Paopu

He had never imagined that the sunset would ever seem this hopelessly lonely before. Then again... he had never imagined to become the wielder of a sword shaped like a key, or the savior of the worlds, either.

Sighing, he brushed his chestnut hair from his face distractedly as he leaned against the paopu tree. Nothing... had really changed here. Was it just him? Was he just being paranoid?

Sora laughed, a deep, rich sound that calmed him considerably, as he reached up and picked one of the golden, ripe fruits from the tree. A paopu fruit.

'If two people share one,' Riku had said, 'Their destinies will become intertwined'.

He tossed it up into the air, feeling the weight of it in his hand before switching it over to the other one. "I wonder..." he mused aloud, no one there to hear his thoughts. "What does it taste like?"

Now, he had heard many different things. His mother said that it tasted sweet and delicious, while Selphie, ever the romantic, theorized that it tasted bitter, like love itself. Now, while Sora didn't know what to think of that, he had always imagined it to taste salty. After all, the roots of the tree drank up saltwater. It would make sense... right?

Slowly, the Keyblade Master brought the fruit to his mouth, but hesitated in taking a bite. Was it wrong to eat such a fruit by yourself, with no one to share it with? What would happen if he did eat it by himself? Did that mean he was destined to be alone? Furrowing his brow, Sora chucked the fruit into the golden-pink waters.

"No way." he said, the corners of his lips turning upward into one of his trademark smiles. "There's no way that I'm going to be alone, after all that I've been through." With that, he hopped from his perch and from the small island itself, letting the waters catch him and soak him to the bone.

Destiny could wait.