“Do you think she’s alright?” I heard one of them say.
“I don’t know…” said another.
“Sure do hope so.” One added. They continued to talk, probably staring at me. I felt sea water wet the ends of my medium length brown hair. I could feel myself lying down on sand too. Everything was suddenly so quite, except for the fact I could hear waves ahead of me. I clenched my hand into a fist, trapping sand inside.
“I think she’s alright!” the same girl’s voice said.
“Phew…” I heard one of the boys say. I thought that the other boy stayed silent, not hearing anything from him. I finally opened my eyes. The sunlight practically blinded me as I opened them. Forcing me to close my eyes again quickly. A shadow blocks the sunlight, making me feel a bit cooler. I opened my eyes again, seeing a boy with hair that was medium in length like mine and that was silver. He stood in front of me. I stared at him.
“Are you alright?” he asked me, holding his hand out to me. I gave him a nod. He held his hand out to me just a tiny bit more nodding. Obvious enough that he wanted me to take his help so I could get up. So I did. Taking his help I got up.
“…thank you…” I said. I said it ever so softly.
“Um… what was that?” the same boy asked. I shook my head and looked down, terribly shy. I heard him laugh a bit.
I looked up again. “What’s so funny..?” I asked, forcing my voice to be louder. He smiled.
“No need to be shy, come on.” He said.
A girl suddenly placed her hand on my shoulder gently. “Yeah, no need to be shy.” She said. She had a pixy like hair cut, her hair reddish brown and eyes a bit on the periwinkle side. I thought she looked gorgeous.
A boy with brown spiky hair and bright blue eyes nodded. He was behind the first guy I met.
The white haired boy smiled. “My name’s Riku by the way. This is Sora.” He said pointing to the boy behind him. “..And that’s Kairi.” He added, pointing to the girl beside me.
She smiled at me, they all smiled at me. So I smiled back. “M-my name is, Sharix. Um…where am I?” I asked.
“Wow, such a pretty name..!” Kairi commented.
“You’re in Destiny Islands.” Sora said.
Riku nodded. “Yup, this is where we live. Are you going to live here too?”
I didn’t know the answer to that question. I looked around; it was such a beautiful island. I know this wasn’t my home. I don’t even know where my home is, it’s like all my memory has been whipped out. I didn’t answer straight away, in fact I only answered quite long after.
“Uh…Sharix..?” Riku said, waving his hand in front of my face. I snapped out of it, shaking my head. I pushed Riku’s hand away gently. I really didn’t know what to say.
Then I nodded. I had to say something. I just didn’t know what. I looked at the three, they all wore happy faces. Looking at them just made me smile too. I finally answered, “Yes. Yes I am.”
Complex Hearts
Chapter 1 - present
Footsteps….slash…. tak…. tak… splash….
A girl breathed heavily as she ran. A young boy ran with her, he pulled her away. They seemed like they were running away. The boy had a sword in his hand. He had black hair, the tips just reaching his shoulders. His hair was dripping wet. He himself was soaking wet.
The girl looked exhausted. She looked familiar: brown hair, red eyes and fair skin. She slipped falling. She was on her knees, shaking her head not wanting to go on. The boy stopped and turned to her. Helping her up.
“No, don’t stop—he’s coming!” the boy said.
The girl shook her head panting. “I can’t…I just can’t…!” she said at her limit. “Go on with out me, brother.” She says.
“No way!” the boy said quickly. He made her get up and carried her on his back. He started to run again. The girl rested on her brother’s care.
Someone grabbed the girl’s shoulder. She screamed.
The man who grabbed her pushed the brother away- hard. He fell on the ground, getting up slowly. He pointed his sword out at the man.
“Now, now… you wouldn’t want to kill me now? Would you?” the man said.
“Let my sister go and maybe I’ll let you live!” he said bravely. The girl started to cry, scared.
“Sorry but no. I wouldn’t let her go, wouldn’t a little girl just want to stay with her father?” he said.
“Not with you! You’re a murderer! You killed mother! All you wanted was munny…. That’s all you ever wanted!” the boy exclaims, tears falling.
“What a naughty little boy you are.” The father said.
“Shut up and let her go!” he cried.
The father shook his head, “you really are a naughty boy now aren’t you?”
“Just let her go!”
“Brother..!!” she sobbed.
The boy gripped his sword then lunged forward, he couldn’t stand it anymore.
The man disappeared with the girl, disappearing into darkness.
The little girl’s cries rang on the boy’s head. It wouldn’t stop. He screamed out of frustration.
