Hold me
Whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all
Nothing's like before

SEVERAL YEARS LATER ~ AFTER THE FINAL BATTLE

Sora, Riku, and everyone else stood around the fallen body of Terra, hoping against hope that they had finally beaten Xehanort and restored Terra's heart, eradicating the evil threat. After what seemed like a lifetime, Terra's eyelids finally begin to flutter and when he opens them, everyone exhaled the breath they were holding because staring at everyone was Terra's sapphire eyes. Suddenly, an array of celebratory cries is all that could be heard in the desert.

"Yeah!"

"Woo-hoo!"

"We did it!"

"Gwarsh, we did it! A-huck!"

Terra looked around at everyone briefly before Ventus and Aqua ran over and threw their arms around him.

"Terra, you're back," Ventus shouted while laughing cheerfully.

Aqua wrapped her arms around both boys and tears of happiness could be seen traveling down her smiling cheeks.

Terra's enthusiasm to be back was short lived as he peered around at the rest of the elated onlookers and found one particular person was missing.

"Where's Nova?"

Everyone looked at each other with nervousness. Without another word, the group parted slowly and behind them was an elegant keyblade stabbed into the dirt, which beckoned Terra to come closer. Unwrapping himself from Ventus and Aqua's arms, he stood slowly on shaky legs and walked closer to the keyblade. When he reached out to touch the hilt, he was unexpectedly bombarded with Nova's past memories.

Multiple scenes shuffled through his mind as if they were his own flashbacks. He saw Nova's brother ruffle her hair as she smiled up at him with a toothy grin. After a flash, the scene changed and he saw her in the middle of some heated keyblade matches between her and her friends. He even saw snippets of the keyblade war and how utterly defeated Nova was when she watched not only her friends be killed, but her brother's murder as well.

These events caused Terra's heart to constrict but the ones that tore it apart were the memories of him and her together. He saw when she healed him when he was eight, when they first met the second time almost a decade later, and their first kiss. However, the one memory Terra wanted to block from his mind the most was when Xehanort, in his body, killed Nova right where he now stood. Nevertheless, the final memory that replayed for him was within the Mysterious Tower with Nova speaking to Yen Sid. She held a bundle of cloth in her arms and was gazing down lovingly at it.

"He's so precious, Yen Sid. I wish Terra was here to see him," Nova whispered, her voice cracking at the end, laced with emotion.

"I think I'm going to name him Sora."

Nova touched his forehead with her index finger and a blue light emitted beneath her touch and quickly dissipated.

"Now, when you're older you'll be able to take care of yourself, my little bright sky."

With a bright flash of light, Terra was jolted away from the keylade as soon as those words left her mouth and fell to the dirt a few feet away. When he opened his eyes, Nova was standing where her keyblade had been, only this time she had a light blue aura surrounding her body.

"Nova," Terra choked, running towards her to embrace her.

Nova smiled softly but it was short lived as Terra passed right through her since she was only an apparition. Turning to face Terra, she sighed despondently.

"Terra, I'm so proud of you. I knew you could defeat Xehanort. I'm sorry that you had to go through all this because of me."

Nova looked down at her hands, her face twisting in regret. Terra could only stare at her, his heart slowly breaking at his realization.

"Are you… You're not coming back, are you?"

Nova looked into Terra's eyes and bit her lip, shaking her head sadly. Terra felt his world crumbling and when he tried to grab her hands, his fingers went through hers like she was made of air. Terra instantly roared as he pleaded his heart out to the world that he wanted to hold her one last time. For once the universe listened and when he tried reaching his hand out to touch her face, his fingertips felt the soft brush of her delicate skin.

Realizing he could touch her, he instantly grabbed her behind her neck and kissed her with all the passion he could muster. Their tears flowed down their cheeks and mingled together from the contact. He wanted her to know how much he needed her, missed her, but most importantly, he wanted her to know just how much he loved her. After a few moments, Nova pulled away from the kiss, leaving Terra cold from the loss of contact with her skin.

"Terra, I came to tell you something. I kept it from you because Yen Sid told me this was the only way to save you. I'm sorry you never knew and so much time has passed already."

Looking behind Terra, she spotted Sora amongst the rest of the group. Instantly, her eyes teared up as she stared at her now grown son.

"Terra… Sora is your son."

Everyone surrounding Sora gasped in shock as they took in her revelation and Sora's eyes widened as his brain tried to comprehend what she said.

"What? How can he be my son? He's too old for that to be true, Nova."

For the first time since before she died, Nova giggled. She would miss Terra with all her heart but this chance to say goodbye was more than she could ever hope for.

"All you have to do is speak to Yen Sid and he can explain everything. I just need you to promise me something, Terra," Nova said, once again turning serious.

Terra didn't trust his voice to stay steady so instead he nodded.

"I want you to move on."

Silence was her only answer for what felt like forever until finally Terra found his voice again.

"What?"

Nova stroked his cheek and bit her lip before she continued her train of thought.

"I love you, Terra and I will forever love you. I know that you love me, too, but we both know that I'm still dead and you need to let me go and live your life. You have a son to get to know and I want you to live a beautifully meaningful life now that your heart is back to where it belongs."

"My-," Terra chokes, but he clears the emotional obstruction and forces himself to finish his sentence.

"You're my heart."

Nova kisses Terra's cheek before whispering into his ear. He closes his eyes as more tears fall to the dirt and the weight of the world feels like it just fell on his shoulders. Nova glanced behind his shoulder and beamed at Sora.

"I'm sorry I had to leave you when you were only a baby. I love you Sora, and I'm so proud of you. I wish I could've been there for you but, I thought I could save him," Nova said, motioning towards Terra.

Sora scratched his head and chuckled awkwardly since he was still mostly confused. Nova turned back to Terra and reached up to encircle his neck with her arms, hugging him closer to kiss him one last time.

"You have a life waiting for you. Don't waste it wallowing in your pain," she whispered.

As those last words echoed in his mind, Terra felt Nova's body vanish and when he opened his eyes, she was gone from his life as quickly as she fell into it. When he looked into the sky, he saw a meteor shower like the same one all those years ago. Closing his eyes, Terra made a wish that he hoped with all his heart would come true.

Please bring Nova back to me.