Chapter 4: Key


"I remember a few things about the dreams..." the child started. "It's the same one over and over again. I barely understand what's going on but, I do feel things. Those emotions stay, and I don't know why they do."

Aqua placed a comforting hand on their shoulder, and the child continued, "There's a reason I don't remember anything. Every time I try, something bad happens to either me or someone else."

Aqua met their eyes, and she smiled. "You know you don't have to worry about me, kid."

"I know… I just, I have a feeling I'm here because of what I did."

"You don't know that. You're a sweet child."

The child grimaced, thinking otherwise. "You've noticed it too haven't you? The way the darkness responds to me?" Aqua regretfully nodded. "You said the darkness was evil. It destroyed everything we see here. If I can control it then that means that I'm –"

"You're not evil," Aqua said. "I can sense through the darkness too. I… don't like being able to, but it's something I have to live with now. The same with you."

The kid bit their lip. "I - I can't do it like you. I can't trust myself knowing what I feel in these dreams. I don't - I'm scared, Aqua."

"Of who?"

"Me."

Aqua sighed and wrapped her arms around the trembling kid. "You don't have to be. Whatever it is that trapped you here, we don't have to remember. I told you before right? We can make new memories for the new you that you'd be happy with."

"But I can't be someone else because I'll always want to know who I was," the child argued. "Especially now that I know the Darkness has something to do with it."

"What about Ephemer?" Aqua asked.

"What about him?"

"If you think you can't trust yourself, then what about him? Can you trust, Ephemer?"

"I can't explain it just yet but, I don't want to trust them. But Ephemer..." the child said. "I think he can be."

"The silver haired boy?"

They nodded. "I don't know how I know him, but I do. I see him and I feel bad. Really bad. Like I did something wrong. I know I said that he can be trusted, but a part of me also doesn't want to. I can't - I can't put it into words..." they stuttered. "Is that weird?"

Aqua hummed in understanding. "In your position, I don't see it that way. We have a lot of missing pieces," with no lines to connect them with each other," she said. "All we have is your word and heart. Your memories may not be real, but your heart will always be in the right place."

The child frowned, as though doubting it for a moment, but nonetheless nodded. "That's why my dreams became worse. The wayfinder connected my heart to what's important and made me remember. I just can't remember everything. That's why… I need your help."

"Anything you need."

"The memories and feelings disappear quicker now every time I try to remember," the kid said. "It hurts but, if I tell you, you would remember. You'd remember it for me."

"Wait -" Aqua said. "It hurts you? I know you want to remember but if it's something that's painful to do, and then we shouldn't do it."

"No, it's the only way. I can tell you. It has to be after a dream. It doesn't matter if it hurts."

"I'm sure there's another way."

"There is no other way! I don't know if there is one..."

Aqua placed her hands on top of the child's own. "We'll find another way. Together."

The child held her eyes for some time before they broke off with a sigh. "If we are doing this together, I won't agree to anything that will hurt you," Aqua said.

"What if that's the only way to actually get anything done?" the child argued.

"I won't accept it." The child growled at her stubbornness. "I won't do anything that hurts you."

"You don't get a choice," they said. "There are a few things that I can remember. We can start with that."

Aqua sighed in defeat. "Alright. But if I see any sign of you being in pain, we stop. Immediately. Okay?"

The child rolled their eyes and lay back on the bed of flowers. "I know… Ephemer, and the town. It's called Daybreak Town. Named after the beautiful sunrise I told you about. There's also her," they said while they pointed to the black haired girl. "I don't remember her name but they were important people."

Aqua studied the portrait and pointed at the stuffed animal. She'd been meaning to ask what this creature was, but never could because of the child's fault memories. "What about this one?"

The child stared at the creature for a while but shook their head, still unfamiliar with it. Aqua sighed. "Well it was worth the shot. Do you remember anything else?"

They closed their eyes and grumbled a bit in thought. "The other kids, they – uhm, they're uh..." they pointed to a boy wearing funny looking spectacles, and a girl wearing a pink frog hat. "These two always fighting but I think they like each other."

Aqua laughed alongside them. "What else?"

"That's leader," they added almost immediately as they pointed to a purple haired girl wearing a red bandana. "She's nice and brave too." Their eyes turned somber for a moment before they moved to the last person on the picture. "Oh! And this is M - Migu - no... Mog!" They jumped. "His name is Mog! And he's my - hngh!" the child lurched forward, vision swaying in pain.

Aqua quickly stopped them right there. "Are you alright?"

