I don't own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix/Disney.

Dinnertime

The silence stretched so long at the table that an observer might have thought they were all dead.

"This is the meal you have prepared for us?" Eraqus asked, poking at his pile of ground meat with his fork.

"Err, yeah," Ven said.

"So, you are saying that we are expected to consume a meal of ground meat and cookies?" Eraqus said. ("Hey, I told you not to touch those!" Aqua exclaimed.)

Ven blushed even before he saw the faces of the others. Yes, he knew that what he had made wasn't very impressive, but he'd done the best he could. He had tried to finish up for Terra, but how was he supposed to know that you needed water when you were cooking rice? And he didn't even want to think about the mishap with the other things; he was going to be scrubbing that kitchen for days.

"Terra, where were you during this?" the Master asked.

Terra's head fell against the table, and Ven heard him mumble, "Clearly, not where I should have been. Ven, you weren't supposed to serve the meat just as is . . ."

"Hey, it's not my fault you ran off!" Ven protested. "At least give the food a try before you complain."

Crossing his arms over his chest, he leaned back and stared at them expectantly. Terra and Eraqus exchanged a wide-eyed look, their gazes afterwards turning to their filled plates, where they watched the food closely as if expecting it to leap out at them. Aqua, on the other hand, made the mistake of locking eyes with Ven. A moment passed, and then with a visible sigh, she stuck her fork into the meat and lifted some up.

Some of the colour drained from her face. "Master, I don't think this is cooked."

And the Master stood suddenly. "Alright, that's it! Someone choose a world."

"Why?" Aqua said.

Already heading out of the room, the Master answered, "Because we are going out for dinner."

"Finally, something normal!" Terra cheered as he bounded down the steps to the castle. "Hey Ven, I bet I can beat you to Twilight Town."

Already basking in his anticipated victory, Terra thrust his chest out and prepared to summon his armour . . .

Master Eraqus' hand closed on his wrist, stopping him short.

"I'm afraid you and Aqua won't be flying on your own," he said. "You are both too young."

"Not you, too, Master!" Terra complained. "Look, me and Aqua are perfectly normal – why can't you guys understand that?"

"I do know that, Terra." Eraqus patted him on the back. "The problem is that no one else does, and it is against the law for anyone under the age of ten to fly through space on their own."

"There are laws?"

"Naturally." Eraqus' tone suggested that Terra had just asked a very stupid question. "Spaceships are not allowed to simply do as they please. Now, I do not fancy having to endure the company of Captain Gantu again, so you two will be riding with one of us."

Terra crossed his fingers behind his back. Please not Ven, please not Ven . . .

"Terra, you will go with Ventus." The Master smiled. "Think of it as punishment for leaving Ventus alone in the kitchen."

Terra raised his glass to his lips and quickly downed its contents, slamming it onto the tabletop afterwards. Licking his lips greedily, he reached over to Aqua's plate – the owner of which glared at him but did nothing else to stop him – and gobbled down a handful of her meal. His own plate had been emptied a long time ago, and now he was eying Ven's meal with a passion.

"Are you going to finish that?" he asked.

Ven stared at him, mouth hanging open. "Terra, you already ordered three meals and finished them."

Terra shrugged. "What can I say? I'm a big eater."

"Yes, and your stomach will explode if you eat any more," the Master said critically. He swatted Terra's hand away from his plate. "That's enough for you."

Terra pouted.

"Master," Aqua tugged on Eraqus' sleeve, "can we go get ice cream?"

It wasn't the question that made them all stare at her, it was the tone in which she asked it. It sounded like . . . well, it sounded like a little girl pleading with her parents for candy. Aqua did not appear to notice that all attention had focused on her; she was too busy staring at her Master.

Eraqus pinched his nose. "Fine."

"Come on, Terra!" Aqua pulled him off his chair. "Let's go!"

As the two miniature keybladers scampered off, Ven wailed, "What about me?"

Walking back to the restaurant where they had left Eraqus and Ven, Aqua and Terra licked their ice-cream cones. "It's sweet, but salty," Terra remarked. "Weird."

"I think it tastes good," Aqua said.

It was a bright, beautiful day, and the feel of the sun on his skin made Terra want to go run around. But he couldn't. Oh well. There was plenty of space to run around back home, and they had to get back to the Master.

At the sound of giggling, Terra glanced sideways and found a group of girls. They looked to be in their mid-teens, and when they peeked his way and giggled again, he knew it was directed at him.

He grinned. "See that, Aqua. Looks like I'm still popular with the ladies."

"Terra, I don't think . . ."

He ignored her, and marched towards them. Forget everything Ven said; this was proof that everything was perfectly normal.

"Can I help you, ladies," he asked with no small amount of swagger.

The girls broke out into giggles again, hardly able to look at him. Terra flashed a triumphant smirk back at Aqua, and then basked in the girls' attention.

One of the girls squealed, "He's so cute!"

His smile was replaced by horror. Wait, what?

"Are you lost, little guy?" another asked, leaning down as so to be level with him.

"What? No!" he cried.

"Aw, I just want to ruffle his hair."

"No! I'm not cute!" he shouted. "I'm handsome, not cute!"

"Of course you are," a girl said, and she reached down and pinched his cheek.

"Aqua, help!"

Aqua watched and deliberated for about half a millisecond. Then she walked off and left Terra at the mercy of the girls.

An piece of information that I somehow forgot to mention up to this point: Terra is currently seven, but Aqua's around five and a half.

Next Chapter: While the darkness has always been scary, Terra never realized how much worse it is as a child.