I can't wait for holidays. I wanted to post this earlier today, but I couldn't, and now it's 11pm and I really need to sleep... But I'm posting this first!

They met in the Dwarf Woodlands a week later. Although there was no snow there, the wind was cold and biting, and Aqua had switched her usual outfit for a dress with long sleeves, some wool tights and a long warm coat. She outfit was practical enough for her to fight, but it also complimented her silhouette. She noticed Vanitas couldn't get his eyes out of the scarf tied around her neck: the warm, blue scarf she had lent him last time. She smiled as she mindlessly touched the soft fabric.

"I forgot to get it back last time. I figured out you wouldn't go back to your Master with it around your neck, so I went back to see if you had left it there. I don't know where you had put it, but the wind took it away. It eventually got stuck in a tree. You should have seen in what state it was" she shook her head in desolation, "I don't know what happened, but it looked like someone stepped on it, it was all dirty. But nothing I couldn't wash! And I have something for you as well! Close your eyes!"

He did, and she tied the scarf she brought for him around his neck. She first wanted to take one of Ven's, but she ended up making one for him instead. Feeling the fabric touching his skin, he opened his eyes to have a look at it.

"It's been a while since I've knitted anything, but I think it looks fairly good! I'm sorry, I did not know what colour you liked, so this might be a bit... not original."

The center of the scarf was black, and it slowly turned into red. Some few golden threads were braided here and there, prettily reflecting the light.

"It looks great, and I mean it. I'm sorry about what happened to your scarf."

She dismissed it with a laugh. "Don't be, it's not your fault! You couldn't exactly..." She stopped and gasped, her hand covering her mouth. "I'm stupid. You couldn't go back to Master Xehanort with it, and here I am, giving another one to you! I can't believe I'm so stupid!"

She was feeling terribly bad. She should have remembered that detail, and found something else. Perhaps trying to create a minor Fira spell, that would keep people warm without burning them? She would work on that. Giving him a scarf, how silly of her!

He grabbed her by the shoulders, interrupting her thoughts.

"Aqua, it's okay. Really. I'm keeping it. I will pretend I stole it somewhere, and I'm sure he's not going to question it. I like it. I'm not going to throw that away. You wouldn't want me to catch a cold, would you?" He smirked, and her heart calmed down a bit.

"I don't want to get you into trouble. Are you sure this is fine?"

He gave her a nice, gentle punch in the jaw and gave her his brightest smile. "This is fine. I might even steal a coat as well, now that I think of it. It will make my story easier to believe, and I'll be warmer. Win win."

"Okay then. If you can promise it won't put you in a difficult posture..." She sighed and brought her smile back. "I brought some new books. Is there anything you'd like to read?"

She laid out the three books in front of him. He deciphered the titles (quite quickly, she proudly noticed) and looked at her.

"What are they talking about?"

"This one is a fairytale book. It contains many stories who might even be the actual history of worlds out there. I've read it so many times when I was younger I might not even need it anymore to read the stories. Master Eraqus would read it to me every time I couldn't fall asleep." Her eyes were sparkling, and she noticed he wasn't looking at the book but at her. Her cheeks turned pink as she took the second book.

"This one is an adventurer journal. There is no information about when or where he lived, but he traveled between the worlds and tells all the adventures he had there. The book is full of drawings and sidenotes, and he talks about so many worlds I've never heard about anywhere else! When I was younger, he was my hero, and I wanted to become just like him."

She sneezed. The tip of her frostbitten nose was turning red, and Vanitas chuckled.

"I don't think you'll read anything here today. Unless you want to be stuck in your bed with a fever forever, that is."

His words made their way to her brain, until her face lightened up.

"I know! Master Eraqus isn't there today. I'd rather not display the details to you, for reasons you might understand. But that means we can go in my room to read! It should be safe."

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. "Safe? I hardly doubt it... But I like to live dangerously. Race you there?"

"No way, your portals are faster than my Glider!"

"Then how about I take you through the corridor?" His voice was serious, and so was his face. Aqua shivered.

"I'm not sure I... I don't think it would be safe for me."

"It wouldn't if you were alone. But don't forget who's with you! And you took one to go to that desert last time, did you forget?"

He opened a dark corridor behind him and jumped on his feet. Aqua looked at it, uneasy, feeling the threat from Darkness itself for the first in a long time. Last time, she was blindfolded and had not exactly realized they were in the Darkness. Today, she knew. Vanitas held his hand out to her.

"Two rules. One, put your armour on. Two, don't let go of my hand. If you follow these two rules, you have nothing to fear, and we will be there in less than five minutes."

Aqua carefully followed the two rules. The darkness was threatening, she was scared and on the verge of a panic attack, but nothing happened. They just walked on a dark path, surrounded by dark mist, and creatures with yellow eyes would stare at them without coming closer.

She still let a sigh out when she stepped into her room, thinking of how she would rather never go into the Darkness again. That feeling of being prisoner of the dark...

"That was... Something. Pretty stressful, I'll admit." she said as she removed her armour and took her coat off. Vanitas was already sitting on her bed, balancing his feet.

"What about the third book?"

She smiled.

"Well, you see, this one tells the story of a young boy..."

What should be remembered from this chapter? "It's okay I'm gonna pretend I stole the scarf and I will steal other stuff too" "Oh okay I am happy about that Vanitas"
Aqua's moral code is getting worse at every chapter xDD

[and now sleepy author is going to sleep. Have a lovely day, everyone.]