~*.*Disciples of the Keyblade*.*~
Title: Endurance
Rating: K+ for safety.
Warnings: None, except for shirtless boys. I guess.
Characters: Master Eraqus, Ventus, Aqua, Terra
Summary: Nothing builds endurance like standing in a waterfall half-naked in the predawn. Pre-BBS.
~***~
Rough hands shook Aqua awake, and she grudgingly sat up, hair billowing around her slender face. "Huh?" She said distantly. "What's the matter?" She squinted at the figure in front of her, a dark haired young man with a powerful frame.
That man heaved a huge yawn. "Master Eraqus wants us." Terra's words sounded slurred as he combated his drowsiness. "I'll go get Ven…But the Master wants us dressed."
Aqua was too dazed to do anything but nod absently. "Okay. Right. Is it an emergency?" The tired buzzing in the back of her head was a hint at just how early it was, and the previous day's activities had been rather rigorous. She still hurt in some of the places where Terra had hit her, Curaga spell or not. She sat up as Terra left, rubbing at her eyes, glancing around her dark room. Unlike Ventus, she didn't favor all of those glowing gizmos and tribal masks. Her room was a little more simplistic, though not without its merits. She let her azure gaze hover over a seashell necklace before forcing herself to get dressed. Just as she hooked the silvery metal guard over one arm, she heard the clank of metal boots as Ven walked past. He sounded even clumsier in the morning than usual.
"What time is it?" She heard him complain on the other side of the door. He sounded groggy but not as exhausted as she and Terra were. Just the day previous, the two had gotten a little too into their mock duel and ended up hurting one another. Terra had a cracked rib and Aqua's shoulder and stomach had been torn open like an onion being peeled. It was lucky for them that both Master Eraqus and Ventus had stopped the fight before they had done permanent damage to one another that not even magic could heal.
Aqua had a nasty feeling that they were getting dressed for their punishment.
Now, now, don't think that their Master would cause them bodily harm. No, he cared too much for them. Instead, Eraqus would give them some hard and pointless task to wear them out for a day or two before letting them rest properly after the message had sank in. He wasn't exactly a cruel taskmaster, but he had some tricks up his sleeve from his own apprenticeship that generated a few positive results.
Aqua, Ven, and Terra were assembled outside, standing shakily on their legs. The moonlight glimmered off the golden battlements of the castle and its twin chains, and the black sky was sprinkled with a whirlpool of rotating silvery stars. It would have all been very beautiful, if it wasn't for the fact that Aqua saw that dawn was a long way away. The sun was a weak orange smudge barely visible on the distant horizon.
Predawn. They weren't going to like this.
Eraqus strode toward them, face strangely calm, without his usual stern frown. Their master waited until the respectful weary murmurs from his apprentices faded before he said, "Ready for your punishment? Bright eyed and bushy tailed I trust?"
Terra groaned aloud, knowing humor at this time of the night would not bode well for the trio. Aqua was inclined to agree. Ven seemed a little more alert than the rest, and he cleared his throat before asking politely, "What are we doing tonight, Master?"
"Endurance training. Terra might remember this from early in his apprenticeship."
Before Eraqus had even finished, Terra gave another moan of unhappiness, and Aqua wondered what could possibly be so bad to make even Terra uneasy.
The Keyblade Master motioned to his trinity of sleepy eyed disciples. They followed him wordlessly, Aqua feeling as if someone had planted lead weights in her body, trudging up a steep incline that twirled around a mountainside. As the roar of a waterfall reached their ears, Terra closed his eyes and sighed.
"What are we going to do?" Ven asked Terra quietly. The older apprentice just shook his head silently and Aqua exchanged a puzzled look with the youngest protégé.
"We'll see soon enough?" Aqua tried to sound optimistic, but it was difficult. No one replied.
It's like we're walking to a gallows, the girl thought with a shudder. They stopped about two feet from the howling rush of wide water, turned into a silver cascade of pure starlight thanks to the night sky. It was a rather beautiful place, with brown stones worn smooth by the natural fountain. Flecks of foam spotted the rocks and speckled the young Keybladers' faces. They shivered as a small wind picked up, tossing more of the delicate white droplets onto their skin and clothes.
