Aqua didn't cry much. She'd decided early on that it was useless and all she could do was search for a way out. But that day…the pain was fresh, kindled anew by a disturbingly real image. She was lying on her side, legs pulled in close and her arms clamped at her knees, as if holding her together. The cries that ripped from her lungs weren't soft, ladylike, or gentle. It felt as if her chest was going to explode any moment, those loud, wet, anguished sobs radiating through her every nerve.
"Ven…" She choked past her convulsing throat, but still she wept like never before. "Terra…oh God, I'm sorry…I'm so sorry…"
The images that flew past her eyelids seemed so real at the time. She was in her armor, holding a frozen Ventus tightly in her arms, staring down at his motionless face, his clear ocean blue eyes darting back and forth anxiously. The steam cleared, and there stood Terra, slumped at his back, a rare sight. Aqua clutched Ven close with one hand and extended the other towards her weakened friend. He made no move towards her, only winced and reached towards his chest. Tenderly, she sets the blond boy on the ground and stands, slowly walking towards Terra and lowering her head so she could see his face. "Terra...?"
Suddenly, he howled in pain and sank to his knees, panting and clutching his dark gray shirt near his heart. "Terra!" Aqua cried, diving onto her knees and stretching out her arms to hold him as she remembered doing so long ago, when they were young children and the older boy had taken a harsh fall from the tree he had been climbing. But…she knew that no amounts of Curaga would heal him now.
Ventus, who had managed to thaw himself, had staggered closer to his comrades, looking confused by Terra's state. Aqua reached for the boy and pulled him into her long arms along with Terra's trembling figure.
"A…qua…" She heard Terra murmur, and she pressed her hand to his cheek. "Yes?"
"Let me go…take Ven away….leave…now." He managed a weak shove, then strengthened and pushed her to her feet. Instinctively she wrapped an arm around Ventus's shoulders and peered at Terra quizzically. "What's going on, Terra?" Ventus asked.
Abruptly his head jerked upwards, and, starting from the roots, his chocolate brown hair began turning metallic silver. His eyes blinked once, and were suddenly gold.
"Terra's heart has been extinguished." The body of her companion said quietly. "Smothered by the darkness within him!" The sentence turns to an intense crescendo, morphing into a shout at the word 'him.'
A gasp escaped Aqua's lips and she shoved Ven behind her, but the silver-haired Terra grabbed his Keyblade, pointed it at the two, and smirked.
Sweat poured down her forehead and onto the ground in rivulets, mixing with her tears and forming an undeniably salty mixture. Aqua lurched to her feet, wiping the moisture from her bleary eyes and face and glancing around for any kind of Unversed or Heartless. Upon seeing none, she collapsed back onto the ground and tried not to waste any more tears. "My boys." She gasps out, convulsing and quivering with the sobs that had been spent. "My boys…"
Not Ventus. Not her little brother. Not the sweet-faced, smiling angel who had weaseled out her adoration upon minutes of meeting him. No more pressing her lips to the crown of his head, no more hugging him to her and feeling him peck her quickly on the cheek, as a reassurance that he knew that he was so very important to her. She would have given anything, anything, to have him in her arms.
Not Terra. Not her oldest friend. Not the huge softy who was always able to lift her up by her waist and swing her around, no matter how tired he was. No more stroking of his spiky hair, no more stretching onto her tip-toes and pushing him down to her level so she could wrap her arms around his neck and hold him close. Nothing. Nothing.
How could the two most important people in her life be ripped away so violently?
Ventus had always been so sweet to her. The memory of the day she tried to teach him Firaga returned to her with a vengeance. They had been practicing for nearly an hour and the trees that surrounded the small clearing were all charred and practically falling over.
At last Ven let Wayward Wind dissipate and leaned back on the trunk of an oak that somehow survived the inferno. "Aqua, can you show me something?"
"Sure, what it it?"
"Terra told me about an attack called Lightbloom. He said that it was amazing, but only you were flexible enough to do it."
Aqua froze. Her grip tightened on Rainfell. "Ven…"
"Please?" He blinked at her sadly, irresistibly with his bright, sky blue eyes.
The girl sighed and readied herself, before beginning the smooth dance of Lightbloom. She began spinning, first close to the ground and simply, huddled around her Keyblade. But she slowly began to stretch her body to full height, twisting and shooting out beams of bright light from her weapon. Soon she was twirling so quickly, so elaborately, with one leg behind her head. Afterwards, she stopped, moving back into her typical battle stance with a fluidity unmatched.
The bluenette glanced at Ventus with a smile, who watched her, awestruck.
"Aqua…that was…that was beautiful."
