Friends, both old and new

"This place… is really awful." Ventus commented.

"It took you that long to figure it out, Ven?" Terra replied, slight sarcasm in his tone.

"Heh. Nah. I just felt like saying it out loud now." Ventus replied.

"How long do you think it has been?" He asked then.

"I wouldn't know any better than you do." Terra said.

Yeah, that was true enough. As Aqua had been able to inform them, there was no time in this place. They had tied to prepare by bringing watches. But the problem was not simply that it was impossible to measure the passage of time because of the immutability of the Dark Realm. Rather it seemed the concept of time itself did not exist. The clocks they had brought had stopped working the moment they had entered here. Instead they now showed completely random times, seeming to alter at will, without any kind of pattern to the changes. By now they had given up on relying on their timepieces altogether. All they could say was that this felt like a very long time. They had felt neither hunger, nor thirst nor the need to sleep. But the ache in their bones was unmistakable.

"The only way I have been able to track our time here had been by counting how many times we've had to stop to fight the Heartless. My current count is around forty two fights. But I may have gotten it wrong at some point." Terra continued.

"I Remember doing that in the beginning. Until I lost count…" Aqua said quietly, half to herself.

Ventus looked at her, and behind his helmet he frowned. Even encased in her armor, her face hidden, it was obvious she wasn't comfortable being here again. It was not an issue with her fighting. She battled the Heartless as efficiently and competently as ever. If anything she was at her best combating the heartless, like having a tangible enemy was somehow comforting to her. It was during the quiet moments in between he had begun to notice something odd going on. He had noticed how she was doing her utmost to keep him and Terra in her field of vision. Like she was worried they'd vanish if she looked away for too long. Her free hand occasionally moved along the armor of her other arm, as if to remind herself it was still there. It was a subconscious behavior he doubted even Aqua was aware of. In her other hand she held her keyblade, which she had not dismissed since coming here. Ventus tried to tell himself experience had just made her cautious. After all she knew this realm better than either of them ever could. But he could see how tight her grip on her weapon was, betraying her anxiety.

When she wasn't checking where her two friends were, Ventus had often noticed her hanging her head. She had spoken little, only making the kind of remarks as just now. A wearied, defeated soldier, trudging along because she did not know what else might be done. It was a difficult thing to see. And it was difficult to believe she was the one who had insisted they come here, seeing the effect it was having her, even threatening to come here alone if they tried to leave her home.

And this had been going on even before coming here. It had not been easy to notice at first. While the fight against Organization XIII had still loomed on the horizon she had seemed mostly seemed like her old self, if a bit more sad than before. They had all been through a lot, and Aqua had always enjoyed occasional moments of quiet reflection. So it had been all too easy to dismiss her mood as something completely understandable and natural. Something that would pass with time. And during the Keyblade War she had fought valiantly and well, doing her part to help them achieve their goal, same as any. No one could have asked more of her.

It was only after they had returned home and sought to start their lives anew that the real troubles had begun showing. Her sorrows had started to develop into something else. Something much more difficult. The first thing to come to light was how she was now afraid of her reflection. After a few early incidents she had begun hiding the problem, but it had been easy enough to notice how she purposefully avoided certain situations. It was never clear what she saw that frightened her so. He had not noticed anything different in her reflection, and she had refused to tell.

Then there was the matter of her nightmares. Until very recently there had been little direct proof of them, though she had often seemed exhausted during the day. The most disturbing incident had occurred a few days before coming here. It had been quite a thing, waking in the middle of the night to her screaming, then to the sound of shattering glass. Rushing to her room to find her crying, Terra comforting her, the ruins of her mirror scattered on the floor and she herself bloodied by the shards. He had spent that night awake, wracking his brain for some way to make this stop for her, to give her peace. He had even asked Chirithy if they could help keep her nightmares at bay (how had he known that might be a possibility?). But unfortunately Chirithy had explained it was not something that would work for someone else (Someone else? Meaning it would… work for him?). Every Chirithy was connected to the heart of a specific wielder, and that wielder was the only one that they could help. (Meaning there were more of Chirithy than just the one?)

