Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
Chapter 2 – The Heart's Strength
Terra and Aqua cut through King Nox's dark and empty throne room, which also served as a ballroom for special events. Cutting through it was the only way to reach the central courtyard.
That courtyard was the one where Master Eraqus preferred to train Terra and Aqua every day. When they entered, it was still half dark outside, what with the castle walls being so tall. It almost looked like dusk inside the walls. The sun's few rays of light were barely visible over the high ledges. Nonetheless, it was also the nicest of all Nox's courtyards.
In the very center stood a fountain gushing clear water. Aqua found its gurgle quite soothing to the ears. Around the sides were somewhat bunches of trees closely spaced together in what Terra called "mini forests". He'd come up with that term because the trees were small and there weren't many of them in each group. Rose bushes grew in a row along the path, surrounding the trees.
The apprentices found Eraqus waiting for them in that very courtyard, where they had lessons everyday. Their Master stood with his back straight and his gaze directed at his students.
"Are both of you ready?" the Master asked.
"Yes, sir," Terra and Aqua replied.
"Good—" Without waiting for their Master to instruct them further, Terra and Aqua prepared to summon their Keyblades.
Terra held up his right arm and a vortex of blue and gold cubes whirled around his hand. The cubes vanished and in Terra's hand now grasped a long, bronze Keyblade, almost as tall as Terra himself. Its teeth were unusual, they just jutted out of either side of the blade, flat on one side, pointed on the other, the side to hit with. The guard of the blade was blue, with a keychain resembling a rock fragment dangling from the end. When he'd summoned it for the very first time, Terra had named his Keyblade Earth Shaker.
Aqua called forth her Keyblade in a flash of glowing pink petals. Hers was far lighter than Terra's and well suited for magic. It was a thin violet-blue blade with the teeth jutting out of an odd square at the end, almost like a snowflake. The guard was jagged and silver with a blue keychain resembling raindrops with a silver and blue one at the end. Due to the keychain, Aqua had named her weapon Rain Fall.
Eraqus smiled at his pupils. "I don't believe I was finished," he said. "I wasn't even going to ask you to summon your Keyblades."
"Why not, Master?" Terra asked. Neither he nor Aqua made moves to dismiss their weapons.
"Because today I'm not going to teach you about battles and magic," their teacher continued. "I'm going to teach you about your true strength. Something not physical. The true strength of a Keyblade wielder—of anyone—comes from this. Can either of you tell me what it is?"
"Our hearts," Aqua answered. She dismissed Rain Fall. Terra followed suit with Earth Shaker.
"Very good." Eraqus nodded. "You two may sit, but this lesson will not take long. I am only going to tell you things about the heart that must be understood in order for you to become a Keyblade Master."
Terra and Aqua sat on the fountain's rim and their Master turned to face them.
"Tell me the two forces that battle each other inside a person's heart, to start with," Eraqus said.
"Light and Darkness," Terra stated.
"Correct," Eraqus said. "And depending on whichever of those two wins the battle within, will be the path you take as Keyblade Masters. If you choose the Darkness, while you will gain incredible power, it will likely swallow your heart and your very existence."
Eraqus stiffened as he spoke. Aqua gulped nervously. Terra was the only one who kept his composure. Both apprentices knew about Eraqus's fear of Darkness, which was why he was so intent on teaching his students that Light was the power they must use to destroy any Darkness. They listened intently to understand their Master's teachings since their duty as Keyblade wielders was to protect the Light by combating the Darkness.
Terra saw things differently. He taught himself that Darkness was something not to fear. Aqua had trouble seeing this from his point of view, but it never stopped him from trying to show her that Darkness shouldn't be feared. Terra still wouldn't turn to the Darkness since its dangerous power was not something to tamper with. Aqua didn't want to fear Darkness, but it took Terra quite a bit of explaining for her to see his point of view.
"However, should a Keyblade wielder use their Light to its fullest extent, they can achieve much greater things," Eraqus explained. "Light comes in many forms. Some physical, some magical, some not even visible to the eyes."
"Huh?" was both apprentices' response.
"What I mean is, emotions can sometimes affect our judgment and the way we see things with our hearts," Eraqus explained. "For instance, a person could put the closest person in their life above all else, that person becomes the Light of their heart. It could be anyone, a family member, a best friend, even a lover."
