I don't own anything associated with Kingdom Hearts. It belongs to Square Enix/Disney.

Thanks goes to Xehanorto for helping to keep Xehanort in character!

Heads up: two chapters were added today. So if you missed the earlier update, make sure you read that before this!

Epilogue: Where Are They Now?

So, where are our heroes now?

Well, with Terra and Aqua cured, things quickly fell into back into their usual routine, bar a few days of rest for poor Eraqus and Ven. Unfortunately for Ven, neither of his two friends seemed to really remember being a child, which meant that he had no one to laugh with about the past.

. . . But at least he had his pictures!

Ven leafed through the photo album he had made, smiling at the shenanigans his child-sized friends had gotten into. He was sprawled out on the living room's couch, feet on the armrest in a manner that was eerily similar to another apprentice his age. Not far from him, a fire crackled, sending comforting waves of heat through the air. He sighed fondly, flipping another page.

Aqua and Terra, adult-sized, walked in, the latter eating an apple. "What are you looking at, Ven?" he asked.

"Photos."

Terra said nothing for a second as he awaited an explanation that didn't come. "Photos of . . .?"

"You two. As kids."

"Really?" Aqua said. "You have pictures?"

Aqua was smiling, her face bright as she thought about what might be in that album. Terra, on the other hand, had taken on a cornered-animal expression.

"You have fun with that!" Terra said, backing out of the room.

Aqua stopped him. "You're not leaving, are you? Come on, Terra. I bet you were adorable."

"Maybe, but . . ."

His mumble was cut short as Aqua grabbed his ear and dragged him over to where Ven sat.

"Okay Aqua, here's a picture of you sleeping on Vanitas. I hope you realize I risked my life to get that photo!" As Ven spoke, he sat up straight, like a proud parent.

"Aww," she said. "I wish I could remember him more clearly . . . he's not mad at me, is he?"

"At you? Probably not," Ven assured her. "And here's a picture of Terra with Eraqus."

Terra coloured as Aqua cooed over his younger self. When she commented on how cute he was, Terra couldn't help but say, "Well, I'm pretty cute now, too. Anyways, I have things to do so I really have to go!"

Terra said that quickly, nervously, and Ven looked up at him, suspicious. It was almost like Terra knew what to expect-

Oh.

OH.

That liar! He did remember.

Filled with righteous fury, Ven flipped to a page near the back – one that he hadn't intended on showing Aqua. Terra had made a grave error in deceiving him when he had all these weapons at hand.

Ven firmly jabbed his finger onto one particular photo. "This is where Terra decided to see what wearing one of your bras was like!"

Silence.

In a low voice, Terra said, "Ven, I'm going to kill you."

Eraqus exchanged his duties as babysitter for his old job of being a keyblade Master. The surrogate father duty stayed however, though it had been like that even before the Fountain of Youth.

Speaking of which, Eraqus had sent a memo out to all of his fellow Masters warning them to keep themselves and their apprentices away from the fountain. Naturally, that meant that within a week, there were over a dozen new cases.

Which meant that Yen Sid was not pleased.

Through the crystal orb, Yen Sid said, "Eraqus, if one more Master contacts me about their apprentice deaging, I am going to tell them to drop the child off at your castle."

Eraqus winced. "I told them to stay away from the Fountain of Youth! I don't know why so many are suddenly feeling the need to investigate it."

Yen Sid stared at him critically. "You clearly know very little about psychology, Eraqus. But that is not why you contacted me. Speak quickly; I have another Master on hold."

"Yes . . ." Eraqus cleared his throat. "I was wondering if . . . if you . . . well, that is . . ."

"Out with it."

Eraqus closed his eyes. "Do you have any books on how to hone the powers of darkness?"

Yen Sid said nothing for almost half a minute. "You are asking me for a book on how to hone darkness? You, Eraqus?"

"It's Terra," Eraqus said, feeling guilty for asking the question in the first place. "He needs training with it, and I can't seem to contact Xehanort . . ."

"I do have such a tome. Send one of your apprentices to pick it up."

Eraqus sighed. "Thank you, my friend. I will send Terra right away."

Vanitas wandered from world to world, always seeming to gravitate back to the Land of Departure for food. Eventually, he just decided to take over the guest room next to Ven's. His constant presence at meals and his former duty as babysitter meant that no one actually realized he wasn't supposed to be there for nearly a month. When asked, Vanitas casually said that Xehanort had intended to use him to destroy the universe, and that if they didn't want him there, he could always go back to his Master and do that.

No one asked what he was doing there after that.

Ven and Vanitas, having been through so much together, became great friends ("Almost like twins," Terra would mutter). They quickly discovered that they had lots of interests in common. Too much. Almost like they were the same person . . .

No one caught on though, and Vanitas decided not to tell. He and Ven seemed to be doing fine apart, so why ruin that?

