For the first time in a long, long while, Aqua didn't want to get out of bed. Easy as last night's fight was, somehow she had felt completely drained, unable to muster the energy to care about anything else beyond how soon she could go to sleep. So when Sora, that teen she had only caught a glimpse of so long ago, had proceeded to ask her questions about everything she had been up to, she hadn't been able to figure out how to politely excuse herself from the situation. It had taken Ethel finding her nearly a half hour into the pseudo-interrogation and providing an escape for her to get to bed.

She grumbled as she rolled over, pulling her sheets over her head to block out the sunlight. All she wanted to do today was sleep. Sleep and pretend that she hadn't almost gotten stuck in the Realm of Darkness again, and that Robin wasn't currently stuck there.

Not that she was overly worried about him. A conduit of Darkness wandering the Realm of Darkness? Frankly, she was more concerned about the repercussions of whatever he might get up to while they were in there. At best, he'd return with pockets stuffed full with potions and ethers (items they had completely run through during their weekend training). At worst, Grima would off-handedly remark about some creature he had destroyed before falling asleep himself and no other tale.

Ah, sleep. How wonderful it was to slowly drift back into slumber, soft and warm and cozy and—

"Rise and shine!" The door to her room slammed open, Ethel's loud voice shattering any hopes of dozing off. "Morning's gone and midday is here! So get your keister outta bed, Aqua!"

Aqua whined as Ethel clapped her hands together, grabbing tighter hold of her blanket. "Go away," she grumbled, groaning as the sound of the curtains being thrown wide open rattled out.

A weight settled beside her. "Aqua, just because your boyfriend leapt through a portal doesn't mean it's the end of the world."

"He's not my boyfriend," she immediately responded.

"Close coworker then. Point is, if you were in his position, would you want him to be moping around?"

"I'm not moping around. I'm exhausted." And how surprising that was. Almost a full twelve hours since she had gone to bed, and she still wanted to sleep. "Cast some spells last night that I'm not fully used to and it took more out of me than I expected."

Ethel sighed. "You should still get out of bed. It's nearly noon."

"Robin's not stuck there," she said after a moment.

"Aqua..."

"Robin was the one who got us out in the first place, and he's been working with Mogrii to refine his transport method. He's not stuck there." Aqua sat up and stared at Ethel, uncaring of how tousled her hair must have looked. "Three days, tops, then he'll be back."

Ethel nodded hesitantly, as if she was trying to play along rather than actually believing her. "If you're sure."

"I'm sure," she said. "Now get out." Aqua gently tossed her pillow toward Ethel's face. "I need to get dressed."

She snorted. "Lazy day today, unless you were planning anything."

"Considering how many questions Sora had for me last night, I'm sure he'll try and drag me off for something or other today, too." She groaned as she stretched out, a yawn escaping as she did so.

/ - /

Perhaps it was her budding experiments with Darkness, but by far the worst part about Sora was the fact that he had a keyblade. It had less to do with the fact that he was a keyblade wielder and more the keyblade itself.

It wasn't hers.

It wasn't that familiar weight that sang of dancing through the air; of the scent of wet grass and damp earth after a morning shower. It wasn't experiences turned physical, nor was it a bastion of Light going back from Master to master. It was Sora's, and though the grip of Kingdom Key didn't burn her hand as incompatible keyblades were rumored to, her soul felt the keen pang of hurt all the same.

She watched as Sora moved through another series of strikes, mana visibly flowing off his body as he twisted and turned through the air.

"Are all those in your organization so... floaty?" Ethel asked, arms crossed.

She stopped to think on it. Last she had seen him in fighting condition, Ventus was somehow capable of fully gliding through the air, far more than her short bursts of momentum. Mickey was far more acrobatic than herself while in the air, and even when leaping off the ground his spinning strikes were there. Her own aerial combat was somewhat similar when she had a keyblade, but these days she was more limited to barely levitating ground strikes. "Considering most of us developed our fighting styles on our own, surprisingly yes," she finally answered. Ribbons of magic swirled around Sora as he flew towards yet another target dummy Heathcliff had set up earlier, the boy kicking off its front and beginning a new string of attacks.

