A Friend Thought Forever Long-Lost to Darkness
The morning sun rose upon the land, stirring those hit by the light through their windows to wake up and start their day or keep the light away from their eyes to get a few more minutes of sleep. There was a large shadow Twilight's new castle set across some of the town, which meant everyone who lived under its shadow early in the morning would have to get used to waking up without the light hitting their windows.
In one of the guest rooms of the crystal tree castle, Aqua laid with her head hanging over the side of the bed. Her sheets were a mess from her tossing and turning, her body dangerously close to falling off, unaware of the position she was in. She wound up slipping off, landing on her head and jolting her awake.
"Agh!" she yelled, the rest of her body tumbling over, now laying on the floor. The unicorn groaned, sitting up as she rubbed a hoof against the bump on her head. "Mrf...When was I laying like that?" After waking up from the sudden fall, she wondered where she was as she looked around. "...Oh. Right. This is Twilight's castle. I forgot we all spent the night here."
After a quick stretch, she went over to the window to look outside. The sun was rising, bathing Ponyville in a warm glow. There was a little bit of damage in the town from Tirek's attack, mostly toward where the Golden Oak Library used to be. Aqua knew it must have been painful for Twilight to see her home had been destroyed, along with any of her possessions inside. And having a new place to live moments later after defeating one of Equestria's greatest threats, it must be hard for her to cope with the new changes.
She looked out and spotted the Carousel Boutique, not difficult to find with the carousel rooftop. Aqua did finish making new Wayfinders for everyone a while back, and she withheld them due to all the sudden complications that came up with saving the world or thoughts of who and where The Unknown was. The Keyblade Master teleported from the castle to her room in the boutique, grabbing the chest where she kept her projects before returning back to her guest bedroom in the castle. She figured everyone should have their Wayfinders after saving the day once again, along with their unified friendship as the castle has made thrones for herself, Kairi, Riku, Ventus, and Sora.
With the chest of star charms on her back, she began making her way out of the room. Before she left, she noticed a letter that was on the bedside table. Curious, she levitated it over to her, finding no address or a name of the sender, wondering who sent this while she was asleep. She opened it and read it, shocked to see the same handwriting that came from the last letter, the one The Unknown sent her.
It's time we officially meet. As soon as you wake up and read this, make your way to this location in this world. You'll have all your questions answered, as best as I can answer them, and you'll find out who I am underneath the veil of my cloak.
The Unknown
At the bottom of the letter was a section of a map of Equestria, The Unknown's location marked with an "X" in a forest several miles away from Ponyville. It seemed like he lived in solitude inside of the large forest, though there seemed to be a town that wasn't too far away. Even if he wanted to rough it in the wilderness, there would always be one or two things someone who lived outdoors away from civilization would want, like groceries or books to pass the time. He wanted to see her now, and she wasn't going to throw away this opportunity to find out who this person is.
She stuffed the letter in her pocket, not wanting to let the others know of her other plans. First, she wanted to at least give everyone their new Wayfinders, though Ventus got his first on his birthday. Aqua navigated her way through the castle, unsure if the others were awake or not and what they had planned. She checked the throne room, only to find no one inside. Surprisingly, only the Mane Six's and Spike's thrones were present in the room, hers and the other Keyblade wielders' taller thrones had disappeared.
"Hmm...That's strange." Aqua walked inside the throne room to figure out why their thrones had vanished, her Keyblade suddenly appearing in her mouth. Magically appearing where it had yesterday in a flash of light, her throne now there between Twilight and Rainbow Dash's. "Oh. I see. Whenever we're present in this room, our thrones appear. Quite a mysterious function, but a bit reliable since five extra thrones take up a bit more walking space."
As much as Aqua wanted to study the magic within this castle and its connections with their Keyblades while she waited for the others, she didn't want to stay for long. She would finally get some answers from The Unknown, and she was going to get them this time. She was prepared to fight him to get the information out of the stallion, even if it was just a simple meeting with no hostility involved. Dropping the chest in the center of the room, she tapped it open with her Keyblade to take her new Wayfinder with her. Teleporting back to the boutique to write a note for the rest of her friends, she returned and placed the slip of paper on top of the closed chest for them to see.
Warping outside the castle, Aqua threw her Keyblade into the air to form her glider, pulling out the message from The Unknown. Taking a look at the map, she climbed onto her glider, gauging the distance between Ponyville to where the stallion's hideout was. She flew off after finding which direction it was from the castle, heading out west north-west, staying hidden above the clouds and avoiding pegasi flying around her route.
Twilight began to wake up, staring out at the morning sky from the windows to her balcony. She didn't realize how long she slept, always waking up early under her training with Aqua. After the long and stressful couple days with Tirek running loose, she felt a lot more refreshed after a pleasant night's sleep.
As she moved to stretch her legs, she felt a pair of hooves around her barrel tighten their grip on her. Twilight remembered Riku stayed in bed with her last night, sharing a little bit of privacy between each other. She definitely needed something to help her unwind after fighting for her life, fearing the thought of losing the ones she held dear to the power hungry centaur, and her slight depression losing her old home. She was still upset, everything she had in the library was practically gone, including all of the books that were kept there, but at least she got Owlowiscious out of there before it was too late, her pet finding his way to the castle late last night.
Twilight rolled over to face the still sleeping stallion laying beside her. With how tightly he was holding her after she turned over, Riku didn't want her to leave his sights, a small smile on his lips from the dream he was currently having. As much as she wanted to stay on her bed with her stallion cuddling her, her stomach began growling, demanding breakfast. That also meant waking up Riku in the middle of his dream so he can let go of her. She leaned forward and gave him a gentle nuzzle against his snout, slowly stirring him awake.
Riku squinted his eyes open, waking up to see the lavender eyes of his alicorn girlfriend. "Hey."
"Morning," Twilight said, moving in to give him a soft kiss. He returned the kiss, pulling her closer, making his hold on her even tighter. Reluctantly, Twilight had to pull away before she lost herself in their passionate morning greeting. "You mind letting go of me for just a few? I'm kind of hungry."
"What? My lips aren't enough for you?" Riku questioned with a sly grin.
Twilight lightly bonked him on the head over his silly comment. "Just let me go. I was being polite and waking you up so you won't freak out where I went off to if I was gone, and I'm starving."
"Eh, alright. I'm hungry, too." The stallion let her go, stretching out his back while Twilight got up out of bed. "So, wanna find the kitchen in this place and see if it also grew some food?"
"I doubt there's any food that came with the castle," she said. "Spike and I might need to get some groceries anyway. And we'll need to make a map of the castle and where everything is after I eat."
"You're the princess," Riku said, following whatever Twilight wanted to do as they left the bedroom.
Making their way through the halls and on their way to the front doors of the castle, they heard the others in the opened doors of the throne room. They must have been the last ones to wake up, hearing them talking about something, Pinkie definitely sounding excited about whatever was going on. Looking inside, they saw their friends around a chest in the middle of the room, holding a star-shaped pendant on a piece of thin, durable string meant to be worn around their necks.
Sora spotted Twilight and Riku standing by the doorway. "Hey! You two finally decided to wake up! Hopefully you weren't too busy last night."
"Very funny, Sora," Riku muttered. He then noticed his throne was mysteriously gone, as well as Aqua's. "Hey, what's happened to-?" As soon as he stepped into the room, his Keyblade interrupted him, appearing in his mouth against his will. He spat it out into his hoof, opening his mouth to complain about his weapon's random summoning, only to pause, seeing his throne reappearing back in its rightful place in a flash of light. "...Uhhh...What is going on with my throne?"
"Don't worry, Riku," Kairi said. "That happened to us as well."
"Apparently, our thrones only appear when we're in this room," Ventus added. "That also might explain why our Keyblades are called out when we don't need them. We arrive, they call on our thrones for us to sit upon, and when we leave, so do they. It can get a little crowded with our royal thrones, which makes a lot of sense."
"And that means more of a magical mystery," Riku said, letting Kairi and Ventus's answer his question as he and Twilight stepped closer to the chest. "Let me guess; is this chest another magical anomaly from the castle?"
"Nope! This was something Aqua did for all of us!" Pinkie said, shoving her pink Wayfinder in the white stallion's face. "Lookie! It's got my cutie mark in the middle! And looks just like it too!"
"Thanks, Pinkie. I really wanted you to slap something directly in my face today." Riku pulled Pinkie's hoof away after his sarcastic remark. He got a better look at the necklace, now that it wasn't so close to his eyes. "Hmm...This kind of looks like Aqua's Wayfinder."
"They are, darling, and they were quite carefully crafted," Rarity said, admiring Aqua's work. "I always wondered why she was making them so secretive like that. I could barely peek inside her room or in that chest to see what she was doing...Then again, Keyblades able to lock just about anything might answer that."
"And all that's left is yours and Twilight's," Sora said. He and Kairi held theirs out; Sora's Wayfinder being red with a white heart in the center, his Kingdom Keyblade sewn inside the heart, Kairi's was completely white, a black threaded outline of a heart in the center with her Keyblade, Destiny's Embrace, in the heart. "Ven, out of all of us, got his earlier during his and Rainbow's birthday."
"Yup." Ventus dug around the collar of his shirt, pulling out his Wayfinder necklace. "She made it a lot like the one she made for her, Terra, and me, only with a few more details than before."
Twilight levitated the last two Wayfinders left in the chest, hers purple like her coat with her cutie mark in the white heart, and Riku's black with his Keyblade, Way to the Dawn, inside the white heart. "Wow. These are incredible. We need to thank her for these, but where is she?"
"She left us a note on top of the chest," Kairi said, holding up the letter Aqua had left for them. "No idea where she was going, but she said she'll be back later today."
"I see." Twilight's stomach growled loudly, everyone able to hear it even if it came from outside of the throne room. The alicorn blushed heavily, placing a hoof against her stomach. "...Heheh. Uhh, anypony in the mood for breakfast?"
"I think a bit of brunch sounds like a good idea," Applejack said. "After eatin', let's come back to the castle and figure out where everythin' is in this place. Ah thought Ah was gonna get lost goin' through the halls."
"Ooh! I'll make the map!" Pinkie volunteered, waving her hoof in the air. "Please let me make a map of the castle!"
"Actually, I'll make the map," Twilight said, making the pink earth pony whine in disappointment. "But first, I need something to eat before I pass out."
With everyone agreeing, they headed out of the castle and into Ponyville to get something to sate their empty stomachs before further exploring the castle.
Aqua walked through the forest where The Unknown was hiding out. The canopy was incredibly thick, which would make dropping down from the sky to where he claimed he was, and the map she had showed the forest stretched on for a few acres. She did find the small village a quarter mile away from the first stretch of the thick woods, seeing as it was closer to the marked spot, and there was also a hoofmade path leading in.
The path began to fade away as she walked through the trees, but it wasn't long before she got closer, along with what appeared to be a glade. In the middle of the open space was a log cabin, a bit odd for the unicorn as she approached it. The ground around the large space of the glade showed some hints that there were trees that were here, the logs used as the cabin's building material while the stumps were pulled out, leaving smooth earth behind with hints of where they stood in small circular patches in the grass. Aqua recalled the wall in the picture where her old Keyblade, Rainfell, rested against from The Unknown's other message, which meant this was where he lived, where he had been hiding.
