Chapter 3: Now and Forever

(A/N: SORRY! I know I'm late again! I had three exams to study for, on top of a bunch of chores that I had been putting off. I think I'm just gonna start trying to post on the weekends, as I have more availability on those days, and thus, more time to work on this. Anyways, this was originally gonna be the chapter that ended the poll, but I decided not to make this one be insanely long, so you still have time to put your votes in! Right now, Aqua holds a universal lead, and I'm glad she does. You guys have made some excellent points and I love the suggestions you give me. We fanfic authors truly are as good as those who review, so make sure ya do so. If you'd rather James go with Terra, or Ventus, leave your vote in the reviews along with any ideas, suggestions, or whatever you want to include. You guys are awesome for being patient with me, and I hope to do better for you guys in the future. Now I'll promptly shut up so you can enjoy the story.)

It was the night before Aqua and Terra would take their Mastery Exams, and James found sleep unmanageable tonight. So instead, he lounged about by his window when he spotted some stray falling stars. He smiled to himself "Don't see this too often. I wanna check it out." He then hops from his bed and makes his way over to the spot that the four of them go to sit and just enjoy each other's company. When he arrived, he spotted Ventus already laying on the grass and enjoying the view. He smirked, "Couldn't resist it either, eh Ven?" He asked as he sat down beside him.

Ventus chuckled, "Yeah. It's just so cool!" He says before looking back up at the stars, "Say Jim. How many worlds have you been to? Aside from this one, obviously." He asked.

Jim raised an eyebrow but answered honestly, "Seven. Why do you ask?" He wonders.

Ventus shrugged, "I've just been so curious what other worlds are like for the longest time." A brief silence passed before Ventus spoke up, "Why does this seem so…familiar?" He asked to no one in particular.

Jim eyed his friend curiously, "Strange… This is the first meteor shower he's seen here, and he has no memories of life before coming here. I wonder, are his memories starting to come back?"

Given how long Ventus has been with them, he knew his theory was somewhat absurd, but he also knew that absurd things always happen to those who wield the Keyblade, so he assumed anything to be possible.

He turned to ask Ventus what he meant, but when he looked at the boy, James discovered that he had fallen asleep. He couldn't resist the slight chuckle and chose to simply stargaze alone, "Maybe it's because my Keyblade is named Starlight, but I always feel calm when I look up at the stars. I wonder why."

A half hour passes and James hears footsteps approaching from behind. He turns and smiles to see that it's Aqua, "Shouldn't you be asleep?" He asked her lightly.

Aqua let out a laugh as she smiled back, "I could say the same to you two. It's getting awful late."

James chuckles, "True, but we don't have the Mark of Mastery Exam tomorrow. So Ven and I can be as lazy as we want." He says before standing up.

The commotion apparently roused Ventus from his sleep. He sat up, but saw nothing around him, so he simply yawned and fell back down to the floor. At this moment, he saw Aqua, kneeling over him with an amused smile on her face.

This startles Ventus back to a sitting up position, "Whoa!" He exclaims, earning a giggle from Aqua. Ventus smiles, "Gimme a break, Aqua."

James smirked, "We could, but where's the fun in that?" He says with a chuckle.

Aqua straightens her standing position, "Ven, you hopeless sleepyhead." She scolds him playfully, "Ya know, you should've at least brought a blanket." She then looks to James, "That goes for both of you!"

James rolls his eyes and gives a half-hearted salute, "Ma'am yes Ma'am." He says sarcastically.

Ventus looked down, seemingly ignoring James' remark, "But- Did I dream that place up?" He mumbled, "It really felt like I'd been there before… looking up at the stars…"

Aqua ruffles his hair, "Except you've always lived here with us." She tells him.

Since he had no memories of life before the Land of Departure, Master Eraqus decided they shouldn't mention that Ventus ever lived elsewhere. The idea didn't quite sit well with James, but he trusted Eraqus' judgement.

He walks over and pats Ventus on the shoulder, "Yeah, but that doesn't mean you won't be up on one of those stars someday. Just gotta be patient, Ven."

Ventus hangs his head slightly, "Yeah…" after a short pause, he looks up to his two friends, "I know." He says with a smile.

The three of them walk over to the edge and sit down. Aqua to the right of Ventus, and James to the right of Aqua. Ventus looks over to his blue haired friend, "Hey Aqua? Y'ever wonder what stars are? Where light comes from?"

James smirked, Ventus often reminded him of many friends he had in his past life at Daybreak Town. All of them curious about the existential part of being a Keyblade wielder.

Aqua looks away, "Hmm…" She then looks up to the sky, "Well they say-."

"That every star up there is another world." Says Terra as he walks up from behind them. The three look to the fourth member of their friend group.

"Terra." Aqua greets warmly.

Terra smiles, "Yep. Hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own."

James nods, "True. But, when you stop to look at them, you come to realize that they're not all that different from one another." He says, "Sure they all have different places and kinds of people. But at the end of the day, they're all the same. And they're all connected together. Even if they don't know it."

