Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 13 – Truth

Terra and Aqua sat on one side of the table with Sora and Naminé on the opposite side. Terra and Sora sat across from each other. For the first time, they were really sizing each other up, trying to see their similarities.

They helped themselves to the same amount of food and began to eat as Aqua told the story of her romance with Terra.

"Fifteen years ago," she started. "My father had arranged with Ansem the Wise for me to marry Xehanort." Terra squeezed her hand at the mention of the King. Aqua stroked his hand with her thumb, soothing him before continuing. "We tried becoming friends at first, but falling in love was out of the question…"

"Because the next day," Terra started, "when… she met me."

"Something clicked between us right away," Aqua went on. "Over the next few weeks, I had to spend time with Xehanort, but afterward, I would go find Terra right away. He even taught me how to wield a Keyblade. I tried teaching myself and failing miserably. We spent so much time together that we…" She giggled lightly.

"We fell in love," Terra finished. He smiled down at Aqua, who returned it with her own dazzling smile.

"On the night of Radiant Garden's summer festival, I was supposed to attend with Xehanort, but I slipped away because Terra had secretly asked me to be his date. Just as the fireworks were being sent up, Terra took me for a ride on his Keyblade Glider. Up in the sky, we shared our first kiss…" She smiled fondly at the memory. "And Terra told me he loved me."

"I knew she was the one for me," Terra added. "Sora, Naminé, I loved your mother so much I was willing to defy the law to be with her. She was engaged to my brother, but I couldn't help it. Love makes people do crazy things." He bit off half a whole piece of bacon and let Aqua continue.

"Neither could I," she said. "But Xehanort found out… and told Terra to stop."

"I just couldn't," Terra said. "I told my brother that I loved Aqua, but he reminded me that she was his bride-to-be. And I couldn't be with her."

"It didn't stop you though, did it?" Naminé asked.

"Not in the slightest," the earth knight replied. "All I did was ask Eraqus to teach Aqua instead. We used to sneak out on secret dates after dinner."

"I remember one time we went to the Fountain Court. We had a late-night picnic."

"We had to sneak out through a secret passage to prevent Xehanort from following us."

"I thought he knew all the secret passages," Sora said.

"He probably does, by now," Terra agreed. "But I happened to know of a few he didn't know about back then."

Sora took this all in stride. Getting to know his real father, that his parents truly loved each other, and that his mother had truly been happy at one time in her life. It was something he was glad to see.

It was also something he'd never seen before, or thought so beautiful. It almost reminded Sora of when he saw Naminé's maid friend Kairi. He blushed when he saw Kairi the same way his parents were while holding onto each other. The shine in his mother's eyes was something he felt his own eyes do when he saw Kairi.

"Can we please get back to the story?" Naminé begged.

"Oh. Right," Aqua said. "Well, our secret meetings continued for about another month or so. Then…"

"Then, what?" Sora asked.

"Well, your mother and I…" Terra tried to say. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

The twins' eyes widened. "Oh…"

"Yeah. That." Aqua blushed awkwardly.

"Well, afterward…" Terra tried to fill the awkward silence, "Xehanort found out and told me I had to leave Aqua because she was his fiancé. We argued. And in the end… he won. I agreed to leave if I could have just one more week with her."

"He obliged… but Terra came and told me what happened between him and Xehanort later that day," Aqua added.

"It broke my heart to say it, and your mother's to hear it," the earth knight added, looking Sora directly in the eye.

Only in that moment did Sora truly notice his eye color was exactly the same as his father's. But he saw unbelievable sadness in them, like he'd never seen before. And all the times he and Naminé had cried meant nothing compared with his parents' sadness.

"At the end of the week, our very last night together, I stayed with Aqua again," Terra continued. "And I tried to leave without her noticing the next morning."

"Nothing gets by me when it comes to you, Terra," Aqua said. A tear rolled down her cheek, and Terra bent down and kissed the trail it left.

"I followed him and tried to beg to go with him," Aqua said, "but he told me to stay. That he would just die if I went with him and that I would be dragged back here. He wasn't going to bring me and put me through life as a fugitive either."

"Xehanort would've hunted us relentlessly," Terra said.

"So, you told Mom to stay because if that had happened, you two would never have had a chance to be reunited," Naminé finished.

Terra nodded. "You're exactly right, Naminé."

He and Aqua reached for their star charm pendants, holding them up to each other. "I made these Wayfinders as a permanent connection between us," the water princess said. "As long as we carried them, we'd be forever connected. And I never took it off."

