Now came the part Vanitas hadn't really thought about: how in the Worlds could they get ice cream out of a bunch of random food bits?

Aqua had recipes. That wasn't a problem. From the ingredients they had, she said "Milky Way" would be the best flavor. Vanitas separated out the required ten Cream Fluffs, eight Rainbow Syrups, and fourteen Cotton Cloudcandies, but they didn't react or do anything special. They just sat there on the sandy ground while Aqua magically stored away the remaining ingredients for later.

"This is stupid," Vanitas muttered. "Why isn't it doing anything?"

Aqua frowned thoughtfully. "They may be magical ingredients, but I suppose it won't magically make itself. But I don't know exactly how the ducklings made it, either…"

"Perfect," he grumbled. "You don't how to make ice cream. Some help you are."

She ignored his frustrated jab. "Wait. I used to make ice cream with Terra and Ven in the summer. It wasn't magical, but the process might be similar."

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" he asked grumpily, but mainly he was relieved that he might still get his food. For once, he didn't even make a spiteful comment towards Terra or Ventus.

"We mixed all of the ingredients in an ice cream maker we had," she explained to him as she sat down cross-legged in front of their pile of ingredients. "We filled the outside with ice and rock salt, which kept it cold while we turned the crank to churn it."

That sounded simple enough. They didn't have an ice cream mixer, or ice, or "rock salt" (whatever that was), but it gave Vanitas an idea that might work even better.

Aqua jumped when Vanitas conjured a Blue Sea-Salt.

"What are you doing?"

"Chill out. It doesn't hurt." There was the usual twinge of discomfort, of course, but it was so faint and common that it wasn't worth noticing. He hadn't gone completely out of shape.

"Alright…" She squinted dubiously at the pot-shaped monster fluttering around his head. "But what is it for?"

He smirked, grabbing the Unversed out of the air.

"Your new ice cream maker."

She stared in disgust, but he'd expected that. She never had been very nice to his fledgling emotions. Rolling his eyes, he took off the Blue Sea-Salt's bouncing lid and showed her the inside.

She flinched back at first, but curiosity must have won her over. She peered inside like she expected it to be full of spiders.

"Alright, the ice makes sense… but what's the rest of it? The white liquid?"

"Liquid?"

Vanitas hadn't looked that closely before, assuming that it was just filled with Blizzard magic on the inside. But to his surprise, Aqua was right. He dipped a finger into the shallow layer of white liquid that coated the bottom. After a sniff to determine if it was safe, he licked it.

His eyes widened in genuine surprise.

"It's salty, but a little sweet! Like the ice cream at the theme park back before—"

He quickly shut his mouth, wishing he'd had his mask on. He never talked about his past, especially not his memories from when he was Ventus. Never. So when Aqua opened her mouth to ask what he was talking about, he rushed to cut her off.

"It's not real ice cream. Not complete, anyway," he explained about the liquid inside. "Maybe it's the base ingredients, or something like that. I bet we can make it work if we mix in what we've got."

Even if it wasn't fully-formed sea-salt ice cream, he couldn't believe a tiny part of it found its way into his Unversed. Yes, he'd named it after the ice cream, but that was because of its color and cold magic. Could his name have somehow influenced it in reverse?

Aqua hesitantly sniffed the liquid inside the Blue Sea-Salt too.

"Maybe you're right. I guess it can't be any more dangerous than the other ingredients."

Finally, she had a little faith in him. Took her long enough.

The Unversed wasn't very compliant. He had to hug it tight to his chest to keep it from bouncing around the air. Meanwhile, Aqua poured in the glass vials of Rainbow Syrup. The bottles vanished one by one as they were emptied.

"I can't believe this is edible." She shook sand off of the wrappers of the Cotton Cloudcandies, which looked like giant rainbow-colored cotton balls.

"Yeah, you've said that about a hundred times now." Vanitas rolled his eyes. "You're the one who ate it before, and it didn't kill you. Why does it bother you so much now?"

