I don't own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix/Disney
The Joys of Chocolate
Alone in the dining room, Aqua was sitting on a chair at the table – or more accurately, sitting on a pile of books on the chair so that she could actually reach the tabletop. It had been a hassle bringing the books here in the first place, given that they were all thick and heavy tomes. Thankfully though, while in the castle's library, Ven had come by and she had sweet-talked him into carrying them for her. He'd stuck around for a bit after that to help her look through them, but before long, Terra dragged him outside to spar. So that left Aqua by herself, and she frowned in concentration as she flipped through the pages.
She closed the book she had been looking at and pushed it aside. Once again, she had found no help. The book joined a pile of its peers which combined, towered over the sitting Aqua. Yet for all the dozens of pages she had skimmed through, not a single one had information on the dilemma she and Terra were in. At least, no information that was relevant to them.
She leaned back and rubbed her eyes, facts and theories echoing in her ears. The spell wears off within a few hours, one had claimed, but that couldn't be true because it had been days now and they still weren't better. She suspected that there were multiple versions of this spell.
Anyways, her head was hurting and her stomach starting to growl, so she hopped down from the chair and walked into the kitchen. There she pried the fridge's door open and browsed through it.
As Keybladers, they had to be in tip-top shape. She, Terra and Ven had been brought up on a mostly healthy diet and thus, by habit, her eyes turned towards a plate of sliced vegetables. Well, relatively speaking, they were sliced. Earlier, Ven had tried to cut them up for lunch, but apparently it had never occurred to him to trying using a knife rather than his keyblade. So it was no surprise that the vegetables had been divided into large, very flat, pieces.
She returned to the chair and leaned back in it, munching on a slab of carrot. She frowned and as she continued to chew, that frown only grew. There was something . . . missing, but she couldn't explain what. Nor could she explain why these carrots seemed to taste so unappealing (because really, they didn't taste like anything).
Maybe these need some dip, she thought. The carrots tasted a bit gross, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't hungry.
She'd only walked into the kitchen when something abruptly snatched her mind's focus. A heartbeat passed before she even realized she was staring at the cookie jar on top of the fridge. The cookie jar, which was sure to be filled with wonderful, delicious . . .
She shook her head. No, she didn't need any right now. Besides, it was way too high for her to reach anyways (originally they had placed it up there to keep it away from Ven. It had worked for about two seconds). Still, the thought of the cookies stayed with her, though that was usual. After all, the cookie jar had been bought for her and Eraqus; Terra wasn't so interested in sweets, and while Ven had gone nuts over them before, he'd settled down with time.
Yet even when she had the dip at hand, she couldn't stop thinking about how great it would be to be eating a warm, gooey, chocolate cookie . . .
She flipped the page of her current book with more force than she needed.
And though she was alone in the kitchen with nothing more than a pile of dusty books, dip and some vegetables, she kept smelling chocolate; and when she smacked her lips, it was that which she tasted. Her stomach growled, and the act of forcing carrots down her throat seemed to only make her hunger worse.
She swallowed down the craving with effort. But still it lingered, lurking at the back of her mind like a tiger waiting to pounce. It was only after she realized that she'd just read the same line seven times that she decided she had a problem.
"Okay, just one," she said aloud.
She thought her mind cheered.
Of course, getting a cookie was easier said than done. The cookie jar was perched on the fridge, which was several times taller than she was. Jumping did little to help, and even when she pulled a chair up, she was still much too short.
She clenched her jaw. This wasn't going to stop her. By the life of her, she was going to get up there, grab that cookie jar, and then eat them all.
"I'm just having one," she reminded herself.
There was a sigh in the back of her mind.
With the chair to give her height, she scrambled onto the countertop, which halved the distance she needed to get on top of the fridge. But she was still too short; even when she took a running start and leaped, she ended up dangling by her fingertips.
Oh no. She wanted those cookies, and she was going to get them!
Using all of her youthful energy, she hauled herself onto the fridge. Yes, success! Hunching over the jar possessively, she hugged it to her chest, and took a deep breath. It smelt exactly as she imagined: of chocolate and general deliciousness. Licking her lips, she grabbed one and lifted it to her mouth.
She ate it slowly, savouring the taste. And when it was gone, she automatically reached for another. Before she could remember that she was only supposed to have one, she had already stuffed it in her mouth.
By the time someone caught her, she was on her fifth.
"Aqua," Master Eraqus asked, "what are you doing?"
Aqua froze mid-bite. "I, uh, wanted a cookie?"
Eraqus didn't react to that. "How did you get up there?"
"I . . . climbed." This was only getting worse.
Now, he reacted. "On your own?" Eraqus demanded. "Aqua, you could have hurt yourself! You have to remember that your body is now as fragile as a five year-old."
"I wanted a cookie," she repeated plaintively.
Eraqus picked her up and set her back on the floor. "Then you should have asked Ventus or me to take it down for you." By chance, he happened to glance into the jar, and he started. "How many of them did you eat?"
"I don't know."
A pause. "I think I have to move this, then."
"But Master . . ."
"No, you've had enough," he said firmly. "You'll make yourself sick."
Her eyes grew wide. "So, I can't have any more cookies ever?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Aqua." Taking the cookie jar into his possession, Eraqus offhandedly said, "Don't you remember what happened when Ventus ate himself sick? If I recall, you were the one who carried him to his bed."
Aqua shook her head. "No, I didn't."
"It was you, Aqua. It couldn't have been myself because I was off-world, and it couldn't have been Terra because he was busy cleaning up after Ventus puked on him."
And Aqua was completely genuine as she said, "But I can't carry him. He's big and older than me."
Eraqus looked down at her, his eyebrows rising. "This was before the fountain, Aqua."
She cocked her head. "What fountain?"
"The Fountain of Youth. The reason you were deaged," he prompted when she continued to stare at him.
The memories came to her slowly; searching through them was like walking through a haze. "Oh, yes." She forced her lips into a smile. "Sorry, I was a bit confused there."
Eraqus frowned. "Aqua, is something wrong?"
She hesitated. "No, everything's fine," she finally lied.
Starting to move into part two here. Expect Aqua and Terra to completely believe they're kids before chapter 20.
Next Chapter: Everyone's favourite villain makes a quick appearance!
