True to Aqua's word, plenty of opportunities arose for Vanitas to practice his magic. Neoshadows skulked through the leafless forest, appearing from their pools to try to absorb the Wayfinder's guiding ray of light. Thankfully, when they actually touched it, the beam seared them and sent them recoiling away for a while before they were dumb enough to try again.

The real danger was when the monsters grew smart enough to lunge for the Wayfinder itself. Vanitas and Aqua kept to a steady jog, with her and her charm leading the way, and him diving back and forth through the ground to cover her flanks. Tornado became his staple in a pinch; he had to blow the Heartless away on several occasions when too many attacked at once. He tried to keep ahead of them though, sniping them from a distance with Blizzaga and Thundaga. Aqua giving pointers the whole time, as if they were in a classroom instead of running through the forests of hell.

He wasn't complaining, though. Delivering the constant barrage of instructions gave her something to focus on rather than despair or anger. She couldn't use too much magic herself, not while feeding the Wayfinder, but she could still deal serious damage with her keyblade when the Heartless slipped through his defenses.

At first, the constant battle to move onward was invigorating. Vanitas appreciated the punching bags delivering themselves to him. It kept him from getting too stuck in his head. After what felt like hours with no breaks, however, his body started to drag. Even the near constant flow of HP orbs couldn't keep him going forever.

"Aqua," he said, finally giving in to the exhaustion as he blasted the millionth Neoshadow that leapt at his face. At this point, millionth didn't feel like an exaggeration.

"What? Is Thundaga giving you trouble? I find that one works best if you angle your keyblade slightly upward, like a lightning rod." She blocked a swipe from another Neoshadow, keeping her free hand firm on the charm hanging at her hip.

"What?" He barely heard her over the sounds of his shotlock taking out a row of Heartless to his right. Even using the beam of darkness, his most natural element, used too much of his magic. "No, forget the lesson. I just need a break."

"Oh." The Wayfinder's beam winked out. "I had hoped you would say that soon."

"Why, 'cause you were too proud to admit it first?"

They stood back to back now, keyblades bared. With the guiding light gone, the Neoshadows' eyes circled them like demonic lightning bugs.

"No," she replied. Her keyblade shot a wall of ice at the Heartless, breaking their perimeter. "It wasn't pride. I just didn't want to listen to your bragging if you outlasted me."

"Fair enough." He swung his blade, letting out bursts of Aeroga in an arc. "I can still brag a little, though. I did do most of the fighting."

"Only because it takes most of my energy to power the Wayfinder," she defended, both verbally and physically—one of the Neoshadows had leapt over her wall to duel her head-on.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

He chugged a Hi-Potion, as much for the energy as the health. The Heartless saw it as a moment of weakness, though, and a group of three lunged at once. They caught his leg as he dropped the bottle and tried to cartwheel away. Wincing, he kicked one in the face. His foot seemed to sink in a ways, like the Neoshadow's skin was made of mist, before connecting with something solid. Not as effective as a keyblade strike, but enough to stun it for a moment. He righted himself and transitioned into a combo comprised mostly of stabs.

Eventually, with the Wayfinder no longer illuminated, the Heartless decided to make the smart decision and preserve their worthless existences. They fled into the depths of the forest.

Vanitas sighed, plopping to the ground. "Finally. Those things are stubborn."

Aqua sat down beside him, breaking out their makeshift pack of food that she had tied to her belt under her skirt. It wasn't much, just some Crystal Sugar, the one remaining Crystal Soda, and a squished Wedding Cake. Still, having any food at all was something to be grateful for.

"If it's like this every day…" She shook her head. "I don't know how we can possibly make it."

"What are you talking about? We're the butt-kickingest team in the whole worlds. The Heartless don't stand a chance." His voice was full of bravado, but he felt the exhaustion pulling at him, as if the Void itself were trying to suck him in. He hoped it didn't show on his maskless face.

"Good as we are at… 'kicking butt,' the Heartless are infinite. There are only two of us." She poured half of the Crystal Soda into the Hi-Potion bottle he'd dropped and handed it to him. "I'm not trying to be a pessimist, Van, and I don't think this is the darkness speaking. I just don't know how we can do it."

Ugh. It was getting annoying having to play the optimist. He was the one who'd actually fought most of the Heartless, anyway.

