An Unexpected Twist

A/N: This took a long time to write! But I'm glad it's finally up! This is collaboration with Sakura088 and I'm happy she helped fill in the details! Tequa! This is going to be a story but I will not post more until I get some reviews. RR please!

[DISCLAMER] I do not own anything for Kingdom Hearts

Chapter 1: A Change

Vanitas jumped down from the cliff, keyblade drawn, not wanting to fulfill his order, questioning the darkness. The air was rushing around him. He heard nothing but the air, knew nothing but how soon he would be killed. His life... wasted on darkness. The darkness. He never asked for it, never wanted it, never thought he'd ever be part of it. Killing innocent people, or hurting people who did nothing to him, for what? A stupid keyblade that would only result in more darkness. More hurt. Sure, he had played along with the darkness, summoning the unversed, getting angry, and helping it overcome everything. Well not anymore... he was done helping, he was moving on. The darkness was no longer important to him. He now realized why his master had created him, and how. He'd been created from pure darkness, and for what? The stupid "X-blade". His master was killing him off for a stupid piece of metal. 'Well, that would soon be changing.' Vanitas smirked. He wasn't going to let the darkness overpower him anymore.

"Aqua!," he heard Ventus yell, causing him to snap out of his thoughts. He was quickly coming closer and closer to the lilac haired girl's face. Her face was pale, and her blue eyes shone with fear and agony. He could see her lips move slightly. 'I'm sorry, Ven.' He could see her mouth as she closed her eyes in resignation. His eyes widened. She had accepted the fact that she was going to die. For a moment, he could see the kind of person she truly was. Strong, independent, warm, and friendly. A supporter of her friends, even to the death. Full of light. Somehow, he knew that he could not fulfill his order to kill her. Vanitas had told himself that he wouldn't follow the darkness. He was going to take this first step. Vanitas saw that it was too late to change the direction of his keyblade completely, and there was no way to throw it to the side without hurting Ventus. His body was turned the wrong way. With every once of energy that he had left, he managed to move the keyblade enough so that she wouldn't be taking the brunt force. There was no doubt in his mind that she was still going to be hit. Time seemed to slow down for the three in the situation. Ven was looking on in horror, his eyes wide in disbelief. Aqua... strong, confident, dependable, warm, loving Aqua... his best friend... was going to be taken out right before his very eyes. He felt so useless so... weak. She had always protected him, no matter what the cost had been to her. And now, when she needed help the most... needed to be saved... he could do nothing but watch. And she... she had mouthed to him that she was sorry. He was the one who should be apologizing. "AQUAAA!"

Aqua was ready to accept what she saw coming. She had tried her hardest, yet she had failed. Terra was giving into the darkness. Ven had wanted them to take him out. She could do nothing to save her two best friends. She would never get to hear Ventus's laugh again. Never feel Terra hold her in his arms. Never tell Terra how she truly felt about him. She had mouthed to Ven that she was sorry. And if anything, that just made the young boy stubble harder, his blue eyes becoming more agonized. She closed her eyes, and a single tear escaped. Ven watched the tear as it fell, and by the time it had left her face, Vanitas was upon her. "Forgive me, Ven...Terra." she whispered. "I've failed you both."

Vanitas saw the tear on her face, and for the first time, he felt something stir inside his chest. Remorse. He didn't want to kill her, or even hurt her. But it was too late for that now. He was mere inches away from her body. And all of a sudden, time sped up again. Vanitas closed his eyes as he heard his keyblade make contact with the girl's body. It was an awful sound, metal scraping on metal. He opened his eyes, and saw that he missed her face by mere inches, hitting near her collar bone instead. She went flying back in an arc, and both he and Ven watched her fall. She hit the ground hard, smacking her head on a rock in the process. Her body came to a rest a few feet away from Ven, and he looked at her through petrified eyes. She didn't move. Vanitas slowly walked over to where she lay, and gently turned her over, hoping, for the first time in his life, that she was going to be okay. That he had done enough to save her.

"W-What do you think your doing?" Ven screamed at him, sobbing. "Get away from her! She's gone... you've taken her away from us...the least you can do is leave her body in peace!" Vanitas ignored him, and looked down to the lifeless face of the girl that he held in his arms. There was blood running down the left side of her face from a gash that had formed when she hit the rock. She was pale, but her chest was still moving unevenly up and down. 'she's still alive.' Vanitas sighed in relief. He gently shook her, trying to bring her back to consciousness.

"S-Stop! Please, kill me, just leave her alone!" Ventus yelled. Vanitas looked over at him, wondering how they had formed such a close connection. He was envious of that relationship, and wondered if he would ever have one like it. He shook his head. He was definitely changing. Just then, there was a small sound, a quiet groaning. Both boys froze, and turned their attention back to the lilac haired girl. Aqua's eyes slowly fluttered open, revealing dazed looking blue.