She approached the door, letting out a sigh as she lifted a hoof to knock on the door. "Well, good thing I came back just in time." Startled, Aqua turned around, summoning her Keyblade and aiming it at the pony who snuck up on her. Her blade pointed at the hidden face of The Unknown, the stallion not even flinching with the weapon aimed mere inches away from his face. He was carrying a couple bags filled with groceries, having gone into town before waiting for her. "Relax. It's just some food and beverages, not dangerous weapons or tiny, pony-eating monsters."
Aqua barely managed to respond, her ears twitching at the sound of his voice, almost like Terra's, only a bit deeper. "I'm not going to trust anything you have on you, hidden or out in the open," she said, brushing off The Unknown's voice now that he was finally talking to her. "You couldn't saying anything to me back in the Crystal Empire, yet you have the gall to find where I was in Ponyville, give me a letter in the middle of the night like a creepy stalker, just so you can speak to me in private and make me paranoid. I've had a pretty miserable decade and a half of my life, and I'm already suffering from post-traumatic stress, so if you pull any tricks, I won't hesitate to kill you."
"...I promise you I'm not your enemy," the mysterious stallion said. "I wanted to talk with you and answer your questions. Peacefully." Aqua didn't put any faith in his word, keeping her Keyblade aimed at him. The Unknown sighed, knowing this would be tougher than he thought. "So, would you like to talk inside? I kind of want to put the groceries inside."
"I don't think so. You're going to answer my questions. Right here. Right now. No backpedling out of this." Seeing no other choice, the stallion let out another sigh, waving his hoof to let her proceed with her questioning. "How long have you known about me? About the others?"
"That depends on what you mean," he answered, only making the mare growl, poking The Unknown in the chest. "Alright, alright. No cryptic answers either. I get it." The robed stallion lowered the bags of groceries off his back before Aqua sent him flying across the glade and spilling what he bought. "I'll start with the others, where I think you mean the younger Keyblade wielders. I've heard around the grapevine about Sora, his heroics quite the talk of the kingdom for the last couple years."
"Is that why you were in the Crystal Empire, taking part in the Struggle Tournament?" Aqua asked.
"Kinda-sorta," The Unknown said. "I also know Riku. I met those two boys before, and they both showed a lot of promise. I at first competed to see if there was anyone who could match me in combat, and as luck would have it, Sora and Riku were both competing. I didn't expect having to face the both of them, but they were as tough as I thought.
"I've never met Kairi, but I do know she holds an important role to sealing Kingdom Hearts with her power, along with six other princesses with hearts of pure light," he continued, lowering his head, his hidden eyes filled with regret over one of them he had met. "I can tell she has skills with a Keyblade, too, especially in magic and light...The other one...Well, he's talented too."
"And what about me?" Aqua questioned. "How do you know me?"
"...I know a lot about you, Aqua..." The unicorn felt nervous wanting to know how much he knew about her, but she kept her resolve, not dropping her guard for even a moment. "And you know about me as well."
"I don't know you!" She thrust her Keyblade forward, making The Unknown lean his head back, the tip of the blade dangerously close to his muzzle. "The only ones I knew from the Land of Departure were Terra, Ventus, Master Eraqus, and, regrettably, Xehanort! I don't know anyone else who had a Keyblade back then, and someone as mysterious as you comes off as no good to me!"
"Relax. I will explain." He lifted a hoof, gently pushing the Keyblade away from his face. "Do you want to have another magical surge and create another giant ice tower in your rage?" Aqua flinched, backing away in surprise, jumping slightly when her rump hit the wall of the cabin. She was about to ask how he knew about that, but the stallion beat her to it. "I know about that a few months ago. It's hard to miss something made of ice that towers several stories high. What everyone else didn't know around the thirty mile radius of that spire of magical ice was the power behind it; a magical surge combined with the stress, anger, and depression of a woman who had been broken mentally in the past. Why do you think I didn't want to confront you when you chased after me after the Equestria Games?
"Because you were irritated, your mind racing with questions that demanded an answer from me: my fighting skills, who I really am, why I kept looking at you and the other Keyblade wielders out of the rest of the crowd." Aqua was speechless. Her grip on her Keyblade began to weaken, reminded of the pain she went through under her out of control emotions. After watching The Unknown fight just like Terra, hearing his voice sound just like his, only a bit deeper than when she last heard him, it didn't help her calm down any better. The mysterious stallion stepped closer, only to stop when she aimed her Keyblade at his chest. "I don't like seeing you upset...It's not like you."
"...W-Who...are you...?" Aqua asked. "...How do you know me?"
"I thought you would have guessed just from the sound of my voice." He could see in her eyes that she did recognize his voice, but she was too afraid and shocked to believe it was true. He couldn't blame her; not after what she had gone through. The Unknown dug into his cloak, pulling out his trump card so he can get Aqua to be at ease and relax around him, wanting her to guess who he was to let her know she wasn't hallucinating. "Do you recognize this?"
Aqua gasped, her eyes glued on the item he pulled out, part of her wishing she was dreaming while the other prayed it wasn't. Held in the cloaked stallion's hoof by the brown cord attached to it was a familiar looking Wayfinder she had made several years ago. It was just like her's and Ventus's older one, only this one was orange, lightly worn away from time, but still kept in good condition. She took it out of his hoof with her magic, holding it closer, her eyes welling with tears as she examined her old craft she had made for her best friend for many years.
"...T-This is..." Her aura started to waver around the Wayfinder, her grip on her Keyblade shaky. Aqua looked at the stallion, finally seeing his eyes after finally looking up, along with revealing the brown fur on his muzzle. "...I-It can't be..." He smiled, finally clicking to her. He then began to take off his hood and reveal the rest of his face to her. Aqua's breath was caught in her chest now that she finally sees what he looks like, dropping both weapon and charm. She couldn't hold back her tears, completely stunned, confused, and overjoyed, hoping that who she was looking at was really him and not her mind playing tricks on her. "...Terra...?"
"Sorry for being so secretive." Even though he was a pony, Aqua can clearly see Terra in the stallion from his tough, yet gentle blue eyes and his messy, spiked back brown hair reaching the base of his neck and bangs that framed his equine face. He was alive, back in his own body, but how he came back or why he was here didn't matter to her when she was so shocked to see her long-lost friend after what had happened to him. "I'm really glad to know you and Ven are ok, Aqua."
Aqua slowly shook her head, unable to believe this was really happening. She thought she was just dreaming, still asleep in the room she chose in the castle, having a vivid dream that would end up turning into a nightmare. But she was already awake after falling out of bed earlier, and it really wasn't a dream. Whether her fractured mind was making her imagine things or not, she didn't care, running straight into him and hugging him tightly, almost sending them falling over if Terra didn't expect her to nearly tackle him.
As Aqua held him and began to sob, she felt his armored shoulder on his left arm underneath his cloak. He was real. She was hugging him, and he wrapped his hooves around her, hugging her back. Aqua broke down, holding onto Terra as tightly as her hooves could, burying her face in his right shoulder and cried. She thought she would never be able to free Terra or Ventus from their fate back then, her hopes dwindling away the longer she spent in the Realm of Darkness, but by some miracle graced upon her, she had managed to escape darkness infested land that was her purgatory, found Ventus's heart from within Sora's and woke him back up, and now Terra was alive, free from Xehanort's darkness.
Terra just held Aqua, letting her cry as they were reunited after so long. After everything they had all been through, he knew the three of them needed a reprieve from the losses they had, the struggles they endured. And he knew Aqua took the worst of it compared to him and Ventus combined, never once seeing her this emotional when she was always calm and level-headed in any stressful situation. Although, after seeing just how irate she was toward him before knowing who he was, along with figuring out what happened to her the last fifteen years, he would probably be just as paranoid and be suspicious of anyone he doesn't know while looking mysterious and out of place from his perspective.
After almost half an hour of Aqua's joyful bawling, she managed to pull herself away from him and stared at him, tears still rolling down her cheeks. "H-How...?"
She could barely speak, still in shock by him being alive, but Terra knew he had a lot of explaining to do. "It's a pretty long story," he said. The stallion picked up the groceries he set down earlier, approaching the front door to his home after picking up his Wayfinder. He opened the door, inviting his friend inside. "Come on in. I'll tell you everything over lunch."
Aqua followed Terra inside, getting a look inside of his home in Equestria. It was pretty rustic with some casual furniture lying about the living room, a fireplace as well for any cold nights during the winter, and a bookshelf with some reading material, mostly action novels as they were Terra's favorite type of genre to read. The stallion took off his cloak after placing the food down in the kitchen in the next room, still wearing the same clothing he had before: a skintight black and gray shirt, his left foreleg adorned in the armor that matched what he would look like in his Keyblade armor of gold, dark gray, and dark red, his hakama tied around his waist with a black obi-sash, dark gray at the top while the rest was tan. She even saw his tail after discarding his robe, as brown as his mane, though not as spiky.
She sat down on one of the couches, making herself at home, still unable to say anything. Aqua felt as if she lost her voice after crying so hard, but she was grateful to see Terra again, even if she was confused as to how he managed to win back control of his body from Xehanort. He had disappeared back in the kitchen, the clattering sounds of pots and pans moving around before finally finding what he needed to make their lunch. Aqua just sat still and looked around the room, feeling as nervous as a little kid waiting to get a shot at a doctor's office. She could smell the food after a while, whatever he was making was mouth-wateringly delicious.
After the food was done, Terra walked out of the kitchen with a tray holding two plates of steaming vegetables and two cups of hot tea. "Lunch is served. Veggie stir fry." He placed the tray down on the coffee table in front of Aqua, sitting down next to her while distributing their plates and cups for them. "And some Earl Grey tea to drink...I know you liked to drink tea with Master Eraqus when we were kids, so I thought I'd try brewing some for you." Terra took his cup in his hooves, blew on it to cool the piping hot liquid down a little, and took a small sip. His face scrunched up at the taste, but he swallowed it down, shuddering slightly while sticking his tongue out. "Ugh. Not much of a tea drinker. I don't even know if I made it right."
Aqua couldn't help but grin at his reaction, taking her cup to sample his first attempt at making tea. "Hmm...It's not bad...But, it could use some sugar."
"Oh..." Terra put down his cup, not wanting to take another sip of the strong brown liquid. "I did not get any sugar."
"It's fine, Terra," Aqua said. She placed her cup down, wiping her face of her tears with her sleeves, even though she felt like crying some more, wanting to do nothing more than hug Terra tightly and make sure he never leaves her sight again. She looked at him, ignoring the food as she still wanted to know what happened to her friend she thought was forever lost in darkness. "...How are you still alive?"
"I guess I should start from the beginning," Terra said, leaning back against the sofa with his hooves behind his head. "It's still a bit confusing for me even if I do tell you, but I regained control of myself just a few years ago."
"W-What!?" Aqua exclaimed, quickly grabbing the stallion's shirt and shaking him. "Why!? What happened!? How is that even possible!? You shouldn't have come back! Xehanort took complete control of your heart and body!"
After Terra's eyes stopped rolling around in his skull, he gently took Aqua's hooves off his shirt, lowering them back down into her lap. "Like I just said, even I have no clue how it happened, but that's the reason why Xehanort is still alive too." He made sure Aqua wouldn't have another questioning meltdown before picking up his plate of steaming mixed vegetables. "We know much about the Heartless, but do you know about Nobodies? Nobodies are the-"
"The shells of those who lost their hearts to the Heartless," Aqua said, completing his sentence. "I was told about them by the others, and I fought some of them first hand at the Crystal Empire during the Games...I suppose you were hiding instead of helping during that day, right?"
