Life went on like it should between Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. Sure, they still had lingering bits of sadness and trauma from their ordeals, but it seemed to quiet down after the castle was finally finished, and all but vanished after Terra and Aqua's wedding.

Aqua's dress took a few weeks to make, with design after design from Kairi, Namine, and Minnie being scrapped by Aqua for being "too opulent/girly/flouncy/delicate/etc." but eventually she settled on a short and plain solid colored sundress the color of her hair with a set of white detached sleeves that were a little closer to her arms than her other pair. Upon the ladies's insistence, a train was sewn on as a faux longer skirt, and Aqua decided to wear her usual leggings underneath... and her usual Keyblade armored shoes, to "be ready for anything" as she insisted herself.

Terra was slightly less picky, just deciding to wear the Keyblade Master's garb he'd worn for her proposal.

As for the actual exchanging of vows, Ventus- as Terra's best man -brought over a Paopu fruit he'd gotten from Sora with a huge grin. So with a few bites, "I love you"s, and a kiss, Terra and Aqua were married Keyblade Masters. The event was quite unorthodox, but good enough for everyone, especially with Yen Sid approving the marriage.

Terra and Aqua debated on whose room they'd share, but finally settled on swapping out every once in awhile, which roughly translated to "whenever they felt like it". They were happy enough to just cuddle the nights away.

Ventus would occasionally creep in to join in on the cuddles.

Aqua was amused to see that both Terra and Ventus were growing out their hair, Terra's motivation being to emulate Eraqus and Ven's being to look different from Roxas (it helped that Roxas had adopted a shorter hair cut).

Days were often spent picnicking in the mountains around their home, enjoying the sun they hadn't seen in years. Others had Terra and Ventus sparring, although Aqua no longer had the desire to fight with them after fighting both of them before, so she now sat on the sidelines and ensured no one got seriously hurt.

And then there was the times when friends would visit, the whole castle echoing with laughter and enjoyment. Ventus and Roxas easily became known for becoming pranksters when paired together, Aqua generally became the "sane one" no matter who came over, and Terra would often get an earful from Aqua whenever a sparring match with Lea/Sora/Roxas/Riku/Isa got too out of hand. Heck, the boys getting together in general meant a great time for them and a varying experience for the ladies present. Xion and Namine's visits were often regarded as boring by Terra and Ventus, but a welcome relief to Aqua, while Kairi was a mixed bag depending on her company.

However, it was Sora who noticed something was a little off about Ventus first "Hey, is your wrist okay?"

Ven tilted his head idly, as if he hadn't quite hear Sora "Hmm?"

Roxas agreed, adjusting until he was in tune with the two again "You got a nasty looking cut on there that's healing-"

"Oh, Terra was just a little rough, that's all." Ventus dismissed him and covered his wrist with his other hand. Sora raised an eyebrow in response, but didn't comment. When he was leaving, he pulled Aqua aside on the stairs leading out.

"Yes, what do you need to discuss with me, Master Sora?" She sighed, defaulting to her formal 'Keyblade Master' manner of speech.

Sora wagged a finger at her "I don't care if you want to be all official and proper, it's just Sora to you!" he then sighed and held a hand over his face "How many times do I have to tell everyone that?"

Aqua smiled in amusement "Well then, Sora, what do you need to say besides that?"

Sora jerked his thumb towards the entryway "It's about Ven."

Aqua followed his direction, laughter fading "What about Ventus?" The boy was currently smiling and laughing with Roxas. Her eyes narrowed when one hand went up to shake Roxas's hand- was that a wound? But she always-

"You see it, too, right? The cut?"

"Yes." Aqua growled, glaring at Sora from the corners of her eyes "What did you do?"

Sora folded his arms "Nothing. He says Terra was too rough."

Aqua turned to him "But I'm always making sure neither of them are hurt."

Sora nodded "Exactly, I'm not buying it either."

"You sure it wasn't one of the others?" Aqua asked him, suddenly cold. She then shook her head "Never mind that wound is far too selective."

Sora shrugged "I dunno, maybe Lea or Isa snapped. You know that they both spent a good while as the Organization's hitmen." he then looked up, adding doubtfully "Then again... I don't think either of them liked it very much."

Aqua looked back at Ventus "I doesn't make sense..."

Sora then suddenly looked sad "You think maybe..." Sora obviously had trouble voicing his concern "he's... doing it to himself?"

Aqua barked at him "DON'T YOU DARE SUGGEST THAT!"

Ventus and Roxas jumped, and Ven asked plaintively "You okay, Aqua?"