Thank goodness Terra had been able to be there for her, staying with her through the rest of the night. Yet despite all of that she had refused to talk with them about this when morning arrived. Refused to let them get close enough to truly help her. Why did she do that? Why was she so persistent in facing this alone?

Of course both him and Terra had had their difficulties. Terra regretted the mistakes that had made him into Xehanort's vessel. Having borne silent witness to what the Dark Master had done with his body, powerless to reclaim the flesh that had rebelled against him… it had brought him great pain. Not the least because Xehanort had come close to killing his friends while in his body.

And Ventus certainly remembered running away from home, starting a process that had nearly cost him both his friends. And had cost the life of his Master, Eraqus. Learning that he was somehow the component of the deadliest weapon in existence. Battling Vanitas, purposefully allowing his heart to be damaged to keep the X-blade from being forged not knowing if he would ever be able to be see his friends again. Then there were the recent disturbing images that had started to intrude on his mind during his decade sleeping. Not memories exactly, but rather memories of a memory. Ghostings of faces he did not recognize, places that felt familiar but which he had never visited. Events he felt he had been a part of but had no clear recollection of. Like a whole other life just beyond his reach. And of course there was the mystery of Chirithy. He had never seen a spirit like that, but the instant they had shown he had known them to be a friend and ally, someone to be trusted. He had thought to ask Chirithy of the matter, and of what these images in his mind might mean, but thinking of them too much brought up a feeling of distress he could not explain. And what's more he somehow knew simply being told would not be enough. He needed something else. So he had set the matter aside as a matter to be pursued later. And yet it all bothered him, even now.

But the two of them had been working through their feelings, slowly but surely building themselves back towards what they had used to be, perhaps ultimately stronger for their experiences. When they needed to they relied on each other for strength. It had not escaped Aqua's attention. She seemed silently envious they were doing so well, frustrated that she was struggling where others were not. They had wanted to help her as they had helped each other, but she seemed all too keen to push away assistance. Like she was embarrassed she had difficulties to begin with. It was difficult to understand why she tried to shut them out when all they were trying to do was to help her through whatever was troubling her.

"Aqua… I've been thinking… maybe we should take a break from this." Terra suddenly spoke up, interrupting Ventus's musings.

"We haven't found signs of Sora so far. And we can't say for sure how much time we have spent looking already. We should check back, see how much time had passed, and whether or not the others have managed to find anything." He explained.

"I'm not giving up the search. That we haven't found anything yet doesn't mean he is not here. And if he is here he needs us. I would know. All three of us owe it to him to find him." She said at once, surprisingly bluntly.

"I'm not saying we should abandon anything. And I agree we do need to find him if he is here. I'm only saying we should take a moment to see how things are going elsewhere." Terra said. Ventus could practically hear his frown.

"You can go back if you are feeling scared. I am not leaving." She said, then strode onwards with renewed determination.

There it was again. That anger that drove her ever onwards, flaring up each time they suggested she slow down, stop or turn back. And yet it was clear neither he nor Terra were the focus of her anger. It was directed against something else, something Ventus had a hard time defining.

What was this? How could she still be hurting so much because of what this place had done to her the last time, yet so completely devoted to returning here again, to the point of refusing all alternatives? These seemed like two opposite truths, which should not be able to coexist in a single person. Yet they did so in her.

Could she truly be wanting to find Sora this badly? It did not feel like the right answer. The desire to find a lost friend should be a clean, pure feeling, founded in the light. But this was something different… something much scarier. An obsession. She wanted something in this bleak place. Wanted it with terrible desperation that drove her actions. But what could it be if not to find Sora?

"Who has blamed anyone of being scared? It would just make sense to…" Terra began to say, his frown sounding to have deepened even more.

He would never be able to complete that sentence.

Without warning the trio was surrounded. Black, ant-like creatures with beady unblinking eyes of yellow emerged all around. The Heartless had found them once more.

"Oh here we go again. We need to fight!" Terra shouted, calling for his keyblade.

Their budding argument set aside, they once again engaged their old enemy. Keyblades flashed, spells were unleashed their foe starting to fall before them. Each one they felled dispersed in a cloud of black and purple, releasing a heart that soon vanished from their sight.