She thought about it as she unscrewed a squatty canister of Cream Fluff. "I guess because we're making it this time."

He snorted. The Unversed struggled harder against his grip in his annoyance.

"Really, Aqua, that's getting old. You couldn't even have ice cream if it weren't for me."

"That's not what I meant," she clarified in exasperation. "Huey made it for me before, so I didn't see exactly how weird it was."

"…Oh." He silently held the pot-creature while she dumped in the Cream Fluff, which seemed like a mix between whipped cream and mousse.

"Why do you keep thinking I'm being spiteful towards you?" she had the guts to ask, looking him directly in the eyes. Hers were even bluer than normal, filled with light that her suit couldn't mask. Thank the Void it seemed like no Heartless skulked around the underground.

He didn't understand why her eyes seemed to search his for an answer when the question was so obvious. So obvious, he couldn't even infuse his answer with comfortable snark.

"Because you hate me," he said simply.

She stopped dumping in the Cream Fluff. He wished she would hurry up already. Restraining the Blue Sea-Salt was a pain.

She didn't respond immediately. Just sat there, frowning thoughtfully, no longer meeting his eyes. Finally, she finished emptying the last few Cream Fluffs. The last canister dissolved before she voiced her response.

"I suppose I should, shouldn't I?" she murmured. "You fought against me and my friends. You terrorized the Worlds with your Unversed. You tried to start a Keyblade War to plunge the Worlds into darkness."

He nodded. All of that was true. In a way, it was comforting that she was reminding him what he had done, who he was.

Why did she sound like there was a 'but' about to follow it?

"A few good deeds shouldn't make up for all of that," she continued. "I should still hate you. I should… but I don't think I do."

The Blue Sea-Salt shuddered once, then for the first time, sat completely still. It must have been as stunned as he was.

"Why not?" he demanded, staring straight into her eyes, but still comprehending nothing. Yeah, he'd gotten annoyed at her jabs towards him and his darkness before… but that was the way it was supposed to be. She couldn't just up and change the balance without his say-so.

"I'm starting to wonder if you were as much of a pawn in Xehanort's plan as I was. As we all were." She shook her head. Subtly she brushed her fingertips across the glass star at her belt.

"What's it matter?" He stared her down. She had to be playing some elaborate joke, just trying to confuse him. Right?

"He used you, just like he used all of us. Didn't he?" Aqua asked, but he shook his head.

"Of course he used me, but so what? I still wanted to hurt you. You should still hate me."

She couldn't seem to understand. What didn't she get? She was light, he was darkness. The End.

"Do you want me to hate you?"

He shrugged, unsure of how to answer. Was what he wanted supposed to matter here?

"Everyone hates me, Aqua. That's the way it's supposed to be."

"But why?" she pressed. "Why shouldn't I be able to forgive you?"

His head hurt. Too many questions again. Why did she always do this? Make him question who he was?

"Because I haven't changed." He avoided her gaze focusing on the Blue Sea-Salt's lid, until she softly said his name and called his eyes back.

"…Vanitas." How could she say his name so tenderly? It was a lie in itself. "Do you still want to hurt me?"

It was just a yes-or-no question. It should've been simple.

His first instinct was to snap "yes," because these questions were driving him crazy. But now she'd made him curious. He thought harder. Searched his darker impulses, the emotions just below the surface of his skin, itching to burst out as Unversed. There was Annoyance, of course. Frustration. Confusion. Hunger. Longing. Fear. He closed his eyes, pulling them closer one by one, tying them to his heart so they couldn't escape.

But the one emotion he was looking for didn't surface, at least not in the way he expected. Yes, Hate was still there, always burning, like a bonfire in a world without rain. But it wasn't directed at Aqua. If anything, it was directed at the darkness, the Realm of Darkness. This prison he'd been resurrected in.

That was stupid. He was darkness. How could he hate the himself?

