AN: Oh hey the B plot came back! xD Wonder what I'm cooking there...? :D
Also Aqua's totally not getting to the capital until like next chapter, or two, cause...B plot took up word count. xD The price you pay lol!
End of AN!
"Well that glass canyon in the desert was oh so pretty or whatever - but a huge bust! And every world since has been the exact same thing!"
Skuld sighed, nodding as she followed Elrena through the field of flowers in the middle of a dense forest.
It didn't seem like this world would be any different than the last two on the list to investigate that they had visited, either. There wasn't even anything remarkable about it, as far as she could tell...nothing out of place or noteworthy. Nothing magical or strange.
Maybe they were just in the wrong part of this world?
Skuld looked up into the sky of blue - at the snowy mountains in the distance ahead of them. Several of them in a tight group. One of them, on the left, had a large portion of it carved away on one side. That, at least, was something interesting. But was it worth looking into?
"...not going to find a damn thing like this! Ugh! You know what? Let's just move on! I vote new world! This one's completely-" Elrena was ranting still, stomping out ahead.
"What are you looking for? Maybe I can help?" a voice came suddenly in the still forest.
Elrena froze.
Skuld stopped too, looking around. Wariness in her Heart. "Who's there?" she spoke out.
"I'm over here!" the voice came again.
Skuld turned on her heel, scanning the treeline. She heard a rustling sound, and tilted her head back to look upward. Had the voice come from-
Several sparking knives flew over Skuld's head, stabbing into the tree's trunk, beneath the branches.
"What is WRONG WITH YOU?!" the unknown voice exclaimed. The leaves rustled, and a small, blue bird emerged out of the tree, darting overhead and flying in a wide circle. "I usually have better experiences with humans!"
Skuld gazed up at the little bird, gasping. Then she smiled, rolling her neck and looking to Elrena.
Elrena looked back at her, jaw dropped. Then she shook her head furiously and crossed her arms. "Nuh-uh! No! I am not asking the bird for directions! If I need their help, I'll turn them into crispy chi-"
"My friend is trying to tell you how sorry she is - she's not very good with words!" Skuld said loudly, raising a hand to the sky. She crooked her wrist and extended a finger. "Could you come down here for us? Please? We're lost and we could use some help from someone who knows this place."
The bird flew down in a spiraling path, darting around Skuld before coming to a sudden fluttering stop on her outstretched finger. They twitched and cocked their head, looking at Skuld's face.
Skuld gave a smile. "Thanks. Again, we're sorry about that. She's the type to attack first and ask questions later...she's very defensive. And sensitive."
"Ughhhhh..." Elrena growled out, stomping off, then starting to pace, tapping her fingers on her arms.
"See?" Skuld's smile turned to a small grin now. "Anyways, I'm Skuld, and she's Elrena. What's your name?"
The bird fluttered their wings at their sides, hopping around on Skuld's finger. "Bella. But youuuuu...you can understand me?! Humans never understand me! Any of us!"
Skuld found herself laughing, and it felt good, and natural, and easy again - like with her friends, during her time in Daybreak Town. For that moment, she almost felt like herself again, fully. The words were definitely coming easier to her right now than ever before in recent memories. Like she was almost back...at the top of her game. "I guess we're just...different from most humans here on your world."
"On my world? What's that mean?"
Skuld paused. She frowned. She smiled again. "Never mind. Bella, what we're looking for is something...like a big hole, or - something like that mountain over there." She raised her other arm to point into the distance. "Do you know anything about it...?"
Bella twitched their head away, looking to the mountains. "There were a lot of humans over there recently - they came through the whole forest with their noisy vehicles and guns. They were going inside these tunnels at the base of that strange mountain. But then this other human came out of them, and there was this big light, and then all of their vehicles were broken, and a bunch of people I've never seen before came out of the ground. They were scary and dangerous, with yellow eyes like the sun, and they were made out of smoke!"
Skuld blinked at Bella, then looked over at Elrena. Pointed. Victorious.
Elrena sighed, rolling her eyes and putting a hand to her face. "Okay, so talking to the bird wasn't useless after all - how was I supposed to know that?!"
"You could have given them a chance first," Skuld replied, gazing at her squarely.
