Okay, so I'd long known by how I made this confusing lore in a universe where Redcons happen in every game, that certain things couldn't happen as they did in the games. This allowed me to focus more on the characters now that they didn't have to run around fighting enemies or saving folks left and right.

Enjoy.

"Terra, come and see me at once."

Called by Master Xehanort, Terra heads to a wasteland of a world; for some reason, it made the bear totem very cold. Confused by this but unable to do anything about it. Terra walks over to Master Xehanort and tells the man, confused about this man's actions he has witnessed. "I have been to other worlds. I know all about the things you've done. I just don't understand why." Why would Master Xehanort tell Maleficent about the Pure Hearts and the keyblade? Why is he so interested in these princesses? Terra waits for Master Xehanort's reply, and hopefully, it will be a legitimate one.

Master Xehanort closes his eyes for a moment before he answers, "Someone had to safeguard the light… from the demon I unleashed." Terra blinks at this, and the old Master elaborates on what he means. "You must know about the boy by now, the one in the mask. "His name is Vanitas. A creature of pure darkness. One of my making," and through Xehanort's explanation, it turns out that he created this Vanitas out of Ventus's heart. "Not long after his creation, Vanitas started to attack the grievously wounded Ventus. I didn't have a choice, I brought Ventus to Eraqus and did everything in my power to keep this monster to Vanitas contained."

Terra could barely believe something like that boy would be coming from someone as sweet as Ventus, so surely, the old Master had his best intentions when he sifted such terrible darkness from his friend, but that leaves one question: "Master… why is Vanitas still free?"

"I did my best to contain him, but Vanitas is tenacious…"

"So, he managed to escape."

The old Master nods and explains to Terra, "Vanitas uses the keyblade to sow seeds of darkness. And now, you see- the worlds teem with his ghastly underlings."

Terra opens his mouth to speak, but a sudden spike occurs, and he sees the eyes of the bear right before his before they are gone. This confuses him a lot and almost makes him unable to hear Master Xehanort's request:

"Led me your strength, Terra. Right this wrong that I have wrought."

He will help, of course, but… "I have no idea where to find him." another spike, and he suddenly sees Master Xehanort, holding his keyblade against him, behind the old man, a huge dark-gray goat with swirling metal vines at its front legs. 'What was that?' Terra shakes his head.

"—his darkness is drawn to the light, which he seeks to disrupt and then destroy."

He hears Master Xehanort say, and right there, he sees himself shooting darkness at some raven-haired man with a torn red scarf, removing that one's right eye and later tearing off half the cheek by the same darkness. It shifts, and he sees a boy with a mask running past Master Xehanort. Jumping down, he tries to stop that boy. He then sees his own reflection but with yellow eyes and white hair. He shakes those very vivid images away, not entirely sure of why he's seeing that. Not sure what those were, but it has left him with a horrible feeling.

"It stands to a reason that he will strike next in the city of light, Radiant Garden."

Terra bows, promising the old Master, "Don't worry, Master. I'll take care of Vanitas," and leaves to find this darkness of Ventus, though mostly unnerved by whatever the heck he saw.
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By the command of his Master, Vanitas went to the bright world of Radiant Garden to release the Unversed. It wasn't something new, just another part of his master's plan and if it could get him closer to his salvation. Then Vanitas is all up for it. Why bother with the pain of his Unversed destruction if it leads to mending his fractured heart? He will do anything to be released from the living torment, which is his very existence.

However, as he lands on the world, he instantly feels a presence. It's not darkness but not light either, but something else entirely. Vanitas scans the area, but at first, he cannot find the source, only that it is close. Too close for comfort. He decides to ignore this presence and instead do what his Master told him to do, which is unleashing his Unversed. However, just as he has released some of the weaker kind, Vanitas notices a shift from the nearby tree and, in the last second, summons his keyblade and jumps into battle position when the tree disappears, replaced with a yellow fox that has an aurora light around the neck and being part of the tail. This creature stalks around him, and Vanitas hears no— it is more like sensing the voice. Warning him that he had better leave as this world was under its protection. Vanitas laughs, "No one tells me what to do." and do think he will find this battle interesting.
Well, not really. The fox refused to get close to him, instead firing fire, lighting, ice, and earth attacks at his face, and every time he thought he got it, the fox he hit proved to be an illusion, and the real deal hit him from behind. He slowly figures out its movements, and in a desperate attempt, as this creature has worn him down, he hits the real fox. It winches in pain, and the next second, he gets every element in the book thrown at him. Vanitas crashes onto the ground and passes out for a moment.
He hears that 'voice' again, warning him that if he returns, then there won't be any mercy.
Vanitas wakes outside the world, in the lanes between them, and even though everything in him wants to go back and show that creature, he's not weak. He does have a survival instinct, which currently screams at him not to get near that world, for that fox will kill him. Reluctantly, Vanitas leaves this world alone.

