Chapter 2: Are

"Aqua, you forgot me." The brown haired boy hugged his lover tighter, softly caressing her hair.

"I haven't. I haven't forgotten you." She whispered back. "But you're forgetting me. Where are your letters? Where are you, Terra? Are you even still mine?"

He can hear her voice, seductive; her mouth sits lightly on his ear.

"Yes. Yours, always. I love you…" He hisses as her nails dig into the back of his neck.

"It hurts, Terra! You're always hurting me!" She says, trembling, before pushing him away. "You're hurting me."

Her eyes close, eyelids still fluttering. They are all around him; Unversed. Her Unversed.

They were coming from her, exploding from her emotions.

"Terra, you've left me! You left me alone to die! Terra, you've hurt me. He hurts me. Hurt. It's all I have left!" She says, lifting her arms to the sky and grasping two pure black Keyblades. As she brings them down, they meld to become one.

"It's all your fault, Terra. All your fault…" She drags out the last word. Terra turned to run before she rose in front of him, her blue hair flowing in the breeze behind her.

"Why?" He whispered as her Keyblade came down upon his head…

He slammed into the air above his bed. Aqua… he couldn't have hurt her. Letters… he sent them every week. What did she mean, no letters?

He hurts me… Who hurts her? Not Ven. Vanitas? The boy was a bother. Terra knew him for a maximum of 55 minutes, but he was a troublesome little imp and he had a crush on Aqua. But Aqua avoided him so the last person was…

"Xehanort…" he hissed. The old man was cruel. Whenever he would take to the water to find him, Xehanort wouldn't let him talk to Aqua. He didn't mention Aqua unless Terra did, and he practically ignored him even when he asked for the three apprentices. So, he had been in love with Aqua. Big deal. Don't blame Ven for that 'mistake' that wasn't his fault, much less a mistake. Let him see Ven, if nothing else!

"Terra, sweetheart." Came her overly melodious voice. It wasn't like Aqua's, smooth like a river, her voice was like walking on glass and making an orchestra. Forced and fake.

"Chassindry, please don't call me that." He says, turning his head to see the girl. Her platinum blonde locks with feathery red wisps are straight and perfect, as usual. It looked as though blood was streaming down her head, starting at the scalp and ending at the tips.

"You're trembling." She sing-songs.

"And you're going to leave my room now." He lays back down and flips over, away from where the Princess of Cielo Luce was sitting.

"Sweetie, I can help."

"No you can't. Don't even pretend you can."

"But sweetie, if it's about the girl, then you can just tell me. She's long gone and moved on." She reached out to pet down his hair, but he recoiled from her touch. His hand traveled under the pillow to find his orange wayfinder.

'She isn't, and soon enough, I'll go back to her. I promised. What are promises but truths in advance?"

Terra sighs, forcing another spoonful of the stew into his mouth. Hiding in the kitchen again.

"What's wrong today, Terra?" Xion says in a bored tone. She stirs the stew still in the pot.

"Nothing."

"You lie. How's the stew?"

"Fine."

"Are you listening to me? Terra?" When she received no answer, Xion turned around. Terra was looking at her through half-closed eyes. He wasn't even on this earth, much less listening. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he jumped. The stew sloshed down her dress, and she frowned. "Terra…"

"Sorry, Shi, here…" He handed her a dish rag from the counter, and she started wiping her shirt with it. She couldn't get the dark orange sauce stain off, no matter how she tried. She put the rag down and leaned against the table.

"It's no use! Ugh!" She leaned into the table, her head in her hands.

"I'm really sorry, Shi." He said, patting her back. "I was just lost in thought, and I thought you were Chassindry…"

"No, no, it's okay, I'm just the kitchen girl, anyway… it's not like anyone will see, I'm not on serving duty tonight…" Just as Xion stood up, Chassindry came into the kitchen.

"Terra! I finally found you." She approached him and hugged him. He did not reciprocate. Over his shoulder, Chassindry saw the serving girl. She pushed Terra away. "What happened to you?"

"Eep!" Xion squeaked. "I, uh, uh… Terra and the uh…"

"I spilled my stew on her." Terra said. Xion exhaled when he didn't blame her, but startled again when Chassindry talked.

"Well, why are you still here?" Xion scurried back to the stove. The princess turned back to Terra. "Well, come on, you've missed so much!"

Terra had his wrist taken in her little bony hand. He looked back at Xion. He mouthed a small 'I'm sorry.' She turned back to the stove as he was dragged from the kitchen.