"I was actually on the other end of the Empire waiting for the Struggle match to begin," Terra explained, earning a smack upside the head from the unicorn. "Ow...Well, you guys handled it, so there wasn't much to worry about. Besides, I didn't want to reveal myself when you and Ven were here." He rubbed his head, avoiding his friend's patronizing glare. "Speaking of, why is he still a teenager?"
"Finish explaining and I'll tell you everything else," Aqua said, levitating her plate and fork, digging into her food.
"Ok...just don't point Master Eraqus's Keyblade in my face if I irritate you with anything stupid I say." Aqua growled, thinking about doing that after constantly worrying her the past couple weeks, but her mind was distracted by the meal he made, so he was considered a lucky man. "Anyway, if the next generation of Keyblade wielders explained to you everything that happened to them, then they must have told you about Ansem and Xemnas." She nodded her head. "Well...Xehanort may have possessed me with his darkness, but 'his' Heartless and Nobody took the forms closely resembling my body. When he created them, sacrificing himself, part of me went into Ansem and Xemnas.
"Everything that had happened in Xemnas's eyes are still pretty clear to me, which meant I saw everything in Organization XIII. All their plans to create Kingdom Hearts from the Heartless, targeting Sora, all the way up to where he met his end by Sora and Riku." Terra grabbed his fork and took a bite of his food, Aqua listening curiously at the odd phenomenon. "I have no idea how long I saw nothing but darkness, but I woke up back in the Keyblade Graveyard, where the last of my light faded after trying to stop Xehanort after he took over..."
The desolate world of the Keyblade Graveyain remained as empty of life, showing only the signs of a deadly war that had waged many years ago. Keyblades of previous wielders fighting in a gruesome battle between light and darkness were left sticking out of the ground, worn away by time as the blades had dulled and rusted. There were signs of recent activity in the forbidden lands filled with nothing but death, though it didn't seem like much that was disturbed after about a decade.
Some Keyblades lay strewn about a tall pillar of a mountain, not naturally made by the world itself. Sitting at the summit of the tall peak, a suit of gold, dark gray, and dark red armor kneeled before a Keyblade stuck in the ground: a grayish-tan blade with teeth on both ends, the guard around the hilt a pale blue in a wing-like shape, and the chain hanging off the pommel was a fragment of a tough rock. The armor's fingered gauntlets clutched the guard of the weapon, its head hung low, completely lifeless, the last remaining part of Terra that struggled to fight back against Xehanort's control in the climactic showdown between the tricked warrior and sinister master.
Suddenly, a small flash of light shone from the bleak sky of the dead world, shooting down from out in the universe and straight down to the empty armor. The suit began shimmering after it struck, lasting for a moment before disappearing. A grunt sounded from inside the armor, beginning to move as its fingers gripped the guard of the Keyblade. The helmet looked up, examining its surroundings, looking at its hands as if it was confused.
"...I-I'm...I'm back???" The male voice let go of the Keyblade, holding his hands up to his face. After flexing his fingers, he grabbed his helmet and pulled it off, revealing Terra's head. He stared at his reflection in his helmet's visor, using a hand to touch his face to see if he was dreaming. "I thought...How am I in control again?" He looked around again, remembering where he was, quickly standing up as he rushed over to the edge of the pillar. "Ven!? Aqua!?"
Looking down at the ground from where he had fallen against Xehanort's darkness, he found no sign of his friends anywhere. Some memories came flooding back to him, now recalling Aqua wasn't here in this world after fighting her under Xehanort's control back in Radiant Garden. Unfortunately, he had no idea where Ventus was, or what happened to him. Terra began to groan, grabbing his head as more memories invaded his mind, but they weren't his, but at the same time, they felt like they were. Thoughts of speaking with twelve others in an unknown world, all of them wearing black cloaks, their faces a blur to him as he cannot recall the names of the beings that were called Nobodies, not having a clue where that name came from.
One memory that shocked him after the slight headache he received scared him to death. He found himself walking into the castle in Radiant Garden, the town desolated from some attack he didn't recall happening. From his point of view, he walked into a lab hidden inside of the castle, destroying a security camera watching him, then moved over to the computer terminal. Placing a disc in the drive, he accessed a profile and password into the system, granting him access to something, taking the disc back after it popped out. Moving further inside of the lab, down into the vast open space of terminals hidden underneath the grand building, a passageway opened up beneath the floor to a secret level only he knew.
After a long walk down the spiral ramp leading further down into the hidden basement of the technological lab, he passed through what appeared to be a hallway with cell doors meant to keep something dangerous inside of them. He walked in a room with a single chair, strange symbols that signified the Nobodies marked on the walls and the seat in the middle of the room. What horrified him the most was what he saw in the seat's direction; Aqua's Keyblade armor and her Keyblade.
Terra snapped back to his senses the moment he saw her armor. He remembered the fight they had in Radiant Garden, a deadly battle she thankfully had bested him in while under Xehanort's control. While beaten, he fought back against the villainous traitor's control, taking Xehanort's Keyblade and plunge it in his chest, sending the both of them to the Realm of Darkness to stop him once and for all. He had no idea what happened after blacking out, but he had no clue what Aqua did that cost her her own life. Dreadfully worried, he quickly put his helmet back on and rushed to his Keyblade, pulling it out of the ground and tossing it in the air to transform it into his glider.
Leaving the Keyblade Graveyard behind, Terra soared through the vast emptiness of space to Radiant Garden. As he flew down to a remote area where no one would see him hover down, the town was really run down compared to how it was last time he was here. He didn't want to know about what happened, his only concern being Aqua's armor and Keyblade and wondering what happened to her. Terra headed straight for the castle, ignoring the residents of the world who were curious to know who he was and what he was in a hurry for. Even the castle looked like it was in a state of disrepair, looking like it was being renovated with parts of the walls missing.
Surprised to see no one guarding the entrance, he ran inside and navigated his way to where the lab was. After rounding a corner of the many halls he ran through, reaching an open space, he froze when he spotted two guards standing by the hall where he needed to be: both of them wore the same gray uniforms with a red heart in the center of their chests, white gloves with blue hearts on the cuffs, the only difference between them was one of them having messily spiked ginger hair wielding a hand axe while the other had black dreadlocks tied in a ponytail, one dread hanging over the right side of his face, sideburns, and wielded a blue spear. They held up their weapons in response to the mysterious intruder.
"Halt!" the guard with the axe exclaimed. "What are you doing here!? No civilians allowed in the castle grounds!"
"Look, I'm not here to cause trouble," Terra reasoned. "I'm looking something, and it's somewhere here in this castle."
"What exactly are you looking for?" the other guard said, aiming his spear at the Keyblade wielder. "Is it the research on Master Ansem's studies? Those documents are classified to only those here in this palace."
"I'm not looking for research. I'm trying to find a friend of mine," the Keyblade wielder said. "I think she's here, somewhere deep inside the lab down this hall."
The guards balked after hearing his knowledge of the castle's secrets, ready to lunge toward Terra. "How do you know about what's beyond this hall!?"
Terra instinctively summoned his Keyblade, shocking the two guards. "Please, just let me through. I don't want to pick a fight with you, but I will force my way through if I have to!"
Suddenly, flying toward him from beyond the hallway in a veil of fire, two flaming chakrams spun rapidly toward Terra. He deflected the throwing weapons, the dangerously sharp rings disappearing in a spark of embers before reappearing down the same hall they were thrown.
"Aeleus, Dilan, you guys seriously can't handle dealing with an intruder?" Stepping out from the hall, Lea showed himself, holding onto his chakrams, letting off small bursts of flame on the sharp pointed edges. "You guys do a pretty poor job acting as-" The red-headed man stared at Terra, mostly at the Keyblade he was holding. "...Well, looks like there are others aside from Sora with a Keyblade."
"Lea? What are you doing here?" Dilan asked. "I thought you went to look for Braig and Isa."
"I did check Traverse Town, but there was no sign of them," Lea said, stepping past Dilan and Aeleus and approached Terra. "So, who are you and what brings you here to Radiant Garden, Keyblade wielder?"
"Wait...Why do you look familiar to me?" Terra asked. He also noticed that the two guards' faces were strangely recognizable to him as well, despite never meeting them. He shook his head, paying attention to Lea, gripping his Keyblade tightly. "How do you know about the Keyblade?"
"Let's just say we've had a bit of a rough time in a past life, so to speak," Lea answered vaguely. "But we've met some people with Keyblades before. More specifically, a teenage boy." He dismissed his chakrams in a plume of fire, noticing the pauldron on Terra's shoulder. He thought he saw something similar on someone else he met before, but barely any memories of his time when he was younger had returned with him. "So, you with the light or darkness?"
Terra hesitated, having been brought down the wrong path back then, but he was still loyal to protecting the worlds. "Light."
"Good, then I guess you're not an enemy. Name's Lea, and those two are Dilan and Aeleus. Got it memorized?" Lea asked, pointing a finger at his temple as he said his one-liner. Terra nodded, even though he wasn't going to remember them for long after he finds the hidden section of the lab. "Now, who exactly are you looking for, and how do you know about the lab back in the office down the hall?"
"I really can't explain everything," Terra said. "If you don't believe me, then I'll have to show you."
"Knowing about Master Ansem's lab is one thing, but something you know that he or either of us doesn't?" Aeleus questioned. "I don't buy it for a second."
"Well, I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt," Lea said, surprising the two guards. "I'll let him through and keep a close eye on him. If he tries anything funny, I'll deal with him." Reluctantly, Dilan and Aeleus allowed Terra through, seeing as Lea was capable of doing much more than they can while back as themselves. Terra followed Lea down the hall to Ansem's Study, the secret passage to the hidden terminal and the expansive mass of technology down below. "What's your name, by the way?"
"I'm Terra, and even though I'm not supposed to be here, I appreciate you helping me, Lea," Terra said. They made their way to the computer terminal, the room overlooking the larger area down below with electronics that were beyond the Keyblade wielder's understanding. He approached the keyboard and monitors in the room, but even if he memorized the password and name used to access more of the underground lab, he doesn't have that disc he needed to input the codes and username. "Damn it...I don't have the disc."
"A disc?" Lea asked curiously. "You mean to tell me you know more about this place, and you don't have the necessary key item to get to it?"
"It's...really complicated to explain, and I don't even know how I know about it in the first place..." Looking past the monitors and out the window, he could see exactly where the passageway was. "I'm going to try and open it manually."
"Manually?" Terra walked on ahead, ignoring Lea as the spiky red-head hurried after him.
The duo made their way down the stairway to the lower level of the expansive room filled with machines, their purpose meant to create something, but have been shut down due to an unfortunate incident with the program in charge of the entire system. Terra stood where the hidden entrance was, looking like a simple steel floor in a small part of a large room, hidden from those who had known about this section of the castle.
"It's right here," Terra said, holding up his Keyblade. "I'm going to have to break through it. Stand back, Lea."
"Yeah, ok," Lea said skeptically. "Break important stuff under my watch. That's smart. And even if you think this is a way that leads further down, do you really think you can slice through solid-?" Terra leapt up and dove down to the ground, letting out a powerful yell as he slammed his Keyblade down hard to the ground. The impact caused several magical slabs of earth to pop up around the Keyblade wielder, managing to dent the floor greatly as the stones imploded around him. Lea's jaw dropped, underestimating Terra's strength as he watched him stab his weapon in the opened crack of the sliding floor panels, pulling them apart to gain them access to the secret passage. "...Or you can bend it...Better option."
