‘...Mama...it's ok...don’t be sad...I’ll give you a big hug!!…. i-if I can...hehe...but please don’t be scared or upset! I’ll protect you, and so will Papa! You’ll see!’

Aqua opened her a bit as she stared at her lavender painted ceiling as she groaned, feeling a small headache, as she tried to sit up, but felt something on her as she turned her head and widened her eyes when she saw Terra leaning against the bed, asleep as his hand was on her stomach.

She stared at him in shock and surprise but then she realized her head felt lighter as she lifted her left hand and ran her fingers through her hair as she paused when she realized it was very short as she froze as she started to remember what happened yesterday.

Terra groaned as he started to wake up from a certain noise as he lifted his head and he rubbed the back of his neck as he opened his eyes and saw Aqua crying as fear started to show in her eyes.

He woke up immediately and hugged her tightly, sitting her in his lap, surprising her, “ T-Terra..?”

“ Hey...it’s going to be okay...I promise..don’t cry..” he told her in a soft voice. She froze for a moment as she hugged him tightly, silently crying into his shoulder. Terra didn’t mind, as he gently stroked her hair.

They stayed like that for a while as Aqua eventually stopped crying as she slowly pulled away as she looked at him as he sadly smiled at her, asking, “ How are you feeling?” he asked her.

She looked at him as she said, “ I feel...tired...and kinda scared...but also a bit happy now that you're here..” she told him the truth, looking down. He sighed as he kissed her forehead as he told her, “ I’m glad you told me the truth…”

It was quiet for a bit as Terra asked, in a soft voice, “ So...what are you going to do? With...the baby?” he asked, looking at her. She fidgeted a bit as she told him, “....I...I want to keep it...but...I’m scared if...she finds out.”

He looked at her and sighed as he said, “ I understand...but...what if I told you there was a way for you and your siblings and the baby would be safe from her?” 

She looked at him confused and shocked, “ What..?”

He sighed as he took a box he had put away in his keyblade armiger and showed her pictures. They were all pictures of her with bruises and cuts and broken noses and such. She looked at him in shock as she said, “ You...took all these pictures...when we met up...didn’t you?”

He gave a faint nod, “ I joined the photography club after I quit the music class...and so I started to take pictures of the injuries and such...and I even snuck to where you guys were training one time and got a video recording…”

She looked at him in shock and awe, as she said, “ You...did this all….for me and my siblings..?” she asked.

He faintly smiled as he said, “ I did it because it was not only was it the right thing to do….it was also because I care about you so much...it’s not right that you have to deal with all of this...you or Isa don’t deserve any of the treatment...so for the past couple of years, I’ve been taking the pictures of your injuries and such to help you, when we met up every day.”

Aqua looked at him and teared up a bit again as she said, “ Thank you…”

He smiled as he said, “ What are best friends for?” he asked as she kissed him on the lips, surprising him for a moment before he kissed her back softly.

She pulled away as she said, “S-Sorry...I just wanted to show my appreciation…” she told him, blushing brightly, looking shy before he chuckled a bit, “ It’s fine..” he gave her another kiss, a bit deeper making her blush a bit as she kissed back, closing her eyes.

…

Six-year-old, they both just layed on Aqua’s bed, cuddling each other as they stared at the ceiling together, staring at the stick on stars Aqua had put on the ceiling, making up constellations.

Terra chuckled as he asked, “ Hey, Aqua, do you remember when we first met?”

She looked at him surprised, chuckling a bit as she said, “ Yeah, I was on my way to Kindergarten, when we met….that was so long ago.” she laughed.

10 years ago…

Six year old Aqua hummed a song as she ran her way to her first day of school. She had her shoulder-length hair up in pigtails tied up by white ribbons and was wearing a black tank top with purple straps in an X-shape, with a skirt that went from a light shade of blue to a deep midnight blue as she had her pink and white cat backpack on her back, having her school supplies and was holding her lunchbox, which had the design of the very first Nintendo controller, in her hands. 

She stopped at the crosswalk, as she waited for her to be able to walk across the street. All of a sudden, she felt someone snag her lunchbox, as she turned to where she saw a hooded figure running off with her lunchbox as she shouted, “ Hey! Come back here and give me back my lunchbox!!!” she shouted, running after the figure.

The person ran into the alleyway as she chased after him, as she ended up tripping on a crack, falling as she teared up a little, crying as she had scraped her knees and had landed on her chin, as the figure stopped hearing her sniffle and tear up.

The figure felt bad as they walked back to her and asked in a soft voice, “ Are...Are you okay…?”

