Disclaimer: I own nothing written about in this story.

Pursuit

Chapter Four – of Rivalry

Terra staggered back with a labored gasp of breath, his keyblade biting into the ground as he leaned on it for support. Zack had just knocked him away with that monstrous sword of his and Ven had promptly lunged at the swordsman, unintentionally giving Terra a much needed respite. The threesome had decided on a three-way free for all, since orchestrating three separate matches would have taken too long. So far, Terra felt like he was falling behind. He scowled with frustration; the other two were just too damn fast!

As though his thoughts had caught their attention, Ven and Zack broke off from their clash and homed in on the earthen warrior. Terra pulled himself to a defensive stance and prepared to fend them off. He just barely managed to block Ven's swift strikes and when Zack came in from the side with a horizontal slash aimed for both his foes, Terra had to leap over the thick slab of metal with a tight back-flip. Ven too, had to jump out of the way of the lethal strike, causing a momentary rift to settle between the three men, all of them either wheezing or gasping for breath out of exertion.

This gave Terra enough time to assess the situation. So far, it seemed like he and Zack were on a level playing field, with neither able to gain a substantial advantage over the other. When they were able to face off alone, Zack's speed would overtake him, but that cumbersome sword of his slowed him down just enough for Terra to catch him with a few powerful blows, which matched any marks Zack was able to breech Terra's nigh impenetrable defense.

It was Ven that was the real problem. He was just too fast and Terra hadn't even scored a single hit on the blond, whereas Ven had already adorned Terra's arms and armor with countless nicks and cuts, and though minor, they added up.

Zack, on the other hand, was able to keep up with Ven's outrageous speed, and had an advantage with that huge blade. It would only take one good strike... An idea blossomed in Terra's mind when the fight resumed, he parried Zack's most recent slash and turned on Ven with a battle cry. Startled, Ven leaped away while Zack tried to slow Terra's advance with a sweep at his feet but Terra blocked the blow with little effort and continued his pursuit of the blond. Once he finally had Ven cornered between himself, Zack, and the arena's wall, Terra fell back into his strongest defensive stance and prepared himself for the grueling task of wearing Ven down.

After fending off both Ven and Zack for a time, the two finally turned on each other and Terra hung back to let them at it. If he could just remove Ven from the equation, then he might stand a chance against Zack alone. He smirked; his plan was working.

Ven managed to dodge and parry most of Zack's strikes, but the blond didn't have Terra's strength to redirect the force when Zack's buster sword came down in a powerful vertical smash against his keyblade. The swordsman pinned the keybearer to the ground, their weapons screeching against each other in their struggle. They both held intense determined expressions as they glared at each other over the clashing metal between them, both warriors knowing that one of them was about to go down.

In a desperate bid, Ven angled his weapon that sent Zack's careening into the ground just inches away from his head. Ven rolled and leaped to his feet, apparently thinking his stunt would buy him some time to recover, but Zack hadn't recoiled like he obviously should have and instead used the impact to propel him in Ven's direction. The blond didn't have a chance to bring his weapon to bear and Zack struck, graciously using the blunt end of his weapon to slam into Ven's torso and flinging him across the arena, dirt and grit flying up in his wake as he finally made contact with a wall in an impressive explosion of debris.

"Ven?" Terra called after his friend and went to check on him as the dust settled. The blond was sitting against the cracked stone wall, still conscious, but his keyblade had left him; he was done.

Ven looked up to Terra, his eyes were unfocused but he could obviously tell who was standing over him and he raised a weak hand towards the other figure only a short distance away. "Get 'im Terra!"

Terra nodded and patted his friend's shoulder. He felt bad plotting against him but it was the only way he stood a chance. If the fight had been drawn out too long he'd have been worn down by their onslaught of quick strikes, even if he was able to block the brunt of the damage. He stood up and faced Zack, who was holding his position some ten feet away and breathing heavily. Ven had taken his toll on both of them and now they would have to fight each other with what little reserves they had left.

Terra kicked off against the dusty ground and launched into a series of aggressive angled strikes, forcing Zack into a defensive retreat as he parried each blow.

With a grunt of effort, Zack shoved Terra's final strike away and used the small window to side step around him and made a wide, horizontal swing with his sword. He blinked with surprise as Terra neatly planted one hand on the flat expanse of the revolving blade and lifted his body up and over the deadly swing. He further utilized his momentum to mark Zack's shoulder, Earthshaker biting into the man's pauldron and chipping a piece of it away.

The two men retreated a step to size each other up. Zack scowled and Terra smirked. He had just proved he could land substantial hits and now Zack would become a little more desperate and would be more prone to making a mistake. He just didn't realize how desperate. "I won't lose again!" the black haired swordsman shouted fervently and lunged with a blinding speed that Terra was sure could not be tracked even at his best.

