The World That Never Will Be Chapter 6
by the infamous and notorious tocasia
8/28/2018
CHAPTER 6
Sephiroth followed Aqua into a grove of columnar crystals each as wide around as the largest trees. Under an unreachable monochrome sky, the prisms were deep amethyst fading to black, embedded in river-smooth stone, frosted by clear quartz or by ice indeterminate, wicked garnet gleam tempting. Sephiroth closed his thoughts against the siren song...
...and was about to warn Aqua, but she'd already averted her eyes from her reflection.
...how many of the darkness's traps had she overcome?
He admired that she didn't need his help, and pitied her the anguished ordeal that had made it so.
Head down, Aqua kept her gaze to herself. She wouldn't trip. It was neat how her boots never wore out; no matter how many inner demons she ran from.
I'm ready to ask now. I don't have to hide.
"Sephiroth?"
"Hmm?"
"Please tell me what was happening in the Realm of Light when you were there last."
So he did. "The heartless were everywhere in resurgence. They'd suffered a major defeat; rumor gives Sora credit for that and for restoring the worlds that had fallen into shadow. He used a keyblade to make travel between worlds harder, but the infection hadn't been culled and the quarantine didn't last."
She'd never heard of heartless in the Realm of Light! Did he mean the Unversed? With Vanitas gone, probably not. Maybe she and Sephiroth had come from different parts of the Realm of Light?
"It was a mere inconvenience for me; some paths could still be opened. Corridors of darkness, for example."
Only the darkest hearts endured that form of transport. Few spoke casually of it...
"I met a man who had some interesting things to say about tricking a keyblade wielder into harvesting hearts from the heartless, so an Organization XIII, which he belonged to, could gather them somewhere. He was fuzzy on the details. He was trusting their leader, Xemnas, to figure it out."
Sephiroth had paused to see if she recognized any of the names. She didn't. Wouldn't harvesting hearts from the heartless be an oxymoron?
"Heh." He looked incredibly smug. "Organization XIII avoided me after that."
Aqua did not want that smirk to ever apply to her.
"They successfully staged a battle. Maleficent sent a huge army of heartless against Radiant Garden, and so of course Sora and his friends showed up to fight them. I joined the slaughter also, hoping my enemy might attend the field so we could conclude our business. He..."
Maleficent in league with the darkness wasn't a surprise, but wasn't useful info either, except that Sephiroth knew of her. Radiant Garden? That's where Terra... no, not Terra! Xehanort!
Oh no! She'd missed part of the story! Did Sephiroth meet his enemy? ...which side were they on?
"I heard later that Sora prevailed, but his actions gave Organization XIII what they wanted. Sora approached me to train," Sephiroth scowled, "for his upcoming battle with Xemnas. I was curious; I obliged. He was tenacious, I admit. Our match was progressing nicely when my enemy arrived with backup."
"...and now I'm here. I don't know what became of Sora, or Xemnas and his Organization."
She wished more of his tale was familiar. Wait a second...
"...Sora?" Aqua tried to remember.
"What about him?"
"You say he had a keyblade? And you fought? But Sora's just a little kid!"
Sephiroth shook his head. "A teenager. ...at least."
No... Please, no...
"That means..." She didn't care if she was cackling! "I've been here for more than ten years!"
"Settle down. The name might be a coincidence."
She knew it wasn't.
Master Aqua charged at him recklessly, heedless of her safety. Lightning fast. Her keyblade clanged against Masamune, too near the guard.
"What are you doing?"
"You're darkness...! Maybe... if I kill you, all this will go away!"
"What makes you think you can?"
Impressive. Defense against her chain of attacks was not trivial. She was serious.
Sora. How could one name have such an effect?
I know, of course.
Hojo had set him up in Nibelheim. Sephiroth hadn't predicted a break for Master Aqua, but...
He remembered the intense heat of the flames. Screams. Woodsmoke and savory cooked meat, spoiled by burnt hair and plastic. Soft ashen snow. Vengeance and release.
We're the same.
Cruel fascination swept over him. If I let you go now... what would you do to the world?
No, she'd be more likely to blame herself.
The problem with keyblades was that they were difficult to disarm and could be resummoned in an instant. He would not punish her for the horror of discovering a long-denied truth, for the anger that razed cities to dust.
"I am not the darkness you have to fight, Master Aqua!" A slice with Masamune toppled the gemstone pillars within his reach, removing that treacherous complication...
He blocked, sidestepped the next thrust, and dodged a follow-up decapitation.
Nope. He wasn't staying in melee range to trade parries. He'd seen her combo finishers. Sephiroth took to the air.
"If you want to end the darkness, I am better as an ally!"
Undeterred, Aqua aimed a Blizzaga his way; he swerved from the blast. Several loose feathers froze and shattered when they fell. Okay, he could be faster. This plan would work. She'd run out of mana before he tired.
