Terra had barely arrived in this world before he got to save some kid from the Unversed; after the rescue and the usual thanks, this old teen asks him: "You're pretty tough. Are you here to enter the Games?" Before Terra can even ask what this young man means, a familiar voice speaks.
"Yes, it's the perfect way to test his might."
Terra turns around and is startled to see the true owner of the bear totem here in this world; the young man behind him does not know and makes a mistake, "Oh, are you his trainer to become a hero? I got one too—" and right as he said it, said trainer of this young man calls him, and the young man runs off, calling. "I hope I get to see you fight there sometime!"
With this kid gone, Terra turns back to the scarred man, who has walked over to him, and before he can ask, the man speaks. "You are showing great promise, but I am getting tired of your petty fear of the darkness, boy."
Terra wants to argue but can't make himself do it. The man walks around him as if he's checking something, and whatever he sees does not please this mountain of a man. "Tell me, why do you want to rid yourself of the darkness?"
"Darkness is the power of evil." Terra replies to the man; repeating the lessons he was taught during his training. "Hatred and rage are what powers it. I succumbed to it, and if I ever wish to return back to Master Eraqus, I must find a way to remove my own darkness."
"Like Xehanort did to your friend?"
Terra jerks his head in shock at what the man said, but he is also surprised he knew about this. "How did you—" he never gets to finish the question right there; the man throws him to the ground so hard it knocks the air out of him. Startled, Terra stares up into this man's hard bronze-colored eyes, not sure what got this guy this angry.
"Join the game, test your might, and see if you can overcome the darkness in you:" The man reclaims the bear totem and walks away. "You may be worthy of the bear."
It feels weird not having the bear totem near; it's like a part of him is missing. "It looks like I'm going to join the games." Terra walks over to the area and takes a look at the many matches set up for these Games. Terra notices that one of the contenders of these matches is named Ursus.'Can that be the name of that man?'Terra wonders, blinking when someone else speaks beside him. "How sad is this?" Terra turns but sees no one from the side. He hears the voice, and then the voice speaks on his right: "It pains me to see it." He turns, and a tall guy with flaming blue hair stands there.
"All that power going to waste." This guy speaks and turns to Terra when he asks who he is, replying quick like a manner he has said this many times before. "Names is Hades, Lord of the Dead, god of the Underworld, yadda yadda, how ya doing?" to then change to subject, saying something very familiar to the owner of the bear totem. "Hey, lemme guess, you're trying to put the kibosh on the darkness inside you." He walks a few steps away, still talking, and is a bit taken aback by Terra as this guy is not giving him any chance to digest what's being said to him. "Am I right? Of course, I'm right. Well, anyway, bad idea."
His Master always said darkness is evil and needs to be vanquished, but all the people he meets always say otherwise, even that ax-wielding guy. And yet, Terra has seen the bad it can do; he does not know what to think anymore… "What do you mean?" he asks this Hades guy cautiously but still polite.
"Okay, stay with me here—darkness is inside… everybody. Nothing to be ashamed of." Hades waves excessively his hands to make his point: "You play nice with it, and darkness will be your best friend. But if you go and get all self-conscious and refuse to face it, the darkness will run over you like a debutante at a toga sale."
Terra closes his eyes, still haunted at how he succumbed to his own darkness and, in turn, took a man's eye. He can still recall the visions he got; all of him succumbed to darkness and seriously hurting people, his friends included.
"Now me, I look at you, and I see potential," Hades speaks, utterly breaking Terra's personal space and putting his ash-colored fingers onto his armor. Apparently, not seeing the annoyed stare coming from him, for Hades does not back off and continues. "That's right, kid—"What's with people calling him a kid? He's twenty-one. "You got the potential to conquer the darkness inside you."
"How do I conquer the darkness?" Terra asks this guy; he wants to control it and not the other way around; he just… does not know how. And something must be to these Games, for Hades too suggested he entered. So Terra guess that's what he would be doing.
