Stormy was the first one to arrive at the play islands, as she tied her boat to the dock, to make sure it didn’t go off on it’s own. She walked to the sandy shores, faintly smiling as she tucked her hair behind her ear as she closed her eyes to feel the ocean breeze, as she felt happy that she was alone for a moment, and that there was nobody to tell her what to do and such, and after what her adoptive father said earlier, she was more than glad for some peace and quiet. 

‘...rmy’

She opened her eyes, confused as she looked around, looking around as she asked out loud, “Hello? Is anyone there?” She had heard a male voice. 

She had no response as she sighed, “ Must have been my imagination…”

‘ Stormy..’

She snapped her eyes open as she growled, “ Who’s there?! Show yourself!” she said, looking annoyed and confused.

‘ Stormy...please...go to the secret place…’

She frowned as she looked at where the secret place was, as she said, “ And if I don’t? I don’t know who you are..how can I even trust you?” she asked, hesitant.

‘...please...please just trust me...my little star.’ 

She went rigid when she heard that nickname as she whispered, “ H-How...How do you know that name..?”

‘ Please...Stormy...go to the secret place...I need to talk to you…’

She looked at the secret place in shock as she took one step forward to go to the secret place before she heard two familiar voices from the docks.

“ Stormy!!” She turned her head to see her siblings, with Sora as well as River and Shio ran towards her, as Sora stayed behind as they ran to her, tackling her into the sand, as Stormy yelped in surprise. 

“ Stormy! Oh my lanta, I missed you so much! We have so much to catch up on, since you’ve been busy since school!” River said, hugging his twin tightly as Shio said, “ Do you know how much we missed you? I was actually worried, since we hadn’t heard you for almost two weeks!” 

Stormy looked a bit surprised as she looked at her siblings as she smiled a little, happy to see them as she gave them a big hug.

“ I missed you guys too...I’m so happy to see you guys as well..” she chuckled a little, smiling faintly, her eyes downcast, to hide her sadness as River didn’t notice it, “ Well, I’m just glad we're all together again! We can all work on the raft together, and go to new worlds together!” He said excited as Stormy smiled more at him. 

 “ Yeah, sounds fun. Hopefully there’s piano in other worlds..” she giggled a little, “ Yeah, only difference between you and me is that I just hope there’s film in the other worlds!” River giggled, as Stormy chuckled a little. 

Shio slightly frowned as she noticed how Stormy seemed a bit off as she asked, “ Hey what's up?” she asked her older sister as Stormy faintly smiled, looking at her younger sister, telling her, “ Nothing sis...I’m ok, promise.” she said, ruffling Shio’s hair as Shio pouted, her cheeks filled in air

“ Hey don’t mess up my hair! I don’t need Mamiko to get on my case or anything, since ‘appearances are important!’ Whatever the fuck that means..” Shio grumbled, as Stormy chuckled a tiny bit more, thinking this was actually funny. “ Ok Elric Edward, calm down~” “ THE FUCK DID YOU CALL ME?!” Shio screamed at her brother, who teased his little sister a little.

“Hey don’t forget about me!!” Sora said, running up to them, after he had finished tying the rope to the dock so the boat wouldn't drift away ether. 

Stormy smiled a bit more at the spiky haired brunette as she got up, as Shio and River helped her up,as Sora smiled brightly, putting his hands behind his head, “ It’s so good to see you again Stormy, since school ended!” he said, happy to see her as Stormy smiled at him faintly, “ Nice to see you too Sora…”

“ I am kinda curious, what have you been up to these past two weeks? We haven’t heard or seen you since school ended..” Sora frowned as Stormy looked a bit uncomfortable as Sora then felt someone slap the back of his head as he went to go turn around and give him a small piece of his mind before he noticed a certain red-head giving him an angry and unamused look. “ H-Hey Kairi…” he stuttered, his face red. 

“ Sora, don’t you know it’s rude to ask something that isn’t your business, you lazy bum.” she chastised him as he nervously laughed, as Kairi turned to Stormy with a smile, giving her a big hug, “ I’m so happy to see you again Stormy! Dad said that you were able to come today, since you came by to let him know! I’m so glad that your dad said you could take a break today! We can now even things out a bit more when we spare and stuff! And if Sora and Riku, or if Riku and Zain start to butt heads, you can help calm them down, since you're the peacekeeper most of the time!” she giggled, excited as Stormy nervously laughed.

