Chapter 7: Echoes of Betrayal
Warning tags: Bitter!Aqua. Cruel!Aqua. Aqua Needs a Hug. Eraqus Needs a Hug.
Aqua walked up to the summit of the Land of Departure, fuming. How dare they. How dare they go behind her back about this? She wanted to save Olette from this fate, this life, and they brought her into it anyway. They'd curse her, train her to be Keybearer who would suffer so much for the sake of others. The only consolation was that Olette was mostly old enough to have made that decision for herself. Not a foolish young girl, basically a toddler, that Kairi had been when she unknowingly doomed herself. Aqua hated herself again for doing that, for doing what had been done to Terra and Aqua herself, perhaps Ven, and who knows how many other Keybearers before them.
Aqua didn't remember where she came from, her earliest memories had been of the Land of Departure. Last she had asked Terra, years ago, it had roughly been the same. Was she an orphan taken in? Was she some delinquent that had been plucked off the streets? Had her parents given her up to the older Keybearer, had they understood they would never see her again? She didn't know, but the Land of Departure, and being a Keybearer, had been her entire life. She knew nothing else. A young child, asked if they wanted to be a hero, pulled into this life and trained from a young age, with the goal to become a Master, the dream embedded in them to become one... the term 'child soldier' and 'indoctrinated' echoed in her mind. They never had before... but this last day, ever since Olette had first asked that question...
It put so many doubts, mistrusts, and suspicions in Aqua's mind about the Order of the Keyblade Masters. Was it paranoia on Olette's behalf? Or were there truths in such thoughts? Eraqus had been so ready to cast aside and kill her and Ven 'for the greater good' all those years ago (less than a month for herself), it makes a sure fire question hard to tell...
Dark whispers echoed in her mind, her anger steadily spiking, and when she heard Eraqus step into the summit and clear his throat, she was about ready to throttle him. Because now she had to deal with him, and he had not-so-subtly implied they were going to talk about THAT day. The day he had betrayed them. For Terra and Ven, she had bottled it up, tried to put it behind her. After all, Eraqus had saved Ven's life many times over during the Heartless Apocalypse, and it was obvious Ven had forgiven him...
But this wasn't about Ven.
It was about Eraqus, and her.
Because he hadn't made any amends to her, and she sure as hell hadn't forgiven him; and since he had dragged her out here for a 'talk', she supposed there was no more trying to ignore it. If he really wanted to do this, then fine.
She turned and stared coldly at him. "Eraqus."
"Aqua," he said in an even voice.
"I will begin by saying that there is no way I can properly apologize for what I did, back then," began Eraqus, "Of all the mistakes I ever made in my life, even beyond Xehanort, that was the worst."
"The worst mistake," she mused darkly, "I think, Eraqus, you are largely understating what exactly it was you did that day."
He frowned. "It was a mistake..."
"It was a betrayal," she seethed, watching him go silent, not even flinching, not denying her words, "Of everything you ever taught us. Does the words compassion, understanding, and love, ring a bell? Everything you said a Keybearer and a denizen of light needed to have? None of which applied to what you tried to do to Ven? What you tried to do to me?"
She sneered at him. "It was a betrayal of us. Your children. You took us in, raised us, trained us, then you cast us aside the moment things started going out of control. We thought you a father... I thought you a father... and you... you..."
She clenched her fists tightly, not quite able to contain her mounting emotions, dark swirls of energy starting to surround her. "You raised your keyblade against me, with the intent to hurt, the intent to kill me."
"What... what did I do to deserve that?" she hissed, her voice trembling, "Yes, I betrayed your teachings, I won't deny it. I used the darkness, I've done things with it I'm not proud of, that will haunt me, that will shadow me and dog my steps for the rest of my life, and that's not even considering my Heartless. But did I truly deserve murder as a response?"
A pained look crossed his face. "You won't like the answer."
"What makes you think I'd like anything you say Eraqus?" she spat, "There is nothing you can say to justify it to me."