With the threat over, the fox turns and jumps onto the roof, leaping from roof to roof in an incredibly graceful manner. It stops when noticing two teenage boys and, with magic in colors of blue and purple, turns closer in size to an actual fox. It leaps off the roof and makes sure to land right on the blue-haired boy, making him crash into the ground but careful so as not to hurt him. It startles the red-haired teen, and the fox jumps gracefully and in a manner that will draw out a child's curiosity around both of them before running off.
The red-haired boy stares in awe after that beautiful yellow fox. A large grin appears, and he turns in an excited jump to his still-floored companion. "Isa, did you see that?"

The boy named Isa sits up. "No, I felt that," he points out, miffed to be jumped on. But like his friend, he is excited to see this creature being actually real. He gets onto his feet, remarking to his friend. "Never thought the legends of the aurora fox were true." Isa says, not having any plans to let it get away, and grabs his friend's shirt. "Let's go, Lea before it disappears for good." and they both hurry after the fox.
Right there, Ventus arrives in this world, primarily by accident, as a fellow comrade of the keyblade, one named Mickey, transported him to this world by an object called the Star Shard. His looking around got hilariously interrupted when he spots a strange fox with a flowing rainbow scarf and tail, playfully leaping towards him, and close behind, two boys his age are running after it. The red-haired notices him and calls; "Hey, catch it before it gets away!"
No idea what is going on, but feeling like helping out, Ventus runs at the fox, and right as it tries to jump over him, he jumps and catches its tail, making it land right onto him, and he gets a face full of that weird flowing tail.

Lea laughs, "Nice one!" he and his friend run over to the boy who caught the aurora fox. Here, Isa lifts the fox off the other boy, saying in a relatively flat voice, "Dibs." which makes it sound so funny as he claims dibs on a legend in their home.
Lea snaps to him. "Hey, you can't call dibs on a legendary beast!" he argues.

"I just did." Isa points out, giving his friend a smug look while keeping the fox firmly trapped in his arms.

Lea rolls his eyes, "Yeah, whatever." he turns to the other teenager and gives that one a smile. "It was a nice catch, I'm Lea, and mister I-call-dibs is Isa." His friend merely nods, busier holding the very wiggly fox. Focus back on the blond teen he hasn't seen in the area before; then again, this is a vast city, so it's hard to know everyone. "What's your name?"

Getting up, "Ventus." he introduced himself. "But most call me Ven." He turns to the weird fox, intrigued as he has never seen an animal like that before. "What is that?"

"A legend, that's what!" Lea laughs; right at that moment, Terra arrives, and the fox gets free from Isa's grip, running up towards the castle. Lea is quick to action, "Now I call dibs on it!" and runs after the fox with Isa close behind, who calls after him: "Not if I catch it first!"
Ventus, not aware of Terra, laughs and takes the pursuit of the two fellow aged boys. "Hey, wait for me!"

Terra only spots his young friend when he has gone too far to hear his call, so Terra follows. He finds the three climbing into a window and has no wish to allow this form of trespassing, especially not from Ventus. Terra runs over. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" he calls.

"Terra?" Ventus asks, but before he can jump back outside, the boy named Lea grabs him with an urging, "Move it before he catches us!" the red-haired boy takes the run for it, confused but very much wanting to catch that fox again, Ventus follow Lea's example.

Isa follows as well, but he's not as fast as the two others, so that young man catches him with: "You shouldn't trespass!" it sounds like a lame lecture. He is not going to let Lea and that other boy, Ventus, have all the fun. "Bug off!" He wiggles himself free and somehow manages to kick this older boy right in the stomach.

