Chapter Two: War
Flames, flashes of light blinding, magic arcing through the night…
Screams of the dying, the changed, and the wounded…
The blood-covered body of…
"NO!"
Aqua sat up in bed with a scream. She looked around wildly for a moment, realizing she was in her room, and sighed. Hugging her pillow tightly to herself, she fought to calm her frazzled nerves.
The door banged open to admit a very worried Ven. "Aqua! Aqua, are you all right?" He came over, peering into her stormy blue-grey eyes.
"Yes…"
Ven sat down on the bed beside her, drawing her into the circle of his arms. "Another nightmare?" She nodded weakly against his collarbone, closing her eyes. He cursed softly. Here in this… well, too grand to be called a mere house. It was more of a mansion, or even castle. The four Chasers lived there together, when they weren't off retaining the balance of the worlds or whatever. Aqua had been having nightmares of the War now for several nights, and Ven and the others were beginning to worry.
Aqua glanced at the armor on its' stand in the corner, confirming to herself yet again that the events of a week ago had indeed happened. She settled in close to Ven, trying to get the images from her mind.
"Talking will help." Ven said soothingly. "What was this one?"
Aqua shuddered. "Just, in general, the violence, the dying, the blood and those heartless things… And… You. You were lying there dead…" Her voice cracked, and she buried her face in his chest, crying. Ven sighed, rubbing her back comfortingly. It was too much for any of them to go through. The Keyblade War had been a terrible thing. The worst in all history…
Ven couldn't even remember the exact reason it had started. There had always been keybearers, as long as there had been a Kingdom Hearts. They had each had talent in one of the four disciplines: Light, Dawn, Twilight, and Dusk. Young and old alike, the Strong Hearts of the individual worlds came together, to defend the Kingdom and protect for the future.
But one day, that all changed. The Keybladers of Dusk betrayed them, tempted by the Darkness that they were all charged to defend against. A great battle had been fought on the Horizon Plains, and eventually, nearly all of the Keybladers had fallen. Just as there had never been a worse war in all history, never had there been such a great loss of life either. The remaining Keybladers slipped away to live in hiding, some from the light, and some from the dark. Aqua, Ven, Terra, and Xehanort had been chosen from those remaining on the Light side, to combat what was left of the Dark.
The door opened again, this time revealing Xehanort. He focused his golden eyes on them, asking quietly, "Is she all right?"
"Nightmare." Ven replied. Xehanort nodded.
"I'll let Terra know. He's down there fretting. He can be so… mother-ish sometimes. You know?" Xehanort grinned and left the room, obviously hurrying to find their unofficial leader. Ven blinked at him. He knew Xehanort cared for Aqua, and tried to be as unobtrusive about it as possible. To be perfectly honest, Ven himself cared for Aqua too. But it was obvious that she preferred him to the mysterious, often brooding Chaser of Dusk. It was a wonder that they had not yet come to blows over it, but somehow both knew that Aqua would disapprove.
Aqua detangled herself from Ven's embrace, sitting back and wiping her tears. "I feel silly." she said softly.
"No." Ven protested. "It's fine. Nightmares can be scary, especially about the War." Somehow, some way, they had survived that final, hideous battle. Four battered Keybladers, really no more than children, hiding in an alcove in one of the many rock formations. They had watched, as before their little shelter, others fought, fell, and perished, or suffered a fate worse than death by being turned to one of those black shadows.
"Thanks, Ven…" Aqua murmured. He smiled, leaning over and giving her a light kiss on the cheek.
"Anytime, Aqua. Now go back to bed. It's far too early to be up!"
When I wrote this, I pictured Aqua and Ven as the same age. How wrong was I? XD
Still editing. Now that I look at it, this doesn't seem very good to me... Oh well.