A/N: Part of the From the Heart Series, but can be read as a stand alone.

Okay. So this one is going to focus on Aqua in the Dark Realm, except, since I'm not Nomura levels of evil, she is not alone! (Or does this make me eviler? Who knows…)

Expect random cameos in this one(as its canon that Aqua and Ansem the Wise were both in the Dark Realm for who knows how long before finally coming across each other, so it stands to reason there are more people down there than expected) from others cast into the Dark Realm(they'll come and go)

Published: 5/13/2019

Warnings: Brief Suicidal thoughts

Featured Character:

Aqua

Supporting:

Gladio

Prompto

Antagonist:

Heartless

Chapter 1

Aqua I

Crouched with her back against a rock, Aqua gazed up in melancholy. This place was her home now.

Dark, eternal night. Time, frozen around her. Everything cold to the touch. Sometimes, Aqua wondered why she even bothered. Why she even continued fighting.

Alone… For so long.

What even was the point, anyways?

No one was coming for her. That was obvious. Aqua had been here long enough to know that. This world would be her grave.

Maybe she should just end it. She was already dead anyways. All that was left was a ghost, a remnant that wouldn't even be remembered.

Better to die than to become one of them, to become a Heartless, to lose herself and become a mons-

"You come here often?"

The words are spoken so softly, so casually, that Aqua almost dismisses them for being fake. Everything in this land was fake. This world was a fractured memory, filled with illusions and death and monsters.

Except, this time, it wasn't.

Rising to her feet, Aqua spun, Master's Defender flashing into her hands as she did so. There, standing a few feet away from her was a man, taller and more built than even Terra(and that was really saying something). The man apparently had never heard of proper clothing, because he wasn't even wearing a shirt, exposing his body for all to see.

Had they been anywhere else, Aqua would have been tempted to look. Hey, she wasn't a saint.

"Wow there, sister. I come in peace," the man lifted his hands in mock surrender.

Aqua narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Usually, the phantoms around here take the shape of people I knew before trying to attack me," Aqua commented. The man looked taken aback, offended even, but Aqua elected to ignore that and continued on, "One even took my shape once, for all the good it did it. Who are you supposed to be?"

"My name," the man said, eyeing her Keyblade wearily before looking back up, meeting Aqua's gaze, "is Gladio. And I'm no 'phantom', sister. I'm stranded here, same as you."

Aqua froze.

That…

Actually, she had come across others like that. Terra's fading figure, which she had encountered several times, came to mind. Those locked between the planes of one world in the next.

Aqua eyed the man up and down, searching for any sign of deceit.

"If you're done checking me out, babe, mind lowering the whatever the hell that is? I don't like being threatened." Gladio said.

Aqua snorted but lowered the Keyblade regardless.

"Oh really, now? What happened to sis?"

Gladio's eyes raked over her appreciatively. Aqua didn't even blink. Years in hell will make you stop caring about the littlest things. Gladio met her gaze again.

"I think babe suits you so much better."

Aqua rolled her eyes.

"Whatever," Aqua said, dismissing her Keyblade. "You're just another illusion. I really am losing my mind, stuck here."

With that, Aqua turned her back and walked away. It was time to move on. Wander again, forevermore.

Illusions can't harm you. Not physically, anyways.

And, if he was real?

Well, Aqua had been here long enough. She'd beat him black and blue before he could even blink.

As it would turn out, Gladio was not, in fact, an illusion.

On the bright side, Aqua was certain he wasn't a phantom either. Why?

Illusions are just that. Figments of one's imagination. They can't actually affect the real world. Phantoms, on the other hand, could and typically resorted to assaulting her at whatever opportunity, usually while wearing the face of someone she loved just to mess with her.

She now knew Gladio was no illusion, because he could affect things around him. And she definitely knew he wasn't a phantom, because no phantom ever had helped her take down Heartless, so there was that.

Aqua watched as Gladio cleaved his way through the Heartless, a Greatsword longer that she was tall and probably heavier too ripping the NeoShadows to shreds. Those muscles, apparently, were not just for show, as Gladio ripped through them with utter ease, wielding the blade like it was an extension of his arms.

Ripping through the last one, Gladio turned to her expectantly before stabbing the sword into the ground. Arms crossed above the hilt, Gladio rested his chin there before raising a single eyebrow at Aqua.

"Believe I'm real now, Queen of the Cartwheels?"

Company was… Not something Aqua was accustomed to. She had been alone for so long that it was hard realizing that she no longer was.

"So, what's your story, blue bells? How'd a pretty thing like you end up in a dark, dirty place like this?" Gladio drawled.

Aqua snorted.

"Are you ever going to settle on a name for me?"

Gladio pretended to think for a second before shrugging. "Doll, I'll call you whatever you like."

"How about my name?" Aqua responded snippily.

"Sure, as soon as you tell it to me."

