Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 21- Terra and Aqua's Promise

That night, Terra, Aqua, Hope, and two dozen of Lightning's warriors had stationed two blocks from King Crudelis' castle. Lightning had gone ahead to the castle with Ven, Snow, and Xion to take care of the guards on night patrol duty. Ven had come back ten minutes later to report that the guards were out.

The mission was to keep the guards busy while Lightning, Snow, and Xion went to deal with the king. Then, everyone would proceed down to the room with the Heartless, lead by Terra and Ven, to eliminate the Heartless army.

Although Hope and Xion's original plan had been different, Lightning had modified some slight procedures due to the guards around the castle.

Everyone had been forced to dress in black clothes. Some people had to wear head coverings too, Ven and Aqua included. But Aqua was forced to wear a bandana to cover the lower half of her face. The king wanted her captured and she would not risk being caught since every guard in the castle knew what she looked like.

She wouldn't give into the king no matter what, however. Aqua had vowed this to Terra as they were preparing for the mission.

-Flashback-

Two hours ago, everyone had been suiting up for battle just before Lightning gave out the final orders. Lightning had given Aqua some of her black clothes since they were about the same size.

She'd pulled the clothes on over her own to avoid taking too long. She just tucked her long blue sashes into her pants to avoid them hanging out. When she was fully dressed, she thought she looked like a ninja.

"Aqua?" Terra called from outside their tent. Instead of sharing the tent with Ven, Terra now shared it with Aqua and Ven took the tent originally meant for Aqua. He'd done this in favor of Terra and Aqua's newly confessed feelings for each other.

"I'm dressed," Aqua said. Terra walked in, also dressed in his black garb. "And also, I'm wearing my clothes underneath. You didn't have to stay outside."

"I didn't know you would be keeping your clothes on under that," Terra said.

"Oh," Aqua said. She mentally slapped her forehead.

"You ready for this?" he asked.

"As I'll ever be," she answered.

Terra approached her and opened his arms to embrace her, which she gratefully accepted. Terra lowered the hood Aqua was wearing to hide her hair. Resting his hand on Aqua's head, he fiddled with the ends of her short hair. Aqua rubbed her hands across Terra's back. It felt soothing to his nerves, which had been acting up ever since they'd decided that he would be the leader of everyone going to the Heartless chamber. It was a big responsibility.

"You're nervous," Aqua observed.

"Not really," Terra flatly stated. "Just irritable."

"Because of the king?"

"Yeah. After what he almost did to you and how I reacted…" His gaze fell to his feet.

"Hey," Aqua lifted his face and eyes to hold her gaze. "That's in the past. And I don't mind how you acted. You were just upset."

"Well, I'm glad to know how you feel," Terra said. He stroked Aqua's face before pulling her close to kiss her. Both became unwilling to break apart, but they had to breathe eventually. Plus, Ven had just ducked his head in the tent.

"Uh…" he said. Terra and Aqua broke apart immediately.

"What?" Terra asked.

"Lightning's about to give the mission briefing," Ven said. "Come on." He ducked his head out again. And by the sound of it, he'd bolted.

"We should go," Aqua said as she walked to the entrance. She didn't expect Terra's hand to grab her and pull her back into his strong embrace. "Terra…?"

"Aqua… I just need to know…" Terra started.

"Terra…?" She pulled away to look into his eyes. But Terra didn't completely let go. She was still in his arms.

"Please tell me… that you really love me," Terra begged.

"What?"

"I need to know, Aqua," Terra said.

"I do, but…"

"I mean because of what the king did to you and what he might do if this mission fails and he captures you." He looked about ready to cry, something Aqua had never seen Terra do in all the time they'd known each other.

"Why so sudden?"

"What if the Heartless kills one of us, or both?" Terra said. "Besides, if I'm captured, the king will kill me. If he captures you… forces you to…"

"I'll never do what he says, Terra," Aqua said. "My heart belongs to you. I promise that I love only you. And I'll never love anyone else for as long as I live. I want you."