After having signed up, Terra begins to fight whoever else has entered the matches. Most of the people were no match against him, and he quickly reached the finals. In the last game before the final match against Ursus, Terra is up against a young man, dressed like the others but much smaller compared to those brutes. They both go into battle position and when called, they let their swords clash. This young man proved to be quite the pushover, which surprised Terra as this one got so high up the rank. Defeating him was easy, but right as Terra leaves the arena. The young man comes at him again, this time with much stronger and more ferocious attacks. "Stop it! The match is over!" Terra calls, but the young warrior does not seem to hear him.
Confused by this sudden change, "It's not… me…" the young man speaks with a struggling voice, catching Terra by surprise, and to his horror, "I'm not… doing this…" He realizes this young soldier is being controlled.
Right there, Hades appears, boasting that this poor young man is his new super-soldier. "Right here, this is the power of darkness." and that guy has the gall to say, "It could've been yours. If you open up to it!"
He wants to overcome the darkness, rid himself of this anger, and be able to face his family again. But this is not the way! "No, I'm not going to be someone's plaything!" Terra shouts back; it was bad enough that the witch used his darkness against him. No way Terra will let someone else do it. "The darkness," he pushes the controlled young man away, "will never have me!"
The young man goes in battle position, "Help me… you've gotta… set my heart free…" and Terra will. He goes at the young man, fighting to free him from this control. The young soldier does have to endure quite the beatings, but it should be worth it as the young man's wounded state allows Terra to shoot a beam of light at the soldier's chest, releasing the dark hold Hades held on him.
That victory greatly annoyed Hades, and with a huff, "Forget it. It looks like I bet on the wrong dark horse. You don't have what it takes to handle the darkness," and he teleported away.
Ignoring that thug's words, Terra offers the young warrior a hand. "You gonna make it?" the young man nods but is pissed. Hades got him like that: "Man, how could I let a guy like him control me? I'll never live it down!"
Terra knows how that feels far too well… "I know the feeling," He replies, and together with this young man, he leaves the area for the next match.
"I'm Zack, and you are?"
"Terra"
The young man smiles, and, much to Terra's surprise, "You're exactly what I pictured a hero would be," Zack wouldn't hear that he didn't consider himself a hero. It was flattering, and Terra wished he held such confidence in himself as Zack had put him on.
The final match, and it's against the owner of that stone bear. 'this is it, time to conquer the darkness within me.'
Terra goes at him and must've been lulled into a sense he could handle everything from the other matches, for the moment he hit the blade with Ursus, he was taken greatly off guard by the power behind that ax, and it got him one hell of a hit by that guy. "That's all you got, boy?" Ursus demands, putting his ax onto his shoulders. Terra gets up and runs at the man again, this time prepared that he is fighting against someone stronger than him. He tries to stay clear of Ursus's weapon by using his speed, but it proves that Ursus can beat him in that, too, for suddenly, the guy runs up to him as if he were nimble as Ventus. Terra would have gotten his arm broken if he hadn't cast the shield spell. Not very good magic, though, so the spell shatters right after it blocks the hit, and he is forced to hit out after the man in an attempt to get him away, but to his shock, Ursus quickly caught his keyblade by hand "predictable" and punches him straight in the face.
Terra rolls a few times over the ground, dropping his keyblade; when he does stop, Terra struggles back onto his feet, getting angry when this man asks him. "You think this lousy performance would displease your Master?" Terra runs at the man again with a roar, but he just cannot get a hit in! Right as darkness swirls around him, Ursus catches his arm and pins him to the ground. "Focus, boy! Listen to the roar inside of you." Terra struggles. He just wants to hurt this guy, but Ursus has him firmly pinned down, and slowly, he hears this roar the darkness makes inside his heart. He is terrified to disappoint Master, to be a failure… that all of his training is for nothing! He will go back to the dull existence of his life before he was chosen to wield the keyblade. But he has every reason to have such a fear— he has to prove he is worthy! That Master Eraqus made the right choice.
