Aqua Mortis
Disclaimer: All recognizable Kingdom Hearts elements belong to Disney/Square-Enix. Any other recognizable elements might belong to Disney or Square Enix or somebody else entirely. Who knows, right?
Hey, everybody. This story is going to serve as a little preview of a HUGE fanfiction undertaking I hope to someday make, called "Kingdom Hearts: The Next Generation". Basically, this story will be set ten years after the main Kingdom Hearts series, with a wholly different bunch of Keyblade wielders. My little mini-story, here, will go over some of the peripheral events of "KHNG", if you're willing to call it that, from the POV of Aqua.
Edited for quality.
Path to the Sun
I still remembered the moment when I had smiled and told myself, "There's always a way."
Ten years after that, I had looked into the ocean of the dark realm, my vision obscured by tears while I said simply, "Sora."
Ten years after that… and I was still walking around in the emptiness. In a decade, nothing had changed. In a decade, no time had passed. Through all my hoping, I hadn't seen anybody at all.
Until just now, that is… I felt a presence enter the the world from some distance behind me. The new arrival attempted to muffle its footsteps, but I could discern its location perfectly.
I turned around slowly. "Who's there?" I called.
There was no answer, as the being attempted to get closer to me without being seen, staying huddled behind the rocks.
I ignored it. If it couldn't even succeed at keeping its presence unknown, I wasn't worried about any confrontation with it. I continued walking, waiting for the pursuer to enter an open area… or give up.
Going up a winding path, it was a few minutes before I entered a clearing in the crags, and entering the empty space I got a glimpse of the creature.
He was barely half my height, with soft blue skin and a dragonish face. Protrusions dangled all around its face, and a pair of sparkly green eyes glinted at me. It was dressed in a torn, black cape. I try not to judge by appearances, but this person, this creature, was downright ghostly.
I summoned my Keyblade and pointed it at the creature. "Who are you?" I said. "And why are you stalking me?"
It continued to approach me, without fear. "Following you is my job, Master Aqua… if you are Master Aqua."
"I am," I said. "Who are you?"
It bowed to me. "I am Uncle Deadly, guardian of the Keyblade Graveyard."
I winced, all of my worst memories rushing back at those simple words. "Don't talk to me about that place."
"But I must, Master. You see… I have been assigned to return you to the realm of light. And I am only allowed in one world of that realm."
"The Keyblade Graveyard?" I said. I wrestled with the idea, shuddering at the horrors of that baked-dust world. "I'm not going back there."
I turned around. Uncle Deadly considered for a moment, then said, "Don't you want to see the sun?"
The sun? A real sun? One that casts actual light all across its world… I stared back at the creature. "I… are you saying that my wanderings are over?"
"If you want," he replied. Between the two of us, he opened a Corridor of Darkness. Through the ripples, I saw the shadows of lifeless keys.
I stared at it. I was reluctant to enter one of those evil pathways… but it would get me out of here. Into the sunlight… when had I seen a sun, a true-to-life sun, before?
"I accept," I told Uncle Deadly. "Take me out of the dark."
He took my hand and led me in. The complete darkness began to envelop me, and I think I passed out at one point…
But the travel only took a matter of seconds. Soon, there was the light. A sun, a blue sky.
Keyblades everywhere, stuck in the ground. What a horrid world, I didn't want it… I didn't want…
The light was too jolting. I lost my grip on my guide, and fell onto the cracked, dry ground of the Keyblade Graveyard, my eyes closed.
"Master Aqua?" said a gentle voice.
I opened my eyes, and there was a childlike face with bright blue eyes.
"We've found you," he said. "After twenty years, we've found you."
I blinked at him. "Sora?" I said.
"No," he said. "No, my name is Skye. I'm Master Sora's student, he's training me."
As my head cleared, I saw it definitely wasn't Sora. He was much younger than Sora would have been at this point in time… he was small and slender, with pale skin. His hair was in more or less the same spiked style as Sora's, but was some blue shade, different from my blue hair… baby blue, robin's egg blue, somewhere in that area.
As he helped me to my feet, I saw his two companions. The other boy was much taller and broader, with dark skin and flaming-red hair styled in dreadlocks. His narrow eyes, surveying me eagerly, were emerald-green.
"Hey," he said, shaking my hand vigorously. "I'm Lando, I'm Master Riku's guy."
"Lando," a girl said. "A bit of respect. We're addressing one of the grandest Masters."
The girl was tall and lightly tanned, with brown eyes and long, straight black hair. Looking her in the eye, I was suddenly very aware of her heart—such a powerful light! Not pure, but strong.
"And you must be Kairi's pupil," I said.
"Yes, Master," she said, bowing. "Call me Oceana. It's an honor to meet you. I've heard all the legends… I can't wait to find out if they're all true."
