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Yen Sid had called them into his room. Aqua was sitting by the window. She was probably looking out for the kids. Even within the small radius, they were allowed to play in without supervision, they managed to get into trouble often. Yen Sid was at his desk. His expression was impossible to read, as usual. Terra was standing by the door. If one of the kids got hurt or someone broke in, he'd be ready.
"My apologies," Yen Sid began after a long silence, "I know you two had other plans for today."
"Not at all, Master Yen Sid." Terra gave a bow.
"We're always available for you," Aqua took her eyes off the window and made her way to Terra's side.
"I will get to the point," Yen Sid clasped his hands, "I have concerns about Ventus and Vanitas."
"They're adjusting to tower life quite well," Aqua smiled. She was particularly proud of Vanitas. At night, she would often tell Terra about Vanitas helping around the tower, calling someone by their name, or having a conversation that consisted of more than five words.
Terra understood the excitement because he did the same for Ven. The first time Ven had smiled, he got teary-eyed. Since then when Ven left his default blank slate mode, when Ven helped plan meals, and when Ven played with the other kids, Terra would tell Aqua about it in detail.
"So, I have noticed, but that's not my concern."
"Oh?" Aqua looked at Terra.
Terra gave a small shrug.
"I started looking into those two," using his crystal ball no doubt, "and it seems the two have been involved in poaching in the past."
"Poaching? Ven and Vanitas?" Aqua frowned.
"That is correct. So I worry about the safety of the kids and the residents of Tower Town."
It was quiet.
"I'm sorry," Aqua took a breath, "are you implying that the two traumatized twelve year olds that have been living with us for months now are dangerous?"
"They are Xehanort's children."
Terra peeked at Aqua, already aware that her anger was beginning to bubble.
"They're his victims," she kept her voice as even as she could.
"So they claim."
Terra threw his arm in front of Aqua as she took a step forward. She stopped. She looked at him in a way that told him if he didn't take over the conversation then someone would get hurt. Terra took a step in front of her.
"Master Yen Sid, why are you suddenly suspicious of them? This wasn't a problem before."
"Ventus has been acting strange lately."
"Ven has?"
"He's been checking out a lot of books about the different magical beings in the world, their anatomy, and such. And he's been around Sora a lot."
So, that's what this was about. It usually was about Sora. Whatever happened before Aqua and Terra arrived, Yen Sid was incredibly protective of Sora.
"I'll talk to Ven about Sora and the poaching thing and I'll get back to you."
"Please do," Yen Sid gave a nod, "you two are dismissed."
"Thank you, sir," Terra led Aqua out, "we'll let you know."
The door shut behind him.
"Do you think it's true?" Aqua kept her eyes down, "That they were poachers?"
It could be true. Poaching was likely how Xehanort got the two in the first place.
"Would that change anything?"
Aqua shook her head. "We'll keep them safe."
"I'll go find Ven."
Finding Ven wasn't hard. He was outside of the tower, under a tree. He had a large book on his lap.
"Hey, Ven," Terra stood in front of him.
He looked up. "Hi."
"What are you reading?"
"Rare Magical Creatures and Where to Find Them."
Terra stifled a laugh. Ven tilted his head.
"Let's make lunch."
Ven stood up and smiled. "Okay. What are we making?"
"Salad."
"Can we cut the vegetables into shapes? It looks nice."
"Of course."
They made their way to the kitchen. Terra got out the knives while Ven got out the vegetables.
"Hey, Ven, did you and Vanitas always live in Destiny Kingdom?"
"No," Ven turned the sink on, "not always."
"Where'd you live before?"
"We didn't really live anywhere…" Ven took a moment, "we were always traveling. Our master loaned us out often."
"He what?!"
"He let people borrow us." Ven started washing the carrots. "Though I suppose, he did that at the castle too."
"What did he loan you out for?"
"The tracking and capturing of rare magical creatures and items."
Yup. Yen Sid was going to love that.
"Is that so?"
"Yea."
"And what happened after that?"
"After what?"
"After you captured them."
"Our Master usually wanted a sample of their blood, fur, and/or feathers."
"And then?"
"And then?"
"What happened to them?"
"And then…" Ven stopped. "And then…" Ven was quiet for a long time. "I don't know."
