Remember two chapters ago when I mentioned I accidentally planned too far ahead? A certain scene in this chapter is one of those bits, a scene that I drafted just shy of three months ago, and one I am so very glad now properly exists.
Update: New Year started off with an unfair difficulty spike and I've been scrambling to get back on top of things. Chapter 10's being pushed back to January 17th. My apologies.
By the time the weekend next rolled around, the Heartless had shown up two more times. Each time, they were repelled easily, even including the secondary waves led by a more sturdy version of their lessers. The cloaked teen had held true to his word, keeping each group of combatants mired in enemies. With less than a week of training, results had yet to truly show, but after a few lessons from Robin (with assistance from herself) regarding fighting multiple opponents, the members of Big Hero 6 were able to hold their own without any difficulty. It was with that in mind that Aqua held no reservations about leaving the team alone own for the weekend.
She hefted the final bag into the trunk of the car, Heathcliff standing patiently beside her. They both knew he was willing and capable of lifting the bags himself, but only a single protest had him standing stoically.
"All good?" Robin snapped his book shut as he approached. Another account on the history of San Fransokyo, it was the third such book she had seen him with since their arrival here. Whether or not each iteration held something new, she didn't know, but Robin seemed interested all the same.
"No thanks to you," she joked. "If it wasn't for Heathcliff, I'd think chivalry was dead."
"Quite," Heathcliff quietly followed up.
"Ah, Aqua, but that's just how we are!" Robin grinned, spreading his arms wide. "You're the muscles of this whole operation while I'm the brains." He sniffed and tossed his hair to the side, what few locks weren't braided up into a crown tail dancing with the movement. "Don't worry. I'm sure somewhere out there there's someone who can appreciate your beauty."
Aqua shook her head. "I don't know if I should condemn or applaud whoever helped you refine your sense of humor." She wasn't entirely sure why she felt that way, but it was a surprise to discover that Robin was rather vain, at least in regards to his hair. Once he learned (through Baymax) what each bottle in his shower was, according to Aiko he'd taken to having rather long showers. Their morning efforts in the lab tended to be going over the results from the day before, at least until Robin finally arrived with a smile on his face and smelling faintly of whatever flowery or fruity product he'd chosen for the day, hair tied up in a style that changed every day.
"Hah. As if I needed to work on my humor." Robin moved to open the back door for her, grin still on his face. "I may have suffered amnesia twice, but my humor is one of those things that stayed."
She giggled. "At least that's something you managed to keep." Aqua settled into the back seat of the vehicle, fumbling a little with the belt. Ethel had stressed the importance of it enough that neither she nor Robin wished to go through a lecture, and putting them on upon entry was rapidly becoming second nature. "Something wrong?" she asked when Robin finally entered a concerning amount of time later, a pensive look on his face.
"Looks like we'll have to push back our trip a little." Heathcliff entered the driver's seat as Robin spoke, the car rumbling to life. "Heartless just appeared all over the city, in huge quantities. Hiro and the others were already out testing their virtual agility course, so they already have the heart of the city under control, but that's only the northern portion. The southern districts don't have anyone to safely handle them."
"Rest assured, Lady Aqua, Sir Robin, that I will still deliver you to your destination once the threat is dealt with. Mastering new skills is important for anyone, regardless of how experienced they might already be."
Aqua let out an amused breath. Leave it to Heathcliff to make a troubling situation sound like little more than a minor mishap.
As they neared the more densely built part of the city, the radio quietly crackled to life, a calm but urgent voice warning what parts of the city to avoid. With a start, Aqua realized that the headset Hiro had given was still back in her room. Robin was much the same, shaking his head when she gave him a meaningful look.
"It'll just be the two of us, this time," he whispered grimly. "We might have to pull out all the stops." A sardonic smile graced his lips. "Ready to face the might of an angry moogle?"
Aqua gave a pained look. Coming back to any craftsman with their work damaged or destroyed was never an enjoyable experience, but if the situation was as bad as he was implying, it was highly likely that was exactly what they would end up doing. "But I haven't even given my weapon a name," she groused.
