Chapter 4: Missing ink
Terra and Henry walked for twenty minutes around a few different hallways and different rooms, not having encountered any threats so far. While they were walking, Henry turned towards Terra to ask him:
"What brings you to this studio?"
"Hm?" Terra was a bit caught off guard by this question.
"I had asked Aqua but I never really got an answer. So, what brings you, her, and your missing friend here?"
Terra would remain silent as he isn't sure how exactly to answer this without breaking the world order. He took a few seconds of deep thinking before answering with something that he believed would satisfy Henry:
"We were actually looking for a missing friend. Having entered this studio was by mistake."
Henry took note of this and would've left that question as is but something felt off.
"...something doesn't add up though?" Henry paused for a second which caught Terra's attention. "That weapon she's holding, it's not any weapon I've ever seen. Not to mention the abilities she can do are not normal. What are you guys exactly?"
Terra figured that this question would come up if the residence of the world didn't have any kind of real magic around since what he's currently has encountered seems...underwhelming to what he and his friends have dealt with before.
"We are...guardians of sorts."
"Guardians? Of what exactly?"
"Let's say we are guardians of light, we protect what's good."
"Okay."
Henry understood that anything more would either be too complicated to understand or beyond understanding.
The only thing he could sum up is that Aqua, Terra, and their other friend are abnormal but people he can trust.
As this conversation seems to be wrapping up, it did prompted Terra to wonder why Henry was in a place like this.
"What about you? What brings you here?"
"Joey wanted to show me something...now I'm starting to think that it was a trap for me."
"It does sound like a trap. This place is dangerous."
"Haha yeah, I can see that now." Henry laughed it off nervously, having seen just how hard Aqua struggled facing the dark creatures and the ink creatures that would easily kill him.
He and Terra moved onto another room to see that this one had a few ink creatures walking around aimlessly.
This prompted the two to get their weapons ready for battle with Henry pulling out his axe while Terra summoned his keyblade.
As they entered the room slowly and cautiously, Henry looked up to see the sign saying Heavenly Toys.
"Wow. I don't remember any of this."
"You used to be at this place?" Terra questioned.
"I used to work here with Joey."
"Used to? What happened?"
Henry remained silent for a few seconds before responding.
"We had a fallout. Knowing now why I'm here, he still hates me for leaving."
Terra looked at Henry as he said this, seeing that he was saddened when saying this.
He turned forward to see one of the ink creatures charging at him.
This prompted him to easily strike the creature down with his keyblade.
As he did this, the other ink creatures had noticed and started to swarm the two.
"Looks like we have company." Henry said a bit nervously.
"Just be on your guard." Terra said as he prepared to defend himself.
Henry waited for a moment before swinging his axe towards the ink creatures right in front of him.
He was able to damage the ink creature but unlike Terra's keyblade, it wasn't taken down by one hit.
This forced him to quickly jump back in order to avoid getting hurt by the ink creature he was facing off.
Once he did this, he quickly swung his axe two more times before finally managing to destroy the ink creature.
As he did this, he quickly turned his attention to another ink creature approaching him.
This one though had a form unlike the last one that was just covered in ink.
This one had a form that was a disfigured member of one of the Bendy cartoon characters.
This one was wielding a pipe wrench and used it at Henry by swinging it directly at him.
His attacks were quick though Henry was able to avoid being hit, knowing that a hit from a pipe wrench would actually hurt him.
As he had dodged the attacks thrown towards him, he quickly swung his axe towards the ink creature's head, attempting to take it out with one hit.
As his axe connected, it did damage on the creature but it didn't eliminate him, if anything it was pissed off by this.
'That can't be good...'
The creature swung swiftly the pipe wrench it was holding towards him, managing to land a hit on his chest area.
This caused an immense amount of pain on the man, causing him to almost go on his knee as the pain was overwhelming him.
The only reason he held onto the pain was thinking about how everyone he has encountered that isn't an ink creature has been protecting him.
This prompted him to quickly grab the axe from the creature's head and pull it out before hitting it once again.
He did this three more times while also avoiding the attacks thrown towards him before finally managing to defeat the creature.
'I did it!'
As he smiled at this, he turned to see Terra swiftly eliminate all of the majority of ink creatures in the large room.
He swung his keyblade with such efficiency and great speed, impressing Henry as he hadn't seen anybody fight in such a way.
'Cool.'
Once all of the ink creatures have been taken care off, the keyblade wielder turns towards him to ask:
"Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah, I'm alright."
"We should get moving. I can feel more of them coming."
Henry nodded as he quickly followed his ally up the stairs to check the place out.
The two in the second floor enter a small hallway that leads right into a room with a few shelves containing plushies.
What really got their attention was the next room that followed, being of the sign saying She's quite the girl on top of a broken window that seemed to contain something.
'One of them was here.' Terra thought to himself, sensing that Ventus or Aqua had stumbled upon this place before him. 'I must be close.'
"Come on, let's go."
"Right."
Henry said as well as nodding before following Terra to the next area.
To their surprise, when they arrived on a diverging path, two things had their attention.
The first being the signs, one point to the left while saying The Demon while the other pointed to the right while saying The Angel.
That was the first thing that caught their attention, with the second thing being that both paths are blocked by some kind of barricade.
"...Now what?"
"We press on through."
As Terra says this, he turns towards the barricade blocking the angel path and destroys it with his keyblade, having put an excruciating amount of force behind his attack.
As he does this, the two had a bad feeling as the area was slowly being shown shadows all around them.
This alerted the two that something was coming.
"We better run. Now!"
Henry was thinking this exact same thing, making the two start running as Terra had a bad feeling that it was the ink creature from before.
He had noted that the keyblade can beat it but he knows that if it catches them, they will possibly be consumed by it and perish.
He also notes that he currently doesn't have enough strength to have another brawl with it, especially when it suddenly got stronger since their first encounter.
As the two run inside, they go through a couple of hallways until they reach a room filled with plushies of three separate characters.
This caught Terra off guard while Henry was a bit amused by the plushies.
'...Impressive.'
He didn't like thinking this since he now knows how crazy and dangerous Joey has become but he couldn't help but find this impressive.
Henry quickly turned around and closed the door before attempting to barricade said door.
"Hold on."
Terra said, catching Henry's attention.
"Move out of the way real quick."
Henry listened as he trusted the keyblade wielder. Once he moved out of the way, Terra pointed his keyblade at the door.
To Henry's surprise, a random keyhole appeared which caused him to be taken aback for a bit.
As the keyhole showed itself, the tip of the keyblade had a small light glow before firing a beam of light towards the door.