I shot straight up, wide awake breathing heavily. I was sweating. “…not reality…not reality…” I muttered to myself. I looked at my watch, it was 5:30 am in the morning. I moaned, but sat at the edge of the bed. I didn’t dare sleep again, not after that. I looked down, finding Kairi still fast asleep. I didn’t disturb her. So I climbed down the ladder of our bunk bed carefully, trying not to make a single noise. I successfully got out of the house and walked on the sandy shore of Destiny Islands. I sat down just under a paopu tree. I watched the waves and listened to them.
It’s been about 3 months since I first started living here. I’m now living with Kairi, her care taker’s ever so kind to let me stay. I go to school not so far away with Kairi, Riku and Sora, but no school today since its Saturday. I love my life here in Destiny Islands. I’ve also met up with new friends. There’s a spunky girl named Selphie, I think she either reads too much love stories or she watches too much TV. She has such a romantic side sometimes. Plus, there’s Tidus and Wakka, total blitzball fans. I often play with them though, along with the others. It sure is fun, maybe we’ll even play a game today. Though, I’m not that sure either. Well, even if we won’t play a game today I bet there will still be fun. It’s almost never boring in Destiny Islands. One of the things I love about this place. Also, it’s very peaceful and of course my best friends are here too.
I heard footsteps coming close to me. I turned around to see Riku, I smiled. “hiya.”
“Hey.” Riku said and sat down beside me.
“You’re up early, not usual for ya.” I commented.
“Well. I dunno why but for some reason I’m up.” He replied.
I smiled again and continued to watch the waves, Riku beside me. Riku’s one of those guys who has a special place in my heart. It’s nothing romantic, though Selphie often teases us and I end up blushing terribly. I really am close to him, but like I said nothing romantic. Don’t listen to Selphie, she’s just saying those stuff- all lies.
Riku interrupted my thoughts “so you know about the paopu fruit legend?”
I nodded. “Of course, if you have Selphie as a friend you’ll never not know about it.” I said laughing a bit.
Riku laughed slightly too. “You’ve got a point there.” He said.
“Share a paopu fruit with someone and your destinies are intertwined…” a recited remembering Selphie’s words. I turned to look at Riku. “So… anything planned for the day today?” I asked.
“That’s what I really don’t know, I think we’ll plan something later. With the others.” Riku said.
“Right.” I said then looked at my watch, it was already 6am. I looked down at my clothes, I was still in my pajamas. “Um…well I think I better get going now. We’ll all meet outside later after breakfast as usual right?”
He nodded. “Yup. Well see you later.” He said getting up as well, he planned to change too. He was also still in his pajamas.
He walked towards his house and I walked towards mine. I entered the room. Kairi was awake already, brushing her hair and dressed up for another day. She looked at me. “Went outside, eh?”
“Yup.” I said and got my brush from the table and started brushing mine. “Riku’s awake already.” I added.
“I see, is Sora?” she asked.
“Nope, not yet.” I said and got a change of clothes. “I’ll go take a bath, alright?”
“sure.” She said.
I got into the bathroom, taking my clothes off. I turned the shower on and started my bath. I could hear two girl’s voices outside of the room now. Though I thought I was just hearing things. So I carried on with my bath. Minutes later I was done, changed too. I unlocked the door and walked outside. I saw Selphie and Kairi talking. They didn’t notice I was out yet.
“Yeah, I saw them outside…. Under the paopu tree!” Selphie squealed, in a trying to be quiet so Sharix wouldn’t hear voice. She was obviously talking about Riku and I this morning.
“…really?! Anything new?” Kairi said, still not noticing me.
“Unfortunately no, but I think—“ Selphie says, but I cut her off.
“Ahem….!” I said, getting they’re attention.
“Uh…Sharix! Hiya!” Selphie said standing up. Scratching the back of her head, surprised to see me.
“U-uh….how long have you been standing there…?” Kairi asked, having the same expression as Selphie.
“Long enough.” I simply said, but smiled at them. “Come one, let’s all get breakfast.” Sharix said.
The two nodded. Selphie usually had breakfast here, the three of us are close too. We’re like sisters, except me and Kairi more.
We raced down stairs and sat on the table.
“Hello girls.” Said Kairi’s care taker as she handed food to us.
“Yummy!” I said and got my spoon and fork eating my breakfast.
We all started munching on out pancakes. We didn’t really have manners when we ate. Kairi even licked off her plate clean- literaly. Then we were all done so we placed our plates in the sink washed our hands and went outside. We sat down waiting. We waited for the others. We started having our own little conversation. We were totally random, first we were talking about the pancakes we ate but we jumped to creatures in the sea. We then saw Riku and Sora walking towards us. Then Tidus and Wakka walking towards us too—just from the other direction. We all gathered together.