Terra moves forward to sit on the left of Ventus, "The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us like a million lanterns."

Ventus looked at Terra, completely lost, "What? I don't get it." He says.

Terra's smile softens slightly, "In other words, they're just like you, Ven." He tells him.

Ventus looks at him, "What does THAT mean?" He asks.

"You'll find out someday, I'm sure." Terra answers.

Ventus began to bicker with Terra about the subject, causing James and Aqua to start laughing. Terra glances over at them, "Hey, what are you two laughing at?" He asks.

Aqua smiles widely, "We can't help it. You two would make the weirdest brothers." She says between laughs.

James launches his shoulder around her, "Well we learned it all from our weird sister." He says, earning him a playful shove from Aqua in return. Meanwhile, Terra and Ventus just look on at the two completely lost as Aqua and James continue laughing. Soon enough, all four of them end up laughing together.

James looks at the three of them, "Aqua's right. We would make a weird family. But I wouldn't have it any other way."

Sometime pass, and the four of them are sitting together, looking up at the stars again. Aqua's eyes suddenly widened, "Oh yeah!" She exclaims, "Terra, you and I have our Mark of Mastery exams tomorrow." She says as she walks back a little way to look at the other three at once, reaching for something in her back pocket, and pulls out four star-shaped charms with a rope hanging off each of them. One blue, another being a light brown, the third one was green, and the final one was purple. "I made us good luck charms." She says with a smile. She passes the brown one to Terra, the green one to Ventus, and the purple one to James.

She looks to James, "Sorry about the color, it was the only one I had left to work with."

James looks at it and smiles, "Don't worry about it. I'll always treasure this…. uh…...this…. thing." He says, causing Aqua to let out a laugh.

Ventus looks at his, "Wow! I get one too?"

Aqua smiles, "Of course. One for each of us." She says as they all hold their charms in front of them while standing in a small circle. Aqua looked back to the stars, "Somewhere out there, there's this tree with star-shaped fruit…" She tells them, "and the fruit represents an unbreakable connection." She turns away and walks forward a few steps, "So as long as you and your friends carry good luck charms shaped like it," she looks at her charm fondly, "nothing can ever drive you apart. You'll always find your way back to each other."

She then turned back to the three, smiling shyly, "Technically, I think you're supposed to make them with seashells," she says a small laugh, "but I did the best with what I had."

Terra rolled his eyes, "Oy, sometimes you are such a girl." He says plainly.

This statement causes James to let out a loud laugh, "Ha! Gee, maybe that's because she IS a girl?" He says rhetorically.

Aqua eyed Terra, "Hey! What do you mean 'sometimes?'" She asks.

As this is happening, Ventus looks down at his charm, "So this isn't a real good luck charm?"

James smiles and places a hand on Ventus' shoulder, "Of course it is, Ven! It takes more than seashells to make something a good luck charm. Besides, as long it's important to you, it'll be lucky enough."

Aqua walks close to her group of friends, "Well, that's yet to be seen. But I did work a little magic on it." She tells them.

Ventus' eyes light up, "Really? What?"

Aqua smiles brightly at him and holds up her charm, "An unbreakable connection." She answers as she holds her charm up to the sky.

James smiles, "I've heard about the story Aqua told us. It says these charms are called Wayfinders. Because they always bring you a friend when you lose your way." He tells them.

Aqua, Ventus and Terra all put their Wayfinders in their pocket, but James puts his around his neck, allowing the charm to hang directly next to his heart, "If I wear it this way, you guys will always be close to my heart!" He says happily.

Terra scoffs, "Ok, I take it back. Jim, sometimes YOU are such a girl." He tells him jokingly, getting a laugh from everyone.

Aqua calms herself down, "Well I think it's kind of sweet. Don't worry, Jim. The three of us got your back. Now and forever." She assures him.

She still, to this day, doesn't truly know what life was like for him before the Land of Departure, but she knows that he developed friend issues because of it. So, she went out of her way to always make sure he knew he could count on any one of them there.

After a brief four-way sparring match, Ven looked at Terra and Aqua, "Trust me. You guys are ready. You're gonna clean up at the exam tomorrow." He says confidently.

James nods, "He's right. This time tomorrow, you'll both be Masters!"

Terra laughs, "I hope it's that easy."

Aqua nodded, "It's like the Master says, power is born within the heart." She tells them, "When the time is right, you just need to look inside yourself, and you'll find it there."

After that, the four of them said their goodnights to one another, and went back to their rooms. James lays atop his bed, clutching the Wayfinder in his hand softly as thinks about how Aqua said they'd always have his back, "You say that now Aqua. But I wonder… when darkness challenges us all. Will we still be a team? Now and forever?"

He glances out his window, "I certainly hope so. I don't want to lose another friend.

(That's it for this chapter! Once again, this is your last chance to get your votes in! Thanks again for being so patient, and I'll see you guys on the next update.)