Elrena held her gaze, her lips working silently. Then she threw up her hands with a groan. "Fine - lesson learned - I'll keep it in mind for next time we come across any talking animals! Can we get a move on already? It sounds like the Heartless...and probably someone leading them who needs a good beatdown!"
"How long ago did this happen?" Skuld asked Bella quickly.
"It was just after my morning meal, so...an hour ago?" Bella responded promptly.
"Thanks," Skuld said again, smiling down at them. "You've been a huge help to us. You can go back to your business."
"It was mostly a pleasure, humans!" Bella declared, bolting off of Skuld's hand in a flutter of blue feathers and soaring off toward the trees.
"Okay, let's go," Skuld told Elrena, summoning her Keyblade and raising it up before her. She focused on the mountains ahead of her...and conjured a portal of light.
"Wait a minute, in-world portaling like that still works?" Elrena said, incredulous.
"Apparently," Skuld said with a laugh, striding forth into the portal.
Elrena hurried after her. "Don't you dare leave without me!"
They passed through the portal, stepping out on the other side into a different environment from the forest. An instant, stark change.
The portal of light shut behind them with a snap.
Skuld stopped in her tracks, staring around her in silent horror.
It was...like the site of a war.
Twisted, burning vehicles were scattered everywhere. There were broken weapons, and fallen helmets all around the area. The ground was punctuated by both sizable craters, and large spires of blackened, twisted strands and pulsing blue strips of energy. Those spires immediately sent a coldness down Skuld's back. She knew what they were: darkness! Constructs of physical darkness.
"Damn...these guys really didn't stand a chance, from the looks of things," Elrena remarked. "I guess the little bird was right."
"Let's just see if we can find what we're supposed to find here," Skuld said quietly, taking a breath and moving forward. She set her eyes on the dark, jagged entrance to a long, deep tunnel of rock and stone leading into the broken mountain. "And keep your eyes peeled for Heartless."
"Yeah, yeah - I'm already on it," Elrena murmured, as her Keyblade flashed to life in her hand. "Why does this just feel like Daybreak Town all over again...?"
The last day and a half of the journey to Zitol's capital was one Aqua spent...well, dreading. Worrying.
Vivian had gotten them through the border checkpoints easily and discretely enough. They were into the edge of Zitol's territory now - into a more hilly, grassy expanse, split by rivers, lakes, and distant mountains with snowy peaks.
Aqua had tried to keep talking with Scarlet, trying to...she wasn't sure, to be honest. Rekindle a friendship? Earn forgiveness, even if it was for something she hadn't actually done? It didn't matter much: Scarlet had gone completely silent, after that first, revealing conversation. And Aqua didn't know how to get her to talk again...but she wasn't going to try and force her to. She just hoped...that her words really reached the woman's Heart, through all of the hate, and anger, and misconceptions...the pain, and blame...carried for so long.
Words from her own Heart.
"I know what it's like to be lost in the dark - trapped - all alone," Aqua spoke softly, as she knelt before the woman on the floor of the train car. Watching her. "Nothing but yourself, your own worst, most desperate and terrible thoughts, and feelings. Doubts, fears - thinking it's all just hopeless, that there is never going to be an end in sight...a way back into a world of light. Up until...almost a year ago now, I was all alone in darkness like that, with no escape. I was there for ten years."
Scarlet lifted her head. Her eyes flickered...her lips parted - and then pressed thin again. But she was still looking - paying attention now...
"So many times, in that dark place, all by myself...I considered just giving up - letting myself die," Aqua said tightly. "But the memories of the people I knew, and the places I'd been...they kept hope alive. And developing the habit of talking to myself kept my sanity alive," she added, in a mutter, looking away for a moment. "Not that I think honestly had much of it left, towards the end. I started to slip, to break - doubts and weaknesses in my Heart growing louder and louder. A twisted voice, an image of myself, an illusion that confronted me with the worst, weakest parts of myself. And the images of- people I knew were there, too. I kept seeing them, and I didn't know if they were there to give me hope, a glimpse of happiness, or...if that dark place was taunting me again. But I came to a point where I didn't care anymore if they were phantoms: I just missed them so much, I'd take anything - to see them, to talk to them again! Even if they were just illusions conjured up from my own delusional, insane Heart."
