App: DDD

[shiningwaters]

Player nickname: Akino
Player LJ: akinoame
Way to contact you:
Email: brittany [dot] akinoame [at] gmail [dot] com
AIM: Canta Akino
Other:
Are you at least 15?: Y
Current Characters: N/A

Character: Aqua
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Character Notes:
History: The Keyblade--a legendary weapon that can open the hearts of worlds and fight the darkness. Long ago, there were many warriors of its order, and they battled one another in a great battle of darkness and light for the power of Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds. Now, their order has dwindled to a few who fight for the light, or for the dark.

Aqua spent much of her life in the Land of Departure, training to become a Keyblade Master under Master Eraqus, alongside her friend, Terra. One day, a third student came to join them, a young amnesiac boy named Ventus, and although his lost memories were an obstacle in the beginning, the three quickly became the best of friends. Being older, Aqua and Terra advanced more quickly in their training than Ven, and Master Eraqus saw fit for them to take the Mark of Mastery exam to become full-fledged Masters. With Eraqus's old friend and Ven's former master, Xehanort, watching over this momentous occasion, Aqua and Terra battled to prove their worth. However, when Terra displayed a strange burst of dark power, only Aqua was promoted to Master, creating a rift between the friends. When a new threat, the Unversed, emerged at the same time Master Xehanort went missing, Eraqus tasked Aqua and Terra with traveling to the other worlds and protecting them from the Unversed, as well as finding the missing Master. However, Aqua was secretly charged with keeping an eye on Terra and ensuring that the darkness didn't overwhelm him, and to bring him back home should that happen. To make matters worse, when Aqua was about to leave, she saw Ven take off after Terra, the inexperienced pupil flying off into the Lanes Between worlds. Aqua's mission now included finding young Ventus and bringing him back home.

Aqua ventured to the other worlds, battling the Unversed and trying to catch up to her friends. Her journey challenged what she'd learned about the light and darkness, making her wonder if she even could fight the darkness with light, as she'd been taught. At the same time, she had to battle a dangerous young man named Vanitas, who was determined to hurt Ven by hurting her. She also came to doubt in Terra, having heard that he'd been giving into the darkness inside of him and done some terrible things. The hardest blow came when she learned that Master Eraqus had been killed by Terra and Xehanort, and she knew she had to learn the truth from Terra himself. She ventured to the Keyblade Graveyard, the site of the battle in ancient times, and Terra admitted that he'd been manipulated by Xehanort into killing the man he'd thought of as a father, all to save Ven. Ven then appeared, revealing that Xehanort planned to have him and Vanitas fight to create the ultimate weapon, the χ-blade, to open Kingdom Hearts and create another Keyblade War. He begged his friends to destroy him if that happened, breaking their hearts. But Xehanort and Vanitas appeared, along with Xehanort's hired man, Braig, and the three friends were separated in battle. Aqua fought to protect a frozen Ven, but upon defeating Braig, she was knocked unconscious by an attack by Vanitas. When she came to, Vanitas and Ven had merged into one being, wielding the χ-blade. Calling on the power of her friends, Aqua managed to defeat Vanitas and knock the χ-blade from his hands, reverting his body to Ven's form, but the weapon began to go out of control, blasting energy everywhere. Aqua managed to summon the last of her strength to reach out and grab Ven's hand before she lost consciousness again. When she awoke, she learned that King Mickey, a mutual friend of theirs, had rescued them from the Lanes Between and brought them to his master, Yen Sid, to recover.

Discovering that Ven was lost in a deep sleep and that Terra had disappeared after fighting Xehanort, Aqua took matters into her own hands to protect them. She took Ven back home, to the ruined Land of Departure, and took her fallen master's Keyblade to hide the world away as Castle Oblivion, letting Ven sleep inside peacefully. Hearing Terra's voice call out to her to finish him, she set out in search of him, finding him in the city of light, Radiant Garden. He had been possessed by Xehanort, who was desperately trying to repress his heart. Aqua battled him, with Terra fighting back with all he had. Finally, in a last-ditch effort to destroy Terra's heart, Xehanort pierced himself with his own Keyblade, causing him to fall into the realm of darkness. Aqua dove in after him, but when she realized that she'd never be able to get the both of them out safely, she draped him with her own armor and gave him her Keyblade, sending him flying through the closing portal.

For ages, Aqua was left wandering the world of darkness, armed only with her master's Keyblade. Her hope dwindled, only brought back when she saw Terra's and Ven's Keyblades briefly appear to destroy the Heartless that surrounded her. She eventually found her way to a beach, where a man lost in the darkness told her how the worlds had been threatened once more by darkness, only to be saved by a young boy she'd met briefly during her travels, Sora. This gave her hope to continue on, knowing that there was still a light shining beyond.

