@blackthornwren is reading through Maxine Sanders' autobiography fictionalized retelling of her life Fire Child and getting her reactions to all of this Shit That Didn't Happen has been an absolute delight. She hasn't even got to the part with the sausages yet.
Todoroki is a bit like bakugo in that you have to be the one to initiate
He’s usually studying or training and is always busy so it's hard to really pin down specified cuddle time
Sometimes you have to nab him right as he comes back from training
Hes tired from it so he certainly doesn't mind a chance to lay down with you
He’s cozy and happiest when he has a chance to be with you, thinking it never lasts as long as he’d like
Usually, he’s tired so he falls asleep pretty quickly but it's not unenjoyable
He likes to hold you in his lap, putting his arms around your waist and holding you close
He starts sitting up but when he dozes off he’ll lay down, pulling you with him
The deeper he falls asleep the looser his grip on you becomes but he enjoys having you close, using his heat to keep you warm of his ice to keep you cool depending on the weather
Finishing up my Crunchyroll gift card with "Sea Prince & the Fire Child" aka "The Legend of Sirius". I've wanted to watch this since I was 7, but never managed to find a copy! Love the background art...!!
I was re-watching Birth By Sleep because apparently I like torturing myself and this just kinda sprouted.
“Terra!” I cried, rushing forward to see Terra’s armor standing... over... his body. But his body had... white hair. I looked between the armor and the body as the armor sunk his Keyblade into the ground and knelt behind it.
I went over to his armor and knelt opposite his keyblade. “Terra? Is that you?”
The helmet tilted up to look me in the eye. “Ig... Igni?”
“Yeah! It’s me!” I whispered.
“You have to get out of here, kid,” he said. “You’re too young to be here! How did you even get here?”
I manifested my keyblade. “I followed you after Xehanort’s dark spell started to devour the Land of Departure. I couldn’t stay there alone. I didn’t know what else to do,” I said. “And I’m thirteen. I can... keep myself out of trouble.”
“Igni, you need to get somewhere safe. You’re in danger here.”
“Terra, why is your body over there? What’s going on?”
“It’s a long story. Just... get out of here. Please.”
“I’m not leaving you guys!”
“You have to! Go! Follow your heart to Master Yen Sid’s tower. He’ll keep you safe and finish your training. Explain what happened to the Land of Departure. You just can’t be here! It’s too dangerous for you.”
“But---”
“Now, Igni.”
I started to cry. “Terra... I’m scared.”
“I know. I am too. But I need you to keep yourself safe, okay? You have to make it. You have to survive.”
The metal of his fingers lifted and wiped my tears away.
“Promise me you’ll be safe, Igni. Promise me.”
“I... I promise.” I sniffed.
“Good. Go. Now. Before this gets worse.”
I pushed myself to my feet. “Mkay. Be safe Terra.”
“You too.”
I nodded and pointed my keyblade at the sky. I opened a portal before throwing my keyblade into the air and leaping onto my vehicle and shooting through the portal.
As I hurtled down one of the Lanes Between, I pulled out the Wayfinder Aqua made me. Mine was unique. She’d made the others out of single colors of glass. Mine was a particular kind of stained glass. Near the center it was yellow, but it faded to red at the tips with orange in between. I had no idea how Aqua had managed to make it, but I loved it and I hoped our connection was as unbreakable as Aqua intended it to be.
I glanced behind me at where I’d left. “Be safe, guys...” I whispered.
*****
Many Years Later...
*****
“Terra!” Ven exclaimed, rushing over to our friend.
“Ven!” Aqua protested, reaching out for him before following. I glanced at the other guardians of light before running after them. Ven and Aqua... they didn’t know for sure what I knew. That our friend standing there wasn’t the Terra they remembered. It was hard to look at him and not immediately think of Xemnas---even with his brown hair and blue eyes. “Terra---please say you’re in there.”
Terra didn’t say anything, just looked up. I was already tugging on Ventus and Aqua’s sleeves, pulling them backward. When Terra’s eyes met Aqua’s, she pushed Ven behind us, forcing him---and by extension me---backward.
“What gives, Aqua?” Ven demanded.
“I know you’re not him!” Aqua spat at Terra’s possessed body.
“Huh?” Ventus wondered.
“Now let our friend go!”
Terra’s hair turned white and the blue of his eyes was replaced by yellow. Ven looked ready to pass out for another ten years from surprise.
“Today’s the day you all lose,” Terra-Xehanort said in a voice that wasn’t Terra’s. I closed my eyes and tried to keep my heart from falling back to darkness at the very sound of that voice and the anger at losing Terra that overwhelmed me.
