Chapter 1- One Last Night

Ventus couldn't go to sleep, he lay there awake for what felt like hours. Ventus finally sat up in his bed and sighed. Ventus glanced out the window for a second and saw something that made his heart thud.

"Huh!" Ventus exclaimed, fully awake now looking excitedly out the window. A huge grin spread on Ventus's face as he saw what looked like countless shooting stars flying across the sky. "A meteor shower!" Ventus yelled as flew out of bed and ran out the door.

Ventus ran out the two huge doors and down the steps panting. Ventus stopped at the small courtyard and looked up quickly. "I can't see much from here." Ventus continued out the courtyard quickly.

Down the path Ventus ran, to the stairs, then over the bridge. Seeing some training things were messed up Ventus stopped. It was like Terra to forget to clean something up after training. 'I have time to spare' Ventus thought as he cleaned up. Afterward, Ventus wiped his brow and smiled. "I should get going; I'm going to miss the meteor shower!" Then off Ventus went, up the cliff side to his, Terra and Aqua's favorite place to hang out.

Ventus walked forward toward the edge and looked up. The night sky never seemed to fail Ventus, especially when there was a meteor shower. "Wow," Ventus whispered amazed. Ventus lied down on the grass and continued to look up at the sky."Why does it seem so familiar?" Ventus asked himself. Ventus slowly closed his eyes and fell to sleep.

Ventus fell asleep with the stars and woke up with them. Ventus smiled and yawned then opened his eyes to look up at the head of his best friend Aqua. "WHOA!" Ventus yelled startled to see Aqua bending over him. Ventus got up and looked at her as Aqua giggled. "Give me a break Aqua."

Aqua looked at Ventus while smiling. "Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead, you should have at least brought a blanket."

"But- did I really dream that place up? It really felt like I'd been there before… looking up at the stars…" Ventus replied lost in thought. Aqua ruffled her younger friend's hair and Ventus softly giggled.

"'Cept you've always lived here with us." Ventus looked down at the ground.

"Yeah," Ventus thought for a second then looked up at Aqua with a smile. "I know." They walked over to the edge and sat down.

"Hey Aqua?"

"Hm?"

"Y'ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?"

"Hmm… Well they say-"

"That every star up there is another world." A deep voice responded from behind them. They both turned around surprised.

"Terra," Aqua said curiously. She was happy to see her long time friend.

"Yep. It is hard to believe there are so many worlds out there beside our own." Terra replied. Terra walked toward them and kept going. "The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us like a million lanterns." Ventus looked at Terra confused.

"What? I don't get it." Ventus exclaimed to Terra. Terra smiled and looked at Ventus.

"In other words, there just like you, Ven," Terra explained. Ventus got up and walked over to Terra.

"What does THAT mean?" Ventus asked.

"You'll find out someday, I'm sure." Terra reasoned.

"I wanna know now!" Ventus complained. Aqua smiled at them.

"You're too young to know now!" Terra argued.

"Quit treating me like a kid! Ventus snapped at Terra. Aqua turned her head and giggled. Terra looked over at Aqua questioningly.

"Hey, what are you laughing at?" Terra ordered. Aqua smiled at Terra and replied back between giggles.

"I can't help it. You two would make the weirdest brothers."

"Huh?" Ventus replied off guard. Aqua started laughing and both joined in understanding. Soon all of them were staring at the night sky when Aqua remembered something.

"Oh yeah. Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow," Aqua reminded Terra as she got up and walked over to Terra and Ventus. Aqua pulled out 3 different colored stared shaped good luck charms and handed one to each of them as she explain.

"I made us good luck charms." They were both on their feet now examining what Aqua had given them. Ventus looked up at Aqua.

"I get one too?"

"Of course. One for each of us," Aqua replied smiling. They held them together and looked at them. Terra got an orange one while Ventus had received a green one. Aqua had kept the last one for herself which was blue.

"Somewhere out there, there's this tree with star shaped fruit… and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection." Aqua explained as she walked off and stopped.

