DISCLAIMER: All Square Enix/Disney characters mentioned and used in this fictional work is/are the property of their respective mother companies. They are not mine and are only being used by my imagination to share my love for this franchise, its story, and characters to everyone in the lovely place called the internet.

This is the second story in a series of KH/Union X fanfics called "When Stars Align". This one in particular serves as a sequel to first story, "Something Lost, Something Found" Go give that a read first so that this makes more sense, but it's not necessary. I incorporated very brief summaries of what has transpired between the [Player] and Aqua in the previous installment but they're not as elaborate and angsty here than in the full 5 chapter one. Hihi. Anyway. This one-shot fic will be a little experimental as I'm writing the [Player] in second POV, which makes it a reader insert of sorts? Feel free to imagine yourself or your Union characters in their stead. [Player] is gender neutral in all my fics, so have at it!

Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.

You wade your feet near the edge of the water as the waves crash unto the dark sandy beach. It ripples around you as it covers you with a soothing chill you have not felt for a long time.

The cold is nothing new. Being trapped in the realm of darkness is synonymous to being trapped in an ice cooler. Every hour you are awake, it doesn't fail to remind you how bleak and empty this dark prison is. An eternity in this world has even turned that crisp embrace of the dark more familiar and assuring than pleasant hands of the light you've already forgotten.

In the faraway past, you feel as though you were attuned to the light rather than the dark, but afterlife in this wasteland has thrown you to the opposite end. You supposed you should feel bad about it, and perhaps you did at one point, but now you're just content feeling something familiar.

You smiled a little as you wiggle your toes over the waves that kiss your feet again.

There aren't a lot of worlds trapped in this realm that are tropical in nature, nor are there worlds that have bodies of water like this one. The closest you've had to one is tower the fountain in Daybreak Town – your home; or at least, the place that feels like home according to your heart.

You don't remember a whole lot about yourself, nor about your past after waking up here.

All you know is that it hurt being alive, so much that you wanted to die upon waking, and that the Darkness made it all stop. You wandered without a destination, confused to find everything to be familiar, yet unknown at the same time. You tried to remember, but every time you did, you immediately regretted it. The price, and the pain, that came with remembering was too inconvenient to amount to anything, so you gave up.

Still, your past comes back to you in odd moments. They were never solid memories either, only, always, fleeting emotions that are gone the moment you recognize them. It tells you what feels right from wrong, and what is familiar or not. One moment, you feel sad, then the next, you're left confused as to why you you're shedding tears. It's frustrating to know that the answers you seek is already within you, but regardless how hard you pry, the lock won't budge and you feel more helpless.

You became a shell of who you once was, only remembering whenever they become relevant, or whenever the Darkness wills it so. You remembered the Heartless first, and only them for a long time – until you met her.

"There you are," Aqua sighs as she approaches you from behind.

You turn to regard her, watching as her face is illuminated by the dim moonlight by the horizon.

You met Aqua completely by accident in the Fountain of Daybreak Town. You wanted to be left alone, but she kept on bothering you. You initially saw her as a nuisance, but that changed. She showed stubbornness that rivaled your own, and even more compassion for a stranger than anyone you can remember. You got angry at her once, and The Darkness used it to hurt you both.

You blamed yourself for it, so to apologize, you started opening up as much as your memories let you.

Slowly, you started feeling more and more like the person you once were – whoever they are. The emotions you've long buried along with the light started to emerge again; the childish curiosity, the blossom of joy, and the glimmer of hope. It made you feel warm again, like you were beginning to recollect pieces of yourself, and it felt right.

Then the nightmares started.

It gave you all the answers you needed – where you came from, who your friends are, and what happened to you. However, such memories didn't linger long enough for you to remember them after waking up. You remember, only to forget and it frustrated you to no end.

You didn't tell Aqua right away because you wanted to be certain first. The people you lost, and everything that happened to you that led to your death. You don't want to worry her as much as she already does by watching over you every time you have them.

