Chapter Three: Jealousy
The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves—William Penn
Vanitas was exhausted. He felt completely spent as he struggled to remain on his feet, trying his hardest to keep up with the pace he and Xehanort had mutually agreed upon. Between the agony of receiving his face finally—trust him, it was a strange as it sounded—and the relentless nature of Xehanort, Vanitas could understand even more thoroughly why Ventus couldn't have hoped to handle this Master's brand of vicious training.
It involved a lot of pain, for one; rests were like asking for the sky to rain ice cream.
Or maybe it was something else. Xehanort had returned with a rather dark, stormy expression on his face, something that betrayed his feelings that something was bothering him. And for some reason, Vanitas knew when this old guy was pissed off, people needed to watch out.
The elderly Master then explained to Vanitas that Ventus had survived the ordeal of having Vanitas shed from him and could still be used for the making of X-blade. Vanitas was aware of Ventus's rather lucky survival thanks to the fact he also had come in contact with the same newborn heart that Ventus had, although his was much more painful and brief.
The follow up information was what caught Vanitas's total attention. Xehanort was quite annoyed by the fact his fellow Master—Eraqus, that was his name—had made leaps and bounds in training his two students. Both were aspiring to be Keyblade Masters. While Master Xehanort did not see eye to eye with Eraqus, he was fully aware the man was an excellent teacher that could mold people into fine warriors. As such, he now had further things to content with in regards to his goals.
One of Eraqus's students was a teenager named Terra who had caught Xehanort's eye because of the darkness within. The Master further explained his plan to take Terra's body to use as a vessel to extend his life, in order to see what lied beyond the results of the Keyblade War. The man was full of conviction to help others, but also obsessed with power. As such, he could be tricked and pushed along into becoming a fine vessel—a meat puppet, Vanitas thought with a mixture of pity and disgust.
The second, and actually the elder pupil, was a teenage girl named Aqua. What bothered Xehanort about her was the fact she was talent mage, full of light, difficult to actually manipulate directly, and close to Terra. Her light gave him added confidence and made it far more difficult for Terra to use his darkness. In addition, she herself was strong and her thirst for self-improvement made her dangerous.
Both of them had much latent power and already they showed they would be issues to Vanitas if he wasn't training hard. They had years on him; he would have to train much harder than them just to catch up, let alone surpass them.
All of this Xehanort had concluded from a short visit—maybe ten, twenty minutes at most. If you could say one thing about the man, he was extremely adept at picking people apart.
'Aqua…Terra…are you why I'm once again in pain?' Vanitas thought as he once again got into a shaky stance, Void Gear held weakly over his head, confused whether he should hate them or be thanking them. He was already distracted by his thoughts, in addition to the haze brought froth by exhaustion. No longer was he performing at reasonable levels.
Vanitas was soon rocked from his thoughts by an obscenely powerful blow to the chest. Teeth dug into suit and skin, once again wounding the already severely weakened dark boy. Blood sprayed from the fresh wound and painted the air briefly. Vanitas soon found himself rolling along the ground, masked form seeing stars as he fought to stay conscious.
"Boy!" Xehnaort snarled as he teleported above Vanitas, lingering in the air before he landed on the ground near him. The boy was on his side, panting as he struggled to get back onto his feet. But he found, much to his horror, he was struggling to even accomplish this normally effortless motion.
Xehanort sighed, pondering that it was quite possible that Vanitas was not even remotely prepared for this pace. He had overestimated Vanitas's power; although he was already doing much better than Ventus had. And despite how eager his new student had been to start, eagerness didn't equate to power and stamina and it was clearly on full display here.
"It appears I have overestimated your power, Vanitas. While you are far superior to Ventus, you are very much inferior to Terra and Aqua. You assured me that you could handle the level of effort it would take to match and then surpass those two," Xehanort's gravel voice rumbled on as he closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly. Disappointment was thick in his voice as he concluded, "Clearly, you are not prepared for these strenuous trails."
"I am tryin' my hardest here, Master," came the angry retort as Vanitas finally forced himself onto one knee, gripping Void Gear hatefully as the old man snorted instead of praised him. Hadn't he shown his potential after staying on his feet for seven straight hours and doing everything Xehanort had asked in minimal tries? All he had heard instead was how inferior he was to people he didn't even really know.
And, in an even deeper wound to his pride, Vanitas kept finding that he was not nearly as strong as he envisioned himself. He kept finding more and more people whom where mightier than he! That only served to make him even more pissed than he already was. He was Vanitas. He should be the strongest in the universe!
That's when Xehanort said something that sent him into a fury.
"If this is all you can muster, then you might as well surrender your dreams at once. No savior is this underwhelming."
Vanitas's felt his right eye twitch at the searing insult that had just been thrust deep into his already cracked pride. He gritted his teeth under his mask before he let out a mixture between a scream and a howl, coming to his feet in an instant as darkness poured around him. It gave him renewed power to once again attack Xehanort, hell-bent on showing the old man that he was not inferior to those other two!
Rushing at Xehanort like a dark comet, Vanitas unleashed a barrage of lightning bolts at short range right before impacting Xehanort. The Master gracefully darted back from the attack, almost lazily avoiding the follow-up strike of nearly crazed swings from Vanitas afterwards. Vanitas began to mix in kicks with his swings, becoming a whirlwind of chaotic attacks. Void Gear whizzed through the air angrily as Vanitas put forth all his power into striking Xehanort.
"Yes, that's it, my boy! Give yourself over to darkness!" Xehanort openly taunted as he never even once used his own Keyblade to block Vanitas's attacks, opting to instead dodge them as further incentive to enrage Vanitas. The tactic was working: he could see the glow of yellow eyes under that tinted helmet, coupled with the increased amount of darkness that was roaring around Vanitas.
The darkness spawned dozens of the Flood Unversed, as Xehanort and Vanitas had dubbed them. They were negative emotions given life; they were not well versed in their own existences, after all. As the Floods joined into the fray, attacking Xehanort in waves, the wise Master instead started to strike down the monsters with single, strong blows that cut them apart. The deaths of his follows instantly affected Vanitas, making him further mad with pain as he snarled, "You bastard!"
Vanitas was beyond livid once again; Xehanort was striking his creations down as if they were more important than he! How dare he belittle him by ignoring him altogether? Vanitas grasped his Keyblade with both hands, bringing it across in front of him in a double-handed vertical swing.
Of course, Xehanort teleported to avoid the blow, which instead cut through the air where the old Master had once been. Seeing Xehanort appear several feet away, Vanitas screamed with rage and dropped his weapon, which clattered to the ground with a clank. Moments later, Vanitas was bringing both hands above his head and began to channel his power and darkness into one, massive attack.
Xehanort watched with interest as Vanitas reabsorbed his Floods, which melted into raw emotion and darkness again, pooling to the ground before slithering back into Vanitas via his feet. Above Vanitas, an orb of purple and blue darkness appeared, although it was not a perfect sphere, instead being an unstable blob of darkness. The messy attack swelled rapidly in size, getting roughly six feet across as it began to hum with barely contained power.
Instead of praising him, Xehanort once again taunted his student by asking, "And just what do you think you'll do with that puny thing?"
