"I can't believe that this place can become a confusing castle of nothing but pristine white, yet when I turn it back to normal after ten years it looks like it spent fifty of 'em in a pig sty." Aqua muttered through the nails in her teeth as she carefully restored one of the arches in the grand hall of the recently restored Land of Departure. Her will, along with Terra and Ventus, was to restore the whole castle themselves, ensuring every small detail was perfect. A legacy to their dearly departed master, Eraqus. So far their bedrooms were completely restored- Eraqus included. Aqua frowned and paused a moment; Terra had refused to talk for days during and after the restoration of Eraqus's quarters. She then sighed and resumed her work "Come on, Aqua, this castle won't fix itself. Terra's fine now."

"Hey, Aqua!" Ventus yelled from beneath her tall and precarious ladder "I got those nails ya wanted." He frowned, realizing she hadn't heard him. He banged the nail bucket against her ladder "AQUA!" Aqua still not paying attention, he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck "Good grief..." He then smiled lightly as he took a look around "Well, at least the place is comin' into shape."

It was really only the bare bones of the place. Plaster was still drying; filigrees needed to be carved; the windows were solemnly empty (but at least cleared of broken glass); the doors weren't there either with their frames lonely and empty (Aqua wondered if Terra was working on them elsewhere); the floor was covered in rough canvas to keep paint and plaster off of the floor (which there really was no point to since they still needed to replace the stone flooring and wood in some places); the thrones were gone from the room with their new lacquer finish drying in the sun; the ornamental designs that used to be behind them needed to be completely redone so the wall was blank and awaiting skilled hands (although Yen Sid had helpfully provided another of the rare gem Eraqus had used for communication, which helped lessen the work needed for that); and the steps still needed to be re-carved and polished.

That wasn't even getting into the other rooms and corridors of the castle. It was a whole lot of work for even for two Keyblade Masters and their honorary Apprentice (Ventus was being... "put on hold" until himself and others felt he was old enough for the title, his long sleep ignored). They had been working for about a month now non stop from the moment they could retreat from saving the worlds and they weren't even 10% done. As Sora had noted on one of his occasional visits, the trio were "Doing a lot of good work at [their] expense."

Ventus continued wistfully looking around, then leaned against Aqua's ladder. One of the feet shifted into a dip in the floor (caused by a chunk of rubble from earlier destruction), and the resulting wobble caused Aqua to cry out in alarm as she tried to regain her balance. Ventus shielded himself from the slight drizzle of nails "Sorry, Aqua!" He then noted in horror she wasn't going to recover "AQUA!"

Aqua screamed as she fell off the ladder. Ventus heard a heavy thunk, then watched as Terra leapt at her with his arms outstretched. He caught her, and the two skidded and crashed into a pile of canvas and plaster buckets. Ventus rushed over "Terra! Aqua!"

Terra spluttered and wiped wet plaster from his face and removed the can on his head. The can, now empty, clanged around elsewhere in the room "You okay, Aqua?"

Aqua blinked as she wiped wet plaster from her eyes, then said softly "Yes." She looked at Terra, and laughed "You looked so scared!"

Terra smiled and grabbed some canvas and gently wiped up her face "Well I was..."

Ventus sighed in relief "You're okay..." He suppressed his laughter when it finally registered that they were both covered in plaster "Well, really white, but okay!" Terra glared at him, then began laughing. Aqua joined in, the three just happy they still had each other.

Aqua was the first to stand up "Okay, come on, let's get back to work." She looked at Ventus "Where are those-"

Ven triumphantly held up the nail bucket she had requested with a large grin "Here!"

Terra was still sitting, and he moaned "Aw come on, can't I get a shower first?" He continued wiping up plaster, and it was then Aqua noticed that he wasn't wearing a tight shirt. No shirt at all, actually.

"Terra, what were you doing?" she said, modestly looking elsewhere with a slight blush.

Terra stood, gesturing to an abandoned chisel and mallet on the floor a few feet off "Oh, just coming in from carving up the doors." He stretched a little "What can I say it was getting hot outside and I was hoping you would bother to stop working yourself to the bone to make lemonade-"

Ventus excitedly cut Terra off "Yeah! Can you?! Your lemonade is the BEST!"

