Chapter 3: Nightmares
Aqua desperately gasped for air when she came to, like a breathe she didn't know she'd been holding had finally broken free. She struggled to stand while she looked around for her smaller companion.
She didn't know how long they were trapped in the Nothingness, or how long she'd been unconscious to know whether or not the child awoke in the same world as she did. They were most likely alone again, and that was a breach in their promise. Aqua had to find them fast.
Aqua extended her perception of the Darkness around her to try and get a feel of the child's personalized dark energy. She failed to register the familiar emptiness of it and kept on walking blindly into the horizon. The question as to how the child is capable of influencing the darkness like they could still lingered in Aqua's mind.
She initially thought that they were in similar positions, such that their prolonged exposure in the Darkness gave them some affinity for it. However, the more she thought about it, the less it made sense. Aqua had been here ten years, and she had only recently developed such a skill. The kid was able to influence her thoughts and emotions with darkness. If time truly was the reason for their abilities, then it implied that the child had been trapped here far longer than she has.
As impossible as it sounds, it was the only other idea she could accept because the others placed the amnesiac child in a bad light. The only other people Aqua knew who were capable of this control the kid had been Seekers of Darkness like Master Xehanort and Vanitas.
If the child really were such, it could explain as to how they were able to survive after their world was swallowed by Darkness. It was possible the child simply held a heart stronger than most and it endured through the Darkness' influence. However, the opposite was also possible. The child's heart was already familiar with Darkness beforehand, quite possibly used it freely in the past. Aqua couldn't be sure, but that could have made them immune to the Darkness.
Or, the child was already dead.
They had no memories because they no longer were the same person. They were just a shell of what once was, used by the Darkness as an avatar. A nobody that was strong enough to have a will of its own and fool Aqua into caring about them; about thinking the Darkness could be capable of more than just destruction.
Aqua shook her head. The child was dismissive and generally rude from time to time, but she knew that a tortured heart like that child couldn't be a servant of darkness. They were far too young, and had too pure eyes to be a servant of darkness. They were far too young to be trapped here in this nightmare.
Regardless of which the real cause was, Aqua will never know until the child's memories return themselves. Aqua promised to get them out of here, and save them she shall. Their past nor their mysterious connection to the darkness was no excuse to break the promise she'd made.
"One step at a time, Aqua, one step at a time." She'll get her answers when the time is right. Aqua climbed a small hill and once again felt around the darkness for the child's presence. She felt a faint thrum of that familiar emptiness nearby and broke into a sprint.
A small barn-house stood a couple of yards away from the foot of the hill. It was large and cozy enough for the child to settle in to protect themselves, she thought. Aqua slid down the hill and was suddenly alerted by the Darkness.
Aqua instinctively stepped back and summoned her weapon as the Heartless appeared before her. They looked disoriented and did not attack her the moment they spawned. Instead, the Heartless turned their attention at a bush that seemed to be crawling.
The Heartless, attacked it with no hesitation, and the child jumped out, terrified of the fire that now kissed the edges of their clothes. The kid ran for the barn, dodging balls of magic from the elementals. A hoard of Fluttering's burst to life and dove after the kid with their sharp blade like wings one after the other.
Aqua almost screamed when one came too close to wounding the child, but to her relief, the child rolled out of the way and chucked a rock at their pursuers. The Heartless screeched, momentarily fazed by the attack. The child vaulted themselves over the fence and immediately locked themselves inside.
Aqua felt a sense of pride at the child's quick thinking and tore through the Heartless to get to the kid. She was held back before the fence by reinforcements, and threw out a ranged spell to lessen their numbers.
A Defender tackled her from the side, throwing Aqua unto the fence and breaking a portion of it off. She quickly picked herself up and countered with strong slashes across the Heartless shield.
While she held the majority of their enemies outside in the outskirts, a flock of Fluttering crashed through the barn's windows which forced the child to come running back outside.
They scrambled to grab a makeshift weapon on the floor and parried their attacks with a rake. The Fluttering managed to break their weapon in half, and the child resorted to throwing the remaining pieces at their enemy.
Aqua set a good distance between her and the stubborn Defender then cast a barrier around the child before the Flutterings could cut through them. The Defender shoved its shield to her chest, throwing the spell off course and instead trapped Flutterings inside a barrier.