"Where's your spiel about the light always beating the darkness?" he huffed and took a swig of soda.

She gazed forlornly into the forest.

"I… I still want to believe that. Does that make me naïve?"

The truth was, it did. Clearly the darkness had won in several ways so far. Against Terra, for one; trapping them here, for another.

"Probably."

She sighed, not touching her soda.

"It just seems so inevitable. That no matter how hard we fight, this realm will fight harder. We're nothing to it."

"Yep. Might as well give up now." He flopped back, hands laced behind his head.

"We might as well—what?" She scrunched her eyebrows at him.

"Hey, you said it, not me. You're ready to let the darkness roll right over you." He waved his arm in a dismissing motion. "What do you want for your last meal? Some of my Prize Pods drop Apple Pie. Or would you rather have something savory? Most of what I can make is sweet, but maybe with some Toonbasco or Bizzaro Beans…"

"Oh, come on!" She put her fists on her hips. "You really think I'd give up without a fight?"

"That's what you said, isn't it?" He rolled onto his side, propping himself up on one elbow. "There's no point. It's inevitable."

Her face colored. "I can't help that the thought comes to me. That doesn't mean I would give up."

"Then don't sound like you would. That just shows the darkness you're weak. You gotta be stubborn with it, like I said."

"But… you also said I can't just resist it be leaving it alone. I was plenty stubborn about not using it before, and it didn't seem to help."

He shook his head. "That's not what I meant. If you accept that the darkness is there and that it's dangerous, but you don't let it intimidate you—if you tell it you're gonna do what you want, and it can go to the Void for all you care—then you'll have power over it. It's all about your mind, Aqua. You can want to resist it all you want, but it will only work when you're not afraid."

"I… think you lost me again."

He sighed in exasperation. Everything about darkness was instinctive to him; all this explaining was giving him a headache. He took another gulp of soda. The sugar helped him think better.

"This time better make sense, okay? Say the darkness is like a Heartless."

"Heartless are darkness," she pointed out.

"I know, but it's also a metaphor. Shut up and let me explain." He summoned a tiny dark flame for emphasis, and she flinched away from it. "You're fighting a Heartless. What happens if you ignore it?"

"It sneaks up on you, and then it attacks."

Good. Combat analogies were something they both understood.

"Exactly. And if you're afraid of it, what happens?"

"You panic. You don't fight as well as if you were focused," she replied, seeming to understand the implications.

"Two for two. Finally, we're getting somewhere. Now, here's the tricky part. How do you fight the Heartless?"

"Well… you would face it head-on. You wouldn't ignore it until it was too late, and you wouldn't hide from it in fear. You would believe you could win, and you would."

He smiled. "Just like you did with that giant keyblade-eating Heartless. You already know what to do."

"I… I do, don't I?" She grinned.

"Only took you three tries," he replied, voice light. "Now, shut up and eat your cake."

XXX

Vanitas kept second watch that night. Aqua looked rather proud when she woke him for his shift. Maybe she had succeeded in fending off a nasty batch of Heartless by herself. She certainly fell asleep quickly enough.

The forest was clear for now, which left him with time to think. He had dodged Aqua's question before, instead choosing to teach her how to fight her darkness, but now it tugged on him.

It was all well and good to believe they could survive the Realm of Darkness, but how were they actually going to do it? She was right, in a way. He doubted they could keep going at this rate for long. Distance was difficult to measure when weaving through the lifeless trees, but he was sure that today's pace had been the slowest so far.

Today. Day twenty, Aqua had told him, since her profession of friendship in the tunnels. Had it only been that long? Sometimes it felt as if they'd been fighting the darkness together for a lifetime. It was easy to see how she could feel hopeless. How many times had they almost died, or at least almost lost their minds, in the last twenty days? How could they last even twenty more?

Neoshadows lurked beneath the trees; Vanitas shot off a few chunks of Blizzaga at them, and the ones that weren't destroyed turned and fled. Aqua stirred, but slept through the noise.

Back to thinking. He twirled his keyblade absently, chain swinging through the air. For the first time in a while, its aquamarine eyes seemed to watch him. Maybe it was his mind's way of personifying the darkness.

No point thinking like that, though. He needed to be able to trust his blade, without any stupid superstitions getting in the way. so he just stared right back into those lifeless eyes. Show no fear.

