A/N: *Two years later* I'm so sorry for the über late update! This story will consist of eight chapters, so after this, only six more chapters to go (and as expected, the next one will be fluffy!Terqua). Also, this story won't go with KH: DDD's timeline and events. This is just a 'theory' I had after finishing BBS, so we'll all have to ignore the new KH game. Hope you enjoy! :)
Thank you: NinjaSheik, BlackFrozenRoze, XxX-SparklinkEyes-XxX, Blue Jae, Zara2148, Razor Goto, Flightfoot, Kerabel, oddishh, neko-neko-aishizu, Shining Sunny, OathkeeperRoxasXNamine09, Jull08, DarkxRosex24, Axrat, AquaStormXIV, and M. L. Ayala, my brilliant beta reader.
~ "No, I meant out of the two of us, who gets the girl?" ~
It was a rather warm and pleasant evening in the beautiful Land of Departure, just the way they liked it. The air still smelled like freshly cut grass, coated with fragrant flowers and the sky seemed to glimmer continuously thanks to the thousands upon thousands of twinkling stars. Two male teens, a brunet and a blonde, were sitting on a bench, looking at the night sky, while waiting for their other friend who could arrive at any time now to join them in their stargazing. For now, though, it was silent between the two friends who regarded each other brothers. Only the locusts were eager enough to break the peaceful silence, filling it with their own unique sounds. It was almost as though they were using a Morse code and quite honestly, Terra found that quite interesting.
"Hey Terra?" the spiky-haired blonde suddenly asked, tearing his eyes away from the perpetually beautiful sky.
"Hmm?" the eldest teen said lazily, not bothering to avert his gaze from the mesmerizing stars, but shifting slightly.
The younger boy looked around nervously, before bringing his head closer to Terra, as if he was about to tell him a dirty secret that nobody else, not even the grasshoppers, was supposed to hear. "Can I ask you something? Something... personal?"
Naturally, any other person would have become highly suspicious by now and answer with a swift and resolute "No," what with him halting dramatically before that last word, but obviously, Terra wasn't like other people. In fact, all the brunet did was nod and say, "Shoot."
"Okay, then..." The younger boy took another deep, shaky breath and started whispering, "Suppose that all the other worlds in our multiverse, save for this one, would be absorbed in everlasting darkness and there's really nothing we can do to change that. No secret magic tricks, no sprinkle of Hope and Light to work with, nothing..." He paused there. "Are you still following me?"
Terra made a non-committal noise, letting him know that he understood his reasoning so far.
"Then what would you do?" the blonde went on.
Terra blinked, dumbfounded, realizing that nothing would follow. He was utterly perplexed, even though he tried not to show it. That's all? And here I thought I would have to explain him something shocking yet again... just like last time when he asked where babies come from.
"Uh, I don't know, Ven. Maybe pray for a miracle from the friendly spirits and the gods?" the brunet male replied, while quietly wondering what to think of the blonde's rather... odd behavior (then again, what was odd when it came to Ventus? Sixty percent of the time he was acting like this, after all).
Also, why was he asking him of all people, anyway? Couldn't he find someone else? Normally, it was their dear friend Aqua who had to deal with his random (and varying from pretty interesting to downright creepy) questions, because, well, she was the best at explaining things, while still staying patient. And Kingdom Hearts knew how much of that trait you needed when you were talking to Ven. Thank Heavens he hadn't landed into an embarrassing situation this time. He knew from experience that Ven really had an outspoken talent for pulling him into those awkward moments.
Meanwhile, Ven let out an impatient huff at his friend's slowness, feeling a lot like hitting him on the head, hard. "No, I meant out of the two of us, who gets the girl?"
The brunet teen furrowed his brows, giving him a questioning look. "What girl?"
Had he missed something?
"Ugh, Aqua, of course, who else!" Ven exclaimed, obviously ticked off at how oblivious Terra was. "Geez, Terra! How slow can you possibly get!?"
Although maybe that was more a case of stupidity, not slowness. To think that he's the oldest one of our group. Sure doesn't act like that if you ask me, Ven thought, suppressing the urge to let out a deep sigh.
"Oh, I see..." Terra said, almost as though he'd only noticed now that one of Master Eraqus's pupils was a girl. "That's easy: that would be me, of course, because I'm the eldest and the strongest. Besides, Aqua and I don't have such a big age gap, at all... unlike you. She's more like a mother to you, rather than a lover."
