Sketching out his life
Gathering everything that Naminé required took considerable time. Lauriam and Elrena searched through multiple worlds for the ingredients Aqua had requested for her potion. They kept their contact with local people to the minimum possible restricting themselves to traders who were selling what they needed. And they stayed well away from worlds where they knew the current Princesses of Heart to reside. Yen Sid probably watched over those worlds with his magic, and would be able to detect an intrusion from the outside. They would reveal themselves to him soon enough, but for now they did not wish to have the complication. Not before they had had a chance to make their case to him.
A handful of those they interacted with were able to recognize them, but none well enough to take offense and refuse to trade with them. To most they were just two more customers in a slightly more unusual garb than they were used to. And while Xehanort's schemes had brought chaos and conflict to many worlds residents of these worlds were totally ignorant of the larger scheme of things. None of them knew that Elrena and Lauriam had belonged to a group that had very nearly brought their existence to an end. And a good thing too. No doubt there would have been extremely few who would agree to do business with them had they known.
Along the way they fought multitudes of Heartless, both to earn them the funds that were needed, and settling matters with a few of the more reluctant merchants. Their battles went fairly smoothly with no notable difficulties for either of them. Elrena actually found the business of hunting down heartless rather refreshing. A callback to earlier times before so many terrible things had happened, and an opportunity to re-familiarize herself with her keyblade. And a having few hearts delivered from the clutches of darkness was a nice achievement to have along the way. Even if there was no one to see it, it felt like they were beginning to settle their debts over their past mistakes, these freed hearts their first installment. She could tell Lauriam felt the same way.
While they did not have a lot of trouble, she did note there were quite a few Heartless about. She found that rather curious. With Xehanort's meddling brought to an end she would have thought their numbers would start to go down. But apparently this was not the case. But maybe that simply meant it would take some more time and effort from the available keyblade wielders to fully clear out the worlds. Time and effort that had not been given yet, since the focus of the Guardians had been on locating Sora. If so, then it was probably a good thing she and Lauriam were here to lend a helping hand.
Even after they had returned and provide all the necessary ingredients more needed to be accomplished. Aqua set to work on brewing the needed potion. The complexity of the formula meant that only her fourth attempt succeeded in making it. But even after that was done they were not ready. Naminé insisted she needed more time to practice with Ventus's memories, and time to spend with Ventus to mentally prepare him for the ordeal ahead. That all took so long Elrena was actually starting to think Naminé was just playing for time; that she did not intend to go through with this after all. But finally she announced she was ready to make her attempt. That day all of them gathered in Ventus's room.
"Right. Each of you will be needed here now." Naminé told them.
"Chirithy, when I begin there is a very good chance the memories will dredge up nightmares. You will need to protect him from them." She told the spirit.
"Of course. As always." Chirithy said.
"The rest of you are needed here as well. You are his friends from both his present… and his past. Your light will help to sustain him. It will anchor him, helping make sure he loses none of himself as I work to piece it all together."
"Also, if he begins thrashing you can help keep him down. We would not wish for him to injure himself because of this." She added.
"The most important thing to understand now is this: Once started, this cannot be stopped. Must not be stopped. If the process is interrupted midway, there is no telling what it might do to him… or me. It could destroy us, or do permanent damage to our minds. So no matter what happens, do not attempt to wake him and don't try to interfere with my efforts." She concluded.
"Ventus… I need to ask you this one more time. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this? There will be no turning back after this." She queried.
Ventus looked at the ground, grasping his chin, clearly understanding the seriousness of the question. Some time passed as he considered.
"I… I'm sure. I think I need these memories. I can feel they are very important." He finally said.
Naminé nodded, sighing. She had rather hoped for a different answer, but Ventus had clearly made up his mind.
"Then let's start." She said.
"You'll be alright Ven. We will be right here." Terra said, placing a reassuring hand on Ventus's shoulder.
"We'll keep you safe." Aqua echoed.
"As will we." Lauriam said.
"And you need not be worried of any nightmares. They won't reach you." Said Chirithy, then jumped up and disappeared in a puff of smoke, going to wait in Ven's heart.
Ventus nodded, grateful for the support of his friends. He hoped to fully remember all of them soon.
Meanwhile Naminé took a potion from a tray on a table nearby.
"Ventus, please drink this and lie down." She said, handing the potion to him.