"Aqua..." Ven whispered quietly, not quite daring to believe that she was still alive. Aqua started at the sound of her name, and seemed to become aware of her surroundings for the first time. Her eyes began to clear as her mind came back to awareness.

"Where am I? Ven?" she questioned, slurring her words. Vanitas immediately knew that she must've hit her head harder than he had originally thought.

"No." he answered her quietly. "But you're going to be okay. You're safe for now." Aqua froze at the sound of a voice that she was not familiar with. Her eyes slowly filled with tears as she realized who was currently holding her.

"N-No!" she cried, struggling to get out of his grasp. "L-Let go of m-me!" Her words were still slurred, and he could barely understand her. She made one final effort to get away from Vanitas, and he was amazed to see how much strength she was able to gather. He gently let his grip on her go, and she shot out of his arms. Ven smiled and cheered her on as she stumbled over to his side. She was still alive! And she was still fighting. All that changed when Aqua pitched forward and fell to her hands and knees a few feet away from him. He was horrified at what he saw. Her whole face was red. Not from the exertion or from being near Terra (because he knew there was something going on there), but from blood. There was a large, deep gash on the left side of her face. Her face was a ghostly white under all the red and her limbs were shaking. Ven knew that she had to get help, soon. She was hurt badly. Vanitas sighed, and made his way over to the two. Aqua looked at him warily, but made no move to attack him. She simply wasn't strong enough. "W-What do you w-want?" Ven became even more worried when he heard her slurring her words. Something was seriously wrong with his best friend. Vanitas reached in his pocket, and the two keyblade workdays froze, eyes locked onto him. They watched as he pulled a potion out of his pocket, and proceed to use it on Aqua.

"I know that it won't do much." he told her. "But it will do enough so that you'll be able to get home, and get help. I tried to do the least amount of damage that I could with the limited I had to change my position." He handed her another potion. "Here. Use it on Ventus. Aqua get out of here as fast as you can."

"Why?" was her simple question, her eyes radiating confusion.

"That's not important." he growled. "I'm sparing your lives. I'm going to save Terra for you. I already saved your Master's life. Just go before I change my mind." He realized that he sounded harsher than he had wanted it to, but he couldn't take that back now. He jumped back on the keyblade storm and rode it to the top of the cliff, ready to face his punishment for what he was about to do. Disobey his orders. And fight the darkness within him. Aqua stared after Vanitas in pure shock, wondering if what he said was true... saving Terra's life... and he had saved master Erquas? She would find out soon enough. Even as hurt as she was, she was still coherent enough to know that she had to get Ven and leave. She stumbled over to Ven, potion in hand. He looked up at her, worry and panic evident in his eyes. Aqua avoided his eyes, afraid to confirm how badly she was actually hurt, and quickly used the potion on him. He was quickly unfrozen, and Ven sat up just in time to catch her as she fell forward again. He quickly brushed her stained red hair away from the injury, and winced when he saw that the deep gash was just as serious as he had though. It had still not stopped bleeding. The blood was quickly staining his hands red and he attempted to put some pressure on it. Aqua winced in pain and shook her head, slowly sitting up.

"We n-need to get h-home." she slowly told him.

"Aqua, you're in no shape to move anywhere, let alone fly a Ride." he retaliated. She lifted her dazed blue eyes to meet his, and slightly smiled.

"I'll m-make I-it." she managed to whisper. She painfully stood up, and summoned her Ride. Ven looked at her doubtfully, and knew that he would have to keep a very close eye on her on the way home.

'But then again,' he thought. 'that's Aqua for you. Putting everyone else before herself. I should be glad that she's not insisting we stay to help Terra, as guilty as I know she is that we're not. She knows just how hurt she really is, and knows that we have a limited time before she gets worse' He sighed, worried even more. But he copied her, summoning his Ride. They both fixed their armor and jumped on, heading into the sky. All Ven could do was hope that Aqua would hold on until they got help, and hope Terra would find some way to come backup them.

As they left the world, Aqua couldn't help but feel guilty. She was leaving Terra behind. But she was hurt. She had told Ven that she would be okay, but there was no guarantee of that. She knew she needed help. And, surprisingly, she was hoping for the safety of Vanitas. Maybe he had changed. But now... she didn't know of she would have the chance to see either of them again.

And as Vanitas reached the top of the cliff he could only think one thing... he was going to do this, even if it meant giving up his life in the process. He had planned this moment in his head for the past months, and it was finally time to succeed... or fail.

A/N: hope you enjoyed it! Please leave a review and tell me what you thought! Should I continue on?