The World That Never Will Be Chapter 3
by the infamous and notorious tocasia
8/8/2018
CHAPTER 3
Aqua grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up. So much of the Realm of Darkness was a long, grueling climb. Miniature plateaus and pinnacles, decaying precipices and platforms that didn't exist, all hungering for a mistake. To delight in failure, drink deep of discouragement. Gleeful when the trial must be repeated.
Always climbing, never reaching. The darkness had an obsession with metaphorical endless staircases.
And there were always the fluttering heartless, to sink sharp teeth into trembling arms, to fly in her face, or to wait in swarms of ambush to reinforce that there was no reprieve. They did not always attack; sometimes her unease, the crawling desire to glance back over her shoulder to settle the continual sensation of being watched, appeased them.
Staying the course she had chosen, she and Sephiroth leapt between spires of cold gray nebulous stone, crumbling sedimentary or slippery granite indistinguishable, dream's details erased. A misstep would send them... she tried not to look down.
His agility mirrored her own. Aqua wondered if she looked as elegant. He made each jump effortlessly. The great black wing remained tucked at his side.
Falling wouldn't be a problem for him. With that wing, he wouldn't have to worry about having his hard work undone.
Just one wing though. If Sephiroth could fly, wouldn't he be doing it?
She wished she could fly! But here, no amount of pixie dust could achieve flight. The darkness gorged itself on happy thoughts; if she concentrated on them it found her faster. If she ran out...
He probably has a reason.
Aqua fought for precarious balance on the teetering rocks.
Maybe he only walks so I can keep up. I'm slowing him down...
Except...
He seemed to be contemplating the same climb she was, his boots firmly on the ground.
"Can he fly?"
"Yes."
"Why don't you?"
"It isn't practical. The realm changes unpredictably; often what can be seen from afar isn't actually there. Aerial scouting typically doesn't help."
"Oh."
Sephiroth sighed, "It would be convenient, I agree. But..." he looked up at the sky, "It's an illusion. No matter how high you go, the stars never get any closer."
Was he real? Or was Sephiroth a mirage, like Terra and Ven were in this place?
Aqua frequently had to suppress her urge to attack. He wasn't like the mindless heartless, the unending tides of darkness that, however outmatched, never learned from their comrades' deaths. Despite his dark aura, Sephiroth might not be an enemy. He might not be... she really hoped he wasn't.
Around him, the terrain was less menacing. In his wake, jagged edges smoothed. The malevolent ambiance calmed, the path was easy. His shadow was shelter, the eye of the storm; in it the darkness could not find her.
Or maybe it was a hallucination, brought on by loneliness.
Sephiroth had no trouble finding his way. His eyes glowed a steady soft turquoise. At least they weren't yellow, like the heartless. Would her eyes ever adapt, or would she always feel partially blind?
She remembered... a thicket of thorns like a maze.
He'd have cut through it easily.
Stop! Jealousy would lead her further into darkness! It would latch onto her heart, a bloodthirsty tick.
She'd fallen behind. Sephiroth was staring back at her, waiting.
"Please," she said, and reached out, "Give me your hand? I want to check... if you're real, and not just another phantom..." Desperate, helpless; Aqua hated so transparently begging for the touch of another.
"No. Don't."
"...sorry."
Sephiroth followed Master Aqua to the sad cluster of houses she'd spotted in the valley.
"The ghost of another provincial town," he'd commented, and she'd agreed.
Unimpressive cobbled streets, lanterns still illuminating closed market stalls. They passed under the sign for a bakery. No wares remained, but the smell of fresh-baked bread lingered in memoriam. Or perhaps he imagined it.
The incessant chittering of the heartless grew louder. The worthless creatures instinctively associated the trappings of civilization with prey, even when there was nothing left to hunt. Right now there was little to be gained from killing them.
Hmm. His companion apparently thought otherwise.
Master Aqua summoned her keyblade in a flash of white light and rushed to engage.
Sephiroth watched.
Hers was a spinning, whirling style, relentless, incorporating aerial flips and a cartwheel dodge. A standard three hit combo, piercing and slashing motions both employed. She used her speed to her advantage.