And he was not currently at his best.

Zack struck viciously against Terra's keyblade and Terra staggered back from the powerful blow, gasping with the effort as his boots bit into the ground from the sheer force of the assault. When Terra was finally able to match Zack's strength with his own, Zack gave a wild snarl of frustration and shifted his force upward with a jerk, causing Earthshaker to spin out of Terra's grasp and lodge itself deep into the ground some twenty feet away. Terra didn't have time to wonder in astonishment as to how Zack had managed to disarm him as he was promptly thrust by the flat length of the buster sword and launched into the same wall Ven had met with earlier. Although Terra had more endurance and was able to stand after such an attack, he knew by the way his legs shook and the ragged breaths entering his burning lungs that he was about to go down and only had a matter of seconds to finish this. He looked to his keyblade where it had landed unceremoniously on the ground and it disappeared in a flash, reappearing in his hand as Zack charged once again. Terra leaped skyward as high as his powerful legs would allow and kicked off from the stone wall in an angled trajectory toward his opponent, weapon poised.

With a blinding flash the final blows rang out between a screech of metal and the two warriors both fell to a knee with their backs to each other and only a few feet between them.

There was a tense moment of complete and utter silence, the swirling dirt and grit settling around them. They had been completely unaware of the crowd in the bleachers until they erupted in a deafening cheer as both Terra and Zack collapsed backward, their heads coming to rest mere inches apart and parallel as they stared up at the clear blue sky above, their heaving breaths coming through as wheezes and gasps. "A tie," Zack puffed with great effort. "I can live with."

Terra tried to nod but wasn't sure how successful the movement was. "Same here."

They both tried to look up as unsteady footsteps approached and Terra could see Ven standing above them, one arm clutching his ribs as though they were either badly bruised or broken. "You guys look terrible," the blond deadpanned ironically, for he had to have known he didn't look much better.

Speak for yourself! Terra wanted to retort but his lungs wouldn't allow it, so he settled for waving a hand dismissively at his friend. Soon enough an attendant ran out to administer an elixir to each of them and then quickly retreated back to the vestibule without a word.

With their strength returning steadily every passing second, both Zack and Terra sat up. "Let's go find Aqua, hopefully she'll be willing to patch us up." The three friends helped each other up and staggered to the exit, the crowd giving one last explosive cheer for their performance. The trio were unaware of a curious, dark puff of smoke among the audience.

Angelo howled plaintively and gave her entire body an uncomfortable shake. "Oh stop fussing Angelo," Rinoa admonished, giving the dog's head a reassuring pat. "You'll get used to it." The dog whined and barked in response as she glanced back at the contraption strapped to her back and tried to scratch at it with her hind legs.

The threesome plus dog had returned to the statue after about an hour of perusing the marketplace and were waiting for the guys to meet them as planned. Among their shopping, Rinoa had found an attachment for Angelo that she thought was both adorable and functional. It was a small brown saddle that looked like it had been designed specifically for a canine, with a strap that wrapped around the fore of her sternum and another snaking down under her ribcage.

"I wanna ride Angelo now!" Eraq howled excitedly and tried to dart to the dog but Aqua caught him and pulled him back to her.

"Hang on Eraq," she told him gently. "Let her get used to it first." When the idea of Eraq riding the poor dog first came up, Aqua had her doubts the beast would even be able to support the boy's weight, but Rinoa assured her that Angelo was a sturdy critter and she was about as eager to see the pair trotting along as much as the boy was.

Aqua sat on the edge of the statue's pedestal and pulled Eraq onto her lap. She watched as Rinoa knelt down beside Angelo a short distance away and offered her a treat, stroking her fur to help her cope. "Rin," Aqua called, a spark of curiosity flashing in her eyes. "Zack said you were looking for someone..."

"Hm?" Rinoa raised her head to meet Aqua's inquisitive gaze. "Oh, well, I guess you could say I am. But to be honest, I always sort of thought he'd end up finding me..."

"He?" the blue haired woman pressed with a cant of her head.

"Yep." Rinoa chuckled and looked up at the sky, as though she were pulling her thoughts from the clouds. "He can be pretty moody, and you can never really tell what he's thinking for sure, but he's always worried about his friends," she paused and her eyes seemed to darken as she dropped them to the ground as though a painful memory passed over her. "And he's always trying to protect them."

Aqua scrutinized the dark haired woman carefully, head shifting to the side thoughtfully; this guy was starting to sound awfully familiar... "What's his name?"