"Don't fight it, Terra." Ursus tells him and lets go, allowing him to get back up. "Accept your flaws."
Terra is still angry. At what he is not really sure of. "You want me to accept my weakness?!" he snaps at the man. "Why? So I can wallow in self-pity?"
The larger man is quick to retort back. "Only when one accepts their weakness can they work on it. Turn it into strength." He prepares his weapon, and Terra quickly blocks the large ax. "Ignore the voice of your darkness, and it will force itself into your heart. Accept it, but never succumb to it. That's the power of darkness!" Terra stares up at the man, noticing through those eyes that Ursus is speaking from experience. His anger slowly subsides, returning back to the fear of being a failure.
"I... I can't fail him." he tells Ursus.
"We all fail at some point." The large man blasts him to the ground with an incredibly powerful shockwave spell. "True strength is getting back up and learning from one's failure." He shifts his weapon, posing for a soon-to-be devastating strike. "Are you going to give up and wallow in self-pity, or will you keep fighting for what you believe in?"
Terra does not move from his spot, stewing on Ursus's words. 'What do I believe in?' which leads to the question,'Why do I want to be a keyblade Master?' to please Master Eraqus? Maybe in the start, but now, Terra thinks of all the people he has met on this journey and how he has befriended, protected, and even inspired some. Terra gets back on his feet, glancing at his keyblade, and for some reason, it does not feel so heavy anymore. "I fight… to protect what matters," he replies, both to himself and to Ursus. Terra takes a deep breath, reaching inside, and when opening his eyes again, Terra turns determent over to the large man. This time, Ursus seems pleased with what he sees. He's not sure what it is; all Terra knows is that he highly doubts he can win this match, but winning does not matter anymore. That does not mean he won't be giving his all.
Against all odds, Terra somehow won over Ursus and destroyed the man's ax with his keyblade— which, to his great shock, grew bigger and, by the feels of it, stronger. Staring, startled at the turned keyblade, he's never heard of a keyblade change form without a change of keychain. He barely heard the crowd cheer at his victory; all he heard "You are worthy." Ursus gets back onto his feet and throws the bear totem back over to him. Catching it, Terra feels strangely happy to have it back. "The bear Keeper will be by your side in the coming trials. You have proven yourself of its powers. Congratulations, Master Terra." The man bows the same way a fellow Master would another.
Terra blinks but gets the feeling that this man is not just a guy with a huge-ass stone ax. "Who are you?"
The man walks over, palm out like a quiet demand, and Terra, at first, hesitates but hands over his keyblade. He is somehow not surprised to see that Ursus is able to wield it. This time, he got the answer from the larger man. "I am Master Aced, one of the first keyblade Masters, and you, Terra," Aced, return the keyblade back to him, "will be the first of my legacy." Terra stares in awe at Aced, unable to comprehend that he not only stands before a Master but one of the firsts— and he received his Mark of Mastery from this guy! Terra quickly shakes out from it and bows like a student would a Master, and then he notices the raised brow.
Oh...
Terra hesitates but shifts his posture by bowing to a Master. Master Aced smiles and nods. He then walks over to his broken ax— which he easily repairs with a quick spell and leaves the arena.
Terra stares after him and snaps out from it when the bear suddenly appears and gives him a look, reminding him that he still has a mission to focus on. It surprises him to hear a voice coming from it— and in a tone very much like Master Aced. Terra smiles weakly to the bear, "Right," but does wonder, "Do you think my Master will accept this found?" the bear snorts, pointing out that it no longer matters if his Master will accept this or not; he is a Master now and can walk this path if so chooses.
Terra doubts it will be easy, but he thinks he will try to walk on this path a bit further and see if the darkness can be used for good. "I will convince him… somehow." Master Eraqus thinks darkness is pure evil, and Terra will admit he still has his doubts, but it is worth checking out. Maybe darkness is only dangerous if one does not know how to deal with it. Something Terra is set on teaching his Master, for he really does not want others to grow up thinking that negative thoughts are forbidden to be felt as he did.