The kick didn't hurt per se; it did catch him so much off guard, and his mind went back to a time when he wasn't a trained keyblade wielder. Terra often dealt with bratty kids back at the orphanage, but that was ages ago, and Terra now realizes how easy Ven was compared to this new contender. One who could care less about what he had to say.
The blue-haired teen gets free and runs into the castle, being an utter brat! "Get lost and mind your own business, old man!" Recovering reasonably quickly, Terra follows, ticked by that name-calling. "Who are you calling old, you little brat?!" He yells back and chases after that one. "Come back now, or I swear I will drag you outta here!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Isa taunts him back and notices his friend at the end of the hallway.

Knowing that look, Lea smirks, picks out one of his frisbees, and throws it at that young man, hitting him straight in the face and stopping him from chasing Isa. His friend quickly picks up the 'weapon' and gets over to him and Ventus. "Nice one," he throws the frisbee back to him, and with a grin, Lea grabs Ventus and follows Isa deeper into the castle.

Now feeling really bad for Terra, Ventus wants to go back, but Lea is not really letting him, and besides, doubt a mere toy would do much harm, so Ventus fairly quickly brushes it off and resumes the chase with the two other boys. Must admit it is pretty fun.
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Utterly unaware of the shenanigans going on inside the castle. Aqua arrives in this beautiful world, and after having traveled and battled so many Unversed, she really needs a small break. Aqua walks around the streets of the world, shopping a bit and admiring the plants decorating this city as she wanders around.
"Not a single Unversed." Aqua is relieved about this observation. She comes to the castle's grounds, where Aqua notices two young children. A girl with an intense light picking flowers and a boy with steel-blue hair help her in this little task. Watching them, Aqua is reminded how she, Terra, and Ven would scour the bushes for berries. Ventus had a silly habit of munching on the berries, ending up with her or Terra having to scold him, but it often led to them just laughing as their young friend always got berry juice all over his face. Aqua laughs softly at the small memory. "When this is all over, we should go and do that." She notes herself, figuring that baking a cake would be excellent for all of them.

Suddenly, her slight daydreaming is interrupted by a fox with an aurora tail and around its neck like a scarf lands in the flowerbed where the two children are, throwing several of them into the air. The children stare in surprise at this sudden arrival, more so when the fox begins to trot around them in a playful manner. The girl giggles while the boy just titles his head at it in wonder. Then, the fox leaps over Aqua, shooting a few ice crystals at her. They didn't do much harm, but enough to make her a bit protective of the children. It lands before her, staring with its creepy blue eyes, then, after having fired some flames at her, runs inside the castle. Not wanting a creature that can harm others around roaming freely inside the castle,

Aqua runs over to follow but stops when the young boy suddenly stands beside her, meeting her eyes with his own piercing blue. The young girl walks over as well, pointing out innocently, "Strangers is not allowed inside; the scary guards stops them."

Aqua kneels down before the two children and explains them. "I need to get inside before that creature hurts someone." To her surprise, the boy points out: "I know a secret path." He gestures for her to follow, and Aqua does. This boy brings her over to a door that is well hidden behind some bushes; he pushes a seemingly random brick, and the door opens. Aqua is admittedly surprised this boy knew about this, "How did you…"

"Saw Dilan use this during another visit." The boy shrugs as if it's not a big deal, and the girl reveals with a giggle: "Ienzo showed me, and now, I pick pretty flowers every time I want." The boy- Ienzo, gives her a look, then trots inside. The little girl follows with the bemused Aqua close behind.

Walking down the hallway, the little girl says, "I'm Kairi."

"Nice meeting you, Kairi; I'm Aqua." The keyblade wielder introduced herself and eyed this seemly sneaky boy. "Do you sneak out often from the castle, Ienzo?"

"I only snuck out because Kairi wished to collect flowers." The boy replies in a matter-of-fact voice, after a moment of silence "I usually stay in the library during the visits."

"Or play with me." Kairi pipes up, and the older boy merely nods.
Aqua smiles at what Ienzo said. Amused that he risked getting into trouble for the sake of the friendship he shares with Kairi here. That's really sweet and reminds her how Terra would take the blame if she or Ventus did something Master Eraqus would greatly disapprove of. He was always there for them, and now, Aqua feels like it's her turn to be there for him.

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Meanwhile, a bit further inside the castle, Terra has managed to catch the trio of troublemakers. Scolding all three, it's not okay to trespass. Only Ventus shows he's feeling bad about all of this.