“So what do we do today?” Kairi asked.
“Blitzball!!!” exclaims Tidus.
“But we just ate…” I said.
“Then let’s go off for a little swim.” Sora suggested.
We all looked at each other for a while, and then we nodded. We all rushed towards our homes and changed into proper swimming attires, swim suits for us girls, and trunks for the boys. We all came out the same time, surprising enough. We all raced toward the sea. Riku reached the water first; he’s the fastest among us. I got into the water shortly after him. I’m pretty fast of a runner actually. Then came Sora, then Tidus, Wakka, Kairi and last, Selphie. She wasn’t that much of a runner anyway; she’s usually just playing with her skipping rope. We all splashed each other with water, careful not to get anyone’s eyes sore with it. We were staying in the water and having fun so much that we lost track of time. Our parents and care takers all called us in for lunch time. So we stopped and dried ourselves off a bit first.
“Well, we’ll meet again after this. Same place after lunch.” Riku said.
We all nodded, except for Tidus and Wakka.
“It’s my cousin’s birthday party this afternoon so I have to go.” Tidus says.
“I’ve got to baby sit my cousin for the afternoon.” Wakka said, in his accent.
“Oh…” Sora said looking down.
“Sorry guys…” Tidus said.
“It’s alright, though it won’t be that fun…” I complained.
“Tidus have fun in that birthday party, and Wakka good luck. We’ll have fun with ya tomorrow.” Selphie said.
They nodded and took off. Then we all went to our respective homes and took a quick shower. We then ate our lunches.
“Again, yummy!” I said looking down at my salad.
Kairi nodded and began to eat, so I did too. Kairi’s a much faster eater than I am. So she waited for me for about ten minutes then we went outside again. We waited, no one else was outside yet- other than us. We looked around.
“No one yet…” I said.
“Aha! That just means, we’ve bet them at eating lunch for today!” Kairi said happily.
I laughed a bit.
“Oh, guess again! Ha-ha!” Sora said appearing behind the paopu tree.
“Darn….” Me and Kairi said, but looked at each other and laughed. We have these silly competitions on who can eat fastest every lunch time. Sora usually wins; Kairi and I just come in second. Then usually followed by Riku, then Selphie who sometimes joins. Wakka and Tidus don’t always join in competitions. Though if they do, they come after Riku. Selphie’s not that fast in everything other than skipping rope. Riku came out as we expected, followed by Selphie only a few minutes after. We all looked at each other and smiled.
“So for this afternoon…… anything? Anyone? Ideas?” I said, not knowing what to do.
“Hmmm…..”said Sora, thinking.
Kairi looked around. “how about….”
We all looked at her. She practically jumped.
“What? Don’t look at me like that! Now I’ve forgotten what I have to say…” Kairi said sighing.
We all ended up laughing.
“Let’s just go explore ‘round the island. Maybe we’ll find something interesting.” Riku said.
We all thought about it first, I decided it would be fun and exciting. So I nodded. “Alright with me.” I said.
The others nodded too and then we all went off in a pair and a trio. I was with Riku. Selphie and Kairi were together with Sora. We all walked, looking at the ground searching for stuff. I walked away from Riku for a while observing my own place.
“Hey Sharix, look. Come here.” Riku said calling me over. I ran up to him. He pointed to a small rock like thing on the ground.
“….a rock..??” I said, in a certain tone. I thought it was something amazing.
“No, no. look at it closely.” He said picking it up, laying it on his palm. He held it up to me in eye level. I looked at it carefully. The rock had shades of blue and purple when you looked at it. Also, when the sunshine shone on it, it reflects the light back. I started to think, was this a crystal?
“Wow! Amazing!” I said, I wouldn’t think finding an item like this in Destiny Islands were possible.
Riku smiled. “You can have it.” He said.
“No, you found it so no.” I said, but I really did want it- it was just so beautiful.
“Well, all right then.” He said and kept it.
We continued to search and explore Destiny Islands. We then met back in the spot we always do, about an hour later.
“Found anything interesting?” asks Kairi.
“Anything interesting happen..?” said Selphie, teasing me and Riku again.
I blushed slightly. “S-Selphie…!” I exclaimed. She just giggled.
Kairi laughed a bit. “Well…? Anything?”
We nodded. Riku pulled out small items from his pocket.
He showed them what we found: unique looking shells, some shiny munny, a golden chain, a smiley face pendant, an earring and a safety pin. He didn’t show the crystal we found. I wondered why, maybe he didn’t want the others to see… Or the others to have it. How greedy.
“Wow!” Kairi said looking at our items.
