind at ease. "You don't have to worry about a thing, Sora and I will stay safe, and we can help protect you too."
"You sure?" Kairi asked. Riku nodded, and just like that, the worried expression vanished before Sora could ask why. "Then in that case, let's do it!"
"Hold on, aren't you forgetting something?" Riku asked. Kairi tilted her head. "We still need to figure out how we're going to get there."
That was a part of the plan Sora hadn't thought out yet. He looked around the walls of the cave, searching for any sort of inspiration before his eyes locked on the picture of the bird. "We could fly there!"
"Fly?" Kairi smiled, much more genuine than before.
"Yeah! On a ship. Like a rocket." Sora could see it now. Obviously, they would need to fly to get off the different worlds. It wouldn't be that hard to navigate the stars above if they could fly.
"I don't think we're going to be able to get a rocket." Riku shook his head and crossed his arms, clearly doubting Sora's plan for them to get off the islands. "We can't make one either, we don't have the materials."
Sora pouted. "So what's your idea then?"
"I think we could make a portal. It couldn't be that hard." When Riku mentioned the portal, Sora saw a brief glimpse of a woman flying away in armor from the islands in a light portal in the sky. A memory from a long time ago.
"Do you know how to make portals?" Kairi asked.
Riku hesitated. "Well...no, but it can't be that hard to learn, right?"
"Well...considering we don't have any magic books..." she pointed out. Riku frowned, as though bothered by the lack of knowledge, or possibly trying to remember something from long ago.
"Okay then, fine. What's your great idea?"
"Well, I think there's some merit to your portal idea. Just... rather than summoning it, we could find an item to open one, or maybe teleport us around them." Kairi started to walk out of the cave, causing Sora and Riku to follow her back out onto the beach. "But I'm not really sure we could find something like that here..."
Kairi was right. If such an item did exist in their world, it would be well hidden and hard to find, and somebody would have likely found it by that point, making the idea unlikely to work.
"It still seems like my method is the most likely then. I'm sure it can't be that hard to learn how to summon one." Riku smirked. Kairi shook her head. "What?"
"You're just saying that because it's your idea, aren't you?"
"What, no, I'm not!"
Riku and Kairi continued their bickering as they emerged back onto the beach. As they walked to the docks, Sora stopped. He looked at the boats, an idea starting to form. "Hey guys," he said. "What about a raft?"
Kairi and Riku stopped, turning to face him. "A raft."
Sora nodded. "Of course." He ran up to the dock's edge, looking over the ocean into the horizon. "The ocean can't go on forever, no matter how big it looks. If we just keep sailing, we'll hit the end of our world, and then..."
Riku and Kairi caught on, both of them running up beside him to overlook the ocean.
"Then we'll be in another world." Riku's voice was hardly more than a whisper, almost as though he couldn't believe the idea Sora had said might actually work.
"And then once we're there, I bet we can find a better mode of transportation to keep going." Kairi grinned. "It wouldn't take much to make it either. Just some logs, rope, and tarps."
"All of those are things we have here!" Sora turned away from the horizon towards Riku first, and then Kairi, all too excited about the plan he was starting to form. "It wouldn't take long to build it either, if we're all working together."
"How far do you think it is?" Kairi asked. "What if it's a long journey ahead?"
"Then we gather food and water from the island before we go." Riku jumped into the planning, now just as enthusiastic. "If Sora and I hunt for supplies together from here, and we grab some things from home, we should be able to gather more than enough food to last the journey."
"What will I be doing while you're doing that?" Kairi asked, pouting.
"The most important job, of course. You'll put together the raft for us," Riku answered. "You are the one best at making things."
Kairi laughed. "Are you sure I'll be able to do it alone?"
"You won't know until you try," Riku said. Sora nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I'll try." Though judging by the sounds of suppressed laughter, it seemed as though Kairi still doubted she'd be able to do it without their help.It wasn't a problem to Sora though. All three of them would gather the materials, then they would build the raft and gather the supplies, and then after that, they could sail to the edge of the world right until they found a new one.
It was such a simple plan, and yet Sora knew it would work. The three of them would be able to use it to make it off the island. "We should start working tomorrow!"
Riku and Kairi nodded, and there was an excitement buzzing between the three of them as they continued discussing everything they would need.
The raft would take them where they needed to go, and then they would find Kairi's home world.
Their adventure was about to begin.