~*.*Disciples of the Keyblade*.*~

Title: Cooperation

Rating: T for safety.

Warnings: A rather unfortunate fall. Why must they get hurt? Why?! Minor blood.

Characters: Aqua*, Terra*, Ventus, Master Eraqus

Summary: Aqua and Terra are sent into the country to look for…"What are we looking for again?" Pre-BBS.

Special Notes: Didn't I promise they'd be in pairs at some point? I'll be doing oneshots for both Terra and Ven along with Aqua and Ven also. Not as pairings, though you might see hints as I attempt to placate you people. The *s mean they're the main stars of the show.

~***~

The Land of Departure was brilliantly sunny and warm as usual, accompanied by a cooling mountain breeze. Supposedly, if one could either fly, had superpowers that let them see from up above, or happened to be a bird, there was a chance you could spot two figures making their way around the lip of a valley that dropped down to an alarmingly deep abyss.

Terra and Aqua, apprentices to Master Eraqus, had the immense displeasure of being stuck in the wilderness until they found "it". Apparently it was part of some lesson neither of the two understood. To stave off boredom, both of the disciples were wandering around. Not too far from their camp, granted, but they had already been out for almost two days and pretty much knew the terrain well enough to not get hopelessly lost.

Brushing his spiky mane of brown hair back, Terra grumbled, "What are we looking for again?" He didn't like her. He had never liked her. This new girl that had only been here for a handful of months and she was already doing better than him in most of their training. She was more annoying than that new kid, Ventus. At least Ven wasn't so darn perfect.

He glanced over his shoulder to see how she was holding up—he wished she would be looking tired, but no, of course not—and saw the blue haired girl picking her way delicately and quickly over the boulders with a warrior's finesse.

Show off, Terra thought resentfully.

"Master Eraqus said we would know 'it' when we saw 'it'." Aqua made quotations with her fingers, pausing to survey the environment from their current position. Terra did the same.

On their left, a terrifying drop plunged down from the cliff and faded from their sight, as empty as the night sky without the stars and moon. Plants drooped towards its hungry mouth as if they were being sucked in, or their life was being stolen from them every second they stood near the darkness.

Shivering slightly, Terra directed his eyes elsewhere.

In front of them was the decently wide lip of the valley, dotted with green foliage and bright flowers that glittered a dozen different colors, curved around the mountain before gently sloping to flatter ground that gradually widened out to a large plain. Trees sprung up and thickened until a forest formed on the far end of the meadow. The sun struck some type of mineral in the stone that generated faint white sparkles, and occasionally animals stirred just out of sight. There was a strip of blue sky visible above their heads, dotted with thin streaks of white cloud.

"This is ridiculous. How are we supposed to find 'it'?" Terra broke the silence, striding off down the path immediately without waiting to hear Aqua's reaction. He heard her footsteps behind him as she ran to catch up.

"I don't know," she admitted. "We can only wait and see. I don't want to go back empty handed."

"Me either," Terra agreed. A part of him wanted to gloat that finally Aqua didn't know what to do. But he didn't either, which kind of ruined the would-be "victory".

They were on the very edge of the wood boundary now, and Terra froze in surprise when he felt Aqua's grip on his arm. "Wait."

"What?" He sighed, turning partially to face her. Now what did she want?

"I don't think we should go into the forest. Who knows what's in there? We should go back."

Terra smirked. "Scared, are we?" What annoyed him the most was that the girl refused to be baited.

"No," Aqua replied evenly, though her azure eyes hardened faintly. "I just don't think we should go in."

"Suit yourself." Terra started walking again, heading straight for the woods, shrugging out of Aqua's hold.

"Wait! Master Eraqus said we need to stick together!" The girl sounded slightly startled, as if the idea of breaking rules had never even formed itself in her mind.

Probably not, the goody-two shoes. "Then c'mon, what are you waiting for?" Terra called mockingly, ducking under a branch and entering the shadowy depths of the trees.

There was a four second pause, just four heartbeats, before Aqua started after him. She hissed crossly, "We need to stay together!"

"We are," Terra remarked, climbing up a steep wooded slope. The sunlight barely punctured the forest, and even the eldest disciple found himself somewhat uneasy. But he wouldn't leave until the girl practically begged him to. Surely she was more frightened than he was?

There was also the chance that she was stubborn, and they'd just get stuck in here forever…

They trudged along in silence, lost and not even sure what they were searching for, when a storm clap was heard overhead.

"Thunder," commented Aqua. She brushed her light blue hair from her eyes. "Can we go back now?"

"Do you think we need to? Scared of a little rain, are we?"

"We're in unfamiliar territory," she shot back unexpectedly. "And I for one don't want to be stuck in here during a lightning storm."

"This seems like the perfect place to hide something," Terra retorted sharply. "We're staying. Deal with it."

Aqua huffed angrily, coming to a halt. "What's your problem?"

Terra stopped and turned slowly to face her. "What's my problem? What's my problem? You're not listening to me!"

The girl seemed taken aback. "What?" She asked quietly.

"I'm the oldest here. The oldest apprentice. I know what I'm doing. Don't think for an instant that only because you're Eraqus's new favorite that you know more than I do!"

Silence, except for Terra's harsh breathing.

"You're jealous." Aqua said softly.

Terra blinked and let his frame slacken. He gave her a questioning look.

"I didn't mean to…be his favorite or anything…I just want to be the best Keybearer I can be." She turned her eyes away from his. "I'm sorry."