“Pretty…!” Selphie says, seeing how most of the stuff we found was shiny.
“Yeah, now this is what we found.” Sora said emptying his pockets. They found a colorful pencil, a bag filled with different beads, s shell carved with an A, a chess piece, a toy car, along with an old key.
“Ha-ha! That’s so cool, the shell with an A…. I wonder who owned it...” I said thinking.
“Probably a lover!” exclaims Selphie, squealing. “A man carved his lover’s initial on a beautiful shell, giving it to her as a present… how romantic!” she said, sounding as if she just melted.
“Oh, Selphie…” Kairi said laughing slightly.
Selphie was about to say something again but Sora cut them off. “Alright we keep some items and leave the rest.” He said. We all nodded in agreement.
I took the colorful pencil and one of the shells we found.
Riku got the golden chain and the key- oh, plus the crystal he was hiding.
Selphie got the shell with an A and the earring.
Kairi got the smiley face pendant and the bag with the beads.
Sora got the toy car and the munny. We left the rest of the items on the ground.
“Hey, let’s all sleep under the stars again! Just like the weekend before!” Sora said suddenly.
“Yeah!” Kairi agreed immediately, starting to jump. Selphie and I nodded, smiling.
“Cool, well I’m going to go home for a while; I forgot I have something to do.” Riku said going home. We stayed silent for a while just looking at one another. I yawned.
“Hey let’s all have a rest first.” Kairi said. Sora and Selphie nodded and we all ended up going home. I climbed up my bed and lay down closing my eyes. I fell asleep not long after.
I woke up hearing voices and laughter. Opening my eyes I sat up, and I saw them. All of them: Kairi, Riku, Sora and Selphie. They were chatting, and then they saw me.
“Sharix! Good morning!” Sora said, grinning.
I nodded, rubbing my eyes a bit.
“You were out for hours! Ya sure can sleep.” Kairi told me, and I smiled.
“Yeah, I came here first. I just waited for Kairi to wake up, and she did a few minutes later.” Selphie said.
“Then Sora came, and you were still asleep.” Kairi said, “Then Riku came along, looking for you—“ Kairi said unable to finish with another interruption from Selphie.
“Oooh~” she teased again, giggling afterward. I was too sleepy to get angry at her, so I didn’t. I went down and sat with them.
“As I was saying, Riku came looking for you then we all ended up chatting and you woke up just now.” Kairi finishes.
“How long have I been out?” I asked them.
“Long enough, dinner’s in a few minutes.” Kairi said.
“Oh… sorry.” I said.
“No need to apologize, you were resting.” Sora reassures.
I nodded smiling. We continued to chat again, me joining in. We chatted until we were called for dinner. Riku, Selphie and Sora joined me and Kairi for dinner tonight. We were having delicious fish. We gobbled our food up, leaving nothing behind- like a pack of hungry wolves feasting on their catch. We went outside bringing along our sleeping bags and pillows, and some plush toys too. We chatted again, for a few hours this time. Then Kairi fell asleep, followed by Sora and Selphie. I tried to sleep, Riku did too. I couldn’t and started to think I was the only one awake, but I felt someone get out of they’re sleeping bags and walk off. I sat up carefully and saw Riku sitting under the poupu tree just like this morning. I got up not making a sound and crept up to him. I looked back at the others, they didn’t even move. I looked back at Riku, he was just sitting there- yes! He didn’t notice me! I crept up to him, and then gave him a tackle hug.
“Whoa..!” he said almost falling over. He looked at me, “Sharix! what the heck…?!”
I grinned at him, and then looked back at the others. They were still laying there. I let go of him and sat down beside him. “What, can’t have fun now can I?”
He laughed a bit. “I remember when you first came here, you barely even talked to us. You were so darn shy. When we introduced you to the others, you didn’t even say anything. Now look at you, tackle hugging anyone you want to.”
I smiled, “well, that’s the old me. I changed now, Sharix isn’t going to be shy.” I announced.
Riku smiled. “Hey I’ve got something for ya.” He said reaching for his pocket. He held his hand in a fist and then opened it, he had a chained necklace with him. The chain was the golden chain we found earlier, it was hanging from his middle finger. The pendant looked familiar, it was a part from the crystal we found earlier! “It’s for you, this is what I did when I got home.” He said.
“Oh wow…!” I said in a whisper. I looked up at Riku, “thank you.” I said.
“No problem, here I’ll put it on you.” He offers placing the beautiful necklace on me. It was a wonderful present. I smiled. He smiled back.
We stayed silent after that, I leaned on his shoulder. Before I knew it, I slowly drifted to my slumber.
