Ch.7
Once the group hug was over, everyone backed up a bit to give Zack and Aqua some space. The two still stayed close to one another, trying their best to breath through now sore and tired throats. Slowly Aqua breathed in more, and her heart started to relax finally. "Thank you. Everyone. This means more than you realize."
"Aw no probably, oh by the way I'm Sora! It's nice to meet you Aqua!" the brown haired boy said with a cheerful smile that reminded her of Ven.
"Sora," Aqua nodded. "Thank you." She then faced the boy who was quiet and stoic like Terra. "That means you must be Riku."
Riku also nodded. "We're glad you're both safe."
"Oh right," Aqua looked to her side to see Zack being respectfully quiet. "This is Zack, he's been by my side for a while now, and he has been a real help."
"Pleasure to meet all of you!" Zack grinned.
"So how did you end up in all of this?" Sora asked. "I saw that you had your own keyblade. I didn't really know how many others there were."
"Ah yeah, well long story short, I ran into Aqua before getting tossed into that dark place, and then I was tossed into that dark place. We found each other again and have just stuck by each other since then. And she gave me the keyblade? Or…" Zack turned to look at Aqua. "Or you did some magic stuff? What was it exactly?"
"Bequeathing. It is the way to bestow the power of the keyblade to another."
"Yeah! That's what it was. And you got a keyblade too right? I… I don't really remember what happened at the end back there, but I think I remember you two guys having keyblades as well."
"Yup! Oh yeah! Aqua, I think this belongs to you?" Sora reached his hand out and summoned a keyblade to his hand.
"Master Eraqus's keyblade…" Aqua whispered before slowly taking the handle from Sora. She had the keyblade back in her hands. After who knows how long she finally had it back… and it wasn't vanishing from her hands. She was still worthy of it after all of this time. Finally she dismissed it and looked to Sora, giving a thankful nod. "Thank you."
"Well! Now that we are all back we should go to rest up at Master Yen Sid's," Mickey said rather cheerfully.
Quickly Aqua shook her head. "No. I can't… not yet at least."
"Huh? But Aqua-" Mickey tried to say, but Aqua held up a hand.
"There's still something I need to do. Something I can't wait on… or I should say… someone."
"You mean Ven?" Mickey asked suddenly.
"Yes, and I don't want to waste any more time. I'll go, the rest of you go to Master Yen Sid's without me."
Slowly Aqua tried to stand, testing her balance. She nearly lost the strength in her legs and fell back to the ground, but Zack was at her side without a word. "Whoa Aqua. Don't just go off on your own. Let me come with you."
"Yeah! And we'll come too," Sora stated as he pointed to himself and then Donald and Goofy.
"No, I should do this alone. Only I know the way to finding Ven."
"Aqua…" Zack took hold of Aqua's hand, holding it gentle. "I'm not letting you go by yourself."
"Zack, you should rest. You've been through a lot and it would be best if-"
"Aqua no. You've been through just as much as I have," Zack said as he stared at her. His deep blue eyes not wavering in the slightest. "I'm not letting you leave me behind. Not after all we've been through. We'll stick together, okay?"
Aqua stared back at Zack, reading his stern expression. She felt something tugging in her chest, it was a light feeling hard for her to place. While she did want to keep Zack safe, she had to admit that he was right. They had been through a lot together. If it wasn't for him she probably would have felt a whole lot lonelier. But he had been there for her, determined and trying his best to stay positive. Leaving him behind at this point… would just end up being hurtful, pushing aside all his strengths he had already displayed.
"You're right Zack," Aqua admitted. "I shouldn't so easily dismiss you like that. If you want to come with, which I know you do, that's all right with me."
"And what about us? We should come too! Always good to have more back up!" Sora said. He had thought to tell her about Ventus's heart within him, but he didn't want to worry her more than she already had been. If it had to be brought up it would be for a later time.
Aqua laughed. "All right, you can come along as well."
"Great!" Zack exclaimed. "Then let's set out to… uh where was it that you were going?"
Aqua smiled as she gripped Zack's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "A secret place that only I know the location of."