"Is that... five?"

Aqua nodded. Was it the power of youth or something more that enabled Sora the ability to chain attacks between targets as frequently as he did? If she had a keyblade, would she be able to do the same? She glanced down at her focus, turning her hand slightly to catch the sunlight in different ways. Possibly. Though she dare not try casting a spell with Sora's keyblade for fear of how amplified it might be, she knew she'd be able to last significantly longer than she'd ever done in recent memory.

"Honestly I don't think there's anything I could teach him," she admitted. "His fighting style is too self-taught, and even if I'm his senior, my expertise lies in the arcane arts, not physical. He might weave magic into his strikes, but it's an instinctual thing." Aqua let out a quiet breath. "I feel like if I were to teach him anything, it would be by fighting by his side and not as an instructor." She glanced at Ethel when she said nothing in response.

"All that from just a couple minutes of watching him?" she asked.

"There's a confidence to his moves, Ethel. If there was hesitation or unsurety, at least then I could see what I could do, but." She frowned. Sora's skills... they were refined through usage and experience against foes, like a swordsman's blade against a whetstone. Pure instinct put to the test. They were nothing like hers, or Terra's, or Ven's or even Vanitas'. They had the gift of a mentor, one who had always intended them to fight against another sentient being.

Sora's moves... they were made for fighting against unthinking monsters. Wide, arcing strikes with so much power behind them; if she were to fight against him, how would she fare? Perhaps she might overcome him for a time, but that boundless energy... If she didn't defeat him early enough, without a doubt he would figure out how to counter her.

Sora strolled over to them, a happy smile on his face. "So? How'd I do, Master Aqua?"

Master Aqua. If that wasn't a title she had to get used to. As jovial as Sora seemed to be, using a title such as that felt almost out of place for him. "Surprisingly well, Sora." She put on a practiced smile. "If this is what the next generation has to offer, we'll be in good hands."

"Ha-hah!" He spun around to face Donald and Goofy, striking a pose. "You hear that! The future's in good hands!"

Aqua quietly reached into her pocket, rubbing her thumb along Grima's keychain. As a whole, the trinket was nearly flat, but the grooves carved into the metal lent a texture to it that was almost calming. The cold warmth it radiated was comforting, and if she moved her fingers just a little lower in her pocket, she could feel the peaceful warmth of her wayfinder.

"You doing okay?" Ethel whispered.

"Hm?"

"You're doing that thing again," she said. "Staring off into the distance?"

"Am I?" She blinked. Maybe she really did have a habit of staring at things. It wasn't that bad, was it? Taking a moment to appreciate the littles things? Aqua chuckled. "Can I be forgiven if I had the same scenery for almost two years?"

Ethel's face quirked slightly. "I think that's understandable."

Arcane arts... "Sora! Let's go down to the training room. I want to see how proficient you are with your magic."

"O-okay!"

Was she scared? Just a little. Was she excited? Just a little. For the sake of reconditioning her body for a proper fight, Prelude to Fate hung loosely in her hand, though she had no intentions of using it. "Limit yourself to -ra class magics only. If you feel the urge to use a -ga class spell, feel free, but this room can't handle much of that." Barrier magic slowly filled her left hand, variations of the spell running through her mind. "In terms of magical endurance, skill, or power, do whatever you think will give me the best idea of your capabilities."

Sora nodded, dropping down into a ready stance. It was... odd, to say the least. Slightly hunched over, feet spread apart and at a wide angle in relation to her. For chasing after a foe or holding your ground it wasn't bad, but generally one wanted a tighter stance to better facilitate lateral movement.

The moment Sora took a step, tiny ribbons of mana flowed down his body, carrying him forward even as magic pulsed from the tip of his keyblade. Aqua calmly raised her hand into the air, a Barrier springing forth as tendrils of lightning magic showered down around her. So he knew that technique as well? Was it something he came up with on his own, or was knowledge of Masters past floating around? A Blizzara flung out at her next, easily melted away by a Firara. Watera became mist in the face of an Aerora; Aerora crashed against a reinforced Barrier.

