#terraweek

Aqua sighed. She might me able to sleep longer at a time, but waking up in the middle of the night usually meant a very early morning for her. Reluctantly, she untangled herself from her stuffy bedsheets and stretched at the edge of the bed before getting up and scratching her neck. A cup of tea might be enough to calm her nerves a little and maybe it would help her at least take a short nap...

She left her bedroom and slowly trudged through the hallway. She arrived at Ven's door and stopped shortly before she cracked it open a little. She couldn't peer inside, but the soft snore told her it was one of the few nights Ven was able to sleep; thankfully, once he did fall asleep, hardly anything could wake him up until morning. Aqua closed the door gently with a smile on her lips, until she turned to the room that lay across to Ven's. Her heart fell.

It was Terra's room.

He had returned to them two weeks ago, after a long and grueling fight to get him back that left him unconscious for a few days. According to Aerith, physically he was mostly fine, but she saw that he had changed.

Terra had always been the silent type, but he seemed even quieter now, spacing out at times, not paying attention to his surroundings. He spent a lot of time in his room alone and while Aerith had told her that it was normal and respected for his recovery – after all, his mind was still coming to terms with handling four different sets of memories and life experiences in one body and it tired him out immensely – Aqua still couldn't shake the feeling that Terra was trying to avoid people – and mostly her.

And she couldn't blame him. She had messed up after the Mark of Mastery exam, she hadn't trusted him despite knowing him for the better part of her life and she helped pushing him even more into Xehanort's clutches.

Aqua sighed.

It did her no good to ponder about this now and it wouldn’t help Terra either if she woke him up in the middle of the night. She threw a last lingering glance at his closed door and continued down the hallway, not paying attention to the soft light streaming out from under the kitchen door until she had already opened it.

At the sight of those achingly familiar blue eyes, Aqua’s heart stopped.

Terra sat in the middle of the corner booth, a huge steaming cup cradled in his hands. He looked up at her in surprise, the dark purple bags under his eyes so much more pronounced than she remembered this morning. His hair was mussed up and despite the warmth of the night, a light blanket was thrown over his shoulders.

The sight of him was so utterly heartbreaking that she couldn’t stand it anymore. Personal boundaries be damned, time be damned, he couldn’t continue to keep his hurt to himself and –

Terra lifted his cup to her in silent invitation, an insecure smile on his lips.

Suppressing a relieved sigh and on the edge between walking and running, Aqua made her way across the kitchen, sitting down next to Terra, just as uncertain as him. Wordlessly, Terra handed her his cup and she smiled at him in thanks, bringing the edge of it to her lips. She relished he taste of the hot black tea with just the right amount of sugar to taste.

Terra didn’t utter a word and Aqua chose to keep quiet as well, the only sounds being their cautious sips as they drank from the cup alternatingly, and it felt surprisingly comfortable. Aqua threw a curious glance up to Terra from the corner of her eye. With a frown, she realized that the withdrawn expression was back on his face and letting her eyes travel down slowly, she noticed how his tank top stuck to his body with sweat.

“Nightmares?”

He gave a noncommittal grunt, but Aqua saw his eye twitch. She bit her lip for a second before scooting closer, their bare thighs now touching. She felt Terra tense up, but instead of backing off, she grabbed the edge of the blanket that lay abandoned on the bench and wrapped it around her shoulder to preserve Terra's warmth.

“I have nightmares sometimes,” she opened up to him. “I dream that I am back in the Realm of Darkness, with countless of Heartless attacking me. Most of them are small and rather harmless, but the big ones...,” she lowered her head. “I don't sleep well. It's hard to suddenly give up your instincts that helped you survive for 12 years. But Ven helped me.”

She felt Terra's shoulder shift – he had turned to her a little, listening intently. She smiled.

