Author's Notes: This is a collaboration; my idea, but my older sister (Dreaming-Of-A-Nightmare) wrote this out for me since I'm not confident in my writing skills. ...YET. Maybe someday, but not now. So as of this moment, any fanfic you see me post will most likely be entirely my brainchild, but with my sister's writing.
.:Missing Piece:.
She hears voices talking in the distance. But who would be here, in the realm of Darkness? What human being would dare tread its grounds? How could someone get to this place, unless they dove straight into the Darkness and had no way of getting out, like her own case?
Aqua shakes her head, unsure of the answers to these questions. Still, she needs to know who the voices belong to, and if they know a way of getting away from this place.
The bluenette stands from her resting place inside a small cave and cautiously makes her way towards the voices.
"I've been to see him," a man's voice remarks. "He looks a lot like you."
His voice… Aqua thinks, pausing in her steps, It's so familiar…
"Who are you?" a younger male's voice responds, and Aqua's heart skips a beat.
"Ven?" she whispers to herself, and retreats a step. She would recognize that voice anywhere! But why is he here? And who's with him? And how did he get his heart back and wake up? Unless Terra –
A gasp escapes her throat, and she begins rushing closer to the source of the voices.
"I'm what's left. Or… maybe I'm all that ever was." The older-sounding male is visible now, perched on a rock near the water.
Aqua can see both of them now. They are dressed in black cloaks, exactly like the one the mysterious man she fought once had been wearing. The man with the glowing blue weapons.
The shorter male (possibly Ven?) seems to tense. His voice sounds like he's frowning. "I meant your name," he retorts.
"My name is of no importance," the man answers calmly. "What about you? Do you remember your true name?"
The boy glances downward, his hood hiding his face. "My true name… is…" he sighs, reluctant. "Sora."
"Sora," Aqua stills, but she's too close. Both figures heard her. She is lost in a small memory now, one of two young boys on an island, a brunet boy and a silver-haired boy, Sora and Riku –
"Who goes there?" the taller male responds to the sound of Aqua's voice. He turns and looks at her, his face shadowed by the hood of his own black cloak.
Aqua staightens and brings her hands up near her chest to guard herself. "Aqua," she replies calmly. She decides to give her title, in case either of these boys attempt a fight; they should know who they're dealing with. "Keyblade Master Aqua. And you are…?"
The boy removes his hood, his lips parted in awe and his blue eyes lit up with curiosity. "Keyblade?" he repeats, interest in his tone. But Aqua barely notices. She's too busy gaping at the de-hooded boy's face and hair.
"Ventus?" she murmurs, caught off-guard. Tears sting her eyes. "Ven, is that really you? You don't look a day older! When did you get your heart back?"
The blond boy stares at her, frowning in confusion. "I believe you have me confused with someone else," he answers stiffly.
"What? How can I? Ven, I'd know your face and voice anywhere! Please, you have to remember me – no amnesia could take your memories that easily, could it? Come on," she pleads, nearly crying, "You know me, Ven. I'm Aqua, your friend Aqua; I promised you that I'd help get your heart back to your body –"
"Stop calling me that," the blond boy answers sternly. "That's not my name. And besides, I have no heart. Nobodies don't possess hearts of their own, and can never get one unless they rejoin their Somebodies."
"Nobodies?" Aqua questions. She's heard that term before, muttered among Master Eraqus and Master Yen Sid as a probability of the future, something about creatures born the same time as a Heartless, something about them being shells of a former being –
"Yes," the blond twin of Ven's scowls, and still the taller figure says nothing. "Nobodies. I'm the Nobody of Sora. My given name is Roxas."
"Roxas…" Aqua parrots, disappointment in her tone. "So you really aren't Ven." She holds back her tears by forcing a smile. "Sorry that I mistook you. It's just… you look and sound exactly like him. Ghosts of my past seem to pop up now and then."
"If it's any consolation," Roxas responds in a gentler tone, "You're in a memory of Sora's that I've dreamt about before. You met him when he was a child, didn't you?"
She nods her head. "Yes. I remember that day. I was looking for my friends when I stumbled across Sora… and his best friend, Riku."
The taller figures suddenly stirs. He stands up suddenly, his head turning to look at her. "You know a Riku?"
"Huh?" she says, startled. "Yes, I did. He had silver hair and aquamarine eyes. He was a very sincere boy, like my friend Terra. When I met him, he already possessed the power to wield the Keyblade." She tilts her head to the right. "Why? Do you know a Riku as well?"
The man tenses, his hands clenching into fists. "Once upon a time, I did," he replies softly. "Now I'm not so sure any more."
"Why not?" Aqua asks, searching the shadows of his hood for any sort of facial expression she could read.
"He's been lost to the Darkness, and he's trying to find his way back to the Light again," the man answers. Roxas stares at him, then at Aqua.
"I fought a Riku before," he says coldly. "The same Riku who's in Sora's memories. Some friend he must have been, leaving the way he did in search of power." He snorts. "But who knows? Maybe I'm wrong about him. Maybe he only left in order to get the power he needed to protect his friends. I would've done the same thing. In fact…" he summons a Keyblade, startling Aqua yet again. She gapes at its black color with dark blue crystals and sharp-edged teeth. But then a second Keyblade appears in Roxas's other hand, a light white one with sunny yellow and sky blue accents, its teeth the nearly shape of a wayfinder. "I did try to do the same thing. I left the Organization in search of answers about the Keyblade, hoping I could master it to save my friends… and myself."
