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Sora remembered little about his old life. He was floating from one moment to the next, adrift, like a raft untethered from the docks—
“Huh? Why did my brain just make that connection?” Everywhere he looked, he was surrounded by city block after city block. So why had his weird brain just supplied him with similes about the ocean?
He groaned and gripped his head as another splintering headache slammed into him. This time he had the sense of mind to slump against a nearby building instead of collapsing to the ground and hitting his head. Because that was just what he needed, another concussion and more brain damage.
“It’s because you’re from a world with a beautiful sea.”
He snapped to attention. It was that girl again, the one who’d called out to him a few times now, the one who knew his name and had told him to wake up.
“Who are you?” he begged the voice, searching the streets everywhere for the person it belonged to, clawing his way through the headache and stumbling from support to support as onlookers cast concerned glances his way and asked him if he needed help. But he ignored them and continued his search because he desperately needed answers. About who he was and where he was really from. About who the people close to his heart were.
He’d forgotten them, and he longed to remember their faces, their names. This girl was right. Something about Quadratum wasn’t what it seemed. There was something she needed him to notice, to realize—
But she wasn’t here. He slumped against a vending machine with colorful cartoon characters serving hot and cold drinks. The buttons poked into his back, his skin was covered in a sheen of sweat, and his breath came out in panting gasps. His head felt like it was gonna split open, too, and he groaned as the machine cheerfully informed him he needed to insert 100 yen for his selected drink. Sounds were too loud right now. Lights were too bright right now. The ordinary smells of the street assaulted his sensitive, sensitized body. Everything was just too much, all at once.
But at least he was still conscious this time. He fought to stay awake. He even lifted his head again and quickly regretted it.
“You okay?” he heard the girl ask, her voice filled with worry. Something about her concern warmed his heart, because that meant he mattered to someone from his past. That he was somebody.
Still, he couldn’t resist the urge to pout and be snarky. Almost as if he knew deep down she wouldn’t mind, that she would expect his whining and sulking and might even comfort him and try to ease his suffering.
“Oh, I’m fine,” he grumbled as he peeled himself off of the noisy vending machine. “Just peachy. Developing migraines at the ripe old age of sixteen that make me a liability on the battlefield because I keep passing out is definitely what I wanted out of death. Life. Whatever.”
With her, it was like he didn't have to be strong or act like a hero. He didn't even have to be cheerful all the time. He could just be…himself.
“I think the headaches will stop when you get your memories back,” she replied, her voice tinged with sympathy.
“Boy, would that be nice. But every time my brain tries to bring them back, I get a splitting headache. It's the worst kind of chocobo and egg situation.”
“I know, and I promise we’re trying to help. Na…I mean, one of our friends, is working on it. Think of it like reconnecting a whole bunch of chains together, only the chains are memories. But our friend also said there are certain chains you have to reconnect yourself.”
“Then help me do that. Please. Clearly, I knew you before, and you know me. Tell me, what’s your name?”
A light giggle floated to his ears. “You don't even remember my name? Wooooow, thanks a lot, Sora.”
The words were scolding but the tone was affectionate. Familiar. The phrasing was familiar, too, giving him that eerie sense of déjà vu again.
His head spun, and he braced himself against the vending machine again like an old friend. Something pricked at the edges of his consciousness, like a word lingering on the tip of his tongue.
This girl was incredibly important to him. He was sure of it.
“Okay, I guess I can give you a hint,” she said, her tone teasing. Something about her teasing was heartachingly familiar. “Starts with a ‘K!’”
He tilted his head. “A ‘K?’ Don’t you know how many ‘K’ names there are? Can’t you just tell me what it is?”
“Nope! You’ve gotta piece the rest together yourself, and I know you will.”
He groaned. Great, another riddle he’d have to figure out—
But then she spoke again, and her voice was so warm and heartfelt that all his frustration melted away. “Bye for now, Sora. I promise we’ll meet again, someday soon. And until then, know that I’m always with you. I might not be physically there, but the beautiful memories we made together, all the happy moments we shared, the powerful feelings in our hearts—no one can ever take that away from us or from you.”
His eyes welled up with tears, his hand reaching for someone he knew wasn't physically here. “Wait—”
But she was already gone. This street was quiet. Empty. His outstretched hand, tingling with phantom sensations he didn’t understand, aching as if someone had just ripped him away from safety and comfort, fell limply to his side.
But his mind was lining the pieces up, and his heart, oh his heart—it was thundering like a waterfall, roaring through his ears, begging his brain to remember what his heart and body could never forget.
The girl was right. There were some things nothing could take away from him. Not memory loss, not fate, not destiny, and not even death.
Memories flooded his mind. Feelings. Images. Red hair so pretty he couldn’t believe it when he first saw her. Big violet eyes that regarded him with such warmth and fondness. A radiant smile that lit up his entire world. Soft pink lips that had dripped with the juice of a salty-sweet shared paopu fruit. An adorable, infectious laugh that turned his insides to mush whenever he heard it. Arms that embraced him and accepted him just as he was, no matter how badly he’d let her down. Tender hands that always reached out to him, that had crafted so many gifts and letters and treats for him, that had reunited him with Riku, that had brought them home.
There was more, so much more. An entire person could hardly be contained in words or even images, but his racing thoughts certainly tried to capture her essence. But what stuck out to him most of all was her strong heart that never wavered. She shone with pure light, bringing so much love and warmth wherever she went, and yet she was a fighter, too. Stubborn to the end.
Even now, she refused to give up. She refused to let him go. And how very glad he was for that.
His hand reached into his pocket out of habit, out of instinct. When he pulled the lucky charm out, his hand-drawn face winking up at him and his crown emblem restored, the thalassa shells their rightful colors once more, a smile tugged at his lips.
“Starts with a ‘K,’ right, Kairi?”