VT: And I'm back! :D I'd been planning to finally work on Reconnect, and make progress on my eventual original series, but I've been incredibly busy recently (I'm getting ready to move yet again) And I've also been getting more and more into what I think may just be the "hawtest" pairing in the KH fandom; AquVan. So I decided I'd start a drabble series (I'll be writing more SoNami and Rion drabbles soon, btw! :D)

Aqua: VT does not own the Kingdom Hearts franchise, but this is his original work. Also, be warned that the following entry, as well as most others (if not all) will contain BBS spoilers, particularly Vanitas-kun's appearance. Be warned.

An Unlikely Alliance

One thing that Aqua appreciated about the shores (as well as the presence of the mysterious elder that was now accompanying her) was that she could relax much more often than she had been in other parts of the Realm of Darkness. She could actually sleep without having to worry much about being attacked. Not to mention that she now had revitalized hope that Terra and Ventus would be saved by the boy that the elder mentioned, a boy that Aqua had considered as an apprentice; Sora.

Despite that hope and the comforts that came with the shores, Aqua did not allow herself to completely lay back; she needed to remain strong. To not forget her skills and capabilities. So there out on the darkened shores, Aqua trained for hours with her former master's Keyblade. She did not know its true name; it wasn't hers after all, so Aqua merely named the weapon, Enigma, since it not only began with the letter 'e', like its true wielder's name and also as a pun on the fact that she did not know its true name.

"You really are smart to keep training," spoke a dark voice suddenly, surprising Aqua, who pounced away from the direction of the voice, now alert. "In retrospect, you probably should have been my Plan A…"

Aqua gaped as she recognized the voice and with a scowl on her face, she shouted, "Where are you?"

Aqua then heard the sound of footsteps and turned to the source, on her right. And despite her feeble attempts to create a logical explanation for what must have been an illusion, Aqua was in the presence of the masked boy. The one that, along with Master Xehanort, ruined her whole life. He feigned a hurt expression as he said, "Not even addressed by my own name. I suppose I deserve that."

Aqua scowled, "You deserve a lot worse for all that you did, Vanitas!"

The dark figure stopped in his tracks and started to laugh (though not in the maniacal manner in which Aqua sadly remembered), "I think that's the first time you've called me by my actual name,"

Aqua ignored the comment and barked, "Why are you here?"

The masked figure stood silent for a few moments, before answering, "To make an offer with you, Master Aqua. That is your mark, right?"

Aqua glared as she nodded quickly and responded, "I'm not interested in world domination, Vanitas."

This sparked the laugh from Vanitas; the cackle of a vicious demon. "Even when I was in cahoots with Master Xehanort, I was never once interested in world domination; I wanted chaos. And I'm not even after that now either."

Aqua continued to glare at Vanitas with much distrust, and after a few tense moments, the boy sighed and said, "Here's a token of my trust, from me to you."

With that, a massive aura of darkness surrounded Vanitas and the dark glass that made most of his helmet slowly began to melt before Aqua, revealing the devilishly attractive face of Vanitas, with his black mane of hair and his lively, smoldering golden eyes. Aqua immediately saw the resemblance between him and her friend Ven, but she also couldn't help but recall the young boy Sora as she looked at Vanitas' face for the first time. "Only two others have ever seen my face before; Master Xehanort and Ventus. Now you've seen my face as well."

Aqua looked at the surprisingly very honest expression on Vanitas' face and thought deeply for a few moments before slowly asking, "What's your offer?"

Vanitas gave a low chuckle, "We work as a team and fight the enemies of the worlds."

"You'd fight the Darkness?" Aqua asked with skepticism.

Vanitas scowled this time and growled, "You're still naïve, for a Keyblade Master. Do you believe that Darkness is the root of all evil, Aqua?"

Aqua shot back, "Of course it is! You and your master are perfect examples of it!"

Vanitas took a step back and sighed deeply, "Yeah, I admit I did some bad things. But if you think that eradicating Darkness is the answer for peace, you're dead wrong, woman. Light can be just as devastating as the Darkness. Take this man for example," Vanitas created a fog of shadows, with an image of an elderly man inside, "His name is Judge Claude Frollo. A perfect example of what I'm trying to show you; he, similar to yourself, wishes to cleanse his world, Notre Dame, of the Darkness. Yet he himself is corrupted by his own vision of Light, and practically rules his world with an iron fist, out on his campaign of injustice to the locals. He does all of it for Light, not the Darkness, Aqua."

Aqua gaped as she watched the image of Frollo, now on a horse in the middle of a winter's night, hanging what appeared to be a baby over an icy cold well. Despite how much she wanted to deny it, Vanitas was right. There were villains in the Light, just like there were in the Darkness.

"About seventy-five percent of the worlds' populations do not realize that there are those wicked with Light. Of the twenty-five percent that do realize it, only about five percent accepts it as an honest truth. And not a single percent have done anything about it. My offer to you, Aqua, is to start fixing that problem," Vanitas explained with a serious expression.

Aqua slowly asked, "What about the evils of those of the Darkness?"

Vanitas laughed, "Oh trust me; he can deal with them."

Aqua knew who he was; Sora, and nodded in agreement. With that, they shook hands and forged an unlikely alliance, with no clue what it would lead them, including something incredibly special…

~ Fini ~

Author's Notes: So yeah, Frollo was mentioned! :D Anywho, I figured it'd take them a while to slowly get into the romance, so I just established a tensed alliance here. ;D More to come soon!

Your Pal,
VT