"So this is your world." Riku looked around as he and Aqua stepped out of the Gummi Ship. Terra and Ventus landed beside them, and in a flash of light their armor was dismissed.

"Feels like a lifetime ago..." Aqua muttered, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes. When she'd come back to wake Ven, there hadn't been time to enjoy the feeling of returning home. But now that the battle was over and she was back with her friends, they were all able to take a moment and bask in the warm afternoon sun. Opening her eyes and smiling, Aqua turned back to Riku. "So, up for the grand tour?"

"Hey Terra, race you to the courtyard!" Ven started running before Terra could actually respond.

"No fair!" Terra looked back at the two Keyblade Masters, then decided to leave them be for a little while.

Riku chuckled as he watched the other two run off.

"And finally, in the event that something happens to me, I will show you the way to seal this land so that the forces of darkness cannot set foot here, and this land is kept in balance."

Aqua had taken Riku around the main building through an overall short tour, and seeing that they were still alone, decided to pass on the knowledge that Master Eraqus had given her all those years ago. "It's too soon. He should still be here." She looked away with a frown. "I thought I would be ready when he bestowed the title on me, but now I'm realizing how much I was going to rely Master Eraqus regardless..."

She blinked her thoughts away and turned back to Riku, taking a deep breath and letting it out. "But that can wait. Any questions?"

Riku shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest. "Nah, not about that stuff. I guess being a Keyblade Master is pretty straightforward. What are you three going to do?"

"Continue our training." Aqua sighed. "Terra and Ven still want to be Keyblade Masters. And Axel-" Her face contorted in displeasure for a moment before she continued, "He's coming soon, I think. We'll just try and prepare ourselves for the next threat the worlds face."

"You don't like Axel?" Riku asked.

Aqua pursed her lips, humming in thought before she turned to Riku. "I don't trust him." She clarified. "He helped Xehanort, before and after giving into the darkness." The doors opened to the hall, and Terra and Ven walked in, talking to each other. Aqua stepped closer and lowered her voice. "We need to be wary of people like him. There's no telling when or how or why he might give back in. Eraqus trusted Xehanort, and in the end it got him killed."

Riku saw the way her eyes were narrowed at Terra, and frowned.

"Aqua!"

But he looked up as Ven called out.

"So, what's the plan?" He asked.

"For what?" Aqua asked, the angry look in her eyes fading.

"For dinner! I haven't eaten in ten years, I'm starving!" Ven joked, clutching his stomach and dramatically falling over.

"Well, I haven't either and I've been fighting the entire time, so I've got you beat." She raised her brow as a challenge.

"No way! Time stopped in the realm of darkness, so you're only as hungry as you were when you fell into it. And to prove my point-" He pointed at her, "You look exactly the same, not ten years older. There's no way you're hungrier than I am."

There was a loud gurgle from Aqua's stomach, and Terra and Riku laughed.

"Oh yeah?" She asked.

"How about I go see if there's still food stocked in the pantry?" Terra asked before the 'argument' could escalate. "Riku, wanna come help? I mean-" He bowed at the waist, "Master Riku." Even though he was bowed, the other three could still see Terra trying not to laugh.

"You don't have to call me that." Riku said. "C'mon, let's go."

"Never would have taken you for a cook." Riku muttered as he watched Terra standing in front of the stove.

"Are you kidding? I didn't get this big-" He dropped the spatula he was holding and flexed before picking it back up, "Without a healthy diet. There's a few small farms and villages in the mountains we get our food from." Terra stopped suddenly, going still. "But they're probably gone after what happened."

Riku rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "You mean Master Eraqus? I heard he was struck down."

"Yeah." Terra affirmed. "I was an idiot and helped Xehanort do it." He continued to cook, not looking back. "Master Eraqus was trying to hurt Ven, because of the masked boy Vanitas. Did they tell you about him and what he really was? Well, Xehanort was trying to turn me to the darkness, and tricked me into thinking Ven was going to kill Eraqus and that it wasn't the other way around."

