Seek the Stars

Epilogue

Kairi jogged down the cobblestone street, armed with a beach towel and a bag full of sunscreen, buckets and shovels, and a change of clothes. She had gotten up early if only because she knew Sora and Riku would sleep late, and so she could yell at them for being late. She jogged past Sora’s house, pausing only to rouse him from sleep via his mother and she made a show of impatiently tapping her foot to make him feel bad. Then they went to fetch Riku.

They had woken up back in Sunrise Town’s infirmary a week ago. They had spent all the time they could with their new friends, playing and laughing. Unfortunately, the Islanders couldn’t play at being injured forever, and regretfully had to say good-bye. But when Riku learned his parents would be staying at Sunrise Town, he’d formed a Corridor that linked the Islands and Sunrise, and Zack had anchored it. So now, they could visit each other whenever they wanted. Naminé had even begun going to their high school for senior year, as had Roxas. Kaoru had scoffed at the idea of schooling and pointed out he had access to a library. Tenkuu had agreed with him.

“Riku!” Kairi yelled outside the older boy’s bedroom window. “Hurry up!”

She yelled a few more times before a pale finger appeared in the window and flipped her off. At least he was moving. Riku joined Kairi and Sora moments later, dressed in a plain white t-shirt and swim trunks.

“Do you have any idea what time it is, Kairi?” Riku groused.

“Noon,” Kairi replied with a matter-of-fact voice. “I woke up at nine. I gave you guys three extra hours. Be grateful.”

Sora snickered. Riku shot him a glare. They had a quick breakfast of granola bars and bottled milkshakes as they walked the connecting Corridor and when they emerged into the Sunrise Town sun, they could see they weren’t the only ones who were somewhat late.

Naminé perked up when he saw Kairi and waved. The two girls quickly met at a sprint and, giggling, hurried down to the beach. The five boys followed at a more sedate pace, discussing a long debate Kaoru had inadvertently started when they were in the infirmary. It was something along the lines of why were hot dogs called hot dogs when they weren’t made out of dogs?

The beach was alive with activity, but the teenagers found their section easily enough. After all, Sephiroth was hard to miss. Riku broke off to greet his parents and brother, who latched onto Riku until he saw Kaoru. Everyone laughed and played without a care in the world, picking who they would gang up on before dunking the chosen victim into the ocean. It was as if they had never fought for the safety of all worlds, as if their adventures had just been a dream.

And then the Watchers showed up.

Naminé had simply extended her hand to the shorter one and said, “Hi. I’m Naminé. Welcome to our party.”

A pale hand had pulled back the hood to reveal a young face framed by straight red hair. “Xiko.” The Nobody replied, shaking the Princess’ hand. “Thank you.”

Naminé had grinned and Xiko had been tossed into the ocean. He had come up spluttering, glared at his companion, then started to laugh. All seemed right again. As the sun went down, bonfires were started, and food was cooked and eaten, marshmallows were roasted, and then fireworks set off.

Naminé and Kairi wandered to the end of the beach to watch the bright bursts of colour in silence, and were soon joined by Roxas, Tenkuu, Kaoru, Riku, and Sora.

“I wish,” Naminé began, “we could spend every night like this, with nothing to worry about.”

“Me too.” Kairi echoed.

“We can’t.” Kaoru said softly. When the group turned to look at him, he was staring up at the stars he could see, smiling. “As long as we still possess the Keyblades, we’ll always be needed. We didn’t ask for the job, but now that we have it, we have to fight to protect what’s dearest to us.”

Riku laughed. “Sounds good enough for me.”

The others echoed Riku and turned their gazes to watch the fireworks, and above those, the stars, each one a little world that needed its own special guardian.


Owari