Velle straddled her mechanical sea serpent glider as she rode beside Ventus. She turned to look at him as he balanced himself on his glider and led the way. After a few moments he turned to face her, feeling eyes on him. She couldn't see his face because of his helmet or hear him unless he yelled so he tilted his head in question. Velle grinned and shrugged, she just found Ventus interesting to watch. She'd watched him for years while they trained and she knew he did the same. If it weren't for each other they wouldn't be nearly as skilled with their keyblades as they were. Ventus shook his head at Velle and turned back to face forward. Velle watched him for a little longer, and a blush came upon her cheeks. He'd kissed her back in the coliseum...her first kiss. Velle smiled to herself, happy that her first kiss had been with Ventus. She looked forward again oblivious to her forgotten weeks with Vanitas. Ventus squinted his eyes as something came rocketing toward them from a distance.

"Huh? What's that?" Ventus whispered to himself. The object soared past Velle, almost knocking her off her glider.

"Woah! What was that!?" Velle shouted. Ventus's head whipped around.

"Unversed!" The creature zipped around and flew at him, his glider dipped and he hurried to steady it. "Try that again!" Ventus growled.

"Let's get him!" Velle yelled as she sped off towards it with Ventus on her tail. When she reached the unversed she attacked it with the tail of her glider. Ventus zoomed up behind her and slammed his glider into the unversed causing more damage. The large creature spun violently and knocked Velle and Ventus back. Ventus's foot slipped and he gasped as his glider dipped and he fell off.

"Ven!" Velle shouted as she zoomed to his side, he dropped onto her glider and wrapped an arm around her.

His other hand reached out and grabbed his own, he narrowed his eyes and aimed at the unversed. The glider was heavy but he'd gotten considerably stronger since they'd left the Land of Departure. With a calculated heave he threw it like a boomerang and hit the unversed square in the emblem. Velle raised her eyebrows impressed as they zoomed after the unversed who turned tail and tried to escape. Ventus summoned his glider back to him and heaved both legs onto one side of the serpent. Skillfully and without hesitation he jumped onto it, wobbling a bit before steadying himself and zooming after the unversed with an amazing speed. Velle's eyes widened as she saw something large coming toward them. As the unversed tried to retreat they got closer to the large mass, it became clear that it was some sort of ship.

"Tryin' to catch a ride, huh?" Ventus smirked.

Undeterred, the blonde zipped after the monster and into the ship followed by Velle. When she caught up with him he was no longer in his armor and the unversed was nowhere to be seen. Velle looked around, they were safely inside the ship so she tapped her left shoulder piece and deactivated hers as well. She dropped from the air and landed gracefully beside the blonde.

"Did you see where it went?" She asked as she tied her long purple hair up into a ponytail.

"No, it ducked into here and then it was gone." Ventus relayed as he peaked around the corner.

Velle looked in the opposite direction to see a vast hallway that mirrored Ventus's side. "Should we split up?" Velle asked, noting the amount of doors in the hallway.

Ventus scrunched his nose up and grabbed her hand pulling her close to him. "Absolutely not. I'm not losing you again," he replied.

Velle snorted and bit her lip to hide her blatant smile, his statement made her heart skip a beat. She really wanted to kiss him again. She'd been feeling shy to initiate it, but she couldn't get the thought out of her head. "Fine, then which way first?" She asked quietly with a blush rising to her face.

A ghost of a smile appeared on his lips as he looked down at her rosy cheeks. He raised his gaze up and looked left then right, "Right?"

"Okay," Velle nodded, Ventus turned around but she stopped him. "Wait!"

Ventus froze, "What?" He turned to look at her but was pushed back against the metal wall of the ship. "Mmph!" Ventus exclaimed as Velle pressed her lips to his abruptly. He relaxed immediately when he realized what was going on and his arms wrapped around her waist pulling her closer. Velle's own arms were around his neck, she could smell his faint woodsy scent mixed with soap. She missed the cologne he wore when they were home in the Land of Departure.

Ventus pulled away slightly to take a breath, he pressed his forehead to hers with a blush and smiled. "What was that for?" he whispered.

Velle blushed and shrugged, "I just wanted to, I'm sorry."

The blonde shook his head with a chuckle, his hair falling in his eyes briefly. "I'm not. Do that whenever you want."

