I finished this early, and that fact makes me very happy. Enjoy!
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Months pass, and Eraqus' students only grow stronger with time. Their choppy stances become smooth and they gain experience under his watchful and proud gaze.
He coaxes Aqua through the complicated weaving of spells and potions and encourages Terra when he's on the edge of collapsing under weights. He'd rather not have them fight anything more than a group of Shadows, but they are strong enough at this point to almost start visiting the more peaceful worlds.
Not that they'll be getting their armor until they both turn sixteen, or be trained to summon their gliders until much later, but it's the thought that counts.
He fondly recounts a recent spar where they'd worked together against him and surprised him with an unexpected attack. Aqua had distracted him with a freeze spell, and while he was dodging had launched Terra at him at a great velocity. Had he not been both faster and more practiced, Terra might have actually been able to break something. In the end, all it did was leave a blue bruise on his arm.
Sky hadn't been left out of it either.
At some point he had started to shuffle out of bed, often being found crumpled on the floor and holding himself up by his arms. Soon he started walking using the wall as support, or Aqua and Terra when they started keeping a closer eye on their now mobile friend. Indecipherable sounds started forming into mumbled words then phrases.
The day Sky turned into Ventus brought them all to tears of joy.
"Terra, why don't you help Sky for a bit? I need to check on the Potion brew." Aqua calls over her shoulder, listening closely to the pot bubbling in the other room. She'd love to take him with her into the brewery ('not the beer kind, children,' Master Eraqus' voice echoes) to show him how herbs and magic interact, but the chance he'd remember any of it is smaller than her tolerance for sand under her nails.
Terra's likelihood of somehow blowing something up, on the other hand, is absolutely too high, and he can stick to cutting up the ingredients and leaving the fire-involved work to her, thank you.
Terra chops up the last of the lavender and nods. "Yeah, I can do that." He agrees, taking Sky's forearms from her hands and gently pulling him forward in the loose circle she and Sky have established.
Sky stumbles for two steps, then gets back into the rhythm. His frown while trying to keep up with Terra's wider steps makes the brunette think of an irritated puppy. It's so cute, how hard he's concentrating on this.
"Good job, buddy! You're getting the hang of it fast!" Terra compliments. Sky smiles at his feet and looks at him through his hair. His eyes are getting clearer by the day.
Oops, too sudden a turn. Sky's feet get tangled and he topples into Terra. The taller teen would have been able to catch him easily, but the combination of walking backwards and being distracted lands him on his butt too. He huffs when Sky's elbows dig into his stomach.
Muffled laughter drifts from the open door between this room and the brewery.
"Shut up, Aqua!" He yells. The laughter gets louder.
"A few more days and Sky will be better than you!" She calls back teasingly. He sits up, Sky hugged against him and looks for something to throw in her general direction. It's dangerous to knock over any of the equipment or ingredient, but if he aims right the only thing that will be going down is Aqua and her high horse.
"Vvvvv…"
Terra looks from the corner of his eye to Sky, who's looking very frustrated and is frowning the hardest he's seen yet. "Hmm?" He asks curiously.
"Vvveee… Veeenn…"
Terra wonders what he's trying to say. Is it a question? Is he saying when?
"Don't worry," He reassures the blond, who's still thinking extremely hard on how this new word is supposed to be said. "Aqua's almost done. Then we can go to the observatory and look at the stars again, right?"
"Of course!" Aqua calls. He hears an iron pot being moved to the stand, where the heat can't set the whole room ablaze.
"Veennthush…" He tries speaking clearer, clutching his hands together in frustration and moving to sit up on his own. Terra lets him. That doesn't sound like a question…
"Venthush... Venthush!" Sky looks so excited, beaming up at Terra like he's found gold. Terra sure as the stars feels like it.
That's- that's a name! That's his name!
"Aqua! Aqua! Get over here you need to hear this!" He gushes, sweeping Sky- Ventus into a crushing bear hug.
He hears knobs being frantically twisted and lids plugging into containers. "What?! What's wrong, is everything okay?!"
"Okay? This is amazing we need to tell Master Eraqus!"
Aqua rushes through the door looking harried and still wearing her work gloves. "What?" She asks.
Terra pokes Ventus' cheek. "C'mon, tell her what you told me," He prompts ecstatically.
