Summary: Aqua and Terra have been friends for a long time,
endlessly practicing and studying for the cultivation of their efforts - the title of Keyblade Master.
While their relationship has always been comfortable and close, Aqua realizes that the way she has been seeing him has been changing. Now, she is left with trying to define what that means.
Terra is 18 in this chapter, Aqua is 17.
Rating: T

It was the aroma of the ginger tea and his touch that awoke her.

Aqua had slumped over a desk in the library, on top of an open book when Terra stopped by with some of his own brewed mixture. He rustled through her hair to wake her.

She took a sharp inhale, rubbed her eyes, and found the tea that he offered her. He shook his head gently with a tsk-tsk, as though to say that she was being naughty by sleeping on her studies.

But this was always their flow. Genuine support for each other that hid behind constant teasing.

Aqua gave a slight hum as she drank it, which was strong in the kick of flavor, and she was grateful he brought it to her. Yet this was to be expected. He always brought her tea late at night.

"Where is Ven?" she asked.

"Out slaying some dragon." He took a seat in front of her.

"I think I'm too tired for your sass, tonight," she said, her voice raspy.

Terra let out a soft laugh. "In his dreams, tucked away in his bed." He smiled at her, and this woke her up a little more than the tea did.

He brought a couple of his own books and opened one, although he paid no attention to it.

"Whatever you were reading must have been so exciting," he said.

Aqua placed her hand on the page she was on and closed the book to reveal a large leather cover with carved designs.

"The Affairs of the Heart," she read.

"How romantic." His eyes were focused on the page in front of him, but his attention was clearly somewhere else.

"Like you'd know. Have you even read this one? It's one of our mandatories."

Terra looked up at her, his gaze focused and confident. He had that small, adorable smirk she always knew him to carry whenever he was going to start getting cocky.

"Ye heart is delicate and tangible, and thou must lifteth ye Key-sword bequeathed to ye in honor, for thy Key-sword shall ne'er be wielded to perform betwixt lyght and dark," he said as he enunciated his words in order to sound fancy.

Aqua tried to control her laughter but it came out instead as a snort.

"And all ye Key-sword bless-ed shall journey on behalf of the lyght, yea verily, and bringeth peace instilled upon all thine hearts shared," he continued as she laughed.

"That sounds pretty much right," she said.

"I guess so, I think I made half of that up."

"You want to see what I found?" she asked, her eyes lighting up. She grabbed a book from a stack that she built next to her. Terra took the same mug he offered her and drank a large gulp.

She sifted through the pages and then turned the book towards him.

"Look at this," she said as she pointed to a specific spice among a list of them.

Terra tried to read the word out loud, but had trouble with it.

"Turmeric," she corrected. "Apparently, I can make a cake with this."

He was intrigued. "A spice cake?"

Aqua relished at his interest, always needing an opportunity to share this kind of excitement with him.

"Yes! And look here. There is this interesting spice..." she turned the book back towards her. "Hy-sso-pus. Hyssopus. It seems like I can use this one to mix with others for our meat dishes or something."

She continued. "Oh! And another one..." She quickly turned some pages. "Annatto."

"Where would you find all of these?" He set the mug down.

Aqua sighed. "Somewhere out there." She gestured with her head to the stars outside the large, ornate windows of the library. "It would probably take me years to find them, but I would love to be able to play with them now."

Terra let out a small half-sigh, half-chuckle. "Maybe when you are allowed to go on your own missions next year, you'll have the time to search for them."

Terra was eighteen, while Aqua was seventeen. They had just passed their preliminary exams, and were on their way to take their Mark of Mastery the next year. For now, he was allowed to go on missions by himself because he was older.

Aqua smiled as she leaned onto both of her hands. "You nervous about your first mission?"

Terra let his mouth hang, carefully considering his words.

"We'll see how I feel tomorrow," he finally said.

The next morning, Aqua and Ventus waited in the castle foyer, hoping to get a chance to give Terra a good-luck parting.

It seemed like forever before he finally made his way to say good-bye.

"What's the mission?" Ventus asked excitedly.

Terra held up a small card with some notes. "I have to keep watch over a mother elephant and her calf who are working in an abusive circus."

"That sounds pretty easy, you got this!" Ventus said, his eyes glistening. He had always thought of Terra as the most amazing person he had ever met.

"I'm sure you'll do great," Aqua said. It did sound easy, and she suspected there was probably a lesson behind it as well if the Master chose this for him. "Do you know how long you'll be gone?"