Aqua looked Scarlet in the face, leaning forward on her hands and knees. "You wanted to know where I've been: that's where I've been, since I was eighteen years old. It was a terrible, magical place...another dimension, a realm where time itself didn't seem to matter much. Where the only company I had besides mockeries of illusions of my friends...were hordes of deadly, dark monsters. Creations of smoke and shadow. Ever-present. Always hunting for me, if I stayed in one place too long. I guess, all this to say, Scarlet...I understand. More than most. I think it would surprise you."
Scarlet let her head fall to her shoulder, her eyes blinking...and, for a moment now...losing that hateful, intense look for first time. But then, it was back, as she looked up at Aqua again. Into her eyes. "That doesn't tell me where you were between eight and eighteen."
Aqua sat back again, her breath catching. She looked down, putting hands in her lap. "You know I was never happy being the princess. I just needed- I needed to get away from it all! I needed...and it was more complicated than you probably think! The things that happened that night...the things i learned, and saw...I needed an escape! I never thought that by leaving like that - that you'd suffer so terribly for it! I- I was eight years old, Scarlet, I couldn't have thought ahead, or considered something like that! I was just thinking about...the present. I never set you up, I didn't trick you...I was just a little girl doing what was best for herself in life: just like you always were. And I never blamed you for that, did I? So you can't blame me now!"
"You still haven't answered the question: where were you?"
Aqua frowned. She glanced up at Scarlet. "I was dedicating my Heart and body to training...to become a warrior. Someone who fought for truth, and justice, and order and light."
"Was I the first person you were going to come back and fight for?"
"I- I was going to come back home again - when I was ten. I was going to leave my Master, I was going to come back and- it was always my intention to use everything I learned from him to come back and use it for-"
"But I guess you never did, did you? I don't remember seeing you outside my cell when I was eleven."
Aqua fell silent. "No...I decided to stay, to learn more, to get stronger! I was still in training when I was eighteen! I'd just- passed the test to become a Master, myself, free to go where I pleased - but there was a- crisis, a dangerous enemy who betrayed my Master, destroyed our home! It was battle after battle, and then, in the final battle with the man himself, I...I fell into that dark realm, all alone. There was never time."
Scarlet laughed, turning her head aside, closing her eyes. "You should have just come back for me..." she said, in a wavering, high tone that sounded a lot more like the girl Aqua once knew.
"I know...and I'm sorry. Really. I'm really, really sorry..."
Scarlet didn't respond to her.
"Scarlet...I- I'm here now. We're both here, we're both free. We..." Aqua shook her head as her own words died on her lips. She shook her head and got to her feet. "Maybe it is too late," she murmured, turning away and striding for the door.
"You owe me an arm now, too..."
Aqua stopped, turning back to look at Scarlet. To her surprise, the look that she caught on the woman's face, for a brief moment, almost looked like... Aqua nodded, and curved her lips into a small smile. "I'll find someone to...work on that for you, when we reach the capital." She paused. "And I promise you that, no matter what happens, I'm not going to leave you again."
"No, you'll leave me to rot again."
"No! I- while, yes, you still should be tried and sentenced for all of this here - attacking a passenger train, and trying to kidnap me - I'm not going to let anything happen to you...like before. I'm here now, Scarlet. And I'm going to make sure you're treated properly - even if you do have to do the time for your crimes."
"Oh that's reassuring! Do you think they're not going to want my head for this?! It's not going to be six years this time; it'll be the rest of my life, locked up, in the darkest, deepest hole they have again! I'd rather you just killed me right now than let that happen to me!" Scarlet exclaimed, with passion - but hate. With fear. Fear and panic.
Aqua walked back over to her friend, and sat down in front of her, dropping to her rear. "I could speak on your behalf - I could argue at your trial for-"
"Trial?" Scarlet's voice came, full of disbelief. "They didn't give me one of those the first time! When I was nine years old! They didn't even have real evidence of- of anything, and they did it all anyways! What makes you think they'll give me one now, either?"
"I'll make sure they do this time!"
"What makes you think they're going to be fair about it? The woman who went for their princess - again, in their eyes. They're going to want to kill me, or just lock me away again forever, and they won't bother with any of that crap. Especially not now - with the way they are now about anyone who isn't human..." She stared at Aqua, those wild eyes wild with desperation now, not anger or contempt. It was pleading. "Though I guess if you really were away for all this time like that, you don't know much of anything about the way the world is now...do you?"