Terra, inexplicably, felt even more furious now. "Look," he growled. "You're just so perfect that you can't even get angry with me! Get mad. Yell. I'm being a freaking jerk and you're just…calm and…" He felt his fury dwindling as she just looked at him.

Aqua raised her eyebrows and to his astonishment, there was a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. "Why would I get mad?"

Turning around, he roughly shoved past her. "Let's go back."

Unfortunately he had pushed too hard, and with a gasp of surprise, Aqua broke several tree branches as she fell backwards. The black noir that was the forest had shrouded the perilous drop just beyond a cluster of brambles, and it seemed the middle apprentice would fall to her possible death.

Terra lunged forward and caught her, wrapping his fingers around her wrist. There was the fear he had been looking for earlier, her eyes wide as she struggled to find her footing. She braced herself against the walls of the sudden cliff and stared up at Terra.

"Don't let go," Aqua pleaded. It was obvious he wouldn't, but he knew where she was coming from. He was glad at that moment to be the strongest protégé, straining his muscles; he hauled her back up to safety.

They just looked at one another, lying on the forest floor, for almost two minutes. Aqua broke her gaze away, pulling a spiky thorn vine from her arm to reveal several jagged cuts. Terra quickly removed the rest of the briars and said quietly, "Sorry. For everything."

"It's okay." Aqua blinked. "Thanks for…the rescue." She smiled then, and Terra dipped his head and did the same.

With a soft hiss, a gentle, cleansing rain cascaded down on the two former rivals.

"Let's get going. We should probably find somewhere to shelter until the rain stops." Terra stood up and helped Aqua to her feet as they began picking their way back in the same direction they had come from. Aqua let him lead, and he looked back occasionally to see if she was okay. The fall had only scraped her arms and legs. It seemed she wasn't bothered by the minor cuts and bruises, eyes glinting in the shadows as she pursued him.

They didn't speak much, but Terra thought something had changed. He didn't feel annoyed or angry with her anymore. It was hard to, after how she had easily forgiven him for such unfair treatment. They came across a small clearing that opened up beside one of the many mountains in the Land of Departure. The duo took shelter in a cave, sitting beside one another, not hungry or thirsty in the slightest for some unknown reason. The pair sat close together, their shoulders just barely touching, listening to the storm.

"Aqua?"

She hummed in response, staring off into the rain shower.

"Sorry. Again."

She laughed a little. "It's okay. If I was in your position, I'd be annoyed too."

Terra closed his eyes and leaned back against the cool stone wall, thinking about what "it" could possibly be. It struck him then, what "it" was, and he grinned to himself. "That would be just like Eraqus," he muttered aloud.

He stiffened in surprise when he felt something, and then he realized Aqua had simply fallen asleep, her head resting on his unarmored shoulder. Terra smiled slightly and let himself relax.

He knew what "it" was. And since he had gotten them into this mess, he'd get them out.

~***~

After almost two hours, Terra's intuition had proven correct. The pair of Keybearers in training successfully found their way out of the forest, back to the valley with the seemingly endless drop. Aqua stayed well away from the edge, and he wondered if she possibly had a fear of heights now.

The duo stopped back at their previous encampment, not far from the castle where Eraqus and Ven were, to collect their supplies.

"Why did we leave this stuff here?" Aqua voiced her thoughts out loud, though it was hard to tell if the question was rhetorical.

"Because we're idiots. Oh, wait." Terra felt a blush creep onto his face. "I think you were going to bring it…but I sort of…"

"You told me to hurry up. And you kept walking ahead so…"

"Yeah." Coughing, Terra took Aqua's bag as if that would make up for it and started in the direction of home. He heard her chuckle softly before following.

The oldest disciples had never been happier to arrive at the castle. They found Ven outside, waving his Keyblade around as he practiced with a training dummy. He dropped his weapon in surprise when he spotted them. "Hey, guys!" The youngest apprentice ran over and grinned, looking them up and down. "You guys are a mess."

"Thanks," Terra said sourly. Aqua just smiled.

Eraqus stood up from his meditative position. He had been watching Ventus's progress from the outside of the practice area. "You have returned." He looked at Ven. "Shouldn't you get back to your exercise?"

"Right, Master." Ven picked up his Keyblade again, but it was obvious that he was listening.

"Master, I've found 'it'." Terra noticed Aqua looking at him curiously. When they had left for the castle, he had simply told her that he knew what "it" was, but hadn't gone into specifics.

"Really?" Eraqus stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Elaborate."

"Cooperation. You sent me and Aqua out there to bond, didn't you? It worked."

A rare smile split their Master's face. "Terra, you continue to surprise me. That is exactly why I told you two to travel together."

Aqua seemed pleased, and she said to Terra, "Nice job."

"Yes, indeed. Both of you should go to your rooms to clean up. You have some time off before I start your next training session."

Both apprentices dipped their heads. "Yes, Master."

As the pair went off to the castle, Eraqus added, "Oh, Ventus?"

The golden haired protégé stopped mid-swing. "Yeah?"

"Work on your eavesdropping. I would think that anyone attacking in slow motion was up to something."

~***~

Yes, I think some people have asked for a chapter with Terra and Aqua? Notably Kiome-Yasha. Here we have it. How was it?

The funny thing about this oneshot collection...My friend Dani-chan asked if I could do a BBS story. I couldn't really think of a good "What If" thing which I love doing, therefore I started this random little series for her. Still for Dani-Chan-Sprite-Monster-13- as always.

Anyway, thanks to all reviewers, and I hope you continue to review. They make me happy beyond all measure!