I Want to Pick the Pieces up; Yours, and Mine [Ventus, Open]

Ven's sweet words melted the fatigue that had began creeping into Aqua's heart during her explanation. As he shifted to put his head in her lap, she smiled sweetly down at him, and her hand moved to play gently with his hair. "Thank you, Ven." a faint trace of a tear rolled down her face, as she remembered the mirages she'd seen of him combined with Vanitas in the Realm of Darkness. The lifeless look on his face when she'd seen him with Terra. Terra...

No, she wouldn't let it get to her again. Ven was here. She could feel the warmth of his head in her lap, could hear his faint breathing as he laid there looking up at her. There was nothing she needed fear now. She was home and safe and so was he. She would push on. And somewhere down that path, Terra would also be waiting for her. "I'm sure there's lots of fun adventures awaiting us. But there will be hard ones as well. I've been thinking, perhaps it's time to put this place...The Land of Departure, to it's original use. When I was in the Realm of Darkness, I met several other Keyblade Wielders. They had been frozen in time there for a very long time. Since the time of the Keyblade War." She spoke fondly, "Perhaps I...or we...could train them here, as we were trained."

Aqua glanced down at Ventus in moderate surprise at his response. It still hit her how much he'd grown in the time he'd been apart from her. Whether it was before their fight with Xehanort of after he'd woken up, he'd gotten pretty grown-up pretty fast. He was asking the kinds of questions that a Master should ask. She was proud of him for that, and hope her face and tone portrayed that when she responded to him. "There is potential for Darkness, yes. But there is potential for darkness in all of us. Even myself." She stopped for a moment and offered him a joking smile. "Well, maybe not you." she chided, before continuing. 

"All the more reason for us...or myself at least, to train them. We don't know what their world was like...or what they've been through. We don't know which of them are predisposed for Light or Darkness, or who would be interested in joining us...but won't it be easier to keep the darkness in check with guidance and acceptance?" She offered, a measure of hope seeping into the thought. After all that time, hope that they were no longer out numbered or out classed. Even as she spoke the words she was at once terrified and thrilled by the thought. Could she really do it? Could she be Master to so many pupils? "There were perhaps...thirteen or fourteen? I didn't think to count at the time. There are spare rooms, and if there aren't enough...I can make more. I'm sure if I can change this place into a giant twisting maze of rooms with the Master's Keyblade, I should atleast be able to add some additional sleeping quarters." She trailed off. "And we'll get you a lock for your door." She finished with a joking hand over her face. "All that aside, I'm so glad you're awake Ven. I missed you."

For the first time since before her time in the Realm of Darkness, Aqua felt a rumbling in her stomach, just as Ventus brought it to her attention. She was hungry. How did that work again? She looked up at Ven, slightly sad that he was no longer relaxing there with her, but knowing there was alot of work to do. She was glad for his support, after all this time, it still felt like a dream. She stood up to join him, and nodded. "Yeah, I could use the rest as well. And, I am hungry. I wonder if anything was preserved when I altered the world..." She brought a hand up to her chin, wondering.

Shaking her head, She decided to go find out. "I'm assuming everything is back where it's supposed to be." She stated, bemused. The thought of a bath and sleep made her limbs even heavier than they were before. "But first, I think I'll take a bath and go to sleep." She decided suddenly, shrugging, "lead the way, Ven."

Aqua let Ventus lead the way, doing her best not to let on how much the fatigue had drained her. She was sure it was catching up with her in ways she couldn't realize. Ven saw them, probably, but he was kind enough not to mention it. Though, she was not too proud to admit it. They walked together through the old halls, seeming even more empty now without the Master or Terra. The fact that neither of them had walked through these halls without the other two being around since the day they'd left followed them down the hall in the silence. Aqua's room was the first one they'd pass along their way, and she stopped to look at the door, and the blue plaque bearing her name that was adorned with stars and moon shapes. It made her giggle. She looked exactly the same, and yet she'd matured so much since then.

Nodding to Ventus, she smiled. This is where I get off." She joked, pushing open the door. "Rest well, Okay, Ven? I'll see you in the morning." and with that, she slipped into the room, closing it silently behind her. It was just as she remembered it, with the landscapes that the Master had collected on the walls, the charms and beads that decorated her curtains and dangled from the ceiling. All stars, moons, and drops of water. A cascade of familiar warmth. The bath was calling, but now that she was here, the young master decided to skip it entirely, instead opting to kick off her shoes, and collapse into her nice, feather bed. 

Where she would sleep for the next 32 hours.