3 days. She knew her body would go three days without water. 3 hours without proper shelter from a storm. 3 weeks without food. Master Eraqus had ingrained that lesson into them for he knew their travels would not always lead to warm, friendly towers. Sometimes they would be alone and in constant danger, and needed to know how to survive.
But this place wasn’t any world. It was something so utterly void of the usual trappings of any world. Did shelter truly matter here when there were no elements to hide from?
No, it didn’t, because the darkness always slithered onto the most carefully guarded thrones. What was instead more pressing to Aqua now was water. How long had it been since she’d had any to drink? How long had she wandered this scarred wasteland of broken worlds without a drop? After a while as she wandered her steps began to blend until she was little more than aching feet and exhausted limbs. She didn’t know for how long when there was no way to tell between hours and forever.
Still, her throat ached and her mouth was dry. Those sensations were enough to tell her she was alive and needed to keep moving. Had she really only been her for less than three days? She hoped against reason that she was wrong and simply didn’t require water in this shattered realm. The ocean of the Dark Meridian was nothing but salt like a real ocean and the longer she lingered near it the greater chance it stood that the things that crawled in the dark and stalked her when she slept would find her sooner. Terror had become a constant companion here and as a result every organ and muscle felt twisted and knotted from both her hunger and constant paranoia.
Everything blended together in a place like this, not just her steps. Blackness oozed from every oriface when she wasn’t looking and dragged it all so selfishly close. She could be here for years or she could be here for hours and Aqua would never know that she was wandering in circles. The only way of keeping time was the steady thunk-thunk of her boots on the broken ground or the bouts of adrenaline fueled fury that left her blood racing she swung the weapon of a dead man.
She slumped again a jagged rock,not caring for the way it prodded at her back. Her eyes burned in away that was so much worse than any sleepless night she could remember. Hazy memories of warm blankets and soft bedding skittered along the edges of her mind somewhere beneath her matted and oily hair. It hung over her eyes as she curled her legs in close and rested her chin atop them. She needed this. Just a moment. That was all she needed and perhaps she could keep it with Master Keeper kept close at her side.
“...Three days...” Her voice wavered from disuse. “One, two three...”
When she had arrived her, be it three days or three years ago, she would do anything to keep back the overbearing silence of this realm. It didn’t take long for that idea to die out quickly when she considered she needed to save her energy and had little to waste on things like talking or singing to herself.
Aqua remained in her spot by the rocks, that burn still settled behind her closed eyes. She’d cried herself out a long time ago, perhaps. Maybe she hadn’t at all. Maybe she’d wept only just yesterday. The Darkness had settled on her tongue like a thick paste and stole that sense away from her first.
Her rocky perch did nothing to cushion or support her, but Aqua was accustomed to it. There was no creature comforts in this place for her. Nothing but teeth and claws and yellow eyes hiding in every crease and crevice. Her eyes fluttered for a moment and stared up into the unending blackness above her. Surely it had been long enough. Surely they would come for her. Terra had to be fine. He’d break free and go find Ven and then they would come and save her.
Despite everything else around her trying it’s best, the Darkness had not killed that thought yet. That promise. Her eyes shut again and Aqua slept.
It was this time, after Aqua had awoken, that she had determined that she did not need water. Yes, she did want it for relief, but as it stood she did not need it to survive. While keeping track of time was exceedingly difficult she was quite sure that it had been longer than three days. Amazing how a small nap allowed for such clarity?
But with it came new worries. Where were her friends? Surely Terra and Ven should have arrived here by now. They knew they promised to be there for each other.
... Had something gone wrong?
No, she had to believe otherwise. She couldn’t dwell on it because without an answer her own mind would cook up infinitely worse possibilities.
Not that her delusions could be any worse than the golden eyes that had looked on impassively as a familiar hand slowly tightened around her throat...
Aqua snapped fully alert and rubbed her eyes. She bite back the memory of cool fingers digging into her neck. It was easier if she didn’t think about it and instead she looked back up the sky again with a hand clutched lightly over her heart.
“Keep fighting, you two.”
Too quiet. Even if something had sat perched on the other side of her rocky resting place, they wouldn’t not have heard it. It was a tiny oath not meant for anyone else. She could almost imagine their goofy grins smiling back at her rather than gazing into nothingness. It made her think about what things were like back there with both her friends. What was the world like now, what was any world like? She believed with all her strength it would work out. It had to. She had to trust them or fall prey to that cold voice telling her to give in and never leave because it wasn’t as if she’d see something like sunlight ever again. No, she would be free or the very place she drowned her tears would take her, too.
“I’m fighting, too.” She could see yellow dots in the distance glimmer bright in warning. They were lights that taunted her. “I promise I’ll come home, too.”
While the fights had made her more acutely aware of the passage of time, they more often wore her out so thoroughly she would barely remember most days. Sometimes she’d sleep within (possibly) hours of waking up before walking herself in circles again. She tried and failed to mark the world around her with her pilfered keyblade to see if she could make sense of her directions but this world defied logic and her attempts to navigate it. It wasn’t meant to be logical in her mind; the whole world was pure chaos and she was fighting against a veritable tidal wave of it and her will was being eroded with each sweep. Try as she might Aqua did her best to wake up with purpose. It wasn’t as if this place had a morning but once she was fully awake she wanted to carry on with a short, ever-changing list on her mind. Though in this place the short of it was simply to survive. That was her only purpose here now and it was driven by the terror of laying down and never rising again. The idea of spending the rest of her life here scared her and Aqua stumbled over her next few steps.