"Burn in HELL OLD MAN!"
And with all his remaining power, Vanitas flung the attack right at Xehanort. It soared through the air like a rocket, screaming as it was guided right at its target. Vanitas had all manner of glorious images of Xehanort on the ground, bleeding, and smoke rolling off of him from a direct hit. He was going to make him suffer for looking down on him so much! It would be a testament to his—
PA-WACK!
Vanitas felt his jaw drop as his entire body felt a chilly feeling of terror pass over it. His arms, which had been held out rigidly in the air, slumped down before going limp to Vanitas's side. He couldn't honestly believe what he was seeing right now. He had put all his power into that blow and Xehanort…he had just…
Slapped it away with his Keyblade like it was a fly.
Xehanort cocked his head over his shoulder as he watched Vanitas's massed darkness collided instead with a pillar of rock to his left, the missile exploding with a resounding crash that sent little bits of stone flying into Xehanort's back, which pelted him. He was annoyed by the little pelting stones, but not wounded in the slightest. The tower, on the other hand, was mostly vaporized, being reduced into a smoking crater, purple smoke rolling into the air.
Xehanort returned his deadly attention to the now quivering form of Vanitas. Lifting his Keyblade up slowly, Xehanort gave the masked boy before him a chilly smile.
"Let us see how you handle one of my attacks."
"You have concerns regarding Master Xehanort?"
There was a clear tone of exasperation in Master Eraqus's voice as he sat at his desk, trying to understand why he was having to deal with concerns about Master Xehanort. The Master at first leaned back in his large, rolling chair made of heavy oak and covered a plush leather seating, exhaling slowly, before he leaned forward and rested his elbows onto his large, rectangular oak desk. His eyes rested on the person who had brought froth this concerns.
Aqua felt herself wanting to beat a hasty retreat out of the Master's circular office, at first electing to stare weakly at the quill pen and ink jar on the Master's desk; it was, currently, the only other thing to look at on the desk aside from Master Eraqus. She hadn't expected Master Eraqus to sound to crass with her in regards to Xehanort.
'He's only been good friends with the man for years; stop being so naïve and foolish, Aqua,' she thought as she chided herself for expecting anything else. After all, if someone had brought such negative concerns about one of her close friends, she'd likely feel the same way.
"Aqua. If you do not have reasons for why you have trust issues with Master Xehanort, then I have no pretense to carry this matter further," Master Eraqus spoke, tearing out from her thoughts. Her blue eyes met the Master's and she could see the disappointment in his eyes; all of which was currently reserved for her. She knew that unless she said something to try and alleviate the Master's irritation, she would likely get punished.
Exhaling shakily in order to calm herself, Aqua finally spoke.
"Master, I know it might come off as being quite rude of me to question the standing of another Keyblade Master, but I could feel the darkness rolling off of him. It was thick and foul," Aqua began to explain, hoping that would be helpful in presenting her cause. After all, there was no way someone could be that steeped in darkness and not have something wrong with them. The Master had taught them darkness had to be destroyed; if so, then why was he able to turn a blind eye to such foulness? Had the bonds that had brought joy between him and Xehanort during the times of old now instead blinding him?
As Aqua stood apprehensively before her Master, she had no clue that she had instead surprised him with her words. The Master's eyes widened a bit as he processed Aqua's words. She had felt the darkness. The way she had described the darkness she had felt coming from Xehanort only meant one thing: Aqua had yet another gift, but this gift was sensing darkness.
'Astounding. Very few people have such a gift and never once in my life would I have expected to meet such a person,' Master Eraqus thought as he brought his hands together, torso leaning forward as he was fully engaged in the conversation. It had shifted from trust issues to something else; Eraqus had begun realizing that Aqua's potential against fighting the creatures that lurked within the shadows had grown quite a bit, once this skill was harnessed.
"Aqua, I understand why you have trust issues with Master Xehanort. While he and I do not see eye to eye on darkness, I cannot prevent him from exploring and using the powers darkness has to offer," Master Eraqus began as he felt like he understood why Aqua was feeling so nervous around the darkness wielding Master. After all, when one could sense the negativity that was darkness, how could they trust someone? Continuing with his response, Master Eraqus concluded, "However, you cannot judge a book by its cover. You have a rare ability to detect darkness within a person and this untrained ability is likely the source of your discomfort."
The concerned teenager blinked a few times and realized she had been defeated for now. Maybe Master Eraqus was right that she was acting out because she had judged Master Xehanort prematurely. Slumping a bit in defeat—not even news of her gift was really enough to change how she felt—Aqua finally bowed to Master Eraqus and replied, "Yes, Master. I understand the error of my ways."
"We shall start tomorrow with extra training in order to better harness your new-found power; after all, power untrained is potential wasted," Master Eraqus said before he gestured to the door behind Aqua. Feeling like the matter was settled with the girl, he then said, "You are dismissed."
Aqua bowed respectfully as she replied, "Yes, Master." Turning away from the wise man, the bluenette headed for the door and, upon reaching it, opened it and stepped out. Master Eraqus was then left alone in his office, allowing him sometime to mull over everything that had just transpired.
Ventus's condition.
Aqua's concerns.
Xehanort's darkness.
While Master Eraqus made it a point to not pass any impressions onto his students, working to allow them to formulate their own opinion, he did understand that sometimes it was good to go with a gut feeling. All of these things could be signs for something much more terrible in the future. Or they could be nothing.
However, as Master Eraqus traced his right hand over one of the scars given to him by his fellow Master in an angry argument they had had, he realized that he needed to be wary, despite the fact he was doing his best to give Xehanort the benefit of the doubt.
'Xehanort…I do hope that you've given up on that dreadful plan…'
It had been two days since Ventus had arrived at Land of Departure, but the boy was not out and about, learning about the castle. Nor was he training with Aqua and Terra, fulfilling his own (presumed at this point) desire to become a Keyblade Master. He wasn't speaking, he wasn't making friends, and he certainly hadn't told anyone anything about himself. Instead, shortly after his arrival, Ventus had taken a turn for the worse.
The blonde had passed out and had not woken up.
Despite this, training of Aqua and Terra hadn't actually ceased. Master Eraqus had reached out to the town's medical facilities; successfully so, as they had immediately dispatched a nurse to tend to the boy. The young woman did her best to make sure Ventus was comfortable within his own room, as well as keeping him hydrated with IV lines. Her main concern at the moment was preventing blood clots from forming in his limbs; as such, she rotated him regularly.
Master Eraqus knew that no medicine would actually help Ventus; he would either wake up on his own or…
Master Eraqus shook his head a bit as he traveled to the Main Hall for today's training, as if that would toss away the far more hopeless thought that was daring to rear its head within the aged Master's mind. He prayed that Ventus would wake up.
'I can only imagine how Aqua, Terra, and Master Xehanort would react should Ventus not wake up or pass away,' Eraqus thought grimly as he frowned slightly. Even though he was doing his best to have life carry on normally around the castle, he, like his students, was worried for Ventus's wellbeing. He could take some solicits in the fact that Ventus did have a dedicated nurse keeping an eye on him, assuring the Master he was under constant supervision.
