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"You kept this?"
Terra lifted his head, still feeling heavy in his own body. "What?"
Aqua leaned over, pointing lower, expression surprised and eyes somewhat misty, as they had been for the last several hours. Ven made a questioning sound from Terra's other side, sitting up and shaking sand from his hair, despite Terra's protesting, "Hey!" Since he got nothing but a pout from his younger friend, Terra finally looked where Aqua was pointing.
A familiar object had slipped from his pants pocket.
Dulled orange held together by silver, scuffed, a little bent, but the star-shaped charm proudly held shape in Terra's palm.
"I..." He startled when fingers touched his face, but Aqua still brushed the tears on his cheeks away. Ven--being covered in sand--just snuggled closer as Terra sat up, bracketing him in warmth. "I guess I did. I don't really remember... much. Outside of. But I must have hidden it away."
"You kept it safe," Aqua whispered. "You wanted our connection safe."
"I know I wanted to be found," he whispered back. Both his friends held him tight. "And you did."
Aqua nodded, but Terra noticed the way she wiped her face on his shoulder, and looped an arm around her, too. She pulled herself together to ask, "How could it have stayed with you through all, all of that?"
"I thought you said it was magic," Ven pointed out, pulling out his own wayfinder charm as an example.
"Well, yes. But what I set couldn't have made it appear like a keyblade. And Xehanort," she spat the name with venom, "ended up splitting Terra's heart and body."
"I guess it came back with me when, when I was reunited?" Terra tried.
Ven groaned. "You're making my head hurt."
Terra chuckled and ruffled Ven's hair with his free hand. Ven whined about getting even more sand in it, making Aqua laugh too.
"I guess it doesn't really matter." Aqua lifted her own, bumping her hand against Terra's. "Since we're all together again."
Ven lunged over to meet his charm to theirs too, making Terra tip over back onto the sand, his friends landing on top. He exaggerated how heavy they were to make them laugh more. So even though Ven really did push the breath from him, and Aqua did have truly boney elbows, Terra's heart was lighter than it had been for years.