Vanitas awoke slowly, wrapped in warmth and a pleasant scent. It was light and airy, like fresh laundry, rather than cleaning spray or overpowering perfume. The scent blended light with a sliver of comfortable darkness.

It was the scent of dusk.

It was almost pleasant enough to make him ignore the crick in his neck, and the fact that he'd apparently fallen asleep on his knees. How had he done that? And what was the heavy thing he had his arms around?

He opened his eyes, and found himself still holding Aqua. Their weight leaning against each other had balanced out, leaving them sleeping upright. Her mouth hung open slightly as she slept. …Was that drool?

He flung himself back, and she rocked forward before awaking with a start. "What? Heartless?"

"No," he replied, wiping off his damp and sticky shoulder, but otherwise offering no explanation.

They sat in awkward silence for a few moments. He avoided Aqua's gaze, unsure whether or not to bring up the previous day's events.

He couldn't pretend nothing had happened. Aqua had basically accused him of stealing her light. Tch. As if he'd even wanted it in the first place. She had been the one practically begging him to take it. Besides, she didn't even have any proof that he had stolen it—if anything, she had used darkness long before he had shown any sign of using light. Maybe she would apologize for her assumptions today, but he didn't get his hopes up.

He turned away and summoned his mask. Today would be a good day to keep his emotions to himself.

"So," Aqua began uncomfortably. He couldn't tell if it was from guilt, or from the fact that she was still stuck with him. "How can we find our way out of here now?"

She still expected him to have all the answers? She was going to be disappointed.

"My smell doesn't work as well anymore. Since it seems like Heartless are going to attack us anyway, might as well use that shiny charm of yours." It would still attract more Heartless than he wanted, but what other option did they have?

She nodded, about to untangle it from her belt, but he held up a hand to stop her.

"Wait. We're not going anywhere yet."

Her yellow eyes narrowed. Would that sight ever get any less uncanny?

"Why not?"

"Because you're going to teach me magic."

"Look, Van, I'm not really in the mood to teach anyone anything."

She used his nickname this time, but it cut just as sharp. If she was going to be like that, she should just say his full name.

"Are you in the mood to let me use Dark Curaga again the next time you're in danger?" He snapped. S

he flinched back, and he forced himself to use a calmer tone.

"Please, Aqua. I just want to make things right."

She stared into his helmet—probably staring into the hollow eyes of her reflection.

"Alright," she finally sighed. "But take that that awful thing off."

He nodded and dissolved his mask. "Oh, and one other thing."

"What?" she asked, already losing patience. He didn't look forward to learning to use magic under that kind of attitude, but he'd endured worse. It wasn't like Xehanort had ever been a good mood when he trained Vanitas.

He knew his next demand would only provoke further backlash. He held her gaze and said it anyway.

"You need to let me teach you how to use darkness."

"What? No!" She spat the word like the darkness had already left a foul taste in her mouth. "Why in the worlds would I do that?"

"Because it will use you if you let it," he argued.

"Then I won't let it! I'll be strong enough!"

He shook his head.

"See, that's a common misconception about darkness. That if you're 'strong' enough, you can just ignore it, and it'll go away. You're already strong. If strength was all that mattered, you wouldn't have this problem in the first place."

She crossed her arms, her fingers itching at the veins that encased her.

"Then what am I supposed to do? I won't give into it!"

"No, you won't. You'll control it. By ignoring the darkness, you're telling it that you're scared of it, and that it's welcome to do whatever it wants."

"You make it sound like the darkness has a mind of its own." She frowned.

"I don't know about all that, but that's how it works." He shrugged. "You want to teach me first, or me teach you?"

"I'll teach you." She stood and summoned Master Keeper. For a moment he thought she was readying a spell to use against him, but she just pulled out an empty potion bottle that had been tucked in her belt, filled it with water, and washed her face.

"I wouldn't mind learning that spell too," he commented.

She sniffed as she dismissed her blade.

"Yeah. You could use it."

"What?" He lifted an arm and took a whiff. The suit kept in most of his body odor, and he wasn't any smellier than usual. In fact, he smelled better, probably due either to Aqua washing him off yesterday or him sleeping so close to her clean scent. "I smell great."

Her nose scrunched up. "Maybe it's just a boy thing…"

"Whatever. You gonna teach me or what?"

"Right. We'll start with Curaga, since that's an element you've already shown some capability in, before moving on to a brand new element." A green aura surrounded her palm as she explained, and he stared at it intently. "The Cure element is, by nature, the element most closely related to light. As such, the rules governing light magic tend to apply to its use as well."