He said something else, but I didn’t hear it.
“We’re not gonna lose to you,” Sora retorted.
A smirk that made my blood boil.
Terra’s body---possessed by Xehanort---vanished.
There was a loud CLANG! and a huge plume of dust rose around us.
When it settled, Xehanort’s keyblade was blocked by a familiar one---and a set of armor.
Gold, orange, and brown armor.
I gasped. “Terra!” I whispered. Ventus didn’t even hear me and he was standing nearest me.
“Got you, Xehanort,” Terra’s voice said, soft and barely audible from our distance away.
They started to fight. Ven ran forward to help but Aqua and I caught his arms. “Them first,” Aqua said, nodding behind us at the wave of Heartless coming in.
When no one was looking, I rushed to follow Terra’s armor and his body.
But didn’t get very far before I was surrounded by Heartless. I hissed in frustration. “Be safe, Terra,” I whispered before leaping over the swarming Heartless to get back to the others. I spun my fiery keyblade, knocking it gently against Lea’s and Ven’s and Aqua’s to let them know I was there since they were nearest. Aqua gave me a look. She’d noticed I’d gone after Lingering Will---as Sora had once referred to Terra’s heart within his empty armor---and Terra’s Xehanort-possessed body.
But I was back so she didn’t get the chance to lecture.
*****
“Aqua! Ven!” I shouted, running around the maze in the Keyblade Graveyard looking for my friends. I just got them back---after twelve years---I wasn’t losing them again. “AQUA! VEN!” I ran around recklessly, blowing past fights the other guardians of light were engaged in. They were handling themselves---I had to find Aqua and Ventus.
“Xingi!” Sora called. I skidded to a stop.
“Sora!”
“Aqua and Ven are that way.” He pointed behind him with his keyblade. “They’re okay.”
I nodded. Sora had a smile that didn’t quit and it helped me feel relief that the guardians of light were keeping their spirits up. I set a hand on Sora’s shoulder and ran off.
“Aqua! Ven!” I shouted again.
Whirling around a corner, I nearly face-planted in surprise.
“T... Terra?” I asked quietly.
A familiar face looked up from where a familiar body and clothes were helping Aqua and Ven with their injuries. Blue eyes held a sparkle as a smile I missed terribly greeted me. “Hey Igni.”
“TERRA!” I cried, running forward and slamming into him, wrapping my arms around him. He returned the hug---gently because he was still way bigger than me and still strong enough to snap me in half---and buried his nose in my hair. “You’re---you’re back!” I could barely speak past the tears building up in my eyes and throat.
I felt more than heard his chuckle. “I’m back Igni. You listened to me.”
“I did,” I sniffed.
“Ig...” Ventus mumbled.
I knelt and made sure he and Aqua were okay. They needed a minute to rest but they’d be fine. Terra sat next to me. “Tell me, what happened after you left?”
I let more tears fall. “You won’t be proud of me.” My voice was thick with emotion. “I went to Yen Sid, like you told me to. He did train me a little bit more. But... not long after you, Aqua, and Ven disappeared he asked if I would... cast off my heart and join the original Organization Thirteen. I recognized you immediately. Xemnas had your face. Every day I had to see you but you weren’t you. And it... very nearly ended me. Every time.”
“Why would Master Yen Sid ask you to do such a thing?” Terra asked quietly.
“To keep an eye on their activities---and to protect the keyblade’s chosen one from the Organization when they appeared. I waited ten years for Sora to show up. Empty and alone. Heartless. A Nobody. And your body was right there but you weren’t. It was awful. But I kept Sora as safe from the other Organization members as I could. And when he finally defeated my Nobody, Xingi, for good, I got my heart back.”
Terra held my shoulders. “Igni. I am proud of you. You gave up everything to keep Sora safe. Without him, I wouldn’t be back. So without you I wouldn’t be here.”
I nodded. “Thanks.”
“Whaddaya say we go catch up with Sora?” Ven asked, trying to sit up.
“Nope. No, no, no,” I said. “Give it another minute.”
“I’m fine Igni,” Ventus tried to insist. I cocked an eyebrow at him. I’d perfected the skeptical authority figure look over the last twelve years and turned the full force of it on him. He stood down almost immediately.
“We’ll meet up with the others at the end,” I said. “For now, they have their own fights to finish. Personal scores to settle.” I thought about passing Axel and Saïx. I didn’t envy them that fight. Nor did I envy Aqua and Ven their fight against Terra-possessed-by-Xehanort and Vanitas. I’d wanted to be there for that fight---but had gotten lost in the maze because Luxord was a jerk and I had to give Marluxia a good smackdown.
