Written for and owned by: Lorelei-melodei

Written by: The XIIIth Terra

Bing! Bong! Bing! Bong! Bing, bong, bing, bong! BING! BING! BING!

The castle bells rang out the time as the sun set over the horizon, signaling the start of night and the ball to celebrate Cinderalla's and Prince Charming's wedding. Standing at the bottom of the stairs, leading in to the castle, a young brunette with his long hair tied back in to a pony tail, shuffled about from nervousness and excitement. His ocean blue eyes darting about, reflecting his inner turmoil, about the one thing he never expected to happen. A date…

Terra, a Keyblade wielder and Guardian of the World, was wondering how he could have been talked in to this, and then remembered how. Ventus and Sora….

"Come on, Terra. You have to go! This is your chance to take Aqua on a date!" Ventus squealed with excitement as he stood next to his friend, Sora. His blue eyes reflecting the nervous look on Terra's face right back at him.

"Yeah! And the timing is perfect. The world's are finally safe. So, what better way to celebrate then attend a wedding with Aqua!" Sora exclaimed, spreading his arms out wide, his ocean blue eyes dazzling with excitement.

"But I can't dance. And her and I are just friends, right?" Terra asked nervously as he looked between the two younger youths. Ever since the end of the fight with the Seekers of Darkness, Ventus and Sora started to act more and more like brothers, and Terra wound up thinking of them as such.

The look of annoyance on the young men's faces was apparent to Terra as he rubbed the back of his head. He sighed, closing his eyes to think. "if I say yes, will you two leave me alone?" he asked, close to giving up. The nods that followed were the nail in the coffin. "fine, I'll ask her to go." The excitement from the younger men, nearly made Terra stumble back, he couldn't decide which was scarier, going on a date with Aqua or fighting Xehanort.

Terra had to admit though, he was kind of excited. Growing up, if Terra and Aqua weren't training to be Keyblade masters, they were off doing their own things, Terra working out and Aqua studying spells and abilities. It was nice to finally have a night where they could relax and have fun and see their friend Cinderella again.

"Terra?" A familiar voice called his name from the stone steps behind him, causing the young man to turn around. That's when he saw her, his eyes opened wide and his heart skipped a beat. There Aqua stood, a long dress hiding the heels she was wearing that gave her a bit more height. Her white sleeveless dress with blue trim clung to her curves, showing off her womanly features, while the frosted patterned top of her dress would draw anyone's attention to her, a beautiful, elegant blue bird waiting for her date. The white gloves that stretched almost all the way up her arms, hid the rough hands of a seasoned Keyblade wielder. Her blue hair was done how she normally looked, but the setting sun seemed to brightened it even more then it normally was. Her blue eyes clearly showed she was nervous and felt awkward in the dress.

"Wow," Terra mouthed in awe, a slight blush rising to his cheeks.

"W, what is it?" The young lady asked with a blush rising to her cheeks as well. Terra shook his head and coughed to try and regain his composure.

"N, nothing. You, you just look amazing." He stuttered as he tried to regain his composure. Slowly approaching the steps, he tried to not wrinkle the dark brown tuxedo he had received in Twilight Town. The buttons on his dark brown tuxedo and the cufflinks on his jacket were a dark gold so they would not outshine his light brown tie that he had chosen to go with his hair. He felt weird in the dark brown dress shoes as he took his first steps up the stair case where so long ago he had protected Cinderella from Unversed. He got to the top of the stairs and offered Aqua his arm.

"Shall we, my lady?" He asked with a playful smirk, as he kept eye contact with the bluenette.

"We shall." Aqua giggled as she took the offered arm and began to walk with Terra in to the castle.

"What happened? What's going on?" A blonde Keyblade wielder asked as he hid behind a bush with his adopted brother and his girlfriend. "I can't hear anything"

"It looks like it's going well, they're going inside." The redhead stated as she focused the borrowed binoculars. "I can't hear anything ether, but it looks like they're smiling." She stated as she lowered the spyglasses.

"You picked out a beautiful dress for her, Kairi. Even I was stunned." Sora, one of the Keyblade's chosen, stated to his girlfriend as he looked towards her.

"Of course. This is their first date after all. I wanted to make it memorable, but you won't believe what it took to talk her in to all this." The princess of heart stated with a sigh.

"The same with Terra. Hopefully all goes well, those two can be so thick when it comes to discussing their feelings." Ventus stated as he looked towards the other two. "Now, let's sneak inside and try and keep an eye on things. Hopefully they won't notice us."

Ventus' co spies nodded and moved as silently as the three of them could, in to the castle to try and keep an eye on their friend's date.

