A/N: After playing Terra's story, I fell in love with this crack pairing. It was so cute and quite like a fairtytale, lol.
Before I say anything more, I would like to thank Jomatto for Beta-Reading this fic and sharpening my flaws into better wording. If any reader would like to read stories with proffesional plotting, characterisation, extraordinary writing, then I highly suggest that you Jomatto's fics because they are awesome and much like books that you buy from a store!
Disclaimer: All rights go to Square Enix and Disney Inc.
He watched as his world collapsed and fell apart, a world that stored his memories and all the sweets of his childhood in a little box. Memories of his shared light faded with each rumble of falling concrete. His master was dead. The father he never had - he killed him. What kind of student was he? What kind of son was he?
The muscles in his chest tightened and his heart constricted with pain. It was his fault. He'd never forgive himself now. He was too naive, too innocent, and this naivety was his ultimate downfall. He was no more than a weapon of destruction like the force of darkness he tried so hard to suppress. He only wanted to end the feud between his friend and his father, but he never expected to murder the man that taught him the importance of light, the man who raised him as his own.
He held tears at the edge of his vision, not wanting to give into weakness anymore, and punched the gauntlet on his shoulder. The armour that his master made for him engulfed his body. He felt ashamed for even wearing this armour that protected him from the darkness in the Lanes Between. The darkness was always there. His master could have protected him from the darkness outside, but not from the darkness inside.
The warrior sped off into the Lanes Between, his knuckles growing numb as he tightened his fingers around the grip of his air-cycle. He wanted someone beside him - someone to fill in the void left in his heart. Who should he go to? Aqua? Ventus? Did he have the courage to face them? Would they still accept his friendship after he murdered their Master? Would they still think him worthy as a Keyblade-wielder after he succumbed to the darkness?
It almost terrified him how he could exert such raw and merciless power, a power that should be locked away and extinguished from all hearts. This new strength that dwelled within him was one that everyone feared. It was easy to give into darkness, to its promise of extreme power, but in doing so, one would lose themselves, lose the light, the light that was hope.
Instantly, a faint gleam of light glistened ahead. It was a comforting sight for the distraught and confused warrior. He created a portal through the tips of his fingers and entered a world that was familiar.
He found himself outside a forlorn cottage. The area was dimly lit and stars were scattered around the sky, some hidden behind thick sheets of clouds. In the distance was a brightly lit medieval-style castle where fireworks loomed.
"The Castle of Dreams..." he whispered to himself, remembering a lady he had met with golden hair and cerulean eyes that unintentionally brightened the weak light in his heart. Her perseverance in pursuing her dreams led him to believe that he should keep chasing his own. He stood frozen in his spot, pondering whether to talk to her one more time before attaining vengeance for Master Eraqus. What would he say to her? She was naive and simple like he, but why did he feel as if she would placate his doleful sorrow?
He trudged over to the cottage door and read the map that he had retrieved from a treasure chest earlier on. This was definitely her house; how unlikely for a woman filled with the purest of lights to be living in a small, poorly-lit cottage in the middle of a dense, silent forest.
The warrior gulped audibly and knocked on the door.
There was no answer. He knocked again.
"Cinderella?" he asked. The name was heavy on his tongue, too divine to even speak. He sighed and decided to retreat when the door suddenly opened. A tall woman with a spiteful look stood at the threshold. Her eyebrows arched at the sight of him.
"Who are you?" she questioned curtly, narrowing her eyes.
"I'm Terra," he replied, standing as tall as she was, "May I ask who might you be?" The older woman took a step forward, hands joined together and her lips taut.
"I am Lady Tremaine, owner of this manor. Why are you looking for Cinderella?" she asked cautiously. Terra sensed that a veil of darkness lingered over the woman's heart. It was clear from her eyes that she encompassed a strong aversion towards Cinderella.
"I..." he paused. Why was he looking for Cinderella? Did he just want to hear her talk? Did he want to talk to her? Or did he just want a pure light to comfort him at this overwhelming time?
"I'm a friend of hers," he stated. Lady Tremaine raised a brow, much to Terra's distaste. He was beginning to become less fond of her as their conversation progressed.
