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WHO: Terra and Ven [Closed]
LOCATION: Destiny Islands
TIME: After the Heartless invasion and everyone's gotten their powers back
WHAT: The brothers are long overdue for a talk. Or actually long overdue to finish a talk.
RATING: PG/PG-13 for content? They're talking about death and losing hearts and everything, it's not going to be happy.

Once everything was over - and he'd been able to crash for a few hours, because he really needed it - Ven had returned to the Destiny Islands since that was where Terra had ended up for the big showdowns. Despite his first experiences with the world, he really did like it; it probably had something to do with metaphorically living in the place for a decade. Whatever the cause, there were also many, many fewer Heartless around, which meant fewer interruptions. All to the better, 'cause this wasn't going to be easy anyway, and the more Ven thought about it the more he either needed to tell Terra or hear from Terra.

So he was waiting on the play island for his bro to show up, sitting on that bent tree and looking out over the water. It was a calming scene, but it reminded him strongly that they were still missing the last member of their family.

"Aqua..."

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Terra wasn't sure where Ventus was at the moment. He had gotten worried during all of the fighting since he hadn't heard from him since he was in the Deep Jungle. Which...was a stupid idea to run over there.

He had been resting nearby on the island. Rolling over and sitting up, he grabbed his communicator. He turned it on and waited to see if Ven would say anything. When he saw that Ven hadn't even done anything on the network, he got up and started to wander around the island. He figured that not everyone must've left.

And Ven was distracted in his ocean-gazing by movement. He turned his head to look, and was that...

Yes. Yes it was. Ven pushed himself off the tree at near breakneck speed, kicking off the sand beneath the tree and literally flying over the water to his bro. "TERRA!"

And when he got over there, there was so going to be tackle-hugging. Shit had been messed up lately, he needed one.

"Huh?" Terra stopped in his tracks, blinking when he heard his name called. He thought that maybe it was his communicator, but before he could even reach for it he saw a familiar blond haired boy running at him. At full speed too.

He was glad to see that he was okay from the attack and even more happy to see him...just in general! Terra shifted his feet a little, opening his arms to catch his little bro. He knew what was coming next.

The last time Ven had gone tackle-hug happy he was thirteen. They were guys, they didn't do physical contact. But sometimes... sometimes, you just needed it. And this was one of those times, and indeed Ven went top speed (actually, faster than top speed, at least the top speed Terra knew) and didn't kill any of his momentum before running straight into him. Hopefully Terra had a good stance because otherwise there was every likelihood they were going straight over.

Terra held his ground, moving only one foot back when Ventus finally made it to him. Even if Ventus had gotten older, Terra was still as strong as ever.

He put his arms around Ventus, actually picking him up then. If he wanted to, he would spin him around...but that would be kind of weird, "Ven!"

The day Terra wouldn't be able to do that was a day Ven was looking forward to with far, far too much anticipation. Terra always made him feel like a midget, even though he knew he was growing. But Terra was also always strong and reliable, and for the moment Ven just held on to him, taking in that strength in order to steady himself better.

But still, guys. After several long moments, Ven pulled away from Terra, looking up at him with kind of a sheepish grin and rubbing the back of his head a little. "Heh... sorry. I was just... pretty worried about you, you know."

Taking a step back once Ventus pulled away, Terra looked at the other quietly. It was mostly to make sure that he was okay and that everything was still in place. Face? Check. Arms? Check. Legs? Check. He's okay!

He couldn't help but reach a hand out to pat him on the shoulder. It was obvious that he had been just as worried as he had been, "Hey, don't worry about it. I was worried about you too."

"I know, but I'm okay." It hadn't been an easy fight, and Maleficent was definitely one of his least favorite people, but he'd come through along with all the rest. But he wasn't smiling, happy Ventus at the moment either; this was the Ventus that had been through a lot and wasn't backing down whenever something bad came up. He couldn't afford to do that anymore.

"You okay? Do I need to heal you or anything?"

He knew just by Ventus's expression that he was in serious-mode. Terra shook his head. He had gotten a cut or two from the Heartless before the boss, but he had healed them on his own along with everything else.

"I'm fine," he finally said and then frowned curiously, "Something on your mind?"

"Yeah... Maleficent." No beating around the bush now. Ven wasn't about to let any more worlds go out if he could help it, and this lady was one of his least favorite people ever. He didn't actively hate her - that was reserved for Vanitas - but he really disliked her.

"We really do need to talk... About everything."

