Terraqua Day!
Skein: A bond eternal
Rating: M
Word Count: 3,157
Summary: After years of missed chances and unspoken feelings, Terra returns—heart finally whole. Worried about the upcoming battle, there's one last thing he needs to do: confess to Aqua. Because if they don't make it…he needs her to know.
Read on AO3
One moment, he’s contemplating the darkness surrounding him; the next, he stares at his hands in disbelief.
Terra flexes his fingers in a testing manner—they obey. His body has returned to him. The world rushes back in a tidal wave of sensations, the sun’s rays beat upon his skin, sweat trailing down his brow as his muscles throb with the strain of movement. He feels.
His hands fly to his chest. The hole is gone, his once-missing heart back where it belongs, thrumming in exhilaration.
And then it sinks as his gaze falls upon Ventus lying still and wounded on the ground. Aqua lies several feet away in a similar state. Did I…? He shakes his head. No. They’re alright, they have to be. Otherwise, he could never live with himself.
He’s quick to check for a pulse on Ventus, who stirs. Aqua pulls herself up, meeting his gaze. Relief sets in, and so does shock as he looks at Aqua like he’s seeing her for the first time.
“You never stopped lighting my way back,” he says between tears, a long overdue confession.
Aqua gives him a tearful smile, the most beautiful he’s seen in forever. She looks perfect, scars included. It feels like a dream. Stars, he’d missed her so much.
Ventus and Aqua bring him up to speed. He lost over ten years of his life. Xehanort is still the problem, and Sora and others—names he can’t quite grasp amidst the information overload—are in charge of stopping the old coot for good.
“So when do we come in?” Terra asks, glancing between Aqua and Ventus.
Aqua lifts her gaze to the sky. “We’re waiting on Sora’s signal.”
Terra arches a brow. “And what does that look like?”
“I’m…not sure,” she admits, already stepping away, eyes scanning the horizon.
Ventus shrugs, hands in his pockets. “He said we’ll know it when we see it.”
His gaze lingers on Terra—familiar, yet a little intense. A mix of awe and curiosity.
Typical Ven.
Still, Terra raises an eyebrow. “What?”
“It’s just…been a while,” Ventus says. “Kind of forgot how freakishly tall you are.”
Terra smirks, reaching over to ruffle his hair. “And you’re still a shrimp.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t chug protein shakes every morning just to impress someone,” Ventus shoots back, swatting at his hand and sticking his tongue out.
“Hey—leave my shakes out of this,” Terra says, feigning offense.
“Sure,” Ventus says, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Did it ever work, though?”
Terra frowns. “Did what work?”
Ventus tilts his head. “You know what. Wait—did you even tell her?”
Terra glances toward Aqua. She’s sitting a short distance away, perched on a broken slab of stone, quietly checking her inventory. Her fingers move steadily, her face unreadable.
“Didn’t really have the chance before…” he mutters.
Ventus levels him with a look. “You need to tell her.”
A confession? Now? Terra nearly laughs. Is he serious?
“Ven…this isn’t the time,” Terra says, scratching the back of his neck. “We’re about to walk into battle. I can’t risk distracting either of us.”
He glances at Aqua again—at the quiet strength in her posture, the calm before the storm. “Besides…there’ll be time later.”
“Ok…” Ventus murmurs, but his smile fades. “But what if there’s not?”
Terra’s heart skips a beat at his words. Not make it? No. That wasn’t an option.
“We’ll make it,” he says quietly. “We have to.”
“You don’t know that,” Ventus says, his voice low. “Look where we are right now.”
He exhales, shoulders tightening.
“I went to sleep and woke up over ten years later…and you…and her…” His voice falters. “I don’t think she’ll survive losing us again.”
He stands, brushing off his pants. “It’s just a thought, but...”
Then without another word, he turns and heads toward the next section of the labyrinth. Aqua trails behind him silently, her footsteps soft against the shattered stone.
Terra stays behind.
What if Ven’s right?
What if this isn’t like before—what if it’s worse?
What if the right time never comes?
The questions hit harder than any blow, his thoughts spiraling, dragging him back into the dark corners of his mind—the kind he’s spent years clawing out of. Memory after memory rises like waves, crashing, seeking refuge in pain.
