The World That Never Will Be Chapter 5
by the infamous and notorious tocasia
8/24/2018
CHAPTER 5
Aqua had a lot of questions, but where to start? She wasn't good at small talk.
Maybe she could wait a bit? No, she had no guarantee the terrain would become less harrowing.
A dead shipyard, carcasses of vessels in every design and style, metal and wood, leaning and creaking, lines swaying in a breeze whose ancient waves would never crash; the impending tsunami wall preserved in its forever instant.
The hulls rested in sinking black sand below, swirling hypnotic.
She and Sephiroth balanced with ease, leaping between peg-tooth pilings and sliding on swinging ropes. It reminded her of when she and Terra had played at being pirates trying to kidnap and ransom the lovely princess Ven. Aqua landed on a galley's solid deck and laughed. Sephiroth looked at her funny.
"Er, so what about you?" she said.
"What about me?"
"How'd you get here?"
"My enemy banished me here during our last duel."
He didn't elaborate, so... "What's your world like?" She tried to sound, what was the word, 'chipper'?
"It was destroyed."
Oh. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be."
"Do you... do you know how long ago that was?" A stupid question, Aqua! There's no time in the Realm of Darkness! But she ought to be allowed to forgive herself for pretending to be somewhere else.
Sephiroth shook his head, "I've lost track."
Aqua completed a series of tricky jumps. It was actually... fun to have an audience for her agility. She wouldn't have to ask him to ferry her across with his wing! She found herself intentionally choosing difficult paths and looking back to see if he could follow exactly. He caught on, and soon they were taking turns; sketching a surreal, high-risk game of hopscotch.
"What dream is keeping you going?" Aqua had her hope for her friends; was Sephiroth the same?
"The darkness has never bothered me."
She couldn't accept his evasion. No one was immune to the darkness; every heart needed light! In every world Aqua had visited, someone needed help with something. Helping others had given her purpose, distracted her from her own pain. She'd made dreams come true and righted great wrongs! "There must be something!"
"No."
"Nothing at all?" she pleaded, and cringed. She was being rude, and greedy. "But what if I could help?"
"Heh. You wouldn't want to help me with it. And... it's too late."
"What do you mean?"
Sephiroth chuckled. The hairs on her arms shivered. "Maybe... if I borrowed your keyblade..."
Was that his idea of a joke? Master Eraqus's legacy? Her best shot at getting back to the Realm of Light by herself? Who did he think he was? "Not a chance!"
His smile stopped just short of mocking, like a habit barely checked.
"I apologize, Master Aqua, for threatening. You may relax. I won't attempt to take your keyblade. Although..." Sephiroth gestured with sweeping grandiosity, "I do have an enemy, whose heart I have always wanted to attack. And another way to travel between worlds would be useful..."
It had to be a coincidence. The landscape changed. Instead of sandy, bone-dry planks, they stood on familiar black stone stained with luminescent ultraviolet crystals, mountains in the distance. Sephiroth seemed either unconcerned or unaware.
"But no. What I want is... The darkness is spreading, and with it, the knowledge that awaits the one who overcomes it."
He spread his wing wide.
"I've been studying this place, the remnants of lost worlds and the nature of the darkness that consumes them. Much can be learned from the spirits of dead worlds! What is the difference between light and darkness? Is there a way to wield both? Or forsake both, and live outside the natural laws?"
He began pacing back and forth.
"Around us is a near-infinite expanse, growing and changing constantly! A fragmented reality that preys upon memories of failure! A boundless realm of dark dreams! I will master it!"
Oh. Aqua frowned at his monologue. No, she wouldn't help him with that. "Yet another fool who seeks to control the darkness."
Sephiroth raised an eyebrow.
Did she have to explain? "You've succumbed to it already, Sephiroth."
"No, I have not."
But you are very close, he didn't say.
It was becoming increasingly clear to Sephiroth that Master Aqua's level of confusion hinted at years, or perhaps decades, spent suffering the Realm of Darkness's everting influence.
She was so lost...
He could've handled the conversation better! He'd too easily forgotten his goal of trust earned rather than obedience demanded! Her opinion of him mattered.