He shrugged off an area Stopga that required a surprising amount of willpower to resist. It left his skin tingling all over.
...and then a gravity spell Sephiroth didn't even recognize pressed him to the ground and pinned him prone.
Her beautiful rage had seared away all inhibition.
What was Master Aqua going to do to him? Would he survive it? This forbidden attack, drawing out the darkness in someone's heart... What would it feel like? Sephiroth would rather see it performed on somebody else.
Her light was a singularity, the center of a swirling galaxy of darkness!
...there was a sensation, an unpleasant twist, and a pull in his chest, someone yanking on a door while he strained to keep it closed...
Aqua gasped. "What are you? What have you done?!"
No, she was nothing quite so cosmic. An unsteady balance, a top near the end of its spin, ready to wobble and fall. While his guiding purpose was eternal, hers was time-dependent. Her threads of fate could fray.
Her spell only restrained him physically...
Good! His teleport hadn't gone awry! Sephiroth appeared in a stylish cloud of midnight feathers a few Masamune-lengths behind Master Aqua. He had some time to think.
He wasn't in terrible danger, but he should end this fight.
How? And how to prevent another?
He didn't want her dead. She wouldn't recover from his subjugation. The forced submission would unravel the tapestry of her mind beyond his ability to mend.
Healing others' mental wounds hadn't been a priority for him. Why bother? Once under his control their suffering was inconsequential. But since he'd decided not to do that...
He would learn. For cases like these when he felt benevolent. Yes. His command over despair should include its reversal.
...He needed a test subject other than Master Aqua. She was supposed to survive.
For now, a shield was the best he could do. A barrier to repel this realm's malignance. Respite so she might discern her true target...
...as soon as possible.
"You are very close to falling, Master Aqua. Let me help you."
Behind her? She spun to face him. How had he...?
"You're in no position to threaten, Sephiroth!" Aqua tightened her grip on Master's Defender. She had no interest in the darkness! She didn't need its help to fall further!
"That's not what I meant. I can help you resist the darkness. I can keep it at bay."
He said it like it was true. He said everything like that.
It had to be a trick, because she so badly needed it to be true. For the hope to not be a lie; that she didn't have to be alone, with only memories of her friends! Because they were gone. Because she had failed. But the memories had sustained her for so long! And Sephiroth wanted her to betray them? How dare he think he could replace them! Terra, and Ven, and all those she'd met on her journeys?! She couldn't abandon their help for his!
...Wait. Was he even asking her to do that?
How could she tell anymore, if the darkness was warping her thoughts?
She was so confused.
She'd almost...!
She really was slipping...
"Why?" Aqua demanded. She was a keyblade master, and she would have his answer! Why would Sephiroth possibly want to help her? Why would anyone...
"We are both above the darkness, Master Aqua. Perhaps I choose to protect you simply because I can." His sword vanished into nowhere; he indicated her keyblade, "With your strong heart, I know you have chosen to do the same, many times."
Of course she had!
"...yes, I have." Was that wrong? It always had been easier for her to give help than to accept it. "But... what can you do?"
"This." A sudden upwards flare of his wrist.
Awareness of no future. Encroaching emptiness's horrifying extent revealed. Endless, surrounded, no escape. She couldn't do anything! She'd never want to do anything. Movement was impossible; thought was impossible, except to think how impossible it was. She was trapped, every nerve numb.
What had he done to her?!
Sephiroth was saying something but it didn't make sense!
He was saying something all around but it didn't make sense!
He was everywhere and...
...she felt buoyed up. If the darkness was a sea, she was no longer drowning in it. She would have to swim, but for now, she could float.
And then maybe, maybe... It was the strangest of thoughts. She could stride atop the surface of the sun, or fly through time, or hold it all in her hand... the worlds, the darkness, the light, everything. Greater than all! Not a creature breathed that she did not allow. Unbound, unchained. Hers was the only freedom to exist, because she would decide everything... forever.
Abruptly, it ended.
Aqua felt... a little bit more like herself. The weight on her shoulders was less; the weight on her mind was less. A shiver of lost light remembered. Obligation to pain rescinded. She hadn't known. She'd had no idea...
"Better?"
She nodded tentatively.
"You are under my protection. The darkness will not take you."
His shielding magic wasn't smothering; nowhere did his dark aura constrict or burn like acid or stain her soul like ink. This was a pleasant, cool shade embracing her, peaceful. It reminded her of a chill autumn night where there might be frost, but she had a warm place to sleep, and didn't have to fear. He was safety.
He hadn't hurt her. The spell he'd cast hadn't been to harm. He'd helped, like he said.
"You'll still need to return to the Realm of Light to recover." Sephiroth said. "Stay close to me."
Aqua couldn't imagine doing anything else.