I do not own Kingdom Hearts and its characters (if I did... I would make TerrAqua canon in no time :D), for they all belong to Square Enix.
Chapter 6: Pain of the Past (II)
Surprisingly, Xemnas ended up requesting a private conversation with Aqua just as Roxas and Namine were already within the Dark Corridor, plus requesting that Namine prepare tea for the two. Namine obeyed the order while disappearing, and Aqua reluctantly agreed to his offer as well, since she certainly did not want to give the powerful Superior a bad image on their first day of meeting.
Just when she was about to turn around, Xemnas had already teleported beside her to lead the way for her into his Dark Corridor. Surprisingly, he stood to the side and raised his left arm in the manner of a gentleman to let his pretty guest pass through before him. This action may have surprised the blunette, but she only had a few seconds just to put back on her blank mask before walking into the portal with him following suit behind her.
Xemnas couldn't help but question himself as they were transported into his office, wondering if it was just an old habit from his past as a Somebody, especially when he only had the impulse to only do it for this young woman that he only had blurred memories of. He did manage to continue keeping his usual expressionless face in check as Aqua began to scan the surroundings of the room they were currently occupying.
Sadly, her attempts at registering the contents of the spacious white room were shortened through Xemnas' cough as he offered profoundly, "Have a seat, Miss Aqua."
Gazing to where his arm gestured, she meekly obeyed as she gracefully walked over to the small chair in front of his desk, adjusted her long funeral dress and sat up straightly in the poise of an aristocrat, even if she was only a mere village born girl.
She waited patiently as he seated himself behind the desk in a luxurious chair, suddenly feeling vulnerable and shy as he studied her silently with those amber eyes of his. Something actually seemed very strange for Aqua as she willed herself not to blush and look away as he continued to look her over with his chin on his hand. Not only did she feel extremely awkward from him checking her out.. He actually… looked very familiar, and somehow, it gave her feelings of nostalgia.
Aqua unknowingly tilted her head to the side as she unconsciously bent over and reached her hand out to brush the silvery bangs from Xemnas' handsome face, surprising the two as their eyes widened at the surprising proximity of the blunette's action. Now that she found the right distance to finally analyze this stranger's appearance, she not only found that he literally looked young and handsome, she gave a gasp as her hand suddenly retreated hurriedly from his face, and uttered the name of her unrequited lover in a hushed and pained whisper.
"T-T-Terra?! No… I-It-It can't be…"
Xemnas couldn't help but miss that gentle touch of hers on his forehead, staring at her oddly as she blushed fiery red and gazed to the floor, clutching her heart as she willed herself not to start crying. Sadly, her sapphire gems ended up betraying her as tears began to stream down her pretty red face as painful memories began to rip her heart apart.
"That name Terra... why did it sound so... familiar... yet distant at the same time?" The silver haired man thought to himself as he willed himself to continue wearing his blank mask while pondering on more unanswered questions that rushed through his mind.
She just couldn't say it, no matter how hard she tried to force it out of herself, the words immediately die once she opens her mouth.
"Terra's going to come back, Terra's going to.. he already promised Ven... and I..." She thought to herself as she reached out to touch the taller man's hand as he turned to face the direction he was heading into.
"T-T-Terra!"
"What is it Aqua?"
"I-I...I..."
"Hey! Hurry up man! The carriage is going to leave within one minute!" Another villager called out towards the young duo impatiently.
"Don't worry about it, Aqua... I-"
"TTTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAA AAAAAAAAA!" Ventus' energetic outburst suddenly made both teenagers jump as the youngest boy jumped out of nowhere and latched onto Terra's neck, nearly squeezing the breath out of the poor older brother figure. He may be the shortest and tiniest in size compared to that tall, dark and handsome man, but his strength for bear hugs was surprising to everyone around him.
"The time is ticking, people!" The coach master was getting REALLY impatient now.
"Ack.. Ven... I NEED to go now..." Terra tried his best to control his massive strength as he pried Ven's arms off of his throat, grabbed his final suitcase, and gave them all a final wave and a heart stopping smile (for Aqua) as he climbed the coach and let it set off towards the Castle of Dreams, where he finally begins his trainings to be an honorable knight.
It was fortunate that he looked out of the moving carriage and lifted up the orange wayfinder that Aqua made for him before this very day, but poor Aqua couldn't help but have butterflies fluttering in her stomach as a voice repeated countless times to her in the back of her mind, "He is not coming back."
…. Thus, it was true, he never came back, in fact, Xemnas couldn't help himself as he approached her tearful form as she crumpled back onto her seat, attempting to gauge the amount of tears flowing freely along with trying to muffle her sobs. He opened his mouth to say something, but ended up closing it in uncomfortable silence as he recalled nothing on comforting a crying maiden, especially when he was the cause of it.
It was on a cold, stormy night, where the azaleas planted outside the house was billowing harshly in the wind, and Aqua was standing near the blurry window, worrying about her childhood friend's well being, despite the distance his dreams put between the two. Ventus quietly walked into a spot next to her as he too hoped that his strong, awesome role model was doing fine as well.