They now walked in the place that was in-between worlds. Fog covered the pathway but wasn't all too thick. Together the five of them walked along each other side by side.
After they walked a bit further, Goofy decided to speak up. "You sure about this, Aqua?"
"If you wanna head back for now, we can go to Master Yen Sid's tower to rest with Riku and the King?"
"Thank you, but I want to take care of this first. Ven's expecting me. I promised to wake him. Said I'd be right back, but I'm not even close…" Aqua sighed lowered her head. Suddenly she felt a light squeeze on her hand. Since they had left to find Ven, Zack had held on to Aqua, saying he wanted to make sure that they didn't get separated again and it worked well before.
It was a nice sentiment and Aqua didn't oppose it at all. In fact it really helped keep her mind from wandering too far. Slowly a small curled up on her lips. "I'm in for an earful."
Aqua started to pick up her pace, warranting Zack to do the same. Before them was a large and rather odd shape castle. "Whoa!" Zack gasped. He turned to see that Aqua had her other hand on her chest as she exhaled slowly.
Summoning her keyblade she took it in both hands and pointed it at the door. A keyhole lit up and light shot out from the keyblade. Wind blue back front the door and soon the castle started to change before everyone. Within a matter of seconds the darkened world they were in was no more and now there was a new castle before them and a vast mountainous range surrounding them.
"Whoa! This… This is amazing! What is this place?" Zack asked as he looked around.
"This is the Land of Departure. It's where I spent many years training to be a keyblade master."
"It's pretty impressive! And you said Ven's inside there?"
Aqua nodded as they headed up the stairs. "Should be right where I left him."
"Then let's go!"
The group made their way through the empty castle until they came across the large open room that had three chairs. In the center chair sat a sleeping Ven, perfectly undisturbed. There was silence that fell over the entire group, but slowly Zack saw that Aqua ran ahead to move to Ven's side.
"Ven…" she whispered as she placed a hand on his cheek. Slowly she wrapped her hands around his head and sighed. "I'm sorry it took so long."
Zack was almost tempted to head over there. Ven was his friend too, but he had not known Ven as long as Aqua had. It felt like he would be intruding too much if he did come closer, but he could hear the worry and pain in Aqua's voice as she spoke.
"Ven, wake up! Open your eyes, please!" Aqua pleaded. "Why? Your heart never found its way home?"
Now Zack couldn't take it anymore. He hated hearing such pain in Aqua's voice and he needed to try something. Slowly he walked up closer to the chairs, moving to be right by Aqua's side. Carefully he reached out his hand and placed it lightly over her shoulder. Aqua shuddered before reaching up a hand and covering Zack's hand, but she did not turn back to look at him. But she nodded her head slightly, giving him a sense that she was thankful for what he was trying to do.
"Well that was a neat trick. No wonder no one could find him," a cold new voice said.
Aqua and Zack looked to see a masked figure walking towards them. She stood up and straightened her posture. "Stay by Ven's side, please." Before Zack could reply Aqua glared stormed down the stairs. "Why are you here?"
"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt your touching reunion, but surely you won't begrudge me a moment with my brother?" Vanitas replied.
Before Zack's eyes he watched the scene play out almost too fast for him to understand. He watched the concentration as Vanitas moved about the room before jumping back down to the floor, standing a few feet in front of Aqua.
"Aqua, I'll handle him!" Sora shouted from behind Aqua.
Aqua shook her head. "No, I'm ending this."
"But… you haven't recovered yet," Sora countered.
"Sorry, but you've seen me too weak, too often. Now it's my turn to shine."
Holding out her hand a barrier formed around her and Vanitas. Zack gasped as he moved from his spot that he had promised Aqua he would stay. He tried to move forward but the barrier prevented him from getting any closer. "Aqua!" Zack pounded against the barrier. "Don't do this alone!"
"I can handle it. Trust in me, Zack," Aqua replied before stepping into her stance.