"Then I wont," said Eraqus with resignation, "Aqua... you and your darkness had little to do with my decision at first, though it became my focus once I realized how deep you were bathed in it. If it had been Terra there facing me with the light, I would have done the same. You were in my way, nothing more, nothing less. I felt that I had to stop the return of the Keyblade War no matter the cost."
In...
In the...
In the way?!
"A roadbump," she said icily, "My only crime to you being between you and a boy who had no say in what was done to him. Somehow... that's even worse."
So much worse...
"Did we mean nothing to you?" she whispered.
"The three of you meant the world...," he began.
"THEN WHY!?" she screamed, "WHY NOT TRY SOMETHING ELSE? ANYTHING ELSE!"
She trembled, black energy seeping off her in waves, dissipating into the air as they went further out. "Why was cold blooded murder for Ventus the first thing that passed through your mind? Just... just... why not just seal his ability to use the Keyblade?!"
"Xehanort could have unsealed it."
Aqua closed her eyes, fuming, trying to think of something, anything that couldn't be countered by 'Xehanort could have undone it since he was a Keyblade Master'. "He was there Eraqus, he was finally home. You could have kept him in the castle, activated its defenses and sealed that land to Oblivion until the crisis was over. Then, you could have actually stepped out of that damn keep and DONE SOMETHING instead of putting your apprentices, who had no true experience in a crisis at that point, through all of that without your guidance and support."
She jabbed a finger in his direction. "You abandoned us to that catastrophe. The Princesses of Heart were in danger, there were monsters, the Unversed, swarming the worlds, and your response is to send a brand new Keyblade Master and a struggling apprentice out to deal with it? Even worse when Ventus left and you didn't at least leave to go after him? Just dumping that on Terra to find him when he was also to do his own mission AND keep an eye on me as per your orders?"
"Kairi," snarled Aqua, "Would have died, a Princess of Heart, would have died, if I hadn't been there to save her. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it. You should have been out there!"
Eraqus closed his eyes. "I know."
"You know," she growled, "You know. Is that all you can say?"
"Hindsight is a curse Aqua," he answered quietly, "I've found myself questioning everything I did all those years ago constantly over the last decade. If I had only done this, or didn't do that..."
He shook his head and opened his eyes. "I cannot undo what was done Aqua. I'm sorry."
'I'm Sorry.'
Somehow, him apologizing just made everything worse. Her world turned red, and she had Rainfell in her hand swinging at him in a blink of an eye. Master's Defender was out and blocking the blow with a smooth motion, not an ounce of surprise on Eraqus's face, just sad resignation. He expected it. Aqua doesn't start attacking, or even pull back, she just pressed against his keyblade with her own, arms shaking with effort to try and push him back despite how steadfast he stands. It's not a fight, just... anger given form. And right now, she's feeling cruel.
"What was it like, to raise another pair of Keybearers after what you did to Ven and I?" she spat out.
That got a flinch out of him, and she smiled savagely.
"It was redemption," he answered a moment, and that got a jolt out of her, "A chance to right a wrong I did to you, with someone new. Even if Terra handled most of Riku's training, and we all shared in Sora's."
He looked her dead in the eye. "I never, not once, hesitated to put myself in harms way for Sora's sake, for your chosen's sake. And outside of sparing, I never raised my Keyblade to him."
Aqua broke bladelock with an angry crash of sparks and whine of metal. She took a step back and glowered at him. "Do you want a medal for that? For doing the right thing that any Master should do for those they teach? Honestly, I'd like to have seen you even try to do anything harmful to Sora. There's not a person here that would have taken that sitting down and not done something about it."
Eraqus sighed. "What you say is true. The care for an apprentice should be a given thing. An apprentice is a treasure, to be guarded and loved. I did with Sora as I should have done with you."
Aqua... wasn't proud of flare of resentment and bitter jealousy she felt to Sora at the moment, and lowered her Keyblade. "A better apprentice than I was I suppose, not a failure who struggled with the Dark."
"Aqua, that struggle wasn't your fault," admonished Eraqus.
