Last night Aqua couldn't conceal any good sleep at all; her mind had drifted into all kind of thoughts of how possibly she could escape, until her mind and body were no longer able to deal with the tiredness and finally succumbed to sleep and closed her eyes.
Although she only slept for three hours.
The sun rising woke Aqua up, for its rays of light hit her right on the face, entering the room through the opened window that was covered by the white transparent drapes, dancing with the wind.
With a soft groan, Aqua blinked a couple of times so the blur in her eyes left and could see clearly the room, then fully opened her eyes.
That was the first time in months she woke up after the sun had risen; Aqua usually woke up earlier to train with Master Eraqus along Ven and Terra.
Ven.
Aqua sat on the bed, moving her messy hair behind her ears. 'I wonder how Ven is doing.' She looked down at the floor in melancholy. 'He is the main reason of why I left on this journey after all; to find him and bring him back home.' Aqua walked to the window and opened the curtains to be received by the full view of the kingdom. People in town had already begun their day; shops were opened, kids were playing, men were working, and women were cleaning their houses.
It was another regular day.
"Another day begins."
Ven fluttered his eyes open and groaned as he sat up, feeling his body aching as if he had been sleeping on rocks. Where was he anyway?
He lazily looked around and found that he had been lying on the grass the whole night. "I didn't make it to the castle did I?" Supporting his hands on his knees, Ven stood up and dusted himself off. 'Must have fallen asleep on the way.' He mused.
The blond then noticed the loud noise of talking nearby him and searched around to find its source. Ven looked up and smiled in awe at seeing the lively town in front of him, he being just a few meters from a house. "Wow! Ven exclaimed in amazement, then hurriedly ran to the town full of life.
Everywhere he turned, Ven found people talking, going their own ways, kids laughing and playing, and even a few dogs roaming around, Ven not holding himself and petting them a few times. "This place is so lively." Ven said with a smile.
He passed by a food stand, and when he smelled the sweet scent of home-made soup…
-growl—
That's right, Ven hadn't eaten in a while, and some food could do some good, he needed some energy if he wanted to keep going anyway. "Maybe I should eat something."
So wanting something simple, Ven approached the closest fruit stand and bought a red, juicy apple.
"This is not really my style." Aqua sighed in dislike as she stared at herself on a full length mirror.
After looking through the entire closet, Aqua found nothing but formal dresses, and since the Prince just sent a maid saying he needed of her presence in the dining room, Aqua picked a dress randomly and not gave much thought to it.
It was a sky blue dress that covered Aqua's knees, her shoulders were covered by two white transparent straps with a white ribbon was surrounding her waist ending in a nice bow behind her back; and as much as she wanted to wear her own shoes, to match the dress she picked a soft blue high-heels shoes, hopefully she wouldn't trip with them on.
With one last glance at her reflection , Aqua exited her room with a steady pace trying to get used to walking with high heels and went to the dining room, hoping to not get lost on the way.
"Ah, Aqua I'm so glad to see you this morning, you look radiant. Did you sleep well?" The prince greeted with a cheerful smile the moment he saw Aqua enter the dining room to have breakfast, standing up from his seat to go to her side.
"I slept fine, thank you your Highness." Aqua replied cordially with a brief bow.
Somehow this amused the Prince, for he chuckled and held Aqua's hand gently and led her to her seat. "Please, there is no need to bow, we'll soon be married and there's no need for formalities." The Prince said as he moved back the chair allowing Aqua to sit, then going to his own place next to hers.
Aqua placed her hands on her lap shyly. "Ah yes, Prince, about that-"
"If you're wondering, the wedding will be taking place tomorrow at midnight." The Prince just seemed to interrupt Aqua every time he could. "And luckily for us, tomorrow there is full moon so it will be-"
"Your highness!" Aqua exclaimed, no longer containing the urge of explaining herself.
The Prince looked startled at Aqua and blinked in confusion. It was a relief that the two of them were alone in the room.
Aqua gripped her hands in fists against her lap. "Please listen, you've been very kind with me," She looked down at her hands, not daring to see the expression on his face. "but you need to understand, I'm not the maiden you're looking for, this is nothing but a mistake." Aqua said as she shook her head. "The one you should really marry is-"
"Ahhhh!"
Aqua couldn't finish the sentence at hearing a cry of terror. Both she and the Prince turned at the direction it had come from.
"That came from the kitchen." Aqua said in realization, then stood up and ran as fast as she could towards the kitchen and summoned her keyblade. But the Prince remained frozen where he was.
Aqua entered the kitchen and gasped at seeing before her, Unversed running around, causing disaster and chaos as others were chasing the employees.
"Unversed!" She took her fighting stance and charged forward the closest Unversed and destroyed it with a swift slash, causing it to vanish in blue smoke. Aqua turned around but stumbled with the heels, her feet not really used to walking that way, or even more, fighting with those kind of shoes, and let's say the dress didn't allow her to move so freely as well.
At seeing an Unversed coming her way, Aqua kicked her shoes off, her bare feet touching the cold marble floor, and shot blizzard to it, destroying it as well. 'It's going to be so hard to fight with this dress on!' She thought in frustration.
"Gahh!"
Looking back, Aqua found the chef and helpers cornered by a dozen of Unversed, having no way to escape. "Go to a safer place!" Aqua commanded as she jumped to face the Unversed. "I'll take care of them."