Aqua and Terra made their way up the grand stair case to the entrance of the ballroom. There the Grand Duke greeted them with his usual excitement.

"Ah! Mistress Aqua! Knight Terra! So glad the two of you could make it. The King and Queen were ecstatic to find that the two of you were coming." The Grand Duke stated as he adjusted his monocle and stood straight. "After me." He stated as he moved into the ballroom.

"Ready for this?" Terra asked as he took a deep breath.

"Ready as I'll ever be." His date stated, taking a deep breath as well. The two then took their first steps in to the ballroom.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, my majesties. I am pleased to announce Mistress Aqua, Mistress of Land of Departure, and her knight, Terra, guardian of the realm." The Grand Duke shouted, his words echoing in the chamber, causing everyone to turn and look towards the two newcomers, making the duo even more nervous as they made their entrance.

They walked towards the balcony that overlooked the ballroom, where Queen Cinderella and King Charming sat to greet their guest. Aqua and Terra bowed at the waist, as they stood below them.

"Oh! I'm so glad the two of you could attend!" Cinderella giggled excitedly from the balcony. "I'm so glad to see the two of you again."

"Yes, welcome. Cinderella told me everything the two of you did for her, so I insisted on inviting you. We wouldn't be here without you two." King Charming stated with a smile.

"We just did what was right, your majesty. We're glad we could help." Aqua stated as she bowed her head.

"Yes, and thank you for the invitation. We are honored to be here." Terra stated as he bowed his head.

"Please, the honor is ours. Enjoy the ball, we must catch up later." King Charming said with a wave of his hand.

"Thank you, your majesties." Aqua said kindly, before she took Terra's arm again and the two of them entered deeper in to the ballroom.

"Well, that wasn't nerve wracking." Terra said with a sigh as he tried to relax.

"Right? Well, what shall we do first?" Aqua asked as she looked around the ballroom, the room slowly filling back up with music.

Terra took a deep breathe, now was better then never so he looked towards Aqua and asked. "Would you care to dance?" he asked her, trying to hide his nervousness.

Aqua, taken back a little, blushed slightly, before nodding. "I would love that." She stated as she looked up at him, being that even with heels on, she was still slightly shorter then him.

Terra took a deep breathe and walked with Aqua towards the dance area of the ballroom. He took her hand and stood in front of her, praying the dance lessons he got from Queen Minnie were going to be good enough, being as he had never danced before. Aqua gulped, having never danced before ether, got lessons from Daisy Duck, hoping to be good enough to be able to dance with Terra.

Terra put his hand on the small of Aqua's back and gently took her gloved hand in his rough hand, feeling the difference between them. Aqua wrapped her free hand around Terra's waist and as they began to move slowly with the music. The two were careful as to try and not miss a beat, and to try and not step each other toes, but still felt awkward.

"What are they doing? Are they dancing?" Kairi asked as she looked out from behind a curtain with Sora and Ventus as they spied on their friends.

"If they are, they aren't doing it very well." Sora commented. "Did they learn anything from Queen Minnie and Daisy?" He asked as he shook his head, dejected at the way his two friends were dancing.

"Apparently not." Ven sighed as he hung his head. "Oh, oh! The music stopped!"

Terra and Aqua moved off the dance floor, after an awkward dance, and moved to a side of the room, still holding each other by the arm. Terra was rubbing the back of his head, wondering what the two of them would do next. They found a couple of chairs and Terra helped Aqua sit down in one.

"So, would you like something to eat?" Terra asked nervously, noticing a buffet table on the other side of the room.

"That would be nice. Maybe something light." Aqua stated as she smiled at her date for the evening. Date? Now when did she start considering this a date? The bluenette shook her head to help clear her mind as Terra walked over towards the food table. There was already a small group of people there, and as Terra walked up he was suddenly surrounded by some ladies of the court.

"What is he doing? Why is he even talking to them? Is he smiling?" Aqua thought as she watched Terra try and collect food, talking to the other women. Some of them started to laugh at something Terra had said, the whole time he smiled and conversed with them. Aqua's started to glare towards the man she came with and wondered why he was taking so long with them.

"Excuse me, lady Aqua." A voice said coming from Aqua's side. She quickly turned her head to see a young stranger standing next to her. He was dressed like many of the other nobles in the room, but seemed rather nervous,

"Can I help you?" She asked, trying to hide the menace in her voice, her feelings about Terra bubbling to the surface.

"I was just wondering if you would care for a dance, I noticed you were sitting over here by yourself and thought I would come over." The young noble stated nervously, Aqua could tell he was trying to be polite.