She noticed his approach, and gave a small smile in order to hide her constant worrying for the eldest of the trio, but unfortunately her little brother figure could see past that fake smile of hers.
"Aqua... Terra'll be alright! He already promised us, especially when he brought his own wayfinder!" Ventus cheerfully spoke out, and reached into his pocket and brought out his very own green friendship charm that Aqua made for him as well.
Aqua sighed as she smiled genuinely this time, "Sure, he will do fine then..." She also reached for her blue wayfinder as well.
Sadly, the slightly eased mood was shattered as Eraqus reluctantly approached the two near happy friends and cleared his throat to get their attentions snapped towards their father figure.
Eraqus sighed in defeat as he saw their eager faces after explaining to them that he had received a letter from the Castle of Dreams, not really wanting to spoil their fragile happiness... yet the truth would strike a lot harder if he withheld it longer from them, so he forced himself to add that tragedy was written within the contents of the letter.
Poor Aqua and Ven had disbelief written all over their faces as the younger boy wrenched the letter from the old master's hands and pulled out the letter for him and his older sister figure to read for themselves. The news of the letter struck the two VERY hard, especially for Aqua that ended up slipping towards the floor, despite the fact her two long, slim legs were a lot stronger than a lot of girls in the village.
"T-T-Terra... DEAD?! NO! Th-tha-.. that can't be..." Her eyes were as wide as saucers, and poor shocked Ven was struggling to help the distraught woman get back on her feet, but they currently felt like jelly on her part, and the words ended up rang again and again in her head, tormenting her as it continued to taunt her about the fact it was right on Terra not coming back.
She immediately snapped out of it and jumped right onto her feet, accidentally injuring her friend's foot in the hurried process, "Terra promised! He CAN'T BE DEAD!"
The storm blew even harder outside, thus worsening the mood a lot more for the family within the small house...
A sudden knocking sound suddenly snapped Aqua out of her painful reverie as she turned her head towards the source of the sound, along with a confused Xemnas that did the same actions.
To Xemnas' relief, it was only Namine bringing in the tea that he requested earlier. Her usual shy expression suddenly melted into pure worry as she hurried carefully towards Aqua, setting the platter down carefully before bending down and handing her a pure white handkerchief in pure panic.
Apparently, this wasn't a very good day for the three occupants within the same room, especially for the blue maiden that tried her best to stop crying but just couldn't.
"Namine.."
"Y-Yes Superior!" Namine suddenly snapped herself straight while still hugging a trembling Aqua.
"... Bring her to her bedroom, and as I said earlier, you were in charge of being her servant, or lady in waiting as the nicer way to put it. Be sure to report back to me when her mood improved."
"Alright then, Superior." The younger blonde detached herself from her slowly calming friend, and took her hand as she lead the reluctant Aqua up the stairs in the middle of the room (something Aqua noted shortly before the awkward conversation started) and into the small bedroom next to it.
The intelligent man sank back into his chair behind the desk, resting his head into his palms as he mulled over what just happened. Perhaps, she was his lover before? Or, was she in love with someone else other than him?
For some strange reason, the familiar feelings of darkness began to rise within him again at the second thought. It's a good thing that there was a spare room next to his during the building of this castle... but how would he find out more about his missing memories from this blunette, that's what he was secretly trying to achieve now...
Chapter 6 end.
A/N: I don't know if anyone was actually very OOC here, which was somehow chapping my own nerves as I constantly apologize for this. XD
Anyways, I always feared making canon characters OOC due to my past experiences with my very first D Gray Man fan fiction, which turned out to be horrible to my own judgement. And also, after reading some OOC AquaxVanitas works that were actually well written (she became EXTREMELY horny, slutty, clingy, UTTERLY submissive to him... Let's just say... somewhere along the lines of Fifty Shades series which totally wasted the feminist efforts of fighting for women's rights for control over themselves), but actually made me HATE this couple thanks to those... it ended up contributing to a lot more fears while writing about Aqua in my own terms. I PROMISE I won't go up to fanarts and fanfictions to go like OMFG YOU SUCK, I HATE THIS COUPLE blah blah blah (that was my thirteen year old self that had absolutely no experience in manners back then, which makes me facepalm at the thought of those now). Anyways, if any of you VanAqua fans that read this comment and felt offended, please talk to me by PMing me with sophisticated manners instead of screaming the crap out of me, thank you.
Back on topic with this fan fiction, I didn't want to make it extremely similar to a lot of other people's, so Aqua may be more of a crybaby in my story... but don't worry... she'll be stronger than what I saw in that hated couple of mine's fanfictions.
Xemnas was beginning to act very gentlemanly eh? I actually copied that scene from the Terra playthrough of Castle of Dreams.
Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter, and be sure to leave a review on constructive criticism on the characters or plot in general.
Before I go though... there might be some ratings change within some part of the story... but DO NOT WORRY, I already swore to myself, I won't write anything else that goes above 18+.