Surprise fic! I had to check whether I already posted it or not, haha. Today, kiddos, let me share you another of my headcanons. Although you don't have to have read "Within Darkness" to read that one, know it is the same set up (Aqua & Vanitas are both trapped in the RoD together - and they somehow became friends, because when you have to spend 12 years with only one person to talk to... Better to befriend them)

Disclaimer : I do not own KH nor any of its character. I do own my deep love for them and if you try to take that from me I will bite you.

Aqua could see the walls closing down on her. The room was getting smaller every second. Air became thinner. Rarer. She knew she shouldn't panick, that remaining calm would allow her to breathe longer.

But she couldn't.

It took her back to the first time she ended up locked in such a tiny room. The fear she felt back then, the slow agony of waiting death, it was all back, amplified at every heartbeat. She knew the walls were probably not moving. She knew there was probably a way out. After all, there had been a way in, right? But she was paralyzed, her lungs exploding, her eyes burning from crying.

She was screaming. At least, so she thought. But she couldn't hear a sound, nothing from behind these walls, nothing from inside, not even her own voice. Just her own heartbeat, beating faster and faster, and the more she heard it, the faster it went.

How did she ended up here anyway? She couldn't remember. She was trapped in the Darkness. She had been trapped there for an eternity. But the Realm of Darkness was nothing compared to this room, to these walls, to this obscurity with no door and no window. She woke up there. She didn't know when the walls appeared, she just opened her eyes and they were here.

But wasn't the room really getting smaller? She was sure she had more room for her legs, for her arms a minute ago. She was kicking, punching, and at every blow her hands, her feet didn't go as far as the blow before.

After another minute, it was clear it wasn't all in her head. The room was smaller. She was trapped, she would die there, alone, where no one would know, where no one would care. What was the point of fighting back? There was no way out. Her hands scratched the walls, looking for a door, but there was none. She should just give up. Wait till there wasn't any oxygen left, wait for an unavoidable slow and painful death.

But she remembered Terra. She remembered Ventus. She couldn't give up. She would go down fighting, for the three boys of her life.

Three?

Terra, Ventus, and... Who was the third one? Why couldn't she remember him? She knew he existed. Terra was trapped inside someone else's body and wouldn't know if she was gone. Ventus was asleep, and wouldn't know if she was gone. But the third boy... He knew. He knew where she was. He would know, he would care. Because he was there too. The two of them, in the Realm of Darkness.

Vanitas.

The second she remembered her name, she could suddenly hear his voice. She could hear her screams, her cries, her pleas of help, and his soothing voice.

It's all in your head, Aqua. Fight it! It's not real!

But how could it be in her head? She could feel the walls. She was out of breathe. Her panic was real. How could it be fake?

Calm down! I'm here. I'm with you. Can't you feel it? Fight!

He was... with her? No, impossible. The room had now barely enough space for her alone, two persons wouldn't fit. But as she punched and kicked, she could now feel a force trying to hold her down. Her forces were leaving her anyway. There wasn't much air left in the room. She would now fall asleep, and never wake up. The worst was behind her now. She would be free.

"Don't you dare! Are you going to let Darkness win over you? Are you really giving up after all this time?!"

The voice was closer. She could hear it so much better now. Did he get into the room? But what was that about, the part about Darkness?

It was all clear now. It never had been anything but an illusion. A trick, by the Realm itself. There never was any black room. The walls had been in her head all along. And now, she was dying, killed by her own mind. How ironic.

But if it was all in her mind... Then she could breathe freely, couldn't she?

She gasped as her lungs filled with air, her eyes snapping open.

She wasn't in a black, ridiculously tiny room. She was in front of what looked like Cinderella's Castle, in the arms of a dark-haired boy with intense, worried golden eyes.

His face was bruised, and she suspected she might have been the one who harmed him.

She sat up, all shivering, looking at him, and words came rushing out of her mouth.

"There were these walls and I was locked and I couldn't breathe and I... Vanitas?"

The boy threw his arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his head into her neck.

"I'm glad you are okay. Oh geez I'm so glad you're okay."

She closed her arms around him as well, laying her head on his shoulders.

"I'm okay because you saved me, Vanitas. You brought me back. Thank you."

But he did not react. He had fallen alseep. How long had her nightmare lasted? How long did he spend watching over her? He was exhausted, and she was too. She carefully laid him on the ground, and cuddled up next to him, hugging him. He was soon peacefully snoring, and she waited for her heart to finally calm down before closing her eyes.

This time, no walls, no black room.

The only thing she dreamt of was shining, soothing, comforting topaz eyes.

Throughout my stories, you can discover elements of my headcanons. So here's one of them: Aqua has claustrophobia. The reason will be explained in another fic posted later this week.

Do you have any headcanon? Let me know!