She sails through the Lanes Between on her glider. Whole worlds shoot past in the blink of an eye, making her feel very small. The sensation of deja vu hits her again, so strongly her head begins to spin.
She has to find a place to land. She doesn't want to think about throwing up in her helmet, surrounded by the darkness between worlds-
Too late.
Almost without realizing, she's bringing her glider down at Yen Sid's tower. She only just manages to pull off her helmet before she's hunched over and vomiting in some nearby bushes.
She briefly manages to put a coherent thought together. Then another wave of nausea overtakes her, and the thought is forgotten.
When her stomach is empty, she stands up, wincing as her back aches. She wipes her mouth on her hand, and her hand on a fern. She turns to look at the tower. "I suppose it couldn't hurt to stop in and say hello." she says, somewhat breathlessly. She takes a step. Her legs buckle. "Maybe it could." she amends.
She can barely make it to the front door. The thought of climbing the stairs fills her with dread. With a sigh, she sits down on the steps outside. Her scalp twinges. She raises a hand to it out of reflex.
Her hair is back to its new normal length, and she's sitting on it. Somehow her armor manages to make the excess hair disappear when she summons it. She wonders what kind of spell is responsible, and has to restrain herself from making a note to subject their armor to further study. Not that she isn't grateful (and curious); she just has so much else to do besides.
She hears a noise behind her. Before she can even process what it is, her heart begins to race. She struggles to her feet as the door opens.
Master Yen Sid stands there, as unruffled as ever. She wonders if he's ever been ruffled.
"Master!" Her Keyblade is in her hand. She makes an effort to dismiss it. "I- I was on my way up, I just needed to-" She inhales. "-to catch my breath. I-"
He raises his own hand. "You do not have to explain yourself, Master Aqua. Nor must you defer to me; we are equals, after all."
"Equals in rank, but not experience!" Aqua protests.
He frowns slightly, an expression borne of having had this argument many times before. "If that is what you wish to believe, then so be it." he says. "I did have a request for you, but upon seeing your current condition..."
My current condition? She tries not to bristle at his tone. "I can handle it! Whatever it is, I can handle it. I've handled worse!"
"We should not discuss this now. You must rest first; return home."
"If I return home, I'll get lost in a different project. If it's urgent, tell me!"
Yen Sid sighs. "Such is the nature of a Keyblade wielder. Strong-willed almost to a fault." He steps back, bidding her to enter with a sweep of his hand.
She tightens her jaw, taking the steps slowly and (hopefully) with dignity. Yen Sid, for his part, refrains from mentioning her 'condition' as another possible reason for her slow pace; at least until they reach his study at the top of the winding staircase several minutes later.
"There is a bedroom through there." he says, indicating a door with another sweep of his hand. "Once you have rested for a period of time that I deem sufficient, we will discuss the matter further."
She glares at him incredulously.
"Now you wish to disobey my instructions?" His voice is light despite the apparent harshness of his words.
"W- With respect Master, I think I know my own body."
"With respect Master Aqua." Aqua can't help the thrill that runs through her as she hears the title she'd strove so hard to attain, even as her own words are used against her. "I understand your desire to not remain idle in the fight against darkness, or the search for our missing friend. But you will be of little help in either matter if you continue to overexert yourself."
"Darkness." she hisses. "What do you know about darkness?"
That ruffles him. His eyes widen.
She can't even say she's sorry. She's not supposed to say things she doesn't mean. (But she is okay though. She's fine.)
They stare at each other for a long long moment without speaking until finally she spins on her heel and stomps into the side room, feeling somehow that she lost. She slams the door behind her.
She paces around the tiny room, taking solace in the sound that her boots make on the stone floor, and the fact the walls won't be able to entirely muffle that noise.
Sooner or later, she'll have to apologize. It's just what is supposed to be done.
But I don't WANT to.
So she paces, and paces, and paces. Each circle she makes stokes the billowing clouds of anger inside her mind. When she thinks she feels it slipping away, she tries finding something else to be angry about.