"Long enough to get the job done," Terra said as he exhaled slowly.

Which shouldn't take that long. As he boarded his glider and drifted off to the sky, Aqua took notice of the silence left behind once she couldn't hear the hum of his flying anymore. It will probably be just a day or two. No big deal.

That presence stayed with her, however. There was suddenly no one to study with her late at night when Ventus was asleep. No one to distract her from those books and start conversations that could sometimes last for hours. She made breakfast for one less person. She sparred more often with Ventus, who was skilled enough to keep up with her.

However, her equal wasn't there to challenge her when she needed it.

He wasn't there to joke about her faltering form when she tried to counter his incredibly strong attacks. He wasn't there to try to psyche her out with his incessant provoking. He wasn't there to give her earnest praises every time they finished a duel, or discuss techniques to get better.

Ventus teased her as well, but the way it was done with Terra was different. For a friend that she has known since she was eight, growing up with him meant she knew every twitch he showed on his face. It meant she understood him perfectly well, possibly better than he understood himself. They used to be inseparable.

But it wasn't just that. On the third night he was gone, when she brewed her own tea and didn't like the taste of it, she caught herself thinking of his deep-blue eyes and strong jawline. I'm being silly. He'll be back soon. There's no need for this...

The morning after, she looked outside the window from the foyer, to see him flying back. Her heart beating on her chest and a smile beaming on her face, she ran over to the entrance, but stopped short after what she witnessed.

Terra stormed into the castle, his eyes red. He looked at her for just a moment, a look of complete despair on his face, and he continued on without breaking his stride or saying anything to her.

She followed him to the library.

"Terra, what happened?"

Terra threw some books onto their table, and opened one while he maniacally flipped through some pages.

"I just need to study a little," he said curtly.

Just like him to get distant and snarky when he got upset.

"What good is studying going to do for you now?" she asked.

"Just... something..." Frustrated, desperate.

"... What happened to the elephants?"

The question made him stop his frantic search through his books, and he took a deep inhale. It looked as though he was trying to stop himself from crying.

"I agreed to work for the circus," he said, his voice shaking. "I made sure I was tasked at taking care of them. And I did. I took care of her, made sure she was fed and clean. The little one felt comfortable around me and we played everyday."

He put his hand to his face as he continued. "But the little one was born with very... large ears. Some kids were picking on him during a show, and the mother got so upset." His voice dropped to a whisper. "She attacked the humans in defense of her baby. I understood why, and I tried to stop her. I tried to help my co-workers stop her, but..."

He turned around and leaned back on the table, his hands splayed out over the surface. "The ringleader decided to separate them. They locked her up in all of these chains. She couldn't even walk in her cage." He regained some composure to keep his voice calm. "They made the little one into a clown. To be made fun of every night while he food was thrown at him. He won't even play with me anymore."

Aqua didn't realize her eyes were watering. She walked over to his side, and leaned back on the table with him.

"What kind of monster would do that to a mother?" he said.

"You're right, he's a monster." She knew how sensitive Terra was. He was strong, and he was optimistic about his endeavors, and probably a little too often he would overestimate his abilities. These kinds of events were things that Terra always took so personally.

"They are so lucky they have someone like you to care about them," she said softly. "You'll find a way to help them. But you won't find the answer in these books."

Terra kept his gaze towards the floor, refusing to look at her. It wasn't just that he was sensitive. She knew that he often felt embarrassed over his failures, as if it would taint his reputation. Not that he needed to impress her of all people, but it didn't make sense that he felt he should anyway.

He looked utterly defeated. He whispered, "what is the Master going to say?"

There wasn't a good answer to that, except to gently put her hand over his. She wanted him to relax, and realized that she was the one who couldn't when she felt his thumb hold her fingers. The movement made her stomach flutter, as if she yearned for the touch. She missed him, yes, but this much?

She squeezed him a little, which prompted him to turn his hand upward so that she can hold it. His hand was warm, and she saw him lean toward her, although he kept his stare towards the floor.

Her thoughts lingered on his touch. They had held hands before, plenty of times in fact. Mostly to guide each other when they were hiking dangerous terrain, or when they were children so that they wouldn't get separated.

They actually used to touch each other much more often. They used to wrestle when they played. As they got older though, that became awkward. He would call it less appropriate, and never initiated it again. By that point, they were older and were more interested in perfecting their fighting techniques, so it wasn't something either of them missed.

It didn't register to her how long they had been holding hands in silence until she heard the Master walk into the library.

"Terra," he called out.