Aqua understands now. She suddenly sees that Darkness is not all bad, and that sometimes, it's only resorted to because of the people the person who seeks it cares about. That must have been what Terra was doing all those years before.
The bluenette turns to the taller figure. "Can I see your face?" she asks. "Please? I won't tell anyone who you are. I have yet to leave this place anyhow."
Hesitantly, the taller figure complies. He shrugs his hood off and Roxas leaps back a step. "You!" he hisses.
But once again, Aqua doesn't notice. Her ghosts of her past seem to love to torment her.
The face of the older boy is tan and long, his eyes a golden brown, and his hair a silvery white. But she knows that face. It's Terra's face, even with Master Xehanort's features merged with Terra's own. Yes, this boy's hair is in a different style, and it's too long, but how can she miss all of the other similarities?
"Who… are you, exactly?" she remarks distantly, her voice aching. She brings a hand up to her chest to calm her racing heart. "Your face…"
The taller male glances away, disgusted with himself. "It's the face of Darkness," he murmurs frostily. The leather gloves on his hands squeal when he clenches them even tighter. "Nothing like how it used to be."
"But… what is your name?" she asks, and across from them, Roxas scowls.
"Yeah! You said it was 'of no importance,' but Aqua and I deserve to know who we're dealing with. In fact… I think I recognize you. You look a lot like the Surperior, and –" he cuts himself off as realization strikes. "I've fought against you before! You're – you're Riku! You took off that blindfold and unleashed some sort of power, and looked like that!"
"Riku?" Aqua repeats, dumbfounded. "So this is what's become of you?" A hurt expression decorates her features. "So you got lost and went down a dark path after all. I bet Sora is looking for you."
"No, he's asleep," Roxas grinds out between clenched teeth. "That's why I'm going to him. He needs me to complete his broken memories and mend his fractured heart. He needs me, or else he can't wake up. And that's what you want, isn't it, Riku? You want Sora awake again so he can fix all of the mistakes you've made."
"He's my friend, too," Riku spits back, defending himself. "It's my fault he lost his memories at Castle Oblivion, since he was only there in search of King Mickey and me."
Aqua can't take it any longer. Castle Oblivion? King Mickey? It's too much! Her past is swarming all around her, about to engulf her whole, body and mind and heart and soul. She holds her head in her hands, shaking it back and forth in disbelief as she retreats a couple steps. About to fall on her knees, she hunches over to the ground.
Roxas's face morphs from that of anger directed at Riku to concern directed at Aqua. He turns and looks at her, the image of holding one's head in pain all too familiar to him. "Aqua?" he says, taking a cautious step closer to the un-aged woman. "Are you okay?"
She breathes out slowly, and then forces herself to stand properly. One fingerless gloved hand rakes back her hand from her face. "I'm… fine," she breathes, and shakes off Roxas's held out hand. She doesn't need him to stabilize her. But for a moment… for a brief moment, he had sounded and acted like Ven. She takes comfort in this small miracle, this small token of reprieve for her damaged heart. "Thank you."
Roxas offers a small smile. "I may be a Nobody," he responds quietly, "But that doesn't mean I refuse any sort of feelings of worry or care. They could be illusions for all I know, but a person in pain is a person in pain."
"What's hurting you?" Riku asks suddenly, causing Aqua to stare at him oddly. These two boys – Roxas and Riku, both tinted by Darkness and practically strangers to her, and yet they're here for her in this moment.
She smiles at them both. "Don't worry about it. It's my own problem, my own burden."
Riku nods, completely empathetic. "I know how that is."
"Do you at least need help getting out of this place?" Roxas asks. He summons a portal. "I can take you to another world, one you might know. Have you ever been to Twilight Town?"
Aqua looks into the portal. Shying away from it, she shakes her head. "No, I can't say I have. But I don't want to travel by means of Darkness. I've had enough of it, thank you. I'll find another way."
"Okay, suit yourself," the blond shrugs. He turns to leave. But before he goes, he glances over his shoulder at her. "Um, Aqua?"
"Yes, Roxas?"
Riku himself makes a portal of his own and exits without a word.
Meanwhile, Roxas is fumbling for the words he wanted to say. "When… I reunite with Sora, I'll be able to go where he goes, see what he sees. And, if I come across someone who looks like me –"
"Ventus," she whispers.
"Yeah, if I come across a person named Ventus – I'll be sure to tell Sora to tell him where he can find you." Roxas promises her. He seemed uncaring and aloof at first, but now Aqua sees that Roxas possesses the same qualities as he Somebody; or, at least, what she remembers of Sora from that single time she met him.
The blunette gives an open smile of gratitude. "Thank you, Roxas," she says, a lone tear escaping against her will, sliding down her cheek. "I'd appreciate it."
The blond boy gives a curt nod and a smile that lasts no longer than the blink of an eye before he disappears into the swirling portal of Darkness.
And Aqua collapses to her knees, her energy spent for the day. It's here that she allows herself to break into a sob.
How will she ever leave this place? How can she ever see the real Ven again, or Terra for that matter?
Aqua clutches her heart through her clothing.
Everything feels so torn and lost, as if there were a piece missing…