Once the beam of light connected to the door, there was a sudden lock noise before the keyhole disappeared with the door suddenly turning into a wall.
"What?!"
As Henry was left with more questions than he'd expect, suddenly a few dark creatures appeared around them.
'Heartless!'
Terra quickly started to swing his keyblade at the shadow heartless that had appeared around the room.
Henry got himself into his fighting stance as he remembered how to take on the shadow heartless, having dealt with them before with Aqua.
He charged at one of them and swung his axe, managing to land a hit.
As it connected, the shadow heartless looked at him for a few seconds before attempting to slash his face.
He jumped back just barely but ended up falling on his back side as he lost his footing.
"Henry!"
Terra shouted as he worried for his ally, prompting him to quickly finish the heartless he was dealing with before attempting to help Henry.
The man noticed this and knew that he needed to step up, especially if he wants to get out of this insanity alive.
He got back up and swiftly retrieved his axe before taking another swing, this time going at full force.
He landed another hit but on his third attempt, the shadow heartless dodged the attack by jumping high.
Henry looked up and noticed his opponent trying to attack him from the air, prompting him to swing his axe right before the shadow heartless could land its attack.
As his attack was able to land, he slammed the heartless to the ground before using all of his strength for one last hit before finally managing to destroy the shadow heartless he was facing.
Once accomplishing this, he turned towards the other three shadow heartless remaining approaching him.
'This ain't good...'
As he was thinking this, he couldn't help but feel like smiling in the face of danger, feeling that he's getting better and better in this kind of scenario.
The heartless prepared to attack him only for a sudden fireball to destroy one of them, causing Henry to be surprised before seeing Terra jump in between the remaining two and easily destroying them with one swing of the keyblade.
"Woah..."
"Are you okay?" Terra asked after having taken a look around for any more possible heartless around.
"Yeah."
As Henry said this, he looked around to notice a broken fence that leads to what seems a hole.
'Hm? I wonder where that leads?'
He slowly went down the stairs in case any ink or dark creatures randomly appeared to investigate the broken gate.
Terra noticed him moving towards the broken gate, prompting him to follow.
As the two together investigated the broken gate, Terra felt a dark presence nearby as well as a familiar connection.
'Could Ven or Aqua have passed by here?'
As he was thinking of his best friends, he could help but worry more and more for them, especially with the ink demon around.
He turned towards Henry to see that he was very focused on the broken gate.
"What are you thinking?"
"Perhaps this was a gate to an elevator of sorts."
"How so?" Terra asked with a curious tone.
"It wouldn't make any sense to have a gate to block some hole...but I'm wondering what could've happened to the elevator itself."
Terra turned towards the hole, having a feeling that the answers the two seek could be down there.
He turned towards the armor on his left arm and slammed on it, changing into his armor form.
"What are you planning?"
Terra remained silent for a second before turning towards the hole.
"Allow me to carry you on my back."
"..."
Henry immediately figured out what Terra was planning.
"Hold on, do you think it's safe to even do that? I know you and Aqua are super strong but that could be a long way down."
"It'll be okay. Trust me."
Henry was hesitating since he didn't want his ally to get hurt, especially in the way he was thinking but considering what is chasing them, this is better than facing that monster.
"...Okay..."
He gets on the armored up keyblade wielder and begins to hold on tight, not wishing to die in such a gruesome way.
As Terra made sure he was holding on tight, he jumped all the way down the dark hole with keyblade on hand, ready for whatever was awaiting them down.
It took a whole minute before finally reaching the ground with Henry having had his eyes closed the entire time, not wanting to witness this with his eyes open.
Terra on the other hand was observing closely as he wasn't sure what he would be dealing with. He noticed a bright light before witnessing the ruins of a contraption.
"Hang on!"
Henry immediately tightened his grip as he didn't want to die all the while Terra with the little time he had changed his keyblade into a vehicle that allowed him to avoid getting caught in all the sharp and broken parts of the contraption.
As he was in his vehicle, he not only avoided danger but also managed to land safely to the lowest level he's been in the studio.
As he touched the ground safely, he tapped his ally on his shoulder.
"It's safe to get down."
Henry slowly opened his eyes before noticing that he was indeed safe while also noticing the elevator destroyed.
'So something happened to the elevator. It must've free fall to have caused such destruction.'
As Henry got off of the keyblade wielder's back, Terra reverted back to his usual form while also putting away his keyblade, sensing no danger.
He turned towards Henry to see that the man was investigating the destroyed elevator.
"Found anything?"
"No. Not yet."
As Henry responded, he moved around a few pieces of the elevator to see if there was any kind of clue that could help them in finding out what happened before the elevator fell.
He observed the area thoroughly before finding nothing except broken pieces.
"There seems to be nothing, so it probably just fell on its own."
"Hopefully you are right."
The two were silent for a moment before noticing the only path out of the area they were in.
"We should keep moving."
"Agreed."
The two began to walk towards the creepy hallway leading the way towards their next destination.
Aqua walked around on her own for about an hour, roaming the halls of joey drew studios on her own once again...slowly being filled with loneliness and despair as she recalled the same feeling of this when walking the realm of darkness.
As she was walking with no enemies to deal with but also nobody to talk to, she began to think about Henry, both worried for his sake while also feeling ashamed at herself for not being able to keep him safe.
She stopped on her tracks for a brief moment as she pulled out her wayfinder, thinking back once again when she gave a version of these to both Terra and Ven, how much effort she put in behind it.
This helped her keep going even when she didn't want to.
Not because she can't but because she doesn't want to feel trapped any longer than she was in the realm of darkness the first time around.
'I have to find them. I have to keep them safe.'
As she thought this, she could hear a familiar voice speak to her.
"Swallowing in your own despair once again? Man, you are pathetic."
"Wait...that voice..."
At first she had thought it was the dark version of herself again but upon further look, it was…
"Vanitas!"
With no hesitation, she pulled out her keyblade and charged right at him.
This not only caught Vanitas's attention but interest as well, amused that she didn't hesitate to attack him.
Vanitas responded in kind by pulling out his Void Gear keyblade and blocking away the Keyblade Master's attacks quite easily.
"Is this really the best you got or are you teasing me?"
Vanitas's words only resulted in pissing Aqua off as she definitely hates him, especially after all the damage he had caused along with Xehanort prior to her being sent to the realm of darkness for a whole decade.
She threw a barrage of attacks at him, each one with more force than the last one. Vanitas took note of this, prompting him to not only smile behind his mask but also respond with:
"All this aggression is not something a keyblade master should be showing, right?"