Terra quickly slipped his hand out of hers as he faced his Master, his posture erect in military style.

"Yes, Master." He had wiped any evidence of sadness or anxiety from his voice, as he usually did to appear like he was in control.

"We shall talk in my office," Eraqus said before leaving the library.

"Yes, sir," Terra said as he followed.

Aqua leaned on that table by herself, looking at her hand while her heart beat a little harder.

"How did Terra not beat that guy up?" Ventus asked as Aqua filled him in about the ringleader. The two were dusting the hallways of the second floor. Every day there was a chore to do. It couldn't be helped in a castle so large with so little residents.

"How is he, anyway?" he asked her.

Aqua shook her head. "You know what he's like. He's completely wrecked over the calf."

Terra had been in the Master's office for quite a while now, and the chores were a distraction when they grew tired of waiting for him. It took a couple of hours before they finally finished, and thought to take a break outside. It was then that they saw him head down the entrance hall and out the front entrance.

"Terra!" Ventus called out, but it was too late as the doors slammed shut. "He didn't even say goodbye."

Normally he would, so what happened?

Aqua walked downstairs as Ventus followed, to see the Master standing there.

"Master?" she asked.

"I have instructed Terra to not come back until his mission to free the elephants is complete," Eraqus said, walking back toward his office as though nothing pressing had happened.

"Sir?" she asked after him.

"He needs to learn to juggle his setbacks. Life is not always going to be easy for him, especially as a Keyblade bearer." He wrapped his hands behind his back, pensive but strong on his word in a hierarchy where what he said was law. There wasn't a point to stand up to him.

And an order like that wouldn't make Terra feel any better about himself.

"You're such a worry wort," Ventus said, breaking the silence as she stood there thinking to herself.

"Don't tell me you aren't."

"Just a little, but it's Terra. He can handle it. I swear, your worrying is going to bite back at you hard one day."

Aqua gazed out the window of the library four days later, sitting on her usual spot, with the same open book - but unable to concentrate. The day was bright and the sky full of clouds, yet there was no overcast. A good day to spend outside instead of stuffing her mind with words, but she preferred to finished her responsibilities guilt-free. She just wasn't doing a good job of that.

Ventus sat across from her. The seat directly in front of her was too special, too reserved for Terra, for him to take it. He also had an open book and attempted to finish an essay. Instead, he just fiddled with the pen, and it smacked against the table over and over.

"Ugh, Aqua, save me from myself." Ventus tossed the pen aside.

"You really need to learn a bit of patience."

"You really need to learn a bit of patience." His voice became shrill so he could pass as sounding like a girl. "I should be rewarded for spending at least ten minutes reading this stupid thing. It's so much better when Master reads things to me."

He looked at the book she was reading, with its archaic language. "I really don't look forward to reading that," he said. A moment of silence, and then he stood up from his chair. "I'm going to train a little."

"Ven."

"Just for, like, ten minutes. I can't stand sitting here any longer."

Aqua shook her head as he walked away. It meant that her, or in the usual case Terra when he was still around, would have to sit with him at the last minute to finish the essay before the deadline.

Alone, she had nothing else to do but to tend to her book, finding a flow so she could let the words pass by. She didn't bother to check the time when she heard footsteps behind her.

"You done procrastinating, Ven?" she called out, only to see Terra stand in front of her with a mug of tea, and a large stain on his shirt.

"As you can see," he said as he pulled on the fabric, "Ven already assaulted me with a hug, with not a care in the world what I was holding." He gave his usually sheepish smile, in so much better spirits than the last time she saw him.

"Terra!" The surprise was well-welcomed, and she knew she had the goofiest grin across her face. But she didn't care. "You have to tell me how it went!"

He sat in front of her. Finally, a sense of normalcy.

His response was a smile, and she said, "so it went well?"

He nodded. "I tried to get him out of his shell. I even helped him visit his mother, although I had to cut it short. It was awful, taking him away from her. But eventually, I got him to open up after... well..." he shrugged a little, his eyes darting around like he was about to admit a secret. "Is it bad to get an elephant a little drunk?"

"Terra!"

"It was an accident, I promise." He held his hand up as if he was vowing. "But it worked," he added, searching the library for anyone who might have been listening in.

Aqua took the mug he set aside for himself and sipped his tea. Delicious. Things were finally back to where they belong.

"Anyway, they are back together," he said. "Mother and calf. He became an overnight sensation with a new act we setup together and they are out of the circus and are onward to better show business."

