The Dark Wind struck again, as promised. First in the whirlwind, then in its nightmarish "true form." This time, its tactics changed: rather than separating to fight his Inversed in groups, it remained a tight cluster of heads and bodies, eyes blinking across its skin, wings and claws stretching out to destroy.

In one body, it could force its way through his Inversed army more effectively, pressing ever closer to his rock sanctuary. He had to order his creations to go on the offensive and tear chunks out of the giant Heartless, which seemed to slow it down.

A few Archravens he set to a different task—collecting items his dead Inversed dropped. He would need every advantage he could get. A hi-potion or ether could be the difference between having the strength to hold in Unversed of pain, and not.

Holding in the pain was an easy task compared to bridling his anger. This force of evil was the reason he no longer had Aqua. For that, it would pay.

Determination, he told himself. Determination. Not anger. He wished he could free his Unversed, send two armies to attack the Dark Horde. But it would be useless, and more than that, horribly dangerous.

Stay strong. Don't give in to the darkness. Aqua wouldn't want that.

So he fought. And he fought. Most of his strength went to creating Inversed. He wished he could just ram a keyblade right through the Dark Horde, but that was risky beyond reason.

He could afford to cast spells from a distance, though. Thunder, Blizzard, Fire. Most of his magic he saved for Curaga.

After what felt like an eternity of fighting, his Inversed weakened the Dark Hide enough that it chose to retreat again.

"One more day. Then you are ourssssss."

Two days. He had lasted two days. Today his Inversed army had started at about eighty percent the size it had been the day before. How much weaker would it be tomorrow? When he went another night without rest? When the loss of Aqua sunk even deeper into his heart?

He clenched his hand around his Wayfinder.

Stay… strong…

XXX

The third day.

Vanitas waited, and waited, never taking his eyes from the rocks in the distance. When would it arrive? He almost wished the monster would just come for him now and get it over with. Waiting was playing tricks on him; he felt he could see mist rising from every shadow.

Eventually his wish was granted. The Dark Wind came storming over the land at a furious speed. He barely had time to concentrate, to pull his positivity from the deep corners of his heart that it had sunk to.

Not so many Inversed this time. That wasn't good. But the Dark Wind was taking a different strategy again—it swirled above him, dropping bolts of lighting like spears all around. The crackled with electricity; the sand fused to black glass in patches that made the land look leprous.

His smaller contingent of Inversed came to his aid, forming a protective barrier above and around him, like he was at the center of a pastel dome. Even a few Prize Pods, which couldn't attack, hovered overhead to take a blast for him.

"Thank you," he whispered.

He wasn't sure why he bothered. It was like thanking himself, really. But in the past two days, he had come to feel more and more that the Inversed had some degree of life in themselves. That was probably just another symptom of madness from this extended war.

He stuck his keyblade through a gap in his Inversed, shooting Aeroga and Tornado as often as he could. This wind belonged to him, not this demon.

The fight dragged on. His Inversed were swept up into the storm; he withdrew them and created new ones. It was an endless cycle of pain and hope. Desperate, desperate hope.

He didn't know how to hurt the Wind, only how to keep it at bay. Parts of it seemed to disappear when they came into contact with his Inversed, though, as if it had to sacrifice itself to destroy them. Light and darkness, cancelling each other out. It was the only headway he made, the only theory that kept his hope alive.

"Tell usssss, Vanitasssss. How doesss it feel to play a game that you know you will lose?"

"Feels great," he snapped back sarcastically. "Most fun I've had in forever."

The Wind chuckled, sending out tendrils to pry past his Inversed. "Enjoy it while you can, then. Every bit of fun you have issss one more thing for usss to desssstroy."

Little did the Dark Wind know, it had just given him an idea. Fun was a positive emotion. Now, how to make this fight more fun?

No, he didn't even have to do that—he just had to feel that this fight was more fun. It was all in his head and heart.

Just think of it like a contest. Like the race with Aqua. You love a good challenge.

Well, this was his greatest challenge yet. What could be more fun than that?

He gulped a potion and tossed the bottle aside, where it shattered against a glassy spot of ground.

"Bring it on, freak."

The Wind did. It threw its whole amorphous self against his Inversed barrier, forcing smoke in through the cracks. But he was ready for it. More Inversed leapt from him, small Glidewinders with happy eyes. They rushed to plug the leaks, moving at a speed unrivaled by any of his other creations. Meanwhile, he ran for one gap himself, the only one left. The one the Dark Wind would try to squeeze through to smother him.

But that wouldn't happen. Not today.

Vanitas bared his keyblade at the gap, then released the strongest Tornado he could summon. It ripped through a couple Blobmobs and Jellyshades on its way through, but it got the job done: the Dark Wind went flying back with it, caught in the whirlwind.

He smirked. "Maybe this actually is fun."