Robin chuckled. "Nothing wrong with naming it posthumously, in honor of what it went through."
Soon enough, Heathcliff pulled to the side, the street completely empty of any pedestrians. "Best of luck, you two. I shall find you when the dust settles."
Slipping off into an alleyway, Aqua quickly slammed her palm onto her arm guard, the corded tendrils of her Dark Suit washing over her body like water down a pane of glass. Oozing, slimy, protective; her helmet formed, the darkened face plate discoloring her vision for only a moment before the woven magics corrected it.
"You take the lead," Robin said. "I'll provide support." As one, twin Blizzara's flew from their fingertips, rails of ice and magic at their feet pulling them onward.
It was hard not to stare at the destruction as they slid down the streets, new ice lines occasionally firing out as they changed their direction of travel. Cars were tossed aside; trees here and there were cracked in twain, branches and leaves scattered across the floor. For a single, cruel moment, Aqua was grateful that when a Heartless claimed their prey, nothing visible was left behind.
"Woah..." Aqua dismissed her projectile, quick stepping to a stop. Beside her, Robin did the same, his weapon appearing with an audible byproduct of the summoning spell. "That's... a lot of Heartless..." It was as if someone had taken a jar of figurines and tossed the contents all across a map. Up until the next intersection, the entire street was covered in Heartless. Humanoid shadows, balls whose cores were half water, armored soldiers; she could even see a few pointy hatted variants floating between them all, their appearances screaming to be of Thunder aligned energy.
Her weapon instinctively flashed into her hand as she felt a heavy presence bear down on her.
"Aqua."
Aqua turned to look at the man beside her. There was no rumble to his voice. No trails of purple leaking out from his cloak. But the pressure was there all the same. Tiny, miniscule, but quietly demanding of attention.
"There's more Heartless elsewhere. Will you be alright?"
Aqua huffed. "Please. I have a proper weapon now, and a focus. I'm not some damsel in distress."
"But will you be alright?" He repeated.
She tightened her grip. Against that many Heartless, it was hard to say. Her focus and weapon were strong, yes, but they weren't a keyblade. How much damage could they take? How much energy could she send through them in one go before the stress started affecting them? "I spent ten years all on my own in the Realm of Darkness. I can manage ten minutes in the Realm of Light all by my lonesome," she answered.
She knew Robin wanted to say something more. Perhaps send a fourth tier spell down range to help her out. But they didn't have time. They were only two people strong, and between the two of them, she was better suited towards tying down enemies for a single massive clear. Let Robin position the rest of their targets to where they needed to be. All she needed to worry about was the enemy in front of her.
A Stopga took hold of her enemies before she took a single step, short range teleportation magic letting her appear right beside them. As much as instincts screamed she follow up with more magic, she needed to conserve her strength. That didn't stop her from laying into them with her sabre.
Hm, perhaps...
Aqua cartwheeled to the right to avoid a leaping soldier, a crouching spin forward letting an extending lance of solidified electricity from one of the flying yellow variants pass harmlessly overhead.
The weapon in her hands was not meant for more than linear casting. She could hold a spell in it until she wanted to fire it out, yes, but to grab hold of a Blizzard chunk and direct it where she pleased? No. It could never handle that.
A Firaga detonated in her hand, the fiery shrapnel exploding outwards and blanketing the handful of Heartless that tried to attack her.
She had a weapon. Robin was working on finding a way to the other worlds. The blade in her hand was nothing more than an intermediary, to tide her over until she reclaimed what was hers (if they were still willing).
Prelude to Fate. That's what her sabre was. A herald of what was to come. What she could do now, what she could do before, it would all pale in comparison. Magic flooded through Prelude to Fate, its entirety gripped in a telekinetic grip. With her Dark Suit on, she could not afford to utilize raw Light, but that was fine. Elemental magic worked just as well.
Aqua danced through the air, her weapon carving through with every gesture. Its edge, already sharp from Mogrii's efforts, became amplified by her magic. This was what a weapon should feel like. Cutting through enemies as if they didn't exist.