This comment seemed to rub Ven entirely the wrong way and that was easy to tell from his tense body language. He frowned, reminding his friend, "Age doesn't matter when it comes to real love. It's what Aqua said." As an afterthought, he added, "And I'm strong, too!"
The earth Keybearer let out a rather uncharacteristic snort, because of his naïvety, as well as his lack of knowledge. Almost effortlessly, he pushed his younger friend off the bench they were sitting on with a simple, nonchalant move. With a loud 'thump!' the blonde landed on the hard ground, hard.
"Ow! What was that for!?" Ventus cried indignantly, his electric blue eyes narrowing in anger.
"If you really had been strong, like you claimed to be, then you wouldn't have fallen off the bench that easily," he explained calmly, but he couldn't suppress his satisfactory smirk. "I mean, c'mon, Ven. I wasn't even trying!"
"Oh yeah?" Ventus growled under his breath, as he countered with a swift, effective kick at Terra's shin, making the latter groan in pain.
"What the heck, Ven!?" the brunet snarled, rubbing his hurt leg.
"If you really had been that strong, then you wouldn't have felt that at all," was the simple response, while he did a small victory dance in his head. "Come on, Terra. It wasn't even that hard!"
"What are you talking about? That has nothing to do with strength!" Terra sputtered.
"Yes, it has, you sore loser. Oh, and let me kindly remind you that by the time you'll arrive at the scene to save her from the darkness, I'll be long gone with her to a safe and sunny place, 'cause I'm much faster than you!"
"Tch. Then may I just as kindly remind you that you're contradicting yourself; you just said that this would be the only world that was unharmed," Terra reminded him smugly.
"Wha-" The younger teen's eyes widened. He blushed a crimson red at the discovery, but was quick to recover. "So? Then I'm taking it back. Aqua and I will find another safe world and you won't be there, so nyuh!"
"Why you little-" Terra started, ready to catch him in a strong headlock until he would change his mind, before he was interrupted by a familiar female voice, coming from behind him.
"Hey, guys. What are you doing?"
Both male teens froze in pure horror and they could only think of one thing, Busted.
This sudden appearance seemed to startle both young men, as they let out sharp gasps, hoping to any merciful god that she hadn't just heard their heated conversation. Because that would be so awkward that they wouldn't be able to look at her for the rest of their lives... at the least.
"Nothing," both young men cried simultaneously, sitting ramrod straight again.
No, they weren't looking suspicious at all... yeah.
"And why is Ven sitting on the ground?" the bluenette continued with an edge of wonder in her melodious voice.
Ven gulped. Darn Aqua and her knack of noticing practically everything. Maybe Terra was right, she was more like a mother than a lover sometimes (though he'd rather die than tell him that).
"Oh, you know... Just... some guy thing you wouldn't understand," he quickly lied, before getting up to sit next to Terra again.
The young pupil grimaced, because he could feel how his pants were damp now (it had drizzled earlier and the grass had been still wet. Just great) and it felt funny. Here was hoping that Aqua hadn't seen it. He'd be absolutely mortified if she had.
When he discretely prodded the older guy, Terra automatically nodded and said lamely, "Uh, yeah. What he said."
The bluenette blinked, staring at her friends who were acting really weird. It was almost as though they were trying to hide something. Perhaps it was indeed better not to ask this time.
It was silent for a moment (although it felt like ages for the two male teens), but then Aqua started to laugh. "Sounds like I missed out on the fun stuff... You know, you two would really make the weirdest brothers."
"Uhm..." Ven blinked, wondering if that was some sort of compliment or not.
"Thanks... I think," Terra replied slowly, before his gaze travelled to the youngest member of their group.
Almost at once, he started laughing when he caught Ven's facial expression. He looked as clueless as he felt, which, despite the situation, warmed his heart. Both Aqua and the youngest pupil soon joined him.
At that moment, the image faded away slowly, because exactly 380 days later, Xehanort was staring at his ceiling, wondering for the umpteenth time what that dream had to mean... Or if it actually was a dream to begin with. It wasn't like the answers were written on his ceiling...
How easy that would make things.
Letting out a deep sigh, he turned around to face the cream-colored walls and closed his bright, amber-colored eyes, hoping fervently that sleep would come fast, even though he knew deep in his heart that that wouldn't be the case tonight, just like every other night.