It must have done more damage than he'd realized, too, because the Dark Wind didn't come back. Not yet, anyway. He still felt he could hear its hiss, though.

"Yesss, enjoy yoursssself now. It meansssss nothing to usssss."

He slumped to the ground, recalling most of his Inversed. The sky was clear overhead. No mist waited for him.

"Looks like we're gonna live another day." He grinned, looking around to share his victory Aqua. Then it hit him again.

She's gone, idiot. No matter how hard you fight, she's never coming back. You don't want her to come back.

His fist clenched around his Wayfinder. I'm never going to be able to tell her how much she meant to me... how much she still means…

He didn't need to tell her. He'd saved her life. That said more than words. He held his Wayfinder to his chest, feeling just a tiny bit closer to her for it, and said the words she'd never be able to hear.

"I love you, Aqua." He shuddered, feeling cold despite the White Hot Chilis hovering around him. "I miss you…"

XXX

Hi-potions weren't as good as sleep. Not in the long run. By day four, he was exhausted. Delirious.

"I'm coming, Van! Hold on!"

Aqua's voice called to him, a figment of his mind or a trick of the Dark Horde, he couldn't tell. Its infinite mouths didn't move with the words, but that could mean anything.

"She issssn't coming back. She abandoned you to your fate." The mouths did say that. As if they could hear the voice too, or could read his thoughts. Tugging him in two directions, giving him hope, ripping it away.

That was one hope he didn't use to fuel his Inversed, because it was a hope he shouldn't have. She couldn't come back to him. She'd better not.

Apparently desperation could be positive, at least when it came to his desperation to live, because that was the base for most of his Inversed now. They were weakening, barely keeping the Dark Horde from steamrolling over him. He had to back up to the ocean to keep from being surrounded; the Heartless seemed hesitant to step into the water.

"Van! I won't leave you!"

He gritted his teeth against the imaginary voice. Tried to shake it out of his head, but another voice took its place.

"Even if she were here, why would she save you, Vanitasssss? You belong here, with usssss."

Lies. He didn't belong here. Did he? By this point, he was a creature of pain. His Inversed fell around him, eaten by the mismatched jaws of the Horde. Darkness would be easier, darkness never would have drawn the attention of this monster…

"Stay strong!" Aqua's voice called again. The Dark Horde laughed, echoing over the crashing of waves.

"She will never care for you. Not the way you care for her."

"Van, you have to keep fighting! Don't give up!"

"She is of light. You would only have been her shadow."

"You're stronger! I know you are!"

"Lissssten to yourssself. Your own mind betrayssss you. It will not be long now."

"SHUT UP !" Vanitas finally yelled, sweeping out an arm.

Floods sprang from his hand—blue Floods. Unversed Floods.

They bolted towards the battlefield. The Inversed that had been fighting the Dark Horde froze. The giant Heartless beast lunged forward, running on a mass of broken-looking legs, trampling the creatures of light in its path.

Vanitas collapsed to his knees in the shallow waves, lacking the strength to cast Curaga. He'd run out of Potions hours ago. He hadn't been able to spare the Inversed to collect them.

It was over.

Pain ripped through him—the deaths of his Inversed. A taste of the death he was about to face. He held his Wayfinder one last time, and then he closed his eyes.

Warmth. That wasn't what dying was supposed to feel like, was it? Maybe compared to the Realm of Darkness, even death would feel pleasant.

No. He could hear the Dark Horde's laugh a few yards away. So what…?

The Wayfinder was glowing. What magic had Aqua programmed it with this time? Did it know he was about to die? And if so, why in the Void hadn't it done anything sooner?

A beam of light shot towards it, nearly stabbing straight through him. He was forced to drop the charm and roll out of the way, splashing water on his mask as he did so.

"What the—?" Then he saw the portal of light.

So did the Dark Horde. Vanitas momentarily forgotten, it began to dissolve back into its Wind form. In the meantime, he watched what came through the portal with utter disbelief.

A keyblade glider soared out of the light, carrying an armored figure, a silver-haired man, and… a giant mouse?

Forget the mouse—he would recognize that cobalt armor anywhere. He wasn't sure whether or laugh or curse. It didn't really matter, because he didn't have the strength to do either.

"The girl… she hasssss returned?" The Dark Wind didn't have a face, but if it did, Vanitas figured its jaw would've dropped.

"Heck yeah she has." He couldn't stop himself from smiling, even though he also wanted to punch her. She had been safe, dang it! She didn't need to come swooping in to get her butt kicked along with him!

He loved her for it anyway.

The glider hovered beside him, and the armored figure extended a hand. He took it without hesitation.

"No! He issss OURS!" The Dark Wind screamed, shooting out tendrils towards them.

"You're wrong!" Aqua yelled through her helmet. "He is mine!"