"You're sweet," I said. "I'd be honored if you'd just call me Aqua."
I looked at the blue sky. It was the Badlands' sky, but it was still a sky.
"Is this real?" I said. "It's been so many years… can I really be here? Or did I fade away, like I always knew I would… do I exist anymore, did I even have a body to bring back…?"
Lando looked me over. "Objectively, I'd say, yes, you have a body. It's very nice."
"Lando!" Oceana chided again.
"What? Come on, it's Aqua. Her figure is legendary. I'm not allowed to say anything?"
"She's Master Aqua," Oceana said sternly.
But I laughed anyway. It felt so nice to speak with actual people… and as I took in the appearance of the three teens, I realized that they were attired in the many zippers and buckles, the gloves and big shoes, and light scatterings of armor, characteristic of classical Keyblade wielders. Skye wore a checkered, knee-length coat with a zippered gray shirt underneath, cream-colored slacks and brown-and-black shoes. Lando wore a dusty muscle shirt and pants that flared widely at the bottom of the legs; on his right arm was an ivory gauntlet, a shard of plate mail on his left shoulder. Oceana's flowered white top had the sleeves rolled up, was only loosely buttoned and exposed her midriff. Her pants were rolled to the knees, and rather than the armored shoes of the boys, she simply wore white sandals. In her hair she wore a red flower, which was clipped into place with a silver charm shaped like the Mark of Mastery.
"Do you have Keyblades?" I whispered.
In response, they held out their hands, and each of them called their Keyblades.
Skye's was dusky red, long and broad, vastly disproportionate to his own physical stature, and ended with a double-edged blade. Lando, to my surprise, held two: they were identical, and very small to ease in the process of fighting with them both at once. They were gray and thin, their blades extremely nasty overlapping hooks. Oceana's was blue and white, like a cresting wave, and on its back it was studded with a rainbow of gems.
"…Amazing," I said. "It's good that the power goes on."
"Yes, the Keyblade is growing in popularity," said a new voice. The three teens stepped aside, paving the way for a small new Keyblade wielder to approach. Lanky and green-skinned, he had a pointed face and oddly-shaped black pupils in his eyes. Around his neck was a natural, pointed collar, and he wore a deep burgundy suit lined with white. His Keyblade was long and brown, its double-blade represented by a curved rainbow.
I sensed his heart briefly… yes! He had the Mark. I was facing one of the true Masters.
He stood at attention and looked at me. "Master," he said formally.
"Master," I replied, standing similarly. "Call me Aqua."
"Kermit the Frog," he replied, relaxing his pose. "It's good to have another Keyblade Master back where she belongs."
"But there are a lot of us now?" I said, looking over at the young students.
"All across the worlds," Skye offered. "People say that the reason there are so many of us, is we're here to usher in a new era of light."
"Some people," Lando corrected quietly. "Others think that the rise of the Keyblade is an omen that something bad is gonna happen."
That statement hung over us for a time. Was trouble brewing yet again? Kermit turned to Uncle Deadly, still standing behind me. "You've done a good thing here, Deadly," he said. "I'm not going to say anything for certain, but someday, you might be allowed to return to your old position at Muppet Towers."
The phantom bowed. "Thank you, Master."
Kermit nodded, then tapped my hand. "Can we talk, Master to Master?" he said.
"Sure," I said, stepping away with him. I heard Skye, Lando, and Oceana eagerly begin talking amongst themselves.
"See, it's true what they said," Kermit told me quietly. "The worlds are in a state that hasn't been seen since Masters Eraqus, Yen Sid, and Xehanort were only children. Keyblade wielders are almost mainstream now, there's a very formal process for training. There are academies on several worlds. Ask anyone on the streets of a given world, they'll know a Keyblade when they see it. There are hundreds of guardians of the light now."
"That's good, right?" I said.
"It might be," Kermit replied. "But anyone can be corrupted by an excess of darkness, and a corrupted Keyblade wielder is the most dangerous thing of all. I'm sure I don't need to tell you."
"No," I said. "Certainly not…" Darkness in anyone's hands chilled me to the bone… and amongst the Keyblades, it could be downright horrifying. "So, what the child Lando said…? About an omen?"
"Nobody really knows," Kermit said. "But I am sure of something. These three…" He pointed his Keyblade toward the trio. They were oblivious, still chatting animatedly.
"They're special," I said. "I can feel it."
"I've seen them in combat," Kermit said. "They are extraordinary, especially Skye—though you'd expect that from the sole student of Master Sora. But putting the three of them together… it's like nothing I've ever seen."
"Really?" I said. "Well, it's obvious they're really good friends."
"A trinity," Kermit agreed. "Just like Sora, Riku, and Kairi… ten years ago, when I thought that having a Keyblade made me completely alone." He looked away sadly. He didn't need to tell me about aloneness either.