He couldn’t go through it again. He couldn’t…
“Terra.”
He startles.
Aqua stands by his side, her gaze steady, eyes full of quiet worry. Always her—always putting others before herself. Her arms are scratched. Her shoulder bruised. She should be resting. Healing. But instead, she’s here. With him.
Up ahead, Ventus pauses and glances back, waiting.
“Ven,” Terra calls. “You go ahead. We’ll catch up in a bit.”
“Roger!” Ventus replies with a wink and a knowing smile. He jogs ahead, leaving them the space they hadn’t asked for, but need.
Terra turns to Aqua and takes her hand. She blinks, surprised, yet doesn’t resist. Her fingers tighten around his instinctively. Without a word, he leads her toward a crumbled alcove nestled between two broken walls—a sliver of privacy in a place made of echoes and endings.
Neither speaks for a moment. The only sound is the wind, howling across the desolate place as if announcing the inevitable.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” Terra says, avoiding her gaze.
She frowns and crosses her arms. “We should stick with Ven. I don’t like the idea of splitting up even if it’s just for a moment. Can this wait until—”
“I love you...”
The words spill out before he can stop them, disclosing the secret he thought he would keep forever.
Aqua leans against the wall, hiding in the shade it casts. Her gaze falls to the ground. Few things had left her speechless in all the years they’d known each other.
“I know it’s not the time,” Terra rushes on, “but I had to say it. Just in case…”
In case Xehanort wins. In case they’re torn apart again. In case they meet a bitter end.
Aqua shakes her head. “You’re such an idiot. All those years—we had all those years and you tell me at a time like this?”
“I’m sorry.”
She meets his gaze, her deep blue eyes heavy with emotions she’d kept from him. “I…I don’t know what to do with that right now…” she says, her hand reaching for his, intertwining their fingers.
His eyes fall on their hands, together in that unspoken understanding there’s always been between them. “I don’t expect you to.”
“There’s so much I wanted to share with you…” she says, her voice losing its steadiness.
“I know.”
Aqua squeezes his hand, tears trickle down her cheeks. “I hate you.”
“I know…” Terra chuckles hollowly, and he presses a kiss on her forehead. “You can hit me if it makes you feel better.”
Aqua sniffs. There’s a firm poke on the middle of his chest, and he smiles faintly. She still reprimands him the same way as when they were children. She offers a pained smile—a perfect picture of the melancholy she hides beneath duty and strength. Her expression shifts, too quick to follow, years of feelings compressed in seconds. He thinks she’ll break down in sobs.
She doesn’t. Her pride doesn’t allow her to show much weakness. Never has. Instead, she holds his gaze, eyes trying to decipher a secret, making a fleeting wish. Unreasonable. Wild. Raw. I want to be with you. I can’t lose you. I can’t…
He tilts her chin and slowly leans in, eyes closing as he grants her wish—their lips meeting in a bittersweet kiss with an undertone of desperation. It’s the kind that carves itself into memory, unlike when they learned to kiss under the star magnolias back home. Her hands grip his shirt as if he were to disappear, as if the ground would give under her feet any moment. I need you, I need you…Terra deepens the kiss, his lips wanting for all of her.
“Aqua…” he whispers between kisses, trying to think straight.
Aqua shakes her head. “I know…I know…”
He pulls her flush against him and holds her face, the look in her eyes and the frantic beating of their hearts luring him to honor her silent request. He kisses her again, and again and again, each time less innocent and permissive, wondering if it would be enough to sate his need for her. It isn’t.
Aqua leans against the wall, dragging him back by his shirt so suddenly that he has to place a hand on the rough brick to avoid running into her. It’s her turn. Her turn to claim his mouth and thread her fingers through his hair…her turn to demand more as it all rushes into uncharted territory.
It’s a primal instinct instilled by nature.
He responds to her demands, his lips pressing on the soft curve of her jaw, and trailing down as much of her neck as her damn shirt allows. It’s worth it. Aqua gasps, her hands tightening on his hair as she tilts her head, trying to give him better access. He settles for a nip on a bit of skin and the pulse of her heartbeat, quick beneath his lips.
