Hourglass: Soku

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4537344/1/Hourglass

Chapter 1: Eleven Out of Ten

The waves of the ocean gently lapped against the old wooden boat carrying three passengers across the ocean to a tiny island off the coast of the mainland. The conversation was quiet and comfortable, only the kind that three lifetime friends could have. The eastern horizon was a pale blue, heralding the start of a new day, while the rest of the sky was still sleepy with darkness and stars. This day was a special day. Exactly one year ago, the two young men on the boat had returned home from their adventure. As a way to celebrate this anniversary, they were returning to the little island where it all began.

“We’re here,” said a melodically sweet voice belonging to the petite redheaded Kairi.

“Sora, help me tie the boat to the dock,” requested the silver-haired young man in their group.

“Sure, Riku,” replied Sora, leaping out of the boat onto the dock and assisting Riku with tying a proper knot. Once secured, Riku and Kairi joined Sora on the dock. Sora playfully linked arms with his two best friends and excitedly dragged them along. “C’mon! Hurry, before the sun rises!” Kairi politely covered her mouth as she giggled while Riku grinned, both allowing themselves to be pulled along.

It was not long before they reached the old wooden bridge leading to the smaller island with their favourite bent paopu tree on it. At the beginning of summer, all the guys got together to reinforce the bridge because it was starting to show its age. There were visible patches where Tidus had fallen through while hammering a board to the side. As the trio walked across, Sora eyed a spot where he remembered stubbing his toe on an uneven board, hence the decision to fix it up.

Once on the other side of the bridge, the trio proceeded to take up their regular spots - Kairi on the tree closest to the paopu fruit on the tree, Sora sitting on the tree next to her, and Riku leaning on the tree next to Sora. They sighed contently as they watched the eastern sky growing brighter and brighter as the sun slowly made its appearance on the horizon, its first rays glinting across the ocean’s surface. Clouds dotted the sky above and as the sun peeked higher, the clouds turned different hues of red, pink, and orange. It was almost as if a higher being knew the trio would be there that morning to watch the sunrise and was delivering the most beautiful sunrise that any of them had ever seen.

Riku gave a slight start when he felt a warm hand slip into his, fingers wrapping. He glanced over at Sora only to see that Sora was holding Kairi’s hand in his other hand. A smile spread across his face. Four years ago, he would have never believed that he could have such a strong bond with the two people sitting next to him. But their adventure across all those different worlds, the things they did, the stuff they saw, and the amount of forgiveness Sora had for Riku had drawn them all closer together as friends.

Suddenly, he felt Sora wrench his hand out of Riku’s and point towards the sky.

“What’s that?” he asked. Riku and Kairi focused their eyes on what Sora was pointing at.

“I don’t see anything…” Riku said slowly. Kairi blinked a few times. It was difficult for them to see when the sun was rising in their sleepy eyes, but after focusing, Kairi could see what Sora was looking at. There was something falling towards the earth leaving a blue trail behind it.

“Looks like a shooting star, maybe,” Kairi suggested. Riku quickly found the falling object with his eyes.

“No, more like a meteorite,” he said.

“A shooting star is a meteorite,” Kairi teased.

“No, a shooting star skims the atmosphere and burns up. A meteorite survives the impact to Earth.”

“Silly, a shooting star doesn’t always burn up.”

“Well then why do we never see them land?”

“You guys, it’s neither!” Sora said urgently. “It’s a person!”

“What?!” As the blue trail got closer, they were clearly able to make out a humanoid appearance. Kairi was suddenly reminded of the manner in which Riku and Sora had arrived back home, falling from the sky with a blue trail behind them.

“He doesn’t look too awake, guys,” Sora observed.

“How can you tell that from here?” Riku mused. Without saying another word, Sora leapt into the ocean and swam in the direction where the person was going to land. “Sora, wait!” Riku dove in after.

About fifty metres away from the island, the anonymous person impacted on the surface of the water. Kairi watched on anxiously as Sora and Riku quickly swam out to rescue the mysterious man who had not surfaced up yet. Taking a big gulp of air, Sora ducked under the water and grabbed hold of the man’s arm while Riku grabbed his other arm. Together, they pulled the man above water, leaning most of the weight on Riku’s shoulders. Once he managed to blink the water out of his eyes, Riku took his first real glance at the unconscious person in his arms and gasped. Sora wiped the seawater out of his eyes and joined Riku in gaping at the unknown man. Riku and Sora exchanged looks but neither said a word as they proceeded to swim back to the shore. Kairi was waiting for them when they arrived and once she got a look at the face of the person they rescued, she covered her mouth in disbelief.