"That's so wonderful. What did you guys plan?" She took another sip.

"It wasn't me, really, it was him. He can fly. Now I can say that I've seen just about everything."

She nearly spit the tea out. "Terra. A flying elephant? Ridiculous." Always him to be making fun of her even when she seriously needed to hear good news.

Terra's eyes widened as he laughed out loud. "You don't believe me?"

"A flying elephant, sure. And I can breathe underwater."

He leaned forward a bit, his eyes narrowing with a cocky smirk across his face. "Want to bet? I demand you make me that beef pastry I love when I prove you wrong."

A challenge. She looked him in the eyes. They were determined, full of life, and yearning to succeed. Her stomach gave a flip. Has he always been that beautiful?

That beef pastry he wanted was this ridiculously large fillet steak coated with mushrooms and pancake batter that was terribly easy to ruin or burn. Getting it right was laborious, and it took hours to prepare.

But she was ready, and at this point she even felt like he didn't even need to ask her.

"Fine. Prove me wrong," she said. "When you fail, though, you will do all my chores for two weeks."

"It's a deal," he said.

Terra's triumphant return was not only met with praise from Master Eraqus, but it left a sense of ease within Aqua and Ventus, who were far less antsy with him around.

Sparring with him made her feel as though she was getting back on track, like she was training for her own improvement again. Terra was the complete opposite in fighting style. A warrior bent on using his sheer force to shatter his opponent. She was an acrobat, a mage determined to parry her opponent with mental accuracy and swift counterattacks. Sparring with him always sharpened her sense of evasion, because meeting some of his more broad brute swings directly was never an efficient idea.

After their duel was over, Aqua noticed the amount of sweat dampening his shirt, and the way his muscles moved as he breathed heavily. His hair was messy but it framed his jawline perfectly. His shoulders were broad, but had they always been? He had grown up so much and she knew this, so how was it she was just noticing this? What exactly changed?

The flutter in her stomach became unbearable and she could feel her cheeks getting hot, so she faced away from him and started her own exercises. Flips like a gymnast, with her hands and without, as she traversed from one end of the room to the other in a long line. The blood sent to her brain and the sensation of the air passing by her were enough to re-settle her senses.

At it worked well, until she saw that he watched her do it. Was that something he normally did, observe her practice? Such a strange and tense, yet gentle, stare. They locked eyes and he didn't falter from the gaze, until he smiled gently and broke the connection.

Days went by and the two of them didn't lock eyes like that again.

It was much safer to watch him spar with Ventus, like she did on a new day like today, when the Master came in with a sense of urgency.

"Terra, I am sending you on another mission," he said, holding up a card with some written information. "It is a rescue. You are to go to this world and assist these two fellows from an organization in saving a kidnapped six-year-old orphan girl. She has been missing for a month."

Aqua gasped. "That's so horrible."

Terra couldn't hide the feeling of anger in his voice. "What kind of people would do-"

"Terra," the Master interrupted. "Remember what you and I spoke about. Your focus should be on the girl. This world is one devoid of magic, so you mustn't rely too much on the Keyblade. You are also forbidden from harming the kidnapper."

Terra took a hard swallow. "Understood, sir," and bowed his head.

"The same rules from before apply, too. You are not to return here until you have completed your mission," the Master said with a stern demeanor, though not with cruelty or scorn.

Aqua stood up quickly, not really knowing what she was going to do. Object to the rules? Offer comfort? An orphan girl. So young, too. This would hit Terra really hard, since he was one also before the Master came to adopt him.

Before she said anything, Terra faced his two friends with a forced smile and said, "well, I'm off. Don't worry about me." He left so quickly that she didn't get a chance to say anything.

Aqua put her hand on Ventus' shoulder, whose facial expression absolutely betrayed any sense of control over his emotions.

"This one will be tricky," he said quietly.

Each day that followed, Aqua tried to make it pass as normal. On the tenth night he was gone, she sat in the library, with that same book that she could barely finish, and a mug of tea that wasn't brewed properly.

I can bake very well, but I can't make a decent cup of tea to save my life.

She tapped her fingers onto the table. I need to know if he's okay. Who is he with right now? Did he find her?

Is he even taking time to think about me?

Flustered, Aqua marked her place in the book and shut it closed, retiring for the night.

On the twelfth day since he left, Ventus offered the brilliant idea of visiting the waterfall nearby the castle. It was a place with a special memory: it was the first place they took him after he recovered from his sickness when he arrived. And it was Terra's idea then. He begged her to go with him, his smile so wide it would have been infectious if she wasn't in such a solemn mood.