Was this the best he could muster? No, she refused to believe it. According to Ethel, Sora was capable of running up walls as if gravity did not exist. Someone like that had to have more up their sleeve. She refused to believe otherwise. Three more times Sora fired out an ineffective projectile, each blocked by either an opposing element of her own or any of her yet-to-be-damaged Barriers. The fact that she had yet to move a step beyond turning to keep him in her vision wasn't lost on her, and she knew from experience that he was likely starting to become aggravated by that.

"Come on, Sora," she whispered to herself. "I thought you were stronger than that."

A metallic, almost magical sound suddenly emanated from her left. Through the barrage of whirling water projectiles, she could make out the sight of Sora holding what looked to be imitations of the weapons of that eyepatched man from the keyblade graveyard. She unleashed a trio of Blizzaras, the resulting explosions from the initial contacts intercepting the rest of the projectiles.

A change in the keyblade's physical appearance, beyond that of a glider? That was a skill Terra utilized. She narrowed her eyes. Who was his teacher? Who still remained in the worlds to have taught him all these skills? Dashing through the air on winds of mana; form changes for a keyblade; conserving momentum while casting spells or downing potions? Were they somebody to be trusted? Aqua frowned, raising a wall of ice to block a barrage of lightning projectiles. Or, as she feared, was Sora truly self taught in all his skills?

Instincts screamed at her to dodge. Her mind demanded she block. Frown marred by the mostly transparent panels of her segmented Barrier, Sora kicked off into a backflip, his modified keyblade disappearing into motes of light before reforming into adornments around his hands. Aqua silently added more mana to her shield as a wheel of magic flared out, the flames rotating along the same plane as Sora's outstretched spin. On a whim she shattered her magic outward, directing a portion of the stored energy towards Sora. She subtly gestured with her hand as teleportation magic blipped behind her, a whirl of mana surrounding Sora's outstretched foot and grinding ineffectively against her shield.

She had the uncomfortable sense of being disappointed by his showing. For being mostly self taught (or so she assumed), she should have been nothing but ecstatic for his abilities, praising how far he had come. And yet...

As Sora shot out another series of projectiles with those dual keyblade-crossbows, all she could think about was Robin. Were she on the defensive, she would have long been throwing out magic infused Raids. Perhaps it was an issue of wording, she thought. She had no keyblade, and thus was forced to be more creative with her assaults. Perhaps by virtue of thinking this spar purely to be a test of his magical abilities and not magical arsenal, Sora was holding himself back from everything he could utilize.

"That's enough." She raised a hand, palm facing him. "I think that's the most I'll learn about you from this. Next time there's a Heartless invasion, let me watch you."

Sora furrowed his brow for only a moment, before a more genial expression took its place. "Okay." His keyblade, for that's what she assumed the metallic, pincer looking claws over his forearms were, disappeared in a flurry of light particles.

"I'll need some time to think on this," Aqua said, tapping her wayfinder through her pocket. "I'll come find you after dinner."

/ - /

Served in a cup instead of a cone, the raspberry sorbet was far more sweeter than she remembered the Royalberry mix she'd gotten from Disney Town. That didn't make it any less good though, especially with the soft chatter of the other patrons. Being the middle of the week and fairly late at night, they had basically arrived at the ice cream parlor at the best possible time. Aqua nodded gratefully as Ethel arrived, a cup of water in either hand.

"Hiro's projections are getting better every time," Ethel said quietly as she sat down, softly enough that only she could hear. "Last time I went out on patrol, I had to sprint over ten blocks before I got anywhere near the Heartless."

"Hasn't your equipment been upgraded to let you move faster?" Aqua countered, humming appreciatively as she brought another spoonful to her mouth.

"By way of the mana drive, sure, but the actual power I can divert to any of the wheels at any given time is still the same. Not like you." Ethel gestured her spoon towards Aqua's hand, where the gem embedded into her glove lay. "Heard from Robin what he did to that suit of yours. Applied an ambient energy absorber to the entire thing to help keep you running along." She clicked her tongue in irritation. "Imagine if we could apply that kind of theory to other things? Use the by-products of any relevant processes as a backup or even secondary power source?"

