Keys to the Kingdom

by MiniJen

Thirteen Keys, scattered across the worlds. Whoever holds them all is destined to rule the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts. As both light and darkness scour the worlds for these keys, Sora finds himself caught between standing alongside his friends as they fight for the light and struggling against the encroaching darkness invading his own heart. KH3 AU.

43. Chapter 42: Follow the Light

So yeah here's chapter that took to long and is kinda only ok following the last one. Still, I hate to tell you it has basically nothing to do with the last one, gotta leave you all sitting on that cliffhanger just a little longer ;3 Still, if you're looking for something that ends on a bit of a nicer note, then this has got you covered. Enjoy!

---

Chapter 42: Follow the Light

Let me face, let me face, let me face my fears

It's a place that they had hoped to never step foot in again. A place where the three of them had once gathered… the place where the three of them had been torn apart. It's where they made their final fated stand, where their lives had crumbled under the cruel acts of the wicked man who stands to destroy them even still. Where everything had gone wrong all at once:

The Keyblade Graveyard.

For a moment after they emerge from the light gate Kairi had summoned for them, the most Aqua and Ventus can do is simply stand there and take it all in. In the 12 years since they'd last been there, it hasn't changed a bit. The earth is still brittle, dry, and lifeless, a hollow, decaying wind echoing through the endless rows of abandoned, broken Keyblades solemnly scattered as far as the eye can see. Yet for as still and silent as it all is now, they can both still vividly remember what it had once been like before. When they'd battled Braig and Vanitas and Xehanort himself under the full radiance of Kingdom Hearts hanging high in the heavens above. That distant day that feels so painfully recent, when they'd risked everything they had and had still lost so much in the end.

But, if fate decides to stand in their favor for a change, then today, maybe they'll have a chance at finally getting it all back.

Aqua lets out a quiet breath, steadying herself in the present as opposed to the past. She spares a brief glance down at Ventus, his eyes still sweeping over the graveyard as his expression remains tense and anxious. She can barely even fathom how he must be feeling, standing in the last place he'd seen before he fell into a forced slumber spanning over a decade. Which is why, before anything else, she makes an effort to comfort him, resting a gentle hand on his shoulder as she diverts his attention toward her instead. "Ven? You ok?"

"...Yeah," Ventus nods. His next words come out slow, pensive, as if he's trying to figure out what to say even while he's speaking. "I just… I guess it's a little… weird being back here again. I used to spend so much time here, I-"

"Wait, you did?" Aqua asks, her brow furrowed in confusion.

"Oh, that's right," he lets out something of a fake, incredulous chuckle as he shakes his head. "I never told your or Terra about the memories I got back when we were…" He hesitates briefly, glancing down as he bites his lip. Aqua is ever-patient with him, however, allowing him to proceed with recounting those unpleasant memories at his own pace. "Before I came to train with you and Terra and Master Eraqus, I, uh… X-Xehanort was my Keyblade master… H-he'd bring me here... to train."

Aqua's eyes widen at this news, her grip on his shoulder tightening protectively. "Oh, Ven…" she says, her voice low and fretful. "I had no idea. It must have been awful. I can only imagine what it might have been like… all of the horrible things he must have done to you…"

Aqua pulls him into a supportive hug at this, but even then, it doesn't fully calm Ventus' frayed nerves down. "He's done a lot of horrible things to a lot of other people too…" he mutters absently. As he does, he can't help but think about Sora and the last time he'd seen him, about the fear in his eyes, the dread in his voice, about how truly frightened he'd been by his own changed appearance. By the changes that have only been caused by Xehanort's possessive, unrelenting claim upon his heart, a claim that Ventus had tried, and unfortunately failed to fully free him from.

And yet, even if he hadn't been able to save one of his friends from his former master's powers, hopefully, it's not too late to save another.

Aqua and Ventus soon part to continue on their way through the graveyard, yet before they can even take another step, a soft, metallic clatter starts to echo through the wide valley behind them. Aqua turns first, already anticipating who's come to join them, just as it had promised. But when Ventus sees the first hints of the telltale orange and gold armor, blazing proudly in the sinking sunlight, he can't contain the burst of immediate, elated excitement that sparks through him.

"Terra!" he cries, running forward without a second thought. Aqua reaches a hand after him, hoping to slow him down so she can properly explain, but in the end she can only stand by and sigh as he collides with the suit of living armor. Tears are resting in his eyes as he throws his arms around the much taller figure, laughing joyfully as he looks up to the masked face towering over him. "I-it really is you!"

The armor says nothing at first, instead, only shaking its head as it steps out of Ventus' embrace. "No, it's not," it speaks, its voice only narrowly sounding like Terra's as it rings out through the empty winds. "Not yet, at least."

"W-what?" Ventus frowns, not understanding.

"Ven, this… isn't Terra," Aqua reiterates, her tone wistful as she joins them. "It's his armor, yes, but… he's not inside of it."

"But… then…" Ventus is still largely bewildered as he looks the armor over, wiping his tears dry. Even if they're still threatening to fall for entirely different reasons now. "How are you… you know… alive?"

"I'm what was left behind when Xehanort stole everything else," the armor explains, glancing out across the barren landscape. "The body and heart may have succumbed to his power, but the mind resists, the spirit survives. The will lingers when nothing else can… to fight for the chance to get it all back. To set it all right."

"And we will," Aqua assures, determined to do exactly that. "That's what we're here for, to put your lost pieces back together again. To make Terra whole."

"Yeah!" Ventus chimes in, just as resolved. "Let's do it!" Not wanting to waste anymore time, he rushes past the pair, though he quickly stops when he realizes he has no real idea where he's going. "Um… how exactly are we supposed to do it?"

"Before anything else, we need the body and the heart to be here," the armor calls upon his Keyblade. The familiar sight of it alone is enough to make Aqua and Ventus' hearts equally ache as the armor plants it firmly into the dry soil at its feet. "We'll stay here and wait until Xehanort brings them both. That's when we'll make our move to reclaim them."

"What makes you so sure he'll come?" Aqua asks, her expression terse and tight. "Or that he'll even know we're here in the first place?"

"The heart will know," the armor promises solemnly. "Xehanort may have control over it, but even that can't sever the unbreakable ties it has to the two of you. Those ties will lead it back to where it longs to be, with his two closest friends." Despite their reservations about this situation as a whole, Aqua and Ventus can't help but smile at such a comforting thought. That even after over a decade of being suppressed by the deepest of darkness, there might still be room for them both within Terra's captive heart after all. "As for the body," the armor continues, keeping its helmeted gaze set on the endless expanse of forgotten Keyblades before them. "It'll come for me."

"Why?" Ventus asks, curiously glancing up at the armor.

"It wants me gone," it says, its voice still completely devoid of any sort of real emotion. "Out of the picture. Xehanort knows I'm the last ounce of resistance left, the only thing keeping him from wiping out every last trace of who I used to be. If he takes me out, then he very well might do exactly that." It pauses, and in that brief moment of silence, the terrifying weight of what it just said sinks in for Ventus and Aqua. The unthinkable idea that the last few fleeting fragments Terra still has to cling onto of himself could be obliterated so very easily, that they could lose him altogether before ever even coming close to getting him back. And yet, as if sensing their rising dread, the armor counters that alarming thought with one that's far more hopeful. "Which is why I'm taking him out first. For over a decade I stood here in silence, unable to do a single thing to undo the fate that had condemned me to a lonely exile here. But now… that's all about to change."

"The last time the three of us were here," Aqua speaks up, seemingly on a different tangent entirely. "The odds were stacked against us. Xehanort never gave any of us a chance at a fair fight back then… But this time, we're facing him on our terms, not his. This time, things will be different, I'm sure of it."

She slowly slips her hand into the armor's cold, unfeeling one, imagining a moment that feels both far away and very soon when she might feel the treasured calloused warmth of Terra's hand in hers once more. Ventus mimics the action, taking the armor's other hand as he looks up at it with a resolved, steady smile.

"He may have torn the three of us apart here before," he says, every single word sincere. "But this is where we're coming back together too. We're not leaving without your body and your heart. We're not leaving without you, Terra."

The armor doesn't shift at either of these earnest vows. Instead, it gently pulls its hands away from them, returning them to rest on the hilt of its Keyblade as it focuses its attention back on the dusty path ahead. Yet even so, it still shows the pair it's gratitude, at least as much as it's able to in its current form. "Aqua… Ven… thank you," is all it says just shy of falling back into is usual stoic silence once more. "But for now, all we can do is wait."

So, that's exactly what they do.

There's no telling when Xehanort will arrive with Terra's stolen body and heart in tow, the armor makes that much very clear. It remains quiet, contemplative as it stands guard, its hands poised upon its Keyblade, its long cape flickering in the arid wind. At first, Aqua and Ventus stand dutifully alongside it, but as minutes wear into hours, they both soon become restless.

Aqua is the one to take a seat first, surprisingly, but she makes use of the idle time well. She closes her eyes, rests her hands on her knees and meditates, a pastime she'd admittedly fallen out of practice with during her often chaotic time in the Realm of Darkness. Master Eraqus had taught her the technique practically at the start of her training, and she lauded his advice, still valuing its ability to clear her head and calm her thoughts. It's the most she can really do to ease her ebbing anxiety now, at the crossroads of either getting Terra back… or losing him forever.