Terra was silent for a moment. "Thank you," he murmured at last. He pulled Aqua close to him to kiss her again. Aqua put her hands to Terra's face and rubbed her thumbs against it. Terra totally wrapped his arms around his beloved.

"HEY!" Ven shouted. "Guys, get out here!" Terra was the one to pull away first.

"Coming," he called. Aqua pouted, the same pout he'd always loved. "Want more?" he teased.

"Can we do it later?" Aqua asked.

"You got it," Terra replied with a teasing grin. Aqua returned the grin and poked Terra's nose.

Then they headed outside to hear Lightning's briefing for the mission.

-End Flashback-

Terra led the group through the castle. He'd gone ahead with Aqua, Hope, and two other men to get to the Heartless chamber first. Two other groups had divided to take care of the guards while Lightning's group went after Crudelis.

"This way," he whispered. Aqua crept up behind him as Terra opened the path with the tapestry that concealed the Heartless chamber hallway.

"Guys, wait!" a voice whispered. Ven and Snow had returned. Snow was out of breath however, Ven must have run all the way here and Snow hadn't kept up very well.

"What is it?" Aqua asked.

"The king… wasn't in his room!" Snow huffed.

"He might be in the room with the Heartless," Ven said. He wasn't tired from running in the least.

"Then, we'll just take him out while we're at it," Terra said. "Push him into the pit of Heartless."

"Gotta say, I like your thinking, Terra," Snow said. Terra smirked.

After opening the door to the Heartless room, everyone crept up to the balcony's edge. The Heartless swarmed around eerily in the dark. Their yellow eyes glowed with hunger for the hearts of people.

"Ready to go to work?" Terra asked.

"Anytime," Aqua said as she summoned Rain Fall.

"Alright, everyone. Attack!" Terra commanded as he summoned Earth Shaker.

Everyone jumped off the balcony and charged at the Heartless. Terra caused small tremors every time his Keyblade hit the ground and he took out massive amounts of Heartless in minutes. Aqua whirled and spun as she cast magic on many Heartless and they turned into nothing. Ven darted around like a speed demon in a big rush. He sliced through Heartless with little effort.

Other warriors relied on their special weapons. Hope flung his boomerang around and cut through five Heartless with one pass of it. When it returned, it sliced through six more Heartless. Snow took on Heartless using only his fists. He'd told Terra earlier that his vest was magic and fueled his strength to pummel enemies. Whatever magic it was, it was working wonders as Snow beat two Heartless into submission, one with each fist.

"They just keep coming!" Terra said as he, Aqua, and Ven met in the middle. His words were true. There were just so many Heartless, but only twenty or so warriors. Lightning, Xion, and their other two scouts hadn't joined them yet.

"How do we stop them all?" Aqua asked. They all jumped at the Heartless again and came back to the middle. Aqua cast a Reflect barrier around them to stall the Heartless. The Heartless that attacked proceeded to get destroyed as they hit the magic barrier.

"Why not that powerful move Master Eraqus taught us?" Ven offered. "Trinity?"

"That move is pretty powerful," Terra said. "And the Power of Light should be able to defeat them all."

"But we've never successfully done it," Aqua reminded them. It was true, they'd had a lot of trouble performing the Trinity spell properly. They'd all been backfired on at least twice each. They'd currently lost track.

"Well, it might be our only chance," Ven said.

"Too bad you three will never get to try it," a voice said. A dark blast hit the Reflect barrier and it shattered.

Once the sparks from the barrier had disappeared, the trio turned to see none other than King Crudelis. His hand was smoking with dark energy and he had a samurai sword held in his other hand. And he was staring murderously at Terra.

I couldn't think of much for this chapter. It was meant to have that moment for Terra and Aqua as the flashback and for the gang to get in the castle. Wait for the main action next chapter.