It should have been a quick and decisive win for them. Smaller Heartless were hardly any threat to them, and they were fighting them with accustomed ease. But something was different this time. For every Heartless they managed to fell, three more seemed to appear. Their numbers rapidly grew to levels even they were starting to find unmanageable all at once. Then even more dramatically they stopped attacking them, instead rushing off to jump into a pit of shadows. It was not a retreat. Rather the Hearltess emerged from the pit fused together into a long black tendril that twisted and turned as it rose above their heads. A demon tide. A bad enough thing to encounter normally. But here in the darkness, where it had the home field advantage…

"Watch yourselves! Here it comes!" Aqua shouted in warning, then vaulted out of the way as the swarm slammed to where she had just been.

Their fight continued, the three of them slashing at the swarm and unleashing barrages of spells against it. The demon tide in turn roiled and churned and lashed out at them. Despite the damage they were inflicting the tide was moving ever faster and more unpredictably. Like it was only gaining strength instead of losing it. The eyes of the heartless turned from yellow to a menacing red. Not just for a moment but altogether.

And then Ventus moved a fraction too slow. The swarm clipped his shoulder, sending him spinning to the ground, his keyblade clattering away.

"Ven!" Aqua and Terra shouted in unison as he lay unconscious on the ground. Both of them tried to rush to his aid, but the Demon Tide turned its attention to Aqua next. She had just enough time to throw up a barrier before it reached her. She grunted under the force of the impact, but managed to hold the barrier. Immediately after the Tide slammed into her barrier half dozen more times from different angles, all in the space of a few seconds. Each new impact was as powerful as the first, but she held fast. Then the Heartless changed tactics, wrapping themselves around her barrier like a constrictor snake, applying an intense, steady pressure from all directions.

It did not take long for her to start straining under the squeeze. Her barrier began to shrink, but with a defiant shout she expanded it back to its original size. She would not give up! But she was caught in this stalemate, unable to divert attention from maintaining the barrier to fight back of try to get out of the way.

She could see nothing except the swirling mass of the Heartless, their emotionless red eyes drilling into her, craving to claim her heart. The fluttering of them swirling around her filled the world. She could hear nothing else. Their darkness was oppressive, suffocating, making it hard to sense anything else. There was no way to tell if Terra was still out there, trying to fight his way to her. Could it be that the Heartless had defeated him too? Was she all alone in this place… again?

Alone in the darkness…?

That thought felt like an icy hand grasping her heart, and in that instant hundreds of hairline fractures appeared on her barrier. The Demon Tide reacted, lifting itself up to gather strength for the blow, then came down on her barrier with tremendous force. This time it shattered into pieces to the sound of breaking class. And then it struck her. There was a sound of something breaking, and she was sent flying, her keyblade torn from her grasp. She fell face down to the ground, the painful impact driving the air out of her lungs.

With a groan she rose to her hands and knees, and then was able to realize the extent of what had happened. The attack had destroyed her helmet and much of the upper part of her armor. What remained was marred by myriad fractures. Even worse, she could feel the magic of the armor had been drained, removing its protective qualities. The fractures expanded, her armor disintegrating into splinters, leaving her in only her normal clothes.

The Demon tide had moved back, revealing Terra. He was still up and fighting, slashing at the Heartless as they passed him by. And then he saw her.

"Aqua! Your armor!" He shouted, alarm in his voice.

She shared his alarm. With her armor gone she no longer had a defense against this realm's influence. In no time at all she felt the eye of darkness turn its attention to her, assaulting her mind's defenses. At that same time deep within her heart something surged, trying to claw its way out and connect with the greater darkness outside.

There had been a time she had been able to endure and entire decade's worth of this kind of attack. But this time for some reason it felt more potent than she remembered. And she was hardly the bastion of strength she had been back then. She groaned, holding her head with both hands, her face twisting from the effort of maintaining control.

"That's it! We're getting out of here! All of us!" Terra shouted, raising his keyblade to open a gate for them.

"Terra! Behind you!" She shouted, spotting the danger before him despite her current condition.

He turned, too late. The demon tide slammed into him, lifting him up in the air. The Heartless enveloped him, and he disappeared from her view again. In an additional act of cruelty the Demon tide scooped up Ventus as well, leaving both of them trapped within its mass.