But he didn't allow her to reply to the idea. He just pulled her along with him.

The waterfall was genuinely a picturesque scene. The water rolled over several sloped rock, all smooth from its constant work. There was a cliff that wasn't too high, where she and Terra taught Ventus to jump off from. The water pooled into a decent sized lake, which further ran down a gentle stream.

But this was the difficult part. No location in this entire world was a safe place where Aqua could be rid of Terra's memory. Everything here she shared with him. It was probably something Ventus was aware of, too. Which meant that he probably also felt an ache somewhere due to the absence.

Aqua minded her own business sitting atop a boulder by the lake's shore, Ventus entertaining himself by practicing strokes. She just wasn't in the right mood to have fun - her mind was too focused on memories of them coming here as children, when they didn't think about anything in the world that would make them sad. And she was so lost in thought that she didn't notice -

- when he crept close to her underwater just to grab her by the leg and pull her down with him.

This method worked to distract her. She surfaced with hysterical laughter, and the two splashed water on each other, though it quickly deteriorated into a competition. She won.

When they were done, they left the lakeside to dry themselves.

"I miss him," she said as she put her shoes back on.

"I miss him, too." Ventus was putting on his shirt. "I don't really think this was an easy one for him."

"I know he'll be fine," she said, looking off to the distance. "He's brave, smart and resourceful. He'll be able to make that girl feel safe. It just really hurts. It's so strange not having him here."

She chuckled out loud as she stood up. "It's like I'm missing a half of me."

"Oh. I see."

Ventus contorted his face into a strange expression. His eyes narrowed, and his smile was wide but he gripped his lower lip with his teeth as it pulled upward toward his nose. Much like he discovered a very scandalous secret.

"What's that look for?"

"He's brave, and smart, and resourceful, and strong, and tall, and handsome." He emulated a girl who is swooning with his hands, and his voice kicked up a pitch with each word that came out of his mouth.

Aqua replied nothing to this except to push him back into the water. Strong, tall, and handsome. It embarrassed her to even consider Terra any of these things, but they were true.

Back at the castle, Aqua took stock of the food in the kitchen's expansive cabinet space when Ventus bursted through the doors in order to make an announcement.

"Aqua!" he called out in an almost whisper - a quiet announcement. "He's back! He's completely passed out in the library." It was silly that he tried to lower his voice since the library was very far away from the kitchen and there was no way that anyone could hear him from there.

Not that she thought too hard about this. Aqua dumped the food she was counting and ran to the library, noticing that Ventus stayed behind. Probably some nonsense about giving us space. Still, for this she was grateful.

And there, she saw him. Laid out on an ornate white and gold couch, on his side as he draped himself over a fluffy pillow, his face buried in it. A large, wrapped bandage was tightly knotted over his left arm.

She gently walked over to him, and couldn't help herself but graze over his hair with her hand. Gently, so she didn't wake him. Her smile was so wide that her cheeks hurt. I'm so glad you're home.

A brown paper bag sat on the desk they normally shared for studying. The Affairs of the Heart was stuffed with papers and photographs where she had last marked it.

Opening it, she saw the first photograph. Terra smiling, in what looked to be a swamp, with bloodied rags tied around his left arm. He was with a blonde little girl in pigtails by his side, and two mice on his shoulders. She flipped the photo to see the scribble of a six-year-old's handwriting. My heros. Tera, Bernard, and Ms. Bianca.

The next photo, the girl had jumped up on Terra as she hugged him around his shoulders, her smile brimming wildly. Terra flashed a gorgeous, toothy grin as he hugged back. The kind of smile caught mid-laugh, and the only way he'd ever be caught on camera doing this.

Aqua's stomach contorted into knots as she stared at the picture. Oh, she's so adorable. And him...

A clip from a newspaper, with the headline, GIRL KIDNAPPED FROM ORPHANAGE FOUND. The kidnappers, two pawn shop owners, were arrested and charged with child trafficking and attempted child homicide.

A letter from the same girl. Dear Tera, thank you for sayving me and Mr. Tedy. I praid for you and you came. I want to now, am I good enuff to hav perents like you? Love, Penny.

A photograph of Penny and her teddy bear, with an adult man and woman, standing on a street covered in snow. Another letter from her. Dear Tera, thank you for fynding me and Mr. Tedy perents! Now I hav a famili. I will tell them abaut you. You jumped on the alligaters and fell in the water. That meen man held a gun at you. You sayved me from drowning. Plees com visit me soon. I want to tell you abaut my cat. Give your frends the jinjersnaps. Love, Penny.