Pointing one calloused hand, Eraqus indicated a natural ledge, flat as a line, that jutted out from inside the waterfall itself. "I want all three of you to sit there until I say otherwise. If one of you tries to leave, or use magic to ease the discomfort, I will extend the time."
"We're getting punished for failing the lesson?" Ventus dared to ask. Aqua looked at her master curiously, waiting for his response. The older gentleman smiled thinly.
"Not really for failing the lesson, Ventus," corrected Eraqus. "This is mainly a test for Terra and Aqua's endurance, but also, I think you can benefit from it. Would you rather do the test alone, or with your friends?"
"With them," Ven answered hurriedly, his blue eyes flicking from side to side; apparently uneasy at the thought of being alone in the icy falls.
"Very well. Aqua, remove your armor and shoes. Terra and Ventus, do the same, but take off your shirts also. Deposit them in a pile beside me." Eraqus indicated a smooth stone near the edge of the cliff. "Afterwards, you all must stay in the falls until I say you may depart."
"Why doesn't Aqua have to take her shirt off?" Ventus complained as he slipped down his shoulder-guard. Terra and Aqua were doing the same.
Terra snorted and rolled his eyes. "She's a girl. Now reconsider that question."
There was a brief pause, then Ven's face acquired a sprinkling of light red and he said nothing else. After the ornaments and clothes were in their proper position, the trio eyed the crashing waterfall warily. Terra performed a low bow, shivering slightly from the icy droplets that scattered themselves across his shoulders and back. "Ladies first."
"Chicken," Aqua muttered before taking his offer and leaping into the water. She found that the ledge wasn't in the cascade itself, but directly behind it, earning a majority of the watery backlash. She almost slipped but managed to keep her balance, crouching down and gripping the edge. She was instantly soaked to the bone, trembling, hair slicked flat to her face and neck. In a space of two heartbeats, both Terra and Ven joined her. Ventus, on her right, wrapped his arms around himself and chattered his teeth freely. Terra simply clenched his mouth tightly and rested on his heels, fingers curled into a fist.
Aqua had never been colder or more miserable in her life. At least in battle she had felt alive, with adrenaline pumping. Even the fiery sting of a sword slash felt better than the all encasing numbness that was sealing itself into every blood vessel and every inch of skin. At least she had her shirt on. She reasoned it was worse for the two apprentices on either side of her.
She lifted her head slightly, deafened by the roar of the falls, watching the sky from behind the veil of howling water. The world outside had obtained an unreal quality, as if she was looking at a distorted mirror or some decrepit painting with its colors running into one another. Strange shimmering patterns danced on the rock walls, and every single second new icicle-like drops of foam collided with her skin.
Aqua felt her muscles stiffen as time stretched on, and she glanced from left to right. Terra's eyes were narrowed to dark cobalt slits, his breathing slightly ragged. Ven…
Ven looked the worse by far.
The boy was shaking freely, eyes wide instead of narrowed, ignoring the spatters of water that struck his face. There was something she didn't like about his gaze—it was too distant, too unfocused. Terra's eyes were concentrated on a spiky stone on the other side of the waterfall and he blinked occasionally, but Ven was watching nothing, unblinking.
Aqua squinted past the moving curtain and saw Master Eraqus sitting cross-legged, his back to them, meditating. He seemed unaware of Ven's plight. She was not. She thought that she and Terra could handle the training, but Ventus was too young, not yet strong enough.
Her voice seemed to lodge in her throat, and Aqua had to take several deep, shaky breaths before she called out, "Master?"
He stirred and said without looking behind himself, "Yes, Aqua?"
"Ven can't take this. Let him out." All of Aqua's willpower was being used just to stop her teeth from clattering. She was exhausted, as if she had run for miles.
"You've been in there for almost fifteen minutes," came the calm reply. She couldn't tell what exactly was in his tone at that moment.
Before he could say anything else, she offered quickly, "I'll take the rest of Ven's time, and my own."
"That's an extra ten minutes," Eraqus faced her now; his dark eyes seemed to be jumping in their sockets thanks to the ever moving water.
Ven tried to say that he was fine, but he appeared to be unable to form a sentence. Terra's stare shifted to the youngest apprentice, obviously concerned.
