My sanctuary my sanctuary yeah

After a very grueling and intense training week, the group of four friends decided to take a day off and go to visit the waterfall that was only a short walk from their home. The sun was shining beautifully and they all knew this would be a very welcomed and much needed break from their training. Terra and Ventus decided on wearing a pair of shorts for the day but Nova, who was currently sporting a cute white one piece suit, was able to convince Aqua to wear a black one piece swimsuit.

Aqua and Ventus decided to spend a good portion of their day just sitting on the sand, enjoying the relaxing sun while Terra spent a better part of his day just hovering around Nova as they went from swimming to sunbathing. His eyes followed her everywhere because he found her swimsuit too enticing to look away. It successfully showed off her long legs and even did wonders for her curves.

After a few hours, Nova suggested a friendly chicken fight in the body of water at the bottom of the waterfall and Terra eagerly agreed, volunteering instantly to be her teammate.

"All right, so I guess we're going to fight Ven and Aqua," Nova said, motioning to herself and Terra.

Aqua and Ventus nodded before racing into the water.

"Hey Aqua, do you mind if I go first? We can swap after one of our teams loses," Ventus asked.

"Oh, sure, that's fine with me," she replied before diving under the water to lift Ventus on her shoulders.

Nova smiled at her friends in the water and turned to ask Terra if it was alright that she goes first since it seemed an impossible task for her to lift him on her shoulders. Before she could even finish the question, Terra had already taken hold of her hips and lifts her over his head onto his shoulders as if she weighed as much as a pillow full of feathers. He swiftly starts walking to the water while Nova could feel the blood rushing to her face, coating her cheeks in a crimson color that would rival anyone who stayed out in the sun too long.

The first game of chicken was won by Ventus and Aqua since Nova still hadn't gotten her bearings but she quickly recovered and climbed back onto Terra's shoulders. As the games continued, the teams switched up a little with Aqua on Ventus' shoulders or the complete swap with Aqua and Terra against Nova and Ventus. As they entered their last game, Nova held Aqua on her shoulders to go against Ventus and Terra to end their tied team score of 5-5.

With fatigue hitting Nova quicker than Terra, she decided to resort to unfair tactics and splashed water in his face to distract him, hoping he'd possibly lose his grip on Ventus. Aqua, having a slight advantage over Ventus with his distracted partner, pushed him with all her might and was successfully able to get him to fall from Terra's shoulders, making Nova and Aqua the winners.

"Whoohoo! We won, Aqua!" Nova celebrated by high fiving Aqua before she moved off her shoulders.

"Yeah, I guess we did. It was probably because you were able to distract Terra."

"Yeah, I guess she was afraid of losing to us, huh?" Terra teased the brunette as they all exited the water.

"All right, it's lunch time!" Ventus yelled before quickly running over to the baskets of food to start his delayed lunch without the rest of them, causing a quick chuckle to breakout amongst the older teens.

When lunch was over, Aqua decided to head back home to retire to her room for a short nap and Ventus opted to join her to carry the baskets, stating he might try to nap for a bit as well. Nova decided to spend some more time swimming and Terra was more than happy to stay with her. After a few more laps around the water, Nova decided to get out and lay around to sunbathe for a while and spread her towel next to Terra's.

"So, how long have you known Aqua and Ventus?" Nova asked when she was lying on her back with her arm draped across her eyes to hide the sun.

"Hmm, I've known Aqua the longest. Not long after you came the first time, she moved in and just fell right into the training regimen with me. Master Xehanort brought Ventus here about a year before you came back and he was in sort of a catatonic state for a few weeks."

Terra glanced over at Nova and noticed her eyes were closed and her breathing had evened out.

"You fell asleep, didn't you?" He asked rhetorically as he chuckled to himself.

Terra gathered his towel and threw it over his shoulder as knelt by Nova's side. He lightly moved her arm from her face and when he did, the sunlight caused her to stir but she remained asleep. Terra put his arms under her back and legs to lift her off the towel and quickly threw that over his shoulder with his before he picked her up again to carry her home and out of the blistering sun.

It didn't take Terra long to walk back home while carrying Nova; if anything he attempted to prolong it just to keep her in his arms. At some point on the walk home she nuzzled into his chest and when the coolness of her breath grazed over his skin, he felt himself shiver. Finally, Terra arrived at home and slowly climbed the stairs to her room to put her in her bed. When he lowered her body on the bed, he hovered over her for a few moments, mesmerized by her beauty.

