Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts.
Chapter 14– Darkness
The next morning, Terra awoke to find his thoughts full of misery and Aqua in one of his armchairs, fast asleep.
She'd turned it around to face him and her head was leaning on her arm.
Terra stepped out of his bed and walked over to her. He lightly shook Aqua's arm and whispered her name. "Aqua, wake up."
"Terra?" Her watery eyes lit up once she opened them. Aqua threw her arms around her lover's neck and pulled him close.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, hugging her back.
"I needed to see you before you go through with that battle," she said. Before Terra could respond, Aqua pulled his face to hers and kissed him with urgent passion. But Terra had to pull away from her.
"How do you know about that?" he asked.
"Ven told me. He overheard your whole argument with Caelum yesterday," the water maiden explained. "He came right to me and told me everything. I came here last night in hopes of talking to you, but you were already asleep, so I waited."
"And you fell asleep," Terra concluded.
"Yes. But I can't believe you're actually going through with that stupid fight, Terra."
"I only agreed because Caelum swore he would leave us alone if I won. Aqua, I would never want to compete for you. But if winning this gets Caelum to leave us be, then I'm doing it. I swear that's my only reason."
"I believe you," Aqua sighed with relief. "Knowing that's your reason makes me feel a little better."
"I won't lose, Aqua. I promise. And after all this, we can go to another world, like I promised before."
"Alright," Aqua whispered. She pulled Terra's face to hers again and kissed him sweetly.
"Love shouldn't be worth all this trouble," Terra murmured. "It never should be. Two people should just be allowed to fall in love and be happy together. But we have problems in the form of that obnoxious prince and the law that prevents Keyblade Masters from falling in love."
"You're right. But we'll find a way around it. We'll leave and Eraqus will never have to find out. It'll be okay, Aqua."
"I hope you're right. And I hope you win. I'm pulling for you."
"I'm going to get ready. I'll meet you down at the soldiers' arena later."
"Okay."
Aqua quickly pecked Terra's cheek and left.
As she left, she heard Terra whisper, "I'll fix this mess. I won't let Caelum tear us apart."
Aqua held her hands to her heart, whispering, "I know you will."
At noon, Terra and Aqua were standing just outside the soldiers' arena. Terra peeked around the corner and saw Caelum inside, with his back turned and accompanied by a few soldiers, all with their attention on the prince.
Terra was armed with a wide-bladed sword, to make up for not being allowed to use his Keyblade. He wore a suit of gold, brown, and red armor, his helmet under his arm. The helmet was red and gold as well, with a black glass visor to cover hiss eyes. Two red prongs stuck up from the top, almost like a wolf's ears.
"Be careful out there, alright?" Aqua asked. She moved her hands to her lover's face and he wrapped his arms around her.
"I will," he vowed. "And we'll get out of here once it's all over."
"Hey, what about me then?"
Terra and Aqua turned and saw that Ven had appeared right next to them.
"You promised that I'd be your apprentice if I had the potential to wield a Keyblade, Terra!" Ven wailed.
"I did promise that," Terra remembered. He bent down to the boy's height. "Then, I guess we'll have to bring you with us."
"You mean it?" Ven's eyes looked ready to burst with excitement.
"Yeah. I'll take you both, and we'll start a new life. One free of obnoxious princes and full of new potential."
"Alright," Ven said.
"We're pulling for you, Terra," Aqua promised.
"I know, Aqua. I know." Terra embraced her tightly. "It'll be all right."
Aqua leaned up to Terra and kissed him. She needed him to be reassured about why he was fighting. He was doing it for their future.
"Good luck, Terra," she whispered, hugging him close again. "I love you."
"I love you, Aqua," Terra said back. "I'm ready, knowing you're going to be there… cheering me on."
"Of course."
"Me too!" Ven added. Terra ruffled the small boy's blonde spikes, receiving a laugh from him.
"I'd better get in there." Terra clenched his helmet under his arm and moved away from his lover and their little friend. The trio stepped into the arena, stopping at the edge opposite Caelum.
The prince was dressed in full, white, battle gear, a helmet tucked under his arm as well. A thin sword was sheathed at his belt. He turned at the sound of Terra's clinking armor approaching.
"I see you're ready," Caelum called.
"Yes, ready to defeat you," Terra replied.
"I see you've brought the lovely Aqua with you. And a little pipsqueak."
"I'm not that little!" Ven shouted. Aqua grabbed the boy and pulled him back.
"Control yourself, Ven!" she hissed.
"Aqua, why would you come to watch this brutal spectacle?" Caelum asked. "Besides, you won't be with Terra for much longer."
"I came to support him, Caelum," Aqua responded. She glared nastily at him. "And be aware, I will not betray my love for him."
"Be that as it may, you will be mine once I win this battle."
