Below is a take on our version of the start of the Anti-Aqua battle, adjusted for story elements. Comments are welcome, including questions, elements you like, or concerns!
For the original fight, see here.
Dark Margin
The Realm of Darkness
Azumi Tamashī rolled to a stop, her gun clattering along the sand before she grabbed it, wincing but not seriously hurt just yet. If anything, she was just becoming a little exhausted, much like the other two with her. The Realm of Darkness did not require sleep or sustenance, but fighting still could tire someone, especially if not used to it.
Unfortunately, the situation had gotten much worse in a very short time. As she looked, sitting up as the hood fell from her head to show her striped hair and her red eyes, she could see that the swirling mass of Shadow Heartless, that "Demon Tower," had caught up the royal mouse, Mickey, who had lost his grip on his Keyblade, the blue and yellow "Star Cluster."
"Mickey!" shouted the silver-haired teenager beside her, Master Riku. Yes, she was the only one of their group who was not a Keyblade Master, but her insistence was apparently undeniable... to her detriment, as it seemed. They were fully prepared for anything, but while she had helped a rather effective Keyblade Master in her previous time here, things had apparently gotten much more intense in the interim, as if reacting to the chaos in the Realm of Light.
The Shadows themselves seemed to leave, swirling into a cloud that left a very large, black orb of shadow, the head of the king visible within, but unarmed and apparently defenseless, ripples of violet energy pulsing all around as if as a symbolic barrier.
As it all settled, a figure emerged from the orb, one limb at a time. They appeared to be the size of an average adult human being, perhaps a bit shorter. Overall, it had roughly human proportions, but was entirely composed of, or at least clothed in, a black silhouette wreathed in a violet aura of darkness, to the point of being difficult to see clearly. Leaning down, it picked up the discarded Star Cluster, looking it over.
"Who the hell are you?!" Azumi shouted in indignation, her powers beginning to activate once more as she began trying to stand, the gun going back into its holster. "What do you want with that thing?!"
"This Keyblade..." The figure spoke, a female voice. A very familiar one, in fact.
The woman's eyes widened in horror as she whispered. "No..."
Mickey apparently had the same thought, having regained his senses enough to recognize it. "Is it her?"
Riku said something, but Azumi was no longer listening, just staring, a reaction akin to grief working its way through her as the shadows dissipated from around the figure.
She appeared to be about Azumi's height, if not a very slight bit shorter. Her hair was bleached blue, the once-white dress darkened and tattered, with the pink X shape across it having turned black as the chest and abdomen, and much of the sides turning to a texture and color of dark blue "scales." Where there were once tan, fingerless gloves, now there seemed to be just bare, blackened hands with red fingertips that could pass for claws. The strips of blue cloth that had adorned her hips had darkened near to black, the edges frayed and tattered. Beneath that cloth, her skin on her legs, which had been bare at the middle third between her knees and hips, had significantly darkened, a marked contrast against her exceptionally pale face... and those eyes. Those horrible yellow eyes that were all too familiar to those who had faced the dark.
"Mickey..." the new arrival practically spat in restrained hatred. "You're too late."
Azumi was frozen in horror, despite having stood up, the aura around her dissipating as she watched in silence. It couldn't be her. It just couldn't. This had to be a nightmare.
It couldn't be Master Aqua.
Several years earlier...
The rocky outcropping was relatively safe, at least for the time being. Enough for them to take a few minutes to rest. Training had been hard, but neither of them were complaining. If nothing else, they had something they could do in this darkened realm.
Azumi sat there, looking at the dark ground. Of course, everything was dark here. There was not even a sun by which to guide themselves. All they could use to judge time was their own perceptions, which themselves were highly unreliable in the best of times.
She sighed, not looking over again. These moods came and went, as was the nature of being nearly completely alone in a virtual wasteland with only one person to (usually) count on as a companion.
"What is it?" That was the caring voice of Master Aqua, sitting beside her. Despite being a few years younger, the Keyblade Master was far more wise, especially in regard to the subject of magic. As such, on top of being her only friend in this hostile locale, she was also her tutor, or as they both said, her "master." Despite wariness about Azumi's apparent darkness, she had been nothing but kind and caring, equal parts mentor and surrogate older sister despite their relative ages. Beyond that, their mutual professionalism born of their strict, stubborn natures seemed to fall away at times like these, as if dissolving one another.
"We're never getting out of here, are we?" The words were told without looking.
