I don't own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Disney/Square Enix.
I've been looking forward to this chapter for days. It was definitely one of my favourites to write :D
Running Away
She never thought she'd find herself running away.
Just yesterday, the idea would have ludicrous. However, ever since she had discovered Vanitas' role in the attacks, it had been inevitable. She had been too nervous to confront him about it – in that way, she was a coward – but it wasn't something she could ignore. Even if Vanitas was right and they were merely fighting for balance, if this was the way they went about it, she couldn't have any part in it. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she needed to be alone. She needed to think without Vanitas influencing her thoughts.
She took off at midnight, in the middle of a raging storm that shook the buildings. Rain battered the stones around her, splashing and creating a fine white mist that hung just over the ground. She'd cast a Reflect spell to use as an umbrella, and although the humidity still made her feel soaked, physically she was dry.
A fork of white-hot lightning split the sky. Just then, something exploded against her barrier with such power that the spell forcibly ended. She thought that the lightning had struck it; but then, just as the last of the light was fading, she saw a form standing on the edge of a roof.
She paled. It couldn't be . . .
A monster rushed out of the darkness with her in its sights. Rainfell materialized, slashed through the creature once, twice, three times before it succumbed. Fearfully, she looked up, trying to see where the figure had ran to while she was occupied.
But it wasn't him that she should have been worried about. A black mist rose from the shadows around her, and from there, dozens of small, purple monsters leapt.
She had a moment's delay as she switched her gaze from the roof to the monsters, and that was long enough to be the end of her. Although she fought valiantly, the monsters latched onto her. They built up like a cocoon, and the sheer weight forced her to her knees. Rainfell clattered to the ground.
The monsters moulded around her, stretching, tightening like ropes. It was getting hard to breathe. Tentatively, she tried to move her hand into a place to summon Rainfell and immediately, they wrapped tighter, forming a purple straightjacket.
Rain fell around them.
The sound of footsteps joined it. Loud and sharp, they pierced through the air like a gunshot, almost as intimidating as the boy who caused them. Lightning flashed, revealing Vanitas walking down the street towards her. The light faded again, taking him with it, but Aqua could see him clearly in her mind's eye.
When he was only a couple of feet away from her, that's when she was able to see him. He crouched down so that they were at eye-level, and she looked away in anger and shame.
He grabbed her chin and wrenched it around to face him.
"Where are you going?" he snarled.