Chapter 8

FRAGMENT Wherever You Are… A GIRL IN A SCHOOL UNIFORM WALKED AT AN EASY PACE to the beach. The path wound from the sleepy houses in town over a small hill that blocked the ocean from view. The breeze ruffled the girl’s red hair. In the evening, the wind would change, blowing out from the land back over the sea. “Hey, Kairi!” another girl called. Kairi paused and turned around. The other girl, who wore the same uniform, was jogging to catch up. Her brown hair, curling upward at the ends, bounced with every step. When she caught up, Kairi turned back to the sea and they strolled toward it together, slow in the twilight. “Do you feel like going out to the island? We haven’t been in so long,” her friend Selphie said. “Tidus and Wakka are all wrapped up in their ball game, and they won’t go with me…” “Sorry,” Kairi replied. “But not today.” “Aw, why not?” They’d almost reached the crest of the hill. “Do you remember those boys who used to hang out with us?” Kairi said. Selphie had to think for a moment, cocking her head, before she recalled a name. “…Riku?” “Yeah.” Kairi nodded, looking at her expectantly. “What happened to him, anyhow? I sure do miss him.” “He’s far away. But I know we’ll see him again.” We will, Kairi told herself. He promised. “Yeah,” Selphie agreed. “Of course we will.” The sun was about to set, but the breeze was still coming in from the sea, messing up their hair. “What about the other boy?” Kairi prompted without looking at Selphie, her gaze fixed on the ocean. The other boy. Right—there was another boy, too. I’m sure there was. “What other boy?” Selphie looked confused. So she doesn’t remember. Kairi kept staring at the water. Out there, little islands sat sprinkled atop the blue sea. Up until a year ago, they would all climb this hill and sprint full speed down to the beach almost every day. There were little boats at the docks for the kids to row out to the islets, called the Destiny Islands. “The one who was with Riku and me all the time,” Kairi said. “We played together on that island. You know, for a while I could hear his voice…but now it’s gone.” Selphie looked up at her, mystified. “Now I can’t remember his face or even his name. I feel awful about it. So I told myself, I’m not going to the island until I remember everything about him.” “Are you sure you didn’t make him up…?” Selphie said. Kairi didn’t answer. The sun was just touching the horizon. Its last rays streamed toward her, and the wind went calm. All she could see was light. She heard the sigh of the waves, like a name… “Naminé?” A voice spoke from somewhere…and pulled her into darkness. A boy stood there in the endless darkness. “Naminé? What’s happening to me?” asked the chestnut-haired boy. Kairi answered with a question. “Who are you…?” The boy looked a little troubled at this. “And that’s not my name,” she corrected him, looking him in the eyes. “I’m Kairi.” “Kairi… I know you. You’re that girl he likes.” He looked down. He? He who? “Please give me a name!” she practically begged. “I’m…Roxas.” “Okay, Roxas… But can you tell me his name?” Just then, everything seemed to haze and warp, like the picture on a TV with bad reception. Kairi blinked. The boy was gone. There was nothing in any direction but darkness. And yet, there was something gentle about this darkness. “C’mon, tell me!” she cried. A voice answered her: “You don’t remember my name? Thanks a lot, Kairi!” “Huh?” It was a boy’s voice—but she couldn’t see anyone. “I guess it can’t be helped… Fine, I can give you a hint!” He kept talking, but static seemed to rise again. “It starts with an S!” Starts with an S? Kairi was about to ask for more hints, but a light from somewhere pierced the darkness. It grew until it covered everything, bright enough to hurt her eyes—and then she fainted again. Naminé—the sound of waves… “Kairi!” Selphie was staring at her, worried. Right… They were on the path to the beach. Kairi let Selphie help her up and gazed at the ocean again. “Kairi?” The islands floated on the water, and beyond them, the sinking sun. “Hey—Kairi?!” She began sprinting down the hill toward the beach. This is what we always did, running down the hill. Through the dune grass onto the sand. We always ran barefoot, too. “Kairi!” Selphie struggled to keep up, out of breath by the time she made it onto the beach. Without turning around, Kairi took a small bottle out of her satchel. The bottle contained a piece of paper, folded up tight. “What’s that?” Selphie asked. With a tiny smile, Kairi set the bottle down into the water. The receding wave carried it away, and it began to drift slowly out to sea. “A letter. I wrote it yesterday to the boy I can’t remember. I said that no matter where he is…I’ll find him someday. And then, when I finished writing, I remembered we made a promise—an important one. This letter is where it starts. I just know it.” She smiled, seeing the bottle bob atop the waves. “Wow…,” Selphie said. “I hope he gets it.” “He will.” They both watched the bottle float away. It’ll reach you. I’m sure of it. “It starts with an S…,” Kairi murmured, and then raised her voice into the sea breeze. “Right, Sora?” —Restoration at 79%— “Sora is coming back.” At that, Axel looked up. The one who had spoken was number 3 in Organization XIII. “Then—,” Axel started, but bit down on the question he wanted to ask. Then what’s going to happen to Roxas? It was an abruptly called meeting. He had suspected what it would be about, but there was no need to reveal his own agenda. “So, we have no choice but to destroy number thirteen,” number 7 pronounced coldly. “Indeed, if he has no intention of returning to us,” number 3 said. The others were silent, briefly. “So we have to eliminate the traitor, is that it?” That was number 9—Demyx. Axel’s eyebrow twitched. The words grated on his nerves. Actually, everything the others said irritated him. The fact that the members of Organization XIII shared the same goal did nothing to make them close with one another. Some among them had been friendly back when they were human. Whether that made any difference to the others, Axel didn’t know, and he didn’t need to know. For a member of the organization, there was only one goal—to obtain a heart. But just because we have no hearts doesn’t mean we feel nothing, thought Axel. We just know that we’re…incomplete somehow. When we were told that what we each lack is a heart, it made perfect sense. Because we definitely lack something. “Axel,” number 1 said. Axel stood in response to the rare occasion of their leader clearly addressing someone. “You will eliminate Roxas.” Keeping his mouth shut, Axel looked back at number 1. “Did you not hear me, Axel?” “No, I heard you perfectly.” A smirk curled the corner of his lips, and then he vanished from the hall.