"Of course we--"
"Why should I even bother trying, anyway?" she cut off the mentor. "If we can't, then this fight is without end, this war of attrition. If we can, then I'll still be a freak when I get out, and it's not like anyone even cares about me out there."
A hand touched her shoulder, which slumped even further. When Azumi looked over, Aqua's own face showed her pity, her sympathy for one mutated by the dark. "It's not about us. It's about the people out there in the light. I know it's hard." She held up her free hand to stop the objection. "I know I can't experience what you are right now. But this fight... we need to work together to defend against the dark, even from inside of it." She paused for a moment for that to sink in. "Fighting the darkness... it takes a lot. You know this, so do I. But with others, that fight is a little easier." She let the hand down from the shoulder. "You were here. You helped me as much as I help you." She ignored the resultant dry laughter. "Not physically. I needed to talk to someone. Anyone. I don't even know how long we've been here. Years, probably. But we both need each other to get back to those people in the Realm of Light. I have them, and I know you do, too, even if you don't know it yet." A pause, then she summarized. "It's not about either of us, but both of us. Even if people don't accept you or me, it's on us to work as hard as we can to save them."
Silence reigned for a few seconds, before Azumi spoke up. "We don't talk about them. Those people you need to get back to. I remember some of it, but... what can you tell me?"
An eyebrow raised. "What brought this on? You usually don't ask."
"I just... I want to know some examples. I don't know a lot of good people."
Aqua sighed. She usually didn't like to do this, given it showed how different they were, on top of exacerbating her own sorrow as much as it did remind her of her own personal mission, but she nodded. "Ask if you want, if you think it will help."
"Ventus. You told me he's some kid, pretty inexperienced and new?"
A moment of thought. "He is a little young, and does need some experience, but... I may have been too hard on him. I wanted to protect him, and Vanitas--"
A snap of the fingers in front of her face brought Aqua back to attention. "Hey, stick on topic." Vanitas, while a subject they both abhorred, was also not on the menu at the moment. "You said you put him somewhere safe."
"Right. Well, I do care about him, about the danger he is in. He's somewhere safe, somewhere I made sure is protected, until he can wake up."
That was an odd phrase, but not really important right now. "Home?"
"Of a sort."
A pause indicated that that was all that was to be said about that particular person at present. "Terra? Sounded more like a brother than a friend."
A far longer pause, this one almost enough to make Azumi regret asking. When Aqua finally responded, she was more somber. "He is closer to my age, a few years older. Very strong, especially physically, but he does have a tendency to not think things through all of the way. I just..." A sigh denoted a possible ending. Whatever was going on with Terra was a very touchy subject indeed.
"Just one more," was the response, helping to change the topic a little.
"Who?" Aqua asked, confused. She had mentioned a lot of people who she had seen over her adventure, but none who were--
"Your boyfriend," Azumi replied with a completely straight face.
Aqua's face turned beet red. "W-what?! I don't - I mean - he just - I never-" She stopped as soon as saw the smirk on her friend's face, glaring in embarrassment.
"I just wanted to see the look on your face," she replied, laughing softly as Aqua buried her head in her hands to hide how she looked. However, it wasn't long before a bit of a smile crept through, along with a chuckle.
After a few moments, Azumi finally replied once more. "Thanks for telling me that. I know it's hard, but... maybe I'll at least see your friends someday, even if I'm pretty piss poor at making them myself on a long term basis."
The Keyblade Master shook her head, ignoring her protege's relatively crude language compared to that she was used to. "Thank you." To the raised eyebrow, she had a rather simple reply. "I guess it's been so long, I almost forgot how to smile. Wasn't sure I even could anymore."
Azumi cracked her neck a bit, stretching her back absently. "When we get out of here, you'll need to know that. After all, the people we're going to see are going to find it weird if you can't smile about all of your successes."
Aqua tilted her head in confusion. "That sounds uncharacteristically hopeful. Are you sure you're alright, or is this just another joke?"
A shrug in return. "Not sure. Maybe you're rubbing off on me a little, but I'm a slow learner." Her expression turned more serious for a moment. "I mean it, though. We are both getting out of here, so we can get away from this constant war for survival."
The Keyblade wielder shook her head. "It's not a war for survival. We're not warriors, we're guardians, defense against those who can't fight for themselves."
All the military woman could do was roll her eyes in response. "I just told you that I'm a slow learner, and you try to lecture me again?"
"You might have a point there, but I'm not one to give up," was the reply, and both snickered softly to themselves.
"What happened?" was all that Mickey could ask.
Aqua, suffused with enormous amounts of darkness, narrowed her eyes in his direction. "You abandoned me, that's what."