His heart leaped at her words. Unfortunately, that didn't stop the misty tendrils from sweeping her and her companions off of the glider. The other two rolled across the sandy ground, but he kept hold of her hand, so she stumbled rather than fell.

"Aqua," he breathed, dismissing his mask. Stupid move, with the Dark Wind still trying to kill them. For the moment, though, he didn't care; he wanted to see and smell her without the layer of glass in the way. "You idiot. Why did you come back?"

She took off her helmet, revealing confusion that hardened to a scowl. "What do you mean, why did I come back? I came back to save you, of course! You should be thanking—!"

Her voice cut off as he threw his arms around her. It didn't feel quite the same with her in armor, but her scent had been restored to the pure freshness of clean laundry. That was how he knew she was real, and not a figment of his delirium.

His body shook with suppressed sobs, but he managed to say, "Thank you, Aqua. Thank you. I—"

"Hey, I hate to cut this short, but…" The silver-haired guy called out from across the beach, where he'd stood and summoned his own keyblade. It looked like a bat wing with a feathered wing sticking out of it, a shape he didn't recognize. Who was this guy? Why was he with Aqua?

"Right," she said, barely throwing up a barrier in time to stop more daggers of mist. "Van you need healing?"

Vanitas raised an eyebrow, as if to say, I've been fighting the demons of hell while you've been picking up strays in the Realm of Light. What do you think?

She smiled and cast Curaga over him twice. It felt way better than when he cast it himself.

"Alright, on three, make a break for the glider," she instructed, pointing to where it had crash landed in the sand. Right in the middle of the Dark Wind. He could only make out the silhouette because of a blue light that glowed at its front. Had she attached her Wayfinder to it?

Aqua put on her helmet; he reformed his mask.

"One—two—three!"

The barrier dissolved. Mist came pouring in. They half-ran, half-teleported to the fallen glider. Despite the mask keeping out the smoke, he still felt like coughing.

"YOU HAVE MADE A FATAL MISSSSTAKE. NOW YOU WILL BOTH BE OURSSS."

The voice thundered around them, shaking his bones. Then a gale force wind swept Aqua away from him, bashing her against the side of a rock.

"Aqua!"

She groaned, but made it to her feet. That armor was good for something.

"Go!" she called, coughing. "Get the glider!"

He was closer. He could hardly see anything, even with the trail of light connecting his and Aqua's Wayfinders.

His Wayfinder. He had to get it! But he couldn't, not now. First he had to focus on surviving.

The glider's pieces had fallen apart. He tugged one metal piece free of the sand, but had no idea what to with it.

Forget this. He tossed it aside and summoned Void Gear, then called up a Tornado. It cleared him enough space to see.

As it had before, the Dark Wind was now focusing on the portal, surrounding it in purple lightning. The mouse—he did know that mouse, it was the stupid one who'd helped Aqua kill him—and the man were casting Aeroga and Stopga, trying to sweep the mist away. In spite of their efforts, the portal was slowly closing. They wouldn't have much time.

Vanitas dug into his emotions and got to work. This time, he didn't have to reach far. All he had to do was look towards Aqua, who was now trying to piece the glider back together herself, and the strength he needed sprung forth. He channeled it carefully this time, not letting the feelings pick their own form. He needed something particular.

The light bloomed from his outstretched hands, and grew into a giant, light yellow Archraven.

"Forget the glider!" he called to Aqua, climbing onto the Inversed's back. Though it looked like a bird, its skin was soft and smooth rather than feathered. "Get on!"

Glancing over her shoulder, she finally scooped up her Wayfinder, threw its cord over her neck, and let the glider dissolve into a shower of sparks. It reappeared as a keyblade in her hand. Why hadn't she just done that in the first place?

She ran and leapt onto the Archraven, clinging to the edge of its wing with her free hand. "Don't forget Riku and Mickey!"

Riku and Mickey. Must be the other idiots. Idiots because they decided to go on a suicide mission to the Realm of Darkness, to save someone they'd never even met. Or, in one of their cases, had helped kill. They must have really cared about Aqua.

Hopefully not too much, he thought, narrowing his eyes at the silver-hared one as he jumped on. He was taller than Vanitas, and wore a pitch black coat. Mickey looked more nervous as he accepted Riku's help onto the Inversed's back.

"Don't worry," Aqua told him. "It's made of light."

"I suppose we've got bigger things to worry about anyways, don't we?" he asked in a rather annoying high-pitched voice, pointing to the portal. All of the mist had borne down on the light when Riku and Mickey had stopped defending it, and it now looked barely large enough for them to squeeze through.

"Hold on tight!" Vanitas shouted.

"No! NO! WE HAD YOU! YOU WERE OURSSSS!"

"Exactly," Vanitas said with a smirk. "Were."

With dark lightning crackling all around them, with tendrils of smoke grasping for them in vain, and with the Wind roaring loud enough to shake the heavens, they shot through the closing portal.