Aqua hid her smile with another spoonful of fudge coated raspberry ice cream.

"Assuming we can even continue using those mana drives once the Heartless stop appearing, that is. The tech and lingo Hiro and Wanjohi were talking about belong in a different field than mine, but I understood enough to know they work off an ambient energy absorber, like solar."

She nodded, pretending that that order of words made sense. As she replayed it in her mind to try and understand it, a particular section that stuck out made her tilt her head in confusion. "Wanjohi? I thought it was Aiko that was helping Hiro and Robin?"

"Oh, it was definitely Aiko that helped with the alloy theorizing and the like, but when you want to utilize energy containment then you want to ask Wanjohi." Ethel tapped her wrist, motioning in the vague shape of something extending past her fist. After a few moments of silence, broken only by the soft voices around them and the clinking of spoons against glasses, Ethel paused. "You mind if I try some of yours?"

"Mm?" Aqua looked away from the window, watching a couple slowly walk up the hill hand in hand. "Oh, sure." She nudged her bowl closer, turning her attention back to the couple. Both wearing light jackets, the shorter of the two leaned her head against her companion's, her companion squeezing their hand slightly.

"...do you miss him?"

Aqua blinked, focusing on how Ethel solemnly stared down at her bowl of mint chocolate. "I'm sorry?"

"Robin. Do you miss Robin?"

She looked back out the window, resting her head on the palm of her hand. Did she miss Robin? Robin, who was only gone for just over a day? No, not really. Worried, maybe, but not missing. "He'll be back."

"Aqua..."

She narrowed her eyes sharply. "Robin was the one who got us out of there. He's more than capable of getting himself out, especially after the lessons from Mogrii. If he's still in there even after all this time, then it's because he found something worthwhile."

"I'm just—" Ethel closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Aqua you didn't get out of bed today until well until noon. Normally you're up by sunrise and out and about by the time everybody else is just getting up."

"Yes, and that's because I was exhausted from the night before." She crossed her arms, staring at Ethel in irritation. "You don't believe me," she said in disbelief.

She sighed. "Can you blame me?" Ethel furrowed her brow. "Robin's status screen went dark on all our headsets, something that only happens when offline or out of range, and when we find you you're surrounded by the remnants of one of your usual battles and Robin's nowhere to be found. You quietly tell us he's fine and don't say anything else other than 'he's dealing with that boy in the black coat' and absolutely nothing else." She growled in frustration. "Aqua, what are we supposed to think? Especially when that junior of yours tells us that 'nobody can go to the Realm of Darkness without protection'?"

Aqua tapped her arm with a finger three times. The first was to center herself. The second was to signal a long breath to let go of all her irritations. The third was to ready herself to continue the conversation. "Maybe believe me when I say that he's going to be okay?"

"I'm sorry, it's just—" Ethel sighed once again. "Okay. I believe you. Hey, about that junior of yours..." Ethel rapped her fingers on the table. "That weapon he uses and the fact he calls you 'Master'... what's up with that?"

Aqua pursed her lips. "You know how we're from the same organization? Once upon a time I wielded a weapon much like his, but when I went to that place I had to give mine up in order to preserve the safety of my companions at the time. I was basically among the last of my generation at the time, and I suppose my name has been treated as a sort of legacy."

She chuckled. "It's pretty strange, being called that though." Even stranger was how easily the altered truth slipped from her tongue. "Before I was assigned, my Master granted me the very rank. I think I only had it for a couple months before my deployment, and—" She stopped. Was there any way to concisely say what happened afterwards? "Suffice to say, I suppose I'm a bit of a legend among the next generation."

Ethel stared at her for several seconds before breaking out into laughter. "You know, I think I get why he kept asking about you this morning."