His hands wander, tracing the clothed contours of her body, wishing it could be different. Aqua doesn’t stay behind, hands ghosting over his chest, mapping muscles and scars through the fabric of his shirt. He leans into every touch he’d craved all these years, and her hands tremble the lower she ventures. She stops at his suspenders, trying to unclip them—a bold move for someone who flusters at the slightest implication.
They fumble together, breath hitching as his pants loosen enough to lower them slightly. They exchange a brief look, and a beat later, Aqua quietly pulls down her shorts, inviting him to go further and cross the line they’d tiptoed around all this time.
Yes, the place is far from ideal. Yes, it’s unreasonable and probably delusional—but it’s all they’ll ever have if things take a turn for the worse. If this is what Aqua wants, he’ll make it happen. She could wish for a star, and Terra would find a way to bring it to her.
They’re out of time to question it—only act.
They press against the wall, lips crashing together in a heated, breathless kiss. Terra lifts one of her legs, her thigh curling instinctively around him. His hand glides along her skin, up to the edge of her underwear, lingering, asking. Her grip tightens around him in response, a hand drifting lower on his torso, fingers brushing him intimately for the first time. And stars, he’s unprepared for the spark it sends through his body, the heat of her touch convincing him to throw caution to the wind faster than he can summon his Keyblade.
Kisses. Promises. Wishes.
“I want this…” she whispers against his lips. “I want you…”
His hand slips between them, fingers curling around the fabric of her underwear. He slowly pulls it aside, reverent and hesitant. But, Aqua’s impatient, rightfully so—guiding him with her hand in the newfound torturous bliss of intimacy.
A soft gasp escapes her lips, breath catching against his skin, her eyes fluttering shut as he settles in completely. He stills, admiring her, his heart racing faster than before.
Beautiful doesn’t begin to cover it. Raw emotion suits her perfectly.
He holds her tightly, forehead pressed to hers. The warmth, the closeness, the reality of her wrapped around him—it’s all overwhelming. Because after so long, he could feel again, he could want…
Actions. Feelings. Thoughts. They’re all his and his only at last.
Her fingers run through his hair slowly. “Terra,” she whispers, her voice sweet and vulnerable. “I’m here…I’m with you.”
He meets her gaze. He’s present again, more grounded than ever.
Aqua loops her arms around his neck. He places a hand on her lower back, the other still supporting her leg as if they were practicing a complex dance. A dance he’d dreamed of but never dared to imagine.
His movements are slow at first. Careful. Learning her rhythm, her reactions, the way her body answers his without hesitation. Her hips meet his in a gentle back and forth like the sea returning to shore as she finds the right beat, their movements synchronizing like a well-practiced sparring session.
Stars. She feels like everything he thought he lost and somehow found again.
Terra pours every ounce of affection and care into his actions. Every touch, every kiss—passion and unspoken promises, a testament to their bond. He commits the moment to memory, every aspect of it, carefully framed in his mind, determined to cherish it forever.
Her eyes flutter open often, heart laid bare in her gaze as she makes sure he’s real. She’s trying to stay present, or at least as much as one can with the suffocating weight of emotions. She doesn’t need to voice it. He knows. He knows…
She needs this—one last memory to hold onto, just in case the world doesn’t give them another chance.
“I’m here,” he assures her, brushing his thumb gently across her cheek. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Heat coils low in his stomach, restraint slipping, his hips moving faster. Her breath catches, arms wrapping tighter around his neck as he sets they fall into a new rhythm, one as old as the stars.
They’re lost.
Lost in each other. Lost in the steady beat of their hearts as one. Lost in the fragility of the moment.
She moans his name, breathless. Terra shuts his eyes, breath faltering as he tries to hold on to the moment a little longer.
“Aqua…” he whispers against her lips, his voice hoarse, thick with emotion.
And then—it happens.
Her body tenses, nails digging into his shoulders as she calls his name, coming undone in his arms. A crescendo that culminates in tears of catharsis. Joy. Sorrow. Release. It’s all there in equal measure.
Terra holds her through it, grounding her, guiding her through the echo of pleasure. His hips keep moving—gentle, steady—seeking to join her. It’s so close. Too close.