Aqua had tears running down her face, and she wiped them away. The gingersnaps must have been in the paper bag.

Another newspaper clipping. The headlines read, Wonder Elephant Soars to Fame! Miracle Mammoth Startles World!

A photo of Terra feeding a large elephant some peanuts, and calf with enormously large ears reaching for him with its trunk. She flipped the photo to its back to see Terra's scratchy and uneven handwriting. Dumbo and his mother.

The last photo. Dumbo in the sky, his ears stretched out as if they were wings. Clearly, she lost the bet. On the back, Terra's handwriting again. Dumbo. You owe me a steak pastry, exactly the way I like it cooked. P.S. Show Ven.

Aqua laughed in a whisper. He still slept soundly and peacefully on that couch, like he spent a lazy day instead of accomplishing any of these astounding things. Her heart pounded, and her chest swelled with a nervous excitement when she confirmed that yes, he really did seem different this time around.

Aqua set up all the necessary ingredients on the kitchen's island to make Terra's favorite dish as Ventus sat on the dining room table, struggling to finish what he called a stupid essay that did nothing for him. She saw him mumble to himself across the bar area, not turning a page for what seemed like an hour.

She heard footsteps, and when she peeked, she saw Terra approach them with a large hula hoop decorated with green and white stripes, and a fabric bag.

"Whoa, what's that?" Ventus jumped off the dining room table.

"Hello to you, too," Terra said as he put the fabric bag down on the surface of the bar.

He flipped the hula hoop in the air. "This is for you, Ven. Some of the dancers in the circus taught me how to play with it."

A small pain twanged in Aqua's chest at the thought of women flirting with Terra. It probably was fair. There was no denying he became good looking as he aged. That wasn't exactly what bothered her.

Terra demonstrated some movements with the hoop as he twirled and sweeped with it. And Ventus was so ridiculously excited that it there weren't words to describe it. Taking the hoop, he tried to imitate the movements, and smacked himself on the face. Next, he tried jumping with the hoop. He threw it into the air and caught it.

"It could be good practice for something. He has way too much energy," Terra said in a low voice as he sat at the bar.

"You're hurt?" She gestured over to his bandage.

He waved her concerns away. "Just a flesh wound." He grabbed the bag and put it in front of him.

"This is for you." He gave a small smile as he crossed his arms and leaned on the surface of the bar.

"It better be as hypnotizing as that hoop," she said. She had no expectations when she unraveled it. Probably something that he grabbed on his way back.

But it wasn't as simple as that. It was a group of things that he would have had to travel far away to find, for the sole purpose of hunting them down for her. A tin can of bright yellow turmeric. A bag full of spicy red annatto. A wooden box of forest green hyssopus.

All proof that he didn't just put in all this effort into a difficult search for them, but that he was thinking of her as well. She got light-headed at the thought, and her heart beat fast.

There he was leaning on his hand, with this excitable smile on his face. He was anxious to see her reaction. As if he had been looking forward to giving this to her for ages.

Aqua slowed down a shaky laugh to seem in control of her emotions. Her smiled widened. "Terra, you're amazing."

There was a twinkle in his eye, as though he wasn't expecting such a response. He tried to keep a smile, but he was obviously nervous. "Do you really mean that?" he said in a low voice.

Did she really mean it? Yes, Terra was amazing. In the things that he was able to achieve. But in a different way, too. Amazing in all the qualities that he showed to others, to her. Amazing in such a way that she realized it made her wish he would look at her like that every single day.

She glanced over at Ventus. He let the hoop drag on his back while he watched them. He rolled his eyes dramatically, and she was sure she'd hear his taunts later that night.

"Terra, you are back," the Master's voice interrupted her thoughts.

Aqua took this opportunity to turn away to focus on the ingredients in front of her, grateful for the opportunity to calm down.

"Terra, you did wonderfully," she could hear the Master say behind her. "I'm so proud of you."

She smiled to herself, knowing full well that these kinds of words will make Terra's spirit soar with pride and a newfound confidence for the rest of the day. A sense that he could achieve what he wanted. He deserved it.

And she, too, wished he kept watching her as she worked, knowing that he instead kept himself busy as he exchanged words with the Master over his journey. Ventus scurried over and exclaimed that he, too, wanted to hear about these wild adventures.

Aqua listened on as she lovingly spiced the raw meat, with the intent of making it absolutely perfect.