"Shut up!"
She pushed Vanitas back before pointing her keyblade right at his direction.
"Blizzard!"
As her keyblade shot ice towards the dark keyblade wielder, Vanitas countered the attack by creating a dark ball on his free hand before throwing it towards the ice rapidly moving towards his direction. With his fireball countering Aqua's ice, he lowered his weapon as he began to taunt her,
"Even that moron Ventus showed more matureness than you."
Aqua noticed him speaking of one of her friends, prompting her to be more hostile.
"Stay away from Ven!"
She didn't stop trying to attack Vanitas, wanting to take him out before he could cause any possible harm to her friends. Vanitas continued to block all of her attacks, not really finding them threatening though this confrontation was starting to become stale for him.
"You really are no fun." As he said this, he teleported away. Prompting Aqua to remain on guard. As she looked around to find him, he continued to speak, "Hopefully in our next encounter, you can be entertaining."
With that, Vanitas had left. Aqua remained on guard for a while before finally putting her keyblade away.
She looked at her wayfinder, thinking now that Ventus is in trouble.
With Vanitas back in the picture, it sure makes the situation much more dire for her since she not only has to find Henry after being separated as well as both Ventus and Terra but now she needs to stop whatever Vanitas is planning.
She ran a few hallways down, hoping to eventually find something that'll lead her down to the next location.
After another hour of running around, she arrived in a room that felt lonely.
Unlike the previous rooms, this one felt like a place someone was staying as it had a bedroom, a kitchen, and a table with unfinished soup on the table.
"Someone was here..."
As she said this, she could feel a bright presence having passed by here a long while ago as it felt very faint.
She walked around before noticing a hallway leading towards a different path.
She walked a few hallways up until noticing one covered with darkness.
This caused her to pause for a second, feeling an intense amount of fear.
'Darkness...'
"It scares you, doesn't it?" Another voice speaks with hostility, prompting the keyblade master to once again be on her guard. From the darkness of the hallway that was in front of her, Anti-Aqua made her presence known. "You still fear the darkness."
"..." Aqua remained silent. She didn't want to say anything to an evil version of herself. Before she acted, Anti-Aqua slowly returned to the darkness.
"What will you do? Will you come after me? Or will you stand there like a scared little child?"
With those words being thrown towards the keyblade master, she reacted by pointing her keyblade towards her counterpart and fired a powerful fireball towards that direction.
Before it even hit Anti-Aqua, she had disappeared with the fire hitting one of the walls with enough force to destroy it completely as well as cause some fire to start spreading around.
Aqua took this chance to run through the hallway as it had enough light for her to navigate safely.
As she was passing by, she used Blizzard to get rid of the fire to prevent it from spreading all around the studio.
Once she accomplished this and passed by the large room filled with darkness, she arrived at a hallway leading into another room containing something called the Heavenly Toys.
'What is this place?'
As she asked this, Anti-Aqua once again appeared from the shadows though this time from the ink itself.
"This place is where you will perish to the darkness, where you belong."
As Anti Aqua spoke in a hostile tone, three more Anit Aquas arose from the ink with the difference with these three compared to the one speaking was that they had an ink like form.
This caused her to take a step back if only briefly before putting herself into a fighting pose, showing that she's ready for a fight.
The three ink anti Aquas all charge directly at the keyblade master, prompting her to jump up to avoid their attack.
As she avoids the attacks, she quickly points her keyblade at the three ink form Anti Aquas before firing a powerful ice based magic attack.
"Deep Freeze!"
As she shouted this, she moved her keyblade all around her surroundings which caused the three ink anti aquas to suddenly be trapped in blocks of ice.
This gave Aqua the perfect opportunity to eliminate three opponents in one attack.
As she was about to destroy the three with one swing, Anti Aqua quickly jumped right in between the two to block off the Keyblade Master's attack.
"I won't let it be that easy for you."
Aqua was unhappy with her counterpart interfering in her attack but didn't let it stop her from continuing to attack.
She pushed Anti Aqua away for a bit before landing on the ground.
Once this happened, the three ink versions of Anti-Aqua went right for the offense.
Aqua blocked away each of these attacks before having her keyblade glow for a couple of seconds.
"Farewell!"
She spinned around as ice appeared above her while also her surroundings turning into a powerful combination of wind and ice.
This ultimate like attack had managed to push the three ink versions of Anti Aqua back, managing to land a few hits on them.
Anti Aqua pointed the dark version of the keyblade at her light counterpart before firing a barrage of dark fireballs.
Aqua created a barrier around herself to block away any attack thrown towards her for a moment before charging at the main Anti Aqua.
Knowing that this one's the dangerous one out of the four of them.
Anti Aqua noticed this and quickly managed to block away Aqua's heavy attack.
As she managed to block off the attack, Aqua took this chance to summon her master's keyblade to try and surprise attack her.
Anti Aqua didn't notice this until the very last second before being able to act upon the attack.
She jumped back though she also had received a hit on her stomach area which had left her a bit weakened.
"That was close."
"I'll get you on the next attack."
As she said this, she put away her keyblade while holding her master's keyblade as the main weapon.
As she had her master's keyblade, she turned towards the three ink form Anti Aquas as they approached her once again to go for a close quarters combat.
Aqua got into defense as she once again blocked away the barrage of attacks thrown towards her.
"You will fall!"
As the other Anti Aqua said this, she swiftly teleported right behind her opponent to try and get her while her back was turned.
Aqua sensed this and just barely managed to dodge the attack by ducking.
While doing this, she moved her keyblade to once again try to land another hit on her dark self only for Anti Aqua to manage to block it.
As this happened, Aqua once again turned towards the three ink versions of Anti Aqua to take them on, seeing that perhaps the best strategy is to take the weaker ones out first before taking on the bigger threat.
As she turned towards the closest ink form Anti-Aqua, she blocked away her attack before going all out in striking the threat down.
"Got you!"
With one out of the four Anti Aquas taken care of, she jumped high in order to avoid being caught by all three of her opponents' dark fireballs thrown towards her original direction.
While avoiding this attack, she pointed her keyblade at the two ink versions of her dark counterpart.
Her master's keyblade she was currently using began to glow red as she prepared for an all out attack at the two remaining ink versions.
"Triple Firaga!"
Three fireballs fired a second after the other were sent straight towards one of the ink forms, forcing them to try to block the attack.
The first one managed to push the ink form of Anti Aqua back, the second one broke its guard, with the third being the one to finish off another Anti Aqua.
As the ink scattered after having exploded from the impact of the third fireball, the remaining two Anti Aquas jumped high up to go for another close range attack.
