Chapter 77

Erza stood in front of Sora and Natsu with a serious look.

"You want to fight Aqua?", asked Sora.

"Yes.", she answered.

"I don't know. You may be a powerful fighter, but Aqua has the Keyblade."

"Just look at her. She's suffering. I have a feeling she wants to be free of that form but her fear of death is making her unstable. I had my own dealings with life or death situations."

"But…"

"I may not wield a Keyblade like you do, but I wish for her to see the Realm of Light once again."

"Let her do this.", said Natsu.

"But I thought you wanted to fight her?", said a surprised Sora.

"I do want to fight her. But I think this is something Erza can fix."

Sora still looked unsure. But he then gave a smile and said, "Alright. I'll leave this to you."

"Thank you.", said Erza as she headed towards Aqua.

Back on the beach, everyone saw Erza heading towards Aqua.

"She's gonna fight Aqua?!", question a surprised Riku. "Will she even win? She doesn't have the Keyblade."

"Of course she's gonna win.", said Gray. "This is Erza we're talking about."

"She's the strongest female mage in Fairy Tail.", said Lucy.

"Yeah, but…"

"She will win.", said a weak Jellal. "Once you see her fight, you will soon begin to believe in her."

Riku then looked at Erza with concern.

Back at the water, Erza stood in front of Aqua.

"Let's head back where the others are.", said Natsu. "Once this fight starts, it's gonna get crazy."

"Uh, right!", said Sora and the two boys ran back to the beach, leaving Erza with Aqua.

"Who are you?", asked Aqua after she calmed down, causing the aura to disappear.

"I am here to free you.", she answered.

"No… You want to kill me, too. I will not die, I will be free!", she said as she fired a blizzard attack at Erza.

But Erza blocked the attack when she summoned her sword.

Erza then spoke. "You wish for freedom, yet you are refusing our help. We are the only ones that can help you be free of this place and you won't have to live in fear. This is the only way to make your wish come true. Believe in yourself."

"Believe in…" Suddenly, a large amount of dark aura surrounded Aqua and she screamed in pain. She then stopped screaming and gave a furious and deadly look at Erza. Aqua charged towards her opponent and the two crossed swords with each other.

She's strong., Erza thought as she and Aqua continued to exchange blows. Her speed and strength are amazing, too. As I aspect from a Keyblade Master.

Aqua then hit her Keyblade hard against Erza's sword, causing Erza to back away a little. She then jumped away and requiped into her Black Wing Armor.

"Moon Flash!"

Erza rushes past Aqua and slashes her in a cross pattern. When Erza turned around, she saw a 360 barrier sphere around Aqua. She then charged towards Erza and slashed her with a low blow, but Erza blocked the attack with her sword and was pushed away from her.

So she can put up a barrier. It will be difficult to land an attack. I must gather as much strength as possible to destroy it.

She then requiped into her Piercing Armor and summoned her Jousting Lance. She then charged towards Aqua, who responded by summoning her barrier. But, Erza's lance hit the barrier, causing it to crack and then shattered within seconds.

Aqua looked surprised until Erza requip into her Rabbit Armor and attacking her stomach with her Red-Black Twin Blades. Aqua yelled in pain and then crashed onto the water's surface.

"Give up this fight.", said Erza. "You'll only be hurting your cause. If you stop this fight, we can return you home."

Aqua was breathing heavily as she slowly got up and said, "I will not give up. I will defeat anyone who threatens my life. I want to see the sun again… I WANT TO LIVE!"

Aqua then held out her keyblade and light purple energy surrounded her. The air suddenly became cold.

"When did it get so cold?', asked a shivering Sorano.

"Could it be her magic?", wondered Macbeth.

"Spellweaver."

Aqua then threw her Keyblade towards Erza. The Keyblade was covered in purple energy and it was spinning. When it came into contact, Erza blocked the attack, but Erza is now having a hard time keeping up her defenses.

"It's like her power just increased!", she said.

The Keyblade then returned to Aqua and she fired magic energy at Erza. The attack hit Erza directly, sending her flying and crashing onto the water's surface.

Erza slowly got up and said, "That form… It is similar to the form Sora goes into when he fights. But her appearance doesn't change."Erza charged towards Erza and the two exchanged blows, which became difficult for Erza to keep up. The energy that attacked me must be a combination of all of her magic, similar to the Ethernano from the Etherion blast at the Tower of Heaven.

Aqua kicked Erza in the stomach hard, causing her to back away in pain and collapsed into her knees. She was then surrounded by large ice shards. After hearing Aqua snap her fingers, all of the ice shards were sent flying at Erza. Some of them scratched her body while others pierced through her armor and skin, causing her to scream in pain and having a large amount of blood dripping out of her body. Once the ice shards were gone, Erza was still standing weakly.

"I'm finishing this!", said Aqua.

She then started to twirl like a ballerina with her Keyblade in her hand. While she was twirling, a small tornado made out of ice was around her. She then stopped twirling and created a large snowflake from her Keyblade, which it then exploded and sending Erza flying. Erza crashed onto the water's surface and was laying on her chest. Her blood was dripping into the water, causing the small area to turn red.