“ I don’t know if I can calm Riku and Zain...but I can try..” she said with a small smile 

“ That’s the spirit!” Kairi cheered. 

Shio rolled her eyes, “ Ugh, all this sappy stuff is making me sick…” “ Oh no, should I get you a bucket so you can throw up magical rainbows and unicorns little miss britches? Or are you just going to complain all day?” They heard a certain silverhead boy said, as he arrived at the dock from his boat, a certain black dyed hair teen boy in the boat with him as Stormy went quiet, looking away from the black haired boy.

“ Oh haha, real funny Mister ‘ I wear cartoon underwear, but I don’t let anyone know, since I’m too cool’.” Shio snapped back at him as Sora and Kairi, along with River and Zain snickered as Riku blushed as he growled, “ You little...get back here!” He ran to her as Shio ran to the shack laughing as she said, “ Can’t catch me!! Slowpoke!” she laughed as she ran as the teenage silver haired boy ran after her, yelling curse words as Kairi and Zain covered Sora and River’s ears as Zain said, “ They seem to be in a good mood today! Such glorious light shines from both of them, as they joy of laughter and hope radiet from them, shining hope down on trash like m-”

“ You're not trash Zain, and if mom heard you say that again, she would probably give you another scowling and another death look….ugh. The death look...” Sora said, slightly shuddering of the thought after Kairi removed her hands from his ears. In the distance, they saw Shio seemingly cornered, as Riku approached her as she grabbed him by his arm and yeeted him into the ocean, cheering that ‘Twinkle Toes’ had lost to a little girl.

“....good morning...Zain..” Stormy muttered as Zain looked at her and had a big old smile as he approached her, “ Good morning Stormy-chan! I hope you slept well!” he said, hugging her, as he lowly whispered, to where she only heard it,“ Remember….you better be on your best behavior...or else your dad might find out...and then it looks like no more time with River or Shio…” as she looked down as she whispered, “ I know…”

He pulled away as he smiled, “ I’m so glad you're here Stormy! We now have an extra set of hands to help with the raft now, so we can explore worlds! Anywho’s, I’m going to the raft, to see if we need anything else, see you guys in a little while!” Zain walked off, humming a tune as Stormy looked down, keeping quiet and to herself. 

“ See you in a while Zain!” River waved at him, as he looked down at his camera and said, “I’m so pumped! I can’t wait to see what kind of worlds there are! I really do hope they have camera film!” The blue haired boy exclaimed, looking excited. Sora said, “ Seriously, why are you so obsessed with your camera? Ever since we were kids, you've carried that around, why is that?”

River faintly smiled as he looked at the camera and said, “ Well….It just makes me happy, and I like capturing people’s emotions, and to keep memories preserved in pictures. If something bad happens, and if I want to feel better or cheer up somehow, I can look through the pictures I’ve taken in the past, and think of happier memories.” River told them with a smile, looking at his camera with a smile. 

“ Wow...that was...actually really deep...didn’t know you could say something like that.” Sora said. 

River pouted as he said, “ What does that mean? Get over here you brown haired porcupine!” River ran after the brunette as he yelped as ran to escape River. 

Kairi sighed as she walked to Stormy and said, in a playful voice, “ Some things never change, do they Storm’s?” she asked with a smile.

“..yeah, guess things don’t ever change…” Stormy said in a soft voice, looking at her twin brother and little sister, as Shio was mocking Riku for being beaten by a little girl like her, and River laughing as he chased down Sora. She faintly smiled, her hair covering her tired and slightly dull eyes, “...but I don’t mind. As long as we are all happy, I wouldn’t change a thing…”

“ Yeah, true enough...Hey, while all of the boys are busy doing who knows what, wanna help me by looking for thassa shells and after words, wanna spar for fun?” Kairi asked Stormy, with a bright smile.

Stormy looked at her, faintly smiling, “ Sure, let’s go.” They both walked to the other side to try and find the shells, Kairi humming a tune looking excited as Stormy was quiet.

‘....as long as River and Shio are happy and safe...I don’t care what happens to me...I don’t care if Zain or father tries to hurt me or...even try to kill me….As long as they are safe and happy, I don’t care what happens to me...I don't matter anyways....my only purpose now, is the promise to always protect them I made...and I intend to keep it….but that voice from earlier….could it have been..?...No...it couldn’t have...maybe..it was just me hearing things…..’

‘...right?’