Ch.4

The trio walked together along the darkened pathways, fighting off any Heartless that would come in their direction. Aqua still kept a close eye on Zack the entire time, still thinking about his fear he expressed before. Though his confidence seemed to be restored and he was learning more and more the further they went on.

It still worried her but she knew it would be rude of her to try and pry on the subject. But maybe… maybe when they were finally out of this, they could just take the time to sit and talk. It sounded like a dream, but it felt like a nice dream to have after all the two of them had gone through.

He was still improving with his skills and using the keyblade. Though he hadn't worked on any magic beside the three spells he learned so far, he was now working on trying to be more strategic with his moves and attacks. He truly was determined to improve and Aqua had to give credit to him for trying so hard.

Eventually they started to see a strange light ahead… or maybe really it was just natural light. But for it to be in the Realm of Darkness felt strange. But Mickey kept on leading them forward, seemingly not phased by what was ahead.

"I wonder…" Aqua thought. "Just where does this lead?"

Once they got closer she saw that the ground went from stone to sand all the way to where the light was. Her pace slowed as they started trekking over the sand, still amazing to see the light before her and what looked like to be land from another world.

"Whoa…" Zack murmured. "That's where we're heading?"

"Yes," Aqua answered. "We shouldn't wait too much longer though. Come on."

Aqua started to pick up her pace to catch up with Mickey and soon Zack was right besides her again. When they walked closer to the light everything in their eyes adjusted and Aqua could finally get a good look at where they were. It was a very familiar sight even if it did look a little different than before.

"What kind of place is this?" Zack asked.

"This is… where I met those children…" Aqua muttered as she looked out at the corrupted landscape.

"So many worlds have been lost. And now they're trapped here in the dark," Mickey said before looking at Aqua. "Wait… you know this place, Aqua?"

Aqua nodded. "Yes. I visited once, and I met two boys I considered passing the keyblade on to. But because Terra had already given one of them the power, I didn't."

Mickey gasped. "Aqua. What were the boy's names?"

Crossing her arms, with one hand resting under her chin, she thought deeply to recall the memory. "They were… Sora and Riku."

Now Mickey was the one to look serious in thought. "I see. We're getting warm."

"What does that even mean?" Zack asked, who still felt a little left out since he was still new to the whole keyblade stuff.

"Sora and Riku are the ones who've been helpin' me," Mickey explained. "We're tryin' to get that door shut for good."

"The same boys?" Aqua asked, clearing a little surprised.

"Aqua, if this is where my friends first got the keyblade, it almost must be where we'll find its counterpart. The keyblade of darkness has gotta be here on the dark side of their world."

"Hey, wait a minute, how could it be the same kids?" Zack asked.

Aqua turned to Zack and gave him a look. With all that had happened with going to find him and then what happened after… she had neglected to tell him something he should have known sooner. "Zack… when I found Mickey, he explained that it had been ten years since last he saw me."

Zack's eyes widened. "Wait! T-Ten years? You mean… you and I… we've been…"

Before Aqua could answer, the ground shook with a loud tremendous rumble, but it quickly faded after a few seconds. With a look of determination Mickey started to move forward. "There'll be time to talk later. We have to hurry. C'mon!"

Aqua glanced at Zack. "Are you going to be all right?"

"Huh? Oh yeah… just gotta let that info sink in I guess."

"I understand, I'm still processing it myself. But let's go," Aqua said before she ran to catch up with Mickey.

The three of them headed up onto a pathway on the island that led to a dark cave, but before they could get any closer a horde of Heartless burst through. It was many of the little ones all together in formation like before, like a cyclone in the sense. It flew up into the sky and started circling around above the trio, and they summoned their keyblades in response.

Once it came down closer to the ground it started to kick up sand everywhere but it didn't stop the three from beginning their attacks. Now with the three working together things went a bit faster but still were just as deadly with how the horde attacked them.

Eventually all of the Heartless were defeated and the darkness caused by them faded away. Now that they were at peace again Mickey pointed to where the Heartless had come from. "Let's keep goin'."

"So wait, we gotta go to the place that crazy Heartless horde was coming from?" Zack asked between heavy breathes.

"It's what we gotta do to find that keyblade," Mickey explained.

Aqua moved a bit closer to Zack and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you will be able to handle all of this?"

"Of course!" Zack shouted proudly. "It's just a lot of new stuff. But just give me some time and I'll get it! It's just a bit crazy what some of those heartless can do."

"Right, but we can handle it, Aqua said with a nod.

"Well I am learning from the best," Zack grinned happily.

Aqua smiled. "Thank you."

"All right, let's keep moving," Zack said before moving forward.

Walking down into the cave they eventually came to an open area with a blank door embedded into the stone. Zack thought it was a bit strange, but he had a feeling maybe it was connected to the whole keyblade thing. He kept it in mind though to ask later if he didn't forget.

"I bet it's in here," Mickey stated before walking closer to the door.

He pressed a hand to it and Aqua followed to do the same.

Slowly the door creaked open and revealed a dark void. But right in the center of wherever they were… was a keyblade floating in the middle of it. Mickey pointed to it. "There!"

