A/N: Sorry for the long wait! If you follow me on AO3, you'll see I've been writing a ton still, it's just been for other fandoms that I don't crosspost here. Anyway hopefully this chapter answers a lot of questions!

When Vanitas and Aqua found their way back through the giant white door, the castle looked exactly as they'd left it. White. Empty. With no context clues, Vanitas had no way of knowing if they'd actually returned to their own time.

"I can't tell either," Aqua said out loud. Their hand brushed the ridges of the doorframe, but the architecture told them nothing.

"Assuming we are back… what do we do now?" He hated asking, but it wasn't like he could choose on his own, even if he knew what he wanted.

Destroy Kingdom Hearts, or protect it. If they chose wrong, the worlds would end.

"No pressure, huh?" He chuckled.

"And we need to find a way to separate our hearts," she added.

Right. That.

"We should probably head back to the Keyblade Graveyard before we worry about—"

He cut off as a stabbing pain shot through him. What—what was going on?

"Vanitas?" Aqua asked in their voice. Their body—her body—didn't respond to the pain.

He was on fire. He was drowning. He was decomposing; he was compressing to a single point.

He was becoming nothing.

"Vanitas, what's going on? I can't—I can't feel you!"

Aqua closed their eyes, plunging them back into their joined heart. Everything looked fuzzy, but he thought he could make out her face staring at him in panic.

"Vanitas, say something!"

"Hurts," he croaked out. His own voice sounded far away.

"I've… I have a potion in here somewhere…" She ruffled through her commands.

Her hands briefly left the incomplete X-Blade, but Vanitas couldn't even consider making use of her slip. He simply clung to the weapon with everything he had.

"Here." She pressed a cold green vial to his lips. He wasn't sure how that even worked inside their heart. It didn't matter, though—it didn't do anything.

"I… screwed up," he grunted, squeezing his eyes shut. All he'd seen before was emptiness, anyway.

He'd thought nonexistence was supposed to be painless.

"What do you mean, you—you think we messed up the timeline? If we… oh light, if Ava stopped the you in the past from possessing Ven—"

"Probably." He let out a wheeze. It felt like his lungs were being crushed under an anvil.

After everything, he was just going to disappear. All because he'd screwed with time. He wouldn't even get to die dramatically in the X-Blade War.

He wouldn't even get to eat another crêpe.

"Shut up about crêpes for two seconds!"

Huh. That thought had been loud enough for Aqua to feel it, even though their connection seemed severed. Either that or he'd accidentally talked about crêpes out loud.

"We're going to—we're going to fix this. I'm going to fix this."

Aqua grabbed the X-Blade again, and he cried out as the light blinded him. He wasn't dead yet, though. It was just the inside of the castle.

"...Why?" He got out through their lips. "You'll… be free…"

Their body froze. Aqua had to be thinking about letting him disappear. She'd be stupid not to.

"...If you're disappearing, it might mean that Ven didn't make it out, either."

It seemed like a weak argument, but what did he know? His brain was probably half mush by now. He was losing his connection to Aqua's body; her lungs no longer gave him breath. How did that even work? If he was nothing, he didn't need to breathe.

He felt like he was suffocating anyway.

Aqua was doing… something. He could barely feel her limbs moving, but he was sure she was moving quickly.

Then suddenly the whiteness disappeared. In its place was a broad, flat expanse of brown. His vision slowly came back into focus, though their eyes pricked with dust.

Their eyes. He could feel their body again.

He took several gasping breaths, though their body didn't lack oxygen.

Are you alright? Aqua thought frantically. Slowly her consciousness brushed up against his, until he could feel her panic through more than just their racing heartbeat.

He laughed with their voice. "Not too eager to get rid of me?"

He could feel her again. That meant he could feel the turbulence of her emotions, emotions she couldn't put to words.

I don't want you to vanish from existence, if that's what you're asking, she finally said.

He decided to leave it be. Believing she actually cared about him… that could get him in trouble real fast. She might not hate him, but that didn't mean she wanted him sticking around.

"Where'd you take us this time?" He asked, though as he looked over the edge of the plateau, he already knew the answer. Only one place had this much stifling dust.