Terra frowned at just the mention of her name. It sent chills up his spine at that moment. He had heard a few things about what she had done after everything that had happened, which made her seem even more powerful than he thought before. It was...almost scary, though he would never admit it.

He nodded to the other and walked towards the bent tree, waving a hand for Ventus to follow, "I know..."

And go with him he did, of course, though he didn't say anything until they were over there. Ven boosted himself up onto the bent tree once more, waiting until Terra was settled before asking what was probably his most difficult question of the day.

"...Terra... what happened in the castle? Maleficent said that you were the one who... took out her heart..."

He didn't want to believe it. He still didn't. Everything in him actively fought against the idea that Terra would do something like that. But now... now, he had to wonder.

Terra sat, reaching out to help Ventus up...but he didn't need it. He wasn't surprised or anything and rested his arms on his knees as he leaned over. He gazed out at the ocean as he listened to Ventus speak.

When the question was ask, he looked down. An overwhelming sense of guilt started to surface.

"...I did," he began, "I told you that I had when we were with Juudai; after meeting Hades. It wasn't really me, it was the darkness inside myself. She saw it inside of me, just like Xehanort had. She didn't use me and tell me lies though, she took control of that part of me. I only remember before and after it had happened..."

"Yeah, but you didn't say what happened - you just said she used you." And considering what had happened right before that for Terra, namely him failing the Mark of Mastery exam, Ven... Terra was his hero. But he'd learned the hard way that even heroes sometimes fell. And having Terra was great, but having Terra who didn't remember everything he did, who hadn't yet reached his own conclusion about Master Xehanort, made it harder. Ven felt like this was a constant uphill battle to convince Terra that he was actually a good person.

But Terra's expanded explanation actually gave him some relief. "See? You never would have done that on your own. Maybe she took control of you, but she's still the one that did it. You'd never do something like that to another person if you could choose it, and you didn't choose that one. Don't blame yourself for someone else's evil."

"I didn't have time to tell you then." he stated, sitting back a little. He didn't look at Ventus, he just look out at the ocean with a sad look. Even...if it hadn't been his fault, he still felt like there could've been something he had done. Something different. But in the end, if it hadn't been him to do it, then who would have done it?

"I know," he glanced over at Ventus, "But if I didn't have so much darkness in my heart, then it wouldn't have been so easy for her to control me."

"Terra, you don't... have that much Darkness in your heart." Ven wasn't as good at it as Aqua was, but he had a little of it, the ability to sense Darkness and Light. And this wasn't hero worship talking, this was real, and he watched Terra closely as he talked about it. "You've got some, yeah. Most people do - there's only eight of us that don't." And he wasn't even born that way. "Maybe you've got more than some people, but you don't really have a ton. It's not the Darkness that's your problem - it's the doubt. That's what Xehanort did to you. You would've passed the exam if he didn't mess it up, but he did, to make you start doubting yourself. Then you worried about it and worried about it and made it all you thought of, and that's how it was able to get in. Darkness isn't bad, really. You just... have to learn how to not worry over it too much."

Please listen to him, Terra. He was speaking from his heart.

"Eight?" he asked, sounding surprised. Terra listened, frowning thoughtfully as he listened.

There was a silence as he thought about it. Maybe that was what his problem was. It did seem that way, even if it did make him seem more vulnerable.

He laughed a little, lowering his head, "...I do worry a lot, don't I?"

A laugh, a real laugh. Ven smiled at that, a small one, but it was there. "Yeah... eight. Me, 'cause of what Master Xehanort did, and the Princesses of Heart. Snow White, and Cinderella, and Aurora - and Kairi, the girl who has a Keyblade now. They've all got hearts of pure Light, and that's why Maleficent wanted them. She actually got them all, too - Sora got them back."

And how to say this... It would be tricky, Ven knew he'd said stuff like this before and it hadn't exactly gotten through. "Yeah, you do. You worry a lot about all the wrong stuff. Worrying about keeping your friends safe and keeping the worlds safe and everything - that's okay. But you ...you've got a hard time letting stuff go. You hold on to it and worry about it and it just grows and grows 'cause it isn't allowed to go away. And that's how it gets you - I saw it, when we all found each other in Radiant Garden. I don't want you to think you're worthless. You're not. You're amazing, Terra. You just need to stop thinking you aren't."

Maybe that would get through to him. Maybe. Hopefully...

"I remember right after I had...taken the princess's heart, I felt like it had been lost. I didn't know how to get it back. I'm glad that someone else did."