"Really?" she drawled, "All the disappointment lectures, the looks, the sighs, the extra chores, the extra assigned readings and meditations, all of that and more suggested otherwise."
Eraqus winced.
"Do you... do you know how much of a failure you made me think I was?" she asked bitterly, "I was already shit for confidence having to struggle with my darkness and emotions, but you really ground it in. You made it so easy to turn to Xehanort's false praise and instructions all the times he visited."
She sneered at his second wince. "Honestly, what did Yen Sid say? It's a wonder I didn't end up with Xehanort? If he had strung me on a bit better, and earlier, maybe came to me and created some kind of elaborate scheme about discovering the cracks in my heart and mending them, pinning the blame on all of you, he could have had me as a willing accomplice."
She eyed his, predatory. "I wonder if you really realize, Eraqus, how much worse things could have been. The Heartless Apocalypse was awful, it nearly destroyed the Realm of Light, it caused so much suffering. But consider what would have happened if Xehanort had me on his side during that conflict. Consider that he could and most likely would, have won."
"I know."
She hates that. Because he has had a little over ten years to think on all of this, hasn't he? While this is all still burning so fresh in her mind. He's standing there with quiet acceptance, ready and willing to take the blunt of her words, his keyblade ready to bear the weight of her own if she lashes out. And she hates him for it. She wants to rip that look off his face. She wanted to be there to see that pain when he finally realized all his faults and failings; perhaps then maybe something between them could have been resolved, forgiven but never forgotten. But she missed it, and only has herself to blame for that.
She doesn't know what to do. Her anger, her hatred, unlocked and unleashed for truly the first time since she woke up; simmer and boil without an appropriate target. Eraqus is, and isn't that target. He was the source of so much pain for her in her life; but she'd by lying if she said he wasn't repentant. She still wants to hurt him though, wants to alleviate that pain he made her feel. She hasn't wanted to use her darkness since she got this second chance, but its pooling out of her, ready and waiting and eager to lash out...
Its stressing, she feels like screaming, ripping him apart limb from limb...
She feels like crying, squeezing him tightly and sobbing about why a father and daughter in all but blood had to raise their keyblades against one another...
She mises her old life, before Xehanort, and though she will never regret Ven, she wishes... wishes for so much that never will be...
This life is a shell of what it used to be. She is a shell of what she used to be. She stares at Eraqus, and briefly switches her senses, from normal to dark, and Eraqus is blazing firmly with the light, stronger than ever, more than he used to be. It's subtly different though, there are hints of shadow where there wasn't before, that's no longer suppressed, his presence is no longer tyrannically light if she had to put words to it. He is... everything he is now is most likely everything she would have wished him to be when she was still a struggling apprentice. Perhaps even before.
She aches for what could have been; and that's just another ignition for her bubbling anger; that desire to hurt him. It's selfish and cruel; she doesn't particularly care at the moment. If she can't hurt him anyone than he's already hurt himself for that day he tried to kill Ven and her, then she'll find another way to maim him.
"Where did you pick me up from?"
The change in topic gives her a surge of dark satisfaction when he is taken completely offguard by the topic shift, his stance broken, confusion destroying his pennant expression. "Where I what?"
She thinks of those earlier paranoid thoughts, and she lets it loose. "Was I some street rat you picked up out of the muck? Some orphan you snatched away. Some innocent child you lured away from her parents with promises of being a hero?"
The last hurts her to say, thinking of her passing on the Keyblade to Kairi.
There is an expression of oh so satisfying pain on his face. "Aqua... do you resent me for making you a Keybearer?"
Yes.
No.
She doesn't know.
She'd never have known Terra or Ven or Kairi or anyone else if she hadn't become one. She doesn't like this being turned around as a question on her. "I asked you a question first."
"You don't want to know," he said quietly, a hint of weary apprehension. Through the Darkness, there is an air of -I don't want to do this- from him. He doesn't want to speak of it, and that makes her all the more eager.
"Don't I?" she asked, "Was I abducted into this life? Stripped away from my parents? Did they even know they'd never see me again?"