"I cannot understand why you spend time with the servants!" Chassindry exasperated. "They're not there to be friends, they're there to do work!"

"And I'm here because…"

"Because you had a debt to pay!"

"It's been three years. Am I not allowed to leave by now? There's no Unversed or Heartless anymore. Cielo Luce is safe."

"Maybe you should sit around court more often."

Terra didn't mind Chassindry, but she annoyed him. She was always talking to him, hanging around him, and he easily tired of her and her talking. She was everything Aqua wasn't. Chassindry made it obvious that only those on her level were worth her time. Chassindry was conniving and secretive. Her status didn't help her personality much. But Terra, like everyone else, had to deal with it. It was all he could do.

Her father had saved his life. And, according to this culture, he owed them something. This thing, he had agreed with the king, would be tracking down and getting rid of the Heartless and Unversed that terrorized the world. Terra had supposed that it was only fair.

If only he had known that Chassindry was the side dish.

Terra looked through the hallways for anyone who could help. Terra was alone with Chassindry and given the night before, he probably shouldn't have been.

When he saw Aerith, tending to the second floor veranda of potted plants, he pleaded silently for help. Aerith understood immediately.

"Miss?" She called, racing after the pair. Terra sighed. Chassindry turned around with a look on her face that radiated anger.

"What do you want?"

"I need you to tell me if my flowers look okay."

"They look fine." Chassindry stepped back. Aerith's hands were covered in dirt from the potting of plants. Chassindry hated dirt. She loathed it with a passion. It was obvious to anyone with eyes, but it was especially obvious around Aerith and the other gardeners, who were constantly covered with it.

"No, no, you need to see…" Aerith reached out. The princess stepped back. She stumbled into Terra, then startled forward- right into Aerith. Chassindry squealed as the dirt from Aerith's hands got on her arm.

"Ew! That's disgusting!"

"Sorry, sorry, I lost my head there for a-"

"I'm going to wash the dirt off. Terra, don't move!" Chassindry stomped off down the hallway, startling a pair of guardsmen on the way.

"Aerith! That was great!"

"Oh… well, thanks, Terra."

"No, Aerith, you deserve thanks. Not only was the look on her face priceless, but she's gone!"

"What was that about?" asked one of the guards, a blonde named Demyx. Terra liked Demyx most of the time. When he was drunk and when he decided to play his sitar in the middle of the night were when Terra wanted to strangle him.

"Terra needed to escape Chassindry again." Aerith said with a smile.

"One day, you should just slug the girl." Demyx said.

"That would not be wise." Luxord turned to Demyx "Your gameplan is horrid."

"Whatever." Demyx leaned back against the wall.

"I don't hit girls." Terra said.

"Chivalry." Aerith crossed her arms.

"So what?"

"What about Aqua?" Aerith leaned in, then back out.

"She's different."

"She's a girl, and she's my age."

"But you've never met Aqua." Terra said. Aerith rolled her eyes.

"Why are you still here?"

"What do you mean?"

"You should be running away! Chassindry could be back any second."

"Oh."

"And he says oh!" Aerith rolled her eyes yet again. Demyx and Luxord both chuckled, and Terra laughed along. Suddenly, a black haired girl was staring them down. Terra startled backwards.

"Yuffie!"

"Axel needs you! There's an attack on the fourth ward, west section!" She said to Terra, ignoring Aerith.

"Yuffie Kisaragi!"

"What, Aerith?"

"What have I told you about ceilings and climbing and dropping in on people's conversations?"

"To not to. But this was important, Aerith~!" Yuffie dropped down from the ceiling, whining at her friend.

"Thanks, Aerith. Thank you, Yuffie." Terra turned away, and half-ran from the scene.

The streets of the South Ward were empty. Terra had his Keyblade out, over his shoulder. His friend, a redhead named Axel, was talking too much and too loud.

"So you say you had this dream about the girl…"

"Aqua."

"How do you know her name is Aqua?"

"I grew up with her."

"Yeah, yeah, on a different world. In a different world. Say, when it's a different world, are you in it or on it?"

"Don't know. Don't care." Terra hissed.

"Okay, so this Aqua chick who you haven't seen in years but you grew up with, comes into your dream, and attacks you by summoning a giant key like yours?"

"Two giant keys. And they're called Keyblades." Terra turned around to look at his friend.

"And what are they? They are giant keys. And you should duck." Terra did as Axel said, and within a second, there was a heartless dead at Axel's hands. Axel smiled and the little golden heart floated up and disappeared into the air.