The child snapped their attention towards her, surprised that she found them so soon. The Flutterings broke free in the split second their eyes met, and the child was once again on the run. They ran for Aqua, hoping to be closer to their protector but was cut off by a swarm of winged Heartless. They grabbed a broken piece of fence on the floor and swung it around like it was a sword.
One flew low enough for them to hit and sent it careening towards Aqua, who sliced through it. Aqua watched as the child finished off the last two Fluttering by literally stabbing the other through the chest, and slamming the other with a broad piece of wood from the fence.
"Nice swing," Aqua said as she dismissed her keyblade and walked up to the child, who was out of breath. She kneeled before them and gave them a once over, mindful to not get too close and trigger yet another unwanted surge of emotions through her.
The child growled, obviously annoyed by her concern.
"I know, I know," she said, "just checking if you need some healing. Just give me a few seconds…" Aqua smiled and stepped back. "See? You're fine."
The kid rolled their eyes and made their way back into the barn. They worked together to fortify their new temporary safe house, as well as made it comfortable enough to lounge in for a while.
Aqua patched up the broken windows while the child tied up a bundle of hay and stacked them on top of each other to make a bed. They pulled off a dirty sheet from the floor and padded it over the haystack before lying down on it.
Aqua pulled out the book she took from the child's house and skimmed through its empty pages until she reached the photographs, a few of which were still intact; most notably the picture of three kids with the stuffed cat animal.
"Hey. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
The child raised an eyebrow at her, and then glanced at the photograph and book on her hand. Their eyes narrowed at it, somehow familiar and wary about it.
"I thought that maybe it was important to you so I grabbed it on the way out."
The kid took the photo with trembling hands. They brushed a finger over the white haired boy's face and shook. They pressed the photo close to their chest as tears trickled down their cheek.
Aqua placed a comforting arm around them and pulled them into a tight embrace. They must've been very dear friends for the child to remember their bond despite their lost memories. She opened her mouth to ask about the silver haired boy but was cut off when the kid pushed the book and photo back into Aqua's hands.
They wiped the tears away and jumped off the bed. Without saying anything, they disappeared towards the barn's second floor to be alone with their thoughts.
Aqua frowned, worried. It seemed like they weren't ready to face their past yet. She glanced at the picture again and studied the photo again. If their roles were reversed, Aqua too would probably react the same way.
She didn't want to imagine her friend's fate.
Aqua tried to catch a peek of the kid from the ground, and heard them stifle a sob. She prodded the darkness to feel the child's emotions, still curious about the extent of the kid's connection with the darkness. As she expected, the energy around them felt more human. Regret and loneliness.
Aqua closed her eyes and pulled back, feeling as though she was imposing on something private. Something happened between them and this silver haired boy, and the black haired girl. Whatever that may be, the kid blamed themselves for it.
Aqua didn't know she drifted to sleep, but she was awoken by the sound of distressed whines and ragged breaths. She climbed the ladder that led to the second floor where the child most likely fell asleep, and carefully approached them. "Kid?"
They tossed and turned on the wooden floor, sweating buckets as a nightmare plagued their dreams. "Mn…No…" the child said. "You lied – didn't – tell...? Ephemer… please..."
"Ephemer?"
Not long after speaking the unfamiliar name, the child's thrashing died down. Aqua moved closer to cradle them in her arms and drew light circles behind their ear.
The kid relaxed in her embrace and even moved in closer in search of comfort. Aqua smiled, nostalgic of the time she used to do the same with Ventus. The young keyblade wielder used to have plenty of nightmares too when he first joined them in the Land of Departure. Drawing circles behind his ear helped Ventus sleep soundlessly, and she hoped it'd do the same with the kid.
It worked for a while, until it didn't.
The kid's head jerked from side to side as though fighting off an enemy in their head. "I hate –" they hiccuped. "How could – don't – deserve – I – STOP!"
A wave of darkness suddenly phased through Aqua, filling her with emotions that weren't her own yet again. The feelings quickly evaporated like an afterthought and merely left her confused rather than terrified. She couldn't even describe what she felt with how fast it came and went, but one thing was sure, extreme stressful situations, awake or otherwise, made the child's darkness explode out from them like a defensive response.
Unaware of what made them react as such, Aqua had no choice but to try and wake them up from their invisible torment.