"I'm sorry." Riku looked at the ground. He'd been curious about Master Eraqus ever since seeing him disappear with Xehanort, but he had no idea when it would be appropriate to ask. At the very least, he figured he would've found out in time.

Terra shrugged, sensing that it was still too soon for him to talk about it himself, much less to Riku. "Don't worry about it. Grab some plates out of that cabinet, would you?" Terra turned the burners off. "I know Eraqus didn't blame me. But... I was mad at Eraqus for choosing Aqua as a Master over me." He admitted. "Xehanort could probably tell, and had been feeding my ego and telling me half truths from the very beginning. Maybe if I hadn't been so focused on becoming stronger, doing whatever it took to become a Master, I would've been smarter, and realized what he was trying to do."

Riku set the plates down on the counter and stepped back as Terra began rationing the food out. "You don't have to blame yourself, you know. Xehanort was smarter than all of us, he had plans within plans that we never would have seen coming."

Terra didn't respond, and there was a moment of silence before he picked up two plates and walked past Riku without a word.

"Bacon and eggs?" Ven asked.

"And sausage and hashbrowns." Terra nodded.

"It's noon. Why did you make breakfast food?"

Terra frowned at him. "Because it's the first meal of the day!"

Taken by surprise, Ventus started to laugh. "Okay, fair enough."

"Crazy to think you three get back and the first thing you do is go win a war you had no idea was coming." Riku said.

Terra, Ven, and Aqua all blinked, looked at each other, then started to laugh.

"What? What's so funny?" Riku asked.

"It is kind of absurd when you put it that way." Aqua said.

"We basically jumped from one frying pan to the other. I know I dreamt a lot, but the last thing that happened to me was the fight with Vanitas." Ven said.

"And my fight with Xehanort." Terra added.

"Mmm..." Aqua let out an unimpressed hum, her eyes on her plate as she pretended to hide a smile.

"Yes, yes, we know!" Terra laughed. "We'll find a world with a nice massage parlor and take you there, we promise! Right, Ven?"

"Yeah! We don't have to start training right away, do we Aqua? Let's celebrate a little!"

Aqua set her plate down in her lap. "Alright. What do you have in mind?"

"Why not have everyone come to the islands?" Riku offered.

"That's a great idea!" Aqua smiled. "I was only there for a little while last time, but I remember how beautiful they were. Once we get settled back in, we'll get everyone together."

Riku stood from the table and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I should head back anyways, and let Selphie and Wakka know that Sora and Kairi won't be back for a little while. But there's something I need to check on first, so it might be a little while before I come back."

The trio nodded and waved as he left. "See you soon!"

The afternoon slowly gave way to night as the residents went back to their rooms, taking in the feeling of truly being home after so long. Not a thing was out of place after Aqua had locked the Lands Between away, and she picked a book up from her shelf and sat in bed, starting over after having forgotten it in the long years she'd been away.

It wasn't until she turned the bedside lamp on that she realized how late it was getting.

Her heart jumped when there came a sudden knock on her door. She hadn't heard anyone approaching from down the hall.

"Aqua? You still awake in there?" Came Ven's voice.

She let out a deep breath as she stood and opened the door. "What is it, Ven?"

"Let's go stargazing. Terra's waiting for us." He gestured down the hall, and Aqua smiled and nodded.

"Sure." They lazily made their way through the hallways, their footsteps echoing in the silence. Aqua cleared her throat and turned her head to Ventus and asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

He blinked and looked up in confusion. "Uh... Yeah?"

Aqua forced a smile and looked away. "I'm just checking. You were asleep for a long time, so we don't know if there might be side effects..." She trailed off.

"I'm fine." He said reassuringly. "And if I start feeling not fine, I'll let you know. Promise."

They turned into the main entryway, where Terra was waiting by the large doors. "Thanks, Ven."

Terra greeted them and they made their way up to the summit, sitting in the cool grass and listening to the crickets chirp. Aqua fell back onto the ground, looking up at the starry sky with a smile. "I've been waiting for this." She admitted to the other two after a few minutes of silence.

"Waiting for what?" Terra asked.

