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

A Letter to Xehanort

"Please Master, just for a moment or two? I just want a bit of peace!"

While Ventus pleaded with him, Master Eraqus didn't look up from the letter he was writing. He didn't understand how, but somehow Xehanort had learned of his apprentices' dilemma, and the old Master was quite intrigued, if his letter to Eraqus was anything to go by. Given their past history, Eraqus normally wouldn't have been interested in sharing this type of information with Xehanort, but Xehanort was an adept mage, and Eraqus' investigations into this problem weren't going anywhere.

"Ventus, you do not have to be with Terra and Aqua every waking moment. If you want some time alone, take it."

"But what if they get into trouble when I'm not there?" While saying this, Ven's chin had been resting on Eraqus' desk, and a shadow of his signature puppy-dog eyes were coming to light. "Then what?"

Eraqus paused in his writing. "You speak as if they were actually children."

"Aren't they?" Ven said. "They certainly act like them."

"I will admit that there are some irregularities in their behaviours, but they behave themselves if you give them a little reminder of whom they actually are. I would go out on a limb and say that much of their immature behaviour is a subtle way of seeking revenge on you."

"I didn't misbehave that much," Ven muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. Sighing, he said again, "Can you please watch them for a few moments?"

Eraqus waved him off. "Send them in."

Ven beamed and skipped out of the room, fetching his two friends who evidently had been hiding just outside. They filed in peacefully, just as Eraqus had expected, and stood awkwardly in the center of the room. Terra soon found a chair and fell into it, foot tapping on the ground impatiently. Aqua waddled up to Eraqus' shoulder, and stood on her tiptoes as she tried to see what he was doing.

"Are you making a story?" she asked.

Not really paying attention to her question, Eraqus made a sound of affirmation.

"What's it called?"

"A Letter to Xehanort," he said.

Aqua scrunched up her face. "That's a weird name."

Terra then decided to put his two cents in. "Master, I'm hungry."

"You are always hungry, Terra," Eraqus said.

Terra gave Aqua a meaningful look, and she immediately glanced at her Master and declared, "I'm hungry, too!"

Eraqus put his quill down. "Very well, I will prepare something. You two stay here."

Eraqus stood up, walked to the doorway and glanced back. Aqua and Terra were looking at him innocently, a little too innocently, if you asked him. Still, they were really adults, not children. He was confident they would behave themselves.

Eraqus left, and Aqua immediately jumped onto his desk, pulling the letter towards her. Her eyes scanning over the lines, she mouthed words to herself, and then scowled.

"What's it say?" Aqua demanded, waving the letter at Terra.

"Aqua," he said, "we shouldn't be looking through the Master's notes."

"But I want to know!" she cried.

"Aqua . . ."

"I want to know!"

He groaned. Surely, there couldn't be any harm in humouring her. At her urging, he took the letter from her and began to read aloud. Mostly, it was about them and everything Eraqus had learned about their little problem – which wasn't much. Through this all, Aqua sat entranced, eyes shining.

At least until she asked, "Where's the pictures?"

"Sorry, what?"

"The pictures," Aqua repeated. "Where are they?"

"Aqua, you're way too old to be asking for picture books."

"Nuh-uh. I'm only five and a half," she stated proudly.

". . . Right."

She shot across the desk, sitting neatly in on the edge like a queen on her throne. Terra cleared his throat, not liking the fact that she, even artificially, was taller than him.

"Can we just forget about this?" Terra asked.

Aqua shook her head sternly. "I want pictures."

"Well, there are none, so go make your own!"

He realized what he said a moment after it left his mouth. Aqua's face immediately brightened, and she crawled across the desk, snatching Eraqus' dripping quill up. Her eyes then fixed upon a sheet of blank paper.

"Seriously, Aqua?" He put his hands on the desk and peered up at her. "You're really doing this?"

"Yep," she said happily.

"Master's going to kill you. He doesn't care that you've taken a dip in the Fountain, just -"

"What fountain?"

"The Fountain of Youth," he clarified. "You know, the reason all of this started."

She stared at him, confused. "What fountain?"

Terra blinked, a strange emotion flickering in his eyes. Aqua turned back to her paper and biting her bottom lip, began her masterpiece.

"Fine!" Terra threw his hands up. "Go ahead, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Terra stormed back to his seat and threw himself into it, arms knotted tightly and glaring at a spot on the floor. Aqua started to hum.

The minutes ticked by.

"What are you drawing?" a very bored Terra asked Aqua.

"Xehanort," she answered.