There was a brief stunned silence.

For the first time in years, Aqua felt a flush crawl along her skin. Gladio stared at her for several seconds before tossing his head back and laughing.

"You seriously forgot that you never told me you name?" Gladio was finding far too much amusement in this.

"It's not like I've had anyone to tell in a while!" Aqua snapped.

Gladio paused before shooting her an apologetic look.

"Sorry, sorry. That was a bit crass of me," Gladio apologized before extending a hand out. "Gladiolus Amicitia, at your service. My friends call me Gladio."

Aqua eyed the hand before looking up at Gladio's face, honest and earnest. Eh. What the hell. She was stuck here anyways. She might as well start trusting the only other person she'd found while down here so far.

Aqua extended her own hand.

"My name is Aqua. I, ah, don't have a surname." Aqua introduced herself.

Gladio eyed her oddly at that before shaking it off and shrugging.

"Eh, I suppose we can't all be from places with proper culture."

Aqua gave that response exactly what it deserved.

"Owe! You know what, I think I'm going back to calling you 'sis', you hit just as hard as she did!" Gladio snapped before paling.

Aqua didn't need to ask. She'd seen the same look in the mirror, anytime she thought of Ventus or Terra or Master Eraqus. And, frankly, Aqua knew better than to pry so she kicked Gladio again.

That seemed to knock him out of it as he glared, rubbing at his shin. Aqua backed away slightly before summoning her Keyblade again.

"Now that we've gotten past introductions, want to spar?" Aqua offered.

Gladio looked surprised. Aqua couldn't blame him. She was surprised she'd made the offer herself.

"You want to do some more fighting?" Gladio asked incredulously.

"I want to let some steam off that doesn't involve nearly getting killed by soul ripping monsters." Aqua corrected.

Gladio contemplated that for a few seconds before shrugging again, pulling his greatsword from the ground.

"Fuck it. Let's go, princess. Show me what you've got."

"It was me or him," Aqua offered without prompting.

"Hm?" Gladio looked up, busy doing pushups.

"It was me or him," Aqua repeated from her spot, propped up against the wall, arms wrapped around her knees. "I couldn't let Terra fall into a place like this, so I… I fell instead. I managed to get him out, but it was too late for me."

Gladio stared at her for several moments before nodding, turning away and going back to his reps without another word.

"We tried to save the world. Hell, who knows, maybe we would have even succeeded, but… Heartless and Daemons, combined? Noct didn't even get a chance to come out of the Crystal before it all ended." Gladio, much like Aqua, told her this without her having to ask. The words on his tongue, bitter and angry.

The pair of them were walking. Wandering, again. It was dreary, walking through the fallen remains of broken worlds, but at least then they didn't have to stare off into the endless sea of nothingness.

Aqua looked up.

"Noct?"

Gladio's breath hitched for a moment.

"He- Yeah, Noct. He was… I would have followed him to hell and back. Have you ever met someone like that?" Gladio asked, turning to look straight at her. "Someone who annoys the ever living hell out of you, before growing on you like some kind of mutated fungus that you'd literally do anything for?"

Aqua thought of Terra and Ventus and nights spent gazing up at the stars, her hands entwined with there's.

"Yeah… Yeah, I do."

The monotony, eventually, had to come to an end. The how surprised them both. Gladio more than Aqua, surely; because while she had no idea who the unfortunate newcomer to the Dark Realm was, Gladio seemed pretty damn acquainted.

A kid had literally just dropped down from the sky, landing in an awkward pile of limbs. He was damn lucky Aqua was around too, or the Heartless would have devoured him in a second.

Turning to the boy, Aqua frowned.

Blond haired, freckled, skinny, hairstyles… Styled similar to Ventus, if Aqua was being honest. Ignoring the pain the memory brought, Aqua forged on.

"Who are you and how did you get here?" Aqua demanded.

The boy's, teenager really, expression became panicked before hardening.

Oh?

"Who am I? Who are you? I'll be asked the questions around here," the teen had the balls to start sniffing at her hauntingly.

Aqua stared at him for point two seconds before leveling the Keyblade at him. The teen eeped.

"Talk, blondie."

Gladio then solved her problem by materializing out of nowhere, hand reaching out and grabbing the kid by the back of the shirt.

"Hey! Lemme go! Help! Someone, help!" The teen yelled. Well, tough luck, the only things here were death and darkness.

And them now too, apparently. Then again, this place pretty much was a deranged hellistic afterlife.

"You have got to be shitting me," Gladio said without a moment of hesitation, staring at the boy with unmasked recognition and awe and-

Oh.

Oh.

Aqua looked away. Aqua looked away, and furiously tried to bury the pang of jealousy that shot through her because, really, this wasn't anything to be jealous of. This place was hell, and someone clearly as important to Gladio as Terra and Ventus had been to her had just been dragged right into it.