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

This chapter is inspired by a conversation I had with Skittymon

Like Father, Like Son

Ven stared at Terra. "You're what?!"

"I'm running away!" Terra announced, "And I'm never coming back!"

"B-but why? Why would you do this?" Ven pulled at his hair, nearly tearing it out of his scalp. "You can't run away!"

"But I'm gonna, and you can't stop me!"

With that said and done, Terra ran for the castle's doors. This time however, Ven, fuelled by his horror, flung himself at Terra, tackling him around his midsection. Their landing was not particularly gentle; Terra yelped in pain and surprise, and Ven's elbows smashed into the ground.

Terra recovered first, writhing underneath Ven's bulk. "Get off!" he demanded. He growled adorably, like a puppy in the middle of a game of tug-of-war.

"Not until you change your mind," Ven said, although he did shift his position as not to suffocate Terra.

"I'm not changing my mind!" Terra howled. "You can't make me!"

Ven patted his head. "Well, then you're not going anywhere."

"I'll . . ." Terra went still, thinking. "I'll use my darkness to get you off!"

"What?"

Oh no. OH no. That was the last thing either of them had wanted Eraqus to hear. The old Master towered over them, eyes wide with shock.

"Terra," he growled, "the darkness is not to be used to hurt people!"

Terra said nothing, but he inched backwards, trying to hide underneath Ven's chest.

The tension rose. Eraqus' face was stormy, like the clouds before the thunder broke. Ven bunched his legs underneath him, ready to spring to his feet should things veer downhill.

With a deep breath though, Eraqus seemed to win control over his emotions again. The suppressed anger Ven had seen there before was replaced by indifference, and Eraqus' voice gave nothing away as he said, "Now, what exactly is going on here?"

Ven said, "Terra, he wants to . . ."

Terra chose that moment to speak. "I'm running away!"

"Is that so?" Eraqus asked. He leaned down and ruffled Terra's hair. "Well, then I wish you safe travels."

And Ven stared up at him with shock. "Master! What are you doing?"

"Let him up, Ventus," Eraqus said.

Reluctantly, Ven did so, and Terra ran off again, shoving his way through the doors to the outside. Eraqus watched this casually, turning away afterwards.

"Master, shouldn't we go after him?" Ven demanded.

Eraqus waved him off. "Oh, no. He'll be fine. Now, what shall we have for dinner?"

Eraqus sounded confident, but Ven couldn't trust that. "I'm going after him!" Ven said.

Eraqus sighed. "Very well. Check the river to the east. If he isn't in the water, he's perched atop the boulder overlooking it."

"How do you know that?"

"Because," Eraqus smiled fondly, "that's where he always goes."

Standing on the bank of the river, looking across the water at Terra who was trying to sharpen a spear against a large stone, Ven scratched his head and said, "So, want to come home now?"

"Nope!"

"Are you sure, Terra?" He took a step forwards. "I mean it's almost dinner, and I'm sure you must be hungry . . ."

"I'm going to live off the land!" Terra said. He thrust his dull spear into the air. "I'm going to catch fish, and cook them, and then I'm going to build myself a house and it will be bigger and better than the Master's."

"Riiight."

Terra scowled. "You'll see," he muttered.

Ven sighed, and then dropped down to his knees. "Look, Terra," he said gently, "living on your own isn't easy. I mean I'm older than you and I'm still leaving with the Master."

"That's because you're not as great as me," Terra said.

"Am too!"

"No, you aren't." Terra shook his head, a wise air surrounding him. "You're not brave enough to run away."

Must remain calm . . . "Terra, you can't live by yourself," Ven insisted. "Who's going to take care of you when you're sick or something?"

"I will!" Terra said. "I'm going to live off the land like the Master."

"Terra, Master doesn't live off the land."

"Yeah." Terra leaned forwards, voice dropping as if he was telling a secret. ""That's because he's old. He used to, and now I'm going to do it, too!"

"Master used to–?"

"I SEE A FISH!"