The moment you did tell her, the more she became determined to help find the answers you still lack; your name.

Why you woke up, very much alive rather than dead, in the Realm of Darkness.

And most importantly of all – Why you can't summon your keyblade anymore.

She stops a meter away from shore and says, "I was worried you ran off to summon your keyblade again."

Your eye twitches in guilt.

Aqua helped you come to terms with a fact that you've been ignoring the truth of your power ever since you woke up in the darkness. You were a keyblade wielder like her, perhaps from a time older than she, but not quite a Master yet. Regardless of which, the keyblade no longer came to you, and you shut down all memories of it to keep yourself from getting discouraged even further.

You supposed the weapon no longer heeded your call because the darkness has tainted you far too much to deserve it. You aren't worthy to be a champion of light anymore, yet Aqua refused to believe that and asked you to try. That was until you both discovered the consequences of doing so.

Your hand ghosts over your chest, feeling a non-existent wound that burns every time you call it back. "And hurt myself again?" you say bitterly. "No thanks."

Aqua laughs, and you feel a little offended by it. "Oh, you can't fool me with that tough act," she coos. "I've seen you try two worlds ago."

"You –" you stuttered, genuinely surprised that she caught you that time. "You did?"

Aqua nods in solemn understanding. "I know it's tough, knowing that you have the power to fight, and yet feel so powerless at the same time. It's tragic," she glances at her hand as though missing something crucial to defining herself; and you look down with her.

"I'm sorry," you apologize softly.

"Whatever for?"

"Your keyblade."

Aqua's lip thinned at the grim reminder but says nothing. "It stopped appearing after I told you right? If I hadn't–" you pause "then you'd still have Master's Defender."

Aqua shakes her head and places a hand on your shoulder. "You did the right thing to tell me," she says reassuringly. "We're in this together, remember? I promised to help you find out who you are. Losing my keyblade is… difficult, but I can manage." She smiles, and you feel reassured again.

You look away, feeling like you don't deserve whatever kindness Aqua has been showing you for the past months, maybe years, you've been together. You're still convinced that you are responsible for tearing a part of her that remained strong amidst her trials in the Realm of Darkness. One word is all it took, and you made her just as powerless as you are.

Just as you do everyone else.

You shake the whispers of your past self and the Darkness away, and Aqua catches the moment of fear in your eyes.

She cups your face and guides your focus to her. She smiles softly, assuring you again that everything will be fine. "You don't need to push yourself for me. I can protect us even without a keyblade. I didn't become a Master just because I can swing a key around better than Ventus and Terra you know?"

You roll your eyes and push her away, neither accepting nor rejecting her compassion yet again. Aqua chuckles at your usual reaction as you stomped off to find a spot to practice in silence. She may have forbidden you to summon the blade without her presence, but you need to repay whatever she has given you. Summoning your keyblade is the only way you think you can truly repay her. Being hurt or not be damned.

Aqua waits until you've disappeared from sight before turning her attention to the sea before her. She stares out into the horizon with a blue, star-shaped charm pressed close to her chest and silently wished upon the moonlight.

The next time you find Aqua, she's sitting by the shore with to a black hooded figure.

You don't recognize the man, and decided to step a little bit closer to be Aqua's side. You can't tell if the figure is to be trusted or not, but something in your heart reminds you that anyone wearing the black coat are never to be trusted.

You didn't question your own confusing set of emotions, and simply let the Darkness feed off it.

Aqua said she didn't need protection, but without her keyblade, you're the only one left between you with any form of power – even if it was one she rather you not use.

"Tell me," the hooded figures voice came deep and introspective. "Do you plan on staying here?"

"These waters, I can't shake the feeling that they touch another shore I've been to before," Aqua says.

The figure nods. "The Destiny Islands."

You frown, unfamiliar with the world. However, you do imagine another world, one bathed in light, with fine sandy beaches and soothing waves. You close your eyes imagining for the first time in forever what that might be like.

