"Woah! Nearly got me Ven!" Terra laughed as he bounced back from Ven's sturdy strike. Ventus grinned in reply, curling his hand centimeters from the hilt of his Keyblade. He moved in again, striking fast and sharply like his usual style. It was natural to him to be quick and like paper cuts when it came to fighting. Terra countered this with a turtleshell defense, as he had always prompted to use to counter fast with his slow. Of course that just got Ven upping his game and then Terra increasing his, but it was banter they both enjoyed more than a lot of things.

Aqua continued arranging their little picnic, periodically looking over at her boys. She reached for a low hanging branch on the tree bearing apples, and then another holding peaches on the sme tree. She smiled at her fruit as she arranged it all tastefully, "Ah, the wonders of grafting."

Aqua sat back and tapped her lips, "Hmmmm..." Honestly this was their anniversary picnic. Everything had to be perfect. Everything had to make up for and maybe even replace the horrible memories already surrounding this day.

She tweaked a few pineapple slices on a cake, making the cutout emblem of their departed master less crooked. She pulled out a knife and began whittling away at an apple, intending to make a sculpture but quickly abandoning the prospect and opting for slices when she found she wasn't as skilled with a knife as Terra was. She went over to the drinks, testing the lemonade she already knew Terra and Ven loved. She set it down, satisfied with the taste but wondering why she brought lemonade; that was only going to make Ventus-

Everything snapped away from her when she heard a sickening crunch, followed by what sounded something like Terra setting down a particularly heavy book. It had been forever since combat-oriented instincts set in, but it didn't take long for her to realize that what she had just heard was a bone cracking blow and whoever got hit falling to the ground. It took another moment for her to recognize Terra's frantic cries of "Ventus! VENTUS!" She turned her head to see Terra cradling Ven in one arm while the other had his hand covering his mouth.

Ventus was limp, eyes closed, and his head was coated in blood.

Aqua stood slowly, "Ven?" She began walking, everything moving to fast and too slow, "Ventus?!" She ran, blind with shock and worry and fear, "VEN!" She felt herself starting to hyperventilate at the thought of losing Ventus after she had worked so hard to bring him back into her arms.

Aqua skinned her knees when she fell to Ven's side, and found it hard to ignore Terra's sobs, "Ven, Ven I'm so sorry...!"

Aqua finally settled back into her unfamiliar rhythm of emergency and war, and yelled,"Curaga!" She then yelled at Terra, "DON'T YOU HAVE ANY DAMN SENSE?! IF SOMEONE'S THIS INJURED YOU NEED TO HEAL THEM NOT SIT THERE AND BLUBBER!"

Terra snapped at her, "It was an accident okay?! I-I didn't know where he was-"

"YOU DID THIS?!" Aqua screamed.

"IT WAS AN ACCIDENT-"

"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME YOU ALMOST KILLED HIM-"

"I MEAN TO TELL YOU I DIDN'T MEAN IT AND I'M JUST AS SCARED AS YOU ARE!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU TERRA-"

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY-"

"THAT WAS INCREDIBLY IRRESPONSIBLE AND YOU KNOW IT!"

Ventus couldn't think straight. His head kept walking in circles and rewinding and fast forwarding and leaving his thoughts in a jumbled mess that confused even him. It took awhile to register something wet and sticky down the side of his face, and then longer to recall the feeling of blood. Of course he knew what blood was; he'd cut his wrists for a little while, hadn't he...?

But the pain in his head was new. It felt like someone had steamrolled right through it and then pasted together the fragments of broken skull. His eyes didn't want to open, and, in the case of his right, was almost glued with drying blood. The ringing in his ears began filling with another ringing. Yelling ringing. Arguing ringing. The tones of hatred.

He opened his mouth to say something, but only a listless murmur came out; a croak that went unnoticed in Terra and Aqua's fight. Ven forced his eyes to open just a crack and made the noise again, trying to recall how to speak, "Tr... Qu... Ahh..."

Aqua felt like there wasn't a lot of oxygen going to her head; most of it went to her mouth, actually, "THIS IS JUST LIKE THIRTEEN YEARS AGO!"

Terra laughed bitterly. "OH, SO YOU'RE SAYING YOU'RE RUNNING AROUND AFTER ME AND TRYING TO TELL ME HOW TO BE RESPONSIBLE LIKE I'M SOME KIND OF FIVE YEAR OLD, HUH?!"

"I'M SAYING IT'S ALL. YOUR. FAULT!" Aqua stood and roared.

Terra fell silent.

Aqua began crying, "I hate you! it's all your fault just like last time! I thought we could move on from what happened thirteen years ago today but NOOOO, you had to cause problems again because apparently that's all you're good for! Even after thirteen years all you're good for is screwing up and ruining our lives!"

The hateful words drifted and roamed among the mountains. Terra looked at a loss for words and Aqua started to have regret creep at the edges of her expression.