After prying the metal enough for them to see spiraling walkway down below, Terra jumped in with Lea following after him, who was now more curious to see what secrets were down further in Ansem's study/lab. They ran down until they reached the end, where Terra recognized the hallway of cells lining the walls. Up ahead was where that room he saw himself enter from the memories that weren't his own, part of him dreading to see Aqua's Keyblade and armor lying in that room.
The door automatically opened, revealing the same room just like he had seen before: a small gray room, those symbols on the walls, and the chair in the middle. Terra walked inside and moved around the chair, finding Aqua's Keyblade and armor laying exactly where it was from that memory.
"Aqua..." He slowly approached the pieces of gray and blue armor, falling on his knees in despair. A sudden memory popped into his head upon staring at the visor of Aqua's helmet, a moment where he woke up after suffering what felt like a comatose state, but it was only for a brief moment. He saw the assassin who had 'kidnapped' Xehanort, forcing him to use the power of darkness against him for the old master's plans to come to fruition. He helped him up, and he saw the armor and Keyblade laying where he last remembered watching himself, under Xehanort's control, fight against Aqua. He understood what had happened to her, bringing tears to his eyes; Aqua saved him from thrusting himself into the Realm of Darkness, taking his place to be trapped in darkness as she sacrificed her armor and Keyblade. "...Why?...Why did you save me?"
Lea walked in the room after examining the cells, finding Terra kneeling by the empty suit of armor and Aqua's Keyblade leaning against the wall. He also noted the symbols on the walls, which he knew were meant to resemble the Nobodies. Being an ex-Organization XIII member with the rest of his friends that awoke with him in the castle, he knew Xemnas had to have been up to something aside from trying to create a Kingdom Hearts from the hearts he forced them to collect.
"Looks like someone added in some extra rooms for his experiments behind Ansem the Wise's back," Lea mumbled to himself. He approached the grieving Keyblade wielder, kneeling down beside him to get a better look at the armor. There wasn't a body inside, thankfully, though how he knew there was someone down here when he was never known by anyone baffled him. He couldn't help but feel like Terra was a bit familiar as well, but he didn't question it. "So, this was your friend?"
"...Yeah...It's just her armor though...I'm afraid she's gone." Terra sadly sighed, slowly getting back up on his feet. He couldn't blame Aqua's decision to try to help him, even though it seemed too late to save him from Xehanort's darkness inside his heart. And if Aqua was gone, that meant Ventus was either lost somewhere or he was gone as well, which meant he was on his own. He dug into his pockets and pulled out his Wayfinder, clutching it tightly in his hand as he pressed it against his chest. "It's all my fault...I'm so sorry, Aqua..."
"Sorry for your loss," Lea said, pitying the Keyblade wielder. "There anything we can do to help you out?"
"...No. I don't want to risk getting others involved with my mess..." Terra looked at Aqua's Keyblade, Rainfell, wishing things didn't turn out this way for them. He walked over to it and picked it up, gripping it tightly. If he was going to take on Xehanort again, he was going to need a lot more training, but if he was back, then that meant Xehanort must be in his old body again. Terra couldn't risk being around worlds Xehanort has been to, which meant he needed to find a desolate world the old man has never been to and grow stronger on his own. He looked at Lea, looking away from examining the interesting armor. "Lea, can you and those guards keep me being here a secret?"
"...Uhh, sure," Lea said, though a bit confused. "Dare I ask why?"
"Someone who had caused all this misery upon us is still out there, and if he knows I'm alive, he might try to come after me again. He's already ruined my life, as well as my best friends', and he'll stop at nothing to take over the other worlds." Terra looked back down at Aqua's armor, promising her she will put an end to Xehanort's plans after he grows stronger, staying on the path of light. "Don't tell anyone of my existence. I need to stay in hiding until I'm ready to finally stop him. That includes any other Keyblade bearers you've met before. Understand?"
"Right. Keep you a secret. I got it memorized," Lea promised, repeating his motions like before with his catchphrase. "But, what are you gonna do with this armor? You gonna take that too?"
"All I need is Aqua's Keyblade," Terra said. "I'd rather leave her armor here...It'll only make me miss her more."
After taking his leave, Terra walked out of the palace, Lea explaining to Dilan and Aeleus about the secret experimental room beneath the laboratory the intruding guest was right about. They reluctantly let him go, seeing as he was already miserable enough after realizing Aqua sacrificed her own life to keep him, and Xehanort, out of the Realm of Darkness. He had no clue what befell Ventus, but if Vanitas attacked him, then there was no chance the young teen could have survived fighting someone so frustratingly powerful. It might have been possible he ended up turning into the X-blade Xehanort mentioned before the confrontation. As soon as he was far enough away from civilization, he transformed his blade into his glider and activated his armor, flying off into the cosmos to find a world considered a safe enough haven, far from any world Xehanort never explored. That also meant he had to steer away from Master Yen Sid's tower, or else he could put the wizard in grave peril as well.
Terra had spent several days flying from world to world, always spotting Heartless roaming about in the ones he's known or were new to him. The memories of his became more clear as he flew through space, his "second life" being the leader of Organization XIII, his body under the influence of Xehanort's darkness, despite Xemnas, who he was in that life, was a Nobody. He even recognized Lea, Dilan, and Aeleus as prior members of the Nobody group, though they were known as Axel, Xaldin, and Lexaeus, and there were a few differences between the humans and now deceased Nobodies. And the one the assassin they mentioned, Braig, was also a member, called Xigbar. Even without a heart, he was still a cold killer as a creature of nothingness.
Passing through an empty area of the universe with no worlds within miles, Terra cruised along, not paying attention to where he was going. He was too busy looking down at Rainfell, the only thing that was left of Aqua aside from her suit of armor back in Radiant Garden. He hoped she was still alive, but even if she's a skilled fighter, there was no way anyone would be able to survive in the Realm of Darkness for so long. There was no escaping that place once someone is sent there, and Aqua gave herself a death sentence.
He finally looked up after several moments staring at Rainfell, finally seeing a world after several hours of nothing but the empty void of space. It was far out of any world's reach, the last one several light years behind him that was probably half an hour away at a casual pace. The colorful landscape looked incredibly peaceful, from the mountain city at the top with a grand castle to the small and rustic looking town at the bottom. It's a world none of them had ever seen before, and it was so far from any other worlds, almost as if it rested on the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Seeing as it was as good of a world as it could be, Terra flew toward it to rest, recuperate from the traumatizing realization after spending the last decade under Xehanort's power, and train himself to fight back against the man responsible for everyone's pain, including Sora, Kairi, and his successor, Riku.
Once he breached through the world's atmosphere, he felt his body begin changing shape, something that he hasn't done in quite a long time. It was dark in the world as it was late in the evening, giving him the perfect cover to keep himself from getting caught by the inhabitants. He made his landing in the middle of a forest after spotting a perfect enough glade to land in. He touched down on the ground, stepping off his glider, but the moment he brought his foot down, he nearly lost his balance and fell on his behind.
"Ah! What did I turn into?" Dismissing his armor and glider, Terra got a better look at himself under the light of the full moon. His hands turned into his hooves, his skin covered in brown fur, feeling a squared muzzle for his mouth and nose, equine ears on top of his head, and a tail lightly flicking around behind him. At least he was still wearing his clothes, unlike the first time he had turned into a quadruped when he was younger. He spun around and got a look at his sides and behind, especially the spiky tail almost similar to his hairstyle. "A horse...That's new. I guess this must be a land filled with equines." He then sighed, his ears drooping as he looked at Aqua's Keyblade. "I bet Aqua would have loved to come here when we were younger..."
His stomach snapped him out of his thoughts, grumbling low and begging for food. He hadn't eaten in a while, and he did spot a village not too far from the dense forest he landed in. As much as Terra didn't want to use his Munny he still kept on him, if this world accepted the blocky currency, he wasn't going to chance eating something that could be poisonous to him in the woods. Standing up on all fours, something he was going to get used to for a while, he picked up Rainfell in his mouth, carefully sheathed it in his obi-sash by his right hip, and began heading in the direction of the town nearby.
It took him a while to get through the thick foliage with his bulky frame, but he made it out and into the town. Despite how late it was, there were some lights on in some of the buildings, and there was a tavern a few houses down that was quite busy. It was the only place that was opened that might serve food, otherwise he would have to wait until morning to buy something to eat. Entering the building, there were many patrons seated at the bar, booths lined against the walls, and several tables scattered about the floor, the inhabitants indeed equine as he expected. Aside from normal ponies, there were also pegasi and unicorns, but seeing those kinds of ponies here wasn't what surprised him; it was their big eyes. He resisted the urge to touch his face and see if his own eyes were that large as well, not wanting to look more awkward as he was the only one in the tavern wearing clothing, making him stick out like a sore thumb. What was even stranger were the images around their flanks, each of them some kind of tattoo, though they were all different.
Terra gingerly made his way up to the bar, avoiding some of the drunker patrons, scrunching his nose at the strong scents of liquor and hard cider they drank. Some of them who noticed him snickered and whispered about him, his equine ears twitching when one of them asked their friends why he was wearing a dress, which it clearly wasn't. He didn't let their words bother him, taking an empty seat at the bar where a few other stallions sat with their mugs, chatting to themselves over something the Keyblade wielder tuned out. He didn't need to wait long for an employee to notice him, a beige unicorn stallion with a pale red handelbar mustache, matching the same hue as his slicked back mane.
"What can I get for ya, kid?" the bartender asked.
"Uhh, do you serve food?" Terra asked, his stomach asking the same question with a growl.
"Sure do." The stallion levitated a menu in front of him, showing their specials on the front. Terra did expect there to be a lot of dishes meant for herbivores, though he ignored anything that had flowers or uncooked hay. "Anything to drink?"
"Actually, before I order anything...what kind of currency do you accept?" The unicorn raised a brow in confusion, finally realizing Terra must be from another country as he noticed how he dressed.
"Not from Equestria, huh?" the bartender asked. Terra let out a nervous chuckle, both at how odd this world was known as and how right the unicorn's guess was. He pulled out a gold coin, showing Terra the money used for the world. There was an image of a mare wearing a crown on her head, her mane really long as well as her horn on the front, and on the back was the symbol of a sun. "The only acceptable currency here in this kingdom, and in other places, are bits. Unless you're here for the sake of company, you won't get much of anything without bits."
"Oh..." Terra grimaced, knowing his Munny wasn't going to be acceptable, but he had to at least give it a try. Reaching into his pockets, he pulled out a big Munny block, seeing the bartender's eyes widen at the odd form of currency. "I don't suppose this is able to get me something?"
"...What in Equestria...?" The older stallion picked up the Munny block in his pale yellow aura, turning it around as he examined it. "Is this...supposed to be some type of gold? Or topaz?"
"That's...currency where I used to live," Terra explained, keeping his identity as an outsider of this world a secret like he was supposed to. "We call it Munny...and I honestly cannot describe what kind of metal it's made of."
"Hmm...Well, sorry, son. Can't exactly get you anything without bits." The Keyblade wielder sighed, taking back the Munny.
"I figured as much." Terra pushed the menu back and lowered his head on the bar, sputtering a raspberry as his stomach groaned in protest. "Of all my luck...I might have better luck scrounging for berries out in that forest as long as none of them are poisonous."