Velle smiled and brushed her lips against his again. It was only her second time kissing anyone yet for some reason she seemed to know exactly what to do. Ventus repressed a sigh as he felt Velle's soft plump lips press against his, he felt her tongue tease his bottom lip. He blushed unsure of his capability of kissing, however, he allowed her access regardless. He felt her tongue slide against his, his heart was racing. Maybe this wasn't the best time but keyblade wielder or not, Ventus was a teenage boy. He would drop everything if it meant he could spend time with Velle intimately. He pushed her back against the other way and placed a hand longingly on her cheek. His other arm supported himself on the wall by her head. Ventus's tongue slithered against Velle's, he groaned lightly and the rumble in his chest made Velle feel excited. They slowly and unconsciously moved into the hall and triggered an alarm, red flashing lights and noise blared.

Velle jumped, "What is that?"

Ventus looked around, "I don't know."

The alarm turned off and someone behind them exclaimed, "So you're the intruders! Identify yourselves!"

Ventus jumped when he saw a large alien holding a gun at them, he pushed Velle behind him protectively. "My name is Ventus and this is Velle. The monster we were chasing boarded your ship."

Velle stepped out from behind Ventus, "It's still in here, we have to find it!"

The alien smirked, "Nice try. If there was another intruder aboard, we'd have detected it."

Suddenly the ship lurched forward, Ventus put a hand out to catch Velle as she stumbled. "Huh?"

"Intruder in the Machinery Bay!" a voice spoke over an intercom. "We lost control of the engines! I-it's some kind of monster!"

The alien was aiming his gun in different directions before putting it down and sighing, "Now you tell me...Stay right there! I have lots of unpleasant questions to ask you," he warned before running off.

Velle's shoulders dropped, "This is our fault, we have to do something, Ven."

Ventus nodded, "You're right, let's go!"

They ran after the alien, however, just as they reached the door a small creature dropped down from the ceiling. It was blue and had big dark eyes and big ears, antennas, four arms, and wore a little orange space suit.

"Ah!" Velle jumped back.

The creature regarded them curiously before it opened its mouth and struggled to speak. "Ven…? Velle…? Terra…? Ah-koo, wah…"

Ventus put his hands on his knees and bent down to look at the little alien. "What? You know Terra and Aqua?"

The little blue creature reached behind him and pulled out a small colorful trinket, he proudly held it up to them. "Fren...circle…"

"Oh my gosh, he's so cute!" Velle burst after she couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey...is that a wayfinder?" Ventus asked curiously. Velle bent down to take a closer look and suddenly the ship lurched forward causing her to stumble. Ventus reached out and grabbed her hand, "Woah! Watch it." He warned as he steadied her.

The frantic voice rang over the speakers again, " The engines are under too much stress. We're risking an explosion!"

Ventus shook his head, trying to focus., "What am I doing? There's no time! Come on Velle we have to move!"

"Gotcha!" Velle ran after the blonde but stopped when she realized the little blue creature was following. "No! You need to stay here. It's too dangerous, you'll be safer here." The creature pouted sadly and watched Velle turn and run away. "Ven!" She called behind him.

"Velle?" Ventus stopped in his tracks and waited for her to catch up. "I thought you were behind me."

Velle jogged up to him, "The little guy tried to come so I told him to stay behind, it's too dangerous for him to come with us. Let's go take care of that unversed."

Ventus nodded, "Right!"

They ran through corridor after corridor, the ship was very big, Velle was starting to lose hope that they'd find the monster. The ship lurched again and flung Velle against the wall and Ventus down the hall slightly. The lights dimmed and they heard the sound of something powering down, followed by a thick silence. A crackle came from the speakers as they tried to spark to life.

"Sector 44 has been breached, initiating emergency cut off." The voice that spoke this time was a computer.

"Emergency cut off?" Velle mumbled, just then something in the hallway rumbled. A hidden door started to descend splitting the two keyblade wielders up.

"Velle!" Ventus shouted as he slammed his fist on the thick metal door. "Damn it!" he cursed. He usually never did, but he was frustrated. He promised himself he wouldn't let anything happen to the purple haired girl but it seemed like the world was against him on that. "Hold on, Velle, I'm coming for you!" Ventus shouted through the metal.

"Ven!? Are you okay?" Velle shouted back.

"I'm fine, what about you?" He replied.