"Very well." Aqua swallowed nervously as she felt her heartbeat accelerate—her body rebelling against the idea—and her mind almost shut down. Both her mind and her body didn't want to stay in the waterfall for any reason. But stay she did, even as Ven clumsily exited their prison. What was making her do this, she thought. Her heart? Her heart that wouldn't accept the boy that she considered a little brother suffering for any reason that she could control?
"What about you, Terra?" She joked halfheartedly, knowing full well what his response would be.
"This? N-nah, no problem…Right?" He replied after a moment's pause.
She nodded and the pair sat together, even when Terra could have left after Aqua was weathering Ven's remaining time. Aqua felt her mind wandering, and more than a few times, she felt a strange blurry blackness in the corner of her mind that felt deeper than sleep…
Deeper than sleep…
"We can get out now, A-Aqua." Terra gasped into her ear, and the girl stirred, moving with considerably less grace than before as she departed the rock ledge. Ventus had gone somewhere, but Eraqus had stayed. He said to the two, "I'm proud of you both for finishing your training—and your punishment."
They were both too tired to reply, they simply ducked their heads and waited to be dismissed. Surely he was done with them now?
"Firaga," Eraqus muttered. A huge column of flame leaped into life between the apprentices and their master, sending out much needed waves of heat. It somehow didn't bother the grass. The pillar was a light shade of orange, almost white. It chased away the damp and cold instantly, relieving the pair immediately. It even began drying their clothes out. Aqua sighed in relief, and Terra echoed the motion.
Eraqus waited a full two minutes before he said, "Aqua, I would speak with you, if you would permit a few moments away from the fire." He smiled faintly again.
She hesitated but decided to humor him, following the Keyblade Master as he led her to a grassy knoll a few feet away, far out of Terra's hearing. Eraqus surveyed her silently for a full minute, causing his possibly best and brightest apprentice to shift her feet uneasily.
"Aqua," he said at last. "I'm impressed with you yet again. You saved Ventus from quite a predicament. I was within a single minute of removing him myself until you addressed me."
"You knew?" She asked incredulously.
"Of course. I wanted to see what you would do. I know my apprentices…" He trailed off for a moment, and then he smiled at her once more. "Fantastic work. You will make a wonderful Master, Aqua. You do not miss much, and you are willing to sacrifice your own comfort for the well being of others. You even offered to do the same for Terra!" He chuckled a little. "Yes, Terra had been in there for disobeying me before…though not nearly as long."
Aqua felt warm from the praise, warmer even than the heat from the fire's blaze. "Thank you, Master Eraqus," she said humbly, dipping her head.
"Do not thank me; this was your own doing. Now, let us get you and Terra sufficiently warmed up before I send you back to bed. We'll start training in the afternoon. You could all do with some rest."
Aqua said wryly as they headed back to Terra, whom was still enjoying the flames, "I won't get carried away in battle again."
Eraqus laughed softly. "Do not fear, I did the same when I was younger. I was in a waterfall more times than I care to remember."
She tried to imagine a younger Master Eraqus in her previous situation, but her imagination couldn't properly create the image.
Terra had the sense not to ask about the conversation between Aqua and Eraqus. "Where's Ven?" He inquired casually, as if nothing had happened.
"He's fixing you two something to eat." Eraqus replied.
Terra paled and Aqua exchanged a startled look with him. Without waiting for their master's permission, they sprinted off down the road. "The kitchen will be a smoking crater with Ven in there!" Terra exclaimed.
Aqua smiled. "He's not quite that bad, Terra."
"Okay. The food will be a smoking crater," he relented grudgingly.
"Spot on."
After his apprentices' forms had vanished down the hill, Eraqus collected their gear—Ventus had his—and set off leisurely after them.
His dear, wild, intelligent, determined apprentices. He'd be almost sad when their training was complete.
~***~
I rewrote this one three times before I actually thought it was acceptable. I still don't like it much.
Anyway, next one is from Terra's point of view. If anyone cares.
All still for Dani-Chan. Indeed. Hope you like!
Drop a review, if you will! Feel free to drop suggestions at any time—you'll get credit, and if I like them, they'll get used.