“He somehow got a hold of a nightlight for me. To be honest, I haven't even thought about the problem being the Darkness itself, I thought it was natural for me to process everything that happened with nightmares, but the first night I slept with the lamp plugged in? I felt like a new person. I'm not good, but I am better.” She licked her lips. “Maybe we can help you get a little better, too?”

They settled back to silence, tea cup long empty, and Aqua considered brewing a new one when Terra finally answered her.

“It's complicated,” he told her, and Aqua immediately reached for his hand that was resting in his lap to encourage him to go on. He gently squeezed her hand in response.

“Memories are coming back to me. From my time as Lord Ansem's apprentice, as his impersonator, as Xemnas.” His shoulders drooped. “It's exhausting. Sometimes it's so overwhelming I can't even sit straight and need to lie down. And in the night? I get nightmares. It always starts out with the most grueling memories of the day-” he swallowed, “and then I dream of a boy named Roxas. He was part of the Organization and looks just like Ven, you know? I dream about how Xemnas abuses him and I can't tell whether it's true or not because I still lack some of his memories.”

He took a shaky breath.

“And then the dream shifts and I see you.”

Goosebumps covered Aqua's arms and she felt Terra shiver distinctly, too, before he continued.

“We're in Radiant Garden. Xehanort had just taken over my body, but I was fighting against him. I was fighting so hard against him, and then you came. You ran towards me, I saw you, I wanted to scream at you to just attack me, but instead I reach out for you and grab your throat.”

Terra raised his hand to look at it incredulously and as he did so, an itch returned to Aqua's throat, the memory of his ruthless touch embedded in her forever.

“I know I let go in reality. Thank God I did let go. But I never do in my dream. I keep pressing on, watch your eyes slowly roll back. I see your limps go slack, your face turn blue and your head loll back. And I still keep pressing on.”

He furiously raked his hand through to calm himself.

“I keep doing it until I have enough satisfaction of watching you die and I just dispose of you. The moment your body hits the pavement with a sickening crack is the moment I wake up every night.”

“I'm here,” Aqua interrupted him, stroking his arm softly with her free hand, “I'm alive. Ven is safe, unharmed. He's sleeping in his room. He's actually snoring right now and probably drooling on his pillow.”

That finally seemed to loosen the atmosphere – first slowly and quietly, then openly Terra shook with soft laughter and Aqua saw him wipe away a stray tear from the corner of his eye.

“He slept 12 years and still needs more sleep. This boy burns way too much energy at day.”

“You wouldn't believe it,” Aqua chimed in and the two of them smiled at each other for a second before Terra let go of her hand. Disappointment shot through Aqua, having become way too comfortable snuggled up to her friend but instead of pushing her off him, he grabbed the edge of the blanket and lay his arm around Aqua, pulling her close and effectively pressing her against him. A small blush spread onto her cheeks, but Aqua embraced him with a smile on her lips, closing her eyes. She felt Terra place his other arm around her, too, and felt him sigh deeply as he gently pressed his head against hers.

“Thank you,” she heard Terra murmur into her hair and she squeezed him little.

“Don't hide from us anymore, okay?” Aqua mumbled as a small yawn escaped her, “It's easier when you're not alone.”

She felt him nod in response, but before she could continue, Terra's warmth and his soft breathing had lulled her back to sleep.

“Aqua? Aqua, wake up.”

Aqua didn't answer, instead she snuggled further into her pillow.

Some kind of light flashed behind her eyes. Confused and still groggy, she waved her hand in the general direction of the light, indicating for its cause to leave her alone, whoever this was.

“You know, I probably regret this even more than you, but it's 8 am already and, you know, Kairi and Lea are kind of waiting for you?”

8 am? Kairi and Lea?

With a start, Aqua shot up, but a pair of strong arms prevented her from sitting up fully. Only then she realized that she was still in the kitchen since last night, sitting on the corner booth and using Terra's chest as a pillow. Heat shot up her face immediately and another flash occurred. She turned her head to its source and saw Ven standing on the other side of the table with a cheeky grin, a camera in his hand.

