With the second keyblade war was finally over everyone returned to their own homes, slowly settling back into normality, while everyone has been forever changed by these past events, no one has changed as much as 'her'.
Its been 3 weeks since their return to Land of Departure, they had finally mourned their Master properly, leaving his keyblade embedded in the ground, covered in flowers and with 3 hand crafted wayfinders of blue, green and orange overlooking the landscape of their home. They had watch the stars together that night, the three huddled in a blanket, promising to always be together.
However, all good things must come to an end.
It happened in the second week of their return, 'her', Aqua, had started acting 'strange' as Terra had put it. Not that it had gone unnoticed by the two boys, she'd hardly spar with either of them, she'd sit on a rock supposedly to watch the two boys spar. Terra would watch her out of the corner of his eye while blocking Ven's attacks, but more often than not Aqua's head would be bowed down staring at her hands, clenching the black fabric of her shorts tightly, wincing, as if in pain. Terra would try asking again and again if she was indeed 'Okay' with only her response being a 'I'm fine' with fake smile plastered on her face, abruptly standing up and walking back to her room, they usually wouldn't see her again till dinner.
However this was not the only incident of Aqua's shift in behaviour. More of often than not they'd find her staring, a blank look on her face, frozen, she could almost pass for statue save for the rise and fall of her chest and the blinking of blue eyes every few moments. They had found her like that in the kitchen one morning she did not hear them, she did not see them, she didn't even acknowledge the rough shakes of her shoulders. She was off in another world. The boys waited flashing worried looks to each other, her hands started shaking, her breathing becoming ragged, she jumped as if woken from a nightmare, only then coming back to her sense of where she was. The blunette looked up to see two faces stricken with worry and felt a small pair of arms wrap around her middle, she looked down confused to see a mound of spiky blonde hair, 'Ventus, yes that's his name. How could I forget?' The girl brought a shaky hand out to ruffle the boys hair while her other arms snaked around his middle to return his hug. She stared at Terra's mix of worried and relieved face and muttered a 'sorry' and that she was just tired, then retreated to her room leaving both boys, fear creeping back into their faces as they watched her go.
Though their was one incident Ventus had witnessed that he would not tell Terra about, what Ven saw as a 'big brother' was worrying enough as it is not to mention Terra would feel a pang of guilt every time he saw Aqua, believing he was responsible for what was wrong with her. Having been asleep for more than a decade, Ventus would often wonder the great halls of his home or lay on the grass of the training grounds and watch the night sky, this night however someone had already beat him to it. Aqua was already there standing on the edge of the training grounds, staring at the distance, one hand placed over her chest chest while the other clenched and relaxed at her side every few moments. Ventus walked up to her, making sure not to startle her.
"Aqua! What are you doing out here?" Ventus asked, suppressing a shiver, putting his hands under his arms to keep warm, it was a cold out and yet, Aqua wasn't even effected by it.
"Couldn't sleep" was her only reply, not even turning her head to look at him.
"Oh, but aren't you cold? Maybe we could go back inside and sneak a night snack in the kitchen like we used to?" Ventus wore an eager smile cracked with worry of what Aqua's answer would be.
A moment past. Aqua sighed, "Sure Ven" she turned to him, "you run and get a head start I'll meet you there" she gave him a small smile.
Only then did he see how pale she was, eyes black from lack of sleep, her eyebrows creased. Ventus tried not to let his concerns show as he gave her a toothy grin nodding his head at her.
He turned to head back, however he wasn't going back inside just yet. He quickly hid behind some of the training equipment turning his attention to Aqua, her back was turned to him, he suddenly saw her double over, a scream of pain releasing from closed lips trying to suppress the sound. Her knees collapsed under her, hand clenching her stomach while the other mangled itself in the grass twisting and ripping it from the ground, she bit her lip till it drew blood letting out small grunts of pain. Ventus watched on with horror, he saw her stand back up slowly and quickly fled to the kitchen as Aqua was about to make her way back. He didn't see the mix of blood and black ooze dripping down Aqua's chin as she wiped it clean.
Notes:
Hey! I'm brand new to writing fanfictions but decided this could be fun, not sure where this story will go though i have plans for chap. 2. I also dunno if i should write the scene of Aqua and Ven in the kitchen or not so if some people wanna see it i can do so. Also this obviously takes place after KH3 and I have not finished it yet about to go fight Aqua now and will probably shed some tears. Anyway if you've read the story i hope you all enjoy it!