Vanitas had never wanted to know what it felt like to be swallowed. Not that the universe ever cared what he wanted.
He felt like a soggy loaf of bread being shoved down a kitchen sink. A sink that was squeezing, pushing, forcing him… somewhere. He was pretty sure he blacked out for some of it, the stench of fungus and plant-bile overpowering his clogged nose.
Why, why, why was his helmet never on at the right times? Forget Aqua; he was going to have to start wearing it again.
He wanted to scream, but he didn't want the Tentaclaw's acid pouring down his throat. It already threatened to soak through his closed eyelids. The skin of his face burned like he'd been plunged in liquid Firaga. He summoned his keyblade, hoping to cut a hole and escape, but it just lodged in the Tentaclaw's insides and was ripped away as he was forced onward.
He was barely conscious enough to think that this would be a stupid way to die.
Finally, when his lungs threatened to give out, the monster spat him out into the air. He screamed loud enough that people in the Realm of Light might have heard him. Then gravity kicked in, and he plunged back to the ground. Eyes still shut tight, he braced himself for impact—
It didn't come. Instead, he lurched, caught in the air a few feet above the ground. He blinked open his eyes and found himself surrounded by a soft purple glow. He bobbed there for a moment before the spell wore off, and he landed on his stomach.
"Ugh…"
His head spun, his ears were clogged, and most of his HP had been leeched away. What in the Void was that?
Another Tentaclaw burst from the ground, lunging for him. He tried to roll away, but it was so fast—
And suddenly Aqua was there, blocking the Tentaclaw's strike. She shouted something he couldn't hear.
The Tentaclaw fell over, stunned, and Aqua destroyed it before spraying him with a firehose's worth of water. Despite coughing and nearly choking on it, he did feel a little better. He could hear again.
"Curaga. Esuna," she cast over him. Four little diamonds of light surrounded him along with the usual green glow. It seemed to take care of the acid that had still been burning his skin.
"You need to teach me that," he choked out, still spitting out the rancid taste of bile.
She nodded. "As soon as we're done with that."
Now that his eyes and ears were clear, he could see and hear the giant Heartless that dominated the larger clearing. At its top loomed a large purple flower bulb, held up by jagged Tentaclaw-like legs. That must have been what spit him into the air. A giant coffin hung from the bulb, rocking and shaking like something inside wanted out.
Vanitas summoned Void Gear. "You got a plan of attack?"
She nodded. How long had she been fighting this thing before he showed up? At least she wasn't chewing him out for letting it eat her on his watch… yet.
"I think the vines like the ones that ate us are its weak points. There's a creature in the coffin; it will lash out if you get too close. It also shoots poisonous spores."
"So… kill the Tentaclaws first, and don't die." he summarized.
"Tentaclaws?"
"Yeah, those things." He sliced through one that sprouted next to them.
"You… named them?"
"Yeah. Much easier to talk about how to kill something if you give it a name. You can pick one for the big one, if you want."
He summoned his helmet and ran to the next Tentaclaw, leaving her shaking her head. Much as he wanted to try out his new magic, he'd better stick with what he was good at for now. That meant stabs and strikes steeped in darkness. Fortunately, unlike the giant Heartless they'd fought here before, dark attacks actually worked on these things.
"Too slow," he taunted one, skidding to the side and stabbing into its mouth as it tried to swallow him. He wasn't about to go through that again.
Backing up, he got a sighting on several of the monsters, aiming up for a shotlock. He released a thick laser of darkness that vaporized about half of them. At least these ones seemed to stay dead, rather than growing right back up.
He glanced over his shoulder, where Aqua was laying waste with Time Splicer. In spite of her sickness and having been eaten by the giant Heartless, she was doing surprisingly well. Must be from her superior knowledge of healing spells.
In his moment of distraction, a volley of spores took him from behind. He held his ground and spun to block some of them, even though he felt sick to his stomach. Was he poisoned? He hadn't thought to leave a Panacea in his command deck, and Aqua was all the way across the battlefield.
Shake it off. No stupid plant's getting the best of me. He cast Cure and kept fighting.
Before too long, it was just him, Aqua, and the giant Heartless. As she struck down the last Tentaclaw, the whole thing shuddered, and then it collapsed to the ground.
"Now's our chance!" Aqua called. Her body glowed with the Ghost Drive command style as she teleported over to the coffin. Vanitas dove into the ground, a move he hadn't had the opportunity to use lately, and struck up directly underneath the Heartless.
"How did you know this would work?" he asked, launching into a string of blows.
She shrugged as much as she could while launching volleys of Firaga.
"Instinct. Fighting your Unversed taught me a lot."
"Careful, Aqua. I'm almost tempted to think that's a compliment."