“What are you – Ventus!” Aqua gasped and untangled herself as gently as possible from Terra's strong grip, sitting up and smoothing down her hair.

“Sorry,” Ven grinned at her, “Believe me, I would have let you sleep, but I know you wouldn't appreciate being late to your lectures –”

“I already am late, Ven!” Aqua puffed angrily, but relaxed a little when Ven's teasing grin morphed into a genuine smile as his eyes wandered over to Terra. She followed his glance and saw Terra sleeping with his arms crossed in front of his chest, head dangling forward precariously now that he didn't have Aqua's head to rest it upon.

“You two talked, huh?”

“Yeah,” Aqua answered, smile playing along her lips, “I think things will finally start getting better for all three of us.”

Another flash, and Aqua turned around angrily.

“Ventus, I swear –!”

“I'm done, I'm done!” he laughed with his arms up in surrender and started walking towards the door before he turned back to face Aqua again. “Kairi and Lea are waiting in the gym. I've told them to meditate until you're there. And tell this big doofus over there,” he nodded at Terra, “he's bad at pretending he's asleep. And he better be at lunch so we can finally catch up. See you later!”

Before Ven even closed the door behind him, Aqua turned back to Terra, her mouth open in shock. And indeed, Terra sat in the same position as before, only now, his eyes were open and a frown was etched on his face. Thankfully, the dark circles under his eyes weren't as pronounced anymore as they were at night.

“Since when have you been awake?”

“Since Ven entered the kitchen. He started laughing like crazy, ran out to fetch his camera, rushed back in and took at least ten pictures before he even attempted to wake you up.”

The slight blush on her cheeks from before returned twice as fierce, spreading down to her neck and chest.

“I thought you weren't going to avoid us anymore,” she huffed indignantly.

“I'm not, I promise,” he answered sincerely and finally got up from his seat, stretching a little and scratching his stomach before stepping up to her. Aqua's heart leaped up – she had forgotten how much Terra towered over her. “But I wanted to talk to you in private. It's the first time I was able to sleep peacefully. I can't remember having a single nightmare. Thanks to you.”

“Yeah, me too, even though the position was rather awkward, I haven't slept this well in ages,” she answered softly, then bit her lip. “I'm sorry, I really have to go and-”

“Can we-,” Terra grasped her shoulders in desperation and Aqua opened her eyes wide upon his action. He backed off of her immediately, looking to his side, but she wouldn't have any of it

“Yes?”

“Could you maybe...,” he looked at her out of the corner of his eye, “...stay with me tonight? To keep the nightmares away?”

Aqua felt her heart speed up, but she smiled and reached out for his right hand, just like she had years ago in the Dark Realm. This time, it was his real hand, it was warm and she could really, truly pull it close and cradle it to her chest while she looked up to him.

“Hi, excuse me,” the blue haired woman answered slightly distracted as she rummaged around in her bag, clearly in search of something, likely her purse. He saw her eyebrows draw together as she let go of her bag only to wiggle around and bury her hands in her pants pockets (a pair of blue jeans, Terra noted), her eyes now at least studying the large menu board that hung over counter.

“I'd like a – a-ha!” she exclaimed happily and pulled a small pouch out of her back pocket (at this point, Terra was surprised that it was orange and not blue), counting a few coins in it. “Can I have a cup of chamo-” She froze as her eyes finally fell on him.

Terra shuffled a little uncomfortably.

“Are you feeling alright?”

That seemed to pull the girl out of her stupor and she let her eyes roam around the room, awkwardly fumbling around with her pouch.

Was she avoiding him? He couldn't recall ever meeting this girl before.

“Y-yes, I'm fine,” she answered, much more timidly than before, as her eyes came to rest on the special menu card next to the cash register.

“Cappuccino!” She blurted out, and at that a slight blush started to dust her cheek as she winced. “I mean, can I have a –“ she looked at the card again, “Caramel Cappuccino, please?”