"I'm –" they hissed, "fine. I can still – I can try to remember. Just give me a bit of –" Their face grimaced.

Aqua may not have been able to help back then, but she could now. There was no way she's letting them get hurt when she could stop it. "Alright, that's enough."

"But I –"

"End of discussion," Aqua sternly said. "I can't have you hurting yourself just to remember. We'll take it slow. We don't have to force ourselves to do anything."

The child lowered their head, apologetic. Despite this new information, none of their memories painted a clear picture of their past. They were superficial memories that didn't answer the questions that truly plagued both their minds. Still, Aqua was grateful for this progress.

It was the most the child has ever talked to her in words. It was also the first time she'd heard them laugh. It sounded light and full of warmth. Aqua wished this feeling would continue from here on out. However, she also knew their journey was just beginning.

"What about your name? Do you remember it yet?"

The child shook their head.

"I see," Aqua mumbled. "You should get some rest. No thinking about your past either. They might trigger the nightmares."

The child raised their voice to protest, but all Aqua needed to do was send them a look, and the former conceded. "You need rest," she reiterated. "You look very sickly right now, and I'd rather not have you collapsing on me while we're surrounded by Heartless. Understand?"

The child rolled their eyes, silently complaining against Aqua's mothering.


Aqua patted the child's hair while they slept soundlessly beside her. It's been awhile since they've gotten a good rest, and Aqua was intent on keeping it that way.

She always knew that there was something odd about them. She had ideas, but they were ideas she did not want to entertain. It was a blessing that the kid decided to open up to her and allowed Aqua some pieces to complete the puzzle that is her young companion. The child lived in Daybreak Town, and had a lot of friends they cared about. They survived the death of their world, but the child was convinced they had something to do with it.

Aqua had considered that possibility, given the child's affinity for darkness, but didn't want to believe it. She had no proof, the kid didn't have proof. Therefore it wasn't real. It was just baseless fear placed in them by the darkness.

Still, even with this new information, they had no answers. There were no common threads connecting each piece to one another, and it irritated Aqua quite a bit. They had so many ideas to work with, but none useful.

The child admitted to having given up in the past. They no longer cared about what happened to them, or who they were in the past. Aqua gave them a new reason, a new drive ro regain their past. As happy as she was to provide them hope, Aqua didn't like watching them hurt themselves just to gain what they lost.

Aqua understood that the child's dreams are their way of accessing forgotten memories. What Aqua did not understand was how, or why, the child's memories morphed into nightmares. It was like something was stopping them from fully reliving their memories as dreams.

Aqua supposed it was the child's subconscious reaction to prevent them from remembering something horrible. They were vocal about their conflicts about learning about their past or not. This may have triggered some subconscious response within them and prevented them from knowing too much.

In a way, Aqua can sort of understand it if the child's conscious and subconscious were truly fighting each other to keep them safe. If Aqua had to lock away certain memories to protect herself, she would do the same thing. However, Aqua was a firm believer that no memory should be hidden. Every choice, and every memory she's experienced shaped her to be who she is now. Those memories are important to her heart and mind. She would never choose to forget those, no matter how much they hurt.

In the child's case however, their past wanted to erase the path that made them who they are now. They wanted them to move on with their life without the pains that came with the truth of their previous choices. A choice Aqua can understand but not clearly support. Their present wanted to understand why, but the past didn't want to answer. Thus a conflict of desires tore apart the present, leaving the child more lost and broken than ever.

With that in mind, Aqua finally understood why the Darkness latched onto the child and allowed them so much control. The Darkness thrived on feelings like guilt, anger, and indecisiveness. They were cracks in the heart that allowed darkness to grow and fester. If not contained, Aqua worried the child may be lost to the dark forever.

Aqua always thought the child had been trapped here longer than she was. Alone in the darkness, she wouldn't be surprised if the Darkness preyed on their weakened heart. What did interest her was how the child remained as they are. Hearts consumed by the dark become mindless creatures, Heartless, that devour the light. How was the child able to remain as they were despite the obvious influences of the darkness?

It was possible that their heart was stronger. Instead of succumbing to it, they chose to fight. Their memories may have been a sacrifice they had to make in order to survive. It could be that the darkness was holding the child's memories hostage in exchange for using their body as a vessel of sorts.

Aqua grumbled. She was getting frustrated with these hypothetical what-ifs her mind was able to create for her. This would be easy if she could just ask the child, but she didn't want to force them into that position.

Calming herself down, Aqua back tracked her thoughts to the time the child woke up with light dancing by their fingertips. The sight had always bothered her because it looked familiar.