Velle looked around the dark hallway, she could hear the sound of electricity crackling somewhere in the distance. "Um…" she mumbled unsure. She felt like she was being watched.

"Velle?" Ventus urged. "Are you okay?"

Ventus gasped when he heard Velle screech, "Something touched my foot!"

"I'm coming, Velle, stay put!" Ventus slammed his hand on the door one more time before turning and running down the hallway in search of a way to her.

Velle's heart raced uncontrollably, something had wooshed passed her leg and touched her foot in the darkness. She summoned her keyblade, her energy lit up the room momentarily. She saw a small shadow in the corner of the room before it became dark again.

"Huh." she mumbled.

She looked at the barely there outline of her keyblade in the darkness, suddenly struck with an idea. She remembered vaguely a time when she and Aqua were training together.

"I know you're not a huge fan of using magic but you're good at it, Velle. If you want to become a keyblade master you need to be well versed in it." She remembered Aqua telling her one afternoon.

Velle frowned, "You're right Aqua, could you maybe give me a few pointers?"

Aqua grinned at the small violet haired girl, "Of course!" She summoned her keyblade and knelt slightly to look Velle directly in the eyes. "Now, I'm going to show you something small that could come in handy in a pinch. You know how to use your light in the darkest times but do you know how to use it to light your path?"

Velle furrowed her eyebrows, "Light my path?...No...I don't think I do."

Aqua smiled kindly, "It's okay, I'll show you."

Velle watched her carefully, noting every motion she made, when it was her turn to try she held her keyblade in front of her and closed her eyes. The wind began to pick up and a light started to come to life, it flickered in front of her chest before lighting her like a halo. As she got the hang of it, she tried to make it stronger.

Aqua's eyes widened as the light coming from Velle grew so strong it started to hurt her eyes. "Ah!" she gasped. She couldn't see any longer, she closed her eyes and put her hand over her face. The light grew even stronger and Aqua hissed as her skin began to burn, "Velle, stop!" She shrieked.

Aqua's shout broke Velle's attention, as soon as she opened her eyes the light disappeared. "Huh?" She asked, Aqua was on the ground with her arm over her eyes, and her arm was raw and red. She removed it and tested her sight when the burning stopped. "What happened?" Velle asked, walking over to help Aqua up.

"I...I don't know...just…" Aqua stuttered. "Look, I don't know what that was but if you ever use it again make sure you control it."

Velle looked at her hands with worry, what had she done to Aqua?

The violet haired keyblade wielder shook her head bringing herself back to reality, the darkness hugged her. She closed her eyes and held her keyblade in front of her. "Okay, Vellum. Concentrate...but not too much." She added quickly.

A light flickered to life in the center of her chest, she opened an eye to check on the intensity. "Good, not too bright." She thought to herself. She closed her eyes momentarily and concentrated on moving the light to her keyblade. She opened them again to see the room bright and visible. "Hey!" She exclaimed when she could clearly see the creature in the corner. "I thought I told you to stay behind?"

"Sor-ry…" it whined.

"Aw, it's okay. Do you know how to get out of here?" She asked, kneeling down beside the little blue creature. It nodded and pointed down the hall, "Okay! Lead the way!"

The creature scurried away and Velle sprinted behind it, back the way she'd come. They entered a room and Velle stopped, "Hey! Wait! Unversed!" Velle held her illuminated keyblade in front of her. The creature held it's claws up and growled at the unversed.

"Stay behind me!" Velle glared at the monsters but the little blue creature ignored her and lashed out at one of the unversed with a vicious snarl. "Huh?" Velle acted quickly when she saw the other unversed move to attack the creature. "Not while I'm around!" Velle growled as she blocked the unversed's reprisal.

She pushed the monster back onto a panel of dimly lit blinking lights and a siren started going off. "Thundara!" Velle bellowed, she pointed her keyblade at the unversed and shocked it until it disappeared. Once the coast was clear Velle kneeled next to the creature, "Are you okay?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she realized it was getting harder to breathe.

The creature's eyes grew large and it clawed at it's throat, "Ack!" he choked.

"What's...happening?" Velle struggled. The lack of oxygen was making her vision go dark. The creature crawled towards the panel she'd thrown the unversed on and pointed at it drastically. Velle tapped her armor and activated it, she took a deep gulp of air before grabbing the creature in her arms. She looked around desperately and found an air duct on the ceiling. "Aerora!" Velle commanded, pointing her keyblade at the vent. Green swirls of wind emitted from her keyblade and knocked the screen off the duct.