"Freeze!" A wave of cold leached through her armor, the Blizzaza's after effects reaching farther than she remembered it should have. All the easier to dispatch her foes, though. A whirlwind not her own briefly sprung into existence around her, repelling the next wave of Heartless that dared approach her.
"There's still more out and about," Robin uttered, landing beside her. Three red tinged arrows rapidly shot out, each of his marks stumbling backwards from the impact before disappearing in a plume of flame. "Keep up the good work." With a beam of lightning tearing out from his hand, Robin leapt off once again, the Heartless moving to fill the gap he had created.
Aqua huffed. With Robin's arrival had come two new forms of Heartless alongside more of the standard fare. Heavily armored, bipedal creatures that were easily almost twice her height and shoulder charged towards her without any care for their supposed allies, and standard sized armored soldiers with twin golden blades for arms, pulsing with what had to be lightning magic.
Between sneaking in attacks where she could and activating a Barrier where she couldn't dodge or deflect, she was rapidly, and, admittedly, surprisingly, becoming fatigued. Unlike the Realm of Darkness though, she couldn't fight through this one. The tiredness she felt here was all too real. She could feel her limbs tiring with every new strike; could feel her thoughts muddling as she fought to pull the last dregs of mana she had. Even with another deluge of -ga and -za class spells, the horde just didn't end.
"I'm not falling here," she hissed, reentering a stance. She did not survive ten years in the Realm of Darkness just to falter as she barely made it past her first world. Did not fight against a spiraling, writhing mass of shadows that turned the skies red with their sheer presence. She did not promise to rescue her friends, just for that promise to be broken.
She had enough energy left for three more spells. Three more spells, and then she would have to hope that Robin was on his way back. "Stopza!" The magic exploded outward, freezing everything around her in place. Another wave of exhaustion coursed through her body. Aqua grit her teeth and wrapped herself in warp magic, reactions guiding her blade with every teleport. The world around her exploded into fine black particles, everything within range of a self centered Thundaga reduced to mist.
One final spell, and still no Robin. Should she use another Stopza? Hold out with a Barrier? Aqua clenched her weapon. The Heartless were nearing. One of the last surviving dual blade Heartless was easily within lunging distance. Perhaps by virtue of the resignation she once again felt, it instead slowly shambled towards her.
On her feet and weapon in hand. How befitting of a Keyblade Master.
Aqua flicked her weapon into a ready position, one last surge of bravado chasing away the bone weary exhaustion. "Come!" A screech tearing through the air made her narrow her eyes, the familiar noise filling her with exasperation. The winged creatures were back. Aqua ignored the roar of wind from overhead, instead keeping her focus on the Heartless just out of stabbing distance.
Still no Robin.
Magic rushed into her gloved hand, ready to answer her command. The bladed Heartless lurched back, ready to stab forward.
Great cracks of thunder slammed into the ground all around her, destroying the Heartless immediately near her. "Sorry I'm late. Got held up by traffic."
Relief replaced the resignation, the no longer overridden exhaustion almost making her drop to her knees. "You were four blocks away, at most."
"What can I say?" Robin lazily flicked out a wave of air, knocking away another rush of Heartless. "There was an accident, I had to figure out how to navigate around it. But I'm here now." Something in the air changed. Even through her helmet, she could taste the difference. "Aqua, when I give you the signal, throw up a Barrier, as strong as you can make it."
She nodded. It was all she could do.
Robin threw out another wave of air, leaping off somewhere behind her and leaving her at the center of the horde.
Wait for the signal, she thought, keeping her hand and weapon at the ready.
It was a trio of humanoid shadows this time that approached her, eager and ready for the delicacy that was a Keybearer's heart. Unlike the bladed creatures from before, these seemed to sense the almost palpable urgency. At the same time, a winged, green creature rounded the corner from above, a pair of crimson variants flanking it on either side.
Wait for the signal, she repeated.
The shadows were now five paces away. At three, that was when they would either lunge or melt into the ground. At ten, those flyers would tuck in their wings and dive bomb her.
Four paces; twenty paces.
