Aqua hates being sick. Hates the ache that threatens her limbs, the rips in her core when she coughs, how her lips burn when she licks them, how stuffy her eyes are, how hard it is to breathe, the headache that keeps coming back, the nausea in the pit of her esophagus, the feverish suspicion that she's going to be stuck in bed for some time
She's aware that she's not really sick - she's been poisoned by a Heartless' darkness, but it sucks all the same.
A giant teddy bear sits by her side on the queen-sized bed, and Aqua likes the feeling of snuggling with it. Duchess purrs, taking her spot on the bed right by Aqua's hip. Her kittens still chase each other around despite the hour, and it sounds more chaotic than it probably is.
Terra's music box slows to a crawl before it stops its song. Aqua rolls over, a throbbing ache in her abdomen making her sluggish. Her arms protest her reaching out to wind it up again, and then she lovingly places it back down, right by his glossy orange Wayfinder. The ghostly song begins its trek down memory lane again - Aqua has played it so many times tonight that she's starting to memorize all the notes.
That's the worst part about being under - she's bored.
Aqua reaches behind the music box to grab the vial of elixir, and sits up to take another gulp. There is laughter deep in the streets down below, and drunken hollers. It's been more than two hours since the fight with Kefka has ended but there's plenty of energy left in the night to celebrate. One of the kittens (the orange one, Tolouse is his name, Aqua thinks) paws at her fingers.
"Terra," she says out loud as she glances at his Wayfinder, "I can't sleep. I'm scared I forgot how."
Speaking dries out her throat and she deteriorates into another coughing fit. She glances at her clock: two in the morning.
She stops herself from sighing out of fear she'll cough again and drags her legs out of bed. Taking a blanket to wrap her shoulders, she peeks outside her hotel room - the hallway is warmly lit, dimmer than she expected but that's probably to make visitors comfortable.
Aqua doesn't know what she's looking for, but she probably won't sleep without exhaustion and it's taking too long to overcome her. Screw this.
She steps out and the cats follow her. In one simple hallway, there's only two directions to go. At first she turns left, but it's dark - really dark, as though the burgundy carpet has disappeared into the black. The lights at the end have gone out. Knowing the layout of this floor, this way should lead to the stairs. The cats don't seem to be alarmed by anything that might lurk, but…
Aqua will not take it.
There's a flutter of sound in the opposite direction, where the lights will lead her to the elevator. It's soft and unassuming, and it's coming from Sora's room. Aqua plants her ear to his door and smiles. He's snoring.
Good on him to do the right thing and sleep to build his defenses against the poison.
She follows the lights to the elevator. The doors are like a birdcage, twisting into a beautiful pattern, and they break apart seamlessly when she calls for it. Stepping inside and the cats skitter along, the cage is loud when it closes, and down they go. Slowly, lights flicker through the bars with every floor she passes by. It makes it hard for her to see the walls beyond, and in a sick moment she feels trapped.
The doors creak when they open, and Aqua realizes she's been fighting with her breath ever since she refused the dark upper hallway.
Halls down here are vacant, peaceful in comparison to just a few hours ago, and tired, with only a random person walking by. Sparks of rainbow burst outside the windows - some teenagers are lighting firecrackers and laughing. A bar across the street is packed with drunken cheer, and someone has a loud stereo playing music, groups dancing joyously to it.
A shiver runs up Aqua's spine - it's a terrible idea to walk around out this ill. Her knees feel weak and her head bobs to dizziness, but on she goes, not tired enough to go back. As long as she doesn't push herself, she won't get worse. At least that's what she reasons.
The dining room. It's empty, save for a few lights behind an abandoned bar - as if staying in the hotel is a prison right now, a reminder of darker days.
Oh, she only thought it was empty.
Lea sits on his own holding a mug, steam floating from it. He catches sight of her, and whistles out of shock.
"You gotta be a cyborg," he smirks. "Walking around like you're not dying. You look terrible."
"I don't feel too bad." That has to be the biggest lie she's ever told.
He tsks, scratching his nose and rubbing his chin. "Now I'm convinced. Cyborg."
She stands still, fidgeting with her blanket. Finding something to say is awkward, given how bluntly she brushed him off earlier. "What are you drinking?"
