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“The exam’s in a week.”
“Yeah.”
Aqua looked up at the stars again. It was just nice to look at them on nights like tonight, when stress was in some odd locale both close and far away. The quiet wouldn’t last, though; once they became Masters there would be less time for simple moments like this one.
“How do you think it’ll go?” Worst case, one or both of them would fail. Years and months and days of training would come to nothing. Even with the assured possibility of retaking it—the idea radiated stress.
“You’ll do very well,” Terra says. “And I know I’ve been training and studying a lot to prepare, so I’ll do well, too.”
“Humble, much?” She teases him, knowing that his face will scrunch up onto one side and he’ll look at her in exasperation. It’s hilarious to watch him get so indignant.
(Of course, it must be noted that this was not wholly because she thought it was funny. She thought it was cute in addition to being funny, but she didn’t need to tell Terra that.)
“I’m just saying that we’ve been working hard,” he huffs, though it’s with a smile. “I included you in there, so if you don’t want me to brag on your behalf then I’d be happy to—”
“—no.” He lifts his eyebrows, and she concedes. “Okay, fine, I like compliments. I like that you think so highly of my ability to succeed, so go ahead.”
He declares, “In that case, I’ll brag on your behalf anytime.” Then he seems to think he’s said something wrong. He reddens ever so slightly, as she can see through the night by the light of the castle.
“I’ll do the same for you, then,” she says, ignoring the blush. He just wanted to embarrass her. And it wasn’t like he didn’t know about her crush on him—mostly. She’d hinted about it to him a couple months back, when she thought he’d puzzle it out, which had led to a round of teasing.
“Definitely wasn’t the actor... Let me guess, it was that guy with the jetpack,” he snickers from behind a book. “Can’t say I liked his helmet, though. He looked like a keychain with it on.”
“It was a rocketpack, and no.” She glares at the centerfold of her book, wishing she could just go back to when she talked to him—hypothetically, of course—about liking someone. And then not done that. He’d taken the concept and ran with it, convinced that she must have liked someone on one of the worlds they visited. Light, had he run with it.
“They’re the same thing,” he protests at the correction. “He was flying with it, what’s the difference?””
“There’s a big difference, because they’re not the same thing.” Maybe arguing about semantics would get his mind off the former subject. Or not, but it was worth a try. “Jets don’t spit fire out of their ends. It was a rocket.”
“Fine, you win. Anyway, who is it?” He didn’t even try to pursue the point; he was that intent on knowing the answer to his persistent question.
It always led back to that question, doesn’t it? Light, she’s told him so many times she’s lost count—oh, it was probably five or six, but that was five or six times too many—that it wasn’t his concern. Well, it wasn’t his concern yet, but he didn’t have to know that.
Aqua looks up to see that he seems genuinely curious, and not teasing this time. Still. It’s just—weird. She’s known him for so long, surely there was something that said that wasn’t allowed. She doesn’t know, but if there is, she wishes there isn’t.
“It’s none of your business.” She returns to her book. The Mark of Mastery is coming up soon, and she has to study. It’s free time, but there’s no harm in reading some more on the general theory of Keyblade usage.
“Please,” he begs, “I’ll stop teasing you.”
“I already told you: it’s none of your business.”
He sighs, looking remarkably like a deflating balloon. “Okay, then.”
And just like that—well, almost, because he still looked at her expectantly sometimes—he stops.
“Why, thank you,” he says. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
Just as suddenly as it had started, the conversation drops. The night becomes quiet again.
And so they sit there for a while as the wind gets colder. It always does now, with the seasons changing. It gets harsher and more biting, so much so that it might not be worth staying out here for much longer. Tiny goosebumps rise along Aqua’s arms and she considers going in, when Terra speaks.
“What’ll we do after we pass?”
“If we pass. Maybe my teeth will fall out in the middle of the training hall, and it’s an ancient sign of unworthiness.” She shudders.
Terra snaps his fingers. “I had a nightmare like that a couple nights ago. It was actually terrifying in the moment.”
“Of course it was.” He’s the one to have ridiculous-in-hindsight nightmares like that. Like dreaming that he’s swapped bodies with someone and has to live their life for a day, or that his armor has come to life and wants to kill him for not cleaning it. After the last one, (it had been a long night just before, maybe that explained things) he’d stumbled over to Ven’s room, trying to explain to him the importance of cleaning his armor. He claimed no memory of the last part and that he had been sleepwalking. “They really are, especially when you think it’s real.”
“I know, right? Anyway.” He pauses for a moment. “We’d probably stay at the castle for a bit. I mean, we can’t just up and leave Ven. Maybe we’d go on a vacation, though, I know I’ll need a vacation after this.”
“We’d be able to go pretty much anywhere after the exam,” she says. It’s a quite daunting prospect, but it’s also exciting.
Of course we’re not going to go crazy over that or anything.” His voice takes on a lower, more stern tone. “As Keyblade Masters, we must be paragons of excellence for the worlds to see.”
“Of course we wouldn’t be wild! We’d just go everywhere we’ve never been for a week, then come back.”
Terra sits up with a small ‘oof.’ “Where haven’t we been, though?”
It’s a fair question. They’ve been on missions to other worlds before, and so many of them, too. But there were far more stars in the sky; there were so many worlds they could find. And there was no possible worry of getting lost—the Land of Departure always shone the brightest out of all the lights surrounding the Lanes Between.
“Most likely a lot of places.”
“Mhm. You’re right, it’ll be pretty nice.”
”Yeah.”
They sit in silence a while more, and then go in. It was too cold outside.