A great plume of white spray rose up into the air. Ven only had time to think 'Oh crap', before he was drenched. Clothes dripping, spikes almost lying flat, Ven glared at Terra, who was standing in the middle of the waist-high river, holding his spear slack.

"It got away," Terra said unnecessarily.

Ven shook himself, dropletss of water flying in every direction. "Come inside when you're done," he said, leaving Terra to go find some dry clothes.

Eraqus blinked, looking at his soaked apprentice. "You went swimming in your clothes?"

"No," Ven said, standing on the front steps as he squeezed out his shirt. "Terra splashed me."

Eraqus smiled. "Ah, yes. Was he spearfishing?"

"Yeah, he was . . . How did you know?"

Eraqus waved him inside, and then started to speak. "I'm afraid this is my fault, Ventus. When I was younger, my parents taught me much about surviving in the wilderness. Consequently, when I was upset, I was perfectly capable of running into the woods and surviving there with a few friends. I used to tell Terra about those times, and he fell in love with those stories. Sometimes, he becomes determined to live them out."

"But for how long?"

"He'll be back before tomorrow morning," Eraqus said. "He always is."

Ven bit his lip, looking down at the ground uncertainly. "But how do you know he will this time?"

"Because we're here. And Aqua's here too, of course. I dare say that's a significant factor . . ."

The front door creaked open. A beat passed, and then a head poked inside, carefully looking around. With timid steps, Terra made his way into the castle, shutting the door carefully behind him.

He prowled about like a cat, hunched over, on all fours whenever he peered around a corner. So far, so good. With increased confidence, Terra moved a little faster, a little louder. The slapping of his shoes against the floor echoed like the ticking of a clock.

He rolled into the kitchen like a ninja, his eyes locking onto the fridge after. Licking his lips with anticipation, Terra opened it and sought out the leftovers from today's dinner. There was part of a roast left and some vegetables, but he only really cared about the roast. He grabbed it, intending to take it back with him . . .

He turned and found himself facing his Master.

"Hi?" Terra said.

Arms crossed, Eraqus raised his eyebrows. "I don't believe that's yours, Terra."

Pouting, Terra handed the roast over, and Eraqus put it back in the fridge.

"I suppose your plans to eat fish were not a success. Have you ever fished before?" Eraqus asked.

"Yeah, of course I have . . . "

"Have you ever caught anything?"

Terra blushed and shook his head.

"Well then," Eraqus said, grabbing Terra's hand, "that certainly won't do. We can't have my apprentice starve now, can we?"

Terra looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Simple. We're going to go catch your dinner."

The next morning, Ven nearly had a heart attack when Terra's bed was empty. He ran through the halls shrieking for his Master (waking a very grumpy Xehanort in the process), and burst into Eraqus' bedroom to find it empty. Internally, he checked things off: Terra was missing, Eraqus was missing . . .

Surely, this meant some catastrophe had happened.

Ven ran into Aqua's room, snatched her up and them deposited her on top of a (formerly) sleeping Vanitas, telling her to stick with him. Then he hammered on Xehanort's door, forcing the old Master to hobble over to answer it, where he was then blasted with the full extent of wild energy that was Ven in a panic. After he finished freaking out, Ven left the stupefied Master behind and exploded out of the castle, racing for the river where he had seen Terra last.

Hey, that tent hadn't been there before.

Ven looked inside. Terra was there, and Eraqus. The two were in the same sleeping bag, asleep in their day clothes, Terra curled into Eraqus' chest. As he watched, Terra murmured sleepily and snuggled closer to his Master. Ven smiled; it was so cute! And he just happened to know that Vanitas had brought a camera with him. . .

He straightened up, intending to retrieve the camera from the castle. However, when he spun around, he found himself facing two very annoyed people.

He looked from Xehanort to Vanitas, and then hesitantly said, "Uh, false alarm?"

Next Chapter: If Terra's going to use the darkness, first he needs someone to teach him how . . .