Today's in "My kids are psychopaths : the life of Eraqus", it is Aqua's birthday! Yaaay! What could possibly go wrong with a birthday?


"Terra, let me go in the Kitchen, please."

"That won't do. Please kindly wait in the lounge."

"But I want to have breakfast. I'm hungry."

"What do you want to eat?"

"Hot chocolate. Toasts. What I always eat."

Aqua tried to walk by him, but he stopped her, looking slightly panicked.

"I'll get that for you! Just you wait in the lounge!"

The boy grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the lounge room and sat her on a couch.

"Don't. Move. Got it?"

Aqua looked slightly annoyed but said nothing. Terra ran away to the kitchen.

"That was close! She almost got in. That would have been troublesome, right, Master?"

The boy grinned at his Master who smiled, while whipping some cream. Today was Aqua's birthday, and the boy had begged Eraqus to bake her a strawberry pie, her favourite. But that meant she couldn't be allowed into the kitchen until the pie was ready.

"Alright, let's make her a nice breakfast!"

Terra popped some toasts in the toaster, some milk in the microwave, and some powder cocoa in a mug. He poured the hot milk onto the mug, added an extra dose of whipping cream on top of it, sparkled some more cocoa for a pretty finish, put the toasts on a plate, put it all on a tray, added a jar of jam, some honey, butter, and a glass of fruit juice. Satisfied with how it looked, he left the kitchen with his tray under Eraqus's amused eyes.

"Breakfast is ready, Mademoiselle. … Aqua?"

She wasn't in the lounge anymore. Terra sighed, put the tray on the table and started looking for her.

She was in front of the library.

"What are you doing?"

"I wanted to read something. Why is it locked?"

"This place is forbidden as well. Go back to the lounge. Your breakfast is ready."

Aqua looked at him suspiciously.

"Am I your prisoner, Terra? Because it sure looks like I am."

The boy grinned. "Who knows? You might be. Please, at least eat the breakfast I prepared you, okay?"

She followed him back to the lounge and sat on the sofa, pouting.

"Thank you for the meal."

She spread the jam on the toasts in silence. Terra tried to smile at her, but she just ignored him, probably missing her books. The boy focused on how happy she would be when she'd discover the surprise party they had organized in the library for her, with the pie, and the present Terra had made her.

"Now that I'm done eating, can I go and get a book?"

Focus on the positive, Terra, thought the boy, it's okay even if she isn't grateful for the breakfast. That I spent time making. For her.

"Can't you just go and wait in your room? I'll call you when you can come back."

"So I am a prisoner. I don't like that. Can we play together, at least?"

Unfortunately, Terra still had things to do. He couldn't lose time with her. But he had an idea.

"Sure! Let's go play in your room then!"

She smiled, but that was a sad smile. Terra wondered if she really liked her books more than him.

"Do you want to play anything specific?" She asked as soon as they were in the room.

"Yeah, I know exactly what we should play! Wait for me just a moment!"

He ran out of the door and slammed it. With the key he had just stolen from her desk, he locked the room.

"Terra? What are you doing?" She sounded worried. He did not like that, but he knew it was just for a short time. It would be okay.

"We can't have you wandering around before we're ready, so just wait here! I'll get you out once everything is ready, okay?"

"Terra, don't! Open the door! Don't leave me here! Please!"

Her voice cracked. Was she crying? Terra almost unlocked the door, but he shook his head. It wouldn't last long. And it was to make sure the surprise was perfect. In the end, she would be happy, wouldn't she?

"It's okay, it's your room! You've got plenty of stuff to do in there, don't you? I'll come back for you, I promise."

"TERRA, NO!"

She banged on the door, but he chose to ignore her. It was for her good. Of course she would be annoyed right now, but the party would fix everything.

He also chose to ignore the knots in his stomach, tighter at every single one of her panicked screaming.

"Oh, you're back. Did she enjoy the breakfast?" Eraqus welcomed him with a bright smile. Terra failed to respond to it.

"She wanted a book. But I couldn't let her in the library."

"Where is she now?"

"In her room. Probably mad at me. But she'll forgive me, since this is for her, right?" Desperate, he looked at Eraqus, who put the now finished strawberry pie on the table they had set in the library. There were some sweets, bottles of fruit juice, a present carefully wrapped (Eraqus's), and one messily wrapped (Terra's). Terra had hung balloons all over the place. Everything was perfect.

Eraqus sighed and crouched to be at Terra's height.

"Listen up, Terra. I want you to be especially kind with Aqua, today, got it?"