"Erza!", shouted a worried Mickey.

Riku then got up and said, "I'm going."

Sora then held out his arm and said, "We need to have faith in Erza."

"But she's near death!"

Jellal grabbed Riku's hand and said, "He's right… Just wait a bit more."

Back at the water, Aqua was standing in front of Erza. She then held her Keyblade at the back of her neck.

"I am going to live freely…", she said as she raised her Keyblade in the air. "You are not going to stop me!"

She then swung her Keyblade down hard towards Erza's neck. But, a sword stopped the attack. Erza was holding one of her swords with her left hand and had blocked the attack.

Erza weakly got up while still holding her sword against Aqua's Keyblade.

"If that is your wish…", she said. "Then so be it!"

Erza pushed Aqua away hard.

"So you still want to fight?"

She then lifted her Keyblade and created a large darkness sphere. She then blasted it at Erza. When it came into contact with Erza, it created a large spash where she was at.

"Is she okay?", asked Mickey.

Natsu smiled and said, "You'll see…"

Once the splash had cleared everyone saw with surprise that Erza had requip into her Nakagami Armor.

"Changing your outfit won't change anything!", said Aqua as she jumped into the air and attempted to strike her from above.

"We all understood how you feel…", said Erza as she gripped her Halberd. "But I will not lose!"

Erza then jumped towards Aqua, who was about to attack.

"Nakagami Starlight!"

Erza passed Aqua while she was attacked by several slashes in the air. Erza then requip back into her original armor while she looked at Aqua, who had just collapsed onto the water's surface.

Suddenly, dark aura consumed Aqua and a dark portal appeared underneath her, making her sink into the ground. The Keyblade that Aqua used in the battle had disappeared and the dark aura slowly faded away from Aqua, returning her to her true form while she was completely inside the portal. Erza then ran towards the portal and jumped in.

"Erza!", everyone shouted with worry.

Inside the portal, Aqua was drifting deeper inside. She then saw a bright light far from her.

She then said with sadness, "So...this is the end."

She closed her eyes and continued to drift. But then she heard a voice.

"Aqua!"

She opened her eyes and saw a red headed woman reaching out to her. Also with her was Sora.

"Who…?"

Aqua then reached out to the woman and they both grabbed each other's hand.

It was sunny out and Aqua was laying on the beach. She slowly opened her eyes and saw two figures over her. The two figures were her two friends, Terra and Ventus.

"Aqua!", said both Terra and Ventus worriedly.

Aqua gasped and smiled. "Ven… Terra…", she said with relief.

But, as she got a closer look at the two boys. The image of Ventus and Terra disappeared, revealing to be Sora and Riku.

"Aqua!", both Sora and Riku said worriedly.

Aqua looked surprised. "It's you…"

Mickey then came up to her and said, "Thank goodness. You're awake!"

"Mickey…" Aqua looked at where she was and she was sitting on the beach of the Destiny Islands. Donald and Goofy came up to her as well. "Are these...the Destiny Islands?"

"That's right."

"When did they fall to darkness?"

Riku smiled and shook his head. "You're in the realm of light."

Aqua became shocked and widened her eyes. She then looked at the sun and was about to cry.

Sora smiled and said, "You're home."

Aqua smiled with joy and relief.

"You're home!", said both Donald and Goofy as they went up to her and gave her a hug. Then everyone near her joined in the hug.

"Welcome home.", said Mickey.

Everyone then laughed with joy.

"We did it!", said Sora.

Aqua then stopped laughing and asked, "Did any of you see a red-headed woman? Before I passed out, I remember seeing a woman with red hair reaching out to me."

Everyone stopped laughing and backed away from her with worry.

Aqua looked confused. "Is she alright? Or was it all a dream…"

Riku then said, "She's over there." Riku pointed towards a group of people near the shack.

Aqua immediately got up and ran towards the shack. They all wanted to go after her, but Sora held out his arm in front of them and shook his head.

When Aqua arrived at the shack, she said worriedly, "Excuse me… But is there a red-headed woman in that shack?"

Everyone turned and saw Aqua standing in front of them. They all smiled.

"You're awake!", said the girl with a blue rose in her hair. "How do you feel?"

"Better."

A boy with pink hair came up to her and said, "Glad to finally meet you! My name's Natsu and I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer of the Fairy Tail Guild."

A blue cat then flew up to her and said, "And I'm Happy. It's nice to meet you Aqua."

Aqua looked surprised but smiled as she petted Happy's head. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Can we fight sometime?", asked an eager Natsu, which surprised Aqua.

A girl with blond hair came up to Natsu and smacked him on the head. "Leave her alone, Natsu.", she said. "She just recovered and that's what you asked her?"

"I just asked! She didn't give me an answer yet."

The girl sighed. "You'll have to excuse him, he loves to fight. My name is Lucy. Natsu was really worried about you when he heard about your story. He constantly wanted to go save you with Sora, but he kept getting rejected."

"You wanted to save me?", asked Aqua.

"Yeah!", Natsu answered with a smile. "You were alone for so long, I think you needed to make some happy memories again with people you love."