The Keyblade Graveyard.

I just used the first card I could find, Aqua said. I hoped it would take us back to the past, and I guess it worked. Otherwise you'd still be disappearing, right?

"Hell if I know," he muttered, rubbing their eyes and squinting out at the horizon.

He realized he did know. The crags of the Graveyard weren't quite so worn; the flatlands below lacked their deep craters. More obviously, they were missing the thousands of dead keyblades.

The Keyblade War hadn't happened yet.

If it hasn't happened… then we're in time to stop it.

Vanitas blinked at Aqua's thought. One time screw-up, and he'd nearly been erased. There was no telling what stopping a whole war would do to the timeline.

What else are we going to do? We have to make sure Ven survives, or you'll both disappear. We can't return to our own time until we save him.

Ugh. She was probably right, as much as Vanitas hated it. At least she seemed nervous about the idea too.

"I'm not destroying Kingdom Hearts," he said firmly. "We find this Keyblade War. We protect Ventus. We get out."

Agreed. Anything else is too risky.

As if summoned by their thoughts, portals began to open on the flatland below. Hundreds of them released hundreds of keyblade wielders onto the plains. They clumped together in five groups, each with a masked leader at the head.

The Foretellers, Aqua thought, as if it wasn't obvious.

Vanitas couldn't deny his curiosity. Xehanort had talked about the Keyblade War, but never in enough detail to be useful. He should've guessed the sheer scope of it from how many dead blades usually littered the graveyard. Somehow it was different seeing their wielders in person, though.

He'd expected to feel a rush at the thought of the approaching fight, but it just seemed so… pointless. What did any of them expect to get out of it? Power? The elusive Kingdom Hearts? Crêpes?

Whatever they wanted, they wouldn't get it. They were just going to end up dead.

"That's… horrible," Aqua whispered. It was an understatement, but he didn't have any better words. "Are you sure we can't stop it?"

The figures below were already summoning their keyblades. If Vanitas squinted hard enough, would he be able to make out any he recognized?

"I'm sure," he said gravely.

He carefully took control of their body, crouching at the edge of the cliff. Gazing down, picking apart the armies of kids, searching for one familiar boy.

He was going to save himself. All the other world-shattering decisions would have to wait.

XXX

Dual wielding was harder than it looked.

Terra swung the keyblade of heart like a club, knocking back another clump of… whatever those monsters were. Not Unversed. Not Heartless. He'd never seen anything like them, not even in the Master's history books. They looked almost human, in the same way a lightbulb was almost a star. Dark, twisted imitations, with eyes that glowed a toxic yellow.

He tried not to stare too closely. It was easier if he kept the monsters at arms' length, batting them with one keyblade, slicing them with another. Whatever they were, they left only wisping darkness behind.

And yet they kept hissing for light.

"Give me Lux!" one growled, leaping onto Terra's back. He snarled and pried it off, using the keyblade of heart like a crowbar. The hook cut into the creature's face below its eye, leaving a dark gash like it was crying.

He finished it off with a blast of Firaga.

He was never going to get to Kingdom Hearts at this rate. The moon called to him, filling his blood with a reckless energy. But it wasn't enough to take down the endless swarm of monsters. There were just too many of them, even if most were focused on the pillar Xehanort had raised from the earth.

Terra had expected a war. He should have expected an army.

Gritting his teeth, he slammed both keyblades into the ground, blowing the monsters back with the shock wave. It gave him an opening to smack his damaged shoulder plate and re-summon his armor. The monsters would just pry it off again if he gave them the chance.

He wouldn't give them the chance.

He ran. Towards the hordes, not away from them. He'd be leaving himself surrounded, but it didn't matter. This wasn't a mission he could retreat from.

Even if he wanted to fall back, he doubted the moon's pull would let him.

Monsters lashed at his heels. He sliced through them like butter. Momentum built up inside him, pulsing through his boots, carrying him up the side of the pillar. Through the tide of monsters. Over the edge.

Where a group of keyblade wielders were backed against a wall of vines, facing the mindless horde.

"Hey! More backup!" A kid with a tall mullet beamed. His keyblade sounded like a broken guitar when it whacked a monster away.