Aqua saw this, prompting her to react by using the remaining amount of magic she had on her on the ink creature by moving the keyblade high up while using Firaga Burst, a strong fire based magic that creates a large fireball that fires smaller fireballs from within it.
These small fireballs were attacking both Anti Aqua and the ink version of Anti Aqua.
The two quickly blocked away each small fireball directed towards them which left the two open for Aqua to attack.
The Keyblade Master took this chance to attack the remaining ink version of her dark self by landing a fury of offensive attacks while it was distracted.
As it received many brutal hits, she eventually slashed the ink opponent of hers in the chest area, finally eliminating the last of the ink Anti Aquas.
After doing this, she turned towards the main Anti Aqua to prepare to face off against her.
Just before Anti Aqua was about to retaliate for what her light counterpart had done, she suddenly felt a dark presence grab her neck with such force that not only caught her off guard but also surprised Aqua.
"!"
"L-Let go off me!"
As Anti Aqua had said this, the ink demon just remained smiling as it began to absorb the trapped dark version of the keyblade master.
Just as Anti Aqua was about to be completely absorbed, she moved her hand towards her light counterpart while having an expression of fear.
"Help!"
Hearing those words had caused her to be at a pause since she's always feared her dark self.
Seeing her afraid and calling for help had suddenly reminded her of that exact feeling she had when she fell in the water that converted her into Anti Aqua.
Once she was reminded of that moment of her life, she swiftly charged at the ink demon with everything she had in hopes of helping her opponent.
Despite this attempt, the ink demon had swallowed Anti Aqua into its own inky body before attempting to do the same for her.
The keyblade master took note of this and quickly jumped a few feet away from it.
Having faced this threat at the start of this bizarre journey, she knew that fighting in close quarters is not a wise choice.
And because she doesn't have any magic on her for now, she knows that the best course of action is to escape the ink demon again.
'I can't let it get me!'
She jumped up to the second floor, having noticed that the ink demon had managed to increase in speed.
As she landed onto the next floor, she didn't hesitate to start running away.
As she entered a room, she was caught off guard by the amount of plushies of the ink demon, causing her to feel uncomfortable though that didn't last any long.
She turned to see that the ink demon was catching up pretty fast, prompting her to continue onto the next room.
Once in the next room, she quickly noticed a hallway that led somewhere while also noticing a broken window that had a door on the other side of the wall.
Due to little time to try and cross over the broken window, she went into the hallway.
She ran as fast as she could before reaching a dead end.
A sign that pointed in two different directions with only one of the paths being closed while the other was open.
This made her skeptical at first before choosing to just go with it.
As she enters the room, she runs past everything that was there in an attempt to keep some distance from the ink demon.
After a few minutes of just pure running, she had passed a few doors and hallways, she turned around to see that the ink demon was still somehow catching up.
'How is it that fast? What changed?'
Aqua was trying to think back to her first encounter with the ink demon, having noted that it was very strong but not very fast at that time.
Seeing it moving with faster speed than before right now.
The online thing that she can think of is that her dark version being absorbed by the monster might've helped it get stronger.
Because of this possibility, she knew that the ink demon had become much more dangerous.
As she arrives in the last room that looks to be a dead end, she turns around to see that once again the ink demon was catching up.
With still no magic to rely on, Aqua quickly put on her armor with a simple tap to the piece that was on her arm before preparing for another altercation with the ink demon.
She was afraid to fight the ink demon but having seen Anti Aqua call out to her for help, she can't allow that same fear that can get her killed.
"I won't lose, ink demon."
The ink demon didn't make a response as it just kept charging towards her, wanting to absorb the keyblade master into its ink.
As it was closing in and the fight was about to begin, a sudden large looking block fell down into the hole that Aqua had noticed before.
She wasn't sure what it was but suddenly she felt a connection to someone, someone important.
'Ven?'
Due to this, she chose to go after the large looking block to see if she can finally catch up with one of her friends.
She destroyed the metal bars blocking the path before jumping down into the hole.
As she did this, the ink demon stopped on its tracks just as it was about to grab the keyblade master's arm.
This left the ink demon to just look all the while Aqua was freefalling to the ground.
While on the fall, she could hear a loud explosion that prompted her to quickly change her keyblade into her vehicle to avoid landing in a dangerous area.
As she was in her vehicle, she slowly moved all the way towards the last floor where there were a bunch of pieces of a contraption all over the place.
Once landing her vehicle, she reverted it back into her keyblade before looking around the rumble for Ventus.
"Ven? Are you there?"
As she asked, she looked and looked but found nobody. This left her disappointed since she had wished to have found Ventus.
While feeling this disappointment, she pulled out her wayfinder after her armor had disappeared.
'Ven. Terra.'
"Isn't that interesting? You have that same weapon as him. And same keychain."
"Huh?" Aqua was surprised by this, causing her guard to go up. "Who's there?"
Unlike before, this was a voice she did not recognize. She could sense a bundle of emotions from this female's voice but the most alarming one was envy.
"You have such a beautiful face...it's so pretty, almost like an angel!"
"I said who are you? Show yourself!"
As Aqua said this, she turned towards the only hallway to see a woman with devil horns and an angel halo that seemed to be broken as it wasn't floating on top of her head. Aqua gave a stern look before pointing her keyblade at her.
"Who are you?"
"An angel."
"...?" Aqua couldn't help but be a bit puzzled by this kind of response. "Then why does an angel have so much darkness in them?"
"This place...it's a curse. He understood."
"He?"
Aqua did not like this.
"Yes. The boy with the key. He was so useful."
"Boy with the key..." Aqua repeated those words for a moment before slowly approaching the 'angel', "What's his name? Was it Terra? Ven?"
The Angel did not respond, if anything she just walked deeper into the hallway, forcing the keyblade master to follow behind.
"Wait!"
Aqua chased the woman, wanting to get some answers but also being cautious as she did not trust this 'angel'.
Ventus and Borris leave out of the hallway that led into the lair of Alice only to hear her speak, mainly towards the keyblade wielder.
"I'll make this simple. Look for valve panels. Turn the little wheels. Then bring me their power cores. Please don't make me regret sparing you. I can always change my mind."
Ventus looked up at the direction Alice's voice was coming from, a bit unimpressed by such a thing.
"Well, at least she's forward." Vanitas said in an amused tone. Ventus turned towards him for a moment before looking at the plunger that was being presented to him.
"Take it, you'll need it." Alice said. Ventus was uncertain about this though for now he played along, hoping that these tasks can actually further his goal in finding his friends.