Aqua gasped softly, eyeing the woman in return. Was she willing to believe Aqua...? She must be, if she was trying so hard now to...reach out to her...for help...
"I've learned enough to know it isn't...pretty," Aqua said quietly.
Scarlet nodded tightly. "Especially in Zitol. I got out of there as soon as they threw me back onto the streets. I spent a while doing things I didn't like, earning money how I could - using my new age, the only thing I had to me at the time - and let myself be taken outside their territories. After that, I struck off on my own...started to make a life for myself, earning that money by taking blood from others, instead of letting them take blood from me. I found I was good at it; the skills of a good thief are surprisingly applicable to a good bounty hunter."
Aqua nodded, silent - just...wanting to listen to her friend. Trying not to judge her. If there was anything Aqua owed her, it was probably that, at the least... And she knew now that...she couldn't possibly judge her, could she? She knew the worlds were so much more complicated than a life lived inside of gleaming castle halls, or as some shining warrior of light against monsters and villains of darkness. The choices people faced, the lives they had to lead...it wasn't easy, or simple. Her experiences across these worlds had shown that to her clearly; who was she to judge - to judge Natsumi, or Scarlet, or...anyone?
"So just kill me before we get there," Scarlet spoke again. "I know your promises don't mean anything - they didn't then, and they don't now. You're not going to be able to make this some nice, clean affair like that. But the fact that you think that...you are still the same delusional princess in her castle, aren't you? You don't know a thing about how the real world works. What it's like for me. What it's always been like for me..." She shook her head, falling into silence, turning her head away.
Aqua watched her friend for several, long minutes. Scarlet didn't move again, and she didn't speak again; she was back to ignoring Aqua, to being silent.
Aqua looked around the empty train car. She looked at the door. She looked to the window. She looked back to the woman in front of her, slumped and bound against the wall...
Scarlet's words came to the forefront of her mind again... "You owe me."
Aqua stood slowly, stepping back to the far side of the room, and raising a hand of swirling, burning fire magic. She extended her arm, flashing her palm: a Firaga sphere of orange, with a core of blue and white, grew in front of her body - grew and grew until it was nearly as large as her own torso...
Scarlet stared at her, the fires reflecting in her dark red eyes. It wasn't hate, and it wasn't fear anymore, either. It was just...excitement. Anticipation. Eagerness.
"You owe me."
I know...I do.
Aqua swung her arm out to the right, and unleashed her spell.
A huge section of the train's metallic wall disintegrated, wind and pressure pulling out the table and chairs, ripping off the chandelier, flinging out one of the beds and a nightstand...
And Scarlet's one-armed form.
Aqua stood there, gazing out into the passing landscape, of tall-grassed hills and distant mountains of boulders and snowy tops.
The door slid open, and Vivian was stumbling inside. Her gaze widened at the sight, then swiveled to find Aqua. "Princess Aqua! Are you- you- damnit-"
"I'm fine," Aqua said quickly, turning to smile at the woman. "Don't worry."
"Don't worry? There's a giant hole in the middle of the train - care to explain?!" Vivian paused, then quickly added, with fearful eyes, "All due respect, Your Highness, of course!"
"I guess you were right about people fighting through the pain of that anti-magic spell of yours," Aqua said, looking away, out the side of the train again. "Scarlet built up an incredibly powerful Firaga spell of hers - I kept telling her to stop, I thought she'd just end up hurting herself too much...but then she cast it, and then she was gone."
"Well she won't get far! I'll-"
"No," Aqua said firmly. "Like you said - she isn't going to get very far out there. So we'll leave her be. Besides, having her on this train just brought danger to its passengers. We've already done enough damage here. We'll...leave her to fate. But we have a schedule to keep, don't we? It's more important that I get home again as soon as possible - especially if there are more people like her out there who would want to come after me."
Vivian stared at her for a long moment. Then she nodded, reaching up and brushing at her bangs. "Right...As you command, My Princess. Let's- find you a new car where we can sit tight."
"Of course," Aqua said, smiling.
She spared one last look for the passing world.
Please don't make me regret this...