Naminé waited until Ventus started to fall asleep, then reached for the second potion on the table. With the potion in her hands she sat down on a chair next to Ventus's bed, the table to her right side. She laid her drawing board on her lap, then drank the potion. She had downed about half of it when she stopped, grimacing and covering her mouth with her hand.
"Hmmgh… bitter." She said.
"Yeah, sorry. The recipe didn't leave a lot of room to maneuver there." Aqua said. "I think you need to drink all of it for it to work." She added.
"Pity…" Naminé said, grimaced again and emptied the rest of the bottle. Then it was only a matter of waiting for its effect to take hold.
Perhaps five minutes passed, and then her eyelids began drooping. Her hand reached out, first for a stack of paper, then at the first of her crayons. And she began to draw.
Lauriam would have thought he would have recognized the subjects of her drawings immediately. But to his surprise the first images were entirely unrecognizable to him. Naminé must have started her work from the very beginning, from the earliest memories Ventus had. This might take some time then.
Naminé was not looking at what she was drawing, instead looking into nothingness with half closed eyes. But her hand never faltered, moving on its own and drawing each line with precision, deftly reaching for new colors as she needed them. Lauriam noted her skills had improved a great deal since the last time he had seen her pictures. No longer quite the children's drawings they had been during the Castle Oblivion days.
As each drawing was completed it was discarded, tossed to the floor, and another empty paper immediately took its place. Fairly soon the completed drawings were cluttering the floor. The four of them who were awake and fully aware took turns in collecting them and organizing them into stacks, clearing the floor for new drawings. After a while there were hundreds of them piled up in the corner. Now and then one of them had to briefly leave the room to fetch more paper and crayons as supplies were running low. It was a good thing the castle could supply all they needed.
Hours slipped by, day starting to shift to evening, and Naminé continued working without pause.
"Gotta say, this one of the weirdest operations I've taken part in. And given my work record that's quite an accomplishment." Elrena commented with a low voice.
"At least Ven looks to be doing ok so far…" Aqua said. Now and then there was a twitch on his face, or a tremor on his body. Quiet moans occasionally escaped from his lips. But for the most part he seemed to be resting peacefully.
"I think we are still going through his earlier memories. The ones being restored now might even be from before he was a Keyblade wielder at all. It may get worse for him once we get closer to the end. The parts where… things started to go wrong." Lauriam warned.
Terra and Aqua looked at each other, then nodded at Lauriam. If there was any truth to what he and Elrena had told them, then he likely had the right of this. There might be worse ahead yet.
The night arrived, and Naminé continued her work. Now and then Ventus began to shake, Naminé working at a quicker pace than usual. One of them was always there to hold Ventus down during those moments, ensuring he did not injure himself by accident. After a while things always calmed down, Naminé's drawing returning to its normal pace. Perhaps it was better to not know how many close calls they had this night. How many times they came close to utter disaster.
"How long do you suppose this is going to take?" Elrena asked.
"I don't know. I guess we forgot to cover that part. But I think she would have warned us if this was going to take more than one day." Lauriam replied.
"But didn't it take much longer to restore Sora's memories? Around a year?" Terra asked.
"Yes, but I understand there were some complications. Roxas and Xion were causing interference. And Naminé had to undo her own alterations before she could begin piecing Sora's memories back together. No need to do anything like that this time around. What's more, the whole operation had to be relocated to the mansion in Twilight Town to hide it from the Organization." Aqua explained.
"Indeed. And since all those extra steps won't be needed, things should go more quickly now." Lauriam said. He took a closer look at the pictures already completed.
"It does look like we are starting to reach his time as a wielder." He commented.
"Anyone you recognize yet?" Asked Terra.
"Ven is the only one so far. But there are other wielders already." Lauriam responded, showing him some of the pictures.
He continued to examine the completed pictures. Then, as he was looking at one of them, his expression turned sad. At the same time Ventus became more restless once more. He began to shake, quiet whimpers escaping from his mouth. Terra moved to his side again, taking gentle hold of his arms, keeping him still.
"So I guess we are starting to get to the more distressing memories." Aqua said, trying to keep the worry from her voice.
"Indeed. You should come take a look at this." Lauriam said, handing her the picture he had been holding.
"I believe this one depicts the moment he was put in Strelitzia's place as a Union Leader." He continued as Aqua took the offered picture.