You emerge from underwater, breathing in as a brown haired girl wearing a blue school swimsuit and pink jetpacks jumped in a big splash right beside you. The two of you erupt in boisterous laughter as a boy with vanilla colored afro hair, and sporting a silly pair of googles pulled out a water gun and started spraying both of your faces.

Another boy with a blue fish eyes mask and wearing a mascot head with a red balloon hanging from above it suddenly screams and scrambles over to climb over your shoulder.

You cry out in shock as his donut shaped floaty mushed your face.

"Mog!" calls the brown haired girl. "What are you doing?"

"A turtle poked my floaters!"

"It's just a turtle!"

"But I can't swim!"

"Well get off e̶̢̨̞̝̮̝͉͇̘̫̫̙̬̝͕̥͈̼͙̾̿͌̌̈́̀̈́̈́̀̕̕͜͝ý̸̢̭̘͓͉͇̜̗̯͔̦͎͈̯̻̬̟̙̙͇̤̼̹̦̾̽̀͋̔̚͜ͅͅd̷̛̗̜̙͈̼̫̥̪̯̞̹͇͎͈͎̺̃̏͒̇͆̌̀͒ͅḳ̴̨̨̡̹͉̪͎̏̇͌̅̅̽̇̀͂̑̊͛̋̈́͗̋̈́͜i̸̠͖̫̳̥̺͇̺͓̲͓̰͎̅̌̐̂͘k̵̻̯̱̖̱̫̐̌̈̑̇̊͌͒̀̏̊̀̐̈̕ or you'll both drown!"

You laugh at them, until Mog's incessant moving around caused you to slip and crash back into the water.

You come back to your senses with your hands on your throbbing head. You blinked, confused at the memory and silently wondered where it and when it may have come from. You've been to a beach before with friends and it made you feel… happy.

You want to go back to the beach with them again. Before you can register anything else from it, the memory dissipates out of the present.

"I want to swim," you tell yourself, unaware as to why you wanted to. The idea did seem endearing though.

"I'm staying," Aqua concludes. "Someone will come for us."

You look down, doubting Aqua's hope for a bit. While you were always ready for the inevitable, Aqua continued to trust on her friends to come save her. It bothers you, but you don't dare mention it.

You've been trapped here longer than she has, and no rescue came for you. Aqua still believes in it however, despite being imprisoned her for ten or more years. You hope you had the same trust in this Sora kid she keeps mentioning, but you don't. How can you trust in someone you barely know?

"These waters are the in-between of dark and light," the figure noted. "They brought you and I together, so why not also you and another?

"Yes," Aqua smiled in agreement. "I know they will."

You look at the deformed metal wayfinder Aqua made for you some time ago. You broke it in a fit of rage before, and she offered to make a new one, but you refused. You treasure it in all its crushed glory. After all, Aqua said that it connects the destinies of two people. Once you share it with another, you'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what.

If Aqua is going to keep believing that you would be saved, then the least you can do is have faith in her and not those nobody's she trusts in turn. Until they arrive, you think it best to keep trying to get your keyblade back. Hopefully the hooded figure keeps her occupied enough to start worrying her about your sudden disappearance.

You raise your hand and take deep, heavy breaths.

Summoning your keyblade has never been a good experience as of late.

First, comes the seemingly infinite minutes of physical and mental torment, then it's the Heartless swarming around you. It feeds off your pain and you wake up without memories of what happened prior.

Aqua has always been around to protect you from the Heartless whenever you try. You pass out from the pain whenever the Heartless come, and Aqua defends you. Ever since she lost her keyblade, you decided that it's for the best that she stay out of your attempts to summon your keyblade.

Unlike you, she doesn't have ages of practice avoiding these creatures without a weapon or magic at your beck and call. Trying to do so without her help resulted in you dying a couple of times. The darkness always brings you back, like always, but every time you do the light feels so much farther to reach than the last.

Fortunately, the dark returns you just enough time before Aqua comes looking. You kept this secret from her for quite some time, until she found out about your recklessness when she saw your hand. Your fingers had tuned a bright red, like blood, and faded into a black color up your wrist.