Attempting to break through her despair, Azumi cut in. "He tr--"
"Wait. Your. Turn." The glare cut her off more than the words, before this dark Aqua turned back to King Mickey. "Left me in this shadow prison for more than a decade, knowing what it could do to me..."
Mickey could only hang his head in shame. "I'm sorry... It's all my fault."
Aqua turned her back, looking to Azumi. "And you. You promised. You told me that when we left, we would leave together. Did you throw them away, too, the people you found out there who were so important to you? Or are you just too obsessed with war to even bother to bring people peace? Were you too focused on your real enemy, the one who kept you centered?"
Her friend could only wince in her own shame at how deeply those words cut, though she wasn't entirely clear on who she meant as her enemy. "I... "
A snarl in anger was accompanied by that softer, measured tone fading away, Aqua turning her back to the sole non-Keyblade wielder. "You know exactly how lonely it is here." She ignored Riku gasping softly, on one knee with his fist clenching, as he seemed to understand what she meant. "Did you forget the fear of having no one, of those times alone with your demons before help came to restore your resolve? And that's even aside from the scarier moments, the ones of peace where there aren't even battles to occupy you."
Azumi's self-loathing caused her fists to clench tightly, potentially to the point of drawing blood with her fingernails if not for her gloves. Her eyes began to water as she responded the best she could. "I... I tried to come back! I didn't know how, and these two are the only way I figured it out! I knew if anyone could--"
"Fight back?" mocked the corrupted Aqua. "With what?" Before anyone could open their mouths, she had turned her back on them all, walking to the shoreline and looking out at the sea, her steps going into the water without descending beneath the tide. "I reached this shore after endless wandering. Waited forever for help to arrive. But no one ever came." She was silent as she walked further, then clarified on her previous statement. "I lost my Keyblade. Had no means of fighting my way back through the Heartless. You should have known I was stranded, both of you."
"You were strong!" The tears had begun to fall as every word cut deeper, showed her the depths of her failure. "The strongest woman I ever met! You taught me everything about the heart, about the dark! You gave me the strength to keep going when I felt like what we both know I am!"
The female Master paused for a moment, as if figuring out how to reply to the assertation. "The heart? All that's left in my heart is misery and despair." She turned around, the sneer apparent on her face before it turned into a look of determined anger as she raised the Star Cluster, pointing it in the direction of her apprentice. "And now, you can share it!"
"There's no need." The sole non-Keyblade Master among them finally remembered the silver-haired teenager beside her as he stood ready, his Braveheart Keyblade at the ready. "Got my own."
Despite her grief, the military woman felt anger begin to bare its ugly face deep within her. She did not know what it was about, nor did she care. Was she enraged at him for getting in the way? At herself for her failure? At the situation for happening in the first place?
It didn't matter. All that mattered was that she felt it, and if she did, she could use it, not to mention that of the woman before her. The aura of darkness flared up once more, peppered with red "electricity" throughout. At the same time, she could feel that itch, the one that she knew all too well and knew to use to keep herself out of trouble. They wouldn't be safe for long, even if this stayed a conversation.
"Get him out of that thing," she demanded of Riku, not even bothering to look toward King Mickey. "I have things to settle."
To her aggravation, he objected. "But you ca--"
The glare of those red eyes could have pierced stone, despite the tears that fell in rivulets down her cheeks. She knew he had a point, that she wouldn't stand a chance against a full Keyblade Master, especially one as proficient as Aqua, but she didn't care anymore. Nobody was going to take this away from her. "I need to do this. For her..."
The broken knife was in her hand without her even realizing it, its blade extending and serrating until it was the length of Star Cluster, but in the style of a wakizashi. She turned in the direction of Master Aqua, who seemed to recognize the challenge, stepping to the side away from the sphere of shadows above them. Azumi barely acknowledged the incoming Shadows that reformed around that which containing King Mickey to create a new Demon Tower, let alone Riku dashing off to help break it down.
Azumi had tried. She had tried so hard over so long, had done her best to learn from various tutors. She had even instructed her former partner to look into something called the "Chamber of Repose" in Hollow Bastion to try and get some additional aid after her knowledge about memory loss. She had done her best to strengthen herself, to be better than she was, to be worthy of these people, let alone a weapon like the other Keyblade users. She had her own reasons, but she was trying her best to be as strong as she could, so that she could master the dark potential deep within her heart. This was one of the things she had been training for, whether she knew it or not.