"Well, that explains why it's so freaking hard," he muttered. Trying to follow her academic language was almost as difficult. She had hardly spent any time as a Keyblade Master, right? How had she already gotten the full-on 'lecture the apprentice' voice down?

"Correct." She twisted her hand through the air, leaving a radioactive-looking trail behind. "However, even hearts dimmed by darkness can use it, difficult though it may be. I had never heard of a 'Dark Curaga' until… well."

He didn't wince, though her gaze looked like it was intended to make him do so.

"Guess I'm just more creative than most people." He grinned sharply.

It hadn't been a spell Xehanort had taught him, and it hadn't been a deck command, either. It had originated simply as a primal way to save himself from his master's torture.

"Anyway." She cleared her throat and let the healing glow fade from her hand. "To improve your Curaga, you will need to understand the basic principles of light magic."

He made a face at that, but she ignored it.

"The first is this: light cannot be forced. It must be allowed to flow naturally, from the heart."

"You make it sound like light has a mind of its own."

"As you said, that is simply how it works. Now, you try. Don't force the spell. Let it come to you."

Ugh. That sounded stupid, but she was the expert here.

He held out a hand, palm up, and shouted, "Curaga!"

The glow began to pool in the center of his hand. He waited. A little more trickled in, giving off faint green mist. But it was so slow! Surely he could push it faster?

"Don't," she read it on his face.

"But I've done it before! I can make it go faster!"

"To a certain extent," she replied. "Think of it like a river. You can splash and push a small bit of water along, but to do so you ignore the greater power of the current. It would flow more smoothly if you weren't in the way at all."

"That doesn't even make sense." Of course the stupid metaphor she came up with would be about water.

"Just try it. You can manipulate the riverbanks and change its direction; you can still make it flow where you wish. The water, the magic itself, knows what to do when it gets there."

"Ugh, fine."

He had been subconsciously pushing on his Curaga spell. He forced himself to let go. To his surprise, its light gained momentum, washing over his arm to his neck. The pain of his awkward sleeping position evaporated.

"Oh."

Aqua smiled smugly. "Told you so."

"Hey, that's my line."

"Van, you can't own a line. Everyone says that."

"If by everyone you mean me, then yeah."

She just rolled her eyes. "It's still a little slow. Let's have you try it on me."

To his annoyance, the spell was still much more difficult to use on another person. Maybe it was just stubborn. Like a certain blue-haired girl he knew.

He growled. "Still not good enough."

"You'll get better with practice." She smiled. "Master Eraqus once had me practice one hundred Curaga spells in one day."

"You're kidding." He snorted. "You'd run out of injuries to heal. There'd be no way to tell if it even worked."

"You'd be surprised how many ways Terra and Ven could accidentally hurt themselves." She laughed, and a little of the old light returned to her eyes. "It was the same day the Master had them clean out the attic. I think I had the better end of that deal."

Even he laughed at the thought of those idiots bumbling around, tripping over old junk and having to go to Aqua like hurt puppies.

"You're not gonna make me do that, right?"

"Well, I doubt I could force you to do anything, but no. Besides, I don't see any attics around here." She laughed again, and it sounded all the better for how long it felt since he'd heard it. "I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to practice as we travel. Let's go."

"Wait, that's it?" he asked. "What about that Esuna thing? And making water?"

"You can't possibly learn that all at once. I'll teach you more tomorrow. You still want to get out of here, right? We should go before any Heartless realize that the giant one is gone."

"Leechgrave. I named it, figured you wouldn't care."

Judging by the unimpressed look on her face, he was right. She was already pulling out her Wayfinder again.

"Wait! You're forgetting the other part of our deal. You still need me to teach you how to use the darkness."

"Later," she said with her back to him, in a voice that really meant never.

"No. Not later. Now."

She spun, and he jumped with the speed of her reaction.

"Would you like to try to make me?"

Was… was that a threat? Her hand looked ready to grasp the hilt of a keyblade.

"Look, Aqua, this is for your own good! Why don't you trust me?"

"Maybe because, I don't know, you might be the one taking my light in the first place."

Had that thought still been bottled up in her this whole time? Her eyes glowed like yellow flames. It brought to mind images of Heartless, or wild animals. Like with the Curaga spell, he wouldn't be able to use force here. He had to rely on calm words and remain steady.

He held up his hands carefully. "That's just the darkness talking. The Aqua I know wouldn't say that."

She bared her teeth, fiercer than ever. Wrong words. Well, he'd never claimed to be good at diplomacy.

"How am I supposed to know! How can I tell what's darkness, and what's me?" Her hands clutched clumps of her hair. "I'm trying, Van! I don't want to be angry; I don't want to feel this way!"

