Chapter 2 - Just a Dream

Aqua didn’t expect herself to wake up screaming, because she hadn’t realized she had been asleep in the first place.

She also didn’t expect to feel someone’s arms tighten around her waist, or find her shoulder wet with tears. “Aqua, please, stop it!”

“V-Ven?” Aqua tentatively reached out, and her hand came into contact with a mess of spiky hair. “W-What are you doing here?”

The blonde boy looked up at her. It was difficult to see his face considering their awkward position and how poorly lit Aqua’s room was at that moment, but enough moonlight entered through the window to reflect off his eyes, which were brimming with tears. “I w-woke up... and you were screaming...” he began, but instead of continuing, he buried his head in her shoulder again and began to cry. Unsure of what else to do, Aqua put an arm around him and pushed herself up into a sitting position, bringing the younger apprentice with her. She stroked his hair like a mother would do to her child, trying to calm him down.

“Shhh, Ven... it’s okay, it was just a nightmare... Shhh..... there’s nothing to be afraid of...” It was at that moment that she caught a glimpse of her faint reflection in the mirror, and saw the moonlight glinting off her own eyes the same way it had reflected off of Ven’s. She raised a hand to her cheek and confirmed her suspicions – she had been crying as well. Maybe that’s why Ven’s so scared... I must have been crying in my sleep...

It was then that it occurred to her. Of course. Why didn’t I think of it before...? The azure-eyed apprentice resumed stroking Ven’s hair as his sobs began to die down, and when she deemed him calm enough, she asked, “Ven, can you tell me what you dreamt about?”

The youngest apprentice drew a shuddering breath, then released Aqua, sitting back on the bed so they could look at each other in the dim light. “Well,” he began, wiping the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand, “I woke up in this place, and everything was all—”

Both apprentices jumped when the door creaked open. Ven ducked behind Aqua while the latter cast a fire spell between her and the door, illuminating the intruder. The flame revealed brown hair and cobalt blue eyes peeking in through the door.

The intruder was none other than Terra.

The nightmare came flooding back to her in an instant, and she remembered her friends’ cruel ends at the hands of the black demons, Ventus being snuffed out of existence, and Terra getting his heart torn out—

It was too much for Aqua to bear. She was unable to hold in a sob, and found herself crying uncontrollably. She barely heard Terra’s quick footsteps as he entered the room – barely felt the bed move as he sat down on it – barely felt his strong arms wrap around her and pull her towards him. She turned to jelly in his arms; she didn’t even have enough strength left to hug him back, and she was ashamed of this. Terra was always the strong one. Always.

The eldest apprentice rubbed reassuring circles in her back, muttering calming words as he did so. It took her a few minutes to cry herself out; she was completely drained afterwards. After her own sobs died down, she looked up apologetically at her fellow Keywielder, and her face flushed slightly when she saw tears of his own on his cheeks. Aqua cleared her throat. “Thank you,” she whispered as she pulled away, to which he responded with a gentle squeeze of her shoulder. She slid away from the two other apprentices so that they formed a triangle on her bed. They were quiet for a while, wrapped in their own thoughts. Aqua waved her hand, and the fire spell vanished, leaving them in the faint moonlight. After a while, Terra broke the silence.

“So... did everyone have a nightmare just now?” he asked. The two other apprentices nodded. Terra looked up at the ceiling, as if the answers to all his questions could be found there, and asked again, “It wouldn’t be impossible... for all of us to have had the same dream... right?”

So I’m not the only one who thinks so, Aqua thought. “Ven, you said you woke up somewhere in your dream. What did it look like?”

“Well...” he began again, “at first i thought i was going blind, but then i realized that everything was just all white...”

The elder apprentices glanced at each other, and confirmed their suspicions: they had all been in the same place. “Did you walk around for a while?” Aqua asked.

The young blonde nodded. “Yeah, I did... then I ran into you and the Master—” Ven suddenly cut off, and stared at the other two apprentices with wide eyes. “Wait... so... you guys saw the same thing??”

“I think that’s what happened,” Terra said, shifing his position on the bed, “Don’t know why, but... it happened.”

“Well, we won’t know for sure until we hear the rest of it,” Aqua added. “I ran into Master Eraqus first, then Ven ran up to us. After that, Terra came up and tapped—“

“—You on the shoulder...”

Silence.

“A-and then?” Ven stammered.

