○○Chapter Two - Preparing For A Trip of A Lifetime○○

EVER ADJUSTED THE TIE ON HER UNIFORM WHILE GETTING READY FOR SCHOOL. Her outfit consisted of a white elbow length button-up shirt with a Yale blue blazer jacket over it, displaying the school crest on the front. She wore a blue and white lauded skirt that stopped over my knee caps finished with navy blue knee-high socks and black slip ons.

It was a nice morning in the town of Destiny Island's, the sky was blue with white puffy clouds, the birds were singing, and the tropical flowers were in full bloom, letting off a sweet fragrance. A huff left her lips while looking out the open window at the ocean. She had a good view of the breathtaking beach from where her home is located.

"Ever, hurry up!" Sora's voice rang out, snapping her back to reality.

"Hang on, I'm coming!" She called back. The siblings had an unbreakable bond; they were best friends for life, always there for each other, and always have each other's back and can always tell what each other are feeling. They looked almost identical, with matching light brown hair, the same nose, and identical cerulean blue eyes.

Differences are Sora is taller, while Ever is an inch or two shorter where his chin is. He has his spiky hair, while her thick haircascadesd down to mid-back length in beachy curls. His skin was naturally sun kissed, while herswass a mixture of sun and fair.

To Sora, she's his miracle sister and is proud.

When their mom found out she was pregnant, it was only supposed to be Sora. However, during a regular ultrasound appointment, low and behold, another heartbeat was detected.

Ever.

Of course, their parents were quite stunned by the news but thrilled at the sam time  that they got to not only have a son but a daughter as well despite that Ever was unexpected. Ever often grappled with the feeling of being a mistake or a burden, but deep down, she wouldn't trade her family for the world and is grateful to call them her family.

Quickly braiding her hair and letting strands loosely hang by her soft round features, she swung her messenger bag over her shoulder and grabbed her violin case. Zooming down the stairs, she spotted Sora and his best friend Riku waiting at the front door. "Took you long enough." Riku pretended to be impatient. Ever used to having a big crush on him,  but she didn't want to strain their friendship, especially since he saw her more of a sister. So they kept it as that.

"Sorry Riki."He scowled, clearly doesn't like the nickname and knows that she likes messing with him. "Stop calling me Riki, it's Riku grandma!" He poked her head playfully.

Ever gasped and shoved his hand away, offended. "I am not old, I just don't like being rushed, thank you very much!"
Her twin snorted. "You were taking foreve,  though!"

"Ugh, you'll live Soso."

"Sora! Everly!" their mother poked her head from around the corner, "Do you have everything you need?"

"Yes mom." they answered in perfect unison."

"Alrighty love you guys!"

"Love you too!"
~~~~

Once they got to Destiny Island Academy, Ever and Sora said bye to Riku before they went their separate ways. He is in year ten and she and Sora were in year Ever and Sora stopped by their lockers which were side by side with each other and got our books for class while discussing plans for after school to complete the raft for the upcoming trip with friends.
"Wel,  look who it is." A voice came from behind us. Oh no. "Loser twin one and loser twin two."

Ever closed her eyes and held back a groan and faced him.

"Not now, Marco." Sora grumbled, obviously not in the mood for this.
Marco,the douchebag who had been targeting them for months for his benefits, smirked and replied, "That's not very friendly."

"Don't you have an early football practice to get to, or did you lose your balls?" Ever taunted, slamming her locker closed and turned to leave.

"Why you stupid freak!" The girl felt him roughly grab her upper arm, stopping her. Causing her books that were in her arms to fall to the floor. She was about to knee him in the no-no area when an angry Sora quickly intervened, he pried her away from him and shoved him away.

"Keep your hands off my sister!" He snarled getting in front of Ever letting his protective brother side come out as he went into operation protect sister mode. Though Sora is never the type of person to get mad or fight anybody. He's usually calm and collected and real chill; unless he's sparring or wrestling with friends but does not play when it comes to the people he cares about getting hurt or tormented.

"What the heck is your problem?!" Ever snapped, giving him her best glare, "Putting your hands where they don't belong!"

Marco, the jerk, simply ignored her, responding with. "Or what freaks?"

Clenching her jaw, Ever took a step forward, to knock the daylights out of him. If it wasn't for Sora holding her back and the teacher getting involved telling them to go to class. Marco huffed and walked away to join his group of buddies.

"Are you ok?" Sora asked, concern etched on his face as he checked on her."

“I will be when my free period starts." Ever replied, looking forward to using that time to practice her violin.
After sharing a comforting hug, they made their way to class.

~~~~

After school let out for the day, the twins rushed back home and changed from their uniforms into their usual casual attires. Ever put on black ripped shorts with a gold chain belt followed by a cute dark red strappy top.

She undid her braid and ran her fingers through until it was in its usual waves and put it up in a high ponytail.

Slipping into some black sandals along with a black choker necklace with a clear crystal pendant, she met up with Sora and together they headed out to their hang out island which is located five minutes across the water from where everyone else lives on Destiny Islands.

While chilling under a shady palm tree, Ever spotted Kairi also well known in town as the mayor's adoptive daughter getting out of her raft. She waved at her. The redhead smiled and returned it.

Kairi was one of the sweetest souls you've ever met and is a great friend. When Ever first met her for the first time, she was very shy. Ever used to be in that category at the time and she doesn't know how, they've just suddenly clicked one day during recess and have been friends ever since.

Kairi walked over where Sora was laying on the sand asleep and stood over him. Ever ran up to her.

"Hey Kairi!" She greeted her best friend.

"Hey Ever, I heard what happened to you and Sora at school, are you ok?"

"I'm ok, Marco is just being a jerk like always."