He realized with surprise that he enjoyed watching her fight. For the tactical benefit against her the observation would provide, certainly, but also... the fierce, intense drive behind her every action. She would fight the darkness to the very end, with fanatical determination. A cold fury, like his own. Master Aqua was a practiced wielder of it, indifferent to the fate of the heartless she struck down. She had killed many.
The one time he judged her reckless, she demonstrated the ability to manifest a reflective shield. He'd have to respect that if they came to blows.
He liked the crossed straps on her open-backed costume. The grime never got on her clothes or smudged her skin. Her perception, her mental image, her projection of her Self... she considered herself above. In the darkness she was pure and clean. Sephiroth approved of her arrogance.
She finished her combo with...
Hovering, suspended in power and the actinic scent of ozone, her Thundaga spell blasted her opponents out of the air, slamming their arcing corpses to ground. He blinked at the radius.
Magnificent.
So this was a true keyblade master. Few in Hades's arena could challenge her. Sephiroth made a mental note not to fight Master Aqua with his off hand.
He should alter his plans to take her skill into account. She might be a threat... if she recovered. That was still up to him. In her current state of gloom, unguarded save by his mercy, he could break her utterly, destroy her beleaguered mind, deprive the thieving darkness of her soul.
...to what end? Having guessed her potential, having admired her resilience...
She wasn't his enemy yet.
He didn't have to make the decision yet.
The last of the heartless defeated, Aqua almost habitually dismissed her keyblade. But Sephiroth was there. She wouldn't forget again.
He was just watching! Why didn't he fight, too?
She strode towards him boldly, intending to ask his excuse for not helping.
When she got close, he spoke first.
"'Master' Aqua. Tell me, does that imply the authority to teach?"
His sincerity flustered her. "Nobody has asked me to before."
"Your magic... it's like you tear reality apart..."
He seemed dangerously enthralled with the idea.
"...thank you. But I think... maybe I shouldn't." Did she hesitate because of his darkness, or her own insecurity?
"I understand." He bowed his head, whether to hide disappointment or anger, she didn't know.
Aqua fiddled with her wayfinder awkwardly. "This way," she said.
During the walk, Sephiroth decided he wasn't offended. Her caution was appropriate.
"We're here! This is where the light shines from."
They stood in the deserted village square. On the far side of the street hung a shop sign, 'Plantes & Fleurs'. The water in the octagonal fountain was frozen by time's neglect.
Sephiroth didn't see anything.
He could sense Master Aqua's light, pulsing pale defiance, as before. But around her there was nothing. Certainly not the radiance she'd described earlier. Perhaps his presence interfered? He willed his own darkness to subside; it could not be extinguished but he could dampen its influence.
There was nothing there.
He focused harder.
Only shadow-stuff, identical to the rest, reasonably malleable to his will. If he concentrated he could reshape its structure. Small things. Gravel to sand or smoke. He could make the cobblestones ripple or conjure a breeze to sway the signs. If there had been even a trace of light in that spot, it would have resisted him.
Master Aqua was studying her charm. And him. Her excitement faded in his silence.
"You... don't see anything?"
"No."
"Are you sure? Then... maybe it's a power of the keyblade."
"Maybe," Sephiroth conceded, knowing it was false.
How long? How long chasing her delusion?
"You've been here for a while," he said. It didn't need to be a question anymore. "And I am the first person you've met in all that time."
No wonder she'd asked if he was real.
Her frustrated cry startled him, a hollow admission still refusing defeat. "I've been looking, and looking. For my friends. But I don't even know if they are here! They shouldn't be, but... I don't know what's happened in the Realm of Light. I don't know if there is a Realm of Light anymore!"
"There is." That truth he could share.
In wild abandon, lost to emotion, Aqua lunged at him. He allowed it.
Sephiroth tried not to laugh, since that made hugs awkward. No one had dared to touch him for so long; he hadn't given them the opportunity. They were all inferior to him, and something of his pride thought he'd be sullied by their touch, though nothing now could lessen his grace. There was an innocence about it. She wanted simply to be not alone. So he wrapped his arms around her, and let her be close.