"Hold me whatever lies beyond this morning hmhmmhmmmhmmhmhmm..."

Oh! Hilo again! Please enjoy this chapter, and remember to Review! Because Reviews make me happy, and I feel like people are actually reading my work. I'm making Sōzō-ryoku really work hard, because I have a deadline on this book now. Well... not definitive... but still, a deadline. Hopefully chapters will start coming out more often so I can get it all posted. On the plus side, Finals are NEXT WEEK, so once those are over with I will have more time in which to type.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Thank you.


"Seriously? What is it with me and landing in a forest?" Ember looked around her; she was indeed in a forest once again. Making this the third time in as many Worlds she had arrived thusly. "Whatever." She scoffed, shaking her head and starting off in a random direction.

Her keyblade was out and swinging before the first Unversed had even appeared; sometimes she really liked her ability to hear the variances between Dark and Light. After a few minutes she fell into Supernova, taking out nearly half of her opponents; now all that was left was this annoying group of Monotruckers. "Time to wrap this up." She made quick work of the last of the Unversed and continued on her way, tucking away the munny they had dropped. "I'll have to stop at a Moogle shop at some point…" She mused quietly and rubbed her shoulder where she had strained it slightly in the conflict. It wasn't bad enough that she was willing to use a potion on it, just slightly uncomfortable.

At some point in her walk, Ember sensed the tremors up ahead. There was a great source of Light, and the Darkness writhed around it. Attacking it - and defending it. "What's going on?" She broke into a run, partially from worry, but mostly out of curiosity and boredom. Soon her path was blocked by a wall of thorns. "Alright. What's the big idea?" The briars were nearly the height of the tallest point of the Castle back in the Land of Departure and stretched for as far as the eye could see in either direction. Green flames flared off in the distance and Ember started towards them, only to have a section of the briar wall break off of the rest of it and condense itself into a new shape.

It was three times as tall as the fire-mage and made entirely up of sharp angles. The coloring was primarily black with a scarf in a malevolent purple, split into four sharp arrows that floated behind the monster. The symbol of the Unversed was in place of a face.

"Now I know that whatever is going on there is something I need to be there for." She grumbled, summoning her Keyblade. "Alright then, bring it on." She backflipped over the Thorn Barrier's hand as it tried to smash her and sent a chain of Thunder spells into it's chest. She could sense that she'd done a good amount of damage, but it was by no means near being defeated. It was particularly weak to Fire- type spells. But then again, it was formed out of branches.

Twisting out of the way of a barrage of thorns that slammed deep into the ground where she had just been standing, Ember activated her second shotlock - Midnight Volley. Fifteen black, purple, and gold crystals spun in a circle around the tip of her Keyblade as she rose it to the the sky, then slashed it towards her opponent and the crystals shot in quick succession to the Unversed.

"Time to wrap things up." Ember smirked, she could sense that the Thorn Barrier was nearly beaten. Gathering as much mana as she felt she could spare, Ember cast a powerful Fire spell that slammed into the monster and set it afire from the inside. As the monster burned, the wall of thorns withered to nothing and faded, revealing a large castle.

Ember headed towards the place she had seen the green flames, the lack of those flames suggested that whatever had been going on there was over now, but Ember still wanted to know what it had been all about. She came upon the main bridge leading up to the castle, the stones were still burning in some places with green flame. Halfway across the bridge, Ember could see two people standing - one of them was a man with a red cape, who took off towards the castle just as the redhead stepped onto the stone - the other was a very familiar woman clad in blue. "Aqua!"
Aqua turned around at the sound of her name and Ember ran up to her. "Ember! It's good to see you."

"Good to see you, too. How are you doing? It looked like you had some excitement just now."

"Nothing I couldn't handle." The blunette responded with a slight shrug; not as cocky as Terra could be, nor as defensive as Ven. Even so, Aqua had this air of independence and - dare she say it? - superiority.

"I never said you couldn't handle it. I just asked if you were alright." Aqua glanced at her and then looked away, the spellcaster was tense. Ember frowned. "Is something wrong, Aqua?"

Aqua had a frown on her own face. "What you said right before you left…"

"Is that still bothering you?"

"Yes!" Aqua cried. "I don't understand. What did you mean about the Master being wrong...?"

"I didn't say he was wrong, just that there are things out there that he doesn't understand." Aqua still looked lost, , tears starting to gather in her eyes, and Ember sighed. "You have to stop thinking of Darkness as Evil."

Blue eyes widened. "But… it is evil…" Aqua protested. "I've seen the damage it can do."

"There's a reason we're afraid of the Dark…" Ember murmured, too low for the other girl to hear.

"Have you seen Terra and Ven?" Aqua asked and Ember rose an eyebrow at the change of topic.

"No, though I think I only just missed Ven in the last World I visited." Ember shook her head. "Have you seen them?"

"I spoke with Terra momentarily in the first World I visited, and Ven just left this one."

"Figures." Ember scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Were they doing okay, though? My Wayfinder has been activated several times."

"They seemed alright" Aqua responded. "Ven's still throwing his tantrum, though." Ember scowled at the spellcaster's words. "And Terra seems to have closed down even more. I'm kind of afraid for him, what if he strays?"

"Stop telling him he's wrong, Aqua." Ember interrupted and Aqua nearly flinched at her tone.

"Wha-?"

"Dark and Evil are not synonymous. Yes, oftentimes people get lost in it, but that doesn't make it bad. Eraqus has vilified the Dark to such a degree that Terra thinks there's something wrong with him - just because his morals mean that Darkness comes easier to him."

"His morals?"

"What he needs, Aqua," Ember began instead of answering. "Is not a barrier to keep him in place, but a lighthouse so he can always find his way back."

"I… I've never thought about it that way." Aqua seemed rather shell shocked.

"Not many people have." Ember assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "But now that you have, what are you going to do?"

"I guess, the only thing I can do…" Ember waited for Aqua to finish, raising her eyebrows. "Be there to catch him if he falls."

A gentle grin appeared on Ember's face. "You'd be surprised at just how much that actually is. Especially with how you feel about Terra."

Aqua flushed scarlet. "W-what's th-that supposed to mean?"

"Please, I've seen the way you look at him when he isn't looking." Ember insisted with a teasing laugh. "And I've seen the way he looks at you."

"R-really?" Aqua couldn't manage to keep the hope from her voice.

"That's why he's so mad at you, Aqua. The more you care about someone, the more it hurts when they don't trust you." Ember grinned and activated her armor. "See you around, Aqua." A flash of light and her Rider materialized next to her.

As she took off, a voice carried after her. "Bye Ember. And thank you."

Ember had only just entered the Lanes Between when a wave of light knocked her off course and carried her away.


Aaaannnnd Done. Aqua has some stuff to think about, neh? Eh - this one took awhile to write; it didn't want to come out of my head. Anywho, please tune in again for...

Chapter Five: Destiny Islands

**Wayfinder**