Chapter Text
Aqua buried her face in her skinned knees, hiding the redness in her eyes that could only really come from crying. Outside, she could hear Terra calling for her and, further away, the Master’s own quiet voice. She knew that Terra hadn’t really meant it, hadn’t meant to call her useless or unworthy of her keyblade when he’d joked about her inabilities, but it didn’t hurt any less that he had done it. She tried again, reaching desperately for the power she felt resting just out of her grasp, but her blade still wouldn’t come. The Master insisted that it wasn’t a problem, that it took some apprentices months to learn how to call their blades to them, but Terra had managed it within weeks, managed to call forward his own blade of bronze, almost as tall as he was. The Master said their blades were fit for who they would grow to be rather than who they were. Aqua wondered how big Terra would get if he summoned such a large blade.
She rubbed her eyes furiously with closed fists, trying to stop the slowly leaking tears. The sound of footsteps beneath her caused her to gasp, pressing her back harder into the trunk behind her, trying to hide herself in the cover of interwoven branches. Aqua didn’t want to be found. Aqua wanted to cry in peace and return to the castle with her own blade in her hands. But her light wouldn’t obey her, wouldn’t form into anything at all. It hurt, it hurt so much that Terra was so naturally good at things she had to work for. Yes, she could do magic, but she was a Keyblade wielder, not a magician.
But was she even a Keyblade wielder if she couldn’t summon her Keyblade? A shiver raced down her spine and she hugged her legs tighter, the branches creaking under her weight.
“Aqua?” she heard from beneath her, and she bit her tongue to avoid making a sound. It was Terra, though she didn’t think she’d ever heard him sound like that. He’d only been here a little while, but he had never spoken with such remorse in his voice. Maybe he was actually sorry?
“Aqua, please come out… The Master is really angry at me…” he said, and Aqua huffed before she could stop herself. Nevermind.
Terra looked up and spotted her hair immediately, the bright blue not hiding well against the greenery around her. He smiled for a moment, stopping beneath her tree.
“I can see you, Aqua. Stop crying and come down,” he said, crossing his arms across his chest. Aqua bit her lip hard, trying to stop the tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. Why was he so mean to her? What had she done?
“‘M not crying,” she got out, and she hoped her voice was as even as it sounded. Terra leaned against the trunk of her chosen tree.
“Sure, fine. Come down already, it’s late.”
Aqua scrubbed at her face, trying to wipe away any trace of the tears that had fallen. He was right; she wasn’t sure how long she’d been in the trees, but the hush of dusk was already heavy on the world, the night air filled with crickets and summer heat. Once Aqua thought she was put together, she stood and carefully dropped out of the tree, landing with relative grace a few feet from Terra who looked mildly surprised at the drop she’d made. Aqua crossed her arms and pointedly looked away from him, making her way back to the castle without acknowledging him any further. Terra sputtered for a moment before jogging after her, easily falling into step beside her.
The space between them was thick with tension, making Aqua wish she’d just gone to the castle on her own rather than moping long enough for Terra to actually manage to find her. She didn’t want to be walking along with him like this. She didn’t even want to be looking at him after this afternoon’s training session.
Terra poked her side, causing her to swat at his hand. He was quick, though, and grabbed her hand, causing them both to stop on the forest path. She tugged, but he was still stronger than her and held her firmly in place.
“Let go of me!” she shouted, trying to yank her hand away. Terra only gripped her tighter.
“Listen to me first,” he said. She bit her lip and pulled again, and this time he let her go. She backed away, holding her hands to her chest. Her shoulders hunched inward and she turned back to the castle, ignoring the feeling of his eyes on her back.
“I don’t wanna hear it,” she said. Terra licked his lips nervously, unsure of what to say.
“Please?” he tried. Aqua looked down at her hand for a moment, thinking, and then slowly turned to face him.
“What.”
Terra offered her his hand, which she stared at as though it was foreign. Some part of her registered the peace offering there, the fact that she could choose not to take his hand and he would not force her. She hesitantly reached out and took his hand in hers.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, what I said,” he told her, gently squeezing her hand. She sighed. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting from him, but that was just disappointing enough to not be it.
“Is that all?”
Terra shook his head. “Close your eyes, okay?” Aqua tried to release his hand and pull away, but he still had a firm grip on her, which only tightened after her attempt to let go. “Please? Just trust me.”
Aqua shivered, the quickly cooling air sending a shiver down her spine. Did she trust him? He’d hurt her, yes, but he didn’t seem to mean it. She swallowed nervously, staring down at their conjoined hands, before hesitantly closing her fingers around his hand again and closing her eyes.
Terra smiled, amazed that she had actually listened to him, before he did the same. “Okay. Just… just feel, okay?”
Aqua nodded after a moment, her shoulders tense, and waited. She jumped when it went from the feeling of his hand in hers to the feeling of solid metal between their conjoined palms, weight holding their hands in place. She felt him release it and call it, again and again, filling and emptying the space between their hands. And she understood. She understood what she wasn’t realizing before, what was missing as she tried to force a part of her to do something it wasn’t meant to do. And in her free right hand, almost without thinking, she called her blade forth, asking it to join her instead of insisting it bend to her, and her right hand was suddenly heavy with warm metal humming in her touch.
Terra grinned, still not releasing her hand or his blade. “You did it, Aqua!”
Aqua slowly opened her eyes, staring in awe at the blade of blues and silvers in her hand, listening to the feel of it against her palm, the way it hummed, nearly sang. She’d done it.
There was a moment of awe before she released her grip on his hand, throwing herself forward to hug him tight with both arms around his middle, nearly shaking as she fought off the tears at the back of her eyes again. “I did it!”
Terra released his blade to hug her back, smiling and relieved to see that she was smiling again. “You did it.”
Aqua pulled away from him, still grinning like he had given her the best gift in the world, and grabbed his free hand, tugging him insistently down the forest path. “Come on, I want to show the Master!”
Terra conceded to allow himself to be dragged through the woods, just glad to feel her light burning brightly again, glad to see the smile back on her face.