"I really like you," he whispered before his lips softly grazed hers.

When he opened his eyes, he saw she was still asleep so he decided to pull a cover over her body so she wouldn't get cold and left the room as quietly as he could.

"Sweet dreams, Nova."

When we are older you'll understand
What I meant when I said,
"No, I don't think life is quite that simple"

It had been a few weeks since their beach break and the sun was starting to set as Nova and Terra were wrapping up their daily training session with their friendly competition match. Since their relationship had yet to progress any further than Terra's secret kiss with Nova, he decided to try and speed things along.

"How about we make this match interesting, Nova?"

Nova blinked at Terra in confusion. "Um, what do you mean 'interesting'?"

"If I'm able to disarm you in this match, you have to do me a favor."

Nova scoffed.

"Oh, is that so? Well, what if I disarm you?"

Terra shrugged. "If you can, I will owe you a favor."

Nova could only shake her head in amusement. She was a keyblade master; could Terra really be that confident that he would easily be able to disarm her in a match? Granted, he was a very skilled student, but she was still unsure where this sudden burst of arrogance came from.

"Well, you asked for it. I won't go easy on you."

Terra smirked. "I never thought you would."

With that, their match commenced. For most of the time, they seemed evenly matched; neither keyblade wielder could gain the upper hand on their opponent and if they did, it wasn't for long. However, halfway through the match, Terra seemed to be exerting a little more energy than Nova.

"Had enough yet, Terra?"

Terra's face fell a little at the taunt, causing him to throw himself more into his swings. Finally, after a few minutes, he could see Nova begin to tire herself out while being on the defensive against his brutal onslaught of attacks. Just when Nova felt she had gained the upper hand and was about to disarm Terra, he ducked beneath her attack and swung his leg around, catching both of hers and throwing her body to the ground. Terra jumped up quicker than she could and hit her keyblade hand, successfully knocking it across the field before it disappeared.

Both teenagers just stared at each other, sweat running down their faces, panting for air. Nova finally stood up and began to brush the dirt off of her clothes, surprise clearly written all over her face.

"Well, that was-"

She was cut off as Terra cupped her cheeks and his soft lips crashed against hers. For a moment, Nova couldn't breathe; much less think about what was happening. Eventually, she gave in to the kiss and gripped his skin-tight shirt with her hands, letting her desire gain the upper hand. Terra finally pulled away and stared into her face, noticing her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were still closed trying to savor the feel of his lips on hers. When she finally did open her eyes, she could only stutter her question.

"So, uh, w-what is your, um, f-favor?

Terra chuckled and leaned closer to her and while his hand still cupped her cheek, he whispered into her ear, "That was my favor, beautiful."

Nova's cheeks lit up an even deeper shade of red and she dipped her head in embarrassment. She never thought Terra's feelings were romantic for her, but now that she knew, she felt silly for not acknowledging them sooner.

"Terra I-"

She was cut off when Terra put his thumb on her lips to shush her.

"Don't. I know you may not feel the same way but I just wanted you to know how I felt. I've had a crush on you since you first stumbled over my toy trainset."

Terra smiled at her with that boyish lopsided grin that she noticed he only seemed to share with her. Truth be told, Nova had noticed when she came back to Land of Departure that she was slowly developing feelings for him but thought he wouldn't be able to reciprocate. She pulled his hand away from her lips but held on and intertwined her fingers with his.

"I like you, too, Terra."

Terra's face lit up like a little boy's and he closed the gap in-between them and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her into the air as he whooped and hollered his elation. Both of them began laughing at his jubilance and eventually, Terra lowered her to the ground somewhat breathless and gave her a quick peck on the lips. Noticing that the sun had finally set and their only light was the stars, Nova grasped Terra's hand and began walking inside.

"It's been quite an eventful day. We should go get some rest," she declared.

Terra nodded his agreement but couldn't shake the satisfied smile he wore, even when he dreamt of her that night.

Li

This is a little longer of a chapter than normal but I found myself unable to break these two sections apart since it develops their relationship. I've come across another hole in my story that I have to fill in so this will be the last chapter for a few days until I can finish this next part. Good news is, once this next part is written, I can post the rest of the story and it'll be complete.