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Sensing his sister, who is nearby, Lauriam decides to make a detour in his quest to make sure all of the current princesses of light are safe, to see how Strelitzia is doing instead. In a flash of light, he dismisses both his rose-colored armor and keyblade glider, landing gracefully on the ground, and it only takes him a small scan of the area before he spots her. Strelitzia gasps, leaves the two boys she is accompanying side, and trots over to him, where she gives a hug as a greeting. Lauriam returns it and asks her with a smile. "How is the mission going?"
Stepping away from her brother, Strelitzia replies, "It's going fine, but it's clear I still have a lot to learn." He smiles at that but knows the only thing holding his sister back is her own doubt.
"Hey, who is this?" a kid in a fox costume asks, making the brother and sister pair turn to him and the chubby boy in the bear costume.
"This is my older brother." Strelitzia replies. The two and Lauriam make a polite bow as a greeting. Glancing sheepishly to her brother when the boy in the bear costume asks: "Are you here for the treasure map, too?"
"Can't say I am." Lauriam chuckles but can see his sister has gotten a little distracted in this game; he does not really mind. Nice to see his sister relax instead of overworking herself as she tends to do. "but I won't stop you from continuing your little quest." He winks down to his sister; she smiles and leaves along with the two boys. Lauriam follows in a relaxed pace.
Walking into the Indian camp, the boy dressed as a bear spots the map. "Over there!" and hurries over to grab it., both boys crying excitedly. "I'm gonna be a leader!" Strelitzia follows, but another gets the map before them, much to the surprise of Strelitzia.
Curious, Aqua scans this folded paper and then blinks when she spots not only two boys dressed like animals but also Strelitzia and her brother. The younger sister of the pair gives her a small wave as a hello, and before Aqua can return it:
"Too bad, men. Tough break." Everyone looks up to the green-dressed boy who spoke. Flying down to Aqua, and lands before her. The two boys try to argue, but this older boy tells them in a matter-of-fact tone. "You know the rules. The first one to find and claim the treasure map gets to be the leader." he walks over to Aqua, declaring, "And that's you."
Aqua tilts her head in confusion about what these children are talking about, and the animal-dressed children explain the rules of this game. "I'm sorry, but I have something else I need to take care of." Aqua explains to them and hands the green-dressed boy the treasure map. "Here, you keep it."
But the green-dressed boy won't hear of it. "Too bad… but rules are rules." He turns to the two boys and Strelitzia, crossing his arms. "I guess we'll just have to call off the treasure hunt." Much to the dismay of the two boys.
Seeing the look of utter disappointment on the two boys and Strelitzia being bit down by this as well, Aqua casts a glance at Master Lauriam; he meets her eyes and makes a 'go for it' gesture. Looks like even a Master can goof off from time to time it seems. For some reason, it is a relief. "All right, you win." She tells the group of children. "I'll join you for one "expatition"" although pretty sure the fox boy meant expedition. The two boys cheer loudly, and Strelitzia smiles, relieved that the game is still on. She opens the map and begins to decode where the treasure is; when getting an idea of their location, Aqua is about to bring them to where the map tells them to go. But the green-dressed boy stops her, "Wait a second. We still don't even know our leader's name!" and he introduces himself. "I'm Peter Pan. The jealous one over here is Tinker Bell." He points at the pixie, who does not look at all happy to have two other females on the team. "And you are?"
"Aqua." She replies and turns to the other Master when he decides to introduce himself as well. "I am Lauriam, pleasure all mine." Master Lauriam makes a polite bow to the boys.
"Oh, nice knowing the faces of the two of you!" Peter Pan exclaims, delighted as if he had heard their names before. Before any of them can ask, he starts floating midair, declaring, "First stop— Mermaid Lagoon!" and he flies off.
