Chapter 6 - Incidents

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

They had kept the incident with the Neoshadows to themselves, as no one asked questions when they returned, their clothes torn and them tired. In the morning, Aqua wished she didn't need to wake up, but it was a school day, so she forced herself out of bed and proceeded with her usual routine. As usual, Terra was in the kitchen, chugging down a carton of orange juice at an astonishing rate, but he ignored her entrance. When she had opened her mouth to wish him a good morning, he had walked past her as through she wasn't there. 'Is he… angry? With me? Did I do something wrong?' She tried not to worry about it, but it kept bothering her all day. In class, she answered every question she was asked wrong, even though her homework was right, and she fell flat on her face three times in Gym, being hit in the head with the volleyball at least five times. By the time the final bell rang, she wished she had stayed home. She walked home, trying to ignore people that stared at her each time she veered off the sidewalk.

Unlike usual, Terra wasn't out on the front lawn, waiting for her. Aqua changed, tried to do her homework and failed, and then decided to look for him. He was nowhere in the house or anywhere on the property, and she was just about to quit when he's father's assistant said he'd seen the apprentice headed towards the beach, but hadn't seen him return. Thanking him, Aqua headed down to there to continue her search.

She found him in a patch of sand among the rocks, which she recognized as her usual snack spot during her walks. He stood silently, eyes closed, facing towards the ocean. Holding his hands out in front of him, he summoned his Keyblade, using both arms to hold it parallel to the ground. Slowly, he removed one hand, the muscles in his other arm fighting to keep the heavy Keyblade straight. Then, with one sharp movement, he let the tip drop and strained his muscles to fight the weight. He managed to bring the Keyblade up in a swift strike, but the momentum brought it back over her shoulder, spinning him around. His feet slid in the sand and he fell flat on his back, eyes still closed, his Keyblade disappearing from his hands. He lay still for a long time, but his fingers were half buried in the sand, the corners of his eyes a mess of wrinkles.

Aqua walked quietly along the rocks to the edge of the sand. "Looks like you're not having much luck with that," she joked. Terra's eyes snapped open, turning to stare at her for a brief second before he stood up and walked part her, beginning to climb in the direction of her house. She followed him closely. "If I made fun of you, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." He didn't answer her. "Are you mad at me?" He paused, looking at her with an expression she interpreted as 'What do you think?', and continued, walking faster in an attempt to leave her behind. "What did I do to make you so mad at me?"

Terra stopped dead in his tracks. "You got a Keyblade. That's what."

"I…" she blinked, sorting out everything. "You're mad at me because I got a Keyblade. That's why? Why are you mad? I though you'd be happy. Now I can fight Heartless too! Now you don't have to worry about protecting me! So why are you so mad at me!?" She was practically screaming at that point, but Terra's expression made her calm down.

He was glaring at her, the hatred in his eyes almost palpable. When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper, but the tone of pure loathing in it made her quake. "You think… wielding a Keyblade is a good thing?"

"I-isn't it?" she asked, her voice cracking in fear.

She had expected Terra to start yelling, but instead, he started laughing, and she started wished he had yelled. His laugh hit her deep, shaking her to her very core. He'd completely lost control of himself, clutching his stomach as he laughed like a maniac. Watching him, she suddenly felt afraid, not only of him, but of the Keyblade, of her world, and of every world beyond it. 'Is this… Is this what the world does to you? Is this what the Keyblade does? Or… maybe… this is why Terra can't open up to people, why he distrusts them… What… what's happened to him to make him like this…?'

Finally, Terra's laughter descended back into normalcy and he was able to talk, wiping tears from his eyes. "You think… you think the Keyblade is a good thing…" he gasped, trying to calm down, but he burst into laughter again, the normal kind, much to Aqua's relief. "That's… the craziest thing I've ever… heard!"

"Why's that so funny!?" she snapped. "It's what I think!"

His laughter slowed to a stop. "Being a Keyblade wielder isn't as much of an honor as you think it is. In fact, it's the biggest curse in the universe. You're hunted down by Heartless and who-knows-what else for as long as you wield one. No one around you is safe, not even others who wield the Keyblade. No one cares of you die and no one misses you when you're gone, so what's so great about!?" When he finished, his face red and he was breathing hard from the screaming. Exhausted, he sat down and lay back, closing his eyes.

Silently, Aqua came and sat down beside him, staring out at the ocean. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her hands folded together on her knees.

"Don't apologize," he sighed, opening his eyes slightly. "It was silly of me to get angry over something I can't control. I just… I thought I had friend, someone who remember me when I'm gone, but… the whole idea's stupid, isn't it?"

"I'll always remember you, Terra. You're a very important friend to me, so I'll never forget you, ever. Just… you don't forget me, either."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

They sat together for a while, listening to the waves lap against the shore. Finally, Aqua opened her mouth. "It's heavy, isn't it?"

Terra sat up. "What's heavy?"

"The Keyblade. Mine is too heavy to hold," she grinned sheepishly. "I guess I'm not strong enough."

"You think yours is heavy," he scoffed, "Wait until you see mine."

She tilted her head, confused. "But I've seen yours. It looks heavy, but it's probably not that much heavier than mine."

"That's not my Keyblade," he replied, standing up.

"What do you mean?"

