Ven sprang into the kitchen, almost slipping on the kitchen tiles before reaching the doors of the fridge and yanking them open. His eyes darted every direction for the glassed bottle of milk, 'Aqua and I always used to make hot chocolate together, I hope she's in the mood' his all too shaky hands grabbed the bottle and hugging it close with enough pressure just shy of breaking it into pieces.

"Calm down Ven" he mumbled to himself, "Aqua's not sick, Aqua's not sick..." he had hoped if he told himself that enough times maybe he'd actually believe it.

Sound of shattering glass broke Ven out of his trance, his hands shook too violently he let the bottle fall, broken glass littered the tiles, milk slowly spreading across the floor, 'broken...i-is Aqua broken too?' Ven shook his head as if he could shake the dreaded thought away and bent down attempting to clean up his mess he was met with a gash to his finger for comfort.

"Stupid glass!" He all but screamed, but that didn't stop him from trying to pick up the shards, 'if I can fix this, maybe I can fix Aqua too, I can put her back together again!' Ven didn't notice the multitudes of small cuts now covering his hands and fingers nor did he hear the rapid sound of bare footed skin smacking the tiled floor or the small gasp and shout of his name.

"Ven!" Aqua pulled him away from the mess, turning his face to look at hers while she grabbed his ruined hands assessing the damage.

The room was silent, Ven just stared at Aqua, this was the first time since they came back that he had seen the Aqua he used to know, the over-protective and caring Aqua that was like a big sister or mother to him, but then he saw the Aqua that was just crouched on all fours coughing and spluttering outside a few minutes ago. He couldn't help but choke out a sob.

Aqua's head jerked up immediately, "Ventus? Hey, what's wrong!?"

"D-don't leave me please!" He threw his arms around Aqua's middle, face hidden at her abdomen, she tensed up at the sudden contact.

"What?"

"S-stay, I-I... you can't go!"

"Ventus." She pulled back and titled his chin up, wiping his tears with her thumb, giving him a sad smile, "I'm not going anywhere, okay? I'm not leaving you."

"Y-you p-promise?"

Aqua stilled at that, to be honest she wasn't sure she could keep that promise, 'If I get worse then...' she shook her head evading the thought, now was not the time. Instead, she pulled Ven into a tight embrace, his head resting over her heart while she rested her head on top of his unruly spiky hair.

They sat here like that for hours until Ven's cries had subsided, Aqua peered over at Ven, he was out cold, though tears still lingered his cheeks.

Aqua sighed, "I'm sorry Ven. I didn't mean for you to worry." She had figured this had something to do with how distanced she had been to the two boys, she'd felt guilty for Ven especially, he was equivalent to kicking a puppy if she was to be honest.

Light was starting to creep into the kitchen, she sighed again, it was almost dawn, the girl looked back down, she couldn't bring herself to wake the sleeping boy so she gathered him in her arms, making sure his head rested on her shoulder and hoisted herself up, letting out a wince as her chest flared with a stab of pain.

Ignoring the cold numbness that followed, she had managed to tuck Ven into bed, giving him a light kiss on the head before turning her way back to her own room to try and rest herself.

Its been three weeks since their returned and Aqua had not stepped out of her room for the last five days. She no longer ate. Terra had cooked and brought up meals to her room, leaving it outside her bedroom door as she now always had it locked. However he was always left to clean up a plate of untouched food everyday.

Not to say her room was always locked.

The two boys had came into her room one morning as she had not come down for breakfast suspecting that she must've slept in, she had been doing that a lot recently, however they both stopped mid-step at the noise of hacking and gagging coming from the girls room. Terra was the first to act and quickly barged in, freezing in place at seeing the state of whatever was left of Aqua's room. Every mirror had seemed to be shattered, blood lingered on broken shards, furniture either broken or dented as if it had been punched and kicked several times, curtains ripped from it's pole, left in a heap and - 'was that more blood!?' The call of Aqua's names from Ven's lips brought Terra back to his senses and scrambled towards the bathroom door careful not to trip over any obstacles of broken furniture on his way.

Ven's eyes were already glossy, brimming with tears while he banged a fist against the wooden door, pleading for Aqua to open up. The sounds of gags and chokes could be heard behind the door.

"Aqua! Please, open up! Please! P-Please!" The poor boy was stuttering.

Terra has seen enough.

He gently pulled the distraught Ven by the shoulders and braced himself to kick the door down himself until he heard the sound of a door unlocking. Terra took a step back, putting an arm around Ven who was still choking on sobs. The door creaked, only opening a small gap, enough to see one half of Aqua's face and nothing more, it didn't stop the boys from noticing her almost snow white skin nor the dark bags under her one eye. 'She's gotton worse' Ven noted, bringing another sob, a fee hiccups in between. Terra only held him tighter.

Terra sighed, slowly moving his gaze to focus on Aqua. "Aqua, let us help you please, we both know your sick, allow us to -

"Leave." Just one word. It held no emotion in it. She gave both boys one hard look then locked the door once again.

They don't know how long they stood there for, Ven's sobs had gradually turned into more silent tears, a few hiccups in between and Terra's shirt was soaked through with Ven's tears. 'Must've been a while then, but Aqua still hasn't come back out and I haven't heard her make a sound since'.

Terra was worried. Very worried.

With no indication of Aqua opening the door again for the time being, the boys turned to leave. Terra caught a roll of bandage on top of Aqua's bed, some used blood stained bandages covered the floor beneath her bed. 'Whatever your doing Aqua, at least your trying to look after yourself. But why won't you accept any help from us?' Terra sighed again, averting his gaze and followed Ven towards the door. The minute they got back out into the hallway they heard the turn of a lock behind them.

Aqua hadn't opened the door again since.