You remember having faced the same discoloration once. When you first woke up and had no idea how to defend yourself against the Heartless, you simply accepted death over and over. The Darkness revives you much like now, and you always came back with more of your skin turning black from the corruption.

Avoiding death and encounters with the Heartless somehow remedied your descent to the dark, and you regained your natural skin color. Aqua's warning reminded you that the more you die, the lower your chances of touching the light again.

"Right," you affirm yourself. "Let's try not to die this time."

You close your eyes and call for the light.

A glimmer of light dances at the tip of your fingers, and you reach out to feel it. The Darkness tugs at you from behind, screaming at you to let go and return to its side.

You ignore it.

You take a step forward and pull harder at your weapon. The spindles of light form a sort of blade between your hands. You feel it coming and you dare not open your eyes. This is the farthest you've gone in any attempt to summon it and you didn't want to screw it up.

The weapon glows brightly, showering you and your surroundings with a familiar electrifying energy. It hums, and you close your hand over the hilt that you can't see but can feel, and then –

"AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

You abruptly drop to your knees. The light dissipates and once again falls out of reach.

The Darkness stabs you straight through the chest with a weapon of its own and sears a lasting memory to your skin. You claw at your chest, desperate to relieve yourself of the familiar pain.

You fall to your side, as the Darkness fills your vision and robs your ability to think. It screams at you for betraying its trust and protection over you. You begin to cry, almost begging for forgiveness for stepping this far out into the light.

It robs you of your senses, unforgiving.

You try to breathe, but it gets caught in your throat. Building up as though it would explode and rip your lungs out. You struggle for air, and lie on your stomach. You reach out for help – She'll know what to do …. She always does… "Ah –"

You run along a bridge with your Keyblade in hand. A sleek light blue blade that separates into a spike and a five pointed star at the end, with a deep colored indigo hilt. It feels right in your hand, and you wield it with such confidence as though nothing can stop you once you put your mind to it.

Purple ringed orbs of light spark before you, and you stop to a halt as three, unfamiliar Heartless dropped to block your way.

"What –" shouts a person from behind you "Heartless!?

You raise your blade, while studying the appearance of the new breed of Heartless. Their yellow orbed eyes depict malice you recognize from creatures of the dark, and their bloody red crooked smiles unnerved you. They pranced around like mischievous children with dark wings flapping up and down as they moved.

"Give… us… Lux…"

"Not a chance!" a girl with long black hair, wearing a black vest and a studded belt over a black skirt stepped forward. She summoned her own weapon, a blade which looked similar to your own, albeit with a golden colored shaft rather than blue that separates into a ten-pointed star.

"Let's go e̶̢̨̞̝̮̝͉͇̘̫̫̙̬̝͕̥͈̼͙̾̿͌̌̈́̀̈́̈́̀̕̕͜͝ý̸̢̭̘͓͉͇̜̗̯͔̦͎͈̯̻̬̟̙̙͇̤̼̹̦̾̽̀͋̔̚͜ͅͅd̷̛̗̜̙͈̼̫̥̪̯̞̹͇͎͈͎̺̃̏͒̇͆̌̀͒ͅḳ̴̨̨̡̹͉̪͎̏̇͌̅̅̽̇̀͂̑̊͛̋̈́͗̋̈́͜i̸̠͖̫̳̥̺͇̺͓̲͓̰͎̅̌̐̂͘k̵̻̯̱̖̱̫̐̌̈̑̇̊͌͒̀̏̊̀̐̈̕!"

You nod and strike the Heartless alongside her. You cast magic with the help of golden colored medals and she follows with a physical attack. She throws magic, and you run towards them to push them back. You were completely in sync.

Despite your best efforts, the Heartless doesn't die when you throw the last of your magic unto them. They merely retreated and you gave chase, only to be stopped by a familiar discolored purple cat.

You stare at it with wide eyes, and you say a name you didn't quite hear.

