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

Decision

Terra lay alone on his bedroom's floor, feet kicking at the air as he tried to sort things out in his mind. Around him lay the clothes that had once been used to dress his adult self. Now, however, they were much too big; he could have used them for a sleeping bag, had he wanted.

He sucked on a lollipop (a treat Ven had brought back for him and Aqua when he went off-world), and looked around guiltily. He liked this lollipop; it had a sweet, sugary taste to it, and a faint tinge of grape. He'd already spent the last few minutes sucking away at the candy, and in the back of his mind, sadness lurked over the fact that soon it would be done.

Without a second thought, he took the lollipop out of his mouth and threw it across the room.

It stuck on a wall, and Terra slammed his fists against the ground in frustration. Sure, now he loved the sweetness of the candy, but his memories of adult Terra told him that he didn't like lollipops. They told him lots of things that didn't seem to be true.

"Who am I?" he said aloud. He was answered by the buzzing of a fly.

Terra automatically raised a hand, intending to strike the insect down with Fire. But the magic he knew he had refused to come, and the fly zipped out of his room unscathed. A good thing, too, because Terra realized that had his spell actually worked, he probably would have set his room on fire.

He snorted. Surely, smart, adult Terra wouldn't have tried to do something that stupid. So what did that make him? Not-Terra? Terra 2.0? He didn't know anymore. It was almost like there were two of him, and they were constantly trying to grapple the other into submission.

This was getting to be too much for him; he could hardly make sense of his own thoughts. He stood up, mouth opening in a huge yawn as he stretched. Though Terra had his pride, he also knew when he was beaten. This wasn't something he could solve alone.

Unfortunately, he wasn't sure whether Eraqus or Ven would really help him, or tell him what they thought he wanted to hear. While Eraqus was better about it, Ven tended to act as if Terra was a child, only to insist that Terra was really an adult. It made his head spin, it did.

That left one person, and now that he thought about it, it really was the best choice. After all, there was only one other person going through what he was . . .

"Aqua!" He walked into her room without knocking. From underneath her blanket, Aqua peered out at him, rubbing her eyes.

For a moment, his earlier troubles were forgotten in place of scolding. "You're not supposed to be sleeping this early," he told her.

Aqua mumbled something and then burrowed back into her sheets.

"Hey, stop sleeping!" He sprang on the lump under the blankets, hearing her squeal in surprise. "I wanna talk to you."

"Go away," Aqua said.

"No, we're talking, now!"

He reached up to the top of the covers, and then ripped them off. Aqua protested loudly, crawling towards her crumpled sheets, and Terra pounced. His weight flattened her, and she clawed at the bed in an effort to gain some purchase.

"Stop moving!" he whined, trying to pin her arms down. Aqua growled, and managed to twist her body around so that they faced each other while he straddled her waist. It didn't even occur to him how awkward this position would be if they were older.

"Got you!" he cried as he grabbed Aqua's wrists. "Start talking."

"I don't even know what we're talking about!" she complained.

"The Fountain, duh." Terra let go of one of her arms so that he could point his finger at her. "Now, start talking."

She cocked her head. "What fountain?"

"You know, that Fountain – the Fountain of Youth. The reason we're children again?"

Aqua blinked. "I've always been a kid," she claimed. "Master says I won't be a grownup for a really long time."

"No, we were adults!" Terra shook her to her evident displeasure. "We fell into a fountain, and then it deaged us."

"I . . ." Her eyes seemed to cloud over for a second before clearing up again. "No, we didn't," she said. "Were you dreaming?"

"It wasn't a dream! There was a fountain, and we fell in!"

"No, there wasn't."

"Yes, there was!"

"Stop yelling at me!"

Aqua's bottom lip began to tremble, and Terra hurriedly jumped off her, recognizing the signs. Aqua curled into a little ball, hiding her face from him as she sniffed. No. No no no. He didn't want her to cry.

"I didn't mean it," he said. "I'm not mad at you."

Aqua uncurled a little, and he could see a tear in the corner of her eye.

"I wasn't yelling at you. I'm not mad, promise."

He stuck out his pinkie, and hooked it underneath Aqua's, locking them together. Aqua sniffled, but the crisis appeared to be over, and she uncurled completely.

Terra said, "So, there was no fountain."

Aqua shook her head.

He sat back, legs tucked beneath him. If there was no fountain, then that meant there was no deaging. That meant he had never been an adult, after all. Did that make all those memories a dream then, or a fantasy?

Whatever they were, they weren't real.

"I'm a kid," he said aloud, and a great weight seemed to be lifted off his shoulders. "I'm a kid!"

He said that one last time, this time with certainty and with a snap, the last string tying him to adulthood broke.

And Terra has officially convinced himself he's a kid. Time for some shenanigans!

Next Chapter: A week has gone by, and there's been no change in Terra and Aqua's condition. With that in mind, Ven takes them to find some clothes they can actually wear.