Taking the lead, as that is apparently her role in this game, Aqua leads the others through the island. She glances over to the two siblings when Strelitzia suddenly giggles, and she can't help but smile when Master Lauriam shows a softer side around his sister by using magic to conjure up a handful of beautiful flowers, all which he shapes into a wristband to Strelitzia. That is incredibly sweet, and Aqua feels privileged to see the strong bond that the two share. The sweet moment is broken when someone further ahead starts shouting: "I have you now, Peter Pan!" finding the source, it proves to be a somewhat fancy-dressed red pirate with a right-hand hook.
"Today's the day I shall be rid of you forever!" This pirate yells at Peter Pan, who can't really be bothered to entertain this guy, and tells him so much: "I'm busy right now, Hook. We're on an expedition. Can't I show you up some other day?"
Hook did not like that one bit. "You'll show me up now! Give back my treasure!"
"Who's that?" Aqua asks, and Peter explains to her and the two others about the deal of Hook, not seeing this pirate as much of a threat as the boy measly continues on their little game quest. Figuring these kids know best when it comes to their own home world, Aqua follows, ignoring Hook's angry cries. He did prove not to be much trouble, but the cannon balls getting fired at them sure was. "We're sitting ducks out here. Run!" She turns heel and takes the run for it along with the others.
Following Aqua's example, not because this proves much of a threat but to make sure they are doing everything correctly with the world order. However, the moment Lauriam notices that one of the cannon balls is going to hit the entire group in the direction they are running now. He decides to meddle here, so making a swift wave and a shockwave of cherry blossoms makes the cannonball lose enough speed that it drops into the water instead of onto their path.
"What kind of magic was that?" Aqua asks; this burst of magic didn't feel anything like what she's used to. In fact, it felt much closer to whatever was in that white box.
He only replies when they are safe from getting shot at: "A gift for my service." Lauriam vaguely says, looking down at his hand, "If I ever were to try ridding myself of it, I won't be me anymore."
Aqua nods slowly in understanding; almost all people have a close affiliation to a specific power or element, and by the looks of it, this magic is Master Lauriam's.
"You have the same with your magic, am I wrong?" the other Master eyes her knowingly.
Aqua tilts her head with a smile. "Yes, but I won't say it's part of my heart." It's more just a preferable fighting style. She picks up her Wayfinder, and every time she looks at it, she thinks of her two friends.
"Terra and Ventus are part of your heart," Lauriam observes; Aqua glances at him, a bit surprised, but quickly recovers and nods that he indeed stands correct.
"Like your sister, and Elrena is part of yours."
"Ah, so you have met my partner of mischief." Lauriam chuckles, and, by the look on Master Aqua's face. "Don't pay too much mind to her teasing. She likes to get a reaction out from people."
She wouldn't have called that teasing… but not wanting to be rude, Aqua simply nods and is so glad she does not have to deal with that woman daily; Lauriam must have the most extensive patience if he's not at all bothered by it. They catch up to the others, and Aqua takes notice of how the two boys are staring up a cliff. "What is it?" she asks.
"The mark on the map points all the way up there." The boy in the bear costume replies, sounding somewhat fearful of having to go up there. Aqua is not really sure about getting up there without risking some serious harm, even if Peter Pan claims they can easily get up there with Pixie dust, which will make them fly.
The chubby boy argues: "But… we've never had to fly that high before!"
"What if we fall?" the boy in the fox costume asks.
"Hey, when did you two turn into cowards?" Peter Pan calls them out, something Aqua doesn't really approve of. She thinks he asks too much from the two younger kids, but Peter Pan tells her off and returns to the two boys. Reminding them, "Men, only the bravest of the brave can claim that treasure."