Eraqus closes his eyes for a moment. "I don't think you need this on top of your current struggles Aqua."
"Don't you remember Eraqus? I'm always struggling," she jabbed at him, "How about you come clean?"
He looks at her with an air of sadness. "I never met your father, and your mother... I only saw from a distance. Your world was... an olden one. No technology, old religions..."
"I know the sort," said Aqua dismissively, impatient.
"...and ruled by them," continued Eraqus, "Rigid and paranoid, cursing anyone who didn't follow their ways as heathens of the light."
"Oh if that isn't familiar," said Aqua snidely, eyes latching onto the flinch from him like a lifeline.
"Magic, was seen as heresy, evil, to be persecuted, and from what I could feel that brief moment I saw her, even through her exhaustion and pain, your mother was powerful in it," said Eraqus softly, "I came across you being forced to watch as your mother burned at a stake, it was all I could do to fake myself as a traveling templar to guard your prison cell as they prepared to 'exorcise you', offer the chance for a future, and spirit you away so you didn't suffer a similar, horrible fate."
Aqua made a small choking sound. Stupid. Stupid stupid stupid, she shouldn't have asked. Why had she asked? She should have known. Nothing in her life was ever good, or if it was, it never lasted long. And as much as she wanted to hate Eraqus, he wasn't an evil man. He wouldn't have stolen her. He saved her, and she still wants to hate him anyway. She is trapped in her emotions, they are bleeding all over the place. She wants some kind of outlet to them, for everything she's held back since finding herself alive again. Unlike before with Terra and Ven feeling like she was drowning in despair, now it feels like shes going to explode with it all, go supernova and burn everything around her.
"Will you answer my question now?" he asked in return.
Her emotions rage for a moment before they were suddenly calm in defiant determination, remembering that day she had discovered Xehanort's plans, reading his reports...
"No," she said with purpose, "No, I don't regret it. Because if I hadn't been there, if he hadn't chosen me, Xehanort would have gone after Terra and tried to use him as a vessel. I'd bear my life over again a thousand times no matter the pain if it meant keeping Terra safe from my disaster of a life."
There is a sad softness in Eraqus's gaze. "Even with your own struggles, you still put others ahead of you. I never deserved such a selfless apprentice."
Would he say that if he knew how much she wanted to selfishly hurt him? If he knew all that she had done on her journey? Everything she had done for the sake of her friends who were in turn horrified by it? Was there such a thing as selfish selflessness? Damning herself to save others despite what they want? She didn't know, but she did feel the emotional storm rising again. He gives her credit she doesn't deserve. All she wants is his pain, and all she deserves if more pain of her own.
Oh...
Yeah, that idea about fits what she wants right now.
She raises Rainfell and assumes an aggressive ready stance, not her usual balanced one, her keyblade held at an diagonal from her shoulder angled away, as if shes about to charge and cut him down with an overhead swing. Eraqus had an ability to hurt her that only Xehanort had ever come close to rivaling, both physically and mentally. Here was a chance to hurt him, and a chance to be punished for everything she had done. She could have the worst of both worlds...
Eraqus stands loosely at the ready, an air of slight bafflement around him. Not about her readying to attack, no, he's expected it. If she feels right, he's just confused how his words of praise ended up encouraging a confrontation. Aqua disappears in a puff of darkness, reappearing behind him and swinging down; she's only slightly surprised that he was already spinning to block. Again and again she comes at him, fading in and out of the area through the darkness, teleporting around and trying to land a blow, but hes always moving, always blocking, parrying, deflecting...
But never attacking...
"Fight back!" she snarls at him, forgoing the teleport tactic, funneling dark energy down her arms, and swinging a heavy blow at him head on.
He blocks it head on, his mouth a thin line of displeasure. "I will not raise my Keyblade against you again, Aqua."
She glared at him. "I don't care what self-imposed rule or guilt you have right now Eraqus, I need this."
