Days passed without any new attacks, though Vanitas still couldn't shake his lingering dread. It could have been his frenzied imagination, but every time they turned a corner he swore he saw it from the corners of his eyes, tasted it in the back of his throat, felt it breathing down his neck.

Aqua tried to assure him that it was fine, that the darkness was just playing tricks on him. Those assurances felt hollow when she had the same haunted gleam in her eyes.

At least she had the strength to power the Wayfinder again. Her magic and their legs tended to give out around the same time, and then they would sleep in shifts.

Walking. Sleeping. Watching. The days, the tunnels, and the sand all blended together. He tried to mix it up and practice creating Inversed during his turns on watch, but positivity was hard to come by. Even the tiny Floods eluded him.

As for Aqua… well, at least she hadn't fallen sick again, but the exhaustion would catch up to her soon. Sheer force of will seemed to be the only thing propelling her anymore. Their hope drained like the sprinkling sand every new day they woke up in the dark tunnels.

Until today.

"We have to be getting close," she muttered to herself, staring at the ceiling as they walked. In the glow of the Wayfinder's trail, he could pick out some twisting lines that protruded from the stone. Vines, he would think, if it weren't the Realm of Darkness. How could any plant survive here?

The ground sloped upward as their path followed this isolated tunnel, and the sand grew sparse and disappeared. Maybe, just maybe, they actually were getting close.

True to her word, Aqua had been counting the days since she had claimed Vanitas's friendship. Today was day seventeen. At least seventeen cycles of sleeping and waking in these Heartless-forsaken tunnels. Over half of those spent feeling stalked like prey by the Dark Wind.

"We have to—" Aqua stopped short, and Vanitas paused beside her. They summoned their keyblades in unison, though he wasn't sure what good it would do. Their enemy way a small puddle of darkness that blocked their path.

It's the mist, the voice it's going to pull me under again and I don't have a Protector this time—

But it wasn't the wind. He could smell that much.

He had never felt so relieved in his life as when a plain Shadow Heartless burst from the puddle.

"What…" Aqua stared, keyblade arm limp, before falling to her knees and laughing.

Vanitas was so stunned he nearly did the same, but he forced himself to slice the Shadow into oblivion first. By then, Aqua's laughter had escalated to hysterical cackles, the kind that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

"Uh… Aqua? I know you're excited to see something normal again, but you're kiiiind of freaking me out."

"Come on!"

She leapt up, ignoring his worry and dragging him by the arm up the tunnel. He was forced to stumble along behind, swinging Void Gear awkwardly at the Shadows that continued to pop up.

"We're almost there! I know it!" She sped up, dragging him so he tripped to his knees.

"Aqua! Seriously! I have legs, I know how to run—wait wait wait, is that a wall? I don't care how magic you are, you can't run through a—!"

Apparently, she could. And she did.

To be fair, the wall was made of twisted, withered black vines. The kind that weren't incredibly solid, but were incredibly scratchy. Vanitas didn't summon his mask in time, and while his suit protected the rest of his body, his face felt like it was being blasted with wood shavings.

They tumbled out on the other side, collapsing in a tangled heap on the stone.

"Nngh…" he groaned, shaking off the vines out but making no effort to get up. Aqua could drag him if she expected him to run any longer.

She scrambled to untangle herself, hastily checking her Wayfinder. Its light had winked out, but it was otherwise unharmed. She sighed in relief.

Vanitas saw something even more relieving: bare branches criss-crossing the black expanse of sky. The bleak abyss stretched up farther than the eye could see.

In the moment, nothing had ever seemed so beautiful.

"Wow," Aqua said, staring up with him. "I never thought I'd be glad to see such darkness."

"Guess it's all about perspective." He put his hands behind his head and took his first deep breath of aboveground air. Of course, it was still the Realm of Darkness; he didn't expect the smell to improve drastically.

His heart still fell when no additional scents of light filled his nose. It had been a feeble hope; if his senses still worked, the Wayfinder would have smelled stronger. Instead its light smelled fuzzy, like he had cotton balls stuffed up his nose.