He shouldn't have joked about taking her keyblade. He'd figured she'd think him incapable of it. She had come to his aid when they'd met; surely she thought she was the stronger of them? Since she believed he needed her protection?
No one had ever assumed Sephiroth needed help before.
He decided he wasn't insulted by her bravery.
Master Aqua equated him with darkness, which he was not, not exactly. He was above the darkness, if not yet then very soon. She'd offered to help him anyway, which was foolish. He forgave. Her motive was obvious and as selfish as his own. To be thanked for heroism was a wonderful feeling.
Sephiroth examined Aqua's slowly decaying light. The guilt of trusting him without proof was destroying her. He did not wish to further the darkness's work.
He should help her fight next time. And, when she asked, he'd share what he knew of events in the Realm of Light. Trading information was a mark of alliance. Beyond knowing Zack, did their experiences overlap at all?
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Master Aqua's light, or possibly her keyblade, attracted the heartless more frequently than when he'd been alone. She might try to apologize for that, and Sephiroth would tell her he didn't mind.
"Not again!" Aqua sighed her irritation.
What she'd mistaken for stars was a constellation of yellow eyes. A dense whirlwind of fluttering wings and teeth descended upon her.
Couldn't she walk two steps without being attacked by heartless?
Aqua jumped to intercept their dive, using doubleflight for additional height.
The golden particles that sparked from Master's Defender embossed her will on their bodies, punching through, reminding the darkness of the existence of something more important than itself, that her devotion to her friends could conquer it, and again and again she'd enforce that, she would, she had to, always!
She landed amidst shredded membranes already dissolving.
Though she'd killed many, there were more. Aqua tensed for a second jump...
What were they doing, moving away? They never retreated...
That's right, she wasn't alone! The mass of Flutterings had abandoned her as its sole focus to swarm around Sephiroth, too...
...until chattering silhouettes were engulfed by roaring columns of flame. Aqua had to dig in her heels to resist being pulled into the vortex of conflagration! Like a firestorm drinking air, his spell drew the heartless toward himself, wildfire blaze sustained along magnetic lines of convection...
It was extreme overkill. They hadn't been the strongest type of heartless, and they were definitely dead now.
...and he had just cast that. It wasn't a combo finisher.
...and he'd asked her to teach him.
Wow.
Sephiroth hadn't seemed impatient or upset. He hadn't ended the battle because she was slow. He wasn't dismissing her ability...
...maybe he's showing off for you, whispered her secret thoughts. Maybe he likes you.
No, that was ridiculous.
He was coming to rejoin her! Get it together, Aqua.
Aqua steeled herself; incredulity still bled through, "Did you really mean what you said earlier? About wanting to learn from me?"
"I did. Your power is extraordinary."
He probably wasn't lying, but... whether fault of the darkness or lesson from pride, praise was hard to believe anymore.
She managed to say, "Thank you. Master Eraqus thought if I practiced, one day I might be as good as Master Xehanort. I took his compliment seriously, but..."
Sephiroth interrupted her, "Xehanort is that strong magically?"
Aqua nodded.
"Then I want to know everything I can about him beforehand. What can you tell me?"
So she briefed him on her fight with Master Xehanort. She made it a formal report, a full account of the battle, like she'd have given to Master Eraqus. Such a relief to finally discuss... Pathetic! A disrespectful, second-hand rebound closure, a hollow catharsis, with her unable to cry! Aqua realized she was shaking with the invisible tears and tried to turn it into a laugh.
"Sshhh. It's alright, Master Aqua."
Sephiroth had stepped closer to address her from the front; a smart military step, honorably spaced. Aqua had to look up to see his face. She hadn't expected kind concern, stern understanding in his eyes... a sadness there? or hers reflected? like he knew what she was feeling...
"It's alright. You fought well and were victorious."
His words of comfort carried the weight of thousands spoken previous. Unforgettably rehearsed, well-worn authority perfected. He was absolutely confident that if he said she'd done well, it was true. If he said something was alright, it was. If Sephiroth wasn't worried, she'd never need to be...
Was she supposed to salute? She didn't know how...
He clapped her on the shoulder; his leather glove was warm. "We continue on."
Her wayfinder jingled melodically on its chain, stirred by an unseen breeze.