She had just managed to fix the bridge, to allow herself get back to the Castle of Dreams. She wasn't sure why she was so determined to check out the fallen tower, but she had to know if there were any survivors. Cinderella, the girl who had given Terra so much help and hope, the prince who had searched so hard for a princess with a pure heart, even those wicked sister and their mother who had hurt Cinderella so. If any one of them was there, she had to help them. But the empty castle had just left her nostalgic for the friends she missed. "What I wouldn't give to really turn back time..." She looked up at the sky, hoping for answers. "To spend one more night beneath the stars, with my best friends..."
She looked down. No, she had to stop this, she had to. She couldn't keep thinking back on everything that happened. Her memories weren't safe from the darkness, and she couldn't let her memories of her friends be corrupted, not when they were the only thing she had, the only thing she might ever have of them again. "I'm doing it again."
"Aqua..." Her eyes widened. She knew that voice. She knew that voice. It was him. It had to be. There was nobody else who sounded like her best friend. She turned around.
"It can't be. What are you doing here? You should be in the realm of light." He couldn't be here. He was in the realm of light; she was sure of it. He was here. Somehow he had broken free of Xehanort's control (like she knew he would, she refused to admit he wouldn't) and ended up here. The thoughts warred in her head, but she decided that the belief that her friend was here was more of her concern. He had to be. She needed him to be. She needed a friend.
But that meant if he was here, she had failed to get him out. Her armor and Keyblade would be here, which was a small relief, but the fact that he was ruined any relief she'd managed to feel about it. In fact, now there was panic. She'd failed to protect him. She'd failed. "On no! Did you not make it out?" Wait, he was here, not wandering the realm of darkness. She hadn't failed to save him, which meant... "Don't tell me. Has the realm of light-"
She stopped. Since calling her name, it was like he was looking right through her. He'd been quiet as he'd walked down the stairs. "Why won't you say anything to me?" She needed answers. She needed to know why he was here. She needed her friend.
"You still have that same dream?" Finally, he spoke, but...what? Was this some sort of joke, a test? "There's this girl here-her name is Cinderella. She made me realize how powerful it is just to believe."
She shook her head. No, this was impossible. What did that...no, she recognized those words. Back when she and Terra had met on the stairs in the realm of light, when everything had seemed so simple. He had said those words to her once before, in her memories. Tears filled her eyes slightly at the cruelness, but...she had to ignore them. She had to stay focused. Maybe there was something here, constantly making the people here relive their last days in the realm of light, if she could just reach for him.
She grabbed his hand, watching as it went right through, and he glowed gold as he vanished. This was another trick. The realm of darkness had managed to find her weakness. She could take out enemies made from darkness for days, but the sight of her missing friends...that was worse. It hurt where none of those enemies could.
She looked at the small blue wayfinder she had made, a sign of friendship between the three of them. Or at least that's what it had been, before all this. She missed her friends, but it was for the same friends that were her pain that were her greatest strength. She started walking once more, the castle was empty, so the world's inhabitants had to be safe. Where they were didn't matter, so long as they weren't in the dark realm with her. Just like so long as he wasn't. So long as they weren't.
She proceeded to leave the castle of the dark realm behind, wherever the realm took her next, she had to be strong enough to take it, for the reminders it might bring. She wouldn't focus on her memories, she couldn't. But this time, she wouldn't let herself hope. Terra wasn't really here, and she knew that.
But there was one thing that had bothered her, why had Terra disappeared into light. If he was born of the realm of darkness, surely he'd have to fade into darkness, not into light. So why was he there? "Did you come...to remind me to hold hope...?"
Hope, it had been something hard to hold onto, but in that moment she'd been hopeful that she'd had a friend. Even the conversation he had repeated...it had given her hope for Terra then, that the master was wrong, just like she'd known. It had later been dashed by Maleficent and her manipulation, but at least in that moment, she'd hoped that when the mission was over, Terra would become a master, just like she knew he could be.
Her wayfinder glowed, almost as though, somehow, Terra could feel her answer to her answer and agreed with her, and she smiled. It had hurt at the time, but if it was really the only way she could make it through the realm. She had to have hope that she would make it to the end. "I won't let you down. I'll make it out, and then the two of us can wake Ven together. I promise."
Though her family was broken with the Master gone and Ven asleep, Terra was still out there. And she wouldn't let Ven down by not returning to him with Terra by her side. The three of them would be together again one day soon, she would make sure of it.