Chapter Text
Aqua's hair was just so pretty that Kairi couldn't stop staring at it as she followed the older girl through the castle. The color was so unique and the style hadn't gotten ruffled at all, even with all the heartless they had faced on their way here. The keyblade master—and wasn't that impressive, they were traveling with a Keyblade Master—hadn't even broken a sweat when fighting and had almost made Riku and Sora look clumsy and untrained. After Sora and Riku had found the older girl she had insisted there was somewhere she needed to go. That there was someone waiting for her and she'd been away too long.
So the three friends had traveled with her to help as best they could and learn all they could about how to properly use their keyblades. They had not been expecting to end up in Castle Oblivion, though. “What's through there?” Riku asked from behind her. Kairi turned back to see where he was pointing then turned back again to Aqua. The master smiled, “Bedrooms, mostly. Like a dormitory. But over there...” she pointed up the stairs past the rooms, “… is a large open room to gather in and train.” As they kept going they passed a lot of empty rooms and dead ends and Kairi was surprised Aqua never got lost or turned around.
At the end of a long hallway near the top of the castle, and past so many turns Kairi was sure they would never have found it on their own, they came to two very large, intricately carved doors. There seemed to be a scene carved into the wood so Kairi stepped up close and ran her hand along the deep grooves, trying to piece together what it was telling her. After a moment of just watching the younger girl and smiling, Aqua open one of the doors and went in.
Giving up on the doors for the excitement of the vast library the master had promised to show them, Kairi stepped into the room… “Sora!!” Riku yelled behind her. She spun around, keyblade at the ready only to find Riku, alone, grumbling as he stalked back down the corridor. “Sora!! Get over here!!” he called again, looking in every corner he passed. “Kairi?” Aqua asked as she appeared behind the younger girl looking worried.
The younger girl giggled and smiled up at her, “Looks like Sora has wondered off.” Aqua looked surprised before both girls broke out giggling. “More and more that boy reminds me of Ven!!” Aqua exclaimed. Then the girls set off after Riku to see if they could find their friend. Riku was not impressed, Kairi noted with a smile, as he threw open doors and growled into empty spaces. After about an hour of looking all of them were beginning to get worried.
“You don't think he ran into something bad around here, do you?” Kairi asked. Riku scoffed lightly, “He's fine. The Bonehead probable just saw something shiny.” “I doubt anything left in this place would be any real challenge” Aqua agreed, “This place was designed to make everyone loose their way. He probably just got lost like Terra always used to.”
After searching another three floors even Aqua was starting to walk faster—still calm but moving much more deliberately. As they neared the basement, both Kairi and Riku were on the edge of panicking.
“Thank goodness Aqua's here, right Riku? We'd be totally lost and we'd never find Sora.”
“yeah.”.
“He probably got hungry and stopped to eat a snack or something.”
“Sure”
“I hope he doesn't break anything important. I don't want Aqua to be mad at us.”
“uh-huh”
“I'm going to yell at him when I find him!! Then we can't let him out of our sight again!”
Riku stopped responding out loud and just let the girl clutch at his hand as they searched.
By the time they made it to the basements of the castle the thought started to creep into their heads that they might not find him right away—although, they would find him. They always would—and Kairi could tell Riku was not doing well with the thought of Sora being lost for real again. His jaw was clenched and his grip on her hand was almost painful.
They had been searching for three hours when Aqua suddenly stopped in the middle of what looked like a random hallway. She took a deep breath, but didn't look behind her at the two teenagers. Kairi had just opened her mouth to ask when the older girl started moving again. This time she didn't pause to look in any rooms or corners and the teenagers had to move quickly to keep up.
“Aqua? Aqua! Where are we going?” Kairi asked. Aqua was moving with purpose and the younger girl just wanted to know what she figured out. “Do you know where Sora is?” Riku demanded calmly. Aqua didn't turn back to look at them but she did slow her pace a bit so she could respond, “I have an idea. But nobody should be able to find… It's… It's a secret place. I'm probably wrong, Sora has no reason to know…” She trailed off and sped up again.
At last they came to a large set of white doors. One was closed tight but the other was cracked open. Riku managed to pull Kairi back in time to keep her from running into Aqua, who had frozen in front of the door. They stayed still for a few moments. Aqua's hands were clenched and she was measuring her breaths and Kairi was worried Sora had made her very angry. “Aqua…?” Kairi finally asked. The older girl took a large breath then pushed the door open.
Inside was a large white room that seemed filled with light. In the center was a blond boy who was fast asleep on a tall, white throne. Curled up next to the blond boy was Sora. His knees were pulled up to his chest and his head was on the boy's shoulder, completely out. Kairi's knees almost gave out in relief. Sora was safe and fine and in so much trouble if Aqua's posture was anything to go by, but he wasn't gone again and that was all that mattered. She stepped forward to wake up her friend and yell at him for scaring her but Riku still hadn't let go of her hand and he wasn't moving.
“Riku?” she asked, turning back to him. Aqua paused to turn back as well. Riku's eyes were wide and staring at the two in the center of the room. “Roxas?”he muttered in disbelief. Then he was running up to them and reaching out to shake Sora awake, but the blond sat up a bit and grabbed his hand before he could reach Sora. “Don't.” the blond demanded softly, then yawned.
“You can't be Roxas” Riku whisper shouted, “You...” he trailed off in an attempt to cool his head. The blond huffed a laugh. “You're right. I'm not Roxas, I'm Ventus” he said, “Sora really helped me out though, so we should let him sleep a bit. Okay, Riku?”
Riku looked like he wanted to say more and Kairi wanted to ask also but both of them were interrupted by a quiet sob. All eyes snapped to Aqua who was staring at Ventus. “You're awake!!” she sobbed, running up and throwing her arms around him. Ventus awkwardly hugged her back as he kept Sora from falling over, but there were tears in his eyes.
After a moment Riku tried to get Sora out of their way but Ventus leaned back from Aqua and shifted the teen into a more comfortable position. Aqua stepped back and wiped at her eyes. “You're awake.” she repeated, “How?”. The blond shrugged and, with a fond glance at the boy sleeping next to him, calmly explained, “Sora.” Aqua looked ready to argue but Ventus yawned widely and slumped back a bit so she seemed to let it go, for now. With a smile, Ventus turned his head to look at the others, “Hello Riku. Hello Kairi. He will wake up soon, don't worry.”
He looked to Aqua again and yawned again. “I'll wake again, too, I promise. Just need a nap...” With that he settled against Sora again and fell asleep.