A Question about Aqua (and others)

[Neoshadow99 31]

Hello everyone, I have a specific question regarding what actually happened to Aqua while in the Realm of Darkness, after a certain encounter.

About halfway through the game, Ansem SOD somehow finds both Ansem the Wise and Aqua at the Dark Margin. After a brief struggle, Ansem SOD launches a dark projectile at Aqua, and her dark transformation soon begins. What I would like to know is what exactly happened to Aqua with all of that darkness in her? Was this the beginning of the corruption process that Xehanort has used on many vessels, or was Aqua simply "giving in" to the darkness's influence?

Since she had yellow eyes at this point, it made me wonder if she was becoming Xehanort himself, even though it was Ansem SOD who corrupted her. Can the same be said about everyone else who has yellow eyes, as in, are they all destined to become dark vessels (without intervention from the light)? For the longest time, I was convinced that anyone with yellow eyes had been "norted", but that may not be the case every time. Also, is there any time frame for how long Aqua had been corrupted by the darkness, by the time Mickey and Riku first arrived at the Dark Margin? Maybe it was just the pacing, but it seemed as though not that much time had passed since Ansem SOD forcibly took Ansem the Wise with him to Twilight Town.

In summary, can a distinction be made between those who have been "norted", and those who have only submitted to the darkness itself? Any help understanding this plot point will be much appreciated ?

By the way, I am approaching the endgame, as I have finished the last Disney world and completed the linear section that immediately follows. I do know about some of the endgame plot spoilers, but not all of them, especially without context.

[VisitJoan 2,713]

Honestly I feel Aqua has been fighting the darkness for too long to be suddenly corrupted by it (should I be using spoilers?).  I think that whatever Ansem SOD sent to her was just too much for her to handle at once.  I don’t think she was becoming a vessel, since the Org only needed one left and they found it in... oh wait.  Spoilers. [/spoilers]