Arriving in the Main Hall, Eraqus was immediately greeted by the sounds of Terra and Aqua's voices. As he continued his walk around the thrones, he soon spotted the duo. They had their backs to him as they spoke, with Terra saying to Aqua, firmly, "He will wake up, Aqua. We just gotta believe in him." The brunette was doing his best to help his friend feel better about the unconscious blonde.
The bluenette frowned slightly and replied, "I do believe. I'm just really worried about him is all! He's so young; he hasn't even had a chance to live." She was fearful he might never wake up; something about that made her chest hurt.
Her eyes were directed at the floor, so she wasn't ready for Terra's hand to place itself firmly on her right shoulder, giving her flesh a gentle squeeze. She looked up at Terra, seeing he was carrying a reassuring smile. Aqua couldn't help but to smile in return, feeling a tad better as a result.
Master Eraqus was rather pleased to see this interaction between his students. Their camaraderie was a growing strength that could only drive them both to greater heights. Aqua and Terra helped one another grow and mature outside of Master Eraqus's influence and training, which is something that needed to happen. Constant positive influence was the best way for someone to develop good traits.
Clearing his throat and earning the attention of both Aqua and Terra, Master Eraqus greeted them with a smile as he said, "Good morning, Aqua, Terra. How are you both feeling this morning?"
"I think we're ready for the day, Master," Terra answered for himself and Aqua as he made a fist pump; the mage in question made no protest to say otherwise. Aqua looked to Terra as he smirked confidently, a faint smile coming to her lips. He was full of vim and vigor today.
A slow nod came from Master Eraqus; he could tell his students wanted to try their hardest, as well as take their minds off of Ventus's condition. He had plans for a more fast pace training regiment today, but first he would give his students a chance to warm up.
"I can see you have a fire in your bellies today; you both have five minutes to stretch out," Master Eraqus began before he reached in his pocket. After a brief moment, his hand produced a deck of playing cards. Aqua felt her eyes widened briefly as she knew what that deck of cards was for. She hadn't seen this particular exercise in a while. Aqua didn't mind this particular exercise, but it wasn't her favorite test.
Terra smirked widely; this was his favorite! He loved the deck of cards, due to how intense the workout was and how random it was. You never did the same thing twice in a row, not with how the Master shuffled the deck. Ranging from eight counts to casting spells so many times a row, Terra loved it! He also did enjoy the fact there weren't many spells in the deck due to the many physical nature of the test.
"For today, we will be doing a twenty mile run through the mountains after the deck. With weights," Master Eraqus concluded with a knowing grin as Terra's smile faltered some while Aqua's increased. Terra was not a big fan of the Master's runs; Aqua, on the other hand, loved running. "After the run, the two of you will face one another in combat."
Terra looked over at Aqua, who returned the look with a challenging expression. It was clear she was ready to face him in combat today; frankly, Terra was just a gun hoe as she was.
'It's a mixed bag today, but this will be fun,' Terra thought as he began to stretch out his muscles, bringing his right arm across his chest while using the left to hold his limb against his body. Aqua started with her limber legs, bending over and reaching for her toes. Terra felt a faint blush coming to his face as he quickly focused his vision on something other than Aqua.
'…I really need to stop watching her stretch.'
The day had gone by rather quickly, for both Master and students. The deck of cards had lasted quite some time, giving everyone a good pre-run workout. This was followed by another round of stretching, particularly the legs. Then came the intense run to the mountains beyond the normal outdoor training grounds. Carrying twice your body weight for such a lengthy distance would grind down someone who was underprepared, even if they had trained extensively beforehand.
But for the three Keyblade wielders, this was a something they had done several times, sometimes with more weight and less distance; other times, it was the opposite. Furthermore, the run Eraqus, Terra, and Aqua had all partaken in was truly a forty-mile jaunt
Then came the one on one combat, but with a twist: no Keyblades. The resulting brawl that had ensued had been chaotic and intense, but Terra had held the offensive more than Aqua, being more proficient in such matters. Aqua had the sore body to tell the entire universe that Terra was definitely her superior in hand-to-hand combat. She had done her best to keep up, however, not making it easy on him!
Her stomach, in particular, had suffered from a devastating uppercut that had caused her to go into the air, throwing her away from Terra's punch. She then was on her knees, clutching at her sides as she gasped for breath, but she had rose to the challenge. She had repaid him with a vicious heel kick to the ribs that had caused him to buckle onto one knee, dry heaving.
Both of them knew they would be bruised tomorrow; for Aqua, likely tonight. But they had enjoyed pushing one another to their limits. That in and of itself was a victory for both of them.
"Both of you have performed commendably today," Master Eraqus stated to both of his students after concluding today's training in the Main Hall. Aqua and Terra stood at attention before their Master, despite their body's protesting in annoyance.
Then came the surprise for Terra.
"Terra, you are dismissed. Aqua, you will stay here for some extra training."
As both brunette and bluenette chorused their response, Terra felt his brows crunching up in confusion. Why was he being released and Aqua was not? As he turned away from them and started to head out of the Main Hall towards his room, he found himself pondering why she was getting extra time with the Master.
Entering the hallway that would eventually lead to his room, Terra came to a halt, bringing his right hand up to his chin, beginning to stroke it idly. Speaking to himself, he mused, "Maybe she needed an extra hand on something?" There was a pause before he shook his head, tossing aside that possibility.
This was Aqua he was talking about. She did everything to perfection; effortlessly more often than not. So the chances she needed an extra hand was slim to none.
Maybe she was in trouble? Once again, Terra knew that was unlikely. Unless the Master had caught her dabbling in magic he hadn't really approved off, Aqua had likely done nothing to warrant punishment.
"I'll just ask her later tonight; that might be better than trying to figure it out myself," Terra deduced as he dropped his hand back down to his side and resumed his leisurely pace back to his room. He could spend his free time working on an oil painting—after he took a shower, of course. He smelled terrible. He bet he could raise the dead right now.
Still, Terra couldn't really get his mind off of what Aqua and the Master were doing at the moment.
Rustling noises could be heard as Aqua's dainty hands worked on her latest crafts project: a wreath. The mage had a multitude of pastime hobbies she did when she wasn't training or seeking self-improvement after the conclusion of a day's training; one of them was making wreaths.
Aqua had no desire to do anymore training today; so, after she had cleaned up and ate dinner—by herself, she noted sadly—Aqua found herself working on a decent sized wreath in her room.
Aqua's room was modest in nature: it was nothing more than a large square with a single walk-in closet and a bathroom. The walls were painted a functional gray color, with a few pictures of her family on the wall. There was a single large wooden desk of a walnut color, along with a leather rolling chair; the mage was currently seat at this desk, surrounded by various crafting supplies.
There was a large, walnut colored dresser with a vanity mirror to go along with it. Her bed was Queen sized, covered with four fluffy pillows and a comforter. The comforter itself was white with blue flowers on it, while the pillowcases were plain white. Mixed in were several blue accent throw pillows, along with a single dark blue stuffed bunny proudly displayed in the middle.
There was also a single large bookshelf crammed completely with books about history, magic, theories, and fictional novels. Aqua also had a few more…frisky books mixed in with the serious literature Aqua owned. Of course, she dare not tell anyone she had such books, least she give Terra more ammunition to tease her with.