"Huh?" Rinoa looked up to Aqua with a startled expression, almost as if she had just woken up from a bad dream. She seemed dazed and it took her a moment to blink the glazed look out of her eyes. When she finally seemed ready to answer the question, Eraq started wiggling and fussing in Aqua's hold furiously until he finally managed to extract himself from her and ran straight into his father's arms.

"Hey Dad, did you win?" the boy questioned as Terra scooped him up and continued toward the women with Zack and Ven trailing behind him tiredly.

"Nah," Terra answered and ruffled the boy's head affectionately. "It was a tie."

Aqua smirked up at her husband when he drew beside her. "All that trouble and none of you won?"

"Well, Ven lost," Zack offered as he nudged the blond's arm. "Does that count?"

"I didn't lose," Ven defended with a grumble. "I was just the first to go down."

"So," Zack said, prolonging the syllable as much as possible. "You lost."

Ven let out a dangerous growl and lunged at the swordsman, but Zack dodged and Ven leaped after him again, instigating a chase that Zack led over to Rinoa. He skirted around her and Ven slid on the dusty earth, nearly face planting on the tight turn around the woman as he continued his pursuit. Angelo barked excitedly and joined the chase, to which both men ignored. "Zack!" Ven howled, trying to sound furious, though his voice betrayed amusement and he couldn't hide his smile completely. "Take it back!"

"Never!" Zack called over his shoulder with a jovial grin as he completed his circuit and rounded on Terra and Aqua, to which the brunet and Eraq watched with a passive interest. Aqua merely rolled her eyes.

"Come on guys," Terra complained after awhile and set his son down to move and intervene when Angelo suddenly halted mid-stride and looked over towards Aqua, her throat emitting a low, menacing growl.

Hades emerged from his smoky portal and Aqua was on her feet and reaching for her son within a matter of seconds. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" the devilish god crooned as he held out his arms grandly. "My favorite heroes, all in one place."

"Hades!" Rinoa spat and stood up, looking like she was ready to leap at him and tear him limb from limb.

Hades flashed over to her in a blink and leaned on her shoulder, smiling deviously. "Hey babe, you know my offer is still on the table, just say the word and I'll get you in touch with that moody lover boy of yours." Rinoa hissed and shrugged him off but made no move to attack him, no doubt knowing it wouldn't do any good. "It must really irk you, knowing he was running around with another girl for so long, eh?"

"Your fabrications don't interest me, Hades." The dark haired woman stood her ground and raised her chin stubbornly.

"Fabrications?" Hades cried incredulously, his hands spread outward as if pleading. "Why does everyone always assume I'm lying? It's the truth you know, and you could ask him yourself if you just consent to an itty-bitty little contract."

A shadow of doubt flickered in Rinoa's brown orbs and she made no reply but let her gaze drop dismally and moved to stand behind Zack as he came to her aid and placed himself between her and the dark lord, one hand pulled back to grip the hilt of his sword warningly. "Back off, Hades!"

"Alright, alright! Calm down Fido." Hades complied, hands raised innocently, as though he had never meant to cause any trouble. "Can't blame a guy for recruiting, I'm short on hot dames at the moment." He ignored Zack's indignant retort at the demeaning nickname and his malicious gaze soon drifted back to Aqua, where Ven and Terra had drawn close with their own protective stances as though they were trying to cloak something... The god's sickly, yellow eyes narrowed suspiciously until he caught sight of the child attempting to hide behind them. "Well would you look at that!" He disappeared and reappeared behind Aqua and the boy, and examined him closely as his three guardians all made various threatening noises in response to the god's proximity. "It's a little tyke, a little runt, a little mudpie!" He looked up expectantly for any sign of humor in his audience as he added, "who'd have thought earth and water could make something so cuddly?"

Terra only glared in response and moved even closer to his family, his keyblade shining into existence by his side.

"Oh come on! It was a joke!..." Hades paused amid his warped laughter when Terra and Aqua shared a confused glance, and he blinked with a sudden realization. "Wait just a millisecond!... You two," the god paused for dramatic flare as he gestured his hands parallel in front of him. "Have a kid...?" Once again he was met with a tense silence and he threw his head back as though he were about to convulse into another fit of laughter. "This!" He chuckled darkly, his jagged teeth gleaming. "Oh this I can use!" He patted his robe as though he were looking for something. "Now, what did I do with that communication thingy? Gotta be here somewhere-"

"What are you getting at Hades?" Aqua questioned irritably, fed up with his mindless banter and becoming more and more agitated as Eraq trembled with terror against her.

"Well now," Hades said slyly and ran one decaying blue finger across Aqua's jaw suggestively. "Wouldn't you like to know, my little blue bird?"

