The dusty air of this place caught in her throat, made her heart ache every time she came here.

Oh, it had been years. So many years, such a long time since they were innocent teenagers who thought the world centered on them. They had all had reasons why they did what they did, no small number of them based on idiotic whims and broken hearts that refused to be healed.

She had been told to chase after them, but it was always him that she had been looking for the most.

Brown hair, spiky enough that she joked about cutting her hands open just by touching it. But it was soft, so soft. She had played with it, sometimes, when she was bored. She had liked that he would let her do that. He let her do anything she wanted.

She had never realized it was expected of her that it be an exchange.

He had run away from disappointment, from darkness, towards darkness, towards regret that he had ever doubted them. Even when he knew the truth, he kept running. That was who he was; she just let him run. She just left things like that until she caught up.

Catching up was the worst thing she had ever done.

In the time that she had let him run away, he had betrayed her. Killed their Master, turned to darkness… he regretted it all; oh, he always regretted everything. Like always, she forgave him. What else could she do? She thought he had seen the error of his ways this time…

Like always, he reneged on his promises to fight without the darkness. His mistakes caught up with him that time; he became the darkness that day. And she, she had sacrificed herself one last time for him.

Seven years. Seven years she suffered, just for him. The other one would have been fine if she hadn't spent forever trapped within the darkness; no, she did it all for him. And he spent that time tearing apart everything their Master had taught them, everything they had promised to uphold and protect. When she had seen the state of the worlds, she had tried to figure out someone- anyone- beside him to blame.

It was his fault, undeniably.

He had come here for her, looked at her with those pleading, crystalline eyes, said her name, so pleadingly…

"Aqua."

She looked at him, eyes shining with unshed tears. "Terra, what did you do?"

"I- it was Xehanort, he possessed me-"

"You have an excuse for everything, don't you?" She looked down at the grey Keyblade she still held in her hand. "You always have to have a way around everything, swear you won't meddle around in the darkness again, promise me all kinds of things you know you don't mean- and you want me to just continue accepting it all with a smile?"

Shamelessly, he stared at her, desperation in his eyes. "It's not like that, you know it's not like that…"

Whirling, she turned on him, her voice rising. "What am I supposed to think? You keep on coming back to me, begging me to forgive you. 'Forgive me, I promise it won't happen again'- why are you asking me? And why- why, why, why, why, why- can't you keep your damn promises?"

He fell to his knees, head bowed. "It's because you're special to me."

"Special, am I."

"You are!" Fractionally, he raised his head. "I keep on asking your forgiveness because I don't want you to hate me… don't do this. Please. I'll stay with you this time. Won't you try again… one last time… for me?"

Her fist tightened around the hilt of the Keyblade. "Terra…"

"Please."

"I…"

"Please."

"You…"

"Aqua."

She stopped talking, kneeling on the ground in front of him, matching his gaze. "Seven years. That's how long I spent suffering for you going back to the darkness. I kept telling myself 'it's not his fault, it can't be his fault', but it is. I've spent enough time repaying your sins."

He leaned forward, reaching for her. "I… I was just trying to fight. For Eraqus, for Ven... for you. Most of all for you."

Pushing him away, she stood. "Your soul's frozen, Terra. You just don't feel anything, do you? You just keep on going back to the darkness… how many people have died for your sins? How much longer do you intend to make me suffer?"

Anguish rose in his voice. "Aqua… I… this wasn't…"

"Don't come back for me. Don't come back at all."

She had done the right thing.

She told herself that every day.

But when she came here and choked on dust and memories, she knew it had taken all of her strength just to turn him away.

If he ever came back, she didn't think she could, even if he would break her heart a thousand more times.

She spent every day praying he never would.

A/N: I've vanished from this site for a few months now... XP I'm sorry. I SWEAR I will finish Don't Stop Believing. I'm just having issues writing fluff.

So, instead I wrote angsty!Terraqua.

I've never really liked Terraqua as a couple (for some reason, I always like extremely crack Aqua pairings, like Axel/Aqua and Tifa/Aqua), but, as my idiotic friend said one day listening to "Jar of Hearts" by Christina Perri, "Doesn't this song remind you of Terra and Aqua?"

She didn't originally mean it as a couple, but somehow it ended up being that way. I've always kind of had this little part of the back of my mind that says "Terra and Aqua could never have a healthy relationship, it would definitely be Terra mentally abusing her somehow..." This notion makes no sense, but this story completely worked with that.

If you've never heard "Jar of Hearts", I highly recommend it. There's exactly one line from the song directly copied into the story... do YOU know what it is?

Long author's notes aside, thank you for reading, and I'd love you forever if you'd review it for me.

-Frae.