He turned off the sink.
"I guess I never thought about it." Ven frowned. "Something bad probably.” He sat the vegetables on the counter. "Maybe Vanitas knows..."
"Why would he know?"
"Because he's nosey."
"Ah."
"We can ask him after lunch."
"Sure, let's do that."
Vanitas sat at the table with his arms crossed. He was glaring, as he usually was, at Terra.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Curiosity mainly."
Vanitas snorted.
"Vanitas!" Ven narrowed his eyes at him.
Vanitas frowned. "I don't know. It depends on who was using us."
"I see." Terra nodded. It wasn't like they could do much about it now…
Ven grabbed Vanitas's cheek, pinching him.
"Ow!"
"You know more."
Vanitas glared at Terra. Terra wasn't sure what he'd done to Vanitas, but it was obvious that Vanitas didn't like him much.
"Most of them ended up at that castle on the mountain, Diz's research lab."
"Really?" Terra stood up. "Diz and Xehanort work together?"
Vanitas rolled his eyes. "Not anymore."
"Why?"
"They got in a fight. A few years back, Diz claimed he found the whereabouts of a manticore. He wouldn't tell Master Xehanort where it was, but he wanted to use the two of us to catch it. Our Master refused to loan us without the location info, yadda yadda. They don't work together anymore."
"That happened?!" Ven was wide-eyed.
Vanitas sighed but looked at Ven with a much softer expression than he had Terra. "That's why he stopped loaning us out and made us work at the castle."
"Oh." Ven looked at Terra and smiled. "See he hears everything!"
Everything, huh? Terra looked at Vanitas. He was looking elsewhere. Had he heard this morning's conversation?
"Yes," Terra bowed towards Vanitas, "thank you very much, Vanitas."
"Whatever."
"You can go now," Ven looked at him. Ven smiled at Terra. "I'll help you clean up!"
Vanitas looked at Ven with a frown and then glared at Terra.
"Fine," Vanitas stood up. "I'm going!" He stomped out.
Oh.
"Ven."
"Yes?"
"You should be a little nicer to Vanitas."
"Nicer?"
"Yea, like," Terra rubbed the back of his head, "like think about his feelings more."
"But I always think about his feelings."
"Well, don't you think you might have hurt his feelings by telling him to leave?"
"But… he didn't want to be here."
"I see…"
Those two were on completely different pages, weren't they? Hopefully, they'd work it out.
At the end of the day, Terra and Aqua returned to Yen Sid's room.
"I spoke with them."
"And?" Yen Sid adjusted himself in his seat.
"Ven and Vanitas have been involved in poaching, but not in the last few years."
"I see."
"But it wasn't their choice. Xehanort used to loan them out to poachers, specifically DiZ."
"DiZ?" Aqua went wide-eyed. "From the mountain?"
"Yea, apparently Xehanort and DiZ used to work together, but had a falling out. Anyway, I think everything is fine."
Yen Sid was quiet for a moment.
"Did you ask about the books?"
"Oh, that slipped my mind…"
Yen Sid's expression didn't change, but Terra could feel him frowning.
"Master Yen Sid, I don't think Ven and Vanitas are spies or trying to cause us any trouble. I'd put my word on it."
Yen Sid was quiet for a long time.
"Fine. I will trust your judgment."
"Thank you, Master Yen Sid." Terra bowed.
They were dismissed. Terra walked next to Aqua as they went to their room.
When they arrived, Aqua walked to the dresser.
"Terra, can you unzip me?"
Terra walked up to her. The zipper on the back of her dress was pretty big for a zipper. It made it easier to grab.
When Terra had woken up as a golem, he could barely open and close his hands. He had to recalibrate his whole body. Aqua was a big help in that of course. Now his hands worked fine, but they weren't always as precise as they'd been when he was human. Aqua's solution was to make tiny objects a bit bigger so he could use them.
He unzipped her dress.
Aqua sighed. "Thanks."
Terra patted her head. "It's going to be okay."
She leaned against him. "Yes, one day everything will be better."
As they got ready for bed, Terra thought about Ven and Vanitas. He'd always figured they'd had a tough life, but now he really wished they'd found the two earlier. All he could do now was try to make sure they wouldn't have a hard time anymore. They deserved that at least.