Aqua sneered with disgust and swiped her free hand at the god as Terra snarled and lunged, though both displays were futile as Hades dematerialized and reappeared a safe distance away. "I don't see how it's possible, but I do believe the chickenheart has gotten slower," he drawled in a bored tone, his pale eyes trained on the earthen keybearer. "Have you gotten dumber too, I wonder? By the way, how's that darkness holdin' up?"

"I think it's time for you to leave," Terra ground out, his dark gaze intensifying as he crouched for another lunge.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Hades replied with a shrug and a dismissive wave. "Hey, keep an eye on that little mudpie, will ya? I'd sure hate to see something happen to him! Anyway, it's been a slice, ciao."

That was it, Terra leaped at the dark lord but he only managed to slash at the residual dark smoke that remained in his wake, his maniacal laughter echoing ominously in the air. Terra muffled a curse as the others converged to comfort Eraq as he was whimpering in fear in Aqua's arms.

"Terra," Aqua called and he was by her side in an instant. She looked up at him, distressed and frightened as she held their son close to her chest. "We should leave."

Terra felt stunned by her expression, his breath hitching for a moment. He hadn't seen her this shaken in... in so very long. He finally managed to nod and held out a hand to help her up from her kneeling position over Eraq. "Right." He looked to the others when his wife was standing with their son in her arms. "Is everyone ready?"

Ven, Zack and Rinoa all nodded, concerned and watching Aqua and Eraq carefully while Angelo yipped and whined up at the boy, trying to comfort him in her own way.

Terra pulled a small device from his pocket and pushed a button and within a minute their black and red Gummi ship appeared from the sky and touched down in the open space of the square. Onlookers and passerby yelped with surprise and skirted around the huge contraption but no one seemed to panic. Terra winced, knowing they were disrupting things and that normally they would have made their way to someplace secluded to board the ship, but this was an urgent matter and he wasn't willing to risk his family's safety at the moment.

Terra was the last to file inside the ship and Eraq fussed and wailed loudly when Aqua meant to set him down in his seat. She knelt down as the boy clung to her desperately and she gave Terra a defeated look as he drew close. He gestured to her seat and nodded as he knelt down by the boy, signaling to let him handle it. Reluctantly, Aqua extracted herself from the child's grip and moved away to her own seat, allowing her husband to take over as she was at a loss as to how to comfort her son when she herself had been shaken so deeply. She clamped her eyes shut when the boy shrieked in response to being wrenched away from her contact and was promptly buckled down by his father.

"Eraq," Terra tried to calm him but Eraq cried and writhed against the restraints of his seat in an obvious state of panic. He wanted Mom and that was that! "Hey," Terra spoke more firmly and placed a hand on the boy's head to gather his attention. Eraq stilled for a moment and he met his father's gaze with a plaintive whine. "I would never let anyone hurt you, understand?" he spoke slowly, hoping to get his point across and waited for the boy to respond but he only sniffed, making no attempt to reply, though he calmed down substantially. "I promise, ok?"

Eraq nodded at that and made a frustrated swipe at his nose before Terra leaned in to place a comforting kiss on his charcoal crown. When he moved to the pilot's seat, Angelo padded up and started licking the boy's face affectionately, whining and yipping in an attempt to cheer him up. Eraq sniffed again and offered a weak smile as he gave the dog a pat on the head, the boy's distress fading with the distraction.

Aqua watched her son from her seat, her heart aching to comfort and hold him close, but she knew he needed to learn that he was safe without having to cling to either parent. She suddenly felt so useless. As his mother she should have been able to calm him, but it was his father that had provided the solution, with a steady reassurance and a firm resolve.

She couldn't help but wonder, was this the price she had to pay for neglecting him? Originally, she had reasoned that he would be six years old soon and he would then be integrated into the Academy system where she'd be able to see him much more often, but now she had to wonder, would that be too late? What other things would she miss out on until then? The Grand Master's brooding thoughts faded as the noise of her companions rose around her.

"Angelo," Rinoa called from her seat behind Aqua and the dog went to jump in her lap obediently. Although she was far too big to be considered a lap dog, they couldn't exactly have a loose dog floating around in the cockpit, so Rinoa wrapped her arms around her to keep her from slamming into the console at their first sign of turbulence.

Zack occupied the seat behind Eraq and was still struggling with his seat buckle when the ship roared to life. He grinned sheepishly when he finally got the thing to click. "First time flyer here, er..." He looked around the cockpit dubiously. "I don't suppose we have any bags for-"

"Nope," Ven answered from the front as he turned in his seat with a wicked grin. "You'll have to hold it in."

Zack seemed to visibly pale at the notion as the ship rumbled and bucked into the sky. "Oh not fair!"