Chapter Text
It was a great day for fishing.
Terra and Ven hiked to the pond in a forest in the Teleportation Room. It was Terra's favorite spot to fish. And it had been for a long time. Terra sat the chest he was carrying at the edge of the pond. He looked behind him. Ven was on his way.
"Tired from the hike?"
"No," Ven was panting, one hand resting on his thigh, the other holding two fishing rods. "I'm fine."
Terra chuckled. He took the rods from his hand and replaced them with a bottle of water. Ven only hesitated a moment before chugging the bottle. When he finished he looked at the bottle.
"There's more right?"
"Yup," Terra pointed to the chest.
Ven sighed, "That's good."
Terra sat down. Ven joined him. Terra showed him how to set up and use the fishing rod. As usual, he caught on pretty quickly.
"So," Ven kicked his feet in the water, "there is a pond by the tower…"
"There is."
"Why didn't we fish there?"
"I like it here."
"Oh."
They fished in silence for a while.
"Hey, Ven, if I could get you anything, what would you want?"
"The recipes for everyone's favorite meals."
"You really love cooking."
"You don't?"
Terra thought for a moment. "I didn't always. When I first learned to cook, it was just to survive."
Shortly after Terra's mother had died, Terra found her cookbook in the trash. His father hadn't waited to throw out everything "useless".
"Cookbooks aren't useless." Ven frowned.
"They aren't, but my father thought so. He thought cooking was women's work."
"What?" Ven tilted his head. "Like only women could do it?"
"Well, like only women should do it."
"Weird."
Because Terra's father refused to learn to cook, they only ate food at the inn. That was when his father remembered to bring him anything. He rarely did. So, Terra turned to the cookbook. With a few mishaps and a lot of determination, Terra started cooking meals for one. When he got good enough, he packed his backpack and left home.
"You ran away?"
Terra nodded. "You've told me about the king back at the castle."
Ven nodded.
"My father was a lot like him."
Ven looked at him wide-eyed. "You're like me and Vanitas."
"I am."
"And you turned out good!" Ven smiled, "I'm glad." Ven looked like he wanted to say more.
Terra waited.
"Maybe the Prince will turn out good too."
"You think about him a lot don't you?"
Ven nodded. "He's not much older than Sora and he doesn't have anyone. Even I had Vanitas… If I could have brought him, I think he would have liked it at the tower."
The Prince of Destiny Kingdom was so close and yet they just couldn't help him. There had to be some way…
"So," Ven cast his rod, "what happened?"
"Hm?"
"When you ran away, what happened?"
"Oh."
When Terra left home, he didn't have a plan. He decided to follow the river. So every day he walked down the river until he was hungry then he'd stop, fish, and make a meal. If there was still daylight when he finished then he'd continue on, if not he'd camp. He continued that cycle until:
"Who are you? And what are you doing in my forest?"
He turned to see a girl with long blue hair and eyes that matched. He'd never seen blue hair before. She was small, but her eyes told him not to underestimate her.
He got up from the spot he was fishing at and bowed.
"I'm Terra, ma'am. I'm a little lost, so I'm sorry if I'm on your property."
"Stand up, you don't have to bow."
He stood up. He got a better look at her. She wasn't just small, she couldn't be any older than him.
"Whoa! You own this whole forest? You're so young!"
"I don't own the forest. I just protect it."
"Really? The whole forest? You're amazing!"
"No, anyone could do it." She was quiet for a bit. "So, what are you doing here?"
"I ran away from home."
"You ran away?" She frowned. "Why would you do that?"
"My father's a jerk."
"So you don't have a home?"
"I don't think I ever did."
"Do you want to stay for dinner?"
Dinner was soup. It was… a little… It was basically just water with seasoning. He enjoyed the meal though because he and Aqua were fast friends. Staying for dinner quickly turned into just staying.
During the first week of his stay she made all the food, cleaned the shack, and went off into the forest. One day while Aqua was out, Terra decided to make dinner for her. He wasn't sure what to make since it seemed Aqua only knew three recipes: oatmeal, salad, and soup. He pulled out his mom's cookbook and found they had the ingredients for fish stew, except for the fish.
He went to fish and was able to catch enough to make the stew before Aqua got home. When she did get home, he realized he was very nervous. He'd only ever cooked for himself. What if it was actually terrible? Before he could convince her not to eat it, she tasted it.
"Wow, Terra!" She smiled, "This is delicious. I didn't know you could cook!"
And because she enjoyed it so much, he made breakfast too. And since she liked that, he made lunch until he was cooking every meal every day. And he found the more he saw her enjoy his food, the more excited he was to cook every day. It stayed like that even when they hit the road.
"Yea, so I guess Aqua's the reason I started loving cooking."
"It's nice to feed others," Ven smiled. "Thanks for sharing with me."
"Of course." He pulled out Aqua's room timer. It was about time for them to head back. "It's getting late."
Ven stood up. "We should head back. We have to make dinner."
"Hold on," Terra caught Ven's arm. Ven stopped and looked at him. Terra dug into his pants pocket. "Here."
Ven examined the small book, "What's this?"
"My mom's cookbook. I want you to have it."
Ven's eyes went wide. "I couldn't---"
"It's fine. I already wrote all the recipes I like in my own cookbook."
Ven took a moment. He reached his hands out and picked it up. He held it to his chest.
"Thank you, I'll take good care of it."
"I know you will. Happy Birthday, Ven."