The two boys reluctantly agreed, and after the still-miffed Tinker Bell surrounded the cliff with pixie dust, the two boys flew up to the top. Aqua stayed back, glancing worriedly at the hesitant Strelitzia. The older teen did start flying, and the moment she got too off balance in her flight, the ever-patient and loving brother of Lauriam caught her hand gently and gave her just enough support to complete this bit strange trial. Aqua titles her head at that sight but can't help but smile at how those two are around one another. Aqua follows them and really has to restrain from giggling at how Lauriam is playfully scolding his sister while pulling her cheek, much to the embarrassment of Strelitzia. Still, it's clear that it's all in good fun.'It reminds me of how Terra and Ven are towards one it really makes her hope that Terra is going to be alright.
Once again taking the lead, Aqua follows the map to their location, and much to her confusion, they end back at the Mermaid Lagoon. "Hey, aren't we back where we started?" she ponders out loud.
"Looks like it." Lauriam replies.
The fox boy then asks, disappointed, "You mean we went all the way around Never Land for nothing?"
But Peter Pan thinks otherwise: "Well, ya conquered all sorts of obstacles to get here. And to me, that's certainly not nothing."
"Elrena once mentioned it's the journey itself that matters, not the end goal." Strelitzia speaks quietly up to her brother, who smiles and replies only for her ears, "Sounds like she spoke wise words for once." She didn't mean to but did giggle at this joke about their fierce friend.
What Peter Pan told the two boys… "You know, I had you all wrong:" Aqua admits; she can now see this boy was only looking out for his younger companions. And being a good leader by giving them just the right push. Suddenly, they again hear Hook yells, and the pirate stands on a rock formation with a treasure chest before him.
"I'll be taking what's mine now." Hook declares smugly and commands Smee to secure the treasure; they both get an unpleased surprise, though, for it turns out the gold they were after has been replaced with toys. "Odd's fish! It's all junk!" Hook cries out
That offense Peter Pan and the boy a lot, for they were the ones who filled the chest with those things. "those are our treasures, Hook!"
"but what did you do with MY treasure?!" Hook demands, not at all happy to hear that these brats lost all of the gold. "You scurvy brats have crossed me for the last time!" but before he can even consider going down there to teach them a painful lesson, the dreadful ticking sound of that crocodile appeared. It turns out the crocodile has come after him, and he is utterly terrified of that thing. Hook is quick to skedaddle.
The whole group laughs at the sight, greatly amused by the entire scene. And with Hook out of the way, they claim the treasure box. Aqua is surprised to find the training sword Terra gave Ventus all those years back. Peter Pan is kind enough to explain why it is here: "Oh, Ventus left that here. I guess it's a special keepsake or something. But don't worry about him. He said he would be all right without it." Yeah, Aqua thinks he will— a sudden dark and menacing aura has appeared, one she has felt before.
Lauriam senses it too and narrows his eyes at sensing this sort of darkness again. "A Darkling?" he wonders out loud. He ignores the "What's the matter?" from the boys. Instead, Lauriam turns to Master Aqua; they both nod to one another, and she tells the group, "Best you stay here; let me and Lauriam deal with this," and he addresses his sister, "Same goes for you." For it this is indeed one of the Darklings he thinks this is… it is not something he wants Strelitzia to face. Not before she's stronger. As a master of the keyblade, it's his duty to rid the worlds of these foul beings. It's been long since he last faced a keyblade wielder fallen to the darkness, but experience tells him it is best to vanquish this Darkling as soon as possible before it grows too strong.
Sensing this is rather serious, for usually, her brother does not mind letting her fight beings of darkness, but whatever has arrived has made the incredibly rare serious frown appear on Lauriam. "Okay." she nods. The two run off to face what darkness has arrived in this world.
Strelitzia turns to the three boys— talking about what else they can put in the treasure box. The boy in the fox costume then turns to her and asks. "Hey, do you have anything to put in there?" She fiddles with the wristband her brother conjured. It is a lovely gift, but he can always make a new one for her. Strelitzia takes it off and wraps it around one of the wooded swords, smiling that she, too, could put something in this box. The boys are, too, but soon are off to do another game. "Come, join us!" she hesitates but decides to do so.