"Tea." He smiles. "Made by a certain lovestruck Keyblade wielder and filled to the brim with all his ooey-gooey feels. Famous around here. But for some reason…" He taps the mug with a finger.
"It doesn't taste as special as they say it does," he continues.
That's because Terra isn't the one brewing it.
Aqua chooses to ignore the word lovestruck . "Is there any left?"
"Sure, a whole closet."
This confuses Aqua, but Lea stands up, gesturing her to follow him to the kitchen.
It's dark though, and Aqua refuses to take a closer step until he turns on the lights.
Unlike the warm colors of burgundy carpeting and the tint of dark wood from the dining room, the kitchen is cold in the whiteness of its tile and the silver of its steel appliances.
At the other end is a door to a walk-in storage room. Also too dark.
She only gets closer to take a peek when Lea switches its only light on, just a spare lightbulb with a long pullstring
"Come in," he says. "I only bite when I want to.
Inside is what's to be expected: sacks of rice, cans of food... then there are the shelves.
A whole wall of them, all carefully labeled in drawers of different teas.
All in Terra's scratchy handwriting.
Many Aqua recognizes, brews that he's made for her and the Master (Ven hates tea). Some with dried fruits, others with flower petals, most of them herbal. Some designed for a good drink, others medicinal. There are drawers with separated ingredients to let people custom-make their own, and drawers with pre-made mixes.
Pinned to the wall next to them are instructions and suggestions, again in Terra's scrawls:
Eucalyptus - for colds and coughs
Peppermint - to feel peppy
Ginger - best for headaches
Chamomile - to relax
Lavender - also to relax, tastes much better than chamomile
Fennel seeds - for easier breathing
Raspberries and blueberries - makes anything taste good
Mugwort - to get rid of toxins, smells bad
Rosemary - to protect memory and the heart
Sleeping weed - tasteless, causes lucid dreaming
Dragon's root - for psychosis, very pungent
Aqua traces her fingers over his writing, feeling how deeply he grooved the pen into the page. The pages are pristine. He must have written this maybe yesterday, at most two days ago, all for the people in Traverse Town, right before he left to find her.
Funny how the strongest barrier between them is time.
Lea clears his throat, filling a small bag with sleeping weed. "What'll it be?"
Aqua reads through the drawers again - Terra's ginger brew, which is his go-to whenever any of them fell sick. She chooses that one, taking a small bag and a scoop for herself.
"Fine choice," Lea says and snatches the bag out of her hand once it's filled.
"I can take care of myself." She reaches for the bag but he keeps it at a good distance. He's ridiculously tall.
"Sure," he says, one foot out the door already. "And cats dance."
Like she's replying, Duchess meows.
Lea takes the brew to the kitchen, pulling out a teapot, and he begins boiling. Aqua only has a hazy memory of Terra's magic when making tea, but she's pretty sure Lea isn't an expert. It's not just the mix: there's precise timing to it, how long to boil what ingredient and to specific temperatures in order to bring out the best.
Either way, Lea prepares a hot mug for her, and opens the door for her back to the dining room, leaving a plate of meat for Duchess and her kittens by the bar area. He still has the bag of sleeping weed in his hand. If he's up this late, he's probably sleeping terribly too.
Aqua sits not in front of Lea, but across the table from him.
The tea tastes good. Maybe not as good as she remembers it, but Aqua's not sure since the last time Terra brewed for her was twelve years ago. The ginger bites but it soothes, cooling down her throat. It's all psychological, but tasting such a strong kick in her mouth immediately makes her feel better.
Lea… slurps his tea. Loudly, too
She shoots him a look, her mug barely to her lips before she silently takes a sip - like she's setting an example.
Lea eyes her. He understands. He slurps loudly again.
She sets her mug down. "Do you mind?"
"Yes." He's enjoying himself too much.
She rolls her eyes.
"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" he asks.
She takes another sip.
"You really should," he continues.
"I know."
"You should have this." Ah, so the sleeping weed is for her.
"… No, thank you."
"Doesn't matter how much of a dosage, it's not harmful."
"… How do you know that?
Lea eyes his fingers, a smug smile on his face. "From a previous profession, you could say."
Aqua doesn't know if that should intimidate her. She says nothing.
He continues, "But poison is fatal."
Like he's a mother reminding a child. "I'll go to sleep," Aqua says, letting the annoyance in her voice to seep out. "Eventually. I just needed something to drink.
