Things were so hazy now. It was like he was stuck wandering through a thick fog. It had been this way ever since he had battled Xehanort after he had taken his body. He couldn’t see what Xehanort—or they since it was still his body?—was doing, couldn’t feel anything.
All of his control was relinquished. And he had no idea how to get it back. The best he could do was hope that something happened to Xehanort…even if that meant losing himself in the process. It was the only way to keep the worlds safe.
But who could possibly defeat him? He pondered this as he wandered aimlessly through the voids of his own heart. He himself wasn’t able to defeat him—but that was partially because Xehanort had his own hidden agenda.
Ven… He didn’t know for sure what happened to him. He and Vanitas had merged, he knew that but was unaware of the consequences of that occurrence.
The Master…would not be able to help. Not with the situation he was in. He was in an odd place right now. That only left one choice…
He reached into his pocket, fingers touching glass for a moment. He pulled out the object and stared into the trinket’s orange color. He clutched it tightly in his hand. “Aqua…” he said before bowing his head. He wished it didn’t have to come to this. “Put an end to me…”
He stayed frozen like that for a while before sighing. He had no way to know if that had even worked. He was about to stuff it back into his pocket when it started to glow faintly and partially illuminate the area around him. “Terra…” He looked around when that familiar voice echoed in the space all around him. “Tell me where to find you.”
She could hear him? No, better yet, he could hear her?! This was more than he had hoped for! But…he wasn’t sure where he was. Him or Xehanort. It was probably best he figure that out…
Damn, if only there was a way for him to—
His gaze moved from the pitch-black around him back to his dimly glowing WayFinder. Of course! He held it out in front of him, trying to think of only two things: where he was and Aqua. It was the only way to light this darkness.
He was standing on stone, it looked similar to a path. It was hardly anything too useful but it was a start. So it was time to start walking, make sure to really take in anything he saw that looked even somewhat notable. They had to reach each other.
“Aqua?” For some reason he couldn’t understand, Terra just wanted to talk to someone. Perhaps being quarantined inside of your own heart did that to a person. He was relieved to hear her questioning reply. “So…you’re alright?”
He continued to search for something familiar, stopping every few minutes to use the light from his WayFinder to try to pick out anything memorable. “I’ll live,” she agreed. “Are…you alright?” He could practically see her face, lined with worry.
Oh yeah. Just felt like hanging out inside of his heart for a while. Perhaps though, given the circumstances, joking would not be the best idea… “Well…” But then being completely down wouldn’t sate her concern either. “I’m just glad I can hear you. Wherever I am, I’m not provided much company otherwise.”
He was hoping that might make her laugh. But that was not anything close to what he received. “Terra…listen, I have to tell you something.”
“What is it?” he wondered, bending over when he noticed something on the ground.
“It’s…it’s about Ven…” Terra froze. Judging from her voice…this could not mean anything good. “He’s…” She could only sigh.
“Is he—“
“No, he’s not.” She cut him off before that awful thought could be voiced. “He…he and Vanitas merged.” He knew that already more or less. “Vanitas had control. I fought them and…I was able to defeat them.”
“And Ven?”
She didn’t say anything for a long time. He said her name to jar her out of it. “I’m sorry. Ven’s… His heart is sleeping. Our fight and the shattering of the Χ-Blade, it made his heart fall into a deep sleep.” It felt as though something had dropped down into his stomach at this news. He lowered his head, looking down to the glowing orange trinket in his hand. His fingers closed around it, as he thought about their younger friend and remembered the last thing he had said to him. “And…I’m not sure when he’ll wake up…”
He could hear the floodgates prepare to open with that last sentence, her voice trembling in a way that could only lead to tears. Aqua had always been stronger than him with this sort of thing—even when a normal girl might simply succumb to weeping and then break off into incoherent speech, she knew too well how to keep her head. Even when she broke off into sobs, they could only be heard when there wasn’t another sound—something that, unfortunately, his heart didn’t have a whole lot of.
The shallow, shaking breaths she took made it sound as though she was right there with him. He wished that was the case. Then he could actually help her—hug her as tight as he could and really let her cry it out for once. But no matter how close she sounded, no matter how much she was hurting, he would be no help. She was stuck on her own, without himself or Ven to help console her.
“Aqua, it’s alright,” he said, his voice as soft and reassuring as the light his WayFinder gave off. Words were all he had to offer. He had to make them count. “It’s not your fault—you did everything you could.” He stared into the darkness around him as he paused to think over what he ought to say next while the Keyblade Master sniffled. He didn’t know if those words had really hit home or not. He knew how adamant she could be when she was blaming herself. “And if it wasn’t for you, Ven probably wouldn’t even be that lucky.”
His fingers uncurled as his eyes looked over the talisman that she had worked so hard to make for them. “I wish you didn’t have deal with all this, Aqua…” First, she had to see Ventus merged with Vanitas, then she had to fight him, see him fall into a coma… She really was stronger. Maybe, on some level, he always knew she was. Finally he went back to his search for a distinguishing landmark, brushing his free hand over his eyes to clear away the water building up in them. “Especially with me tossing more of this crap on the pile.” Really, he was no better than Xehanort…
“Aqua, once you find me, I may not be salvageable.” She tried to interrupt, whispering his name with a pleading tone, but he didn’t listen. “I’ll try my best to help you. But if it doesn’t work, then you have to—”
“No! Terra, I couldn’t possibly—”
“You have to. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you because of me.”
“Neither could I,” she shouted back, emotion bleeding through her voice. “We are a family, Terra–the Master, Ventus…you and me.” The tears were back and the quivering tone had faded; she now sounded as strong as ever. “We’re family. And I’m not going to allow Xehanort to take another family member from me! I will do whatever it takes so we can meet up again. Whatever it takes.”
He had fallen silent as she spoke and when she paused, all he could hear was flowing water. He should have known she would say these things, but a part of him hoped that maybe—just once—this headstrong woman would put herself first. But of course she wouldn’t. “Alright,” he conceded, his voice almost hollow. He lifted his WayFinder in front of him, illuminating the fountain that water was trickling out of, leading to a familiar underground area. “We’re in Radiant Garden.”
“Alright. I’ll be there soon.”
A hand covered his face as even more tears worked their way out of him. Of course she couldn’t think of herself. She was probably one of the most selfless people he knew. And that was why he loved her.