And again she remembered walking with the blond boy near the cliffs, stopping to take off her boots and dangle her feet into the pool at the pit of one of the many small waterfalls. Ventus grinned blissfully up at her, laughing every time one of the tiny fish would try nibbling at his toes. She joined in the laughter, splashing him playfully. Ven scowled and reached into the water, grabbing a minnow by its tail and dangling it in front of her nose. The young lady squealed girlishly and leaned backwards, towards the waters below.
"Aqua!" Ven cried, lunging down to grab her arm and pull her back to the safety of the ground. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"
To his evident surprise, Aqua giggled. "C'mon, Ven. Should have let me fall, I've been dying to take a swim lately."
She very dimly remembered meeting the older Terra, back when she was only three years old. Her mother, the beautiful Amaya, with her long, thick plait of blue hair, and her father, Avis, his ocean eyes shining in fatherly pride down at her, (the only remnants in her memory of the two) were once friends of Master Eraqus. The signature traits of her parents were copied flawlessly into the crying toddler that had first met the Master. He had told her the story when she was twelve years old, nine years after the incident.
Shoved into the middle-aged man's arms by a saddened and tousled Amaya, with a quick hiss of 'Protect her- I must battle the darkness.', before her mother disappeared back into the portal. Aqua buried her face into Eraqus's shoulder and wailed, but the black-haired man kept his gaze on the receding portal, focused on the image of Amaya holding up her dark blue Keyblade. He watched in horror as suddenly the woman froze, her pupils rolled back, and she fell, eyes fluttering closed as her body slumped to the ground. Just before the image faltered and blinked out, the still form of Avis was revealed, lying on his back, his blue eyes fogged and unseeing, white hair brushed over his face.
The girl he held in his arms was the lone survivor of her world, now lost to darkness. He soothingly rubbed her trembling back until she stopped crying, and carried her inside, before tenderly setting her on the ground. His apprentice, five-year-old Terra, stood near the door, curiously studying the smaller girl that clung to Eraqus's leg.
"Master, what's wrong with her?" The boy questioned, placing his hands on his knees to get a good look at the tiny female.
"Shh, Terra. Her world was just destroyed; she's probably traumatized." Eraqus picked her back up and draped her over his shoulder, while she put her thumb in her mouth and bit on it, trying to hold back whimpers.
Slowly he carried her to a spare bedroom, Terra following on his heels like a lost puppy. The man set the little girl down into the bed, tucking the covers around her and kissing her forehead. "Good night, little one. You must be exhausted." The small, blue-haired child sniffled and nodded, before yanking the soft blue blankets around her like a cocoon. Eraqus left, though Terra lingered. He looked thoughtful for a long moment, before he too leaned towards her and pressed his lips to her head. She blinked up at him quizzically, her doe-eyes big and scared.
"Don't worry. You'll be safe here. I'll protect you, I promise." The little boy grinned and left the room, shutting the door ever-so-gently. The girl smiled to herself, snuggled closer into the sheets, and drifted off to sleep.
Four years later, a seven-year-old Aqua held a miniature model of her Keyblade Rainfell (which had, unbeknownst to her, had been modeled by Eraqus after her mother's weapon), at her battle stance, staring determined across the courtyard at the boy she had been tirelessly training with and bonding with for all those years. Eraqus whistled once, and the two children ran towards each other, Aqua with her fake Rainfell and Terra wielding his old wooden Keyblade, the one the younger girl helped him make and even carved his name into. Terra was larger and faster, but Aqua was flexible and nimble, launching herself into the air in an elaborate cartwheel over his head. She attempted an attack from behind, but the boy knew her. Aqua leaped and dodged, feigned and twirled, as if in a tireless dance, not even breaking a sweat. But Terra gasped and panted, overwhelming the weaker girl with his already amazing strength, though he choked for air.
At last, it seemed he had her. His Keyblade aimed for her neck, about to press gently into it as a gesture to say he won. But Aqua twisted, falling backwards as if she had been knocked down. Terra reached towards her, looking concerned, but she caught herself with her hands and flipped to her feet, knocking the wood toy from his hands with a swipe of her armored boot.
Eraqus clapped enthusiastically. "Well done Aqua! It seems as if you have broken Terra's three-day winning streak. Perhaps it will be you who breaks the record next."
"No way." Terra drawled, picking up the plaything and stabbing it into the ground. Aqua turned and grinned proudly at him. He lunged at her playfully, but she gracefully side-stepped and stuck her tongue out. Terra sighed and continued, the last in line as the three of them headed inside to eat dinner.
Once again trapped on the dim beach, Aqua staggered to her feet and trudged over to a rock she often perched on. She sat down and buried her face into her ivory bell-sleeves. Her hand reached into her pocket and took out her wayfinder, staring sadly down at it.
"I'll protect you, I promise." A much younger Terra said in her mind.
Aqua cradled the glass trinket like one would a baby. "Someday, I'll see you again." She said firmly, tightening her grip on it and staring into the face of the endless darkness.