Just outside the barn, multiple Heartless appeared, enticed by the sudden spike of dark energy. They clamored amongt themselves outside, and Aqua was left with little to no choice but to leave the child and defend them.
The Heartless swarmed inside the barn after a loud explosion tore open the front door.
Aqua's counted too many Heartless and prepared a shotlock to reduce their numbers. After she fired rainbow colored spheres on them, she cast a barrier around the child and jumped forward. She cut through a red nocturne and threw another spell towards a blue colored one.
One by one, she sent them back to where they came from, all the while making sure the child was untouched. All of a sudden, a gut wrenching cry pierced the air.
Aqua instinctively turned to the child, who let out another wave of darkness that broke through the barrier keeping them safe. Aqua stood her ground as the purple cloud pushed back all the remaining Heartless, and vanished.
An ice cold shudder ran down Aqua's back as the dark energy subsided. She double jumped towards the child's hiding spot and saw them curled up in the corner, shaking terribly in fear while they chanted something akin to a prayer under their breath.
"Kid?"
"I'm sorry," they breathed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry – I didn't mean too. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It's my fault, It's my fault, I didn't mean it, I –" and they kept apologizing without pause.
Aqua carefully wrapped her arms around the kid, who stilled at the sudden contact. It may not have worked earlier, but Aqua continued to draw circles on the child's hair. Soon enough the child relaxed into her embrace and slept soundlessly.
She kept a close eye on the kid ever since their first nightmare. Aqua tried to bring it up, hoping to find out what exactly was in that dream that made them so irritable while asleep, but the child dismissed any claims of even having such. Per usual, the kid kept silent and avoided any interaction between them as much as possible.
The only time they did react was when Aqua casually mentioned, which she believed was the name of the silver haired boy. "What was Ephemer like?"
The child stopped painting a picture on muddied ground and rubbed circles on their temple.
"He's your friend, right?" Aqua said. "The one in the photo. What was he like?"
They tossed the stick on their hand and stomped as far away as they could from Aqua, clearly avoiding any talk about him. At this point, Aqua was certain the child remembered something about this other boy and simply chose not to say anything.
Ephemer was the first piece to getting the child's memories back. If they could bring up more memories from just their experiences with him, then they might be able to figure out everything else - including the source of the kid's nightmares.
Curious, and excited as she was to help them regain their previous memories, Aqua also knew that the kid was still apprehensive of her. She needed to bide her time and patiently wait for the kid to approach her first. Pressing them with questions only made them open less, and thus Aqua dropped any form of questioning when it came to Ephemer or their nightmares.
She simply offered out her company, and promised to lend an ear and a shoulder to cry on should they need it. The child seemed to appreciate the boundary set and became just slightly more expressive. The responses were mostly gestural but it was progress enough.
The nightmares continued to plague the kid's sleep however. They happened randomly to be expected, which made it hard to tell when the child needed her and when they didn't. Despite this, Aqua learned some early signs before a nightmare happened.
The kid first mumbled incoherent apologies and threw accusing words in their sleep. The longer the dreams went, the stronger the child's darkness became. It didn't influence her emotions again, nor has it summoned Heartless, but their pain was still evident.
She also learned that during these episodes, it's damn near impossible to wake the child from it. Aqua had to wait for the dream to end before she could come in and comfort them. As soon as they woke up, the child stared far away and acted as though nothing happened. By the seventh time, the kid stopped talking to her completely.
Aqua didn't take it personally and thought that it was the child's coping mechanism. They didn't want to let anything they remembered from the dream slip and simply avoided her. It was easier that way anyway. Instead of confronting the child about her qualms about not opening up, Aqua chose to make something for them as a sign of good faith and well-wishes.
Aqua searched the heaps of trash littered about this new world for usable materials to craft her present. It wouldn't be her best handiwork but it was like that old proverb of another world's trash is another man's blessing. Aqua wanted it to be special.
While Aqua dug through the piles of discarded metal scraps for well aluminum sheets and shards of glass, the child slid down a small trash hill and jumped over a dirty looking clamp sticking out from the ground. They pulled it out from the heap and fell back with a loud yelp. A dirty yellow colored box popped out from the ground.
