[filtered to Eraqus and Ven]

[wavesinherheart]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there's... something you need to hear. It's about Terra.

[There's a moment of pause there, as she tries to figure out how best to say what she needs to.]

You both know how we fought Xehanort in the end, I think. What I didn't tell you was that after everything was over I... I couldn't find Terra anywhere. Not where we'd been fighting anyway. I didn't find him again until later and I know this is going sound strange, but Xehanort had... possessed him, I guess.

I thought I'd managed to give him another chance to be Terra, but... I'm not so sure anymore.

Comments

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[Eraqus honestly doesn't know how to respond to this...or maybe can't, for a long while. All that pain over what's happened comes back fresh again, and he just looks distraught. Suddenly, a lot more makes sense...how Xehanort survived to hurt Sora and Riku and their friends, and why Xehanort had shown such fascination with Terra in the first place.]

[Eventually, that pain turns back into anger for him. This anger is at Xehanort, though.]

This will...this must be corrected...

[wavesinherheart]

It will be.

[She knows what she has to do. Xehanort's taken Terra from her once already, and spending years in the darkness was her consolation prize. She's not going to let it happen again. Not if she has anything to say about it.]

You... wouldn't know anything about getting someone out of another's body, would you?

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[He looks thoughtful for a long moment. The first assumption would be to use a Keyblade to unlock the heart and remove the intruder, but doing that...]

No...not without causing the original person's heart a great degree of harm in the process...

[And the thought of Terra having to go through all of that as well is just as unbearable as this news.]

[wavesinherheart]

[Causing further harm to Terra is about the last thing she wants, although if that turns out to be the only way....]

I'll just have to find something else then.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[Eraqus now desperately wishes that he knew more about that, but it's such unfamiliar territory...]

Do you know...how long it will have been since he's been that way now?

[wavesinherheart]

Not... for certain, but it's been while. Too long.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[Eraqus is silent for awhile. Could Terra even be saved if his heart’s been taken over for so long? Would ending his life be more merciful than trying to drag him out of that kind of darkness? He doesn’t know...]

And you know that...he’s still there?

[wavesinherheart]

I... haven't really been a position to check. But if he's there, then I'm going to help him find his way back.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

For everyone's sake...I hope he still is.

[wavesinherheart]

If... if he's not, then I'll see to it that Xehanort is defeated for good this time. But I hope he still is too.

/some time later

[wavesinherheart]

Ah... and there's something else you should know. Terra... he was falling into the darkness, after everything. I jumped in to save him, but I couldn't save us both.

I'm sorry.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[It only takes a bit of deduction to realize that Terra was probably the one saved...if he was possessed by Xehanort, and hurting those in the future. He can't even fathom all of this; it's too painful.]

You've been there...this whole time?

[wavesinherheart]

Yes. I have.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[He's again silent for a long time...practically grieving. So...none of his students escaped all this safely? Even Aqua, who he'd just made a Master and had complete faith in her...]

[Something else occurs to him after that silence, though.]

But...you are still here, and whole.

[If there's one thing he's heard about the realm of darkness, it's that it will quickly corrode body and heart if a person is left there for too long...]

[wavesinherheart]

[There's one of two logical conclusions in that. Either she had her armor and was thus spared the effects of the darkness or the stories aren't quite true in so far as the effect of darkness goes.

(The truth is, of course, nothing like either of those, but the truth is painful enough already. There's no need to make things even harder.)]

Yes. I am.

[hiptobe_eraqus]

[There's another long pause.]

...Then there's still some hope.

[It's just as much for himself as it is for her. And maybe, if they're here now, he could find a way for her to escape both this realm and the realm of darkness...]

[wavesinherheart]

It's hard to see, sometimes. But there is.

[salvagedlight]

[Strangley, Ven doesn't seem too surprised by this. Hurt, sure, but surprised...? Not really. Maybe it's the result of more flashes of his time with Xehanort coming back to him, but it's probably because...]

...Like... Like me?

[...he's been through it, too.]

[wavesinherheart]

Yes. I think it's probably worse for him, though.

[She wouldn't wish Xehanort on anyone.]

[salvagedlight]

[Considering he was able to break away fairly quickly, he has to agree on that. But it still sucks.]

There's... no way to get him back?

[wavesinherheart]

I'm not sure. But if there is, I'm going to find it.

[salvagedlight]

We're going to find it! Let me help you, Aqua!

[wavesinherheart]

Alright. We'll save Terra together.