Aqua tried to stop crying when she heard the voice, it sounded like a little boy just like her, with a bit of an accented voice. She sniffled as she looked up and saw the figured person was a boy who looked to either be around her age or a bit older. His clothes were practically rags, they had so much dirt and grime and stains on them, as she saw underneath the hood a boy with a couple of scratches and dirt on his face. She also saw a unique shade of blue eyes underneath the hood. 

She looked at him a bit surprised but looked away as she said, “ N-Not really...I fell on my chin and knees….”

He frowned as he felt bad and said, “ Can I see?” he asked.

“...only if you give me back my lunchbox…” she made an offer to him

“...okay.” he handed her back her lunchbox and saw her chin and knee and put a small hand on her head and said, “ Heal!”

A green light surrounded her and healed her chin and her knees making her amazed at what he did as he asked, “ How’s your chin and knees now?” he asked, curious a bit. She looked at him, with stars in her eyes, “ They feel better...how did you do that?” she said, curious and amazed.

He scratched his head a bit as he told her, “ I honestly don’t know..hehe..all I know is when I get hurt, when I say heal, the things hurting me don’t hurt anymore!” he explained.

“ Wow, that’s so cool!! Can you do anything else?” she asked, even more curious.

“ Uhh...oh! I can do this!” he stomped the ground and a rock levitated in the air for a little bit before he put it back down.

“ So cool!!” Aqua said, the stars in her eyes going even more big

He nervously laughed as he said, “ I-It’s not that cool...anyways...sorry for taking your lunch. I’m just so hungry….”

Aqua tilted her head a bit as she asked, confused, “ Why? Doesn’t your mama or papa make food for you?”

He looked at her, and said, “ No, mommy and daddy went to a place called Heaven...the grown up’s said they couldn’t take me along since I was too young or something…” he pouted a bit, crossing his arms.

Aqua frowned as she looked at him and said, “ Well...I’m sure you can visit them one day! I bet that they would be very happy to see you again!”

He giggled as he said, “ Yeah! I plan on finding Heaven and visiting them ANYTIME I want!” He said, pumping his fist into the air, excited. 

She giggled as she opened her lunch box as she told him, “ While I ma kinda mad you took my lunch box..I get why, cause your hungry! So….here!” she offered him three blueberry muffins.

He looked surprised as she put the muffins in his hands as he looked at her and asked, “ Your...giving me your muffins?”

“ Yeah! Buuutt…” she smiled at him, holding her hand out, “ You have to tell me your name, and then make a pinkie promise! Also, take off your hood. You can see my face good, but I can’t see yours...” she told him, pouting. 

He looked at her surprised a bit but smiled a bit as he said, “ Okay, but then you have to tell me your name, and make a pinkie promise to me then, deal?” he said

She gave a nod as she said, “ Deal!” 

“...a-actually, can you go first...mommy taught me to let girls go first… ” he said nervously, shyly looking away, stuffing a blueberry muffin into his mouth. 

“ Okay! My name is Aqua! My full name is Aqua Miki! I’m six years old! How about you?” She said, smiling at him brightly.

He shyly looked away before he sighed and took off his hood, after eating all of the muffins.  He had his hair tied up into a low ponytail, with hair sticking out in spikes. “...do you promise not to laugh at my name?” he asked, a bit embarrassed. 

“ I promise!”

He held his hand out and said, “ I’m...Terra...my full name is Terrance...Gibbler...I’m seven years old….nice to met yo-Hey! You said you wouldn’t laugh!!” He said as Aqua giggled a little

He pouted, his cheeks full of air as Aqua giggled, as she said, “ I-I’m sorry, it’s kind of a silly name!”

He looked away for a moment, his cheeks red in embarrassment as he said, “ Yeah...it is...so...please just call me Terra.” 

She giggled as she said, “ OK...Terra! Got it! Now…” she held her pinkie out as she said, “ You have to make a pinkie promise with me, and I have to make one with you, deal?”

“ Yeah…” He attached his pinkie to her’s as she giggled and said, “ Ok! Here’s the pinkie promise you have to make with me! You have to play with me every day, till we’re adults! So you have to meet up with me, so not only can I give you some food, but so we can play, and become even better friends!”

He looked at her surprised as he asked, “ F-Friends?! We’re friends?!” he asked, looking excited with stars in his eyes now. 

She giggled as she said, “ Yep! Now, do you accept this pinkie promise?” she asked with a smile. He gave a nod as she giggled, and proceeded to say, “ OK! Here goes...You make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life. You break a pinkie promise, I throw you on the ice. The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend, the frost will freeze your tongue off so you never lie again.” she told him

He looked at her slightly confused and scared as she said, “ It’s to make sure you don’t break your pinkie promise! My papa taught me to make pinkie promises like that, ‘specially with guys!” she giggled as she said, “ Ok! Your turn for your promise!”

