This fic was inspired by A Fine Frenzy's Now is the Start. It is also known as "the song that makes me cry because REASONS."

It doesn't occur to Terra just how freezing it is outside until he's already at the outlook, sitting on one of the stone benches and slowly turning into a popsicle.

He's brought hot chocolate, at least, which he sips at tentatively to make it last as long as it can. And there are a few broken branches from a freak windstorm that Ven swears he had nothing to do with (Terra has his doubts.) that will burn brightly with a well-aimed Fira. He's going to keep those until he absolutely has to use them, though—if he burns them now, and gets cold later, there will be nothing left to keep himself warm.

There's nothing quite like looking up into the sky, with all the Worlds blinking up at him, and knowing that all of them are where they're supposed to be; some of them he can point to and say Hey, I've been there, and it's one of the coolest feelings in the entire world, to know how to do that.

But, to be completely honest, actually seeing anything with his own eyes, with his own body, tops the list of "cool feelings."

When he had been the only Apprentice on the Land of Departure, Eraqus had told him about the different Worlds and some of his adventures on them: which ones had magic that could turn you into animals; how he had gotten on the wrong end of a mer-king; how the desert heat had left such a massive burn on his neck that sometimes he could still feel it, even though it had been years. But the one thing that had always stuck in Terra's mind was how the Worlds moved, and how—if you looked just hard enough—you could make pictures out of their blinking lights. He'd seen goats and fish, birds and lions; but he had also seen Worlds blink out before his very eyes.

So because he figures he's been screwing off for long enough, Terra stargazes. He tries to do it as often as he can, now that everything has settled down; he'll bring a hot drink, and sometimes a blanket, and steal some wood from the fireplaces if he doesn't think there aren't enough branches on the ground. He'll make a pit, being careful not to burn a fire that throws up a lot of smoke, and just watch.

So far, nothing has gone wrong.

He was alone for about a week before Ven and Aqua figured out where he was going off to, and so sometimes they join him. Sometimes they just do their training by night under the light of the Worlds and the lamps, and then sleep during the day like they were going to become nocturnal. It's screwed up their sleeping schedules, but part of Terra feels somewhat good about it; a little irregularity is okay, so long as they're regular about it.

That particular night he's out there for a few hours, judging by the movement of the Worlds, before he's joined unexpectedly by Aqua. They had trained hard earlier in the day, to the point where Ven had practically fallen asleep at the dinner table before shuffling off to his room, unwilling to move another muscle after plopping into bed. "I'm going to bed, but don't wait another thirteen years to wake me up," he'd said, and Terra and Aqua had both laughed.

He turns his head just slightly and watches her spread a blanket out just a little ways away, another one tucked under her arm. She's got a robe on over her clothes, pale in the light, and he watches with interest as she finally settles down, grabbing the other blanket and clutching it to her. "There's plenty of room," she calls over, and after just a moment's hesitation Terra sits beside her, still clutching his steaming cup of chocolate. (He doesn't miss her interested expression, either, and can't help but smirk despite himself. Girls.) "Anything happen?"

"Nope. Same as the last few days," he says, before the worlds tumble out of a yawn.

"How many nights have you been doing this?" she asks, propping herself up onto her elbows.

"You and Ven were with me the day before yesterday," he says with a smile.

"I meant without us."

"Can't remember," he says quietly, taking this opportunity to look back up at the sky. Aqua follows his lead.

It's one of the things he likes best about her: she doesn't have to fill the space with words, is content to just be for a little while. He can spend time with her without feeling exhausted, and it's absolutely natural and effortless. Like breathing. At some point during those hours they get cold enough to take out the second blanket, and they drape it over the two of them. They're so far past the point of feeling weird about sharing their stuff that it's almost laughable. (It had also been one of the few ways to subdue Ven in the early days: sandwich him between the two of them and just stay silent.)

"Terra, look," he hears Aqua say, and he looks as she points to a flashing star in the sky. His heart catches in his throat, but as they watch the World continue to shine, so bright that it's nearly engulfing other Worlds in its light, he feels that sense of unease fade away—if only just slightly. "That's Atlantica, isn't it?" she asks quietly.

Terra nods. "Something really great must have happened." He doesn't know much about Atlantica, just a few things: it sounds way too similar to Atlantis and Eraqus had been there once. And most people get turned into merfolk as well.

"That's always been a World I wanted to visit," she says wistfully.

"And do what, swim around and get eaten by sharks? Please," he says.

"Well, where would you rather go?"

"If I have to get turned into something other than myself, I want to go all the way. None of this 'half-fish-half-person' crap. Something like a lion—"

"The Pride Lands? Really?" she asks, and starts laughing.

"What, don't tell me you haven't wanted to go there!" he retorts, pivoting towards her.

"Well, I have," she admits, and Terra smirks confidently. Aqua's looking at him now, her head still on the grass. "But I don't know. Now that everything's calmed down maybe I'll tour the Worlds. See what everything is like."

"You didn't go before…?" he asks, brow furrowing.

"Of course not," she says, narrowing her eyes. "I mean, some of them I went to, yes. But it wasn't for fun. There hasn't been any threat of Darkness for a while, so maybe now's the time."

They're quiet for a little longer. Under the blanket he inches his hand slightly closer to hers, drawn by the heat of it. "You'd just go by yourself?"

