Felt really compelled to write this. It will be the first part in a series that I will try and write entilted BLACK. I figured that my favorite game in the entire world was as good a place to start as any.

I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Just Black.

Enjoy

Crunch, Crunch. The rocky ground crackled underneath her feet. The noise seemed to echo forever, only conquered by some... sound? No, that wasn't quite right. More like a feeling. Like a cold wind on a dark night. When you know that there is something watching you. It felt like a humming that you couldn't hear or feel, just that you know is there. She had been listening to this for... a very long time. One thing she had learned, you never get used to it.

She wasn't really sure how she was still alive. How long had she been here? No food, no water, always walking, searching. Heck, there wasn't even a bathroom in this place. Maybe she wasn't alive, maybe she was just dreaming that she was alive.

Aqua stopped and looked down toward her hands. Of course I'm still alive. This place must be getting to me. I can't lose hope. I have to believe... for both of them. Her resolve strengthened, she started once again.

Crunch Crunch.

Hello...

"What?" Aqua peered around her. She had been sure she had heard something. The thin path she was walking on showed no signs of life. If it was the walls talking... couldn't be. She wasn't that crazy... yet.

Are you lost?

She tightened her sharp eyes ahead of her. To speak or not to speak. That was the question. Maybe whoever this is can help. No harm in trying.

"Yes, I'm very lost. I'm trying to get back to my friends." She said, her quiet voice lilting a little at the end. Was that hope, or just her losing her voice from disuse.

Hahahaha... it would seem so. The voice was deep and dark but held hope and just a bit of mirth. It seemed that her answer was quite humorous to the voice. I do not know how much help I can be, but I shall try

Aqua looked skyward, deciding that it was simply the only direction the voice could be coming from. "Try what?" was her query.

This

The world around her began to melt in places, fade in others, disappear altogether. She was surrounded by black, by dark. Surrounded by nothing. Slowly, the world came into focus, like foggy eyes waking from a dream. She stood on a beach, with sand the color of midnight and a breeze that felt like the breath of a graveyard. Far across the water was a brilliant light.

"I am truly sorry. This is the best that I could manage." Aqua heard the voice once again. The man was thin and tall. He stood poised just out of the reach of the waves that sweeped the shore. He had both hands clasped upon a cane. His appearance reminded Aqua a lot of that kind Duck she had met in Hollow Bastion, with his coat and pocket watch. What caught her eye was the hue of his skin, a palor that showed no signs of life, being a tinted blue color.

The man raised a hand to his top hat and tipped it slightly to her. It seemed a gesture that was more of habit than custom to him.

"Sir, may I ask who you are, and why you brought me here?" Aqua asked, her hands gesticulating in a calm nature that she often did when she was uncertain.

A humorless chuckle came from the man. Then actual laughter errupted from him. "Of course, of course. Goodness gracious, where are my manners," he lowered his head with a sad smile gracing his lips before turning to bow exageratedly toward Aqua with his long arms sweeping backward, "I am Black. Gentleman and the finest brewer of tea this side of the Land of Departure," he rolled his hand in circle before holding it out to Aqua, "at your service." He tilted his head upward and grinned an actual grin, not all that different from a cat. Especially catlike around the teeth. His eyes, however, were hidden behind a rather large pare of green glasses, the shade of the jungle.

Aqua bowed slightly thinking this to be the custom the gentleman was most familiar with. Black chuckled a bit. "I was actually trying to send you back. I believed I could do it to." Aqua's eyes widened slightly. "You mean back to..." "Yes," Black interupted, "back to Ventus, back to Terra." His smile was more rueful now. "But," he clasped his hands together quickly, "looks like I botched that up. Well, at least I have someone to drink tea with. You do like tea, don't you?" He said, his head tilting almost comically. Aqua smiled a little and nodded, thoughts of Master Eraqus serving tea along with many other things, back when they were children. Master Eraqus. Terra, why?

"Delightful, I haven't had a good tea party in a while. Oh, if you do meet Tarrant, please don't tell him I said that. It would break his heart. I did enjoy his un-birthday party but with Mctwist heckling me all night I barely got a swig in before I was off again." Black had begun walking during his rant. He stopped and gestured to a small rock where a teapot and two small teacups sat. He gestured toward a small rock next to the precariously perched tea set. She sat as he poured the tea. The liquid sloshed welcomingly and fizzed a bit. He too sat down and they both sipped quietly. He stared into his cup.

"I suppose you want to know" His tone was submissive, like he had lost somehow.

"Know what?" Aqua asked. She had many questions. Which one was he talking about?

"I have no clue, you have yet to ask me. You have curious eyes though. Curiouser and Curiouser. Questions are bouncing around inside your head." He said, tapping a long slim finger against his skull. She could feel his eyes, though she could not see them. They didn't feel horrible, or oppressive. Just... there. It was neutral.

"How did you bring me here" First things first. It had been a question that had been nagging her since she got here.

He chuckled a little. " A little trick I picked up from some... friends" she didn't miss the pause. It wasn't intentional, but this man did not seem like the type to do something for no reason. Almost like a cat after its prey. Carefully calculated and grinning at its next meal. Aqua however, was not intimidated.

"You said you could take me to my friends?" She wanted to see them again. Being stuck here definitely wasn't any help. She needed to find Terra and help him. There just has to be a way.

"I said I would try. This is where my trying got us." his hands spread towards their bleak surroundings.

"And where exactly is here?"

"The edge of darkness. See that," he pointed to the brilliant light shining miles away but seeming just out of reach, "that, is the gateway from the darkness to the light." Aqua stood to look at the light. Could it really be that simple.

"No."

Aqua spun to look at Black. "It won't work. You can't reach it on your own, you must be saved by another." he looked defeated. A man with such a large presence suddenly became very small.

"Who?" Terra? Ven? Master Yen Sid?

"He will come. Not the person you expect but definitely not unexpected. He will travel to the dark and return to the light." Black knew all to well what was to come.

"Who?" she repeated this question

Black chuckled one more time. "Oh you've met him once before. A remarkable young boy who holds all the worlds in his hand."

"Who?" her voice was quiet. She felt that there was power in this name

Black's head was bowed before he turned a smile, small but strong, toward Aqua

"Sora"