"That time…" Aqua said, deep in thought. She looked at the people Naminé had drawn. Ventus she was able to recognize almost immediately. But the others…
"This person on the ground… is she…?" She asked.
"That is her. That is Strelitzia." Lauriam confirmed.
"So this other thing depicted… this is the creature you faced? That is Darkness?" She asked.
Lauriam nodded.
Even merely drawn on paper this… shadowy cloud with the vaguely humanoid center gave a very malevolent feel. Just looking at it Aqua felt something twist in the pit of her stomach.
"So this thing… it hid inside Ven?" She asked.
"Yes. It must have been there from the day we union leaders met in the keyblade graveyard after the war. And the whole time none of us had any idea. Nothing about Ventus at the time gave it away. We would probably never have known anything was wrong had Brain not figured things out and managed to lure it out of hiding." Lauriam said.
"So that's what it looks like. I've wondered." Elrena said, peering over Aqua's shoulder. "In the time we left things happened so fast neither Lauriam nor any of our other friends had the time to describe it to me."
"Nasty looking critter." She commented.
"And way worse to face in real life." Lauriam commented. "When we encountered it I remember it constantly fading in an out of view, shifting from one part of the room to another. Like it was everywhere and nowhere at once. It even popped up right in our midst a few times. Very unnerving. And when it got very close to you… or when it managed to strike at you… it left you feeling cold. Like you'd never be warm or happy ever again."
Aqua suppressed a shudder. That was a feeling she was all too familiar with. When she had finally given in to the darkness, that feeling had been all she had been left with. It had overwritten her memories, banishing the good things in her life, leaving only the bad memories. Ultimately she had been rendered unable to even think in terms other than negative emotions. Nothing left in her heart except misery and despair. How there had been enough of her true self left to restore her she did not even know. And maybe on some level the truth was… that there had not been.
She had once overheard Terra telling Ventus how darkness could be a rush of sorts, a thrill. A feeling of power so potent one could easily become addicted to it. But it had never been that way to her. With her the darkness never gave anything, only took things away. Then again, anything offered by darkness she would have rejected, even now. Not that the lack of temptation had protected her in the end. She had still lost herself, and it still might happen unless she was able to find some solution. If one even existed…
"That's enough." She scolded herself, realizing how off topic she had allowed her thoughts to drift. Her Phantom was doing a good enough job of making itself known without her calling it up with thoughts like that. And the last thing Ven needed now was her dwelling on her darkness. It was the light of their friendship he needed now, to guide his way and protect him. For his sake she would get ahold of herself and persevere.
It did not help matters that this whole thing was now happening in the middle of the night. Just looking out the window and seeing that it was dark outside caused a clenching feeling in the pit of her stomach. Furthermore with light in the room and dark outside there was a reflection in the window, and unfortunately there were no curtains in Ven's room. Terra would more than likely have done something had he noticed. But currently all his attention was on Ventus, and rightly so as far as Aqua was concerned. And getting any kind of assistance would have required public acknowledgement of her situation, which she still didn't quite feel ready to do. That Elrena and Lauriam already seemed to know at least some of it didn't change much. It would still be different to admit as much herself.
She did her utmost to keep her eyes away from the glass, and herself outwardly calm. Instead she focused on Terra and Ventus. "Your friends are here, and that reflection cannot hurt you." She reminded herself.
Her eyes moved to Ven, still noticeably shaking, being held down by Terra, then to Naminé who continued her work with an eerie relentlessness, then right back to Ven.
"Do you… are you sure he will be alright? This looks to put him under a lot of strain." She gave voice to her thoughts.
"Naminé did warn us this could be dangerous." Elrena pointed out. "We've done everything we can to make this go smoothly. Now we just have to hope it will be enough."
"We have to trust her. It's up to her, Ven and Chirithy to see this through. Being here for Ventus is the only thing for us to do." Lauriam echoed.
Aqua nodded, but nevertheless was looking at Ventus, a rather obvious look of concern on her face. She disliked being a bystander right now. She hoped there was something more to do than stand here and watch how things played out.
