Chapter 4 - Dreams

Aqua's home world, Fifteen years before Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

When Aqua awoke, she felt like she had been sleeping for a long time. She could barely remember where she was or how she had gotten here, but she knew she was home, lying in her own bed. She tried to sit up, but her back and shoulders protested. Looking around, she saw her father sitting in a chair beside her bed, half asleep. "Father?" she croaked, startling herself when the voice didn't sound like her own.

Her father jerked awake. "Aqua, sweetie, you're alright," he sighed with relief. "I was so worried about you. You've been out light a light for three days."

She tried to sit up again, this time hindered by her father, who pushed her back down lightly. "I'm fine, Father. What…?" She was about to ask what had happened, but everything came back to her in a rush: the attack of the Heartless, Master Eraqus' arrival, and Terra's broken body.

"Master Eraqus brought you back here after you collapsed," her father explained, smoothing out the covers at her shoulders, "He said you needed time to rest, but this is ridiculous."

"Father, you should have seen it!" she exclaimed, sitting up, suddenly full of energy. "The Heartless was huge and it spat fire at us, and Master Eraqus has an amazing suit of armor! And I used magic! Actual magic! I used to help Terra…" She cut off suddenly. "Terra… Where's Terra? Is he alright?" She was talking much faster than she had intended.

Her father laughed. "You've recovered, all right." He paused, composing himself to look serious. "Terra's still very injured right now. He's going to take a lot longer to recover than you did. Right now, though, you need to…"

"Can I see him?" she asked.

"He's resting right now, and I really think you should…"

Ignoring him, Aqua jumped out of bed, wearing nothing but her nightgown, and raced from her room to Terra's. The door was closed, but not locked. Still, she stepped inside quietly, making sure to close the door as silently as she had opened it. Terra was lying in bed, unnaturally still. Aqua crept closer, worried that something might have happened to him, but she sighed with relief when she saw that he was breathing, despite how shallow it was. His head and arms were bandaged and there were a few cuts on his face and shoulders that were beginning to heal, forming dark scabs. Bandages were visible at the top of his ribcage, meaning that he probably had some fractured ribs there were healing. She took a seat next to his bed, starting at him worriedly until he opened his eyes.

He regarded her for a moment before he smiled slightly. "You're… okay…" he breathed, his voice thin and airy, "That's… good to know…"

"Don't talk too much. You're still healing," she lectured, shaking a finger at him.

He tried to laugh, but winced and breathed slowly for a moment to ride out the wave of pain. "I… owe you… now…"

"For what?"

"For… saving… my life…"

Her eyebrows scrunched. "You don't owe me anything. You've saved my life twice, so now I still owe you one." She paused. "Why did you risk your life, trying to save me? You got really hurt because of it."

He opened his mouth to reply, but it came out as a silent breath. His eye closed and it looked like he was concentrating. Finally, after a few minutes, she realized that he had fallen asleep again, his breath slow and shallow. She wanted to wake him up, to find out the answer to her question, but a hand on her shoulder made her stop.

"Let him rest," Master Eraqus whispered. "He'll need it if he's going to heal."

Nodding, she followed him out into the hallway. He looked tired, deep creases in his forehead and dark circles under his eyes. "You look like you should be resting, too," she commented.

He chuckled. "Just worried, that's all."

"About Terra?"

He sighed. "About a lot of things, but yes, Terra is one of them."

"Can I ask a question?" she mumbled, staring at her feet.

"Of course."

"Why…" she paused, looking for the right words, "Why did Terra put his life in danger for me? Isn't he important, since he has the power of the Keyblade and all that?"

Eraqus smiled. "Terra hates suffering of any kind. He doesn't want to see anyone in pain because of something he didn't do. He saved you because he knew that people would be in a lot of pain if something were to happen to you."

"But… doesn't he know that you'd be sad if something bad happened to him?"

"He does, but that's different. Wielding a Keyblade means you have to accept that you're putting your life on the line, and that others like you are doing the same. It means understanding that someone you've known all your life can be gone forever, and that you have to continue as though they never existed. Yes, Terra is someone I worry about on a regular basis, but I know, and he knows, that if something horrible were to happen and I ended up losing him, I'd continue to live without him."

Aqua stared at her feet, feeling her hands clench into fists. "That's… not right. It's not fair to them that they're forgotten so easily."

"It does sound unfair," Eraqus said, kneeling down to face her directly, "but it's something we agree on when we become Keyblade wielders. It's a decision we all make. We're fighters, Aqua. There will be fighting for a long time, and as long as there is fighting, there is loss. We agree that if we can end this fighting forever, the loss is something we have to live with. Everyone leaves life eventually, and we've decided to use our lives to make other people safe and happy. Even someone as young as Terra agrees. It's a dream worth giving your heart and soul to."

'It's… a dream worth all that?' she asked herself as Master Eraqus stood up. "Can I ask another question?"

"Of course," he smiled, despite the tired look on his face. "Ask anything."

She took a deep breath. "When… Terra was hurt, I made his injuries go away. He said it was magic. Was it really… real magic?"