Would water matter then? Food? Sleep? Would she waste away or simply wander forever waiting for friends who could not help?
She choked up at the prospect of it and Aqua could not keep her legs from trembling, nor could she stop herself from sinking against the nearest rock. She held her Wayfinder tight and bit back the feeling rising at the back of her throat. What if no one ever came? What if she died in his place, nothing left of her but a pile of bones that stood stark against the black and purple hues of this broken world? She’d be just a smear, a forgotten morsel that left a belly temporarily full and with a few scraps left to enjoy?
She pressed her hands and her wayfinder against her brow like she was praying. Death was something she had been made aware of and was something she thought she was ready to face. Master Eraqus had been sure in reminding them that they were not unbreakable even with a keyblade. Death could linger anywhere for them, tucked away in some secret place or sitting out bold and ready to tear their throats out. They had to be right every time they acted, it only had to be right once.
But how could anyone prepare for this? A living hell and the growing reality that maybe no one would ever come and Aqua would die here in the shadows and so very far away from those she called her home.
Her Wayfinder left deep grooves in her hands and the edges bit into her palm. A few scant tears pushed their way out of the corners of her eyes and and cut twin paths down her grimy cheeks. Aqua wrapped both arms around herself and pressed herself tight against the rock behind her. She needed to stop this, she needed this shaking that had taken over her.
“I’m so sorry,” she wheezed, eyes still clenched tight. “Ventus... Terra... I’m so so sorry...”
The shaking rattled out of her as a sob. It was louder than any sound she could recall making recently. The tears came unbidden and mixed with the murky grime on her face. It was starting to stick, the idea of never making it out of this place. She jerked at a foreign sound, a tiny plink-plink as one small section of her Wayfinder finally cracked from being held so tight.
“I-I didn’t mean to break it...” She stammered out as she looked over the tiny thing.
She didn’t notice the inky blackness gathering at her feet, no r the way her boots sunk ever-so slightly into it.
“I didn’t mean t’break my...”
She shut her mouth tight before something else stronger than her fear took hold in her.
“I promised.” There was still the slightest waver in her tone, but not from fear. It was fury now, curling in her belly like a flame carefully stoked before it burned free. It was the fury of knowing her life, their lives, had all been stolen from them. Now the feeling burned again, but like ice rather than fire. It was sharp and jagged and it pierced like a hard frost that could crack the earth beneath her feet.
“I promised!” She was yelling now, screaming her defiance out as the cracked bit in her Wayfinder dug into her palm. Another sob ripped free from her and she buried her face against her sleeve to stop it. The tears were flowing freely now and they burned at the cuts on her hand as she wiped her face. She wept more and more until she couldn’t and she had no more to in her to give.
In this unspeakable place, the darkness had done so well to drive off every memory of every promise she swore aloud. They all mattered. Every word mattered.
There was no way to rank them or sort them by importance, suddenly it all mattered. Every memory and fleeting thought fought and punched and bit it’s way back into her. Pushing her, guiding her as she kicked and clawed her way free. Every face she knew and ever voice to ever grace her ears was backing her and driving her up. There would be an end to this beach and the hell beyond it.This shore of living nightmares could no longer contain her. She would be free. She would fix this. Every lie the Darkness whispered to her was drowned out by a rich melody of other voices, ones she knew and ones she cherished. Even as the Darkness seemed to close in like a roaring storm but those voices she knew roared louder and pushed back even harder. The same shadows that had tried to draw her down pulled and ripped at her body but every screech brought one of her own brimming with righteous fury.
She still held tight to her Wayfinder, the broken frame slicing deep into the meaty part of her hand but it reminded her that she was still alive.
And in the other, she felt an unfamiliar tug from the Master Keeper. She looked down and saw many hands reaching for her. Claws and tendrils and tails and wings all stretched in unison. Some found their way to her and pulled at her to try and drown her again.
The tug came again, reminder her that there was someone who, in their own way, had come for her.
Let me go.
And she did, and for once she was not afraid when the storm around her faded to black.
She thought she would have seen more sunlight.
Waking was harsh and abrupt and it was not helped by the way the sky became low and dark with ominous clouds. The wind was even worse, howling and baying like a wolf into the night. Another crack of lightening, the same thing that had dragged her from her hard-earned rest, rent the air and rumbled across the sky like the footfalls of an army.
Then the rain came. That stupid, beautiful rain. Water. Aqua recalled her mantra of three days and lay there for a moment more to let the rain fall over her. It started slow and clung closer to her skin than air. It felt good before it started to fall as if it were a waterfall from the heavens. As nice as it had been initially it was pounding on her already battered form and Aqua rose, her eyes barely shielded from it as she looked across the rocky terrain. For a fleeting moment she thought she was back in the graveyard, but there were no keys dug into the ground. What was more was that in the distance she could see light on the horizon. There were dozens of tiny, minuscule pinpricks that lit up the place where the earth and the sky met and the sight of it made her heart ache. She took this and the rain as a sign to push on. No more circles, not more aimless wandering.
She was mutely aware that she had no weapon to carry and instead marked the ground with the pointed end of her boot. She drew an arrow pointing off towards the lights and finally, at last, because to move forward.
It was slow, but the rain overhead was a constant companion. Perhaps, a little too arduous for someone fresh out of the Realm of Darkness. Heavy clothes made it harder to move with any briskness, and she’d help no one if she grew sick from the chill.
Aqua slowly shuffled her way towards the first glorious bit of civilization she’d found; a tiny building with a wide overhang to shelter travelers from the elements. It felt like it had shown up here at just the right time.
She just hadn’t expected it to be occupied.
