I'M BAAAAAAAACK!

If you were one of the many people who got to try out the KH Missing Link game, I hope you enjoyed it!

Get ready for some TERRA BACKSTORY!

Kingdom Hearts © to Disney and Square Enix!

My OCs © to me!

Chapter 8: Iason

An attack on Scala ad Caelum sent the world of so many into disarray.

Darkness, brought on by one of their own, and a child at that, made many question everything they knew.

The remaining wielders fled to other worlds, some to continue to protect their new homes, others to never pick up a Keyblade ever again.

A young couple, trained together, and eventually married, Aelius and Rufina, fled, as they barely survived the attack.

Fleeing to a small world named The Spirit Land, they both became soldiers under the emperor there. When they fled, they took their teenage son with them: Iason.

The boy, also a Keyblade wielder, grew up to follow in his parent's footsteps.

Becoming the greatest soldier the world ever saw, he did all he could to keep people safe and bring honor to his station. Though he felt some of his honor lost in a losing battle against a large corrupted forest spirit(1). A battle in which he was the only surviving soldier.

For his efforts, he was given fame, fortune, a high military position, and an arranged marriage-

"It's nice to meet you, Reiko." Iason bowed to the beautiful woman who stood across from him, his chocolate brown hair falling around his blue eyes.

The woman bowed back, her long black hair spilling over her shoulders. "I am honored to meet you, Commander. I should be so happy to marry a man such as yourself."

"I've seen you before, haven't I?"

"You have." She smiled, brown eyes twinkling. "My father was your commanding officer before you became an officer yourself. When you attended the feast at our home, I saw you. My father wanted to extend an offer of marrying me to you that night actually. But he decided to wait."

"Really?" He laughed. "Well, how do you feel about this arrangement?"

She smiled. "I honestly consider myself fortunate. I have heard of your bravery and kindness. Many women wished to marry you."

"That's news to me." He laughed.

Really? People wanted to marry him? He was just a soldier.

"Tell me, is your family really from beyond the stars?"

Oh, that's probably why.

"It's true. My parents came from beyond the stars, and I grew up here."

The woman smiled, her eyes shining with amazement and excitement. "I've heard you're a kind man, and a war hero."

"I don't know if I would go that far, but the emperor seems to think so. As does your father." Iason sighed.

Reiko looked into his deep blue eyes. "And how do you feel about this arrangement?"

Iason's eyes looked back into hers. "I knew it was coming. That's how things work around here. My only concern was that I wanted to make sure you were alright with it. I don't want to marry someone who was forced into it against their consent."

"Trust me, I wasn't forced into this. I am happy with this arrangement."

"Then, I am as well. And I will do my best to take care of you and our family."

A Few Years Later

"When is Father coming home?"

"Soon, Terra." Reiko picked up her young son. He looked to be the spitting image of his father, and they even named him in Iason's tradition, rather than this world's to represent his blood from beyond the stars.

She loved his name.

Terra.

Strong like the earth.

As she watched the little boy run and play in the courtyard of their home, a servant came to her side. "My lady, there is a friend of Master Iason's at the gate."

"I'll be right there." Standing up, the woman moved toward the gate. Terra, seeing her go, followed a little distance behind.

As she reached the gate, she saw another soldier. Iason's closest friend. "Makio, it's a pleasure to see you."

"It is nice to see you as well," the man sighed, "though I wish I had better news."

Reiko's heart fluttered for a moment. "What… do you mean?"

"There was a battle against a hostile spirit. Iason didn't survive."

The woman froze, staring at the man. "You… you can't be right?"

"Mother?" She looked down as little hands grabbed her kimono. "Is Father coming home soon?"

Her body shook as she knelt down, looking at her young son. "No, Terra. Your father… he, he isn't coming home."

"When will he come back?"

"Oh… Terra!" She wrapped her arms around him, her tears spilling onto his head.

"How is your family taking the news?"

"They want me to remarry as soon as possible." Reiko clutched a strange scroll in her hands as she looked at Makio. "I just… there are few people out there as strong as Iason was. Strong, gentle, and the kindest person I'd ever met… My family might just marry me off to the first noble who asks. I don't want that."

Makio took a step closer. "I promised Iason I would take care of you and Terra. Perhaps, the best way to do that is for us to marry, if you are alright with that possibility."

Her eyes turned to him. "We can discuss that possibility later." She looked down at the parchment. "I need to do something… for Terra."

"What?"