Today's base for the wreath was grapevine, the task of bending and putting together the vines already completed. Aqua was currently putting on large clutches of green hydrangeas at the base of the wreath, of which Aqua was going to put on four of. She would then line the flowers with greenery and then place on the crowning finish in the center.
As Aqua went about her task, she heard a knock on her door, causing her to pause, eyes darting over to the entrance to her domain. The heavy knock did not belong to Master Eraqus; it belonged to Terra. She pondered what had brought him to her room very briefly before she called out to the brunette behind the door, "My door's unlocked, Terra."
Soon, she heard the wooden door of her room creak open, followed by the shuffling of footsteps. The door was closed gently and was followed by more footsteps that drew closer to her desk. Aqua didn't take her eyes off of her work as Terra came to a stop to her left, inspecting what his friend was doing.
"Makin' another wreath are we?" Terra questioned to the bluenette, who smiled a bit as her hands reached for another set of flowers. She figured it was plainly obvious what she was doing, but Terra was just breaking the ice with her, in order to start a conversation.
"Yeah; I wasn't feeling up to reading any books about spells after today's training," Aqua replied as she began to feed the stems of the hydrangeas into the grapevine. The faint sounds of the wooden vine creaking could be heard as Aqua continued her conversation with Terra, multitasking as she did so. "After all, I'm pretty sure you rearranged my organs with that punch of yours today."
Terra's eye widened a bit as a bit of a scarlet color invaded his tan cheeks. That was a pretty dirty thing to say to him; he didn't like the memory of her coughing and hacking on the ground, despite the fact they had been training so fiercely. He could call in a contradiction of feelings: he promised her he'd never hold back on her early in their training days, but that didn't change the fact he felt bad afterwards.
Looking away from his friend, despite the fact she wasn't even looking at him, Terra responded, "That's a low blow. I'm pretty sure you broke a few of my ribs with that kick today, so I don't even wanna hear it."
"Poor baby."
"Says the girl."
"Oh, now we're pulling that card? Need I remind you that you're in my room, alone? The Master's not gonna bail you out if I Thundara you," Aqua retorted with a smirk as she finally looked at Terra, crossing her arms over her chest. Her right hand held onto a bundle of flowers, making her look adorable, but the stern glare on her face degraded her cuteness factor considerably.
Terra was quick to run through his mind the possibilities: he was close enough he could likely cancel out her casting, but at the same time, she might nail him in the balls. Those boots scared him, so he figured the con of a nut shot was enough to ward him off. Holding his hands up in resignation, Terra replied, "No thanks, I think I like my hair as it is."
"As if it's not messy enough, right? Do you even brush that mess upstairs?" Aqua questioned slyly as Terra frowned in response. Now she was just pushing her own luck, but Terra had a way to get back at her. Looking over at her bookshelf, he asked, "So if you're going to be childish, do I need to break out the Cat in the Hat book for you?"
Aqua turned a bright red at this and replied, "I-I like t-that book!"
"And I like Green Eggs and Ham, Sam I Am."
"Gurr…" came the lowly growl as Aqua suddenly found her wreath to be far more interesting to look at than Terra's smirking face. She began to focus her attention on completing her gift at this point, wanting to change the topic completely. In an attempt to accomplish this, Aqua complained, "Unless you're just here to tease me, I have a wreath to finish for Ventus…"
This was enough to change the nature and tone of the conversation as Terra blinked, losing his cocky smirk as he watched Aqua soldier away at her wreath. By now, he noticed the crowning feature of this particular wreath: a large, white 'V.' He could already tell Aqua had spent a fair amount of time on this, which made him soften his features and almost forget why he had originally come here.
Almost.
Instead, he said, "That's a really nice thing of you to do, Aqua. I'm sure Veus…Vent…Ven…" There was a long, awkward pause as Terra realized he was stupidly having issues pronouncing the blonde's name right. He frowned as he looked away from Aqua again and mumbled, "I'm sure Ven will like his gift."
There was silence before Aqua, with a wide smile, replied, "I'm sure Ven will." She wanted to start laughing so badly right now her entire frame was quivering with contained laughter, but she managed to pull herself together. Regaining her composure, Aqua then said, "So…why did you come here, Terra?"
Terra was secretly glad Aqua had ignored his inability to pronounce Ventus. Sometimes, Terra felt like he stumbled so stupidly around Aqua, making him feel inferior to the seemingly perfect Aqua. Aqua the Perfect; that was he had called her at one point in an attempt to belittle her back in the day. Ignoring the spider webs of past memories, Terra then asked, "Why did the Master keep you after training today? Is everything alright?"
Aqua stopped working on her project once again, staring blankly at the V on her desk. She had a feeling he was going to eventually inquire about the extra hour worth of mental training the Master was now going to tack onto her day. She was worried he might get jealous of her when in reality she felt like her gift was a flaw. Still, she promised herself she wasn't going to lie to Terra, so she looked at him and replied, "The Master discovered I have a power to detect darkness within people. I can track darkness users that way, but…it's untrained. I can't really control it and it makes me sick because a lot of darkness…"
Trailing off, Aqua rubbed the back of her head, not really sure how to continue her explanation without using Master Xehanort as an example. Eventually settling with a more open-ended explanation, Aqua finished with, "It can overload my senses and weaken me."
Terra, as he listened to Aqua, felt a pang of familiar jealously come up from the pit of his heart. Sure, it sounded like her ability was not a pleasant one when uncontrolled, but it was just another gift the bluenette seemed to have. She already had a laundry list of gifts as it was; superior magic, impressive grace, greater speed, better handling of stress, better battle planning, better under pressure, and now she could detect darkness to better fight it?
Terra felt his right hand clench into a fist, something Aqua didn't miss. She could see his expression darken, something she didn't like one bit. She was quick to stand up, reaching out for Terra as she hurriedly said, "Terra, you don't have to…"
"I need to be alone," Terra grumbled back as he turned away from Aqua, avoiding her hand as he moved away rapidly. He furthered ignored Aqua's protests at his departure and sudden assumptions that she was being given extra training because she was more gifted than he.
"Terra, please! You have the wrong idea!" Aqua said as he reached her door, opening it and slamming her door angrily, which caused her to jump as a result. She watched her door for a moment before she snapped her head away, feeling tears swimming in her eyes. She was upset that her ability had gotten Terra so angry.
Why did he have to be so jealous of her?
A couple days had past and Aqua found that Terra wasn't speaking to her much, outside of the bare minimum. Between his sudden attitude change with her and Ventus still not waking up, Aqua though the last few days couldn't possibly get any worse.
Oh, but fate was cruel and had shown her it was very much possible for things to get much worse.
Today, she was not training with Master Eraqus like she normally would; no, today, she was training with Master Xehanort.
When the day had begun, both Terra and Aqua were surprised to find the far older Master along with Master Eraqus in the Main Hall. Master Eraqus explained his fellow Master had arrived on business matters pertaining to other Masters, as well as checking up on Ventus. He had then offered, much to his friend's pleasure, to assist Master Eraqus in training for the day, allowing for some more rigorous solo training; one student for one Master.