The feeling didn't make any sense, but it wasn't part of her question, so he buried it deep inside again and hoped it wouldn't try to fight its way out.

"…Not really," he finally answered in a low mumble.

"You don't want to hurt me?" she asked for clarification.

"No. I don't," he said in resignation. Normally he fed off of contention, but after all that soul-searching, lying and arguing felt like too much effort.

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

"And do you hate me?"

He glared at her, but snapped out quickly, "No. Now don't make me change my mind."

He'd honestly tried to hate her. He'd wanted to hate her. But it was kind of hard to hate the only person he'd ever talked to who wasn't a creepy, maniacal geezer.

Her twitching lips finally bloomed into a full grin.

"Then why should I hate you, Van?"

This time when the name caught him off guard, he realized why. Other than the fact that it sounded like Ven, it was just too sweet. It was the kind of nickname she should give to a friend, not to a heart of darkness like him. It made him feel…

He clutched his head, groaning with the shock and confusion. "Agh, what is this…!?"

"What?" She quickly summoned a potion. "Are you alright? What happened?"

"It's this stupid feeling… I hate it…"

But he didn't hate it. He just didn't understand it. It was like a duller version of what he felt when he joined with Ventus.

"Light," he realized."Agh, why do you have to be so light…?"

"I'm sorry?" She tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. "I don't understand; what did I do?"

The brief emotional spasm faded. It seemed unreal somehow, like it had never been there at all.

In its place, there was emptiness—but not the kind he was used to. A sort of pressure loosened from around his lungs, a weight lifted from his shoulders.

"You called me Van," he explained, able to meet her eyes again. "Why did you do that?"

The question seemed to catch her off guard.

"I—I don't know." Her pale face flushed a light pink.

"You're an awful liar, Aqua. Tell me."

Again he managed to take advantage of his new ability to maintain eye contact. She couldn't hold his yellow gaze without telling the truth.

"…It sounds nicer, alright?" she admitted without looking him in the eye. "It's strange. When I call you Van, I don't think of you the same way. You say you haven't changed, but you're not the same person who hurt me and Terra and Ven. Vanitas would hate me, but you don't." She met his eyes again. "That's why I would rather call you Van."

Names were important. Vanitas had learned that much from Xehanort. His own name meant "emptiness," a fitting enough title for a heart that had been void of positive emotions since his creation…

Until now. This strange warmth, the warmth triggered by the name "Van"… He searched his memory for the feeling—searched Ventus's memory, the only place he might find it.

"Do you… care about me?" he asked incredulously.

Cared for. Comforted. That was the feeling she kept giving him, the one that had terrified him, that confused him, that now made him feel… safe, somehow. He didn't understand it, but for once, he didn't fight it.

Aqua's smile faltered. "Of course I do. That's why I wanted to help you."

It was so opposite to how she'd treated him mere days ago. Had saving her life changed her mind that much?

"Why do you care?" he asked the same question he had before, still a few steps away from being convinced.

Her hand instinctively closed around her star-shaped charm.

"Because we're in this together, Van. If I've realized anything these past few days, it's that you were right. We can't do this alone."

He blinked in surprise.

"You're… admitting I'm right?"

Her laugh mingled with a sigh as she nodded. "I suppose I am."

He tried to process, take in everything that had happened. She didn't hate him. In fact, she cared about him. Even admitted she needed him.

And she thought eating Unversed ice cream was the most insane thing she'd done?

But she wasn't lying. Her light was too strong for that, her smile too relaxed.

He was out of arguments.

"Then… I guess I'll take your word for it." His smile was more of a crooked smirk, but it felt more comfortable than his signature scowl.

She shook her head, but the smile stayed on her face. "It took you long enough. It's like you've never—" She stopped abruptly.

"Never what?" He raised an eyebrow.

"…Like you don't know how to accept kindness," she finished sheepishly. "I'm sorry. That was insensitive."