"Friend? That's ridiculous. I never knew she had any friends other then the silly rats she played with," the old woman sneered. Terra lowered his gaze and decided that it was best to leave.
"Cinderella isn't here," a younger voice spoke out. He gazed at a red-haired girl standing behind Lady Tremaine. The latter glared at the girl like a tiger ready to pounce. Terra presumed it worthy to take chances now. After all, maybe the light that he detected in the Lanes Between was destiny.
"Where could I find her?"
The red haired girl treaded over to him. "She was taken to the palace by Prince Charming over a month ago. They are to be married by tomorrow."
Terra nodded, slightly jealous of Cinderella's good fortune. She kept the light in her heart strong and pure, but he was happy that she would finally get her happily-ever-after. She deserved to smile after enduring a life full of torture and tears.
"Thank you..."
"It's Anastasia," the girl smiled. Terra returned the smile and headed into the woods. He slouched onto the chair when he first met Cinderella. She had been crying on this bench, her pink dress in tatters, her eyes wet with tears. He lowered his head.
"I shouldn't see her at this time. Not when the darkness is taking over me," he whispered to himself. An image of Master Eraqus formed in his mind before dissipating into the depths of his subconscious.
"Master...Please forgive me. I failed you," the warrior's voice faltered and his shoulders trembled. Silver drops twinkled in the dim moonlight and fell upon his hands on his knees. The last flicker of hope had died away and he was scared. He'd been frightened before but not like this. Not when he smelt death glooming in every corner. Not when he knew that he was a threat to his friends and all the worlds.
He was so wound up in his sorrow that he didn't notice a frail, wrinkled hand on his own. Blinking away the tears, he glanced up at a kind old woman wearing a cloak the colour of the night sky. He remembered her.
"Fairy Godmother?"
"Its okay child," she replied with a kind smile. Terra's eyes widened and he leapt off the seat in embarrassment. She wasn't supposed to see him like this. What explanation would he give the Fairy Godmother? The worst part of this was that he had a reputation for being a horrible liar.
"I-I can explain...I just..." he started but no words were forming in his tired mind.
"I know what happened," she said sympathetically.
"I know but...wait, you know about Master Eraqus?" Terra asked, astonished that someone outside the Land of Departure should know about its demise.
"Of course I do. He was one of the Masters along with Yen Sid. I travel to other worlds as well my dear, and I help people who are in need of some light. Terra, it seems like you need some light right now."
"I don't deserve any light after what I've done," the warrior murmured, too ashamed to look into her eyes. He stared at his feet, wishing that this was a twisted nightmare that he was going through.
"I was the one who let you see the light in order to guide you here. You should talk with Cinderella," the Fairy Godmother assured him. Terra glanced at her in surprise. Maybe the light he saw meant something for him after all.
"But how could I? I can't face her like this. Not when she's found the pinnacle of her happiness," he explained, guilt constricting his heart. It felt wrong to approach Cinderella, a pure-hearted woman, when the powers of obscurity were screaming in every one of his nerves.
"Of course you can't go dressed like that!" the Fairy Godmother chuckled. She waved her wand in the air.
"Now what were those words - I keep forgetting them, oh dear...ah yes! Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo!" she exclaimed as a swirl of sparkling light surrounded Terra. He was too slow at denying her offer and felt the clothing he was wearing previously morph into entirely different garments. He stood before the old woman dressed in a black tuxedo suit.
"Huh? I don't understand," he said. A sense of déjà-vu festered in the atmosphere.
"Remember, dreams must end soon. You have until midnight to get to her," the Fairy Godmother beamed at him. Her tone softened and she gave the Keyblade-wielder a motherly embrace. "She'll understand better than anyone else what it is like to lose a loving father."
"Thank you...For believing in me," he said. A new feeling of hope burned in the ashes of his defeated light. He ran towards the brightly lit castle in the distance, determined to have a final talk with Cinderella before The End.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The castle was bustling with servants running errands here and there. To Terra's surprise, people were celebrating the royal wedding already by dancing in the Royal Ball that was taking place. He stood at the palace entrance, totally aloof from the joys of laughter and the mutual endeavours of lovers.