"In spite of what I said… I almost thought… that we'd never make it," Aqua said softly, lying back down.

"You? Lose hope?" He snorted. "This place'd start sprouting rainbows before that would happen."

"You'd be surprised," she murmured.

She had been close to giving up when he first met her in this realm… but that felt so long ago. He cracked an eye, squinting at her forlorn expression.

"Hey. We made it. You're supposed to be happy."

"I know…"

He heaved himself up on one elbow. "Spit it out. Your face isn't made for moping."

Her lips parted, almost like she was going to laugh but forgot how halfway through.

"Coming from you, Van, that might be a compliment."

"It's not. It's a fact. Now that idiot Terra, he's got a face fit for moping. But that's not that point. What's going on?"

She grimaced, like the tunnels had left a bad taste in her mouth. Maybe they had.

"I don't know. I guess I'm just… still afraid. And I'd fooled myself, just for a moment, that when we came out…" She paused, until Vanitas raised an eyebrow. Then she sighed. "…That the sky would be blue."

He opened his mouth for to ask her what in the worlds would have given her that idea, but stopped himself. Barely. She had been overpowered by the Dark Wind twice now. She may not have Unversed springing out of her to show it, but that didn't make her less afraid.

Still, he wasn't about to let them wallow in it. Not when things were finally going right.

He jumped to his feet—stumbled really; stupid vines—and pulled Aqua up with him.

"Van, what—?"

"You want a blue sky? Well then make yourself a dang blue sky!"

He stood there grinning, like a specter of the night. She just blinked. Like that wasn't the best two-sentence motivational speech the worlds had ever known. Everyone was a critic.

"That wasn't a metaphor," he added, in case she was just confused. "You're the expert on magic, can't you literally make the sky look blue?"

Sure, there was no 'Coloraga' spell, but most light- and dark-based magic, like her spell with the Wayfinder or his crafting a dark suit, was based more on instinct than knowledge. He was confident she could figure it out.

"I highly doubt it's that simple…" she trailed off, blinking up at the void.

"Have you ever tried?"

"Well… something similar, yes." Her cheeks reddened.

"Oh." He paused. "Don't look so embarrassed. I guess even you can't get magic right every time."

"I did get it right," she replied quietly, face still pink.

Then why was she looking like that? He'd seen Aqua angry, frightened, exhausted, and even happy, but he couldn't remember her being embarrassed. The closest was when he'd thought she was hiding food in her chest, but that had been more of a disgust mixed with fury.

"It's been a very long time," she decided to explain, after pausing to loop her Wayfinder back around her belt. "Small manipulation of color was actually the first magic I ever discovered. Even before I learned to summon my keyblade."

"Why would Eraqus teach you that?"

Well, colors were pretty safe. Probably not every master threw their apprentices head-first into dangerous combat magic. Must be nice, to get such a cushy first lesson.

"He didn't. It was before he ever found me. It was how he found me."

Vanitas crossed his arms. "You don't have to pause for dramatic effect, Aqua."

He was curious, but he'd like her to finish before too many Heartless showed up. Surprisingly, the clearing in this thicket of skeletal trees was empty. He'd expected to see more up here after the few in the tunnel.

She smiled a little, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

"I turned my hair blue."

"You what?" A Yellow Mustard Unversed popped out of him in surprise.

She laughed at his hanging jaw. "I suppose you weren't expecting that."

"You're kidding, right?" He shot a little burst of Blizzard at the Unversed without looking, destroying it.

"No, I really turned my hair blue." The pink finally faded from her face. "My mother thought I had some sort of disease. When the Master passed through our town, she asked him to heal me. That was how he found out I was a keyblade wielder."

"But why?" he asked. "And what did it look like before?"

She reached up to twirl a lock self-consciously.

"I was young. Blue was my favorite color. Before I knew I was a keyblade wielder, I was just like everyone else, and I wanted to be different. To stand out, I guess. My subconscious must have decided this was the way."

"…That's pretty weird," Vanitas decided. She grimaced, probably about to say something in defense, but he continued. "But I get it."