He shrugged. "You're right. You're the first one to show it to me."

Apparently that didn't cheer her up much. But this victory—he chose to consider it a victory—felt good. He felt truly good, for the first time in literally forever. He wasn't about to let her drag him back down.

"Forget about it," he told her. "Our ice cream's going to melt."

She jumped a little when the Blue Sea-Salt fluttered back to life in his arms, like she'd forgotten it was there. It still seemed sluggish, but that would hopefully make his job easier.

"So we need to mix it, right?" he asked, holding down the pot creature's lid.

"Yes, but we don't have a crank or a spoon—"

"Pfft, who needs those?"

Vanitas jumped to his feet, made sure he had a firm grip on the pot's bottom and lid, and started shaking. Aqua gave him a funny look, covering her mouth to hide her laugh.

"…Well, I suppose that's one way to do it."

"It's the best way," he bragged with a smirk, still shaking the Unversed like a giant maraca. "You want to give it a shot?"

She laughed again, probably at how ridiculous he looked. Whatever, he was feeling too good to care.

"Sure, why not shake a monster of negative emotions to make ice cream?"

Maybe that was supposed to be sarcasm, but he carefully passed her the Unversed anyway. After making awkward eye contact with the Blue Sea-Salt, she shook it even faster, like she was trying to show him up. Or maybe just trying to get it over with as quickly as possible.

"This is so weird," she said, "but it's kind of fun."

"Fun?" He blinked. "Is this what fun feels like?" He'd buried the memory long ago with most of Ventus's other positive feelings.

She frowned, confused. "How do I explain what—?"

She shouted in surprise when in her moment of distraction, the blue Unversed flung out of her hands. Dizzy and sluggish, it bounced on the ground before fluttering back to the air, bumping its face against a wall, and finally fleeing down a branching tunnel.

"Hey! Get back here, idiot!" Vanitas ordered, but he might as well have said nothing at all.

"I don't think it's going to listen," Aqua called over her shoulder as she chased after the Unversed.

"Ugh, this again?" Vanitas followed after her, hoping the stupid creature wouldn't spill his ice cream. What was with his Unversed suddenly getting a rebellious streak? The Prize Pods he could understand, but the Blue Sea-Salts were usually relatively obedient.

"Déjà vu?" Aqua asked with a light laugh when Vanitas caught up to her.

"Tch. No kidding."

At least the pot hadn't had as much of a head start this time; he could see it bouncing frantically up ahead until it rounded a corner.

Suddenly Aqua shot him an unexpected grin. "Whoever catches the Unversed gets first ice cream!"

"What?" His surprise gave her time to race past him. What had gotten into her?

Whatever it was, he couldn't back down from a challenge. His feet pounded the sand-dusted ground; his long strides propelled him forwards. In his intense determination, he quickly blew past her.

She didn't seem mad, though. She just laughed and chased after him. If it were a real challenge, wouldn't she take it more seriously? It was like she was letting him win.

"Having fun yet, Van?" She asked when she caught up and passed him.

The Blue Sea-Salt was nearly within reach; he didn't have time to think about 'fun.' The tunnel narrowed, barely leaving room to pass her again. He shoved her to the side, then reached out and tackled the Unversed to the ground.

"Hah, I won!" He declared proudly, regardless of the fact that he lay panting on the ground, his hair matted with sand.

"Yes, you did." Aqua rolled her eyes. What, did he do something wrong? She shook her head as she brushed herself off. "But did you have any fun?"

"…I won," he repeated, confused by the stupid question.

Even though she was the loser, she looked at him with sympathy.

"Have you ever played a game before, Vanitas?"

He bristled at how she said his name, but it brought back the memories she was asking for.

"What do you think I was doing with you and the two idiots before we got stuck here?"

Aqua looked like she wanted to angrily retort, but she let it go.

"I meant a real game, for fun. Not manipulating people."