Aqua pinched her nose and closed her eyes, waving the two boys off "Fine. Fine." She then glared at Sora "Don't you EVER bring that up to me-"

Sora turned away and put his hands behind his head like Ventus always did "And you say I'm the one who's in denial." Aqua slapped him "OW! Jeez I'm just saying!" He then left, noticing Roxas glaring at him from the doorway "But I'd seriously check that just in case..."

Aqua watched him leave with nothing but worry in her eyes.

...

"Aqua, you're tense." Terra said as he slipped behind her chair in the library.

"I'm not." She said with a bitter edge as she hunkered down in the chair and tried to resume her reading.

She closed her eyes and smiled a little when he rubbed her shoulders "I know that look, you're bothered by something."

Aqua closed her book, and set it aside as she stood "Okay, fine..." her hand lingered on the armrest "It's about Ven..."

"I'm sure he's fine." Terra scooped Aqua up in his arms "The boy's a tough one."

Aqua listened to his words and his heart, trying to calm herself down "I don't know," her voice suddenly strained and whined and quickened in fear "there was a cut on his wrist and me and Sora couldn't pinpoint where he'd gotten it and I don't want to believe that he's-"

"Aqua, calm down... calm down he's fine." Terra whispered. He ran a hand through her hair and began gently rocking themselves back and forth "Ven's fine. We're all fine." He then backed away and bent down a little so their gazes were even "How about we go check on him?"

Aqua nodded, and followed Terra. They paused in front of ven's room, and Terra knocked on his door lightly. After a few disconcerting noises of things being shuffled around anxiously, Aqua found her voice to ask "Ven? Can we come in?"

"Um... Uh... Yeah! Sure, come in!"

Aqua and Terra looked at each other; Ventus hardly sounded so nervous. Terra opened the door "Okay then..."

Ventus was cross-legged on his bed, wearing his black turtle neck shirt and a pair of baggy tan shorts. His head was titled with a strained smile "What's up?"

Terra cleared his throat "Well, Sora had mentioned you were hurt earlier-"

Ventus blew him off "Lea was just rough-"

"Sora said that you told him it was Terra." Aqua said.

Ven's smile blew out, but resumed "Oh, did I? I must've been a little frazzled-"

"Ven, is everything okay?" Terra asked. He then blinked "Is that blood?"

Ventus quickly slid over the bright red stain on his bedsheets, now sprawled on his bed with his head propped up in one hand "Hmm? Whatcha talkin' 'bout?"

Aqua held a hand to her mouth upon seeing the newly opened cut in another wrist "Ven!" Terra's eyes were fixed on it in a numb sort of horror.

Ventus's eyes suddenly widened in terror, and he withdrew the hand holding his head up "W-what is up with you two?! J-just leave me alone!" He then shook his head "No, I-I didn't... I didn't mean that..." He bit his lip and turned onto his back and looked up at the ceiling, then covered his face with his hands and moaned "I don't know... Just do what you came here for and leave, I guess..."

Aqua walked over, and gently pulled his injured hand off of his face and stared at it, then the glimpse of Ven's utterly lost expression that now had a few beads of blood across it. She ran her finger along the cut, barely whispering "c-cure..." Sora was right after all. She wondered why she was so against the theory.

Terra suddenly seemed to realize what was going on, and snapped at Ventus "What on earth are you thinking?!"

Ventus bolted up, surprising Aqua with how fast and sudden it was "I DON'T KNOW, OKAY?!" he wiped at his face again and laid down sobbing "I don't know..."

Aqua cupped his cheek "Ven-"

"Just be quiet. I don't know..." he croaked.

Aqua glared at Terra, but it softened when she realized Terra was just as stunned, angry, confused, and sad as her. She looked at Ventus again, hating the red-tinted tears that were running down his cheeks. She then quietly rubbed his chest, not knowing what would happen if she hugged him and not wanting to find out.

Terra sat on the ground in front of Ven's bed "Ventus what are you thinking?" This time he sounded less angry and more hurt.

"I don't know..." Ventus hiccuped "I don't know; it's him..." Aqua and Terra looked at each other again; him? Did he mean Vanitas? His earlier training with Xehanort? Both? "Why am I even alive... I can destroy everything if I get in the wrong fight... You should've just killed me when you had the chance-"

"NO!" Terra and Aqua instantly objected.