His displeasure turns into disapproval. "There are other ways to vent your emotions than fighting, Aqua. Scream and curse me to all the hells that exist if that will help you, but fighting one another will just end in unnecessary pain for you."
"For me? Not yourself?" she sneered at him. "Someone's arrogant considering how our last fight ended."
"At this point Aqua, it wouldn't be much of a fight. You are emotionally compromised, upset to a point where even I can feel it in the air, you have no control over yourself, and are ten years behind the rest of us in experience and skill," he said calmly, but not without steel, "I've faced a darkness many times over that put our confrontation that day to shame, made it seem like apprentices playing with mock-wooden keyblades. If we fight, I will hurt you, and I refuse to do so again."
He spoke of her Heartless.
It was true, yet it fills her with such all consuming rage to have that battle discredited in ANY way shape or form. What happened there was real in a way that nothing ever could bury for her.
How DARE he slight what happened there!
Her Darkness explodes out of her in a black nova, sending Eraqus staggering back with a surprised cry. A familiar purple and black aura radiates off her as she stops holding back. She feels it pumping through her in an exhilarating thrum that she would always yearn for no matter how ashamed of herself and her darkness she was. The area around them blackens, masking the ground in a sickly, squirming dark paint. Dark flames burst into being all around the edge of the area, sealing them in as the nearby lamplights flicker and die, and the dark energy blots out the daylight, leaving them in utter darkness.
A soft glow of light surrounds Eraqus, and his eyebrows are furrowed, academically curious but not concerned. "You came back stronger than you were before."
Aqua doesn't particularly care.
She's already moving and swinging Rainfell in tearing arcs, blurs of purple energy left in it's wake. Eraqus is still blocking, playing defensive, but with more effort than before. His barely illuminated face is focused, his movements have picked up pace, and he's put more effort into his blade to match her power. He has grown so much, to be able to meet her head on when he could barely stand against her before, and for a moment, through the red haze of rage, she wonders if he actually can back what he says and take her down.
She is thrilled by the prospect of it.
She blinks back, disappearing in a puff and begins lobbing darkness infused spells at him. Homing fireballs, waves of ice, barrages of lightning, gravity spells to try to put him off balance, burst of pure dark energy. Eraqus dodges, blocks, or shields with his own magic everything she sent his way. She shouldn't be surprised, she has the flickers of many of her Heartless's memories at the edges of her own, barely suppressed. He's fought harder than this, against an enemy stronger than Aqua is now.
She, again, doesn't particularly care.
She blasts him with everything she can, even if he takes everything in stride. She doesn't land a direct blow once, the best she got slightly clipping him with the edge of a spell here or there. She goes and goes until her rage is burned through enough to actually think. She stops casting and begins to circle the outside of their 'fight'. He's a superior keyblade wielder with decades more skill with it than her, she wont faze him with that. Her spellcraft he's become strong enough to deal with, and her darkness, he fought against worse over the decades. She's tempted to call heartless, but even with her anger and hate, she's not going to commit that sacrilege again, bringing them into this sacred land.
She can't beat him with the Keyblade.
With her magic.
Or with her darkness.
She grinned. "Option four then."
She blitzes at him and swings an obvious overhead strike, one handed. When he raises to block, she forms an ethereal blade in her free hand, blue energy surging in a tight beam of energy, and stabs at him. He barely manages to shift being skewered, the beam slicing into the side of his tunic, grazing his skin and leaving enough of a burn to get a grunt out of him. There is a flicker of surprise, and confusion from him as he shifts to try and defend from Keyblade and ethereal blade. He may have fought her, fought her Heartless...
But he never encountered her Nobody.
She smothers her rage and hate with cool dispassion, entering into that mindset by funneling thoughts of how the life of a Keybearer, how Eraqus himself, might endanger Olette. And like a trigger, it brings out that part of her...