As he grabbed the plunger, he turned towards Borris to realize that he didn't have a weapon.
"Would you like to use this?" Ventus asked, offering his friend the plunger despite it not really being that good of a weapon.
Borris was silent for a moment before nodding, accepting the 'weapon' before the two walked off to their first location.
As they were about to walk off, Alice began to speak:
"There are so few rules to our world now. So little truths. But there is one rule we all know and respect down here. Beware the Ink Demon. Stay out in the open for too long and he will find you. If you see him, you'd better hide. If you don't, well, I enjoyed our date."
"Ink demon?" Ventus questioned, fearing that this creature could pose a problem for Terra and Aqua. As this was on his mind, Alice continued:
"Now, let us begin our work."
Ventus and Borris made their way towards the elevator room.
Before heading down the stairs, a few ink creatures had popped up from the ground and were crawling menacingly at the pair, prompting the keyblade wielder to take out his keyblade and to prepare himself for a fight.
As the ink creature was closing in on the pair, a shadow heartless had appeared in between the two.
"Heartless!"
As Ventus was preparing to attack both the heartless and ink creature, the two began to fight among themselves.
This surprised the keyblade wielder as he didn't expect something like that to happen.
The heartless and ink creature were on equal terms which led into a stalemate with the two eliminating each other.
"That was...odd."
Ventus was taken aback before turning towards Borris for a moment, checking up on him before turning towards the door that the ink creature had crawled from.
Somehow, he had a gut feeling that this was the path he needed to head towards.
"Stay close, Borris. I'll protect the both of us."
Borris just remained silent before making a simple nod to the keyblade wielder. Ventus turned towards the door and entered into the next room where he and Borris explored for a bit.
During their exploration, they had encountered a few valves that contained what seemed to be inks.
As they noticed this, Ventus turned on all three valves to check if something would happen.
While doing this, the door next to it opened to reveal what seemed to be a core of sorts.
'Is this what she wants?'
Ventus took the core out of the small box it was in before closing the door. He observed it for a moment before asking Borris to hold onto it.
Borris grabbed it and remained holding it.
The two continued to walk without any sign of trouble, with many of the rooms they passed by having a few tables with a lot of chairs.
This somewhat disturbed the keyblade wielder, having a bad feeling that whoever was once here is no longer around.
Eventually he and Borris encounter a window where they see an inky hallway with an ink creature that has a projector as a head roaming around.
Ventus and Borris kept their distance to avoid being spotted as the pair don't want to deal with the ink creature at the moment.
'Is that the ink demon she was referring to? No, it doesn't seem like it.'
As Ventus contemplated this, he noticed that the projector headed ink creature had left the area, allowing both he and Borris to continue on their journey to find the cores.
As they walked for a few more minutes, Alice began to speak once again to Ventus:
"Have you met him? The Ink Demon? They say he hears everything. Every creak on the floor. Every rustle of paper. I wouldn't run so fast if I were you. You never know what will draw him in."
"...thanks." Although he was still distrustful of Alice, he did appreciate the information given to him.
As he walks through the inky hallway with Borris walking with caution, they manage to find another box to grab a third valve core.
Once they did this, Alice began to say:
"You're quite the efficient little errand boy, aren't you?"
"Ha! More like a puppet!" Vanitas added, reappearing at this moment just to antagonize his counterpart.
"Come back to me."
As Alice said this, Ventus turned towards Vanitas to confront him only to see him disappear as he went through a wall.
Ventus just remained annoyed by this before turning towards the elevator nearby him and Borris.
The two approached the elevator and entered it before the keyblade wielder clicked the button to close the doors.
As this happened, Alice starts to speak once again:
"There was a time people knew my name. 'It's Alice Angel!', they'd say. Feels like so long ago. But those days can come back. Dreams come true, Susie. Dreams come true."
There were no words from the keyblade wielder as he could only feel the despair in her voice in wanting 'those days' she mentioned to be relived again.
This made him feel bad for her as he knows that this isn't a trick, he can feel that she desperately wants it but that obsession reminds him too much of...
"...Xehanort."
He muttered as he recalled just how obsessed he was in wanting to unlock kingdom hearts for his own goals.
As he thought back of him, the elevator had stopped on level nine.
This prompted Ventus to return back to the large room where there were the stairs leading up to Alice's lair.
As he was walking up the stairs, he sensed an ink creature crawling towards him.
Without much hesitation, he eliminated the threat before turning back towards the door.
"Where do you want me to place these cores?"
"Place them in the drop box to your right."
Ventus turned and dropped them there, accomplishing the first task for Alice.
"My machine's are hungry. Gather me some parts!"
As she said this, a wrench appears which catches the boy's attention.
He approached the wrench and grabbed it while putting away his keyblade.
Once grabbing the wrench, he began to make his way around the hallways he had found the cores previously.
As he was walking around for a couple of minutes, a few heartless popped up which prompted the boy to pull out his keyblade.
As he began a fight with these heartless, he noticed a mix of shadow heartless, soldier type heartless, and bandit type heartless.
At first he wasn't struggling as much until suddenly a few more heartless appeared, Neoshadow type heartless.
These Neoshadow type heartless had dark orange eyes and gave off a powerful aura.
'Not good.'
Having sensed that these heartless are much more dangerous than they originally were, Ventus took a step back to avoid being caught in their combined attack before thinking of what ability he should use to hold them down long enough to land the finishing blow.
As he blocked off some of the neoshadow heartless' attacks, he quickly pointed his keyblade high up while shouting:
"Tornado!"
A powerful wind-based attack appears in the form of a tornado, managing to grab the five neoshadow heartless at once and send them flying all over the place.
Separating the five allowed the keyblade wielder to easily dispose of them as they aren't too tough when facing them alone.
After taking down four out of five neoshadow type heartless, the fifth one looked at Ventus before deciding to retreat.
He kept his guard up for only a few minutes before finally lowering his guard down. After observing his surroundings for any more threats before noticing Borris approaching him.
"Are you okay?" The Keyblade Wielder asked, a bit worried for his friend. Borris remained silent for a moment before just nodding, remaining to look calm. Ventus felt uncertain by this but he can only hope that Borris was telling the truth.
He turned towards the hallway filled with ink before continuing on the search for whatever Alice was looking for.
Eventually he and Borris encountered a few odd looking boxes that were on the wall.
Upon further inspection, they noticed a few gears.
Ventus was unsure and was prepared to leave only for Borris to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention.
"What is it?" Ventus asked politely.