Zack did want to believe her, but he couldn't stop the overwhelming feeling that was knotting up in his chest. He had been fighting alongside Aqua for so long, it felt wrong to just sit and watch her fight. He wanted to be besides her, but then he recalled the words she spoke to him.
The words telling him to stay by Ven's side. She trusted him enough to do that, so he knew he had to at least keep that promise to her. Once again though he found himself captivated with Aqua's graceful moves as she spun around attacking Vanitas. She cast beautiful ice attacks at the other, causing them to freeze temporarily in place as he laid on more attacks.
"So brave…" Zack thought to himself as he watched. "So graceful…"
Aqua breathed out after another attack as she and Vanitas jumped back from one another. With a quick look to the side, it looked as if Vanitas was looking right at Zack. But it only took him a moment to realize that he was probably staring at Ventus instead. Before Zack's eyes Vantias cast a fire spell and it struck against the barrier, causing him to jump back a little.
Cracks were now formed in the barrier. Zack gasped as he decided to summon his keyblade. If worst was to come to worst, he needed to be ready. He wasn't too sure if he was ready to take on someone like Vanitas after seeing him go up against Aqua and still look like he barely had a scratch on him, but he knew he had to try.
Vanitas cast another fire spell, but this time just before it reached the barrier, Aqua moved in front of the attack.
"Aqua!" Zack screamed as he saw her stand in front just as the flame hit her. He felt his gut twist and turn when he heard her cry out and crash painfully to the floor, now laying there unmoving.
"Aquaaaa!" Zack shouted again before glaring at Vanitas who was calmly walking closer to Aqua's unconscious body. Zack was half tempted to smash the barrier at the weak point and charge after Vanitas. He wanted to stop him, but if he did… that would leave an opening to get to Ven. Not knowing Vanitas well enough, he wasn't too sure what the boy would do, if he would continue to attack Aqua or go after Ven, who he was after in the first place.
When Vanitas was raising the keyblade over Aqua's body, ready to strike, Zack could feel his body screaming at him. Now he desperately wanted to move, to scream again, but everything had been frozen, all of it moving slowly before his helpless eyes.
Suddenly there was a bright shining light besides him. Zack turned to see that the chair Ven had been sleeping in was now flowing with light. Within a second the light moved forward, hitting the barrier and breaking through it.
"Aqua!" a young and very familiar voice shouted.
Zack gasped. "Ven? He's awake now?"
The light faded, revealing in fact that it was Ventus and his keyblade collided against Vanitas's. The meer force of the two keyblades caused the entire rest of the barrier to crack and shatter apart. As Ventus jumped down to stand in front of Aqua, Zack ran down the stairs and knelt besides her. He was about to cast cure when he remembered he only knew the basic form of the spell. It wouldn't be able to cure Aqua.
Slowly he cradled Aqua in his arms, hoping he wasn't hurting her by doing so. He tuned out whatever was being said by Vanitas as she watched Aqua slowly reopen her eyes. "Z-Zack?"
"Aqua… Let me help you up, okay?"
Aqua nodded and Zack moved to help her back onto her feet. As he did Ventus came over quickly and helped on Aqua's other side. As soon as Aqua was standing up, Sora and his friends made their way over to ask if she was okay.
Zack took a couple steps back watching as Ven and Sora introduced themselves. He couldn't help but feel a little out of place. He knew he was still technically out of place. Just a kid that had been dragged into something much bigger than he realized. He was happy of course to have been dragged into it, but it still left him to worry if he was still too much of an outsider to really be there in the moment.
"Good morning, Ven," Aqua said as she smiled.
"Good morning, Aqua," Ven replied.
Suddenly Ven turned to look at Zack, his eyes widened with a huge grin over his face. "And Zack!? I didn't expect to see you here!"
"O-Oh!" Zack nearly stammered. He rubbed the back of his head as he chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that is pretty surprising to see me here, right?"
Ven ran over to him and threw an arm around him. "Not what I expected, but hey that still is cool with me! Still working on becoming a hero?"
Zack couldn't help but help. The feeling of being an outsider, replaced by a much more happier feeling. "I guess I still am."