He shouldn’t. Not without asking.
His mind blurs. His body aches. Fuck. It takes his all to obey his mind a minute longer.
He meets her eyes—his question already there, unspoken. She knows. Of course she does. And all while she has the loveliest blush he’d seen. She nods, mouthing the word, Please…
That’s all he needs.
Terra doesn’t think twice. He moves with her, for her—chasing the warmth of her skin, the tremble in her voice, the way his name leaves her lips like a sacred promise.
Almost.
Her breath at his neck.
Almost.
Her voice in his ear.
Then it crests, pleasure surging through his body in a fierce, radiant wave. He clutches her tight, burying his face in her neck as it overtakes him, body shuddering with release.
It’s everything, years of unspoken feelings, longing, and bottled want. A connection deeper than words could ever convey. A single, fleeting eternity.
And maybe it’s the end. But Terra refuses to think of it.
“I love you…” he whispers on her skin, words and tears flowing naturally.
He looks up and holds her close, their foreheads touching once more. Aqua’s smile breaks through her tears, quiet and luminous.
“I love you too…”
They stay like that—intertwined, basking in the breathless afterglow, hearts still beating as one. For a moment, the world outside doesn’t exist. War, fate…all of it fades. There is only this. Only them.
Their breathing slowly returns to normal, and Terra gently lowers her leg, but keeps her close, reluctant to let go. To let this go.
“We should get back,” Aqua murmurs, her voice soft against his chest.
He wraps his arms around her tighter, holding on to the stillness they’ve found amidst the eye of the storm. Afraid he might never hold her like this again.
“I don’t want to…” he admits, fingers brushing through her hair. “They can do without us.”
It’s the dark and selfish part of him—still there, still whispering despite everything.
Aqua looks up, her gaze full of compassion. “They can’t. They need us.”
He cups her face, trying to memorize it one more time.
“Terra…whatever’s going through your head right now…let it go.”
“I know…”
One last kiss seals the moment before reality calls them back. They redress in silence, the urgency gone, replaced by gentle, lingering touches and soft smiles as they make themselves presentable again. No rush. Just presence.
“If things go wrong—“
“They won’t,” Aqua says, voice firm. “No matter what happens…we’ll face it together.”
Tap, tap, tap.
Footsteps echo from further down the path.
Aqua tenses mid-movement, one sash still in her hand. Terra doesn’t move, fingers paused at the strap of his armor.
Tap, tap, tap.
“I can’t find my other sleeve,” Aqua says under her breath, scanning the ground in a flurry. “How did that even happen?”
Terra smooths her hair and slips the fabric into her palm with a smirk. “No idea.”
She blushes, shooting him a look. “You are not allowed to keep souvenirs.”
A voice echoes nearby—familiar, but distant. Then…silence.
That better not be Ven.
“Sora?” Aqua calls.
No reply.
“Riku,” Terra mutters. “Definitely Riku. He walks like judgment.”
They exchange one last glance—soft, knowing, undeniably theirs—before stepping back into the open.
No one’s there.
Hand in hand, they head back toward where they’d last seen Ventus, ready to face whatever destiny awaits. The walk is quiet, tense, but Terra knows it’s not silence—it’s the weight of what they’ve shared, and the worry that lingers once the moment is gone.
They find the others soon enough.
Aqua halts just before stepping into view, squeezing Terra’s hand nervously.
“Do you think anyone will…notice?
Terra chuckles. “Now you worry? You didn’t seem to mind a few minutes ago.”
She slaps his arm with a glare, cheeks coloring.
“I’m serious. Do I look ok?”
He tilts his head, pretending to assess. “Mmm…the sashes look a little crooked.”
Aqua groans. “You’re not serious.”
Terra holds her by the shoulders, gently stilling her. “You look perfect. I’m just messing with you.”
Then, without a word, he lifts her hand and kisses it. “You go first.”
She nods and steps forward.
The sun sets behind them, casting a warm, golden light over the broken path. And for the first time in what feels like forever, Terra feels at peace.
Is this what it feels like to know it’s the end?
He shakes his head. He can’t think that way.
It’s not an ending, but a beginning.
Our bond is strong enough.
We’ll make it.