"Oh, what the heck. He deserves it after all." She thought about Terra. "I would be delighted." She said as she offered the noble her hand. He gently took her gloved hand and helped her up before leading her to the dance floor.

Terra finally made his way back, after getting those pesky noble women to leave him alone. He sighed thinking of their ramblings and compliments to him. They just made him feel awkward, especially since all he wanted to do was get back to Aqua with the small plate of food for them to eat. He got to the place he had left Aqua and blinked, seeing that she was no longer there.

"Now where did she go? To the lady's room?" The young man thought as he looked around the large ballroom. "Ah! There she is! Wait, who is she with?" he thought as he spotted her on the dance floor again. He began to glare at the pair as he sat down in one of the wooden chairs. "What is she doing? She's supposed to be my date!" He thought with a degree of anger. He set the plate of food down in the chair next to him, and crossed his arms as he slouched, waiting for Aqua to return.

Aqua finished her dance with the young noble and was walked back to where Terra sat.

"It was a pleasure, Lady Aqua." The young noble said as he bowed at the waist, crossing his arm across his chest

"The pleasure was all mine, good sir." She cooed as she bowed as well, before the young noble stood straight with a smile and walked off. "Well, I see you finally finished talking with your group of admirers." She huffed as she crossed her gloved arms across her chest, giving a glare towards Terra.

"Yeah, well, it seems you have an admirer yourself." He retorted as he stood up, his arms still crossed. "Enjoy yourself?" he asked with a sneer as he nodded his head towards the young noble that had just walked off.

"I did in fact, just like you seemed to enjoy yourself when the flock of women started cornering you at the buffet table." The young Keyblade master huffed as she eyed her counterpart.

"Well for your information, all I could think about was getting away from them so I could get back to you. None of them were my type of woman." The Keyblade wielder stated in anger.

"Well what's your kind of woman then, huh? Huh?" Aqua pressed, her anger rising to the surface as she put her hands on her hips and leaned towards the tall male.

"You know what?" Terra asked, his anger getting to the boiling point. "This was a bad idea. I knew it was a bad idea and I should have never agreed to it."

"Bad idea, huh? Well I guess it was." Aqua huffed as she turned her back on Terra, closing her eyes and crossing her arms. Terra's eyes widened, before he huffed and turned on his heal.

"You want to know my type of woman? Well you're my ideal woman." He huffed before walking towards the rear of the ballroom, and through an opening towards a large garden.

Aqua was taken aback by his words, her eyes widening as a blush rose to her cheek. Sighing, she sat down in an empty chair and covered her face with her hands. She looked through her fingers at the ballroom as the party continued on around her, music echoing through the chamber, and small groups of people talking and conversing amongst themselves. She felt so out of place. Growing up, she felt kind of tomboyish, training with Terra to be Keyblade masters, and then the whole Xehanort incident changed things between them. While she was concerned about Ventus during that time, her thoughts and feelings lingered on Terra. Seeing the change in her friend, it changed things between them. She couldn't stop thinking about him, and sometimes her thoughts lingered on him. She would think about his characteristics as well as his physical features. Even in the Realm of Darkness, seeing those images of him, and then seeing him again before he fought his Xehanort possessed self. It was him and Ventus that kept her going, knowing that Terra was still fighting. They were all she could think about. Terra was all she could think about.

The Keyblade Master looked to her right, at the empty chair next to her, or the chair she thought was empty. Resting in the chair was a small plate of food, filled with all the food Aqua liked. There were even strawberries, in the mix. Terra was the only person she had ever told that she loved strawberries more then anything. But was there something she loved more then strawberries? Someone?

Aqua sighed and stood up, walking towards the opening that led to the garden, where Terra had just stormed off to.

"Where are they going? What Happened?" Kairi asked as she tried to swipe the binoculars from Ventus.

"I don't know. It looks like they had a fight. They're both going out in to the garden now." The blonde youth stated as he kept the spyglass away from his female friend.

"Seriously? How stubborn can they be?" Sora asked with a sigh as he hung his head. "We need to follow them." He stated as he tried to stealthy move to the next curtain.

"Hey, wait up, genius. You're going to get us caught!" Kairi almost yelled as she tried to reach for her boyfriend, but he was out of reach. Growling she turned towards Ventus. "Come on, before he gets us caught."

Aqua walked cross the stone bridge, her heels clacking against the stone, as she made her way across, trying to find Terra.

"Where are you?" She thought as she looked around, listening to the water under the bridge gurgle and flow as she crossed. Thankfully the full moon was out on this cloudless night allowing her to see clearly all around her. As she got to the other side, she noticed a stone gazebo surrounded by trees with a clear view of a lake. That's when the moonlight illuminated the figure inside, his back to her. But she would recognize that chocolate brown hair anywhere. She slowly approached, not wanting to startle him.