“Coming right up,” Terra answered her with a nod as he accepted her coins and started working on her order, but not without giving her a discreet look over.

She was cute, he had to admit. Her hair color was very unusual and she was tall for a girl (still roughly half a head shorter than him, though), with a slender built as far as the sweater allowed him to judge.

He was intrigued. Maybe if he turned a little to the left and leaned over, he could throw another short glance –

“Shoot!” Terra grumbled loudly as hot steam from the milk frother blew against his hand. He quickly turned off the steam and jumped to the sink to run cold water over his hand.

“Are you okay?”

“I'm fine, fine,” he grumbled, annoyed at himself, “I got distracted for a second there.” He quickly dried off his hands, wincing a little at his now sensitive skin and returned to the coffee with a frown. Served him right for gawking his customers, he figured. Finishing up the order and drizzling the ordered Caramel over the drink, he turned back to her, handing her the cup.

At that moment, she took his breath away.

He hadn't realized how well her hair complemented her eyes – her eyes that shone like the ocean back in his home town. They immediately sought out the patch of sensitive skin on his arm (when had she grasped his hand like that?) and she gingerly turned his lower arm left and right to see better in the dim lit room.

“It doesn't look too bad, but you should still be careful. I'm sorry you got burned because of my order.”

He wanted to tell her that it was nothing – and it truly was, it's not like it was his first burn and it wasn't even serious – but the words got stuck in his throat.

“Thank you,” he replied instead, slightly breathless before he swallowed deeply, “I'll take care.”

He was met with the most dazzling smile he had ever seen in his life. He didn't register her thanks and her “Have a nice day” or even the next customer clearing their throat impatiently.

At that moment, he fell hopelessly and irreversibly in love with the blue haired girl.

Thankfully, she dutifully returned to him – his coffee – every single morning. In the first few days, she kept asking him about his burn, but soon, the two of them fell into companionable silence, communicating more with their eyes and smiles instead of words. And Terra loved observing her every day. The closer winter and its cold temperatures drew, the bigger her sweaters became until he had to nearly send a search party into her clothes to find the girl underneath them, bundled up for warmth. Rarely, she dressed in a more fancy, more adult way – once it was during their university's big job fare, he noted, so he assumed she had important meetings those days. Those were the days where she would wear subtle but classy earrings and a light dusting of make up, making her eyes – her gorgeous eyes, he swooned – shine even more. Other days, she opted for the complete opposite, being super comfortable while still being dressed nicely; in contrast to other students, he never saw her turn up in sweatpants or anything comparable.

He didn't want to admit it to himself, but seeing her in the morning quickly became his favorite part of the day.

Spring had finally arrived and the end of the semester was coming near quickly. Having already passed all but of one his exams and being good on time with his assignments, he hadn't minded taking over today's afternoon shift for his sick colleague, even though it was unnaturally busy due to the university holding its open house day today. As such, tons of soon-to-be-students flooded the campus, chattering excitedly among themselves and – of course – trying to figure out where to buy the best food and coffee.

When lunch time was over and most of the caffeine deprived students were satisfied, business came to enough of a slow, allowing Terra to sit down behind the counter and pull out his sport medicine notes, learning for the last exam he had to take at the end of next week. Engrossed as he might have been in his notes, there was no way goosebumps wouldn't spread all over his arms as a familiar voice drifted to his ear.

“And this is the best coffee shop on campus!”

Terra immediately felt heat rise up his cheeks and scrambled to his feet, dropping his notes unceremoniously to the floor just in time for the blue haired girl to step up to the counter, eyes widening slightly as a huge smile started to spread over her lips.

“You're here!” She exclaimed more than asked and her smile was contagious.

“My colleague is sick so I took over his shift,” he replied before he noticed the blond boy trailing behind her, roughly a head shorter than her, with a huge grin plastered on his face. The tell-tale red fabric bag most of the student representatives were giving out to the visiting pupils was slung over his shoulder.