The stakes are high, she realizes, too high, just like they always seem to be for her and her friends. For all the mistakes Terra might have made in the past, for even his role in helping Xehanort take their beloved master's life, he still didn't deserve an ounce of what he's gone through. He didn't deserve, doesn't deserve to have his body used as a vanguard for evil, as a tool to carry out the whims and wicked intentions of someone he'd once vowed to stand against. He doesn't deserve to have his heart locked away in a cage of sheer malice, to have it poisoned by darkness and despair with little hope of ever escaping. He doesn't deserve to have his mind wander aimlessly in an empty, unfeeling metal shell, his thoughts and memories remaining, but dull and dimming to the point that they might as well be lost along with his heart and body too. The Terra she knew had been torn to pieces on that tragic day over a decade ago, and even now those pieces are still scattered, still in need of lining up in the hopes that they still might somehow fit together, even after all this time apart. And in much of the same way, Aqua can't help but wonder if she'll still fit with Terra after all this time too.

Twelve long years have passed since the last time they saw each other as they both are truly supposed to be. Twelve long years that feel like a lifetime to her… but certainly must be like an eternity to him. For as scared as she is of the possibility, however unlikely or not, that they might not be able to save him, she finds herself fearing what might happen even if they do. What will he say when he's himself again? What will he do? What will he think when he sees her again? Will he greet her with that sweet smile that makes her heart swell with unbridled warmth… or will he coldly turn her away for failing him for so very long? She won't at all blame him if he does; after all, if she was in his place, she'd likely do the very same thing.

And yet, some small, foolish, heartsick part of her dares to hope that he'll be just as happy to see her as she'll no doubt be to see him. That all the years and pain that had kept them apart will simply wash away the moment their eyes meet, and that the new tide that follows in its wake will bring a better, brighter dawn right along with it. A dawn that's brought on by the words she's always wanted to say to him, by the feelings she's never made known, by the love that she's finding she can no longer keep contained.

And, if they do find their way back to each other again, then she'll be sure to set it all free. For him, for her, and for the future they might just finally get to have together after waiting for it for so very long.

While Aqua meditates, Ventus tries his best to remain vigilant, standing guard alongside the armor. Eventually though, after two hours of silent standing, he eventually caves and takes a seat upon the sunbaked earth himself. He glances up at the armor, half tempted to try and make conversation with it, but he ultimately decides against it. For however much this armor may belong to Terra, he has to keep reminding himself that it's not Terra, at least not completely. It bears his memories, yes, but what good are those memories without the body they belong to, without the heart that makes them whole?

So instead, Ventus lets his thoughts wander as he watches the dull, unchanging landscape before them. He wonders if Sora has made it back to the other lights by now, if his long-kept secret has finally been fully revealed. He can only imagine the kind of fall out they'll return to, with everyone in an uproar over a problem that, by all accounts, has no easy solution, if any at all. And yet, perhaps perhaps Sora's fate isn't as bleak as he fears it might be. After all, if there's a chance at freeing Terra's heart from Xehanort's control, then perhaps the same sort of thing could be done for Sora too. True, the circumstances are quite different; Terra's fall into the master's power had been stark and immediate, while Sora's is slow and gradual. But as long as there's hope, even just a small, wavering spark of it, then there's a chance to set everything that Xehanort has made wrong right. There's a chance, Ventus chooses to believe, will never stop believing, no matter what happens, to save the friends his former master has and is trying to take away.

He steals another glance up at the armor, remembering the day he'd first seen Terra fly away in it well, the day all three of them had left their home behind to try and find out what fate had in store for them. Ever since he'd awakened from his lengthy slumber, Ventus hasn't been able to keep himself from wondering what might have happened if they'd never left at all. If they'd stayed, safe and sound, in the Land of Departure with each other and with their master. Would their master still be alive today? Would they have all ascended to the same lofty rank as Aqua had on the day of that fateful exam? Would they have been spared from the past decade of loss and grief and separation? Would they have still stayed together instead of letting themselves be torn apart like they had? Perhaps they'll never get to know what could have been and perhaps it doesn't even really matter in the slightest. Because there's no turning back the years they lost, no use in wishing that they hadn't gone to waste. All they can do is move forward now. And in doing so, just as the armor said, all they can do now is wait.

Until…

The armor suddenly moves several hours later. Aqua opens her eyes at this, her meditative concentration broken by the soft metallic clatter. She looks over to the armor curiously, noticing as its grip tightens on its Keyblade ever so slightly.

"Someone's coming," it finally speaks, nodding up toward the horizon ahead.

Aqua slowly rises to stand, noticing that Ventus has nodded off in the idle hours that have gone by. "Look alive, Ven," she wakes him, urging him to rise too. He does so, albeit a bit groggily, but he forces himself to stand firm when he hears what Aqua says next. "We're not alone out here anymore…"

Sure enough, they're not. A lone figure approaches them from the distance, largely an obscured silhouette at first thanks to the dust sweeping over the landscape. Once it clears, however, and once that figure walks just a bit closer, they're able to see who's walking their way. And when they do, neither Aqua nor Ventus can contain the sheer, sharp shock that sparks through them both.

"Terra!" they both gasp, their call for him echoing across the surrounding graveyard. "Terra" stops at this, but does little else. He doesn't say a word, doesn't even glance up at either of them really. But even just the sight of him alone is enough to prompt Ventus into action.

"Ven, wait!" Aqua calls after him, but he doesn't heed her. Instead, he runs, hope rising in his heart with every step he takes closer to "Terra". He stops just shy of him, grabbing his hand and grinning up at him as he takes a look at his face, at his familiar blue eyes, however oddly empty they seem to be, at his telltale brown hair, despite how strangely faded it is. None of that matters to Ventus however, not when there's a chance that their reunion with the real Terra might finally be here after all.

"Terra, i-is… is it really you this time?" he asks, fighting back tears all the while.

Aqua feels the already persistent pit in her stomach grow when she doesn't hear "Terra" answer. She glances toward the armor, still as a statue beside her. It doesn't seem to react to "Terra's" presence in the slightest, almost as if it doesn't even know he's there. Even so, she's quick to step forward in its stead, slightly pulling Ventus away from him, just in case.

"T-Terra," she winces as she says his name. Even 12 years on, he looks exactly the same as he had the day she'd lost him, the progression of time lost on him just as it had been on her and Ventus. He doesn't meet her gaze and the void, unintelligible expression he's wearing isn't lost on Aqua in the slightest. She exchanges a brief, worried look with Ventus before she continues. "Please… say it's you who's in there and not… s-someone else…"

But still he doesn't speak. And to Aqua, his continued silence alone is enough to speak volumes about what's really going on here.

She shoves Ventus back, perhaps harder than she should as he ends up falling to the dry ground. Within seconds the Master's Defender is in her hand, and she wastes no time pointing its tip directly at "Terra's" exposed chest. "You can't fool me," she says, her voice cold as ice, her glare every bit as piercing. "I know you're not him, Xehanort."

His expression finally changes at this, shifting into a smug, leering grin that has no place on Terra's face. But it hangs there all the same as his eyes turn from blue to yellow, as his hair is overtaken by a snowy shade of white. "Perceptive," he speaks, and his voice isn't his own in the slightest. "Just as you were the last time we met, master…"

Aqua stands her ground, fury rising within her at the mere thought of this malevolent force using his body as a mere puppet for its ill intent. "I'm through playing your games," she hisses, her grip on her Keyblade tightening. "Get out of his body and set his heart free. Now."

"My apologies," his smirk widens as his golden eyes seem to shine with a lust for violence. "But I'm still using them both."

What happens next unfolds in an instant. Aqua doesn't even see the darkened Keyblade form in his hand before he swings it at her, wide and fast. Though she's armed to defend herself against it, ultimately the strike is blocked by another blade instead.

The armor holds strong against the force the vessel's Keyblade applies against its own. The moment "Terra" (or Xehanort, Ventus in particular finds himself having a hard time keeping track) notices the armor's intervention, his smile turns to a scowl as genuine surprise fills his tone. "What?!"

"Got you, Xehanort," the armor says and if Aqua and Ventus didn't know any better, they'd almost think it sounds satisfied. It pushes Terra-Xehanort back a good several feet, taking on an offensive position as Aqua and Ventus both rise to join him.

"You…" Terra-Xehanort glares hatefully at the armor as he regathers his composure. "The one piece that refuses to fall in line with all the rest, even still. The mind that resists even long after the heart and body have been subdued… the Lingering Will…"

The armor, or the Lingering Will rather, regards its stolen body coolly. "How long I've waited for this moment…" it aims the tip of its Keyblade at the vessel. "Your time is up. I'm taking back everything you stole from me… no matter the cost."

"Wretched spirit," Terra-Xehanort sneers crossly. "If you dare to defy the power I possess over every other part of you, then you must be destroyed. And the two of you," his already contemptuous expression darkens as he glances over at Aqua and Ventus. "Shall share the same fate too."

