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Tutoring

From the castle's front doorway, Eraqus watched his apprentices train. Well, training was a bit of an exaggeration; it would have been more accurate to say he watched Ventus sit there and defend himself as Terra and Aqua took turns swinging at him. The younger children were sweating, while Ventus – the one actually being attacked – was perfectly cool, but they all wore identical grins. Regardless of the age of those involved, the sight warmed Eraqus' heart.

That's why he said his next words to Xehanort with great reluctance, like a boy who had to admit that his favourite novel wasn't really that good.

"I am not comfortable with your proposal, Xehanort," Eraqus said.

Standing next to him, Xehanort hardly stirred. "It has to be done, Eraqus. You certainly have no experience with the darkness; thus it must fall upon myself to teach him."

"Yes, but so soon? He has only just discovered his darkness."

Xehanort looked sideways at him. "I thought you had handled your prejudice towards the darkness."

Eraqus cringed. "I am trying," he protested, "but some things do not go away that easily."

Xehanort grunted. "It is better to start young," he said, thinking of something entirely different than his colleague.

Eraqus wilted like a flower. "I'll talk to him."

"You want me to train with Xehanort?" Terra asked sceptically.

"Master Xehanort."

Terra shrugged at the correction. "Why?"

Eraqus said, "Well Terra, this it about your . . . err . . . darkness."

There, he had said it: that one topic that had been subjected to an unspoken taboo. Terra quickly adopted a poker face, one that almost perfectly matched the one on his Master.

"My darkness?" Terra repeated.

"Yes, you need to be trained with it and well, I can't do that for you. . ."

"With Xehanort?"

Eraqus frowned. "Is something wrong?"

Terra looked around carefully, and then hissed, "He's lazy!"

Eraqus slapped his forehead. "Terra, Xehanort is not lazy."

"I don't want to train with Xehanort." Terra stomped his foot, scowling. "Why can't I train with someone else?"

"And just who do you have in mind?"

Terra thought it over for a minute or so, and then he smiled.

"I don't recall agreeing to this!"

"Shush, Vanitas," Xehanort said, as they made their way through the castle to the indoor training area. "This is a fabulous opportunity; I could not care less whether or not you volunteered. Just remember that-"

"Yes, I know. Push Terra towards darkness, blah, blah, blah."

"Exactly."

Growling, Vanitas slunk behind his Master. He was going to have to teach Terra, one-on-one, about darkness. Great. Fantastic. It's not like there was anything else he'd rather be doing with his time.

He stalled at the threshold, so that Xehanort eventually settled on just pushing him inside and then closing the door. That left Vanitas alone with Terra, who was looking at him brightly. Yes, not even a second in and already Vanitas was having his reserves.

"Alright twerp," he said. "Let's get this over with."

Terra looked at him, then down at his hands. "What do I do?"

"Well, summon the darkness, stupid."

"But I don't know how!" Terra whined.

Vanitas muttered curses under his breath and kicked the wall. Seriously? Seriously? "It's like using magic . . ."

"But I can't use magic!"

"Okay!" Vanitas snapped. "Sit down!"

Terra did so, his blue eyes wide and terrifyingly eager.

"Where to start . . .?" Vanitas scratched his chin, staring at a point just above Terra's head. He needed to push Terra into darkness, which meant playing with the kid's emotions. "Well, darkness is powered by negative feelings, so start getting angry."

"But I'm not angry at you," Terra said, as if that made it impossible to obey Vanitas' instructions.

"Then start thinking of things that make you angry," Vanitas ordered.

When Terra continued to stare at him blankly, Vanitas said, "You like your friends, Aqua and Ventus, right?"

"Yeah, and Master, too!"

An idea formed. Vanitas backed towards the door, holding a hand out to stop Terra from following. "I'll be back. Stay here."

Vanitas left, and then returned with Ventus in tow.

"So, what exactly did you want me to do?" Ventus asked.

"Just act like you're in pain," Vanitas whispered. In a louder voice, he said, "Hey Terra, look!"

With that, he wrenched Ventus' arm behind his back, twisting it enough to make it uncomfortable, but stopping before it actually hurt him. Ventus was quiet for a second, and then he began shouting in exaggerated, faked pain. Terra's mouth dropped open, and the boy had leapt to his feet, on the brink of charging.