The blade was held down, at a slight angle behind her, one corrupted young woman a mirror of the other.
... and for me.
For the original fight, see here.
Dark Margin
The Realm of Darkness
Azumi Tamashī rolled to a stop, her gun clattering along the sand before she grabbed it, wincing but not seriously hurt just yet. If anything, she was just becoming a little exhausted, much like the other two with her. The Realm of Darkness did not require sleep or sustenance, but fighting still could tire someone, especially if not used to it.
Unfortunately, the situation had gotten much worse in a very short time. As she looked, sitting up as the hood fell from her head to show her striped hair and her red eyes, she could see that the swirling mass of Shadow Heartless, that "Demon Tower," had caught up the royal mouse, Mickey, who had lost his grip on his Keyblade, the blue and yellow "Star Cluster."
"Mickey!" shouted the silver-haired teenager beside her, Master Riku. Yes, she was the only one of their group who was not a Keyblade Master, but her insistence was apparently undeniable... to her detriment, as it seemed. They were fully prepared for anything, but while she had helped a rather effective Keyblade Master in her previous time here, things had apparently gotten much more intense in the interim, as if reacting to the chaos in the Realm of Light.
The Shadows themselves seemed to leave, swirling into a cloud that left a very large, black orb of shadow, the head of the king visible within, but unarmed and apparently defenseless, ripples of violet energy pulsing all around as if as a symbolic barrier.
As it all settled, a figure emerged from the orb, one limb at a time. They appeared to be the size of an average adult human being, perhaps a bit shorter. Overall, it had roughly human proportions, but was entirely composed of, or at least clothed in, a black silhouette wreathed in a violet aura of darkness, to the point of being difficult to see clearly. Leaning down, it picked up the discarded Star Cluster, looking it over.
"Who the hell are you?!" Azumi shouted in indignation, her powers beginning to activate once more as she began trying to stand, the gun going back into its holster. "What do you want with that thing?!"
"This Keyblade..." The figure spoke, a female voice. A very familiar one, in fact.
The woman's eyes widened in horror as she whispered. "No..."
Mickey apparently had the same thought, having regained his senses enough to recognize it. "Is it her?"
Riku said something, but Azumi was no longer listening, just staring, a reaction akin to grief working its way through her as the shadows dissipated from around the figure.
She appeared to be about Azumi's height, if not a very slight bit shorter. Her hair was bleached blue, the once-white dress darkened and tattered, with the pink X shape across it having turned black as the chest and abdomen, and much of the sides turning to a texture and color of dark blue "scales." Where there were once tan, fingerless gloves, now there seemed to be just bare, blackened hands with red fingertips that could pass for claws. The strips of blue cloth that had adorned her hips had darkened near to black, the edges frayed and tattered. Beneath that cloth, her skin on her legs, which had been bare at the middle third between her knees and hips, had significantly darkened, a marked contrast against her exceptionally pale face... and those eyes. Those horrible yellow eyes that were all too familiar to those who had faced the dark.
"Mickey..." the new arrival practically spat in restrained hatred. "You're too late."
Azumi was frozen in horror, despite having stood up, the aura around her dissipating as she watched in silence. It couldn't be her. It just couldn't. This had to be a nightmare.
It couldn't be Master Aqua.
=============
Several years earlier...
The rocky outcropping was relatively safe, at least for the time being. Enough for them to take a few minutes to rest. Training had been hard, but neither of them were complaining. If nothing else, they had something they could do in this darkened realm.
Azumi sat there, looking at the dark ground. Of course, everything was dark here. There was not even a sun by which to guide themselves. All they could use to judge time was their own perceptions, which themselves were highly unreliable in the best of times.
She sighed, not looking over again. These moods came and went, as was the nature of being nearly completely alone in a virtual wasteland with only one person to (usually) count on as a companion.
"What is it?" That was the caring voice of Master Aqua, sitting beside her. Despite being a few years younger, the Keyblade Master was far more wise, especially in regard to the subject of magic. As such, on top of being her only friend in this hostile locale, she was also her tutor, or as they both said, her "master." Despite wariness about Azumi's apparent darkness, she had been nothing but kind and caring, equal parts mentor and surrogate older sister despite their relative ages. Beyond that, their mutual professionalism born of their strict, stubborn natures seemed to fall away at times like these, as if dissolving one another.
"We're never getting out of here, are we?" The words were told without looking.
"Of course we--"
"Why should I even bother trying, anyway?" she cut off the mentor. "If we can't, then this fight is without end, this war of attrition. If we can, then I'll still be a freak when I get out, and it's not like anyone even cares about me out there."