"Thanks."

"No problem… but you should turn around before thanking me." Terra did as Axel said and got exactly what he expected, which was a hoard of shadows running about the town. Terra sighed. This is what he had been pulled here for? Ten inconsequential shadows? He rolled his eyes and raced towards them. It was the quickest deletion of Heartless he had ever performed. Axel didn't even have a chance to move.

Now Terra was annoyed. This day had been horrid, starting with the dream, Chassindry, and now this useless job. They walked through the empty streets, killed a few heartless separated from the main group, and finally stopped for ice cream. Ice cream was Axel's thing. He swore he loved every type, but Terra found that hard to believe when all he ate was sea salt. Terra got sea-salt this time around a well, dropping a pair of coins into the seller's hand. Axel raised an eyebrow.

"A little out there?" He said, smirking.

"I'm allowed to differ from my usual chocolate, thank you very much." Terra then added. "And you can't say anything about, you only eat sea salt."

They walked along in silence, eating the ice creams.

"Tell me again about the chick and your home."

"Girl." Terra stated bluntly. "Don't call them chicks."

"Okay, tell me!" Axel had obviously brushed the comment right off.

"I grew up in a world known as the Land of Departure. It was my dad, me, my brother Ventus, and…" He breathed in deep. "Aqua. Aqua was two years younger, but you would never know it with how much she acted like she was older. And Dad took her in from her world, because she could wield a Keyblade. When she's especially angry, she'll get this accent that just drips of her home, I can't even mimic it. 'Oh, Terra-' I can't, see? Well, when I was about sixteen I guess we just kinda told each other that we loved each other, and we somehow kept our relationship a secret. But then my father died, and Xehanort, one of his friends, brought his apprentice and took over the world. The little imp apprentice- Vanitas- caught me and Aqua, and told his master. Master Xehanort exiled me. Because he could get away with it. Because my father had left the world to me and Aqua, together, and we couldn't rule it, one without the other." He shook his head. "So I ended up here."

The two were silent as they walked through the world. Now Heartless-free, it was just a peaceful place.

Cielo Luce was a city of stone. The streets were gray, smooth stones set in mortar, and the houses ranged from lovely yellow sandstones to red clay bricks to light purple-gray stones like the streets. The palace sat at the peak of the island; it was black granite. It stood out against the bright colors of the four wards.

The four wards were extremely different. They worked on levels. The highest level, first ward, which directly circled the castle, was the richest. Its houses were white marble, blue shutters and red tile roofs. These people employed those from the lower districts, nobility at it's finest, but it also encompassed the higher ranking guards of the castle, like Axel, and the most important of the court.

The second level was inhabited by the castle's servants. These houses were made of yellow sandstone, and were ornamental, carved to the owners profession or liking, sometimes as far as to carve entire murals into sides of houses. Among the sandstone, there were white marble houses with doorways of the yellow and reddish-gold rock of the neighbors for the better-paid guards. Red brick houses sat for the few poorer of the servants. The entire level was overflowing with potted plants in clay pots, painted brightly in blues, purples, and reds. The yellow, as it was once explained, became an eyesore.

The third level, and the third ward, was for what was considered middle-class. Red brick houses with basic slate shingles dominated the area, but there were bursts of the sandstone and marble, and some houses had extreme designs formed from stucco. Every house had a porch, windows were abundant, and the houses were perhaps the best kept of the entire city. The people here knew friends of friends, drama ensued regularly, and many were caught with nasty rumors or elaborate lies on people that had considered them friends.

But Terra's favorite ward was the fourth, and the level was the cheeriest. Its people weren't rich, and many could testify that some nights, they stayed up with growling in their stomach. But the people took hardship with grace. The people were the kindest. The children would race through the streets of the houses of all different sizes and colors. The rich could live in the sandstone, and the poor in white marble. The children could have long, dark hair, and big black eyes, poorer than dirt, and be best friends with the freckled blonde daughter of a different pay and profession. And there was always laughter. Throaty laughs and melodic trills all echoed about the walls. People putting out the washing talked with the neighbors making traditional bread in the stone ovens, and walking through town with a single friend talking about the weather could escalate to a well respectable debate with many of the townspeople over a philosophy that storms were harbingers of a poor financial year.