I gave Terra another hug. All three of them had always been loving to me when we were training under Eraqus---despite how much younger than them I was. Terra was twenty when I was thirteen. And due to their circumstances, I had aged past all of them.
Terra held onto me tightly. “You’re okay. You’re safe. We’re not going to let anything happen to you anymore.”
Ven sat up, ignoring my glare. “Yeah. You’ve been through so much, Igni. All on your own. Let us help you now.”
I sighed and wished I could curl up against Terra’s chest and just let him hold me like he did when I was younger and had a bad dream or a rough day of training. Whenever I felt like I was falling apart as a kid, Terra had been there. His strength felt like he was holding me together---keeping my pieces from flying away.
“Mkay,” I muttered. “When all this is over.”
“Yeah. For now we should get moving,” Aqua said.
Terra and I helped Aqua and Ven to their feet. “How old are you now, Igni, anyway?” Terra asked.
“Twenty-five,” I answered.
His hand rested on my shoulder. “I’m sorry we missed so much.”
“It’s not your fault. None of you. C’mon let’s go.”
Joyous at being with my family again, I smiled as we ran to catch up with Sora.
*****
“Terra, Aqua, Ven, Igni. Forgive your foolish teacher,” Master Eraqus’ heart said to us. All four of us stood with barely-contained emotions.
Ven broke first, running forward and throwing his arms around the glowing form. “Master!” he exclaimed. Aqua echoed it as she hugged his other side. Terra and I followed slower, hugging our teacher from behind Ventus and Aqua.
“Master,” Terra said quietly.
“Ven, I put you through such a harrowing experience. Aqua, I left you with such a heavy burden. Igni, I left you all alone with no guidance or guardianship for so long. Terra, look after them for me.”
Terra, who had taken a step away, nodded.
When Master Eraqus released me, Aqua, and Ven from the tight embrace, Terra wrapped his arm around my shaking shoulders, holding me so tight that my shakes quieted. I held onto Terra’s sturdy torso like it was a tree trunk and I was a child lost in the woods. The last time I saw the man who basically raised me, I was thirteen and had just watched him try to hurt Ven and then raise his Keyblade against Terra before getting struck down by Xehanort.
It had been twelve years. I could tell Terra didn’t blame me for crying. He just held me tight to his side, reminding me of my childhood when he was the protective one of our group. When I used to have bad dreams and wake up with a scream. He’d be in my room within moments to hold me and rock me till I went back to sleep.
Everything and yet nothing had changed.
*****
Riku, Roxas, and Terra went running by in the sand, Riku clearly in the lead and Terra getting exhausted in third place. Lea’s Frisbee went shooting past my face, very nearly missing me. “Ven!” I shouted.
“Sorry Ig!” he shouted.
“Riku wins! Again,” Aqua said. She and I laughed as Terra came in last, dropping his hands to his knees and panting.
“You alright, Terra?” I asked jokingly.
“Fine. ‘M fine,” he said.
Riku chuckled and clapped Terra on the shoulder. “Ya get used to running in sand eventually. Don’t take it so hard.”
Terra rolled his eyes at both of us. I gave him a playful hug.
Inside, I could sense the light in my heart. The last vestiges of the darkness that had consumed me when I joined the Organization to watch for Sora and then keep him safe were finally fading away. I could feel joy again. I did feel joy again. After so long of feeling nothing as a Nobody, the happiness was almost overwhelming.
Terra hugged me back. “We’re here,” he reminded me quietly after a nightmare that I’d had while snoozing on the flight to the Islands of losing him, Aqua, and Ventus all over again. “We’re here and we’re going to stay here. With you. The three of us won’t ever leave you again, ‘kay?”
I nodded into his chest. “Okay,” I said. “Thanks Terra.”
“Of course,” he replied, resting his chin on the top of my head and holding me tighter. “You’ve been so strong for so long---all on your own. Allow yourself to lean on us.”
“I will.”
Aqua appeared at our shoulders. “Everything okay?” she asked.
“Yeah. Just needed a reminder that it is,” I replied.
She set her hand on the top of my head. Even though I was now older than all of them, I was still the shortest. “We’re here now, Igni,” she said before giving me and Terra a smile and strolling off toward where Naminé and Xion were gathering seashells.
Terra kissed the top of my head. I squeezed him tight. He was solid, anchoring me to the reality that my nightmares weren’t real and I was okay.
“I love you, Terra,” I whispered, not even sure if he’d hear me.