That absolutely emotionless, calculated, ruthless focus. She might not be able to call on the powers of Nothingness, but that mindset is something he's never experienced fighting against with her. She's no longer an emotional fury, just cold, deadly intent, each strike no longer wild, but focused and aimed. That sudden change throws him, which is enough to make up for her lack of an experience duel wielding, especially two different types of weapons, one of which doesn't even have a grip. She has the hunch he's either never fought against it either or has little exposure to it with how much he is suddenly struggling to keep his single eye on both weapons, backpedaling to give himself space to react to separate blows, a bit more light illuminating his body as he starts to draw out more power.
Then she starts teleporting again.
Puffing in and out of the area around him mind swing with her weapons from different angles...
And scores her first real hit, her keyblade slicing into his shoulder, leaving a red blemish seeping into his clothes. He hisses and springs back. "Aqua! Enough!"
"Is something the matter, Eraqus?" she asks in a deathly calm voice, "Are you perhaps, afraid?"
He looks unsettled, deeply distraught.
Good.
She comes at him again, throwing her Keyblade in a strike raid, he deflects it, and she lunges at him, ethereal blade aiming right for his heart...
And she barely stops herself in time when he lowers his Keyblade and doesn't move, the tip of her energy weapon centimeters from breaching his flesh and putting a hole right through his heart. She narrows her eyes. "What, are you doing?"
He's not distraught.
He's devastated.
"Do you truly hate me so much that you would kill me without an ounce of emotion on your face?" he whispers, his voice tight and choking in a way she's never heard from him before, tears in his eyes.
Finally...
There it is...
The pain she felt that day...
To be cast aside and killed like she was nothing...
Except...
Now that its there, the satisfaction she thought she would feel isn't coming. There is an awful sensation in her chest, that she just made a grown man, her Master, her father, cry...
The worst part was, he was going to let her.
And she takes a shaky step back when that really hits her. He was going to let her kill him if she hadn't stopped, she could have killed him, and despite how angry she is, how hateful she wants to be, she doesn't want that. Her eyes go wide, her jaw drops a bit and she losses that Nobody's focus, and that emotional storm from earlier is comes back, not as rage, just sorrow and grief. "Eraqus..."
The darkness of the area dissipates in moments, the black and purple aura leaves her, and daylight enters the summit again. Now she's stood on the other side of the spectrum, being the monster trying to kill her family. It is one of the worst sensations she has ever felt in her life, because this wasn't her Heartless, this was her. She banishes her keyblade and ethereal blade and turns away. She has to go, she has to get away, and she has to never come back. She always ruins everything she touches...
"Do you?" he asked again, his voice hoarse with loss, "Did I truly ruin everything between us that day, make us irreparable?"
She can't leave him like that though, as much as she wanted to be cruel, to hurt him for the way he hurt her (she already has, and she regrets it), she can't leave him with that. "No. That... I was... was channeling my Nobody in a sense, using that emotionlessness to fight you..."
Not fight him, attack him, because he had never, frustratingly, fought back to make it a fight...
There is a sharp, bitter laugh, desperate relief in it, but..., "I'm shocked to say, I think I'm now more afraid of your Nobody that I was your Heartless."
She whirls. "You're what?!"
"Your Heartless was a creation I unwittingly paved the way for, and every emotion you or it threw at me is one I deserve," he said quietly, "For what I did to you, that day, and all throughout your apprenticeship. But... if it had gotten to the point where you felt nothing at all for me... at the thought of killing me..."
He shook his head, weary. "I would have deserved to end."
She is unable to look at him at that. She takes a ragged breath, her throat tight, hardly able to draw in air with how much she feels the world closing in around her.
Then something else closes in around her, and Eraqus is holding her, arms softly enveloping her. "I'm sorry Aqua, I'm so sorry."
All the lingering negativity fades, and she just felt ashen, buckling to her knees, shaking; to burned out to cry, her voice a whisper, "Why... did it have to be this way? Why did it have to happen?"
"I don't know," he answered softly, raising on of his hands along her back to cup her head and press it into his shoulder, a comfort from days so long passed. "I could lay the blame on Xehanort, but that is ignorance. What happened ten years ago was more than him, more than any pf us. Failings of our teachings since the end of the Keyblade War. A conflict long in the making, perhaps even before any of us were born. All we can do is regret what was done, swear never again, learn from our mistakes, and move on..."