Much to Aqua's horror, she had been passed onto Master Xehanort due to his superior magic skills. According to her Master, they would be a far better fit for one another. She dared not protest however, under the hopes that Terra would see that Master Eraqus still valued the brunette just as much as her.
After following Master Xehanort outside to the training grounds on the plateau near the castle, she found herself inspecting the scenery—the grass, the white stones, the trees, the golden rings, anything but Master Xehanort. She didn't want to be around this man—as hard as she tried to deny it, he unnerved her.
Xehanort folded his arms behind his back, as he seemed deep in thought. He actually was very deep in thought, as he had appearances to keep. The golden-eyed man was also very keen on learning all he could about the blue haired girl, even though he was likely to pass on skills she could later use against him and Vanitas. If he knew what made Aqua Aqua, Xehanort could later use his knowledge on the girl against her.
Aside from that, Xehanort did have a place in his heart for those who value the raw might of magic, in addition to physical prowess. He saw a bit of himself in the girl: hungry for knowledge, determined, and full of potential. If he didn't already have plans and she wasn't so light filled, he might have taken her on as an apprentice instead.
'Alas, bygones are just that: wishful thinking that has no purpose for one such as myself,' Xehanort thought as he turned to look at Aqua. Seeing that she was fidgeting with her hands, Xehanort smirked and broke the windy silence with a question.
"My dear girl, you seem rather nervous. Don't tell me working with one such as myself has you undone?"
Aqua looked at him and rapidly composed herself, replying, "No, sir. I have heard you are rather talented with magic. I look forward to learning anything I can from you."
There was a twinkle in Xehanort's eyes as he listened to the girl's response. He liked such answers; it showed a willingness and drive that was rather shorthanded in today's universe. Gesturing widely with both hands, Xehanort responded, "Ah, that is the answer I prefer to hear, Aqua. You will make a fine Master one day."
"Thank you, sir."
"Now, then…let us begin," Xehanort commented as he summoned his own Keyblade in a flash of darkness that made Aqua bite the inside of her cheek some. It wasn't the darkness or even the usage at this point that bother Aqua; it was the unnerving feeling she got from Xehanort. However, Aqua did her best to push back her feelings. This was a man Master Eraqus trusted. She had no right to judge so harshly.
"I want to assess your abilities and make a reasonable judgment of your strengths and weakness. From there, we will not only improve your strengths, but lessen your weaknesses," Xehanort explained as he held out his Keyblade in front of him, ready to engage Aqua in combat. "I want you to attack me with everything you can muster."
Aqua summoned Stormfall with a burst of light, the blue, silver, and grey Keyblade contrasting the mostly silver colorations of her 'opponent's' weapon. She cleared her mind and focused on fighting. Her training about detecting darkness might come in handy today, as Xehanort had a hearty amount. Her ability was still rough, however, so she didn't want to rely on it too much. She made it a point of keeping her traditional senses up.
There was silence as Master Xehanort waited for Aqua to move; he could see she was assessing him as much as he was assessing her. He could tell when she moved that it would be with purpose, confidently and swiftly.
Aqua made her move, flicking her left hand forward as she cried, "Fire!" A blob of flame erupted from her sweeping arm as a Fira rushed forward at Xehanort. The elderly Master prepared to deflect the incoming attack with his Keyblade when he noticed the trajectory of the Fira was off. Much to his amusement, the spell impacted the ground with a crash, creating a cloud of smoke that Aqua was clearly using to cover herself.
A whining noise was enough for Xehanort to duck, Stormfall passed overhead like a spinning blade as it cut through the smoke in the from of a Strike Raid. Xehanort suddenly found himself on the defensive as Aqua burst through the fading smoke with a Fira in both hands, arms drawn all the way back before thrusting them at Xehanort.
The Master rolled away to his left, Aqua's palm strikes instead striking the ground instead, resulting a wave of flames erupting across the ground. Quickly snapping her right hand up to grab the returning form of Stormfall, Aqua darted back from Xehanort's counter thrust aimed at her stomach. Xehanort pressed her immediately; sparks flew as Stormfall deftly deflected rapid, powerful Keyblade strikes. The aspiring Keyblade Master was driven back harshly, Xehanort striking her stomach and chest a few times as he seemed to effortlessly put forth a speed she just didn't expect of the man. Cuts began to appear on Aqua's body were strikes landed and left behind their marks.
Working to regain the offensive, Aqua planted her right foot hard and suddenly lunged at Xehanort with a Barrier Surge. Aqua's translucent dome surrounded her while she darted forward with a sudden burst of speed. Xehanort teleported out of the way in the nick of time, reappearing several feet to her right; still, she was fully aware he was holding back for training purposes. She figured, compared to him, she was standing still she was so slow.
It was time to be a bit trickier. Pivoting as she resumed her assault, Aqua rushed forward, appearing to lift her hand to casted Thundara. Xehanort narrowed his eyes for a moment as he unleashed a longer distant spell, a Blizzaga, which burst forth from his left hand. As the chilly spell flew at Aqua, he was surprised as a she casted a Blizzara instead of a Thundara, bringing her arm down suddenly. He hadn't noticed quick enough the ice gathered at her palm due to the angle in which she had started casting.
Aqua cried out in pain as the much stronger spell from Xehanort plowed into her painfully, making her fly back onto her spine. Coughing and sputtering as she clawed off ice on her chest with her left hand, Aqua glanced at Xehanort to see if her spell worked at all. Much to her pleasure, Xehanort had been caught off-guard, as his left arm was currently covered in steaming ice.
As Aqua scrambled to her feet with a cry, fully ready to engage him in battle and closing the distance, Xehanort found himself enjoying this little training secession. She had actually landed a hit on him, although a relatively minor one, something Vanitas had struggled to do for hours. She had succeeded while he had failed. Although he had no illusions of the future, he might as well enjoy himself while gathering the needed intelligence.
Aqua's Keyblade crashed against Xehanort's as they now regularly traded roles between offense and defense. Although she clearly had much to learn as a mage, including working on her casting speeds and realizing she could strike with magic at close range versus long range, not needing the distance to prepare spells, Xehanort could see she would pose a danger to him in the future.
But she could be a perfect way to strength the darkness within Terra. Even if he couldn't drive the two apart, he could tell Terra was fiercely competitive, seeing Aqua as a rival in addition to friend.
Xehanort swept Aqua off her feet with a well-timed kick, seeing surprise bloom on her face as she went onto her side. As she hit the ground hard, Xehanort teleported behind Aqua, darkness pooling into his left hand as she tried to get to her feet quickly. She was too slow and her reward was a Darkra to the back, a blob of freezing darkness exploding on her skin. The blast catapulted Aqua face first into the ground, the woman crying out in pain before she gritted her teeth.
"While you are quite talented with magic and you are creative," Xehanort began as he watched Aqua cast a Curaga on herself, healing any damage done to her. She turned around as he was on her again, driving her back with his speedy, strong Keyblade strikes. "You limit yourself in thought. In application! Magic can be used for both close range and long, but you lack the required speed to apply that method."