Borris pointed at the wrench the boy was holding onto. Ventus noticed this, which prompted him to ask:
"Is this what you want?"
Borris nodded, causing Ventus to hand the wrench over to him.
As Borris grabs it, he quickly works on the box before grabbing a gear.
Once he did this, he handed the gear to Ventus which alerted the keyblade wielder that this is what he should be looking for.
Him and Borris went around looking for a few more gears needed to hand to Alice.
After a good hour of searching, the two were able to find the four gears.
As Ventus is given the fourth, Alice begins to speak:
"Ah, that should be plenty. Return them to me. And try not to die on the way back."
As she said this, the two turned to see that the elevator had just decided to come towards the level they were at.
Once entering the elevator and having it go to level nine, Alice spoke again:
"Sammy said I had talent. He was always a good liar. Still, he was a handsome man."
"..." Ventus just remained silent as this comment was just...out of place for him.
He and Borris waited for a moment before the elevator had finally stopped on level nine before reaching the front of Alice Angel's lair.
As they arrived, the keyblade wielder put the four gears into the basket before hearing Alice Angel speak once again.
"Have you seen them? The swallow ones! They're just stuffed full of extra thick ink. It makes me sick. And yet..." Alice's attitude changed, "...it's the perfect thing for keeping myself together. If you're going to catch them, you're going to have to learn to move quietly. Come back to my door, I'll have something that you'll need."
"...okay?"
As he looked at the door, he noticed an ink tool being shown towards him.
He grabbed it and instantly understood what 'the angel' wanted. As Borris was approaching him, he turned towards him to ask:
"Could you stay here and watch? I can handle this on my own real quick."
Borris was at a pause before nodding at Ventus, trusting the keyblade wielder after watching how many dark and ink creatures were defeated by his hand.
Ventus smiled at him before quickly going into the studio once again.
Though this round wasn't as hard as a couple of ink creatures crawled towards his direction at a rapid pace.
Ventus waited until all ink creatures in the area were close enough for his magic ability Stop to work.
As the ink creatures were all frozen in place, Ventus took the opportunity to take the ink from them before eliminating them.
Once he had done this two more times, Alice spoke out:
"How sickening! Makes my skin crawl! But the task is done. You have impressed me, that was faster than I expected. Now, bring me back my equipment, please."
Ventus could hear her disdain, respect, and fear all in one go, surprising the keyblade wielder since he hasn't met someone like this.
He quickly made his way back to Alice's basket to hand over her equipment with Borris having waited the entire time, seemingly looking like he's happy to see Ventus.
Ven gives Borris a smile before returning the equipment to Alice.
"You see those grinning demons? Let's remove them, shall we? That weapon of yours should be more than enough to entertain me."
"Now hold on." Ventus protested. "How does this help your goal?"
"...it is necessary." Alice said as she giggled in an innocent like manner, making Ventus uncomfortable.
Although Ventus at this point can see that he's not really making any progress in his goal to find his friends, he knows that not listening to Alice Angel might cause some problems for him.
Though he also senses that there's just a small glimmer of light in 'the angel's' heart, something that's keeping what seems to be some sanity in her left.
'If I can reach that light, perhaps this darkness I sense in her can go away.'
Ventus begins to go towards the depths of the studio once again to accomplish another task from Alice though this time Borris was tagging along.
The Keyblade Wielder noticed this and quickly asked him:
"Are you sure you want to join me? You can stay behind if you'd like?"
Borris stood still for a moment, not responding for a few seconds before nodding confidently while holding a pipe, ready to help in anyway he can.
Ventus smiled confidently before the pair went back to the higher levels of the studio, destroying the cartoon boards of the cartoon devil along the way.
Although a few heartless and ink creatures appeared on a few occasions, this task wasn't difficult.
'It's not that easy like the last one but not that hard either.' The keyblade wielder thought to himself as he was comparing the tasks he had been given so far by Alice.
Though just has he thought this, Alice spoke to the boy:
"Ah, now that was entertaining. Oh! But I forgot to mention...he hates it when I do that. I would hide if I were you."
'...really?'
He was disappointed when he heard this, having been right that this task wasn't really worth the trouble.
Just as both he and Borris try to make it back to Alice through the elevator, Borris begins to panic as he puts both his hands on the top of his head while Ventus froze in place.
'Th-This...d-darkness...'
He turned around to see that the walls were suddenly being consumed by shadow as a tall monster made of ink was slowly approaching their position.
'That has to be the Ink Demon Alice mentioned before?'
With that question in mind, he noticed the Ink Demon blocking his and Borris's path to head towards the elevator.
This forces him to make a choice that'll save them from having an encounter with the Ink Demon.
He grabs onto Borris's right arm to pull him away from the room they were currently in.
"Come on, Borris! We need to get out of here!"
Borris followed behind the keyblade wielder, trusting in him as well as not wanting to be caught by the Ink Demon.
'If that thing is blocking our path, then we shall head the long way back.'
As he thought this, a couple of ink creatures with weapons appeared to try and block the two from continuing, buying the Ink Demon some time to catch up.
"We don't have time for you!" He shouted as he quickly used the magic ability magnet to clear a path for Borris and him to continue.
As they were running with everything they got, the two would pass by a door that prompted the keyblade wielder to stop on his tracks, coming up with an idea.
"Hold on, Borris. Let me try something."
He closed the door and jumped a few feet away before pointing his keyblade at the door, hoping this would work.
As his keyblade was pointing at the door, a sudden keyhole appeared which caused Ventus's keyblade to create a small ball of light for a second before firing that light, creating a beam of light that hit the keyhole.
As the light connected, there was a seal noise before the keyhole as well as the door disappeared, revealing to be now just a wall.
'That should stop the ink demon.'
As he thought this, the room was beginning to be swallowed by shadow.
"We got to go!"
He and Borris start to run towards a flight of stairs, making their way towards the floor down, closing in on the ninth floor.
As they were on the top floor to the ninth, the two continued to run for a bit until Borris had noticed that they could reach the elevator now.
He quickly stops himself and Ventus on their tracks before pointing at the elevator.
Ventus looks and immediately knows what his friend is trying to say.
"Good eye. Let's go!"
The two make their way towards the elevator with Borris holding his hands on the top of his head again once inside while Ventus clicks the number nine button before clicking the door button to get the elevator to start moving.
Just as the doors had closed, the ink demon finally made it to the room and began to make its way down the stairs to reach them.
Unfortunately for the ink demon, the elevator begins to move down towards floor nine.
Ventus and Borris both approached the door to Alice's lair, both of them lowering their guard as they finally arrived at what seemed to be a safe zone.