She tried to stand up and recall her keyblade to her hand. Tried to stand up and charge in to rescue both of them. But the assault on her mind grew in intensity, and her knees buckled.

"No… I have to fight. I need to get up. I can't lose them… not again." She whispered.

"And once again, you were not able to save anyone."

She gasped. That voice… her throat had made the sound, her lips moving to form the words. But it had not been of her own volition. Something within her had reached out and moved her like a puppet, made her say that.

"And you call yourself a keyblade master. Pathetic. What kind of a master is constantly the one in the need to be rescued? What master let's everyone else down in their moment of need?" She felt herself utter involuntarily.

"What… who is…?" She tried to ask.

"You know full well who." Her own voice again responded.

The realization hit her. "You… It can't be. Terra and Ven…"

"…Are gone. Forever." The voice finished for her. "And here you are again, in the dark. All alone, with no one to help you."

"No. You lie. They live still." She said defiantly. And indeed she could still feel the connection between their hearts. But the link was fraying, weakening even as she spoke.

"Now, or in a moment. It makes no difference." The voice sneered.

As she was arguing with her phantom self, the Demon Tide moved overhead. Slow, lazy movements observing the situation. At this moment she would have been easy prey, but the swarm had declined to finish her off.

"And why would it? You have already lost this, so why waste the effort." Said the voice. Dammit, could the phantom hear her thoughts too?

"Of course. We are the same." Said the voice, confirming her suspicion.

"It is over. Why prolong the inevitable? Let it all go and fade away here. Your friends are lost to you. Devoured by shadow. Rejoin them. Be one with the darkness." She heard her own voice say.

"N-never. I'll fight you off!" She spat. She wished she could have mustered more confidence behid her declaration.

The voice merely chuckled. "You could not do that even when your light still shone like the sun. It took time, but in the end you lost. And now you are but a candle."

"Yield to us…yield…" The voice said. Her own voice, soft, coaxing, and sickeningly gentle. And yet this was not a request in any way. A command given gently was still a command. Refusal was not an option she was being left with. Even if her willpower endured, there was still the Demon Tide.

And truth to be told… she was tired of it all. How many times had she tried to find her strength, her old self again? How many times had she failed in this? She had been retrieved from the Realm of Darkness, only for her to bring the Realm with her. So much time spent trying to contain that darkness in her heart, and for what? Her efforts had dragged Terra and Ven here. Now she was set to lose both of them and it was all her fault. They would not have been here if she had not asked it of them. And if she lost them, what other reason did she have to carry on? What would sustain the light she had left?

Maybe… there really wasn't a way out of this. Maybe this was the end of the road. Maybe she should just…

No! These weren't her thoughts! This was her darkness playing tricks on her, trying to make her give in. She must not listen to this voice! She must not give up!

"Get… out… of my heart! You… will… not… have me!" She snarled between clenched teeth.

She felt her mouth curl into a grin, which sent a chill coursing through her bloodstream. "We already do…"

As grim a prospect as that might be, in that moment she resolved to fight to the bitter end. She would not give her shadow the satisfaction of an easy victory, of seeing her surrender.

"Oh you bloody idiots!" As sudden shout sounded, snapping her out of her dark musing for a moment.

A person in a black coat flew in from the darkness, riding a stream of electricity like a snowboard. Another burst of electricity struck the Demon Tide, destroying several of the Heartless that formed its mass. The Demon Tide turned to chase the new arrival down, but the figure was even quicker, dodging and turning in the air, weaving a web lightning that made pursuit difficult. Along the way she threw scored of knives at the Hearltess swarm. Each became a burst of electricity on impact, further thinning the swarm.

The figure was wearing… an Oganization coat? And was that a Keyblade in her hand? The shout had sounded like a woman's. But this person was far too tall to be Xion, the only person Aqua thought might possess both a keyblade and an Organization coat. Who was this? The figure's hood was raised, so Aqua could not see their face.

Aqua once again tried to stand up and join the effort, but neatly blacked out from the effort. The darkness had not ceased its assault on her heart. Unable to focus on anything else, she was forced to divert all her attention to the battle within, forgetting the world around her.