Terra crossed his arms, "I don't think I'm worthless." That, of course, was a partial lie. Maybe it was because of everything that had happened without him being there. He felt like if he had been here, maybe it could've been changed. Then again, he...was there and still didn't do much of anything. If he had known things like he had now, then he might have been able to change it.

He stood up; he was doing it again. He wished he could stop thinking, at least right now.

And Ven reached forward to nudge him not-exactly-gently with the toe of his boot. "You're doing it again. Terra, you've really gotta learn to let stuff go. We're human, we're gonna make mistakes. As long as we don't keep making them, it'll be okay. No one's expecting us to be perfect, just fix what we mess up and move on."

He smiled at Ven confidently. He knew Ven was right, about him being a worrywort and he knew that he was right about everything getting better. Now he just had to convince himself, "Thanks, Ven."

Terra reached out then, a little roughly ruffling his hair and trying to mess it all up with a laugh.

He pouted a little at that, shaking his head and raising his own hand to try and press his hair flat again. "Try" being the operative word considering that his hair rarely lay flat to begin with.

"I wish you would stop doing that." He was sixteen now! Surely sixteen was old enough not to get hair ruffles, right? Then again, he was the little bro - he was probably doomed.

"You'll always be my little brother, so I'll do it forever." he said smiling. He reached out after that, going to tickle him.

"AAGH!" Ven pushed back to avoid the tickling - and went completely off the tree trunk, landing flat on his back in the sand with a whumph. Apparently it didn't hurt, though, as his hand immediately went to hit his shoulder button to activate his armor - try tickling him through that, Terra! "You are a terrible big brother."

Terra laughed, finally leaving him alone after he was covered in armor, "I thought I was doing a decent job, at least."

"Going after that any time you get the chance is terrible." Then again, Ven was biased here. He didn't like being tickled, and if he had to cook in his armor while sitting in the sand on Destiny Islands to avoid it, so be it. "One day I'm gonna find your weak spot and get you back repeatedly."

"Good luck with that; I don't have one." he said with a smile. Terra finally crossed his arms, "I'll stop, okay? Sit back down."

"Yeah you do, I just have to find it." Seriously Terra, watch out. The kid was gunning for it now, but he would be sneaky~ about it. But, Ven did listen, trusting Terra to keep his word about this, and pushed himself up out of the sand to go sit down on the tree again, dismissing his armor as he did so.

Once he was settled, though, Ven's serious look came back. "Terra... we need to tell people about her."

"No way." he said, chuckling.

Terra paused, frowning at the sudden change of subject. He crossed his arms, "About Malificent? I know. There could be some other people that already know about her."

"There's a few - the people in Radiant Garden, they pretty much all know. Leon will back us up on everything, and so will Mickey. But there's people out there that might listen to her if she doesn't tell them everything, and you know she won't. She'll just use them and throw them away when she's done with them, and we can't let that happen."

It had already happened in the past. No matter if Maleficent had helped Sora and everyone in the World that Never Was, that had been out of convenience and she was definitely their enemy now. They needed to stop her however they could.

"Then we have to let everyone know!" Terra exclaimed. He didn't want anything bad to happen to anyone else...like it had happened to him.

"Yeah, but..." And this was the tricky part. Ven hesitated, looking down before back at Terra. "We have to tell them what she did to you. Are you okay with that?"

Someone might ask what she could make people do... and Ven knew just how ashamed Terra was of taking Aurora's heart.

Terra looked disappointed. It was either at himself or maybe the situation.

He sighed and just shook his head, "If we have to... Then I'll tell them myself."

"We can tell them without mentioning your name," Ven continued, a little more quietly. "They need to know she can take people over, but we don't have to tell them it was you."

Ven didn't want to tell people, either. Apart from Terra not being evil and everything, it could easily put their standing as Keyblade wielders on shaky ground and cause people to lose faith in them, no matter how much they tried to stress that they were still people.

He nodded, looking a little more at ease, "That seems like a better idea."

"Okay... Are you ready, then?" Ven had his communicator out and ready to go in very little time; he was nervous about this, and didn't want to give himself time to think about it and reconsider. This could go well or badly. "I want to get this over with before I reconsider it."

Terra frowned lightly, it wasn't that he was nervous...but he was just unsure. He didn't know how everyone would react, but it was better if they told them now. Terra nodded, "I'm ready."

"Okay... here it goes." And Ven started pressing buttons on his communicator, preparing to send out a broadcast.

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