Against his better judgement, Terra climbed onto the desk and peeked over her shoulder. The second he made sense of the drawing, it became apparent that Aqua had no idea what Xehanort looked like. The man she was drawing looked a lot like Eraqus, actually. Plus, her drawing of Xehanort had hair, and that was definitely not realistic.

"You're doing it wrong," Terra told her.

"Am not!"

"Yes, you are. I've met Xehanort before."

"Then you draw him!" She thrust the quill into his hands.

Terra stared down at it, then at her, then at the papers before him. Common sense told him that he really shouldn't be doing this, but Aqua's eyes said differently . . . wait, was that . . . was that Ven's puppy-dog eyes?

Indeed it was. Aqua's eyes had grown big and wide, so that they seemed to take over her face. And in their depths, he could see the tears that would fall if he would refuse. Wait, what was he thinking? They were adults, she wouldn't cry over this!

Are we? A traitorious voice in his mind whispered. His head ached with indecision.

He looked down at her. Surely, it wouldn't hurt to humour her. Just this once.

He picked up the quill and began to draw.

"Xehanort's bald," he told her. "See?"

On the drawing he drew a quick arrow pointing at Xehanort's head, complete with the label 'Bald'.

"And he slouches, and he has yellow eyes – like a lizard!"

Eyes were added, with slits as their pupils. Slouching was harder to draw and Xehanort ended up looking like a hunchback. But whatever; it got the point across.

Terra grinned. "I think he has pointy ears too, and a beard or something, and he's always smirking. So I'll add those."

And he did.

"His smile looks evil," Aqua pointed out.

"He's not smiling; he's smirking." Terra spoke that in a way that suggested Aqua had just called a cat a dragon. "If he was evil, he'd have horns like this!" Terra drew them to illustrate his point.

"Now he looks like a goat!" Aqua complained.

Between the horns and the weird beard, she was kind of right. So Terra said, "Then I'll give him a moustache!"

For a couple more minutes, they continued to add details. Then, holding his masterpiece up high, Terra displayed the official picture of Xehanort. Before their Master could come back, he stuffed it into the folder addressed to Xehanort, and hopped back onto the floor, Aqua following.

By the time Eraqus returned, Terra and Aqua were in their seats again.

"Lunch is in the dining room," he told them to their great delight. They cheered and ran off, Eraqus chuckling fondly as he watched.

"I knew they wouldn't be any trouble," he said to himself, placing his finished letter inside the folder addressed to his friend. He sealed it closed without a second glance, then set off to mail it.

Vanitas shuffled through the mail, throwing away the many advertisements for weapons of mass destruction or the many letters from quacks claiming to be in mental contact with Kingdom Hearts. He'd almost tossed away the last one too, when he saw who had written it. Clutching it loosely in his hand, he walked up to the door of his Master and hammered on the door.

"Enter," Xehanort grunted.

Vanitas did so, carelessly blasting the door open with darkness. "Letter from Eraqus," he said, throwing it onto his Master's desk.

"Finally," Xehanort muttered, and he tore the folder open. He shuffled through the papers quickly, freezing at the sight of the last one.

"Bad news?" Vanitas asked, arms crossed behind his head. He strolled behind his Master's desk, so that he could have a look at whatever . . .

Oh.

Oh my.

"Bwah hahahah!" Vanitas nearly fell to his knees with laughter, and his finger was pointed mockingly at Xehanort as he snickered, "That's supposed to be you?"

Xehanort didn't answer, speechless.

"Oh, cheer up." Vanitas slapped his Master on the back. "I think it's a pretty accurate representation. Look, they even signed it."

Xehanort snarled, darkness flaring up around him. "Destroy it!" he demanded, shoving the portrait of himself into Vanitas' chest.

"Sure thing, Master."

With a snap of his fingers Vanitas he teleported back up to his room. With no hesitation, he taped the picture up on his wall.

There was no way he was ever destroying this.

"Do you understand your mission?" Xehanort asked.

The chief of the kindergarteners scratched his chin, his staff – a crummy metre stick – smacking on the ground. "Big Person wants us to draw?"

"Not just draw," Xehanort said, "but draw this man." From his pocket, he took out a picture of Eraqus. "Now, do we have an understanding?"

The chief's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, then he clapped his hands and the rest of the kindergarteners took up their weapons – crayons and papers – and did as Xehanort had asked.

Xehanort smirked as he saw the army of unflattering pictures being made of his former friend. If Eraqus wanted to play this game, then he'd better be prepared to lose.

So ... anyone up for the challenge of drawing Xehanort? XD

That last scene took place in the world of Recess, for those of you who have seen that show.

Next Chapter: Terra's just trying to figure out if he's a kid or not. Unfortunately, he chose the worst person to ask.