While he contemplated finding somewhere in town to work and earn money in this world, the door to the tavern slammed open. Everyone turned to the entrance, all the patrons and employees gasping in shock as a muscular earth pony stallion and a skinny, shifty pegasus stallion walked in. The whole tavern went silent, even the drunk stallions and mares, many of them trembling at the two ponies. The earth pony had a dark orange coat, his short mane and tail a dark black with three red stripes running like lightning bolts in his hair, his flanks bearing a barbell with heavy weights bending the metal rod from both ends. The pegasus was pale gray, his pale yellow and red highlighted hair long and messy, his flanks showing a pony skull with swirling eyes, which definitely matched his personality with how insane he looked.
Terra turned back around in his seat, not seeing them as much of a threat, though from the looks on the patrons' faces, they must have terrorized the tavern several times in the past. He looked at the bartender, shivering in fright as he pretended not to notice them. Terra's ears twitched, hearing the heavy thumps of the intimidating earth pony stallion and the light, skittery pats of the pegasus, making their way up to the bar. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the twitchy pegasus eyeing him, snickering heavily as he looked down at his clothing. The other stallion, however, stood behind him, letting out an annoyed snort at the back of the Keyblade wielder's neck.
"You're in my seat," he said gruffly.
"Yeah, you're in his seat, 'little filly'!" the pegasus added with a guffaw, laughing so hard he fell out of his seat faster than any of the inebriated ponies in the room, and he didn't even have a drink in the tavern yet.
The bartender let out a nervous laugh. "Ah, yes! I completely forgot! I could have sworn I put your names down on your seats, Iron Weight, Jitterbug!"
"Next time, don't forget, or we'll do far more damage to your business than last time," Iron Weight growled, his pegasus friend swiftly sitting back up in his seat, nodding his head erratically.
"Yeah! Don't forget!" Jitterbug emphasized, ready to hop over the bar at any moment and grab any of the liquor bottles displayed on the wall.
As much as the bartender urged Terra with his eyes to move before he got hurt, the brown stallion didn't budge. "I'm sorry, but I don't think you can take possession of a seat at a bar," he said, Iron snorting angrily at his defiance. "Sit next to your psychotic buddy in the other empty stool."
The patrons gasped in horror, some of them slinking down to hide under their chairs or tables. Iron Weight glowered at Terra while Jitterbug slowly turned his head toward him, eyes widening with his pupils shrunken to pinpricks. Iron roughly turned the less bulky stallion around, giving him the most intimidating scowl that did nothing to effect the brown stallion.
"I think your hearing is busted, runt," Iron growled, letting out a snort that made Terra cough at the scent of his breath.
"Ugh! Too bad my nose works fine," he gagged. "Ever heard of a breath mint?"
"Oooooooh, he's giving us some sass!" Jitterbug exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the bartop. "Punch his lights out! And how dare he call my a psycho while he's wearing a dress!"
"First of all, it's not a dress. It's a hakama," Terra explained, moving his muzzle away from Iron's to get some air, looking at the hyper pegasus. "It's a traditional warrior's uniform where I come from. Second, you're bouncing on the counter like a little kid desperately needing to use the bathroom, while hopped up on gallons of sugar."
"Oh, he's just asking for a beating. Kick his plot, Iron! I got seconds!" The pegasus giggled maniacally, fidgeting excitedly.
"I'm gonna give you 'til the count of three to keep that trap of yours shut and get out of my seat," Iron Weight warned. "If you don't, I'm gonna pummel ya into the floor."
"Well, even if I do or don't, I know you're still going to try to hit me," Terra said. "I'm not moving, and you're not going to continue acting like you own this tavern acting like a bully. Go ahead and hit me, but I'm warning you; I'm a lot stronger than you think."
"Not in a dumb dress like that," Jitterbug commented with a snort.
"Fine. You want me to bruise you up, wish granted." Iron Weight grabbed Terra's shirt, keeping him steady as he reared his other foreleg back. "This'll only hurt for a week!"
The other ponies flinched and looked away, unable to watch the visiting stallion get beat up by the stronger earth pony. Jitterbug began cackling louder, anticipating the first blow right in Terra's face. Iron Weight threw his hoof, intending to break the brown stallion's muzzle. Terra quickly shot a hoof up, grabbing the orange stallion's foreleg, stopping the punch a mere inch away from his snout. Iron growled in confusion, struggling to push his hoof forward, but Terra was far stronger than he expected, showing no signs of strain.
"I did warn you," Terra said, slowly twisting his hoof as he got up from his seat. He began to slowly, painfully twist Iron Weight's leg, the brute stallion retaliating with his other hoof. Terra moved his head aside, quickly grabbing the other leg and twisting it behind his back, making Iron yelp as his hind legs buckled. "Saw that coming a mile away. I've handled monsters worse than your pathetic strength."
"See this!" Jitterbug quickly leapt off the bartop to tackle Terra and save his partner.
Terra threw Iron Weight to the ground, leaping away from the pegasus as he smacked his face into the wood floor clumsily. "Oh, that is it, punk!" Iron Weight stood up, grabbing "his" bar stool with his hooves. The other ponies scrambled away from the tables and stood on the sides to avoid getting caught in the middle of the brawl. "Nopony makes a fool out of me!"
Iron Weight charged at Terra clumsily on his hind legs, never used to wielding a heavy object to use as a weapon that was too big for his big mouth to properly use as a hand. He swung the stool, missing Terra as he staggered, thinking he would have easily hit the stallion. While he was distracted by the brute stallion's failed swing, Jitterbug snapped out of his daze and flew into Terra, clutching onto his back and tried to force him back on his hind legs.
"I got him!" the pegasus called out, though he strained to lift Terra up with his skinny frame and lack of muscles unlike him. The stallion humored him, smirking as he pretended to flail, rising up on his hind legs. "Hah! Not much of a stallion in that frilly little skirt, huh!?"
"I told you, it's a hakama!" Terra shouted, flipping up into the air and slamming down hard, landing his back on the pegasus's front while his own back smacked the hard ground.
He heard Iron Weight yell as he ran toward him again, quickly rolling off Jitterbug as the dark orange earth pony swung the stool down on top of his friend. "AHHH! That's me, you idiot! I'm not the stupid stallion in the dress!"
Before Iron could argue with his buddy, Terra grabbed the stool and swiped it away, sending the stallion staggering toward him. Seeing it was going to get a lot more messy, Terra swiftly dashed toward the scattered tables and chairs, sliding them across to give them more fighting room and cause less collateral. He didn't have any bits to pay for any damages for the fight he instigated, but he would at least keep these two ruffians from harassing everyone who worked or hung out around here. While the patrons and employees were amazed by his speed, strength, and insane bravery, Iron Weight and Jitterbug weren't, only interested in beating Terra up and not realizing his potential.
Jitterbug got back up, rubbing his sore chest from getting whacked by the stool, speeding off toward Terra in a twitchy, erratic pattern. While keeping his focus on the pegasus trying to get around his blind sides, Iron Weight charged forward, then turned around and skid across the ground, rearing back his legs to buck the Keyblade wielder in the face. Terra was about to avoid the oncoming stallion, but Jitterbug surprised him with a sucker punch to the back of his head. He barely managed to duck under Iron's hooves, quickly standing back up after giving the orange earth pony a swift jab in the gut, stunning him a little while he focused on the tweaking pegasus stallion.
He turned to face the cackling pegasus, only to gasp in shock when he saw Jitterbug holding Aqua's Keyblade in his greedy hooves. Terra looked down at his side, surprised he didn't even feel Jitterbug swipe the Keyblade away from him when it was attached to his hip. He grit his teeth, glaring at the stallion mocking him as he swung it around, admiring the oddly shaped weapon.
"Give that back," Terra growled. "That belongs to a friend of mine."
"Finders keepers, losers wee-" Terra dashed into Jitterbug, slamming him into the wall with his hoof gripping his neck tightly.
"That wasn't a suggestion!" the stallion shouted. He kept his darkness in check, not wanting to use that power anymore, but he was willing to knock Jitterbug unconscious if he didn't let go of the blade. "If you don't let go of that sword in the next second, I'll pry it out of your unconscious hooves!"
Iron Weight grabbed Terra from behind, pulling him away from the slightly dazed pegasus. "You've really gone and ticked me off now!"
Terra slipped out of Iron Weight's hold, dashing away from him before returning back with a barrel roll, giving the stallion a swift roundhouse kick in the face. The brute stumbled back a bit, but stayed standing. He looked up and saw the brown stallion rush him, rearing a foreleg back to punch him, but Terra slipped by him and avoiding his hard jab. He wrapped his legs around Iron's barrel, letting out an grunt as he hefted Iron Weight off his legs, flinging him backward to the floor in a suplex, landing him on his head and knocking him out.
Terra flipped back up on his hooves, hearing Jitterbug let out a manic cackle, flying at him with Aqua's Keyblade still in his hooves. The pegasus swung it, the Keyblade wielder lifting up his armored foreleg, blocking the wide horizontal with his pauldron, throwing Jitterbug off balance. Terra quickly grabbed the staggering stallion by his neck again, throwing him down to the ground, kneeling down on his foreleg still holding onto Rainfell while keeping him held down.
"Drop it," Terra growled, pinning the flailing pegasus down to keep him from escaping. Jitterbug continued to squirm despite being completely outmatched, infuriating the Keyblade wielder as he applied a bit more pressure to his neck, choking him enough not to completely deprive what little brain cells he had left in his head. "I said drop it!" As he gasped for air, the pegasus dropped the weapon as it clattered to the floor behind Terra. He moved his hoof away from Jitterbug's windpipe, but kept him held down, seeing him comply knowing he and his friend were finally beaten. Iron Weight stirred awake with a groan, looking up to see his partner pinned down. "Don't even think about it.
"We can do this all night, and no matter how many times you try, you two will not take me down." The stallion didn't care, stumbling back onto his hooves to keep fighting. Growing tired of their stubbornness, Terra lifted Jitterbug up on his haunches, grabbed Iron Weight's mane, and smacked both of their heads into each other. "How many times do I have to beat this into your thick skulls!? No matter what you do, alone or teaming up on me, I will just keep knocking you down!" He finally got their attention, both stallions looking at him in defeat. "Now, I'm going to give you two choices: keep trying to fight me until I knock you two unconscious and throw you out, or you can go quietly and leave this tavern alone, along with the rest of this town. And if you think about causing more trouble around here, you can try fighting me again and expect the same results."
Iron and Jitterbug looked at each other, both of them clearly not wanting to be humiliated anymore in front of the bar patrons and employees that worked here. "Uhh, w-we won't...harass this place anymore."
"Y-Yeah, yeah! Promise! We'll be good!" Jitterbug added with a nervous giggle.
"You'd better be." Shoving Iron Weight back, Terra kept his grip on Jitterbug, glaring angrily at him. He reached back, picked up Rainfell, and held it up in front of the pegasus's face. "You take this away from me again, and I will make sure you stay knocked out in a coma for the next decade. This was my best friend's weapon, who I found out I just lost a few days ago. I would appreciate it if you showed what little respect you carry in your insane, twisted heart for this blade. Do I make myself clear?" The pegasus gulped, nodding his head, fearing to see what else he would do to him after enraging him too much. "Good. Now, you two get out of my sight."
Terra released Jitterbug, who quickly scrambled onto his feet and limped away, Iron Weight following his friend as the duo fled the town. The stallion took a deep breath, letting out a heavy sigh. The other ponies that watched were dumbfounded by his skill and strength, glad to have somepony brave enough to take on the two bullies that terrorized them. Terra sheathed Rainfell back around his sash, heading back to the bar and sat down in front of the bartender.