“Eraqus came up to me and told me the darkness was coming—“

“So that’s what he was saying—“

“And then Terra raised his arm—“

“And a-attacked Master Eraqus...!”

There was a pause as the two younger apprentice looked at the eldest.

“I-I swear, I didn’t mean to!” Terra began, “My arm just moved on its own! I would never—“

“Terra, we know you’d never do something like that,” Aqua nterrupted, “especially not to Eraqus.”

Terra was silent again.

“Then... Master disappeared...”

“And that giant black monster appeared and grabbed me—“

“And another showed up and grabbed ME!”

“And.... I couldn’t decide who to save first...”

“And... it.... killed me...”

Another pause.

“Did you wake up?”

“....No.”

“No?!”

“But... it killed you... in your dream... isn’t that when one usually wakes up??”

“I-I didn’t... I saw everything.”

The two elder apprentices looked at each other, then back at the youngest. “Everything?”

Ventus nodded. “EVERYTHING. I saw – no, I felt myself attack Aqua, but I... I couldn’t do anything!! It was horrible, I couldn’t even breathe on my own, I’m so sorry, Aqua!!”

The girl sensed he was about to break down again, so she quickly responded with “No, no, no, it’s okay, Ven!! It wasn’t your fault, it was the monster’s...”

This seemed to calm the younger boy down; he nodded and mumbled an “okay,” keeping his eyes glued to the sheets in front of him.

Satisfied, Aqua continued: “So... after that, I hit the beast back... and when it left you, you vanished...”

“That’s when I woke up...” Ventus looked up, eyes brimming with curiosity, and asked, “What... happened afterward?”

It was Aqua’s turn to look down at the sheets. “I don’t think—“

“Aqua tried to come and save me,” Terra interrupted, “But... the monster had already... caused serious damage...”

Aqua sighed in relief, appreciating Terra’s careful wording if the gruesome event. “I ran to him, but,” she continued, “another black monster came out of this dark hole in the ground and grabbed my leg... it wouldn’t let go, and i couldn’t summon my Keyblade anymore...”

“And it pulled you in right when my heart—“ Terra cut off abruptly as he remembered that horrible, painful event. His hand shot up to his chest, as if to make sure his heart was still in the right place. He glanced up at Aqua, then dropped his gaze to the bed and said, almost in a whisper, “right when my heart was torn out.”

Ventus’ eyes widened in horror as a mental image of Terra’s horrible death began to form in his mind. “D-Did you wake up then?” he stammered.

Terra slowly shook his head as he said, “No... it crushed it first... then dropped me to the floor, laughing the entire time...” Terra looked up at the other two apprentices, eyes unreadable. “I woke up when I hit the ground.”

Aqua was shocked. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain her friend had felt, and she was still amazed he hadn’t woken up earlier. She glanced at Ven – he was gaping at Terra, and Terra was staring back. Some unspoken message must have passed between them, because the younger boy suddenly looked away, eyes still wide.

A few minutes passed as the three Keyblade apprentices tried to process all that they had just seen and heard – the pain and terror the three of them went through. The silence was again broken by Terra, as he collased back on the bed with a groan. “Why us?” he sighed.

“What do you mean?” Aqua asked, Ven still staring at the bed, deep in thought.

“I mean, why should we have to suffer like that? We’ve never done anything wrong, why should we deserve that?”

Both apprentices’ heads turned when Ven spoke. “What if...” he began, eyes still glued to the sheets, his voice barely a whisper, “What if it’s a warning?”

Terra sat up, his wistful expression gone, replaced by concern. “What do you mean?”

“What if...” he continued, lifting his eyes from the bed and fixing them on Terra, “What if it... really happens? What if we all get hurt like that?” Ven’s voice rose in volume with every word, and kept rising as he continued, “What if something like that happens to us, and we can’t help each other??” The blonde seemed to be on the verge of tears, and he was clutching the sheets below him as if they were the only thing holding him down. “What if we all have to watch each other die and not be able to do anything at all?!” he practically screamed. “What if —“

Aqua assumed she and Terra must have had the same idea at the same time, for they both almost literally lunged towards the blonde and embraced him, cutting off his panicked screams. His cries turned into sobs, and he threw his arms around both of them, eternally grateful simply for the fact that the dream had been exactly that.

Just a dream.






((too exhausted to put the italics back in. use your imagination until i fix it XDDD;;))

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