"Iason was part of an ancient order of warriors. He wanted to train Terra to be the same, but he said that if something ever happened to him, I was to use this," she held up the scroll, "to contact one of his allies to come and train Terra. It would mean Terra would go somewhere far away, but it's the best chance he has to connect with his father's legacy."

"Does Terra want that?"

"He does." She smiled. "Though I don't know if he fully understands what it all means. What he does understand is that it doesn't mean he'll be apart from me forever. He will come visit, and we can use this scroll to write letters to each other. It's magical."

Makio watched as the woman knelt down to the table, unrolling the scroll and grabbing a brush.

She began to write.

A letter to someone she didn't know… but to someone her late husband trusted.

And someone responded.

And soon arrived.

A man with brown hair came to their home one day.

Terra remembered it well.

The day Eraqus arrived.

He saw him come into their home and have tea with his mother.

"How did you know my husband?"

"We were friends as children, and we communicated with the same letter you used to contact me." Eraqus smiled sadly, his eyes filled with a sadness that seemed to almost be comfortable there; Reiko could see that Iason was not the first friend he'd lost. "It pains me to hear that he's gone. He was a good friend."

Reiko smiled, hoping to remove that sadness from the man's face. "I'm glad to hear that. I miss him dearly, and I want our son to know his father's legacy. He will be able to visit?"

"Of course, and you can use the letter to talk with him. Let me know if you want him to come home for any reason and I'll bring him back. And if you eventually want him to stop training, and he agrees, he can stop."

"Thank you, Master Eraqus."

"Follow me."

They walked to the courtyard where Makio stood, holding a wooden training sword, smiling as Terra tried to pick up and swing another one.

"Mother!" The boy smiled, his eyes glancing to the stranger for a moment. "Makio is teaching me to fight like Father."

"I was only helping him hold the sword." The other soldier laughed. "And this must be Master Eraqus."

The two men shook hands. "You are?"

"Makio." He glanced down as Terra went to his mother. "I was Iason's closest friend. I'm watching over his family, like he asked me to."

"Then I consider you a friend as well." Eraqus smiled before looking down at the curious boy who walked closer to them, looking like the spitting image of Iason.

Terra looked up at the man as he kneeled down. "My name's Terra. What's your name, sir?"

"I am Master Eraqus."

"Did you know my father?"

"I did."

Years Later

Terra stared down at the scroll on his desk. The paper glimmered with magic as he brushed his fingers against it.

How many messages had appeared on this page in those years he'd been gone, only to be lost to time as the paper eventually erased them? How long before the messages just stopped coming all together?

He… hadn't written in it yet.

What would he even say?

Did his mother think him dead? Did she think he didn't care? Was she alive?

What about Maiko?

His stepfather that he didn't really know that well.

And that half-brother he met once or twice… He couldn't even remember the boy's name.

Letting out a long sigh, he sat down at the desk and unrolled the scroll. It shimmered slight, the magic causing the tips of his fingers to tingle a little as he touched it.

Grabbing a pen, he began to write-

"Mother,

I know it has been more than ten years since I last wrote. A lot has happened, and it would take too long to explain. Are you well?

-Terra"

As he put the pen down and rolled up the scroll, the paper flashed, sending the message to the other scroll his mother had.

Flash!

He'd barely put the paper down before a return message came.

Unrolling it, he smiled at the two words on the page.

"You're alive?"

And so he wrote back.

"I'm alive."

Another message came back quickly.

"Oh, thank goodness! I thought I'd never hear from you again. I thought you were dead! Terra, I'm so happy. Please, come home. I want to see you. I've missed you so much. We've all been worried. Makio has tried to find ways to come find you. And you haven't seen your brother in so long, and you haven't met your sister.

Please, come home."

A sister?

Terra smiled, writing back.

"I'll come visit soon. A lot is still happening, but I will make time and come see all of you soon.

I love you, Mother."

…

"And I love you, Terra."

Footnotes:

(1) This is a clue to the Ghibli movie this world is based around. Take a guess which one. ;)

VAs:

Iason Dohring- Christopher Swindle (Wheeljack, Jack Hanma, Shade, Headon, Garurumon)

Reiko Okiayu- Tara Jayne Sands (Mokuba Kaiba, Anna Kyoyama, Sonya, Cynthia, Biscuit Krueger)

Makio Inoue- Dav B. Mitchell (Alois, Guan Yu, Geras, Knuckles the Echidna, Raiden)