"Lauriam!" Elrena shouted, and in a flash of pink light and a shower of rose petals, he entered the battlefield as well. He swung his keyblade in a wide arc, sending a wave of pink light to strike the Tide, slicing off a sizeable piece of it. The Hearltess turned their attention to him, but he dodged out of their way, slashing at the swarm several times as it passed him by, each strike of his keyblade sending a fresh shower of rose petals into the air. Meawhile Elrena continued to attack from the air, hammering away at the swarm with electricity and knives.

They fought together, complementing each other's styles. Lauriam's attacks slower and more powerful, fighting with melee attacks at every opportunity. Elrena's attacks quicker and lighter, preferring to strike at range, only making quick slashes at the swarm when it got too close to her.

Already weakened from battling Aqua, Terra and Ventus, and its attention divided between two wielders with differing styles, the Demon Tide soon started to struggle. Suddenly it curled up on itself, as if starting to feel the damage it had taken. Then it fled, vanishing deeper into the darkness. As it retreated it spat out Terra and Ventus, sending both of the tumbling to the ground.

After the intense fighting, only a deep silence remained.

"Whew. You were right. It really does come back to you after a bit." Elrena said, touching down, the lightning she had been riding on disappearing. "Though I don't remember fighting anything like that back during the day."

"I can't really say I have either. The darkness must have learned new tricks since." Lauriam replied.

"We need to keep our guard up. It might come back." He added.

"Right. Let's see who we actually saved here." She said.

"Had a pretty rough landing these two. But I think their armor took the most of it." She said. Even so she cast Cura on Terra, while Lauriam did the same for Ventus. Then Lauriam suddenly stopped, bringing a hand to his chest.

"Elrena… I think Ven is close by. Very close. I can feel him." He said.

Elrena paused. "You don't think…?"

"Wait up. Isn't she one of his new friends? I recognize her from the Keyblade Graveyard." She said, pointing at Aqua. Then that must be…"

"Ven!" Lauriam completed the thought, running to his one-time friend.

"Ven! Wake up! Can you hear me?" He said to him, kneeling down next to him and shaking him by the shoulder. He began stirring in response.

Elrena meanwhile turned her attention to Aqua. The blue-haired woman was still curled up on the ground, holding her head.

"You too. We need you back on your feet. Come on, up you get." Elrena told her.

"Hey! You listening to me?" She asked when she didn't get a reply. Then she heard something clinking at her feet and looked down, noticing the pieces strewn on the ground.

"Armor fragments?" She breathed. "You've lost your protections girl? Don't tell me…"

She knelt down and grasped the other woman by the chin, looking into her eyes. Elrena suppressed a gasp. Aqua was staring into nothingness without seeing. Her eyes had gone a deep green, strands of yellow starting to climb out from the innermost part.

"Uh, Lauriam, we need to get out of here this instant! She's falling apart here! We'll lose her if we don't move!" She told him.

"Alright!" He replied. "Ven, get up! We need to go! Can you stand?"

"Y-yeah…" Ven said, groggily getting back on his feet, calling his keyblade to his hand. "B-but… who are you?" He asked, tensing a little when he recognized the Organization coat.

"I'm Lauriam. I guess you wouldn't recognize me just by voice. It's been long enough for it to change." Came the response.

"Lauriam…?" Ventus repeated, then doubled over with a grunt, his free hand going to his forehead, the name sending a migraine drilling into his brain.

"Guys, there's no time for a meet-and-greet! She won't make it! And I think the natives are getting restless…" Elrena said while picking up Aqua, draping her arm over her shoulder.

And indeed, the Demon Tide had returned, surging towards them. There looked to even more Heartless than before, reinforcements drawn into it from who knows where. The sound it was making… it sounded angry. Enraged. Like a horde of bees.

"WE NEED OUT! NOW!" Elrena shouted.

"Right!" Ventus said, snapping into action. He pointed his keyblade in front of him, opening a gate.

"There! Go!" He shouted.

Lauriam half carried, hald dragged the still unconscious Terra through, Elrena following through with Aqua. Ventus waited until everyone else had made it through, then dove in himself, the Demon Tide right at his heels…