Cheating Destiny

When Two Become One

He's standing there, alone, with a blank expression on his face. His beautiful blue eyes are now a wicked yellow, unnatural and definitely not Terra. The years she spent in the Realm, the sacrifices she's made... were they all for nothing?

"Aqua?"

She pauses, looking up from her hunched over position. She's still panting for air, her body crying for a break, and probably looks a sweaty mess. Roxas is in front of her, his head tilted as he watches her. She smiles for a moment as she stands up straight, studying him. He really does look so much like Ven, albeit a little shorter and less bubbly. But with a quick squint, you'd never be able to tell the two apart.

"Um... Are you okay?" Roxas asks, starting to look a little nervous at the smile on her face as she stands there in silence.

Her eyes widen for a moment before she quickly shakes her head.

"Yeah," she mutters, summoning her Keyblade in her hand as she takes a step out from behind the rock shielding her. She watches Axel and Xemnas clash in battle for a moment, preparing herself to head back in. "I'm fine."

"You sure? If you need a moment, I'm sure we can –"

"Roxas," she interrupts, her training to become a Master kicking in as she gives him a stern look. "I said I'm fine."

He chuckles, holding his hands up in surrender as he takes a step back from her.

"Got it," he agrees before looking at the raging battle just in the distance beyond the jagged rocks blocking them from it. "Ven's right. You can be kinda scary sometimes, Aqua."

Aqua watches him for a moment before she rests a hand over the pocket of her pants, smiling sadly as she runs a finger over the outline of Terra's Wayfinder tucked inside.

"I am when I'm fighting for my friends," she concedes, glancing at the blond before she begins marching back to the fight. "Let's go."

"Right behind you."

[♥]

"Are you done yet?"

Your question is met with an annoyed glare as Vanitas' gaze darts up to you momentarily before returning to his work. The stab wound on your side was mysteriously healed sometime while you were unconscious (or maybe you were dead, you're still not sure what happened), but a few ribs had cracked thanks to a certain someone currently kneeling in front of you. Since you wouldn't be much use with a few cracked ribs, they had to be seen to.

"Calm down. I'm going as fast as I can," Vanitas snaps, trying to shoot as much magic into you as he can via his fingers pressed against your upper torso.

"I can't believe you broke my freaking ribs," you mutter back, meeting his irritated attitude with one of your own.

He grumbles something under his breath you can't quite catch, though you're not sure you want to know what he actually said. You just rest your head against the rock you're leaning against, watching him work. It didn't take long for the two of you to fall back into your familiar, verbally abusive repertoire, but that didn't mean you weren't relieved that at least one crisis had been averted today. It also gave you a brief moment to stop worrying, and think about everything the strange man had told you in the Realm.

"Y'know... Everyone seemed to think I was the one who mattered," you speak up, breaking the short-lived silence.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" he asks, only half-listening.

"But I'm not," you continue, ignoring him as you start to smile. "It's you, Vanny."

He snorts in laugher.