"I never parted with it," Terra assured her. "And when it really was time for me to leave, I gave Aqua a final kiss and left."

"But he promised that he would love me forever, and I promised the same," Aqua said. "A promise we never broke."

"Right." Terra planted his lips on Aqua's, reveling in her presence, wishing she'd never leave him again.

"So, to end the story, Dad moved out here, and Mom stayed in Radiant Garden, where she had and raised us. That's it?" Sora asked.

"Pretty much," Aqua answered when she and Terra parted. "The only thing you're missing is my several escape attempts."

"Escape attempts?" Terra asked.

"I couldn't stand Xehanort. I wanted to be with you, Terra."

All he could do was smile. Even after his warnings, she still tried to come back to him.

"I finally had to stop trying when Xehanort assigned me to be guarded whenever I left the castle." She paused, playing with her food. "But the main reason I stopped… was because…"

"We were on the way. Right?" Sora asked. He shoved bacon into his mouth.

"Exactly." His mother nodded. "I wasn't going to put babies through the stress of running away. It would've just been hard on you two. So, I stayed to take care of you. I loved you two as much as Terra, not in the same way, romantic love is different from love for your children, but I loved you both."

She sighed half-miserably/half-happily. "Xehanort knew from the instant you were born, Sora, that you were not his son. He knew you were Terra's because you look just like him." She reminisced happily. "I remember that day so well. I cried because you were the proof Terra was the one I loved. You have your father's brown hair and his beautiful blue eyes."

Terra blushed and lifted Aqua's hand to his face and rubbed it against his cheek. "I'm flattered to know I gave you a piece of myself to keep you happy."

"Two pieces!" Naminé corrected. "Sora and I are twins!"

"Strange… the only similarity I see between you two are the blue eyes," Terra observed. "Except, Sora has my eyes and you, Naminé, have your mother's wonderful eyes." Aqua blushed this time.

"There's actually a little twist there…" she confessed.

"Huh?" the twins said simultaneously.

"There's a law… in Radiant Garden… For a married couple, they must sleep together the first night of their marriage."

Sora didn't get it. Naminé's eyes were the size of the platter with the food on it.

"I had to share Xehanort's bed the first night. And… we conceived Naminé." Aqua only looked at Terra as she said it.

"So… I'm really his daughter and Sora is Terra's son?"

Sora and Naminé stared at each other.

"Is that even possible?" they both shouted.

Aqua giggled and took a bite of eggs. "Your grandfather actually discussed the same thing with me a week after you two were born. It is quite possible for a woman to have twins that are also half siblings due to having different fathers. But in the case of you two, you're also cousins."

Sora felt ready to fall over backward in a dead faint, but he stayed focused on the story. Naminé's eyes were bugging out.

All she said was, "That's… weird…"

"Weird but true," Aqua agreed.

"Well, I've only known him one day and Terra seems more like a dad than Xehanort ever did," Naminé confessed.

"He's selfish and cares only about himself," Terra replied. "I don't blame you for feeling like that."

"I still can't technically call you 'Dad' though," the Princess replied sadly.

Terra considered her words. A plan formulated in his mind.

"It's no big deal. You can still just call me by my name."

Naminé smiled sadly. She'd been hoping Terra actually was her father when her mother had confessed earlier. She was just glad to know she was definitely more like her mother than her father.

"You have your mother's face," Terra mused.

"Huh?" Naminé perked up.

"You may have light hair like your father, Naminé, but you have your mother's beautiful eyes and face."

The Princess's cheeks turned really pink.

"You also blush just like she does. Whenever I paid her a compliment, Aqua's cheeks would go all rosy."

At the mention of this, Aqua's cheeks went all rosy.

"Beautiful…" Terra whispered to her. Aqua hugged him tightly, to her best extent due to the fact they were sitting at a table side-by-side.

Sora thought it was strange to be with his mother, father, and twin half-sister/cousin. Despite all the weirdness from earlier, it was one of the most pleasant mornings he'd ever had.

I checked before writing the story. If a woman… well… let's say 'sleeps'… with two different men and conceives a child from both, they can still be considered twins, but they are also half-siblings. Like Sora and Naminé are. Some of you guys thought they were both Terra's, but I specifically chose Naminé because she has light hair and she's also the younger twin. Sora had to be conceived first.

And it's quite interesting that some of you figured out Naminé was Xehanort's rather than Terra's daughter. But I'm wondering why none of you wondered about the twin thing. Can someone explain that? Is that just common knowledge now or something?

Anyway, now you know some real crazy stuff. All planned from the start.