#;ic musing

“So much has changed, hasn’t it? Earth is safe, Gems are settling into their new lives, homes are being rebuilt.”

Aqua and Ventus are beacons of light. They are radiant and shine so brightly that anything in their paths are cast in shadow. This is the truth; light exists and so too does darkness. You cannot forsake this balance or you threaten the balance of the worlds. It is because of the nature of these laws that someone like Terra who is blessed with so many wonderful people in his life would eventually become mired in shadow in his desire to be worthy of them. Terra's lust for strength comes from a good place, it is an intention to protect his friends and family and his persistence to live up to and strive for that strength that unknowingly reveals weakness. That weakness festers into darkness and whether he accepts it or not, darkness is a fundamental component of Terra's strength.

Terra cannot accept it. It goes against the core beliefs he was raised on. Terra was trained as a warrior of light, a keybearer. One who would act as a guardian and peacekeeper for all worlds within the realm of light. Both he and Aqua were under strict guidance to always place the sanctity of light above all else and they held these teachings in their heart. They truly believed in the magnificence of light and viewed themselves as guardians; Terra however took it one step further. A desire to prove himself in the eyes of his master developed; a desire to show without a doubt that his master had made the right decision to select him as a student. This ambition possibly manifested from a twinge of jealously in Aqua, someone who proved herself capable and intelligent. While strong in his own ways, weakness told him that he needed to be comparable to Aqua and that eventually manifested in wanting to be the strongest by any means. Thus, he trained. He trained perhaps moreso than Aqua under the idea that were he to gain enough strength, people would rely on him to protect them. They would need him. It was in this dogged pursuit of power that he opened his heart to the elements that sought to take advantage of the parts of himself that he hated.

He eventually found the strength that he desire for so long and it seemed that he was well on his way to standing on equal footing with his master. However, Eraqus had longed seen what Terra had done to reach where he did. He had witnessed personally the journey Terra made and despite his best efforts to discourage Terra from walking a path that would naturally invite danger onto himself, Terra failed to heed the words. It was not hubris, nor contempt for his beloved master, but rather confusion. Terra could not understand why it is that his master would seek to dissuade him from what gave him strength, what made him a better keyblade warrior. He tried desperately to understand what it was that he failed to grasp in his master's lessons and that eventually led to self-doubt in his ability which only served to further widen the cracks that allowed darkness to slither in.

Albeit possibly stronger than Aqua as a warrior, Eraqus could not allow Terra to bear the title of master. There were fundamental truths that the young man did not yet understand and seeking power for the sake of power was dangerous to allow unchecked. Eraqus could not allow the boy whom he saw as a son to wield darkness; the thought terrified him. So he failed Terra during his mark of mastery and hoped that he would take failure as an opportunity to correct his course and walk back onto the path of light. He did not consider that Terra would again misunderstand his master. He did not consider just how tightly the grasp darkness held on his heart. Eraqus could not find it in himself to see the darkness in Terra's heart as anything more than something to be feared and he passed along these fears onto Aqua whom believed that her master could not be flawed in his ways.