Not wasting any more time on words, the vessel charges forward, his feet not even touching the ground as he lunges at the trio as he reels his Keyblade back for a brutal blow. The Lingering Will is the one to meet it, keeping him distracted long enough to allow Aqua a chance to go in for a side attack. Ventus covers her, using a bit of well-cast ice magic to deflect the meteor spell Terra-Xehanort sends their way. His darkened Keyblade clashes with the Lingering Will once more, even as Aqua bashes the dull side of the Master's Defender into his side. He barely flinches, however, even under such a powerful blow, and instead retaliates, knocking Aqua off her feet with a wide, sweeping kick to her ankles. Ventus rushes forward in her stead, leaping high to land a solid blow from above. And yet, Terra-Xehanort catches him off guard, shoving the Lingering Will back just shy of not only deflecting his attack, but beating it back with a painful swing of his own.

"The three of you really came here, thinking you could defeat me?" Terra-Xehanort laughs, looking between the trio as they try to recover from this hectic first round. "How pathetic. Just look at yourselves: a boy who cast himself into a decade-long slumber, a master who wandered aimlessly in a world of endless shadows, and this miserable empty shell? Not a single one of you could save yourselves from your own fates; what hope do you possibly have to save him from his?"

"We have hope," Aqua says sternly as she rises to stand again. She remembers what Fairy Godmother had told her on the night of the ball and choses to hold fast onto that sound advice now more than ever. "We believe in ourselves and we believe in Terra. And that's more than enough to get him back from you."

"If you believe in him, then you believe in someone who no longer exists," Terra-Xehanort says, his tone haughty and mocking. "The Terra you knew died the day his heart was cast into the darkness. This is all that remains of the person he used to be," he motions over to the Lingering Will, who holds its Keyblade high as it prepares for the battle to begin anew. "And the moment I obliterate that miserable thing from existence, then every last trace of Terra will fade away right along with it, like a dying ember that's finally set to burn out."

"No!" Ventus cries upon hearing such horrific claims, unable to bear the very thought. "We won't let that happen! We'll stop you, w-we'll save him, we'll-"

"Easy, Ven," Aqua advises him, knowing that they can't afford to lose their nerve this early on into the fray. "You're wrong," she says to Terra-Xehanort, her manner resolved and unflinching. "The only one who's going to burn out here is you."

With this, she races forward once more and this time, the Lingering Will joins her. Their Keyblades both collide with Terra-Xehanort's at the exact same time, a massive impact that causes just about every speck of dust in the surrounding area to be blown back. When it all finally settles, Ventus looks up to see the rapid brawl unfolding before him. Aqua and the Lingering Will exchange a round of heavy, unforgiving blows with Terra-Xehanort at a relentless rate, with the former pair taking turns at trying to cut the vessel down. Aqua favors magic, casting as many spells as she can, from ice to keep his feet anchored to the ground, to lightning to try and shock him into submission. The Lingering Will backs her up, keeping Terra-Xehanort's Keyblade from ever touching her as it takes the brunt of every swing he tries to take at her. It feels no pain and is every bit as strong and sturdy as the vessel itself is, so it largely turns into a stalemate of a fight, even as Ventus charges ahead to join the fray.

He sweeps in low to try and slash his Keyblade against Terra-Xehanort's knees, only for the vessel to anticipate the move and kick him aside hard. He lands, his ribs bruised from the heavy impact, and the moment Aqua hears his pained cry, the momentum of the battle is thrown off completely. She doesn't hesitate in rushing to Ventus' side, forcing the Lingering Will to hold Terra-Xehanort off alone in her stead. It manages to hold its own quite well nonetheless, its Keyblade slamming against its foe's repeatedly as they surge against each other throughout the surrounding graveyard, each of them intent on taking out the other. No matter what it takes.

"Ven!" Aqua quickly pulls Ventus over to a safer spot, hurrying to cast a healing spell over his injured midsection. While it works to ease his physical pain, it hardly does anything however to quell the tide of doubt and fear welling up within him.

"A-Aqua, what if… what if he's right?" he begins breathlessly, shaking his head as he looks back to the brawl before them. "What if getting Xehanort out of his body isn't enough? W-what if… what if Terra really is gone for good…?"

"He's not," Aqua says immediately, without even needing to think about her answer to such a question. She grips him securely by the shoulders, her tone steadfast and firm as she looks him straight in the eye. "Ven, listen to me. Terra isn't gone. Do you know how I know that?"

Ventus casts a brief glance over in the Lingering Will's direction. Aqua follows his gaze and nods. "Well, yes, but I know he's not gone because he's here," she skims a hand over her heart before gently placing her fingertips over Ventus'. "And here. The three of us have an unbreakable connection; we carry each other in our hearts, no matter how far apart we might be. No matter what happens, we'll always find our way back to each other."

Aqua extends a hand to help him back up, offering him a reassuring smile all the while. Ventus initially hesitates to take it, his worries about Terra's fate, about their chances at ever getting him back still swirling thick and poignant within his heart and mind. But with those worries comes something else, the recollection of a promise he'd made to Terra, a vow he'd made to be there when his friend needed him most. And by all accounts, Ventus can't think of any time when Terra might have needed him more than he does right here and now.

"Yeah," he finally smiles, accepting Aqua's hand. "We will."

After all, he's never broken any promise he's made to Terra before. And even if he might be a few years late, he's not about to break one now.

The pair return to the battle right on time to see the Lingering Will be tossed back by an immense burst of incredible darkness from Terra-Xehanort. The armor lands hard against a nearby rock formation, maintaining its form but still sustaining quite a bit of damage in the process. Its left arm is torn off completely by the severity of the strike, not much of an injury considering there's no body beneath its metal exterior, but still an incapacitation all the same. And as they both witness it happen, as they see this cruel man start to wear down what little of Terra they still have left, they refuse to let him tear apart any more.

They charge for him at the exact same moment, unleashing a rapid barrage of swings and spells as they try to knock him out at most and restrain him at the very least. Certainly, once they accomplish one of those things, that'll buy them enough time to figure out what they need to do to purge the darkness controlling his body and poisoning his heart. And yet, when it comes to his heart…

"It's not here," the Lingering Will tells Ventus as he draws to the sidelines of the fray to catch his breath.

"What's not?" he sends the armor a quizzical look.

"The heart," it explains, watching as Aqua continues to fend off Terra-Xehanort. "He didn't bring it. The only heart he has is the one that's inside of his body: Xehanort's."

"I-I don't understand," Ventus shakes his head. "If Terra's heart isn't inside his body, then… where is it?"

"...I don't know," is the only answer the Lingering Will is able to give. "But without it… this won't work."

Despite this claim, the armor plunges itself back into the battle all the same. Ventus lingers on the sidelines for another moment or two, another burst of dread coursing through him as he tries to make sense of what he just heard. The Lingering Will had explained that all three lost pieces of Terra, his body, mind, and heart, all had to be gathered in the same place for him to be whole, to become himself again. But without his heart, how can they possibly hope to make that happen?

"We'll find a way," Ventus whispers to himself, remembering what Aqua just told him. He reaches his free hand into his pocket, finding his treasured Wayfinder within it as he holds it close to his heart. "We'll find a way," he repeats, taking in a deep breath before he bounds back into the battle. "For you, Terra."

With this solemn resolve in mind, Ventus charges forward into the fight once again, managing to actually catch Terra-Xehanort off guard with a surprise strike to his back. The vessel lets out an infuriated shout of pain, but Aqua doesn't give him a chance to retaliate as her Keyblade meets his once more. The Lingering Will takes this opportunity to rush in with a unique attack of its own, its Keyblade shifting into a long-range whip, the heavy tip of which crashes into Terra-Xehanort's side as the armor lashes out from a distance. He counteracts that with another burst of dark magic, which the Lingering Will deflects as its Keyblade changes shape again, this time into that of a sturdy shield. The vessel doesn't get a chance to try again as both Aqua and Ventus ram their Keyblades into his, launching into a series of rapid strikes and parries that Terra-Xehanort is only able to fend off by blowing them both back with a wide wave of powerful darkness.

Despite the force of this wave however, the Lingering Will stands firm, rushing in to catch both Aqua and Ventus before they're tossed too far away by it. Terra-Xehanort takes notice of this rescue, just as he's been noticing how the armor's been the one protecting the pair from sustaining any major injuries in this battle so far. And through that observation, he quickly devises a plan, one that's meant to put an end to that meddling spirit and everything it represents, once and for all.

He starts as soon as the opposing trio is back on the ground again. This time, he openly lets them rush towards him again, even going as far as lowering his Keyblade when they approach. As he anticipates, Ventus is the one to go in for an attack first, but his swing never lands. Because instead, Terra-Xehanort reaches out just in time to latch a firm grip onto his Keyblade, stopping it squarely. It catches Ventus off guard so much that he's unable to stop the vessel from tearing his weapon out of his hands and tossing it aside, before he just as quickly reaches out to grab him by the neck. Ventus can only let out a choked gasp as Terra-Xehanort hoists him into the air, his steady, unbreakable hold tightening around his throat, despite his best efforts to struggle free from it.

