I don't own Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy


He was a child. Well to be fair, he had always been a child to them. Not only that, he had been their child, and now even after all the years that had passed, he was still only a child. And like all children, he cried.

That's where Terra found himself now, cradling an inconsolable Ventus, humming soft tunes in hopes that this would lull him back to sleep. The rocking chair had been Aqua's idea. At first Terra had thought it was a weird idea, after all, Ventus wasn't a baby, he was fourteen, a teenager. It soon became their saving grace. It became apparent early on that the only way to get Ventus to sleep was by rocking him. This then became part of their nightly routine. First, Aqua would get him all cleaned up and ready for bed, then Terra would rock him in the chair until he fell asleep. The chair itself wasn't too big and Ven's legs always dangled from the side, but they made it work.

Some nights were easier than others and Terra found himself praying more and more for the easier ones. Tonight was not one of those. After initially having put Ventus to sleep an hour ago, Terra had then decided to shower before calling it a night. Thirty minutes later he walked out of the steamy bathroom and was greeted by the sight of Ventus on the rocking chair with his arms wrapped around his knees, tears silently streaming down his cheeks, slightly swaying back and forth. A desperate attempt at trying to rock himself. Terra wished so badly that this was the fist time he had seen a scene like this, but it wasn't.

An hour latter and he still hadn't succeeded in getting Ven to sleep. By this point he usually would have handed him over to Aqua who would have tried singing him to sleep. In the rare cases that this didn't work, they would eventually end up spending the whole night awake with him and by morning they would all look like zombies, Ven more so than usual.

Tonight Aqua wasn't there. She had gone off on a mission with Riku and Lea to Castle of Dreams after Mickey had informed them of a swarm of heartless that had been wrecking havoc there. This wasn't an unusual mission to have. Even after the war had ended, and Xehanort had been killed, there was still darkness everywhere. Just a reminder of all the work they still had to do, but tonight Terra was gonna concentrate on a problem much closer to home.

"Shhh... hey, your okay. I know I'm probably not the one you wanted to be left with, but she'll be back soon. Two days max is what she said," Terra quietly said as he looked down at the boy he was holding. All he could see were blond spikes as the angelic face, untouched by time, was pressed to his tank top . He was beginning to feel the wetness of the boys tears starting to soak through.

"Come on, how bout we get into bed? I think that'll be more comfortable," he tries again, just hoping for a reaction. All he gets are small hands tightening their grip on his tank top. He slowly stands up, bringing the boy up with him. He carries him to their bed and carefully lay him in the middle of it, right where he usually goes.

The tall brunette then proceeds to turn of all the lights in the room, making sure to turn on the small star-shaped nightlight on the wall. This is more for Aqua and Ven, at least that's what he tells anyone who ventures into their room and asks. He then walks back over to the bed and lays down with a satisfied sigh. He turns his body over to the left and bring the small blond next to him to his chest. He places his chin atop soft spikes and starts rubbing circle on the child's back. Small arms begin to slowly wrap around his torso and he begins to hear quiet hiccups and sniffles coming from the blond. This is going to be a long night.

They hadn't always shared a room. After the war, and after moving out of Yen Sid's tower and into Ansem the Wise's castle, they had first had their own separate rooms on the residential wing of the castle. This quickly changes after one too many nights of Ventus' screaming waking up the whole castle, and Aqua and Terra's insomnia getting out of hand. Luckily they had found a partial remedy to all this by sleeping in the same room and sharing the same bed. Ansem was even kind enough to upgrade them to a bigger room where all three of them could reside in comfortably.

The room was large and was more of a suite style than anything. It had its own bathroom with a bathtub and shower. Large windows lined the north side of the room and there was even a big balcony that looked out into the castle's gardens. The best part, in Terra's opinion, was the king sized bed that allowed all three of them to lay on it comfortably.

The older male continued to rub circles on the blonde's back. Murmuring soft nothings to his ear and pressing his face on blond spikes, inhaling the sweet scent of the vanilla scented shampoo that Aqua had picked out for the child.

"Just go to sleep baby boy. I got you," Terra absently says as his mind begins to wonder about how Aqua is doing.