Lea was so obnoxious. The hot chocolate was nice, but he's so desperate to be remembered for something, anything. As somebody instead of Nobody.
Xehanort. What he did to Terra. To Ven. To me.
They left me.
They left me for so long.
So long.
Too long.
Too long. Too long in the cold and the dark.
As she opens the door, Yen Sid is standing with his back to her, staring out at the stars. He turns when he hears her approaching.
"Why?" she asks. "Why did you just leave me there?"
He closes his eyes, saying softly, "There were no other ways into the Realm of Darkness until the power of waking was achieved. Only the corridors, and none on our side could use them. It was fortunate the Nobody called Luxord chose to open one for Riku and King Mickey."
"Too fortunate." she mutters. Yen Sid is silent, so she continues. "If the Organization knew where I was, why did they wait? Why didn't they come get me themselves, to try and force me to reveal where Ven was?"
"I have pondered these questions myself. According to Riku, when asked why we should trust him, Luxord claimed that it was a gamble. He was ever fond of such." He looks back to her. "Regardless, it was Kairi's heart, resonating with Eraqus's Keyblade, that allowed you, Riku and Mickey to return. You had formed connections with both Kairi and the Keyblade in the past, and Riku traced those connections through the power of waking."
She remembers her shock at seeing that tiny child from a distant memory grown almost as tall as Ventus. She remembers all of this, to her surprise. So why is he telling it all to me again?
"It is of a former colleague of Luxord that we must speak." Yen Sid says. "But still, it will wait until you have rested."
Her anger has subsided into a handful of ashes inside her heart. She hopes it won't stay that way; contrary to everything Master Eraqus had taught her, she likes the way it makes her feel.
Without another word, she returns to the room just off of his study and closes the door again, a little more quietly this time.
In life, the creature had possessed matted black hair and sallow skin, with a symbol of dark magic branded on its forehead. Unnatural muscles helped it cleave through armies with its double-sided axe or crush skulls beneath its hooved feet. A carapace-like shell covered its upper back and shoulders, capable of deflecting nearly any blade or projectile.
But the flesh and the hair were long gone, if they ever really existed. Now all that remains is its own skull fashioned into a mask, with its four jaws howling silently into the void.
And the bearer of the mask knows the void, as much as anyone or anything can. They're not really a fan either; having to claw to safety through the vast untime will do that. Not that there's much to be a fan of, for the simple fact is that there isn't anything. That's what a void is: an absence that hungers.
But how can nothing be anything? By giving it a name, properties, it ceases to become nothing and becomes those things, even if only slightly. The original emptiness still remains, but separate from what is conceived of when those attributes are assigned.
The bearer runs a finger along one of the mask's tusks. The ends are still sharp enough to draw blood, which they take pride in doing. Embrace the uncertainty, they remind themselves. Reality is under no obligation to make sense, and neither are you.
Everything is uncertain. It's a brand new universe.
They open their arms wide.
When Aqua wakes from dreams of darkness (liquid, clinging, smothering, creeping in through her mouth her eyes her-), she doesn't know where she is at first. The room is small and impersonal, yet welcoming at the same time. She sits up, wiping the crust from her eyes and making sure it's the right color instead of the oily black from her dreams.
"Hello?" she calls, though she couldn't have said why.
The only response she gets is the door opening of its own accord.
Unbidden, her magic bubbles to the surface. She steps forward slowly, casting her eyes around the room for anything out of place.
She enters a larger room, some sort of study. When she sees the windows, she remembers, and allows herself to relax. Mostly.
Footsteps on the stairs. Master Yen Sid's unwavering gait. She envies his certainty. No. Envy is of the darkness.
He walks through the open door in front of her. "You have awoken." he acknowledges. (One thing she does not envy is his habit of stating the obvious.) "Did you rest well?"
"Of course. Thank you." She doesn't tell him about the dreams. They aren't new. "What did you wish to discuss with me?"