Unaware that an old rival is watching her from the top of a cliff, a menacing smirk appears across her face as she watches Strelitzia head out to play with some brats.
Following the sense, the two Masters arrive back at the Indian camp. At first, they cannot find the source, but there is no need; the darkness itself has decided to approach them of his free will. "So, have a good time hanging out with the kiddies?" A dark, menacing voice of a boy speaks; the two Masters turn around, and the dark boy, Vanitas, approaches them, holding not only Ventus's training sword but also the flower wristband.
Recognizing both, Aqua demands this boy, "How'd you get those?" fearing that Vanitas has gone out and harmed the children they left behind in order to protect. Glancing at Lauriam, it surprises Aqua that he does not look worried at all; the only change is a frown and his blue eyes staring sharply at this boy.'How can he be so calm?'she wonders; if that had been Ventus left behind there, she would've been worried sick.
Ignoring Aqua's question, Vanitas lifts the wooded sword, "I think that kid's outgrown such a childish toy," he grabs it with both hands and says: "if you ask my opinion." He snaps it in half to then destroy that flower wristband "along with silly trinkets."
Only Aqua reacted in anger to the destruction of these two sentimental items. It did not make any better when this boy had the nerve to say: "Just like I've outgrown my need for you." And summons his keyblade.
"You freak!" Aqua yells at him and summons her own keyblade, more than ready to fight Vanitas to make sure he is not going to harm anyone.
Lauriam summons his own keyblade, though it takes all of this calmer than one should expect in not knowing what has happened to his own sister. She decides to brush that aside for now and instead focus on this freak of a Vanitas.
Both she and Lauriam go to the dark boy, who starts the fight by firing dark lighting at them both. Aqua jumps back and fires several ice spells at him while Lauriam spins his keyblade and hurls it at their opponent. Vanitas teleports off to appear behind her and leaves a nasty slash over her back, a quick heal, and Aqua goes at him, setting up a reflect spell right as he strikes out, and her spell reflects the attack right back at him. Lauriam lifts his keyblade, and thorny vines appear from the ground, grabbing Vanitas and giving her a chance to get some solid hits in. He does get free with several fire spells and goes after Lauriam, who blocks the first attack. Still, that obnoxious teleporting trick did leave him with a bleeding left arm. This Master wasn't going to take it, though, so with an almost uncanny speed, he gets beside Vanitas and strikes him with that cherry blossom shockwave of his that throws the dark boy flat to the ground. Aqua charges up a Shock-lock and fires several magical bullets at him.
Vanitas falls to the ground, and his keyblade disappears in a smoke of darkness. But even with him down, Lauriam is not letting this humanoid Darknling roam free; he walks over to the dark boy, preparing his keyblade to finish this one off for good.
"What are you doing?" Aqua asks, surprised as the battle is over. they defeated this boy of darkness.
"Everyone succumbed to darkness must be vanquished, so light can be protected." Lauriam replies, aiming his keyblade at the boy, ignoring Aqua's argument: "He may be darkness, but it's still just a boy!" not in his eyes. He strikes, but right that second, the dark boy teleports away, appearing a bit further away from them.
"With someone of pure light, you sure are a cruel bastard." Vanitas laughs; he struggles but gets back on his feet; he 'eyes' Aqua. "Consider this your lucky break," and he disappears by the portal.
Watching the spot for a moment, Lauriam turns around and starts walking back to where he left his sister. Aqua follows him, and back at the Lagoon, they don't find the boys but instead, a red-haired woman holding an unconscious Strelitzia in her arms. Lauriam narrows his eyes at this and summons his keyblade again, demanding this known face. "Let her go, Tarsha."
"What about you make me?" Tarsha throws back and warns him. "Better be careful, or you might hit your precious sister." As expected, he does not strike.
"Who are you? What do you want with Strelitzia?" Aqua demands this newly arrived woman, worried what she might do to the girl. The woman's fiery eyes meet her ocean blue.
