Set in the Keyblade Graveyard.

Your Reviews! I can never thank you enough.
Although after reading them, this is all I can really say:
The last thing I want to do is break your hearts.
You are all probably hoping for a happy ending... But...

I am still following the storyline of Birth by Sleep...

In this Chapter, you might be asking, "Hey, hang on a second. Where's Mickey?" Hahaha!
Yeah, in the game, he shows up around this time, right? I did not include him for three reasons.
First, I have no need for him; he will just be an interference.
Second, I have no idea how to characterize Mickey.
Third, Aqua needs to fight alone, because I need her exhausted and breathless and helpless.

Lastly (although I tried to make the ending fit into this Chapter)...
Tomorrow, you will have the Final Chapter.

I hope you enjoy reading!

DISCLAIMER [I do not own Kingdom Hearts] DISCLAIMER

ESCAPE

A way to break free from destiny…

Aqua slowly opened her eyes, blinking away the remnants of the spell that had put her to sleep. It took a moment for her vision to clear, and she found herself looking up at Ventus.

"Ven…" she said, dazedly reaching up to touch his face.

He smirked, although it was neither gleeful nor mocking. "No. Sorry to disappoint you…"

Her eyes widened. Only then did she notice that his eyes were burning gold rather than cool blue. "Vanitas…?" she asked, her voice cracking a little.

"You could say that."

She sat up hurriedly and backed away from him. He caught her wrist and held tight so she could not move further. She just stared at him, cautious and confused. "What… What have you done to Ven?" she demanded.

"Nothing," he answered, loosening his grip but not letting go. "We've merely become what we should be."

"What… you should be?"

"His heart has become a part of mine now," he said.

She gasped and felt a cold chill settle on her skin. "You stole his heart?" she said, her voice lined with anger.

He laughed. "Relax. Actually, he and I were two parts of a single heart. This is who we are. You could say we've been… fixed."

Aqua noticed the weapon in his hand. It was a strange kind of Keyblade, more sword-like. He flexed the hand that held it at seeing that she was studying the weapon. "Like my new Keyblade?" he asked her, his smirk a little happier now.

"What have you done?" she asked again, her anger mixed with apprehension.

He sighed, exasperated, and he let go of her. "I just explained that, Aqua. Sometimes, you ask really stupid questions." He stood up and pointed the tip of his Keyblade at her neck. She had no idea why she remained immobilized, but she could not bring herself to move.

"I should…eliminate you…" he whispered.

Aqua looked up at his face and was surprised to see how soft his expression was. His downturned lips, his shining eyes, the shadows on his face as he turned to the side with his gaze slightly downwards… They were heartbreaking.

"Vanitas…" she murmured and his eyes snapped back to hers.

She could tell that he was surprised. And, to be honest, she was, too. She never thought she could ever say his name like that, in a tone that was so soft and warm.

"Please… Tell me what you've done…" she pleaded.

"I've fulfilled my purpose," he answered. "By rejoining with Ventus, I have forged the X-Blade."

"Why? Is this what you wanted?" she questioned. In her mind, their conversation at Disney Town replayed. Why had he asked her those questions? Had he been having doubts? But, if he was, then why was he doing this now? Was it… because of how she had answered? Had he actually given her the opportunity to change his heart and had she simply failed? Was this her fault?

He shrugged, lowering the X-Blade. "It's what I was created for. That is reason enough."

"You did not answer my question. Is this what you wanted?"

"I don't have to answer you."

She stood up slowly. "I answered all of your questions…" she muttered.

He snorted as if to mock her. "So? Are you going to tell me it's common courtesy? That I should return the favor? I'm not like you, Aqua. None of that matters to me."

She stepped away from him, her hand over her heart. "For a moment, I thought… I thought there was more than just darkness in you…"

He looked at her, fury mingling with sadness. "You thought wrong."

"Did I?"

Somewhere in her mind, common sense gently asked her if a few hours of innocence was sufficient enough to redeem years of wrongdoing. But her heart wanted to believe in Van. It held onto the hope that perhaps Van was the real Vanitas; because otherwise, her feelings would be false… And how was that possible? Her feelings were so real and intense, how could they have been built on such deceitful foundations?

Vanitas shoved the point of his Keyblade into the dirt and released it. He ruffled his now-blonde hair and sighed. "Why did you think that anyway?"

Aqua frowned at him. "You ask and ask, but you never answer."

He smiled a little. "Fine. Ask me one thing. And make sure that it is the most important thing, Aqua. I will answer only one question from you and no more."

Several questions swam through her mind. What did he say back in Disney Town? Why did he ask her those questions? Why was he doing this? What happened to Ven? Why has he kept her alive? What was going to happen now?