He really was doing great. It had been a very, very long time since the unversed showed up. The darkness of his heart, once freezing cold to the touch, held gentle warmth now, like smouldering embers. He wasn't sure whether it was from being around the light so much, if he was absorbing that light, but he didn't really care. He was content to let a miracle stay a miracle.

Terra and Vanitas became friends too, with Vanitas becoming Terra's default mentor for all things darkness-related. In regards to Aqua, well sadly her memories of being a child never became more than a fleeting dream, but she seemed to have some unconscious recollection of what had happened, and she and Vanitas bonded swiftly and deeply. There was just one problem.

Sometimes, Vanitas seemed to forget she was no longer a child and hence, no longer in need of his protection . . .

"I was thinking that once I become a hero, we could go on a date!"

At the Olympus Coliseum, Aqua's face turned bright as she stared at Zack Fair. "A d-date?" she repeated.

"Yep! What do you say?" He grinned widely at her.

"I . . . uh . . . well . . ."

And Vanitas appeared out of nowhere, a scowl on his face. "Who's this?" he demanded gruffly, arms crossed over his chest in a distinct I-am-not-amused stance.

"Zack Fair, hero in training!" He held out his hand.

Vanitas didn't take it. "Pretty manly name for such a girly man," he sneered. "Why are you talking to this bozo, Aqua?"

Zack blinked, shocked. "Hey, I-"

He cut himself off when Vanitas very casually put his arm around a stunned Aqua's waist.

"Oh," Zack said, "is he your . . .?"

"Yes," Vanitas said, quickly casting a Silence spell on Aqua to stop her from telling him the truth.

"Oh, I'm really sorry, I didn't know. I'll be going now!"

Only once Zack ran off did Vanitas lift his spell. Aqua immediately turned on him, spitting, "What was that for?"

"He's too old for you," Vanitas said.

"He's the same age!"

Vanitas shrugged. "Too lame, then?"

Aqua growled, stomping off. Vanitas watched her go, knowing that by the end of today, she would forgive him.

He teleported a small distance away, appearing in front of a pacing Ven. "Chased him off," he said to his other half.

"And I made sure Terra saw him asking her out. Maybe now he'll stop procrastinating . . ." Ven stopped pacing. "We're going to get those two together if it kills me!"

Vanitas smirked, and then the two boys communed in whispers as they planned the next stage of their scheme.

Everyone starts with innocence. The vast majority of people also start off good. It takes a special, very unique individual to begin life as evil.

And as it turned out, Xehanort was not one of those people.

Being as strong in magic as he was, his memory left him quickly, leaving him without a keyblade, without his vast stores of schemes, or even the knowledge of why he had them in the first place. The Youth spell rewound his life, finally hitting Play at a point where he was close to Ven in age. It was an age where he had still been in training with Eraqus, where keyblades were used to help, not harm.

It was an age before power and knowledge of the Keyblade War had poisoned his mind.

He wandered the worlds aimlessly, until he came across one under siege by a dragon. There, a man – a prince he soon discovered – gave him a sword and asked for his assistance. Having nothing better to do, he accepted. Together, he and the prince took down the dragon – who turned out to actually be a sorceress – and rescued the princess the sorceress had enchanted. Afterwards, the prince bestowed upon him a knighthood and offered him a place in his court.

Xehanort refused.

He continued to wander, helping out when it was required of him, giving advice to those who asked. Eventually, he became renowned throughout many worlds for his quiet wisdom and great power. Word eventually reached Eraqus, who sought his old friend out. Eraqus, having learned from Vanitas what the older Xehanort had been up to, did not offer to cure Xehanort, but instead offered him a home.

Xehanort refused.

He continued his nomadic lifestyle, content. His restlessness, his need to see and know everything, drove him onwards, sending him from world to world, from town to town. And each one, he touched in his own way.

In another time, in another universe, Xehanort's power, his intelligence, his determination and his ambition had made him the ultimate evil.

But if Xehanort had the potential to be that, then he must have also had the potential to be the ultimate good.

And so life went on. The apprentices trained, Eraqus watched over them, and Xehanort continued to roam. The initial hoopla over the Fountain of Youth died until it became nothing more than an interesting side-fact in reports.

Of course, the story did not end there. There are still many questions to be asked: Did Terra pass the Mastery Exam? Did Ven ever discover Vanitas was his other half? Did Sora, Riku and Kairi still get their keyblades? And most importantly, did Terra finally ask Aqua out, and were Ven and Vanitas spying on him when he did?

There are many questions to be asked, but does the answer really matter? For regardless of whether or not Terra became a Master, or Ven and Vanitas became one, there was one thing that always remained certain:

They were happy.

Even Xehanort.

And that is the official ending to A Small Problem. Thanks to everyone who's reviewed and to everyone that's followed this story to its end!

There's no follow up planned for this story . . . but if I ever write a fluff series, it'll probably be a sequel to this.

Anyways, next story up is the sequel for The Shrouded Path fans. If you're interested, I'll see you there. Otherwise, it's been great talking to you, and I hope we'll see each other around!

Thanks again for all your support!