"To be back home with you two." She said in 'that should be obvious tone'. "I lost count of the days, but I never lost sight of my goal. I'm sorry it took so long."

Ventus fell back onto the ground on her right, and Terra laid down on her left. "You don't have to apologize. Xehanort was the one who caused all this." The latter said.

"Yep! He's gone now, thanks to Sora, so we can rest easy!" Ventus cheered.

"Not too easy. Training starts in two days." Aqua said.

"Aww, c'mon!"

"Nope. We need to be ready for the next threat that comes our way."

"About that..." Terra sighed, and Aqua turned her head while Ventus propped himself up on his elbows. "I'm thinking of taking a break from training."

"What!?" Ven cried out. "What do you mean? You can't-"

"Ventus." Terra cut him, and the boy's eyes widened at the use of his full name. "I made a lot of mistakes after Aqua and I took the exam. Like it or not, those mistakes cost all of us- If Xehanort hadn't managed to possess me, maybe none of the dangers that came after would have happened." He paused, his gaze still on the sky. "I'm not ready to be a Master. I need to focus on myself so I never fail you two like that again."

"But..." Ven frowned, sitting upright.

"Don't worry!" Terra looked over at him. "I'm still your friend, Ven. If the next dangerous journey starts tomorrow, I'll be right there beside you and Aqua. I'm not giving up on being a Master entirely."

Ventus smiled sadly and nodded.

"I think that's a good idea."

Both boys turned to look at Aqua. But she didn't respond, and they both looked back up at the stars. "Right..." Terra said.

Aqua continued staring up at the sky, watching all the stars twinkle softly as the wind whistled softly around them.

She had been here before. She'd just walked in one big circle, but it had been beset by dozens of Heartless. Echoes of the battles lingered in the forms of craters and smoke all around her.

She couldn't stand anymore.

With both hands on the Keyblade, she fell to her knees, panting. "It's been... hours... It had to be..."

Groaning, she limply fell onto her side and closed her eyes, her body crying out for relief from the constant struggle.

With no way to tell the time, she could have been there for several minutes or several hours. At some point she rolled onto her back and opened her eyes.

"Are those... Stars?" She asked aloud.

Dozens of yellow lights were above her, twinkling against the darkness behind them.

Not twinkling.

Blinking in pairs.

The Heartless fell from the cavern roof, landing all around her.

She tried to stand, but couldn't. She tried to cast a healing spell, but she didn't have any more magical power to use. It was a struggle to keep the Keyblade summoned.

"Get off!" She weakly kicked at a Heartless that grabbed her ankle. She tried to stand, but went light headed and fell backwards. She swiped at another nearby Heartless with the Keyblade, but it dodged the slow attack and pounced on her arm, holding it down. "No!"

Two more grabbed her, and soon she was thrashing wildly as they held her down with their weight and raised their arms, claws extended to strike at her. The first strike drew blood as scarred her shoulder, and the next three tore through her clothes in different places.

"Aqua!"

"NO!"

She jumped up, summoning Stormfell and attacking in defense, her Keyblade just barely missing Terra and Ventus's chest.

"Whoa!" Terra leapt to his feet, taking a defensive stance, but he didn't summon his Keyblade.

Ventus was leaning back on his hands, looking up at her in worry. "Aqua, it's us!"

Her breathing was heavy as she looked around. "Wh-What happened?" She asked in confusion, letting her weapon disappear in a flash of light.

"You fell asleep." Terra answered. "You started having a nightmare." He said a little quieter. "We were trying to wake you."

"Oh..." She looked up at the sky again, the stars twinkling above her. "It was just a memory. Just a memory." She repeated the thought again and again, and then realized the other two were still looking at her. She turned around and started heading back to the castle. "Let's go back. We'll catch a cold if we sleep out here." She didn't wait to make sure Terra and Ventus were following her, wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to seek comfort in the late hours that felt much more ominous because of how quiet it was.

Once she was back to her room, she turned on the light, her lamp, and the bathroom light as well, then sat on her bed. After a moment, she brought her knees up to her chest.

"I'm alright. I'm alright. I'm alright."