Everything That Can Go Wrong…
Love you…
It hadn't happened in months- why had it started again this week?
Once when she was younger, before she knew how to control it, she was met coming home from the local school by a man whom she would later know as her Master and second father.
"May I walk with you Aqua?"
"Aqua, Aqua, Aqua, Aqua!" she said.
"Your probably not allowed to talk to strangers, are you."
"Are Aqua? Aqua can't talk to strangers. They are bad. Are bad, are bad, are bad, bad, bad."
"I'm Master Eraqus, may I speak with your parents?"
"Eraqus!" She said with a blink.
"Yes, can I speak to Aqua's parents?"
"Come! Come! Come!" She said, dragging the man along. If he asked to see her parents, he was a very important stranger. Her father was the master of this world, her mother his right hand. She pulled Eraqus to her house, a bungalow like all the rest of the houses in Oasis-upon-Desert. She pulled him into the kitchen, stating to her cooking mother simply "Eraqus."
"Aqua, honey, you're home from school. There's a glass of water and a piece of bread on the table."
"Thank you, Mother. Mother." She tapped her fingers on her leg, blinking repeatedly as she walked away.
"I'm Ellera Fe, Aqua's mother." The woman was like Aqua's older twin, but with darker blue hair. It was so common among the residents of Oasis-upon-Desert.
"Master Eraqus, of the Land of Departure. Nice to meet you." He shook the womans floury hand.
"May I help you, sir?"
"Yes, actually. You see, I've had some correspondence with your husband lately. He's confided to me that he thinks Aqua has the ability to weild a Keyblade- much like her brother."
"Yes, Vero has been telling me. Rivo says she has an aura- something about her heart being more light filled then usual."
"Yes, which is why Vero asked me to observe her. Mrs Fe, with all due respect to your family and your world, I'd like to take your daughter to train in my world with me and my other apprentice, Terra."
"I don't know." Ellera glanced to her daughter. "In case you haven't noticed, sir, Aqua doesn't have something quite right up there. She doesn't talk like a girl her age should. She repeats things, she blinks, she taps her fingers, and she has muscle spasms. There's no diagnosis. It's made her practically a social outcast, she has to work so much harder then the other children. She's already seven and she's very smart, but that has to be put on hold so that we can work with her issue. Adding a Keyblade to the mix would be…"
"Ma'am, I know it sounds strange, but working with a Keyblade might be good for her. She'd be away from the larger classes they have here, just me and my other apprentice, she could visit on holidays, and she'd learn coordination, along with discipline. I have no doubt in my mind- she shows great magical abilities- She can weild a Keyblade. I'll teach her, treat her like a daughter."
"I'll have to discuss with Vero."
The next day, she left with Master Eraqus to the Land of Departure.
"Aqua, my beautiful, sweet, lovely, strong talented, Aqua." Said her father kneeling down to her height. "You remember my wayfinder stories?"
Aqua nodded. "There a tree with star-shaped fruit. And it represents an unbreakable- unbreakable-"
"Connection, right. So as long as you wear a charm shaped like it, you'll always find your way back to each other."
"You'll never be apart. Apart. Apart… apart…"
"Good, so Aqua, I'd like you to have this." He handed her a tiny star shaped necklace made out of hues of yellow, brown, tan, and green, with an eye in the middle. "It's to represent your home, where you came from. Never forget Aqua, alright?"
"Alright. Alright. Alright." Aqua said, blinking and nodding.
"Bye, pipsqueak." Her brother, Rivo, ruffled her hair. She ruffled his back, noticing the crack in his back as he stood back up. "Now, Aqua, be good."
She began to blink, as she climbed onto the Master's Keyblade Glider.
Her eyes wouldn't stop blinking that night, just like so many years ago, so she asked to be excused.
As she pushed the chair in, she had the urge to tap her fingers.
"I LOVE YOU AQUA!" yelled a delusional Ven, overtired from the day at training.
The words, over and over in her head, as she ran upstairs and dove into the pillows, biting down on them, a tic as much as a comfort.
Love you… love you… love you….
They were annoying, melding together in some strange sing-song language.
Love you… love you… love you…
Clutching at her head, the words just wouldn't stop. Everything anyone said, it would come back and she would be forced to repeat it. Just the way her name sounded- it haunted her and she hated it. She hated and wondered why she was- but it never helped.
Love you… love you… love you….
Again… Again… again…
Aqua… Aqua… Aqua…
Um.. Um… Um…
Every conversation she'd leave… no one ever got close. She was the girl of steel because she needed to be, not because she wanted to be.
Her long blue hair knotted as she flipped over on the bed.