"Sorry, Terra…"

While the two others: "What are you? His deadbeat brother?" Lea asks, with Isa saying, having a small smile on his lips, "More like his father." causing his red-haired friend to burst out laughing.

More than a little miffed at those two rascals. "Now you listen you—"

"How did you get in here?!" Someone shouts; the group turns, and a muscular man with raven dreadlocks storms enraged over to them. Then notices the local troublemakers: "You two again! How many times do I have to knock it into your—"

Trying to talk his way out of this misunderstanding. "W-wait, sir… we didn't mean to—" the obnoxious sassy boy never gave him the chance, as that boy grabs his arm and pulls him away from the enraged and clearly not going to listen guard: "Shut up and run!" the boy told him.
Lea does the same with Ventus, who does not make such a hassle and follows the red-haired in fleeing from the very pissed guard.

Terra, wanting to solve this misunderstanding as an adult and not some mischievous kid, puts his heels down, stopping that kid from dragging him. "Now hold on…" but right there, another guard arrives, this one much bigger. One look from that man's eyes shows that Terra suddenly feels like a child who has been caught doing something stupid and about to get his ass handed. Didn't make it better that the other guard shouts: "Aeleus, grab them!"
Without thinking, Terra hauls the brat onto his shoulders and takes the run for it, following Ventus and that other boy in fleeing from the angry guards.

"Hey, put me down!" Isa exclaims from suddenly being thrown over that young man's shoulders; the other one ignores him completely.
Right at that moment, Aqua and the two children leave the hallway, stopping at the strangest sight ever; Ventus and Lea come speeding past, both yelling: "Aaaaggghhhhh!"

Moments later, Terra, carrying a now cheeky Isa that, has the nerves to tell the running young man, "Aw come on! My grandpa runs faster than this!" with Terra yelling at him, "You, be quiet!" seconds after that, a pissed guard with dreadlocks and wielding a spear appears, shouting out loud: "Where the hell is Braig?! He's supposed to be guarding this hallway!" Passing the dumbfounded Aqua and the two children, both having a face that this is apparently something they see fairly often.
Moments later, a huge guard appears; he is the only one who notices the three and stops, giving Aqua an inconvenienced look. Aqua responds with a timid wave with Kairi hiding behind her, clearly scared of this huge man, and Aqua does not blame the young girl.

Ienzo, on the other hand, Aqua blinks when the boy walks over to this mountain of a man and titles his head ever so slightly with: "Please don't tell the others about this; I promise not to cause any trouble." The big man stares down at the small boy for a moment. Then, with a sigh, he leaves them alone, much to Aqua's surprise.
She can't help but giggle at this, realizing that Ienzo has that large man wrapped around his fingers. The little boy turns to her, then trots the way the whole parade came from. Aqua casts one glance to where her two friends ran down but decides to leave them to solve their own shenanigans and instead follows the two children in search of that fox.

They indeed find that strange fox, jumping around inside an entranceway and messing the whole place up with its elemental magic.
"Ohhh, pretty~" Kairi awes at the sight while Ienzo only tilts his head curiously at the sighs. The two children yelp in surprise when the fox suddenly appears right before them like a furry jack-in-the-box.

"Stay back, you two." Aqua tells the two children and summons her keyblade. She doesn't notice that the girl, Kairi, is touching the handle of her keyblade before she leaps after the fox, at first trying to see if she can merely chase this troublemaker off as this fox did not seem as deadly as the Unversed, more like a wayward creature that happens to know magic. The fox leaps away from her, and Aqua follows, not even trying to swing her keyblade at the fox but merely using it to block the weak spells the creature at times throws at her. The chase leads all over the place, leading to a grand hallway of a sort. The fox catches Aqua's leg with its jaws and throws her into a statue, making a white box drop to the floor. Aqua recovers quickly and is not hurt at all, as this fox is really not strong enough to hurt her. This whole 'fight' feels more like a game than actual combat. The fox spins around itself, forming a pillar of the rainbow aurora, where it bursts into several foxes. All are running around Aqua, and two excited children, but no sign of which is the true one can be spotted.