But instead of answering her question, Tarsha asks her. "Have you noticed something strange about 'Master' Lauriam? That he does not react as one should when someone is quite literally threatening his sister. For trust me, I will hurt her." She darkly assures Lauriam and Aqua cannot believe in how calmly he is taking all of this. Why isn't he getting upset or angry? Tarsha speaks up again. "His heart is pure light; you all think it is sooo good, but look what a truly pure heart does to a person!" Aqua stares at the hard-staring but uncanny calm man. All of this seems to amuse the woman further, as she smugly reveals. "He cannot feel fear, thus unable to be worried for his sister's safety, and when I snuff her light out. Lauriam will not be able to feel the rage of my action or the sorrow from losing her." Tarsha turns her eyes back to the horrified Aqua. "But that's what you all want, right? A world with no pain or suffering? That is what his life is like." Nodding to Lauriam. "Must be a perfect existence."
Aqua, not wanting to let Tarsha prove her words correct that Lauriam is somehow unable to feel such things, rushes over, summoning her keyblade. "I won't let you—" Her words and attempt to rescue Strelitzia are halted when that giant eagle suddenly appears and throws her away with one of its wings.
Lauriam runs over to stop Tarsha, but it is forced to stop when that eagle sets itself on fire, giving the woman enough time to leave by a dark portal, and the eagle flies away. He stares after it, wondering what world Tarsha possibly has taken his sister. He has to find her and get Strelitzia back.
"I'm sorry, Lauriam…" Aqua apologizes to the man, "I tried…"
"It's alright," he assures her, opening his own portal with a keyblade. "I'm going to find her."
"Lauriam…" he stops, eyeing this other Master calmly; she has a strange look in her eyes, one he cannot name. "What she said… is it true? You can't feel anger and sadness?"
He turns entirely to her, "How do those two emotions feel like?" he asks curiously.
"Anger is like you got a tense fire inside of you, and sadness… like you're drowning in your own emotions." Aqua explains, baffled she had to explain such basic emotions for an adult man, but understandable when he replies after a moment of pondering, much to her shock: "No, I have never felt such emotions."
"You didn't feel sad when your Master passed?" Lauriam shakes his head, and Aqua can't help but pity this man. Is… is this what it means to be pure light? Not able to truly appreciate the bonds one shares? "What happened to you to end up like this?"
Why does she ask such trivial questions? "I have always been like this. Now, I must really get Strelitzia out of Tarsha's grip. I'd rather not lose her." He activates his armor and heads out, not really bothered by what Tarsha said; after all, he is unable to comprehend such dark emotions. But he is set to protect and save his sister, as he do care deeply about her.
Aqua puts a hand on her chest, trying but has so much trouble even comprehending how life must be without such emotions. The only name she can come up with for such a life is empty. Is that what true light really means? Then how are the princesses of light able to feel such emotions if someone like Lauriam is unable to do so? Aqua does not like these questions one bit; it is making her question her Master and his view on light and darkness.
It is a headcanon of mine that Terra struggles deeply with insecurities about how he was chosen to wield the keyblade. That he worked so darn hard to prove himself worthy, only to fall flat when the Mark of Mastery finally came. Many fans claim Terra is stupid, and he may not be the smartest, but he is not dumb. We know that the Disney villains are bad news because we have seen the movies there are from, but for Terra, well, the way I see it. He is cautious but polite enough to listen to what they have to say. It's not his fault that he ends up hearing their side of the story and taking action based on what they tell him.
Okay, enough ranting about Terra. I really like him and feel bad about how things went for him. In the Change of Fate timeline, Terra learns what the cause of his darkness is. Giving him a chance to reflect and such.
Now, Laurium. Do you guys remember what Ira said in an earlier chapter? Yeah, Lauriam is a proud example of what happens if people are of pure light. He has no choice but to be flower fields and sunshine, and well... let's just say that it's not only falling to darkness people should worry about.