Back for another chapter! The 13 will be out on Thursday, as my Advent calendar will begin on Friday ;) (that doesn't mean that this fic will go on hiatus while I'm posting the Calendar though! I just want to post only one thing for the day of its premiere~)

Note: I noticed some of my formatting was gone (I copy and paste from Google Drive so it's mostly italic words), I'm going to check and correct that~

"Head held high! And focus!"

"Focus? How do you expect me to focus while you're just playing with Memo?!"

Officially, Aqua was teaching Vanitas how to cast Cure. But officiously, she was having a hard time figuring how to teach him. She had explained the theory over and over, and would correct his stance as many times as she could, but she couldn't find a way for him to understand. Memo, mirroring his frustration, had started to become agitated and Aqua was petting her, trying to calm her down.

"I need you to feel it, Vanitas. That's what magic is all about. You need to feel what you're trying to do, and that is how it will happen. When you throw a Dark Firaga, what is your purpose?"

"Destroy."

"And when you summon all those keyblades?"

"Smash the opponent."

"You can summon a pillar of ice, can't you? What's in your mind then?"

"Watch 'em loser freeze to death."

Aqua sighed.

"Cure is something based on positivity. The same way you need happy thoughts to fly in Neverland, Cure needs you to think of good things, because healing someone, even yourself, requires kindness, care."

She saw how tensed he suddenly became. "Good things? Kindness? Care? Well, sorry Aqua, but you got the wrong guy here. I'm no Ventus, and I'm no Terra. In case you forgot, I am made of Darkness, I create monsters out of Negativity on a daily basis. All those cheesy things you mentioned, they all went to Ventus. Tell me about hate, about anger, about loneliness, that speaks to me. I guess I'm not cut for Cure, that's all."

He probably could have gone like this for hours, but Aqua's giggles stopped him. She could see how angry he was getting, seeing her laughing, but she couldn't stop.

"Oh, yes, please make fun of me. That's really mature of you. Come on, Memo, we're going back."

"Vanitas... No... Wait!" Aqua managed to say between two burst of laughter. "Can't you just see how ironic what you just said is?"

He gave her a cold glare, and she did her best to suppress her giggles. Standing up, she walked to him and put her hand on his cheek. He took a step back, refusing the contact.

"The only irony I see here is how you, creature of light and kindness and sappy things, is laughing at me, when it should be the opposite."

"Let's play a game. I'm going to ask a few things and I want you to answer using a single word, without thinking. Okay?"

He shrugged.

"What comes to your mind when I talk about stars? One word."

"Shiny."

"About your birthday? "

"Cake."

"Desert?"

He froze for a second, and she knew she wasn't being fair. But she had to.

"You."

She smiled, ignoring the blushing of her cheeks.

"All those things you mentioned... Are they bad things?"

He smirked, and she could see he was a bit more relaxed. "Well, I wonder about one of them. It looks nice at first, but then you realise it's actually rotten to the core."

She tried to look annoyed, but failed miserably and they both ended up laughing.

"The boy you described to me could have been the Vanitas I met all this time ago. But that's not the one I'm talking to right now. I've seen you smile, I've heard you laugh, and you proved me you knew how to love. How to care. So I want you to put all those feelings down your Keyblade, and to throw a Cure, okay?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His posture was good. His blade started shimmering in a green light. Aqua smiled, proud of him. But then, the light faded out before he could cast the spell, and he gave her a sad look.

"Sorry. No matter how hard I try, I'm still mostly made out of negativity. Focusing on good things only for too long isn't something I can do. You never asked, but you wanted to know : that's why the old man always ends up cutting me. I don't learn until my life's on the line."

Aqua thought about these words. He looked so disappointed, so beaten down. He really thought he would have succeeded. She gave him one of her rare own smirks.

"If that's how you learn, then let's try that technique, shall we?"

He opened his arms. "You want to cut me so that I need to heal myself? Would that work?"

"I need you to be focused, and you cannot be focused if your body is in pain. No, Vanitas, the one I'm going to cut..."

She summoned her keyblade and stabbed herself in the stomach before he could react. She winced at the pain while his eyes grew wider.

"Is me. Given the wound, I might pass out in ten minutes, and the blood loss will kill me in around twenty minutes. Please don't let me die."

She collapsed in his arms, chuckling as he panicked.

If Terra finds out, he might kill me himself.

Oops. Aqua, don't laugh at other peoples's panic. That's rude. Also, Terra would find a way to blame Vanitas and kill him instead, wouldn't he? v_v

Aqua, hardcore teacher since 1789! (you know, next chapter could pretty much be the last one... Vanitas fails to save her, Aqua dies, The End x'DD )