Aqua raised her hand and mimicked the child's gesture. She reached for the light; for hope and breathed. A burst of white light flickered beneath her and Master Defender materialized to her call. Aqua gripped the handle, now certain of one thing. The kid was capable of summoning a keyblade.

While Aqua was sure of it, she still needed to see it with her own eyes. Unfortunately, doing so required asking the kid, who had a problem with recalling details of their past. As curious as she was, she did not want to hurt them just to satisfy her lingering questions.

"You've been staring," the child said amidst their walk through a dandelion field.

Aqua chuckled. "Sorry, I've just been thinking really hard about something."

The child tilted their head, curious and confused at the same time.

"I've been wondering if," she started. "I want you to be honest with me, alright?"

The child frowned, but nonetheless nodded. Aqua summoned her keyblade and presented it towards her companion, who looked at it with mesmerized eyes. "Is this the first time you've seen a keyblade?"

"I've seen you summon it plenty of times before."

"Before me, I meant."

The child wracked their rather unreliable set of memories and grimaced slightly. That was confirmation enough for Aqua. "That's enough. I don't want you getting hurt."

"What?" the child gaped. "You're the one who wanted to know, I'm not stopping now."

"I said, enough."

The child stood their ground, glaring at Aqua until she agreed to continue. The Keyblade master sighed, torn between her need for answers and the promise to keep the child safe. When neither showed signs of backing out of the argument, Aqua decided to concede first. "Alright, fine. But we stop the moment I think it becomes too much for you, understand?"

The child's eye sparked as they nodded in agreement. "Okay, when did you see it?" Aqua asked again. They crossed their arms, humming in though when they couldn't come up with an answer.

"Did you see someone else hold it? Do you remember their name? Was it Terra? Ventus? Master Xehanort?" The child flinched, their hands flying over to rub their temple. "Sorry. Got a little excited. This is... big. I never imagined I'd meet another person capable of summoning a keyblade."

They continued to probe their memories that refused to budge. After a few minutes, the child was already covered in sweat, tired and stressed from the strain of forcing a memory they did not have, and was breathing heavily.

Aqua's heart wept at the state she allowed the child to be in and apologized. She dismissed the blade and placed a hand on the kids shoulder. "It's alright if you don't remember. I just thought maybe this could help us."

The child stared at the floor, still deep in thought. "Let me see it again."

"Kid, you're already tired -"

"If I touch it, maybe I can remember something that way."

Aqua frowned. "You know you could get migraines that way."

The child huffed, dismissing her concern as irrelevant to their pursuit of their past. Seeing the fire in their eyes, Aqua was convinced to do this as a favor for them. She held out Master's Defender before the child and watched as small fingers sat on top of hers.

The child's eyes grew as a new feeling sunk in. "I – I remember this. I don't remember when I saw it but, I remember holding one just like this."

Aqua passed Master's Defender to the kid briefly, and watched them swing the heavy weapon around like it was second nature to them. More and more, she's convinced of the child's identity.

The keyblade returned to its rightful owner in a flash of light, making the child turn to Aqua, confused.

"When the darkness takes a world," Aqua said. "It turns the hearts of people into Heartless, but not you. I've always wondered why. At first I thought it may have been the darkness using you, but I didn't want to believe it. Not you, I'm sure. After your nightmares though, nothing came closer to truth than this one."

The child took a sharp breath of air.

"You know it in your heart too, don't you?" The child avoided her gaze as they held onto the wayfinder dangling on their neck. "You're a keyblade wielder."

The child pulled their arms into a tight hug, somehow disturbed by the truth being said aloud. A storm of conflicting emotions, doubt and shame, shimmered in their large, round eyes. The darkness grew crisper at the child's panic, and Aqua knelt in front of them to calm them down.

She whispered kind and assuring words to their ear, and promised to figure this out with them, slowly, at the best she can. "You're like me. Forgetting that doesn't change who you are here," she said while she pressed a palm over their heart. "Your heart was chosen to protect the light. No matter what you did, I'm sure you did it with the best intentions."

The child scoffed.

"I don't know why your keyblade won't come to you, but I have a theory," Aqua said, ignoring the child's stubbornness. "Your memories are blocking your connection to the keyblade."

They frowned, seemingly able to follow the thought before they turned to Aqua with a questionable look.

"Just hear me out," she said. "We know bringing up memories hurt you, but what if that's the right way."

"You said we'd find another way."

"And I intend to keep that word. I just need you to trust me with this." Aqua said.

