Unsure where else to go, Aqua touched down on the first world she came across. She was somewhat surprised to find herself on the mountain rather than the dense forest that seemed to dominate the area in the overworld.
It was a truly lovely world but she took only a few moments to get acquainted with it before walking down the mountain side. A castle, some woods, there were some nooks and crannies in the mountains too… Ven could be anywhere!
"High-hoooo!" A sudden voice sang out, making her jumping in suprise.
Aqua peeked over the cliffside to see seven little men matching the description of dwarves from the logs of previous keyblade students in the Land of Departure. "So, this must be the Dwarf Woodland…"
She remembered her mission and shoved her curiosity aside before leaping down and running after the seven brothers. She slid into the cave they had and found a mineshaft full of jewels.
Out of the seven men, the one wearing glasses seemed to be in charge, ordering a few around.
"Excuse me?" She tapped on his shoulder.
The dwarf gasped, jumping in surprise. He adjusted his spectacles before smiling. "Oh, why, it's a curl, I mean, a girl!"
"Hello, my name's Aqua."
Four of the dwarfs muttered amoungst themselves while one in green kept happily mining and another in red crossed his arms in anger.
"Don't stand there staring at it, fool! She's obviously a diamond thief!" Yelled the red dwarf.
The others gasped in shock and the seven dwarfs all quickly hid behind a pile of rocks together.
"Ah, wait!" Aqua cried, running after them. "You've got the wrong idea, I'm not here to steal your jewels, I'm just looking for my friend, Ven. He has spikey hair and is wearing a uniform like mine. He's about this tall-"
"Sounds like a tall tale to me! Go on, git!" The grumpy one called.
"Please, can't we at least talk about it? I really don't mean you any trouble."
"We wish we could help but-" The smiling one was interrupted by a loud yawn.
"We can't talk to a diamond thief…" Snored out another dwarf.
Are all inhabitants of this world so stubborn? Aqua thought, crossing her arms. Wish Ven was here, he's able to make friends with just about anybody.
She leapt over the canyon, surprising the dwarfs greatly with her agility. "I mean what I said, I'm not a thief! If I was, I would've taken something already…"
"Weak excuse, you're probably trying to play the long game! Well, we're onto ya!" Grumpy announced.
The woman sighed in defeat before nodding. "I guess there's no persuading you… Can you at least tell me where I can find some people, please?"
The dwarfs looked wearily at each other before the leader piped up: "There's a castle beyond the chorus-I mean, the forest."
"Alright, thank you."
Feeling defeated and wrongfully accused, Aqua trudged down the mountain only to be surrounded by strange shadowy creatures she'd never seen before.
The Unversed, that's what Eraqus had been talking to Terra about earlier…
She summoned her keyblade before leaping into the fray.
Every creature she defeated, she felt a chill come over her, one that wouldn't be too noticeable if she hadn't defeated so many at once. The cold made her chest hurt…
She continued on to see a cute little cottage on the edge of the woods. Perhaps the dwarfs lived here?
Just as she was about to peer in and find out, a shriek came from the woods.
"It came from that way!" Aqua summoned her keyblade and ran into the dense forest to save the frightened victim.
She soon found the source of the scream: a beautiful young woman who was huddled in on herself in fear, though no Unversed surrounded her. She sobbed bitterly, causing Aqua to bend down to her.
"Are you alright?"
"These horrible trees- they tried to grab me…!" She cried.
Aqua glanced around. The trees looked like regular wood but she could see how they'd appear like monsters with their spindly branches and large, gaping hollows. She offered the lady help up with a smile. "I think your anxiety may have helped them a bit, sometimes when we're scared or stressed, we imagine the worst will happen but in the end, it isn't so bad. Look."
The woman slowly opened her eyes as she stood and Aqua guided her trembling hand to touch one of the trees.
"See? All bark, no bite." Aqua laughed while the lady caressed it.
"Oh, thank you. I feel quite better now. I'm sure I'll get along, somehow." The lady pouted slightly after saying that. "But…I do need a place to sleep at night. Would you know anywhere I might?"
"There's a cottage up ahead. The people that live there may be a bit stubborn at first, but they're not unkind. I'm sure they'll help you out." The woman linked arms with Aqua, used to getting escorted. "I'll lead you there."
"Oh, thank you. My name's Snow White, and you?"
"It's Aqua."
As the two headed along their merry way, the veiled lady from before, Adar, lounged lazily on one of the terrifying trees, making one Unversed after another.
Xehanort didn't care where she was until he needed her, and she had to spread her Unversed to every world anyway.
A Flood, the weakest form of the Unversed, suddenly appeared to her.
"You found one of them? Which one?" She clapped her hands excitedly at the answer. "My darling Aqua! Wonderful! I have to go see her right away, see how she's grown fighting my little minions!"
The Flood seemed to hesitate as she adjusted her veil before nervously reporting small detail.
Adar froze before slowly turning to it. "W-What do you mean… getting close with another girl?!"
The tree behind her burst into flames.
The Flood tried to explain they were getting closer as friends and then remembered that Adar hated anyone who 'stole' Aqua's affections. It scurried away before she could take out her anger on it.
"No, no, no!" Adar cried, the tree slowly becoming engulfed in darkness as the flames began devouring its old form. She wiped a few angry tears away as the new Unversed, a raging tree monster powered on only her jealousy, stomped away. "This'll teach that brat not to steal others' destined ones!"
"So, what are you doing out here all by yourself anyway? It's dangerous for you to go out without a weapon when the Unversed are around." Aqua explained as she cut through a few in their path.