Maybe she's noticed the movement, because she looks down for only a second before looking back up at him, propping herself up on an elbow so that they're perfectly level. "No. We'd all go together. I think Ven'd have a lot of fun running around on four legs, actually."

It's not what he meant, and he thinks she knows it too, because she's switching between eyeing him shyly and looking down at the ground. "He'd be a pain," Terra agrees. "But we'd have four legs too. Or maybe we'd be birds or something. I dunno."

"Guess we'll have to go and find out," Aqua says, chuckling.

"Just to make sure it isn't too dangerous," he says, leaning a bit into her.

"Because there's nothing more dangerous than fighting animals that wander around."

"They're not that bad," he says. "Last I heard they sing." And it's meant to be a straight-faced thing, but he can't help it: the mental picture of big furry things singing at the top of their lungs is enough to make him laugh, and soon he hears Aqua giggling right along with him.

They accidentally brush noses and it catches the both of them off guard. Suddenly he's only an inch—even with all of the to-the-death fighting he's been partaking in, he doesn't quite know if he knew how close an inch could be—from her and they're staring at each other, their breath is mingling together in great clouds of smoke—

And suddenly he feels something against his lips, and it takes a few moments to realize that it's her lips. He grunts and she smiles into the kiss, deepening it, and he feels his head spin. It's a good kind of dizzy, the kind that he sometimes feels after a particularly harsh workout—it's a thing he associates with her anyway. For so long they met each other only at the ends of their blades, at the edges of their fields of vision; now it's like they're finally meeting each other, on an level playing field that has nothing to do with fighting or proving who has the Mark of Mastery or anything at all.

They pull away only for a moment, and the taste of her is still on his lips as he looks at her. In the half-light he sees her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are bright, and there's a flustered look on her face as if she hadn't expected what had just happened. "Well," she starts, and trails off.

He doesn't know why she's stopped, only that he's having a little trouble breathing because she had just kissed him. And it hadn't felt weird. It had felt so blissfully natural and wanted and real. "So," he says, drawing the word out into an almost-question he's hoping she has the answer to.

She looks at him with shy eyes and a hesitant smile, finally clutching his hand underneath the blanket before scooting closer to him. "Is this… I mean I don't want to do anything you don't—"

"No!" he nearly shouts, flinging his head forward. They clunk heads and both of them recoil, Aqua using her free hand to cradle her head and Terra groaning, his eyes squeezed tight.

"That didn't—are you okay?" he winces, but Aqua's just laughing again. He's not quite sure whether to feel happy or confused about that, or even afraid. "This is not going well, is it?"

"Depends on your idea of 'going well,'" she says, shaking the hair out of her eyes.

"Not banging our heads together would probably be a part of that," he admits with a chuckle.

"What would, then?" she asks, her eyes locking on to his.

He knows a do-over when he's been presented one—Kingdom Hearts, he knows—and he makes sure to lean toward her slowly, so that there is no possible chance of repeating their collision course. Very gently he takes his free hand and cups her cheek, brushing his thumb against the side of her face, before pressing his lips against her forehead; her nose; her lips. And he tries his best to be gentle, to be careful, because he's broken things before and he knows how awful it is to try and pick up the pieces. It's stupid, because Aqua is one of the least fragile people he's ever met.

But she seems to understand, because she's the one who pushes against him, who leans into him under the blanket that keeps them in check, for now. And they stay like that as the Worlds flash and dance above them, they kiss and brush and touch and laugh until they physically can't anymore.

When they wake up they're together. Her head is resting on his chest and his chin is on top of her head, and the blanket has them all tangled in each other. They stir for a little bit before lazily stretching themselves, legs knocking against each other and elbows prying into sides, and while he can't say for sure what she thinks about it—the whole exchange is filled with giggles and "oops"s and "sorry"s—he doesn't mind, not a bit.

There's a flash of white that catches his eye, but Aqua's the one to finally grab the piece of paper that's fluttering by their feet. She laughs, and just before he's about to ask what's so funny she gives it to him to read.

I managed to feed myself without burning the castle down. Training is canceled for the day so go have fun!

-V

"How did—what—" he stutters.

"He probably noticed we weren't awake and went to find us."

"Think he approves?" Terra asks her.

Aqua's laughing and nodding and he can feel his heart swelling a bit. "I think he's sort of been waiting for this."

Before he can ask what the heck she's talking about she kisses him again, and he decides not to press the matter. "Can he even cancel training for today?"

"Would you rather spar with Ventus today?" she asks, slipping out of the blanket to stand and stretch.

"That is the last thing I want to do," he says. "We could just stay here I guess."

With a smile she nods, says "Okay." And even though she had just gotten up and stretched out, she comes back down to the tangled mess of blankets and grass, and they adjust themselves while staring at a bright blue sky. They hold hands and rest on each other, like it's the simplest thing they possibly could do, and for the moment there is no thought of the other Worlds, or another exam, or anything at all.

He feels normal. He feels new. He doesn't feel like that guy who screwed everything up so long ago, who now has to atone for his mistakes. He can remember those mistakes tomorrow. He's not going to let anything mess up today, much less himself.

"Whatever you're thinking about, forget it," she whispers in his ear.

It sounds like a lesson, and maybe this time he'll actually heed her words.