Wait for the signal!
Aqua's breathing hitched. Her eyes widened. Lava-esque fire exploded into the air before her, obscuring the Heartless from view. That pressure in the air she knew she wasn't imagining became all too real. It demanded she kneel. To submit. To curl up accept the inevitable end.
It felt protective.
Instincts she readily obeyed screamed she throw up a Barrier, and not a moment later she immediately understood why. Everywhere she looked, all she could see was a dense fog of purple haze, like the rolling smoke of a forest fire. A cold, burning heat permeated through her magic shield, and with it, came a sickly sweet scent of decay she felt more than smelled.
It was nauseating. The fog of destruction of disorienting. But despite it all, all she could focus on was the wave upon wave of almost metallic looking spikes that lanced out of the ground, spearing everything in their path. Aqua was not safe from the carnage. With every pulsating wave, she could feel her shield grow weaker.
No! He's not done yet! Even at the heart of the horde, she could still see groupings of Heartless writhing at the strikes they were subjugated to. Parts of the purple mist darkened for mere moments with each passing pulse.
Krrk.
It was a sound she'd learned to dread all her life; that of her Barrier weakening. The slow tearing away of her shield's strength was always the worst way to realize she was outmatched. With a single strong enough strike, at least it was done and over with the moment the blow landed. But this?
Krrck.
No. Aqua let out a hoarse scream, pulling desperately for whatever last bit of mana she could find. It came in the form of despair. Of anger. Of fear. Tendrils of blue-black darkness coiled around her Barrier, patching themselves over the cracks. With one last ferocious roar and a surge of green tinged cyclone of wind continually shredding the last remaining threads of her shield, the onslaught finally ended.
Quiet. That was what stuck out to Aqua's mind as she stood there, Barrier still firmly raised against whatever might still be out there. The quietness of her surroundings. The lack of Heartless losing their cohesion and exploding into a fine mist of particles. The missing drumbeat of eldritch magic pulsing through indiscriminate roots laying the groundwork for their appearance. Above all, every breath making her keenly aware of what she had just gone through, was her own adrenaline filled pants echoing through her helmet.
Perhaps it was because she supposed herself stronger now. That she had already been through this once before, back on those fragmented pieces of land whose space curled in on itself and allowed them to leap through the air, uncaring of gravity until they neared another isle of earth.
"Aqua."
She was... afraid. Afraid to turn around. Afraid to face what had so unknowingly reminded her exactly where she stood. That concerningly protective weight had disappeared, but the side effects of its might still persisted. If she were to turn around, what would she find? Who was the being that was standing behind her? If she were to look into the eyes of whoever was speaking to her, would she find the man she had grown to trust and rely on?
Or would she find the tamed beast, fond of her but able to turn on her at any given moment?
"Aqua, the battle is over. You can relax now."
She didn't want to. She didn't— her Barrier flickered. Her mana was growing dangerously low. But she had to. If she didn't let go now, she would start to draw upon the last bit of her reserves dedicated towards her continued existence. Holding fast to this fragile defense would mean burning away her life on a gamble.
A gamble she was terrified to lose.
"Please," she whispered. Aqua curled her open hand into a fist, letting the barrier fizzle away. Slowly, her weapon staying down and at her side, Aqua turned around. Robin stood there, hood up and his posture the definition of concerned. There was no echoing quality to his voice. No wisps of purple trailing out of his robes. And yet... "Please, show me your face."
Robin tilted his hood back just enough for the concealment charm to deactivate, his face illuminated by the light of day.
Aqua sobbed.
/ - /
Two hours had passed since the fight in the city, and still the question burned in Aqua's mind.
Why had she agreed to continue the trip? She had the whole car ride, silent save for Heathcliff's soft music and the occasional rustle of a turning page from Robin or their mutual sipping of the assortment of ethers they'd collected, and still she had not spoken up to stop it? She glanced over at Robin, the man hammering down the last stake into the ground. It seemed, technologically advanced as this world was, some things stayed the same across worlds.