The best part of the fourth ward, however, sat a riser lower. The view of the sea, the horizon, and the setting sun. The best place to watch was from the wall that marked the beginning of the poorest level. It was ten feet high, and there were staircases all along its length. Behind them was the city, and in front of them was the sun. It burned yellow, red, hazy purple as it lowered to its nightly sleep; and straining their eyes, through the purple fog were the first stars.

Every star out there is another world… What she had always told him and Ven. I'm not sure exactly which, but up there, one of those star, is my home. Ven didn't like that thought, that Aqua didn't consider the Land of Departure her home. I miss it still. But it's okay. I have you guys, and your dad now… Ven would smile, and she would talk more about the different worlds. There's one where they just have flowers everywhere, the whole world is practically a garden. And my favorite to hear about when I was younger was the one where they live under water. There's always music, all the time. And the day she gave them their good luck charms, she had talked about the world, his favorite. It's all beaches. And there's this tree with star shaped fruit. The fruit represents an unbreakable connection. It reminds me, all the worlds are connected to each other, even if they are unaware of it. Unbreakably connected. Every single star and every single world…

He sat up from his day dream. His ice cream was long gone. It was nearing dangerously to dinner, so he got up.

"Axel, we should go." He said. The redhead nodded, hopping up from the wall.

Niether spoke a word as the went solemnly to the castle.

Of course, when Chassindry saw him, she almost fainted. He was sweating! And he was in the exact same clothes as earlier! No, no, that simply wouldn't do. He needed to go change into respectable dinner clothes. Clothes that look nice, mind him, because they were eating with the nobility of the court. Don't take forever.

He sighed and trudged up the steps. There was no Aerith to save him that time, and now he had to fraternize with rich snobs that argued about how the world should be run for a living. He hated it. And with Aqua on his mind, how could he ever survive.

There was only one thing he could think: contact his home world. This was easy. The water was some sort of magic. Anytime he wanted, he could reach back to his old world, talk to his master. Maybe, a very big maybe, the Master would let him see Aqua.

So, upon reaching his room, he went to the back of his closet and uncovered the water. He summoned his Keyblade, and much like how a key would be locked, placed it in the water and turned, thinking thoughts of home. As it shimmered, he smiled. Home.

But his happiness was short lived. The first thing he heard was a fight.

Something about being sure, something about stopping, and something about letters. Master Eraqus and…

"Aqua?" He said aloud. Her voice called back, soft.

"Terra?" Before he realized she wasn't looking at him, he asked a question.

"Why are you in Xehanort's study?" Almost as soon as he finishes, she is looking down at the water. He smiled at her. She smiled back.

"Terra…" She reached out, as if to touch him. The image disappeared for a moment. When it came back, Xehanort was screaming. He didn't hear him. He only heard and saw her.

"I know everything now! Xehanort's been stealing my letters from you!" His letter sent by world hoppers had been received then… "That's why I haven't been answering! Terra! Terra!" She grimaces as if in pain. "Stop hurting me! Terra I'm going to find you! Where are you?!"

"Cielo… Luce…" He could barely speak between his happiness, his anger, and his wonderment. "I'm in Cielo Luce! You'll find it. Follow the river, Aqua, and you will come to sea... The sea is the sky and the sky is the sea…"

It takes a moment for him to realize she is gone. The water is just water.

What happened? His first thought was that the incantation had been lifted… but then he realized that she was using the water's container for support. She would have taken it with her had she fell. She said she was going to find him…

Terra stepped back from the water, stumbling into his closet wall. He slid down the wall. He definitely wasn't going to dinner now.

Well, this certainly took long enough. Yes, I still want your comments. Because this was written between the hours of 10 and 11:30 pm on a Sunday. I just typed... and came up with this. Again, there was minimal editing.

I'm really sorry it took so long. I could rant, but basically, I'm in all the advanced classes, so I have literally finished two books, done extensive study guides for EVERY SINGLE CLASS, and I have the hardest science teacher in the district. He gave us four experiments, one report, and a final. On top of that, I had about a billion presentations to do. And, my obsessiveness led me to take on a fourth instrument. So now, I play tuba! Can't wait for marching band. I'm done with school.

I had a bit of writers block in the middle there (after the ice cream, before the houses) but I love the way this turned out! I loved describing Cielo Luce. It's based mostly off of this one city in Tunisia called Sidi Bou Said, but more colorful, and it has definite roots in one of my actual original stories' countries (Deresques is the city-state). And Chassindry is the most annoying character that I've ever written. She just so over the top, I love her. :3

So, again, please review. Thanks for reading. I'm tired and I'm going to bed and it's still freezing where I live.

Lily