"Long time no see," it says while looking at you.

You stare at its glassy red eyes and lower your weapon. You know this creature. You step closer with a hand out as though to touch it, until another puff of cloud erupts in front of you. A similar looking cat creature, albeit grey colored, stands protectively before you.

"I should have known it was you," says the grey one. "You've been tainted by darkness"

"What's wrong?" the purple one asks. "Do you hate darkness?"

The purple feline jumps forward, and the grey one presses itself closer to you, seemingly apprehensive of the former. "Let me tell you a little secret," the other muses. "Light and dark are two halves of the same coin. Like day and night. One cannot exist without the other." The creature looks at you again, and you feel a heavy weight in your pocket.

"You should embrace it like they did!"

"Those three…" the girl mumbles, "Are they -?"

"They used to be human?" the grey feline asks, and the purple one nods.

"Weak ones," it says. "But not anymore. The strength they fought you with is all their own!"

"Those are not the teachings," the grey one argues.

"Teaching-smeechings. The truth is not something you teach," it says. "It's something you learn for yourself."

"Who is your wielder?" the grey one demands. "Where are they?"

The purple cat chuckles, and once again looks at you. You blink, naively. "Closer than you think."

You jolt awake as the memory – or dream – ended. Your body feels refreshed, once again filled with darkness that the light tried to purify when you called for it. You pushed yourself to sit on your behind and nursed your throbbing head.

"What was that?" you ask yourself.

The girl, you've seen before with Ephemer in your nightmares countless times. You still don't remember her name, but that cat like creature… Recognizing it made you feel heartbroken all of a sudden. You don't remember what it is, or if it was your friend, but you deeply missed it.

You look at your hands, grateful that they hadn't turned dark at the tips again. If they did, Aqua would be furious.

Amidst your thoughts to collect as much information you can from the memory, a purple mist forms all around you. Heartless started to gather around you in flashes of purple light and prey upon your feeble form.

The dark whispers to you, and you look up just in time before a Fluttering can cut clean through your head. You drop on your elbows and scramble to your feet. A couple of fat bodies block your escape, and you immediately slipped past their slow movements.

As you dance around the Heartless that try to grab at you, cold air sweeps you near your pockets. You dig out one of those reverse medals in your pocket and it urges you to use it. You are certain it wasn't in your pocket earlier and when the dark brushes through your thoughts again, you start to understand.

It's a call to make you rely on the powers of the dark more rather than the light, you've been actively seeking. You dwell on the thought for a moment, until a fire ball sends you falling unto your stomach.

The medal slips off your hand and you stare at it longingly. You remember the feeling of power and strength it gave you, and you slowly reach for it. Then the memory of Aqua all battered up by your magic when you turned against her because the darkness made you. It stopped you for a second to think.

You remember how much you've lost yourself drunk in rage and power the dark had provided that you came out worse than you started. You woke up more miserable and detached than without it. You shake your head, and got back to your feet.

"I'm never relying on you again," you promise yourself as you ran past the forgotten medal on the ground.

You lost the Heartless after you crossed the border towards the End of Sea.

You wince as you press a careful hand on the burn mark by your upper left arm, and shuffle on your feet as your right throbs a little from a pulled muscle. Running around, and jumping all over obstacles can do that. You haven't exactly had the need to run a marathon since you've met Aqua. You know how to escape the Heartless without a fight, but it does not make you invincible.

Aqua will definitely ask questions, so you try to think of a way to fool her into security. "I tried to summon my keyblade again and guess what?" you chimed enthusiastically with a grin. "Heartless appeared! But that's fine, I got out alive and I remember new things too!"

You scoff. "As if she'd let you go that easy."

"Master," a voice you don't recognize pulled you from your thoughts. "I must have a word with you."

Aqua and her hooded acquaintance quickly turn to the voice behind them. Aqua stands, ready to fight, while the hooded figure drops his hood to reveal a blond, bearded man with amber colored eyes.