"Ven!" Aqua shouts, racing forward to rescue him. Her approach, however, is instantly halted as Terra-Xehanort calmly holds up a hand to stop her, putting the vulnerable position he currently has Ventus in to good use. "Let go of him!" Aqua orders fiercely, filled with both fury and fear as she hears Ventus let out another strangled cry. "I'm only going to warn you one more time, put him down right n-"

"Shhh…." Terra-Xehanort cuts her off. His voice ominously quiet as a falsely gentle smirk spreads on his face. "I believe it's time for young Ventus here to go back to sleep permanently. Perhaps you'd like to join him this time, master…"

Aqua grips her Keyblade so tightly upon hearing this that her knuckles turn white, her hand shaking as her rage rapidly begins to boil to the surface. She doesn't even notice as the Lingering Will falls in line next to her, clearly looking for some sort of opening in this dangerous situation where she can't seem to find one. "Y-you…" she stammers, scarcely able to speak, much less think. If she could, she'd rush in to free Ventus from the vessel's deadly hold in an instant. But with his life quite literally held in Terra-Xehanort's merciless hands, that's not a gamble of a move she's willing to make. "You monster!" she hisses, hating this man so much, hating how he's already taken Terra from her, and now threatens to do the same to Ventus too. But of course, that's not all he's willing to take from her either.

"A Keyblade master wielding your key in anger? Shameful," the vessel muses, his smile widening as he clenches his hand even tighter around Ventus' already constrained windpipe. " Perhaps a more fitting fate might be for you to return to the shadows you so recently emerged from. Certainly another decade in the Realm of Darkness will be more than enough to purge any last ounce of light from your already dimmed and fading heart."

"N-no," Aqua shudders, her voice coming out much weaker than she would have liked. "I am never going back into the darkness again. A-and even if I do, then it won't overwhelm me, not again. I won't allow it."

Terra-Xehanort lets out a small, sadistic laugh as he holds his Keyblade up, a heavy aura of darkness forming around its tip. "I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice…"

Aqua doesn't even have a split second to prepare herself for what happens next. By all accounts, it happens far too fast for anyone to even anticipate. That is, save for Terra-Xehanort himself.

"Aqua!" She hears the Lingering Will shout her name, sees it's armor-clad form leap in front of her, watches as it launches its Keyblade at Terra-Xehanort, striking him hard enough to finally release Ventus from his suffocating grip. And…

She can do nothing as that burst of destructive darkness hits the now-defenseless Lingering Will in full force. As it rips through its hollow husk of a body, through whatever sense of sentience, whatever mind or memories might remain within it. As it takes the brunt of a blast that had been meant for her… and is torn apart entirely by it.

She stands, frozen in horror for what feels like an eternity, even as the darkness fades and the onslaught is over. Ventus weakly lifts his head, skimming a gentle hand over his injured throat as he watches the armor begin to collapse, falling to pieces with nothing to hold it together any longer. Its helmet lands at Aqua's feet, and she somehow manages to retrieve it, her hands trembling as she carefully lifts it toward her. And as she stares into its dark glass visor and sees only her distraught reflection looking back at her through it, that's when it truly hits her.

The Lingering Will, the only shred that had still existed of who Terra used to be… is gone.

A scream tears from Aqua's throat as she collapses to her knees, hugging the helmet tight to her chest while she sobs over the armor's remains. Ventus sits up, tears already brimming in his eyes as he stares on in dumbstruck horror, not even caring that Terra-Xehanort is still standing only a few short feet away from him. Nothing else could possibly matter to either of them anymore, not now. Not when the only piece of Terra they had left has been so viciously destroyed right before their very eyes.

"At last, that loathsome spirit is no more," Terra-Xehanort coldly concludes, as if to rub salt in the agonizing wounds torn across both of their hearts. He turns away from them both, a dark corridor forming in the distance before him as he briefly glances back at them once more. "Because seven lights are still required for the fated clash to come, I will allow you both to leave with your lives, for now. Return to your fellow guardians to morun the one you have lost… as well as the one you are about to lose."

While this final remark is largely lost on Aqua amidst her heartbroken sobs, Ventus hears it clearly, a cold spark of fear running through him as he does. But with that fear comes anger, fury even, so raw and vibrant that he's scarcely felt anything like it before. Because how dare this horrid man, his former master, take such sick, sadistic pleasure in doing something like this. How dare he steal Terra from them to use as his own twisted puppet, how dare he destroy the last lingering remnant they had to hold onto of him, the remnant they needed to truly make him whole. And how dare he stand eager and ready to do it all again to someone else, to someone like Sora, someone so noble and kind and good, someone who Ventus knows from experience doesn't deserve such a torturous fate in the slightest. How dare Xehanort carelessly, callously hurt so many people he cares about, including himself all those years ago, simply for the sake of satisfying his own selfish ambitions.

And above all else, how dare he continue to keep on getting away with it.

No more, Ventus thinks, his breathing shallow as he slowly rises to stand. His entire body is shaking with fury as his Keyblade finds its place back in his hand, hot tears still streaming down his cheeks as he faces the vessel's retreating back. "Xehanort!" he shouts between gritted teeth. His voice comes out ragged and hoarse, but it's loud enough to stop his foe all the same. "You got what you came here for. But we're not letting you leave until we get what we came here for, until you give back what you stole from us. We're not leaving without Terra!"

Aqua glances up at this, tears brimming in her eyes and the helmet still cradled in her arms as she looks at Ventus incredulously. For his part, Terra-Xehanort simply scoffs, offering him a smug, condescending grin as he turns to face him.

"Pitiful child," he mocks unsympathetically. "How many times must you be told before you understand? The person you're seeking is nothing more than a mere memory now. There is nothing you, or anyone else can do to change that fact. Why not save yourself the time and the tears and simply give up?"

"Never," Ventus hisses without a second of thought or doubt. "I don't care how hard it might be or how long it might take, I will never stop trying to save Terra. I'll never stop calling his name until he can finally hear me. I made Terra a promise, and I'm going to keep it. No matter how much darkness you might try to surround him with, I will light his way home!"

"So will I."

Aqua carefully sets the helmet on the ground alongside the rest of the armor as she pulls herself to stand. Her own Keyblade forms in her hand as she faces Terra-Xehanort, wiping her tears dry while she fixes him with an unrelenting glare. "You're not going anywhere," she commands, taking a bold step forward. "We still have unfinished business. I fell into darkness, and for over a decade I wandered through the shadows. But every step along the way, I kept hoping I'd find my way back to fix everything that you had broken. And now… I'm finally here. And I only want one thing, with all of my heart." She stops only a few feet from the vessel, aiming her Keyblade directly at him as she locks eyes with his falsely golden ones, determined to look closer, to search for the one hidden behind them. "Xehanort… we're casting you out of Terra forever!"

This brazen proclamation echoes through the wasteland in the silence that follows. For what seems like far too long, Terra-Xehanort's expression is unreadable as he stares at the end of the Keyblade aimed at his chest. But eventually, the dark corridor he had summoned disappears. And as it does, he calls upon his wicked Keyblade once more, intent on giving them both exactly what they're asking for. "Very well," his nearly constant smirk returns as he offers them both a patronizing glance. "If death is the path that you both have chosen, then I'll be more than happy to guide you along to it."

Before either Aqua or Ventus can make their first move, Terra-Xehanort sweeps his arm out wide, a massive wave of darkness spiraling out from it. This darkness weaves between the pair, exploding outward to create a sprawling fog of ink-like shadows. And in those shadows, Aqua and Ventus all too quickly lose sight of each other completely.

"Aqua?" Ventus glances around, gripping his Keyblade tightly. And yet, on all sides, the only sight he's met with is the unbreakable cloud of immeasurable darkness, making it a challenge to see much of anything at all. "Aqua!" he calls, wondering why she can't hear him. After all, the distance between them hadn't been that great when Terra-Xehanort had cast this indivisible veil upon them. But even the vessel himself is nowhere to be found, prompting Ventus to stay on guard in the event that a surprise attack might be launched against him. And yet, what he is confronted with instead catches him by surprise every bit as much.

"Ventus…"

He freezes, his eyes wide at the mere sound of such a familiar voice saying his name. He squints to try and get a better view through the shadows as a dark silhouette slowly approaches him. "V-Vanitas..?"

The figure stops just as it finally becomes a bit clearer. If it is Vanitas, then he's clad in a stark black coat, complete with a hood that conceals his face completely. He stands almost perfectly still, several feet away from Ventus, who grips his Keyblade just a bit tighter as he remembers well the hateful threat his other half had made upon his and Sora's lives the last time they met. "What are you doing here?" he asks, narrowing his eyes distrustfully.

A moment of uncertain silence passes before Vanitas speaks. When he does, his voice sounds different than it usually does, lacking the sharp ire it usually carries as something almost akin to sadness flows through his words instead. "Ventus… why did you leave me…?"

"W-what?" Ventus flinches, his brow furrowed in confusion. "I… didn't leave you. Xehanort-h-he was the one who split us up… remember?"

"No," Vanitas shakes his hooded head. "You left my heart. You said you wanted to protect me; but if that's true, then why did you leave me behind?"

"I don't understand," Ventus frowns. "I never-" He cuts himself off on a gasp as he finally realizes why "Vanitas" is saying this, why "Vanitas'" voice sounds so strange. Because the person he's talking to isn't Vanitas at all. "Wait…" he takes a step back in anxious alarm. "...Sora?"