"Beautiful view, isn't it?" Terra asked her as she got closer to him, his eyes never leaving the lake as it reflected in his eyes. His hands were clasped together behind his back as if he was in a trance.

Aqua looked from her counterpart out across the lake that the castle overlooked. It went as far as the eyes could see, a shoreline too far for any normal man to swim. A stone wall kept anyone from walking straight out into the water but was decorated in a way that was pleasing to the eye. The trees that surrounded the gazebo just added a bit more green into the scenery. The moonlight reflected off the lake as it shimmered.

"Yeah, it really is. You know we never got to enjoy moments like these when we were training, or when we were traversing worlds to stop the Unversed." She stated as she looked out across the water once more. "The closest we got was the times you, me, and Ven use to look up at the stars and the sky."

"I remember. I cherished those moments. They helped keep me fighting against Xehanort whenever he took over my body. It wasn't enough though. I still caused so much pain. So much suffering. I still don't understand how anyone could even forgive me." The Keyblade wielder stated as tears slowly began to form in his eyes. "I saw everything he was doing, and I couldn't fight him."

Aqua looked towards the male, before slowing moving around to in front of him and reaching up with her right hand to touch his cheek. Smiling, she used her thumb to brush a stray tear away from his cheek. She tilted her head to the left as she studied his features in the moonlight, brushing his cheek once more.

"It wasn't your fault. He made you do all those things. I know you were fighting. I remember seeing you in the Realm of Darkness." Aqua stated as she looked her friend in the eyes. "Terra, no one blames you for what happened. Especially me."

"But the World nearly fell to darkness because of me. Xehanort used my weakness to overcome me and cause so much hurt. So much pain." Terra stuttered tears came to his eyes and he tilted his head into the soft hands of his partner.

"We all have weaknesses. In your heart you were trying to do the right thing, and Xehanort used that against you. He used all of us. But in the end, you fought with us to end his threat. And now look where we are. A wedding. The worlds are at peace now. All thanks to your help." The Keyblade master cooed as she tilting her head to the other side, her eyes never leaving the blue ones of her counterpart.

Terra leaned in to the gloved hand of his date for the evening, taking a deep breath, and closed his eyes. What was it about the woman in front of him? She radiated light and calmed the raging storm inside of him. Her complete aura was the opposite of his, but it wasn't just her aura. It was everything about her. He opened his eyes to look into hers, seeing the moonlight reflecting off them and the water moving behind them. Calming. Peaceful. Blissful.

Aqua smiled tenderly as she tilted her own head to the right, looking deep in to the blue eyes of the man before her. Eyes that hid a storm, raging and boiling, ready to burst forth and rage against anyone. Even without Xehanort's presence, darkness still stormed inside of him. It was weaker then before, like he was more in control, but it was still there. He radiated a protective presence, but she knew what that lead to. But it was that presence that drew her to him, made her want to stay near him.

They both leaned in towards each other, like the world was in slow motion and had gone silent as all they could focus on was each other. Their eyes closed as they neared, their breathes having gone silent. The warmth from being near each other, their bodies seeming to be attracted to each other, like two halves of a heart coming together as one. The moonlight felt like it brightened around them and drowned them out as they came within centimeters of each other's lips. Finally, they were complete.

Alternate Ending:

CRUNCH! CRASH!

"Ah!" Three voices cried out as the sound of a bush breaking and caving in came from nearby, startling the two dancers out of their daze. Aqua and Terra looked towards the cause of the sound as their eyes widened from being startled back to reality.

"VENTUS!" Aqua exclaimed. "Sora! Kairi!" She growled, glaring at the three youths that had just fallen out of a nearby bush. "Have you three been spying on us?" she asked in a demanding tone as she started storming towards the three.

"Uuuuhhhh, no." The teenagers all said in unison as they looked at the older woman from their tangled mess of arms, legs, and twigs from their shrubbery hiding spot.

"You three are out way past your bedtime. How did you even get here? Where's Lea? He's supposed to be babysitting you" The bluenette demanded as she put her gloved hands on her hips, leaning down slightly to get a better look at the three snoopers. Terra just chuckled as he watched Aqua chew into the younger trio as they groaned and hung their heads, like they were getting chewed out by their mother.

The older youth scratched his cheek, tilting his head to the side. He smiled before looking out towards the lake and up at the stars and the moon, listening to his counterpart chew out the younger youths. Maybe, just maybe there was a future for them, after all.