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


Dark

"Mademoiselle, wait!"

Aqua turned to the person that had called her. Balding and plump, he was a man with large tuffs of white hair by his ears, a white moustache and a panicked look in his eyes. Running up to her, he gasped for breath, hands on his knees for support.

"Forgive me, but you mustn't go that way," the man said.

"Why not?" Aqua frowned, confused. Vanitas hadn't told her about any off-limits area in this world. Then again, he did enjoy messing with her mind.

The man waved his hands wildly. "There's some sort of scuffle down there. Oddest thing I've even seen; three men fighting with giant keys."

Oh no. Fighting to keep herself calm, she asked, "Is one of them wearing a mask?"

"Yes, yes!"

"And the other two, are they a blond and a brunet?"

"Indeed!"

She closed her eyes. It was exactly as she feared. "Thank you, sir."

With that, she took off in the direction of the boys, ignoring the man's cries of, "Wait, that's the wrong way!"

Her heart was in her throat was she ran, and she tried to tell herself to stop worrying so much. Vanitas knew what he was doing. He was a strong, skilled fighter who had faced these two several times before and was clearly confident, if not overly cocky, in his ability to win a fight; he combined speed and strength with such finesse that it made others look like amateurs in comparison. Surely, he was fine. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that he was fighting and having a great time.

Which was why the reality was such a shock.

Vanitas was slumped against a wall, limp. His precious helmet was still on, but his bodysuit was torn on his ribs, exposing a nasty gash underneath. Void Gear looked as though it had been carelessly tossed aside, and there was blood on both the blade and the handle.

"Vanitas!" She forgot about the other two and kneeled by him. His head lolled sideways, and weakly, he slurred her name.

So occupied she was with him, that it took her a moment to understand why her prey hackles suddenly stood on end.

"Aqua."

She stood up and stared into their eyes, seeing the desperate plead there. Some lonely, lost part of her responded, pulling her to them, and she was torn. But the hope in their eyes died when Aqua leaned down and hooked her arm under Vanitas, choosing the dark over the light.

Terra raised his keyblade, jaw set, eyes fixed on her, but Ventus stopped him before Terra could utter his spell. Seeing that opening, Aqua did something she thought she would never do.

She cast Firaga right at Ventus' face.

In the turmoil that followed, she grabbed Vanitas and fled. After leaping off a bridge, she pulled Vanitas underneath and hid.

Sobbing, she cradled the wounded boy, trying to forget the horrible sound Ventus had made.


Don't worry, Ven isn't horribly disfigured now or anything. I mean, they did learn those healing spells for a reason. It was just a really nasty shock for all three parties, and a triggerpoint for Ven and Terra to start getting more aggressive with her.