The blond beams at her too, positively sparkling. "Vventhush!" He announced loudly. Aqua freezes, then looks at Terra.
"Is… Is he-?" She gasps. Terra nods, the shifts slightly to let her smother Ventus too. All three of them laugh, and he can feel his eyes tear up with joy. He's sure Aqua is the same, and Ventus just seems happy to be crushed with affection.
"Hi- hello Ventus," Aqua chokes out, petting his hair. "My name is Aqua. It's good to be introduced."
That is such a good idea. Terra withdraws slightly and does the same. "And I'm Terra."
Ventus looks at them both wide-eyed. He opens his mouth to say more, and they can hardly sit still.
"Hhhiii…" He trails off.
They are so happy and so, so proud.
"Terra!" Aqua smiles at him, standing up from their huddle on the floor and pulling on their hands. "Come on, we have to introduce Master Eraqus." She laughs. Terra feels high with delight.
"Let's go!"
It snowballed from there in the most wonderful of ways. He started saying more and more words until they flowed into sentences, and his curiosity seems to be never-ending. Steps turned to sprints and now he's racing everyone everywhere, regardless of the fact they aren't supposed to run in the castle.
After exploring every little nook and cranny Ventus could squeeze into, he started slipping outside. When he almost tripped off the side of one of their many cliffs he was banned from doing so alone. Now he just follows them to new places and even tugs them out the doors when he's especially restless. Terra and Aqua bear it with teasing reluctance and humour, while Master Eraqus stares at him until he lets go and shakes his head, bemused.
Ventus even joins them when they go to train, not wanting to be left in those quiet halls alone. He doesn't participate, not yet, but he does sit on the grass next to Master Eraqus and watch Terra and Aqua with awe.
Aqua and Terra make it a competition to show off until Master Eraqus tells them to take their training seriously. Terra says he likes his earth-shattering hits more, Aqua retaliates that her sparkling magic obviously has him entranced.
Ventus actually like to see how fast they can go, but the reoccurring argument is funny to listen to, so he doesn't tell them.
"Ventus," Master Eraqus calls after he tells Terra and Aqua to take a break. "I must speak to you for a moment. Come join me." He turns to the castle doors and starts walking. Ventus looks to Aqua and Terra like he doesn't want to leave them. It's adorable.
"Go on, we're not going anywhere," Aqua hums, falling into a deep stretch and clutching her toes. Terra doesn't have a snowman's chance against a Firaga to replicate her; too much muscle not enough willingness for pain.
Ventus blinks, then nods. "Okay, I'll be back in a shecond," He smiles at them and runs off.
They watch him go, look at each other, then chuckle. Aqua continues her stretching and Terra looks for his water bottle.
There's a peaceful, content kind of quiet for a moment, then a hushed, "Hey."
Terra looks over at Aqua. She's moved to stretching her arms behind her. Only he can see the amused gleam in her eyes, even as she bites on her lip to keep a smile away. "Yeah?"
"Have you noticed…" She glances over her shoulder to make sure Ventus can't hear. She continues, "Ventus has a lisp?" Terra smiles and nods. "He does, doesn't he?" He chuckles.
Aqua giggles. "It's kinda cute. Right, Therra?"
"Hey!"
Ventus chooses that moment to interrupt Terra by racing over to them and throwing himself into Terra's arms. "Guessh what! Guessh!" he's near vibrating with excitement.
"What?" Terra asks surprised.
"Ventus is going to be participating in Keyblade training very soon." Master Eraqus announces from the side, arms folded behind his back. The older teens cheer and Ventus nearly knocks Terra over. It's a good day.
He is so fast this was a mistake, Terra thinks when Ventus, again, gets behind him and leaves him face-planting on the dirt. At first, he had been going easy on him, since Ventus is younger, smaller, and doesn't have their training experience, but that was a mistake. He should not have given him the upper hand. Because Ventus took that hand, and then he gave the entire body whiplash by jumping off every available surface at the speed of a sugar high squirrel.
Now he's eating dirt, and before he can get his footing Ventus slams into him and plants him again.
This time he seems to have decided Terra's back is super comfortable, and he's humming a little tune while swaying cross-legged with the wind.