Aqua listened to the elderly Keyblade Master as he attempted to disarm her with his weapon, Aqua pulling back and saving herself from Xehanort's Keyblade hooking into hers and pulling it free of her grasp. Aqua cartwheeled away from Xehanort, leveling her Keyblade on him as she attempted to try a new move. She had been studying Shotlocks and how they functioned, so she hoped her unexpected usage would catch Xehanort off-guard.
Instead, Xehanort chuckled as she unloaded a barrage of watery, bubble-like projectiles at him. He waited until the massed volley came flying at him before rushing forward under them. The attack impacted the ground where Xehanort had once been instead, making Aqua's eyes wide in surprise as the elderly Master spoke, "You are talented. Might I ask: did you learn that from a book or has Master Eraqus taught you the basics of Shotlocks?"
"I learned myself…" Aqua replied softly as she elected to remain defensive for now, feeling like he was very much testing her in more ways than one. Xehanort seemed to be pleased with her response, smirking at her as he said, "Then I have much to teach you. I do not believe in talent being wasted; neither does Master Eraqus. After today, I can assure you that you will improve as a mage."
Aqua nodded as Xehanort concluded, "Come, girl. I shall increase your casting speed and pass on another useful trait: teleportation."
Aqua, for the first time today, smiled genuinely at Xehanort. Maybe he wasn't as bad as she thought.
Training was coming to an end for the day. It had been very good day; a perfect way to end a week before the weekend rolled around. Both Aqua and Terra had learned new skills with their respective tutors, with Aqua successfully learning teleporting and increasing her casting speeds noticeably, while Terra had mastered Ars Solum and successfully performed a couple level two magic spells, such as Fira and Blizzara.
Once again, Aqua and Terra found themselves standing before their Master, but Master Xehanort was also present before he would depart back to his own base of operations.
Seasoned eyes looked from bluenette to brunette, seeing they both looked spent from today's efforts. However, each of them had borne fruit, although Eraqus was honestly quite shocked when Xehanort had told him Aqua could teleport now. He hadn't expected Terra to master Ars Solum on his second attempt, either. He was strongly considering these sorts of secessions in the future.
"Once again, the both of you have met and exceeded today's expectations. Each of you has proven that your determination knows no boundaries. I am quite proud of the both of you," Master Eraqus said to both of his students, seeing pride beam across their features once again. Looking to Xehanort after his own very brief speech, he then inquired of his fellow Master, "Do you have anything to add, Master Xehanort?"
"Indeed, I do," Master Xehanort began as he looked from Master Eraqus to Aqua. His eyes brought all the attention on her in a way she didn't enjoy as he said, "Aqua, you are indeed Master Eraqus's prized pupil. Not once would I expect one so young to have already preformed a Shotlock successful; nor did I expect you to grasp teleporting so effortlessly. I commend your talents."
Terra felt any pride he had from today suddenly get torn down and stomped on viciously. Aqua could teleport now? When in the Hell did she learn a Shotlock? He knew Master Eraqus hadn't actually taught them such a skill, so that meant she had done it on her own time and dime. She was getting so much praise; she was being called the Master's prized student.
'Why is it that she gets all the praise heaped onto her? I deserve some damn credit too,' Terra thought with mounting anger. For a moment, Terra's left hand was covered in flickers of shadow as the darkness manifested in him. Aqua detected it right away, but didn't express her shock as she stood at attention. Xehanort also saw the flicker; he knew he had advanced his goals, even if it was just a small amount. After all, inches added up to feet, feet into miles.
Oddly enough, Master Eraqus didn't catch Terra's darkness or if he did, he didn't show it, much like Aqua. He chuckled at Xehanort's statement, remarking, "Master Xehanort, I value both of my students equally."
'If you did, then why is Aqua so much…better than me?' Terra thought dejectedly as his eyes glanced over Aqua; she seemed to carry a nervous expression, but her feelings were lost on Terra as anger clouded his rational mind. He didn't even hear the Masters dismiss him and Aqua, although Aqua nudged him gently to get him to realize he was free to depart.
He glared at her darkly, which caused her to recoil. Brushing past her roughly, Terra had only one goal in mind now.
Tonight, he was going to teach her a lesson.
Nighttime had come to Land of Departure. The night sky was clear and cloudless, allowing for a full display of the stars tonight. It was like a canvas of black dotted with thousands of twinkling, beautiful lights. One could see never-ending, fascinating number of things in the sky if they observed long enough.
Normally, Aqua loved to watch the night sky from her favorite perch at the upper mountain training grounds. And with tonight's unusually warm night and with no snow on the ground any longer, it would normally be a perfect night to enjoy stargazing.
But when your friend was so angry with you over things you didn't understand fully, it was difficult to enjoy the breathtaking view. Aqua sighed heavily as she flopped back onto her back, placing her hands under her head as she thought back to the darkness Terra had shown. It had flared up once again, but Aqua just hadn't expected to be the source of flare. Terra's dark expression had been all she needed to know why his darkness had shown.
Aqua didn't want Terra to loathe her; she didn't want the praise Xehanort had lavishly given her. She knew Terra had some insecurity when it came to each of them, but she had hoped they both had gotten over this hump. Aqua had told him over and over that she felt he was better than she at plenty of things. His was stronger physical and better at hand-to-hand combat; Terra was also quicker than he looked as she learned painfully when they had first started training together. He had talents she lacked, such as the ability to paint and draw. He could tell you what was and wasn't safe to eat in the forest. Why he chose to downgrade himself while grumbling over her was a mystery to the bluenette.
Sitting back up before drawing her knees to her chest, Aqua closed her eyes while resting her chin on her knees. She thought of all the good times she had enjoyed with Terra versus the bad. She remembered the time Terra had taught her how to fish and how proud she was to catch her first, even if it was a small, pitiful looking thing. Other memories popped up, like the time Terra and her had made a cake jointly for the Master's birthday. Then there was the time Terra had convinced her to hold a snake, allowing her to get over her fear of them.
Terra had helped her improve more than once. He had always believed in her and encouraged her; in turn she had always been willing to help him, no matter how hard it had been on her or him. She didn't want to think of the bad he had done to her; she knew Terra would come around eventually, as he always did.
Little did she know that Terra had taken today's praise to her quite personally.
A sudden wave of uneasiness passed over Aqua, causing her to shiver some. There was undeniable feeling of dread that infected the air rapidly, causing Aqua to come to her feet. Something was commanding her to head back to the castle; something bad was about to happen. Turning around, Aqua was instead greeted by Terra standing quite some distance from her.
Aqua was immediately on her guard, because Terra had his Keyblade summoned and the dark expression on his face told her he was not here to chat. Aqua dared to speak first as she moved away from the cliff edge, not feeling secure in the location.
"Terra…how did you know I was here and why do you have your Keyblade out?"
Cobalt eyes were never taken off of Aqua's form as Terra increased the grip on his weapon. Her words only seemed to serve the purpose of making him more upset as he replied, "I know you well, Aqua the Perfect. Plus, I followed your light to here."
"I hate that name, Terra," Aqua stated in response to Terra, knowing he only used that nickname when he was particularly angry with her. She hadn't actually heard it in years, but it still gave her the same level of hurt as when her friend had first coined it for her.
