hadriel | video;

[Aqua looks pensive, troubled as she addresses the network. This isn't the way she wanted to do this, but one can't change the past. No one knows that better than she does.]

I've been wanting to apologize to many of you. I've been putting it off, out of embarrassment, but that's cowardly of me. I know....I hurt some of you, before we moved to this world. And I'm told that it's not entirely my fault, that such...effects....have happened to people here before, but that doesn't matter. They were still my actions.

I'm sorry.

[She bows her head briefly.]

I also wanted to ask a question that I know there may not be an answer to. Before I came here, I was alone for a very, very long time. I'm told it was more than ten years, but time didn't really exist where I was, so I don't know for sure.

I met some boys who came through the Door after I did, who came from the same worlds. They told me a little about what's waiting for me there, if I make it home from where I was trapped, and from here, and then they were gone. I'd like to know....is there any meaning at all behind those who come here, and those who leave again? I feel like there must be a reason that I was bought here, that they were. But maybe that's just wishful thinking.

[She lets out a long breath.]

My name is Master Aqua. I may not have been here as long as some of you, but the dangers we're facing, the storm to come...I'll fight beside you. And do my best to make sure that we all make it through.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There are people who have tried to study the Door, and they may have some answers you would find useful. But if they've found any logic in why the Door chooses as it does, then the news has passed me by.

I am sorry for the loss of your world-mates. It's a hard thing to have some news of home in your hands and have it snatched away.

Thank you. Some of it was hard to hear, but rest...it gave me hope. Our world isn't lost to the darkness yet. I have to think there's hope for this one, too.

Such tidings always are hard to hear, I think. And as most of us seem to arrive from realms in chaos, that might make things worse.

But though darkness has it's moment, it always fades in the end. Later than one would wish, perhaps, but it does.

I wish I could believe that.

[A cloud passes over her eyes for a moment.]

But I was in the darkness a very long time before I came here. Light is strong, and it can still win. But it's not inevitable. We have to fight for it.

It would be wrong to do otherwise.

[In that, at least, they agree.]

Will you be all right, then?

I will.

[She nods firmly.]

I refuse to give up after so long.

Then your strength of will serves you well, Master Aqua. May it continue to do so through whatever comes our way.

[She answers as she taps her claws in front of her chest, a little nervous tic of what she's trying to say.]

I, uhm... it s-seems to be random, who ends up here. Sometimes, uh, the Door seems to get fixated on one world for a while, and a lot of people come from there. Or sometimes it's only ever one. It's uhm, it's kind of hard to say.

[She really, really wants to ask about the alone thing, but it feels rude to do it, so she doesn't. Yet.]

I see.

[She looks sad, but not surprised, and manages a small smile.]

Then maybe I'm lucky, for it to have brought someone I met before. I should remember that.

[It could have been so much worse. ~~It could have brought Xehanort.~~]

[Alphys tries to smile, but it feels a little forced. This looks so hard for her.]

You don't uhm, have to be happy about it if it isn't-- you know, uh, w-what you wanted. I mean, it's... you know, even when something is uhm, is okay, it's alright to be sad. You don't always need to be happy about it all the time.

...you're right. That's very true.

[She lets out a small sigh.]

But I can't let myself feel defeated. There are people counting on me out there.

[Alphys nods a bit in return, but taps her claws together as she thinks.]

Well, um, y-yeah, but I mean... you need to be able to feel okay before you can go help them. If you're not, uhm, doing well, you can't be your best for them right? So it's important you take care of yourself. Uh. Too.

I know. [She's quiet.] You're right.

[It's what she'd say to anyone else.]

I guess it's easier to understand that than it is to follow through.

H-Heh, oh gosh, uh... yeah.

[She knows that so, so much. Alphys reaches up to rub at the back of her neck, a nervous tic she knows means nothing but feels like some sort of movement.]

I uhm... do that a lot too. To myself. Thinking I'm not worth taking care of. It's... yeah. What I mean is, I, uhm... I get it. R-Really, I do.

I think you do.

[There's recognition and understanding in Alphys' voice, and Aqua appreciates it.]

Thank you, Alphys.

It's no problem.

[Because it isn't. She wants to help. Anything she can do.]

I hope you can be comfortable here. A-As much as you can.

I will be. I am, when people remind me I'm not alone.

[No longer cast into darkness.]

Well, then... t-this is a reminder! Of that. Even if no one you know from home is here, or it doesn't feel right... I promise, you have friends.

[She smiles, big and goofy. It's a little unnatural on her, and feels a bit weird, but gosh she's trying.]

If you ever feel alone, feel free to come to the Lab, or the Speakeasy! There's always, uhm, p-people around to talk.

[After a moment, Aqua smiles as well. It feels easier than she'd have expected.]

I'll remember that.

[It's always easier to smile when someone else is smiling too, and the grin feels more natural on Alphys when Aqua smiles back. See, she did something-- that matters, for sure.]

Cool! I mean, uh, great, uhm-- y-yeah.

[She gives a little wave.]

Feel better, okay?

I will. And thank you. Again.

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