To say that the child blew up on her when she agreed to take the path less taken was an understatement. A dark purple cloud pushed Aqua back when the child stepped forward, furious. Aqua tried to calm them down with apologetic words but was planted deeper into the ground by yet another massive surge of dark energy. The child glared at her with such ferocity that Aqua didn't know existed within them. Aqua understood why they were angry, but she didn't understand why they were this angry.

"YOU NEVER WANTED TO HELP!" the child screamed. "ALL YOU WANTED WAS TO USE ME. YOU WANTED TO GET OUT, AND TO GET BACK TO YOUR FRIENDS AND LEAVE ME BEHIND. LEAVE LIKE THEY DID!"

Aqua wanted to argue with whatever it is that's feeding these thoughts into the child, but the Darkness forced her to keep her mouth shut. The Darkness was making them do this. It's the same amount of energy they released back in Daybreak Town before the town fell apart and Aqua awoke to Nothing. The Darkness was calling them back. "Kid you have to -" she said, "you have to listen to me!"

"YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN THEM! ALL OF YOU JUST WANT TO USE ME! Well…I'm done being used." They ripped the wayfinder off their neck and threw it on the ground.

Aqua felt her heart break upon seeing her gift smashed into pieces. This went against what the child had expressed to her what they wanted to do. Whoever, or whatever, it was that's making them act this way, she was certain it was a defense mechanism. She was right, and the child's subconscious wanted her gone. Aqua had to convince them, for her and the child's sake. Mustering the strength to get closer to the child, Aqua finally willed her legs to move.

"STAY AWAY!" they shouted. "YOU MAKE EVERYTHING CONFUSING. I DON'T WANT TO BE CONFUSED. I'M BETTER OFF NOT REMEMBERING!" Tears fell off their face as their emotions reached their peak. "A KEYBLADER LIKE YOU WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND WHAT WE ALL WENT THROUGH! WHAT I WENT THROUGH,"

Heartless burst to life around them; their yellow orbed eyes glowing brighter maliciously than ever before. Aqua summoned her keyblade and rushed to protect the child, but three Invisibles blocked her path with gigantic blades of their own.

"Please..." Aqua parried with the three blades swinging at her. "You have to listen to me. I will never use you. You're my friend. I want us to get out of here together. I will never trade your life to do that. Don't let the Darkness cloud what you know to be true!"

"LIAR!" A dark purple glow exploded around the child's enclosed fist and ethereal blades of darkness cordoned off Aqua's escape.

She double jumped off the blades and slashed through an Invisible. She cast barrier around herself to block multiple Shadows that pounced at her. Aqua sent them all back with a front charge then dispersed the barrier. The shadows scattered, and the remaining Invisible's swung their swords at her. Aqua dodged them then climbed over their weapons to strike them down with fire coated strikes.

When she cleared off the first wave, Aqua watched as the child raised another pin in the air. It glowed in their first and dark orbs circled around Aqua. She quickly jumped out of the circle but was thrown back by the shockwave left by the colliding orbs. A Fat Body bumped her in mid-air and trapped her on the ground.

Aqua cast Aero on fat Heartless then flipped herself back to her feet. Sharp, bullet-like shots tore through her arm, and Aqua quickly healed herself while she mustered a Shot-Lock on the Bit Sniper's and Fat Body's around her. Once the limit reached its peak, she released a volley of light energy at the locked-on targets as she spun gracefully in the air.

The child's hands glowed again and a large explosion of dark energy erupted behind her. Aqua fell forward; back smoking from the fire she just narrowly escaped from and caught the child close a fist on a reddish-purple pin from their pocket.

As the child raised another enclosed fist up in the air, Aqua argued with herself to not do what her battle instincts were telling her to. However, she steeled her resolve and raised her keyblade towards the child. "I'm sorry," she said as she fired a Blizzaga shot towards their hand,

The child let out a shrill scream as the magic grazed their wrist and coated their hand in a thin layer of ice. Their intricate looking pin dispersed back into darkness when it fell to the ground. The child clutched their semi-frozen hand close to their chest, eyes still burning in indignation, after Aqua attacked them.

More Heartless heeded the child's anger; and Aqua looked around, worried. She was starting to reach her limit. "Please stop this! We can talk about it like we always do."

"You shouldn't have done that," the child hissed. The ground beneath them shook as a large pool of darkness swelled behind them. Aqua gaped as a Darkside crawled out from it, and cried loud enough to send a few of the weaker Heartless back into the shadow.