"The Keyblade I use isn't actually my real Keyblade. It's a substitute, and it's much smaller than my real one." He summoned his Keyblade, burying the tip into the sand, and grabbed they key chain, yanking it off. Instantly, his Keyblade transformed in a flash of light, and Aqua gasped. Terra's real Keyblade was enormous, standing at least two inches taller than he did. The shaft of the Keyblade was golden, extending past the cross-guard and into the grip. On either side, the shaft was surrounded by brown metal, bordered in more gold, held to the cross-guard by a golden bolt on either side. It ended in a slab of dark brown metal, wrapped around the shaft, extending three times on either side of it to form the teeth. The first extension was attached to the shaft in the rough shape of a bowl, the second in the shape of a nail, and the third in the shape of a hammer, the extension curving on one side and edged sharply on the other. The hilt-guard was a similar shape and color to his other Keyblade, but it was lighter, more green present than blue. The key chain was a cone shaped chunk of rock. "This is my Keyblade," he said, steadying it. "Earth Shaker."

She continued to stare. "Earth Shaker…?"

"That's its name. Every Keyblade has a name, but the name changes when the key chain changes," he reached up and stuck the other key chain back on, and the Keyblade reverted to its usual, wieldable form. "This one is called Terra Firma. Master Eraqus helped me form it when he saw I couldn't wield my other one."

"It has the same name as you. Terra," she giggled.

Terra blushed, not meeting her face. "That's… that's because Terra means Earth."

"Is that why…" she asked, standing up, "you've got earth as its key chain?" She pointed at the vial of dirt hanging from the Keyblade.

"It's from my home world," he replied, staring at the ground, a deep sadness in his eyes. He shook his head, recovering with a slight smile. "If you find your Keyblade too heavy, it'll be impossible to swing. I could barely swing mine, and I had to drag it across the ground to build enough energy to swing it. Even the substitute is heavy, but I'm practicing. If you want, I can help you practice wielding it."

Aqua snapped out of her trance, realizing what he was talking about, and nodded. "I'd love that. Thanks so much, Terra."

"No problem."

When they arrived back at the house, Aqua was surprised to see Master Eraqus standing outside the door. He looked tired and pensive, which seemed unusual for him. When they walked through the gate, he opened his eyes and walked briskly over to them. "You're here. Good." He spoke almost too quickly for her to keep up, until she realized his comments weren't direct at her.

"Something happen, Master?" Terra asked, his brow furrowing, speaking in the same hurried tone.

Eraqus nodded. "Problems. Serious ones. No time to explain. I'm leaving you in charge here, Terra."

"M-master…" Terra stuttered, blanching, "Are you sure about that? I'm not sure I…"

"No time to argue. You can handle this. I'll be back…" the master began, but he trailed off and strode past them without another word.

Aqua stared after him, dumbfounded. "Well, that was interesting."

Terra rubbed his forehead. "Interesting isn't the right word," he groaned. "He should never have left me in charge."

"Why's that?"

"I have a horrible track record."

"What does that mean?" she asked, not liking his tone.

"When ever he leaves me in charge of anything," he explained, "something usually ends up going very wrong, and I end up regretting it painfully later."

Aqua shivered. "I wish you hadn't told me that."

"You were the one who asked."

When they went inside, all of the household staff were running around, some carrying binders or stacks of paper, others picking up messes left in their wake. Aqua was startled, wondering what could get everyone in such a panic. She spotted her father's secretary pacing around, talking hurriedly into his cell phone, and she ran over, dragging Terra with her. "What's going on?"

The secretary looked down at her with a sigh of relief. "There's been a situation on the other side of the continent, and we're trying to sort out all of the information," he explained, covering the speaker of his phone while he talked. "There have been a lot of reports from various sources, so we're trying to figure out which ones are accurate and which we can write off as panic. Excuse me." He nodded a quick goodbye and walked away, talking into his phone again.

"I wonder what kind of situation could be this bad…" she wondered, and Terra shrugged.

"Aqua!" her father's voice came from the top of the stairs, and he raced down to embrace her tightly. "Are you alright?"

She smiled. "You're hugging me too tight to breathe," she gasped.

Laughing sheepishly, he let her go. "Sorry. I'm at wit's end here, what with all these reports coming in from across the continent. From what I've read, no single one is entirely reliable."

"What's going on, Father? What happened?" she asked, looking at everyone racing around them.

He shook his head. "I'm not sure. I can't get an accurate description of what happened. From what I understand, one of the cities on the east coast got attacked, but…"

"Heartless?" Terra asked, all the seriousness returned to his face.

"Maybe, but I can't be sure. From the reports, all the people have disappeared. At first, it was a few disappearances, but over the past couple days it has been getting out of hand until, just a few hours ago, we lost contact with them altogether. Some of the reports include Heartless sightings, but some have giant hairy beasts kidnapping children, and a few others describe a man with metal arms. I'm not sure what to think anymore…" he sighed, running a hand through his sweaty hair. "Well, I have to get back to work. You look like you want to help, but I think we've got more than enough hands," he grumbled, watching someone crash into someone else, "Just try and give us space, okay?" With that, he dashed back up the stairs and vanished around a corner.

Aqua went back outside with Terra and they sat down on the lawn, staring up at the sky. "Do you really think it's Heartless?" she asked after a while.

"Yes," he muttered blankly, "People disappearing and Heartless appearing, right around the same time? The coincidence is too great."

Aqua giggled. "But… hairy Heartless?"

"I don't think that's really what they saw," he chuckled, and they both started laughing, bouncing ridiculous ideas for Heartless back and forth. By the time the crisis had died down and the staff was sent to look for them, they were both fast asleep.