Terra knows he could throw him off, and Ventus knows it too. But right now he's tired, and kinda wishing Ventus stayed nice and calm and slow like before. His head hurts from trying to keep track of the blond.
Aqua over there's laughing so hard she's snorting, and he hopes she gets hiccups. Master Eraqus sighs heavily, like a man carrying the world's future on his back. Terra grunts and rolls over to get the obnoxious weight off his.
The blond chortles and, gremlin that he is, runs over to join Aqua on the floor, beginning an epic recounting of how awesome he is and how Terra is slow as a turtle. Terra feels bullied.
"Alright, enough is enough." The Master calls. He looks to Terra. "Let this be a lesson not to underestimate smaller targets. When they have you on the ground, the fight is already lost. You'll be increasing speed training from here on." He instructs. Terra nods, then winches. Feels like he pulled a muscle…
"And Ventus," The blond stops humming. "It's good you took him by surprise, but do not let it get to your head. Nothing fells a wielder faster than arrogance, and next time he'll know what to expect. Your stances were also off and can cause joint damage of continued, so I'll be adding footwork to your training regime." Ventus frowns, but nods acceptingly.
"Master?" Aqua stands, dusting off her shorts. "Could I talk to you? I have an idea for a spell, but I need further help figuring out how to add lighting to light magic."
"Of course." He leads her away, already talking. Looks like they're headed to the library again.
Terra drops down and starts his own stretches, hoping to maybe ease the muscle he pulled and stop any other ones from cramping up in his sleep. That is the worst way to wake up at 2 a.m. Ventus plops down on the grass and watches him. It goes on so long it should be weird, but Ventus sometimes still does this when he's thinking hard on something.
He blinks out of the little world in his head, and asks, "What are you doing?"
"Stretching."
"Why?"
"So I can loosen my muscles. You should do it before and after any physical activity, to help prevent injuries." He explains, slowly reaching for his toes. And, yeah, he definitely pulled something.
"Actually," A light bulb goes off in his head. He smiles invitingly. "You should join me! This can really help your movement range, and some flexibility will make you impossible to keep up with while fighting." He says, already taken with the idea. Ventus looks interested too.
"Get over here." Ventus does. Terra coaxes him through a few beginner positions, then has some fun making him lean into them. Pained hisses when the blond is forced into the pose he was in just a few moments ago is sweet revenge.
"Do I really have to touch my thoesh? Thatsh crazy." Ventus hisses. Terra pushes him a teensy bit deeper. He releases after ten more seconds, and Ventus shoots up groaning. Almost hits Terra in the face too.
"Ow…" Terra rubs his back in sympathy, laughing quietly. Ventus turns and gives him a puppy-dog face. "Noth niche." He mutters. Terra snorts.
His hand moved up to the blonde's neck, and he feels something weirdly solid beneath his skin. It feels too hard to be tension. Not his spine either. "Hold still for a bit," Terra says, turning him back around. Ventus makes a curious sound, but complies.
Right in the center of his neck, underneath his skin, is a perfectly round lump. It feels about two centimeters in diameter but doesn't make a bump noticeable to the eye. It's not squishy, doesn't shift place, but it isn't causing him any pain.
What?
"We should go tell Master about this. I don't think this is normal." He tells Ventus. Before the younger teen can ask questions he's pulled to his feet and they're on their way to the library.
Master Eraqus looks at it, pokes it, even casts a few diagnosis spells, but all that does is bring a strange look to his face. He asks if Ventus remembers anything from before, maybe where he came from, but it's all still blank.
He says they'll watch and see what happens, and tells Ventus to get him if it does anything strange. The apprentices ask what he means, but they just get a 'you'll know if it happens' from him.
Later, after the children go to bed, Eraqus stands in the room where he and another played chess all those years ago. He wonders if the man was visiting his home when he found Ventus. In his mind's eye shines the stone that glowed as the man's eyes had.
But that was so long ago…
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Yes, I have indeed given Ventus a lisp. Why? Because speech impediments are near and dear to my heart, and I wanted one of my favourite characters to have one. It's hard to write in text though, cause how do letters and sounds work?
Aqua didn't appear as much as I would have liked, but I don't think this turned out to bad. Ended up giving her and Terra a sorta sibling relationship, so that's cool.
Hmm. What could I be alluding to? Hmmmm.
Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment, I love hearing from you all!
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