"Why would you? It fits you perfectly! You always get all the praise; both of the Masters just gave it to you in droves today," Terra retorted harshly as he pointed an accusing finger at her, making the bluenette flinch as a result. He didn't let her reply despite the fact she opened her mouth to speak.
"Everyone thinks you're so much better than me! It's like you don't have any flaws whatsoever; you have more gifts than God himself, it seems like! I'm getting sick and tired of hearing about Aqua the Perfect, Aqua the Amazing, Aqua this and that! It's fucking bullshit!"
Aqua's felt her chest constrict tightly as she butt in, trying her best to calm Terra down before something unthinkable happened. Placing her hand over her chest, Aqua said softly, "T-Terra, I don't think I am better than you. Please, just calm down…"
"Shut up! Don't you tell me to calm down! I'm going to show you that you're not better than me," Terra said as he got into that familiar combat stance of his. Aqua was horrified at his actions as he commanded her, spitefully, "Fight me right here and now so I can take you down a few notches!"
"No, Terra! This is insane!" Aqua replied as she continued her efforts to avoid what appeared to be unavoidable. Once Terra committed himself to an action, he very rarely changed course. She didn't want to fight Terra like this; she hated that look of rage that burned in his eyes. But what she hated most of all was how she was on the receiving end of it. She didn't want Terra to act like this!
"No, you say?!" Terra roared with fury as he smashed his weapon into the ground with his full strength, Ends of the Earth impaling the ground deeply and causing Aqua to, on reflex, summon Stormfall. He looked back at her as he tore his weapon free of the ground, dirt caking the ends of the weapon now as he hissed at her, "You're nothing but a stuck-up, bookwormy, self-centered coward then!"
Now Aqua could handle many things, but she was not a coward. She hated when Terra accused her of being one as well. He knew she hated it, hence why he used it on her. Aqua narrowed her eyes dangerously as she lowered her voice, replying with a growl, "I am not a coward. Don't you ever call me one!"
"Well, I just did, so what the Hell are you gonna do about it…" there was a short pause as Terra sneered at her and finished with the dreaded word. "…coward."
"Damn it, Terra, shut the Hell up!" Aqua screamed back, her voice finally cracking as she took several angry steps at him. Terra's angry expression didn't falter, nor did he retreat from her as she finally felt the last few days of him ignoring her, treating her poorly, and accumulating in being called a coward by someone she cared deeply about crack her patience, shattering it completely as it was replaced with her own fury.
"I have put up with you treating me like dirt the last few days; I never once complained about it! I let you do these things because I believed you would come around, but instead you…you insult me! You hurt me because of petty crap!" Aqua ranted before she calmed down slightly, panting heavily as she finally got into her combat stance, growling, "You wanna fight? Fine! You'll get your stupid fight, you dull minded brute!"
Terra let out a snarl as he rushed her immediately, ready to dish out some hurt. A small part of his rational mind was screaming at him to cease this foolish, petty action. Aqua didn't deserve to be treated like this because he was so insecure, but he was clouded by the dark clouds that jealousy was.
Ends of the Earth slammed powerfully into the shaft of Stormfall as Aqua gritted her teeth, struggling to hold back the powerhouse that was Terra. Her arm shook as Terra tried to push Stormfall into Aqua's chest. She snarled back at him as she dug her heels into the ground, using it as a springboard to push forward and shove him back. Terra staggered back quite a bit before he ducked to avoid a rather close range Fira.
As the flames passed over his head, he found himself angry that she been able to cast so much faster and at closer range than he was normally used to. But he wasn't going to let that deter him in the slightest now.
Rushing her quickly, Terra chucked his Keyblade like a disk, causing Aqua to cartwheel away. As she did this, Terra slid at her and closed the distance, using his hands to grab Aqua's Keyblade bearing arm as she righted herself. With a roar from her opponent, Aqua was flung through the air and into the bench with a crack, the stone spider webbing under the impact of the mage's body. Her exposed skin was torn in several places as rough surface tore into her hide.
Aqua was gasping in pain from the rough landing, but she had no time to worry about her pain as Terra was once again rearmed, charging her with a fierce cry. His Keyblade was over his head and once he reached her, he was bringing it down in a double-handed strike.
Instead of striking Aqua, Ends of the Earth was slicing into and through the stone bench, cutting it into two even halves. Terra's rage clouded mind was temporarily thrown off; not clearly thinking about the fact Aqua could teleport now. Before he could remind himself of this new ability, Aqua did it for him.
With a bang, Terra's face met the left half of the stone bench, which exploded into fragments. Aqua had teleported behind Terra and brought her Keyblade down onto the back of his head. Rolling away as blood ran from his scalp, Terra watched as the remains of the bench was blown to smoldering bits from another Fira.
Terra counterattacked with a Fire Strike, weapon glowing for a moment before flames surged to life around it. Terra spun powerfully as his flaming weapon crackled through the air, but the graceful mage was quick to slip away from his attack, a hellish glare on her face as she charged into his unguarded form. She landed a few strong Keyblade strikes on Terra's exposed side, metal impacting flesh with 'th-wacks!'
Staggering back from the blows, Terra was then taken off of his feet by a Blizzara, a chunk of ice striking his stomach painfully and throwing in onto his back. Terra was struggling to comprehend how she had gotten so much faster with her spell casting. How in the world could one secession with Xehanort help her so much!?
Coming to his feet with a roar, Terra's rage was only ignited even more when she smashed her weapon into the side of his face, snapping his head to the left. Blood spurted from Terra's mouth at the ringing blow, the brunette swinging back with his freehand, but Aqua darted back before he landed the blow. His reward for his failure was another Blizzara to the ribs, ice coating him as Aqua said, "You need to cool off!"
Terra felt his eyes narrow dangerously as he and her healed with a Cura and Curaga, respectively, following with Terra surging at her with a series of powerful Keyblade strikes as he did his best to pummel her into submission and prevent her from spell casting. As he attacked, he yelled at her, "This isn't fair! You get one secession with Xehanort and suddenly I can't fucking keep up!?"
Terra's opponent was able to hear him quite clearly, despite the clang of Keyblades as he attacked her aggressively. In but a brief moment, the mage teleported suddenly, causing Terra to stumble as he swung forward at Aqua. It wasn't long before an electrical shock danced across Terra's back painfully, originating from Aqua's Thundara as she yelled back at him harshly, "Stop acting like you're so inferior to me!"
"You don't even understand how it feels, Aqua!" came the retort as Terra turned to face Aqua before the girl could land anymore blows to his back, his body aching at being dealt so many blows so quickly. As he turned, ice formed on his left arm, which thrust forth and released a chilly blue Blizzara spell. Although it taxed Terra more than it would Aqua, the spell came suddenly enough Aqua couldn't dart away nor could she use her Barrier spell.
Aqua hissed as ice exploded on her right arm, making her almost drop her Keyblade as result. She did successfully summon up a Barrier to block the furious Keyblade strikes that followed up Terra's Blizzara, his attacks bouncing off of the nearly impenetrable barricade. Normally, the brunette would have backed off upon seeing the motions for the Barrier spell rather than waste time attacking, but he was so angry he wanted to make her mind hurt as she was forced, once again, to hold up her defenses.