He takes a seat in his chair. It's almost twice as tall as he is for some reason. "We spoke of Nobodies before. It so happens that the recompleted form of one of them has become known to me. Would you be willing to retrieve her?"
"Her." That could only mean Larxene. She remembers the raw terror each bolt of lightning from the Nobody had carried with it. She can still smell the stench of burning meat after Larxene's final attack had concluded.
"Elrena. Her other self was host to a fragment of Xehanort's heart. She may remember something of his schemes. If you accept, there is a ship outside that will take you to Traverse Town, where she was last seen."
Last seen? Larxene? Get it? They rhyme! That sounded like Sora. Despite the situation, Aqua smiles. "You can consider it done."
"Excellent. You have my gratitude." He inclines his head. "Please return with her here, so that we may discuss what is to become of her."
She very nearly curtsies, correcting herself by bending down a little further to pick up some of her hair. On her way down the stairs, she activates her armor, more to be rid of her hair than from fear of attack.
As she settles into the cockpit of the Gummi Ship, she realizes that she never actually learned how to fly one of these things. She spends a good five minutes familiarizing herself with the controls. While they're not overly complicated, she doesn't think blindly pushing buttons is the way to go. It certainly isn't what she'd want engraved on her tombstone.
At last, she fires up the engines and takes off.
Traverse Town is a world between, like Twilight Town and her own Land of Departure. Unlike those two however, Traverse Town practically hums with life. There are so many people (human and otherwise) moving to and fro, buying, selling, talking, shouting, running, laughing. She has no idea how she's supposed to find Larxene in all of this.
She turns heads wherever she goes. A full suit of armor will do that. It's a small price to pay for not having her floor length hair constantly trodden on. I really ought to figure out what I want done with it soon, she muses.
Someone coughs nearby, a horrible hacking sound that seems to go on and on. Aqua starts, looking around for the source. At the entrance to a nearby alley, a figure in a plain gray cloak is doubled over, shoulders heaving. She walks toward the figure, slowly, so as to not provoke alarm.
"Excuse me. Are you all right?" she asks. The figure seems to stiffen, darting a glance in her direction before they hobble away into the alley.
Aqua knows that kind of walk. She's felt like that most mornings since 'time caught up with her': when she needs to be somewhere, but she doesn't know which part of her body will start hurting next. She watches sympathetically, at least until the figure nearly trips over something and curses in a familiar voice. Then she snaps to attention. "Larxene!" she calls.
The figure quickens their pace. They don't look back.
Aqua dashes after her, her mind and body launching into overdrive. Is she faking it? Trying to get me to lower my guard? A barrier would stop most attacks, but also stop her momentum, potentially allowing her target to get away. She readies a Blizzard and shoots it forward. It just misses her target's left foot.
They round the corner clumsily, with none of Larxene's usual deadly grace. Aqua frowns as she follows close behind. It must be her. Why else would she run faster when I said her name? She keeps going regardless, though now she finds herself thinking of less painful methods to subdue her target. She can think of at least four different spells that would work. Aero? Too widespread. Zero Gravity? The same problem. Slow or Stop would work the best, though Stop can be quite disorienting...
Too much thinking. Just act.
Summoning her Keyblade would draw too much attention, and it's only a matter of time before they find a more crowded area to try and lose her in. Aqua has to focus. She studies her target. The cloak blocks most of her line of sight, but she catches a glimpse of arms held close to the body, as if from pain. That's already slowing her down. Their legs move quickly, though the individual footsteps lack certainty. She concentrates on making their limbs slower, pictures it in her mind's eye. She'd always thought of herself as better with elemental magic, or a barrier. She wonders if she should have used a barrier around her target instead, and her focus slips. The spell wears off before it truly latches on, but it still does the trick. Her target stumbles, falls to the ground. Aqua is on top of her in an instant, pulling back the cloak. She gasps in horror.
The young woman's face is marred by an angry spidering burn that travels diagonally across it. She glares at Aqua through blue-green eyes, watery with pain. "Not living up to your fantasy, huh?!" she spits.