As the group walked closer, Aqua was the one to speak up. "Is that what you were after?"

"Yup, it's just the key I was looking for. A keyblade from the dark realm!"

"A keyblade of darkness…" Aqua murmured softly.

"The door of darkness… tied by two keys. The door of darkness… to seal the light," Mickey said as he took the keyblade. It's glowing light died down now it just looked like a regular keyblade. "Welp, we've got the keys. Now, we find the ones to close the door."

"Sorry?" Aqua asked.

Zack quickly glanced to Aqua for the moment. "Wait, is she just as lost as I am? Cause I totally am not getting anything he is saying."

"The door between the two realms, it won't let a heart with light pass through. So only darkness keeps spilling out. We can lock the door by using the two keyblades, but we need help on both sides to get the door shut."

"Well, then, since you'll be doing the locking, let me be the one to close the door," Aqua said as she placed a hand over her chest.

"Aqua wait, would that be dangerous or something? I mean I still don't get everything, but it sounds really risky," Zack interjected.

"It's okay," Mickey said. "That job's already been taken… by someone else."

"Huh? But-"

The ground shook again and this time a blinding light surrounded the group. They closed their eyes until the light faded away. Now looking around they were in a slightly different location with strange darkness pillars sticking up all over.

When they started to walk a little bit, Zack noticed something in the distance. "Um… could that be what you're looking for?"

He pointed out to where there was a large decorative white door, a truly strange site to see just in the middle of nowhere. "Yup the door to Kingdom Hearts."

"Weird," Zack commented.

"Welp," Mickey said before turning to Aqua. "It's not the Kingdom Hearts you know. Not exactly. But even though it's smaller, it's still the heart of many worlds. And even if it's not a complete Kingdom Hearts, we definitely can't leave it open like this, or darkness will escape and destroy the remaining worlds."

"I never knew there was stuff like this for everything… I mean I knew there were other worlds after all… but all of this. Gah… I am going to have sooo many questions after this," Zack thought to himself, knowing it was not the time now to ask these thoughts aloud.

"It's time. With this key and Sora's in the realm of light, we're going to close this door. Now all we need is Riku."

"Sora, Riku…" Aqua whispered softly.

"There!" Mickey shouted suddenly.

Across the way there was a young boy with silver hair running towards the door. He didn't seem to notice them as they ran close as he just kept on moving. "That's everybody! Come on Aqua and Zack-"

Before Mickey could finish a burst of darkness was heard and another horde of a Heartless cyclone appeared. It flew over their heads though, heading straight for Riku instead, who was failing to notice the Heartless that were coming near him.

Right away Aqua ran forward and cast a spell of chains to wrap around the Heartless. "Back off!" All the glowing chains wrapped and constrained the Heartless, compacting them into a ball. Though it seemed Aqua was struggling to hold them in place as it was beginning to drag her one way to another.

Zack stared at first but started to run closer. He had to try and do something to help! While he ran closer he could hear Mickey shouting from behind him.

"Aqua!" Mickey shouted.

"Go without me!"

"No I-"

The chains burst just as Zack had gotten close enough to Aqua to help. She was nearly knocked back to the ground from the force, but Zack was quick to catch her. The horde flew up quickly then dove down right at all three of them. It all happened before anyone of them could realize but the Heartless grabbed onto them and started carrying them off somewhere. But with the force of the Heartless slamming into them, Aqua fell back into Zack and he quickly wrapped his arms around her. He had no idea what was going to happen, but he wasn't going to let Aqua go though time.

"Zack!" Aqua shouted.

Suddenly she could feel the Heartless spacing out and now there was enough of a gap that the two of them fell free from them. Falling a slightly bit, they tumbled down to the ground rather unceremoniously.

Groaning, Zack jumped up to his feet and held out a hand to Aqua to pull her up quickly. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Aqua breathed out slowly as she stood up. She could feel how tired her body was at this moment. Sure potions and cure could make things easier but they didn't remove physical exhaustion. "Thank you."

"Hey! Where's Mickey?" Zack said as he started to look around.

"He must still be back there. It's only us again," Aqua said before looking up at the flying horde that was seemingly waiting to attack.

"But we will handle it, right?" Zack said, offering her another of his grins.

"Right," Aqua nodded to him. "We can do this."

The two of them summoned their keyblades once more and prepared to do battle with the countless Heartless build up in the flying monstrosity. With the two of them side by side they launched into attacking it just like they had done before. Both of them tried their hardest and made sure to keep an eye on the other. They could see how tired the other looked, but there was not much they could do about it in the situation. All they could do was keep on fighting and support the other.

Eventually the Heartless were defeated. With a heavy sigh Aqua dropped down to her knees, letting the keyblade fall into the sand right next to her. Zack, though rather exhausted himself, managed to dismiss his keyblade before making it over to Aqua. He too flopped down onto the sand and just layed there breathing in deeply.

"Did… we do it?"

Aqua hummed. "Yes." Slowly she sighed before laying down on her back..

"Now what?"

"I don't know. Just a bit tired I guess," Aqua said as she stared up at the sky.