“Hey,” the girl addressed Terra warmly and he was about to melt into a puddle of goo at the sight of her dazzling eyes.

“Hey,” he breathed in response, but caught himself at the boy's snicker and cleared his throat.

“What can I get you?”

“A hot chocolate and a Caramel Cappuccino, please.”

She slid a bill over to him and he quickly gave her back her change before he stepped to the machine, starting the hot chocolate first as the girl and her companion stepped away from the counter.

“So, do you want to take a break here or do you want to continue the tour? They also sell sandwiches if you're hungry again.”

“I saw all the lectures that interested me the most so I'm open to anything. But the question is – do you want to take a break here?”

“What do you mean?”

“C'mon, Aqua –“

Aqua. Her name was Aqua. It fit her perfectly.

“– do you think I'm blind? Tell me, since when exactly do you drink coffee?”

“Since I started university? It keeps me awake in a morning.”

Terra heard a snort.

“Yeah, right. Says the girl who effortlessly got up at 5 am when she was still in school. The girl who called me up at 4 am this morning even though I could've easily slept until 6 am! You live on campus and the pharmacy building is five minutes away from your dorm. You do not need coffee to wake up.” A short pause. “Also, you hate the taste of coffee.”

“It's an acquired taste,” Terra heard Aqua's voice answer indignantly, “I got used to it and now I like it.”

“Back home, you spent endless days lecturing me about how bad the regular consumption of caffeine is. But I get it –“

The boy's voice lowered and subconsciously, Terra leaned further into the espresso machine, closer to his customers to pick up on their conversation.

“– I mean, you totally have the hots for the barista.”

Terra felt as if his heart stopped beating. Was it possible, that she was actually interested in him?!

“I-I do not!”

“Yes, you do!” Terra heard the boy snicker, but he had the decency to continue whispering, “Look at you, you turned as red as a tomato! And it would make sense why you started drinking coffee suddenly even though they also sell tea here: When you're embarrassed, you blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind! You probably saw him, saw the cappuccino and boom, that's what you ordered!”

Well... she did look at the special menu that day, didn't she? And she did blurt her order out... right? Terra bit his lip, daring to hope that it might be true.

“Ugh! Ven!” Her voice sounded muffled now and as inconspicuously as possible, Terra rose to his tiptoes to throw a glance over the machine. Aqua had thrown her hands over her face and the fierce blush that spread onto her neck kicked Terra's heart back into thumping furiously. “I am not having this kind of conversation with my baby brother!”

“Hey! I'm sixteen already! And you know I'm righ–” 

 “Not. Having.This. Conversation,” she all but squeaked out in response, but Terra barely registered it. He felt his heartbeat inside of his ears and felt his throat constrict as he reached for his book bag, fishing out one of his Edding pens.

It was all or nothing now.

With a shaky hand, he scribbled his telephone number on Aqua's cup and finished up the order as fast as he could before his courage left him again. Just as his stomach constricted painfully, he reached out for the tiny bell on the counter and ringed it. Aqua and Ven who now stood a meter away turned back to him, with Aqua still looking slightly flushed and Ven sporting a shit-eating grin.

“One hot chocolate and one Caramel Cappuccino.”

Terra didn't think his heart could beat even faster, but it did when Aqua stepped forward to reach for the cups. Their hands touched and as Aqua looked up at him shyly, Terra swallowed the big lump in his throat and leaned forward ever so slightly. 

“I'm Terra,” he whispered, letting go of the cups and he caught a glimpse of another blush spreading over Aqua's cheekbones before she turned around with a breathless “thank you” and hurried over to Ven. They left his field of vision quickly and with a relieved sigh, Terra let himself fall back to the chair behind the counter, trembling slightly. He felt his head spinning and his heart continued strumming so powerfully inside of his chest he nearly missed the soft vibration in his back pocket.

Terra flew out of his seat and nearly dropped his phone when he opened his text messages.