Terra watched cautiously as the doors to the cafeteria opened, Aqua and Eraqus walking in. He was, considering the energy he had detected, rather surprised to see them only a bit scuffed up and sweaty, Eraqus sporting the only injures with a damaged tunic, a burn to his side, and a red splotch on his shoulder that he had better have healed. The Master looked... tired and weary, Aqua just looked utterly burnt out, her face slightly red to signal she had been crying earlier. He suspects Eraqus simply let Aqua vent out her anger, her emotions, and while he isn't happy to see the man even slightly hurt, he will be teasing him over the '10 years of additional experience' he had thought to have over Aqua.
"Eraqus."
Terra's eyes shifted to Aqua; she gave their Master a tight smile. "I am still going to kick your ass when I've caught up and can actually force you to fight seriously."
Ah, perhaps he spoke to soon.
Eraqus answered with an equally tight smile. "I suppose we'll see."
Aqua's attention shifted to Olette, and a hint of a frown showed on her face, making the girl squirm a little. Aqua sighed softly, walking over to Olette and kneeling down in front of her chair. "I can't promise I can give you what you're looking for, Olette. I'm not even sure I can give Kairi what I promised her anymore. I'm... still struggling I suppose."
"It's okay," said Olette quietly, eyes meeting Aqua's, "I don't honestly think I'm going to be anywhere ready for any 'duties' anytime soon. Mister Terra's been telling me a bit about what training is like, you guys were so far ahead of where I am now at my age..."
Aqua shook her head, closing her eyes. "I'm not sure we should have been."
Olette tilted her head with a curiosity that Terra shared. "Why not?"
Aqua smiled a little, sad. "I came from a... extreme situation I suppose. Considering that I'd probably be dead if Master Eraqus hadn't taken me in, I don't blame him for doing so."
Terra blinked, a little apprehensive. He had asked once, years ago, about his own origins, and had regretted the question. He had never intruded upon her privacy by asking Eraqus about her past, even after he thought her gone. When had Aqua asked... well... judging by the look on her face right now, probably in the middle of whatever happened outside. Ill timing he supposed. Still, he was curious where she was going with this.
"Aside from extreme situations," she said, "I'm not sure anyone below the age of maturity, or at least thirteen, should be chosen. They have no real idea what they are getting into, its... I don't think its fair for them, or ethical, to have a child marked for this life without them firmly understanding the responsibilities and consequences of it. It's not right, they should have a chance to live their life and grow up first, with their family and friends, and then make a thought out decision."
He wasn't blind to the way Kairi scowled and crossed her arms, taking offense. But... Aqua's words...
It was a potentially heavy thing to change. It wasn't exactly tradition to take Keybearers young, sometimes it happened, sometimes it didn't, they didn't go out of their way to do so. Honestly... picking an apprentice was kind of a spur of the moment, spontaneous thing, for lack of a better way to describe it, Master and Apprentice just clicked together when they met. He hadn't even thought with Riku, just sensed his heart, asked a few questions, liked the kid, thought he had potential and the rest was history. Eraqus had told him that himself and... Xehanort... had both been older children, preteens, when they had been chosen and taken from their worlds. Many before them though, had come in young. It allowed for younger Keyblade Masters, able to maintain their duties longer. Olette herself if she became a keybearer probably wouldn't become a Master until her late twenties most likely, she had years of studies and training to go through, plus missions, tests, and the eventual Mark of Mastery Exam. Not to mention... she would be the first apprentice trained under their currently changing precepts and rules, that in itself would be a learning curve for all of them. It would be interesting to see how she developed in comparison to the rest of them.
Still... he turned his gaze briefly to Riku, considering and weighing Aqua's words. He never regretted choosing Riku, but he does regret that the boy had to be trained in the middle of the Heartless Apocalypse... and perhaps that he never got anything like a normal childhood that he and Aqua had together originally before Ven came. He doesn't necessarily think she's right, but she may not be wrong either. Because even through all the hardships, he doesn't regret becoming a Keybearer.