He thought about it for a little bit and said, “ My pinkie promise is that you...um….” he didn’t know what to say

Aqua saw this and said, “ If you want, you can postpone your pinkie promise, until you know what you want!”

“ R-Really..? Is that okay?” he asked.

“ Yep! It is! You can cash in our pinkie promise annnnyyy time you want!... Oh, snickerdoodles! I’m going to be late! I’ll see you after school! Met me by the fountain at the edge of the woods!!” she shouted running off with her lunch box. 

“ Okay! Bye!!” He waved her off with a smile. He smiled brightly talking to himself, “ Did you see that mama?! I made a friend! And she’s nice!” he said, his cheeks a bit red as he looked happy.

Present time…

“...man the years flew by…” Aqua chuckled a bit. 

“ Hehe, yeah, kinda hard to imagine that we became friends and eventually something more after I tried to steal your lunch.” Terra laughed a bit.

“ Yeah, heh, I still remember you were the most filthy person I had ever seen in my life, and still to this day, I have yet to met someone as filthy as you were back then.” she laughed.

He nervously laughed as he said, his voice holding some fondness, “ Say...remember that raincheck ‘pinkie promise’ I never made?” he asked.

“ Huh? Yeah, you never did use it...wait...are you using it now?” she asked, with a faint smile.

“ Heh, yeah, guess I am. Are you willing to let me cash it in now?” he asked her. She giggled a little and said, “ Yeah, I mean you have kept the promise you made with me intact. So yeah, you can cash it in.”

He nervously laughed as he said, “How could I? After your version of making a pinkie promise, I was terrified to even try to break that pinkie promise.” he admitted. 

She laughed at that as he said, “ Yeah...anyway, here’s my pinky promise...I promise to protect you and your family, along with the baby with my life….and if anything happens to you, whether it be physically or emotionally, I will always be there for you, because I love you with all my heart...so...do you accept this pinkie promise?” He asked, holding his pinkie out.

She looked at him, blushing brightly as she smiled and wrapped her pinkie around his and said, “ I accept.” 

He smiled and then said, using the same lines she had used for their pinkie promise, “ You make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life. You break a pinkie promise, I throw you on the ice. The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend, the frost will freeze your tongue off so you never lie again.” he said

She chuckled as they heard the door being knocked on and Isa opened the door, “ You guys up? Oh good, you are. Good news, I got breakfast from your favorite places sis. Krispy Kreme and IHOP.”

Aqua looked at him with stars in her eyes and said, “ Oh my Galaga, you are the best brother ever! I feel so hungry I could eat a dozen of those donuts and a couple of my favorite pancakes..”

He chuckled as he said, “ Well, good news, I got three dozens donuts and like 5 red velvet pancakes, so go ahead and eat to your heart’s content.” he told her. “ Thank you so much! Your the best brother ever!!”

She ran down the stairs, her stomach growling loudly as Terra laughed a bit as he said, “ Some things don’t change, huh?”

“ Yep. Still has her sweet tooth as ever.” Isa sighed. 

They walked down the stairs as they saw Aqua already eating a powdered donut as she had stars in her eyes, wolf ears and tail appearing as she ate her donuts, happy.

“ Soo good!!” she said, happy. 

Terra chuckled as Isa made some coffee to drink as Aqua ate a lot of the donuts and all of the pancakes, as Terra said, wanting to compliment her, “ You know, the short hair suits you Aqua.”

She paused, mid-bite into an eclair as she said, “ Really? You think so?” she asked, as her wolf ears and tail went away as he told her, “ Yeah, makes you look pretty and cute.”

She felt like teasing him as she said, “ Oh? Was I not pretty or cute before?” she asked with a smirk as he quickly nervously waved his hands, “ N-No! I didn’t mean to say it like that! I mean you do look pretty with long hair, I’m also saying you look pretty with long and short hair!” he said

She giggled as Isa smirked, drinking some of his coffee as Terra noticed her giggling as she said, “ Hey...come here you!” he ran to her making her laugh as she ran away, running around the table to get away from him as Isa laughed a bit. 

It had been a very long time since there were real smiles and laughter in this home, and it felt good to have that again. 

(...Hoi. Hola. *unhuman screeching* how are you all doing today? KHGoddess here with a late night post!! I hope you'll like today's chapter! I am so sorry that this is kinda late, I had to clean the house and such, so I tired to make it up for you guys by trying to add fluff to this chapter, so please don't be mad! Please don't forget to vote and comment about what you liked! Thank you for tuning in, but now, I gotta tune out! I'll see you soon! Bye!!)