She didn't see his grin beneath his mask—she was too busy fighting, anyway. Teasing would have to wait.
The Heartless heaved back up on its skinny legs like some kind of giant spider.
"Looks like playtime's over." He cartwheeled away as something slashed towards him from inside the coffin.
Unfortunately, he cartwheeled into the path of a newly grown Tentaclaw. It lunged for him, and he sprung back, shooting a burst of Blizzaga at it in midair. That dazed it for a second, giving him time to finish it off.
There were just so many of them. He and Aqua were a whirlwind, two halves of a Heartless-destroying machine, but would it be enough? Exhaustion crept uninvited through his bones. The Heartless belched poison gas, enough to filter in through his mask. He cast Cure again. He really needed to learn that Esuna spell.
He dove into a pool of darkness again, coming up outside the circle of Tentaclaws that had surrounded him. Did that move always leave him so dizzy? He pushed through it, cutting down the black claws. The air was a purple haze. More poison...? Could that be why he… why he felt so… weak…
Aqua's cry pierced the haze. Fear shoved aside, he leapt back into the stony ground, shooting underneath the giant Heartless and appearing where he'd last seen her. Char marks from her Thundaga spells dotted the ground, but she wasn't there.
He chopped down the remaining Tentaclaws, then turned back to the evil flower Heartless. Any second now…
Aqua shot out of the top of the purple bulb. Vanitas didn't know how to catch her with the kind of spell she had used on him. Instead he threw his keyblade in a hasty strike raid, clearing the way before him, and ran.
She crashed into his outstretched arms, and they skidded across the hard ground, landing in yet another cluster of Tentaclaws. He hadn't recovered his blade from the strike raid; he shot a Blizzaga, Firaga, and Thundaga from his hands.
"Aqua, are you alright?" he asked.
He was pinned under her weight, but she didn't move. Her eyes were closed, her hair matted with green bile.
Why, why didn't he know any useful magic? She had been able to heal him from that attack in no time. She must have survived it still conscious the first time and healed herself, but now…
Now it was up to him. He channeled his desire to protect her, to heal her, into a guard of Protector Inversed. Light bled from him as five of the creatures formed, leaving him feeling emptier, lighter. The Protectors circled around them, tackling Tentaclaws and punching them when they got too close.
"Don't worry, Aqua. I've got this." He took a deep breath, holding her tight. "Curaga!"
Green light washed over his body, diffusing into hers. Holding her in his arms seemed to help, but his magic was already so drained from the fight.
"Come on! I've got to have enough…"
A Tentaclaw swallowed one of the Protectors. Two more fell in succession, their bright light snuffed out. Without the positivity returning to him, he felt even emptier than before. The pain interrupted his Curaga, and the green glow faded.
"No!"
The other two Protectors fought valiantly, keeping close to him. It wouldn't be enough. There were too many Tentaclaws.
"Aqua, I need you!" He shook her, hoping the little bit of healing magic could wake her.
No such luck, not with the poison still leeching away her life. If he couldn't heal her soon…
He reached for his unequipped commands, hoping to find a Potion, though he didn't remember seeing one earlier. At the same time, the Heartless swallowed his two remaining Protectors. He clutched his heart in agony.
No. No. If a Tentaclaw swallowed her again, she would die. Come to think of it, so might he. The purple haze fuzzed his vision, even through the mask.
There was only one remaining option. He didn't know what it would do to her. But he had to try.
He cast Dark Curaga.
A purple-black glow pressed down on Aqua. She cried out as a spasm wracked her body. She rolled off of him, still shaking, hands pressed to the sides of her head.
Vanitas winced. He'd known it would hurt, but had the risk been worth it? Had it worked?
Finally, her eyes flashed open. He gasped.
They were bright gold.
"Vanitas… what have you done?" Aqua's horribly wrong eyes were filled with betrayal.
He gulped, summoning his keyblade.
"I saved your life."
He hoped. Regardless, there was nothing he could do now. It was done.
"I don't feel saved—Van!"
She grabbed his arms just as a Tentaclaw seized his legs. It swung up, trying to rip him out of her grip, but she held tight. It tried to swallow; he could feel it sucking at his waist. A scream rose in his throat.
If she let go, he would die. After what he'd done to her, that might be what she wanted.
"Aqua… please…" he begged. He could see it in her eyes. A hardness, a coldness, an emptiness. In saving her, he might have danged her.
"Shut up, Vanitas." Her voice was surprisingly soft, despite her eyes. Eyes that now glistened with tears.
The Tentaclaw jerked. Aqua let go.
He thought he was dead. He knew he was dead.
But a second later, the Tentaclaw's body dissolved around him.