The bearded man and the white haired figure exchange a few words, while you turn to Aqua. She's too focused on figuring out who the white haired figure is to notice you behind the latter.

You feel around the dark, hoping to send your feelings towards Aqua without disrupting the unknown figures' exchange, but when your darkness passes through the white haired man, your breath hitches.

The darkness,you think, he controls it too. He's stronger than me…

Cautiously, you jump over the rocks scattered by the shore to walk around him. His control over the darkness overshadows your own and therefore nullifies your intentions to warn Aqua of your presence. She's gotten better in feeling your unsaid emotions by prodding through the darkness. Sometimes, you use it to communicate while being worlds apart, and sometimes, she uses it to find you when you've run off to do the complete opposite of what she says.

You crouch down, keeping your head low, as you crawl past him.

"You can reconstruct memories," the white figure says. You pause in interest. "You did with Sora. I believe you have seen this girl's memories and made her forget."

"Reconstruct… memories?" you repeat. You peek behind you rock, and stare at the bearded man. If what the other guy claims to be true, then… could they help you regain your memories too? Help you remember everything?

The man reached for the older figure, and Aqua swats the formers hand away. "I think you should go," she warns him.

"A lost guardian of light?" the man muses with a sinister smirk. "You wait here for the King and his fool, how disappointing."

Shadows suddenly emerge beneath the man's feet to form an enormous greyish black, humanoid body with a pair of crooked antennae, and a large heart shaped hole over its chest. It punches a fist at Aqua that sends the keyblade master flying.

"Aqua!" you cry out in worry, and you instinctively reached down to your pocket. You pull out a blank reverse medal you just promised yourself you wouldn't use, and held unto it. You contemplate breaking that oath to save Aqua just this once, but some part of you resisted – use it and you lose your chance to get your keyblade back.

Begrudgingly resigning to the warning of your inner thoughts, you throw away the medal and instead prodded the darkness to send a message to Aqua instead. The man is too powerful for both of them in their current state. They would only lose.

You have nothing to lose, but Aqua had everything to lose.

She's a chosen Master of light, with friends that are trying to get her back to their side; while you are nothing but a memory that should have died a long time ago.

You focus your feelings at the cold around you. You can't win over the dark the man controls, but you can always spare some of your own. You channel every sinister thought, every painful memory, and every dark emotion you've bottled up over the years and begged. "Come on, please…."

Aqua sprints towards the white haired man, and vaults up in the air. She turns around and drop kicks the Heartless. She bounces off its arm, and prepares to strike again, but the enemy catches her leg and pulls her back.

Aqua dangles at its mercy, and you shudder in fear of what the man will do to her.

She's going to die.

You have to do something, and if the darkness decided to play favorites and not help, then you're just going to have to trust your instincts – May your heart be your guiding key.

"No more!" shouts the bearded man. "I'll go."

"You are wise," the young man sneers, and you use the bearded man's distraction to take you chance.

You jump over your rock and tackled the bigger man. "Let her go!" you cry out.

"What –" he snaps his attention down at you, bewildered by your sudden intrusion. "Get off me!"

"Kid, let go, now!" Aqua orders, but you register the command too late. The Heartless swipes at you and sends you flying to the side. You hit your head badly on another piece of rock, and the world spins around you.

Aqua kicks at the man again, then flips to gets some distance between them. She turns to you for a second, hoping to get a sign of assurance from you, but you were too disoriented to look at her.

"Poor thing," the man chides, glancing over at you then to Aqua. "It pains me to separate a beautiful friendship again. Be assured, I will not leave both of you with nothing."

The man's Heartless calls forth power from the darkness before its heart shaped-hole and amasses it into a large ball of depravity.

Your eyes widen at the attack, mysteriously familiar with it yourself.

You quickly get to your feet and run for Aqua's just as the Heartless fires the energy ball at her. Aqua turns to you with a hand out, silently telling you to stay away. Without a weapon to defend herself with, and her attention focused on you rather than her own, the attack lands hits her directly on her chest and throws her careening off into the sea.