Lea spins circles on his mug with his finger, nodding. His eyes scan the table, drifting off into the carpet, and he silently sips. This conversation is just as awkward for him, and for a while, they drink in silence.
"You know," Lea says shakily, like he's suddenly scared. "I'm sorry."
Aqua stops mid-sip. "For what?"
He scoffs, a nervous smile betraying him and he rubs the back of his neck before digging his finger into that giant red mane of his to scratch his scalp. "Terra… You know, I'm the only one he told."
She doesn't get it, but she lets him continue.
"He asked me not to say anything to anybody, and didn't let me join him. He wanted to find you on his own... Duty and whatever other stupid, stupid reasons he told himself to justify going into the Realm of Darkness alone. And I'm stupid for letting him."
Aqua sighs, a small smile on her lips. Tears burn more than usual because her eyes aren't well enough for them, and she blinks them back. "That's Terra," she says.
"Pfft."
"Determined."
"Rock-headed."
"Dedicated."
"Delusional."
Aqua grins more, remembering how awfully late into the hours Terra would train when he felt inadequate, even though he knew his body wouldn't catch up overnight.
This encourages Lea. "So you can smile after all."
Sheepish, Aqua grabs the mug with both hands. "Maybe I'm not a cyborg after all."
"I'll be the judge of that." Lea turns his shoulders to face her, getting more comfortable in his seat. "What's your plan? Are you going back to get him?"
She nods slowly. That is indeed the plan, and this time she doesn't plan on staying in the Realm of Darkness for long (a nag in the back of her mind expects that she will, and they'll both be trapped together).
"You're brave," Lea says, and Aqua has the suspicion that he's normally not this direct with people. "Do you have an idea of what it takes to get there?"
Her smile falls. A Door to Darkness. A large gaping hole made with the blackest magic. A world may have to fall to make it happen. But if Terra can prevent it, so can she. "Yeah." Yet she doesn't even have an idea where to find one. "I'll wake up Ven first, then we'll get him back together. Once that happens, there's someone else I need to find."
"Oh really?" Lea takes another slurp. This one he makes sure is obnoxious. "Who?"
"A friend I made in the darkness." Aqua finds herself turning shoulders as well, hesitant to say more. If she's going to search, she'll need any clue she could find. "He suddenly disappeared and I'm worried. His name is Xemnas."
Lea spits tea back into his mug, splashing it on his fingers. "Excuse me?"
Aqua blinks. "Xemnas. That's his name."
A finger in his mouth to lick the tea off, he slips it out with a pop, his eyebrows almost to his hairline. "Really."
"You know him." What luck. She leans forward, a hand on the table. "Any idea what might have happened to him?"
Lea glances at her, twice. He shrugs too slowly like he has molasses on his shoulders, taking a mug to his lips as an excuse not to talk.
Aqua leans back, feeling like they're talking about something taboo. "You don't get along with him?"
He scoffs, hiding a grimace behind a smile - he's really good at acting but it's like he's tired of it. "The day I get along with Xemnas is the day I grow a third leg and use it to kick myself in the nuts."
She supposes not everyone can get along - Xemnas is definitely of the peculiar kind of people, and she can't imagine that Lea would belong. Even Aqua never expected to befriend Xemnas this closely if it weren't for the fact that she needed him. Xemnas always gave her the impression that he demanded the finer things in life, and she imagined him wearing expensive suits and capes, in some palace far away hosting extravagant balls and holding intense political courts.
Still, he was there for her. It's a relief alone to learn that he was a real person and not a figment of her imagination. "He's my friend, and I..."
Lea pinches his eyes and lets them go in guilt. "Don't bat an eyelash, he's somewhere out there."
Ignoring his tea to the point that it could get cold, Lea keeps finding something to say and then stopping himself from saying it. No word is good enough.
"Come on," he implores, grabbing the bag of sleeping weed and leaving the table.
"To where?"
"You're going on an adventure to save three people." He lifts his fingers to illustrate. "There's going to be a lot of terrible things you'll learn along the way. You're of no use to any them the way you are, and I'm not falling for any excuse you give me. You need rest, and you're smart enough to know this and I'm sure you hate knowing it but… whatever, boo-hoo for you. You're going to sleep."