"You do?" She blinked.

"Yeah," he realized. "You didn't want to be like all the other boring idiots."

And she'd done it without even knowing how. That was pretty impressive.

"It wasn't quite like… nevermind." She sighed and shook her head. "The point is, I can do a little with color. Blue is still the easiest to work with. I think it would be interesting to learn more, but there weren't many books on color magic in the Land of Departure. Very few Masters spent enough time studying it to have much to say."

They probably thought it was mostly useless, too. Unless you needed a way to boost morale in the middle of a light-forsaken wasteland.

"Well, you don't need to make the sky blue now anyway. You stopped moping, that's what matters." He nodded decisively.

Aqua laughed. "Before, you would have preferred me moping. Do you realize how much you've changed, Van?"

"Unfortunately, yes." He frowned. His Dive and the Inversed had made that clear. "But I'll deal with it. Now come on, I want to get a little farther from those tunnels before we stop for the night."

She nodded in agreement, and they summoned their keyblades and struck out into the forest.

XXX

The forest was oppressively silent. No Heartless peeked out from behind the bony black trees, though the trunks weren't crowded tightly enough to keep them out.

"So where are they...?" he mumbled when they slowed in a clearing covered by a snarl of dark branches far overhead. The illusion of a ceiling made his skin itch. If he weren't so exhausted, he would've demanded they pick a campsite with more open air.

No, he was being stupid. This place was fine. Still too quiet, but as good as they could expect from this hellscape.

"The Heartless?" Aqua asked, and he nodded. "I was wondering the same thing."

"Maybe they're avoiding us," he suggested, trying to come up with a non-terrifying possibility. "We fought off the Dark Wind. And we have our dark suits, so we don't register to them unless you use light magic."

"But we'd still see some Heartless," she insisted. "This place just feels… dead."

"At least we're above ground."

He hacked a thick branch off of a tree with a few strikes of his keyblade, letting it crash to the ground. Unfortunately, it was so long dead that it cracked in half on impact, so he picked another limb and caught it in his arms this time. The log made a pretty good seat, despite creaking under his weight. Aqua followed suit, then added a hovering Fira to their campsite.

"I guess it's not so bad. Kind of like camping in the Land of Departure." She chuckled. "Now all we need are marshmallows."

"Marshmallows…" He stood with a start, reaching to his emotions.

"Van?"

"Shut up, I'm being awesome."

He closed his eyes to concentrate. Prize Pods were among the most difficult Unversed to create—but maybe they didn't have to be Unversed.

Rather than remembering hunger and longing, he thought of when he and Aqua had last made ice cream. The excitement, the salty-sweet flavor, the happiness. Happiness he would feel again.

For the first time in weeks, a white form wisped from his outstretched palms. Then another, and another, and another. Four Prize Pod Inversed. He prepared himself to chase them down, but they remained hovering over the fire like ghosts.

"Van… it's incredible."

He smirked. "I know."

The white Prize Pods still seemed a little skittish, so he approached them slowly. He considered summoning his keyblade, but something about hitting the harmless creatures felt wrong. It was stupid. They were a part of him; he had the right to do with them what he wanted.

He carefully reached out to grab one, lifted its lid, and poured its contents on the ground. It didn't seem to mind, though it did flutter more nervously in his hands and then hid behind its companions when he let it go.

Vanitas nudged the ingredients with the toe of his boot. A few heart-shaped Chocolate Valentines, two tiny bottles of Crystal Soda, even a Wedding Cake. None were what he was looking for.

While he coaxed the other Inversed into giving up their treats, Aqua gathered the ones he'd already dropped, stacking them neatly by her log. After spilling out some Crystal Sugar, he finally found it.

"Marshmallows," he announced, absorbing the Prize Pods and collecting the bounty of Rich Marshmallows from the ground. They weren't wrapped; hopefully they hadn't picked up any germs.

"That's wonderful!" Aqua's smile was the brightest he'd seen since the tunnels. Vanitas found it contagious. "I never found any marshmallows from your Unversed before."

"They're extra rare."