Vanitas fell to the ground amidst clouds of purple and black smoke. Dying Tentaclaws mixed with the noxious fumes of the Leechgrave—he decided to name it, since Aqua likely wouldn't now. His health still leaked away, but he was safe. For now.
Aqua locked eyes with him, then nodded and disappeared into the smoke. He caught glimpses of her teleporting around the battlefield, appearing and disappearing and leaving more smoke in her wake. Some was from the Heartless. Some wafted straight off of her.
Clenching his teeth, he plunged back into the fight. Soon they had eliminated the Tentaclaws, and the Leechgrave collapsed again. He dashed to the coffin, clearing the battlefield with a burst of Aeroga.
Again, Aqua was already there. She hovered in the air, surrounded by giant orbs of darkness. He wanted to call for her to stop, but knew it was too late. She was teleporting between them, launching them at the coffin. Each volley was punctuated with a scream. Each one was another dagger in his heart. He tried to drown it out by launching a Tornado at the Leechgrave.
This time, their powers combined were enough. The Leechgrave lurched, and the imprisoned Heartless tried to escape one last time, before it finally went out in a pillar of smoke and a giant glowing heart. The positivity of his swallowed Inversed returned to him, hitting him with a gut-punch of happiness that felt horribly, horribly wrong.
Aqua fell to her knees, only keeping herself from collapsing further by stabbing her keyblade, both hands clutching the hilt, into the ground. Her breath came in ragged gasps. Darkness still wisped from her. Her eyes were shut tight, but he instinctively knew that when she opened them, they would still be gold.
She shook, and he thought that she might be falling sick again. When he knelt beside her, he realized it was the shuddering of suppressed sobs.
"Aqua…" He reached out a hand, but he didn't know what to do with it. It fell uselessly back to his side.
Her eyes stayed shut, but she turned to him slightly.
"I saw myself, Vanitas. In the reflection of your mask. I… I…"
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
"Sorry won't take the darkness out of my heart!" she screamed. The wispy tendrils rose higher with her anger, as if to prove her point. "What did you do to me!?"
"I—I saved you." Tears glistened in his own eyes. "I wasn't strong enough, Aqua. I couldn't heal you with my regular Curaga, I tried, I swear. I had to use Dark Curaga. It… it was the only way."
She took in a sharp breath. The darkness calmed around her, fading back into her suit.
"Maybe… you should have just let me die."
"No." He shook his head violently, though his voice stayed a whisper. "I thought that once, too. Never again. If you die, there's no going back. But this doesn't have to be permanent. Just look at what you did to me." He almost laughed. Almost.
Her eyes blinked open. Her yellow eyes.
"You mean… you think we can fix this? I can be light again?"
He smiled. "You said it yourself, Aqua. No one can stray so far from the light that there's no way to go back."
"You remember that?"
Of course he did. It had been the first glimmer of hope in his life.
"Yes. We'll get out of here, Aqua. I swear we will."
Her head drooped. She didn't believe it, not yet.
"I feel so cold. So empty. I feel… so much anger…"
"I know." He nodded. That had been his whole life, until she'd showed him that things could be different.
Her tears dripped onto her hands, rolled down them onto her keyblade. Her voice was hoarse, a shallow whisper.
"Vanitas… I don't think I can forgive you. Not yet."
His heart fell. Of course. What had he expected?
"…I know."
"I want to," she added, lifting him up a little. "I'm just so afraid… Vanitas, you've been getting lighter. You're not all darkness anymore. Meanwhile, I've been getting darker. I've felt myself slipping, even before now."
"Aqua… what are you saying?" His voice cracked.
She swallowed and shook her head.
"I don't know. I don't want to know. I think if I did… I would hate you."
His heart felt like his dive platform. The one he'd shattered.
"No," he whispered. Ventus had told him… that he'd connected with someone else. If he'd connected with Aqua… if he was the reason for her darkness… "No. No! Aqua, that can't be what's happening! I'm more than just your shadow!"
"Are you, Vanitas? Are you?"
"Don't call me that! I'm Van to you! I'm your friend!"
Her wet eyes held his. Gold on gold.
"…Are you?"
"You… you don't mean that…"
The dam holding back her sobs broke open. Just as his heart did. Her keyblade, her crutch, disappeared, but he caught her in his arms. She shuddered and shook, her tears soaking his back.
She had torn him apart. And still he held her.
Finally, still crying, she hugged him back. Clung to him like roots clinging to ground in a hurricane. Like if she let go, the darkness would spirit her away. In spite of her words and his own fears—or maybe because of them—he still felt safer in her arms.
Tears squeezed themselves from his eyes too. No sound came out; he was too empty to sob. The last of his emotions fell not in the form of Unversed, but in clear water droplets on her back.
They held each other until their eyes were dry, and sleep took them.