Lauriam returned his attention to the images Naminé was making. The next one to be completed he realized depicted the day he had first met with the other Union Leaders, after the war. He remembered that as a day of quiet melancholy, further marked by worry as he had realized his sister had been nowhere to be found. Nevertheless it brought a small smile to his lips to see his friends of old again, even if it was only on paper. How he longed to see them again, unlikely though it was. Then again, who knows? Maybe it was not as set in stone as it appeared to be. After all, people randomly appearing from the past seemed to be something of a theme of late. He knew it would be unwise to get his hopes up, but even keeping the possibility in the back of his mind gave him a small measure of comfort.
More images were drawn, of their time as Union Leaders, of the memorable moments and events they had had before their forced departure. More than a few good memories. But then the Darkness reemerged in Naminé's drawings, the pictures now showing their final confrontation with it.
Naminé stirred, though her eyes remained half closed. "I'm… very close to… to being complete." She said slowly, as if talking in her sleep. "I just… need to connect… the last few…"
Without warning she stopped, her expression turning to one of horror.
"Wait… this isn't... whose heart…? Oh no!" She had time to say before her eyes snapped shut. At that same moment her hand grabbed a black crayon, moving across the paper with great speed, hastily drawing a dark blotch. And then another. And another. And another and another and another. When the paper was full of them she tossed it aside and snatched another, immediately beginning to fill it as well. She was shaking all over, whimpers escaping from her lips. At that same time Ventus was now convulsing, the whole bed shaking while Terra struggled to hold him down. He began to scream…
"W-what's happening?" Aqua asked in alarm as Ventus continued to shout at the top of his lungs.
"I don't know! But… damn, he is really fighting me!" Terra said as Ventus struggled in his grip. "Lauriam, help me out!"
Lauriam moved to help Terra keep Ventus still. Meanwhile Aqua was looking at the scene with an increasingly distressed look on her face.
"This isn't going right! We need to do something, stop this somehow!" She finally said.
"No, wait! You heard Naminé! If you interfere…" Terra warned.
"This is already going wrong! I have to help him!" Aqua interrupted. She took a step towards Naminé. But suddenly Elrena was in front of her, blocking her path.
"Get ahold of yourself! You'll just make it worse!" Elrena said.
"Get out of my way!" Aqua shouted back.
"No!" Elrena said, defiant.
"I said… out of my way!" Aqua said, to everyone's surprise calling for her keyblade.
"I won't!" Elrena said, summoning hers. The sight of Elrena being ready to defend herself caused Aqua to hesitate, but only for a moment. Then their weapons met with a loud clang. Their keyblades remained locked together afterwards, sparks flying as they pushed against each other.
"What!? Hey! Stop fighting!" Terra said. He would have intervened, but Ventus struggling against him forced him to stay put.
"Enough! Stop it! Both of you!" Lauriam echoed.
"Lau...riam." Naminé suddenly spoke up. Her voice was quiet, like speaking was difficult for her, but Lauriam was just close enough to hear her. At the same time her hands continued moving at a feverish pace, drawing ever more black marks onto paper.
"Lauriam… stop me." She told him.
"What? Didn't you say…?" He asked, confused.
"I know… this… new… STOP ME!" She said, in obvious distress.
Lauriam hesitated for one second, two. The he waved his hand, and a ripple passed through the air. Naminé gasped as her head snapped, back her hair fluttering, like a strong gust of wind had hit her. Her drawing stopped, her pen slipping out of her hand. Ven's shouting and thrashing was likewise suddenly cut short. She went limp, falling forward from her chair, with Lauriam catching her just before she hit the ground.
There was a stunned silence, everyone frozen in place and Ventus now resting peacefully. Then Terra suddenly rushed to Lauriam, grasping him by the collar. Lauriam to his credit did not resist.
"You… you dared. Naminé warned us of what might happen if she was interrupted. And you did it anyway!" Terra said to him angrily.
"Only because she asked me to." Lauriam countered, keeping his voice calm.
"She was in distress. You don't know if she was thinking clearly when she asked." Terra countered.
"It's a good thing he did cut this short. You saw what was happening to Ven. Nothing good was going to come of it." Aqua said.
"A good thing?" Terra repeated, incredulous. "And what if this has harmed Ven? Damaged his mind or…?"
"It didn't." Chirithy said, rematerializing in the air. They plopped down onto the bed, swaying a bit on unsteady feet.
