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Aqua cartwheeled away from the masked boy’s dark lightning, hissing as a few sparks caught her sleeve. He definitely wasn’t holding back this time, not like in Radiant Garden. If she wasn’t careful…
No. She was still stronger than any being of the dark, even if that being had a keyblade. And was rather quick with it, too.
“Too slow,” he taunted, catching her with one of his phantom afterimages again.
She grit her teeth. Careful. Her preferred strategy was to hit him from a distance, but he was always so fast, so close—
Too close. While she’d been preparing a Mega Flare, he slipped under her guard, knocking her off her feet.
She skidded across the clearing, the dirt digging in too her exposed back. Nngh. Maybe this boy had the right idea with the full-body suit.
“Tch.” He sauntered over, his stupid butt-cape swishing at his knees. “I was really hoping for more of a fi—”
“Drift!”
He let out a strangled sound as Zero Graviga sucked him into the air. She smirked and sprung backwards, landing lightly on her feet. There was no reason she couldn’t show off a little. Maybe it would make him think twice before acting so cocky.
She couldn’t get carried away, though. The spell would only last for so long, and she needed a plan.
It was hard to stay focused when the boy spun like he’d fallen in a washing machine.
“—upid—laying—dirt—” she could hear him only when the spell slung him closer to her.
“What was that?” She tilted her head. “I’m playing dirty?”
She heard him spit creative insults clearly enough.
But he’d given her an idea. He fought dirty, with all of his teleporting and decoys. She wasn’t the type to stoop to her opponent’s level… but it wouldn’t be a crime to make use of an advantage.
She bit the inside of her cheek as her hand searched within her pocket. This was either going to be brilliant, or… well, it had better be brilliant. But if not, she hoped it would at least be funny.
The boy dropped out of her Zero Graviga, snarling behind his mask.
She smirked. He wouldn’t look half so intimidating once her plan was through.
He slid like a shadow beneath the ground, but he wouldn’t catch her by surprise this time. Before he could leap up behind her, she spun, dodged his strike—
And slapped a Minnie Mouse sticker in the center of his mask.
The boy stumbled back. She couldn’t see his face, of course, but his posture went as stiff as a cat forced into a little sweater.
“What the—!” He clawed at the sticker with his free hand, but his suit couldn’t find purchase on it. “You—what kind of spell is this!?”
She should be using the opening to attack, but it took all her effort to hold in her laughter. She used her keyblade like a crutch to keep from doubling over.
“It’s not a spell,” she finally got out. “Have you never seen a sticker before?”
“Why in the void would I have… wait, why does this look like that stupid mouse?”
She figured that question was rhetorical. If it wasn’t, well, she didn’t owe him an answer anyway.
She fired off a shotlock, and it was obvious from his lopsided cartwheel that the sticker was affecting him. Most of her prism-shaped projectiles hit him despite the attempted dodge. Why didn’t he just take off the helmet?
Well, as long as he clung to his anonymity, she had the advantage. She struck him with Thunder Surge, slapping on a few extra stickers as she passed.
“Real mature, Master Aqua,” he spat.
“You’re only a victim of your own rules,” she countered. “If you worked in the light, instead of hiding like a coward in the dark…”
He paused for a moment, his stance slacking.
“Hang on. You mean this is all because you want to see my face? Is that it?”
He shot a Dark Firaga, but his aim was off by a few paces. She didn’t even have to dodge.
She was curious about his face, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of admitting it.
“No,” she replied calmly, cartwheeling past and adding the last of her stickers to her masterpiece. “It couldn’t be prettier than you are now, anyway.”
His mask was decorated with images of Minnie Mouse, two sets of fireworks, a rainbow, Chip, and a cloud of bubbles. There was no way that he could see through the glass now.
“Sh—shut up!” He swept out his blade, releasing an arc of dark energy. It was too easy to jump over, letting it fizzle out harmlessly against a totem pole.
He was easy prey now. She could put an end to him, before he hurt Terra or Ven again. But…
He released his keyblade, scratching at his mask with useless, blunted fingertips.
It was hard to see him as a monster with his face covered in sparkling stickers. The image of a cat in a sweater came to mind again.
“I’m not… I’m not going to lose like this,” he snarled.
And then, with a sharp tug, he pulled off his helmet.
Aqua didn’t know what she’d expected. Glowing red eyes, like the Unversed? A void full of darkness?
But no. He had a normal, human face. A boy’s face. Probably around Ven’s age, just a year or two younger than her.
“...You did just want to see my face, didn’t you.” He pouted when he caught her staring. Light, his bottom lip stuck out just like Ven’s.
“I…” What could she even say? The sight of him shouldn’t have affected her this much. She’d fought Maleficent, and Gantu, and Hades. They’d all had faces.
None of them had been so… she couldn’t say innocent, but—light, he didn’t even know what stickers were. She couldn’t picture him masterminding any evil plans.
“Hey.” He summoned his dark keyblade again, pointing it straight at her. “Look, if you get distracted by my good looks, it’s gonna make kicking your butt too easy.”
“I wasn’t…!” She flushed, but wasn’t sure how to defend herself. He wasn’t bad to look at, by any means, with his golden eyes glaring up through his bangs…
She was wrong. His face could be prettier than a collage of glittery stickers.
“Yeah, okay, this is weird.” He broke eye contact first, but she saw a matching blush on his cheek as he looked away. “I’ll try to be uglier for you next time.”
She couldn’t tell if he was joking. His voice was always tinged with something like sarcasm, but… well, she kind of hoped he was being serious, if only so she didn’t embarrass herself staring again.
He stretched out his free hand, opening a dark portal behind him.
“Wait!” she called out.
He paused. Then, he looked back at her with a devilish smirk.
“What? Gonna ask me on a date, miss Master?”
She shook her head. She wouldn’t let him distract her so easily. She was still a Master, as he so mockingly pointed out.
“Why do you always want to fight?” she asked. “What did Ven or any of us do to you?”
“Tch. Why do you always kill Unversed on sight?” He shrugged. “We clash, Aqua. Darkness and light. Oil and water. It’s who we are.”
Was it? Was anyone made to be darkness? Yes, Terra had some in him, despite never having chosen it, but… the idea didn’t sit right within her.
“Who told you that?” she found herself asking.
He winced. It was weird to see it, to realize that in every moment of silence he’d shown her before, his face must have been showing some kind of emotion. There was so much of him that she didn’t know. That he didn’t want her to know.
“I didn’t know you were this chatty.” He rolled his eyes. “And here you said you weren’t going to ask me out.”
She frowned at him, brow furrowing.
“If you keep going on like that, I’ll think that’s what you want.”
That couldn’t be what he wanted, could it? He’d been trying to kill her. She’d called him a freak.
That had… probably hurt. Well, he shouldn’t have disrespected her friends’ precious memories. Or tried to kill her.
“Don’t be stupid.” He turned his back to her, so she could no longer see his profile. “I don’t answer personal questions until at least the third date.”
With those purposely confusing words, he stepped through the dark portal, and it closed behind him in a swirl of smoke.
She shook her head. She hadn’t gotten any answers out of him. Even his face meant nothing if she couldn’t puzzle out what thoughts lurked behind it.
She turned to call her own glider, when something glinting in the sun caught her eye.
The masked boy’s helmet. Well… no longer masked. She hadn’t even gotten his name. What was she supposed to call him now? The golden-eyed boy?
She winced. No. She didn’t need to be focusing on his appearance any more than she already had.
She sighed and picked up his helmet, rubbing her thumb across the image of a rainbow stuck there. She knew one thing, at least.
Before they met again, she’d be stocking up on stickers.