This illusion spell is the best she has ever seen, but Aqua does have a spell to break illusions. Her left-hand lights up, and she throws it at the fox running around Kairi, making it disappear.
She throws the spell at another fox, again proving not to be the right one.
Right as she is about to cast a spell on another, a weaker version of this spell is suddenly cast— by that young boy. Aqua blinks in surprise. This spell might not take much mana, but it's pretty tricky to cast, so seeing a boy at that age cast is impressive. Aqua recalls that only a handful of students back at her former home could do magic at a young age. She was one of those children, so meeting another possible magical protégé is quite interesting. Lowering her hand, she is now intrigued about this child. "Did you do that?" He nods and has an air of fluster, but those blue eyes are watching her rather sharply, waiting for her following response.
Aqua gives the somewhat tense boy a smile. "You have a talent for magic. Not many people can cast magic at your age." The boy blinks, then he smiles, and Aqua wishes to encourage such a hidden talent further. "Can you do it again?"

"Sure." He nods eagerly and casts the spell again, removing yet another illusion fox.

Young Kairi tries to do the same, but all she can make is a faint glow around her body. Aqua senses that this girl has a unique heart. One that is very pure, and she feels she should need special protection as there are people who might want to use such an intense light.
Letting Ienzo deal with the illusions, Aqua casts a spell on Kairi's necklace, making sure that if this girl ever gets in trouble, her light will lead her to one who will protect her.
To avoid leaving Ienzo out, Aqua finds a blank book and, with a spell, fills the pages with all the spells she knows. And since this will be gifted to a child, Aqua made sure he wouldn't be able to cast the spell until he got enough mana for them. She hands this book to little Ienzo, explaining it holds a lot of spells he can try out, adding. "I made sure that no matter how many spells you add, there always will be a page for it."

"Wow… thanks." Ienzo replies in awe, then notices the title written on the book's spine. "Arcanum?"

"It means secret." Aqua replies to the boy, and right as she's about to explain why she chose that name, Aqua realizes that not only are all of the illusions gone, but the fox is no longer around. "Huh, where did it go?" She wonders out loud, but that question will never be answered. Aqua turns her attention back to the two children. Ienzo is already face-deep in his new book, and Kairi has picked up a white box. Now that the play-fight is over, Aqua notices the strange magic coming from that box; it's neither light nor darkness, something else entirely. Aqua gently takes the box from the young girl, but it won't open. She then tries to tap it with the keyblade, but even there, it won't open. "Strange, a keyblade should open any lock." She scans the mystery box in her hands. "So why not this one?" Did another keyblade wielder lock this box?

"What are you doing here?" A male voice asks. It should sound hostile, but Aqua notices the wary hint in the tone.
Aqua turns around and sees three people. The one who spoke is a man with long blond hair and green eyes and dressed in a white lab coat. The two others are dressed in more casual clothing, and Aqua has a feeling of who they are from the resemblances they share with a certain boy.

These three are walking towards her; before she can answer, the man's green eyes go down to the two children when Kairi; in an innocent matter of fact only a child can do, "This nice lady asked to get the fox out from the castle, the guards don't let strangers inside, so Ienzo—"

"You didn't consider that we do not let strangers inside for a reason?" The man asks with a hint of irritation in his voice.

Kairi blinks, not really seeing the big deal, while Ienzo casts a look at the two others and shifts embarrassingly on his feet, clutching his new book to his chest. Aqua decides to step in before these two get into trouble. "Sir, don't blame my trespassing on the children." The man turns to her, brow raised. "I was merely trying to chase out a fox that held the power of spell casting. If not for Ienzo and Kairi, I wouldn't have found it."

The other male is in more casual clothing, his hair a darker shade of gray, and most of it sleeked towards the right side of his face, looking very much like the boy. Behind the horn-rimmed glasses, the man raises a brow down to Ienzo, clearly more amused than irritated by his misdeed. "And how did you get past the guards?" The man asks the little boy.

"… The backdoor." Ienzo replies quietly. The plum woman, who has bobbed light brown hair and a much sterner look with the same piercing blue eyes as the blond man gave the child. Ienzo winches at the look and muses in an even quieter voice, "I didn't mean to cause trouble… I just…"

The woman shakes her head at the boy and looks at the seemly scientist of the three. "Looks like you need to change the entrance code." The woman points out, eyeing her son again. "This time, let it be something our little genius won't figure out in a matter of hours." The man, presumably her husband, chuckles, which makes the boy blush in embarrassment.