Aqua smiled, then ruffled the hair of both her boys "Yeah, we can have a lemonade break."

...

After a long day of working hard, Aqua almost collapsed in her bed. Almost. She still had to say goodnight, afterall.

She peeked her head outside her door "Terra, Ventus... I love you."

Like clockwork, she saw a light from Ven opening his door "I love you more~!"

Then Terra joined in right on cue "Forget it guys I love you both WAY more."

With soft smiles, they all retreated back into their rooms. Aqua then turned off the main light in her room, but quickly turned on several nightlights and lamps, and even her closet light even though the door would remain closed. She then put on her gray-blue silk pajamas and buried herself under an unnaturally excessive pile of blankets.

Her smile flickered away with her eyelids. No matter what she did, it wasn't home anymore. It was the cold, damp sand; the remorseless wind howling at her to die; the darkness ready to swallow her with glee; the nook that would only be safe for an hour until Heartless and other creatures too ghastly to imagine would swarm her. She couldn't sleep without tossing and turning and whimpering in her sleep. She would wake up every hour or so from fitful sleep to have to tell herself she was home.

Home.

Not Hell.

HOME.

Terra and Ventus were right down the hall and she wanted so badly to rush into their rooms and hug them and cling to them, sobbing, screaming, crying. To make sure they were still there and alive and she wasn't just dreaming. It was her own willpower that kept her from doing so. She needed to be strong. She couldn't show a single sign of her distress. For them. For Terra and Ventus. She was not going to be the weak one.

A scream- no, VEN'S scream from just down the hall - woke her from fitful and shallow sleep. She bolted up, throwing her covers against the wall "Ven?! Ventus?!" She leapt out of bed running- her mind no longer had the concept of grogginess "VENTUS?!"

She heard Terra running as well in the dark hallways, and they both turned to Ven's room and threw open the door and said in complete unison "Ventus are you okay?!"

Ventus- topless but wearing his signature baggy capris -was quietly sobbing, his hands shakily grabbing at the air around his head and his heart. His sheets were on the floor, a few wet patches of sweat or tears on them. He took staggering breaths, and turned to Terra and Aqua "I-I'm... I'm..." His voice croaked and squeaked. He looked at his feet "I'm..." he conceded to how he truly felt "not fine." He bent over, gripping his head between his legs and crying.

Aqua turned to Terra- he was wearing a set of a baggy shirt and shorts -and silently begged him all the questions she had. Terra then walked over, and sat next to Ven on his bed and began rubbing the boy's back "We're here..." It pained Aqua to see him suppressing his own tears as he quietly wrapped himself around Ventus "We're here." he gasped a little and croaked out "It was just a nightmare."

Aqua joined him, unable to hold back the pain in her voice "Ven, it was just a nightmare." She looked at Terra over Ventus. They were asking each other the same thing- Oh, what had happened to their precious boy? What had broken him so deeply?

Ventus wailed "No! No i-it was darkness and I-I was asleep again in all that h-horrible void of just nothing and T-Terra was p-posessed by Xehanort again and you were-"

"Right here, and never leaving." Aqua said firmly, gently raising Ventus's gaze onto her. She sighed, and brushed away his tears and his hair "Ventus, it was just a nightmare." She began crying; why couldn't she say anything more than that?

"Hey, I get 'em too." Terra said. With Ven's attention on him, he continued "I know, it's scary as heck, but they're just dreams. They can't hurt you."

Ventus nodded shakily, slowly, still trying to collect himself. Terra then laid down on Ven's bed and hoisted the boy on top of him, letting Ventus curl up on his chest "Here, I'll sleep with you and we can tell each other they're just nightmares."

Aqua smiled and curled up against Terra, her arm stretched over both of them "You know what? That's a great idea, Terra." She pulled the blankets back up with some magic, then tucked them all in with her own hands. She quietly kissed Ven's forehead

"It's alright. It may just be the darkness clinging to our skin, but even darkness fades with enough light."

And the light in their hearts was certainly enough.

ahhhh I love Terra, Aqua, and Ventus way too much ;A; can we please just see them happy in canon please please please?