He caught his reflection in the bright blue iris and grimaced. Having a staring contest with an inanimate object? That was stupid.

Maybe facing things head-on wasn't always the answer. There had to be a smarter way of getting through the Realm of Darkness than fighting every single Heartless along the way.

What if, instead of fighting the darkness… he fought like the darkness?

Darkness didn't start a fight head-on. It snuck in under a cloaked of shadow, in stealth or ambush. Vanitas himself didn't always do that—dramatic entrances were too fun. Regardless, if he were thinking like the darkness, he would dive underground like the Neoshadows and travel that way, only resurfacing to breathe. Of course, he couldn't tow Aqua along like that.

More Neoshadow eyes interrupted his thoughts. He went with Firaga spells to eliminate them this time, just to mix things up. They were so stupid; hadn't they realized by now that he would just—?

The sound of a Neoshadow emerging from its pool. Behind him.

He cursed as it lunged at him, swiping its claws through his chest. There was no blood, not even a tear—dark suits couldn't be damaged by the element they were made from—but it still hurt like it had struck bone. He bit down a cry at the icy pain, then sprung into action.

The single Neoshadow didn't stand a chance. However, his pain seemed to attract more. Yellow eyes slunk down into shadow-pools and surrounded him.

"Forget this," he hissed.

A gang of Scrappers leapt from him, charging the Heartless. Maybe not the strongest Unversed he could've summoned, but the choice hadn't been conscious.

Together with his Unversed, Vanitas finished off the intruders and absorbed some needed HP orbs. Reluctantly, he then destroyed his Unversed too. The Hi-Potions and Panaceas they dropped would be useful.

He sat back down with a sigh. What had he been thinking about? How to avoid the Heartless, right. Think like the darkness.

His fight with the Neoshadows gave him an idea: what if he used a decoy? He could send an Inversed ahead, like the Heartless that had distracted him, allowing the last one to sneak up behind. But the Wayfinder's beam was so bright. Could an Inversed's light provide a tempting enough bait?

Probably not. He drummed his fingers on his knee, refusing to give up until he had a plan.

Were there other ways he could make use of his Inversed? He still hadn't had many opportunities to practice with them yet. He had been so focused on practicing magic today, he had completely ignored them.

An idea came to him. A crazy, potentially dangerous idea. But it could work.

All he needed was an insane amount of positivity.

XXX

The next morning, Aqua tested Vanitas's skill in using Curaga. After deeming his improvement acceptable, and with the promise that he'd keep practicing (as if he could not use Curaga), she decided to teach him Esuna. Since they could only test if it worked when one of them was afflicted by poison or another status ailment, he only learned it in theory, but it didn't seem too hard. At least he had the command in his deck now.

Aqua reluctantly let him teach her more about darkness. Since the approach from the previous day had basically been a disaster, he only had her 'look' at the darkness this time. It was similar to what he did when he searched for the proper emotions to create Unversed. They felt at the darkness inside them, just keeping an eye on it, letting it know they were paying attention. She said that it seemed to help, but she was probably just relieved she didn't have to use it this time.

Only after all of that, while feasting on their breakfast of leftover Wedding Cake, did Vanitas make his announcement.

"I have a plan." He grinned, mouth full of cake.

She raised her eyebrows.

"Why do I get the feeling I won't like this?"

"Hey, you don't even know what the plan is yet!"

"Alright then, enlighten me."

"Can't." He swallowed a handful of the spongey white dessert. "It's a surprise."

She sighed. "Then why did you bother telling me?"

He bounced to his feet, a new spring already in his step.

"Because I need your help. I need all the positivity I can get right now."

"All the… positivity? Are you creating an Inversed?"

"Maybe." He smiled mischievously.

Of course he was; what else was positivity good for? Besides not feeling like a depressed pile of dirt, he guessed. That was pretty nice too.

"You already seem pretty positive to me." She remained sitting, brushing crumbs off of her lap. "What do you expect me to do?"

Now, this was the hard part. He didn't just need any kind of positivity.

"I need you to help me feel like giving people stuff. The opposite of being jealous."

"You mean you need to feel generous?" she asked.

"Yeah, sure. How do I do that?" Considering the only things he'd ever been generous in giving out were keyblades to the face, he didn't have much experience.

"Hmm. That's awfully specific," she mused. "To be generous, you need people to give something to."