She allowed her heart to choose, because unlike her mind it had only one question. "What am I to you?"

He stiffened and did not answer.

Her brows creased. "Well?"

"Any question but that," he said.

"Why?" She felt her heartbeat become erratic from a single sliver of wishful thinking. There was only one possible reason why he did not want to answer. There was only one thing a heart of darkness would be unwilling to admit. But she wanted to hear it from him.

"Is that your new question?" he asked.

She frowned. "No." She wanted an answer, and she was not going to let him avoid it. "Just answer me, Vanitas. What am I to you?"

A breath of wind blew as if it could feel their tension. It sent a shiver down her spine as she watched Vanitas ponder her query. It took a while before he finally opened his mouth to speak.

He took one step closer to her. "My body says you are an addiction," he said. He took another step. "My mind calls you a threat." He took a third step. "My soul tells me you are my salvation." The fourth step brought him within inches of her. He leaned close to her, so close that he was breathing right on her lips. And very faintly, he whispered, "My heart… is a little difficult to understand."

She stepped back and he smirked.

"Are you satisfied?"

"No."

"Will you ever be?"

"What do you mean by that?" she replied.

He spun on his heels and made his way back to his Keyblade. He walked in a loose circle around it, his expression thoughtful. "Sorry, Aqua, you are out of questions."

"Release my friend, Vanitas," Aqua hissed.

He laughed at her. "Which one?"

This time, she was the one who stiffened, and he laughed some more. "Are you angry, Aqua? You should be happy about this. He and I are one," he said. "I am everything you want. I am Ventus, I am Van."

"And yet you are also neither," she answered.

He frowned. "You are too hard to please."

"Are you trying to please me?"

Vanitas gave no answer. He merely stood there, taking the Keyblade back in his hand, and looked at her. She turned her gaze away, unable to withstand his smoldering eyes and he suddenly snarled. He leapt at her and before she could react, he had his hand on her jaw, the Keyblade held taut beside him in case she struggled. She could feel his darkness like a biting cold wind as he forced her to face him.

"Look at me!" he shouted.

And she swallowed hard, her eyes quivering as they found his. His expression softened and his grip relaxed slightly. But neither act allayed her fears or her frustration.

"Tell me," he said. "Do I still remind you of Ventus?"

He saw the same pain in her eyes that he had wondered about earlier, before the battle began. But now he knew what caused it. He knows what Ventus had asked of her.

"Put an end to me…"

He frowned, hearing that line from Ventus in his head but there was no escaping that. They were his memories now, too.

"Please," Aqua's voice brought him out of his reverie. "Give him back to me…"

He released her. "Why do you want him?"

"He is my friend."

He glared at her. Did she not see that Ventus did not care for her half as much as she did for him? Why wasn't she jealous of Terra? Why wasn't she angry with Ventus? Why did she continue to love them, after everything they've put her through? Was she that incapable of hate?

And he was furious with his mind for saying, It means you are the only one she is capable of hating.

But his heart was quick to reply, It means she is incapable of hating you either.

He breathed deeply, ruffling his hair again. These voices, they were distracting him from the matter at hand. "Ventus is your friend…" he hissed.

"You could have been, too," she said softly… So softly, he almost did not hear it.

"What?" he snarled, wanting to make certain.

She looked at him with a solemn expression, her brows furrowed. "I said you could have been, too."

He would never admit just how much pain her words sent through his heart. "But it's too late now, isn't it?" he asked, moving away from her. "Because I made this choice, and I can't change it. You even said it yourself."

"I said if it was possible, it would not be easy," she retorted.

He smirked. "I remember what you said," he told her. I remember every word. "I make a choice in the beginning and follow it through to the end. That is what I have done."

"You chose the easy way out!"

"You think this was easy?" he roared, facing her. He noticed that she flinched at his rage but he ignored it. "You think I wanted to be his pawn, to be just a part of the plan?"

"Then why, Vanitas?" He could hear fluctuations in her tone, as if she was uncertain whether to feel anger, or pity.

"Because that was what Xehanort wanted of me, and if I were anything else, then I would mean nothing to him and nothing to anyone… I would be nothing."

"You would have meant something to me…"

"Shut up!" he screamed. "Shut the hell up, Aqua!"

But she did not listen to him. And it aggravated him further because all his outburst had done was cause her frustration to swell.

"I thought of you as a friend, from the very moment I met you!" she shouted, irritated. "You meant something to me!"

"I said shut up!" he growled, enraged to a point that made him tremble. Why was she doing this to him? Why was she saying things like that?

And they both quieted for a moment, breathing deeply, just staring at each other. And they remained that way for a while, as if time itself had stopped just to allow them to figure this out. She was quicker to cool her fury. But it took a long while of simply looking at her troubled expression – pondering the flood of emotions she must be trying to contain – before Vanitas finally found restraint.

