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Eyes

"What are you saying, Master?"

"Exactly what you think I mean, Terra: Aqua's irregular behaviour is a result of a reckless release of her darkness!"

At his side, Terra's once-clenched fists fell slack. He was standing in the exact same spot that Aqua had, not long ago, been sitting.

"Her darkness?" Terra repeated hoarsely.

Eraqus could only nod.

Terra shook his head. "No, that's not possible. Aqua's never had that kind of darkness."

I know. Eraqus looked at Terra sadly. Aqua's affinity to light had been one of the reasons he had chosen her, to give a younger Terra could have something to aspire to. To think this darkness had been lurking inside her this entire time, it was almost unthinkable.

How could he have missed it? Better yet, how had this remained under wraps for so long? While nowadays, Terra's darkness rarely reared its head, it had plenty of times when he was young. But Aqua? Never. There had never been a whiff of darkness from her that was beyond the ordinary.

Then again, Aqua had almost been the most mature – most controlled – of the three. Was it possible that she simply held it in all these years?

To Terra, he said, "How else could the darkness had gotten there?"

Left without a counterargument, Terra stomped over to a corner. Arms crossed over his chest, he said, "Do we tell Ven?"

"We must," Eraqus said. "It is not right to leave him ignorant of the danger he lives with."

"Danger?" Terra whipped around. "Whoa, Master, she's not a 'danger'. Sure, she's a little more snappish and angry than usual, but she's still Aqua!"

"An Aqua corrupted by darkness," he warned.

Terra scowled. "If I can get better, so can she."

"I know," Eraqus said. "I just never imagine I would face this with her."

That much was true. He had groomed Aqua to be a defender of the light, and she had taken to it eagerly. To think that she could go against that now . . .

No. He had to remind himself that Terra was right. Just because she was struggling with her darkness did not make her evil. She could get better.

"Okay, and you think Master Xehanort did this, right?" Terra asked.

"I do," he said. "None of this began until his arrival."

Staring out a window, Terra asked, "So where does Vanitas fit in?"

"I don't know." Eraqus rubbed his chin. "Perhaps he had been acting as a scout for Xehanort."

Terra glanced over his shoulder, eyes dark with suspicion. "They knew each other."

"It would explain some aspects of Xehanort's notes," Eraqus admitted. "They indicated that he was familiar with Vanitas."

"The whole thing was a set-up," Terra snarled.

"It appears so."

Terra grimaced slightly, as if suffering a headache. Adding to that illusion, he rubbed his brow. "I guess I should talk to Ven sooner than later. Where is Ven? Actually, where's Aqua, too?"

"They are training together, as of the moment."