Aqua called out to them in worry, which the kid dismissed with a quick hand wave. The child walked back up the hill and inspected their new find. It was a small robotic machine with a box shaped body that acted as some sort of container. Two binocular-shaped eyes sat on top of their body, two foldable arms with three long, rectangular, flat metals for a hand were attached to the sides, and disjointed rollers for feet.
The child tinkered with the robot for a bit before they pulled out a pair of goggles from inside its body. The child wiped the dust from the glass and put it on. They snickered when they poked a finger clean through its left eye socket. They playfully twirled the goggles around their fingers and jumped off to continue their search for a new safe haven.
Aqua followed close behind and tried to be subtle about her own search. It wouldn't be a surprise if the child learned of her plan right away. She initially wanted to make the wayfinder out of glass, like hers, but the broken pieces of glass in this world were either too thick, or too small to make something out. Aqua had to settle with piecing together plates of metal instead.
It took her a few cycles, or skirmishes with the Heartless, before Aqua could properly decorate and polish the jagged edges of the keychain on her hand. She pocketed her present and looked over to the child who was once again trapped in another nightmare. They trashed violently on the sofa bed unable to escape the horrors in their mind. Aqua caressed their head, trying to comfort them as best she could from the outside. She knew it was useless, but she hated not being able to do anything to help.
While she petted the child's wild hair down, Aqua fully expected the nightmares to continue as they usually did so it came as a surprise when the child sat upright, fully unbothered by their dream. Their eyes stared at some far off space somehow empty and half-lidded. They were barely awake. They raised an arm forward as though to reach for something in the empty air.
Aqua kept her thoughts to herself and simply watched the odd behavior, unsure if disturbing the child's trance would start something undesirable.
Their fingers twitched, and Aqua could've sworn she saw a spark of light flicker around their fingertips. She waited for it to happen again but didn't catch it again.
After a little while, the child's eyes fluttered awake. They blinked, completely at loss at their position, then lowered their hand. They turned to Aqua with a small frown.
"I'm not quite sure," she answered the silent inquiry. "Your nightmares don't usually end this way." Her mind lingered on the sparks of light that danced along the child's fingers. Maybe something had changed. "Did you see something different?"
The child embraced their legs and buried their head into their arms, keeping their thoughts secret once again. Aqua sighed. It would seem the child still wasn't ready to trust her with this. She moved to leave and give the child some privacy but was held back by the child's hand.
They held onto her sleeve, pleading silently for her to stay. Aqua smiled and carefully settled back beside them. She wrapped a comforting warm around them and petted their head. "You don't have to tell me anything, okay? I'll stay here."
The child nodded and fully welcomed her warmth. They stayed like this for a while until the child shook her off and wiped off tears from their face. "Aqua," they said her name aloud which surprised the keyblade wielder.
"I don't remember anything, about myself or the nightmares." It was the longest they've ever said without pause. Aqua tried not to be too excited for the future. "I just remember feelings. Like, anger and loneliness at the same time. Today it's different. It's warm like… hopeful."
Aqua's eyes trailed after their hand, and found herself wondering about it too. The light represented the opposite of the darkness' bleak and cold embrace, it was meant to be warm and inviting. Whatever it was that the child dreamed about, it brought out hope in them. "Thank you for trusting me with this," she said with a grateful squeeze of the child's shoulder. "I don't quite understand what is happening, or why it is happening, but I promise I'll be here with you to figure it out. Here," she fished out the wayfinder from her pickets and placed it on the kid's hands. "I think this should help you sort it out even a little."
The child's eyes widened at the star shaped metal and ran their fingers through it. They turned to the similarly shaped keychain dangling from Aqua's waist, and the latter nodded. "We call it a wayfinder." The child tilted their head, questioning. "It's a charm that I made to imitate a paopu fruit, that's said to connect the destinies of two people. Once they share it with each other, they'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what."
"Sounds childish," the child groaned, and Aqua laughed.
"I suppose it does," she said. "My friends and I all have one. Even though we are apart now, I know that they're still out there fighting like I am. One day, we'll get out of here, and I'll see them again."
The child frowned. Not sure what it had to do with them and their missing memories, or their nightmares.
"You've lost your friends to the Darkness," Aqua continued, "and they may not have a wayfinder, but if your heart yearns for them, then I'm certain this will help you find them. You just have to trust your heart will guide you back to them. In the meantime, it can protect you from your nightmares."