The man in the lab coat lightly facepalms with a sigh before turning to Aqua. "I suppose I can overlook this. You did help us see a breach in security." Eyeing the now abashed red-faced boy, he adds to the children, mostly Kairi, "But next time, tell one of us before you drag a stranger inside." Kairi and Ienzo nod, the latter clutching the book tighter when the man points out. "And Ienzo, you know you're not supposed to take the books from the library."

"It's a gift from me." Aqua steps in, "He showed talent in spell casting."

The man in the lab coat blinks in surprise, while Ienzo's mother's stern look seems to melt away. "The apple does not fall far from the tree." She smiles, which made the boy smile. The man in the lab coat watches the children for a moment before he asks the parents, "Why don't you two take the children out for a while?" They nod and gesture to the two kids to accompany them. Kairi is quick to follow, while Ienzo gives them one look before trotting after his parents.
The man then turns to Aqua. "I'm surprised you made such a discovery with Ienzo. Aside from constantly breaching our security, he hasn't shown any sign of magical potential." He speaks in a dry voice as if this is a daily issue, and Aqua has trouble keeping a straight face.

But trying not to be rude towards this man, less so when he did overlook her intrusion. "I see," Casting a look at the girl, who is currently chatting with Ienzo's father with no care in the world. "What about the girl, Kairi?"

"She lives here with her grandmother and is very special to all in Radiant Garden." He casts a look at this woman, and he is pretty sure she has sensed it, too. "Her heart is very special, full of light. We do our best to keep her safe, some people would use this light for their own use."

"Yes, I thought the same thing." Aqua nods and is glad the people at the castle are already doing what they can to protect Kairi. but now, Aqua thinks she has been intruding long enough: "Sorry for my trespassing, I will be leaving now." She returns the white box to the man and leaves the same way the small group did.
Aqua is just close enough to hear Kairi ask the man, "Can you tell me the story grandmother used to tell?"

The man eyes the girl his wife walks hand in hand with. "You really like that story, don't you?" Kairi nods, and the man relents with a chuckle. "All right, "Long ago, people lived in peace, bathed in the warmth of light. Everyone loved the light." They came outside, and the way the man spoke made Aqua stop and look around the city, feeling the light of this beautiful city. Then the man's tone shifts, "Then people began to fight over it. They wanted to keep it for themselves. And darkness was born in their hearts." It made even the small, harmless clouds feel dark and ominous. As the man continued on this story. "The darkness spread, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. It covered everything, and the World disappeared. But small fragments of light survived... in the hearts of children." Aqua returns her attention to the small group, or rather, these two children. "With these fragments of light, children rebuilt the lost world. It's the world we live in now. But the true light sleeps deep within the darkness." The man stops, looking up, and so do the children as well, enthralled by the story. "That's why the worlds are still scattered, divided from each other. But someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open. And the true light will return." He kneels down to the two, smiling, even bringing the watching Aqua a sort of comfort. "Even in the deepest darkness, there will always be a light to guide you. Remember this; believe in the light, and the darkness will never defeat you." The man playfully ruffles his son's hair but eyes on the little girl. "Your heart shines true light, and it will push the darkness away."
Kairi smiles, and although far too young to understand the power of her pure heart, she is simply happy to have reheard this story. Something that feels like a legend in the ears of Aqua.

As she watches the two adults leave, Aqua finds herself hoping that Kairi and Ienzo will grow into two extraordinary adults and she will meet them again one day.

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Meanwhile, Terra, Ventus, and the two local troublemakers have succeeded in ditching the guards and are now once again outside the castle. Terra glares, annoyed at the two teenagers who are laughing at this whole ordeal. "You'll be lucky I don't tell your parents this." Did get some satisfaction that the red-haired boy stopped laughing instantly and winched at that thought.

Wish he could say the same for the bluenette. "Good luck with that. There are only five thousand families to choose from."

"Don't tempt me, brat!"

"Now I really want to see you do it. I'll be sure to watch you every step of the way."

Terra is about to retort something back, but a sudden flash of him sends yellow-eyed monsters at this boy, who is trying to shield his wounded friend. It startles and unnerves him enough that he does not hear the smug remark coming from the boy; Terra only notices this blue-haired boy runs off with his friend and, deep down, hopes that boy never will be subjected to whatever that disturbing sight means. Sure, he was a brat, but he didn't deserve to become lunch for a pack of monsters.