Aqua stammers, and he doesn't let her talk: "The sooner you get better, the sooner you can find them. Now for the last time, come on . They're waiting for you."
She grabs her mug and grips her blanket around her shoulders tighter. "I hate being sick," she mutters as she passes him by.
"Don't I know it."
He takes her to a backroom in the first floor after they pass a huge hodgepodge of computer screens that must have served as security monitoring at some point. They are all off now that the danger is over.
The room behind is actually larger than she expects, a scent lingering in its entrance. There is a chipped coffee table under a mess of papers, and an overused black couch, surrounded by a mismatch of chairs as if they were grabbed from wherever in the hotel they were available. The walls here are dark, not crisp enough to be of any particular gray, with small paintings of beautiful sights littering them.
"I bet Noct's finally sleeping in his own room now," Lea says.
Aqua is sure Noctis carried the responsibility too much to belong to a fancy hotel room, and probably felt less guilty to sleep in a place where he rushed through meetings.
"Get comfortable," Lea says, pointing at the couch.
"Do you usually order people around?"
"Nope!" he proudly says with a pop to his word. "It would be so much easier if you just listen the first time." He points again to the couch, taking a seat on the other side of the coffee table.
She does, gently setting her mug. Lea opens the bag of sleeping weed, and takes a pinch of it to stir with her tea. Every movement he makes is under her watchful gaze, like they are in silent agreement of what he's doing and he's transparent over how much he's giving her.
"Shouldn't taste any different," he says.
He's right, there's barely an aftertaste. She takes two gulps of it, and a third for good measure. Exhaustion still isn't knocking on her shoulders, and she waits for too long of a moment for anything to happen. Lea has kicked his feet onto the coffee table, watching her.
It doesn't look like he's planning on leaving anytime soon, as though he's thinking of guarding her just to give her better reason to relax. Aqua has to admit she's grateful for it.
"I'm not sure where to start first," she says with a thick tongue.
"Hm?"
Then it comes, a most relaxing calm possessing her arms until it reaches her eyes. She lies down, the scent of cologne and skin right at her face from the cushion on the couch. It dips at her shoulders and her hips, like Noctis has really abused it from too much sleep.
"I'm so worried about Terra."
Lea is silent at first. "You've experienced the Realm of Darkness first-hand so you know what he's going through... But you can't."
"Can't what?" she whispers. Tears sting her eyes.
"He did the same thing you're doing right now," Lea shrugs with a smirk. "Giving himself a headache over you as if you weren't strong enough to handle it. Yet here you are, alive and well. You gonna do the same? Think he's not capable?"
"No.." she sighs. "He's… yeah."
"See? Worrying wouldn't help him anyway."
"Mhm."
It's hard to keep her eyes open, and she tries harder when she hears Lea speak again:
"I'll help you find him. Xemnas, I mean. There's at least four words I'd like to slap him with."
Aqua hums in response, and doesn't remember how she left Noctis' room and how she is now standing in pristine white hallway.
She recognizes this hallway. It's her old home transformed, Ventus lying somewhere in this confusing layout of a castle. She knows that it brings oblivion to visitors, and what would happen to her if she aimlessly wanders the halls without a purpose? Would her Master curse her as well?
Her steps echo afar, and the tile continues to nowhere. There are no windows, no turns, no furniture. Just a stretch of white. Behind her, it keeps going. Ahead of her, there is a door.
When she gets close to the door, snowflakes slowly fall onto her hand.
Through the door is another white room, this time with a window allowing a gentle breeze to brush through the curtains, a warm sunset far away.
On the walls are pieces of paper - like they are supposed to showcase pictures or drawings, but they are all blank. Every single one of them.
In the center is a long table, and…
"Terra," she calls softly.
On one end, he sits, speaking to someone on the other side: a girl with long blonde hair, in a white dress using a white crayon to draw on white paper. She draws nothing.
But they're cheerful, it seems. Aqua can't hear either of them speak as though they've been muted. The girl says something, and Terra chuckles. He's relaxed, arms open on the table and he's waving one of them around like he's trying to argue a specific point he wants to make and the girl sheepishly sticks her tongue out at him like she's never done it before.
He laughs harder and Aqua wishes she could hear it. Terra is only this way with really good friends. Wherever he is, he's safe.
The girl notices Aqua. Gives her a smile. Puts a finger to her lips as if to shush.