He finally lowers his hood, allowing Ventus to see his now fully white hair, his now completely golden eyes, the now miserable expression hanging on his face as he stands there, now entirely conquered by the darkness he'd tried so hard to fight against. "Sora, h-how… what happened?" Ventus dares to ask, his voice barely rising above a tight, terrified whisper. "I thought you were going back to the others to get help, why are you-"

"I'll tell you what happened, Ventus," Sora interrupts him, his voice and expression both darkening. "I let you out of my heart, and without you there to protect me from the darkness, it overwhelmed me. I never had a chance to save myself on my own. I belong to Xehanort now, Ventus." Tears stream down his cheeks as he summons a Keyblade-not the Kingdom Key, but the very same dark weapon Terra-Xehanort wields. "And it's all because of YOU!"

Ventus only barely has enough time to raise his Keyblade to block the heavy starting strike Sora sends his way. His stance wavers, tears starting to brim in his eyes too as he takes in just how far Sora has fallen, just how fast it's all happened, how wrong everything's gone. "I-I'm sorry," he chokes, struggling to stand strong as Sora brutally shoves his Keyblade against his own. "I should have never let you leave that last world-I should have gone with you. I didn't think this would happen this quick, I-"

"You should have known how little time I had left," Sora counters coldly, his golden eyes blazing with anger and pain. "You were inside my heart, you saw how bad it was getting! But when I needed you most, what did you do? You took the first opportunity you had to escape, without even caring about what that might do to me. And now that you're gone, look what I've turned into. You could have stopped this, Ventus. You could have saved me. But you didn't even want to try."

"I did want to try!" Ventus argues as he finally manages to push Sora back. "I did everything I could to help you, Sora, even after I woke up! But how can anyone help you if you won't even let them?!"

Sora says nothing to this, instead slowly approaching Ventus once more, the tip of his twisted Keyblade digging into the ground all the while. "I would have never let you out of my heart if I knew this was what would happen to me…" he says, his voice low and bitter. "You'll never know just how much I'm suffering, how much it hurts to lose every part of yourself like I have… You'll never understand… Unless..." His hateful scowl slowly shifts into a dark, twisted smirk, something that looks so-ill fitting on Sora's face that it practically makes Ventus sick. "I put you right back in here," he skims his heart with his free hand, his wicked smile widening as he does. "Where you belong…"

Ventus lets out a stark, loud cry when Sora strikes him; it's not a finishing blow, but it certainly is a painful one. His shout echoes through the shadowy fog, breaking the empty silence filling it and allowing someone else trapped within it to hear even just the faintest hint of it. "Ven?" Aqua spins around in the direction of his cry, even as it fades off into silence. "Ven!" she shouts, gripping her Keyblade as she runs through the shadows to find him. She doesn't get very far however, before she's suddenly struck squarely in the abdomen by some unforeseen blow. She stumbles back, clutching the wound and glancing up just in time to see none other than Terra-Xehanort himself emerging from the mist before her.

"I'm afraid Ventus is preoccupied with our newest member," he says with a confident, knowing grin. "But if you'd like, I'd be more than willing to give you something to do while you wait for him…"

"I'm sure you would," Aqua scowls before she charges at him. He easily deflects her first swing, and for a while, they continue exchanging blows at a frenetic pace, neither of them wavering or slipping up in the slightest. At some point, their Keyblades slam into each other again and this time, they both maintain pressure, with Terra-Xehanort pitting his formidable strength against Aqua's endurance and fortitude. And of course, in an effort to wear both of those things down, he begins his cruel, cutting round of rhetoric anew.

"It wasn't that long ago that you were steeped in shadows too, weren't you?" he asks with a broad, knowing grin. "After over a decade of waiting and wandering alone, your heart succumbed to darkness, and with your resistance worn down to nothing, you became a sellsword to its power. But you barely spent enough time within its throes to understand the true potential."

"I didn't need to spend any more time like that than I already did to know how awful it felt," Aqua shoots back crossly. "The darkness didn't provide me any kind of power I ever wanted to have. It was a prison, it trapped me, chained me to my despair and hatred. It blinded me from who I'm really meant to be… and it made me into a monster, just like you."

"Ah, but many monsters are more useful than they might seem," Terra-Xehanort muses calmly. "Take the Heartless, for example. Mere creatures of nothingness on their own, but when given a proper purpose, rallied under the right command, they can amass an army few can ever hope to stand against. The darkness found you right when you needed it most, Aqua. It made you strong when you were at your weakest point. And with the right hand to guide you along your way, it could make it so you'll never know another moment of weakness again as long as you live…"

"I already told you," Aqua says between gritted teeth as she shoves her Keyblade even harder against his. "I'm not interested."

"I don't believe I ever asked if you were to begin with," Terra-Xehanort says succinctly before making his move mere seconds later. He pulls his Keyblade back from Aqua's, but he doesn't give her a chance to land an offensive strike against him before he thrusts his free hand out toward her. An incredible burst of darkness launches out from it, a flood of shadows that hits Aqua squarely in the chest, in the heart as it continues pouring out from the vessel's outstretched hand. Her agonized scream echoes through the fog as its frigid chill floods through her body, sharp and searing as its suffocating malice enshrouds her, like poison pouring through her very veins. She's felt this before, recognizes the horrific sensation all too well. After all, it's hard to forget the way she felt when she lost touch with herself entirely.

Her Keyblade falls out of her grip as that malevolent energy holds her aloft, engulfing her entire body in its toxic aura. It paralyzes her completely, leaving her unable to escape it, much less move at all, though not for a lack of trying. She can barely breathe, her eyes burning with oncoming tears and her ears ringing with the sound of her own pained screams. As she suffers, Terra-Xehanort simply smiles, watching with sadistic satisfaction as his darkness corrupts her, casting the light out of her heart all over again and leaving only twisted shadows in its place. It corrupts her from the inside out, her appearance beginning to match the emerging monster within. Her hair lightens, turning to a pale shade of blue before it shifts to white entirely. Her azure eyes flicker golden, a darkened shade seeping up her arms and legs as her fingertips sharpen into blood-red claws. Even her clothing becomes torn and tattered, dark blues and blacks taking the place of her usual much lighter, calmer colors. When her treacherous transformation is finally complete, he at last releases Aqua, allowing her to collapse to the ground, breathless and worn by such a drastic, dramatic change. Even still, he doesn't let her rest for long before he moves to stand over her, grinning triumphantly down at the lost light before him all the while.

"So, 'master'," he says, watching as her crimson claws dig into the ground at his feet. "Are you finally ready to accept your proper place by your beloved Terra's side?"

When Aqua glances up at him, her eyes are a blazing, burning, glowing gold. Her trembling body calms itself, adjusts to the malevolent energy that's been so forcibly thrust into it. And as she allows herself to welcome that power and all that it offers, a wicked smile spreads across her face to match Terra-Xehanort's own. "Yes," she says, accepting the hand he holds out to her. "I am."

Ventus doesn't see any of this happen, is barely aware of anything else at all as he continues blocking the brutal blows Sora sends his way. But what he does hear amidst the din of their one-sided brawl, is Aqua's screams, ringing out loud and anguished through the vast fog surrounding and separating them both.

"Aqua?" he freezes, his eyes wide as his attention darts toward the direction of her continued cries. "Aqua!" He yells in apt alarm, yet before he can even take a single step to chase after her, another swipe from Sora's Keyblade quickly cuts him off. "S-Sora, please," Ventus appeals to him, his tone earnest and desperate. "This has to stop. Aqua's in trouble, I need to get to her. You need to let me through so I can-"

"So you can what?" Sora interrupts, a bitter, hateful scowl filling his features. "'Save' her like you promised you'd save me? I see how it is; you're so protective of your real friends and so careless with your fake ones, aren't you?!"

"It's not like that, Sora," Ventus sternly insists. "You know it's not! You are my friend and I do want to help you, just like I want to help Aqua. But I-"

"But I'm just not worth your time or your energy, am I?" Sora shoots back as he aims the tip of his Keyblade at Ventus, his tone cold and accusatory. "That's why you left, isn't it? Because you figured I was a lost cause anyway, so why even bother trying to save me, right?"

"N-No," Ventus shakes his head, trying his best to fight back the guilt starting to swell through him upon hearing such claims. They're not true, he knows they're not, and yet… his heart still finds room to wonder if they just might hold some small shreds of truth all the same. "Sora, I… that wasn't-"

"After all the years I kept you safe inside of my heart," Sora continues, his eyes shining golden with hatred and hostility. "This is how you repay me? By letting me rot in the darkness, just standing by and watching while I'm forced to become Xehanort's slave?!"

"No, j-just listen, please, I-"

"Then again, what was I expecting really?" Sora scoffs as the very tip of his Keyblade lightly skims Ventus' chest. "Even if you'd stayed, nothing you could have done would have ever stopped this. You can't save me, you can't save Aqua or Terra, you can't even save yourself… You're weak, Ventus. Just like you always have been, and just like you always will be…"

Ventus draws in a tight breath at this, as he glances down at the weapon grazing his body and catches a dull glimpse of his own reflection in its dark metallic surface. His eyes are green, just as they have been ever since he'd awakened; and as he remembers the reason for why that is, he also realizes that not a single word that Sora-that Xehanort-is saying to him holds any weight whatsoever.