This would change when suddenly a group of ink creatures pop up from the ground.
"The disgusting wretches have wandered my halls, have been left unchecked! They're trying to drag me back to the darkness! Don't let them take your angel!" Alice spoke in fear before the tone had changed into complete anger. "Purge them one by one! Smash them into puddles! Smash them into puddles! Kill them!"
"Don't worry, we won't let them hurt you." Ventus said in a confident tone before preparing to fight off the large amount of ink creatures crawling towards him and Borris.
The keyblade wielder waited patiently before casting Thunder on the first few ink creatures closing in, eliminating them with ease.
The ink creatures behind them started to close in which prompted both Borris and Ventus to attack them in close range combat.
Ventus was able to eliminate the creatures faster as the keyblade was dispatching them in a similar manner as it would with a heartless.
Borris on the other hand was being pushed back by the number of ink creatures targeting him.
Ventus noticed this and quickly threw his keyblade with all of his strength in order to eliminate the majority of the ink creatures attacking Borris.
As this was accomplished, the keyblade wielder re-summoned his keyblade in order to continue to face off the amount of ink creatures attempting to swarm him.
As this kept up for a bit, eventually the keyblade wielder realized that he would need to use a move that can help in eliminating the majority of the ink creatures in hopes that he and Borris don't get completely overwhelmed and beaten by them.
Once a magic ability came to mind, he quickly threw his keyblade at the ink creature right in front of him all the while his keyblade began to glow.
As the keyblade connected with the ink creature, it not only destroyed it but caused projections that look like the keyblade to go all over the place, taking out many ink creatures.
The remaining three ink creatures crawled towards Borris though they would eventually be destroyed by some other force.
"Hm? And who is that?"
As Alice spoke in a concerned tone of voice, Ventus and Borris both turn to see Vanitas though in a white and black attire with an unverse symbol on his face.
"What–?!"
"A vessel."
Vanitas said as he moved from Ventus's side and made his way towards the unversed self.
"Vanitas!"
The keyblade wielder shouted as he was surprised by this as well as unhappy on whatever he was up to.
Vanitas smiled as he entered into the unversed version of himself, causing the keyblade wielder to get in front of Borris.
"Stand back."
As he said this, the atmosphere felt tense with Ventus viewing his arch nemesis just standing there, looking spaced out.
After a minute of just pure silence, Vanitas had suddenly charged at the keyblade wielder.
Ventus was ready for this and with all his strength he blocked away the attack.
"Borris, run back to the elevator!"
Borris was scared as he heard what the boy had said, understanding that this person is dangerous.
As Borris was running away, Vanitas jumped up and started to throw a barrage of fireballs all around the area, forcing Ventus back.
As Vanitas was increasing his offensive attacks on Ventus, the keyblade wielder went on the defense with everything he had.
'I have to lure him away from here and fast!'
"Alice Angel? What other tasks are left?" The boy asked, hoping that one of the remaining tasks could lead him to take Vanitas away from here.
There was a moment of silence while Ventus and Vanitas were in a blade lock.
After a minute, Alice responded with:
"There are pieces I need you to retrieve. But, you will have to go even deeper. Down. Down. Down into the abyss. Take the lift down, say hello to an old friend."
"Got it!"
As he said this, he quickly pushed away Vanitas before making his way towards the elevator from where he's at.
While making a run for it, Vanitas followed which forced him to try and find a way to escape his current opponent.
'I need to get away from him, at least for now.'
He continued to run around a couple of hallways before arriving at the room where the elevator was located.
As he arrived there, Vanitas was still on his tail though he hadn't said a single word to him, something that's unlike the dark keyblade wielder.
Regardless, he turned towards Borris, having noticed him in the elevator.
"Start the elevator! We are heading all the way down!"
Borris heard this, surprising him for a moment before clicking the elevator button.
He was hesitant since the lower levels of the studio are extremely dangerous but he trusts the boy.
As the elevator was beginning to go down. Ventus waited for the right moment before jumping onto the elevator while turning around and using Stop on his opponent.
This did work as Vanitas was suddenly stopped, allowing Ventus to escape.
'...that was too lucky.'
As he said this, he broke the top of the elevator before being in the same place Borris was at.
He was spooked by Ventus just tearing the top of the elevator just so he can be inside the elevator itself.
The keyblade wielder turned towards his ally to see that Borris was frightened by his sudden arrival.
"Sorry about that."
Borris looked at Ventus for a brief moment before turning towards the elevator door that had opened.
Once this happened, the two noticed a dead ink creature holding its own heart.
Ventus was taken aback before slowly approaching it.
He grabbed the heart only for it to suddenly disappear.
"What?"
As he said this, Alice spoke out:
"Shhh...there he is."
"Hm? Who?" Ventus searched around before noticing a projector head ink creature walking around the ink on the ground.
"The Projectionist. Sulking in the darkness. You be sure to stay out of his light, if you don't want trouble. Just bring me back the pieces I need."
Ventus nodded before preparing to head off only to see that Borris remained on the elevator, holding his hands on the top of his head while shaking.
The keyblade wielder understood that his ally wasn't happy being here, prompting him to stay on the elevator.
He would not want to force his friend and ally to go with him if he's scared to.
'Let's do this.'
He hit the armor piece on his arm which allowed his entire armor to appear all over him, protecting him from the darkness he had sensed.
He noticed the projectionist going deeper into a very dark hallway, prompting him to walk around slowly, not wanting to attract unwanted attention.
While walking, he thought about Terra and Aqua once again, worried for them.
He knows that they can take care of themselves but with Vanitas back, he will cause trouble for them.
'Terra. Aqua. Please be safe.'
As he thought this, he continued forward, moving around the dark inky hallways with caution since he was now in the most dangerous part of the studio.
He walked for about ten minutes, managing to avoid the projectionist all the while managing to collect two hearts.
As he was going for a third and fourth one, an ink creature came out from the ground that's covered in ink.
This caused Ventus to summon his keyblade and to quickly dispose of it before the ink creature had the chance to alert the others as well as attack him.
Once this was done, he quickly grabbed the fourth heart before hearing Alice Angel speak:
"Tell me. Were they still writhing in your hands? Bring them to me now! I don't like to wait."
As Ventus heard this, he felt disturbed since it was reminding him of what Roxas had told him about how Xemnas, the nobody of Terranort, was wanting to collect hearts for selfish reasons.
'I don't like doing this, but I need to reach her somehow.'
Still wanting to believe that perhaps she could be saved, the keyblade wielder starts making his way back towards the elevator.