"Yes, it was; very powerful magic, at that." He rubbed his temples. "Those were serious wounds to heal, and I'm not surprised that you've been out three days to recover. Magic isn't as rare as Keyblades, but mastery of magic usually takes a long time. You're a natural at it. Usually, we see magic as indicators for other things, but even without that, you have a special power."

"Will… will I be able to do that again?"

"Most likely. Magic isn't a once-in-a-lifetime ability. It says with you for your entire life. Awakening magic power is the hardest part, but you've already done that. Also, healing isn't the only thing you can do. Magic can be used to attack or defend as well. But enough of that for now. All of this is something you have plenty of time to learn, later, when I've not got so many things on my mind."

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Sleep well, Master Eraqus."

He nodded. "And you, Aqua. You should get some more rest, in the meantime."

He walked off to his room, shutting the door behind him. Aqua stared after him, absorbing everything he had said. 'There's a lot to learn,' she yawned, 'but later.' "Sleep well, Terra."

A week later, Terra's wounds had healed enough from him to get out of bed, though he was still in much need of sleep and sore all over. Master Eraqus forbid him from returning to school with Aqua, but he didn't look too disappointed about it. On the first day back, all of her classmates wanted a full retelling of what had happened, but she had to edit so much out at Master Eraqus' request that no one was satisfied. Rumors began to spread about aliens and mutants formed from toxic waste, which grated on her nerves. No one mentioned when had happened to Terra, meaning that no one knew about what she had done.

When she got home, Terra was lying on the lawn, staring up at the wispy clouds floating lazily through the sky. Smiling, she sat down next to him, staring at him until his eyes came to meet hers. They stared at each other for a minute before Terra stood up and walked to the door.

"Not going to say anything to me today?" she asked as he held the door open for her.

He paused for a moment, his brow furrowing in thought before he shrugged, shook his head, and walked off.

That night, when Aqua went to join her father in his office, he sat her down in one of the chairs and stood before her, leaning up against his desk. "I've heard that you want to learn magic."

"Yes," she smiled. She had talked about it earlier with Master Eraqus, and he had agreed to teach her as much as he could before they left. "I want to learn as much as I can. He said I can do so much with magic, and that I can help lots of people with it, so I want to do the best I can."

Her father sighed. "I understand how you feel, but are you sure this is what you want?"

Aqua looked at him, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"From what Master Eraqus has told me, magic isn't the only thing," he said, looking at her, something she couldn't place in his eyes, "There's a lot more that you can do, Aqua, but that might dangerous. It might take you far away from here for a long time…"

"I wouldn't do that," she interrupted, shaking her head vigorously, "I wouldn't leave you, no matter what happened."

He smiled sadly. "I knew you'd say that, but sometimes, things like that are beyond our control. I wanted to tell you, Aqua, that no matter what you do, I love you, and I'll always support you. I just wanted to make sure you were serious about your decision."

"Thanks, Father," she smiled, jumping up and hugging him tight. "I love you too."

The next day, after school, Master Eraqus began teaching her magic. The first couple of lessons were of him explaining why magic worked, and getting her to call upon the magic she had. It took a bit of practice to get the magic power to work, often failing and leaving her drained of energy, but after a few lessons, it worked. She was so delighted when the magic sparkles appeared on her hands that she lost control of it and passed out. After that, Eraqus had her learn meditation, to try to control her emotional outbursts. Terra helped with that, teaching her how to relax her mind and focus. Once she had completed that, she went back to magic lessons. Master Eraqus taught her some more healing and some defensive spells, which she practiced as he and Terra trained with their Keyblades. Occasionally, she would loose control of her spells while she was watching them, resulting in some injuries, but she got better at focusing while she worked.

After learning the defensive spells, she started learning offensive spells. Terra joined them sometimes, practicing his own, giving her pointers on ones he had already mastered. When he wasn't there, he vanished, but Aqua was too wrapped up in practice to wonder where. The offensive spells took longer to learn, but she had enough focus training that she could practice for hours before feeling tired.

A month and a half after her training had begun, Aqua was able to cast a variety of spells within seconds of each other, and there was nothing else Master Eraqus could teach her. Despite that, she practiced, trying to add more magic to spells to make them more powerful. When it worked, she would make mental notes on how to do it again. When it didn't, she'd end up incredibly exhausted. No matter how much time she poured into magic training, she never skipped school or shirked on her homework, which her father was proud of.

"Master Eraqus," she asked one day while he was supervising her practice, "you said that 'magic is an indicator for other things'. What did you mean?"

He closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "Magic isn't always an ability that comes by itself. Most of the time, magic is a beginning step for other things, other powers. Sometimes it leads to immense knowledge and understanding of the universe, as it did in the sage Master Yen Sid. Other times, it leads to the understanding of science and the laws of the worlds, as with Ansem the Wise. Those who learn magic, however, often have very powerful hearts, and powerful hearts are chosen to wield Keyblades."

She stared. "You mean… I might get a Keyblade too?"

"There's a possibility you might, but also that you might not. Not all hearts are chosen. Keyblades choose their wielders carefully based on a few factors, and even Masters aren't sure of what those factors are."

That night, Aqua went to sleep thinking 'I wonder what my Keyblade would look like…'