"I know that. I've got you." Duh.

For some reason, she looked surprised by that.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Van, I don't think you need to actually give me anything," she protested.

"Of course I do! Come on, Aqua, you've got to want something."

She sighed. "I want to get out of here. Other than that, I really don't know."

He crossed his arms, bottom lip poking out a little.

"Oh, fine, Van. Surprise me."

Surprise her? But what if he gave her something she didn't want? Then he wouldn't be generous, would he? If that counted, then it would be generous to throw trash on your neighbor's porch.

He had spent all night thinking about what he could give her, but he still wasn't sure. Commands were too ordinary; she had plenty of those. He had discarded that idea from the start. They had already eaten ice cream and s'mores together; he didn't want to regift an old idea.

Well, food was always the most solid option. It would have to do.

He summoned a Red Hot Chili—for once, the negativity took effort to reach. Aqua hopped back at the sudden apparition, but had already snagged it from the air and tossed off its lid. Much like its cousin, the Blue Sea Salt, it held the first ingredients of a recipe.

Aqua just stared, wide-eyed, as he dug out some ingredients he'd stuffed in his belt. Probably not that sanitary, but she'd said fire killed germs, anyway. He dropped a few Prickle Peppers, Bizzaro Beans, and Jumbo Almonds into the red-colored sauce. Then, for some contrast of flavors, he added a Dancin' Lemon. It bounced around, sparking happily and nearly making his Unversed jump out of his hands.

Replacing the cap, Vanitas shook the Red Hot Chili like a giant maraca. It heated in his hands as he did.

"Here, you want to try?"

"…I think I'll let you handle it this time."

He shrugged. He'd offered; that was probably generous enough. When he was satisfied with his shaking, he knelt by Aqua and pinned the Unversed to the ground with a weak Bind spell.

"Ta-da!"

Aqua blinked at his concoction. The red sauce had turned orange and a little lumpy; that was probably just the beans. There were also little sparks of electricity bouncing around in it. He was sure that would be perfectly safe, though. Everything his Prize Pods spit out was edible, right?

"You're going to eat it, right?" He asked eventually. "Trust me, it's good."

Not that he knew from actual experience—he hadn't been able to create many Prize Pods without risking waking Aqua, so he hadn't wasted any ingredients on a test batch. But he figured their ice cream and s'mores had both been fantastic successes, so this was bound to be good. All chili was was throwing a bunch of stuff in a pot anyway.

"…Of course, Van." She gave him a weak smile, then swiped a finger through the goopy liquid. After eyeing it warily, she stuck it in her mouth.

Her face looked… well, shocked.

"It's certainly, um, exciting," she remarked after swallowing.

"If 'exciting' is another word for awesome." He grinned and shoved a handful in his mouth.

His taste buds exploded in a blast of fire and lightning. His vision swam momentarily; his tongue went numb. He barely had enough control of his face to yelp and spit the concoction out.

"Ah! Awwah! Wawah!" He pointed desperately to his face.

Barely holding in a laugh, Aqua interpreted his gibberish and sprayed water into his open mouth. The flames finally cooled, and he exhaled in relief. After swallowing the water, of course.

Aqua sprayed her own mouth, swishing it around before swallowing.

"'Awesome,' huh?"

"…It's a work in progress," he relented. He hoped the heat in his face was just from the awful chili, and not his blush. "This stinks. How am I supposed to be generous now?"

"Well, generosity doesn't necessarily mean you have to give something physical," she explained while stretching her legs out in front of her. "In fact, I think the most generous people give something more than that."

"What do you mean? What do they give?" He asked with a frown.

"They give of themselves. Their memories, their time, their hearts."

Had he done that? He had given his friendship to Aqua, and certainly his time. But he felt down to his emotions, and knew there wasn't enough generosity there yet. So what else could he give?

"Memories," he muttered. "Why would you want those?"

"To better know who you are," she said with a smile. "That's something friends usually share. We're all made up of memories. They're part of what connects us."

He grimaced. "My memories… you really don't want me to share those."

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I'm trying to build up some positivity here. No matter what you want me to share from my life before, it's not going to be pretty."

He wrapped his arms around himself. Those days with Xehanort, being beaten and spreading Unversed… they felt so far away now. He wanted them to stay that way.