Just as he was on the path to leaving, the projectionist appeared right in front of him.
"!"
Ven was caught off guard by this, prompting him to quickly put himself into a defensive position.
As he prepared for a fight, he suddenly noticed the ink demon pop out from the ink in the ground, also preparing to attack him from behind.
'That's not good!'
Just as things seemed bad enough, the Vanitas unversed appeared from the wall to attack him, forcing the keyblade wielder to put his attention on him.
"Vanitas!"
As the two clashed keyblades, the ink demon noticed this and quickly started to increase its speed as it wanted to absorb both keyblade wielders.
Just as the ink demon was closing in on the two keyblade wielders, the two noticed this which helped break the blade lock.
As the two got away from the ink demon, the projectionist attempted to attack the unversed Vanitas on his backside only for the keyblade wielder to dodge the attack as well as landing an attack of its own.
This attack managed to send the projectionist towards a wall, seemingly doing enough damage that caused the projection head to take damage.
While this happened, Ventus pointed his keyblade towards the ink demon's direction while shouting:
"Fira!"
A fireball was shot towards the ink demon and landed on it, causing some damage but not stopping on its tracks.
Ventus quickly change strategize by switching into using the last of his magic to use Blizzard to freeze the ink demon for now, temporarily stopping the threat on its tracks before deciding to leave the area, knowing that he won't win the fight against it here.
As he tried to leave, Vanitas once again went on the offensive against him which forced Ven to go on the defense.
He blocked the barrage of attacks thrown towards him before the unversed Vanitas jumped high towards the sky to fire a barrage of fireballs all over the area.
Some of these were targeted towards the keyblade wielder, a few hit the ink demon which actually helped free him from his frozen prison, and lastly some of the attacks landed on the projectionist, doing more damage on the ink creature's projection head.
With the ink creature freed once again, it once again charged directly towards Ventus, viewing the boy as an easy prey.
The keyblade wielder once again was forced to face not only the ink demon but also the unversed Vanitas, seeing the two charging at him at the same time.
'I need to get out of here and fast.'
He thought for a few seconds before quickly charging at Vanitas first, having a better chance of escaping if he fought him first.
As the two keyblades once again clashed, the keyblade wielder known as Ventus waited for the right moment before jumping over his opponent.
As he did this, he had unwillingly given the projectionist ink creature an opening to land a hit on the unversed Vanitas.
This hit gave the ink demon a chance to grab the unversed Vanitas for only a second before Vanitas quickly started to create a barrier around him in an attempt to protect itself from the ink creatures.
Once the dark barrier was created around the unversed Vanitas, shadow versions of him started to come out from the barrier to attack the two ink creatures that were trying to break the barrier.
This forced the two back all the while allowing Ventus the opening he needed to leave as they were busy facing one another. As he made a run for it, a few ink creatures came out of the ground, crawling towards him only for them to easily be destroyed by the keyblade.
Once this happened, he quickly ran towards the elevator before clicking the button to not only close the doors to the elevator but also cause it to go back up.
'That was too close...'
Ventus put away his keyblade while sighing with relief, having escaped that hell just in the nick of time.
'That was too close...that ink demon...it carries so much darkness...' As he was thinking this, his armor went away as he looked at the wayfinder given to him by Aqua. 'Don't you worry Aqua, Terra, I will find you. No matter what it takes, we will get back together once again.'
As he smiled when thinking about his two friends, he was suddenly reminded about Vanitas.
Bringing back the memory of him disappearing away after his defeat in the keyblade graveyard.
("But I didn't ask for this. To be shifted apart, nice and neat. We should be free to choose. Not just light, not just darkness. We decide what we are." Ventus spoke calmly.)
("But...Ventus, I did decide who I am. You see?")
("And what you are is darkness?" Ventus questioned.)
("What I am is darkness." Vanitas says which leads to him and Ventus to stare at each other with a serious expression.)
("Okay.")
Even after everything Vanitas has done, he would've forgiven him and even allowed him to stand by their side in the light...but considering that Vanitas was created by the darkness in him, it was probably impossible to ever turn Vanitas to the light.
These thoughts had passed the time enough for the elevator to arrive at its destination, allowing the keyblade wielder to deliver the hearts to Alice Angel.
The keyblade wielder along with Borris walked towards the lair of Alice Angel to deliver the hearts.
Once this was done, there was a moment of silence before Alice herself spoke out:
"It seems we've reached the end of my todo list, my little errand boy. I hope you enjoyed our time together. I'll always treasure it. Return to the lift. It's time to go home."
As Borris listened to what Alice had said and started to make its way towards the lift, Ventus remained standing for a moment.
"Don't...you ever feel lonely...?" He asked which caught Alice's attention.
"What? Do you wish to stay here with me? Forever?" She asked curiously, wondering what exactly the keyblade wielder was thinking, having found him fascinating.
"You said you wanted to be beautiful but to who exactly?"
"To everyone. I want all to see what a beautiful angel Alice is. I will achieve that!"
"..." Ventus remained silent, having some understanding of Alice's desires. "Even if I could leave this place, I still need to find my friends. They are here somewhere."
"Oh. More of those with that fascinating weapon?" Alice asked as her curiosity had increased. Ventus was uncertain if he should answer this question but because he wishes to bring out the light in her heart...
"They are my close friends. Don't you have any close friends?"
"..." Alice remained silent as she had no way of answering this question, hell she doesn't really have any kind of response to the boy. Ventus took note of this, prompting him to turn towards the exit in order to head towards the elevator.
"It's not too late to find a friend..." Ventus whispered this before heading towards the path to the elevator, wanting to now focus on finding Aqua and Terra.
As he made his way into the elevator, he prepared to click the button only for him to quickly feel something was off.
He looked down and suddenly saw something break through the ground of the elevator, causing it to fall.
Ventas had managed to get his armor summoned before having his keyblade out to block away Vanitas's attack.
'Vanitas!'
"Missed me?"
As he was pushed away, Borris fell along with the elevator.
"Borris!"
Wanting to save his friend, he pushed away his opponent before changing his keyblade into a hoverboard.
This allowed him to fly towards Borris's position, saving him from being possibly killed by the long drop.
Once he managed to save his friend, he looked up to see that Vanitas was rapidly approaching him.
This forces the keyblade wielder to take Borris all the way towards the lower levels, having arrived at the ground where the elevator had crashed.
Once on the ground, both Ventus and Borris began to make a run for it.
Borris not wanting to be attacked by the evil keyblade wielder while Ventus wanting to keep Borris safe from Vanitas.
'Don't worry Borris, I'll get you to safety.'