Ventus only let out the most disgusting sound Terra and Aqua had ever heard- a laughter distorted with the wet sound of tears and a falsehood of desperate hope "Admit it if I never existed none of this would've happened-"

"No, no Ventus..." Aqua bent over him and pressed her forehead to his "No, no, no... no, Ven... you're not to blame for what's happened..."

Ventus shook his head "I am... If Xehanort didn't find me he wouldn't've-"

"You would've never met us! Think of how happy we are together." Aqua backed away with a strained and teary smile, desperate to lighten Ven's depression. Kingdom Hearts how did depression this deep slip under her?

Terra only shook his head "Ven, you can't help being who you are-"

"I'm a monster, an experiment." Ventus spat "I'm a heart that shouldn't exist-"

"Ventus, no." Aqua cut him off "You're not a monster, you're not an experiment-"

Ventus rose his voice "Roxas has more of a right to live than me-"

"Ventus be quiet!" Terra begged him "You're speaking nonsense!"

"It's not fair on the rest of you!" Ventus's voice escalated to a lost wail "It's not fair that just because I was born like this and Xehanort found me that the rest of you suffered! I should be dead for what I've done-"

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Aqua yelled. She stared at Ventus- he wasn't looking at either of them, not even outside to his beloved stars. No, he was looking at the darkest corner of his room, letting his reflected feelings fester and show in his eyes. She then looked at Terra. He was now leaning against her legs, as if something in his stalwart nature had collapsed and weakened it. She closed her eyes, letting her tears and herself go "Don't say that... not when you haven't done anything wrong."

"I exist, that's what wrong." Ventus countered her again "I'm a heart that was completely devoid of darkness, a freakish anomaly that's just laughing in the face of whatever created the worlds... I'm a heart that has an equal mix to bring about the creation of the end of them, too, a bomb ready to explode at any second." His hand then reached into a crack between the bed and the window, and he pulled out a knife- Aqua noted horribly that there was a strong chance Ventus was using it earlier "Maybe I should just-"

"Don't!" Terra's hand grabbed Ven's and the knife. He finally let his tears pour out "Please don't, Ven."

Ventus turned his head to Terra "Why shouldn't I?"

Terra brushed aside his tears, his bangs, even the smallest traces of blood from earlier "Because we love you." Terra bowed his head, shaking. His hand slowly dropped onto Ven's chest "We love you so much..."

Ventus closed his eyes and smiled- it was a broken smile that looked like it didn't belong on such a grieving expression "And that's why I think I need to do this."

...

Of course, the moment Ventus made an attempt was the last straw with everything. Now fortunately Aqua was able to mostly stop it, but it didn't stop Ventus from managing to cut open an artery.

He sat there, in a bed in Disney Castle's infirmary and hooked up to a blood transfusion, looking hollow.

Sora rushed in with about five million balloons and flowers and candies that harshly contrasted with his outright terrified expression "Ven! Ven oh gosh you're okay!" He rushed over to the boy's side "Jeez what got into you?!" Ventus turned away from Sora, quiet, which only spurred his motor mouth on "A-Aqua said you tried to kill yourself gosh you were fine this afternoon-"

"Sora, shut up." Ventus laughed meekly with a bare flick of his lips into a curl.

Sora smiled a little, but he still looked troubled "Me, Reeks, and Kai got the news and we had heart attacks! Well, Kairi and Riku are still back home since Donald added you were kinda stable, but I just had to come see you..." he added softer "Especially when I felt what was probably the intended coup de grace..." He then looked around "I dunno 'bout Roxas and Xion and everybody else... the Highwind is a little slow to get around." He looked back at Ven, then laughed a little "Um, hope you like balloons n' stuff... I got you as much as I could because I didn't think people were gonna come if Donald was gonna give the same message. Not to mention that Ballonga spell was really handy-" he stopped himself, then added anxiously "Bythewaydon'thittheballoonstoohardorthey'llexplode."

Ventus closed his eyes and smiled; Sora was such a goof "Remind me... why did I pick your heart out of all the rest?"

"Well gee in life or death scenarios you kinda just go for the first of what comes up." Sora said, crossing his arms and looking a little offended "Love ya too, heart-bro."

Ventus chuckled. An honest chuckle that he felt he couldn't have done without Sora.

"I Love ya too, heart-bro."

UGHH I JUST REALIZED THIS SEEMED TO FOCUS ON TERQUA TOO MUCH AND THIS ANGST-SPREE CAME UP.

So yeah I think I'll just add on stories whenever I feel like it so it'll kinda just be an ongoing mess of TerQuaVen oneshot stories.

(fyi yes Balloonga is a spell it's in DDD.)