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


The Return of Exposition

Seated at his desk, Eraqus looked from one image to the other, and then back again. Earlier today, he'd run a foreign magic scan on his two deaged apprentices, hoping to find some clue about how exactly the Youth spell functioned. The results that he received were unusual, not matching the wavy form of a Sleep spell, the chaotic spikey image of a Stop spell, or any of the other spells he had archived. But that wasn't to say it was completely different than anything he had ever seen before.

Actually, the results of the scan looked identical to his apprentice's magical cores.

A magical core: a person's internal source of magical energy; the force that allowed keybladers to cast spells, use keyblades and engage in any magical activities. That the scan would take on that form concerned him greatly. Just to be sure, Eraqus shifted through his files and took out the folders on Terra and Aqua. He immediately went to the sections with their yearly magical core scans, and took out the results from their childhood. For a moment, he was relieved because they didn't match.

But then, he realized that was because the foreign magic scans matched those of their adult selves.

He put the papers down, staring at them blankly. How could this be? Had the magic purposely mimicked their cores so that their bodies wouldn't reject it? No, he dismissed that. That would require a sentience magic didn't have. The only other option he could think of was that the Youth spell was attracted to the magical cores and coated its outside, or else intertwined with it or -

And his face went white as it all became clear: the Youth spell had fused with their cores.

No. Wait. That wasn't quite right.

The Youth spell was feeding off their cores.

It had latched on like a parasite, devouring his apprentice's latent magic in order to sustain itself. No wonder then that his apprentices could no longer summon their keyblades; the Youth spell was stealing the magic they needed to do that. All those little questions – why were Terra and Aqua affected so much more severely than the villagers, why did the spell appear to be stronger in Aqua – had answers now. And with all of these conclusions, he reached another one:

The spell, if left to its natural devices, would be permanent.

That wasn't to say that his apprentices couldn't be cured, but the spell would never wear off naturally. So long as Terra and Aqua continued to possess magic –and that would be forever – the spell would continue to affect them. They were stuck in this state, never aging, never growing. At least the spell didn't appear strong enough to reset their memories every day.

He leapt to his feet and left his office to find Xehanort.


"Well, I cannot disagree with you," Xehanort said with a hefty sigh. "It seems logical."

Eraqus asked, "So, how do we fix it?"

Xehanort said, "We must remove the foreign magic forcefully. It's the only way."

Eraqus nodded, and then the two Masters turned to look at the very grumpy Terra sitting on the metal table.

"We'll start with him," Xehanort said. "He will be easier to cure than Aqua."

"Very well, I'll prepare him."

For once in his life, Terra was cooperating. It hadn't been easy. Eraqus had been forced to both threaten and bribe the boy, and Eraqus suspected that the only reason that had worked was because he had told Ventus to speak with Terra beforehand. Whatever Ventus had said, it appeared to have had an effect.

As he had promised, Eraqus readied Terra for the procedure. It was a delicate one and as he reminded Terra over and over again, it was crucial that he remain as still as possible. Terra was incredibly displeased at that, but he didn't argue so it was just possible this would go off without a hitch . . .

The door swung open. "Hiya!" Ventus said as he filed into the room with Aqua.

"Do you need something?" Eraqus asked.

"Nah, I just thought Aqua would be interested in watching. Besides, she'll be a lot more eager to try it herself if she sees Terra do it!"

Eraqus nodded, impressed by Ventus' reasoning. With his approval, Ventus and Aqua took a seat against the opposite wall. Well, Ventus took a seat and then Aqua sat on his lap.

"And we are starting . . . now."

Eraqus pushed a button, and the machinery rumbled to life. It was a delicate procedure they began now, but not a complicated one. Simply put, the device would tear away that foreign layer of magic just as one peeled the skin away from an orange. He had used it on his students in the past, most often after Aqua had tried a new high-level spell on Terra or Ventus and it somehow went wrong. Those cases had been handled easily enough, and it seemed this one would be too.

From the sidelines, Ventus' eyes narrowed.

Terra was quiet, completely still just as Eraqus had asked him to be. Aqua was tugging on Ventus' sleeve, asking questions which the boy quickly shushed. He was watching the proceedings closely, a deep frown growing more pronounced each moment.

"Finally," Eraqus said, "things will return to normal."

Xehanort said, "Yes, it will be a pleasant relief when it does."

Suddenly, the machines began to beep furiously, and on a small monitor 'Extraction Interrupted' flashed in bright red letters.

"Interrupted?" Eraqus echoed. "Terra!"

He spun around, only to find Terra lying flat on the table just as he had been before. It hadn't been him who interrupted the proceedings, but Ventus. He was standing by one of the control panels, face blank, finger still firmly on the 'Abort' button.

"Ventus, what is the meaning of this?"

Ventus ignored him. He approached Terra instead, and gently shook him. "Hey, are you okay?"

Terra didn't say anything. In fact, he didn't do anything.

At that, Eraqus became a little concerned. "It's alright, Terra. You don't have to be still anymore."

Terra still didn't do anything.

Ventus shook him again, then lifted him a little off the table. That appeared to be the trigger point. Terra gasped like a drowning man, writhing violently in Ventus' arms. His pupils were dilated, unfocused, hand clenched tightly over his heart. Without warning, he began to choke.

Eraqus broke into a run. "Terra!"

But Terra's choking fit stopped as suddenly as it began, and by the time Eraqus reached him, he was merely wheezing. He looked up at his Master, looking very small and frightened, and Eraqus turned to Xehanort.

"What in the worlds just happened?" he demanded of Xehanort.

Xehanort scratched his chin. "Hmm, if I had to make a guess, I would say that the Youth spell is more tightly bound to his magical core than we first realized. By attempting to remove the Youth spell the way we did, we were accidentally starting to rip out his magical core."

Eraqus went rigid. Light, what had they almost done?

"We will need to rethink things," Xehanort said.

"Yes, yes," Eraqus mumbled, still in shock. "Ventus, take Terra back to his room, bring him some ice-cream, and . . . Oh, just do whatever he wants."

Ventus nodded soundlessly and with Aqua behind him, carried Terra out of the room.

"Kingdom Hearts," Eraqus murmured, "will this ever end?"

He left the room, mind reeling, and the door shut with Xehanort still inside. Alone, Xehanort stared at the site of the failed experiment. Then, ever so slowly, he smiled.

"It is only a small bit of payback," he said casually, "but it is better than nothing."

And with that cruel grin still upon his face, Xehanort left the room as well.


To make things perfectly clear, Xehanort did know what was happening to Terra. He would have stepped in before they actually ripped out his core, but he had no problems with letting him suffer. Between the pranks and humiliation, he's really starting to lose patience now, and as you can see, it's not a good thing.

Next Chapter: The procedure failed to remove the foreign magic, but it did loosen Terra's control over something else.