"If you win this battle," Terra harshly corrected. "Which you won't."
"Confident, are you?"
"Look who's talking, the prince of cocky."
"Enough trash talk!" Ven protested. "You guys gonna fight or what?"
"I wish you wouldn't," Aqua said. "Now, come here, Ven." She grabbed the boy's wrist and dragged him over to a nearby bench.
"This won't take long, Aqua," Terra vowed. "Then this obnoxious brat will be out of our hair." He put his helmet on and drew his sword.
"I'm standing right here," Caelum said, donning his helmet and unsheathing his sword. He stood ready to fight.
Without waiting for someone to call the fight, Terra and Caelum attacked.
They met at the center of the field, Terra attempted an uppercut on Caelum, but the prince jumped away and returned with a slash of his own. Terra blocked it and forced Caelum back in retaliation.
Caelum tried to jump and attack Terra from above, but Terra was too fast and sprung away. The earth knight then charged and attempted to hit Caelum in the side, succeeding in knocking the brat to the side, but his opponent quickly scrambled back up and attacked with an astonishing burst of speed, knocking Terra over with sheer force.
Terra jumped up again and blocked Caelum's oncoming attack, then forcing the prince backward. Caelum stumbled back, but quickly regained his footing and dashing at Terra with lightning-like speed. Impossible for a regular human.
After trading some more blows, Terra decided to take the opportunity to use magic. Luckily, Eraqus had taught him how to use magic, even without a Keyblade.
"Firaga!" Terra shouted, aiming the sword at Caelum. A massive fireball shot from the tip of his sword and Caelum narrowly dodged it.
"No fair! No magic!" the prince yelled.
"You never said I couldn't use magic!" Terra taunted. "So there!"
"Well, no more magic!"
"You can't call that! Thunder!" Terra summoned a rain of thunderbolts to attack Caelum, who failed to dodge the electric blasts.
Terra wasn't as skilled in magic as Aqua, but he was still fairly adept at it. Caelum was quickly learning Terra's attack pattern though, using speed to his advantage.
As they fought, Terra noticed that Caelum seemed to be moving even faster than normal for a person, somewhat like Ven's incredible speed. But sometimes, he caught sight of a black aura trailing from Caelum, which had never appeared from Ven.
"Getting tired yet, Terra?" Caelum sneered.
"Not even close!" the earth knight retorted. "Is this all you've got?"
"You have no idea what I can do!" the prince roared.
"Time out!" Terra shouted. He ripped his helmet off and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Why? Can't take it?" Caelum tore off his helmet as well and his sneer turned into a vicious smirk, startling Terra. Ven was unsettled and hugging close to Aqua, who soothed him by patting his head. But Terra and Aqua were more unsettled by what was happening to the prince, rather than his disturbing smirk.
The black aura was now starting to cover Caelum. It snaked off his body like smoke, and his eyes now had a strange yellow center to them.
"Caelum you have to calm down," Aqua said.
"Showing me concern, Aqua? I thought you'd only have it for your precious Terra!" Caelum shouted.
"Caelum, shut up!" Terra bellowed.
"Don't you dare tell me to shut up! You have no right to tell me what to do! And you also have no right to take from me the girl I want for myself, Terra!"
The darkness was pouring more intensely from Caelum. He grabbed at his heart, panting heavily.
"Caelum stop now," Terra said. "If you don't—"
"Why should you care? I hate you, Terra! And it's quite obvious you hate me! So why should you care?"
"Because your heart's darkness is completely taking over!" Aqua screamed.
"Then let it," Caelum said simply.
Terra, Ven, and Aqua jumped in fear when they saw Caelum's eyes turn completely yellow. The black aura stopped just smoking off him and settled to just shrouding him in the darkness. His skin turned black and his armor became pitch-dark as well.
"Terra, I think he…" Aqua started.
"Yes, Aqua, Caelum turned into a Heartless by letting his Darkness get too out of control. His lust and greed were too powerful and they consumed him."
The Heartless were creatures feared by dwellers of the Realm of Light. When a person lost their heart or gave it to their inner Darkness, they would become one of these monstrous beasts, but only once they lost sight of their true Light.
By pursuing Aqua for the sake of his own lust, Caelum had lost himself in his Darkness, and never truly saw any Light in his heart. And becoming a Heartless was just too easy for him. And his Heartless still had a human form. He was not going to go down easily.
"This is not good," Terra muttered.
I bet some of you saw that coming from the hints I left in the last chapter. Caelum couldn't control his lust and it turned him into a Heartless. Well, one more chapter then the epilogue. So, almost done.
By the way, if any of you are wondering why I'm still calling Aqua a 'maiden' though she clearly isn't a virgin anymore after chapter 12, take note that a maiden can also simply refer to an unmarried girl. And she's not married. Yet.