All she could do was smile. How was she supposed to respond to that? For almost ten years she had wandered the Realm of Darkness all by herself, and then for almost two years it was only her and Robin against an unending horde of ever chasing Heartless, warded only by the ebb and flow of Robin's aura. She knew nothing of the state of the worlds beyond Sora having to save them from Darkness. Knew nothing about Sora himself other than he was a Keybearer (where Riku had conspicuously not had one). How could she possibly react to the idea that Sora essentially worshiped her like she was some kind of hero?

Aqua looked out the window once again. She hated it. She hated the idea that she had to live up to someone's expectations when all she wanted was to find her keyblades and then find her friends. In the years since she caught a glimpse of that young boy with no one to train him, what must have he had done? And when he finally came across someone who had been able to teach him about the weapon he wielded, what sort of stories might have been shared about her and subsequently built up in his mind?

When it came down to it, how much of Aqua the Legend actually matched up to Aqua the Person?

"Wanna head down to the beach?"

She looked down at her hand. How many times must she have clinked her spoon against the empty bowl for Ethel to finally move to stop her? "I..." The beach... This late at night? She clenched her fist. Though she had only been to that beach in the Realm of Darkness a handful of times, it was such a striking place that the mere thought of a clouded, moonlit beach made her feel the chill, clammy touch of lingering Darkness. "There's lights on the other side of the water, right?" she asked hesitantly.

Ethel nodded, staring her straight in the eye. "There is."

"Then..." Aqua took a deep breath. "I suppose we can."

Sand crunched beneath her shoes with every step, the calm ocean waves splashing against the shore. With the waves came a cold wind, but this one was entirely natural. There was no exhaustion in her body beyond that of wondering what she was to do with Sora and the niggling worries of when Robin would return. Staring at the water's surface and the not-so-distant lights flickering on the horizon, it was so very easy to remind herself that she wasn't in the Realm of Darkness.

In there, she couldn't hear the so very real voices of others drifting down from diners and sidewalks. Couldn't hear the machinery and honks of vehicles. In the Realm of Darkness, all that she could hear were illusory whispers of anger and regret; clawing shadows skittering across floating terrain that twirled around in every which way. Up and down meant nothing beyond what her feet were stuck to at times and in moments where nothing was happening and her helmet was down, all that would echo was the whistling, rumbling sounds that all gathered together as some predatory amalgamation she could pretend was wind.

"Aqua..." A finger tentatively brushed against hers. "This place that you and Robin keep talking about... It's not just some far off island or something, is it?"

She pressed her lips together.

Slowly, as if every word might (rightfully) upset her, "Sora mentioned that he and his friends were looking for you. That they had no clue where you were and that you were essentially lost to them." That finger brushed against hers once again, this time another finger joining. "You two..." Ethel looked up, staring out at the ocean. What must she have seen? Where Aqua saw glittering lights breaking through hazy memories of endless walking and an unending darkness, did Ethel only see civilisation obscured by the gentle veil of night? "You were stuck someplace where all that existed were the Heartless, weren't you?"

Aqua stilled.

"That's why you stare at things all the time. Why you always bask in the sun. If it was called the 'Realm of Darkness', there must not have been any light, right?"

"Ethel," she murmured warningly.

"No!" Ethel turned to face her, a sorrowful snarl on her face. "I won't— I can't—" She huffed and turned away. "Dammit, I'm no good at this emotion stuff. I just—" Ethel brushed her hair out of her face, steeling her expression. "Aqua, you're safe now."

"Please..." The words came out barely more than a breathy whisper.

"Robin is fine. I've seen the way you two fight and if he willingly stepped back into that place you two came from then he knows what he's doing. You were right." Aqua said nothing as Ethel grabbed her hands pleadingly. "I just—" Two arms wrapped around her, pulling her in tightly. "You're so much stronger than you let yourself know," she said quietly. "Robin can see it. I can see it. Everyone can see it. So please. You're safe now. Sora is here and can help you get back to wherever it is you need to go, and Robin will be back sooner or later. So please just relax."

Dimly, Aqua was aware they had fallen to her knees. As tightly as Ethel gripped her, she faintly knew she was holding her back twice as hard. And as for the tears streaking down her face and the quiet sobs wracking her body?

Well, neither seemed inclined to make them stop.

Next chapter will be February 14th.