Robin let out a satisfied sigh, settling down on the flat stone beside her she'd specifically picked out as another chair. "If nothing else, we can treat this like a little getaway. A time to just relax and unwind and not worry about what's going on in the city."
Heathcliff had told them just under halfway to their destination that the members of Big Hero 6 had finished up their fights cleanly, and as a whole had given their well wishes. It was surprisingly a load off her mind, knowing that they were able to handle themselves with their new equipment and handful of lessons and drills.
"But if we actually wanted to gain something for this, I think we ought to clear the air up, first."
She looked away, searching for anything but Robin to focus on.
"Aqua." His voice was caring, but firm. Not unlike the times when she had thought to have made a punishable mistake in front of Master Eraqus when it was nothing more than a teaching moment. "When you look at me, who do you see?"
She saw Robin. The man who had protected her for nearly two whole years in the Realm of Darkness— and who knew how long it actually was compared to the passage of time in the Realm of Light? Aqua saw the man who taught her how to cast magic in a different style (something she still needed much work on to feasibly use), and brought to her attention that emotion based casting was dangerous, even if she herself was able to avoid the pitfalls that such connections tended to make. She saw a friend who was missing much of his past, and what memories he did remember were filled with nothing but conflict. Most importantly though, when she looked at Robin, behind him, she could still see a phantasmal whisper of Grima staring at her, piercing red eyes glimmering with an energy beyond mortal capabilities.
"I told you once before, Aqua, 78 days after we first met. I am Grima, and Grima is me." Such a statement should have brought about a change to their surroundings. But the only thing Aqua could hear was the rustling of leaves and faint chirping of birds. "I am him as much as he is me. To be scared of Grima means you should be scared of me." He frowned slightly. "Are you scared of me, Aqua?"
"No," she quietly answered.
"And why is that?" he continued, matching her tone.
"Because I trust you." Aqua paused. That was the truth, wasn't it? Despite all her misgivings about Grima, she trusted the both of them. "As much as I hate your plans sometimes, you've never let me take anything more than a single powerful blow, and if I ever did take one, you'd always be right there to buy me time to recover."
Robin said nothing for several moments, staring off into the distance. "...but are you scared of Grima?"
Yes. It was what Grima represented that terrified her. A self proclaimed god; one whose magic made her think back to those desperate moments in the Realm of Darkness when she had lost all hope, and it was only the timely rescue of Terra and Ven's keyblades that saved her from the brink. It was that phantom image of an impossibly huge dragon imprinted into her mind she'd seen the first time she met Grima, silent roars a heralding every wave of -za class magic. That she, without a keyblade, had no answer to such a problem. It was what Grima represented that she had a problem with. It was that she had a problem with it, that she had a problem.
"Maybe it might help if you think of it this way," Robin offered. "Grima is the engine of the vehicle that is my body. Unless set in motion or left unattended, it can't do anything. A vehicle can't move without a driver to direct it. I, Robin, am that driver." He hummed thoughtfully. "Or, put another way, Grima only need appear as a last resort. The magic that Grima's mindset can access, it's the answer to an issue that has no clean resolution."
What was she to say? How was she to tell him that as much as she trusted him, every time he cast a spell she could sense tiny, faint whispers of Grima's presence that sent chills up her spine and relief through her body? How could she vocalize that she had no problems with that presence, except when staring directly at it? That Aqua the Keyblade Master and Aqua the Civilian both refused to think upon what it meant that underneath the mask of Robin, Grima stood watching?
"Aqua, please look at me?" He seemed... upset. No, disappointed. As if he had been through this before, and as with then, the results were lacking. "What can you trust me with?"
An easy answer. One she had no troubles speaking. "To keep me safe. To teach me new magics and provide perspectives I haven't thought of before."
"Then can you trust me to do so for the next few days? You don't seem to have any reservations utilizing Darkness beyond its intrinsic issues, but unless you're able to listen to me without any misgivings, we might as well not attempt anything."