"I know! It's her birthday, that's why!"

"No, it's… There's a bit more to that. I fear that today does not mark her eighth birthday, in her mind, but the second anniversary of… Of her coming here. As you know, because you lived that too, that is not a happy memory for her. You have been extremely brave since the day I took you in, but she didn't cope with it that well. Do you understand?"

Terra took a step back, shocked.

"I think I did something wrong."

Eraqus furrowed his brows.

"What do you mean?"

"She's not…. She's not just in her room. I locked her there to keep her way. I thought she was just angry because I locked the door, but… I have to let her out."

The boy ran away, Eraqus following at a slower pace.

There was no sound coming from the room. Terra quickly unlocked the door and opened it.

The window was open, and Aqua was sitting on the edge of it, her face buried in her hands.

"Aqua!"

She did not move. Terra ran to her. "Aqua. Aqua? Could you move from the window, please?"

She did not. But Eraqus stepped into the room, scooped her up and sat her on her bed instead. She finally lifted her head from her hands, and her face pained Terra.

Her expression displayed pure terror. Her face was all white, as if every drop of blood had withdrawn from it. Terra sat next to her and wrapped his arms around her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Aqua. I didn't know. I just wanted to surprise you."

She started shaking in his arms.

"I've been stuck in a tiny closet for hours, waiting for Mama… Since then, I… I don't…"

Her voice broke, but Terra understood. So many things made sense now. Why she always slept with a nightlight on. Why she never closed her door when she was in her room. Why she refused to play hide-and-seek every time. And why she never mentioned her birthday (Terra knew the date from Eraqus), and did not celebrate it the year before.

She hated feeling locked in. Being in small places. Feeling trapped somehow with no way out. It would take her back to that day. Her world crumbled into pieces the very day of her birthday, and Terra had been about to celebrate that.

"It's okay if you hate me, Aqua. I've been way too far. I've been a monster to you."

She shook her head. "I don't hate you. I never will. It's my fault, I should have told you."

He hugged her. "Don't you blame yourself here when you've done nothing wrong."

They stayed silent for a moment. Eraqus was looking at them, both proud and sad. He kneeled before the little girl.

"Aqua? I know today is a very difficult day for you. But Terra did all of this because he wanted you to be happy. He woke up really early this morning, made sure not to wake you up, then woke me up and asked if I could bake you a strawberry pie. He built you a present himself. All he did was to see you smile and be happy. His way of doing it ended up being quite wrong, but I think it's really important that you know all he ever wanted was to make you happy, okay?"

Aqua wiped out her tears.

"He… Terra, you did?"

"Yeah. You looked down lately. I guess I know why know, but I wanted to cheer you up. I failed, sorry."

Aqua looked at her Master, then at Terra with shiny eyes.

"Is there…" She blushed. "Is there any pie left?"

Eraqus laughed, while Terra jumped on his feet. "There is! Let's have the party in the garden, instead! And this won't be a birthday. It will just be the three of us enjoying pie, and you receiving presents for… For being the best girl around?"

"Terra, I'm the only girl around."

"Had there been any other, you'd still be the best. I know it."

They had pie outside, protected from the cold and the wind by a spell of Eraqus. Aqua was still a bit off, but she smiled and even laughed, and she stuffed her mouth with as much pie as she could. From her Master, she received a colouring book. And from Terra, she received a wood carved rabbit, that he had carved himself. She put it on her nightstand, and said it would be protecting her dreams from now on.

That night, when Terra went to sleep, he made sure to let the light in the corridor on, so that there would be light in her room. Then he went to his room, and opened his notebook. It wouldn't be for her, it would be for him this time. To feel better.

I am sorry I reminded Aqua of terrible events when I just wanted to see her smile. She has got the prettiest smile I know and I hope I will never hurt her so much again.


I feel like Aqua's breakfast might be a really French one, but people in different countries have really different things for breakfast and I didn't want to think too much about it, so here, she's taking the same breakfast as me XD

Aaah, the countless times my siblings locked me into my room... (now I spend so much time in my room that I probably wouldn't notice whether the door was locked or not though XD) When writing this, I asked Saphir for some of her memories of fights she had with her siblings, and she came up with pretty fun stories. Do you have any fun sibling fight story? (mine would put me in a suitcase and then throw the case into the stairs. A wonder I'm still alive.)

[also, Aqua wasn't on the edge of the window because she wanted to jump, uh? But looking outside helped fight the feeling of being locked in.]