He felt a question in his heart and he whispered, "What does it mean, anyway? Being friends?"

"It means I think about you, and I feel for you," she answered with a hand pressed over her heart. "It means you belong with me, if nowhere else…"

"You know who I am. You know what I've done."

"If you were my friend, Vanitas… I could forgive you," she murmured with a sigh. "But… You didn't want me. And you have done nothing to deserve that forgiveness!"

Her last words rang with resentment and he snapped, his eyes burning with wrath once more. "Did you just say that I… Didn't… Want… You?" he said through gritted teeth.

His mind was on a rampage. How could she not be aware of the torture she put him through? How could she not know that he wanted her in so many ways that he didn't even know what to call his affliction? Those thoughts of her, haunting him, taking over him… Those fights between his heart and mind; they were all her fault…

But his heart was aching. Was that was what she thought this entire time? That he did not want her? That he left her, avoided her, when all he really wanted was… What did he want? What was this feeling?

And because he was so caught up in his own internal struggle he did not see that her demeanor had softened considerably. "Vanitas…" she murmured, her expression questioning. "Are you saying that you…?"

He gave her a cold, piercing glare; silencing her. "What would it take," he asked, "to be your friend?"

She frowned. "Vanitas…"

"Shut up and tell me, Aqua! What would it take for you to forgive me…?"

He was angry; he could hear it in his own voice. And he could see in her expression that he was confusing her. "Answer me, Aqua!" he snarled. He needed to know, before he changed his mind.

"Correct the wrongs you've done…" she replied.

"How?" he hissed. His mind was protesting but he willed it to shut up.

Aqua shook her head. "I… I don't know…"

Vanitas tightened his grip on the Keyblade. "Do you know what happens now?" he asked her. He brandished the weapon, looking at her darkly. But his tone was subdued as he spoke. "This X-Blade will open a door – one that leads to all worlds. Then, Keyblade-bearing warriors will flock here from each and every one of them, to battle for the light within Kingdom Hearts. And just like the legend says, the Keyblade War will begin…"

She suddenly looked horrified.

He smirked sadly at her. "Could you forgive me for letting that happen?"

She clenched her fists, her expression both saddened and angry. "I am not going to let that happen! I will not let you!"

"You will not let me…" he said. He wondered if she knew what it would take to stop him. He wondered if she would hesitate if she finds out, if he meant enough to her that her conviction would falter. All the while, his head was throbbing, knowing the decision he was about to make, knowing the consequences that would follow.

"Would it please you if I stopped that from happening? Would that make you happy, Aqua?"

Aqua stared incredulously at him. Was this really Vanitas, asking her what she wanted, what would make her happy? Had she been right after all? Was there more to him than just darkness? Has he had a change of heart?

Hesitantly, she answered, "Yes…"

The next few seconds were a blur. His eyes suddenly darkened, his grip on that warped Keyblade tightening. Then he rushed at her. She barely had time to summon her own Keyblade and raise it up to defend herself from his attack.

She gasped at the force of his strike, her arms trembling from the effort. "Vanitas… What are you doing…?" she choked out.

He leapt back, but only to reposition himself, and then he struck her again.

"Vanitas!" she shouted.

"Fight me, Aqua," he said. "And do not hold back!"

She could not respond immediately; his persistent attacks demanded all her focus. In a matter of minutes, he had already managed to break through her defenses thrice. The points where his blows connected were throbbing painfully. But despite his seriousness, Aqua did not want to fight him. And her reluctance cost her when he swung his Keyblade at her and its unnaturally sharp point grazed her cheek.

She felt the sting as it cut her skin, drawing blood. Staggering back, she saw Vanitas smirk cruelly at her. "You have to fight better than that," he said, unleashing a blast of wind in her direction. She felt the gust against her chest and she was flung back.

"Why?" she asked, healing her wound and struggling to regain her balance.

He pounced on her and she just barely managed to avoid him. He recovered quickly and sent javelins of ice at her. She raised her Keyblade in a wide arc, creating a flash of fire that caught the ice before they could reach her.

Frustrated, Aqua switched from defense to offense, firing bolts of lightning at him. He caught each one with his Keyblade and moved close to attack her, but she was ready. She hastily spun out of the way as he lunged to stab her. She aimed a Blizzard spell at him, which caught his side and froze the lower half of his body momentarily. She followed quickly by shooting beams of light at him as she hastily leapt away. He was unable to dodge her attack and she saw him falter. She stopped to catch her breath, standing a good distance from him.

He laughed, breaking free of the ice and turning around to face her. He reassumed his fighting stance. "Good," he sneered. "But we are just getting started."

Thank You

~Alacquiene~