She closed her eyes. "Robin, I... Grima." Her heart sank as she spoke the entity's name. It was one thing to recognize the existence of the Fell Dragon, it was another to acknowledge it. "I'm... I'm sorry. You... I—"
"Cease your prattling, Light Spawn." It was not a command, nor was it a request. Somehow, in that irritated tone of voice that Grima always seemed to speak in, she could sense something that passed for forgiveness. "You have no faults to bear for what failings were foisted upon you by your elders." Crimson eyes stared at her, Robin's— Grima's— arms folded petulantly. "You need only apologize should you ever raise your weapon against me in some misguided attempt at 'cleansing the world of my existence'."
Somehow, Aqua knew she would never do such a thing.
"Pah. Stand and follow me. A campsite is no place to practice dark magic."
Perhaps it was the lack of weight in the air demanding she kneel, but Aqua found herself smiling slightly at how utterly vexed Grima seemed to be with her. "Of course."
/ - /
...she knew these lands. Somehow. Somewhere. It was a time from long, long ago. A time when she didn't have to worry about worlds and Darkness. When she was just an innocent child learning from her father and training with her brothers.
...but what was this place called?
Her feet guided her lazily down perfectly carved steps worn with the passage time, past magical light posts and manicured hedges. It was peaceful. Idyllic, even. Even the presence of an aged, bald man dressed in a black-grey coat, white gloved hands folded behind his back did nothing to disturb that joy.
...so why did she feel like she should be filled with an incomparable rage?
"What is it that your heart fears?" the man asked, staring down at the sunlit village far below at the base of the mountain.
The words came unbidden from her mouth. "That I won't be strong enough to protect those important to me."
"Protection of your loved ones... Is your strength truly that important?"
Wait, no. Stop! But her feet did not listen. Idly, as if she was on nothing more than a carefree walk, her feet brought her past more steps. Half forgotten memories came back to her. Of peace. Of joy. Of tears and frustrations and laughter and—
A black haired man in a white coat stood at the edge of the cliff, staring out at mountains in the near but far off distance. She knew this man. He was important. He was...
"What dream is it that you wish to realize?"
"A world where we can all be safe." Flashes of brown and blonde flickered through her mind. "Me, Terra, Ven." A young boy, at once both a tiny child and a growing boy barely in his teens; both with impossibly spiky brown hair. "Sora." He was important. Not to her specifically, not like Terra and Ven, but he was important all the same. But why? "All of us."
"A world of safety... But is a lack of hardships really worth having?"
Ye— no. What was...?
She knew these steps. Knew where they led. A great archway of white stone hung overhead as she reached the summit of the stairs. This was home.
This was...
A figure in a purple-blue coat decorated in gold trimmings and lines of magenta stood at the side of the stairwell, staring out at the cloud covered lands her home overlooked. "What is most important to you?" they asked, masculine voice making her feel safe and protected.
She stopped just a step past them, their backs facing each other. What was most important to her? That was easy. It was— "The strength to always keep moving forward."
"To move past adversity without pause. Yet, do you ever stop to reflect upon your challenges?"
She continued walking, approaching the final steps that led to the castle she called home. The moment her foot landed on that first step, everything seemed to slow down. But she did not panic. It felt completely normal to be moving so slow. To be forever staring at those massive doors that only opened easily if you knew the trick to them.
You fear inadequacy in the face of peril.
She was a third of the way up the stairs, now. That silent voice that came from nowhere and everywhere held a rumbling, echoing quality to it; as if some massive creature were speaking to her.
You wish for you and yours to live a peaceful life.
She was nearly at the top of the stairs. Something within her felt terrified at its existence, but a greater part felt nothing but appreciative. This voice... it was...
You desire courage in the face of turmoil.
Aqua grabbed hold of the doors to her home, adding just a touch of magic to her arms to gain the right momentum. With a jerking tug, the doors began the arduous processing of creeping open, until at last, the blinding white light of home was all that filled her sight.
Your path is a moonless one, Child. But hold fast to your beliefs. Faith can be a stronger weapon than any would expect.
Next chapter will be January 10th. Happy New Years, everyone!
Edit: as stated at the top of this chapter, next release is being pushed back to the 17th. Apologies for the wait.