"Aqua... Terra..." They turned to see Ven crying, "What happened?"

Aqua forced a smile and brushed Ven's cheek, "Terra was being an idiot-"

"I wasn't being an idiot I just lost track of where you were and landed a solid whomp on your head." Terra interrupted Aqua with a growling edge. But if anything he looked deeply hurt.

"Whomp? WHOMP?" Aqua repeated with disbelief as she redirected her attention. She began yelling again, "Terra that could have ki-"

"Stop..." Ventus shook his head. He gasped and held a hand to his still recovering wound. Ven whimpered, "ow... Ow!" Aqua was about to take Ven from Terra's hold before Terra pulled Ven closer. He ignored Ventus moaning from the sudden jolt, and only glared at Aqua.

Aqua held out her hands, "It's obvious you can't-"

"I very well can!" Terra abruptly stood, carrying Ventus bridal style.

Ventus squirmed, "Terra... put me..." He seemed to forget what he was saying a moment, "Put me down..."

Terra ignored him, "Aqua, you're really pushing it."

Aqua threw her hands in the air with an exasperated sigh, "Oh, so let's leave the injured person in the care of the one who hurt him-"

"It was my mistake and I'm not afraid to admit it but you-"

Ventus suddenly squirmed right out of Terra's arms and fell to the ground. Aqua and Terra stopped their arguing in mute horror and watched Ventus stand up. Ventus stood shakily, still gripping at his reddish spikes of hair, but backed away from them both, "Guys... Stop it." He didn't let Aqua or Terra butt in by adding, "Stop it right now. This is not what today is about."

Aqua uncomfortably shifted around and Terra rubbed the back of his neck. They lurched forward a little when Ventus swayed, but Ventus brushed their hands away, "No. Not until you think a moment and apologize."

Aqua folded her arms, "I'm not apologizing! Terra broke part your skull-"

"For the millionth time," Terra began, followed by Ventus joining in harmony, "it was an accident!"

Ventus swayed again, this time falling to his knees. Aqua and Terra knelt next to him, and Ventus went from kneeling to sitting down. He took a few moments to steady himself, panting and trying to stop the swaying in his vision.

"Ven, we need to get you inside. Magic or no you need more help." Aqua said.

Ventus then laid down and folded his arms, "No."

"Ven!" Aqua sighed, "Come on this isn't a time for-"

"So you think we spent twelve years in hell to yell at each other?" Ventus cut her off. He glared at the sky, probably intending to find a middle ground to glare at both Terra and Aqua, "Do you think I spent twelve years asleep, Aqua twelve years alone, and Terra twelve years with him just so we could argue and scream at each other?"

Ventus rested his case with a sigh, "Come on guys... Don't... Don't fight..." He trailed off as his eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out.

Aqua and Terra ended up literally butting heads as they both lurched for Ventus. They backed up, sorely rubbing their heads simultaneously; even at the same rhythm. Terra was the first to laugh a little. Aqua giggled, but soon after made an angry pout. She wasn't laughing. Not at a serious moment like this.

Terra was the first to recover as well, and he picked Ventus up. He examined the healed blow, "Well, there's a scar, and I can't say if you fixed up his head for sure, but otherwise he seems to just be out cold from trauma or blood loss or somethin'."

Aqua walked up to him, peeking pver his shoulder at the same injury, "A scar? I've lost my touch."

"Hey, I thought you were more concerned about Ven." Terra said teasingly.

Aqua's face turned red again, "I-I am!"

Terra smiled. He then patted Ventus, "Hey buddy, thanks for snapping some reason into me."

Aqua grumbled as she began following him back inside, "What do you mean reason?"

"We were too busy fighting over something relatively small. You can fix up an injury like that no problem, which I panicked and forgot, you panicked and forgot. We both panicked and went on instincts we honestly haven't used in awhile." Terra said. He stopped and smiled at her, "I mean, Ven's right, it's us that really matters, right?"

...

Ventus laughed as he clinked lemonade glasses with Terra. Despite everything seeming to come along perfectly with his head injury he had bandages tightly wrapped around his head. Precautions, as Aqua put it. He honestly didn't mind anyways, citing that they "looked pretty cool".

Their anniversary celebration went on without a hitch as they moved on from their picnic that night to reenact their journeys. Even jumping across worlds in a mock attempt to catch up with each other.

Except this time when they met at Radiant Garden rather than splitting apart like before had another small party with the restoration committee (Radiant Garden was much larger than the Land of Departure when it came to things needing restoring and sadly was only about half way along the process) and went home together.

It went unsaid that the events being celebrated were actually not as fun or beautiful as they were being made out to be, but everyone knew it. But that wasn't the point. The point of it all was to remember their friendship and love through those rough times.

Once again I've let this sit around far too long. Bad me. I need more Wayfinder Trio