"NO!" you cry out so loud that your throat grows hoarse. Aqua submerges underwater with dark, shadowy tendrils dragging her even further below the shallows that claimed her as its own.

The dark whispers Aqua's fate to you, and you shudder in grief.

You've failed. You failed to protect someone dear to you again. You fall to your knees as tears flowed, and the darkness finally decided to touch on your emotions again. Guilt, disappointment, despair, anguish, anger, rage – resentment.

"How strange," the white haired man muses. "I was not aware another person is capable of wielding the dark such as myself, much less a child."

Mists of dark purple and red circle around your arms and feet as you stood, brows burrowed deep in outrage at the man before you. Your eyes gleam dangerously in a mixture of fueled emotions.

The man chuckles in intrigue as the darkness swirled around you rather than himself, "Fascinating."

"I'm going to kill you," your voice echoes with murderous intent. The dark mist gathers around your hand as you step forward, and then close a heavy fist around it. A reverse medal swirls in in a bright flash of purple and red, summoning multiple meteor sized flames overhead.

As you charge towards the villain, the fiery orbs of darkness descend towards the latter, forcing him to the defensive. The man cloaks himself in a barrier of darkness to avoid the salvo attack effortlessly, while his Heartless slices the dark orbs in half.

"Is that all your despair can do, child?"

Driven by the emotions fueling your influence over the darkness, thinking about the next move wasn't part of the plan. You simply acted on instinct and grabbed at the dark enticing for you to reach for it – to use it. It explodes in a thick cloud of purple and red, effectively blinding every one of their sight.

You leap into the air to twirl around a monstrous blade that fades into hues of pink and violet with white lines and runic symbols on its face. You spot a couple of frantic antennae above the mist and hack the blade directly at the Heartless head. It snarls in fury and fans out the mist with a loud roar.

Before the Heartless, or its master, can register your presence behind it, you jab the ragged maw shaped end of your blade straight through its open chest cavity and hissed, "This is for Aqua."

A high pitched sound echoes in the air when magic pooled around the tip of your keyblade. It erupts in a searing hot and blinding flash of light, with an earth-shaking magnitude that sends you and the white haired man meters apart, while it burns away the Heartless behind the latter.

You bounce off the ground, and roll to a stop on your back. The keyblade you used, the one born out of darkness rather than light, skids off to the side, glowing dimly in pink as it calls out for you. You push yourself upright and reach out for it.

You're not finished.

The man regains his composure first and chuckles in dark amusement over your sudden competency and ability to wield the noble weapon. "Another wielder lost to the darkness," he hums. "One we are not aware of it seems. Tell me child, how did you end up in such a place? How did you survive?"

"None of your fucking business," you snarl as Darkgnaw flashes to your side once again.

You run towards him, completely ignoring the bearded man, who looks just as confused and worried for your wellbeing as he did for Aqua earlier.

The white haired man spreads his arms wide apart, and creates spheres of darkness above his hands. You dodge and parry after the dark projectiles that shoots from it. You hold your ground as the attack intensified in volume, and you decided to use some of his tricks.

You willed a barrier of dark around you and charged forward. The darkness protected you from being affected by more darkness, and instead absorbed its energy directly unto you.

This seemed to impress the older man, and he lowered his guard for a moment, curious as to what you will do next. You didn't think twice about using his mistake to your advantage.

You throw a medal in the air and slam your keyblade at it. The medal bursts in a swirl of dark energy and coats your weapon in a blazing dark red flames.

You dash forward and push your blade through him. The older man blocks it with another barrier, but he stumbled back to avoid being nicked by the flames. You switch to a backhand grip on Darkgnaw and plant your feet on the ground. You and the man meet eyes for a second, and you grin.

You kick off, jumping to his height while you drove your blade to his chest in an upward slash. You twist around and slash him again as you fall to the ground. You leap upwards to the right, slicing through him again with flame powered blades – 3 hits. You bend and drop down the second time, your body moving along the momentum you have to quickly dash left. You flip your blade and strikes right – 7 hits.

