History Fanfic / CastAShadow

''Cast a Shadow'' is a story by Taliax with two sequels, ''Another Side, Another Shadow'' and ''Shadows Alight''. It can be found [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/2801513/chapters/6288566 here]] and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14103150/1/Cast-a-Shadow-Final-Mix here]].

''Cast a Shadow'' is a story by Taliax with two sequels, ''Another Side, Another Shadow'' and ''Shadows Alight''. It can be found [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/2801513/chapters/6288566 here]] and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/14103150/1/Cast-a-Shadow-Final-Mix]].

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/f253a5c6_4ca6_4b8d_8a4c_96b0f84eec57.jpeg]]
[[caption-width-right:350: Cover art by [[https://www.deviantart.com/taliaxlatia/art/Cast-a-Shadow-466951991 Taliax]]]]

''Cast a Shadow'' is a story by Taliax with two sequels, ''Another Side, Another Shadow'' and ''Shadows Alight''. It can be found [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/2801513/chapters/6288566 here]] and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10074434/1/Cast-a-Shadow here]].

* AdaptationalGenderIdentity: Aqua and Lea are both offhandedly mentioned as being trans. In canon, both characters are cisgender.

After losing to Aqua and Ventus and having his heart shattered along with the X-blade, Vanitas fell into the Realm of Darkness. Spending his time fighting off Heartless he eventually stumbles across a familiar face currently fighting for her life.

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: [[spoiler: In the third story it’s revealed that Ventus is originally from Twilight Town]][[spoiler: and that he got his keyblade from Lauriam]].

* ChekhovsSkill: [[spoiler: Aqua’s color changing spell is used to trick Xemnas into thinking she’s been made into one of Xehanort’s vessels.]]

* DemonicPossession: Happens to [[spoiler: Aqua]] twice. The first time [[spoiler: she is possessed by a being referred to as the Dark Wind, who wants to use her body to escape the Realm of Darkness]]. The second [[spoiler: Xemnas tries to turn her into one of Xehanort’s vessels, but she manages to fight him off]].

* EmotionalPowers: The Unversed are formed out of Vanitas’ emotions, with different kinds of Unversed being tied to different emotions. [[spoiler: He later learns how to channel his positive emotions to created light based variations he calls Inversed]].
* FireForgedFriends: While initially barely tolerating each other, fighting off Heartless together and saving each other’s lives causes Aqua and Vanitas to become friends, [[spoiler: and later on a couple.]]

->'''Aqua''': “This is crazy. I’m going to make ice cream out of monsters made out of emotions, with the person who used to want to kill me, under a pit of quicksand in the Realm of Darkness.”\\
'''Vanitas''': "Yeah. So?
* GodzillaThreshold: [[spoiler: When Lea and Riku are fighting Xemnas, Saix, and Xigbar, with Xemnas trying to make Aqua one of Xehanort’s vessels, Lea decides to open a Dark Corridor and grab the attention of the [[EldritchAbomination Dark Wind]] .]] Unsurprisingly, it almost goes horribly wrong.
* HeroicBSOD: Aqua goes through this twice. The first time she is on the verge of just giving up when Vanitas meets her in the Realm of Darkness. [[spoiler: The second time is when she thinks Vanitas has died in the Realm of Darkness.]]

* LightIsNotGood: Aqua discovers light can be just as destructive as darkness [[spoiler: when she uses large amounts of light to try and fight her own inner darkness, but only suceeds in causing damage to her own heart.]]

* MundaneUtility: Vanitas uses one of his Unversed as an icecream maker.
* NeedleInAStackOfNeedles: Said almost word for word by Lea [[spoiler: when he Aqua and Riku search the Keyblade Graveyard for Aqua’s original keyblade.]]

* PowerUpFood: Aqua still has some of the stat boosting icecream she got from Disney Town.
* PowerIncontinence: Vanitas’ Unversed are drawn directly from him emotions and tend to spawn whenever he loses control of his emotions, which has caused him some trouble post HeelFaceTurn.

* TheTalk: Aqua has to give Vanitas one after he nearly groped her while trying to see if she had any food on her. [[spoiler: He later gets another one from Isa while trying to understand the nature of his attraction to Aqua.]]
* ThatCameOutWrong: After escaping the Realm of Darkness [[spoiler: and confessing their love for each other]] Vanitas suggests that he and Aqua get out of their clothes, before clarifying that he meant buy replacement clothes for their dark suits.
* WhatIsThisFeeling: After spending time with Aqua, Vanitas starts feeling genuinely positive emotions for the first time in his existence [[spoiler: and even begins creating light Unversed based on positive emotions]]. Aqua later experiences this as well, when the Realm of Darkness starts awakening her own inner darkness. This reaches a climax [[spoiler: when Vanitas is forced to use a Dark Curaga to save her life]], which fully awakens her darkness and amplies her negative emotions.
* YinYangBomb: [[spoiler: Aqua and her darkness combine their powers to expel Xehanort from their heart.]]

->'''Aqua''': But I’m broken!\\

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Aqua as usual, though she reveals that it used to be black before she changed it with magic.

* DullSurprise: Aqua isn’t too surprised to see Vanitas in the Realm of Darkness. WordOfGod is this is because she accepted that any possible horrible thing that could happen to her will.

* ShoutOut: Parts of the lessons Aqua and Vanitas give each other about Light and Dark magic are taken from Literature/TheWheelOfTime and it’s system of magic.

* WhatIsThisFeeling: After spending time with Aqua, Vanitas starts feeling genuinely positive emotions for the first time in his existence [[spoiler: and even begins creating light Unversed based on positive emotions]]. Aqua later experiences this as well, when the Realm of Darkness starts awakening her own inner darkness. This reachs a climax [[spoiler: when Vanitas is forced to use a Dark Curaga to save her life]], which fully awakens her darkness and amplies her negative emotions

After losing to Aqua and Ventus and having his heart shattered along with the X-blade, Vanitas fell into the Realm of Darkness. Spending his time fighting off Heartless he eventually stumbles across a familiar face.

''Cast a Shadow'' is a story by Taliax with two sequels. It can be found [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/2801513/chapters/6288566 here]] and [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10074434/1/Cast-a-Shadow here]].

->'''Aqua''': “This is crazy. I’m going to make ice cream out of monsters made out of emotions, with the person who used to want to kill me, under a pit of quicksand in the Realm of Darkness.”

''Cast a Shadow'' is a story by Taliax with two sequels. It can be found [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/2801513/chapters/6288566 here]] and [[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/10074434/1/Cast-a-Shadow here]].

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler: Aqua and Vanitas accidentally awaken a being they refer to as The Dark Wind. It’s ''true'' form is a horrific blob of hundreds of different Heartless.]]

* EmotionalPowers: The Unversed are formed out of Vanitas’ emotions, with different kinds of Unversed being tied to different emotions. [[Spoiler: He later learns how to channel his positive emotions to created light based variations he calls Inversed]].

* MookMaker: Vanitas can summon

* OnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Vanitas saves Aqua from the Heartless because he wanted to be the one to finish her off.

* ChekhovsSkill: [[Spoiler: Aqua’s color changing spell is used to trick Xemnas into thinking she’s been made into one of Xehanort’s vessels.]]

* ChekovsSkill: [[Spoiler:Aqua’s color changing spell is used to trick Xemnas into thinking she’s been made into one of Xehanort’s vessels.]]