"Strelitzia, now's your chance!" A pink-haired boy shouted. "I'll give you a boost!"

"On three, you take her spot," a girl with a shock of yellow hair told Terra.

Their voices swarmed over him, hard to process with the hissing monsters behind him. The yellow-haired girl made it easier by shoving him into position. From there the fight was just like before, only he was attacking the monsters from the high ground.

"One," the pink-haired boy said. With a thrust of his keyblade, the vines grew taller.

"Ready!" Another voice called. It sounded feminine, but the source was above Terra—on top of the vines?

"I thought I was supposed to wait for three?" Terra asked.

"Eh, whatever. Just don't die, alright, new guy?" The girl gave him a grin that was probably meant to be assuring. Probably.

"He's got two keyblades," the first kid said. "I don't think you gotta worry about him."

"Three!" Pink kid gathered magic, surrounding himself in bright light. Terra saw the remnants of an ether tumble under his feet.

The platform rumbled, and the vines soared heavenward.

"What's going on?" Terra asked while fighting for his life. The swarm was even more vicious here than down below, but he managed to secure his corner of the platform.

"Strelitzia's going to take down Kingdom Hearts," the girl said grimly, "or die trying."

"Heh, better her than us, right?" The first boy said.

"She's not going to die," the other boy growled.

Terra stopped paying attention. Blood roared in his ears. A monster clawed through his shin guard, but he barely felt the pain.

Whatever the cost, I'm willing to pay it.

He jabbed Ends of the Earth into the mass of vines.

"Hey—hey, dude, what are you doing? Those plants are on our side!"

Terra didn't bother to answer. He had to reach Kingdom Hearts before Strelitzia did. These strange keyblade wielders couldn't destroy his last hope of saving Aqua, of bringing back his Master—his Master… wait, why would Master Eraqus be gone? Terra had fought him… but why? He wouldn't… the Master was like a father to him…

He shook his head, and let the fire of his rage consume those thoughts. He couldn't afford to waste time now.

He wouldn't fail again. Kingdom Hearts was his.

He leapt onto his blade, using it as a springboard to soar up towards the mysterious Strelitzia.

XXX

CLANG.

The keyblades collided like a crack of thunder.

Or the peal of a bell. Braig couldn't help his mirthless grin. Centuries later, and it was all the same. Luxu and Ava. Terra and one of the Dandelions—Braig couldn't make out which one from this distance. Didn't matter, really.

One-v-one still wasn't much of a war, but as long as the clash triggered the Box's appearance, Braig didn't really care.

"Gettin' real tired of playing delivery boy." He sighed, swinging No Name lazily.

Hide the box. (Well, get one of Ava's smarter kids to hide the box.) Watch and wait a thousand years. Apparently it took that long for the Master's trap to program itself.

Retrieve the box. Seal Kingdom Hearts inside that… unreality, the Master called it.

Hopefully the thing came with instructions. Braig doubted it.

"Might've been nice to keep that girl around," he muttered. He had no idea if the X-Blade would be necessary for the job. He'd never seen it during the last Keyblade War—but then again, maybe that's why the last war had been so useless.

No winners. Just a slew of hearts turned over to darkness. Probably the same twisted hearts that were now crawling towards Petals' little flower show.

Eh, even if those wielders had survived the war, they'd be dead by now. Not everyone could keep tossing their heart from vessel to vessel like him.

He stood up and stretched. Nothing to do here but wait for someone to come out on top. He might as well see if he could figure out what happened to Aqua and—

His brow furrowed. Just Aqua. But then, how had she forged the X-Blade, without at least one heart of darkness…?

He shook his head. This wasn't another timeline glitch, was it? He'd dealt with those on his first few body transfers, where his heart had accidentally tumbled into the past, trying to find its original body. Always made a mess of things.

"Well, something feels like it got retconned," he grumbled. The feeling was obvious now, like a white noise that had finally gotten his attention. He should've noticed it earlier, but he hadn't expected anyone to screw with time besides him. Would've been nice if the Master warned him that the X-Blade could do that.

Would've been nice if the Master warned him about a lot of things, honestly.

But he'd had an eternity to curse his Master for that. Right now, he had a time traveler to catch.