"A potential precept change we can discuss at another time," offered Terra neutrally, watching Aqua nod briefly in return.
His apprentice was an excellent Keybearer in his opinion, a bit (so heavily that it was sometimes worrying) on the quiet and serious side, but a shoe in for Master within the year if he proved able to handle normal, non-apocalyptic times duties. Which was something he needed to remember to bring up with Eraqus and Ven, it was time to break in the apprentices with 'normal' missions. They could handle themselves well in an extended crisis, it was time to see how they fared and settled down for the 'mundane'. Or well, perhaps 'winding down' rather than mundane. There was still plenty of lingering damage to clean up from the Heartless Apocalypse, not to mention Maleficent and potentially but hopefully not Xehanort.
Speaking of normalcy though...
His eyes shifted to Aqua.
Perhaps that was something she needed. To get out of the keep and do something, be a Keybearer again. It could do her wonders perhaps. Or it could end in disaster, he didn't know if she was ready for the outside world yet. There would be many people who would recognize her from because of her Heartless, and that could cause all kinds of issues...
"I still want to be a Keybearer," said Olette firmly, "If... you'll have me that is. I understand if we have to take it slow, that Kairi is your first apprentice ahead of me that you're still teaching, or if you need time to yourself and need someone else to take over. I still want this."
Aqua closed her eyes for a moment, sighed softly, and opened them, summoning her Keyblade and reversing her grip on it. Terra smiled warmly, happy to be there to watch his friend bequeath another of their line. "In your hand take this key..."
Author's Note:
Sorry if you were expecting a big battle like the original... but Eraqus IS right, Aqua is really behind the others, and while I think she would have gained some strength from her Nobody and Heartless growing during that time (but not from the additional hearts her Heartless ate), giving her a massive power boost to suddenly catch up is... meh... I kinda regret doing that with Kairi/Xion + the Cornerstone, I think that story might have been potentially better if I took another route, bit to late on that now though.
Anyway... lemme know how I did with the chapter.
This is probably going to be the last chapter until I play and finish Kingdom Hearts III. I have... some concerns for the game based off some of the things I couldn't help but spoil myself with. Without going into detail, just some character usage and unexpected lore that I'm still confused on just by watching a cutscene (Not to mention how I refuse to use Kingdom Hearts X/Chi/Union). So I'll need to play the game, take notes, all that jazz.
Review Responses:
The Pyro Jawsome: Sequel might depend on how KHIII pans out. If its a buzzkill, if the lore directly and hugely counteracts my own, ect...
The Keeper of Worlds: Everyone has darkness. Whether Olette wields it, or goes light, (or tries for balance/both? ^_^) haven't decided yet. Olette is still awhile away from her own Keyblade. (Wonder which one to give her...) She is also not going to have a major combat role in this book, she's a literal fresh apprentice who has almost no prior training or studies aside from a few magic lessons from Aqua's Nobody.
Umbrardor: Might be the combo breaker, as I generally try to not do major OCs. Not to mention the merry Keybearer gang is going to get rudely disrupted in short order (a few chapters), and that is going to cause all kinds of disruptive chaos in that selecting more apprentices might not be high on the priority list.
Nickel: No one else from Cannon will visit this timeline, but... depending on Sequel or not (and what form it may take), Aqua (or maybe Aqua + Kairi, IDK) may visit the main timeline. It's hard to say, its still a long ways off, with a lot of chapters to go. This book is essentially Road to Dusk's Dream-Drop-Distance AND Kingdom Hearts III.
Patrick the Observer: Anyone can use the Darkness if they choose to/let it in. Them light hippies just like their cola.
Anangennisi: Thanks, glad you enjoy. The Kingdom Hearts series keeps its original characters with no last names, I respect that decision :P. Aqua's heartless... well... I want to spoil something, I really do... lets just say there's will be more influence in the story than just its lasting damage, and people mistaking Aqua for it. Won't spoil it directly though. :D.