The darkness began to mist from her. How did it come on so quickly? Had he ever been this incompetent at controlling it? Of course, he had never known any different.

She saw the mist and tried vainly to wipe it from her arms.

"Make it stop!"

"I will," he said calmly, despite his pounding heart, and slowly approached. "But you're going to have to trust me."

Her breaths came quickly; one hand reached for her heart.

"Just tell me!"

"Okay, okay. First, stop panicking. You're showing fear; that's just making it worse."

"Easy for you to say. You don't have black mist coming out of you every time you get mad!"

Actually, he did. They were called Unversed. But this probably wasn't a good time to point that out.

"Aqua, stop fighting me on this. You're going to be fine." He had crept close enough to place his hands on her shoulders. The touch made her flinch; her eyes darted from his. "Look at me. Breathe like I do."

He inhaled slowly through his nose. She gasped in through her mouth at first, but managed to exhale in unison. They stood there, just breathing, for what felt like forever.

"Good. Now, you've got to the show the darkness who's boss."

"How—how do I do that?"

"First, get that fear out of your voice. Darkness can't do anything to you unless you let it. Feeding it with fear and anger—that's what gives it power over you. Take a second and breathe some more if you need to."

She nodded.

"I'm—" she cleared her throat, "I'm fine now. I don't need to be afraid. Light will always be able to fight the darkness."

Well, that was a close enough sentiment. The mist barely wisped off of her now.

"Alright. Now might be the hard part. Reach down to your magic and pull the darkness out."

"What—pull it out? You mean use it?" The purple mist danced to her racing heartbeat. "I can't."

"You can, Aqua. Trust me. You don't treat a thorn by pushing it deeper into your skin, do you?"

"Well… no."

"Exactly. So long as you don't use it to destroy, releasing the darkness won't give it strength."

Xehanort had told him that, though in reverse. Using darkness to destroy would increase its power.

"Then… you might want to stand back." Her mouth drew to a line; her eyes hardened in determination. He smiled and backed up to a safe distance. "Here goes… ragh!"

She screamed as the darkness tore from her, a violet pillar that exploded into the void above. How could she possibly have so much? The pillar remained, like the sustained note of her scream, for several seconds. He expected it to fade quickly.

"Uh—Aqua? Aqua!"

"Help! Vanitas—it's crushing me!"

He barely paused a moment to equip a Hi-Potion and his mask, then dashed into the storm of her darkness. He was still dark enough that it barely affected him, which begged the question: if he still had plenty of darkness, where did hers come from?

Though the swirling violet smoke buffeted him and obscured his vision, he could make out the shadowed form of Aqua at its center.

"Hold on! I'm coming!"

Once he was close enough, he fired Aeroga to clear a decent amount of the mist. She still screamed in agony as more poured from her.

"You have to control it, Aqua! Show it how strong you really are! Push it out!"

With so much darkness, flooding through someone who used to be so full of light… was it even possible to control? This situation could be different from any he'd ever seen. For all he knew, darkness wouldn't even work the same here as it had in the Realm of Light.

Had he just asked Aqua to risk her life?

"I… will not… be ruled… by… darkness!"

With one final burst, the dark mist flew out in every direction, then dissolved. Vanitas caught Aqua before she could fall to the ground.

"Aqua! Are you alright?" He shook her.

She coughed up a remnant of the smoke.

"Ugh… Van, that was the stupidest thing I have ever done. And my best friends were two stupid boys."

He grinned, though she wouldn't be able to see it through his mask.

"Did it work, though? Do you feel any better?"

She slowly regained her footing, using him as a crutch.

"I feel like I got stomped on by a Darkside. But my heart…" She placed a hand over it, staring into Vanitas's helmet at the same time. "I don't feel so angry right now. I… think I feel more like myself. But my eyes…"

"They're still gold." He dissolved his mask. "I figured this wouldn't fix them, but I don't know why they changed color in the first place. You shouldn't have enough darkness to turn your eyes gold unless you took much more of mine, and I can tell I still have plenty."

"That's a good point. Plus, if gold eyes are related to darkness, how would your eyes still be gold if you took my light? Wouldn't we have switched, or something?"

"That's what I'm saying! I don't think my light comes from you, and I don't think your darkness comes from me. There's too many things that don't add up."

"I used darkness before, near when we first met. I assumed it was your cloaking spell that caused it." She rested her hand under her chin. "Then I didn't use it again until yesterday. But for a long time, I've felt it there. Stirring inside me. I thought it was just my hatred and fear of this place, but now… it could have been the darkness. Could I develop darkness by hating it?"

"That doesn't sound right, but how should I know?" He shrugged. He tried to ignore the thought that his cloaking spell, or by extension his dark suit, could have had anything to do with it. "I bet it's just the Realm of Darkness infecting you. Like I said before, no being of light has ever survived here."

