I don't own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix/Disney.

Trouble Lurking

She heard it all from her room: the commotion, the fighting, the decisive click of the front door as it shut. A tiny part of her rejoiced. But that was it. A tiny part.

A clock ticked. A weight settled on top of her, growing heavier with each beat. Now, alone in her room, with the two Masters no longer fighting, she had no choice but to face the truth of what she had done: she had framed Master Xehanort. She wasn't even sure what she had framed him for, though judging by Master Eraqus's reaction, it was something terrible.

She was terrible. At the time, it had seemed like a good idea, but to actually have gone through with it . . . what sort of person was she, to do something like that?

Tears leaked down her cheeks, not the manipulative, crocodile tears from before, but heavy, guilt-laden tears. Her heart clenched like someone had reached inside her and squeezed.

What had she done?

The floor creaked outside her room. Shakily, she moved to wipe her tears away, to silence herself. She didn't know who was listening at the door, but she didn't want them to pity her. Not when she was the bad guy.

A knock. "Aqua, may I come in?"

She stammered, "Yes."

The door inched open, revealing Master Eraqus's figure. He walked over to her silently and sat on the bed as he had before.

"He will not hurt you anymore," the old Master said, sagging at the shoulders.

She stared, not knowing what to say, and Master Eraqus jumped to his own conclusions. "Aqua, do not be ashamed. It is not your fault."

And her feigned calm ended. "Yes, it is!"

But again, he misunderstood. "Aqua, this sort of thing is never your fault. I – we – trusted Master Xehanort, and he abused that. The fault lies with none other than him."

"Master . . ." She couldn't look at him, couldn't bear to see the sympathy shining in his eyes. She buried her face in his robes, holding him tight, like a daughter hugging her father.

And for an innocent moment, that's all she was.

Then it came rushing back.

She swallowed. She needed to tell him, didn't she? A lie as great as this, it could only lead to disaster. Indeed, in the creeping shadows on the far side of the room, she seemed to catch a glimpse of the future, see the troubling lurking on the horizon.

She steeled herself-

No, not happening.

She tried to speak, to confess, but her larynx seized up and refused to work. She couldn't tell, couldn't say anything until the Master finally left her. Then a strangled sound came out of her throat, and just like that, everything was working again.

What had that been?

If you tell, you'll lose everything.

True, but what did it matter? It didn't justify –

Sleep on it. You'll think differently in the morning.

Her eyelids grew heavy, and she succumbed.

Review Response:

Shadow: Honestly, even if Xehanort had professed his innocence, nothing would have changed. Eraqus would believe Aqua over Xehanort, particularly about this topic.

Well I wouldn't say he was wrong... you just can't account for Lea XD

Oh, don't worry. When I said "that time in BBS", I actually mean "sometime before BBS". I don't think Xehanort ever explicitly talked about Aqua's non-existential role in his plans in canon, but I haven't played the game either, so who knows!

Not quite. Xehanort's thinking was more along the lines of "Eraqus, I am going to utterly own you... crap, Terra is watching and I need him to trust me later!"

Whoops, yes there was supposed to be a period there.

Thanks! And it wasn't pointless :)