"...Wow...Kid, you've got a lot of guts," the stallion said. "Ever since those two came into town a few months ago, they've caused nothing but trouble for all of us. Destruction of property, stealing, and intimidating anypony from stepping hoof around here. Not a lot of us are capable of dealing with them, at least until you came around."
"Well, glad to help deal with those two for you." Terra looked behind him, the employees and patrons putting the tables and chairs back in place while the others cheered, hailing him as their hero. "I kind of needed to vent off some steam. I haven't had the best week, and I've been traveling nonstop for the last few days."
"We need to repay you in some way." Terra shook his head, holding up his hoof to decline.
"No payments necessary," he said. "Just doing the right thing for those in need."
"But it just wouldn't feel right. And I'm sure everypony else in here feels the same way." The earth pony sighed and shook his head again, apparently unable to break himself out of his heroic deeds going unrewarded. His stomach growled, only this time, it was loud enough for the bartender to hear it. The unicorn chuckled as Terra rubbed his empty stomach. "Well, if you don't want bits, maybe there's something else I can offer you? How about a month of food and beverage of your choice here, on the house?"
"Wouldn't that be bad for your business?" Terra asked, a little surprised at the offer.
"Kid, you practically saved all of our businesses. And I won't take no from somepony with skills that could rival that of the Royal Guard up in Canterlot. I think that sounds fair, right?" The unicorn held his hoof out to the Keyblade wielder for a hoofshake to seal the deal.
As much as Terra wanted to refuse, his stomach made the answer for him, gripping the bartender's hoof and shaking it. "...Alright. I guess I'll take it."
"Great!" the unicorn cheered. "I'm the owner of the Traveler's Tavern, Barkeep."
"Terra," the earth pony introduced himself.
"Well, then, Terra-" Barkeep levitated the menu out in front of Terra again, holding up a pen and notepad. "What'll you be having?"
Even though Equestria was relatively peaceful, Terra knew not one single world could stay that way forever. During his stay in the world full of ponies, he felt like part of the community in the town he decided to stay around, doing odd jobs to earn bits to spend while in this world. If he ever needed anything else, he could go off to any other worlds, but because of the circumstances with a possible encounter with Xehanort somewhere, he couldn't risk getting himself caught. At least Iron Weight and Jitterbug didn't come back to the town and cause trouble anymore, but he kept his eye on them just in case.
After earning enough bits, he bought himself some tools to build himself a home out in the forest, nestled in the glade he landed in his first night here. He needed some solitude away from the ponies, mostly so none of them will see him train with his own Keyblade. While learning about this world, and how differently it worked compared to others, Terra learned a bit about the kinds of ponies in Equestria: unicorns can use a variety of spells using their horns, pegasi can move clouds and create weather, and earth ponies are in tune with the ground beneath their hooves. It was faint, but as an earth pony, he can practically sense the life of nature at his hooves, able to feel the essence of life flowing from the flora around him. It was quite serene and tranquil, seeming as peaceful as the Land of Departure. He even found out what those marks on a pony's flank was called and what they were meant to be, finding it odd to discover he had one too without realizing a few days after arriving here; his Keyblade marked on his flanks as his cutie mark.
Using some of the trees around him to use as building material for his cabin, Terra spent a couple weeks building his new home on his own. As much as some of the ponies back in town wanted to help him, he declined their offer since he also used his Keyblade as a tool to chop down the trees, stump and all. Once it was all done, he bought himself some furniture to decorate the cabin, especially something to sleep in after spending weeks using his Tents he had on him. There wasn't much at first, but it was a start for his home away from home, spending his money on anything frivolous to spruce up the rooms when he saved enough. He set Aqua's Keyblade down in his room so no one would try to steal it again, though looking at it did give him some sleepless nights, guilt and regret over his actions that lead to Ventus's demise and Aqua's sacrifice to save him when he didn't want to be saved.
During the next couple years, Terra focused on his training: combat drills, meditation, magic spells, workouts, anything to keep him focused on getting stronger to defeat Xehanort once and for all. Whenever he had a chance to take a break, he wandered into the town, greeting the ponies he knew as he walked down the road to either buy food or something to keep him entertained while living like a hermit. After the first several months passed, there were some odd occurrences that were a bit alarming, only to be resolved after a few moments: the sun not rising during the Summer Sun Celebration that one year, odd pink clouds that rained chocolate milk, even Heartless began appearing, though they only attacked Terra at his cabin, thankfully. It wasn't long until he read an article in the news about the heroes during those disastrous events, detailing six mares and one stallion, the pegasus wielding a key-shaped sword named Sora.
After finding out Sora was here in Equestria, though the reason for him being here was unknown, he didn't want to be spotted by the teen, or if his friends were there as well. In order to keep himself hidden in case they bumped into each other, Terra bought himself a cloak to hide his identity. He's already caused enough trouble for Sora, Riku, and their friends, and the less they knew about him, the better. But that didn't mean he refrained himself from hearing about his triumphs while in Equestria, even during the Canterlot wedding invasion and return of the Crystal Empire, where the two boys and their friend, Kairi, a Keyblade wielder like them now, saved the kingdom and the world from the evil forces involved.
The trio of young Keyblade wielders reminded Terra of him, Aqua, and Ventus before this madness between them started. Riku was just like him, calm but with a strong heart, which made him a better successor under him to wield the Keyblade. Sora was like Ventus, only the teen was far more energetic than Ventus, and his bravery knew no bounds, always making friends and fighting for them, those same friends behind him to back him up and give him strength. Kairi was more like Aqua; level-headed, smart, keeping Sora and Riku in line. She almost looked like Aqua as well, aside from the age difference, experience in combat, and different colored hair, which only made Terra miss her all the more.
One day, he had heard from the other ponies about the upcoming Equestria Games, a competition of athletic events ranging from races to competitive sports. With the added event called Struggle the princesses of Equestria added, Terra grew a bit curious and decided to compete in it. After fighting random Heartless that showed up in his yard and training by himself, he was itching to see if there was anyone worth fighting that could match him. He flew off on his glider, being wary of any pegasi that might be flying around, reaching Rainbow Falls, where the preliminaries for the Games' events were being held.
Dressed in his cloak, he made the right move hiding his identity when he reached the arena where the Struggle qualification matches were held. He was surprised to see many of Equestria's inhabitants there to take part or watch, and as he expected, he spotted Sora and Riku on the other end of the arena. They were given a little cheerleader show by two mares, one of them being Kairi as a pink unicorn, while the other was the lavender alicorn princess that had recently been crowned not too long ago, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Both teens' wings immediately sprung out from their sides, making Terra chuckle and shake his head.
He looked around the field as he waited for the matches to start. Suddenly, something in the bleachers caught his eyes, spotting a blue unicorn mare with a blue mane, her right foreleg in a cast. He gasped when he got a better look at her from where he stood, recognizing the short hairstyle and the clothing she wore. It was no coincidence that who he was looking at, wearing clothes that weren't from this world, or like the younger Keyblade wielders'.
"...It can't be..." Terra couldn't believe his eyes. Sitting there, about to watch the matches with the other ponies, was his long lost friend. Whatever happened to her, however she managed to escape the Realm of Darkness, none of that mattered to him as long as he knew she was still alive after all this time. "Aqua..."
Terra was tempted to run up to her and hug her, grateful to see her alive and not wanting to lose her again. He stood his ground however, afraid to know how she would react to seeing him. Before he tried to thrust himself and Xehanort in the Realm of Darkness, he almost killed Aqua against his will, under the influence of the man who controlled his body as his new, younger vessel. And since she took his place in that dangerous realm filled with Heartless, she must have gone through great lengths just to survive and find a way out of the inescapable darkness.
He didn't know how she broke her arm, but he can tell from the look in her eyes that she's been through hell. Terra grimaced, lowering his head, blaming himself for putting her and Ventus through so much. He didn't pay attention to the Struggle matches already underway as he wallowed in guilt. He can't show himself to her. At least not yet. Until the time was right, he would invite her to where he lived and hope she doesn't lash out at him, thinking Xehanort was still a part of him.
Terra soon heard his alias name, The Unknown, calling him for his match. "Aqua..." He made his way up onto the arena, meeting with his opponent in the middle along with the host, taking his Struggle bat in his maw. He looked back at the bleachers as he took his place on the platform, seeing Aqua more focused on Sora and Riku, analyzing their fighting styles and combat skills. "I'm sorry..." He brought his attention back to his opponent, gripping the bat tightly in his mouth as the match was about to begin. "Please forgive me..."
Aqua and Terra had long since finished eating as the stallion told the mare what had happened to him after regaining his body again. Aqua still can't understand how Terra came back after Xehanort gave up his heart to create Ansem and Xemnas, raising so many questions than finding any answers. Somehow, Xehanort must have known if the Heartless and Nobody of a person who used to exist is slain, they return to their old selves like nothing happened. She did see something like that happen to Sora after he gave up his heart to wake Kairi, turning into a Heartless, only to find her and return to normal thanks to her light. But that moment still didn't tell her what kind of power was able to do that for someone who lost their light and the shell they left behind.
What shocked her the most was hearing Terra say that everything that happened to them was all his fault. Even her decision, her choice, to save him from falling into darkness under Xehanort's control, he blamed himself for what she chose to do for him. They admitted they had messed up in some way in the past, Ventus included, that lead them to their longest and difficult battle against Xehanort and Vanitas, but they all felt they should each be ultimately responsible for the blame.
"...Terra...None of what happened to us was your fault," Aqua said. She looked at him, the stallion staring dejectedly at his hooves. "It was my fault too."
"No, it wasn't," Terra said. "It all started because of me; because I was fooled by Xehanort 'helping' me control the darkness I had no control of using during our Mark of Mastery exam." He let out a frustrated sigh, rubbing his forehead, mad at himself for being so gullible. "The moment I had left the Land of Departure by Master Eraqus's orders, everything went downhill. I couldn't trust you or Master when you were spying on me for my sake, and I took it the wrong way. I found Xehanort held captive by that assassin, Braig, and I ended up using the darkness to stop him. Then, when I came back home to save Ven, I fought Master Eraqus and got him killed, unleashing the darkness inside me against him while Xehanort dealt the final blow!
"And I still remember what I did to you, against my control in Radiant Garden..." Terra slowly looked up at Aqua, his eyes misty as he gently took her hoof. "...I would have killed you...You should have just let me fall into darkness."
"Terra, don't say that!" Aqua argued. "I didn't want to lose you. Ven had lost his heart after we stopped Vanitas...I promised I would stay by him until his light returned...but I didn't want to see you fall into the Realm of Darkness...You don't deserve to have a fate like that." She began to tear up, gripping Terra's hoof tightly as the memories being lost in the Realm of Darkness resurfaced. "I thought I could still save you after you fought back, but I only caused more misery to the others: Sora, Riku, Kairi, every single world in our galaxy...I deserved to suffer in that dreadful place for my selfish actions."
"Then you should have let me stay down there instead of saving me," Terra countered. "I was trying to stop Xehanort once and for all before he could try to for the X-blade again and cause more trouble. I killed Master Eraqus, I fell for Xehanort's lies, I wound up having you suffer my fate that you and Ven don't clearly deserve."
"I just wanted to help you, Terra! I just didn't want to see you continue straying down the wrong path, and I shouldn't have said all those things to you..." The loneliness she felt in the Realm of Darkness came back to Aqua, all the pain and heartache she experienced, the fear of surviving in an inescapable world, losing any hope of being reunited with her best friends. Her refreshed tears began streaming down her cheeks, her limbs shaking from the frustrated days and nights of her mistakes haunting her. "I felt so alone...I deserved to be punished for what I did...I don't deserve to be a Keyblade Master."