What in the Worlds was she talking about? Manipulating the three of them was the most fun he'd ever had. …But when he'd finally succeeded in bringing out her darkness, it had stopped being fun very fast.

Ugh, why was this all so complicated? He missed when he could just stab all his problems in the face.

"…What is fun?" He finally asked, sitting up with the pot hugged to his chest again.

The tunnel was narrow here, so Aqua sat beside rather than across from him.

"I don't know if I can explain that. That's why I tried to have a race, to show you something that can be fun. I didn't expect you to take it so seriously." She rubbed her arm, wincing a little. Had he actually hurt her?

Sheesh, suck it up already. He knew she wasn't that easy to break.

"Why didn't you take it seriously?" he asked in reply.

"Because it's just for fun. When we lived in the Land of Departure, Terra and I would race each other all the time, just for the fun of it." She smiled nostalgically, but it quickly turned into a thoughtful frown. "Come to think of it, when we were younger he used to take it too seriously too. Maybe it's a boy thing…"

Vanitas gagged.

"You're comparing me to Terra now?" His irritation and disgust made the pot Unversed shudder with sudden energy. "Ventus is one thing, but if you start comparing me to that other idiot, I'll have to take a keyblade to your face."

"Terra's my best friend," she defended, obviously not taking his threat seriously. "To compare you to him is an honor."

He was about to snap back another insult, but he then he blinked. An honor? What was wrong with her, showing him "honor"? He didn't deserve her honor, didn't want it—but he hadn't deserved kindness, either, and it had been given freely. Well, more like shoved in his face whether he wanted it or not.

There was something special about Aqua. Whether it was a good special or a mentally disturbed special, he was still trying to figure out.

"Whatever," he muttered, deciding to just defuse the conversation. He had more important things to worry about. "I still get first ice cream."

He opened the Blue Sea-Salt's lid, and a wide grin spread across his face. Miraculously, the Unversed hadn't spilled his dessert in its flight. A fluffy, rainbow-colored ice cream filled the pot to the very top.

It brought a smile to Aqua's face, too.

"It turned out pretty nice, didn't it? It's too bad we don't have the garnishes the ducklings used…"

"Pfft, who cares? We just made ice cream out of nothing!" He let out a gleeful cackle, scooping the dessert out with his fingers.

Aqua looked appalled.

"Van, you can't eat it like that—!"

He shoved the ice cream into his mouth.

"Ahh," he sighed in pure bliss. The sugar danced on his taste buds; the soft, wispy texture dissolved as he swallowed. He had never eaten anything similar enough to identify the flavor. The only comparison he could think of was a sweet, sweet dream. Not that he'd ever had any pleasant dreams, but Ventus must have.

He was rudely awakened when Aqua yanked the Blue Sea-Salt out of his arms.

"Hey!"He leapt to his feet, keyblade milliseconds from materializing.

"You can't just dig your hands in it! That's disgusting!"

"What?" He gaped down at her. "How do you expect me to eat it!?"

"With a—" Aqua frowned thoughtfully. "Oh. We don't have spoons, do we."

Vanitas snorted, rolling his eyes. "Obviously." Unless she still had some secret storage place she wasn't telling him about.

"Well… let's at least wash our hands first."

As much as he still hungered for ice cream, he impatiently let her spray his hands water magic and sloppily scrubbed with the soap bubbles she conjured.

"There, happy?" He flicked stray bubbles at her. Leave it to Aqua to learn magic to wash your hands.

"I just don't want us to catch a disease." She lathered her own hands, then awkwardly sprayed each one off with the other. "I can't imagine what kinds of bacteria this place could be harboring."

Vanitas shook off his hands, then wiped them on his not-skirt-thing.

"Nothing I can't handle."

He'd never been sick before. Not from germs, anyway. In his early days of creating Unversed, the emotional toll often spread to his physical body. After training exercises when Xehanort had pushed him too far, made him create too many Unversed, he would slink off to the dark corridors and retch until he was completely empty. The darkness within the corridors filled him again as he had laid there, spasms wracking his body, until he could finally drift into fevered dreams…

A few germs had nothing on that.