"Thank you…", she said with a warm smile.

Natsu looked surprised and waved his arms around in front of her nervously. "Oh, I'm not the one who actually saved you. That was someone else."

Aqua then gasped. "That's right! The woman with the red hair. Is she in there?"

Lucy nodded with a smile and said, "Yeah. She's just recovering. Do you want to meet her?"

Aqua nodded. Lucy then guided Aqua to the shack. Everyone let them through and they were all smiling with relief. Once Aqua entered the shack, she saw a girl with long blue hair using her magic on the red-headed woman, who was covered in bandages on her arms, legs, chest, and the top of her head.

The woman saw Aqua in front of her and smiled. "I see that you've recovered. I'm glad that you're better."

"Am I the one who did this to you?", asked Aqua with concern.

The woman didn't say anything and had a sad and guilty look on her face. Aqua then felt guilty as she knew why she didn't say anything.

"I'm so sorry for the trouble I cost you."

"Don't worry.", she said. "It's not everyday I fight a powerful opponent with a sword. Even though you were possessed by darkness, you still prove that you're strong. We all understood how you felt about being alone. Don't let that affect you. I have a feeling that you are even more powerful without using darkness."

Aqua then started to shed tears and she collapsed onto the ground, crying. The woman grabbed Aqua's head and pulled her close to her chest.

"It's alright…"

"I'm sorry for what I did.", said Aqua as she moved away from her and wiped the tears from her face. "But, thank you for saving me."

"You're pretty strong.", said a young man with no clothes on. "No one has ever survived that long against her."

"Thank you.", said an uncomfortable Aqua as she was blushing at the man. "But where are your clothes?"

"Aw, shit!", said the boy with embarrassment, causing everyone to laugh and leaving Aqua confused.

"Gray-sama, you're so manly!", said a girl with blue hair who was crushing on him. She then faced Aqua with a dark and serious look. "Don't touch Gray-sama!"

Aqua then said, "I'm sorry if I upset you about him. I have no right to interfere between you and him and I'm not ready for dating. I hope we can be good friends."

This surprised the girl. She then said with a guilty look, "Juvia accepts your apology and Juvia is sorry for getting mad."

Aqua smiled and nodded. She then faced the woman again.

"Don't worry about him.", she said. "He does it all the time. You'll get used to it."

"Okay… But first." Aqua then summoned her Master's Defender Keyblade and pointed it at her.

"Curaga."

The wounds on the woman's body immediately healed, making her feel better.

"Thank you."

"Hey, lady."

Aqua turned as she saw a man with long black hair in front of her. "What's your connection with that Keyblade? We found it on this beach."

Aqua then looked sad. "This was my Master's until he was killed." This surprised everyone. "In order to save my friend, I used my original Keyblade to save my friend and I lost it because of that. I then started to use this Keyblade until I helped Mickey close Kingdom Hearts. I lost the Keyblade after that." She then clutched her Keyblade with sorrow.

"Our condolences.", said the red head. "We almost lost our Master. But thankful, he's still alive."

"Oh, man. Where are my manners? I never introduce myself or learn your name. My name is Aqua. I am a Keyblade Master under Master Eraqus. What is your name?"

"I am Erza Scarlet. I am a S-Class mage of the Fairy Tail Guild in Earth Land."

"What's Fairy Tail?"

Lucy stepped in and explained her world and why they are here with Sora.

"So you want to help us defeat Xehanort?", asked Aqua.

"Yup.", said Natsu. "That bastard has already done too much damage!"

"This proof of what he did to you.", said Erza.

"I understand.", said Aqua. "Thank you for your assistance, Mages of Earth Land. I hope that we will win this battle."

"Not 'hope'. We will."

"I guess you're already caught up."

Everyone saw Sora, Donald, Goofy, Mickey, and Riku near them.

"Yes.", Aqua answered.

"Now that we have Aqua-san.", said Juvia. "What are we supposed to do next?"

"We must wake up my friend, Ven. He's been asleep for too long and he is a Keyblade Wielder."

"Do you know where he is?", asked Riku.

"Yes."

"Then let's go.", said Sora. "We don't have a lot of time until the battle begins."

"He's right.", said Erza. "And besides, Ventus is waiting." Aqua smiled. "Are we ready?"

"Yeah!", everyone said.

After everyone was outside, Natsu then said, "Oh, before I forget." He then took a huge breath and started to breath out letters using his Fire Dragon magic that spelled Sora and Natsu was RIGHT!

"Right about what?", asked Mickey.

"We saved Aqua without Sora using the Power of Waking. I told you she wasn't asleep and that he can save her without that power. You guys are idiots!"

Everyone gave a sweat drop.

"Seriously, what the hell happened? Were you just sitting on your asses while you got your butts kicked?"

"I know, we mess up.", sighed both Mickey and Riku.

Sora laughed. "Thanks, Natsu. But we gotta save Ventus."

"Right, right."

"They're all interesting.", said Aqua.

"You'll get used to it.", said Erza. "I look forward to working with you, Aqua."

"Same here, Erza."