She shook her head. "How long has he been out?" Kairi asked her, glancing down at the sleeping Sora.

"Not long after we got here."

Ever got down on her knees and gently shook him. "Sora. Wakedy, wakedy." Sora began stirring in his sleep. He yawned and slowly opened his eyes.

"Good afternoon, sleeping beauty." He rolled his eyes, getting up on his knees as the girls giggled.

"Gimme a break."

"I should've known I'd find you sleeping on the beach," Kairi said.

"I'm surprised the waves haven't taken you to have dinner with the fish yet." Ever teased getting up; brushing the sand off of her outfit.

"No!" Sora exclaimed, "This huge, black THING swallowed me up!"" He told Kairi his dream which Ever already heard since she was the first person he told. "I couldn't breathe! I couldn't—Ow!" Kairi shut him up by bopping him on the head. He rubbed the area where she got him.

"Are you still in dreamland?" Ever teased again, leaning forward with her hands resting on her knees with her face close to his face. "How many fingers am I holding up?" She raised up two fingers.

Sora rolled his eyes again. "It wasn't a dream, sis!" He lowered his head and his voice to a mumble. "Or was it? I don't know. What was that place? So bizarre..."

"Yeah, sure," Kairi said, then walked towards the water and stopped. Ever followed suit.

"Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up."
Kairi answered. "I've told you before, I don't remember." "Nothing at all?" Sora asked quizzically. "Nothing." Ever put a comforting hand on her friend's shoulder. She was found on the beach one night during a meteor when she and Sora were little, with little to no recollection of memories besides her own name. She couldn't even imagine going through something like that. Not remembering where you came from, not remembering who your mom and dad are. Everything.

It's sad.

Kairi changed the subject to lighten the mood. "Well, I'm happy here as long as we're together. But you know... I wouldn't mind going to see it."

"I'd like to see it too." Sora agreed, "Along with any other worlds out there."

"Same," Ever agreed to, "I wanna see 'em all!" I've always craved to see what's beyond the horizon.

Kairi turned along with me. "So what're we waiting for?"
"Hey!" They turned their heads to see Riku coming up to us carrying a log underneath one of his arms. "Aren't you guys forgetting about me? So, I guess I'm the only one working on the raft." He strolled up and tossed the log onto Sora causing him to fall back onto the sand. Riku stopped in front of Ever and Kairi putting his hands on his hips. "And you two are just as lazy as he is!" Ever stuck her tongue out at him. "Very mature Everly." Kairi giggled. "So you noticed."

She started hopping up and down. "Okay, we'll finish it together. I'll race you!" she pointed at us.

The girl and the boys groaned.

"What, are you kidding?" Riku whined.

"Seriously, Kairi?" Ever whined.

"Come on! Ready, go!"

The boys darted down the beach with Ever and Kairi following behind. Ever mostly jogged cause she knew that she wasn't going to win, she didn't know how boys do it.

~~~~

For the past hour, the crew and Ever gathered supplies for the upcoming trip of a lifetime. She already found the rope and sheet to help get things done faster.

Ever ran across the beach and through the door that leads to the other side of the island and looked over the cliff by the waterfall and saw her brother sparring with Tidus, one of her friends who's always up for a challenge. "You're going down!" Tidus shouted challengingly.

"We'll see about that." Sora panted as he swiftly parried, his wooden sword and Tidus's met with a cling.

Ever jumped and climbed down the coconut tree and went over to Kairi. "Do we have almost everything?"

She nodded. "All we need is one more log and then we can call it a night."
"Ok cool."

To help pass by time, Ever sparred with Wakka whom she lost to but beat Selphie when she got her head in the game. She then went for a swim in the water intrigued by the vibrant sea life before her. She closed her eyes as she let herself float underwater. The only thing she can hear is silence besides her own heartbeat.

Ka-thump!

Ka-thump!

Ka-thump!

Ka-thump!

It was quiet.

It was peaceful
~~~~

"So," Sora started while they all chilled at the Paopu tree, watching the sun set; painting beautiful colors in the sky. "Kairi's home is out there somewhere right, right?"

"Somewhere." Ever answered, swinging her legs back and forth on her spot on the tree next to Kairi.

"Could be." Riku chimed in with his head resting against the trunk of the tree with his arms crossed. "We'll never know by staying here."

"But how far could a raft take us?" Sora asked.

Ever agreed. "Will it even get us where we need to go? What happens if the sail rips?"

Riku responded with a small shrug. "Who knows? If we have to, we'll figure something else out."

"So," Kairi began, "So suppose you get to other worlds." She giggled. "What would you do there?"

"Hm, good question," Riku thought, "Well, I haven't really thought about it. It's just…I've always wondered why we're here on this island. If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds…than ours is just a little piece of something much greater. So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

"I don't know." Sora replied simply, then rolled onto his back and rested his hand underneath his head.

"Who knows what's out there? That's the biggest mystery." Ever said, imagining herself already exploring the world.

"Exactly," Riku agrees with them, "That's why we need to go out there and find out." He pushes himself off the tree and stops at the edge where the water is. "Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go. Anchors away!"

Ever giggled at the last part.
"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" Kairi asked him.

Riku turned and looked up at her. "Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here. I probably would've never thought of any of this. Kairi, thanks. You to Ever."
Ever smiled. "No problem."

"You're welcome." Kairi added, "And we should get going. It's getting late."
Ever nodded. "Yea, and we still have lots to do tomorrow." Climbing off the tree, the crew made their way towards the rafts.

"Sora!" Ever heard Riku call on him.
Sora turned to him, who was motioning for him to come back. "You can go ahead and go with Kairi, I'll meet you back home."

"Ok, see ya later."

Ever hopped into the boat with Kairi, and together, they made their way back to town.