"Well, I'd rather play it safe." Aqua warily eyed the Blue Sea-Salt, which was now fluttering fairly calmly, waiting for them to eat the ice cream inside.

Oh, now you get ahold of yourself, Vanitas thought towards his Unversed. Sheesh, you're almost as messed up as me.

"Whatever." He pulled the Blue Sea-Salt back and set it in his lap, where both he and Aqua could reach it. He was perfectly happy to dig his hands in and start stuffing his face again, but she still looked slightly queasy.

"This is still so…"

"Quit complaining," Vanitas snapped after swallowing a handful. "Eat it or don't. If you're too picky, that's just more for me."

Her desire for food may not have been as strong as his, but it finally won out over her suspicion. He paused to let her scoop a tiny bit out, watching for her reaction.

She hesitantly stuck out her tongue and licked it, eyes widening in surprise.

"It tastes exactly like the Milky Way Huey made for me." She sucked the rest off of her hand. "Better, actually."

"Told you we could do it." Vanitas smirked, practically glowing with pride from his success and the indirect compliment. Actually, he was literally glowing; the ice cream had triggered the Skyclimber command style. "I'm the best. What did you expect?"

She shook her head, but her laugh undermined it.

"Maybe I should wait to see if we get sick later before passing judgement." Regardless of that possibility, she scooped out a full handful this time.

They had to look like savages, sitting in the middle of a sandy tunnel, plunging their hands into a monster of negativity, stuffing their faces with its cold, creamy insides. It was no wonder Aqua had been reluctant at first. Vanitas grinned as she now licked her fingers, enjoying the ice cream almost as much as he was.

He laughed—not cackled, not snickered, but actually laughed.

"This is fun." He decided it for himself, without needing Aqua to tell him. He wasn't hurting—no, it was better than just an absence of pain. He felt good.

He felt happy.

Recognizing the positive emotion jolted him. Aqua's eyes softened in concerned curiosity, but he just grinned and went back to eating.

He hadn't known he could feel happy. His only memory of the emotion came from Ventus, a constant teaser of what he could never have—only now he could. The icy shards of envy melted inside him.

Take that, Ventus. I am just as good as you. Better than you. I bet you take being happy for granted, you idiot.

Vanitas wouldn't make that mistake. He would savor every happy, delicious second.

Slowly their fingers began to scrape the insides of the pot. The Milky Way ice cream depleted handful by handful. Soon, too soon, only a crust of ice remained.

Vanitas wanted to cry. It was over. His brief respite from reality was gone—except…

He still felt good. Not full; it was like the ice cream had passed straight through him. Maybe it dissolved back to the emotions it came from. It didn't matter. Somehow, he was still happy.

Aqua finished licking her fingers clean and wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. "Mmm. That was the best thing I've eaten in…"

"However long you've been stuck here?" Vanitas guessed as the purple command style glow faded from around them.

She nodded, eyes clouded with her thoughts.

"I wonder how long it's been now…"

"Why does it matter?" he asked while draining the Blue Sea-Salt's negativity back into himself. Even that discomfort barely made his good mood flicker. "There's no way to keep track of time down here."

"I'm sure it's possible," she said, tapping her fingers on her leg. "We may not know how long we've spent so far, but we can always start now."

"Isn't it a little late for that?" He still didn't see the point. Whether a hundred seconds or a hundred years passed in the Realm of Light, he didn't have anyone there waiting for him. For all they knew, Aqua didn't either.

"It's never too late." She smiled and stood up.

"That still doesn't explain how you'll do it," he pointed out, standing and wiping ice cream dribbles off of his chin and chest.

"It may not be completely accurate, but I'll count each time we sleep as one day," she explained. "And I'll start with the day Van became my friend."