"It didn't? So Ven is alright?" Terra asked, releasing his grasp on Lauriam. At this point Aqua and Elrena realized their keyblades were still locked together. They stepped back from each other, dismissing their keyblades, staring at each other awkwardly.
"Yes. Naminé had just enough time to finish her work before she was interrupted." They addded.
"Are you alright, Chirithy? You look exhausted." Lauriam asked.
"Keeping him safe was… difficult. And taxing." The spirit admitted.
"Towards the end there… what happened? What went wrong?" Terra asked.
"I don't know… I don't know. Naminé stumbled upon something that caused a whole horde of nightmares to appear. Almost too many to handle. If you had not interrupted things Ven and I might have both been overrun." They said.
With that admission Terra and Elrena both bowed their heads, a look of regret on their faces.
"But now Ventus needs to rest. I'd like to ask you to leave now. You've done your part for now." Chirithy continued.
"You want us to leave? Won't we be needed yet?" Terra asked.
"No. You were needed in close proximity while Naminé did her work. Now that that is finished, it will be enough for you to remain on the castle grounds. He will be able to find your light then. He is not in immediate danger, so you don't need to stay here to guard him. And after today all of you will be needing rest as well." The spirit said.
"I… I might wish to stay, just in case." Aqua piped up.
"There is no point in that. If something were to happen there would be little you could do anyway. You'll just exhaust yourselves for no good reason. I will watch over him now. And if his situation should change during the night I'll alert you at once." Chirithy said.
"…Very well. I'll bring Naminé to her room." Lauriam said. Before picking her up he made an effort to remove the papers she was still clutching in her hands, but found her grip was solid as steel. Eventually he decided to just leave the papers in her grasp and proceeded to carry her out of the room. The others slowly drifted out as well.
"Elrena, I… back there…." Aqua began as they exited. "I hope you can understand… I was just trying to keep Ven safe."
"Yeah… me too, Aqua. But I guess we both lost our heads in the process, eh?" Elrena replied.
"You? But I was the one that raised a keyblade against you." Aqua said.
"True enough. And I'd rather you never do that again. I probably won't get to come back if I get myself killed this time around. And I'm not done living just yet. Still, I responded in kind quickly enough. And… I was in the wrong. It was necessary to stop what was happening after all. And I tried to stop you from doing it." Elrena said.
"You didn't know. I didn't. I was just acting on instinct. I might just as well been the one being wrong." Aqua said.
Elrena rubbed the back of her head. "Hum… well, since neither of us looks to be particularly angry at the other and since Chirithy believes Ven is alright… how about we agree to forgive and forget?"
"Seal it with a handshake?" She asked, offering her hand.
Aqua looked at the hand for a moment, then nodded. Then the two shook hands, and Elrena gave a relieved smile.
"Now I'd suggest you go get some sleep, Blue. The bags under your eyes suggest you're going to need it." Elrena said then.
Aqua sighed. "Blast. It's that obvious?" She asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Yeah, kinda. And I can tell it's not only because of today. But that's all the more reason to get as much rest as you're able."
"Yeah…" Aqua said. Rest would indeed be welcome, if she could manage it. Unfortunately that would be even more difficult than usual. In addition to the usual nightmares, tonight she would most likely be worked up by Ven's situation as well. It was then she thought of an idea that might be of some help…
"Until tomorrow then." Elrena said, then walked away, disappearing around the corner.
"If you were planning to go get some sleep… then I'll suppose I'll see you in the morning as well." Terra said, turning to leave.
"Terra, wait." Aqua said, and he stopped.
"There is something… I would like to ask you…" She said before pausing nervously.
"Yes?" Terra asked.
"I was wondering… if you would stay with me tonight." She said.
Terra just stared at her with wide eyes.
"Oh, I meant like… a sleepover." She explained with haste when she realized the possible interpretation. "I just… you being near… I think it might help with my nightmares is all. I might be able to sleep better that way."
"O-of course if you don't want to do that then you don't have to. Maybe it was a stupid idea to ask…" She then stammered.
Terra smiled. "It's fine. I'll just need to bring a mattress from my room."
Aqua's eyes lit up as she realized Terra was agreeing with her request. "Sure! I'll help you with that." She said. Terra nodded, and together they left in the direction of their rooms.
Around the corner in the opposite direction, Elrena was leaning against the wall. A smile tugged the corner of her mouth before she proceeded down the hallway towards her own room.