"And like… Ven, Terra, and me," I said, on a sudden inspiration. "Do you know what happened to my friends?"
"No," Kermit said. "They were written off as dead, long ago." He smiled up at me. "But then, so were you."
"So, there's a chance," I said. "I'm gonna go find them."
"Why, certainly," Kermit said, nodding. "But, Aqua, about the state of the worlds right now, there are priorities…"
"With all due respect, Master Kermit, my top priority will always be Terra and Ventus." The conviction was flaring within my heart, the mission that had been dormant since I drifted into the dark realm.
"Yeah… sure," Kermit said. He was a Keyblade Master worth his salt; it was plain as day to him that my heart wouldn't rest. "But please take my advice, and keep an eye on these three."
I looked over at them. Lando was laughing triumphantly, his arms wrapped tightly around both Skye and Oceana.
"But they shine so bright," I said.
As Skye and Oceana made eye contact across Lando's broad shoulders, they reached across and gently touched their hands. With each of them touching the other two, a very tangible light glowed within them—call it Master's intuition.
"So bright," I said again. "They almost make me forget about my… my…"
I lost my train of thought when I noticed a tiny speck of blackness floating above the discarded keys. Tiny flickers of the dark energy were drawn from every Keyblade it passed, expanding it, making it bigger, until it hung in the air like a deep pit, becoming stronger as it moved.
The trio, far away from Kermit and I, but much closer to the black orb, noticed this anomaly. The three of them quickly produced their four Keyblades, spacing themselves around in preparation for combat.
The orb was now as wide as a man is tall, and as it passed over their heads and began to approach me, it started to take shape. The pure darkness formed itself into an empty bodysuit, laced with glowing white lines, and topped with a black glass helmet.
"No," I whispered. "By the stars, no…"
The figure dropped slowly to the ground. There was no color anymore, and the mask was decorated with an emblem instead of being straight black, but there was no mistaking it…
Is this how the Realm of Light greets me on my return? Could fate be that unkind?
"No!" I snarled. I swung Rainfell and stuck it straight to the figure's throat. "Vanitas," I sneered. "You're dead!"
He quickly vanished, and instantly was directly behind me, beating me over the head with a colorless version of his huge, terrible Keyblade, Void Gear.
"Guess again," he said smoothly.
I stood up and leveled my Keyblade at him. "Ventus destroyed you, heart and body," I declared. "Slashed you to pieces."
"Which still left me with a soul," Vanitas replied. "Pick up a book once in a while, bimbo. You can't have possibly thought I was gone."
"Yes, well, reading material in the Dark Margin was sparse," I said. "And I did not wander around down there for twenty years to listen to you call me a bimbo!"
"I suppose not," he said, popping off his helmet and toying with it. There was no body within the suit, so he appeared to be headless. "What would you rather I called you?"
I rushed at him and aimed my Keyblade squarely at his chest. "Fire," I said simply.
He rolled out of the way, neatly replacing his helmet, and pointed his Keyblade upwards. "Thunder," he said in a sneer.
I reeled from his powerful magic, and stepped out of his reach once again.
"Your master is gone!" I said. "Ventus is… is gone," I choked out, hoping that the statement was false even as I spoke it. "What can you hope to accomplish here, abomination?"
"I hadn't really thought about it," he drawled. "But how about… the ultimate destruction of the universe?"
Black mist expanded around him, and it began to take shape into some tiny creatures…
"He can still call the Unversed?" I breathed.
The three Keyblade students came up behind me.
"What are the Unversed?" Oceana demanded.
They continued appearing, bigger Unversed, dangerous ones, Unversed that I knew and those that I hadn't ever imagined…
"He's… he's calling them," I said, my throat twisting up. "All of them."
"…All?" Skye said quietly.
Vanitas rose into the air, and as what was almost certainly the thousandth Unversed came out of him, he launched into the whooping laugh I'd heard from him once before.
"Keep in touch," he said. He then dropped rapidly into the ground, vanishing entirely.
The Unversed army took a glance toward us.
My legs shook. The urge to run away couldn't be fought anymore. "Run," I said. "RUN!"
"Run like hell," Lando agreed solemnly.
The students and I turned and fled, Kermit and Uncle Deadly along with us. I could sense the hateful monsters in hot pursuit, every one of them.
I recognized a narrow fissure up ahead. It wasn't about to think it was our salvation, but maybe it would remove the advantage of the Unversed's numbers…
Near the edge, Kermit tripped, falling into the dust.
"Keep going!" he said. He rolled onto his back and pointed his Keyblade at the horde, releasing a burst of light that vaporized a few of them.
"Kermit, no!" Skye said.
Lando grabbed him by the arm. "We've gotta get out of here, man," he said.