"They didn't cause you too much trouble?"

Terra blinks, and first there he realizes that Aqua has arrived in this world as well. Brushing that vision aside, he points out to his fellow aged and female friend. "You know, now I am happy Ven does not cause trouble on purpose." Glancing to where the two local teenagers run off to probably cause a headache on some other poor sod. "Dealing with those two was such a hassle." This reminds him, "You're not off the hook yet." Terra points to Ventus; he might not have started it, but he still trespassed and almost got them in trouble with those guards.

Ventus puts his hands behind his head, letting out a small sheepish laugh, though he will admit that it was worth getting in trouble for.

Aqua lets out a light giggle and turns to their younger friend, who does not look overly regretful of his action. "Be careful, Terra. I think Ven got a taste of troublemaking."

"I do not!" Ventus argues embarrassing his two friends thinks that. "Getting chased by those guards wasn't fun." But he can't deny, "but it was fun to play with kids at my age."

Terra and Aqua let out a small laugh; the latter is the first to break it, remembering her main goal. "Listen to me, Ven… we need to get you home—"

But Ventus does not think that is necessary. "It's okay, Aqua. Trust me, that guy in the mask is history." He smiles at Terra, which that bully kept saying wouldn't be him anymore. "He will never bad-mouth Terra again."

Hearing that Ventus has met the personification of his darkness and remembering what Xehanort said, Vanitas has attacked Ventus— his light, worries Terra. He steps over and puts a hand on Ventus's shoulder, demanding the boy. "You saw the boy in the mask?"

This reaction caught Ventus kinda off guard, "Y-Yes?"

Speaking the dark boy's name, "Vanitas," Terra practically commands Ventus, "You let Aqua take you home."

"No way. I wanna go with you guys." Ventus argues that he wants to be with his friends and see more worlds. "We can visit more worlds, just like we did back when we visited your homeworld." He speaks to Terra, which is one of his most treasured memories.

But this isn't like that; this time, they aren't sightseeing or are safe. There are dangers around them, not only from the Unversed but also from Vanitas. That's why Terra refuses to let Ventus tag along. "You can't. We have a dangerous task ahead of us. I don't want you to get hurt." He tells the boy, not sure what he will do if this darkness happens to harm Ventus.

"And what is this dangerous task, Terra?" Aqua asks; she hates to say this, but… "It doesn't sound like what the Master told you to do." which was to quell the Unversed and find Master Xehanort, but that's not what she heard when visiting the same worlds as him. And she isn't eased by Terra's reply; he is fighting the darkness. She might've believed him before, but doubts have seeped in after her "chat" with Maleficent. "I'm not so sure. I've been to the same worlds as you, and I've seen what you've done." She eyes her friend with, "You shouldn't put yourself so close to the darkness."

Ventus starts arguing, but Terra stops him by asking Aqua hard. "You mean you've been spying on me? Is that what he said to do? The Master's orders?"

"He was only…"

Terra thought so… "I get it." Master Xehanort was right. Master Eraqus never would consider him worthy of a Master. He leaves and snaps at Ventus to not follow when the younger boy tries. "I'm on my own now, all right?" He tells them both hard, sad, and angry about the lack of trust he is getting from the people who were supposed to be there for him.

"Terra, please, listen!" Aqua calls after her friend, trying to reason with him, "The Master has no reason to distrust you, really! He was just worried!" but Terra does not stop; instead, she continues walking off.

"You're awful, Aqua." Ventus tells her, still not believing she did this, and it did not make it much better in Aqua, reminding him that Master Eraqus loves Terra. It only makes him wonder, "Were you also "ordered" to take me home?" the look on Aqua's face is enough to answer. "Aqua… now that you're a keyblade Master, you've let it go to your head…. I'm gonna find Terra," he tells her and runs off to do just that.

Yeah, so the domino effect has already played out during my 358/2 Day book, all thanks to two teens doing their usual shenanigans and dragging our three heroes into it.
Also, it is always lovely writing about the friendship Kairi had with Ienzo. They are both so cute, and I had a grin on my face when writing about their reaction to what the others did while the fox ran amok inside the castle.

I really want to draw some of the scenes, but I feel like I am in a huge art block. So, I can only draw if someone tells me what to draw.