"Yes you do," Terra said gently, gripping Aqua's shoulders gently. "You deserved earning your place as a Keyblade Master...You were stronger than I could ever be." He lowered his hooves down to Aqua's barrel, hugging her and pulling her closer to him. "I'm so sorry, Aqua...I can't imagine how much pain you endured and how much of a struggle you had surviving over a decade trapped in the Realm of Darkness. Your mind and heart are so terribly fractured, and it was because of me that you sacrificed your freedom just to save me..."
"...T-Terra," Aqua whimpered, wanting to steer the blame for everything toward her, but her mind constantly flashed back to her nearly endless struggles fighting infinite waves of Heartless, especially the Dark Hide that hunted her dozens of times.
"I can't imagine how difficult it was to be down there on your own," Terra continued, holding Aqua tightly, feeling her body shudder as she tried to hold back her sorrow. "I was afraid the worst had happened to you...I felt like giving up all hope to know you would still be alive." His tears threatened to fall from his eyes, nuzzling Aqua's neck while she wrapped her hooves around him tightly. "When I saw you at Rainbow Falls, I couldn't believe you were actually sitting there in the bleachers...You have no idea how happy I was to see you again."
Aqua leaned her head against Terra's shoulder, hugging him back, feeling safe in his embrace. "I missed you...so much."
"Me too," Terra uttered. "I'm sorry..."
The two long-lost friends stayed in their embrace, losing track of time as they said nothing, just relishing the fact that they were together again. Xehanort tried to force them apart, failing at first, succeeding when the end of their battle in the Keyblade Graveyard separated them in different directions, but now all three were back, safe and sound with regrets they wish to amend. Though her thoughts being trapped in the Realm of Darkness still lingered in her mind, having Ventus and Terra back in her life was enough for her to quell those awful memories.
She leaned her head back, the two of them looking at each other. Aqua suddenly leaned forward, closed her eyes, and pressed her lips against Terra's, shocking the stallion as his body froze from the sudden kiss. Aqua didn't realize what she was doing, too far gone in the moment, part of her wanting more of a relationship with Terra after all they've been through. She slowly opened her eyes, seeing the shocked expression in his eyes making hers open wider, pulling away with a heavy blush on her cheeks.
"Oh gosh. I-I'm sorry!" she apologized, looking away from Terra while slipping out of his hold on her, sitting on the far end of the couch. He was still paralyzed, staring at Aqua as a nervous blush on his face began to grow on his face. "I have no idea why I did that..."
Terra finally snapped out of his daze, running a hoof through his hair as he looked away from Aqua. "...I guess, uhh...You still...have that crush on me after all this time? Huh?" The unicorn groaned in embarrassment, burying her face in her hooves. Terra cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck, clearly at a loss for how to respond after such an awkward, if not pleasant moment. "...Was it...an impulse? During that emotional roller coaster we just had?"
"...I...don't really know," Aqua said, just as confused as Terra. "...Maybe it was? I mean...I've spent so many years in the Realm of Darkness with no contact from anything that didn't try to kill me on a daily basis..." She bit her lower lip, tapping her hooves together, avoiding eye contact with him. "...I just made things awkward, didn't I?"
"...Well, I never said I didn't like it," Terra said. "That just...caught me off guard." He managed to look over at her, Aqua summoning the courage to look at him right back. "...Do you...want to do it again?"
Aqua's mind was screaming for joy, wanting to say yes so badly, but she kept herself as calm as she could, her cheeks still burning red. "...I-I...W-Well, that depends..." She swallowed the biggest lump in her throat, mulling over her words she tried to say and not make this anymore awkward than it already is. Terra moved closer to the distracted mare, too busy looking down at her hooves to notice him scooching closer to her. "It's just, I did grow feelings for you when we were younger, and it evolved into a crush, but I repressed it, just staying as friends so nothing awkward comes between us while we're training. And now, after everything we went through, thinking none of us survived and were proclaimed dead or forever lost in darkness, I wanted to feel some companionship after I fought for so many years in darkness-"
"Aqua-" Terra called out, but the unicorn didn't listen.
"-not to mention all the close calls with death I had and losing my mind," Aqua continued her rambling, growing more frantic and panicked. "Then I started seeing things and hearing things, ending up using darkness as well without even realizing it was darkness because it was mostly a magic surge and I nearly lost it if Ventus's light didn't show up to help me fight back, but I never thought I would see you two again, wallowing in depression and misery over my stupid mistakes and-!"
Terra gently cupped Aqua's cheeks with both hooves, turned her head, and pressed his lips against hers in a soft kiss. Aqua squeaked in surprise, her whole face turning red with her eyes opened wide in surprise. Her brain was frazzled, quickly losing her train of thought as she only saw Terra with his eyes closed, feeling his lips kissing hers while one of his strong, gently hooves left her cheek and wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer in his gentle embrace. Instantly, all of her stress, fears, and pain melted away. She never thought she would ever have a moment like this in her life, even in the psychologically broken state she was in after escaping the Realm of Darkness, but it was happening with her friend; her crush seemingly forgotten until she knew now that he was alive, free from Xehanort's control.
Aqua's eyes began to droop, kissing Terra back, her hooves wrapping around his neck as she leaned closer to deepen their kiss. She wanted this to last forever, reunited with a friend she thought was gone forever like Ventus, Master Eraqus, and their home, her crush she kept aside now blooming into a romance she desired. Unfortunately, it didn't last as long as she wanted, both ponies breaking apart with a light smack of their lips, panting a little as they stared in each others eyes. Terra was the first to snap out of their daze, chuckling lightly.
"That felt...wonderful," he uttered, Aqua nodding dumbly in agreement.
"Yeah," she mumbled, wanting to lean in for another kiss, but she stopped herself. She worried if they were starting to rush things, even though the two of them had been close friends for so many years and were just reunited moments ago. She already lost him once to the darkness and nearly ruined their friendship from following orders to bring Terra and Ventus back home, but she didn't want to lose it for good. "...Terra?"
"Hmm?" He could see the apprehension on Aqua's face, rubbing her back to help ease her.
"...H-Have you...ever had any feelings for me?" she asked. "When we were training together, did you ever think about me that way?"
"...Well, to be honest, I really didn't," Terra answered. Aqua's ears drooped as she looked down, but he gently lifted her head back up. "Back then, at least. But now, after coming back and spending the last few years here in Equestria, I just couldn't stop thinking about you. I thought that you were gone forever, and I would never see you again...I felt so guilty, having you sacrifice yourself to save me when I wanted to stay in the Realm of Darkness, to stop Xehanort."
"But, Terra-" The stallion gently pressed a hoof to her lips.
"You didn't deserve to be trapped there," he continued. "I'm amazed you survived in the Realm of Darkness that long, especially with how emotionally distraught you were when you confronted me face to face in the Crystal Empire." He gently brushed a few of Aqua's bangs away from her face, giving her a soft peck on the lips. "You have no clue just how relieved I was to see you at Rainbow Falls, and seeing Ven with you and the other ponies at the stadium. But you...you suffered far more than I have. I used the power of darkness, but that's nothing compared to living in a realm filled with nothing but darkness. You must have been so determined to last that long...I couldn't..."
"...I wanted to give in to the darkness," Aqua said. "I was losing all hope as I fell in that endless void, traveled the endless roads leading to nothing...I was all alone..." She leaned into Terra, resting her head against his chest, feeling his hooves gently cradle her. "Even when I finally got out, I still felt alone. Without you or Ven...I didn't know what to do..." Fresh tears welled in Aqua's eyes, holding him tightly as Torrent's enticing words to let the darkness take away her pain came back to her. She knew she was still emotionally and psychologically unstable, and she didn't want to make anymore mistakes like that and hurt the ones she swore to protect. "...I was so scared...I'm so traumatized, I'm afraid my unicorn magic will surge out of control and bring out my darkness again...I thought I lost everything I ever cared about."
"I thought the same thing, but the three of us are still here," Terra assured. "This whole mess started by my actions through Xehanort's schemes, and I intend on fixing everything, starting with him." He helped Aqua sit back up, wiping away her tears. "But I know I can't do this alone. No matter how hard I trained, I still feel like I'm not strong enough to stop Xehanort on my own. With all of us, including Sora, Riku, and Kairi, we just might be able to win." He then took her hoof in his, holding it gently. "And I don't care what you say about the past. Everything from how it started to now, Master Eraqus's death and you taking my place in the Realm of Darkness, all of it was my fault, and I'll shoulder all the blame for you and Ven.
"You've already been through so much...I want you to relax your mind, take back what freedom you gave up to rescue me, and I want to see you happy." Terra moved in and kissed Aqua again with passion, devoting himself to making amends with his mistakes going down the wrong path as a Keyblade wielder that had lead to their suffering. "I love you, Aqua."
"...Terra..." Aqua wanted to argue further, but Terra was insistent on taking the blame. No matter how many times she'll refuse that to be true, she knows she won't be able to change his mind so easily with that stern gaze of his. She gave him a soft smile and shook her head, giving in out of the love he has for her, and she needed him. "I love you, too."
The couple then cuddled for a while, both of them agreeing to start off slow with their relationship and let time pass for it to grow more like their friendship as kids. Terra grabbed the dishes and cups after reluctantly prying himself away from Aqua for a moment to wash them up in the kitchen. After leaving them on the dish rack to dry, he made his way back to the living room, but he had one thing he wanted to give Aqua he showed her before in the other letter he had Dewey give to her.
"Almost forgot something," he said to Aqua before heading off into his room. He came back out, surprising the unicorn as he carried Rainfell with him in his mouth. "I think you dropped this a few years ago."
"My Keyblade..." She took it from him, glad to have her old weapon back. Even though she gave it up, it accepted her as its owner, like a friend meeting another after several years apart. "Thanks, Terra." She dismissed Rainfell, now holding both her own Keyblade and their master's. She had gotten so used to using Eraqus's Keyblade the last several years, she hoped she wouldn't forget about her own weapon now that she had it back. She looked out the window, seeing how late it was. "I think I should be heading back to Ponyville. I promised the others I would be back soon. Want to come back with me and stay there instead of out here, where you're in hiding?"
"Hmm...I'll have to say good-bye to the ponies in town first, and make sure the door is locked tight so no one can get in," Terra said. "Plus, I really do want to see Ven again, as well as the others. Maybe we can use this cabin as a little summer or winter spot for us when we don't want to be bothered. If you know what I mean."
He leaned in to give Aqua a kiss, but the mare stopped him with a giggle, pressing hoof to his muzzle. "Let's start off slow before we get to that point, Terra."
"Ok, that should be every single room discovered in the castle," Twilight said as she held out a detailed map of her new castle. Everyone gathered in the throne room, getting some bearing on where everything is with the new crystal tree castle. There were a lot of different rooms aside from the bedrooms: there was a large room with shelves for a library of books, a kitchen in need of some appliances, closets to store cleaning supplies, full functioning restrooms, and plenty of other rooms for them to decorate to their liking. "Now to make several copies of them for each different floor so anypony else doesn't get lost."
"At least it won't be as embarrassing like trying to give the pony we thought was Ms. Harshwhinny a tour of the Crystal Empire's castle." The other mares groaned at the horrible misunderstanding during the Equestria Games' inspection.