"That sounds stupid," the child scoffed as they placed the charm closer to their heart. They then left to find a longer chain or thread to hang it from, and placed it around their neck. Aqua may not have heard a verbal gratitude from them, but the fact that the child treasured the gift was enough for her. She hoped it would help ease their feelings of survivor's guilt, as well as the nightmares.
However, the nightmares only seemed to become worse after it. The signs she used to determine whether or not a nightmare happened, appeared less. The child no longer trashed their bed as well, nor summoned hordes of Heartless with their darkness filled with conflicting emotions. Aqua faulty assumed the wayfinder was doing its job protecting the child, until she noticed the fatigue beneath their eyes, their pale skin, and their sluggish, uncoordinated movement.
The nightmares no longer scared them, but whatever the child did to cope against them was starting to affect not only their mind, but their body as well.
Aqua noticed they tended to drift off and stare into space more often than before. They still responded only out of necessity, but even then, Aqua knew something wasn't right. She had a feeling the kid would talk to her when they're ready like last time and simply waited. She could handle their silence. What she had difficulty dealing with was their irritability.
The smallest form of inconvenience, or miniature gesture of good faith, made them angry and lash out. One time, they got so fed up with Aqua's insistence to make them rest for and snapped. It was honestly the loudest she'd heard the kid. It would've made her happy if it weren't under such a stressful situation. Their odd ability to influence others thoughts through the darkness also returned with their increased frustration.
Aqua was no longer terrified of these sudden intrusive emotions now that she was certain they came from the child. However, they could still be a bit jarring from time to time. It was hard to discern where her thoughts started, and where the child's emotions ended, until it stopped.
The child often stared into the horizon with their hand on the wayfinder on their neck. Aqua wondered if it was her fault that things escalated into this. The wayfinder was an accessory for good and yet it's mystical power wasn't working. She thought that maybe, the child's innate connection with the Darkness was throwing it off and thus made things worse. The Darkness was using it's light to bury the child deeper in darkness they did not want. With that in mind, Aqua thought to get the wayfinder back; just to test her theory out.
Even with her explanation, the child refused to part with the charm and ran away with it. Aqua didn't find them again until purple town returned to the surface. Following what she knew of the kid, Aqua first checked the fountain plaza. When they weren't there, she trekked up towards the cliff side where all the flowers grew.
The child sat at the very edge, swinging their legs over the chasm while they looked up at the red-purple skyline of the realm. Aqua approached them from behind, careful to not seem too confrontational. "I was beginning to wonder where you ran off to," she started.
The kid turned their head slights to her before they lowered their attention on the photograph on their hand, the one with Ephemer on it. They asked for it sometime ago, but this was the only time Aqua saw them hold it for longer than a second.
"I'm sorry I asked for the wayfinder back. I gave it to you so you should be the one to decide what to do with it."
The child brushed their thumb over the photo. "I was afraid it was going to stop if you took it away. I stopped believing I could be saved for a long time now… You - this, gave me hope. When you asked for it back, I thought you were giving up on me too."
Aqua shook her head. "No, never. I promised you that we'd get out of here and that I'll help get your memories back. There's no way I'd abandon you."
They nodded. "I was just scared. Always have been. Even more so when I woke up from the nightmares, knowing I had them but not remembering a single thing about them. Everything just hurts." They looked up at Aqua, eyes wide and pleading. "Please, help me."
A/N: TADAH! New chapter! Don't worry I haven't forgotten, I'm just a relatively slow writer. Things are getting interesting finally, and here we have some mentions of Ephemer and somehow Skuld. They're not going to play a huge role in this story, but they will help Player remember a lot of things, so stay tuned to know why. Actually, I'd like to hear some theories about what happened to Player in the past; and how does Skuld and Ephemer fit in to that? No biggie, I'm just curious if some can guess.
Here's this chapter's actual game: Guess the Disney/Pixar world Aqua and the Player found themselves in where Aqua built the new wayfinder! It's fairly easy. Hehe.
Here are last chapters spell list (in order of use): Firaga, Barrier Surge, Curaga, Seeker Mine, Magic Hour, Thundaga Shot, Glacier, and Aerial Slam.
Thank you much for the reviews and increased interest for this series by the way. Next chapter should be up in a week or two, depending on my work load in school, so review and follow/favorite to get your updates steamy hot, hot, hot.
Sushi Out!