Personality: Aqua is mature and responsible, with a calm demeanor and a rather serious mind. This is one of the most evident traits about her, and it is this that leads her to pass her Mark of Mastery exam. She has a good deal of control over herself, and she is willing to take on the responsibility of guiding her friends. As a very young Master, this level of responsibility is spread much further: to protecting the worlds from darkness, to protecting Terra from himself, to keeping Ven safe at home. She has a bad tendency to worry. While she has deep faith in her friends, this burden of responsibility that she bears leads her to worry that she can’t help them. For example, that Terra really is falling into the darkness, even though she’s known him for years and believes that he can overcome his personal demons.

Aqua begins as an innocent teenage girl with strong faith, but throughout the course of her canon, her spirit begins to break down. She begins her travels smiling and cheerful, easily making friends. While she still manages to make friends toward the end, her smiles become fewer and far-between, and a deep sadness settles in her soul. Her fears and worries begin to overtake her, and it reaches its peak when she’s lost in the realm of darkness, giving way completely into despair, had it not been for Terra and Ven’s timely miracle. She realizes herself how badly her battle has affected her, that her hopes and dreams of becoming a Keyblade Master have led her to melancholy. Despite all of this, she still tries to keep up hope, even if it’s only the hope that others can do better than she can.

While she’s polite and kind to others, Aqua has limits to her patience. When someone threatens her or her friends, she refuses to back down, and her fighting style reflects her personality: graceful, yet fierce. Her anger doesn’t give way to hatred, but she will not forgive anyone who intentionally tries to harm the people she cares about.

Other: Aqua’s main weapon is the Keyblade, which is a powerful magic sword shaped like a key. In addition to doing the things a typical powerful magic sword can do (cutting things that look like enemies, for example), it can also open any lock. It can also unlock hearts, but this is a big no-no, since that tends to lead to releasing darkness, when she’s supposed to be trying to defeat it and keep the balance between light and dark under control.

A strong enough bond between Aqua and another person can create two things: a new form for the Keyblade and/or a Dimension Link, or D-Link. The D-Link allows Aqua to temporarily use her friend’s abilities in combat, and for them to use hers for the same duration of time. For example, if she had a D-Link with a Kamen Rider, she’d be able to use a Rider Kick; a Gokaiger, Final Wave; a Precure, their special attack. Once used, the power is depleted for a short time.

She also has magic, which extends from simple protection charms to various attacks. Because this is a very long list of attacks, they are included in her links. She can also use special ability sets (command styles) based on the kind of magic she’s used:

Spell Weaver: Multiple magic attacks
Firestorm: Fire-based attacks
Diamond Dust: Blizzard-based attacks
Thunderbolt: Thunder-based attacks

Blade Charge: Second-level. One of the first-level forms, plus fire, blizzard, or strike attacks
Sky Climber: Second-level. One of the first-level forms, plus dash or zero gravity attacks
Ghost Drive: Second-level. One of the first-level forms, plus thunder or magnet attacks.

Additional Links: Aqua’s entry on KH Wiki
Command style entry, with more detail and the optional styles from gameplay
Command deck entry, with all of the attacks summarized, with which character noted.
Shotlock: a special type of attack specific to the game
D-Link entry, with canon D-Links listed and described

First Person (entry type):

[The night before]
Tomorrow’s the big day. Terra and I have our Mark of Mastery exam in the morning. I think we’ve pretty much got everything covered, in terms of our training, plus those good-luck charms I made should do the trick.

Wish us luck!

[The next day]
We just took our exam.

I made it, but Terra didn’t.

The Master says it’s because he couldn’t keep the darkness in him under control, but…

…It’s not fair. We were supposed to become Masters together. If we didn’t make it, at least we’d still be training together. Terra shouldn’t have failed.

Master Eraqus wants to go over some information with me. I think Ven’s going to talk to Terra. I hope he’s okay. I’ll be back later.

Third Person:
Aqua was almost shaking with anger, and it was a struggle to keep herself under control.

“You’re lying! My friends are stronger than that! They’d never fall for your tricks!”

The enemy before her laughed. “Perhaps they’re not as strong as you think. Perhaps, they’re only as strong as you are, and from the looks of it, you’re not very strong at all.”

Aqua gasped, struck by the taunt. What if he was right? What if she failed, and everything fell into darkness because she wasn’t strong enough?

He laughed again. “What will you do, little girl? You know yourself that you don’t have what it takes to be a true Keyblade Master.”

“I…” she struggled to find the words. She’d worked so hard for this, all of her life. Her and…

…Terra. Her biggest failure. She couldn’t save him from himself, no matter how much she tried.

The enemy came at her with a strike, but she quickly leapt backwards and flipped, slashing out with her Keyblade in a swipe.

“You’re wrong,” she insisted. “I believe in them, and them in me. We take strength from one another. And that’s more than enough to defeat you with!”