Aqua felt her knee buckled as Terra's rage fueled stamina seemed to be working; soon, the blue haired girl was on one knee, grinding her jaw as Terra continued his assault unabated. It seemed Terra could hold out the obscene pace he was dishing out all day, the brunette smirking as he saw Aqua shaking now, pain taxing her facial features.
However, Terra had grossly misjudged his endurance and it was starting to show. He began to slow down and his attacks started to get sloppy. Aqua only had to wait for an opening, which came along when Terra performed a doubled-handed swing that hit hard, but made him recoil quite a bit.
Terra gacked as Aqua drove her Keyblade into his diaphragm, forcing all the air out of his lungs. His eyes dilated to pinpoints as pain caused him to seize up, making him stagger back and then drop his weapon. Ends of the Earth clattered to the hard ground as Terra went onto one knee, hacking as he tried to get some reinvigorating air into his empty lungs.
Aqua, rather than continue her attacks, stared down at Terra's battered form, not wanting to continue this any longer if she could avoid it. Shaking her head sadly, the mage said in a tone the ringed sorrow, "Why are we doing this? I don't want to see you act like this. I don't understand why you are so jealous of me. Why can't you see that I look up to you too?"
Terra gritted his teeth, coughing up some flecks of blood from his cut lip, before he replied, "Look up to me? Don't give me that shit…"
Aqua let her lingering anger get the better of her as she yelled, "Stop acting like a prick! Every time you let the darkness within you take control, you aren't the Terra I know!"
That was enough for Terra to snap once again.
Aqua's expression shifted from anger to horror as purple, blue, and black tendrils of darkness erupted around Terra, the enraged teenager coming to his feet in a blur of motion. Rage had translated to a sudden, devastating burst of power as a massive blob of blue and black darkness exploded from Terra's right arm.
The bluenette on the receiving end of this attack didn't even scream as the darkness exploded powerfully against her. She flew through the air before hitting the grassy ground, bouncing once before slamming onto her side. Aqua rolled a few more times as Terra watched, panting heavily. Using the darkness so much when he wasn't used to it in an offensive manner had snapped his power. He could only stare as inky blue and black smoke rolled off of Aqua's motionless form.
Finally, seeing what he had done triggered the rational mind of Terra to yank control back from the clouds of rage. Terra's eyes widened in total horror as he realized Aqua wasn't getting up; she wasn't rebounding like she always did from his attacks.
"Aqua? Come on, Aqua," Terra began as he shook, fear flooding his mind. He was praying his words would get some sort of reaction out of the mage, whose eyes were closed and mouth parted slightly. When she failed to reaction, he called more desperately, "Seriously Aqua, get up!"
Still nothing happened. She didn't even groan.
"Oh…oh God…" Terra stuttered as he took several shaky steps back from his friend. In his mind, Terra had done something no one could forgive him for: he had killed his best friend. He had killed the only person who had accepted his inner darkness for what it was and never judged him for it. Tears began to run down his face as his hands darted up and over his face.
What the Hell was he going to do? He had become a murderer in the blink of an eye, all because he was petty. All because he was so stupid and didn't talk to Aqua. His petty jealousy over the fact she was better than him had taken away his friend. Now, the last thing he would remember would be this! It was hardly the way Terra wanted to part ways with someone he cared so deeply about.
Terra, as he grieved, was not prepared for what came next: a viciously powerful explosion on his chest that took away his breath painfully. Whatever it was, it was Holy based and it sure had hurt like Hell. White light blinded him before he found himself on his back, looking up at the stars. Convinced his Master had seen what he had done and was rightfully punishing him, Terra closed his eyes and awaited his fate.
Instead, a voice he was overjoyed to hear said to him angrily, "You know, I'm not that fragile."
His body protested his rapid action to propping himself up on his elbows, a stupid smile coming to his tear stained face as he saw Aqua, her right arm leveled at him and crackling with wisps of white light, slowly walking at him. Her arm dropped to her side as she was breathing raggedly. Her entire front was in tatters, outfit in ribbons and stomach burned. But Terra was giddy she was alive.
Soon, his smile faded as Aqua moaned and toppled onto one knee just short of reaching Terra, holding herself up shakily. Terra wanted to rush to her, but he found himself unable to summon the energy to move. In addition, he was now afraid she hated him for using the darkness so callously on her.
"Y…you're an idiot, Terra. You're so stupid! H-How could you let it get this bad!?" Aqua yelled at him as she too began to cry, emotions overwhelming her. She hiccupped as she let all her own bottled up hurt out, looking away from him as she said, "We're friends; we're supposed to h-help one another, not hurt one another! I care so m-much about you and it hurts me that you're so jealous!"
Looking directed at the wide-eyed Terra, she demanded of him, "Why!? I w-want to kn-know why!"
Terra was ashamed. Aqua was right; he had let this go too far. He had allowed this to happen, goading her into a fight she didn't want. He had hurt her feelings and hurt her physically. And seeing her sobbing so weakly, demanding he explain his stupid actions, was only adding to his guilt. He never took his eyes off of her as he continued to cry, letting out a painful sob.
"I'm so sorry…" Terra began as Aqua watched him, swallowing down a lump in her throat as he apologized to her at first. "I have always been afraid!"
Aqua's eyes widened as Terra blubbered on as he went back down onto his back, using his forearm to cover his eyes and cry. "I'm afraid of just always following you closely. I am afraid of just always being forced to live in your shadow. The brightest light makes the greatest shadow…Aqua, I don't want to be your shadow. I want to be your equal!"
Aqua bit her lip at this. Terra was afraid of living in her shadow? Why? Because he was not as good as her, something he seemed to claim repeatedly during their fight? The bluenette wasn't sure how to reply to Terra, but her heart seemed to have the answers as she spoke before her mind could create any answer for her.
"Terra…I felt the same way."
This caused Terra to blink several times as he tried to wipe away the tears. Was she trying to ridicule him once again? Terra immediately realized this wasn't the case judging from the tone her voice carried. It was weak and vulnerable; Aqua was exposing her fears to him. He asked her, carefully and softly, "W-What do you mean?"
Without missing a beat, Aqua replied, "I am afraid I'll never be enough because I'm a girl. People see me training under the Master and think, 'Her, a warrior? She's too dainty.' They think I'm like glass. I'm afraid I'll never be as strong as you because I'm a female; I'll never be able to handle the strain of real combat…"
Looking to Terra, Aqua asked meekly, "Terra, am I like glass to you? Do you…do you think I'll break because I'm just a girl? I want to be your equal too, even if our strengths are so different; even if our weaknesses are totally on different spectrums."
Finally, for Terra, it clicked. All this time he had never once thought that she had the same feelings of rejection and weakness like he. He had never once thought she would feel inferior to anyone. Aqua seemed confident in everything she did; nothing could deter her.
But seeing her so sad like him, so vulnerable like he was, made him realize that she was just like him in so many ways.
Terra forced himself up so he could crawl to her, grasping onto her as he cried into her and she into him. As they mended their wounds with one another's tears, Terra's reply was not lost onto Aqua under the night sky.
"You are not glass. You are Aqua and no one can t-take away the fact you're brave and strong."