Ven was safe, his full name wasn't. Master was safe, but his full name wasn't. Land of Departure was relatively safe, excluding the 'of.' Not even Terra's name was safe to say.
But she had too go on.
Go on… on… on…
I've been having these weird thoughts lately….
Thoughts… thoughts….
Like is any of this for real, or not?
Or not… not… not.
"I'm here, Aqua." Aqu- not now brain! Aqua looks to the corner the voice came from.
"Who are you?" Aqua stutters.
"You wouldn't know me, my dear Aqua." A- no!
"Are you sure? Nice joke Ven. Get out of my room. That's why you have your own room."
"I'm not Ventus." Not Ventus… Ventus… Ventus… Aqua clutched her head, with a sharp exhale. "Can't make a recovery?"
"Then… who… are… you." Spat Aqua as she breathed deeply.
"Don't you know me?" It was sly and cunning, the voice in her room. Cunning… cunning…
"NO, I don't!" Aqua hopped up and held her Keyblade towards the voice. "We discussed…" discussed- "That I wouldn't know you! Now get out of my room or… or…" Of- "No! Agh!" Aqua knelt to the floor clutching at her head, another comforting tic. She saw shadows moving towards her, leaving the corner of the room and stepping into the tiny bar of moonlight.
Stepping? How did shadows move? Did they walk or did they float?
"Yes, Aqua." Soothed the voice, as the shadows stopped in front of her. "I'm here now, to make it all better."
"No."
"Yes. All better." All… All… "Just come with me, Aqua. We'll love each other forever."
Come… Aqua… Love… Other…
"No." she said forcefully.
"Yes." Sang the voice.
"No! I don't want to! Leave me!"
"Come on, Aqua."
Come, Aqua…
"You are going to come with me!" The shadow yanked her to her feet, and she found herself nose to nose and eye to eye with the shadow.
"I don't want to." She writhed as the grip tightened on her arm. Come… Aqua… come… " Let me go!"
"Your coming with me." The shadow dragged her towards the corner. Aqua struggled to get away, but the shadow was stronger then it looked. It threw her down into the corner, forcing her to whimper in pain as her back hit the cold stone and her arm was pinned behind her.
"Stay quiet or you'll get it, got it?" Said the voice as it leaned in close. Aqua wasn't exactly sure what 'it' was, but she ideas and most of concerned darkness and other unmentionable things. She held the tears back- never let the enemy know what you're feeling.
The shadow ran it's finger through her hair. Aqua reconciled at the touch, which felt surprisingly human. The shadow ran it's hand down her hair, along her jawbone, down her neck.
It made Aqua squirm, fighting back whatever it was the shadow was doing.
She could feel the hand stop over the middle of her chest with a serpentine glint in his eye. Something felt different about her heart- like it was squeezing, imploding, and expanding all at once.
"Darkness is more prevalent in you then expected." Said the Shadow. "Wonderful."
"Get out of my room!" she screamed. "Get the hell out of my room! Get the hell out of my world, go back wherever you came from! I don't need you! You're a shadow, a being formed from darkness! Leave me!" She pushed the shadow away from her, summoning her Keyblade, hoping she could fend off the thing herself.
She swung wildly, not thinking. The shadow multiplied its being.
"Going to defeat me now, are you? My dear, My Aqua…. We know it will not work. Aqua, Aqua, Aqua."
"Aqua!" Master Eraqus's voice came. "Open the door!"
"What a shame, Aqua. We could have spent more time together."
"Never in a million years!" She said, pointing her keyblade at the shadow.
"Shame, Aqua. You heart is too light- filled. And here I thought you would give up. So is it shame on you, or shame on me?"
The shadow flicked open the door with a wave of his hand.
"Shame on her? Or shame on me?" He said with a devilish smile at the girl, disappearing into thin air. "And Here I thought you could be our salvation."
Aqua's keyblade dissolved as Terra ran towards her. He grabbed her shoulders.
"Aqua. Tell me who that was. Now." Aqua was completely silent, shaking. "Aqua, tell me!"
"Terra! Stand down."
"Tell me who it was! Aqua!"
"Aqua…" She repeated. "Aqua…. Aqua… Aqua."
"No! Aqua!"
"Terra!" Yelled their master. Terra released his grip on Aqua.
"Terra. Terra. Terra." Aqua repeated, tapping her fingers on her leg. She shivered
"Master Eraqus… is there something wrong with Aqua?" asked Ven.
"Eraqus. Eraqus… Eraqus! Eraqus! Eraqus!"
"Ventus, there isn't something wrong with Aqua, no… just a quirk." Eraqus answered the boy. "Now prepare for bed. It's been a long day."