"Oh. I understand, Van. I'm sorry." Tentatively, as if afraid he would bite her, she placed an arm around him.

He flinched for a moment, not sure what she was doing, but it felt… comforting. Safe. He decided not to shake her off.

"All my best memories are from this place. How pathetic is that?" He shook his head. "But we can't stay here. Not when it's killing you."

"Van… I would say that's what makes you generous." She looked into his eyes. Hers were the right color again, a deep blue. Sometimes when she turned her head, he still imagined them glinting gold. "You could have survived here. You've even listed the benefits of staying. There's really nothing left for you in the Realm of Light, is there?"

Slowly, he shook his head. Once he returned, once he set foot in the light… he would have no purpose again. While his light might be growing, it would be negligible there. He would go back to being little more than a shadow.

"Yet you've still done all of this for me. You've protected me, with no benefit to yourself. Against your very nature, you've helped me resist the darkness."

"That doesn't count. I've gotten something out of all that," he countered.

"What's that?"

He smiled a little.

"I got you as a friend."

It was so sappy, he could've thrown up. But it was also true.

Aqua smiled back. "And I got you. So it does count."

His heart warmed. If it did count… if he really had given enough of himself… No, it was more that that. It wasn't just that he had given in the past, but that he was willing to keep giving. That was what he was doing now, by trying to create this Inversed.

He reached down to his emotions again, and this time felt a well of positivity there that might just be big enough.

"You might want to stand back," he told her.

She gave him a last pat on the back before standing and finding a secure place behind a tree.

Light began to spill from his hands. He pictured himself giving it up, allowing it to flow, like Aqua had taught him. If it worked for Cure spells, maybe that would help with the Inversed too. He did seem to breathe easier throughout the process.

The most important part would be to keep any jealousy out of his creation. Just a few drops, and it might corrupt it into an Unversed that wouldn't be safe near Aqua.

As the light began to coalesce into a giant sphere, he exhaled. Exhaled his envy of Ventus, for the life of comfort he had lived. His envy of Aqua, for her strength that always surpassed his. His envy of who he had once been, for being allowed to think only of himself.

These feelings might not entirely go away, but they could at least be roped off, pushed aside. He replaced them with a desire to give something. To do something that would really matter.

The orb of light grew, pulsing outward, until it was taller than him. Four bright tendrils spiraled from its base, taking the shape of wheels.

"Oh, no," Aqua groaned. "I know this Unversed."

"Inversed," he corrected, hands dropping to his sides as the creature finished forming.

The Cursed Coach had been a clear choice for traveling the Realm of Darkness in style. He might have to call it the Blessed Coach now, though that name sounded a little clunky.

The original Unversed had been inspired by someone else's jealousy, so now that he was using only his own emotion, it was easy to create a few specific modifications. Instead of a barred mouth and crying eyes, the carriage's side had one long window running across it. The Inversed's real eyes, now a soft blue, stayed on the top of the pumpkin-like stem.

The Blessed Coach bounced happily, whirling in front of him as if to ask how it could be of service.

Aqua crept out from behind her tree, keyblade bared defensively.

"I am not getting in that thing."

Heartless eyes appeared in the distance, attracted by the Inversed's light.

"Bet you will." He smirked, grabbing one of the carriage's vinelike arms. It tossed him in through the window. Fortunately, the Inversed had conformed to his mental image, and there were squishy seats inside.

"Vanitas!" She called, then whirled around as the Neoshadows approached. The Blessed Coach tried to scoop her to safety with its vines, but she swatted them away.

He reached his head and arm out the window. "You coming or not?"

She growled. "This is—this is insane."

"Yeah, yeah, what else is new?"

With a glare etched into her face, she reached for his hand. He had to use both to pull her up, nearly falling out of the carriage himself. Finally, as the Neoshadows closed in, the Inversed lurched into motion, rolling over and crushing the unfortunate Heartless as it barreled through the forest.

"See ya, suckers," he laughed with his head out the window. Aqua moaned from her seat, clutching her stomach.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she muttered.

He took the opportunity to try an Esuna spell on her. She blinked at the tiny diamonds of light surrounding her—not a strong spell, but it would do for carriage-sickness.

"Thanks," she said. "But I still don't like this."

He just kept grinning out the window, watching the forest fly by.

"Complain all you want, but get that Wayfinder of yours powered up. We're finally getting out of here."