Chapter Nine: Grief
It was a difficult week for the remaining three Chasers. Kingdom Hearts had withdrawn from them entirely, to give them time to recover from the loss of their comrade. Aqua, aided by Ven and crying a lot, explained to Terra what had been going on between the three of them. Xehanort had loved Aqua, but thought that she was in love with Ven. Ven and Aqua had been friends before the War and had developed a brother-sister relationship. Aqua had liked Xehanort, but was too shy to say anything. It had become some sort of love triangle, from Xehanort's point of view, at least. But Aqua's feelings had shattered when the Chaser of Dusk betrayed them. She could not love him, knowing what he had done.
Terra had taken all of it in stride, sighing in frustration at the rift that had formed between the younger Knights. He felt somehow responsible for Xehanort's fall into Darkness, and was hit hard. He had become more brooding, often sitting around and doing nothing. Aqua cried often, and Ven, of course, tried to comfort her.
It was one such day, the fourth since it had happened, that they finally decided that they had to talk about it. They gathered in the living room, hot chocolate in hand, to try and come to terms with it.
"So…" Terra said, looking at the other two. "What do we do now?"
"We keep going." Ven said. "It was his choice to leave us; to listen to the Darkness instead. What else can we do?"
Aqua, seated against Terra's side, looked thoroughly miserable. He put an arm around her and continued. "One thing is bothering me. Why did he say 'I hope you're happy for the time you have left'?" He stared into his drink. "Something's coming, soon."
"Whoever took him from us… They will try to destroy us." Aqua murmured. Terra and Ven looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. "There's nothing else that could make sense to happen."
"I agree." Ven said. "Darkness would not seduce one of our own and then just leave us be."
"So we have to be ready for anything." Terra declared. "Xehanort is dead to us, do you understand? We cannot dwell on what he has done. We have a job to do." His voice grew soft. "We are still a family. We'll get through this."
And they all knew that, though they would have to prepare for the day that the Darkness returned for them, they would be able to handle whatever came their way. Because they were the Chasers. The Knights of the Heart. And they were family.
I can't help but keep looking at how off I was. O.o Not to mention the fact that this is nowhere near my best writing... ugh. I am proud of next chapter, though!
Li