Velle ran up the side of the wall and crawled quickly into it, she looked down in her arms to see the creature unconscious. "Oh no! I've gotta move quick!" Velle whispered as she crawled through the tight vent. She looked below as she passed over a vent to see the room that she and Ventus entered, she shifted her body and kicked the screen off before dropping down into the room. Velle put her ear to the chest of the alien, she pointed her keyblade at it and closed her eyes. "Curaga!" Velle commanded.

A green light overcame the creature and it coughed back to life before it sat up. "Oh thank god!" Velle cried, she scooped the creature up in her arms and hugged it tight. "Now, you stay here. I need to find Ven and we have to get rid of that monster!" Velle jumped back into the air duct and crawled further into the ship.

She crawled for another few minutes until she heard a commotion below her. It was Ventus, he was fighting a few unversed. Velle glared at the monsters as she saw one creep up behind the blonde. She kicked out the vent and the screen knocked the creature down. Ventus jumped when he heard a large clamor behind him, he growled and slammed his keyblade into the unversed, destroying it. He turned around just in time to see Velle dismissing her keyblade at the unversed who tried to ambush him disappeared in a wisp of darkness.

"Vellum!" Ventus exclaimed, he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "You're okay!"

Velle nodded, "Barely, I got ambushed by some unversed and I knocked it on into some electrical panel that controlled the air. But I'm okay now…"

Ventus sighed, "I'm not that good at protecting you…"

Velle furrowed her eyebrows, "Who said you had to protect me? I thought I told you I could handle myself."

Ventus snorted, "Terra said if I cared about you I should protect you. And I do...care about you, I mean... but every time I try to protect you, things just get worse."

Velle narrowed her eyes at him, "I can take care of myself! And he's really one to talk, he won't let Aqua or us protect him."

Ventus shrugged, "You're right."

"And besides, your ability to protect me has nothing to do with how much you care about me." Velle said with finality.

"You sure?...because it feels like it does..." Ventus mumbled.

"Positive," she looked up at him and grinned.

Ventus smiled, "Good, because I really, really, really care about you." Velle blushed and looked away, suddenly feeling shy. It felt like his blue sapphire eyes were peering through her soul. "Velle, look at me," he whispered.

Velle forced herself to meet his eyes, he closed them quickly and pressed his lips to hers softly. The violet haired girl felt herself melt in his arms the minute their lips touched, she sighed when she felt his hand on her cheek. "Ven…" she whispered.

"I know you can handle yourself, just stay close to me, okay? I don't want to lose you again." Ventus expressed.

"O-okay…" Velle mumbled.

"Okay? You're not mad that I'm treating you like a damsel in distress?" Ventus asked sarcastically with a snort.

"Well now, I am." Velle grumbled. Ventus snickered but suddenly the ship lurched again and they stumbled. Ventus had Velle pinned against the wall, hands on either side of her head so he didn't crush her. He looked at their proximity, he could feel her breath on his lips. Ventus lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly, it was a different type of kiss, one of longing and desire neither of them had experienced before.

Suddenly there was a crash in the room near them and Ventus jumped back. What was he doing!? They needed to get rid of that unversed, he grabbed Velle's hand and dragged her towards the sound. "Come on, let's go!" he called over his shoulder.

Velle summoned her keyblade and Ventus did the same, they ran into a large room with a giant beam of light in the center. "There it is, Ven!" Velle shouted as she ran towards it.

Ventus stopped just in front of the unversed and brandished his keyblade, "End of the line!"

Velle's head snapped to the roof when there was a loud explosion and something launched out from the vent. "What is that-"

The little blue creature tumbled to the ground and landed skillfully on his feet "Argh!" He growled at the unversed.

"Hey! You shouldn't be here!" Ventus chided. Velle snorted to herself she thought he sounded like Aqua at that moment.
The creature started growling and babbling at the unversed, "What is it?" Velle asked curiously. He barked repeatedly and started jumping up and down.

"Uh…" Ventus inquired. "We gotta fight this thing, we don't have time!"

The creature jumped up and down and pointed at himself, then he animatedly acted out throwing him at the unversed. Velle furrowed her brow, "I think he wanted us to throw him at the unversed when he starts jumping up and down."