At the word 'lover', Terra directed a glance at Aqua, who didn't turn her gaze from Master Eraqus. This action was not overlooked by Eraqus though.
"However, one must not get too attached to their Light," the Master continued. "Light can also possibly be a burden, if one gets to attached to it. But Darkness is worse. And just like Light, Darkness exists in every heart."
"That's why we must lock it away in our hearts, right, Master?" Aqua asked.
"Correct." Eraqus nodded. "Through force of your power and will, the Darkness in your heart will recede and hide in the deepest depths. And the strength of your heart will keep it from escaping and contaminating you. Never let the Darkness control you. Anger and hatred are strong emotions that will bring out your inner Darkness. And because of it, you might not be able to control what you do."
Aqua hugged her arms tightly. She knew and understood everything Eraqus was saying about the Darkness. She wondered if his known fear of it was spreading to her as well.
Terra, on the other hand, was just tugging at his shirt collar nervously. Though he didn't fear the Darkness, he did fear what would go wrong if he could never control it. Dangerous things happened to anyone who couldn't control their Darkness. That was something Terra didn't want to think about.
"Light is the opposite of Darkness, but that still doesn't mean all Light is good," Eraqus said. This made no sense to the apprentices.
"What do you mean, Master?" Terra asked.
"It depends on the person wielding their Light and how they decide to use it," Eraqus explained. "But if they plan to use their Light for an evil intent, then the Light turns to Darkness. Be wary of Darkness."
"But there's always Light in our hearts, right?" Aqua asked. Eraqus smiled at his female apprentice.
"That's very true," Eraqus said. "Light is what fuels all of our hearts and determines us to be the Keyblade Masters of the Realm of Light. The Light in your hearts will determine what is most important to a person and what they will do anything to protect."
"Yes, sir," Terra and Aqua replied together.
"That is all I have to say to you both," Eraqus said. "If you train at all today, it's on your own time. But give serious thoughts to the things I've said."
The Keyblade Master walked away, leaving his young apprentices alone in the courtyard.
"He just wants us to think about what he said?" Terra yawned. "That was a waste of time to get up at the crack of dawn. I'm going back to bed." He got up and marched towards the throne room entrance.
"But it was interesting," Aqua said. Terra turned and saw the girl stride up to him. She crossed her arms behind her back and bounced on the balls of her feet.
"Why do you say that?" Terra asked. "It was just a bunch of stuff about the heart that I'm willing to bet you already knew."
"Actually, I didn't."
"What new stuff did you learn then, Aqua?" Terra crossed his arms.
"Well, it's not really what I learned, it's what I discovered on my own," she said.
"Enlighten me."
"Well, I think I learned about how important Light is to a person. It made me see that the hidden Light deep inside us is a powerful thing. It affects the choices we make, the people we cherish, the people we become."
"You learned all that just from one lecture?"
"I think what Master Eraqus is saying is that the heart is a powerful thing," Aqua explained. "And because of it, we can't always control what we do."
"Basically, you're saying that we bend to the will of our hearts?" Terra asked.
"Yes and no," Aqua said. "That's only one of the things I'm talking about."
"Aren't you going to tell me what the rest is?" Terra asked.
"I think you need to figure it out for yourself, Terra," the girl replied. She stopped her bouncing and ran towards the throne room. Before Terra could stop Aqua to question her some more, she was gone.
"What could she mean?" Terra wondered. He yawned again and remembered that he wanted to go back to bed.
Deciding to give Aqua and Master Eraqus's words some more thought after more sleep, Terra headed up to his room.
In his room, a bed lay next a door leading out to a balcony, giving a spectacular view of the city. A small bathroom was opposite the dresser and closet, where Terra actually stored armor and weapons rather than clothes. Two black armchairs were in the center of the room on top of a red and orange rug. A table with some open books spread on top sat between the armchairs. Several scraps of paper lay scattered around the table and armchairs, pictures of monsters that Terra and Aqua often drew when they were bored.
Striding past the chairs and paper, Terra immediately dropped onto his bed and sank into a dreamless sleep.
Okay, there's chapter two. I'll get to work on chapter three and post it when I can.
With the Light and Darkness stuff, yes I capitalize it like that, I just needed to get a point across about how strong the heart is, as referenced by the story's title. But I hope I didn't suck at the description.
