"She's been in the world of Darkness this entire time!" Ven shouted, causing Sora to grit his teeth as he cut through another mass of Heartless. "We could have saved her months ago and we just left!" continued the Dandelion almost spasticity.
"Yes we know you've been yelling about it for hours now, Ven. All of us feel bad about it even without your nonstop screaming," sighed Roxas looking at his home town. He was slightly irritated that they would need to actually find a way to the mansion instead of going through the wall. He frowned, feeling X̵̝̕i̸͈̍̕o̸̭̟͌n̴͔̫͋̇ shoot down the idea of making a new hole in the wall.
"Not all of us feel bad about it" Ventus said, glaring at Vanitas who had said nothing after learning where Aqua had been after their final battle. In fact, all the Darkness had done was put his helmet on for the first time in months.
In truth Vanitas had been deeply conflicted ever since leaving the sleeping world that never was. He felt himself among the twelve Seekers present and knew that in the future he would lose his autotomy. And he had put together just how that would happen. "Light shines in Darkness and Darkness can never comprehend it…" Vanitas said, his voice unfathomably tired. He quickly looked through Sora's eyes to see the boy going through a mansion with the youths of Twilight Town.
"Roxas, can you get us to the clock tower without Sora's entourage?" the dark boy asked.
"After all the emblem missions I did in this place, it would be easy. Why do you ask?" responded the key of destiny.
"Because it's away from people, and I doubt any of us want people tagging along to the world of Darkness," said the masked man, drawing the attention of everyone present. "I can get us in and mitigate the world's effects on Sora, assuming Ven can guide us to Aqua."
Ven's eyes widened before hardening his expression "Are you just going to strand us there, or do you get something else out of this?" the wind elemental asked.
It was Roxas who responded and rather angrily at that "Ventus, stop being a child for five minutes. Sora is on his way to save your mom and none of us could stop him even if we wanted to." The damaged Light Roxas held seemed to pulse in agreement with the Nobody.
"Aqua's not… never mind…" Ven said weakly.
Sora stood atop the clock tower as Roxas's memories played behind his eyes. Blinking the images away, Sora felt Vanitas move to the front of his heart and felt his reluctant resolve before the child of Darkness opened a portal and Sora stepped through.
The world of Darkness had not changed. The air was heavy on his skin, cold in a way that felt like it was trying to drag the life out of Sora. The air tasted metallic, and smelled of ash, still water, and rot as the stagnant yet whistling air gave voice to the fears that Sora worked so hard to hide from his other hearts. The islander quickly doubled over and emptied his stomach onto the dirt.
Vanitas moved forward in the shared Heart and the voices in the air started to fade as Sora summoned his keyblade. "Ok Ven lead the way. I don't want to be here longer than we need to," Sora said as Ventus tried to feel his bond with Aqua. After a few moments, the Kingdom Key started to act as a divining rod.
And so Sora walked, trying to follow Ven's bond with Aqua for long enough that time seemed to lose meaning. Absently, he thought the terrain reminded him of a warped version of Deep Jungle before it suddenly changed to a beach alongside an ocean of the deepest Darkness. The same beach Sora had rested at months before.
The pull on his keyblade changed direction, and Sora turned his head with it to see three Neoshadows, all struck down in an instant by someone. The person slowly turned to face Sora.
It was Aqua.
"Vanitas!" she roared, rushing toward Sora who barely dodged before dismissing and resummoning his own keyblade in a backhand grip.
"I am not Vanitas, Ventus sent me to help you!" Sora responded, trying to mimic Ven's pose hoping to avoid a fight, but Aqua was berserk from so long in the darkness and seeing one of the people who destroyed her life.
Aqua swung and Sora blocked before trying to create space between the two of them. Aqua responded with three blasts of fire in staggeringly quick succession, and though Sora managed to block the first two, the third struck him in the shoulder.
Mimicking Ven was only going to get Sora killed at this rate so he rained down thunder as he shifted to his normal stance. Aqua sidestepped the magic and rushed in again as Sora unleashed Ars Arcanum. Unfortunately, almost every swing was parried, and the few that weren't got stopped by barrier magic.
Mentally, Sora cussed at all of the power he lost. Aqua entered into a dance of ice and swords, twirling into Sora, hitting him hard several times. Sora was forced to draw on the power of Darkness, entering Rage Form. The distance between the two evaporated and Sora finally landed several hard hits in a row before a wave of fire drove him back.
Aqua, now enraged, held her keyblade up as circles of light appeared on the ground. They rushed after Sora and exploded. Another wave of explosives was sent after Sora, who tried to take to the sky and glide away.
"Behind you!" Roxas called as Aqua appeared above him, diving down with her weapon, forcing Sora to dodge. She left an after image before descending again, forcing Sora into the mines blasting him into the air. Sora couldn't take another hit.
"Sora, tap into the Darkness" Vanitas said. Sora responded with a wave of mental annoyance, but Vanitas pressed on. "Darkness holds sleep and sleep holds dreams".
It sucks having to take advice from someone quoting Ansem, Sora thought as he tried to call on the spells he learned in the dreaming worlds. He took in as much darkness as he could before summoning a grand sphere of magic beneath him. Sora slashed at it with all his strength, making it split into dozens of colorful balls that chased after Aqua, striking with immense force. Striking them only made the balls explode, and barriers would only slow the projectiles as they found a new course to their target. As the last balloon popped Sora fell to his hands and knees, but Aqua fell to the ground.
Casting a Curaga on himself and Aqua, Sora stood up before taking the Keyblade Aqua used and dismissing it. He could feel Ven's emotions twist at the weapon, and what Aqua holding it meant. Without combat to distract him, Sora felt the darkness around him once more and choked back bile as he lifted Aqua into his arms. "Vanitas get us back to Twilight Town."
"Sora… thank you for the last eleven years. Everyone… do what must be done." a portal opened and before anyone could ask questions Sora staggered through.
Sora was on the clocktower in Twilight Town, an unconscious Aqua in his arms. For some reason he couldn't feel Vanitas's heart anymore. But that was just another problem for later.