"Take that!" Vanitas cried, and he began swatting Ventus in the head.

"Stop it!" Terra screamed. He grabbed Vanitas' arm, trying to pull it away from Ventus.

Vanitas just smirked. He let go of Ventus and wound his arm around his other half's neck instead. "I'm going to strangle you," he threatened.

He felt Ventus shake as he tried not to laugh. "Oh no, don't strangle me!"

As he continued to manhandle Ventus, Terra grew more and more frantic. Soon enough, tiny fists were beating at Vanitas' back, to which he responded by shoving Terra backwards against the wall.

"Hey, go easy on him," Ventus whispered.

Vanitas scoffed.

He felt it a second before it happened, as a cold draft against his neck. Pushing Ventus aside, Vanitas dove to the ground, Terra's darkness grazing the top of his head. He turned. Terra was standing there, breathing heavily, darkness in his aura, but his eyes still blue.

"Great, so we've figured out this part," Vanitas said. "Ventus, you can go now."

Ventus nodded, but Terra hadn't quite figured out what was going on. He growled, and it was no puppy's growl, but a wolf's snarl. Vanitas, unsure, merely stared, and Terra zeroed in on his hesitation. He sprung, his dark aura expanding wildly.

Ventus stepped in front of Vanitas, arms held out wide. "Whoa, Terra!"

The sight of Ventus stopped Terra short and he stood there, trying to peer around the older boy at Vanitas.

"It's okay, Terra," Ventus said. "We were just pretending."

"Pretending?" Terra croaked.

"Uh-huh. Vanitas didn't hurt me."

Terra backed down, and his darkness began to die.

"No!" Vanitas pushed Ventus aside again. "We're trying to keep the darkness around, not get rid of it again."

Ventus said, "Let me handle this."

Ventus approached Terra, and put his hands on Terra's shoulders. "You don't like it when Aqua or me get hurt, do you?"

Terra shook his head.

"So, you summoned the darkness to protect me . . . just focus on that, okay?" He leaned down, looking straight into Terra's eyes. "When you need to use the darkness, just think of us, think about protecting us."

Love rose from them, filling the room with its sticky touch. The only one that remained unaffected was Vanitas, but still, the warmth of emotions plaguing the other two lapped at his skin, burning it. From his position on the sidelines, Vanitas watched, something bitter making itself known inside him. Those two . . . nay, all three of Eraqus' apprentices, they were so ridiculously attached to each other. It was unhealthy really, the dependency they shared.

And yet, if that was true, then why did he . . .?

He choked back the thought, unable to complete it. Instead, he spun Ventus around and then shoved him towards the door.

"Thanks, now go."

Ventus looked back at him. "Vanitas, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he said curtly. "Now go."

He kicked the door shut in Ventus' face, and then clapped his hands together. "Alright Terra, let's get down to business."

Terra was a surprisingly quick learner. Not as quick as Vanitas had been – of course- but still quicker than he had expected. By dinnertime, Terra was no means an expert, but he could manipulate the darkness enough to make it appear and disappear on will. His eyes too, had remained blue so far instead of going yellow, which struck Vanitas as unusual.

"Vanitas, look!"

Terra was playing with a sphere of darkness, which he bounced from palm to palm. Then, and Vanitas wasn't sure if this was entirely intentional, the sphere morphed into a rippling ribbon that circled around Terra's head like a halo. The boy shrieked in delight, trying to grab it. The darkness slipped between his fingers, but that didn't dampened his spirits any.

"Looks like you got a handle on things," Vanitas said. "Let's call it quits for today."

"Okay! Thanks Vanitas, you're the best!"

Vanitas blinked. "The best, huh."

"Yeah, the best!"

He stared at Terra, not knowing how to respond. Something, some small seed in his chest spouted, and whatever it was, it was . . . warm.

But then that wilted again when he remembered why he was doing this.

"Don't say that," Vanitas muttered.

"But it's true!"

"No!" He whirled around, eyes blazing. In a quieter voice, he said, "No. Don't say that."

Vanitas walked out of the room, isolating himself with his thoughts.

Next Chapter: Bedtime stories!