A hand touched her shoulder, which slumped even further. When Azumi looked over, Aqua's own face showed her pity, her sympathy for one mutated by the dark. "It's not about us. It's about the people out there in the light. I know it's hard." She held up her free hand to stop the objection. "I know I can't experience what you are right now. But this fight... we need to work together to defend against the dark, even from inside of it." She paused for a moment for that to sink in. "Fighting the darkness... it takes a lot. You know this, so do I. But with others, that fight is a little easier." She let the hand down from the shoulder. "You were here. You helped me as much as I help you." She ignored the resultant dry laughter. "Not physically. I needed to talk to someone. Anyone. I don't even know how long we've been here. Years, probably. But we both need each other to get back to those people in the Realm of Light. I have them, and I know you do, too, even if you don't know it yet." A pause, then she summarized. "It's not about either of us, but both of us. Even if people don't accept you or me, it's on us to work as hard as we can to save them."
Silence reigned for a few seconds, before Azumi spoke up. "We don't talk about them. Those people you need to get back to. I remember some of it, but... what can you tell me?"
An eyebrow raised. "What brought this on? You usually don't ask."
"I just... I want to know some examples. I don't know a lot of good people."
Aqua sighed. She usually didn't like to do this, given it showed how different they were, on top of exacerbating her own sorrow as much as it did remind her of her own personal mission, but she nodded. "Ask if you want, if you think it will help."
"Ventus. You told me he's some kid, pretty inexperienced and new?"
A moment of thought. "He is a little young, and does need some experience, but... I may have been too hard on him. I wanted to protect him, and Vanitas--"
A snap of the fingers in front of her face brought Aqua back to attention. "Hey, stick on topic." Vanitas, while a subject they both abhorred, was also not on the menu at the moment. "You said you put him somewhere safe."
"Right. Well, I do care about him, about the danger he is in. He's somewhere safe, somewhere I made sure is protected, until he can wake up."
That was an odd phrase, but not really important right now. "Home?"
"Of a sort."
A pause indicated that that was all that was to be said about that particular person at present. "Terra? Sounded more like a brother than a friend."
A far longer pause, this one almost enough to make Azumi regret asking. When Aqua finally responded, she was more somber. "He is closer to my age, a few years older. Very strong, especially physically, but he does have a tendency to not think things through all of the way. I just..." A sigh denoted a possible ending. Whatever was going on with Terra was a very touchy subject indeed.
"Just one more," was the response, helping to change the topic a little.
"Who?" Aqua asked, confused. She had mentioned a lot of people who she had seen over her adventure, but none who were--
"Your boyfriend," Azumi replied with a completely straight face.
Aqua's face turned beet red. "W-what?! I don't - I mean - he just - I never-" She stopped as soon as saw the smirk on her friend's face, glaring in embarrassment.
"I just wanted to see the look on your face," she replied, laughing softly as Aqua buried her head in her hands to hide how she looked. However, it wasn't long before a bit of a smile crept through, along with a chuckle.
After a few moments, Azumi finally replied once more. "Thanks for telling me that. I know it's hard, but... maybe I'll at least see your friends someday, even if I'm pretty piss poor at making them myself on a long term basis."
The Keyblade Master shook her head, ignoring her protege's relatively crude language compared to that she was used to. "Thank you." To the raised eyebrow, she had a rather simple reply. "I guess it's been so long, I almost forgot how to smile. Wasn't sure I even could anymore."
Azumi cracked her neck a bit, stretching her back absently. "When we get out of here, you'll need to know that. After all, the people we're going to see are going to find it weird if you can't smile about all of your successes."
Aqua tilted her head in confusion. "That sounds uncharacteristically hopeful. Are you sure you're alright, or is this just another joke?"
A shrug in return. "Not sure. Maybe you're rubbing off on me a little, but I'm a slow learner." Her expression turned more serious for a moment. "I mean it, though. We are both getting out of here, so we can get away from this constant war for survival."
The Keyblade wielder shook her head. "It's not a war for survival. We're not warriors, we're guardians, defense against those who can't fight for themselves."
All the military woman could do was roll her eyes in response. "I just told you that I'm a slow learner, and you try to lecture me again?"
"You might have a point there, but I'm not one to give up," was the reply, and both snickered softly to themselves.
=============
"What happened?" was all that Mickey could ask.
Aqua, suffused with enormous amounts of darkness, narrowed her eyes in his direction. "You abandoned me, that's what."