"Ventus! Ventus! Ventus!" SHUT UP! She urged herself.
"But.. Yes, sir." Ven sighed.
"Who was it, Aqua?" Asked Terra again.
"Terra stop asking her."
"But I need to know who it was!"
"Was! Was! Was!"
"Terra, we can not ask her right now."
"But I need to know. I need to protect her!"
"Terra, that is not your job. Aqua is self-sufficient."
"Master, I…"
"Terra, Aqua will say when she is ready."
"Terra- Aqua! Terra! Aqua! Terra! Aqua!" Why couldn't she shut up. It was driving her insane! Terra and Ven must have thought she really was!
"Yes… um."
"Um! Um!" Now she sounded like an idiot! SHUT UP! SHUT UP BRAIN!
"Aqua… calm. Deep breath. Deep breath." Said the Master.
"Um." She breathed, contorting her face as if pained. "Um."
"Aqua, slow your breathing.
"Um. Um. Um." She said, rubbing at her temples. She couldn't stop! It didn't feel right! She turned and ran to her bed, gnawing into the first pillow she touched.
Um. Um Um Um. Um. Um.
She curled into a ball, chewing into the pillow. She turned away from the door, desparate not to show either of the men her tears.
"Master? Why are you leaving?"
"It's no use, Terra, we might as well leave her alone." She heard him leave, but not Terra. Terra was still in her room. He was completely silent. The only sound was that of her sobs.
"Aqua? Are you… okay?"
She shook her head as her name played over and over in her mind. She barely heard Terra settle on her desk chair, hoping he wouldn't see her writings, her journals, her everything-that-didn't-belong-outside-of-her-room.
"Aqua, what are all these?" Dammit. He had seen them. She shook her head as he shuffled through her papers. She shook her head, sobbing harder. "'And she sings to the bright day, throw all the world away. Open up your hearts and sing! Darkness, light, and everything! Love me for me, I'll do the same for you. I know somehow I'll make it through! The girl sings loudly to all the worlds- I'll show the true me, but only if you can oversee, everything that's wrong with me.' Aqua, did you write that?"
She slowly nodded.
"It's beautiful." He said. She nodded again, tearing at the pillow with her teeth. "Aqua, what's wrong? I'm sorry if I hurt you earlier. I was just worried…"
She shook her head. He could stop being so nice.
"Aqua?" He came over and brushed his fingers over her bare shoulder. "You're really tense. What's wrong?"
Sobbing, Aqua turned to face him, sat up and removed the pillow from her teeth.
"You! Master! Ven! Everything! Everythings wrong! I can't say… anything because… I just can't and… everything was getting better but it all started again… and… I hate it! I hate myself!"
"Don't hate yourself. You're too pretty to hate yourself. You're talented with a keyblade, good with magic… and you have these magical blue eyes like the ocean that light up when you're happy, and hair unlike anything I've ever seen." He placed a hand on her shoulder, making the awkward silence between them. "And the Master doesn't hate you. Ven doesn't hate you. And I don't hate you. Why are you the only one that hates yourself?"
"Because Terra…" She found her trying not repeat anything, but something told her to. She grabbed the opillow, bit down hard, and fell over on her bed, her eyes shutting out the world. She felt the tears squeezing out and rolling down her face.
"I'm sorry." Aqua felt him pull the covers over her, then the soft touch of something she could only have imagined in her wildest nightmares.
It was soft on her face, short, but everlasting. A kiss. From Terra. She heard him pad lightly to the door.
"Sleep well. I love you." The door closed with a click.
For once, she was happy that something like that would repeat in her head.
"I.. love you… too." She fell into a dreamless, tear-induced sleep, haunted by the sing-song language.
Love you… love you…. Love you…
END
This is my first fanfiction ever. I'm very proud of it, but feel free to critique it.
About Aqua's Backstory (which is of course, my idea, and is in no way supported by any of the Canon KH):
Aqua comes from a world called Oasis-Upon-Desert. Her father, Vero, is the Keyblade Master in this world and is highly respected. Her older brother, Rivo, is next in line for the title of Keyblade Master (he is maybe 8 years older then Aqua). Aqua was born with a disorder called Tourette's Syndrome.
This disorder is highly stigmatized, when in reality the people are not much different then anyone else. The kids with Tourette's often use "I have Tourette's, but Tourette's doesn't have me!" To learn more about Tourette's Syndrome, google tsa-usa it is a .org site, should actually be the first to show up.
If this Fanfic in anyway offends anyone, I will take it down.
Thank you for reading,
Lily-Flower :)