Pain of Relationships
SUMMARY: Holding onto a relationship is hard. What does one go through when the relationship they've been trying to figure out how to save crumbles even further? Rated T to be safe because this co-author's a cautious one.
What's this? A different format? This isn't violetbutterfly90, is it? NO! It's KitaraStrife! HIII, anyone who actually still looks at this join account. I'm the side of this account that you don't ever actually see. :/ That's bad. Very bad on my part. That's my fault, though. I'm more a reader than a writer, sadly. (Seriously, take a look at how many fics I have favorited on here. YEESH.) That's why even I'M surprised I churned this out; I haven't written anything in, like, FIVE YEARS! O_O That's a LONG time to not update any of my stories. Especially the Kingdom Hearts one that I swore I'd actually finish, but that's neither here nor there. Where was I going with this opening author's note? Oh yeah! Violet and I haven't been talking a lot in the past several months, and that's mainly my fault. :( One of the few times we did talk, she told me something that spawned this ficlet. This ficlet that would. Not. Leave. Me. ALONE. For nearly two months! So, finally talking to her for the first time in forever, rping some of our pairings and I type this up. All in one night. That's something that just does not happen with me. Well, enough of my rambling. Enjoy, don't enjoy. Whatever. I'm just happy I finally churned something out after so long! (But reviews and likes would be awesome and happily welcomed, please. ^_^;; Even critiquing.) So go on, read, review. Tell us how I did. :)
Divorce papers.
He had been handed divorce papers. Aqua had handed him divorce papers. He didn't know what he had done wrong. He had been a good husband, hadn't he? He had taken care of her and their young son, provided for and protected them when the need arose, played with Eraqus when he could or the boy was persistent in dragging his father away from the training that could wait. What had he done wrong?
Sighing for what must have been the millionth time since Aqua had first left him for Merlin's old house in the Third District of Traverse Town, taking Eraqus with her, Terra pushed away from the lonely kitchen table and rubbed his tired eyes. He had been going over the papers for what felt like the hundredth time and still could not understand why she had left him. He was continuously wracking his brain for any little thing that he could have done wrong, for anything that would have pushed her away from him. Walking to the sink, he turned the tap and splashed some of the cold water on his face before leaning his hands against the edge, head hanging to let drops of the liquid fall into the sink with the still-running water. Could he have overprotected, over-provided?
All this thinking of what he could have done wrong was affecting him physically. He was barely training in the large—too large—training room anymore, Heartless and Nobodies were landing more and more blows to his body than they did before when he heads to different worlds to clear the pests of Darkness out. He was barely sleeping anymore, the bags under his eyes wrapping around and nearly making him look like an every day, run of the mill bandit. He knew his lack of sleep was contributing to his lackluster performance on the battlefield, but he couldn't being himself to care.
Finally pushing away from the sink, he turned off the water before leaving the kitchen to trek to the bedroom. Padding slowly down the vast, empty halls, he trailed his fingers down the walls, blinking as certain memories flashed before his eyes on his way to try and get some sleep: Aqua laughing as he pressed her against the wall to kiss at her neck; Eraqus calling out to him from the play room to come play Pirates and Lost Boys with him; Aqua smiling from the doorway as he tucks their son into bed with a kiss to the forehead; Eraqus streaking down the hallway to get away from bath time, Aqua calling and chasing after him.
Now it seemed he would never press her against the wall to kiss at her neck, never feel her smile upon his back as he tucks Eraqus into bed. He would never hear Aqua calling after their one-year-old to get his little butt back to the tub before she took away dessert time for the next week; Eraqus calling out to play would happen, he knew, but never with Aqua within the same home again. None of the things he remembered doing with Aqua and Eraqus as a family would happen again, not with her dating Luxord now. The Nobody seemed to be treating her well, which he was happy about—Aqua deserved to be treated well—but he still... he still wanted her back.
Another sigh. Just how was he supposed to do that when the answer to his ever-present question wouldn't reveal itself? Flopping down on the bed, he covered his eyes with his arm while one foot hung off the bed, bouncing lightly as he thought more. What else could there be that had prompted her to leave him? Did she feel he hadn't been around enough? Was that it? Was he off protecting the worlds from Heartless and Nobodies too much?
Rolling over, he thought more on that. Maybe that was it. Maybe he had been protecting them too much by protecting the worlds from the Darkness. He supposed he could cut back a bit, pass some of the jobs off to Vanitas, Ventus, Riku, Sora, Kairi and King Mickey. Just because the others had family and royal responsibilities to see to as well didn't mean they couldn't handle themselves. That was it. He'd let them take more of the "protecting the worlds" jobs than he'd been letting them, that way he would have time to spend with Eraqus. Time to get his son to help him win his mother back.
With that thought, Terra closed his eyes and slept through the night. For the first time in months.
Forgot to mention that I only told Violet I was writing this, not what it was exactly about. Wonder what her reaction to it will be...