"No," he says simply, calmly pushing the edge of the offending Keyblade away. "I'm not."

Sora seems genuinely caught off guard at this, but this time Ventus doesn't allow him the chance to get a word in edgewise before he continues. "You kept my heart safe inside of yours for 12 years, Sora. And the moment your heart was threatened, I didn't hesitate to leap into action to do whatever I could to protect it. I fought day in and day out to keep the darkness in you from spreading; I even went as far as letting some of your darkness into my heart to try and slow it all down. And even now that I'm out, I won't stop fighting to save you, just like I won't stop fighting to save Terra. I'm not giving up until every last one of my friends is free from you, Xehanort."

He turns away from Sora at this, his expression steady and brazen as he faces Terra-Xehanort, standing directly behind him, instead. "I suppose must give you some credit at least; you're more clever than you appear to be, boy," the vessel smiles, almost as if he's pleased that Ventus has seen through his illusion as he casts it away with a mere flick of his wrist. Ventus forces himself not to turn around as the fake Sora disappears into the darkness; instead, he chooses to hope that the real Sora is safe and sound in the protection and care of the other guardians of light. To hope that the real Sora is still somehow holding on to even a small semblance of himself.

And yet, not all is well. For as the fog clears and the familiar brittle grounds of the graveyard come into view once more, something, or rather someone is startlingly missing. "W-where's Aqua?" Ventus asks, keeping a tight hold on his Keyblade as he glares up at the vessel. Terra-Xehanort doesn't answer, his cruel grin growing as Ventus quickly becomes more desperate, especially as he remembers the downright heart-shattering scream he'd heard from her mere moments ago. "Where is she?! What did you do to her?!"

"See for yourself." Terra-Xehanort steps aside. And as he does, he allows Ventus to see what's somehow happened to Aqua in such a short amount of time.

His first thought is that it's another illusion, another trick created by Terra-Xehanort to trip him up, just as Sora had been before. But the fog is gone, and only one Aqua is standing before him. And absolutely nothing about that Aqua is anywhere close to right.

Her eyes are golden, her hair white, her clothes dark and her hands malformed into claws. A sinister smile rests on her now ruby lips as she steps forward to join Terra-Xehanort, standing with him instead of against him. When Ventus realizes that fact, he takes a stumbling step back, his eyes widening in horror as he looks between both of his now-corrupted best friends.

"A-Aqua, what…" he trails off, not needing to finish. He already knows the answer as a distant memory floods across his vision, a glimpse of something his heart had caught through Sora's eyes instead of his own. This has happened to her before, when she'd lost her light and had given in to the endless shadows she'd been surrounded by for over a decade. He couldn't blame her for it, not after how long she'd held out and fought to stand strong against it, and he can't bring himself to blame her for it even now. Because clearly, much like Terra before her, she clearly didn't have a single ounce of say when it came to the pall of malice that's been cast upon her heart all over again.

"I've finally made peace with the darkness, Ven," Aqua says, still wearing a calm, easy smile, as if nothing was wrong when everything so clearly is. "I've accepted all of the true power it has to offer me. And through it," her smile widens as she slides her hand into Terra-Xehanort's. Ventus is practically sickened as he takes in such a distorted sight. "I've found my way back to Terra; I've found where I belong."

"B-But… no," Ventus shakes his head as he continues backing away from the pair. "This… isn't right, Aqua. You know it's not."

"Right or wrong, what does it matter as long as we're together again?" Aqua shrugs, her expression awash in twisted bliss. "Why don't you join us, Ven? Nothing could ever separate the three of us ever again if we're connected by the bonds of darkness instead of light…"

"I-I… I can't-"

"You can," Terra-Xehanort assures, a newfound burst of darkness blooming over his hand. "You've already welcomed a touch of darkness into your light-filled heart. What's a bit more to even it all out?"

Ventus drops his Keyblade when his back hits one of the surrounding canyon walls. Tears are starting to find a place in his eyes once again as the full weight of this unbearable situation hits him. Aqua's Keyblade is out, clutched tightly in her free hand as her other hand remains willingly locked in Terra-Xehanort's. The vessel holds his own free hand up, darkness still swirling around it, a devastating power he fully intends to infect Ventus with just as he's already done with Aqua. It's something he wants no parts of, a false promise to reunite him with his fallen friends at the cost of his own freedom. But as outnumbered and outmatched as he is by them both, he knows he's hard pressed to even try and fight back to win that freedom. At least when it comes to fighting physically.

"Aqua, please," he pleads, hoping he'll have an easier time at getting through to her than he would to Terra-Xehanort. "Y-you have to snap out of it! Your heart is stronger than the darkness, you're stronger than the darkness, I know you are!"

"Oh, Ven," Aqua lets out a small, mocking laugh. "When will you finally realize there is nothing stronger than darkness?"

"What a pity," Terra-Xehanort adds just as condescendingly. Ventus presses his back against the wall behind him, completely cornered and largely powerless to defend himself against the corrupting attack the vessel plans on unleashing at him at any given moment. "You came all this way, hoping to get your poor, long-lost friend back… only to lose another friend and yourself in the process."

"N-no," Ventus shakes his head, a few of his pressing, terrified tears finally falling. "Please, I-I… t-this isn't how this was supposed to go…"

"You poor, naive child," Terra-Xehanort chuckles darkly, aiming his hand directly toward Ventus' heart. "Certainly you must know this is how this was always fated to end…"

"You don't need to worry anymore, Ven," Aqua assures. Her voice almost sounds comforting, almost sounds genuine as her smile softens somewhat. "This will all be over soon. The three of us will finally be together again. I promise…"

Ventus can do little but let out a shuddering sob, his Keyblade refusing to come to him, not that it would do him any good if it did. Because if someone so much stronger than him, so much more resilient and resolved like Aqua herself could so easily be overwhelmed by darkness and hatred, then what hope does he have to resist any of it himself?

So instead, he braces himself for the inevitable, his mind screaming silent apologies at both Aqua and Terra for failing them both. He nearly closes his eyes in what he knows will be the last few fleeting seconds he has to stand within the light. Yet right before he can fully accept his tragic fate, he happens to catch something out of the corner of his eye. Something so brief and subtle that he almost misses it entirely.

He sees Aqua wink at him. And smile.

And then, in a movement so swift that no one sees it coming, she swings her Keyblade out. And strikes Terra-Xehanort squarely in the chest.

He doesn't see it coming until the dull edge of the weapon slams into him, hard enough to knock him off his feet completely. Aqua gives him no time to even register what's happening before she points the tip of her Keyblade directly at him, keeping him essentially pinned to his place on the ground.

"What do you think you're doing?!" he exclaims, every bit as surprised as Ventus himself is at this unexpected turn.

Aqua maintains her confident smile, which widens as light begins to spark over its tip instead of darkness. "I believe," she says as the gold in her eyes starts to break, their natural blue brimming through them once more. "I'm proving you wrong."

"Impossible!" Terra-Xehanort summons his Keyblade, swinging it widely. Aqua skillfully deflects the blow before resuming her previous stance, making sure that he doesn't get another chance to directly threaten Ventus again. "You succumbed to the darkness, my power overwhelmed every part of you! How can you possibly stand to resist it still?"

"Because you miscalculated," Aqua narrows her eyes at him, her tone steady and unwavering. "The darkness might be able to distort my body, it might be able to warp my mind, it might even be able to corrupt my heart, but it can't break my spirit."

She finally pulls away from him, allowing him to stand, though she doesn't move her Keyblade away from him in the slightest. "I hit the very bottom before, lost every shred of hope I used to have," she continues, the gold fading from her eyes more and more with each passing second. "But even then, even when I was drifting in the deepest depths the Realm of Darkness had to offer, there was still a light left to guide my way home." She offers Ventus a warm, genuine smile as he rushes to her side, allowing him to see her hair slowly return to its usual vibrant blue, her clothes mending themselves back to normal, her claws disappearing and her skin resuming its normal shade as the veil of shadows finally fades from her completely. "I'm still following that light; I've spent every single day since I've been back inching my way closer and closer toward it. I won't stop chasing after it until I've finally reached the life that lies beyond all of the pain and misery the darkness brought me. And I won't stop fighting until everyone I care about, everyone I love, has found their way there too."

"Neither will I," Ventus speaks up, his Keyblade returning to his grip. "Face it, Xehanort. Nothing you can do will ever get either of us to give up on Terra. We'll keep on fighting to save him from you, even if it takes us the rest of our lives!"

"I see…" Terra-Xehanort muses darkly. He looks between the pair before him with nothing less than absolute hatred, something the real Terra would never show either of them in the slightest. "If neither of you can be of use to me, then it seems I have no choice. You say you'll fight for the rest of your lives? Then I'll save you the trouble by cutting both of those lives mercifully short."