“H-he looks like-“ Kairi was interrupted.

“He’s not breathing!” Riku said quickly, being the first one to snap out of his stupor. He laid the man on the beach and began performing CPR. Within a few seconds, the man shuddered and rolled to his side, coughing up water and muttering obscenities. Riku raised an eyebrow while Sora’s eyes widened.

“Where am I?” asked the man tiredly as he cracked open his sky blue eyes. The trio glanced at each other, unsure of who should field the questions. Eventually, Sora knelt next to the man.

“You’re on Destiny Island.” The man slowly sat up, burying his fingers into his dark brown hair and scratching the back of head, still coughing a little.

“What year is it?” he asked quickly. Sora was confused by such a strange question.

“Excuse me?”

“The year! What year is it?” the man demanded more forcefully. The energy it took to get that much speech out left him coughing.

“2006!” Sora replied nervously. “It’s 2006!”

“Shit…” The man let himself fall backwards back onto the sand. “It’s supposed to be 2005…” Again, the trio exchanged odd glances with each other, but before any of them could put another word in, the man was unconscious again. They stood speechless.

“What should we do with him?” Sora asked meekly.

“We can’t just leave him here,” Kairi said. “Let’s take him to your house Sora.”

“Have fun explaining that to my parents!” He rubbed his eyes. “What about your place, Riku? Your parents should have left for work by now.” Riku considered that suggestion for a moment.

“Yeah, it should be fine.” He knelt down beside the man and attempted to lift him under the shoulders. “Lend me a hand, will ya?” Sora snapped out of his daze and lifted the man around his legs. Within a few minutes, they had the man securely on the boat and were heading back to the mainland.

As the boat slowly bobbed in the ocean closer and closer to the coast, Kairi said, “Who do you guys think he is? Really?” The other two young men studied the man’s face but didn’t say a word. They didn’t know what to think at the moment.

0o0o0

After much struggling and a few choice curse words on Riku’s part, they had managed to get the man onto the couch in Riku’s living room. Sora sat next to him wondering to himself just what in the world was happening. He was in the middle of building strange stories in his head to explain the man’s appearance when suddenly, the man woke with a start, a strangled scream leaving his lips and two Keyblades appearing his hands, the Oblivion and, surprisingly enough, the Way to Dawn. His eyes were flashing dangerously. He leapt at the nearest person, assuming them to be a foe. Sora cried out in surprise when the man lunged at him with Keyblades drawn. Riku and Kairi burst into the room from the kitchen to see what the commotion was all about. The man was breathing heavily, a Keyblade edge pressed against Sora’s neck, but when he regained some sense and realised whom he had just attacked, he backed away as if burned. Climbing back onto the couch, he murmured an apology and covered his eyes with his hands. Sora remained on the floor, still getting over the shock of being assaulted.

“Be still, my stupid heart,” he grumbled, willing his heart to stop racing. Riku rushed over to Sora to help him up but his eyes and mistrust never left the man sitting on the couch.

“What the hell was that?” he demanded. Judging by the posture of the man, he felt slightly bad about attacking Sora but more embarrassment for waking in such a manner.

“Nightmare…” he whispered. “Sorry…” There was a ringing silence as Riku sized the man up, deciding whether it would be wise to pick a fight. The man certainly looked older and stronger than Riku, but that had never stopped the silver-haired young man before. Finally, Kairi broke the silence by speaking up.

“Sorry, but… Who are you… exactly?” she asked quietly. The man looked at her as if he just realised who was standing next to him. Then his expression went to sour and annoyed.

“Who do you think I am?” he replied with sarcasm in his voice. “Jack Sparrow?” The others were surprised at his sudden shift in character. “I’m Sora!” There was a long period of silence as the trio thoroughly eyed the man. He bared an uncanny resemblance to Sora but there were very subtle differences, such as the loss of that carefree child-like twinkle in his eyes that Sora had. And his outfit was far more mature, less primary colours and more subdued colours, and an almost military-like style. This man looked tired and battle-worn as if years of tragedy had taken their toll on his face.

“Nope!” Riku said, breaking the silence. “Sorry, we’ve already got one, see? And this one’s the proper age.” It was true. The man claiming to be Sora was at least a good five years older than the real Sora.

The man seemed to notice Riku for the first real time and his entire demeanour shifted again. For the briefest of seconds, there seemed to be a spark of something in his eyes but it was gone before anyone could really notice it.

“I know this is going to sound crazy…” he started slowly, hoping that his words weren’t falling on deaf ears. “But I’m not from this time period.” He paused, allowing them to absorb what he just said. “I’m from seven years in the future.”