Chapter 78

Blank Points

Water lapped against the shore of the Dark Margin. The sky was a dark gray, but a bright sun was visible on the horizon, casting its hauntingly-peaceful glow across the ocean at the edge of darkness. The shore was not entirely smooth sandy beach, however; large rocks sat in random places, some which would tower over a man and others small enough to sit upon.

A young woman walked across the sand toward the edge of the shore, leaving uneven footprints. She wore a navy blue high-collard halter top that left part of her back exposed, a black corset with a pair of white laces tying the garment together on either side, black jammer shorts, a pair of long, black stockings and a pair of pointed silver boots, which each had a sharp hook on the outer side. Two pink straps wrapped over each shoulder and under the opposite arm, creating an X over her chest and another one over her back, with a steel badge shaped like an angular heart with a sharp cross at its base. She wore tan, fingerless gloves on her hands and a white bell-sleeve on each arm, each attached below the shoulder and with a small, segmented piece of armor clipped onto it. Two strips of blue cloth were draped over her hips, though one appeared to be torn in half, and a smaller, white strip of cloth tied around her waist.

She was tall and slender, though she was thinner than normal due to only barely getting enough to eat (and sometimes not even that). She had blue hair that had grown out to her shoulders, and her bangs had been sliced unevenly three-quarters of the way down her forehead. She had eyes of the same color, though they appeared sunken and bloodshot. The skin under her eyes hung in bags. Her clothes were cut in a few places and covered in dirt. Her left sleeve was stained with blood and singed at the lower edge.

Aqua sighed, glad to finally have a moment's rest, something that was quite rare in a dimension where all life was out for her blood. She stumbled to the water's edge and fell to her knees in exhaustion. She bent over and cupped the water in her hands as the tide lapped in, then brought her hands up to her face and drank. She savored the cold, refreshing taste as the water ran down her throat. A good post-battle Curaga spell went a long way, but nothing beat a relaxing drink of clean water, or at least water as clean as it could be in the Realm of Darkness; she was not sure what the quality was, but she did not care.

"Why, hello. It's not often I get visitors," a deep voice spoke, surprising Aqua. She turned around to see who had spoken and, looking over her right shoulder, saw a man sitting on a rock. He wore a full-body black coat with its hood drawn up, casting shadows on his face. She had not noticed him previously as she had mistaken him for part of the rock. She was certainly surprised to find someone else in this dark world, and wondered what caused him to be there.

"Please, call me Aqua," the young woman introduced herself. She stood up to address the man properly. "Why are you sitting here all alone in the realm of darkness? How did you end up here?"

"Well… I can tell you that this is my second time on these shores," the man admitted. "But, unfortunately, much like the first, I do not remember who I am or whence I came. Everything was washed away in whatever currents carried me here."

"That's too bad," Aqua said sympathetically. She turned to sit down next to the man. "I know I've been here a long time, wandering through the endless hours… unable to escape…"

The man became curious about this woman. She appeared to have enough of her wits about her to even consider a desire to escape. "You wish to return to your own world?" he asked.

Aqua nodded. "It's my friends," she explained. "I promised I'd be there for them."

The man pondered her words. She seemed kind and dedicated to the people she cared about. "Your friends? Somewhere in the scraps of memory I have left, you remind me of a boy I once knew," he told her. "He is very much like you―true to his friends, and kind. This boy travels to many worlds and fights to keep the light safe."

Aqua turned to her companion, his last words taking her by surprise. "Keep the light safe? I've been gone too long. Did something happen out there?" she asked, worried. "Are the worlds in danger?" Now that she thought about it, she did remember Mickey saying something about the worlds being attacked and swallowed in darkness, and she also walked through desolate phantoms of worlds she had visited. However, she had difficulty recalling the details, as if that was all a dream. Was it a dream? When was the last time she had gotten sleep?

"Sad to say, they nearly fell to darkness more than once," the hooded man admitted. "But at every turn, that boy arrived with Keyblade in hand to save the day."

Aqua perked up when she heard the man say the word "Keyblade". "Huh? Wait a sec. Is his name Terra, or Ven?" she asked, a spark of hope lighting in her heart.

The man shook his head. "Neither of those, I'm afraid," he answered solemnly, deducing that those were the names of the friends she worried for.

Aqua sighed. "Should've known." She turned away from him to stare out at the horizon. She faintly recalled a conversation she held with a phantom version of Terra and witnessing an illusion of an unresponsive Ventus and realized that it was foolish of her to get her hopes up.

"How long has it been since I met him? At least a year now, perhaps more," the man mused. "Back then, my heart was clouded with vengeance. I did terrible things, both to him and his friends. I brought unhappiness to more lives than one. I felt something must be done. Was that why? A means of clearing my conscience? Or perhaps, out of a sort of scholarly instinct? While the boy slept his long sleep, I hid the results of my research inside him, transplanting the data to where it might best serve a purpose. In fact, I would like to believe… maybe he can set things right. A boy like him who touches so many hearts―he could open the right door, and save all those people whose lives I managed to ruin. So many are still waiting for their new beginning, their birth by sleep. Even me… and even you."

Now Aqua genuinely wanted to know more about this boy. She was starting to recall her conversation with Mickey as they retrieved the golden Keyblade of darkness to close the great door. He had said that someone had been helping him in his mission to save the worlds, and that he used a Keyblade as well. But she could not recall what Mickey had said this friend's name was.

"What's this boy's name?" she asked.

The man let out a light chuckle, surprising himself at the mirth that thinking of the boy brought to him. "His name… is… Sora," he replied.

At that moment, everything came back to her. The afternoon when she had met Sora and Riku when they were children. She contemplated gifting one of them with the power of a Keyblade, but found that Terra had already conducted the Rite with Riku, so she instead trusted Sora with keeping Riku on the right path. She remembered Mickey saying that Sora and Riku had been helping him, and that Sora had the Keyblade from the realm of light. She remembered seeing Riku stranded in the Realm of Darkness without a true form, and knew in her heart that Sora's actions had somehow offered him salvation, just as he had promised.

Aqua's eyes filled with tears, which ran down her cheeks. The boy, who had reminded her of Ven, whom she had only wished to be a good friend, had saved so many people with his good heart. He had gone on to help Mickey, and they were probably real good friends now. He had given hope to this amnesiac man whose heart was filled with hate and rage. And now, that cheerful, innocent little boy might be capable of saving so many of those who are suffering.

She looked back out on the horizon, this time her eyes and heart full of hope, thinking that, perhaps, things were not as grim as she once believed. The demesne of darkness was just a tiny bit brighter.

"Sora," she repeated, smiling genuinely for the first time in a long while.