Though both Ventus and Aqua are more than prepared to stand their guard against the vessel, what he does next is something neither of them could have anticipated. He throws both of his arms out wide, and the moment he does, thick, blackened chains burst up out of the ground surrounding both of his opponents. The pair does their best to block their advance, slashing and swiping away at the chains in the hopes of breaking them apart. Yet the more the dispel, the more keep coming at them, until eventually, one set finally manages to coil tightly around Ventus' waist, constricting to a painful degree almost instantly.

"Ven!" Aqua shouts upon hearing his pained cry as the chains swiftly hoist him high into the air out of her reach. As distracted as she is by his plight, she fails to see another set rush at her from behind until it's too late. Her Keyblade is tossed from her hand, her arms restrained as the chains swiftly spiral around her. Within seconds, she's dragged up alongside Ventus, left to struggle and strain against the suffocating binds that only tighten the more they try to escape from them.

"Resist all you'd like," Terra-Xehanort encourages above their pained cries and shouts. "You'll never be able to break these chains. They're our bonds, as endurant as your stubborn spirits, but far stronger than your capacity to survive them. Which won't be for too much longer, I'm sure."

Aqua and Ventus say nothing to any of this, mostly since they're not able to. The chains threaten to crush them completely, latching around them from their tosos to their necks in an effort to strangle them slowly, torturously. Ventus tries freeing his hand to use his Keyblade while Aqua attempts shouting spells to save them, but even that does nothing to release them. Terra-Xehanort observes all of this from his spot on the ground with a sense of sadistic satisfaction, pleased with the fact that the two who came to so brazenly oppose him will soon be no more.

And, to ensure that's exactly what happens, the vessel calls upon a bit of extra muscle to get the job done. On his unspoken command, his guardian, a massive, Heartless-like monster, emerges from the shadows, hovering right behind him as it comes to grip the binding chains tightly in its large, clawed hands. Its arrival largely goes unnoticed by Aqua and Ventus, both of them finding it a challenge to even breathe at this point as the chains grow taunt around both their necks. Still, in what very well might be their shared dying moments, they do what they can to act on their final, fleeting resolve. To call out to the only one who could still stand to save them yet.

Even if their own efforts to save him have failed.

"T-Terra!" Ventus cries out first, his voice wavering as his throat is slowly crushed all over again. "I-I know you're still in there somewhere! You have to be!"

"Y-your heart," Aqua adds, involuntary tears sparking in her eyes as her vision begins to blur. "P-please, Terra… Your heart has to follow the light… i-its the only way to find your way back to yourself… a-and to us…"

"You still believe there's any shard of him left to be salvaged, even now?" Terra-Xehanort lets out a twisted, incredulous laugh. "The mind has been obliterated," his icy smirk widens as he steals a glance at the Lingering Will's discarded helmet, still sitting afar in the distance on the brittle ground. "The body has become mine, and the heart has been cast into the eternal void of emptiness. Don't you see? Your mission here was a failure before it even began. And now, it's over, much like your very lives are about to be. Farewell… friends."

"N-No…" Ventus barely manages to get out, his voice soft as he struggles to speak at all. "I-it… it can't be…" A tremulous sob tears through his damaged throat, his vision blurry and bleary as he feels his body growing numb, his senses starting to fail him completely. His heart breaking as he realizes that he'll never get a chance to save Terra, or Sora, or anyone else for that matter. But… at the very least… "Terra…" he whispers as he finally closes his eyes just shy of succumbing entirely. "I kept my promise…"

"T-Terra," Aqua echoes morosely, her eyes already shut as tears continue streaming down her cheeks. She imagines him, the way he's supposed to be, not the wicked corruption that stands far below them. She envisions his kind smile, his steady voice, his gentle touch, everything she's yearned for but has gone without for the past 12 years. And on the cusp of losing those things forever, of losing her very life, she finds there's only three unspoken words that she still has left to say to him. "I… I love you…"

Terra-Xehanort hardly regards either of these final, soft spoken statements as the pair grows still and silent in his chains. And yet, where he doesn't hear them, someone else manages to catch what they'd said, the words that had been meant solely for him and him alone.

And when he hears them… his heart heeds them both.

The vessel is all but ready to revel in his violent victory. Yet just before the chains can sap the life out of his listless victims entirely, something shifts to thwart that victory altogether. His guardian moves, disappearing from its usual position behind him to act entirely on its own accord. It acts with such speed that Terra-Xehanort scarcely has any time to react as its clawed hands slice through his dark chains, shattering them instantly. Now free from their hold, Aqua and Ventus' unconscious bodies begin to limply plummet through the air, at least until the guardian sweeps in to catch them both far before they can hit the ground. The moment it does, it turns back towards its 'master', issuing him a brutal golden-eyed glare as it holds the pair tightly, protectively.

"You dare to disobey me?" Terra-Xehanort seethes as his Keyblade flashes into his hand. "Despicable creature! When will you finally learn, your heart's place is under my power!? Destroy them both this instant or you will pay the ultimate price!"

The guardian narrows its eyes as the vessel, refusing to follow these vicious orders as it instead does the exact opposite. It gently lowers Aqua and Ventus to the ground, ensuring they're both safe and sound before it turns its attention back to its former master. In an instant, the guardian appears directly before Terra-Xehanort, latching a tight, unyielding grip around his neck as its other hand begins clawing at its own face. Or rather, at the bandages keeping its mouth covered, keeping his voice silenced for the last 12 years straight.

It tears them away in one swift, sudden movement before it catches the swing Terra-Xehanort tries making at it. And then, for the first time in over a decade, he speaks the two names he's held closest to his heart, even after the darkness had dissolved everything else away. "A-Aqua… Ven…"

By now, Aqua and Ventus have begun to stir, their bodies bruised but not broken from the bonds that nearly killed them both. Aqua is the first to slowly sit up, her eyes widening as she watches the bewildering scene play out in front of her. But when she hears that voice, even as it comes out of the mouth of a shadow-bound monster, she knows exactly who it belongs to.

"T-Terra…?" she whispers, scarcely able to do anything else.

For its part, the guardian keeps its focus, making sure that the vessel is properly restrained as it summons the strength to speak once more. "O-one day… I… will set… this right…" As it says this, it raises his other hand, and as it does, Terra-Xehanort hears the sharp clanking of metal behind him. Aqua and Ventus both gasp, amazed, as Terra's armor begins to mend itself back together again until it resumes the form it carried before.

The Lingering Will stands strong in the aftermath of its return, it's Keyblade flashing into its hands as it charges forward to join the guardian. As the heart and the mind fight together to take the body back once and for all.

The guardian echoes its resolved refrain and this time the Lingering Will's voice joins it as it runs forward to the fray. "One day… I will set this right," they speak together. Their voices are the same, unified in their determination to at long last right this decade-old wrong. To finally follow the light back to where he truly belongs. "I will return to this land… and protect my friends!"

"Terra!" Aqua and Ventus are on their feet the moment they see him, his form shimmering with newfound light as he hovers just before the guardian. His face is etched with years-long anger and steadfast resolve as his heart continues to hold his body securely in place, despite the vessel's furious attempts to escape his hold.

"How?!" Terra-Xehanort shouts hatefully up at the heart. "You fell into darkness, how could you possibly-"

"No amount of darkness could ever keep me from protecting what matters most," he smiles, Terra smiles at Aqua and Ventus as he says this. The pair is beside themselves in far too many emotions to count, but they still heed him well when they hear what he has to say next. "It's time for you to go, Xehanort. Aqua! Ven! Now!"

They don't even need to ask what he wants them to do. They act on instinct, on their sheer shared drive to finish this here and now, to bring back what once was lost. Their Keyblades appear in their hands, and they're quick to aim them at the vessel, pure light forming around the tips of both weapons to purge the darkness within him. That light strikes his body squarely, and at the very same time, the Lingering Will acts on the same accord, plunging its own Keyblade deep into the guardian's back.

Terra's image fades just as the guardian does, and Lingering Will disappears in turn along with them. Two bright sparks remain when they're gone, however, and both of them are quick to pounce upon the body as Aqua and Ventus' light continues to hold it in thrall. A fierce shout, shared by two entirely different voices, pours out of his mouth as he doubles over and holds his head, his hair flickering rapidly between white and brown. The most Aqua and Ventus can do now is stand by and watch as the battle over the body rages on, this time solely from within.

Eventually, the body grows still and silent. For what feels like ages, Aqua and Ventus wait in a tense, uneasy silence to see what might happen next. Neither of them are sure if it's safe to approach him, so they stay where they are, their Keyblades both still in hand, just in case. When his hair color finally settles on its formerly natural brown, they ease up a bit, at least until they hear a low, haunting laugh in a voice that clearly isn't his own.

"G-Get out…" his true voice breaks that laughter, his head still hanging low. He pulls it up slightly, one eye shining gold, the other one a dull, darkening blue. A bitter grin rests on his face, one that wavers into a strained grimace every few seconds. The voice that comes out of his mouth next is breathless and broken, but still conveys an ominous message all the same. "V-very well… y-you win, boy... The loss… o-of this long-kept vessel… will be of l-little consequence… After all… t-there's a much more worthy vessel to be claimed… one who's already o-on the verge of taking his proper place… w-within our ranks… t-the final vessel… the most important of them all…"

Ventus flinches, a horrifically familiar burst of fear surging through him when he hears this. Because he knows exactly who he's talking about, exactly how far Xehanort's supposed final vessel has already fallen into his hands. And yet, he's quick to remember that Aqua doesn't know, hasn't been let in on the promise he'd made Sora to keep it all a secret. Which is why he can only feel guilty when she speaks in suspicious confusion to the vessel's final sinister claim.