After her own incredibly guilt-inducing and controversial actions, Aqua almost immediately went wandering the train cars until she found Natsumi - in a dining car, with an expensive glass in one hand, and rich little fruits in the other.
After talking with the woman for a while, Aqua thought she felt reasonably better about it all.
With that assurance in hand, Aqua turned the discussion to something else - something new. A half an hour later, and Aqua felt ready to...make another choice (one that would hopefully prove far less troublesome to her own Heart). She left the dining car behind, giving Natsumi her heartfelt thanks, and went to Vivian's private room.
"Your Highness!" Vivian said, jumping up from her bed on sight of Aqua's entry. She gave a swift bow, and watched her face closely. After a long moment, she took a breath and spoke again. "Is there something I can do for you, Princess?"
Aqua took a breath of her own, stepping forward - after locking the door behind her. "Listen: I've been...away, for all this time. Isolated. I haven't heard much of anything about the wider world. But what I've heard from Natsumi doesn't make me feel good."
"What have you...heard from her?" Vivian said slowly - cautiously.
"I saw how you reacted to Scarlet's story the other day. To her treatment. You have a kind Heart, don't you?" Aqua said quietly.
Vivian froze. She frowned deeply, her eyes dropping to the floor. "I'd like to think I do...and if it's really true..."
"What do you think about the way that Zitol - and other parts of the world, too - treats non-human races? People? I remember the way things were as a little girl, and it wasn't...like this." Aqua hesitated. Then she sighed. "At least, I don't think that it was. But what did I know, always up in my castle?"
"Back then, I would have been, like, three," Vivian said, quiet as well. Uncertain. "so I don't really know how things used to be." She paused, glancing up at Aqua. "But I know it isn't right! It's totally wrong, it's- gross, disgusting, evil, discriminatory...it's not- it's just not right."
"You consider non-humans to be equal to humans, then?"
"Of course I do!" Vivian exclaimed, head coming up now. Offense, outrage on her face. "Why wouldn't I? I'm not some crazy bigot - that's what's true!"
"I wasn't accusing you of anything," Aqua said calmly - firmly. "I was just...trying to be sure of something before I- told you something. An incredibly personal, long-held secret. But I need to know if you're...going to be an ally or an enemy."
"What is it, Princess?" Vivian said, starting forward, raising her hands to her chest. "You can tell me - I'll keep your secret! I'm totally, like, already cool with your kitsune friend; I won't offend!"
Aqua gazed at the woman for a long moment, her eyes narrowed. Vivian held her gaze well enough, her green eye shining back at Aqua with earnestness, with passion...
Aqua blinked, and nodded. "Okay, then. Prove it. Please...because I really want to trust you. I need someone I can trust with this when we get to the palace..."
She raised her hand to her chest, calling on her magic, and letting it wash over her form with a shining light...
Aqua stretched her body, her muscles (familiar and unfamiliar), shedding it from the now awkward confines of her cloak. She held her hands before her, arching her back and working her shoulders. She felt it all so acutely...so strangely, so-
It probably should have been freeing or comforting or something like that. But it wasn't. It just felt...uncomfortable and awkward. It made her feel such a flighty sense of anxiety and worry, made her Heart and stomach do flips, made her want to just-
"Please say something - or attack me...whatever you're going to do now," Aqua blurted out, meaning it fully. She just wanted it over with...
"Holy shit - the High Council's gonna throw a fit!"
"And...and what about you?" Aqua pressed, gazing at the woman intently.
Vivian fluttered her eyes, looking all around herself. Her arms came up to wave about furiously in their long sleeves. "M-me? Hey, it's totally fine with me! I'm cool with it, see!" she exclaimed frantically, with a beaming smile.
It was nervous and uncomfortable, but...Aqua thought it was real.
She took solace in that, at least.
A sign of good things to come.
Author's Note:
P.S: Skuld and Elrena are in BAMBI'S world...because I just thought it'd be hilarious and in-line with Kingdom Hearts canon to make BAMBI'S WORLD hold some ancient, deep, dank Keyblade lore! xDDD I DO honestly miss that kind of integration of movies and lore, like in KH1/2 kinda lol...Triton knowing about Keyblades, Genie saying he heard about a Keyhole before...etc... :D So I did a bit of it myself lol. Bambi is lore critical! Muahahahaha.