Aqua stepped back in complete and utter disbelief at the connection between the child and the Darkness. Summoning a Darkside was no easy feat; Aqua didn't even think a master of darkness like Xehanort was capable of such.

The Darkside took a sluggish step forward with its short legs and thin, curled up feet. It struck its long arms at Aqua, who cleanly dodged it but was still sent flying by the shock-wave that came with the punch. A dark pool formed around the Darkside's arm, and an army of Shadow heartless scurried out.

Aqua clicked her tongue. She forgot the Darkside had the ability to summon Shadows. She needed to reserve her already limited energy in this fight. Ignoring the shadows that clamored and jumped after her, Aqua focused her attacks on the Darkside's arm.

The Darkside roared as it sustained damage on one arm and pulled back. A giant orb made of dark matter formed above its thorny head, and Aqua retreated.

The orb burst into smaller bomb-like spheres that exploded upon contact on any surface. Aqua cartwheeled away from their blasts and attempted to perform another Shot-Lock. Half-way into her charge, a massive explosion of darkness burned behind her back.

Aqua immediately healed herself then instinctively cast Thundaga at her invisible foe. A raw scream echoed out into the abyss, as the child fell back, clutching their tingling arm. Aqua gasped. "I'm so -"

"SHUT UP!" Five orbs of darkness arched overhead the child and fired pillars of darkness towards Aqua, who blocked and dodged her way around them. The child stood up, stumbling on one leg as they did, clearly reaching their limit as well.

As much as it pained Aqua to see them this way, she needed the child to break first. Talking to them with reason wasn't going to work, and the Darkness was adamant about making them fight. She didn't mean to hurt them earlier, so Aqua held back on using any magic near the kid. Instead, she stayed still and let the child fire their dark magic at her instead. She blocked them the best they could, and only parried their attacks when it was useful against the Darkside.

It wasn't long before the child lost their fire and dropped to the ground, unconscious.

The Darkside roared again as the giant Heartless leaned back and amassed a large force of darkness in the middle of the heart-shaped hole in its abdominal area, and released it to form dark missiles targeting any visible target.

Aqua fully expected the missiles to trail after her, but was surprised when the attacks instead honed on to the now defenseless child. She rushed over to carry them in her arms and hastily dodged, deflecting attacks with her other arm, and redirecting the missiles elsewhere.

After the barrages stopped, Aqua paused at the side to watch her massive opponent jam another arm through the ground. Shadows scampered towards them, their yellow orbed eyes glowing more fiercely than before, no longer controlled by the child's darkness. Aqua stumbled on her step as she laid the child on the patch of orange colored flowers that looked a lot like cranes. She didn't have much energy left in her...

"I'll promise to come back for you, I promise."

She cast a barrier spell around the child then met the Shadows head on. With fewer magical power left in her, Aqua had to rely on the Darkside's attacks and use it against it. It took her a few tries, but she managed to succeed at the right moment. The Darkside roared as Aqua used the last vestiges of her magic with a beautiful Prism Rainbow.

The Darkside fell and slowly vanished into the dark; then as if the Darkness wanted to make things harder for them, started to shake. Aqua cursed her fate. The realm was changing worlds again. The darkness seeped away from the little energy she had left and fell to her knees. Black circles lined her vision as she forced herself to be closer to the child this time around.

She was never going to leave their side ever again

Aqua wrapped her arm around the child and cradled them close like a mother would their newborn. As the world dissolved around them, the child's eyes fluttered open. Aqua smiled softly as their eyes met. "Feeling better?"

The child merely blinked up at her, then looked over to the horizon. Their eyes grew wide at something from afar and tried to run after an invisible entity. They pushed Aqua away and cried out, "Eph – mer, wait… Don't leave me. Don't leave me again... please."

The child fell forward, once again unconscious as the darkness swallowed them both into Nothingness.


A/N: I know I said the next chapter would be in a week or two around January but I have grossly underestimated the load I had this semester and it killed me. Anyway, I made some minor revisions to the previous chapter so the beginning of this chapter also changed. Generally it still follows the same flow of the story, just changed when it happens. (I'm sorry I'm an indecisive piece of shit) I also wanted to post this during KH3's Invitational Premiere but we all don't get what we want.

I'd love to hear to hear what you all think of this long-awaited chapter (if it was anything like that). Last chapter is next! So stay tuned, don't forget to review, favorite, and/or follow to get notified for when it comes out. Let me tell you a secret, it's going to be a [Player] POV because we're ending this with a bang.

Sushi Out!