"Huh? Is that what you want?" Ventust asked. The creature jumped up and down cheering and nodding his head.

"Come on, Ven. Let's get him!" Velle ran towards the unversed; she whacked the side of it with her keyblade. Ventus held his keyblade up and launched several fireballs at it, "Firaga!"

Velle flipped down and landed on her feet, "Woah, when did you learn that?"

Ventus smiled and winked at her before jumping up and attacking the unversed. Velle felt her heart skip a beat, it couldn't be healthy to have that happen as often as it did. She glanced beside her when she saw something move. The creature was jumping up and down and Velle looked around for Ventus, he was busy attacking the unversed. She groaned, knowing she wasn't the best at throwing. Velle picked up the creature and he balled himself up, she pulled her arm back and launched him at the unversed. Ventus landed on the ground just in time to see the creature miss.

He couldn't help but chuckle, "I'll try it next time, I know how you throw."

Velle pouted, "Okay…"

Shortly after, the creature started to hop again and Ventus reached over and snatched him up. Velle jumped back and watched Ventus pull his arm back. She could see his muscles ripple as he pitched the creature with perfect aim at the monster. "Bullseye!" He cheered, he looked at Velle and caught her staring at him.

She blushed and then jumped up and slashed the unversed one last time, it exploded into a bright white light before disappearing in a wisp of darkness. The creature was still growling and screaming as if throwing a temper tantrum. Velle took a few steps back but Ventus walked closer.

"It's over! Cut it out!" Ventus tried. When that did work he reached out and touched the creature's shoulder but he shoved him to the ground. "Woah!"

"Ven!" Velle ran to him and knelt beside him.

"I'm alright," Ventus replied, sitting up. The creature took a deep breath and turned around. "What's gotten into you?" he asked.

"Yeah, what's wrong little guy?" Velle asked sweetly.

The creature's ears fell sadly and he turned around with a broken wayfinder as he whimpered. "Aw I see...your wayfinder broke." Ventus said softly. He leaned forward and put a hand on his knee, "Well, don't worry. Friendship's more than an object."

The creature's ears lifted and he looked at Ventus hopefully, " Fren-ship...cir..cle?" The blonde smiled and nodded.

Loud footsteps sounded behind them and they turned to see the large alien from before who tried to detain them. "Hmph, don't let that little mimic fool you." Ventus stood in front of both Velle and the creature protectively. "You two saw for yourselves what kind of monster that thing is. All it knows how to do is hurt and destroy."

"Monster!?" Velle exclaimed.

"He helped us stop the monster!" Ventus shouted.

"You must have triggered some kind of mutation hidden in the little freak's genetic coding." The alien sneered.

Velle glared at the man but the creature spoke first, "Ven… Velle… Frens!"

"That's right!" Velle nodded.

"We're friends!" Ventus agreed.

"Better say your goodbyes now, because six-two-six is about to be destroyed." The alien growled, aiming his gun. The creature jumped up and scratched the alien's face with a vicious growl, "Ah! Stop that!" The creature knocked the alien to the ground.

He turned around and started to babble at them again, Ventus turned to Velle, "Come on!" He ran after the creature with Velle's hand in his.

"Sound the alert! Prisoners on the loose!" The alien shouted. "Don't let them get away!"

"Ah! Let's get out of here!" Velle squeaked as she sprinted ahead of the blonde. The creature hijacked a spaceship and Ventus and Velle summoned their gliders and armor. The three zoomed away from the prison ship just as other fighter ships came out and shot lasers at them. Ventus zigzagged skillfully on his glider safely away from the attack.

The creature yelled to grab their attention and they zoomed up beside him. "Where are we going?" Ventus asked. The creature pulled something and then suddenly looked distressed. The fighter jets scattered suddenly and the creature began to wail inside the side. "What? What's wrong?" Ventus asked.

Suddenly the ship lurched forward, entering into hyperdrive, the impact knocked both Velle and Ventus back. The two were knocked out from the force of the engine, Ventus floated away in the opposite direction. Unbeknownst to them a dark corridor appeared and a man with an eyepatch beside Velle.

"Hey there, little lady, what happened here?" The man looked back and forth between the two armored keyblade wielders that were drifting apart. "The old man told me to collect her, not you, so come on little lady, we're out of here. And good luck to you blondy." The man reached around and gripped Velles waist, tossing her into the dark portal.