Attempting to break through her despair, Azumi cut in. "He tr--"
"Wait. Your. Turn." The glare cut her off more than the words, before this dark Aqua turned back to King Mickey. "Left me in this shadow prison for more than a decade, knowing what it could do to me..."
Mickey could only hang his head in shame. "I'm sorry... It's all my fault."
Aqua turned her back, looking to Azumi. "And you. You promised. You told me that when we left, we would leave together. Did you throw them away, too, the people you found out there who were so important to you? Or are you just too obsessed with war to even bother to bring people peace? Were you too focused on your real enemy, the one who kept you centered?"
Her friend could only wince in her own shame at how deeply those words cut, though she wasn't entirely clear on who she meant as her enemy. "I... "
A snarl in anger was accompanied by that softer, measured tone fading away, Aqua turning her back to the sole non-Keyblade wielder. "You know exactly how lonely it is here." She ignored Riku gasping softly, on one knee with his fist clenching, as he seemed to understand what she meant. "Did you forget the fear of having no one, of those times alone with your demons before help came to restore your resolve? And that's even aside from the scarier moments, the ones of peace where there aren't even battles to occupy you."
Azumi's self-loathing caused her fists to clench tightly, potentially to the point of drawing blood with her fingernails if not for her gloves. Her eyes began to water as she responded the best she could. "I... I tried to come back! I didn't know how, and these two are the only way I figured it out! I knew if anyone could--"
"Fight back?" mocked the corrupted Aqua. "With what?" Before anyone could open their mouths, she had turned her back on them all, walking to the shoreline and looking out at the sea, her steps going into the water without descending beneath the tide. "I reached this shore after endless wandering. Waited forever for help to arrive. But no one ever came." She was silent as she walked further, then clarified on her previous statement. "I lost my Keyblade. Had no means of fighting my way back through the Heartless. You should have known I was stranded, both of you."
"You were strong!" The tears had begun to fall as every word cut deeper, showed her the depths of her failure. "The strongest woman I ever met! You taught me everything about the heart, about the dark! You gave me the strength to keep going when I felt like what we both know I am!"
The female Master paused for a moment, as if figuring out how to reply to the assertation. "The heart? All that's left in my heart is misery and despair." She turned around, the sneer apparent on her face before it turned into a look of determined anger as she raised the Star Cluster, pointing it in the direction of her apprentice. "And now, you can share it!"
"There's no need." The sole non-Keyblade Master among them finally remembered the silver-haired teenager beside her as he stood ready, his Braveheart Keyblade at the ready. "Got my own."
Despite her grief, the military woman felt anger begin to bare its ugly face deep within her. She did not know what it was about, nor did she care. Was she enraged at him for getting in the way? At herself for her failure? At the situation for happening in the first place?
It didn't matter. All that mattered was that she felt it, and if she did, she could use it, not to mention that of the woman before her. The aura of darkness flared up once more, peppered with red "electricity" throughout. At the same time, she could feel that itch, the one that she knew all too well and knew to use to keep herself out of trouble. They wouldn't be safe for long, even if this stayed a conversation.
"Get him out of that thing," she demanded of Riku, not even bothering to look toward King Mickey. "I have things to settle."
To her aggravation, he objected. "But you ca--"
The glare of those red eyes could have pierced stone, despite the tears that fell in rivulets down her cheeks. She knew he had a point, that she wouldn't stand a chance against a full Keyblade Master, especially one as proficient as Aqua, but she didn't care anymore. Nobody was going to take this away from her. "I need to do this. For her..."
The broken knife was in her hand without her even realizing it, its blade extending and serrating until it was the length of Star Cluster, but in the style of a wakizashi. She turned in the direction of Master Aqua, who seemed to recognize the challenge, stepping to the side away from the sphere of shadows above them. Azumi barely acknowledged the incoming Shadows that reformed around that which containing King Mickey to create a new Demon Tower, let alone Riku dashing off to help break it down.
Azumi had tried. She had tried so hard over so long, had done her best to learn from various tutors. She had even instructed her former partner to look into something called the "Chamber of Repose" in Hollow Bastion to try and get some additional aid after her knowledge about memory loss. She had done her best to strengthen herself, to be better than she was, to be worthy of these people, let alone a weapon like the other Keyblade users. She had her own reasons, but she was trying her best to be as strong as she could, so that she could master the dark potential deep within her heart. This was one of the things she had been training for, whether she knew it or not.
The blade was held down, at a slight angle behind her, one corrupted young woman a mirror of the other.
... and for me.