Zack looked up at the passing clouds and saw how peaceful they looked. With no other Heartless or any other danger in sight he thought maybe it would be okay just to lay down and relax.

"It's beautiful," commented.

"Yeah… I've missed seeing the sky like this."

As the two of them watched, the clouds moved before them and the sky changed to be night. Everywhere in the vastness of the sky they could see hundreds upon hundreds of stars. Aqua started to smile. "The stars are out. Terra… Ven…." Aqua sighed deeply.

"Something wrong?"

"Hm… I remember when I used to watch the stars with them… now it's just me again…"

"Hey…" Zack said as he turned her head to look at Aqua. He reached his hand over and held on to hers. "I'm here. I may not be Terra or Ven, but you aren't alone Aqua."

The kindness and honesty spoken in his words lighten the feeling Aqua felt. Knowing Zack was there still was a nice reassurance that she wasn't totally alone anymore. She turned and smiled at him. "Thank you, Zack."

Suddenly little bits of light began to fall from the sky, drawing their attention to that. Aqua smiled once more. "They did it. The worlds are being restored."

Though they were looking at the sky in the world, darkness slowly surrounded them but they were far too tired to really react. They were tired and slowly their eyes were growing heavy with want for sleep. Even though they were drifting off, feeling like they were falling, they kept their hands together with their fingers laced together tightly.

"May our hearts be our guiding key. You'll know… where we are…" Aqua muttered softly to herself.

Aqua's eyes flickered open slowly. Her body felt less sore than it had before, but there was still some exhaustion. The first thing she noticed was just where she was… which was back in the Realm of Darkness. While it did feel a bit disappointing to be back there, she knew it was her choice and it was what happened. But at least the realm of light was safe. That was what mattered most.

Secondly as she started to sit up she noticed something on her hand… or really holding on to it. Turning to look she saw that Zack still was there with his hand still holding on to hers. He was still fast asleep with a calm and relaxed face. As she thought it over, she could feel the slightly bit of warmth fill her cheeks.

But she brushed it off quickly and went to wake up Zack. She nudged him gently with her free hand. "Zack… wake up." Hopefully this time trying to wake him up would be easier than the last time.

Zack mumbled slightly like before, but this time he started to stir much faster. Yawning he sat up and right away saw he was still holding Aqua's hand. He quickly let go and started to laugh a bit sheepishly. "Ah ha… sorry about that."

"Nothing to be sorry for, Zack. It kept us together this time."

"Oh yeah, you're right! Though…" Zack looked around. "We're back here again…"

"I know, but the realm of light is safe. Besides, Mickey knows that we are most likely here. In time he will come to find us again."

"So what do we do now?"

"Hmm, I don't know…" Aqua trailed off before her eyes widened. She held out her hand for a moment, but nothing happened. "Oh…"

Zack titled his head slightly. "What is it?"

"The keyblade… my master's keyblade. I left it back in the realm of light."

"What? But can't you just summon it like normal?"

"It wasn't my keyblade to begin with, and with it being in another realm, I cannot reach it right now. But I know I will manage."

"You sure? Maybe you want to use mine?" Zack said before summoning his.

Aqua shook her head. "It's all right Zack, thank you for the offer. But you still have a lot to learn about using the keyblade. I am already a master, so I know I can handle it."

"Oh, if you say so. I can't wait to learn more though, I still have a lot of questions to ask!"

"Well, we have the time. Maybe we should walk before conversing more? I think… I can hear waves. Maybe there is a shore nearby."

"A shore in this place? I mean we've already seen a lot of weird things, but i guess that wouldn't be too surprising. Let's go look!" Zack shouted before jumping up to his feet.

Zack and Aqua began walking towards the sound of the waves. They walked side by side to one another and eventually Aqua felt something lightly brushed against her hand. She turned to Zack and seemed to have realized what he did and looked away.

"Sorry about that, didn't realize how close I was I guess."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. I think after everything we should stick close together. We don't want to be separated like last time." After a moment she thought over it a bit farther and recalled something Zack had said to her before. It felt so long ago now, but she knew it wasn't really that long. "Besides, didn't you ask me about one date? Wouldn't you say that people hold hands on something like that?"

Zack's eyes widened. "Whoa, you serious?"

"I think I do owe you that much after all of this. You are on your way to becoming a keyblade master one day, and you have already shown great progress in such a short time."

"But I haven't become a hero yet."

"You have already proved yourself. I would say you are already a hero after being put through this."

Zack was practically beaming with positive energy. "Aw you're too kind, Aqua! But I know I still got a lot to work on for being a hero. At least I have you here to help." He then reached forward and took hold of Aqua's hand. "And now we can have one date in probably the strangest location ever."

Aqua laughed. "I will agree to that."

Together, now hand in hand, they kept on walking. It was hard to explain but Aqua honestly felt so much better than ever before. Maybe it was just having another person by her side, or maybe it was something to do with Zack's cherry attitude. Either way she was happy to have him there. They would keep each other strong and that made all the difference.

It's been a while hasn't it? I am sorry for the wait, but I finally got through this chapter as best as I could! Hope you all enjoyed!