"Thanks for reminding us of that embarrassing moment, Riku," Rainbow grumbled. "Why did I think a castle had a gym for royal ponies to work out in? There wasn't one in Canterlot, and there certainly isn't one here."
"We can make one of the rooms a gym," Sora suggested. "After all, if this castle belongs to all of us, we're going to need somewhere to keep ourselves in shape."
"Don't you get enough of that working at Sweet Apple Acres?" Kairi asked.
"Well, maybe for a warm up, but for exercise, if I accidentally uprooted a healthy apple tree, AJ will probably kick me in the face. Then my butt, and then a good hit right in the chest." Applejack nodded her head, doing exactly that if Sora ever did knock one of her family's trees out of the ground, accidental or on purpose. "But, speaking of training, I wonder when Aqua's coming back. She's been gone for the last few hours, and the sun's about to set."
The doorway opened as Aqua entered, her throne appearing upon her entrance, wielding her old Keyblade instead of Eraqus's. "Hey, guys."
"Guess that answers that question," Sora said.
Ventus was the first to notice Aqua's Keyblade, the one chosen to her in place of the one she had used since giving it up when she went to the Realm of Darkness. "Wait...Aqua, you have your old Keyblade!"
"Yeah. I sure do," she said. "I still have Master Eraqus's Keyblade, but I'll be using it as a backup in case I lose Rainfell again."
"But how did you find it?" Ventus asked. "Was that what you were doing today?"
"No," Aqua answered, looking back outside the slightly opened doorway. "It was...something else. You're in for a surprise when you see who I ran into."
Peaking everyone's curiosity, everyone made their way to the doors and opened them up. Ventus gasped in surprise, finding Terra standing outside in the hall, waving at them with a grin.
"Hey, Ven," he said. "Been a while, huh?"
"Terra!?" The teen looked at Aqua, then back at Terra, mumbling incoherently, wondering how he had come back.
"Wait...You mean, both yours and Ventus's friend, Terra?" Twilight asked. "But, you said his heart was lost in darkness after Xehanort possessed him."
"Yeah...It's really confusing," Aqua admitted. "Even he doesn't have any idea how it was possible."
Ventus didn't care how Terra managed to come back. He was glad to have his friend back. The pegasus ran at him, nearly tackling him to the ground as he caught the earth pony in a hug. Pinkie squealed and tackled them, managing to knock Terra onto his back, surprising him with her hugging him as well.
"This is the bestest day ever!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I am going to throw the biggest party tonight: one for Terra coming back, one for Terra being in Ponyville for the first time, not counting the time he snuck into the castle last night, and one for Terra, Aqua, and Venny back together again as bestest best friends!"
"...Uhh, you must be the hyper one out of the Elements of Harmony. Pinkie Pie, right?" Terra guessed, making the mare gasp dramatically.
"How'd you know!?" Pinkie tossed Ventus aside, making the pegasus yelp in surprise as he tumbled across the floor, grabbing Terra's shirt and bringing her muzzle to his. "Are you psychic!? And you really are an earth pony?"
"I've read about you and your friends' exploits in the news," he said. "The Summer Sun Celebration a couple years back, the random chaos weather, the invasion in Canterlot, and liberating the Crystal Empire from the north."
"...We were in the news?" Pinkie asked. "Then how come none of us are recognized as heroes aside from Dashie with the Wonderbolts!?"
Terra gently shoved the mare off of him, already amused by her comical attitude. "Yeah. Hyper and outright silly." He stood up and helped Ventus up on his hooves, ruffling his mane like he always did back then to tease him. Ventus didn't care if he was still being treated like a kid, happy to have both of his friends back together. Terra approached Sora and Riku, both pegasi stunned silent as they recognized his voice. "Sora. Riku. You two sure had a lot of skill back in the tournament."
"You were the stallion we fought!?" Sora exclaimed. "Then what was with the disguise!?"
"I was hiding in case Xehanort tried looking for me," Terra explained. "That, and if Aqua saw me, I didn't know if she would attack me if she thought Xehanort still controlled me."
"I would have been able to tell the difference," Aqua argued.
"You didn't when you found me in Radiant Garden after I was taken over," Terra countered.
Aqua opened her mouth to argue further, but stopped herself. He was right about that: Terra-Xehanort had a darker skin tone, yellow eyes, and the obvious silver hair. She should have realized something was wrong from the way he looked rather than almost getting choked to death when she ran up to him to see if he was ok.
"...Point taken," Aqua said sheepishly.
"So, does this mean we've got ourselves another Keyblade wielder as a part of the Castle of Friendship?" Rainbow asked.
"But there's twelve thrones in there already," Terra said as he looked inside the throne room. "...Unless that smaller one is supposed to be mine."
"Actually, that's my throne," Spike replied, surprising the stallion as he looked down at the baby dragon.
"...Ok." Terra let out a sigh of relief. "I don't think I would have fit in that small throne anyway."
"Just walk on in the throne room and we'll see if the castle gives you a throne." He looked at Aqua quizzically, but decided to go along with it.
Terra stepped inside the throne room, his Keyblade suddenly appearing in his mouth without his command. The others got a look at his blade, which looked really heavy compared to the other wielders'. A moment later, the empty space between Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy's thrones began to fill in with a burst of light, the sixth taller throne with Terra's Keyblade marked on the crystal seat.
"Wow...That's actually pretty cool." Terra examined his throne, surprised to actually have one.
"So, that means Terra is a part of the group," Twilight said. "Six small thrones; six seats that bear the Elements of Harmony. Six taller thrones; six seats for the protectors of light."
"There's still so much more to this castle that we don't know," Aqua muttered.
"And it looks like we'll find out more as time goes on," Twilight added.
"But, let's take a break from all the exploring and learning and get on with the party!" Pinkie shouted, pulling out her party cannon.
"Wait, is that a cannon!?" Terra shouted, quickly ducking as she fired the dangerous weapon, sending streamers and confetti flying everywhere. "Uhh, is that thing even remotely safe?"
"Just don't question Pinkie Pie, Terra," Aqua said, pulling the stallion back up to his hooves. "Whatever she does, let it be."
"...Well, alright. I'll take your word for it." Pinkie pulled out a record player and began playing lively music. Terra also noticed a buffet table filled with sweets that came out of nowhere like the pink earth pony's party cannon, but he followed his girlfriend's advice and didn't bother asking where it came from. While the others were distracted with celebrating Terra's return, his visit to Ponyville, and the trio of Keyblade wielders from many years ago were reunited, the stallion leaned over to Aqua and whispered to her. "You think we should tell Ven we're gonna start dating?"
"Maybe after a few weeks," Aqua whispered back. "This is the second party this week, and I'm not sure I can handle a third if Pinkie Pie knows about us. But, at least I'm able to fully relax now that I know you're yourself again." She then punched Terra hard in the shoulder, making the tough stallion wince in pain. "But next time you walk in on me while I'm asleep, I'm going to beat you to a pulp."
"Then should I tell the others I heard you sleep talking, dreaming about me teasing you about something you were wearing?" Aqua gasped and leered at Terra, scrunching her face angrily with a blush on her cheeks. Terra snorted, holding back his laughter, finding the look she gave him more cute than intimidating. "You're not making it any easier for you when looking angry as a pony makes you even more adorable."
"T-Terra!" Aqua swung at him again, but she missed as he avoided her, laughing uproariously as he ran away.
Growling, her cheeks burning red, she chased after him to smack him for the comment. As much as it was flattering, knowing he heard her talk in her sleep while he snuck in the room she was in last night riled her up. She didn't know what she said in her sleep, but if Terra was teasing her about it, she was going to make sure he keeps his mouth shut if it was anything embarrassing.
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Yay! Team Mom and Dad are back together.
7956646
...What?
Hehehe awwwwww this was a cute chapter
Good chapter, Been awhile since the last update should have known it was for an extra long chapter.
Not gonna lie though super excited for Rainbow Rocks, course I won't complain about these in-between chapters in the meantime.
Too damn good!!!! 100/10 bro. Also well done on the reunion. It was very well done and very believable with KH's story line!! Also glad you put em together. Now we just need ven to find a love interest.
That was wonderful!
7957211 I agree. and yeah, but question is this. Who will Ven be in love with? cause until the creator of Kingdom Hearts could give him one, the best I can think of is possibly one of the Mane 6 (not Twilight since she is with Riku and Pinkie has feelings for Cheese), or a certain character that will probably show up soon (season 5). but if it was with one of the mane 6, who would it be?
7957794 if i had to pick. I'd probably say rainbow, or Fluttershy.
7956858 Why?!
7957794
I don't know. It would be interesting ifor it wasn't someone on world that he fell for. Though it really can't be any of the Mane 6 though. Vendors is roughly like what 15? That is a little... what is the word I am looking for... oh yeah hebephilia or ephebophilia (both of which are like pedophilia, but with ages in higher, but not legal age. Except for ephebophilia which is the tail end of that being legal age in USA). So I can't really endorse Ventus getting with Mane 6 or really any known character being at just the wrong age for any.
Now as for the chapter, it was really good. I really like how they were reminiscing and then Aqua just going for it without realizing it.
Still, it made sense with his reasoning on why he stayed away for so long. I simply just loved how Aqua just made everything all awkward. This chapter just makes me want to go out and get 2.8 to play as her, but alas I can't. I am broke and haven't beaten Birth By Sleep yet. Still she is the best female characters in the whole freaking series, Kairi being a close second.
*Edit*
Thinking about it Maleficent might actually be the second best of the female characters. She might tie with Kairi.
Sora is going to sing again~?
I really love this chapter and really love how Terra and Aqua got together so much.
With Terra back and now part of the team, our heroes circle of friends grows bigger with Aqua and Terra being together secretly from the others. but even with Terra back, he will still need to prove himself to be worthy to be called a Keyblade Master with Ven, Twilight, and Sora. Will Terra ever overcome the Darkness inside him like Riku did? What connection will he have with the Mane 6? Will Xehanort or Maleficent strike again at Equestria? And Can Sora obtain the Power he lost? The Adventures, mysteries, and romance continues! Next Time on My Little Pony Soras misadventures in Equestria!
This Damn story and twisting my heart!
I'll be sad when the end comes.
My initial reactions:
ohai Terra
me @ Aqua:
Well, this is an acceptable explanation for Terra returning. We didn't exactly see Terranort during Dream Drop Distance, so he still could have returned like everyone else did, but I guess Xehanort either got to him first or...he was a Heartless imprisoned within a Heartless, so he was always chained to at least one version of Xehanort. Ah, Kingdom Hearts, never change with how complicated you can be...
That's two trios reunited! Only one remains, and they're my favorite: the Sea Salt Trio!
A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, so while it may be half an hour for him. For everyone else, it would be several years.
10190182
A lightyear isn't a measurement of speed or time, but of distance. He's definitely going way faster than the speed of light, so it would take that half hour, but it would be a half hour for everyone, even if they're not going his speed. The time dilation of moving at relativistic speeds has obviously been countered already with (I'd assume) Keyblade Glider magic, so going FTL and causing time travel isn't an issue. (Even if the gliders are a lot faster than the gummi ship's flying speed, the gummi ships can still move incredibly fast, definitely FTL if it only took sora 5 straight days to cross several lightyears between equestria and Yen Sid's tower, so whatever magitech is in there is super advanced, and that's not even counting the warp drive they have that teleports them to where they've been before.)
This was a nice chapter, I wonder how having both generations of keyblade wielders will change things.