I can't go there now. That would be disrupting Cinderella's time with the prince. Perhaps it's best to just leave but I only have until midnight to approach her, and the Fairy Godmother was kind enough to lend me these clothing.
He took a deep sigh and walked through the hallway and towards the ballroom. There was no Unversed to stop him this time.
I wonder why the Unversed aren't attacking this place anymore? Has it got to do with Cinderella's light?
Upon entering the vast ballroom, Terra stood rooted in his spot. There were so many colours of garments spinning across the room. A few of the dancers bumped into him, some apologising while others scowled in anger. The warrior tightened his fists and took a step away. It was best to leave. He should have - or would have went if he didn't see her twirling in the middle with the immaculate Prince Charming wearing the same beautiful dress that glistened like pale moonlight.
"Cinderella..." he whispered. Perhaps it was sorrow, the sister of happiness that opened his locked heart at the sight of the beauty before him. Why hadn't he seen her this way before? What was it about her that made his heart beat in a frenzy when his eyes fell upon that harmonic face? Possibly for the first time in his life, Terra thought someone was beautiful. He had a crush on Aqua when they were children but that crush grew more into a brother-sister bond, so he never considered the girl with ocean-blue hair to be beautiful. Yet here he was, shamefully ogling a stranger he had conversed with for only a couple of hours.
Why was he so drawn to her now? His hand unknowingly moved to his heart.
Is the darkness deep within drawn to her pure light?
He pulled himself away from the crowd and melded into the shadows. It was best to watch the beauty of light from far away. If she was to come closer, her light would strengthen his darkness. After all, light is the source of shadow. However, when he glanced back in her direction, he saw her watching him. She must have sensed him because her eyes were wide with recognition. He watched as she exchanged words with her prince and slipped from the latter's embrace.
Terra tensed and searched for the exit. There was a crowd of dancing couples he would have to push through but he had to avoid speaking with Cinderella at all costs before it was too late.
"Terra, you came to the ball."
Too late, she was there, holding his arm with worry in her shining blue eyes.
"I looked for you for many days, hoping that you would attend my wedding but I wasn't able to find you," she spoke again in her dulcet, mellifluous voice. Terra ran a hand through his brown locks anxiously, musing on what to explain to her, but the muscles in his throat tightened and emotion overwhelmed him.
"Please, accompany me outside. I wish to speak to you," Cinderella said. He would have said he didn't have the time but how could he deny a lady? She smiled at him pleadingly, revealing her pearly white teeth.
"Of course," he said, extending his arm to her which she took willingly. As he escorted her outside, his cheeks flushed with discomfort when the other couples stopped in whatever they were doing and stared at the warrior and the pure-hearted lady leave the ballroom.
They walked for a while in the palace gardens until they reached a small manmade lake, neither of them spoke for a moment that seemed to pass into eternity.
Cinderella bent over the bridge and stared at the ivory water-lilies that floated atop the lake. The stars were emulated as diamonds across the gentle waves. Terra gasped and pulled her away from the edge of the bridge.
"Don't do that in case you..." he stopped midway in his sentence, realisation hitting him what he had just done. Cinderella just smiled warmly and placed her hands behind her back.
"Oh Terra, you are still the same knight I've known before," she chuckled. He raised his brows. She thought he was a knight?
"Where have you disappeared to for the past month?"
"I can't tell you that," he replied honestly, staring at the lake below. Cinderella held the hems of her dress and twisted the folds when she ventured deep in thought. Her innocent and child-like ways intrigued the warrior but somehow, he knew he could open his obscure heart to her. She could extract all his secrets one by one with her light.
"My ma-...Father was murdered. In my despair, I found my way back to your place," Terra said. Cinderella gasped quietly, placing her hands over her mouth. Terra was flabbergasted when he saw tears trickling down her warm-toned cheeks. She was crying for his loss?
"Oh dear, I am so sorry to hear that," she whispered and suddenly, her arms were flung around his shoulders, her head snuggled into his chest. Terra was the one to gasp this time, eyes blinking in astonishment, but he could not get his arms to drape around her lean form. Just watching her cry onto his torso made him wish that this was their fairytale because it felt so right to have her here, almost in his arms, crying for him.