"So as long as you and your friends carry these, nothing can ever drive you apart. You'll always find your way back to each other." Aqua turned around and looked at them, they returned the gaze.

"Technically, I think they are supposed to be made with seashells, but I did the best with what I had." Aqua thought out loud.

"Oy, sometimes you are such a girl." Terra remarked.

"Hey, what do you mean 'sometimes'?" Aqua snapped. Ventus looked up at her worried.

"So, this isn't a real good luck charm" Ventus asked. Aqua walked back over to them looking at Ventus.

"Well, that's yet to be seen. But I did work a little magic on it."

"Really! What?" Aqua sighed and smiled at Ventus.

"An unbreakable connection."

Terra walked away then stopped and turned around dramatically.

"Well, tomorrow's the exam. Anyone wanna spar?" Terra asked.

"I can take ya'!" Ventus exclaimed. Ventus got into a fighting stance and summoned his Keyblade. Ventus ran toward Terra and attempted a quick slash to the stomach but Terra just blocked it. Ventus leaped back and went on guard. "Quit goin' easy on me. You're not gonna win unless you stay on the offensive!" Ventus nagged at Terra. Ventus then waited for Terra to make his move. Terra took Ventus by surprise by starting a fury of slices. Ventus was left walking backward and parrying each of Terra's strong blows. Terra won with a strong thrust to the chest which sent Ventus back. Ventus got up and went into an on guard position. Terra did the same when Aqua walked up.

"Well that works if you're fighting one on one. " Aqua commented to Terra. "But you need to know how to handle a crowd to." Aqua flowed into her fighting stance and Terra charged. Aqua slid away from Terra's attack and pointed her Keyblade toward Terra and it glowed. Out of the glowing Keyblade came bubbles that held Terra in the air. Aqua was able to poke the chest of Terra easily and then the bubbles dropped him. Terra looked as if he were about to argue about the tactic Aqua used then shut his mouth deciding not to.

"I so declare a fair rematch." Terra demanded. Aqua smiled and said "I make no promise not to use magic." Terra glared at Aqua.

"That's fine, just don't pin me up anywhere. Stick with shooting things like fire, water or air so it's fair." Aqua shrugged and agreed then it started. Terra ran toward Aqua as she pointed her Keyblade up. A fireball hurdled out of it straight toward Terra. Terra rolled toward to side and hurled himself toward Aqua with a strong grip on his Keyblade. Aqua blocked and they locked Keyblades for a second, staring intensely into the others eyes as they struggled for the upper hand. Aqua unlocked hers quickly from Terra's and went for the legs. Terra was prepared though and blocked. Aqua leaped back gracefully and prepared to end the fight. Aqua pointed her Keyblade at Terra as it began to glow. A torrent of wind came toward Terra as he disappeared off the edge.

"TERRA!" Aqua screamed she went toward the edge and looked over. No sign of the tall dark warrior. Aqua started to get tears in her eyes when a hand came over her mouth and an arm over her stomach. Aqua was pushed down to the ground and a Keyblade was aimed at the center of her stomach. Aqua looked at the face and saw Terra grinning. "So you win." Aqua smiled. "Congrats."

"Comes with experience." Terra replied. Ventus came over and stood next to them as Terra got on his feet and helped Aqua to hers.

"Trust me, you guys are ready." Ventus told them. "Your gonna clean up at the exam tomorrow."

"I hope it's that easy" Terra murmured as he looked up at the sky wistfully.

"It's like the Master said, power is born with in the heart." Aqua replied to Terra's thought. "When the time is right, you just need to look inside yourself… and you'll find it there." They all had a deep silence as they thought, then Aqua looked at Terra and signaled with her head the direction to the castle, Terra nodded in return.

"Hey Ventus, we're gonna head back now." Terra informed Ven.

"Okay, I'm coming!" Aqua thought of something and grabbed her good luck charm as Ventus and Terra started to walk off. Aqua looked at it then at Terra and Ventus.

"Together, always." Aqua said to herself, and then ran after her friends. But, little did they know, that would be the last night they ever spent beneath the same stars.