He remembered roasting marshmallows as Ventus. Those memories and feelings were best left unsaid.

He summoned Void Gear and stabbed a Rich Marshmallow.

"These won't make you sick again, will they? From germs on the ground?"

"Fire kills germs. We should be safe." Worry briefly flashed over her face, though. He wished he hadn't mentioned it.

She summoned Master Keeper and picked out a marshmallow of her own. "Thank you, Van."

"No problem. What are friends for besides magically creating food?"

She laughed at his joke. It was only then that he realized he'd called them friends. They were, obviously, because otherwise she would have killed him by now. But there was still something special about saying it. Maybe Ventus wasn't so much of an idiot about that after all.

Aqua, of course, insisted they wash their hands first, and he didn't argue. Then they sat and roasted their marshmallows in warm, comfortable silence. It was amazing how the addition of treats could turn their camp from eerie to homey. Still, he avoided staring too deeply into the trees.

Aqua's marshmallow was a soft golden brown when she pulled it from the flames.

"You can't take it out yet, it's not done." Vanitas frowned.

"Not all of us like our marshmallows on fire, Van." She chuckled, propping her keyblade upright against the log and unwrapping a Chocolate Valentine.

"Not on fire. Just black," he corrected. "That's the right way to do it."

"Ven always said the same thing." She smiled fondly, taking a second Valentine and sandwiching the Rich Marshmallow between them.

"Of course he did. He learned it from me." He hid the bitterness from his voice.

How many times had Ventus gotten to roast marshmallows with Aqua? Vanitas had spied on a few. Even made them think there was a monster in the forest once. Good times.

Once his marshmallow was flaming, he held his keyblade close, sucked in a huge breath, and gave it a solid blow.

It plopped gracelessly on the ground.

Aqua's laugh sprayed s'more goop onto her lap. She covered her mouth, eyes widening, but Vanitas was already cackling. Cackling so hard, in fact, that he toppled backwards off of his log. His yelp of surprise only made her nearly choke on her s'more. She finally gulped it down as she knelt beside him.

"You okay, Van?"

"Perfect," he replied with a wide grin, a happy white Red Hot Chili popping free to prove it. The name didn't make as much sense for the monochrome Inversed; maybe he'd call it a White Hot Chili instead. "Just perfect."

She helped him up, and he speared another squishy treat, roasting it to barely-black this time rather than a charcoal brick.

"Hey, toss me a few of those Valentines."

Aqua did, and he made a makeshift s'more like hers. The Chocolate Valentines melted a little on his fingers. He shoved the whole s'more in his mouth, then licked his fingers clean. The explosion of sweet, fluffy flavors stayed on his tongue while the food itself disappeared, returning to the emotions it was born from.

It was perfect.

"Who needs the stupid Realm of Light, huh?" He grinned, mouth sticky with marshmallow goop. "We've got everything we need right here."

He expected Aqua to laugh, or smile, or something. He didn't expect her to freeze, then stare forlornly at her s'more.

"I mean, now that we don't have to worry about the Wind," he amended.

Maybe she was still scared of that. He was, too, but a little fear was a small price to pay to stay like this. Eating ice cream and s'mores. Enjoying the companionship of someone who didn't hate him. Things that the Realm of Light had always placed out of reach, in a life that could've been his, but wasn't.

"That's not all," Aqua said slowly, carefully. "What about the sun? And my friends…"

Vanitas fought back a sneer. Even when they were on different sides of the universe, Ventus and Terra could still get in the way.

"I'm your friend."

"You are. But Terra, and Ven… They still need me."

He snorted. "Ventus is asleep in someone else's heart, and Terra might be just a Xehanort-filled husk by now. What can you do for them?"

"I… I don't know." She bit her lip. "But I have to try."

Stubborn to the end. Had he really expected her to be happy in this place? If so, he'd really let this whole "friendship" thing get to his head.

She didn't seem to enjoy the rest of her s'more, though she did finish it. She didn't bother brushing the crumbs from her lap.