"What?" she asks, narrowing her eyes at him. "Who-"

"I said-" he suddenly grasps at his chest, cutting her off as his true voice takes dominance once more. "GET OUT!"

And this time, that's exactly what happens.

A blinding burst of light overtakes the entire surrounding graveyard, purging every inch of darkness in its wake. Dense silence fills the air as it dims, and when their vision clears, Aqua and Ventus find that the only one who remains standing before them in its wake, in the wake of everything they've been through in the battle they just fought… is Terra.

His breathing is slow, calm and steady when he opens his eyes. The gold in them is gone, but so is the blue that they had once been home to. Instead, they're brown, a warm, earthy shade that stands as a reminder of the long-fought, hard-won war he'd waged against the shadows inside of him. He meets Ventus and Aqua's equally tearful gazes and simply smiles... just shy of collapsing to his knees.

"Terra!" Aqua and Ventus finally break the silence, both of them rushing toward him. He presses his hands against the ground, his body weak and worn as he struggles to settle back into it, as he tries to remember what it's like to be in control of something that's always belonged to him. Something that's been stolen from him for far too long and something he only has back because of the pair that he suddenly realizes is embracing him now.

"A-Aqua…" he says, still getting used to the sound of his own voice again. Still, he looks over at her when she buries her face into his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck as she lets out a heaving, happy sob. Ventus isn't really capable of keeping it together either as he clings onto his arm, caught somewhere between laughing and crying or both. "Ven," Terra greets him with a light chuckle as he slowly manages to return both of his friends' fond hugs.

"Y-you're back!" Ventus exclaims brightly, still holding tightly onto him. Largely out of fear that if he doesn't, he might somehow slip away from them all over again.

"I am," Terra nods, smiling warmly all the while. His eyes are rimmed red with oncoming tears and after over a decade of not being able to feel much of anything at all, they're something he gladly welcomes. "Thanks to both of you. Y-you never gave up on me, even after all this time…"

"How could we have?" Aqua pulls back a bit, but still lingers close. One of her hands finds a comfortable place against his arm, her other skimming his chest softly. He feels his newly-reclaimed heart skip a beat when it does. "We're not complete without you…"

"It's like Aqua said before," Ventus adds, pulling his Wayfinder charm out of his pocket. "There's an unbreakable connection between the three of us. No amount of time or space could ever keep us apart."

"Not even Xehanort himself can anymore," Aqua wholeheartedly agrees. She holds her own charm aloft at this, though her smile finally falters when she sees Terra glance away almost guiltily. "What's wrong?" she asks gently.

"Uh… I… don't have mine anymore…" he mutters, closing his eyes in shame.

"Your… good luck charm?" Ventus infers, frowning.

Terra nods, letting out a small, sad sigh as he does. "Xehanort broke it. I-I don't remember when. Probably as soon as he realized I even had it one me after he-"

He cuts himself off sharply, pressing a hand tightly against his chest. Aqua is quick to cover it with her own, however, giving it a light, reassuring squeeze. "Hey, it's ok," she says, her voice quiet and caring. "I'll be more than happy to make you a new one."

Terra's former smile is quick to return at this. "Thanks," he says as he moves to interlock his hand in hers. "But you know… even without it, I guess I still managed to find my way back after all…"

"Yeah, you did, and it was amazing!" Ventus says with a spirited grin. "You saved us both and then you saved yourself! Same old Terra," he elbows the older boy playfully. "Just as strong as you've always been."

"No," Terra shakes his head. "Strength had nothing to do with it. All I did was exactly what you said, Aqua. I followed the light, your light," he looks between them both at this. "And it led me right back to both of you. Back to where I've always belonged."

They all pull in close to each other for another contented embrace, but when it ends, Ventus is the one who ends up voicing a bit of his own regret this time. "Terra? I-I… I'm sorry…"

"For what?" Terra asks, raising a confused eyebrow.

"F-for following you back then, even when I knew I shouldn't have," he sighs morosely at the memory of his own childishness, his own stubbornness. Both traits that he can only hope he's managed to grow past now, especially after over a decade of slumber to serve as punishment for them. "A-and for being the reason why you and Master Eraqus fought. And for making everything so much worse than it was already. I just… I-I wanted to be-"

"I know," Terra ruffles a hand through his hair, his smile kind and understanding. "But if you ask me, Ven, you're well on your way to becoming much stronger than I've ever been. And I couldn't be prouder, especially since you kept your promise. You really were there for me when I needed you most."

"And I always will be," Ventus assures as he playfully pushes Terra's arm away. "I promise-again."

Aqua smiles as the boys let out a shared, cheerful chuckle, her heart practically soaring to be sitting here with them both by her side once more after so very long. She's spent 12 long and lonely years waiting for this moment to finally arrive. And now that it's here, it's all she could have ever hoped for and then some.

It somehow manages to get even better when Terra focuses his earnest gaze on her next. His eyes may be brown now, but she finds they're still every bit as kind and calming as they'd been before, his smile still just as soft and sweet as she's always known. Since her return to the Realm of Light, she's been back to visit her old home in the Land of Departure. But only now that she's here in his arms again does she truly feel like she's finally home.

"Aqua?" he speaks, his voice a hint softer than it had been seconds ago.

"Y-yes?" she returns, trying to ignore the sudden rush of warmth flowing through her face.

Terra hesitates, gripping her hand with both of his now. His own cheeks flush just a bit redder, his heart pounds a bit louder in his chest and he cherishes it, cherishes the feeling of simply being alive again, of being himself and being able to see her, to speak to her, to touch her, to even just be near her again. He might have taken all of those things for granted before, but for as long as he lives, he knows that he never will again. Not after he got so dangerously close to losing them before.

"D-did… did you really mean… what you said back there?" he asks, his voice only barely above a whisper. He knows he shouldn't press her about this, knows there's a million other questions he should be asking her instead. But his foolish, stubborn, downright desperate heart still has to know all the same.

She takes in a deep breath, choking on a small, awkward laugh in spite of herself. It takes her only seconds to realize she's out of her depth here, that she's never done anything remotely close to this before, though not for a lack of contemplating it for so very long. Her heart is racing, her face burning up and her eyes welling up with tears that she doesn't even try to hold back. But she nods all the same, letting her heart speak for her as the words fall out, free and full. "Y-yes," she admits as her free hand skims the side of his face. Her touch is just as feather-light as it's always been, and Terra leans into it, sighing contentedly as he listens to her and happily holds onto every last word that follows. "I-I did… I do… Terra, I-I…" she hesitates, but only for a moment. The last moment before she tears the walls around her heart down once and for all, finally allowing him to see how she truly feels.

"I love you," she tells him, meaning every last word with every fiber of her being. "I've always loved you, even back then. I-I just… I was afraid. Of so many different things, so few of them even made any sense at all, but now… I-I'm scared anymore… not of my feelings for you, or of anything else…"

"I knew it!" Ventus whispers, a huge, elated grin on his face as he looks between the pair, his long-held theory confirmed. Still, he sits on the sidelines, more than happy to watch this beautiful exchange between his two best friends finally unfold.

"Neither am I…" Terra reaches his hand up to skim the back of her neck, his fingers lightly lacing through the ends of her hair. "I love you too; I'm sure I always have. You've been my light in the darkness from the very start, Aqua... and I promise, I-I'll never lose sight of that light again."

"You'll never have to…" she whispers as she draws in just a bit closer to him. "Because from now on, I'll be right here beside you, to walk with you every step of every day…"

"And from now on," he leans in as well, to the point that barely any space remains between them at all. "Wherever we go, we'll go together. As long as I'm here, you'll never have to be alone again…"

"Promise?" she asks even though she knows he already means it.

"Promise," he vows with every inch of heart.

And on that sweet, soft spoken promise, they share their first kiss.

Ventus looks away, allowing them their privacy as he stifles a satisfied sigh over what's finally flowing between the pair so freely. Terra guides Aqua closer to him and she leans into his loving embrace, her fingers lacing themselves loosely behind his neck. They stay like that, together and triumphant in their now-realized love, for quite some time. And even after their first kiss ends, their hearts remain blissful and bright at the thought of the many more kisses still to come.

When they finally leave the graveyard, they go together, just as Terra had promised. They leave this place that had separated them, that had scattered them across worlds, that had torn them away from each other all those years ago. They leave the pain of their past behind as they prepare to embrace whatever the future may hold for them, not a single one of them afraid of what it may bring. Because from now on, whatever comes their way, whatever darkness or danger they might still yet to face, they know they'll be able to stand strong against it…

So long as they stand together through it all.

---

Awwww, wholesome! Aqua and Terra are adorable and I'm 100% here for Wayfinder Family Sweetness. However, next time around is gonna be... well... let's just say we're picking up where the last chapter left off... ;3 Anyway if you can't wait to see what'll happen next, then please feel free to leave a REVIEW letting me know what you think! Until next time!