She pointed her keyblade threateningly to the Unversed, as indicating she was their enemy, and heard the kitchen staff leave in a hurry.
Aqua gripped the handle of her keyblade and glared at the blue red-eyed creatures. 'Diamond Dust!' A blue aura surrounded Aqua's body, and energy emitted from her.
She swirled her keyblade forward and as she hit the Unversed, ice shards coming up from beneath freezing them in the process. She gave a slight jump and extended her arms as four ice stones moved in circles around her and hit all of the Unversed, destroying them instantly.
In a couple of seconds more Unversed appeared.
Aqua slashed each one of them, ice dancing around her in the air between a cold gust of wind; she kept going until she jumped and raised her Keyblade up and spun around in the air as a cold breeze circled and six giant ice crystals rose from different directions.
Aqua panted tired as she glanced around searching for any Unversed left, at seeing none she let her guard down and took a deep breath to calm her racing heart. 'Mental note: never fight with a dress on ever again.' She thought as she dismissed her keyblade.
Smoothly, as if nothing had happened, Aqua returned to the dining room and found the shaken kitchen staff murmuring and talking in nervousness among them, the Duke trying to calm the Prince, and the prince pacing worriedly with his hands behind his back.
At seeing Aqua back, the Prince smiled in relief and strode back to her. "Aqua are you ok?" He asked immediately, holding the girl's hands on his own in a soft grasp.
"Yes I'm fine." She assured with a nod, a serious expression on her face, not affected at all by the Prince's hands.
"What were those things?" The Duke asked as he approached them, walking with his chin high as always. "Those strange creatures, I've seen them before." He stated.
"Before?" Aqua asked curiously, freeing her hands from the Prince's grip; so not only were Unversed in the Tremaine mansion, but here too. Now she had a good reason to stay.
Unfortunately.
"They're called Unversed, and are dangerous." Aqua explained briefly, causing the Prince's smile to fade.
The Duke furrowed his eyebrows, for he had never heard such word before, or at least being used to name creatures. "Can't we do anything to eliminate them?" He asked, not really liking the idea of strange creatures roaming around freely and causing trouble.
Aqua shook her head in denial. "My weapon is the only thing that can destroy them." She then turned at the Prince. "Perhaps I should stay here for a while until they are gone."
The Prince nodded. "Yes, we really don't want those creatures to irrupt our wedding."
"I didn't mean-"
"Make sure the florists bring the violets I ordered, and tell the seamstress to make the best wedding dress she can." The Prince ordered the Duke, not really paying attention to what Aqua was saying.
The Duke bowed. "Of course my Prince." He replied and then left.
The Prince turned back at Aqua and smiled at her endearingly. "Since our breakfast was interrupted, would you like to eat now?"
Aqua raised her finger ready to refuse. "Actually I think I should-"
-growl-
Aqua blushed at the evident hunger and decided to not complete that sentence, causing the Prince to chuckle in amusement. "Maybe breakfast wouldn't be so bad." She corrected, with an embarrassed smile.
The Prince nodded and helped her sit down again, and the second she was seated, maids came from the kitchen holding trays of food.
After his small snack, Ven had walked around the town and asked people if villagers were allowed to enter the castle. A few said that you could if you had any important business or were someone important, others just stared at Ven in suspicion at such unusual question, but most said that you couldn't but only with previous notice.
So it was highly probable that Ven would have to sneak in the castle, either that or the guards were kind enough to let him pass.
Only one way to find out.
Ven returned to the path leading to the castle and focused on his way trying to not get distracted by meaningless things. After all, Aqua was getting married.
Married.
The thought caused his heart to ache; there was no way he'd allow that! Aqua didn't belong to that world in the first place, they weren't allowed to meddle in affairs of other worlds! It was forbidden!
But it wasn't just that…
Ven sighed and half closed his eyes, slowing down his pace.
To think that strong, brave, kind and beautiful Aqua was getting married broke his heart in million pieces.
Yes, Aqua was a Keyblade Master now, but wasn't she too young?
And truthfully, Ven imagined Aqua's wedding differently…
Ven would be standing in the altar, wearing a black tux and waiting with a smile for his bride, and of course Terra would be his best man. It'd be in a summer day near a lake or ocean, because Aqua loved water. Then, wearing a beautiful white dress, Aqua would walk to his side, and Master Eraqus would join them in matrimony and he'd lean up to seal their eternal love with a kiss—
Ven shook his head and the fantasy left his mind. What a childish fantasy…
A sigh escaped his lips, then turned his gaze back to the castle, where Aqua was waiting.
With that mere thought, determination and courage ran through him, and Ven ran as fast as his short legs could take him up the path.
'Aqua, I'll be there soon.'
After having breakfast in an awkward silence with the Prince -who seemed pretty busy himself mentally planning the wedding- Aqua decided to look around the castle for more Unversed and her, because after all, it was her only way out of that world and she didn't want to stay there forever. She was still in the middle of a mission.
-thump thump-
Aqua gasped and widened her eyes.
That was the feeling of darkness.
In a split second Aqua turned around and groaned in annoyance at seeing more Unversed running around the halls. "You're not going anywhere!" Aqua exclaimed frustrated as she summoned her keyblade and chased after the Unversed.