"Please, don't cry for me. There's nothing I can do anymore," he murmured, lifting her head to meet his face and wiping the tears that stained her cheeks.
"You must be going through a rough time. He must have been a great man to have a son like you," she sobbed. Terra winced as if her words were daggers to his chest. Yes, he was a great man but he deserved a better pupil, a better son.
"I could have been better." Terra pried her arms away from him and leaned back against the bridge. He sensed Cinderella watching him but he was glad that she wasn't sympathetic. She was empathetic and no matter how much darkness roamed in his heart, she would always empathise with his quenched light.
"What are you talking about? I know he must have been proud of you," Cinderella objected, holding his hands in hers, a reassuring smile on her face, "You saved me and treated me with so much respect that no other person has shown me after...after my own father passed away."
He saw a glimmer of sadness in her eyes at the mention of her father. They were two different people from two completely different worlds, yet here they were sharing their emotions, a beast of raging darkness and a beauty of radiating light.
"I think your father would have been proud of you too, Cinderella. You have believed in your dreams for so long, through rough and tough times, now they are all coming true."
"But in order to follow those dreams you have to be brave and stay strong in the rough and tough times," she said. Terra strained his lips to smile. She was reminding him of what he had told her when they first met. The music from the ballroom grew louder, escaping into the hollowness of the night.
Terra stepped back and held his hand to Cinderella.
"Could we have a dance? Before this night ends?" he silently pleaded, hoping that she would accept his offer. He heard her giggle and she took his hand.
"It will be my pleasure."
They twirled across the floor in symphony with the music that orchestrated around them. Adagio Cantabile - melodic and slow to the beat, their eyes never leaving from their stares. Terra knew that if Ven and Aqua saw him now, they would have mocked him jokingly but that moment might never happen. This was probably the last moment he'd ever had that he could call 'pleasant,' because deep in his heart, his darkness spoke of unwonted foreboding. He was surprised at how his body was waltzing in tune with her. Perhaps it was once again, the darkness within him that desired her light. It was as if some other entity had taken over his body just to waltz with this divine maiden.
Instantly, a bell gonged across the kingdom. It was almost midnight.
"I must go!" Terra exclaimed, letting go of Cinderella and tripping over her feet. He quickly scampered back on his feet and was about to run away but she grabbed his hand.
"Terra, don't go!" she implored. He realised there was a different emotion flashing in her eyes but he couldn't decipher it.
"No, I have to. You must return to Prince Charming unless he gets suspicious."
She didn't let go of him but tightened her grip.
"Then take me with you," Cinderella uttered hastily, her cheeks flushing with pink colour.
"W-w-what?" the warrior stammered. He wasn't expecting her to say something like that.
Keep her and stay here forever, the darkness beckoned inside him. He gripped at his heart. No, he can't submit to the darkness. He can't put Cinderella's heart of light in danger. She needed to stay with a man who would shower her with light and happiness, not one who is diving deeper into darkness, not one who can be controlled to steal hearts.
"No, you must leave me," he replied firmly. His harsh tone of voice seemed to have affected her because she let go of his arm.
"Will I ever see you again?" she whispered, eyes brimming with tears.
"I don't think-...I will return someday, I promise."
"Then I'll keep waiting for this dream, until you return," she leaned forward and planted a chaste kiss on his lips. He could have sworn that he almost found his light again at that moment and he wanted to hold her in his arms until the ends of infinity but the kiss was quick and he was frightened that she should keep waiting for him - even though he knew that he would never return.
"Sleep," he chanted and she staggered back before falling. He caught her in his arms just in time, gazing at her beautiful sleeping face. She truly resembled an angel.
"I'm sorry I have to do this, Cinderella. Please forget me," he began, the tips of his fingers had a faint green glow and he placed them on her temple.
"Your light deserves to shine upon those who deserve it."
His magic was moderately good, not great like Aqua's but he knew spells on how to erase memories.
And as the stars that sprinkled the night sky are forgotten as the dawn approaches, he erased all memories she had of him before leaving her to sleep, dreaming dreams of light and purity.
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory of hope, love of finished years.
Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death;
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago...
-Christina Georgina Rossetti, Echo