"We can't leave—" Skye began, but froze when what seemed to be a pair of shooting stars blew past him, dancing around the Unversed that were menacing the prone Kermit, and then solidifying on his side.
I knew the man in the middle. Though he was now wearing a red outfit and carrying a golden Keyblade, I knew him.
"Mickey!" I said, delighted.
"Gosh, Aqua, it's so great to see you," he said cheerfully. "Under the circumstances," he added, eyeing the many Unversed still remaining.
Kermit stood up, and Mickey nodded to him. He then looked at his other side, to the third Keyblade wielder. Even smaller than Mickey, he had a perfectly round sea-green head and a darker, bulbous nose. Perched on top of his head was a tiny crown, and he wore a voluminous red-and-white cape.
"André!" Mickey said. "You've finally come out of hiding."
André grinned toothily, brandishing a thin gray Keyblade that resembled a desk lamp. "I owe you a whole lot, good buddy," he said.
"What finally coaxed you out of Pixar Palace?" Mickey asked.
"Your boy Skye reminded me what's really important," André said, nodding over his shoulder to Skye. He slashed at an Unversed that had come too close, then turned to Mickey and Kermit. "Are we ready?"
As the Unversed closed in, the three diminutive Keyblade Masters clanged their blades together. An enormous jet of light, laced with flickering darkness, shot out with enough force to blow back every Unversed in its path, and the power didn't cease.
"We've got to help them," Oceana said.
I halted her with my hand. "No," I said. "They're doing this so we can flee." I felt as reluctant as they did, not wanting to abandon three Masters to their possible deaths just so that I might live… could I live with that decision?
I took a single glance at the sun, and decided that, yes, I could. They were giving us the gift of escape, that I might live under sunlight once again.
The five of us took off into the fissure.
"They can handle themselves," Uncle Deadly said. "They're three Keyblade Masters of the highest power."
"Hmm," Lando said. "Easy to forget. They're so tiny, it's hard to take them seriously. Kind of like Skye," he added with a smirk.
It seemed like a harmless remark, but Skye responded with very sudden fury. "Shut up, Lando!" he roared. "Just shut up!"
When the fissure expanded into the canyon, Uncle Deadly stopped running. "I can go no farther," he said. "I am bound to the Keyblade Graveyard. Flee this world!"
Oceana nodded. "It's time."
As one, Oceana, Lando, and Skye tossed their Keyblades forward, then pounded on their own shoulders. Their full-body armor wrapped around them, and their Keyblade Gliders appeared and awaited them.
Lando's armor was an intense orange, and his Glider was in a bow configuration not unlike my own. Oceana had pale blue armor, and a surfboard-like Glider that resembled Ven's. Skye was encased in armor of lavender, and his Glider was formed into a scooter shape which allowed him to sit, like Terra's.
I did miss Ven and Terra… if no one had found them after twenty years, did I have any hope at all?
I didn't let myself think about it. I called my own Glider and hopped on, joining the three students in rising upwards.
"Master Aqua, you're not wearing armor!" Oceana said, surprised.
"I gave up my armor a long time ago," I explained. "Don't worry, I've been through twenty years of darkness. I've built up a tolerance. I can handle myself in the Lanes Between."
Oceana nodded at me from behind her mask. I and the three apprentices rose into the sky and broke the boundaries of the world.
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Notes from the Author
Well, thanks for reading… and in particular, thanks for not stopping even after reading the names Skye, Oceana, and Lando, lolz. Might not be subtle, but it's not as if Kingdom Hearts has ever done subtle. This is going to continue for a little while, and I hope that you hang around for a while, at least until I begin "Kingdom Hearts: The Next Generation"! Of course, by no means is Aqua going to be the central character of "KHNG": that story will belong to Skye, Oceana, and Lando.
"KHNG" will begin… later. Specifically, at whatever point it is announced what new Disney content will be used in Kingdom Hearts 3D. Whatever they don't use, I will. Hopefully, I can begin it before anybody learns what happens at the end of 3D. I don't really care what the story is, because the ten-year gap of "KHNG" means that, basically, any unresolved plotlines of the KH series were resolved long ago—with the uber-notable exception that nobody ever found Terra, Ventus, and Aqua! I'm not giving up that story for anything, which is my entire reason for publishing this.
Anyway, I'm more interested in what Disney content will be fair game than what the actual plot is—although if they use Muppets or anything from Pixar, then on the one hand, that's freaking awesome, but on the other hand, I'm screwed. They probably won't, though… but I've got my plans for the Muppets in "KHNG" and I'm sticking to them. And, hey, I'll have this to prove that it was my idea first, hehe. And, well, what are the odds that they'll use André and Wally B.? Low.
Anyway, stay tuned! I hope you enjoy the journeys of Aqua. And I hope that you'll wait around until, you know, whenever to read "Kingdom Hearts: The Next Generation"! Ciao.