"I'm sorry," he decided to apologize, since it had helped last time. His tone was probably too flat, though. How was he supposed to apologize for telling the truth?

"…It's fine," she mumbled, wiping her face dry with the back of her hand. "I'm just… I'm so scared for them. Do you know what that feels like?"

"Not really," he admitted with a shrug. The only other person he'd been scared for was her, and he'd been able to do something about it. "I bet they'd say the same for you, though. If they knew you were stuck down here, with me."

"I guess I should be grateful. At least you are here with me. I don't have to face this realm alone." She smiled a little. "Still, even if I weren't worried about Terra and Ven, I would never want to stay here. We'd always have to look over my shoulder for Heartless, or who knows what else. Besides, this place is completely unsanitary."

He chuckled. "Aqua, you can summon soap and water. Why are you worried about that?"

"Well, for one, I haven't had a shower in ages," she said matter-of-factly, though she blushed.

"Of course you haven't. It doesn't rain here. ...Could you make it rain?"

"Not that kind of shower—wait, have you ever had a shower? Or a bath?"

He grinned at the look of utter disgust on her face. It was nearly as bad as when she'd first met him here, only this time it was because of something way more stupid.

"I've had baths," he said with a laugh. "I think they're stupid, but Xehanort would get mad if I was too smelly. So I'd find a river somewhere and scrub in it."

She sighed in relief. "Good. That's one lesson I did not want to have to teach you."

"I just can't believe that's what you're most excited about when you get back."

"I wouldn't say I'm most excited about that…" She stabbed another marshmallow and held it up to the flames. "What about you? What do you look forward to about going home?"

"Home?" He frowned. "I don't have a home. Unless you count a cave in the Keyblade Graveyard, which I don't."

"Er, right. What do you look forward to in the Realm of Light, then?"

He burned another marshmallow while pondering her question. What was there to look forward to? He was focusing on getting out of here. Everything after that might as well be fantasy.

"Food I don't have to make out of my emotions, I guess. It helps that we don't have to eat here, though." Stealing food for every meal got pretty exhausting.

"That's true, considering we would be dead otherwise." She put together another s'more, this time experimenting with a pinch of Crystal Sugar on top.

"Trees," he added, looking up at the interlocking branches.

"You miss trees?" she asked.

He nodded, absently eating his marshmallow fresh off the blade.

"Not these kind. Live ones, with leaves. Shade. Lots of branches to climb around and hide in." Face warm, he ducked his head and finished lamely, "I like trees."

She looked at him as if expecting more, but that was it. It shouldn't be any more embarrassing than her liking blue skies, but offering such a personal opinion made him feel strangely vulnerable.

Suddenly, he cringed with a jolt of pain. Like—someone had killed an Unversed? He couldn't feel an emotion returning, but what else could it be? He had accidentally spawned a White Hot Chili earlier. He hadn't paid attention to it, but it must have flown off.

"What?" Aqua asked, worried. "Did you smell something? Wait, can you smell again?"

"No." He shook it off. "My sense of smell's still dampened. One of my Inversed just died."

"So there are Heartless," she deduced, relaxing.

He nodded. Inversed would likely attract the creatures. That punched some holes in his plan to have a Protector guard their camp tonight.

"We'll be fine. I just won't summon any more unless we're prepared to fight them."

"There's another problem, though." She frowned. "If you still can't smell, and Heartless are attracted to the light of my Wayfinder, how will we find our way out?"

"We'll… figure something out. We're smart." He put on a fake smile. Aqua had worried enough for both of them lately. "For now, let's get some sleep."

"I'll take first shift," she volunteered.

He nodded and slid off of his log, punching it a few times until it crunched into a more pillow-like shape. He slid just as easily into unconsciousness.

For the first time he could remember, he had pleasant dreams. Strolling under the soft shade of summer trees. Light, dappling the ground in little patches, just enough to warm his skin. No dark suit—a shirt and shorts instead, like he'd worn when he and Ventus were one.

Aqua was there. They were in the Realm of Light, and she hadn't left him. She laughed at something he said, and they continued strolling down the shaded path.

It was perfect.