"I was the one who had it all. I was the master of my fate."

Terra suddenly awoke.

Once again, he found himself in a body he hardly recognized as his own. Moments like these were rare. He grew so tired from pushing back against Xehanort. By now, it was about all he could put together of who he once was. He just knew he had to fight, and that was a fact.

He hates that he always instinctively responds to the name Xemnas. No. He is Terra.

Who is Xemnas? Why does everyone call him Xemnas?

Who does Terra think he is? Why is Terra here again? That brat.

This constant conflict raged in his head until he sighed and gave up trying to decipher his predicament. All Xehanort knew was that he could not allow this vessel to sleep again for a while. It must stay awake. Xehanort was aware of some…dreams…Xemnas has been having. It's always been this way, but the dreams are becoming more frequent. He knows Terra is aware of them…but not the fact that they are more than dreams. And it shall remain that way. The last thing he needs is a reason behind the rebellion. Xehanort made sure that will and those memories were the first things to go. If the kid managed to regain those qualities while his control over this vessel is so weak, there would be no point in using it anymore.

"I learned the truth too late. I'll never shake away the pain. I close my eyes, but she's still there."

But nothing could stop the inevitable. There was something deep within him bound to resurface. This incident caused him so much regret and made him feel a sense of powerlessness he'd never felt before in his life.

Things were going according to schedule, and Xehanort knew the vessel was nearly burnt out. So reluctantly, Xemnas crawled into his bed within Castle Oblivion. His eyes shut. And after a few minutes, it happened. Yet another memory resurfaced.

A blue-haired girl approached, prepared to stop him. Then he roughly grabbed her and held her up. She told him to stop. To fight. She even referred to him as Terra. After a moment, he let go and watched her fall to the ground.

He winced and then hesitated for a bit. All Terra could remember was screaming "No!" in his head. All Terra could remember was wanting desperately to apologize for everything he had put her through from the beginning. He ached to reconcile with her…to hear her talk about her passions, her ambitions, once more. He loved the dazed look on her face when she got thinking about bigger and better things, because he knew her mind was a million miles elsewhere. And he wanted to be right there with her.

But instead, his body started attacking her of another's accord. To Terra, it felt like watching his life on the sidelines…only he was not the one calling the shots. This dream then began to shift onto a different scene.

There was a deep darkness. He then faintly heard a familiar voice say "I'm with you".

"She will still torment me, calm me, hurt me; move me, come what may."

He shot awake instantly, shouting "Aqua!" as he did so. That is strange. He hadn't remembered her name at all until he spoke it. And were these…tears…streaming down his face? Why weren't they stopping?

This was the first time that Terra had recognized these as actual memories rather than dreams or products of his imagination. He then experienced a rush of guilt and sadness. No matter what he did, he could not remove the image of himself intentionally hurting one of the people he loved most from his mind. Aside from that, he now knew that she was in a place that would carve away those passions and ambitions of hers over time. All because of him. His actions.

"Now I know she'll never leave me, even as she fades from view. She will still inspire me, be a part of everything I do. Wasting in my lonely tower, waiting by an open door…I'll fool myself, she'll walk right in. And as the long, long nights begin I'll think of all that might have been…"

However, the one thing he could find solace in was that he finally remembered something and knew something about himself. There was someone he had an indescribable bond with in this world, and her name is Aqua.

Only…his recollection of her face. Her voice. It was all fading. But if there was anything he could not forget now, it was her name...and that look. Whether she was infuriated or sympathetic, there was always such a sense of compassion behind it.

As the vessel got out of bed the next morning, he let out a yawn. There was an Organization XIII meeting scheduled today. Lovely. Things were back to business as usual. Xemnas curiously wiped the lone tear from his face and began getting ready. Somehow, he felt incredibly…heavy…today.

"...Waiting here for evermore…"

(Hi guys. I literally wrote this because my second time watching the live action Beauty and the Beast movie, I began to connect this song to them. Whenever Disney's in mind, Kingdom Hearts is bound to follow. It happens. Man, that song was by far the best addition to the film. Plus I adore thinking of angsty scenarios involving the events of BBS so whoopsie. Hope you all enjoyed this!)