The white haired man groans, not expecting the quick attack, and growls at you. He calls forth darkness around him, but before he can counter, you kick the air out of him. He absconds; setting a distance between you and him. "You're not getting away," you point your weapon towards him, and the fire converges at the end of your blade then explodes in a diameter big enough to scorch the ground.

A massive dust cloud forms between you and the man you intend to kill, seemingly ending the fight.

You feel around the darkness, searching for his superior influence, and found nothing. Seconds passed and you neither hear, nor feel the man's presence anywhere.

You drop to your knees as the emotions that fueled your spike in power decreased and returned you to your usual quiet self. The world went silent around you and all you can hear in your mind is the soft hum of contentment from Darkgnaw.

You look down and instantly note the brighter pink glow it now had.

You let out an exasperated laugh as you realize that while you have summoned a keyblade as you hoped, it was not the one that felt right in your hand. This one felt too corrupted. Too murky and conflicted much like your own heart at the moment. You release it back to the darkness, not the least bit happy about relying on the darkness like this when you've made an oath never to do so again.

"My child," the bearded man starts softly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," you respond. You attempt to stand and be on your way. Aqua won't come back until the dark is done with her. You can opt to stay here and lay waiting, but you're certain that what the darkness brings back will not be the same Aqua you wished to protect.

You turn to the old man, and saw a grim look on his face. You don't quite understand what it is for, but if there's anything you hate; it's pity. "You should leave."

"Impressive…." the white haired man's voice echo behind you again. The dust is blown away by the re-emergence of the guardian Heartless. You meet eyes with yellow ones and is suddenly struck with fear.

"Landing this many hits by severing my bond with the Guardian. Impeccable genius," the man muses. "However, play time is over."

You raise your hand to summon Darkgnaw again, but the dark doesn't heed your call this time. It's left you vulnerable again and sided with the more practiced master of darkness. The man sends you back with a powerful energy disk to your chest, which steals your ability to breathe.

His Heartless guardian scoops you up with its jagged claws, before you can even fall to the ground and tightens its hold around your throat, further depriving you of air.

You punch, kick, anything at the Heartless, but it was futile. Dark circles began to form around your eyes as your body convulsed for oxygen.

"Children should know to behave around their elders," he chides before turning to the older man. "Now, Master, would you kindly cooperate to save this child's life?"

You glance down fearfully at the bearded man as the last bit of your sensibility wanes. You shake your head, begging him not to. Aqua didn't sacrifice herself to just lose him to a seeker of darkness.

You never got to figure out what he decided to do in the end, as everything blacked out around you the moment the Guardian let you fall unconscious unto ground, where the cold sea water brushed past your skin again; ironically giving you a false security as you succumbed to the cold.

A/N: Phew, this one-shot took two days. Two days! Couldn't decide on whether I would have [Player] wait for Anti-Aqua to be rescued by Sora and Riku, only to be left behind, or this one. Me guess is that my love for using less popular fanfiction characters wins again and so, the Nort boy band now has you, the [Player] in their grasp! Whatever could they be planning to do with you? Nort you? Keep you in stasis? Adopt you so you can bother Vanitas all day? Who know? I have zero clues.

(Should we tell Ansem SoD that kidnapping children is illegal? Then again, he body napped Riku, so he knows what he's doing.)

I just wrote this for fun because I honestly would've wanted more Union X in Kingdom Hearts 3, but I guess seeing Ephemer is enough to satisfy me for the next five years, until Union X updates the story reguarly. Also that epilogue. Hooo boi. It's animal beat-up time.

Well that's all from me, hope you enjoyed this one-shot. Click on that follow or favorite button to get updates on whenever I post the next angst filled installment of this series. Should I make [Player] suffer int he past or in the present first? Hm... Leave your comments and ideas below! I would love to incorporate them to my next Kingdom Hearts fics.

Sushi Out!