She shuddered. Guess that wasn't a very comforting thought, either.

"You're probably right." She bit her lip. "So when we get out…"

"…You should go back to normal."

That might be a completely false hope, but at least it was a hope. False or not, she needed it now.

"In the mean time, I have some better ideas for teaching you how to control the darkness. Hope you won't hate me for that." He rubbed the back of his neck before getting another idea. "Oh—if you want, you could try some of your color magic on your eyes. That could work, right?"

"Van, I don't hate you." She flushed. Funny that that would be the first thing she picked up on. "I'm sorry I implied that. This has all been… well, it's been hard. I don't know how you have managed to develop any light down here, of all places."

"Well, it's not like I could get any darker." He smiled. "And I did have a pretty good example."

A grin edged its way onto her face, replacing some of her earlier gloom.

"Watch out, Van. That almost sounded like a compliment."

"So what if it was?" He smirked.

Some of the tension left his chest. Maybe Aqua hadn't completely forgiven him, but at least she didn't hate him. At one point that would have been more than he could imagine.

Aqua chuckled, then touched the skin beneath one of her eyes.

"As for the other idea… do you think it would work? Changing my eyes back, I mean?"

He shrugged. "You're the magic expert, not me. Long as there's no chance of you blinding yourself, I would say to go for it."

She smiled hopefully at that. "Alright. I'll give it a try."

"Wait," he interrupted, and she sighed.

"Really? What is it this time?"

He suddenly felt embarrassed to ask, but his curiosity won out. "If you changed your hair blue, what color was it first? I asked before, but you didn't answer."

"Oh." She blushed, turning away slightly. Did her hair look that bad before she fixed it? Maybe where she was from, everyone's hair was a ridiculously boring brown. He'd probably be embarrassed if his hair was brown, too. "Right now, that's not really something I want to think about."

"Why not?" he asked.

She glared, but it was a little soft. How to explain it? It was like being shot with a regular Blizzard spell rather than Blizzaga.

"You don't want to know."

"You can't just say that!" he protested. "Now I'm just going to keep thinking about it! And we've got a long walk ahead."

"So you're just going to keep nagging me until I tell you," she deadpanned. "Don't you think I've gone through enough for one day?"

"It's just hair. If it was stupid, then I'll just laugh for a while and then you can be mad at me. Deal?"

She rolled her still-yellow eyes.

"Fine. Maybe then you'll understand why I was so worried about you stealing my light."

Stealing her light? What did that have to do with her hair? Before he could ask, a shimmering rainbow glow surrounded her head. When it disappeared, he gasped.

Her hair was jet black.

"Now that's uncanny," he muttered, staring into her face. If he were a few years older, and a girl… They could almost be the same person. At the very least, they looked like close relatives. The image was only emphasized by their similar suits, though hers was navy and magenta, his black and red.

"I know it shouldn't matter. I haven't even kept my hair black since I became an apprentice," she whispered. "But now it feels like a reminder. We're not so different, Van. Sometimes… that scares me."

It was basically an insult, but he understood. He had been terrified to become like Aqua. If he chose to embrace the light, he had so much to live up to. Her fear was probably for much different reasons than that, but he could hardly blame her.

"I hope we're not too different," he whispered back. "We can both have darkness, and light."

Hesitantly, she nodded.

"Light… and darkness."

The surreal image of her faded. After an iridescent shimmer, blue eyes and hair again took their proper places.

"How do I look?"

He summoned his mask, but took it off for her to use as a mirror. She held it close, smiling with relief.

"Thank you, Van. Even if… it isn't real."

"I think that's the most real you'll ever be." He put his helmet back on, but dissolved the mask again.

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Because it shows who you want to be."

She considered that for a moment, then nodded. He thought that was pretty dang wise, himself. Maybe he should write a book.

He worried about her having the strength to power the Wayfinder after her dark episode, but the beam of light shot from it with no problems. Well, if you didn't could the darkness lurking at its core as a problem.

"Strangle it," he said suddenly.

"What?"

He nodded towards the Wayfinder's guiding ray. "There's darkness there. I don't know how it can exist so close to the light, but you have to keep a firm grip on it. I should have explained it better earlier, but it's hard to put in words. I guess it's like the opposite of what you said about using Curaga. You have to force the darkness to do what you want. Strangle it."

"I-I'll try." She swallowed.

"You will. You're the best magic user I've ever met. Give yourself some credit."

She blushed a little at the compliment, but nodded and focused on the path ahead.

Preparations finally finished, they summoned their keyblades and followed the light into the forest.