Snow White nodded. "Oh, yes, I can see. It's just, I was sent away from my home, the castle, to protect me from the Queen… It appears she'd like me destroyed, it was dreadful to discover that, my own stepmother sent out one of my new friend to.. to…"
The woman trailed off, tears coming to her eyes.
Knowing she shouldn't push the issue, she decided to focus on the positive bit of news. "A new friend must've been exciting. What was their name?"
Just as Snow was about to answer, a roar filled the forest before the giant tree Unversed landed, sending the women straight to the ground.
"Unversed…!" Aqua glanced over to Snow and saw the woman was the target of the beast. "Snow!"
Just as it was about to rip the poor princess to shreds, Aqua snatched her up, running her to the edge of the woods.
"Oh, What do we do?!"
"You have to run and hide in the cottage! I'll be right behind you!"
Suddenly, the Unversed snatched Aqua up in its branches, dragging her back into the woods.
"Aqua!"
"Don't worry about me, just go!"
Aqua struggled against the creature as it began lumbering away. She gritted her teeth. "FIRE!"
The Unversed howled in pain, releasing her at once to put itself out but it's feeble attempts only lead to the flames spreading across its leaves and branches.
Aqua rolled out of the way of a few poseined apples that acted as bombs before casting another blast of fire.
She cast fire again and again to put it out of its misery as quickly as she could, the screams it made actually made her feel somewhat sorry for it, like she was destroying a part of herself.
The wielder shook the feelings away, for she'd been taught emotion was the gateway for darkness. She ran out of the woods to see the cottage door wide open.
"Sno-Oh." The seven dwarfs and Snow White turned to her and she shyly waved. Maybe they could get on better terms now? "Pleasure to see you again…"
"Couldn't stay away, couldja? An' who invited you in, ya rotten thief?" Grumpy growled.
"Oh no, she's not a thief. She rescued me." Snow White explained gently, leading Aqua over to them.
"You fustn't be mool-uh, mustn't be fooled, princess!" Warned the leader dwarf.
The grumpy one nodded in agreement, trying to shop Aqua away. "Go on, git'!"
"Please don't send her away, she helped me when I was in danger and comforted me when I was, oh, so frightened." The princess pleaded. She looked to them all with a gentle heart. "You see, the Queen sent me out into the woods with someone she demanded destroy me… But, he couldn't, Ven is my friend, you see."
"Ven?!" Aqua gasped. "You met Ven?!"
"Oh, yes. He was looking for an older gentleman named Master Xehanort, and was going to ask my stepmother for help in finding him... I'm quite worried about him disobeying her… Oh, what if she locked him up o-or-!"
"It's alright, Snow. Ven can protect himself." Aqua reminded both the princess and herself, though the thought of Ven being locked up or hurt still wouldn't leave her mind. "He's my friend too, so I'll go find him."
"Be oh, so careful, Aqua." The maiden pleaded, squeezing her hand before returning to the dwarfs.
"I will." Aqua nodded. She turned to leave but…
"Hiss Rqua- er, I mean, Miss Aqua!"
She turned back and was surprised to see the dwarfs all with bowed heads.
"We're awfully sorry we accused you of being a thief…" One blushed.
The cheerful one nodded, the smile never leaving his face. "I hope we can leave that in the past!"
"We'll try and do better with strangers…" Yawned another.
"Yah, like taking care of the princess, she may be a stranger but she needs help and shown us nothin-" He let out a big sneeze before continuing on. "But kindness!"
The youngest of the dwarves nodded feverishly, unable to express himself in words.
"Hmph!" The grumpy one muttered after they all turned to him. He wasn't going to apologize but Aqua got the sneaking suspicion he also felt bad.
"It's alright, I forgive you." Aqua smiled at them all, they reminded her of Ven whenever he apologized for accidentally breaking something or forgetting to listen. "As long as you learned something, that's all that matters."
After bidding farewell to the little group, Aqua was on her way to the castle. She glanced up at its high turrets with a sigh. "Ven, I hope you haven't gotten into trouble with that terrible queen… And… why did you go along with her wicked scheme until the very end?
Suddenly, a red apple bumped her foot, causing her to stop in her tracks. She picked it up in curiosity before noticing a elderly woman hobbling along with a basketful of the fruit.
"Excuse me, madam?" Aqua jogged up to her before bending down to hand it to her. "You dropped this."
"Oh, why, thank you, dearie." Smiled the old woman, snatching it away with impressive speed. "To tell the truth, I really don't know what I would have done without that."
Aqua forced a kind smile as the woman gave a cackle that set her nerves on edge. "Happy to help."
"Oh! Why, haven't I seen that strange symbol before?"
Aqua glanced down when the woman placed a boney finger to the pendent on her chest. Her eyes widened. "This is the symbol my friends and I wear to show we're training to become masters. Did you see a young boy wearing it?"
"Ah! That's it! Yes, Ventus was his name. The child pointed a strange sword shaped like a key at me, asking about some 'Xehanort' before flying off! My poor heart nearly stopped!"
Aqua was expecting to be full of pride at the woman's report but… "What? That doesn't sound like Ven at all… I-I'm so sorry if he truly did that but-!"
"Why would a old granny lie to you about such a terrifying thing?"
"Oh, no, I didn't mean…" She trailed off as the woman walked away, bowing her head in shame. It was true, why would she? "Ven… why would you do such a thing?"
"Well, it seems perfect Ventus isn't so perfect anymore, isn't that right, Aqua? Yes, my light, let those doubts set into your mind and drive Ventus away…" Adar smiled to herself as she watched Aqua sadly depart. She glanced over to the disguised Queen and sighed, placing a hand to her chest. "It's true what Xehanort said, only a pure light like you will ever look past such dark and ugly imperfections… How else would you be able to spend eternity with someone like me…?"